I have one thing in common with McCain - in the face of defeat, throw your hail mary.   That’s what his choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for Vice President is, a move made in desperation with a slim chance of success.

It’s extremely reckless to choose someone that has no business being a step away from the presidency, especially given McCain’s age and ailments.  On the other hand it’s obvious he’s selecting her in an attempt to scoop up Hillary supporters and compete with “change” (McCain apparently thinks all the hubbub about change has to do with skin color and gender).

Feels good to hear her playing music again (shot with spycam).

I listened to the first half of Hillary’s speech last night before I tuned out.  All week I’ve been hearing about how important this speech was going to be and it was going to be her moment.  Mostly what I felt while listening was re-affirmation of my lack of enthusiasm for her candidacy.  And when she said “my friends”, it was like nails on the chalk board - all I could do was think of McCain.

On the plus side she came out very strong saying, “No way, no how, no McCain.”  Not sure what that means but it was funny.  I also liked that she made no doubt about the stakes this election and where her delegates should go, “Barack Obama is my candidate, and he must be our President.”  Something that I expect Obama would have done had the situation been reversed, and it was him trying to convince me to vote for Hillary.

If you missed her speech you can see it (along with the dramatic intro video with Van Halen and Lenny Kravitz soundtrack) here:

And there’s always this:

UPDATE:

Bill’s speech was pretty awesome.  He actually added some steam back to my interest in the Democrats winning this election (steam I’ve loss from Obama’s voting pattern lately).

The guy dressed as Lando (Billy Dee William’s character in Empire Strikes Back) cracks me up.  There’s a reward for those that watch until the 4 minute mark.

I got a text message at 3am this morning from Obama (yes he sent it directly to me, I can picture him on the jet, thumbing his Nokia), that Joe Biden will be his VP choice (big surprise).  Hopefully Joe will bring things back left a bit from here on out.

I still don’t understand why a Joe Biden is a better choice than a Chris Dodd.  Joe Biden always struck me as a bit of a goof ball in the debates.

When I drive in a city, I drive as if I will never see anyone I know.  Out and about I have occasionally seen someone, and this is exciting.  “Hey, look!  It’s Stan!  What is he doing driving outside of Kent?”   We honk and wave enthusiastically.

When driving in a small town, you always see people you know.  One consequence of this is to try and not look goofy while driving.  I attempt to not sing dramatically but this is hard.  Currently, I wear my scarf while driving, even in the hottest weather (no henna right now).

Another consequence is seeing people I know while not following the best car etiquette.  “OMG, did I just stop and go at that four way stop in front of her?”

And the final consequence is seeing people I see all the time but don’t know.  Like maybe I’m suppose to know them.  Or maybe I do know them and chemo brain has kicked in.  How do you respond to all these people while driving?  The smile and nod doesn’t work so well in a car.

I have cousins in rural Kansas and they do a, “one finger wave” to every car they pass (at least Teri Lea does).  Which feels very appropriate when you can see the car approaching for miles and you are surrounded by wheat fields.

I guess I’m still waiting for the small size driving to fully kick in for me.

I’m embarassed to be sharing a CNN story, but what kind of BS is this?

I had plans for a post on my experience at GenCon but almost immediately upon arriving home my body revolted with a sinus cold complete with body aches head to toe.  So instead here are some quick comments:

1. At a convention full of freaks, I found myself to be odder.  Not a single t-shirt to be found in a size medium. I tried to buy about six t-shirts from several vendors and when I said “medium” they shook their head, “Large and up”.  With good reason - I’ve never before seen so many amazingly obese people at one event.
2. I played my first game of D&D in years and ended up saving the entire party from a Liche Queen and her minions.
3. While I had a great time meeting other gamers and everyone was super friendly (I ended up swapping cell numbers with different groups of people to hook up for later events), next time I need to bring a buddy.  Being around 10s of thousands of people for 4 days can be pretty lonely by yourself.
4. When I pulled into my driveway, after some 700 miles round trip, the odometer was 74k on the nose.  This doesn’t mean anything, but I found it interesting.