A day of the DNC . . .

On Thursday, August 28, 2008, thanks to my dear friend Bob, Bug and I were fortunate to attend the Democratic National Convention and witness history in the making. It was such a great experience. I checked Bug out of school at noon and we drove back downtown for lunch and a look at protestors. Bug's favorite scene was when the mounted police arrived with the horses in riot gear --- neither of us had seen horses in riot gear before. All was peaceful, thankfully . . . . a few protestors, but nothing too over the top.

Here is Bug at our table at the Corner Bakery, where we had lunch before a quick tour on the 16th Street Mall . . .

On historic Larimer Square, all the flags of the United States were flying in honor of the convention. I took a close-up of the Arkansas flag . . .

More flags . . .

Bug and I left my office with my friend, Kevin, to walk to Invesco Field at 1:30. We were able to get through the gates a little after 3:00. It was HOT! And I had forgotten to bring sunscreen. Luckily, some was passed back through the line. And the DNC folks had huge barrels of water waiting for us outside Invesco. I felt very fortunate to get through when we did --- some people were in lines for much longer. When we arrived, the show started with various members of the military talking about why they supported Obama as their future commander-in-chief.

CNN's tent was right below us. Can you see Wolf Blitzer? I remember seeing him in Little Rock during Bill Clinton's campaign first Presidential campaign.

Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, warmed up the crowd . . .

Unfortunately, I had put my camera back in my purse and couldn't get it out and unzipped before Olympic Gold Medalist Shawn Johnson had finished leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance, but did manage to catch Jennifer Hudson singing the National Anthem, and it was so beautifully done.

Sheryl Crow was great. I enjoy hearing her live more than just listening to her songs on the radio. She's so pretty . . . she came down the ramp in front of us all dressed in white, looking very tall and thin . . .

Stevie Wonder . . . WOW . . . I can't believe I got to hear him live . . . I use to sneak my sister's 8-track tape of his greatest hits and sing to the top of my lungs with "Sir Duke" and some others.

Al Gore . . . hmm . . . wouldn't our world be different today if he had been our president for the past 8 years? He gave an incredible talk, so impressive. . . . .

Joe Biden make another quick talk before Obama came out. There were a ton of speakers, not all of whom I'm posting. Some of the most poignant stories came from those of "regular folk" who have suffered because of the policies implemented under the present administration. Their stories were so compelling . . . several of them had been life-long Republicans . . . until now.

Here is Bug holding a sign they gave us at the convention. They also distributed American flags for everyone to wave.

I'm so sad that my pictures of Barack Obama did not turn out well. By the time he came on stage, around 8:00 p.m., it was already dark and the pictures did not turn out well at all. But he was so engaged, so captivating in his speech . . . . people all around me were so hungry for his message. Everyone there . . . all races, ages, socio-economic levels . . . you could see in their eyes and their demeanor . . . everyone there wanted change . . . someone to believe in . . . someone to help make day-to-day life a little easier. I have never felt such a collective "hope" in my life. Even Bug noticed it. And it meant a lot to her when Obama said, in a video message played right before he appeared, that he "was shaped more by the absence of my father than by his presence." She tugged on my arm and said as I leaned down "me too, Mom . . . I'm like him." . . . . I was so blown away that she said it, but even more so by the fact that she meant it. That old adage "that which doesn't kill us makes us stronger" is, apparently, a concept that a 10-year-old can grasp when she has lived it personally. So, I love that she feels a connection with Barack Obama and that she understands adversity can be a blessing in disguise.

Here's a shot of the stadium . . . . Can't you feel the energy?

It's going to be a long 10 weeks until the election. But my hope is that on August 28, 2008, with my daughter at my side, I personally witnessed the next President of the United States. . . . Thanks, Bob.

Late breaking news on the bird porn . . .

Dave Barry (a journalist with serious tendencies, as we all know) has written a very insightful article about this disturbing issue:

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking-news/story/660704.html

I will keep you informed as news continues to break . . . . . :):):)

Stop Bird Porn!

Just so all of you will know that truly significant issues are being raised in my fair city during the Democratic National Convention, a woman was handing out the below flyer on the 16th Street Mall today :

In case the print on the scanned copy of the flyer is too small for you to read, here are some of the more important messages (in English, as opposed to the Russian or other language portion):

"A private research group, the Good Conduct Society, has discovered Bird Watchers are more sexually active than others."

"The elderly find that Bird Watching is not strenuous. And this erotic experience can be enjoyed privately through binoculars."

"Most disturbing . . . are the groups of Bird Watchers seeking
vicarious sexual gratification in the woods. Shamelessly, they
blatantly observe God's defenseless creatures mating."

Of course, the sad part for me is that actual trees were utilized to make the paper on which this nonsense was printed. And now . . . whenever I'm on a hike and come upon a birdwatcher . . . the first thought that will probably go through my mind is . . . . PERVERT!

Thursday night . . . . looks like I'll be at Invesco

Today, I got a call from my dear friend who is chief of staff for one of our U.S. senators. All the senators are staying at a hotel just a few blocks from my townhome, and he had some downtime. So we went for coffee, and he gave me 2 tickets for Barack Obama's acceptance speech Thursday night at Invesco Field. I feel so honored . . . there are thousands of people trying to get in . . . and he thought of Bug and me. The tickets themselves are so cool --- they're holograms, so when you move them, the information "changes". Now I just have to figure out how to get to Invesco and spend the day outside with a 10-year-old who will not understand the wait. But the opportunity for her to witness this part of our country's history . . . . well, it's a can't miss event. I'm so grateful to my friend. And I was able to visit with the senator he works for as well, who gave me a newspaper from my old home town . . . . it was so nice to read . . . didn't realize I had missed reading news from home until I had it in front of me.

Bug and I watched Hillary's speech tonight. I thought she knocked it out of the park . . . incredibly impressive, and I hope I have the opportunity to vote for her in the future.

Bug started soccer practice tonight with her new team. I was so proud of her ---- she walked into a group of girls who have been playing together for several years, and she just fit right in. And she played so well that the other parents were all talking about "the new girl . . . . she's really good." (They didn't know she was mine. ) One of her coaches has the highest coaching licensure there is and played pro and semi-pro women's soccer. The high school team she coaches has made All State in Colorado for the past 2 years. And she took a shine to Bug, which means she's A-okay in my book. :):)

And the park where Bug practices is so nice . . . I ended up jogging while she practiced and was amazed at how long I'm able to jog . . . . guess my blood has finally thickened up enough to give me the needed oxygen at this altitude. I was thrilled and plan to start jogging the 2 nights/week she practices. Between jogging, tennis, biking, and the workouts at the JCC, hopefully I won't totally suck on the slopes this season!

All in all, it was a very nice day.

My new passion . . .

. . . is not a man (sigh). It's tennis. Which should prove much less heartbreaking in the long run. Bug and I both took lessons this summer, and we're both hooked. I started my second group of lessons tonight and will start playing in a social doubles group on Wednesday evenings. I'm so psyched about it. I still have a long way to go, but considering it's been 26 years since I was on the Mena Bearcat tennis team, I'm feeling pretty good about it. Doesn't hurt that I have two really cute coaches . . . Ricardo from Peru, and Bran from the former Yugoslavia. So . . . today the DNC was not part of my existence. I worked at the med center, went to tennis lessons, Bug and I went and got smoothies for dinner, and then walked the dogs. A very quiet Monday . . . very nice. Tomorrow, soccer practice starts . . . . can't wait. Tennis again Wednesday night. Thursday night, Bug and I are going to try a latin american cardio dance class called Zumba at the JCC, then TGIF. Whew . . . . I think I'll make it through the week. :)

DNC madness . . . it's started

The Denver Post recently posted these pictures. The convention hasn't even started yet. I was supposed to have dinner with my friend that lives in a LoDo loft. She called and had been in grid lock for over 30 minutes with no hope of movement in sight, and her mother and baby in the car. She said people were abandoning buses like crazy. The protesters have blocked major arteries downtown and are resistant to police intervention. When the police on horseback were finally able to move one group, the protesters moved to another artery and cut it off. The police then arrived in riot gear . . .

This is where I work!!!! I've decided I'm not even going to try it tomorrow . . . . heading out to the med center to work instead. I was going to bike in, but I don't want to encounter protesters OR riot police. I'm just praying the protests are peaceful. On Friday, I received a call that 2 blocks away, on the 16th Street Mall, police were removing bricks that had been taped to the backs of garbage dumpsters . . . left by potential rioters. I'll be glad when Thursday is over.

Wash Park . . . last day before school starts

Where, oh where, did the summer go???? I haven't begun to accomplish or do all I wanted this summer.

It's been a whirlwhind the past couple of weeks. The exam exhausted me (and I'll probably get another shot at it, unfortunately . . . will know in 4 more weeks) and then friends of Little Rock were in Colorado Springs last weekend. Bug and I drove down to see them . . . . went to the summit of Pike's Peak, where America the Beautiful was written, and walked through the incredible Garden of the Gods. It was so great to see them, but I cried the entire way back to Denver because seeing them really brought home how very much I miss my Little Rock friends.

Then, uncharacteristically, Denver turned rainy and cold . . . very cold. Until today, I've been in jeans and polartec sweaters. Low to mid 50's in temperature . . . completely bizarre.

I've had a couple of dates the past 2 weeks . . . the one last night was actually promising . . . with a German engineer . . . he is incredibly learned, very charming, and has a wonderfully infectious laugh. He lives near Boulder and has 2 teen-aged children, so it will be a bit of a challenge, but I think we're going to try to see if this could lead anywhere. We'll see . . . school starts tomorrow which means my schedule will be entirely consumed by work, school, soccer, piano lessons, choir, softball, and Girl Scout activities. It's ridiculous what we go through as parents to give our children as many options as possible.

So today . . . . I took off work, and Bug and I spent the majority of our day at Wash Park. It's a beautiful park in Denver with several small lakes/ponds, great bike trails and jogging paths, tennis courts, gardens, etc. You can see every breed of dog known to man there ----- Chloe loves to go . . . .there is a Great Pyrenees with a huge crush on her that we usually run into. :):) Anyway, Bug and I rode bikes for a long time, then we went to the boat house and rented a pedal/paddle boat ---- we had a blast out on the lake. Then we caught a movie, went to the library, played a round of tennis, walked the dogs, and finished the day off with ice cream. It was a great last day, if a bit exhausting.

Tomorrow . . . 5th Grade . . . . . . (how did it happen???)

Mint juleps and girl bonding

Tonight was my book club meeting. I almost didn't make it. Just as Bug and I pulled out of the driveway, we heard tornado sirens. We were already feeling a little off center because it was raining . . . . . maybe only the sixth time that's happened since we moved here and the first time that I've actually seen rain puddling on the roads. But then . . . the sirens. Being from Little Rock, we knew to take them seriously, so we quickly pulled back into the garage and ran upstairs to turn on the TV and computer to see what was going on . . . tornado warning . . . . one spotted, but it seemed to be north of here. The sirens then stopped, so we headed back on our way. I'm so glad I did. Again, this group of women are so lively and empowering. And tonight there were new faces from the last meeting. The book we discussed was "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns. It's a great read of the South in the early 1900's. Highly recommend it. So, our hostess, Christa, made wonderful mint juleps for us, with mint she grew in her herb garden. It was a wonderful diversion from the 2 weeks of studying at night I've done recently for an ethics licensing exam I have to take on Friday. I probably should have been home studying tonight but, for maybe the first time in my academic and professional career, I put fun over business. I've never been too good of taking care of me if there was work to be done, but . . . . slowly . . . . I'm trying to change that.

But now, I'm home, Bug is in bed, I've checked email and updated this Blog, so it's back to studying. It will be over in 2 days, thankfully.

A trip to the Aquarium

One of my colleagues invited Bug and I to go to the Aquarium this past Saturday. It was going to be a tight fit with me having tennis lessons from 9:30 - 10:30, and Bug's lessons starting at 2:00, but making friends is high on the list of priorties right now . . . especially since our best friends left to go back to Chicago this past Friday. So, my answer was a resounding "yes" . . . "we would love to go to the Aquarium!" And we had such a good time. My colleague has THE cutest 3-year-old son, and he swept Bug and I right off our feet.

Here are Miles, Catherine, and Bug in front of one of the exhibits:

The Downtown Aquarium is not as large as the Shedd in Chicago, or the one in Baltimore, but the exhibits are great and well-maintained. They even have large tigers in the Rainforest area . . . and I have never seen a tiger at an Aquarium, so that was cool. And there were lots of sharks, barracudas, eels. There even was an exhibit of a flash flood that got a bunch of us wet and scared the bejeezus out of us.

I love sea horses, and these guys are "Pot Belly Seahorses" . . . . (little beer drinkers maybe??)

These fish had HUGE popeyes that eerily glowed when Bug took her picture:

Bug wanted a picture of her and Miles in front of the clown fish exhibit. When she squatted down to be at his level, he squatted too. Very cute!

It was a very fun time. Bug was so captivated by Miles that she bought him a stuffed otter at the gift shop. We capped off our time at the Aquarium with a picnic lunch outside. Catherine's husband climbs huge mountains all over the world, and he's based out of Boulder. So we've been invited up to their place in Boulder next for a hike. I'm very excited about that. Bug hiked around Pike's Peak when she was at camp, but I've yet to make my first hike. Which means I've got to hit the Stair Mill at the gym.

It was a hot day, over 102 at the tennis courts, and Bug got a bit dehydrated during her lesson. So we cut it short and came home to air conditioning. Later in the evening, I went on yet another bad date. This one was with a PhD and a nationally known expert in environmental and enery issues and. . . oh my goodness . . . were we enthralled with ourselves. Geez . . . . luckily the food at Piatti was delicious. Other than asking me whether I had ever done any international mission work overseas . . . ??????? (what the *#@*???), I don't think he asked one question about me or my daughter. I've never had as many dates in my life as I've had the past 7 months, but I'm starting to think Colorado men are similiar to those in Alaska . . . . when I visited there a few years ago, everyone told me that, as far as the chances of finding a man in Alaska go, "the odds are good, but the goods are odd." Seriously . . . . . .