59, Still a majority

This blog used to be all about politics. It hasn't been lately. Actually, it hasn't been, period.

But this night, the night of President Obama's first official State of the Union, is a good night for this blog to once again have a political bend.

I am not live-blogging the speech. I am way out of practice for that, but I will be following TPM's live blog and Sullivan's live blog during the speech. I am more excited for this speech than any other SotU speech I've watched before, not just because it is being delivered by the man I voted for, but because of the harsh political landscape. I think no matter how moderate Obama comes off as tonight you are going to hear nothing but criticism from the right. The right says that they'll take Obama seriously if he comes out with a moderate plan and approach to policies, but my feeling, and maybe I am way off, is that Obama would need to turn into a republican right before our eyes in order for anyone on the right to take him seriously. It is amazing how Obama really brings the nut jobs out of the woodwork. I have my theories on why, but that's for a later blog.

Additionally, I just wanted to point out what Jon Stewart pointed out last week and it is this...President Bush never had 59 senators from his party as President Obama does now (even after the loss to Brown in Mass.), and Bush did whatever the hell he wanted to...for eight years. I am sick of the talking heads acting like all is lost. All is not lost.

NYC - Day 4

I am continuing with the picture theme on here. Back in September and October I was sharing pictures from the trip to NYC over labor day weekend. I stopped at the end of our third day. Two more days to go...

Day 4

This artwork is over one of the entrances to 30 Rock. I think it is beautiful and very uniform and industrial looking. However, I am sure it is just there to brainwash me into thinking like a socialist by emphasizing wisdom and knowledge as good traits. I am waiting for Glenn Beck to rip this to pieces on his show. Tell me if he does because I don't watch.

A stained-glass window in St. Patricks Cathedral. It is so hard to get good shots without a tripod in massive dark cathedrals, but it is worth attempting.

Inside St. Patricks Cathedral.

We couldn't get enough of Central Park. I love the idea of this massive park surrounded by a city that never sleeps.

Towers near Columbus Circle on our walk to the Upper West Side for lunch. On the way, we saw a movie being shot outside the Plaza. We weren't allowed to get close, but I had a hunch it might have been the sequel to Wall Street. Why did I have that hunch? Just because I read something about them starting to shoot that movie the week we were there. No other reason.

The Guggenheim...we didn't pay to go in, just walked into the lobby took some pictures and walked out. It looked like a lot of people were doing the same thing. There are hot dog stands right outside the museum. Some people don't like that. Some people don't care.

This is in the modern art wing in the Met. I am facing a large circular mirror comprised of mini hexagonal mirrors.

Taking in some art....some modern art. Very simple. But I liked it.

Going out to dinner on our last night in NYC. The meal was great, just a little overpriced. I suppose we did pay extra for the location because it is in Rockefeller Plaza.

We went to Serendipity 3 for dessert. We weren't even hungry and I was served the biggest single serving dessert I have ever seen. I ate about a fifth of that. It was good. Kate got the apple pie. It wasn't great.

Kate outside the famous Serendipity 3.

Tonight on TV

I rarely endorse watching television, but this is the last week of The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien and so far it has been one of the funniest weeks of its agonizingly long run of .6 years.

His last show is tonight and if it is anything like the previous four nights he is going to have hilarious guests and a ton of jokes about how NBC got rid of the funniest man on any major network.

The man is restricted from being back on TV until September 1 so you might as well get your Conan dose while you can.

Deep Freeze Pictures

Actually, it is pretty warm in Milwaukee right now, at least for January. The highs are in the mid to upper-30s. There was a heavy frost over Saturday night and Kate and I ventured out to try to get some good shots. Here are some of them.

Florida Pictures

This is the beach the team spent a lot of time on. It is typically calm with little wind and waves as you can see. However, we had a lot of cold weather and storms blow through over the 11 days we were there. These waters weren't always this calm. In this picture you can see a buoy out in the water. Myself and a couple others swam to the buoy everyday, even last Sunday when the air temperature was 37 degrees. That was probably one of the crazier things I've done in a while.

These are our divers (some of them). They are really athletic and can do sweet things that all of us swimmers can't, like bust out backflips and actually land on their feet. It made for a good picture.

Sunrise as seen from my hotel room balcony.

Some of us spent some time "yacht shopping" in downtown Fort Lauderdale. We put in a couple offers but they were soundly rejected.

One of the more impressive yachts we wanted to buy.

A modest sail boat. You know, over 100 feet long, but less than 200 feet long and the mast looks only to be reaching the clouds and not piercing them. Obviously the owner of this boat is not very wealthy.

Swimmers digging a hole. Last year's hole-digging effort was much more impressive.

Our esteemed athletic trainer and volunteer assistant coach.

Kyle, Belton, and Bryce, a.k.a. The Three Amigos, or Beavis and Butthead +1.

Florida was great. The weather put a damper on some days, but for the most part I didn't let it affect me too much. We had a couple really nice days on the beach. The swimmers got in a good amount of pool time, weights, and dryland workouts. Now it is a sprint to the finish with three more dual meets and a conference championship in Chicago in the next six weeks.

Detox in Florida

I sent the last of ten MFA applications out on Monday. I flew with the swim team to Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday. We are here until the 16th. The trip is a great form of grad school application detox and I am spoiled to have it.

I hope to be a consistent blogger again in the months to come. I've really missed it and I never thought weeks would pass when I wouldn't even think about what I will write on my blog next, but that happened. And you know, I feel good about that because just applying to these ten programs was the hardest thing I've done since being in Milwaukee. That seems hard to believe, but it couldn't be truer.