Last night, smack dab in the middle of my annual week alone I put down the Xbox controller long enough to tune in to history on cable TV. The DNC nomination acceptance speech was the first by Obama that I listened to in its entirety, and he struck all the right chords and I hung on every word.

The influence of his fiery, controversial pastor can’t be denied. His speaking style is borderline gospel preaching. This is an election that matters more than any I can recall.

We have heard the rallying cry before. The problems of our nation are well-known and “fixable”. “Change” is a convenient catch-phrase, however it seems to  me that Obama has the integrity to correct the wrong-headed policies of the Bush administration.

It never entered my mind that would see an African-American man nominated for President of the United States and to quote our future First Lady, “For the first time in my adult lifetime, I’m really proud of my country.”

A good sketch is evading me, but I’ll have a lot of opportunities over the next 4 or 8 years!

I had the opportunity to sketch Lyndhurst Castle in nearby Tarrytown, and let’s face it – it’s a hard subject to pass up! The last time I had the chance was my solo trip to Ireland almost seventeen years ago. This almost merits a return trip to to Lyndhurst with proper watercolors, paper and straight edge, due my interest in better perspective drawing.

---

The Xbox has been returned and we are running it through the paces – tomorrow the wife and kids are going to California for a short trip and it will likely see a lot of usage; purely for testing purposes. My hunch is that the replacement is working like a champ and all will be forgiven with Microsoft owing to their world-class reaction to this widespread RRoD (Read Ring of Death) malfunction.

I played at a BBQ Gig on Saturday 8/09 at my good friend Mike’s annual BBQ. A pickup band thrown together with one rehearsal cranking geezer classic rock for an appreciateive audience. They indulged me and let me sing a few tunes by the Stones, Dylan and Hendrix. Since this will likely be my only gig from 2008 I thought it warranted a post.

Clearly I have to lose weight. I got on the treadmill the next morning after seeing the dozens of unflattering photos Harrison took, and I may try to do daily treadmill workouts throughout the Beijing 2008 Olympics games to see how much I can lose. The TV has finally been moved near the treadmill after endless requests.

On an unrelated note, we had a pretty good family vacation at Sanctuary Resort in Sandbridge Virginia, which is about 20 minutes from the main Virgina Beach boardwalk scene. We took two day trips to Jamestown Settlement and Colonial Williamsburg and both of those attractions left an indelible mark on me, more now as an adult than my childhood visit. I guess the older you get, the more you appreciate sacrifice and hardship.

Sadly two days into the vacation the Xbox 360 (yes, we brought the Xbox, just in case of rain) finally suffered the fatal three red rings of death (RROD) after weeks of overheating. If you know anyone who has a 360, they are familiar with this. I must say Microsoft has done due diligence in repairing (i.e. replacing) it, and if it performs reliably when it returns tomorrow, all will be forgiven. We’ll see.