A Time for Change

An Open Letter to Democrats:

Congratulations, my friends. The candidate you selected to represent your ideas to the American electorate has won. He won with a simple message... that it is time for change.

Savor the victory. Allow yourself a little time to gloat; but get over it, and do so fairly quickly. As of this writing (approx 2:30 am Eastern Time), you have 54 seats in the Senate, and cannot reach a 60 vote super majority without the help of Leiberman and Sanders. You've made gains in the House, but you've probably lost KS-2 (Boyda: D-Topeka), and perhaps others... I'm not going to search state by state to double check right now. I know it's just one seat in a heavily Republican seat, lost to a popular state Treasurer when your fairly popular Democratic Governor wasn't on the ticket to boost turnout for the incumbent. But it is there.

Soon - maybe not tomorrow; but soon - the real work to enact Obama's Change begins. Moreover, it must begin on a local level as well as the national stage. And quite frankly, it means doing many of the same things that another Democratic President asked us to do: work together to build better communinities, volunteer; make ourselves better.

And encourage our lawmakers - Democrat AND Republican - to do the same. Build coalitions; use diplomacy; prioritize, and use those priorities to reduce wasteful spending. Reinvest in our elementary and high schools; find effective ways of keeping kids involved in school and learning, so we can compete in the Science and Mathematics fields. And yes, raise taxes when there is no more fat to cut.

And maybe; just maybe, we'll be able to turn 4 years into 8.

Say What???

I wasn't really paying attention to what was on the television when I heard the announcer say

"And the win puts Kansas City in a tie with New York for the position..."

This totally confused me. I knew that the Yankees had lost tonight and KC had won (on the strength of an 8th inning Mark Teahen inside-the-park home run). But a quick check confirmed that the Royals and NY are not even in the same division, and even if they were, neither are lined up for the Wild Card berth (if the playoffs started today).

Then I remembered what I had been watching. This was the Major League Soccer news (during halftime of the Chivas USA / LA Galaxy match).

Kansas City Trip

Well, it's been a week since we got back from vacation in Kansas City. I had a heck of a time up there, let me tell you.We took out Thursday morning after I got home from work. It Was a quick turnaround, no time for a nap between getting home and leaving again; so I grabbed a shower to recharge and let Chel drive so I could doze while we were on the road.Timed it about right, too; got out of Kinsley around 8:30-9:00, which meant we were able to grab lunch at in Emporia with Daph on our way through. I didn't realize it had been that long since she had seen Aubrey; but we hadn't had a chance to see her at Hannah's Graduation and that was the first time in a long time Aubrey had been back.Back on the road, we made pretty good time on up to KC. This time I really was able to nod off - which is a real trick when I'm in the car. And it was still pretty early when we got to the hotel. I crashed while Ada and Chel tried in vain to find the Wally-world that had apparently closed since the phone book in our room was printed.When they got back we loaded up and gave Aubrey her reward for straight As this school year: a trip to the Rainforest Cafe there at Oak Park Mall.For those of you who haven't been heard of it, Rainforest Cafe is this jungle/wildlife theme restraunt with animatronic animals, trees and vines, rock textured walls, waterfall, the whole nine yards. Little bit more expensive than what I'd normally suggest to go out - ended up being about $25 a head for one appetizer, four entrees and soft drinks - but it was a treat for the little one.Got done there and went back to the hotel room; where I actually had time to take a look at the room itself. I won't say that it was the worst place I've ever stayed. That distinction goes to the motel - which is under new name and presumably new management - that I worked at oh, almost ten years ago. But the counter was falling apart, the door handle to the bathroom was falling off, the towel rack was coming out of the wall; there were scuff marks in odd places, for some reason it felt like the furniture had been positioned to conceal something, and it had a mildewy musty smell - not what I was expecting. I was expecting the smell of stale cigarette smoke that is the bane of housekeeping in hotels which still have smoking rooms.We didn't complain about it, though. Mostly because we were already set up, I was bushed, and the bed and shower both worked. Sometimes, just sometimes, that's all you really want out of a hotel room.Friday, we went to Oceans of Fun; where I made a decision that would haunt me for the next week or so. Yes - like the idiot that I know I can be - I decided that I didn't need sunscreen; we were only gonna spend 4, maybe 5 hours out there. Just a reminder; water has the ability to both reflect and magnify skin damaging UV rays, depending on the water's shape and angle to the sun. As a result of forgetting that little tidbit, I ended up with not only sunburnt shoulders, but blistered shoulders that over a week later are still like fresh from the oven Grand's biscuits: hot, tender and flaky. I did get to ride a couple of water slides I've been wanting to ride, even if I was pushing the weight limit just a bit.After a round of shopping and introducing Aubrey to sushi from the Oak Park food court - she had a slice of pizza, and I gave her maki roll to try from off of my plate - we went back to the hotel. Where I tried very hard to sleep without moving too much.Aubrey really didn't care for the sushi too much - something about the nori and the sticky rice together - but she did seem to enjoy the "gari", that pickled ginger that's used as a palatte-cleanser/digestive.Saturday, we went to Worlds of Fun. Which probably would have been more fun - and definitely would have been more roller-coastery - if I hadn't been so sunburnt. Not looking for sympathy mind you, it was my own damn fault.We finished Saturday off by hitting the combination A&W/Long John Silvers with one of Chel's old friends whom she hasn't seen in years. Probably one of the few places where your order can have both "fish and chips" and cheese curds.Sunday was the long drive back home. We stopped at Emporia for lunch, and toodled on back before it got dark. It was an early night for all of us; everybody was tired by the time we got home.I had a wonderful time, and I think everybody else did, too.