Paris in the early morning

Perhaps the most perfect moment of the trip was finding myself on the Champs-Elysses as the semi haze of nighttime yielded to morning with hardly anyone on the avenue. The patesseries were just starting to stack their carts and shelves with bread and pastries; the streets were being washed; the Arc de Triomphe looked ready to bear another day's load of traffic, history, and visitors. This Paris, not the Louvre, the Musee d'Orsay, Notre Dame, or Montmatre, felt like Hemmingway's Paris in the '20s. This was surely my moment of Paris that will stay with me forever. Eventually the myth faded as I found the 24-hr pharmacy and the Alka-Seltzer that remedied the excesses of the previous night. Paris in the early morning: there's nothing quite like it.

Paris est merveilleux!

Paris est merveilleux. Nous avons un temps et un regard fantastiques en avant à notre visite prochaine au « la Ville de Lumières ».

Paris is marvellous. We have had the time of our lives and can't wait for our next visit to the 'City of Lights'.

The City of Lights

For nearly a year
It was a thought: "Ah, Paris. "
More when we return.

On this day. . .

We are frequently saturated with "On this day. . ." type of remembrances; we hear them on the radio and see them in the media with great regularity. I usually tune these out as nothing more than white noise but I do try to listen to the "On this day. . ." segment of 'Writer's Almanac'.

So, with out further ado, on this day in 1863, President Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg address. I won't place the text here (many of you know I'm an ardent fan of the 16th President and his writings in particular) but I will post several links detailing information about the address.

Also, a recycled haiku for today:

I wish now we heard
Political discourse
Like Abraham Lincoln's.

The only known photograph of the President at the address
The 'official' website (check out the copyrights at the bottom)
A bit of modern-day technology humor related to the address
Ben's Guide for kids (wasn't he dead?)
NPR's excellent article

MaPo

Following the huge, unparalleled success of the 1964 live-action and animation adaptation of P.L. Travers' books, the Walt Disney Company named its manufacturing unit MAPO. The official description of this acronym was 'Manufacturing and Production Organization' but everyone knew it was short for Mary Poppins, the film that cemented the Disney company as 'it'.

40 years following, the wonderful folks (namely Randy Thornton) have reproduced 'it' with their new Mary Poppins Special Edition Soundtrack. For the first time, avid listeners have available to them parts of the underscore and rare views into the process of the storyline creation. In short, a real treat. It made my day.


How to make my day?
Mention Clint Eastwood? No, just
Say Mary Poppins!

Friday Night Fights

A veritable four-course heavyweight championship culinary event to be held at Fuller's house. Thanks go out to Oprah for providing the recipes.

Whenever I think
About Thanksgiving menus
I turn to Oprah?

Moving Right Along

The election aftermath has not been as gut-wrenching for me as it has been for my immediate family members. My wife and father-in-law have been way out of sorts and my SIL and BIL are considering a move to Canada. I keep telling them that if the nation survived Richard Nixon it will survive W2. It's not that bad.

I think I'll miss the blogs (especially this one and this one) more than anything else besides the disappearance of John Edwards from the national stage. Is it time to start looking for a mid-west family values friendly candidate for the Ds? If so, look no further. . .

Voting day blog

6:00am -- Alarm rings and radio comes on. News covers decision in SD to prevent Rs from following NAs to parking lots and recording license plate numbers. News also reports decision in OH to reverse 2 lower court rulings on Rs verifying residency. Back to sleep for 1/2 hour.
7:30am -- News, news, and more news. Finally decide on my candidate for IN governor. More bad news out of Iraq; will W go down as the next Teflon president if he wins today?
8:00am -- Head out to polling station. I live less than 1/3 mi from my precinct spot and can see cars already parked in the street. Looks like GOTV really worked this year.
8:15am -- Worked indeed! There must be 350 folks in Lincoln 11's polling station and only 3 voting machines to handle the turnout. One of the clerks implores people not to sign in and then not vote as it will cause the tallies to be incorrect. For the first time ever I wonder if my vote will count.
8:30am -- I see my MIL who left the house an hour and 1/2 earlier than I still in line. She still hasn't voted.
9:00am -- I've called my wife to inform her of the madness. I've also spoken to my family on the east coast. I wonder what it's like in the contested states!
9:30am -- Thinking I might need to cancel my lunch appt in 2 hours. Wish I'd brought my coffee with me.
9:45am -- Clerk again implores people not to sign in and then ditch. This is amazing. The lack of an internet connection is killing me.
10:00am -- The demographic has changed so much I can see the old guard cringing. I'd guess we're looking at a 45/55 D/R constituency. I should've been here at 6am.
10:15am -- Closing in on the 2 hour mark. Democracy 101 is in session and people are in a generally good mood. Folks with kids present are getting to know each other well; folks with physical conditions are sitting down. It seems like community has finally arrived in Lincoln 11. I'm dying to read today's Note.
10:30 -- 45 minutes to go. There's no way we'll know tonight we'll know who has won the White House or the Governor's mansion if others are suffering lines like this one. The polls close at 6pm but it will be 10pm or later before the lines empty out. I bet there's going to be at least 2 days before we know who the next president will be. I wonder how high the turnout will be. 10 million more voters this year? 15 million? Someone actually tried to start a wave. Are folks getting edgy or what?
10:45am -- My wife has arrived and I can see her on the far side of the hall. At least she brought her French language CDs and book. The kids in front and behind me can taste how close we are.
11:00 -- Voted. Off to lunch appt with a former colleague at PeopleSoft. He waited but half an hour to vote this morning.
12:15pm -- Made it to the office and finally got my news fix. Sentiment leaning towards Kerry but who knows? Time to get to work and lay off the news for a bit. Found an interesting site that predicts the electoral college.
1:30pm -- My dedication to work faltered early and have been back searching for news. More and more outlets, websites, and gut reactions say Kerry will win. Back to work for a bit.
2:30pm -- With cookie consumed and coffee in hand, listening to Brother Tavis who has Peter Jennings on to discuss how the networks will not make early calls as they did in 2000. Kerry continues to pull out his lucky charms (the 4-leaf clover from Iowa and his Red Sox cap for starters) and the mood continues to be leaning towards the Ds.
3:45pm -- Another break to check the news; not much has changed. Responded to a NY Times forum asking people to discuss their voting experiences today. Waiting for ATC to hit the airwaves at 4pm.
5:00pm -- Elation. Waiting for the TV news coverage to begin.
7:00pm -- Cautious elation.
8:00pm -- Still waiting for the call but the exit poll data is not holding up to the results. What the heck is going on?
9:00pm -- FL is not headed to Kerry. . .
10:00pm -- Have the public been duped? This thing's going to W; he's got the plurality and the EVs. What about the high turnout? Did the Rs do a better job at GOTV?
11:00pm -- Bush will return. Amazing. Hats off to Rove. He's a genius.
12:30am -- Nobody will call OH but stick a fork in this thing.
3:00am -- Woke up thinking about OH -- it's still not good.
6:30am -- What's the future of the D party? Who will represent in 2008?
8:00am -- Waiting for concession.
2:00pm -- Finit.