Water, Concerts, and History.

Kathleen-
This is the scene outside my front door as I type:

When Mike left to run errands today, he called to tell me there was a water main break across the street. I dutifully called it in, and was told that water mains were breaking all over the city (it's comparatively warm, and apparently that means we find out what broke during the cold snap), and that it would be a wait, since water wasn't flowing into houses. Fair enough.

Several hours later, they finally showed up. By then, Mike and I had gone down to look at the low spot near our house, where there was better than 1 foot deep of mixed water and ice. As cars drove through the water/ice combo, they were spraying water all over the nearby parked cars. I don't envy those people when they try and get into their cars.

They've closed the street outside, and they're currently using a backhoe and drilling up our street. (The house is shaking). On the positive side, we haven't lost water pressure yet. I'll let you know how it all turns out. Oh my. The drill just hit something very loud and hard.

On an unrelated, but important note: I watched yesterday's webcast of the We Are One concert, and I have to share my two favorite moments. The YouTube Links seem to be dead, but if you can find them, they're well worth watching.
1. The opening song, Bruce Springsteen backed by a gospel choir, singing one of my favorite of his songs, The Rising.
2. The second to last song of the concert, Pete Seeger, his grandson, and Bruce Springsteen leading hundreds of thousands of people in a sing-along of This Land is Your Land. I cried buckets.

Tommorrow, I'll sit in my office and watch history happen. I can't wait. I truly think that no matter who someone voted for, they can't help but be moved by the sight. (I'm also pretty excited that for the first time since I was old enough to vote, the candidate I voted for is the one who will stand up and take the oath of office).

Vote!

Kathleen-
I voted this morning, and I have to say it was inspiring. Walking to our polling place (we're lucky enough to live less than a block away), I wondered where the heck all the people were coming from. There were literally people walking toward the polling place from every direction. I've never seen it so crowded.

I knitted in line, and chatted with various neighbors, and they moved us through quite quickly (40 minutes, start to finish).

I'm cautiously optimistic that Obama is going to win, and though all the polls are in my favor, what liberal doesn't worry, after the last two presidential elections?

So anyway, the point of this post is to tell people to vote! This election is important, and regardless of your position, I refuse to listen to complaints if you chose not to vote!

Bartlett for President?

Kathleen-
I got to work Monday, and my students told me that Martin Sheen (aka Jed Bartlett, my favorite president ever), was visiting campus Tuesday.

So I arranged for my lunch break to fall during his visit, and heard an impassioned Mr. Sheen talk though a power outage (which meant no microphones, he just projected). He was funny, smart, and compassionate, and even though it was Martin Sheen, and not Jed Bartlett talking, I couldn't help but think of how much hope and eloquence I found in the West Wing when it was on tv.

Here are the best of my pictures from the event (you can tell which Senate candidate he's campaigning for by the backdrop).



Given the election, I suspect there'll be more political posts from me in the next few weeks, and I think anyone who knows me can guess that I'll be voting for Obama...but I still sometimes wish that someday I'll walk into the voting booth, and see Jed Bartlett's name on my ballot.