I honestly had no idea that the night would be over so soon.

I thought all the polls would be so close, there would be no way to call most of the swing states before midnight. I remembered 2000 and 2004 when I went to bed, still unsure that something wouldn’t change by the morning. Expecting a long wait tonight, I had gotten into my pjs and set up the living room couch with blankets and pillows. J was out picking up a late dinner of pizza and beer for us to enjoy as we watched the colors on the state maps flip from blue to red to blue and back again. We expected races too close to call, discrepancies in the polls, hanging chads, calls for recounts, accusations of voter fraud, and cries of disenfranchisement. In short, we were prepared for a night of craziness.

For a bit of levity before the storm, I decided to watch InDecision 2008 while waiting for dinner. After an hour or so, John Stewart turned to the camera and said, “At eleven o’clock at night, Eastern Standard Time, the President of the United States is…Barak Obama.” I immediately changed the channel to another newscast. I was so sure he was joking — he’s a comedian, right? — because there was no way it could be called so quickly. Here in California, the clock had just hit 8:00pm and the polls were only now closing. Hell, J wasn’t even home with dinner yet. After flipping through ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX — even FOX — I realized it was real. I picked up my phone and called J with the news.

I voted for Obama, but I wasn’t passionate about his candidacy. He’s more liberal than I generally am, but he seems like a decent, well-spoken, thoughtful man. We’ve made do with far worse in recent years so I was happy to have him on the ballot. Still, after the 2004 election, I wasn’t terribly hopeful. Plus, I admit that I voted against a McCain/Palin presidency at least as much as I voted for Obama/Biden. So, given that I had been less than a fervent Obama supporter, I was surprised to find myself crying.

Earlier today, I told friends that I honestly believed that we would all wake up tomorrow to the prospect of a President McCain. I expected to see Palin’s beaming, bespectacled face for the next four, or more, years. I doubted the polls and questioned the notion that our country had progressed far enough that the Bradley Effect would be negligible in this election. I was so sure that “undecided” meant “secretly prejudiced” more often than not.

America, I’m sorry to have misjudged you.

Rarely have I been so happy to be wrong. I’m excited that tonight a black man has been voted to our country’s highest office. I’m relieved that staying the course was scarier than change. I’m so glad that the lessons of the last four years — or maybe just the lessons of the last four weeks — weren’t ignored. I’m just so proud and overwhelmed to have been part of and witness to such a watershed moment. There is a long, hard road ahead of us still, but today we reaffirmed the ideals on which our great nation was founded. And I hope that regardless of who you voted for, you are excited to be part of this moment too.

J and I are engaged!

We were in New York City for the weekend–ostensibly for his birthday, which was Monday. On Friday, we were walking around Central Park and headed toward the carousel for a ride and a kiss^†. After we got off the carousel, we walked to the grassy hill and took some photos. Then, he spun me around, held me, told me how much he loves me and how happy I make him and asked me to marry him. He pulled the ring out, got on one knee and formally proposed. Of course, I said, “Absolutely!”

Thanks to Leah, for celebrating with us (and taking this photo) and for keeping mum about it until I could get back home and post this.

On Labor Day weekend, J, four of our friends and I went to a horse ranch for a bit of training. I, who have never ridden a horse, was going to learn the basics. The guys, who had been there before, were going to try their hand at some jousting. Plus, we’d have the opportunity to learn a bit of archery and, if we desired (which I did not) some stage-type sword play. It was kind of a medieval-themed kind of place. Kinda geeky, yes, but then…we are who we are. Regardless, I was happy to learn to ride a horse and mark that off my lifetime to-do list (the list also includes, among other things, hang-gliding and traveling to Australia and New Zealand).
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Kids, this is one of the many reasons you need to study your math and science

Simple, elegant, awesome. Some of the imagery lacks punch and letters get stretched^†, but the entire concept is just too wonderful.

“What kind of shoes do I have? Kid! I got ‘em all!“

Of course, it’s also a trip down memory lane. There are plenty of people I didn’t recognize, but I had no idea that Luis, Maria and Gordon were still on the show. Did you?

This video is only the latest in a series of similar ones, but it’s the first I’ve seen and I found it weirdly touching and just had to share. I particularly love when everyone joins in. He’s been dancing around the world since 2005 and has a whole site at wherethehellismatt.com. The faq There’s also a video of outtakes (below the cut) — some of the commentary about why some of the shots weren’t used is really funny.

It got Jay and me into talking about traveling more. Of course, we’ll probably never go to as many places as you see here, but I’m ok with being a bit more selective since we plan to spend more than 3 or 4 days in each country as Matt did. Right now New Zealand and Paris, France are at the top of our list, but there are plenty other places we plan to visit. I have to say, though…that video makes me want to visit places I’ve never considered.

By the way, I suggest you watch both videos in high def if you can (you may have to go to their respective youtube pages).
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It’s not the hugest benchmark ever, but after six months we’re happier than ever and it’s only looking to get better. We both think today is a good reason to celebrate and we intend to have fun. We even managed to get out of our offices and head to the cafe downstairs for breakfast together this morning (which is more of a big deal than it sounds).

So…presents! A few days ago as I was browsing etsy, I found these cool matchboxes silkscreened with little robots and got them for him. I can’t believe they got here in time since I ordered them from Sweden. It was a speedy delivery. I still need to frame them in a shadowbox, but he got to see them and thought they were awesome.

J gave me a lovely card and made dinner reservations at the restaurant where we had our first date. He is wonderful and thoughtful and I sometimes wonder what I did to deserve him.

How, by the way, can you NOT like chocolate ice cream? Seriously, I ask you.

I have to admit that while I generally find plain vanilla a bit boring, this was incredibly good. Yum! It did get too hard after we froze it overnight–even after sitting out for a couple minutes it was a workout to scoop it up. The French vanilla recipe supposedly freezes softer, but if not, we’ll have to find an alcohol* that won’t detract from the vanilla-ness of the ice cream.