Ed. Note: I promise, this is my last post relating to politics, at least for a while.

I didn’t believe.

I didn’t believe that Obama would beat the Clintons in the Democratic primaries. I voted for him, but I didn’t believe he would win. Then he did.

I didn’t believe that Obama would recover after the excitement following the Republican National Convention. I didn’t believe that his calm, stay-on-task demeanor was the right approach to counter the energy and excitement generated by his opponent. But he did, and it was.

I didn’t believe that I would ever feel compelled to donate money to a Presidential candidate. But then I did.

I didn’t believe that Obama would win over enough of the former Clinton supporters. But he did.

I didn’t believe that Obama would be able to overcome being a black guy named Barack Hussein Obama, in a country where racial segregation was legal just 43 years ago. But he did.

I didn’t believe that a significant enough population of black people in America would get out and vote, as blacks traditionally have relatively low voter turnout. But we did.

As I watched CNN while the results came in, I still didn’t believe that Obama would win. I voted for him, but I didn’t believe it. But then he did.

I spent the last two years hoping for something, but not really believing that it would happen. But then it did. Barack Obama is going to be our President. He has made a lot of promises, a lot of bold statements about what he plans to do as President. I generally don’t trust politicians, I think they’ll say what they need to in order to get elected. Obama’s no exception. And though there were some pretty strong factors at play that had nothing to do with Obama (like the overwhelmingly unpopular current President), I watched him beat the odds over and over and over again.

So you know what? I’m through with not believing. He’s no miracle worker, but without working a day as President yet, he’s already done so many things I didn’t think he could do. I think America is the best country in the world, and his election has already made me think that in some regards, America might even be better than I thought. He’s got a lot to prove, and as with any elected official, I’ll hold him accountable for the promises on which he doesn’t deliver.

But I’m done betting against him.

blogging with two kids
I suck at it. The girl is old enough now where I have a chance in the evening to sit down and devote a little bit of time to blogging. But by that point in my day, I’m tired and I can’t remember the any of the dozen or so things that happened during the day that I thought were funny enough to blog about. I’ve got a dozen or so unpublished drafts sitting around from the past month alone. But rest assured, the year of creativity is not yet over. I’ve got a couple of things up my sleeve.

Yankee stadium
When I was growing up, my family would drive to New York City a couple of times per year. But because we were there to visit family, we never did anything fun (no offense, family) or touristy. We’d pass by Yankee Stadium every time, but I’ve never been inside. And now I never will, because the last game there was last night. That makes me sad. We had been talking about going for each of the past few years, but it never worked out.

Swaddling
For the sake of your sanity, DO IT. Swaddle your babies. Tightly. Like a straight jacket. I have a Ph.D. in Swaddling Science. Trust me. I’ll be posting a swaddling guide here sometime soon. If you do it the way most instructions tell you to do it, it won’t work.

The Ryder Cup
Go USA! Here’s a conversation between me and the boy while watching yesterday’s coverage:
Me: The guys in red are from the United States. The guys in white shirts are from Europe.
Boy: What color are the guys from Russia wearing?
Me: Russia is not invited to play in the Ryder Cup.
Boy: Why not?
Me: …oh no wait, the guys from Russia are wearing yellow.

Sarah Palin
Yeah right! I know better than that, I know who reads this blog! But I will say that it irks me how the McCain campaign played Obama’s popularity as a negative thing, but now are more than happy to try to ride Sarah Palin’s popularity right to the White House. Seriously though, that’s as much as I’m saying about her. For now.

The presidential race in general
I can’t wait for the debates, and I don’t think I’ve ever said that in my life. I love how this election is inspiring people (including myself) to get involved and educate themselves on all sorts of topics. I just wish the inspiration wasn’t stemming from a war and a troubled economy.

Apple, Inc.
My love for them could best be described as “borderline inappropriate.”

Bacon
My love for bacon has been tested, and I failed the test. A local grocery store recently closed, we visited on the last day it was open. The only thing left on any of the refrigerated shelves was this one package of bacon:

And I didn’t buy it. I had freshness concerns. Plus, it was reduced fat. But still, it was bacon. And now I feel like I can’t ever claim to love bacon. Because if I truly loved bacon, I would have bought it.

Though I’m happy that I’ll be able to go to bed at a reasonable hour, I’m sad that the Olympics are over. I love me some Olympics. Here are my top 10 lasting memories from this year’s games:

10) The Cuban taekwondo athlete who kicked the ref in the face and got banned for life
9) That Serbian dude who sucks at touching a wall and let Michael Phelps beat him in the 100m butterfly
8 ) The opening ceremony
7) Sub-par performance of US sprinters
6) German weightlifter Matthias Steiner (who vowed to win the gold for his wife who died in a car accident last year) won gold, even after dropping a bar with more than 500 pounds on his neck (pictures here, scroll down below the volleyball shots)
5) The amazing venues - mainly the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube
4) Usain Bolt breaking the 12-year old 200m world record
3) Jason Lezak chasing down and passing that French guy in the 4×100m relay
2) Phelps setting the career gold medal mark (more impressive to me than winning 8 in one Olympics is winning 14 in two)
1) Bolt jogging 9.92 seconds in the 100m prelims, then easing to the finish and running 9.69 seconds in the final, which is insane

Seen at Lowes while shopping for a new hedge trimmer. And though the new lower price was tempting, I decided to go for the cheaper corded model.