I think I neglected to mention we were going on a cruise, so being back from it is probably not that important. Since I decided to share a few photos, though, mentioning that we were in Mexico last week seems relevant.
Jayne and I joined several of our friends on a whirlwind vacation which included a cruise aboard the Enchantment of the Seas, with visits to Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Key West, Florida; and, Cozumel, Mexico. The latter, obviously, being the most interesting. With the exception of my quick trip to Canada in 2005, I have not traveled out of the United States. Going to Mexico, however, was certainly a great experience. We really enjoyed the entire trip.
We took a lot of photographs, but here are a few that I pulled out of our pile.
Not to be criticized for waiting too long to announce a potential candidacy, J.C. has already taken care of that step and agreed to be my campaign manager in a run for the Mansion.
Go check out his blog sometime. If I had to limit myself to just reading a few blogs every day, “The Richmond Democrat” would certainly be on that list.
The best part is this cool picture of J.C., me, and an unsuspecting Greg Kallen in the background. (Photo by Corey)
One of the cool things I got to do this past election day was visit 11 of the 13 polling places in Dickenson County. The award for best building has to go to Precinct Number 202, in Frying Pan.
This building is the old Sulphur Springs School.
They have pictures hanging on the wall of past teachers, dating back to the 1800s.
Jerry Kilgore sent out an interesting mailer in Northern Virginia a few days ago. The conservative blogs were all excited as if it was going to change the entire course of the election.
For some reason, Kilgore got a big laugh out of the fact that Kaine took a few minutes to pose for a picture with some folks of the Dublin Lions Club, a great group in Southwest Virginia, and makers of the famous “Lion Dog.” I fail to see how spending some time in rural Virginia is a bad thing, but I guess Jerry has been in Richmond too long and enjoys making fun of Southwest Virginia when its politically advantageous.
However, what was most interesting about this mailer, in which Kilgore proclaimed to have a superior “transportation” plan is that we learned that Kilgore cannot even spell the word “transportation.”
How can we trust our state to a guy that cannot even spell the word - much less come up with a decent plan to address the traffic problems in Northern Virginia.
I just got home from a great trip. It was almost a perfect trip, but then Harvick had to fool around and finish 10th. Oh well, that has been his season all year. He runs well, then will either get crashed, have mechanical troubles, or fall back near the end. Either way, I got to enjoy him out front for most of the first half of the race.
Another great aspect of this year’s Richmond race was getting to hang out Tim Kaine and some of his other supporters before and during the race. I had been to some great NASCAR races and I have been to some great political events. However, I think it will be rare that anything can measure up to a day that combines the best of both.
If anyone needs any reassurances of what a great guy Tim is, they should check out an event like this one. As I was talking to him I noticed how easy it is to forget he is the Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, not to mention the future Governor of Virginia.
Here is a good shot of Tim and I before the race. (Thanks John).
This is Tim and I chatting about racing, Southwest Virginia, and some other random topics.
Heck, I even bumped into Jerry Kilgore coming out of the restroom. For some reason, though, he was not very friendly to me. I suppose it had something to do with the big Kaine for Governor sticker stuck to my chest.
It would seem Paris Hilton has raised eye brows with her racy commerical for Carl’s Jr. (If you are saying “Carl’s what?” Its the same as Hardees, only the “west coast” version.).
The Parents Television Council said it is encouraging its more than 1 million members to voice their disapproval of the ad to Carl’s Jr., a hamburger chain owned by Carpinteria, California-based CKE Restaurants Inc.
Seems like a good commerical to me. What is wrong with a nice looking lady washing her car? Geez.
Ohio has been very good to me, but going up there for the weekend made me appreciate Virginia even more. On the trip up and in Ohio on Friday, the weather was great. Then, in Ohio-like fashion, a huge thunderstorm rolled in and the temperature dropped into the forties. It was still a great trip, just chillier than expected.
The Commencement went off without a hitch. I had rehearsal on Saturday, walked on Sunday, and then drove back Sunday night.
The best part was getting to see all my friends one last time before we all get scattered back across the country. Ada is a special place and I will really miss it. But, like I was telling my parents, part of what makes being there feel so good is the people I knew there. Once they move out and new folks move in, some of that special feeling will inevitably be lost.
I guess everyone feels that way about their old college towns to some extent. Ada was cool, but it feels great to be back in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Update:
I guess I should have posted a link to these earlier.
During the legal battles over Terry Schiavo, we heard more about Living Wills than ever before. Apparently people noticed and are trying to do something about the lack of Living Wills in Dickenson County.
This photo was taken in Clintwood, Virginia, at the Jettie Baker Center, where a public forum on Living Wills was recently held.
Canada was great. Obviously, the Casino was not as nice as MGM Grand and Windsor was not as nice as Vegas, but both were good considering. The worse part about the trip was the fog. Last night, it was so foggy that that we could not even read the signs on the sides of the road until we were right beside of them.
It was also my first trip to Detroit. I didn’t get to see much of the city, but I don’t think I missed much. We entered Canada via the Ambassador Bridge. All of the Border guards on both sides were nice with the exception of one woman who was slightly rude. Coming back in to the U.S. was also easy. They just checked our driver’s license and took a quick peak under the hood. Not sure what they were looking for, but I guess did not have one of whatever it was they were looking for.
Pictures. Well, to be honest, there were not many photo opportunities. The darkness, cold weather, and blankets of snow prevented in any nice pictures. Here is an album with a few photos of the casino.
I know I am starting to sound like I work for Google or something, but this new Picasa 2 is too great not to mention. After having it installed for less than an hour, I started uninstalling my four or five other photo related programs.
Forget all the nice search and organization features it has. The photo editing feature makes it worth the download and installation. It seems like a “must have” for any digital camera user.
Do I sound impressed? If not, take my word for it - I am.
For the last few weeks I have been looking at various photo galleries to figure out which one will work best for me. I have had it with Flickr and its upload limits. It seemed like every time I wanted to upload a photo I had already exceeded my monthly limit.
After trying two or three different ones, I ended up going with Coppermine. I really like Gallery, but was having trouble getting it setup, so I just went with Coppermine.
The bad part about finally having my own gallery now is that I no longer have an excuse for not scanning the 35mm photos I have accumulated over the past few years. Thus, I guess in my spare time, I will be scanning a few hundred photos and uploading them. For this reason, I do not have many pictures in there yet, but they are forthcoming.
Here is the new photo gallery, check it out and let me know if have any suggestions or comments.
Left Virginia around noon today and came back to Ohio. The power was still out here at the apartment but was restored about an hour ago. It was a nice feeling to get some heat back going.
People are still working to get all the damage cleaned up. As promised, here are some photos taken the day after the storm first hit. All pictures were taken in Ada, Ohio.
I think I neglected to mention we were going on a cruise, so being back from it is probably not that important. Since I decided to share a few photos, though, mentioning that we were in Mexico last week seems relevant.
From Aaron, of 
