Okay, this is going to be a quick rundown, albeit not a super exciting one.  The past three weekends have been filled with my parents visiting Kansas City.  My mom came into town three weekends ago to check on the progress of my house and to help with some of the interior decorating that needed to go on.  My sister was also in town the week prior so, between the two of them, my place went through a much-needed facelift. Here’s a picture of my mom and I in my tub (get your mind out of the gutter!) by some things she helped me pick out for my bathroom.

My dad, stepmom, and sister came into town a couple weekends ago for their annual trip to see the American Royal Horse Show.  They were pretty blown away with how much downtown has changed in just a year.  I sometimes forget about how recent all of the renovations there have been. It really is kind of crazy, and it’s awesome to see the main parts of KC so happenin’.

The weekend before last, I decided to check out Craigslist to see how cheap Chiefs tickets were.  Luckily, I was able to snag two tickets on the 11th row right in front of the cheerleaders for the Chiefs game against the Saints.  The total ticket price was $60.  That’s just insane.  I guess that’s one of the few perks of having the worst team in football (and my Cyclones are the worst team in the Big 12 –  I’m obviously a glutton for punishment).  Even though the Chiefs lost again, it was still a pretty decent game, and we were right by all the action.

I wasn’t able to spend a lot of time with them during the week due to work and whatnot, but my dad also helped me do some odds and ends things around the house.  Some of them were things I really don’t think I could have done by myself.  I’ll be traveling up to Iowa to spend Thanksgiving with everyone, and I really can’t wait for a break.

I was asked the other day, while ordering a smoothie from Smoothie King, if I had seen the movie Wanted.  It took me a while to figure out which movie she was referring to, but I realized Wanted was the latest Angelina Jolie action movie.  Realizing this was a really random question, I asked why she was wanting to know.  She replied that she thought I looked like the guy who trained with Angelina Jolie in it.  Of course, I immediately looked up the movie and, after looking extensively, have come to the conclusion that my apparent look-a-like is this guy: 

I mean, really?  Do I really look like this guy?  He played Mr. Tumnus in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe for crying out loud!

  

I love how Philadelphia is considered “the city of brotherly love”.  I mean, this is, afterall, the city that infamously booed Santa Claus. About a year and a half ago, I had the pleasure of experiencing the home crowd at a Phillies game as well as witnessing the hostility of Mets fans while the rival Phillies were playing at Shea Stadium.  I took this video of the experience.

You know you’re in a special place when people of all ages, literally from grade school to middle-aged men, can shout homophobic slurs in public.  It really brings a tear to my eye.  Since posting that clip on YouTube, there have been quite a few comments made about it.  As expected, they are always very intelligent and insightful.  Take, for example, one comment made by a guy by the absolutely perfect name of “queensguido”:

“yo wut happened philly i thought u bunch of rednecks were the tough guys. u pussies new better then 2 speak that shit dont happen down in philly we say wut we gotta say and mayb we fite but a bunch of mets fans wood never let phillies fans put them down that bad without comin back at them”

That is some beautiful stuff.

Just one year later, the Phillies end up winning the World Series and the Mets end up, for the second year in a row, choking and missing the playoffs.  During Philadelphia’s parade for their new World Champions, Chase Utley exclaimed dropped the F-Bomb on live TV.

You stay classy, Philadelphia.

I was actually happy for my Philly friends because they’re pretty diehard fans.  After seeing this video, however, I have to give Philadelphia props.  This might be the greatest thing on the internet right now. Will, you are so big.

I think I may be the only blogger on the internet who hasn’t shared their post-election thoughts.  There are a lot of things I’ve been meaning to post about (i.e. ISU Homecoming, the World Series, weddings, etc.), but I feel like talking about our new president is a higher priority than the others.  Most people I’m friends with know that I, like them, am ecstatic about the outcome of our election.  I really do believe that Obama is a rare human being, and I have a renewed sense of pride about the people of my country.  I’ll be honest, the lowest I’ve ever felt about the U.S. was on election night four years ago when Bush was re-elected. It was a horrible feeling knowing that our country was going to endure another four years under his administration.  It was even worse knowing that we, the American people, were the ones who allowed it to happen.  Looking back, though, I’m happy trading in four more years of Bush to potentially get eight years of Obama.

The election of Mr. Obama was a signal to me that maybe, just maybe, the days of Karl Rovian Republican politics are over.  I can’t imagine our government not using scare tactics to push their own agenda, actually communicating openly to the American people, not creating wars with other countries for false pretenses, etc.  Based on the last election, I was genuinely concerned that the public would fall for McCain’s shady late campaign strategy, but I was proven wrong…and that is totally fine with me.

This election was the first one in which I went to a public place to watch the events unfold.  I spent my time at The Foundry in Westport surrounded by a good mix of people.  Actually, the place was very obviously in support of Obama because the place erupted every time CNN called a state for him.  I thought CNN did a good job covering the election, although I found their hologram thing to be really weird.  They would beam people in the studio Obi Wan Kenobi-style and interviewed them with the use of camera trickery.  Throughout the evening, I believe they only interview two people, one of whom being will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas.  This pretty much blew my mind.  CNN was trying to get viewers to take them seriously on the biggest night for our country, and they decided to use their new technology to talk politics with a guy who helped write “My Humps” and “Let’s Get Retarded”.  Nice work, CNN.  Oh yeah, and during McCain’s (pretty darn gracious) consession speech, some dillweed in the back of the bar kept yelling, “Have fun with your Socialism!” over and over.  Hopefully he was just really drunk and came to his wits the next day…or drove drunk into a lightpost on his way home.  Either one.

I’ll be interested to see the long-term effects the Bush administration will have among my age group.  Even though I’m not affiliated with a party, I, like many my age, will have a difficult time voting Republican down the road because of him.  Hopefully, the real leaders of the party will stand up and represent what the Republican party should really stand for.  Until then, I’m afraid they have a pretty steep hill to climb.

I’m optimistic about the future of our country.  We will, without question, be better off after Obama steps down from office than we are now.  I’m excited to listen to an intelligent man speak on behalf of our country, and I’m anxious for the World to respect us again.  And, no, I’m not just drinking the Obama Kool-Aid.  I don’t think he’s some messiah or something crazy like that. I just think he’s a guy who “gets it”.  And, at this point in time, I couldn’t ask for anything more.