Is This Real?

The Matrix has you.

I've been dealing with a little bit of this surreal fog for the last 12 hours. Something that I wanted desperately to come true has now come to pass and is history.

The Phillies won the World Series.

...wait, crap! That's someone else's dream! Hold on...

Barack Obama has become the President-Elect of the United States of America. There, that's better. In all fairness, congrats to the Phillies as well, only the second championship for them in 126 years. The day however belongs to the Democratic party and the people of this country who stood for change. John McCain, who I lost all respect for after his negativity-laced campaign, made an exceptional concession speech that gave me as much hope for the future of our nation and people as did Obama's victory speech. Last night was truly history in the making and I'll remember it with great fondness for our future generations. (My yard sign, the only one that wasn't lost or stolen, will earn a historic place somewhere in the attic for future family members to gaze awe-inspiringly upon.)

In other news (all that pales in comparison, really), my fence grows ever so steadily towards completion. I usually only get a few hours a week to work on it, and with the cold weather coming that is now as dictating when those hours occur. The original plan was to have it finished and then painted, but again the cold weather is stepping in and will probably prevent that from happening until spring. I know I haven't gone into too much detail with the fence, but that will come with time here on The Ballad. The podling is growing into a toddler, believe it or not. Changes are not as frequent as they have been in her first year, but apparently that's pretty typical. She added 17 pounds in her first year of life but will only add between 2-6 more in her second. So far that is turning out to be quite accurate. Also, I'm learning a new form in Kung Fu which is called Movements of the White Swan. So far it is as awesome as the name would imply.

That's word, folks. Blog on.