Happy New Year!!!

And Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas while we're at it, since I managed to miss both of those too.

Well, I have an excuse! Absolutely NOTHING has been going on in my life the last two months! I haven't seen anybody, I haven't gone anywhere, I haven't done anything... OK, no, that's not quite true, now, is it?

The last two months have been jam-packed with stuff for Shelly and I, actually. In fact, not six hours ago, my sister and three of her children (Christopher, Julia, and Sean Thomas) departed for Maryland after an incredibly busy weekend! Arriving Friday night, Shelly and I kept them busy with trips to the Asheboro Zoo on Saturday and a visit to the NC Museum of Natural Sciences yesterday. I did most of the driving (I love Danielle's new Chevy Traverse), and discovered that my next, child-centric car WILL have sound-proofing installed between the driver's and passenger's compartments; I guess intercoms will be allowed, provided they are password protected. But anyway, here are a few pictures:

Um... well, you can't tell from the pictures, but we did actually see animals at the zoo.








Traveling backwards one weekend found Shelly and I visiting with a very-pregnant Martha, who asked for and received a promise from me to update my blog. Also, she received unasked-for all her Christmas presents from Shelly and I and Erika and Jason and Charlotte:
We all also got to finally see Matt and Martha's new house, which they moved into just shortly after my last blog entry (just to give you an idea of the immense passage of time we're dealing with here). Very nice, so nice in fact that it set off pangs of jealousy in her two girlfriends, prompting awkward pronouncement on the ride home, such as "(snippy hypothetical comment deleted due to Shelly's use of her veto power)." Jason and I felt duly chastised.

Going back into the Christmas Season, Shelly and I spent an eventful week up in Maryland this year, where we enjoyed such niceties as meeting baby Annabelle for the first time during our visit to Abington, having dinner at the Chart House with Law-School Melissa and her significant other David (which gave me the opportunity to bring up wildly-inappropriate stories for David's enjoyment), Christmas Eve at my brother's house, Boxing Day at my aunt's, a trip to the gun range with five old friends, my first good Maryland snow in over five years, and a wondrous three-hour traffic jam through northern Virginia on the way up to do all of that. But hey, you're not here for a synopsis are you?

Ah, they're more or less in order. You know, given that pictures are worth a thousand words, I'm really making an investment in this entry, aren't I?

The month of November saw us go to Charlotte to celebrate with Shelly's side of the family; actually early December saw that too, come to think of it. Also, my Aunt Marie came out to visit from New Mexico in early November (as in, the weekend after I last blogged), and I made an after-work drive up to Maryland to see her for yet another particularly frantic weekend. I would post pictures, but blogger for some reason puts them in at the TOP of the entry every time I upload them, and I have to drag them all the way to the bottom, and every time it throws everything else out of order! Just get on Facebook and look at them there (or bribe someone who's on Facebook to show them to you, ya darn luddite!)

Alright, now that two month's worth of personal stuff is out of the way, let's talk politics!

The big story right now is the Massachusetts Senate race. At this point, it looks absolutely conceivable that Scott Brown (a Republican!) can win this race. Again, lest the first sentence in this paragraph left you uninformed of where this is happening, it’s in Massachusetts. MASS-A-CHU-SETTS.

This time last week, I would have said I couldn't see him winning, although at the time, I did say to Shelly “If I see one more poll showing him close, I’ll start to believe it.” There have been multiple polls since then showing him tied or outright winning. But his victory, while monumental, is not absolutely required for America to make its point: WE DO NOT WANT THIS HEALTH CARE BILL!

And make no mistake, that’s exactly what is being said here. Brown has made his opposition and promise to filibuster Obamacare a centerpiece of his campaign. The result: He’s surging ahead in a state that last sent a Republican to the Senate in 1972, last voted for a Republican President in 1984, and has three times as many registered Democrats as Republicans.

Congressional Democrats aren’t stupid; they're getting the message. They also know that, even if Martha Coakley (Brown’s opponent) pulls it out, a Democrat winning by 3-5 points in Massachusetts (again: Massachusetts!) is equivalent to a Democrat losing by 15 points in Virginia, Ohio, North Carolina, Florida, Colorado, Missouri, or any other competitive state. In Virginia this past November, Democrat Creigh Deeds had numbers nearly identical to Coakley’s as far as how fired up his own party was, how many Independents supported him, and how energized the opposition was, and he got CRUSHED 58-41%! The only reason this MA race is even close is because of the state that it’s in.

Furthermore, this race has got to leave an icy feeling in the stomach of every Democrat up for election this year. Not only because of the implications of a Democrat losing in MA (if MA isn’t safe, then nowhere is), but because of Obama’s reaction to it. At first, after repeatedly promising wavering Dems in the House and Senate that he'd campaign for them next year if they took a hard vote on Obamacare, the President at first opted to stay out of the whole thing, wary of damaging his own prestige by being tied too closely with a potentially devastating loss. Probably realizing the "every man for himself" message that decision was sending, Obama sprung into action and… recorded a tepid ad in support of Coakley. Only after the deep implications of a loss in MA finally penetrated the increasingly (and unbelievably, really) thick heads of the national Democratic Party did he finally get around to visiting the state, a grand total of two days before the election. Wow… that must have certainly been reassuring to every Senator and Representative who hails from a competitive district who happens to have a “D” after their name!

Well, that’s the state of play at the moment. I don’t know about you, but I know where I’ll be next Tuesday night: Watching those election returns! And yes, I WILL be blogging tomorrow night, believe me!