Rally at Raleigh
We had been planning to go to the State Fair yesterday, because Ana had never been and we thought that Alfie would like to see the animals. Then three days ago we found out that tonight Joe Biden was going to be at Meredith College, which is just a few blocks away from the Fair Grounds. So we decided to try do both, and skip Beginner Runes this week (probably the first I've missed in over a year, if not three years).
Yesterday, I got home at around 1:00, and after the usual mess of getting everyone ready to go, we left at around 1:30. It takes about a half-hour to get to Raleigh. People were supposed to be let into the amphitheater at Meredith at 5:00, and we figure that we should probabbly get in line at around 4:00 if it wasn't already crazy. That didn't leave a whole lot of time at the Fair, unless the rally was too packed to bother with. So we checked out Meredith to see if it was still OK, before going to the Fair Grounds, and they were.
Parking at the Fair costs $10! Screw that! Alfie can see the animals next year, and we can shuttle by train for cheaper. So we went to hang out at Ana's old stomping grounds until 4:00. I briefly met the infamous Erin, and Ana showed off Alfie to her old student adviser.
We briefly went to the competition to use the facilities and get some overpriced food, and then got to Meredith. The line was already moving at about quarter after. I don't remember how many times people pestered me about early voting, (Ana has already; I will shortly after I've done researching the candidates) volunteering, (We've got a 10-month old, and hardly any time that we're together at home), or a Wake county voter guide (I live in Orange, and no party is going to tell me to not make my own decisions).
We went through a secret service security station. We had to remove all metal and electronics from our person, as well as the diaper bag. A little warning would have been nice, since we had to burrow through the bag to find Alfie's spoons. When I went through the metal detector, the agent that was rifling through the bag asked what the green liquid was in the baby bottle. Being slightly taken offguard, I hesitated as I tried to come up with the right word. "Uh, vegetable juice." He told me to taste it; I did, looking like an idiot in the process. I just want to say that the whole liquid screening is pretty ridiculous. Am I going to poison Joe Biden from afar? Throw acid on his face to turn him into a deranged criminal?
We then got to the amphitheater to wait. It was probably around 5:00 at that point. If you were there, I was the one shouting "Turn down the damn bass!" The bass on the music being played progressively got louder as the night went on. Here's a rule of thumb: if you can feel the bass sending reverberations into your chest, it's too damn loud. Ana and Alfie eventually had to leave the blast radius of the noise, while we waited, and waited. Oh, and the music was a bright shiny mix of songs of hope, change, and freedom from all different genres (I have to admit that I actually own the album for one of the songs, Jesus Jones: Doubt, "Right Here, Right Now"), except one that was glaringly obvious (to me at least). Where was the power metal? Seriously, it could have helped to have a non-lame song in the very short list of songs played on random. How about some Helloween? How can that song make anybody not feel good after listening to it? Is it too anarchist? Oh, it probably doesn't have enough bass.
Joe finally came at 7:41, over 40 min. late. He said some good things, like ending the war, changing economic strategy, and stopping divisive politics. He talked about some things I wasn't so gung-ho about, like socialized medicine, and more government sponsored education. He also said some lame things, like his oppening jokes where he tried to put parts of the campaign race in NASCAR terms, because, apparently, if you live in North Carolina, you must like NASCAR.
Overall it was a good speech, but if he started on time, we probably could he made it to a bit of Beginner Runes.
Yesterday, I got home at around 1:00, and after the usual mess of getting everyone ready to go, we left at around 1:30. It takes about a half-hour to get to Raleigh. People were supposed to be let into the amphitheater at Meredith at 5:00, and we figure that we should probabbly get in line at around 4:00 if it wasn't already crazy. That didn't leave a whole lot of time at the Fair, unless the rally was too packed to bother with. So we checked out Meredith to see if it was still OK, before going to the Fair Grounds, and they were.
Parking at the Fair costs $10! Screw that! Alfie can see the animals next year, and we can shuttle by train for cheaper. So we went to hang out at Ana's old stomping grounds until 4:00. I briefly met the infamous Erin, and Ana showed off Alfie to her old student adviser.
We briefly went to the competition to use the facilities and get some overpriced food, and then got to Meredith. The line was already moving at about quarter after. I don't remember how many times people pestered me about early voting, (Ana has already; I will shortly after I've done researching the candidates) volunteering, (We've got a 10-month old, and hardly any time that we're together at home), or a Wake county voter guide (I live in Orange, and no party is going to tell me to not make my own decisions).
We went through a secret service security station. We had to remove all metal and electronics from our person, as well as the diaper bag. A little warning would have been nice, since we had to burrow through the bag to find Alfie's spoons. When I went through the metal detector, the agent that was rifling through the bag asked what the green liquid was in the baby bottle. Being slightly taken offguard, I hesitated as I tried to come up with the right word. "Uh, vegetable juice." He told me to taste it; I did, looking like an idiot in the process. I just want to say that the whole liquid screening is pretty ridiculous. Am I going to poison Joe Biden from afar? Throw acid on his face to turn him into a deranged criminal?
We then got to the amphitheater to wait. It was probably around 5:00 at that point. If you were there, I was the one shouting "Turn down the damn bass!" The bass on the music being played progressively got louder as the night went on. Here's a rule of thumb: if you can feel the bass sending reverberations into your chest, it's too damn loud. Ana and Alfie eventually had to leave the blast radius of the noise, while we waited, and waited. Oh, and the music was a bright shiny mix of songs of hope, change, and freedom from all different genres (I have to admit that I actually own the album for one of the songs, Jesus Jones: Doubt, "Right Here, Right Now"), except one that was glaringly obvious (to me at least). Where was the power metal? Seriously, it could have helped to have a non-lame song in the very short list of songs played on random. How about some Helloween? How can that song make anybody not feel good after listening to it? Is it too anarchist? Oh, it probably doesn't have enough bass.
Joe finally came at 7:41, over 40 min. late. He said some good things, like ending the war, changing economic strategy, and stopping divisive politics. He talked about some things I wasn't so gung-ho about, like socialized medicine, and more government sponsored education. He also said some lame things, like his oppening jokes where he tried to put parts of the campaign race in NASCAR terms, because, apparently, if you live in North Carolina, you must like NASCAR.
Overall it was a good speech, but if he started on time, we probably could he made it to a bit of Beginner Runes.