I did not plan to write a rant about this election day. The initial results are coming in and the balance of power has shifted in our country. Personally, this is a bad thing in my opinion. Now we will have a President that can essentially do nothing for 2 years because nothing he is trying to accomplish will get passed because of the bullshit party politics. Screw the people, its all about who’s side is better. England does it right, when you vote for a prime minister you don’t vote for a person directly, you vote for the party. This way after the election, the party that wins gets the majority in the house of commons and the prime minister is able to accomplish things. You still get the same bickering and party bullshit, but at least stuff gets done. In our country though, we have just put ourselves in neutral.

Perhaps though, that’s ok. As I was doing my patriotic duty tonight waiting in line to cast my vote, I witnessed 2 things that outraged me. The first was the schmoron behind me in line. I overheard him talking with his wife. He said “The allot is so long(2 pages) because it’s also in Spanish. I swear, if you can’t read English you shouldn’t be allowed to vote.” I spun around and gave him a look. I wanted to see the ignorant bastard that said this. If my daughter wasn’t with me, I may have said something. My thought was he shouldn’t be allowed to vote for being so stupid. I bet the jackass thinks this country has an official language! As far as I’m concerned, the ballot should be in any language requested.

It got better from this jagoff though. As he and his wife were going over the ballot, I heard his passive wife ask about the judges. He quickly responded “I vote No on all of them. Clear all of them bastards out. They are all terrible.” His wife responded “Maybe we should learn a little more about what they stand for.” Hos retort was quick and abrupt “It’s too late for that, just get rid of all the bastards.” I wanted so bad to tear up his ballot. It is sad that ignorant idiots have the right to vote. They are so stupid, they don’t even realize how much damage they are potentially doing.

I have to admit though, I was not as responsible as I should have been. I did not research the judges either. But I chose not to vote in those elections. Perhaps I should have done the opposite to cancel him out looking back, but I didn’t feel comfortable giving my vote on something I didn’t understand.

That was part 1.

Part 2 took place in the voting booth next to me. There was a man who had a deformed arm. Looked like a birth defect in adult hood. Possible it was from an accident, but it really didn’t look that way. Anyway, this gentleman was probably in his mid to late 40′s and he asked for assistance with his ballot. Ok, it’s an option we all get, but he could read and I would assume he could write or color bubbles with his other hand. What he did do was chat up his helper. She would read the race and candidates and he would ask questions about each candidate that you should read in the paper. He would ask who was the better choice and although she did not choose for him, she did tell him who had what commercials on TV. When they were going over the amendments she was then explaining what the full translation and impacts of each were. Explaining what they meant and again, what the commercials looked like. Sure, she denied offering which she would vote for, but this still seemed very illegal to me.

I know the lady was just trying to be nice and as helpful as possible, but I think a line was crossed. I am under the belief that when assistance is given the helper should be able to do nothing but read the ballot word for word and color in the bubble of the voter if that much help is needed. I just know I have never felt so uncomfortable casting my vote in this country I love. I don’t know if what happened was illegal, but it sure didn’t seem right.

I lost faith in my country tonight. I know what I witnessed was very small in scale, but I wondered really how small the mentality is nationwide. What upsets me even more though is the trend I see in Washington. 6 years ago, we didn’t like things so we changed the Republican House to a Democrat one. Our President was useless and didn’t do much in between all his vacations. Now the American people still see problems that cannot be quickly fixed in 2 years and instead of giving the President the tools he needs, we take them away and switch it back. Guess what? When the next President or this President doesn’t get much done because of the newly applied red tape, we’ll do it all over again. I’m tired of bullshit promises though keywords that have no merit when said. These guys are career businessmen and in business your goal is to make money for your business so your business can grow. Only, they don’t see America as a business, they see it as a crutch for their own businesses and private future growth. Amazing what you can do for your business when you control the laws that will impact it.

No one has a platform based on education and how we’re falling behind in this country. Education is not as profitable as war and it is suffering miserably. I think its time we as an American people take back control of our country. Not just with our votes, but with our voices. In France the people did not want to see retirement age increase and the people came out in droves to fight it. The current generation doesn’t gather for much of anything. Until we take back the power from our elected officials we will be at the mercy of what they want, not what we want.

To the elected officials I say this. Drop the bullshit. Drop the negative ads and demographic based campaigning. Really try to do something already. Just tell us what you stand for, what you want to do and run on yourself, not your party rules. Fix what is broken in our government and start by getting rid of the backroom bullshit. Campaigns should be publicly fully funded. Even steven for each candidate. Term limits in every elected office with a limit on total years of service regardless of titles. Make these career politicians get back into the work force paying for health care and gas and bills just like the rest of us. Cut the pork barrel crap out completely. If an appended item has nothing to do with the main purpose of the bill, it doesn’t get added. It requires its own bill. Make it illegal for corporate lobbyists to exist from a financial perspective. No campaign funding, and no extra access than you or me to our officials.

To me, that sounds like real change that will make a difference in our country. Would it be good or bad? I don’t know. But it sure as hell can’t be any more broken than what we have now. I’m tired of the crap and I’m embarrassed as some of the citizens I share a community with. We need a big dose of tough medicine around here, but will we be willing to accept it? Probably not.

Last week I had a date with my other little girl. I took her to see her beloved Sydney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins. Despite her Daddy’s love of the Islanders, she picked the Penguins on her own accord thanks to her favorite animal in the world and she was rewarded with a cup. She was hooked and never let go. So I support her and her team choice.

My little bookworm enjoying the trip over.

Before the game, during the warm-up, her hero parked right in front of her. He even smiled at her when he skated by. She was smitten.

She didn’t get a puck like her sister did a few days before her, but she had a great time. Except that her team lost. She was NOT happy about that. After the game, she wanted to send her mom this picture to trick her into thinking we left with the goalie. I think she bought it.

Have you ever gotten a wrong number phone call? I’m sure you have. This weekend I got a wrong number text and I decided I would have some fun with it. Here is the result of my fun. Of course, I’m in the green…

In other news, I found a new hockey team to play on. It’s in the 35+ league(not 35 yet, but league said 8 months was close enough) and after my first game, you’d never know this was the “old man” league. These guys can skate, shoot, and play. The skill level is much higher than my previous league which I much prefer and look forward to continue playing in. Did I mention they can shoot? Hard enough a shot hit my throat guard and cracked it in half. The other best part? Early start times. 8:30 or 9:30 are the starting times. You get home by midnight unless a friend comes out to watch and you go grab a cocktail after… I am looking forward to the rest of the season and the challenge it will be. My team doesn’t have much for defense, but I don’t mind at all because I’m on the ice.

Later this week we will get to see the space shuttle Discovery go up. Yes, we see every shuttle go up from our front porch or at my office, or wherever we are, but this one will be different. We got lucky and were selected in a lottery to purchase tickets to watch the launch from the Astronaut Hall of Fame. This spot is about 12 miles from the launch pad meaning we will hear and feel the final liftoff of the shuttle Discovery. It is also the second to last shuttle launch ever I believe. I am excited to see every launch, but I am most excited for this one. It is an amazing thing to see no matter how far away you are. If you can see it, you are hypnotized by it.

This past Thursday night, this daddy had a special date with one of his daughters. We went to see our favorite hockey team play in person.

Don’t we look cute! I know we did because as we walked through the concourse and even at dinner, everyone was admiring how cute we were. I do mean everyone. Ushers, security, and even fans of the other team smiled or made sweet comments as we passed by. It almost made me uncomfortable with everyone staring as we walked hand in hand. However, her soft voice and little hand in mine made it quite magical for this proud papa.

On the ride over to our closest NHL arena where our team was playing and daddy happens to have season’s tickets thanks to an amazingly cheap deal, you have to make sure entertainment is provided.

All good dates have to have dinner right? She got her favorite dinner, pizza.

Did you know if you talk sweet and put gear on you can stand on the ice during warm-ups? Kidding. But we did stand right on the glass. No, that picture did not use zoom. It’s awesome!

When you get that close you get to see guys like this one up close. All 6’4″ and 227 pounds of him.

His name is Trevor Gillies and that was some screen caps I personally took of him last week before they played the Rangers. I love his intensity for the game. He is an enforcer in the NHL which means if you pick on one of my team’s star players, you get to deal with him in a not so friendly way.

On this night though, he would change my young daughter’s life.

As we watched the players during warm-ups I told her to waive at the players as they skated by and maybe one would wave back. 2 years ago it worked when my favorite goalie waved back to my older daughter. Anyway, as warm-ups were ending, she kept waving and Mr. Gillies spotted her from the blue line some 50 feet away. He stopped skating, motioned to me, bent over and picked up a puck off the ice. He then skated over to where we were in the corner and punched out the plexi-glass cover the camera guys stick their lenses through to take those great in-game photos you see in various publications, and handed the frozen rubber disc to me. Of course, I thanked him and he nodded and winked as he skated away.

It was too cold for her to hold for a few minutes, but she couldn’t have been happier.

My actual regular view at the start of the 2nd period. Yes, it was pretty empty for a Thursday.

But my team won the game in overtime. Now I’ll go back to cheering for the home team. Except when they play my team.

My little one had so much fun she told me she didn’t want to go to sleep when we got in the car. Alas, she did and our perfect night ended with Daddy in bed before midnight.

The best part for me is that I get to create these memories for my children. I seize every possible opportunity I can to do so with them. I do it with the two of them together, but I feel its just as important to get the one on one time every now and then. The bond I’m building now I feel will last forever.

In a few days, I get to do exactly this once again with my oldest daughter. This time though, we’ll be seeing her team play in person. I guess I’ll have to cheer for them with her.