My Week as a "Single" Dad

This past week I spent as a "single dad." Rachel had to go to Houston for work. It was her first business travel since she went back to work after Kam was born. I hadn't been looking forward to it because while I generally get him around in the morning and I have spent days watching Kam myself, even putting him to bed (something Rachel generally does), I hadn't done the whole package...and I hadn't done it for 4 and a half days straight.

During that time I:

• Put over 400 miles on the new car (good thing it's a Hybrid, right Al Gore?)
  
• Left work early every day by at least a half hour
  
• Prepared 9 bottles
• Changed a few more diapers than usual each day
• Watched 7 episodes of Stargate Atlantis on DVD (No TV competition)
• Ordered a Pepperoni, Bacon, and Extra Cheese Pizza

And I got to spend a lot of time with Kam. We played cars, and played with blocks, we read a few books, we watched a little TV, and we enjoyed some goldfish crackers together. We spent a lot of time in the car, but we had fun. The best part, though was when I picked him up at Day Care on Thursday, Ms. Fauzia had taught him to say "Dah-dee", and he proceded to say it over and over all evening, and it was extremely cute.

I realized that it wasn't as daunting a task as I thought originally - facing each day "alone." We get to do it over again in a couple weeks, but for now Kam and I both agree that it's great to have mom home. :-)

On Public Smoking Bans

Along the politics theme that I've been going on, another post. I've determined recently that I'm not as conservative as I thought I was during 2008. A couple things have helped me to realize this, but chief among them are certain laws that are enacted for public health reasons.

The first sign of this was when we went home to Michigan after Christmas. With one exception, most of the restaurants we went to had smoking sections. I don't smoke, and I cannot stand the smell of it. Living in Northern Virginia (coined "Communist Country" during the 2008 Campaign by Joe McCain), and working in suburban Maryland, I am very spoiled. The District of Columbia and the neighboring Maryland counties (MoCo and PG) have specific ordinances prohibiting smoking inside bars and restaurants. In Northern Virginia, the practice isn't specifically prohibited, but most restaurants do it on their own, or will have very small and very isolated smoking sections.

For health reasons, and my own enjoyment, I think this is a very good thing. Gov. Kaine of Virginia tried in 2007 and is rumored to be trying again in 2009, to pass a statewide smoking ban like those in DC and Suburban Maryland. It is not likely that this will pass the Republican-dominated General Assembly. That's ok, I guess. But what irks me, and why I'm inspired to post about this, is that there is a bill in the works that specifically prohibits localities from enacting their own laws for against public smoking. I'm not saying that we should actively support banning smoking laws everywhere, but the idea that Alexandria or Arlington or Fairfax should be prohibited from enacting public health laws on their own is preposterous!

Kal

Inaugural Musings

A few things struck me today as I watched the inaugural festivities:

• 2 million people really do fit on the mall...but they overwhelm Metro to do it.
• Where did the elder Bushes get those snazzy purple scarfs?
• I'm glad I watched it from home on my HDTV.
• For Obama's sake, I hope he isn't caught in the backlash where expectations are too high. (Bush is out of office now, shouldn't the rising waters be pushed back our planet be healed and the financial mess fixed now? What? Obama can't pay for my mortgage, gas, and food?)
• How did Dick Cheney go from injuring his groin to throwing out his back? Who makes this stuff up?
• Best line of the day goes to Katie Couric: At 12:05, pointing out that they need to get moving because constitutionally JOE BIDEN IS PRESIDENT since Obama wasn't yet sworn in and George Bush's term expired at 12:00 noon! (Katie, don't scare me like that!)
• I'm still glad I watched it from home.

Anyway...congrats President Obama, I wish you well.

Stargate Atlantis Makeover

In honor of the recent finale of Stargate Atlantis, Kal in Space has been given an Atlantis Expedition Makeover! The new theme features the Atlantis city-ship in flight, a Pegasus galaxy Stargate, an Ancient Puddle Jumper, and the USS Daedalus!

The goal is to introduce other Stargate Sets, like a Tau'ri, Wraith, Asgard, Goa'uld, and Ori...but this seemed like the best start to me!

Kal

Results & Dewisdomizing

Two things to talk about this week.

First, election results. In last Friday's post I told you about our special election here in Alexandria's 46th State House district. I eventually decided that I would not write my own name in, but that I would vote for Joe.

A special election is one that nobody shows up for because they don't know about it. In fact, when I went to vote, there was just one person voting when I walked in, and I got all checked in, voted, and left. The 5 poll workers all thanked me by name and I went on my way. I voted about an hour and 45 minutes after the poll opened...and was voter #23 at my precinct.

Anyway, back to Joe. A Republican in a heavily Democratic district (no Republican has represented Alexandria since 1995 - I think that includes the local level), Joe almost squeaked out a win. At the moment, they're counting absentee ballots and will initiate a recount, because when the polls closed, Joe was down by a mere 17 votes.

Our votes count, especially when less than 3,000 people vote out of a district of 45,000 registered voters.

Next, I'm now lacking in wisdom...teeth. Yep, yesterday morning I went under the knife and had all 4 removed. Pain is subsiding but I wish the swelling was following suit...I look like a chipmunk and wish I could eat some solid food. But, Rachel's been keeping a good supply of Wendy's Frostys coming so it sorta makes up for it. :-) I was debating not posting but Jenny was confident I could produce something coherent. Looks like she was right!
-Kal

Election Time!

That's right, it's election time in the Virginia House of Delegates 46th district, coming up on Tuesday. We have the distinguished (but not that well announced) honor of attending a Special Election to replace our delegate, Brian Moran (D), who has resigned to focus full time on his run for the Governor's office. That race has started heating up with the entrance of former DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe to the nomination battle.

Moran's abrupt decision to resign his assembly seat sparked a very quick election process to get a delegate chosen before the upcoming legislative session. So, the 283 Democrats and Republicans who were aware of it (as opposed to I and the other 45,000 registered voters in the district) converged on an area school to have a caucus and a canvass to determine their nominees.

The most interesting part of this spectacle is the nomination of Joe Murray for the Republicans. The entire length of his campaign for the nomination was 5.5 HOURS. The 49 Republicans who gathered for the canvass chose Joe - he received 20 votes vs the other two challengers who had 16 and 13 votes, respectively. Pretty spectacular, given that he hadn't made up his mind about running until the day of the canvass.

Most people in the district still don't know there is a special election next Tuesday, so I think it should be a quick run up to the poll. I am considering taking after my brother-in-law, Rich, and starting a 4-day write-in campaign. I don't think that Joe really stands a good chance (the Democrat has tangible experience in the community where Joe much less [none?], and this is a heavily Democratic district)...so I may actually write my own name in for kicks.

If you vote for me, all of your wildest dreams will come true.

Kal

(Source: Alexandria Times)

More on 2009's Resolution

Odds for keeping this resolution have just improved substantially. I have challenged my friend, sister-in-law, and fellow slacking blogger Jenny, to join me in this resolution, which is laced with super-secret detailed goals. You know, the "I could tell you but then I'd have to kill you" type. Visit her blog, Introspective Insights and encourage her to post too.

I chose this resolution because when I visited my own blog today I noticed I had a total of 4 blog posts in 2008. And, two were cop-out Hulu videos.

Still, my last post was September 30 and Jenny's August 21, so something needed to be done. After all, we're being totally outdone by Jenny's brother Rich, who updates his Encouraging Word blog far more often we do. In our defense, his is part of his ministry.

While I'm on the topic of shout-outs, here's one for my friend Mike (aka The Mario): Visit his website, TheMarioInc, which hasn't been updated since July 30, 2007. I'd say leave him a comment and demand he tell you all that's new since then (especially a little something to do with a really expensive computer accessory), but he doesn't have comments available. So, you can post comments on this entry instead.

Also visit my Moblog, which has had a somewhat more robust update schedule in 2008, and will hopefully improve alongside Kal in Space.

-Kal

New Year's Resolution

...to post more. I suspect this may be more successful than the lose weight, eat right, be positive/optimistic resolutions. At least I hope so. NO -- I resolve to.