Choo-Trains, Merry-Go-Rounds, and Gazebos. Oh My!

It was a beautiful day with sunshine and 70s, so we took the kiddos (mostly for Rachel) to Fremont Park here in Emporia today. The park has playground equipment, a gazebo, and the engine and caboose you see in the picture above. While we were there, we discovered two things:

1. Rachel really likes the merry-go-round (she calls it "whee-ing")

2. Mom and Dad can't stay on the merry-go-round very long any more.

Apparently sometime between 12 and 27, you lose the ability to stay on the merry-go-round for more than 30 seconds before your head starts swimming and you really feel like you're going to show everyone what you had for lunch. Rachel, on the other hand, really really really liked it.

After we were done with the merry-go-round (we being Laura and myself), I took Rachel over to look at the engine and caboose. Fremont park just happens to sit right next to the BNSF line, and as Rachel and I were making our way to the stationary "choo-train," a real one started blowing its whistle. So I took Rachel on over to the train tracks and she got to watch a real-life choo-train up close. I was worried that she might get scared since it's loud and big, but she really enjoyed watching the train go by with me. It reminded me of when I was little and my brother and I would watch the trains with Dad.

I told Rachel that maybe we could ride on a real passenger train with Grandpa sometime. Little does she know that would be as much fun for myself and Grandpa as it would be for her.

Voter Pains

The wife and I will be going to the County Clerk's office tomorrow (Thursday) and cast early votes for the election to avoid any hassles with voter registration that our upcoming move to Wichita will cause (we will move before the election, but after the deadline for Kansas voter registration). After watching the final debate tonight, I still don't know who I'm going to vote for. I will take any comments on this post under serious consideration before I go out to vote tomorrow.

I don't like the misleading statements that accompany any campaign, and I am dissapointed, though not surprised that this election is no different on both sides. I am a registered republican who did not vote in 2004 because I didn't like either candidate.

McCain

I like McCain's call for a government spending freeze. I think he's right that the budget needs a hatchet, then a scalpel. I like that he calls Obama a good man on the campaign trail, and that he thinks that Obama would do a decent job as President (he then says that he [McCain] would be a much better President, of course), but I don't like that he turns around and releases an ad attacking Obama's character; calling Obama a liar, Palin's comment that he "pals around with terrorists," and so forth. I don't like that neither he nor Sarah Palin have rebuked the idiots at McCain rallies who shout out things like "terrorist" and "kill him" in reference to Obama. Granted, those are only a very small handful of people, but they need to know that they have crossed a line, a line that McCain should not allow to be crossed. I like his idea to take $300 billion of the $700 billion bailout and buy bad mortgages. I like that he says that he will elect judges based on their qualifications, not their ideology, though I'm hesitant to take his word on that, due to the partizan pressures applied to the President. Of the two candidates, I believe McCain is most likely to be bi-partizan, though not to the extent that I thought he would have been 9 months ago.

Summary:

I've lost quite a bit of faith in McCain. I don't believe he has managed his campaign very well, and I'm concerned that mismanagement will stay with him in the White House if he's elected. He was supposed to be the maverick, who didn't give a damn what partizanship says he should do. I think he's sacrificed a lot of what originally appealed him to me in order to appeal to more of a partizan base. I think he's been around Washington long enough to know what will and won't work, and I believe he would be a better Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. However, he promised "to take the high road" in his Presidential campaign, a promise he has failed to keep.

Obama

I like Obama's ideas regarding health insurance. However, I'm concerned that he doesn't have enough experience in Washington to know what will and what won't work when it comes to these types of policies. Though I like his plan, it's not exactly bi-partizan friendly. I disagree with most democrats on a majority of moral issues, such as abortion. So I am concerned that Obama stated in the debate that a judge's ideology is a big factor in whether he would consider appointing them. However, I am beginning to recognize that voting based on a candidate's ideology regarding issues such as abortion is only one of a number of issues that should be given full consideration. I like how democrats in general, and Obama in particular seem to be more focused on giving financial relief to working-class americans in this economic crisis, and I believe his tax plans appropriately reflect that.

Summary:

Obama has managed his campaign very well, and the advisors he will have with him in the White House will make up for his lack of experience compared to McCain. I think he will have to make some changes, or just flat-out not do some of the things he would like to do simply because when he gets into office, he's going to find that it's easy to say you will do something when you are in a campaign, but find that it is more difficult to actually do it (or get it through the Senate) once you get to the White House.