I haven't gone to work this week because I am sick. Not super sick, but sick enough for it to be annoying. I am coughing a lot. Maybe it will stop tomorrow. That would be nice. Its boring sitting at home.

- We had city council and school board races in Raleigh last week. I had been putting in a lot of volunteer hours for City Councilor Russ Stephenson. He was re-elected. I like working on campaigns.

- On Saturday I will be going to a Democratic Executive Committee meeting. It will be the most important meeting for me since I became a member of the executive committee. Roughly 30 people, including myself, will be selecting a new member of the North Carolina State House to replace Ty Harrell who resigned. I will be casting a vote on behalf of the 5100 registered voters in my precinct, so I do hope to make the right decision. I am giving it a lot of thought.

- I don't understand the thought process behind setting another person on fire.

- The curling season is off to a pretty good start. My team is 2-2 and one game out of a championship game appearance with four games to go.

- The Bills suck, but I'm going to see them when they play Carolina in two weeks.

- Cough cough cough...sigh. :-/

- I haven't gone hiking since I was in Rochester. I should go this weekend.

Yesterday I went on my first door-to-door canvass since the final days of the Obama campaign. It was great fun! I went around Palm Bay Circle and Sporting Club Drive. As much as I dislike the actual act of canvassing a few good chats with people makes it all worth it. A lot of people in that part of the neighborhood are rightfully upset about a proposed Firestone auto shop being built right in their backyards. You literally have to turn down a residential side street to reach the entrance of the shop. Seems like a really dumb location to me.

I was canvassing to spread the word about a meet & greet I'm hosting for City Councilor Russ Stephenson next Saturday. Event info here. Everyone is invited. There will be free ice cream!

In other news:
- I ran a mile in 7 minutes and 16 seconds on Friday, but only 7 minutes and 39 seconds tonight. Wrong direction Chris!
- Justin and Yvonne had their baby this morning. Congrats to them.
- Today I got my hair cut, cleaned my kitchen, watched golf, ate dinner, and ran around.
- I filled out my curling registration form tonight. I spend a lot of money on curling. I need to buy curling shoes.
- This is my last full week of work before vacation!
- I suck at crosswords.
- I'm tired. Time for bed.

Remember to vote October 6th!

**Warning...I am too tired to proof read this tonight, please excuse my spelling and grammar mistakes :-)**

This weekend the Triangle Curling Club hosted the second annual Carolina Classic bonspiel. Twenty teams from clubs around the country competed in this three day event. I teamed up with three guys from the Potomac Curling Club; Dave, Jeremy, and Vince.

A big part of any bonspiel is the food. I was tasked with preparing a Pig Pickin' cake. This required me to mix oranges and yellow cake batter together. That sounded a bit gross to me at first, but it wasn't too bad. My cake had a sad ending however, we'll get back to that later.

After work on Friday I headed up to the ice rink for my opening match. We played a team from Knoxville, TN. They scored in the first end, but we played really strongly the rest of the match and won comfortably. I played pretty well this game. I was happy. On to the second round we headed, but that would have to wait until 9 a.m. the next morning.

Saturday morning I woke up and frosted my Pig Pickin' cake with cool whip, crushed pineapple, and vanilla pudding mix. Then it was off to the ice rink. In our first match we played a local Triangle teams. It felt like we played pretty decently, but we had a few bad breaks, and our opponents made some great shots. We lost, ending our chance at the overall championship. After teams gets knocked out of the main tournament consolation brackets form up, so we moved on to one of those. The crappy part about losing this game was it meant we didn't play again until 8:45 that night. We had nine hours to kill.

During the break my teammates and I went to play a little mini-golf. I shot a 42 and came in first. Go me. The rest of the day I watched some games and ate food.

That evening was our banquet. We ate an entire pig, done up Eastern North Carolina style. It was fantastic, but I had to play a game right after, so sadly I could not eat much of it. For desert we had Pig Pickin' cakes, but there were 10 of them and nobody ate mine. :-( I have a whole Pig Pickin' cake in my fridge right now, but I don't want it. I think I will have to throw it out. At dinner I also won an item in the silent action and two raffle prizes! I was happy about that.

The game after dinner went very well for us. Our reward for winning? An 8 a.m. game Sunday morning.

I really had to drag myself out of bed this morning. I was tired and quite sore. Three games in 24 hours takes a toll on you. The Sunday morning game ended up being our most competitive and fun game of the bonspiel and went down to the final rock. It was also one of my weaker games of the bonspiel, but I did have a really nice take out in the final end to help set up our win. Winning this match moved us into the 3rd event finals which started up after a short break and our piping ceremony.

In the piping ceremony we follow a bag piper out onto the ice and then take a shot of something which made my eyes water. After that it is game time. I don't have much to say about that game other than we got blown out by a very skilled team.

Making it to the third event finals earned is a silver medal. Three wins in five games is a very successful bonspiel in my book. Its the second year in a row I've medaled. More importantly the event was a lot of fun and in the sport of curling that is what matters most. My teammates Dave, Jeremy, and Vince were great fun to play with and hopefully I will run into them again some day.

Now I am tired, sore, and ready for bed. Good night all.

Pictures are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/chrisjaun82/CarolinaClassic2009

Today I walked around a lake in the rain. First I went through some woods, then over a dam, across a bridge, though some more woods, along a road, over some rocks, through a field, and back to my car. It was fun and it was wet.

Today I printed 110 invitations to my meet & greet for Russ Stephenson. We're envelope stuffing tomorrow evening. I hope people come. I will be bummed if they don't.

I just watched another episode of True Blood.

Yesterday I bought tickets to the Bills game when they come play the Panthers. It should be lots of fun. Its been a couple seasons since I've seen the Bills play.

Yesterday I renewed my apartment lease for another 12 months. I guess by then I should buy a house or something. I don't know. I like my apartment.

Yesterday I went to Marc and Karen's house warming party. It also turns out they are having a baby. Marc was the Obama field organizer I worked with during the campaign. The party turned into a bit of an Obama campaign re-union. It was nice to see some of the old crew.

Friday I went curling. My team won. It was our last practice session before the bonspiel starts up next weekend. I'm playing lead for an out of town team. My first match is at 6:15 on Friday.

Thursday the softball season ended. We lost a heart breaker 7-6. I will miss softball, but the next curling season should start up soon and I'm thinking of playing frisbee again this year, so I should be okay.

Time for another week of work. August is going to be a busy month. Luckily I will get to escape a bit at the end of it!

Lots of politics.
A good deal of softball.
A bit of curling.
Work.
Bird watching.

1. Politics - We have some exciting city council and school board races going on in Raleigh this year. So far I've been paying most attention to the city council races, but those school board races are incredibly important as well. I'm planning a meet & greet for City Councilor At-Large Russ Stephenson. Its happening on August 22nd at 3 p.m. in the Brier Creek area. There will be free ice cream. Everyone is invited. http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=106476009404

2. The softball team has a record of 5-8. Its our best season ever. Right now we are in the playoffs and have already suffered our first defeat in the double elimination tournament. Next game is tomorrow night. I really want to win.

3. I had a pick-up curling match a couple weeks back and another one is coming up this Friday. Its my last chance to play before our 3-day bonspiel begins on August 7th. There are a few spots open if anyone wants to come curling this Friday.

4. Been going to work every day. Well over 500,000 downloads of the product I work on since our release a few weeks ago....http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/

5. I had three adorable baby robins living on my deck the last couple weeks. They are gone now. I kind of miss them. Here are some pictures....http://picasaweb.google.com/chrisjaun82/BabyRobins072009# I hope they are doing okay!

Less than a month until vacation! :-)

Obama was in Raleigh today. I did not have tickets though, so I did not see him.

I ran around the block tonight.

- Today I read the first 1/3 of The Blind Side. It hit me that the kid whose story is told in the book is the kid who was drafted in this year's NFL draft.
- I had two bowls of ice cream 30 minutes before bed. Shouldn't have done that.
- My baby robins are getting so big! They should be with me for another week. I hope they don't die. That would make me sad.
- I'm hosting an event for Raleigh City Councilor At-Large Russ Stephenson on August 22. You all should come! http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=106308572629 There will be free ice cream.
- Last night I saw Harry Potter. It was alright. I thought it was a bit choppy.
- I went to a Lincoln lecture on Saturday at the Cameron Village Library. It was good. I asked a question about the 14th amendment.
- Friday night I went curling. My team did not win. I will curl again on the 31st. Then our bonspiel is Aug 7 - 9. Lots of curling!
- Won one and lost one softball game this week. Our record is 5-6.
- I'm coming to Rochester at the end of August or early September.
- Now I should sleep.

I never post here anymore. Its been weeks!

I'm going to write something this week. I would tonight, but I'm tired. I don't know what yet though.

Before I tell you of tonight's softball game you must understand the following...

Season 1 - One victory.
Season 2 - Two victories.
Season 3 - Three victories.
Season 4 - Three victories.
Season 5 - ???

Tonight we picked up our third win of the season. We have tied our all time win record, but we have at least 8 games left to pick up the 4th!

The score was 16 to 12. I walked once, popped out, and scored a run.

In other news I'm tired.

Good night.

When I watch a video of a young Iranian woman dying in the street, blood flowing from her mouth, I do not see some anonymous person in a foreign land. I see my neighbor, I see my sister. They say her name was Neda.

When I see an unarmed student being beaten to death by Basiji thugs I do not see a stranger. I see my friend, I see my brother, I see myself. The Iranian people are us, and they are being slaughtered tonight by their government. We must stand with them. We must bare witness to the crimes being committed against them.

I find great inspiration in the courage and the cause of the protesters. They are standing up for each other, their freedom, and the right to choose their own leaders. No one on this Earth should have to live under a "Supreme Leader." The protests are no longer about the election. This election was just another in a long line of offenses against the people. At this point the Iranian people have two choices. Revolution or submission. It is their decision alone to make.

As the security forces continue to crack down they simply create more lives that must be avenged. If the people rise as one they can defeat the Basigi militiamen who murder indiscriminately. They can defeat the riot police who have turned on the people. They can bring down the tyrants who cling to power, but they must rise as one and they must be prepared to pay a great price. As I watch the people march I constantly wonder what I would do in their shoes. My hope is that I would be advancing forward with them as firmly as I am with them in spirit tonight.

We'll see what happens tomorrow. My guess is that people will continue to fight.

Follow things here...http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/13/iran-demonstrations-viole_n_215189.html

Neda's video if you want to watch it, but I warn that it is very bloody. The eyes of someone who knows they are moments from death are haunting.

I have not been updating much lately. I think my posting frequency is directly proportional to the closeness of an election.

The last time I updated I was still in Charlotte at the DFA Campaign Academy. I focused most of my elective sessions on fundraising and media/message strategies. I thought the academy was fantastic. I want to bring it to Raleigh next year. Its important that Democrats and progressive activists have the skills necessary to run for office themselves or work on professionally modeled, well organized campaigns.

On Tuesday I attended a Wake Dems County Executive Committee meeting. We had to nominate people to serve as the Democratic members of the county board of elections. The other interesting part of the meeting, which I did not get to participate in because I don't live in the district, was the selection of a new State House member from the 33rd district. The current office holder resigned when he was appointed to the State Senate. Thirty-eight people showed up to vote and they selected Rosa Gill on the third ballot 21-17. I found it odd that so few people get to elect someone to office, but probably better than the governor just picking someone.

I missed a softball game to go to that meeting. The team lost 27-1. Didn't feel too bad about missing the game after hearing that.

Friday night I had dinner with Dan and Rebecca and then we saw All the President's Men at the NC Museum of Art's outdoor movie series. Saturday night we went back and saw Frost/Nixon. It was Watergate weekend.

Today I spent most of my time out on the deck enjoying the day and making crazy spread sheets.

I have been captivated by this election in Iran. It seems pretty clear the whole thing was a farce. Now the students and other opposition supporters have taken to the streets in protest. They are being brutalized and attacked by the tyrants that control Iran. They are all extremely brave to continue to resist. Something like 60% of Iran is under the age of 30. When this new generation takes power in the next decade or so things will change. The Ayatollah's will be disposed and hopefully freedom will come to the people. For now we need to support the protesters.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/13/iran-demonstrations-viole_n_215189.html

...so lets make a list.

- I am still in Charlotte.
- I mailed my membership form into WakeUP Wake County on Friday. I'm going to start working more on education, transit, and water issues.
- I like hotels with microwaves.
- When this health care reform bill passes it needs to contain a public option.
- Sixty-two percent of all bankruptcies filed in 2007 were linked to medical expenses
- Tomorrow I will drive back to Raleigh after class and my weekend will be over. :-/
- I'm sleepy. I'm going to stop now. This list is boring.
- Someday I am going to run for public office.

I'll be leaving straight from work tomorrow and heading down to Charlotte for the two day DFA Campaign Academy. I hope its fun and I learn some new things. I've got elections to help win this fall!

- Softball was rained out tonight.
- I went to a meeting on the new Forest Ridge Park that will be build around the north-east edge of Falls Lake. The plans look really nice.
- This fall us Raleigh residents will vote for mayor, 2 at-large city council members, and our district councillor. Some of us will also be voting in Wake County School Board elections.
- The Lakers are going to win tonight.
- I'm sleepy.
- There are 33,955 street lights in Raleigh.

Softball was great tonight. We were playing a team we "should" beat, but as often happens things did not go to plan at the start. First I started off our at bats by fouling out. Then we had a crappy defensive inning and suddenly we were down 10-2. We did not give up though!

A six run inning got us back in the game. Our defense did not give up another run either. In the bottom of the 5th we tied the game at 10. The top of the 6th was a little scary. They loaded the bases, hit a long fly ball that looked to be over Raj's head, but he managed to catch it. In the bottom of the 6th we loaded the bases as well and Min hit a fly ball to short center, Rick tagged up and made it to home for the walk off win. We are 2-1 on the year.

I went 1-3. Boo.

Next game Thursday.

Had some great BBQ sauce tonight.

I was saddened and angered by the act of terror that took the life of Dr. George Tiller today. If the extremist elements of the anti-choice movement think they can change policy through acts of violence they are sorely mistaken. Since 1977 there have been eight murders of abortion providers and 17 attempted murders. This is a threat to all women and the health care professionals who serve them. I'm glad to see our government is taking the threat seriously. This evening Attorney General Eric Holder directed the U.S. Marshals to "offer protection to other appropriate people and facilities around the nation."

Name me one pro-"life" activist who has been murdered by a pro-choice activist.

Anyways....

Today I went to a fundraiser for Raleigh City Councilor Nancy McFarlane. I had a very nice time and got to meet a lot of people. Nancy is running for re-election in district A, which covers much of North Raleigh. The election is in October.

This morning I went for a nice long walk around the neighborhood.

Last night I saw Night at the Museum at the IMAX with Adam, James, and Megan. It was amusing though I don't think it will be winning any Oscars this year.

I didn't do much else yesterday except read.

Friday night I went curling and won! My shot felt pretty good, but my sweeping was a little shaky. The next pick-up curling is Monday, June 22 at 7 p.m. It will be a 90 minute, six end session, and costs $15.

In work news I am now a committer on the Eclipse WTP Source Editing project. Woo.

I guess that is all.

Our work softball team, the RAD Sox, won its first game of the season tonight. We are 1-1. I was very pleased by the victory, but I admit to being a little nostalgic for the victories of old. Traditionally we'd be 0 - "some big number" before we'd eek out that first win. It was a momentous occasion that would require some post-game celebration. Now that we have improved from a very bad team to a slightly below average team the wins are a little bit more expected. Anyways....

The final score was 14-10. I had a nice hit to start the game and scored, but did not hit well at all in my next three at bats. In one I fouled out and in my third at bat I experienced the most embarrassing occurrence in slow pitch softball....the strike out. The rest of the team is hitting well, much improved over last year.

Tomorrow night is curling.

The end.

A couple months from now Sonia Sotomayor will be sworn in as the next justice on the United States Supreme Court. From all I have read about her she appears to be an outstanding choice. Sotomayor brings more experience as a judge to the Court than any of the current justices did when they were first nominated. She has been a prosecutor, corporate lawyer, trial judge, and an appellate judge. She has been confirmed overwhelmingly by the Senate twice before, the first time after being nominated by George H. W. Bush. She will be the first Hispanic and only the third woman to ever serve on the Court.


I imagine it must have been great fun for a former constitutional law professor to name a Supreme Court Justice.

The softball game was rained out. I went to the Wake Dems board meeting instead. Now I will sleep.

- I am watching the Lakers game.
- I read quite a bit of my The Real Eve book this weekend. I like to imagine what my 80,000 year old ancestor was like. According to this book they were hanging out somewhere in the Middle East, living near the coast.
- I went for a walk this evening.
- I went for a hike this morning.
- I ate half of a giant piece of watermelon.
- I don't like the ice cream I bought yesterday, but I will eat it anyway.
- In two weeks I get to go to campaign school in Charlotte! I'm looking forward to it.
- I've been studying up on local issues lately.
- We lost our first softball game last week 19-7. Next one is scheduled for tomorrow evening, but its supposed to rain. If the game gets rained out I'm going to go to the Wake Dems Board meeting.
- Allow me to direct you to the highlights from the education forum I went to a couple weeks ago. You can find the video there. I highly recommend checking out the first two speakers, the first 40 minutes or so. Very interesting stuff. http://wakeupwakecounty.com/cms/node/125
- 4 of the 9 School Board seats are up for election this October. Two are currently held by Democrats and two by Republicans. The Dems hold a 6-3 majority at this time. I want to hear the candidates talk about their long-term vision for reforming our school system.
- Today is Memorial Day. A day to pay tribute to those who have died for our county in war.
- I didn't do much yesterday.
- Saturday I went to a birthday party.
- Next Friday is open curling. If anyone wants to come out let me know.
- The next open curling is on June 22nd.
- It is so hot in here. I really don't understand my aversion to air conditioning. Maybe I will turn on the fan.
- Well....lets go do some laundry now.
- 4 day week!

80 million people in the world speak French. One million students in America are studying it.

Well over a billion people speak Mandarin Chinese. China will soon have the worlds largest economy. About 40,000 students in America are studying Chinese.

Our foreign language system was designed for last century. Students today should be learning Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, and Arabic. Our economy and security will be tied to these languages for decades to come.

To be successful today's students need to be able to work across cultures in globally disbursed teams. An understanding of other people and effectively communicating with them is critical for doing so.

We should start teaching a second language in elementary school. We also need to be studying the culture and history of the people who speak these languages. Cultural fluency is an important part of communication.

This is one of many reforms that must be incorporated into our school systems to keep America competitive and strong in the next half century. By 2050 only 1/10th of the world's population will live in North America or Europe.

There are challenges to finding qualified teachers with so few people studying these languages today, but we have to start and now is the time. I'd like to hear our Wake County School Board candidates commit to starting Chinese and Arabic pilot programs in our schools within the next couple years.

That is all for now.

Sources: http://wakeupwakecounty.com/cms/files/pdf/AnnDenlingerPresentation.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers

My first vacation of 2009 is coming to a close. I arrived in Hilton Head on Saturday to warm weather and sunny skies. We are staying in the Sea Pines area in a community called Lands Ends, which is at the southern most end of the island. Our beach house looks directly out on a sound between our island and another. Open ocean is a 10 minute walk down the beach.

Saturday night we ate at the Sea Shack and I had crab cakes.

The only time I have seen the ocean on my trip was Sunday morning when I woke up and went for a stroll/jog, mostly stroll along the beach. After that Aunt Sherry, Erin, and I went for a 10 mile bike ride. We visited some old plantation ruins and went to Harbor Town.

Sunday afternoon it started to storm. There was a fair amount of lightening. One of the bolts took out our TV and internet. It did not come back until today when the guy came and replaced all the equipment, including the line to the house. Sunday night we ate at Hudson's and I had crab stuffed flounder. My grandma had a salad dumped in her lap.

Monday it was in the 50's, cold, windy, and rainy. I didn't even bring a long sleeved shirt. I tried to walk around the beach a bit, but it was downright unpleasant, even with the positive attitude I brought to it. At one point my cousin Kevin and I found a kite and some line which apparently had snapped. We tied the line to my umbrella and tired to fly it. We were somewhat successful except for the time it got stuck in the tree and when we finally lost it when the line snapped again and it blew away. We ate dinner at the Salty Dog Cafe and I had seafood pasta. It was very good.

Today it was windy, cold, and rainy again. Took a little walk, but it was not much fun. The wind was blowing giant blobs and sea foam through the air. I managed not to get hit in the face. We did some actual kite flying today. My eight foot purple octopus kite from last year still works great. I had fun. We went to Marley's for dinner and I had grouper tacos and she-crab chowder.

Tomorrow morning I hope to take a bike ride if the weather is better. I had no actual "beach time" this whole vacation. Very unusual weather for mid-May in Hilton Head. Last year it was beautiful. After the bike ride I will hit the road for home. Thursday I will go back to work. Thursday night is the opening game of softball season. I can't wait for that.

Then it is a long weekend. Then it will be June. The year is flying.

Despite the weather vacation is still good and I had fun and some good laughs. Its always nice to see the family. We got to make puzzles and play games!

P.S. - I think I am getting fat. Ate too much and moved too little this week. Can't resist the Grandma baked cookies.

Last night I stayed up late for no good reason. This morning I woke up at eight, finished packing, and began driving at 9:40 a.m.

Two incidents of note during the drive.

1. This pickup truck was hauling a trailer. A tire on the trailer blew right in front of me. Chunks of rubber were flying all over the place, including a few that smacked into my windshield. No damage. Took some burnt rubber smell with me for a while though.

2. Got stuck in an hour long accident induced backup on I-95. Not sure what happened, but when I got up there I saw a motorcycle and a smashed up camper thing. It did not look as though the motorcycle had been involved in a crash. Hopefully no serious injuries.

I arrived at our beach house on Hilton Head Island at 4:15 p.m. We went out to dinner at the Sea Shack. I had crab cakes.

Tonight we took a quick walk on the beach in the dark and now we are all tired and going to bed. All being my grandma, aunt, and two cousins.

I plan to take my early morning walk tomorrow. Then I will go for a bike ride. Then maybe a little beach time. Lots of thunderstorms in the forecast though, so we'll have to see how that goes. Thunderstorms at the beach can be pretty fun. I wouldn't mind a few.

I will return to Raleigh on Wednesday. Work on Thursday and Friday and then a 3-day weekend. May is a good month.

Time to read and sleep. Just started a new book called The Real Eve - Modern Man's Journey Out of Africa. So far it has fascinated me.

Good night.