Haven’t had much time to blog or read other folks the past couple of days. I’m hoping to have some time this week to update both here and Shot’s Shack with something or other. I also want to catch up on what others have been up to and to check out the political/news blogs.

Donna and I loved the Rose Parade yesterday. Of course, we both grew up watching it on television, but it is amazing to actually sit there in Pasadena and see these huge floats moving by you. I don’t care how good your HDTV is you cannot imagine how absolutely beautiful and detailed these floats are until you are within feet of them. We probably won’t go next year, but you never know. Right now we are thinking about doing something else next New Year’s Eve & Day, depending on a number of things taking place. The idea is to get a hotel room next time we do the parade so that we can spend the next day actually viewing the floats close up.

I definitely recommend going if there is any way you can get out here. I’ve seen the Macy’s Parade several times in person and even went the night before once to watch them inflated. I’ll still put the Rose Parade over that in terms of enjoyment and the feel of the place is totally different, if you know what I mean. Kristina and her friend Christine joined us at the parade and we all loved it, even though The Child seems to have indulged a bit too much the previous evening.

The picture of the City of Anaheim float is from the OC Registger. I plan to post some personal photos I took as soon as I get a chance, probably in a couple of days.

Even with various family activities and things you can’t totally escape the political news. I’ve noticed some news shows are now running segments saying that the Iowa Caucuses really DO NOT represent the American public. “Hey, we have built this up to be THE story for the past six months, but it really isn’t as important or relevant as we’ve made it out to be.”

Let’s be honest and mention that the citizens of neither Iowa nor New Hampshire, for that matter, represent much more than a tiny percent of the U.S. voting population. Statistically NH is a better sampling than those politically active folks in Iowa. The mainstream media and political types are the ones who have made these two events into such an important symbol of viability. Now with so many other states jumping on the ‘early primary’ bandwagon those candidates ending up in first or even second place are going to have a huge advantage. In some ways it almost makes you sentimental for the days when the conventions would be held and it was still uncertain who the nominee would be. Unless something significant happens we’ll probably know by April who has been chosen as the Presidential nominees. By June we’ll all have to look for Third Party alternatives!