1/3/2007 - Out of hibernation

Everyone has New Year's Resolutions. Mine are

• Slouch less
• Smell roses
• Don't get involved in land wars in Asia
• Blog more

Facing reality, I have less time to blog than I used to, and the research I was doing on cities was a major barrier to blogging at all. This is too bad as I have passed through many wonderful cities and parks since I last posted. I'll try and mention some, but I won't be comprehensive. In the interest in blogging at all, I will be toying with the format. I don't really know where it will end up.

Walking

Where did JG spend his New Year's Eve? In Yellowstone park! The JG who didn't mind going to bed at 2 might have come up with some wonderful tidbits about the park, but the posting JG will have to be content to mention some of the names of the places I passed:

• Silver Gate
• Soda Butte
• Fossil Forest
  

and I'm current resting at Tower Junction. Next on my agenda? Mammoth Hot Springs. How psyched am I? In the past 13 months, I've taken nearly 6,000,000 steps and crossed much of the continent. I think I'm due for steam bath. Probably a bad idea.

At rest

I'm beginning to feel the effects of my walking. Or at least, those steps I take with a toddler in one arm. To add to my minor back and knee aches, I have developed some significant pain in my shoulder. It's pretty clear that this caused by sleeping on the shoulder as I wrap myself around 1 of 2 boys. I'm looking for some better position in which to lie, but honestly, I don't have that much control over my sleeping position. Ibuprofen has worked wonders, but I suspect an M.D. could do better.

Presidents

I heard an interesting podcast about Senators running for President. Only 2 sitting senators have ever been elected (although tons have been elected with some congressional experience). If the primaries were held tomorrow, each major party would probably put up a senator (McCain and Clinton). And this may indeed come to pass. But it seems like the parties are currently in a staring contest. If either one were to put up a Governor instead, the course of the election could be changed.

This is not mere voodoo, a la the correlation between mini-skirts and White House control. Members of Congress face a number of very real challenges when running, most notably [1] a long record of easily attackable votes and [2] lack of appearance of executiveness. Both were very evident in the 1996 and 2004 elections. Sitting presidents made mockeries of confusing, nuanced votes ("I voted for the bill before I voted against it"). I also remember an article from 1996 that described how, despite a Clinton-tantrum thrown at the media, it was Dole who held the stigma of a temper.

So what will happen? Will a last minute series of primaries thrust Giuliani into the role on nominee? Will Vilsack the Darkhorse defeat Dewey? In my opinion: no. Both Voters and opponents think differently in Primaries than in Presidential elections, so there would seem to be no guaranty that the best candidate will end up on the ticket.

I can't help but think that Howard Dean the candidate may indeed have faired better than John Flip Flop Kerry. And how much better would Howard Dean the Governor have done than either gentleman?

11,000 reformatted steps today. Cheers,