For those who haven't been the last two years, this is a great event. A little more structured than traditional unconferences with the same unconference conversations and speakers from all over.
Rollins College, Sept. 25th-27th. The 27th being the 'main event' (a saturday, which is somewhat of a departure from the last couple of years where it was held on fridays) Read more / Check it out!
I'm leaving tonight for northern Alabama with some old college buddies. We're heading to Sand Rock for a few days of climbing and then hitting up some rapids up in Tennessee (I think) on Sunday.
I'm really excited, but for some reason all I can think of is Without a Paddle. I'm pretty sure I'm Seth Green's character in all this. Better than, I donno, Lewis maybe in Deliverance, I guess ;) I've never been big on the whole woods thing.
We're heading out to Austin, TX tomorrow -- hit me up if you'll be out there as well. I'm really excited. I've been dreaming about Iron Works BBQ for the last couple of weeks ;)
alex at blogsmith dot com would probably be the best, or via twitter.
2008 UCF FOOTBALL SCHEDULE Aug. 30 - South Carolina State Sept. 5 (Fri.) - USF (ESPN) Sept. 20 - at Boston College Sept. 27 - at UTEP Oct. 4 - SMU Oct. 11 - at Miami (Fla.) Oct. 26 (Sun.) - at Tulsa (ESPN) Nov. 2 (Sun.) - East Carolina (ESPN) Nov. 8 - Southern Miss Nov. 15 - at Marshall Nov. 22 - at Memphis Nov. 29 - UAB
Conference Games = Bold
USF, BC, Miami, Tulsa, ECU, Southern Miss are all the games that we could drop (yeah, yeah, any given saturday/etc..). That puts us anywhere from 6-6 to probably, I donno, 9-3. I'll adjust my optimism/pessimism meter after the spring game ;)
Three ESPN games for sure though. Just on odd days.
By far the coolest political video I've ever seen. There are a lot of things about Obama that I don't agree with (immediate withdrawal, for one), but man is it hard not to like this guy.
It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.
Yes we can.
It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.
Yes we can.
It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.
Yes we can.
It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballots; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.
Yes we can to justice and equality.
Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.
Yes we can heal this nation.
Yes we can repair this world.
Yes we can.
We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.
We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics...they will only grow louder and more dissonant ........... We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.
But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.
Now the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea --
Regardless of whether or not you like the Clintons, one thing that's generally agreed on by everyone is Bill Clinton's calm, cool, collected approach (publicly) when campaigning. Town halls were made for this guy.
NY Times has an article talking about Bill Clinton's campaign antics and his tendency to lose his temper while campaigning for his wife. It's an interesting read, if you're into that sort of thing.
I've been watching the "fascinating" Iowa Caucus coverage. The Iowa Caucus is an event that comes before their nomination convention, and winning it carries no immediate delegates. Basically, everyone shows up to a public place, stands next to the fold out table of their favorite candidate, and raises their hand. It comes across as one step above a straw poll, just held at a much more crucial time. I guess its a little more formal than that, but.. I feel sorry for the people who had to work tonight and couldn't attend -- basically, they get no voice.
We sure do put a lot of stock into it though. It's seen as the ultimate spring board into the New Hampshire primary (the first actual primary).
To give you an idea of just how small the Iowa Caucus actually is -- the total state wide turnout is less than just the Republican turnout in Miami Dade County in '06. Or try this -- there have been more absentee ballots requested in the state of florida by Republicans already for '08, than the entire turn out of both parties in Iowa. (I use republican numbers just because that's what I have access to, serves as an illustration for both parties).
Here's where it gets even crazier -- over $50 million was spent in Iowa just on T.V. ads. Compare that to 2004, when $9 million was spent on TV ads in Iowa. Most of the campaigns have hundreds of people on the ground in Iowa. Hillary Clinton's camp said they had 5,000 people just to drive people to the polls (I'm sure they were volunteers, but.. just pointing out the amount of focus put into it).
So much attention, and so much money, for absolutely zero delegates, with New Hampshire right around the corner (the 8th?). Only one candidate rejected the notion of Iowa outright -- Rudy. He spent today campaigning in New Hampshire and Florida instead of Iowa. In years past, this would have been seen as completely crazy. This year the primaries are so close together, it's only a little crazy. If it works, will Iowa start losing importance? I mean, the entire thing seems incredibly silly. Why are we still doing this in 2008? Isn't it supposed to be the future?
Anyway, the biggest story of today is that a black man won an Iowa Caucus. He didn't just win. He spanked Clinton and Edwards. Iowa is a state thats something like 95% white. We're not a perfect nation, we have our share of problems, but it would seem to me that we're certainly making progress.
The next story is Huckabee. Huck was outspent 10:1 in Iowa by the Romney campaign. Romney has been on the ground for over a year in Iowa and has spent the most money there. Losing after that much effort seems like it speaks volumes. We'll see if voters in New Hampshire agree.
Speaking of Huckabee -- Anyone see Chris Wallace call Ed Rollins (Huck's chariman) out onto the carpet? Ed went on about how Huck didn't go negative and how that helped him win, then Chris asked him if the blog post on townhall.com was true and that they were planning on going negative in south carolina but making it look like they weren't (sneaky politician crap). Ed admitted that the blog post was true, and then man, I thought Ed's head was going to explode. Chris basically proved that Huck's campaign wasn't all that innocent in how they went about the whole pulling-the-negative-ad-but-we're-still-going-to-give-it-to-the-press-anyway thing. As far as politics go, thats about as good of TV as it gets. I'm sure a dozen people will post it on YouTube tomorrow.
2008 UCF FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
I've been watching the "fascinating" Iowa Caucus coverage. The Iowa Caucus is an event that comes before their nomination convention, and winning it carries no immediate delegates. Basically, everyone shows up to a public place, stands next to the fold out table of their favorite candidate, and raises their hand. It comes across as one step above a straw poll, just held at a much more crucial time. I guess its a little more formal than that, but.. I feel sorry for the people who had to work tonight and couldn't attend -- basically, they get no voice.