SORT OF A BIG DAY TODAY.

It's sunny in New York. From the little window in my little office, it looks like a bright and beautiful day out there. And it feels like one too. I've sat in this office on a lot of sunny and easy days. I also sat in this chair and listened as fighter jets circled the sky in the days just after September 11th when you had to show identification to get below Houston. That sound—American war planes above your home, there not for an air show or a practice run but for protection—is not one I ever thought I'd hear and not something you soon forget. The feeling then was that the world was changing for the worse but that we as Americans were coming together. That happened for a while and then it kind of un-happened. Today it feels (to me anyway) like we have a chance to come together while the world changes for the better. I really hope so. This is a big and wonderful country. And we as a whole are better than our baser elements and stronger than our fears and smarter than the moronic cliques that try to divide us. This isn't a political blog. As Hodgman has noted the only pork issues I tackle are of the cured, smoked and salted variety. The only job I've ever had in politics was during the strange, lost year I lived in Washington DC after college. I worked for a Democratic polling firm during Bill Clinton's first campaign. I honestly can't remember what I did at this job other than I walked to work and brought my own sandwiches from home and felt vaguely relieved that I had a place to wear my one suit. I remember though watching the election returns at the office all night and going out to celebrate with my co-workers who had real jobs and knew what they were doing. They were nice to let me feel a part of everything. Stumbling home as the sun was coming up, I walked by some dancers getting off work. They asked what had happened and I told them the news and we all cheered in the empty street. I'm going to refrain from making a joke here. It was just so exciting, all of it—the feeling the next day of generational change, of hope and possibility. Just wanted to check in here before I go vote, with a moment of honest optimism in my brain and heart, tempered by a bit of abject fear in my stomach and the excitement of a big day finally here. See you tomorrow, when I will again take on the larger issues of what I had for lunch and where I'm going on vacation.