I couldn't put my finger on it when I was listening to him the other night, but brack Obama's speach was eerily similar to something Malcolm X would do. not in the words, per se. Bu tin the presence and elocution. The delivery. that he looks similar reinforces this idea.

I've watche dmos tof hte three days so far of the convention, and I like it. Obama was just jaw-dropping in his excellence. Carter was great, Clinton was himself, Hillary was shrill and difficult to listen to, Teresa was soft-spoken and powerful, and Edwards was what we've come to expect.

It's no secret that I'd vote for a rottten potato if I thought it could beat Bush. But the excitement I have for Kerry/Edwards has increased significantly as a result of this convention so far.

I'm anxious to see what Kerry does tonight.

What did Whoopi say? All I've heard is that they were off color puns on Bush's name. But what exactly was it? Is it really so bad? Should the people that coudn't stop talking about cigars and semen stains on dresses really be offended at a comediene making off-color jokes?

I created a new catagory for Tennis. As the Summer winds down and opportunities for Rick and I to take turns whuping each other increase, I thought it'd be fun to track how well we do. We don't really track any of the real stats (Aces, Double Faults, winners, unforced errors, etc..) but we do keep track of games. We usually only play one set, as we are out of shape, and it's hot. We think that once we start getting more serves in things will speed up and we could get a set in in under 45 minutes. I think we've gotten good enough to start keeping track.

So to start the tracking, let me recap our last "match".

Things started off great for Rick. He won the first three games, and I really couldn't do anything right. I'm still getting used to the new racket and it's tight strings. Balls were going 1-2' long every time, and lobs were exploding into the stratosphere. And Rick was hitting it well, getting serves in, and moving me around and getting easy winners.

But serving 0-3, things started to change. I think I just settled down and stopped thinking too much. I started to get my serve in, made some great hustle plays, and cut out most of the unforced errors. I managed to hold serve, to close to 1-3.

Then we played the most epic point we've had together. We lost track of the number of break points and game points we played for that game. But Rick must have served more in that game than he did for the rest of games. I finally won a break point, and found myself back on serve.

Serving 2-3, I had a great game. I don't think I doubled at all, dropping only two points to pull even @ 3-3. And it was there, with Rick serving 3-3, that I think his previous marathon service game began to take its toll. He doubled a few times, and I managed to get a few winners others to break him. And from there, it was pretty smooth sailing. Serving 4-3, I won a rare love service game. I don't rememebr that happening before. At least, not with me serving. :)

In all, I managed to win the last 6 games to take the set 6-3. The turning point was the long service game Rick had serving 3-1. I think that took something out of his legs. That, or I settled down and just played a lot better than I had been. In any case, I expect history to repeat itself, and for him to win most of the games next time. I'm lucky to have someone to play with that's able to compete.

So the record for the 04-05 Season is now Me 1-0, Rick 0-1.