Today is a very historical and joyous day for all Americans. Unless you were living on the surface of the sun or under a rock somewhere out in the Canadian wilds you would know the name, Barrack Obama. Now our 44th president of the United States of America.

I sit here on my couch 8 hours after history has been made. Now that I have had time to fully take in and contemplate the day’s events, (and finally watch the full inaugural, without the streaming… message repeatedly appearing) i’d like to submit a few thoughts for the record. No doubt that by now all the news networks have put their spin on it, analyzed the angle of the sun, and the colors of Michelle Obama’s dress.

January 20th, 2009 will not only live on as a day when we brought the first African American president into the White House but also as a day when the citizens of this country once again lived up to the promise of our forefathers and a changing of ideologies and methodologies in the Capitol which are necessary for this country to become great again. President Obama’s election was a bold move on the part of the American people. In my opinion this event is on the same level as Kennedy with the space program, and FDR with the second world war. Maybe that is stretching the point a bit, but it seems that America is once again united with purpose on this day.

For the second time in my adult life I have witnessed a historic moment when it seems that all Americans are once again united behind a common purpose. The first being September 11th, 2001. Before that day I had not known just how united we could be as a country. Today I see that unity expressed once again. Not in the common fear or the resolve of a people scorned by despicable attacks. But in the promise of a more hopeful tomorrow and a glimpse of living up to the vision that is America.

Oh and my favorite part of the inaugural ceremony, from the benediction:
“When black will not be asked to get back,
When brown can stick around,
When yellow will be mellow,
When the red-man can get ahead, man,
and when white will embrace what is right”

I truly hope that Barrack will be as good as we have all hoped and even better.

“A great day for freedom” a sentiment uttered by my friend Brian, and shared by myself, upon the announcement of Barrack Obama as the 44th president of the United States of America. Being here to witness this defining moment in our history not only restores my faith in democracy but it also reaffirms that the dreams that we as Americans hold dear are still alive. I sincerely hope that those that did not support Obama will instead support the shared vision that this country can once again become great and that we can polish our tarnished reputation with the rest of the world. When the result of the election was first announced I was immediately reminded of story I had heard multiple times throughout the many history classes I have taken over the years. The story was from the first founding days of our nation:

The Constitution was eventually adopted by the delegation, and as Franklin sat watching each member sign their name on the nation’s new Constitution, he remarked to one of his colleagues that during the debates he often noticed the painting on the back of the Convention Presidents chair, where George Washington presided. It was the painting of half a sun. Franklin told his colleague that he had wondered if the sun was rising or setting, and now he was certain it was rising.

-Quoted from an article written by Margaret Byfield (because she was one of the first google hits)link

I also applaud John McCain for graciously yeilding the election to Obama and not putting the country through massive recounts and long court battles. I think McCain would have made a good president, far better than Bush. But I also think that he was not what this country needed right now, and that’s why we elected Obama.

have voted in the last two elections and I’ve seen both elections go to a backwards hick from a Texas mental institution. Seeing Dubwa be elected not once, but TWICE disheartened me for the display of an apparent lack of sense in Americans. I would like to think that people are finally coming around and saying enough is enough, and I sincerely hope this is the case. This was reinforced today on my travels around the internet, when I came across this article that restored my faith in my fellow Americans:

Dozens Of Call Center Workers Walk Off Job In Protest Rather Than Read McCain Script Attacking Obama

I think all of these workers who had the balls and integrity to say ‘no’ should be commended. Bravo, call center workers, Bravo.

I know I haven’t been updating this very often at this point. Unfortunately, life has left me with little time to play with my tech toys, soon I will be comming up with some more projects for you to read about and even try at home. Yup kids, try this at home. (j/k) So as filler material I am going to repost a piece of writing done by a friend of mine.

Titled: PIE

The dismal tone of finality asserted a fate no other than abject despair and disappointment as the dissonant syllables clashed against my eardrums…

“I’m sorry, we don’t have apple pie.” She said.

Well as promised, I’m finally posting the code. I know it’s been a while and the code still isn’t technically complete, but I’m hoping it can help at least a few people just getting started. There is no warranty on this code and if you ask for support I may not get back to you. This code is also meant to work with the wiring scheme I have developed in my previous posts. The actual code appears after the jump.

I find the weirdest times to write these entries… Right now I am sitting at some random rest stop on I-84 which is serving as a temporary refuge from the traffic…. So far the ride had been smooth.

Saturday things really started to get rolling. Two keynote speakers, back to back conferences, sweaty geeks (myself included) clamoring to touch greatness, a gyro from around the corner and the list goes on. Actually, in all honesty Saturday kinda merges in to Sunday in my mind, but I’ll start from the beginning…

It’s 2AM and I finally have the peace of mind to actually write something worth reading… well maybe. The majority of today was spent traveling from South Station in Boston to Penn Station in NYC. Oddly enough there was little to no traffic anywhere on the trip, despite the fact that it’s a weekday. Once we finally arrived we grabbed some McDonalds and attended our first talk.

Hooray! this weekend I am in NYC attending The Last Hope at the Hotel Penn. It’s a hacker/technology convention that’s been running for a while and so far has been a lot of fun.

So far I’ve sat in on a few talks bought a USB micro controller which I’ve already forgotten the name (Arduino) of and yea that’s about it. So that being said I will leave you with a picture from our room window. Till next time keep an eye on the twitter feed.

Last week while Brian and Lisa were at the hospital welcoming their new daughter Eloise into the world, Steph, Amie and I went to go clean their house for them. No, I couldn’t have thought of such a nice thought, so don’t say it was me. But when we got there Brian had taken the time to post up signs in order to assist us in our work. The sign of most interest was a sign stating that the basement no longer existed, even though I had been there many times before:

Well reading such a sign and knowing the truth I couldn’t help but open the door to his basement and this is what I found:

A powerful photo essay that seems like it’s been floating around the net for awhile. I suggest you watch.