And while I’m on vacation, the Democrats put an end to the nomination fight once and for all…
3 minute read
August 28, 2008, 1:43 AM
Let me say that the fourth day in Virginia Beach was a lot of fun. It started with a walk down the beach. Recall that on Monday, I took Duckie into the water for a swim, and got those amazing wave photos. Today, I again took Duckie to the water, though this time I was mainly out to cover the beach. I got people making sandcastles, as well as completed sandcastles. Some people made forts for themselves, while one person dug a small tunnel system in the sand. Metro for the sand crabs, maybe? Looked as though he had just completed his system’s equivalent of Metro Center when I passed by. And most people, by and large, were very friendly, even offering to pose with their creations as they were building them. However, considering the style of photos I normally like to take, the phrase “act natural” became a fairly common phrase for me.
This, by the way, is the pièce de résistance when it comes to Virginia Beach sandcastles today:
I’m thinking about doing a combination photo set for Photography called “Sand and Surf”, combining my wave photos with my beach photos. Good idea? Hmmm…
Then later on, I went down to the Virginia Beach Convention Center, where I got to see my friend Cassie, whom I’d not seen since I left JMU. We had such a wonderful time, as she gave me a tour of the convention center, and we got to reminisce a little bit, and also catch up. The convention center really amazed me, considering the sheer amount of space that there is. But considering that Virginia Beach hosts some really big events, you really need that kind of space. I was just like, wow, seeing their big exhibit halls, and their huge ballroom. They have quite a space. Just to give you an idea about how big this place is, you could probably fit the building where I work – the entire building – inside these facilities.
When I returned from the convention center, I flipped on CNN just as they were starting the vote at the Democratic National Convention. That was painful to watch. They don’t just vote – they do it with all kinds of other stuff with it. Every state, they said something like, “We, the delegates from the great state of (state), home of (insert some Democratic politicians’ names here), hereby give (some number) votes to Hillary Clinton, and (some number) votes to our next president, Barack Obama!” Over and over and over and over. Some of them even threw in local issues, with DC delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton throwing in a bit about DC voting rights. California passed entirely on casting any votes. Thank you, California, for trying to hurry the process along. Otherwise, though, it went on and on and on and on with this. It finally finished when they got to New York. Hillary Clinton entered the room, and after the New York delegation finished giving its shout-outs, they passed the mic to Hillary, and she made a motion to stop the vote and nominate Barack Obama by acclamation. Seconded? All in favor, say “aye”? Done. That’s the one good thing Hillary Clinton’s done this whole election season, ending that painful vote-tallying session. But who knows – maybe that’s the thing that will heal the divisions between the Hillary supporters and the Obama supporters and keep John McCain out of the White House.
Then in the evening, after dinner, I took another walk like I did last night. This time, I went north, and walked 15 blocks from my hotel to the beach balls via Atlantic Avenue. A one thing I noticed along the way was that the strip repeats itself every few blocks, as I passed three or four different “Sunsations” stores, for one thing, and a number of other similarly repeating businesses. I also noticed that the Ocean Holiday is no longer called the Ocean Holiday. It is now a Days Inn. The big “Ocean Holiday” lettering on the building had been removed, and the Ocean Holiday sign out front had been removed, and replaced with a “Days Inn” sign. Additionally, there was a small banner hanging from a railing with the Days Inn logo on it. Then at the beach balls, the balls were repainted. Most noticeable is that since the photo from 2000 that I linked to earlier was taken, the balls were repainted. The beach ball in the background is now a giant yellow happy face, among other changes. Then I walked the 15 blocks back from the beach balls along the boardwalk. What an enjoyable walk it was, too.
And that’s how day number four shaped up. Next up is day number five, my last full day at Virginia Beach.
Song: Theme to Car Talk, a podcast of which I listened to in the car today...
Quote: And sad to say, no fireworks this evening. I'm guessing it was likely too windy to have them safely. I wonder if they postpone when this happens (i.e. shoot them off tomorrow), or just cancel and move onto the next one.
Categories: National politics, Travel, Virginia Beach