Tuesday, November 11, 2008

we hate canada so much we are leaving




sadly

after 3 and a half wonderful years in this beautiful city and the birth of our gorgeous son, we have decided its time to go home.
family and friends are drawing us back.
here are some phtotos bettina and ray took on their recent trip of our little boy and around town.

we shall have to come back one day to show Amory more of his beautiful home town...

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

The Greatest Show on Earth


As Andrea said to me last night, this election season is for a PhD in political science what Paris Fashion Week is to fashionistas the world over. This really is the greatest show on Earth! Andrea and I have been following this thing for 18 months at least, at first arguing for our respective candidates (me for Obama, Andrea for Hillary) and then more latterly hanging on every twist and turn of Obama's candidacy. I'm sorry comrades but this is better than the boxing day test and grand final day rolled into one! Andrea and I have the champagne waiting at home and I'm leaving work early to watch the race unfold on MSNBC and CNN. With most of the polls in the eastern states closing at 4pm pacific time, I expect that Anj and I will be able to get that champagne pouring early - maybe even 5-6pm local time. As I said last time, Obama will crack Virginia at around 7-8pm eastern (4-5 local) and it will be all over! I'm even starting to think that North Carolina might be in the bag for the first time since LBJ's barn-storming run through the South and South West in 1964. I remember at University thinking that all the truly great political struggles seemed like matters for history, and that all the truly remarkable races happened long ago (notwithstanding the 2000 race) - so to have such a close experience of history in the making is truly something to take in wonderment. As all the pundits are saying this is better than JFK versus Nixon - hell it might even be better than Abraham Lincoln vs Stephen A Douglas! As Sufjan Stevens once noted "Stephen A Douglas was the great debater, but Abraham Lincoln was the great emancipator". I wonder what they will say about Obama...one for the ages Amory Cormac Duff!

Monday, November 03, 2008

Amory and Friends




When I have more time I will share with you some of the on-going sleepy-time adventures of Huggy the green tree frog and Romero the gay Cuban hand puppet (gay in the Audrey Hepburn sense!), but for now be happy that Amory is so happy!

Sunday, November 02, 2008

Seems to be the night for updates...and predictions!




Another busy Sunday here as Anj and I rush to complete sundry last minute preparations before the big move back home next week. Monash's very generous relocation allowance has taken the real sting out of these preparations (we now no longer need to be anywhere near as brutal in deciding what stays and what goes) still, it's hard to really commit to cleaning out the hall-way cupboard when your boy is in the next room smashing all known developmental records - what with his expert penmanship and flawless recitations of Shakespeare's lesser known sonnets...seriously Anj and I were chuffed to see Master Amory lift his head clear off the table for the first time today - many weeks ahead of schedule! He needed a long lie down afterwards but then again so did Dean Jones after his double hundred in Madras in the 1988 tied test! I expect big things out of this boy - mark my words!

On another note I expect to have Obama home for 338 electoral college votes come Tuesday night. Here are my predictions - Obama seals the deal in Virginia with its 13 ECVs by around 8pm EST. Having held on in Pennsylvania and Ohio but dropped Indiana and North Carolina, Obama will bring it all back home in Virginia and then add Florida for the true icing on the cake, before sweeping the Rockies and the South West through Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico (Montana's my absolute smokey for the night but I won't call it yet!). I think the Dems will drop one or two short of the 60 seat filibuster in the Senate but pick up between 25 and 30 seats in the House. Finally I think Obama will come mighty close to breaking through 50% in the national presidential vote but I'm tipping 49.2%. He is absolutely guaranteed to receive the largest number of votes cast for any candidate running for President in US history. This is one to tell Amory Cormac about for sure! We weren't quite there Master Amory but Mum and Dad were very close!