My weekend went pretty well.  I did it!  I actually stuck to my points for an entire weekend.  I think this is the first time in well over a month.  Tomorrow (Monday) is my last day of my week and it should be a piece of cake (not literally, hopefully) to get through.  Yesterday, I used six flex points, and I only used one today so far!  I might have a little snack later while I watch True Blood, but I’m going to keep it under control.  I’ll give you the full report tomorrow.

We had thought about going to First Watch for breakfast this morning.  I would have gotten the potatoes (2 points) - because you can’t go to First Watch and not get the potatoes - and a fruit bowl (3 points), for a total of five points.  Unfortunately, as usually happens on Sundays, the line was out the door, so we decided to go to Denny’s instead.  Thanks to my trusty Weight Watchers Dining Out Companion, I got the buttermilk pancakes (4 points), a piece of grilled ham (2 points) and only used half of my butter and about a tablespoon of syrup (2.5 points).  Not too bad (total of 8.5 points) and all of it was yummy.  I’d been craving pancakes, anyway.

I didn’t get much exercise today more than what I usually get from just running errands.  Inevitably, I get a few extra steps in from getting into the store and realizing that I left my list in the car and then having to go back for it.  It never fails.  At least this time it was actually in the car and not at home.  I had planned on going out to another local attraction that has walking trails today, but was just too damn exhausted after yesterday.

For any Obama-haters, or McCain-lovers, you might want to just skip the rest of today’s blog.  I try to avoid getting political on here, but this blog is about my life and yesterday, a great portion of my day revolved around the Obama rally in Kansas City at the Liberty Memorial.  Just me and about 75,000 of my closest friends. 

They originally thought there would be 20,000 people, but expected up to 50,000.  We’d heard that he had had a crowd of 100,000 in St. Louis earlier in the day.  When I got there and started seeing the numbers of people, I knew there was going to be at least 50,000.  They’re reporting today that there was a crowd of 75,000.   I knew it.  It was crazy.  The line had to have stretched clear around the memorial (which is not a small stretch of land by any means).  In the 5 to 10 minutes it took for us to drive by the line and go park, the line grew tremendously.  We got there at about 2:15.  Gates didn’t open until 4:00 and he wasn’t expected to speak until 6 or after.  I am so glad we got there when we did.  The people just kept coming and coming and coming.  It was insane.  They had to have opened the gates early - perhaps around 3, because that’s when the line seemed to start moving.  We didn’t actually get on the grounds until well after 4 though.  To get into the main part of the lawn, you had to enter through security detectors - such as you would at the airport - with all cell phones and cameras turned on.  You even had to fill out a form with your name and address and get a colored sticker or you couldn’t enter.  Every single man, woman, and child had to have a sticker.

Of course, entering the grounds, you had to pass by the usual protestors, including a bunch from the overly disgusting (my personal opinion) Reverend Fred Phelps group.  I personally support gay rights and while I don’t agree with the Iraq war, I do support our troops.  Not only did this group have their usual hate-filled signs saying “God hates fags,” but they also had signs saying things like “Soldiers die God laughs,” and “Pray for more dead soldiers.”  So not cool.  So far beyond not cool.

By the time people started speaking (various politicals including the governor of Kansas (a democrat, surprisingly)),we could still see people coming in by the hordes.  By 6, shortly before Obama started speaking, they were STILL coming in.

At one point, they cut off the area beyond the security detectors and made people stand outside them.  There just wasn’t room for more in the areas they had secured.

On the news afterwards, they had even interviewed people who had come from Arkansas just to hear him speak.

I have to give Obama credit.  It’s just my personal belief (as is anything I post on here unless credited otherwise) that he is an amazing speaker.

The crowd seemed really moved by what he was saying.  You can see his entire speech here.  And here is a pretty good article about the speech.  I was impressed.  But I was already a supporter, which helps. My only complaint is that whoever set it up did a horrible job as far as layout.  Of course, directly across from the podium was the press box with a very narrow area in front of Obama for people to stand.  And right next to the press box were the outhouses.  Lovely.  Since I was standing near the rail next to the outhouses, every time the door opened, I got my view of Obama obstructed (okay, no jokes here).  You know, when it wasn’t obstructed with really tall people, or people with their kids on their shoulders, or people standing on chairs.

I like this picture (thank God for digital cameras with zoom):

It was surprisingly peaceful.  Everyone seemed in good spirits.  There were at least three medical emergencies that I saw - people having to be carried out.  While the Obama campaign was handing out free bottles of water, a lot of medical issues can arise for people when they have to stand for 5+ hours without food (unless they thought ahead).

Overall, as you can probably tell, I had fun and am glad I went.  I was so tired when I finally got home, though!  Here’s me 5+ hours of standing later and utterly exhausted, but still enthusiastic (as you can probably tell on both accounts):

If you’re interested, there are a few extra pics here, including more of Obama.

I hope you all had a great weekend!