Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I fly down to Dallas this Tuesday to spend Thanksgiving with Kyllan. My parents and Kyllan’s sister’s famliy (I think) plan to join us for dinner on Thursday. Considering all the people from Dallas that will be there, I am sure we will catch the Cowboys game on TV Thursday. Kyllan and I will be attending our 2nd Dallas Stars game Friday. Saturday will probably be our day for putting up the Christmas tree.

The new TV season is about a month old. What shows are you guys watching? I watched a bunch of the new show initially, but the only ones I enjoyed and continue to watch are Life on Mars and Fringe. Life on Mars is a remake of a Britsh show of the same title that I really enjoyed. It is about a current day police detective who is hit by a car and wakes up in 1973. It is unclear if the lead character is dreaming while in a coma, in purgatory or actually traveled through time. Each episode usually features a crime of the week that is somehow linked to his life in 2008… I think the British verison was a better. Fringe is being hailed as the new X-files. It is about a FBI agent who works with a mentaly unstable, discredited scientist and his genuis son to investigate a series of mysteriously linked crimes that also seem to be connected to the doctor’s old research. Unlike the simarly themed British remake Eleventh hour, where a man with a Ph.D. in apparently every field known to man yells things like “No amount of money in the world will stop the virus that is raging a was inside of you” to infected bad guys, Fringe knows that it is not exactly based in reality. Returning shows that I’ve been watching include the Tina Fey’s 30 rock, offbeat crime serial Life and spy comedy Chuck. Of course my two favorite shows, 24 and Battlestar Galatica haven’t started yet.

My parents recently took  a trip to South Africa. Below are some comments my mom made about the trip. I was hoping to link to some photos of the trip, but my father hasn’t bothered to upload them yet. I am going to stay on him. Maybe we will see some soon.

We [Bill and Betty] returned from South Africa last week [now three weeks ago] on Monday, October 27th from an eleven day trip.  It was a wonderful trip.  We went with a delegation representing Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity.  We visited Johannesburg, Sun City (which is a resort city), and Cape Town.  Our trip included a visit to an elementary school and an orphanage.  The group took school supplies to the school and made monetary contributions to the orphanage.  This was the second trip to South Africa for Bill and me.  We were happy to see the growth there since our visit in 2001.  New buildings were going up everywhere and there were lots of street expansions.  Bill had a chance to play golf in Cape Town.  We visited a winery and brought back two bottles of wine.   We visited four museums that explained different aspects of struggles and endurance by the people before and during apartheid.  We saw lively and colorful entertainment and enjoyed several authentic South African meals.  We visited Robben Island where Nelson Mandela spent most of his prison time.  We went to the top of Table Mountain and  enjoyed the spectacular view.Our tour included a botanical garden, and the group even took a safari.  We celebrated our 36th wedding anniversary in South Africa.  It was a day we will always remember, it ended with a candle light steak dinner with our group.  There were champagne toasts and  dancing.  Some members of our group arranged for the pianist to play two love songs just for us.  People in South Africa were very excited about our then up coming election.  I know they celebrated on November 4th with the rest of the world.

This past weekend, Kim, Drew and I went to Cleveland to visit the fam, and more importanly… see the new kitchen!! It was sad we had not seen it in person yet, so we finally got to bask in the wonderfulness of it. Drew had such a good time that he wanted to “stay in Cleveland until Christmas.” I think he enjoyed being around his cousins. We were only there a short time, but we got to see almost all of the fam, except my aunt and uncle who were out of town. We also got to meet the newest addition to the family, Tristan (my cousin Terrance’s youngest daughter), who is soooo adorable. We got the chance to see my mom’s new school building as well, which is MUCH improved from the previous building. Being in the cold weather reminded me why I like Texas so much, but it was nice to see the fall foliage.  To see all the pictures from the weekend, click here to visit my Flickr page.

Sadly, neither of us lost any weight in the month of October. The fact that the holidays are quickly approaching just makes matters worse. I plan to keep excersing, but I will be eating all of my favorite things come Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The news from this past Tuesday still has not sunk in. I don’t know that I’ll ever again experience a night with as much historical impact as November 4, 2008. It’s been amazing talking to friends, family and even complete strangers about how this election has affected us personally, how it has made us feel about our country and what it means to the world as a whole. Below are some links to post friends and family have made on their own blog.

In no particular order:

Kyllan’s friend, sorority sister and college classmate on her Balancing Act post: Speechless

Friend, fellow Xavierite, former co-worker and anonymous blogging med student “med obession” post: My President Was Elected

Friend, fraternity brother, Colorado’s newest elected member of the Democratic National Committee and a National Obama Delegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention for Colorado’s First Congressional District (who inspired me to go out and canvas neighborhoods before the election) Anthony post: Thank You America

Friend and high school classmate “Jos” post: A More Perfect Union

My cousin Robyn finally finds to make a post: Need to Post

I am so thrilled that I was able to watch the events of this evening unfold and Barack Obama be declared President of the United States of America.  There are really no words to express how I feel right now, but it was truly overwhelming to read the headlines, and browse at all the comments from friends on facebook who are truly inspired and humbled by this experience.  It is such a great tribute to the many that fought hard for us to even have this historic opportunity.  William and I are excited to have such powerful examples in the White House for us and for our children, and I know there are others who feel the same way.  We cannot wait to see what the future holds and look forward to great things to come!

Kyllan and are very excited about Election Day. Kyllan voted early. I requested a mail-in ballot, but what has now become a widely publicised issue and conspiracy theory in Colorado resulted in me receiving the ballot to late to send in. I now plan to drop my ballot off in person on Monday to avoid long lines on the 4th. It looks like Kyllan may be attending an election day party. I, on the other hand, will likely end up watching the results at home. What are your plans for election day? Did you vote early? Are going to the polls on Tuesday? When and where are you planning to watch the results come in?

You may have noticed that the site has been experiencing some issues lately. It appears that the people at the company that host the site are incompetent. I am trying to let them resolve them issue, but I am quickly losing hope. Don’t worry, The Cody Report will always be here. The blog is one of our favorite was to keep in touch with friends and family. If I have to change host, I have to change host.