11/4/08: Day 10-11 Pt. 2 (read pt 1 first)

110608_0008
Originally uploaded by Rance Rizzutto Photography

Oh goodness. Part two takes place around midnight our time…6pm EST. The results from the first closed polls were minutes away. Deanna and I fell asleep.

This was all part of the plan. We would sleep with the TV on and when it woke us up we would be further into the voting. Problem. The TVs switch to the “menu” channel after being on one channel for a long period (probably about 2 hours). We both woke up to the music on the menu channel around 2:30am (8:30pm EST).

“Let’s change to CNN.” Problem. The remote wasn’t working. It would control the power and the volume but not the channels. There are a few unmarked buttons on the remotes that I thought were for programming it and thought we might have reprogrammed it while lying on it.

Earlier Brett had said he was going to go watch in the library. I had said I was definitely out because of how sick I was…but my plan at that point was to watch in the room and that was no longer an option. We headed out to the library.

No one was there, and the TV was static on the navigation channel with no remote to be found. So…TO THE GYM!

In the gym we turned on a couple of the exercise bike TVs but they had no volume. That was when I remembered there were two flat screens in the dumbbell room that I remembered hearing volume on…AND…one was always set to BBC, the other to CNN. Score!

Deanna and I watched the results in there. We pulled over two weight benches, inclined them, and were locked in. During a break I called reception to see if they had extra remotes since ours wasn’t working. She said that there was a problem with the TVs, not the remotes. No one was getting reception. I wonder if it was because so many people tried to watch the same channel at the same time. I don’t know.

A lady came in to work out and was watching with us. She was very careful about asking questions. She got to “so, where are you guys from?” When we said Chicago she said “so…you’re for Obama?” Yes. Bam. “OH! Me too! I’m so excited! I wanted to watch from my room and the TV wasn’t working!”

Once the polls closed in the west coast and they announced the prediction that Obama won the lady started jumping and clapping, Deanna started crying for joy, and I just felt relief.

I really thought McCain’s concession speech was great. It made me realize at least that he is for a unified America and that Palin was more responsible for the tactics encouraging the “boo”s from the crowds. Palin is the Jerry Springer Show of politics.

So, at 6:00am-ish (12:00am EST) after listening to Obama’s acceptance speech, Deanna and I went to bed.