Staying up late …

is most definitely not normal for me. I'll sometimes, maybe, stay up for a really good football game, but even then I just figure I can always catch the score in the morning. For me, nothing trumps tired.

I was not tired last night. I starting watching the Democratic National Convention from about 6 p.m. (it begins at 5 p.m.) and went to bed well after midnight. The speakers were amazing and inspiring. Again! Two nights in a row! How can they possibly top themselves tonight?

Oh. Right. PRESIDENT OBAMA WILL BE THERE!

He was there last night, too. I had a feeling he'd take the stage with former President Clinton, and I was pretty thrilled when he did. We've been watching the convention on C-SPAN – all speeches, no pundits. The cable news networks probably had cameras trained on the President's every move, thus spoiling the surprise for their viewers. Watching C-SPAN makes me feel like I'm part of the event, but with a more comfortable seat and tight close-ups of the speakers. C-SPAN doesn't broadcast in HD, but OH WELL. Lack of analysis trumps lack of HD.

The casting of ballots followed President Clinton's fired-up-and-ready-to-go speech. West Virginia is next to last alphabetically, but I was determined to watch so I could see some of my friends on television. The  delegation chose 18-year-old Hannah McCarley to do the talking – a high-school senior, and possibly the youngest of all the delegates attending the convention.

Of course I wasn't watching without following the action on Facebook and Twitter. And knitting.

The funniest thing that rolled by on Facebook were these texts from Bill to Hillary.

The best tweets were from Invisible Obama.

And I'm down to fewer than 1000 stitches on Jujuba. Time to start planning the next project.

All in all, it was a very good – if late – night.

P.S. I'm an all-in Democrat, not likely to criticize or analyze (with the exception of our former Governor Joe Manchin). There are plenty of blogs and websites for that. Please don't judge me for being Little Miss Sunshine when it comes to the festivities in Charlotte this week. Heh.

Whittling away on those stitches

I got a lot done last night on Jujuba, even though I only worked on it a couple hours. My Tuesday volunteer gig at the prison doesn't get me home until nearly 9, but I got to watch the convention and get all revved up. Jujuba is perfect revved-up knitting. Heh. I'm down to about 4400 stitches to go.

Our First Lady is the best. So genuine, so beautiful, so earnest and compassionate. I loved her speech. The pundits are saying Michelle could give Hillary a run for her money in the 2016 primary.

It occurred to me that there were a LOT of potential Presidents making speeches last night. I missed Cory Booker, but I think he'd be terrific, as would Mayor Julian Castro (electing a man named Castro might be more difficult than electing one named Obama!).

Vickie, I think it's great that your high school registers 18-year-olds in their government classes. Our county high school does, as well, and our county clerk always has voter registration forms with her. I need to remember to pick some up for our screening of Iron Jawed Angels later this month.

So more knitting tonight, and more speeches, and more inspiration. I only heard one lie: The Affordable Care Act still leaves some people uninsured, and more than one speaker claimed all Americans would be covered. (HR676 would solve that problem, but try getting Republicans to agree to that!) Did you watch any of the convention last night? What did you think?