Ford
Gerald Ford was the first president that I voted for. As I recall in a mock election in my first grade class, Ford beat Carter by a 16 to 1 margin, and this was in the heavily Democratic south suburbs of Chicago. I suppose it wasn't a very representative sample.

Great guy though, or so it seems. I went to grad school at U of M, and they had some old photos of him as a football player in the student union that were pretty cool. Too bad he couldn't figure out a way too keep us from 4 years of Jimmy Carter, but I suppose we get the government we deserve.

Local Celebs
I was just out walking on Charlottesville's downtown mall with the baby this afternoon and I saw another local celebrity, John Grisham. You'd think after 6 years I'd finally see the guy, and yeah well, today was the day. He must have come from some book signing, which he occasionally does at some of the bookstores on the mall. He had nice shoes and looked older than I thought, but it was him. I was tempted to say "Hey man, I loved The Firm", but instead of wowing him with that insightful comment, I just said "hi" and walked on by.