Vital Statistics

Bike odometer: 2523
Van odometer: 154235
Weight lost (in pounds): 1
Aches & pains: n/a
Current reading: My Name Is Red by Orhan Pamuk, Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy, Cross-platform GUI Programming with wxWidgets
Recent listening: Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, R.E.M.,
Recent viewing: Next, Blowout, Indecision 2008, Grindhouse presents Planet Terror, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Blood Diamond, Colts at Steelers, Penn State at Iowa, Suns at Rockets, Fringe, Heroes, My Name Is Earl, The Office
Recent playing: Chain Factor, GlueFO
Recently accomplished: Cleaned garage enough to fit Scion again, foam recycling, doctor appointment, cat boxes, paid bills, packing for Foster City
Imperative To Do: Get rid of office junk, freecycle, activate new Tivo, clean garage, get rid of MacRenewal Macs, trim bushes, pull blackberries

Voting in Oregon


Voting in Oregon
Originally uploaded by rynosoft

Since 1998 Oregon has conducted all of their elections by mail. Registered voters receive their ballots in the mail a couple of weeks before the election and complete them at their leisure. You can mail them back if you finish them soon enough. Otherwise, you can drop them at any of the many drop boxes scattered throughout the city. Sunday night Tina and I sat down at our kitchen table and voted in the comfort of our home. We had done virtually no research prior to filling out our ballots so it took us about an hour. There were a number of ballot initiatives to wade through but the state sends booklets describing each of them as well as all of the candidates. Even though it was a little bit of work, after we were done we felt like worthy citizens.

Apology

I realize that most of my readers are probably not as enthusiastic about the political process as I am during this election cycle. Under that assumption, I’ve tried to limit the amount of political content so as not to drive my readership away. Election coverage is reaching a fever pitch and I’m soaking it all in. I know it’s been said a million times, but this election feels more important and more historic than any other in my lifetime. Watching the campaign retrospectives this weekend, I’ve been teary-eyed several times revisiting some of the more inspirational moments from the campaign. When that happens, I feel compelled to share it with you. If you’re not as enthusiastic as I am about the waning days of the campaign, I apologize for the increase in political content during the next few days.