Scattergories Meme

Stolen from Nancy's blog.

Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following. They have to be real places, names, things. Nothing made up! You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question. And you cannot use the same word twice. Get to it!

YOUR NAME: Michael

BOY NAME: Maurice

4 LETTER WORD: Muck!

GIRL NAME: Miranda

OCCUPATION: Microbiologist

A COLOR: Mauve

SOMETHING YOU WEAR: Mukluks

BEVERAGE: Milkshake

FOOD: Macaroni with Meatballs and Marinara (Woo hoo! Triple word score!)

SOMETHING FOUND IN A BATHROOM: Mildew

A PLACE: Mars

REASON FOR BEING LATE: Missed the bus (Done this.)

SOMETHING YOU SHOUT: Mother Hubbard! (No, I really say this. Ask Nancy. She'll tell you.)

I'd love to see what some of you other reader(s) come up with. Get to it!

Musical Funny

I cracked up laughing when I first saw this. I'm not sure why.



I want a T-shirt of this. I wonder if Cafe Pres has any...?

Quotes, Quotes, and More Quotes

The following quotes are brought to you by the A.Word.A.Day mailing list at Wordsmith.org.
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"The lame man who keeps the right road outstrips the runner who takes a wrong one. The more active and swift the latter is, the further he will go astray". -Sir Francis Bacon

"This country will not be a permanently good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a reasonably good place for all of us to live in." -Theodore Roosevelt

"Conscience is the still, small voice which tells a candidate that what he is doing is likely to lose him votes." -Anonymous

"What sane person could live in this world and not be crazy?" -Ursula K. Le Guin

"Conscience is a dog that does not stop us from passing but that we cannot prevent from barking." -Nicolas de Chamfort, writer (1741-1794)

"Almost all our faults are more pardonable than the methods we resort to to hide them." -Francois de La Rochefoucauld

"There are 10¹¹ stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it's only a hundred billion. It's less than the national deficit! We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers." -Richard Feynman, physicist, Nobel laureate (1918-1988)

"I am not only a pacifist but a militant pacifist. I am willing to fight for peace." -Albert Einstein

"Men build too many walls and not enough bridges." -Isaac Newton

"Journalists do not believe the lies of politicians, but they do repeat them -- which is even worse!" -Michel Colucci, comedian and actor

"One should count each day a separate life." -Lucius Annaeus Seneca

"Corporation: n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility." -Ambrose Bierce

"If the truth doesn't save us, what does that say about us? -Lois McMaster Bujold, writer (b. 1949)

"I see that sensible men and conscientious men all over the world were of one religion -- the religion of well-doing and daring, men of sturdy truth, men of integrity and feeling for others." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

"For in reason, all government without the consent of the governed is the very definition of slavery." -Jonathan Swift

"The conscience of the world is so guilty that it always assumes that people who investigate heresies must be heretics; just as if a doctor who studies leprosy must be a leper. Indeed, it is only recently that science has been allowed to study anything without reproach." -Aleister Crowley

"It is easier to lead men to combat, stirring up their passion, than to restrain them and direct them toward the patient labors of peace." -Andre Gide, author, Nobel laureate (1869-1951)

"Our country, right or wrong. When right, to be kept right; when wrong, to be put right." -Carl Schurz, revolutionary, statesman and reformer (1829-1906)

"It was our own moral failure and not any accident of chance, that while preserving the appearance of the Republic we lost its reality." -Marcus Tullius Cicero

"A wise man will make haste to forgive, because he knows the true value of time, and will not suffer it to pass away in unnecessary pain." -Samuel Johnson

Dread Not

Long-time readers will remember when I first got my Suburban, more commonly known as the Dreadnought. It has been a good car, gasoline consumption notwithstanding. But ever since we got Granny's car, the Dreadnought has been redundant. Three cars, two drivers, you see the issue. So we've been trying to sell it off an on for the past year or so. Without much luck, I might add. When gas prices are over $4.00 per gallon, there's not much demand for vehicles that average 14-17 miles per gallon. And when we did get a serious inquiry, the guy lost interest when he found out that it only seats five, not eight. Big Mormon families, I guess. Anyway, the Dreadnought remained with us through it all.

A couple of weeks ago, we finally got a serious buyer. Someone we know secondhand just had their car repossessed. When we heard about it, we asked a mutual acquaintance to pass along to them that we had a car for sale. A few phone calls ensued, and they expressed a strong interest in the car. They asked all kinds of questions about the car—what condition was it in, how did it run, what kind of mileage did it get, would it pass state inspection, and the like. We gave them as complete a description as we could of the condition and the history of the car, warts and all. They expressed their specific intention to buy the car, and arranged to come up later today to look at it and take a test drive. So we bought a new battery (the Dreadnought has been sitting in the driveway for nearly a year) and got the car cleaned up. Since the registration expired almost a year ago, I went to the DMV yesterday and got a temporary tag for the car so they could test drive it without getting pulled over. All was prepared.

Then last night, when Nancy called them to verify when they were coming to look at the car, they told her they'd decided not to buy it after all.

Having them back out at the last minute is frustrating, to say the least, and more than a little inconvenient.

I understand why they did it. Times are tough for everyone right now. They're a little tough for us, which is why we were looking forward to the sale of the car so much. I suppose it's better not to have them buy the car at all than to have them take the car and then be unable to keep their agreement with us. Taking the car back in a couple of months if they failed to make the remaining payments would have been traumatic for everyone. Better to avoid hard feelings for them and to save future frustration for all of us.

But we went out of our way to make this as easy as possible for them. We agreed to make reasonable payment arrangements with them rather than demanding the full price up front. We got the car cleaned up and made sure everything runs properly. Between replacing the battery and getting the temporary tag, we spent around $60.00 and three and a half hours of our own time on this—time and money we really could have used for better things. And the money from the sale of the car would have been a godsend for us right now.

We'd included their proposed first payment in our monthly budget, and suddenly it's not there. Yes, it's our fault for counting chickens before they're hatched, I know. And yes, we knew they were a little . . . flighty and impulsive, I guess is the best way to say it. We were warned. Honestly, we should have expected this. But we didn't—or I didn't, anyway. And now I'm feeling the frustration. And the anxiety. I have no idea how we're going to make everything work with what we now have available.

So what do we do now? I don't really know yet. But the words of a song keep coming to mind, the Finale to the Scrubs episode "My Musical":

You're going to be okay
That's what's going to happen
Everything's okay
We're right here beside you
We won't let you slip away
Plan for tomorrow
'Cause we swear to you
You're going to be okay

We just have to do what we can, remain hopeful, and not give in to the frustration. Things have always worked out for us before. They'll work out for us now. We just have to keep the faith.

Or, as my friend and co-worker Keith the Axeman would say, "Dread not!"

Late Night Music Meme

Top 5 On Friday - Week 193
From The Music Memoirs

Top 5 songs that make you feel smarter for having heard them. (Interpret as you see fit.)

» "The Presidents" by Jonathan Coulton
The song features a quick line about each of the 43 United States Presidents. There are a couple of small historical inaccuracies (Garfield was actually assassinated in 1881, for example), and being recorded in 2005, there's no entry for President-elect Obama yet. Still, I can now name the first 43 Presidents—in order, no less—something I was never able to do before. "Washington came first and he was perfect, John Adams kept us out of war with France...."

» "The Elements" by Tom Lehrer
Something he picked up in his brief career as a scientist, it's simply the names of the chemical elements, set to a possibly recognizable tune. "There's antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium...."

» "Wakko's America" by Wakko Warner (Animaniacs)
Good idea: Listing the names of all 50 US States and their capitals. Bad idea: Forgetting to phrase your answer in the form of a question. "Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Indianapolis, Indiana, and Columbus is the capital of Ohio...."

» "YYZ" by Rush
In addition to showing off the group's instrumental virtuosity, the song also opens with the title (YYZ, which is also the code for the Toronto airport) depicted rhythmically in Morse code. "-•-- -•-- --•• -•-- -•-- --•• .... "

» "New Math" by Tom Lehrer
The important lesson here is that Base 8 is just like Base 10, really. If you're missing two fingers. "You can't take three from two, two is less than three, so you look at the four in the tens place...."

Good. Bad. I'm the guy with the gun.

About a month ago, Steve Long, the president and guru of Hero Games proposed a contest on the Hero Discussion Boards:

OK, Herophiles... it's contest time!

As some of you know, Cryptic had some Champions Online ping-pong ball guns made to promote the MMO....We've obtained a dozen or so of them to give away to you, our loyal Hero fans!

To win one, you have to create a humorous Champions or HERO System "motivational poster."

So I went to work. I submitted something like a dozen total posters, I think. Some of my best ones were these:








And I won! The four posters above were all singled out by Steve as worthy.

So I got the gun today:




Just in time for gaming tonight. Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!

Snippets from the Day

After the unpleasantness of the root canal a couple of weeks ago, I returned to the dentist's office this morning for a more traditional checkup and cleaning. After six conventional X-rays, a panoramic X-ray, and a good cleaning with a high-powered Water-Pic and cinnamon pumice, the dentist told me that I have no cavities. Cool! Rarely have I heard those words from a dentist. It made me want to go home and celebrate by eating an entire pint of chocolate ice cream. ::evil grin:: But I resisted.

At work today RevInterrupt13 and I began learning how to troubleshoot and repair the call center's computers. The Big RT has decided that J, our IT guy, should be spending more of his time at the main office. (How he's going to accomplish that without a Time Turner I have no idea; it's not like we ever see him at the call center anyway.) So we pulled a malfunctioning computer off the floor and took it into J's office. And then we spent the next two and a half hours trying to get it to work. After trying to ghost a hard drive and performing three network card transplants into three different computer carcasses, we finally created a mostly-working model. We futzed about with the network settings and installed the two programs we actually use (an electronic time card and a computer-aided telephone interviewing program), and at long last we had a machine that was ready for the call floor. Naturally we had to swap the mouse and keyboard—the old machine had PS/2 connections, while the one we replaced it with connects with serial and AT, respectively. Sure, the machine is old. But it works.

Driving home was less than a joy. It seems like I spent the entire trip behind people who believe that they (as well as the eight cars behind then) need to come to a complete stop before making a right turn at a green light. Ugh! I swear, driving in this state will be my undoing.

Dinner was good. I grilled some beef ribs we had in the fridge, and Nancy made mashed potatoes and brown gravy and baked beans. Top it off with a glass or three of cold chocolate milk and chocolate cream pie (also made by Nancy), and it made for one great meal. Alas, I have a sink full of dishes to do in the morning. Still, totally worth it.

We watched Get Smart tonight as we ate. It's a great movie. I was a bog fan of the original series, and I think the movie is an amazing tribute to the source material. Steve Carell is a fantastic Maxwell Smart—reminiscent of Don Adams without being a rip-off or a parody. Highly recommended.

And that's enough for one. The Big Cozy Bed is calling to me....

Music Meme Triple Play

Tuesday Tunes: Week 57 from The Music Memoirs

November 10th was the anniversary of the day The Edmund Fitzgerald went down during a storm on Lake Superior. So we're going to have a nautical theme meme—word association style:

Ocean: "Songs of the Ocean" by Arjen Anthony Lucassen's Star One
River: "Come Sail Away" by Styx (You know, the river Styx?)
Sea: "The Heart Shaped Sea" by Roxette
Sailor: "Son of a Son of a Sailor" by Jimmy Buffett
Ship: "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot (Sorry, but that really is the first one that came to mind.)
Wave: "Catch a Wave" by the Beach Boys
Sand: "Sands of Nevada" by Mark Knopfler
Sail: "Orinoco Flow" by Enya (Sail away, sail away, sail away)
Navy: "Piano Man" by Billy Joel (And he's talkin with Davy / Who's still in the Navy / And probably will be for life)
Deep: "In Too Deep" by Genesis

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Top 5 On Friday - Week 198
From The Music Memoirs

Top 5 "Country" or "Alt-Country" songs

Alt.Country is one of my favorite musical genres. Thanks to a brother who's hip deep in the red dirt country scene, I've been introduced to the music of a lot of bands, after which I've gone out and discovered a few of my own. I could name songs by any number of artists: Bleu Edmondson, Randy Rogers Band, Amy Rigby, Kimmie Rhodes, Railbenders, the Great Divide, Big & Rich, Cowboy Troy, and the Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash, just to name a few. But the five I've included in this week's list (including links to albums and band web sites) are my favorites. Enjoy!

» "Cold Hearted Woman" by Cross Canadian Ragweed
From the album Soul Gravy

» "Sixgun" by Reckless Kelly
From the album Wicked Twisted Road

» "Miserable Year" by Micky and the Motorcars
From the album Ain't in It for the Money

» "Ponies" by Jason Boland and the Stragglers
From the album Pearl Snaps

» "Mariano" by Robert Earl Keen
From the album West Textures

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Tuesday Tunes: Week 56 from The Music Memoirs

Tell me the first artist, song, album etc the comes to mind when you see these words:

Relax: "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Politics: "Us and Them" by Pink Floyd
Negative: "Positively Negative" by Todd Shider
Amused: "Woke Up Laughing" by Robert Palmer
Relief: "It's Over" by Squirrel Nut Zippers
Alone: "Solitaire" by Laura Branigan
Party: "Party at the End of the World" by Jimmy Buffett
End: "Seasons End" by Marillion
Sick: "Lovesick Blues" by Hank Williams
Voice: "One Clear Voice" by Peter Cetera

My Odd Job

This question came up on the Hero Discussion Boards the other day:

OK, getting away from politics for a bit: What's the oddest, strangest, most off-the-wall, or just the most interesting job you've ever held?

Here was my response:

On two different occasions [one of which was right before my mission] I worked in a corn syrup factory. It had originally been built to process sugar beets, which were a big cash crop when we first moved to that area of Colorado (near Greeley, Loveland, and Longmont). The corn syrup process worked a little differently than the one for sugar beets, so a refit was necessary. Part of the refit involved the use of an organic filter--basically ground coral, but everyone called it 'mud' because after running the unrefined corn syrup through it, that's what it looked like.

In refitting the plant, the engineers got it to the point where the place where the mud left the refinement process and where it was taken by conveyor belt out of the factory for disposal were on the same floor, but on opposite ends of the factory. So my job was to transport the mud from one end of the factory to the other using wheelbarrows. The mud came out of the chute at one end and fell into one of two wheelbarrows. When the wheelbarrow was full, I swapped it with the empty one, and took the full one to the other end of the plant to dump it.

That was my entire job, for twelve hours a shift, four days a week. The really annoying part, however, was the shifts themselves. I worked from 6:30 in the morning until 6:30 at night for four days, then had four days off. Then I worked from 6:30 at night until 6:30 in the morning for four nights, then had four days off. Twelve hour shifts, four days on, four days off, four NIGHTS on, four days off. Repeat ad infinitum.

And on my days off, I worked at McDonalds as a cashier.

After three and a half months of that nonsense, getting up at six in the morning every day for the next two years was a breeze.

A Lesson From The Book of Mormon

And now behold, it came to pass in the commencement of the fortieth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi, there began to be a serious difficulty among the people of the Nephites.

For behold, Pahoran had died, and gone the way of all the earth; therefore there began to be a serious contention concerning who should have the judgment-seat among the brethren, who were the sons of Pahoran.

Now these are their names who did contend for the judgment-seat, who did also cause the people to contend: Pahoran, Paanchi, and Pacumeni.

Now these are not all the sons of Pahoran (for he had many), but these are they who did contend for the judgment-seat; therefore, they did cause three divisions among the people.

Nevertheless, it came to pass that Pahoran was appointed by the voice of the people to be chief judge and a governor over the people of Nephi.

And it came to pass that Pacumeni, when he saw that he could not obtain the judgment-seat, he did unite with the voice of the people.

But behold, Paanchi, and that part of the people that were desirous that he should be their governor, was exceedingly wroth; therefore, he was about to flatter away those people to rise up in rebellion against their brethren.

And it came to pass as he was about to do this, behold, he was taken, and was tried according to the voice of the people, and condemned unto death; for he had raised up in rebellion and sought to destroy the liberty of the people. (Helaman 1:1-8)

There is a time to debate, to contend, and to decide. And then there is a time to get things done. The former is now over, and the latter is upon us.

The voice of the people has spoken, and it has spoken in favor of Barack Obama.

He was not my first choice for the Presidency, and I didn't vote for him. But he is going to be the President. And he is going to be my President. I will support Barack Obama. I won't agree with everything he says or does, nor with all of his policies and decisions. But I believe he is an honorable man with good intentions. I'm not going to spend the next four years trying to convince everyone who voted for Obama that they're idiots. I'm going to try to work with them, in what little ways I am able, to try to get done the things that need to get done for the good of our country and our communities. I hope others will do the same.

In saying this, I'm not supporting the idea that we don't stand up for what we believe in. We still fight for that which is right in our minds and our hearts. But maybe we fight a little less, and maybe we work a little more. Maybe we realize that the folks on the other side of the political aisle from us have some good ideas, just like we do. Maybe we start looking first for what we have in common rather than what divides us. Maybe we decide not to try so hard to pick political fights. Maybe we decide to try compromise instead of confrontation.

While listening to the radio this morning, I heard a lot of people calling and texting in sentiments like, "Barack Obama is not my President." Get over yourselves. This is no longer about you—and in truth, it never was. It's about what's best for our country. We've had so much divisiveness and contention over the past sixteen years. It's poisoned our politics and polarized our population. In some ways, it's made bipartisan cooperation a thing of the past.

Whether we agree personally with the nation's choice for President or not, isn't it about time to put all the bickering and infighting behind us? Aren't our country's problems more important than all of that?

Isn't it about time that we truly become the United States of America again?

Musings of a RINO

“In America, anybody can be president. That's one of the risks you take.”
-Adlai E. Stevenson

I don't normally blog about politics much. I'm not an expert in politics or anything. Admittedly, that doesn't stop a lot of other people from doing it—and making a lot of money doing it, in some cases. But to me, talking about politics is generally aggravating—almost as aggravating as listening to other people talk about it. Or reading about it on their blogs. So I don't typically get into it.

But there are always exceptions, and this is one of them. Don't worry; I'm not going to turn this blog into a forum for political discussion, inquiry, and debate. The fact is, I just don't care enough about politics most of the time to do that. But this is an extraordinary time. Perhaps even historic. So I'm doing it now.

First, a word about where I'm coming from. I describe myself as a right-leaning moderate. I am registered as a Republican, but I'm not devout in my political convictions. I don't think my Party has all the answers, and on some issues I wish they would listen to what the Democrats have to say. But I tend to think that smaller government is more effective than big government, so I'm registered as a Republican. Whether the Republican Party is really about smaller government anymore is a matter of some dispute, I suppose.

Hard-core Republicans have a name for people like me. They call us “Republicans In Name Only”, or RINOs.



It’s a term of derision—Sean Hannity, for example, used to call John McCain a RINO all the time, before he won the Republican nomination. But I suppose it fits, at least for some of us. Personally, I don't mind the term. It’s appropriate for me, because my loyalties are not to any/either Party but to my own principles. I try to vote for who and what are right, not necessarily who and what are on the Right.

I realize that my ideas about what is right are not necessarily going to be the same as anyone else's. And that's fine. We have a wide—almost impossibly wide—diversity of opinions, beliefs, values, and dreams in this nation. That's a good thing, by the way. It forces us to question, to search, to examine, and ultimately to decide. I feel that people who reside at either end of the political spectrum, who never question the validity and value of their tightly-held political beliefs, are either arrogant, deluded, or just not paying attention. I think they're missing out. If you want a country where everyone in the government thinks the way you do, well, the United States isn't the place for you. There are still a few countries out there like that, though. China, North Korea, Myanmar, and Cuba come to mind. Maybe Iran and Venezuela, too.

Anyway, enough pontificating. I'll be voting in a the morning, and for those who are interested, I'd like to share with you my thoughts on a few issues and candidates.

(Information provided by LeaveYourPrint.com, administered by the Office of the Lieutenant Governor.)

President
Baldwin, Charles O. "Chuck", Castle, Darrel (CONSTITUTION)
Barr, Bob, Root, Wayne A. (LIBERTARIAN)
La Riva, Gloria, Moses, Robert (UNAFFILIATED)
McCain, John, Palin, Sarah (REPUBLICAN)
McKinney, Cynthia, Clemente, Rosa (UNAFFILIATED)
Nader, Ralph, Gonzalez, Matt (UNAFFILIATED)
Obama, Barack, Biden, Joe (DEMOCRAT)

After everything I've written above, this pick is should come as no surprise. Do I believe McCain will win? Absolutely not. According to the latest set of state polls I saw, Obama is currently projected to receive 318 electoral votes, well in excess of the 270 he needs to win it. Sure, there's still a margin of error and several hours before all the votes are counted, but McCain will be lucky to break 200. Sorry, McCainiacs, but this thing is over. Barring something catastrophic, Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States. And strangely enough, I think it'll be okay.

U.S. Representative District 2
Arndt, Mathew (LIBERTARIAN)
Dew, Bill (REPUBLICAN)
Emery, Dennis Ray (CONSTITUTION)
Matheson, Jim (DEMOCRAT)

I don't expect this one to be particularly close, either. Matheson has the respect of a lot of people in the district, including a lot of Republicans. I think he's done a good enough job to get another two years.

Governor & Lieutenant Governor
Huntsman Jr., Jon M., Herbert, Gary R. (REPUBLICAN)
Schanze, "SUPERDELL" Dell , Hobbs, Joey (LIBERTARIAN)
Springmeyer, Bob, Valdez, Josie (DEMOCRAT)

I actually voted against Jon Huntsman when he ran for Governor in 2004. I voted for Democrat Scott Matheson, mostly because I was upset at how the Utah Republican Party treated then-Governor Olene Walker. As the incumbent, I thought she should have been the automatic Republican nominee. But she was too heavily invested in education, which makes the anti-UEA folks in the Republican Party skittish. So they held a round of primaries, which Walker lost as she went on with her job running the state. But I'm satisfied with how Huntsman has served for the last four years. Bob Springmeyer hasn't given me any reason to want him in office, and Dell Schanze is a wacko. I can't believe that polls are showing 2% of the people actually want him to be governor.

Representative District 28
Beck, Jared (CONSTITUTION)
King, Brian S. (DEMOCRAT)
Morrow, Jeffrey R. (REPUBLICAN)
Our prior Representative, Roz McGee, is retiring. Otherwise, I'd vote for her, no question. My pick here isn't quite firm, but it's the way I'm leaning right now. A lot of this is based on a mailer I received from the Morrow campaign. It talked about how school funding was diverted from the Salt Lake School District to the Jordan School District in the last term, and how McGee wasn't invited to the meeting where the decision was made because she wasn't a Republican. Morrow's claim was that we needed a Republican in District 28 so that we could have a voice in such matters. To my mind, it had exactly the opposite effect. It proves to me that there's too much "good old boy" politicking going on amongst the dominant Party on Capital Hill. It tells me we need more Democrats in the State Legislature, not fewer.

Constitutional Amendment C
Yes
No

There won't be many people who vote against this one, but I'm going to. It seeks to amend the State Constitution to allow the State Legislature to start its session on the fourth Monday in January instead of the third. The primary reason is that the third Monday is often Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Federal holiday or not, I think out state legislators ought to be working on that day specifically. Dr. King had a dream of a just and equitable society for all. I think it would behoove our legislators to be reminded that their job is to try to make that kind of a society possible.

County Council #4
Crockett, Mark (REPUBLICAN)
Iwamoto, Jani (DEMOCRAT)

Iwamoto has some interesting ideas and some impressive credentials, but I'm happy with the way Crockett has represented our area on the county council.

County Council At Large A
Debry, Steven L. (REPUBLICAN)
Horiuchi, Randy (DEMOCRAT)

Randy Horiuchi, long-time county council member, didn't even have a statement listed in the voter's guide this year. I don't know whether it was because he just forgot about it, or he was so busy that he missed the deadline, or he just didn't feel he had to bother with it. Whatever. It bugs me that he didn't get it done. Next!

County Proposition #1
For
Against

County Proposition #2
For
Against

These two Propositions involve bond issues: $19.6 million for the Tracy Aviary and $33 million for Hogle Zoo, respectively. I've been to both, and I've enjoyed them both. And frankly, I'm in favor of anything that increases local access to the arts, science, and culture. (It's like the old joke: What's the difference between Utah and yogurt? Yogurt has an active, living culture.)

The reasons for my choices are many and varied. Some are profound, some are petty, and some are little more than gut feelings. But I feel like I've done my due diligence on this year's election. When I go into the booth tomorrow morning, I'm not going to be staring at a bunch of names and issues I've never seen before. I've done what I can to be well-informed.

One final thought; not my own, but something written by one of the members of the Hero Games Discussion Boards, Bill. He puts it this way:

I'm a registered Republican, and have been for 20 years now. I still consider myself a Republican and a true conservative, despite the last 15+ years of the Socialist Evangelicals trying to steal the party (and the term) away from me. . . . I still hold out hope that the Republicans will someday return to their fiscally responsible, socially moderate roots. [Emphasis mine. -M] That's why I'm still a member of the party -- I want to vote for those types of candidates in the Primaries.

And that's pretty much all I've got for now.

I am the RINO. Goo Goo Ga Joob.

A Little Pre-Election Humor

Q: How many bloggers does it take to change a light bulb?

A: None. Bloggers talk big, but in the final analysis, they never really change anything.

Are You Kidding Me?

I walked past the bank that's next to the call center a few minutes ago, and I saw this sign in the front door:

PLEASE NO HALLOWEEN MASKS!
We appreciate your cooperation.
Have a safe and happy Halloween!
****Bank

And as I saw the sign, it made me wonder . . .

What kind of person thinks it's a good idea to go into a bank wearing a mask?!

Even on Halloween?

Are we as a society really stupid enough to need to be reminded that wearing a mask into a bank is a good way to get shot?

Think, people!