Mixed Message...

I took a little cruise up to the mailbox in the Hotel Yorba Courtesy car the other day and something caught my eye on a neighbor's lawn.

I kept driving while trying to process what I saw, a little unsure that I actually saw it. Was it really a hand made hand painted...plywood?...picture of...no way!

So I flipped a U-turn and went back, and sure enough, I did, in fact, see what I thought I saw.

So I went home to get the camera.


Please comment. I don't care if it's anonymous, I want to know what you make of this. And what would Bill O'Reilly say? For once, I want to know what that man thinks.

(Note to Ted - this is NOT comment begging!)

And while we're at it, let's make this the very first Mind Blogging Typos Photo Caption Contest.

Winner gets a batch of Triple Chocolate Disaster cookies.

Incidentally, I really like that there appears to be sun rays in the picture, like a faith based Hallmark card. Nice accidental touch, that.

Flowers in the front? It can't be!

But it is! And they are still there. We had all but given up on putting pretty flowers in the front of our house. It has always been, essentially, an all you can eat deer buffet.

But we wanted the entryway to look nice for Thanksgiving, so we planted some, covered them at night, left the porch light on, and put the dog bed right by the door. My new neighbor noticed and offered us some "Liquid Fence." She swore it works and that she's had mums on her porch for a month or so. I decide to try it.

I started spraying it on the flowers, and nearly lost my breakfast all over the front porch. She heard me gag and called over from her yard, "It smells terrible, but the smell goes away after a while! It's coyote pee!"

Coyote pee. I guess it will keep roadrunners away, too. It smelled really bad for about a day and a half, but the plants are still there. I have to reapply it in a few days. After that, it's supposed to be once a month.

I wonder how they get the coyotes to pee in the little spray bottles?

Thanksgiving Weekend 2006

Hello all. Aside from being sick, Thanksgiving weekend was great. We had a smaller gathering this year, but we did do a speaker phone toast with the McNaughts. It was a little tough, I think because John had a half duplex speaker phone.

We had two special guests that came a long way for their first American Thanksgiving. Paul's Mom, Margaret, and his mate Brendan. They were both at the wedding last year, and it was nice to have them back.










Rachel woke me up around 7:30 or so. It was rough as I was up late baking and making stuffing the night before. Jake was up and helping, too. He even pulled the nasty bits out of the bird for us. Rachel just can't, and I gag.

Then it was a lot of cooking. And some last minute cleaning. I know I was running on adrenalin from being sick and also tired, but it honestly seemed easier this year. I think the key to our success was Rachel's idea to create a comprehensive To Do List and Menu in Excel. Whenever we found ourselves wondering what to do next, we just went to the list.

Here's me in the kitchen.
That was putting the yams in the mixer for the casserole. The chopped potatoes were on the fire next. The really tricky part was timing everything with one oven. But we managed - the bird came out, the casserole and asparagus au gratin went in, Dolores made the string beans (yum!) in a wok on the stove top while I pulled the ham in off the rotisserie and we finished up with the rolls.

It seems like only yesterday, but it's got to be ten years ago. Ayway, at one of my first Thanksgivings at the McNaughts's house, Adrianne made place setting name tags for everyone. She found these great big leaves, painted them gold, and then wrote a name on each. It was a nice touch. And ever since then, Rachel's tried to do something like it. This year, she got out her stamp pad kit and soome glitter and glue and tibbon and I don't know what all, I was upstairs cooking. But they came out great. Here's an example...


And here's some pictures from around the table.










































Everyone stayed over, and Brendan and Lauren and Paul stayed over on Friday Night as well. It was a nice long relaxing weekend.

Margaret taught Lauren, Rachel, and Dolores some new stitches. And they had something of an English afternoon tea.














We played pool (Brendan clobbered me) and darts (at darts, too).












Clear skies and weird fog (could it be London fog they crammed in to overhead storage?)...


The new fridge is amazing. Everything fit. Come to think of it - that was a big part of what made cooking easier this year.



Michael made sandwiches...


Football Hooligans...











And Friday night, we played poker (I clobbered Brendan).










That's my poker face. And Rachel isn't buying it.

Not sure how to end a post like this. I'm hoping next year we'll have a bigger group again. And maybe even some representation from my side of the family.

Anyway - here's the sunset we got on Thanksgiving.


One for the books.

Thanksgiving Eve

Oh, Ive been working hard
Mmm, trying to make some money
Would you like sour cream
On your potato, honey?
I been kissing ass
Trying to keep it clean
Serving the middle class
Yeah, its a clean routine
Watching the clothes go round
Watching the clothes go round
Watching the clothes go round
Watching the clothes go round

--The Pretenders

So there's Rachel, amazed at the new washer. Later she spent some quality time with the dryer. We could only do one load last night because we didn't know that "HE" means "High Efficiency" and you need special detergent. It came with one little sample pack. If I worked at Sears, I would tell my customers who just spent a bunch of money on a new washer that they should go buy some special detergent. But I don't. Apparently you have to be a complete idiot to work at Sears. At least in Clearlake. The delivery guys were cool, though.

So I'm trying to put the whole shopping experience behind me, but there's one thing I'm having a hard time with. The delivery guys tell me there's a "stair charge." $1 per stair. They add up quick when you are taking away two old appliances and bringing in two new ones. I showed them the route they could take with only 1 stair. And then that guy Nick, who was remaining nameless before but not now, tells me he has to charge me that fee. "It's written on the counter." Um, I ordered on the internet. I explained to him that there is a perfetly acceptable alternate route that only has one stair. It was just silly and I ended up hanging up on him and tipping the delivery guys. If he charges my card, I will call and complain to Sears, but not to you anymore. Promise. I'm done bitching about how awful the manager at the Clearlake Sears store is. But I hope he has a nice Thanksgiving anyway.

The fridge is a beautiful appliance. And when you get a glass of water in the middle of the night, it illuminates the glass and the floor looks like a little watery disco. And there is a lot more space than we had before. It's making my Thanksgiving cooking much easier this year.







Speaking of which, I'm done making the stuffing and the magic cookie bars and moving on to prepping the ham for the rotisserie tomorrow.

I am spent. I worked today, and then went shopping for almost four hours. And we cleaned and stuff. Rachel and Jake did a fantastic job on the house while I was shopping. and I've got a cold. So like I said, I'm spent.

I cannot go on.

I go on.

Still more to do. But tomorrow when everyone is here that is coming, it will be worth it. We are down to just 9 this year as the McNaughts can't make it. More leftovers, and we'll try to do a conference call toast. I love John's toasts.

Note to Sis - I left you a message. I know I wasn't the only one crying chopping onions tonight. And soaking raisins and chopping celery and all that. I had to use two pans for Lola's stuffing this year because last year it didn't last. I love you and please try to find a minute to give me a call tomorrow. Wish you could be here.

I can't believe tomorrow is Thanksgiving...

So much to be done and all. But mostly, where did this year go? I am going to look into that whole concept of "the acceleration of time."

I wish everyone safe travel, great food, and the creation of fond memories.

Technically Speaking, A Golf Cart Isn't...

...a cart at all. Carts are, by definition, not self propelled. I guess if you run out of gas, or juice on the back nine and have to push, then it might be considered a cart. But in general, they are more properly called golf cars.

Well, we bought a golf car(t) last week. We figured some day we'd end up getting one. But they are pretty expensive - $2,000 or so for a newer one in good shape. And then a lot more for any extras - like windshields, rear seats, lift kits, lockking dash, stereos and all that.

Well, Rachel's boss...well, one of her bosses, took another job and is moving to Las Vegas. And he gave us lodge brother pricing on his used cart that he won't need any more. And a charger. It's a bit beat up, but it made it up the hill to our house. We are now the (proud?) owners of a 1984 Club Car DS Electric. It's rehabilitation is going to be a long term family project.

It was filthy, the seats are ripped, the hub caps were dented, and the steering was dodgy - a lot of play, and it was really slow, especially up hills. I wish I took a before picture.

Here's our first mod that Jake came up with...


We attached a little LED flasher from his BMX bike to the rear post to drive at night and be seen. I also picked up a bicycle front headlight and attached it to the front cross bar.

I gave it a good wash - lots of mud, and several tree branches lodged under the fenders and bumpers. And some crap in the dash - pencils from a golf course I've never heard of. Oh, and about 85 cents in loose change. I also cleaned the battery compartment and discovered that the cables were pretty corroded.

Then I figured out how to get those moon hubcaps off with a screwdriver and checked the tire pressure. They were at 5, 6, 7.5. and 8.5 PSI. Max is 22 PSI. So I fired up the compressor and took them up to 20 PSI. They are old tires and I was worried about blowing them. That helped a lot with the sluggishnesss. And while I had the hub caps off, I banged the dents out with a rubber mallet. I also changed out the battery cables - 5 of them at $3.85 a piece. That helped even more with the speed. But there was still the matter of the steering.

I could deal with the play in the wheel, but when we were going downhill, the wheels would turn on their own. That wasn't safe.

I went on line and found some great websites. And I'm really proud of myself for figuring out how to do this. I took the front cowl off, jacked it up, and removed one of the wheels. I isolated the problem to a loose ball joint on the spindle. It was difficult to adjust, but I managed to use a pair of channel locks to hold the bolt in place, removed the pin, and managed to tighten the nut with a Polish Torque Wrench (a spanner, or crescent wrench). The play is gone.

Jake and I also used some black duct tape to patch the ripped seats. We ended up making it look like a pattern, so from a distance, and if you squint up close, it looks like we have black and white seats.

So for 25 bucks more and a couple of afternoons, we now have a safe, functional cart. Rachel and I took our coffee on the road this morning and tooled all around the neighborhood. We went down to Little Beach and all around the lake to Big Beach. We drove around for about an hour, and it was a blast. We talked, and looked at houses and stuff. Rachel thinks it will be neat to drive around at Christmas time and look at the decorated houses. I'm looking forward to using it instead of the car for short trips. We can make it to the grocery store, to the clubhouse, to the beaches and even out to Tony and Eva's new place. And, of course, it will save me $20 a round at the golf course. I'm sure I'll play 25 rounds over the next few years. I'm also thinking it will be nice to take the bikes down to where it's flat to ride around.

Rachel wants to paint it Burgundy and we are hoping her Dad can make us some wood molding like we saw in a kit for sale on line. It will look something like this when we're done...

Just the side panels - the dash kit looks pretty complex. Anyway, that should be cool. Maybe play some Beach Boys on a boom box or something.

Rachel has named it "The Hotel Yorba Courtesy Car." The next time you're here, we'll go for a ride or play a round in it.

Ironic Headline and article...

Bush makes first visit to Vietnam

HANOI (Reuters) - George W. Bush became the second U.S. president to visit post-war Vietnam on Friday, saying his presence 30 years after a conflict that split America was proof the two nations "can reconcile and move beyond past difficulties."

F%$* Sears In Clearlake, and the guy with the keys, and his boss...

I got a call today from the Sears store.

"Yes, um, Hi, Mr. Sonderstorm, Hi, this is [name witheld] at the Clearlkae Sears store. And I wanted to let your items on November 28th."

I explained politely that that wouldn't do because we need the fridge before Thanksgiving.

And then he lied to me, saying, well, he just got the order. Which isn't true, because I know he received it on Saturday. And I called him on it.

So he had to delete my order and place it again. And apparently he screwed that up because he had to do it again. And he calls me back and say I need to use another card. I explain that I don't want to use another card, I want to use my check card so the money comes out of my checking account.

There's more, but I'll spare you - Basically, I may not be able to use my ATM card for the next several days because he put a bunch of transactions on it for the appliances which exceeded my daily limit or something. So I had to use my Discover Card.

It continues to suck. The next post on this topic will either be of the actual appliances installed in my home or me cancelling the order and going to Best Buy instead.

The Family That Reads Together...

...um...Feeds their heads together. And keeps warm together. And shuts off all the lights but one and the heater and saves on their PG&E bill together.

Thanks to Gary and Ted for letting me expense the tripod that was used to take this picture.

Bookmark this post...

...just in case you have a downer day. I love this video.

It kind of reminds me of me watching The South Park Movie or Jackass, or sometimes a good Family Guy episode. No matter how many times I see it, I still laugh.

I used to think of myself as a Lefty Libertarian...

...or, perhaps, a free market progressive.

But now I think I am a hot tub anarchist.


I'm generally happy about the way the elections went last week. I just hope the Democrats all saw the Spiderman movies and are mindful of their great newfound responsibility. And I hope they subpeona and investigate more than they say they will. I don't think Nancy can stop Mr. Conyers, Mr. Reid, and give 'em Hell Harry. Let's hope not, anyway.

I've had a few projects lately. I managed to hang shelving, straight and level, in the laundry room. Just in time for both appliances to just about crap out on us. We've already been through one new motor on the washer and a couple of near dryer fires (the dryer came with the house).

Anyway, back to that in a minute. I also spent some time mixing, coloring, and applying some cement patch to the top deck. And then a whole bunch of caulking. We got our first serious rains this weekend, and so far, the sun room is dry as a bone. So the caulking and cement patch worked. We still have this darned leak in the entry way. It's outside, but I'm concerned it will eat away at the door frame. It is vexing me because I have caulked every place I can find where water can possibly creep in there. But it's at the bottom of a slope in the roof on three sides, so it could be trickling in somewhere far away. But the rest of my work is looking good so far.

I've also been looking forward to the first hot tub in the rain. I got that tonight. And Rachel snapped a picture.

Totally new topic - should be a new post, but I already uploaded the picture and I'm a bit lazy and I want to get back to my book by the fire before the fire goes out.

Have I mentioned how much I hate the Sears store in Clearlake? I mean, I dig the tools and all. But the guy there is just a tremendous nob. He totally screwed us over on a fridge a year or so ago. And I vowed never to go there again. And then time passed, and like U-Haul - I know I've mentioned how much I hate U-Haul - and I forgt about it and, well, our fridge...what can I say? It used to have two cripsers and lots of nice shelves, and over time, well, the one drawer fell on the shelf which eventually fell on the other drawer. So now we have one less shelf, no drawers, really, just some cubby kind of things. And food goes bad. And you'll be filling your cup with nice cold water, and you'll pull your cup away, and the water keeps running, and if you don't know to open the door to make it stop, as some of our recnt house guests didn't, well, it keeps on running and you freak out a little. And then it randomly spits out ice cubes. Which is fine if Moe is around and in the mood for a puppy popscicle. But if she isn't, you step in cold wet and slippery.

I kept thining, "Jeez, this thing is only two years old." But in reality, it's only been ours for two years. It's really 15 years or so old, and original with the house. It is time.

And Thanksgiving is coming up. And there was this huge Veteran's Day sale at Sears. Zero percent financing on your Sears card or 10% off of one item, 15% off of two, or 20% off of three. And I thought I would surprise Rachel. So I went and looked at the one like Jolene and Jeff's that she liked, only with the ice and water dispenser that we love. And while I was there, I checked out washers and dryers. Our washer is like six years old. At the time, we bought the cheapest one we could afford with a ceramic tub. And, of course, that was before Rachel's accident. Now one of her biggest pains (Jake and I do the vacuuming now) is reaching in to the tub and pulling out wet laundry to move to the dryer.

So anyway, I'm in the back of the store looking at the open box deals, and what do you know, there are washer dryer pedestals for Kenmore HE2 washer and dryers for $49 each. Those are usually $150. So I looked and there were HE2 washers and dryers, front loading, on sale. And I started doing some math in my head (Yes, in my head. Yes, I was an English major, but I've been running my own business for 5+ years now and I can do math in my head, dammit! Oh, and I have never said, "Would you like fries with that?").

I figured If I bought everything, it would work out to paying for the fridge and the dryer and getting the washer and pedestals for free. I was ready to move. But the guy said I had to use my Sears card. And he said to go home and call and see if they would up my limit. If they couldn't come back tomorrow and we'll go through applying for a Sears plus card or some weird thing. And not to worry, we would work something out.

I went home and went online to do some research and talk it over with Rachel. We got these 1.2% APR checks from my Amazon Visa. So I could use those and pay it off by May and be groovy. And while we are online, I realized that you don't need a Sears card to get the discount. So the next day I called the store and HE HAD SOLD THE PEDESTALS!!!!!!!

Oh, I can order you some more.

How much?

$149.

I blew up. Anyway. As much as I would like to keep my tax dollars local, execuse me, F*%k the Sears store in Clearlake and the guy with the keys.

So we ordered it all on line, minus the pedestals. The front loader will be a big improvement for her back. And if it is still painful, we can build something to raise it up (I think we can do something with cinder blocks and some plywood and a little trim wood). Maybe make a drawer. Paint it white. Maybe Rachel's Dad (or I guess my sister, she's pretty handy with stuff) can help me if I can't figure it out myself. And the dryer is not going to catch fire anymore. And it will be really nice to have a fridge that works with some room for Thanksgiving. And since nobody had even thought of Energy Star yet when our old appliances were made, well, I figure they will pay for themselves in 8 years and hopefully have lifespan of 10.

And I always get this lousy feeling when we make big purchases - like cars and such - but I don't feel that this time. I think we did good.

And it is a glorious fridge!

Happy Birthday To Rachel...

My wife turned...I mean, my wife had another...no...

We celebrated my wife's birthday this weekend. That's it!



We got her The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour, to which we rocked out all weekend. Also got her a Fiskars craft cart, a wooden salad bowl set, and a graphic novel she'd been wanting. She dug her gifts.

We also celebrated Dolores' birthday. We did a family dinner, minus Paul, who is touring the U.S. with his new band "Paul and his Mum See The Sights." We went to Pazzo, which means "crazy" in Itallian. And it was a little crazy eating dinner where we used to pick up prescriptions and purchase various gee gaws and gifts. It's the new restaurant in the old Tuttle Drug building.

Tuttle drug was such an old Petaluma West side standard. And now it's a new trendy restaurant. Eating there, well, it's like a metaphor for what Petaluma has become. (That's a similie, by the way.) It's compeletely yuppified. And we need a new word for yuppie, because they aren't really yuppies any more. It's more like, "young people with either too much equity or large second mortgages that are about to switch to variable rates, and boy is the shit gonna hit the fan then." But I'll be darned if I can find a clever acronym in there. LSMs?

Anyway, great long slow dinner. Lots of talk. It was a lot of fun.


Happy Birthday wife.

And I was worried about USC and Big Game...

Arizona 24, (8) California 20

By ANDREW BAGNATO, AP Sports Writer
November 11, 2006

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- California center Alex Mack was philosophical about the eighth-ranked Golden Bears' 24-20 loss to Arizona Saturday afternoon.

"It's not over," he said. "It just hurts."

The loss knocked the Golden Bears (8-2, 6-1 Pac-10) out of the national title hunt. But Cal can still clinch its first Rose Bowl berth since the 1958 season with a victory at No. 7 Southern California next week.

For Arizona, the victory was another milestone on the road to respectability. The Wildcats, who won three games each of the last two years, have knocked off a Top 25 team on consecutive Saturdays. Last week it was then-No 25 Washington State.

They never would have finished higher than 5th in the rankings, even if they didn't lose this one and beat USC next week. And of course anything can happen in Big Game, but I have a feeling they will win it this year.

Anyway, it sucks. Sorry Scott. I know this hurts you more than it hurts me.

200...

...and the reunion is...

I wish that was my weight. And it will be some time next year. 200 is my target weight. I'm at about 234 right now. Halloween was rough. Tough choices, you know?


And we've been busy, so it's been tough to get on the exercise equipment. And Rachel's back has been acting up. And the sun was in my eyes. And...I know.

Anyway, 200. That's what I was talking about. Blogger keeps track of how many posts you've created on your blog. This is post #200. I doesn'tfeel like I've written 199 other posts, but there it is.

Anyway, I should have a lot to talk about. It was a big day yesterday. I stayed up late watching returns, and revelling in the results as one seat after another went blue. I flipped over to Fox to see how they took it. It was almost funny to hear Brit Hume glumly announce that the Democrats took the House (almost 10 minutes after CNN did). And then he said something like, "We don't root here, had the other side [pronounced "our side"] won, we would have had the same fireworks display." Fireworks? He could barely make the announcement - it was more like an admission. If I were physically able, I would have done a backflip when McCaskill pulled ahead. By midnight, it looked to me like it was all over, but the fat lady won't sing until after Thanksgiving and the Webb/Allen recount.

So that was great. Then I spent some time looking at the California returns.

Can anyone explain how the same state can elect Arnold by a huge margin and also Jerry Brown?

How is it that I am surrounded by Wal-Mart red necks, and yet Mike Thompson won my district with 65.2% of the vote?

And in greater California, apparently all we care about is keeping sex offenders out of our cleaner parks and water. The rest of the big number propositions failed. And all of the little number propositions won. How did we not pass the oil tax? Maybe Thomas Frank's next book should be "What's The Matter With California?"

Still, in all, it was nice to drink a little tequila on election night in celebration instead of despair.

I tried making a new potato dish last night. Rachel found it in Martha Stewart Living and asked me to make it. It's baked potato shred on top of a round of bermuda onion, heavy on the Rosemary.


It was pretty good, but I think some different spices could help it. I might make it for Thanksgiving, but it will be tricky as we only have one oven. Plus, I'm partial to mashed potatoes and gravy. Maybe I'll make both. Jake liked it a lot.





I put together a plate of leftovers for my sister. Laurie and I had lunch in Calistoga today. That was fun, and we plan to do it more often. It was about a half hour drive for each of us. Taking a long lunch is a perk of working from home that I don't take advantage of often enough. We met at Copperfield's Books and went for Mexican food and got caught up on things.

In reading this over, I think this post is a fairly good representation of all 200 - some politics, some cooking, and family.

It's Election Day...Please Vote...

I'm not even asking you to vote Democrat. Although I would prefer it if you did.

Just vote.

If you're a Republican who is fed up with the way things are going and just can't bring yourself to vote for a Democrat, well, leave those blank. There are a lot of important measures on the ballot.

I have three, no, four strong recommendations:

1.) Angelides (or at least not Arnold) for Governor. Honestly, I don't think Angelides has a chance, so I'm considering voting my conscience and choosing Camejo (Green Party). The biggest electoral mystery to me is how most Californians seem to have forgotten how pissed off we were about the bogus special (pronounced "special interest") election back in June. We were outraged. Since then, he's been doing things more to my liking. Which I find odious. And if I like his ideas now, then the Republicans who voted for him before should hate him. Unless they aren't apying any attention. Maybe that's it. Mystery solved.

2.) Jerry Brown for Attorney General. What can I say, I love Governor Moonbeam. I was rooting for him for President some years ago. What was that, '92? My understanding is that he almost became a Buddhist monk. That's why I was rooting for him. I think it would be great to have a Commander in Chief whose belief system starts with a non-violent religion. And I am generally unthrilled with the way Republicans have been eroding our Civil Liberties.

3.) Yes on 87. The ads against are paid for by Chevron. One of the greatest things about California is that we lead the way on progressive ideas. That smoking ban everyone was so up in arms about years ago has caught on just about everywhere now. Except, I think, Las Vegas. And guess what - the bars are still open. And it has saved lives. On this one, we should lead the way on alternative energy. Oh, that, and (full disclosure) Rachel's paycheck comes from Bottle Rock Power, a steam plant.

4.) No on 90. I can't believe this one is on the ballot and how I almost fell for it. The wording makes you think it is about eminent domain - and prevents the government from taking your house to build a strip mall. On a quick read, I thought it was to prevent that nasty business that happened back East where the city took some private citizen's property to build a mall "in the interest of the community." But the reality is it forces the government to pay developers for not building. Say they want to build 500 homes on a site and the EPA, or a planning commission restricts the building to 200 homes. The developer can make a claim on the government for the revenue lost from the 300 houses they couldn't build. I'm not kidding - that's what it's about. Vote no.

Oh, and I said 4, but I meant 5. 5 things.

5.) STRONG YES on 89!!! We need to get money out of politics. Impossible, I know. But publicly financed campaigns are a big first step towards this end. It all starts here in terms of reform.

Any suggestions or opinions on these or other ballot initiatives or candidates, I'd love to hear them. And I'm all confused on 1A-1F. In general, I'm for better roads. I remember growing up in California, and our roads used to be great. But some of them are for more freeways. I'm less inclined to support those. Improving existing roads I'm for. And expanding and improving public transit I'm for. I'm just having a hard time figuring out which ones do what.

And finally, I'd like to share why I love voting, and not just voting, but voting in person. First, I complain a lot about all things Bush related. For a brief time after colelge, I subscribed to the bumper sticker logic of "If voting mattered, it would be illegal." That's a Berkeley type bumper sticker there. But since then, I've changed bumper stickers to: a.) "If you aren't outraged, you aren't paying attention," b.) "If you didn't vote, then shut the hell up," and c.) "Kill your television." I know c.) isn't particularly relevant, but I like it.

Anyway, if you're a Lefty like me, if you dont vote, well, then you get the government you deserve. You should be all fired up to to vote for change. And if you're a moderate unhappy with the way things or going, or even a Republican who has come to realize that the current batch of Republicans (from Duke Cunningham, to Hastert, to Foley, to Santorum and so on) have sold out their party's values to the highest bidder, then you need to go vote for change.

And if you're a flag waving red neck Wal-Mart shopper with "Support Our Troops," and/or "Freedom Isn't Free," and/or "Remeber 9/11" stickers on your 9 MPG pick up, then you need to remember that our troops are fighting and dying for our freedom which isn't free because of 9/11, so go vote. Actually, nevermind - maybe you should stay home and read a book. Just kidding. You should vote. But vote Wednesday when the lines are shorter.

Aside from those reasons, my favorite part of voting is the equality. Every year, and occasionally more frequently, each of us is given the opportunity to vote. For me, it's not about Democracy as it is about equality. There is no fast pass, everybody has to wait in line. Nobody gets a better seat because they paid more for their tickets. You can't buy a better ballot. It doesn't matter if you have a PhD, college degree, or even a high school diploma or a GED. It doesn't matter how big your house is, or even where your house is (so long as you show up at the right polling place). Your car stays in the parking lot - and more power to you if you walked. The time we spend voting is the one time we are all equal. We should enjoy that time to the fullest.

I want to anticipate any cynics out there on this notion, because the cynic in me says, "Yeah? Well what about Ohio? What about poor African American districts that don't get enough voting machines? What about..." And before the cynic in me can finish, I tell my inner cynic to shut the f&%k up! This is a beautiful idea and I won't let you ruin it for me.

Halloween Party At Jeff and Jolene's

We put a lot of miles on the cars going over the hill last week. Jake had blood work one day and Remicaid another. We had to take him down to see Pete. And then we went to Oakland for Jeff and Jolene's Halloween Party. That was a lot of fun. But we got a late start and I think we spent more time in the car than at the party. It was still fun. A lot of great costumes.

I was proud of my Walter. But nobody got it. I did a lot of explaining to people who said they saw the movie once a long time ago. Rachel's Sara Sidle from CSI costume came out great! She made up a vest and had handcuffs, a glock, yellow glasses, blue flashlight, a badge and ID card. It was awesome.


And there were a lot of other great costumes. Jeff was Austin Powers. He needed a wig, but the chest hair was all him, baby. And Jolene dressed up like the singer of the song Jolene. There was an airline stweardess who "survived the crash," an Okie, some nerds, and a spooky witch just in from Italy. And Elliot was tearing laps around the new kitchen on his trike.