It's a rough day when . . .

. . . getting hit in the head with a three-foot stick might be one of the better experiences.

(But I'll get to that later.)

Work was hectic today.

The Current Project is coming to a conclusion--dependant as it was on the 2008 Presidential Election. Now that the votes are completed, the final bits of my work begin. And Iteration A is piled upon by Iteration B, and also Iterations C and D . . . not to mention Spinoff 1 and Spinoff 2.

(As usual, to say things more specifically might get me "dooced" so I leave it vague. Just trust me that things are piling up on top of each other. Such is the nature of my job at this time of year. It gets hectic.)

I had to deal with that hectic-ness all throughout the day, went to meetings, felt inadequate at meetings, had discussions with people, felt inadequate after discussions. A typical Thursday.

And while balancing all of this stuff, compound it by the fact that I had to leave early because I was picking up the kids after school. Yes, I did arrive at work a corresponding earlier time, so it's not like I didn't work a full set of hours . . . but, well . . . I still felt like I had to get things done faster.

But so, then, I got the kids and went home. And I had to bake some chocolate chip cookies so Sarah can donate them to a school bake sale. This wasn't THAT hard because I used a mix, but I had to keep Hannah occupied with toys and stuff, while rapidly getting the mix ready and into the oven.

I did accomplish a good thing by getting the kids to play out in the backyard, though.

After I finished baking the cookies and remotely connecting back to the office to tie up one or two loose ends (while Hannah complained at my feet), I got Hannah to play outside as well. I pushed her in the swing for a while and then I let her crawl on the grass while the other kids played.

The Stick Incident occurred while Grace was playing with a random tree stick. She was holding it and pointed it in my face. I told her not to do that, so she decided to swing it instead and it connected solidly with that portion of my forehead above my left eye. I reacted loudly and angrily and Grace ran into the house in embarrassment and fear. But after I got over it, I got Sarah to get her and we talked. They pointed out that I was bleeding a bit, so I requested a band-aid and now I look like I visited my local Fight Club.

So . . . was THAT the best part of the day? Well, probably not. Perhaps I didn't have a best part. But then again, the day isn't fully over yet, so maybe I shouldn't give up all hope.

Can he, yes?

Sincerest of congratulation to you President-elect Obama. My young daughter, who (thankfully and hopefully has no notion of how remarkable it is for this country to elect you to its highest office) walked around the house this morning saying "Rock Obama won, Rock Obama won.")

Now, the media paeans begin . . . at least until the first attempt to knock you off your pedestal arrives. But keep your head.

You may think you have a national mandate. You may have broken into Red States that haven't swung in your party's way for decades. You may have the most decisive Electoral College victory in the last several elections.

But, the popular vote shows that almost 48% of the people voted AGAINST you. Large parts of the country still went the other way. Members of Congress are going to inevitably worry about themselves instead of YOUR agenda.

And you've got enormous issues to begin fixing:

A systemically sick economy
Two nebulous war fronts
Deeply-felt cultural disagreements

I want you to succeed. I want the large amounts of people that you inspired and motivated and engaged to stay that way and care and think and work. But can you compete with TV and sports and the daily grind of living? Can you?

Yes, you can?

I want to believe that.

Election results will be reacted to

Once the kids get to bed, I plan to Twitter my reactions to anything interesting on the election results as it all happens.

So, starting somewhere around 8:30 or so, check out www.twitter.com/dtm1971 to get regular 140 bursts of my mental pearls of wisdom. You'll be GLAD you did, I'm sure . . .

I'll be balancing this task with regular work that I'll be attempting to do also, so tonight's going to be a mega-multi-tasking kind of night.

Democracy day

I got up and showered at 5:45 this morning, then got Hannah out of her crib (she was already awake) and make some coffee. Lynda got up and got her shower as well and I was out the door with my travel mug of Joe (NOT the Plumber, please) to place my early morning vote.

I drove down the street to get to Sarah's elementary school which is my polling location. The sun was not yet up, it was still ten minutes until the doors officially opened, and there was already a line 100 strong queued up on the sidewalk.

I wound through the adjacent neighborhood and found a place to park the car (the school's lot was already full). I waited, but didn't immediately pull out the iPod. I eventually chatted with the woman in front of me and the man behind. She said that she usually votes this early in the morning and she always walks right in. She'd NEVER seen lines like this. She was happy about this development. The man behind me lived in the neighborhood that I had just clogged up with my car. He also said that he had not seen lines like this before, but he normally voted a little later in the morning.

Once the doors opened, the lines moved with a decent pace. Getting the voting authorization slip (according to last initial) took some time, but then the wait began. The line to get to the electronic machines twisted and turned like a snake trying to eat itself and it took at least thirty minutes for me to work my way to the front of the line. 

But then I got a machine and cast my vote (carefully verifying that the paper printout beside the electronic touch screen displayed the name that I had just chosen. Then on to clerk of court, various judgeships, and the artfully worded state constitutional amendments and ballot issues. 

And then I was done. Now MORE waiting begins. As soon as Lynda makes her way through her own set of lines, we'll head to work and try not to think about the numbers piling up across the county. Tonight, I'll be watching the voting results come in and Twittering my thoughts (www.twitter.com/dtm1971), so be sure to check that out as you sit and watch the same.

I COULD have voted early, but the line wait downtown the last week or so has been even longer than the hour+ that I faced this morning. And I had a (not entirely irrational--this is OHIO after all) fear that early votes might be lost, set aside, or whatever. I want my vote to count today.

The political Super Bowl is here. Let the best team win.

The election is three days away

I took Hannah for a walk through the neighborhood, up and down the many cul-de-sacs, on a very pretty late October afternoon today.



Here is the tally of signage I saw as we walked:







=14











= 10











= 4













*****

If you are further interested, I tried the various combinations of 14, 10, and 4 and have only found one valid zipcode out of that bunch--
say hello to Covington, Kentucky! (I wonder what the signage tally is like in THAT town?)