Lee,

holy shit.

Do you have a copy of "No Exit" in your purse or something?

the cab driver told me the story of how he went from being a grad student in theoretical physics to driving a cab for 10 years, complete with a cheating girlfriend, a car destroyed by a tree, and (my hand to god) photos he pulled up on his macbook.

That sounds like someone I went to college with, complete with the oversharing, except that in his case 1) he's gay, and 2) he did it the other way around. He drove a cab for 10 years and then got a law degree.

Uh, not that I'd want to see you stuck in cab with him.

Do people normally (I guess I should say--practically, or ideally) vote on all the propositions? I mean, are you expected to be informed and care and take action on all of them? It's not that there are a lot of propositions up for vote, but there's always a lot of contentious background information.

I think they do but it's why yard signs work. People will vote for things that seem vaguely familiar even if they don't actually understand what they are voting on. I've probably been guilty of it too.

Now I mark up my voter guide and vote with that in hand.

Speaking of, I haven't received my voter guide or acknowledgement that I am now registered here. Damn. Have to call.

I know this is not the way you guys work, what with wanting your candidates to possibly win, and all, but I really believe that you have to keep voting who you actually want to win. That the eventual success of third parties, and therefore the nation (because the polarizing nature of a two party system is seriously destructive at this point) depends on people voting third party when they agree with that candidate, regardless of "chances to win." But I'm an idealist, and I understand that.

I'm disillusioned to the point where I just want people to vote. With some knowledge on who (or what) they are voting to elect. But vote. It's how change happens.

I need to go get my driver license but I slept poorly and have a headache. I should do my makeup and see if I am willing for that to be my picture. It seems dumb to put it off until tomorrow but it's going to be my picture for a while. I would prefer to like it.

I didn't get a card saying where my voting place is, then I heard that several thousand people had been removed from the voting registers, so I decided to pop into the voter office last week. No big deal, I was registered. Surprisingly efficient dealings with the government.

Also, at Margaret and Helen, Helen has a lovely rant about the election. Margaret's coda is wonderful:

Good lord. I remember when Mitt’s father ran for President. Could we maybe find someone whose father is just a simple man who hopes his daughter might one day grow up to be President?

Love those old ladies.

Now I mark up my voter guide and vote with that in hand

I am going to admit to scribbled notes in the information guide. I haven't scribbled notes in a printed, quasi-bound anything in...hell, I didn't do that in school. I do wish I could do it electronically, especially when I started doing further research on the web, though. But two tablets and a laptop each with multiple desktops is not enough.

My sister and I are pretty well in each other's heads, and so may it be forever. She's the only person whose passwords I can guess, and I know what her "just so" is.

I just got sent a "Hey! Just picking up where T left off as account manager!" email and I am having the kind of day where I do actually reply back "The only interaction I had with T was him delaying responding to me so long we missed a deadline and had to cancel the project. I'm not sure you want to pick up where he left off."

Man, my phone was ringing hot in a second. No, minute. I sent it at 19 past the hour, she forwarded it to her boss at 20 past the hour, and at same my phone rang, and at 25 past the hour the head of the department emailed me back.

You know what? This week I don't give a SHIT.

I have never found cats to be that useful in making friends?

I never had before but I am meeting my cat sitter for coffee (or, probably, frozen yogurt) in a couple of hours. She's got day job information for me and is interesting. But it's the first time Puppycat has been useful.

I called the voter registrar office and I am registered. It got there the day after I mailed it (9/25) but I hadn't received my sample ballot or my mail ballot so they are sending those now. The California deadline is soon so I wanted to make sure I didn't have an error stopping me from voting.

I actually just realized I probably have the most inside jokes with a cow-orker who used to be a student at the theatre AND used to be my student worker. He actually gets the 'You're all doing verry well'

I am going to admit to scribbled notes in the information guide. I haven't scribbled notes in a printed, quasi-bound anything in...hell, I didn't do that in school. I do wish I could do it electronically, especially when I started doing further research on the web, though. But two tablets and a laptop each with multiple desktops is not enough.

Oh! you can! I heard it on the AM NPR where they talked about notating a ballot (maybe on scpr) and then accessing it on your smartphone while at the polls.

So the buyer's realtor responded:

Thanks for sending me the invoice and you can deduct the amount ($78) from my commission and please extend my apology to the seller Also, [my realtor] told me there was no charge for the washing machine inspection so I hope this was the first time the seller thought she was paying for something unnecessarily.

Fyi, I will indeed not be using that inspector again, though I'm by no means embarrassed as I've successfully used the company he works for many times.

The other realtor is bitching about not getting an invoice for the thermostat repair. He wants to make sure the furnace is functional, although he had an inspector out to verify this a couple of days ago. My realtor has to get that for him. I of course am irritated still. my reply (in part):

He does realize that the A/C wouldn't work if the furnace were not operational, yes?

While I am thankful for the financial credit, there is some inconvenience involved on my part, [my realtor], and likely his. It would have been graceful for him to acknowledge this. Then too, perhaps such inconvenience doesn't matter much to him.

Thank you for your attempts to get this resolved. I'll leave my comments at that.

I am in love with this: [link]