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Well, I meant to blog this yesterday and had it all typed in – but Blogger took a gigantic crap and I lost it all. So, here goes take 2 – or at least the highlights:

“Darkness falls across the land”

The people have spoken and they are idiots. GW is a lunatic and his screw-ups are legendary. Apparently, a majority of the county forgot about those and are going to give him 4 more years to screw things up. Keep in mind, though, that it was a small majority – a whole bunch of people, including me, were hoping to get rid of Bush. We’ll be watching…

End Political Rant here…

In other news, my sister wore pink yesterday – one of those breast cancer awareness braclets. Considering that she hates the color with a passion that borders on lunacy, this is really saying something. She asked that I alert the media – which I’m unable to do – but I can record it for the ages in this blog.

In still more news… gave my boss a ride to pick up his car after work. Major brownie points.

Watched some more of the Angel Season 4 DVD, finished Dune: Battle of Corrin, and generally chilled out.

And now it’s time to go back to work…

I went and voted this morning before work. Couldn’t find the address, so I was a little later getting there than I expected. I arrived at 6:40 (polls opened at 6:30) and there was a line out the door. And it was sort of one line, though there should have been two since there were two precints. There were no signs or clear markers – you just had to ask around to figure out if you should veer left or right. I paid attention and had no problems. And I had my voter card and picture ID, in case there were any problems. No way was I going to be denied the chance to vote.

A very primitive set-up, but it seemed to work. Fingers crossed.

I’m glad it’s over – the signs in the yards on every street, the mudslinging, the endless debates and discussions.

But if the war-monger wins, I’m moving to Canada. I wonder if the University of Toronto is hiring?

Back to work…

It can now be told – I was a Giant Lego-man for Halloween. And let me tell you, it totally rocked!

Let’s start out with big props to Jeff for his invaluabe help on the costume. He’s wicked with a can of spray paint and the end result was exactly what I envisioned. Also a shout out to Debbie – her help with the “suiting up” in the morning when I got to work was much appreciated.

So, the costume. Red sweatshirt, blue sweatpants, yellow-ish workboots. Red cardboard box for the torso, shaped to match the lego style. Bright yellow cardboard head with a section of screen so I could see out. Cut PVC pipe connectors and dowel rods for the hands. I’ll have pictures up on my site this week sometime.

I visited a lot of people on Friday – and startled a few. The funniest part was walking on campus and seeing people notice me and try not to react. Come on, people. You’re not too cool to laugh at the 6 foot tall lego man. Enjoy it – it’s freaking Halloween!

Since my face was totally hidden, a few people guessed it was me based solely on the fact that I do this every year. I think one recognised my voice, but a few people had to wait until I’d lifted off my lego head before they were sure it was me. 🙂

Great reactions from people, lots of fun. My own little moral booster for the campus. And hey – I got some candy too!

More later, including a link, once I’ve caught up on work…

I saw the eclipse last night – really cool. I was doing some work on my costume and had to go in and outside several times. Each time I went out, I could see more of the progress, until it was finally gone. Couldn’t stay up for the whole thing, but I found some pictures on the web that show it in all it’s glory. Makes a person feel a little small when you think about the grand forces and mathematics of the planetary movements.

Had a weird thought yesterday about squirrels. They seem so focused and busy, especially this time of the year. Wonder what would happen if we could teach them to use fire? If awareness and knowledge could be given to these so called tree-rats? For one thing, I think the neighborhood cats would be in deep shit. I don’t think it would take long for squirels to become militant and agressive. After all, they’ve been low mamals on the totem pole for a long time – payback would be a bitch. With this in mind, I plan on feeding the squirrels all winter. To stay on their good side. Just in case…

Tons of weird dreams this morning – tons. Fragments from work, amalgams of people, falling, being chased, college, driving…my hip and my back are sore and I’m exausted. When I finally did manage to extract myself from the dreams and get up, I felt like my mind had fallen out of bed. And I mentally hit the floor pretty hard. Didn’t help that I’d shaved off my beard last night, I didn’t recognise myself for a moment when I looked in the mirror this morning.

So, now I’m at work and if I didn’t have two meetings today I think I would have taken a sick day and gone back to bed. “Severe Reality Impairment”.

Costume is coming along, despite some setbacks. Had to modify my original plan a bit, but I’ll get it done in time.

Well, back to work…

No, no – not the year. Well, sort of. I’m talking about the book -and more specifically the re-writing of history to fit a new set of “facts”. It was a big thing in the book, poor Winston Smith spending all day rewriting the historical records to reflect the latest propeganda.

I’ve noticed this phenomon among real people, in the here and now. They tend to blur the line between fact and convenient fiction – rewriting their story as the situation changes so that the advantage is theirs. Or at least, so that the fault isn’t.

Are they lying? Yes, usually from the very start – and then it just compounds from there. The stories get more fanciful – the tales of woe are filled with even more woe.

The curious thing is that they tell so many tales that they forget where the truth is. I think that’s why they end up distorting things so much, they forget which lies they’ve told which people.

Do they know they are lying? I think deep down, yeah, they know. But on the surface, one of these “1984”ers will keep back peddling and shifting gears to avoid being “caught”.

So, why this topic? And why now? A few things have come to light about my former room-mate that have reemphasied his 1984 behavior. Must be nice to live in a world where things always go your way. I, in contrast, feel very firmly rooting in reality.

And it bites.

So, how do I deal with those who have lost their grip? I don’t. You can’t catch them in a lie because they don’t think they’re lying. So, the best bet it just to ignore what they say and don’t put anything of yours on the line. Treat them like a good book. Totatlly fiction, lots of plot twists and a surprise ending. And know that you can always close the book and get on with your life at any time.

Which is what I did.

And now, I’m going back to work…

So, I’m headed south on Friday, making my way toward Canton. We’re all going along just fine, when suddenly, everyone slams on their brakes. And I mean slam, none of this “coasting” to a stop. I nearly spilled my soda.

And then it’s stop and go for about 7 miles. Mostly stop.

When we finally get up to the reason for the slow down – I nearly set the dashboard on fire with my swearing.

There was an accident. On the other side of the road. All the cars were pulled off to the side. No one was hurt.

So, since this had nothing to do with our side of the road, why was traffic slowed to a stop? Rubbernecking. That great american past-time where we all hope to see someone else’s misfortune. And if there’s a body, so much the better.

Okay, all you sick bastards out there – find something else to do. The first fools who slowed down nearly caused a whole slew of accidents behind them. Pointless, stupid and cruel.

There. I feel a little better.

Back to work…

Forgot to stop and get gas last night. This morning, the needle is hovering close to the E. I had enough to get to work, and shouldn’t have a problem getting to a station after work, but I hate letting it get that close. I don’t have triple A since I don’t travel much and the thought of running out of gas worries me a bit.

I moved some stuff back into my living room last evening, it’s still pretty empty. I think I may keep it that way – I was always triping over stuff before and it was over-run with junk. The only major thing I may add is an area rug – if I can find a good deal. Simplify – that’s the goal.

Gotta work on my costume today – only a few days left and I’m not sure if I’ll have a chance to work on it over the weekend. It won’t be the most detail oriented I’ve done, but it will be the most massive. There’s a mask involved too, and I’m a little worried about the logistics of that one.

Well, time for me to get back to work – got another “ASAP project” to do.

I wanted to document this so that it isn’t lost. My greatest downfall is being clever. I can never resist trying to be clever and it always backfires. Every single freaking time.

Except for yesterday. I went to subway and ordered my usual – Turkey/Bacon on Italian bread, lettuce only. When my sandwich artist got to the vegetables part of the order he glanced up at me when I said “lettuce only”. “No sauce or anything?” he asked and I said no and that I like it “extra plain”.

Normally, this would result in dazed look in the person’s eyes, but this time – my artist got the mild joke. He chuckled lightly, then said – “hey, it’s better for you anyway”.

And when he rang up the order, he stopped in the middle and said he might be able to make it cheaper. He did some kind of combo order thing and saved me about 50 cents. Not much, granted, but it was still a nice gesture.

So, in summary:

I said something mildly clever

The ‘victim’ got the joke

I got a better deal on my sub

The curse of backfiring cleverness is broken. Let the bells ring out my victory – I can be clever again!

Back to work, where I may attempt to be clever. Ha!

The signs for various political candidates are everywhere these days. And I just heard that GW has spent more on advertising than any candidate has ever done before. Wouldn’t it be nice if anybody could run for office without spending millions to do it? There don’t seem to be any ground rules to this anymore. How about this:

1. publicly list your views, credentials, and plans for the future.

2. have an independent panel review what you’ve said – if you lie, you’re disqualified.

3. you pay a small processing fee and you’re on the ballot

that’s it. No ads, no backstabbing. Civil, just, and fair.

heh.

It’ll never work.

later