Tag: vote

Lost

I had my whole weekend planned out but now that it is here I just feel lost. I need to vote, I need to go grocery shopping, I need to carve the pumpkin I bought last week, I need to see if I can fix the fret buzz on one of my guitars (though the more I read up on possible causes and solutions the more terrified I am to start tweaking a 35 year old instrument).

I mean, my to do list is nice and full… why do I feel lost today? I was hoping a good nights sleep would straighten out my brain but that didn’t help at all. I’m sure it’s nothing and once I get the ball rolling today I will be out of this fog.

I don’t know. We’ll see. Happy Saturday to all of you, and may your personal to do list be full of things that make you happy while being easily achievable. Let’s all have a day full of completed goals, what do you say!

When?

I want to vote tomorrow morning before work, if I can. The early voting polls open at 8:00am. I think I can pull it off. I’m hoping my wife can go with me. If she can’t then it won’t be Friday because of work, or Saturday because of travel, so Sunday?

I won’t be able to play any guitar before work tomorrow if we go to vote. Friday might work. Saturday is highly unlikely. Sunday? Maybe. We’ll have to see.

I took these this morning after finishing my exercise for the day. I thought I might use one for the photo a day thing, but I went with a cat pic from the previous post.

Guitar noodling on Friday. Two days from now. Make it so.

Monday

Two thoughts on baseball. First, the Dodgers won the National League Pennant. Better the Dodgers (who aren’t from New York but used to be) than the Mets (who actually are from New York). When I was a kid there was a stretch of time where the World Series was the fucking Yankees vs the Dodgers over and over again. I just googled it and it was really only twice, 1978 and 1981. They met in 1977 too but that was before I started following the game. Whatever, it feels like the two teams have met in the World Series 10000 times.

Suffice to say that I am totally rooting for the Dodgers even though I really, really hate them. As much as I hate them, I don’t hate them nearly as much as I hate the fucking Yankees. There is no team in the sporting universe that I hate as much as I hate the fucking Yankees. My big question though is why the hell is Major League baseball waiting until Friday to start the series? The match up was set on Sunday and we’re not playing a game until Friday? Is the goal to make sure all of America forgets about baseball completely? Friday? Really?

Super subject change. It is October 21st. Early voting in Massachusetts started two days ago, on October 19th. I have not voted yet. I am hoping to get to it tomorrow (Tuesday). If not it will probably Thursday, or maybe over the weekend. If you live in Massachusetts, maybe you’ll join me in voting early. It’s fun and it takes some of the pressure off, even if the pressure doesn’t really exist and is only in your (my) head due to the whole fascist threat to democracy thing.

Vote.

Vote Blue.

Vote for Harris.

Vote

We are less than a month away from the 2024 Presidential Election where We The People will once again show that fascist piece of shit that we don’t want him around anymore.

I had two questions come to mind that always come to mind just before a big election. One, what is the status of my voter registration. Two, when does the early voting period start.

Massachusetts has handy online tools to answer both questions. First, how’s my registration looking? I went here and found that I am active and all is well, as it should be.

Next, I went here and found the following early voting information:

Early Voting Periods

In-person early voting takes place during a designated early voting period, set by state law.

For statewide elections, early voting periods include guaranteed weekend voting hours for every community.

November Election Early Voting Period: October 19 – November 1

Okay, that sounds good. Now that I knew the dates involved I went to my city’s website to get specifics and found this:

There you have it. If you, like me, live in Methuen, MA… you’re welcome.

Vote

Tonight at just after 7:00pm I cast ballot number 345 in Methuen, MA precinct five. It was just under an hour before the polls close. It’s 8:00pm as I type this so I can now say past tense, the polls closed.

There were no races of consequence, really. One local race was unopposed, another had about 15 candidates for 35 seats. Another was President Biden running against a few people I’ve never heard of who have zero chance of winning. There was one two candidate race. Maybe my vote will have meaning in that one.

That’s okay. I feel like a hypocrite when I miss an election. Even when there are no races that require a large turn out. We’ll have one of those in November this year. Vote against the fascists. Vote against the maga cult. Vote against trump. Vote for Biden. Vote Democrat. Let’s have a blue wave. We have eight months to organize. Let’s do it.

Two Local Political Events

Today is March 5th here in Massachusetts. This year that means two things.

First and foremost, it is Super Tuesday today. That means it’s Primary Election Day here as well as a bunch of other states. I have not voted yet. I plan to vote after dinner tonight. It’s going to be tight as far as time goes, but the polls are open until 8:00pm so I should be able to get there with time to spare. Keep your fingers crossed.

March 5th also has another noteworthy event, historically speaking. Today is the anniversary of The Boston Massacre. On this day in 1770 a bunch of Bostonians were shot by English troops. It was an important event that turned into one of our nation’s most famous propaganda vehicles, thanks in part to this Paul Revere image:

Here’s a link to the wikipedia article, which I did not read but am willing to assume it is accurate because trust is a thing. Also, I took the image from wikipedia as well.

I could have sworn I had a photo of the victim’s memorial that is in the Granary Burial Ground in Boston, but I can’t find it anywhere. I guess I’ll just have to go for a walk down the Freedom Trail this summer to take another pic.

Anyway, go vote (where applicable).

Busy Morning

Lots of meetings this morning. Busy busy. Lots of projects. Busy busy.

I have a day off on Thursday. A use it or lose it vacation time kinda thing. I just need to get there. It’s gonna be tough. I have a lot of things on my to do list for that day. A haircut*, early voting**, guitar playing***, maybe some photo walk stuff around town****. Stuff like that. There is also Bond movies. They are leaving Amazon Prime Video in 10 days and I am still only half way through Diamonds are Forever. I am half a movie away from Roger Moore.

Okay, breakfast is almost done, I’ve plowed through last night’s email. Let’s get crackin’ for really reals now. Have a good Tuesday, everyone.

*A side effect of weight loss surgery is hair loss. They told me it starts between three and six months (I’m nearly at six months) and it lasts for 3-4 months (it started about two months ago). Fortunately it will grow back… in theory. I am 51 years old. Maybe it’s just my time. I mean my hair hasn’t gone grey yet, which is miraculous in itself. Maybe my run of good hair luck is coming to an end. For now though, I have been too afraid of losing it to get it cut and it’s long enough to actually look long in the back and it hangs in my eyes. It’s time. It’s time to get it cut.

One other note, when I was a little little pre-school kid my hair was super curly. Somehow as it started to fall out it has also started to get a little curly again. How weird is that?

**I am pretty sure Methuen’s early voting is open on Thursday, I just don’t know where or what time. I think it’s at city hall this time, but I need to figure that out.

***Jen is scheduled to go into the office that day so I should be able to make noise without bothering her.

****I said no film until November but… maybe?

Primary Day

I cast ballot #5 in precinct #5 in Methuen, MA today.

We had planned to apply for a vote by mail ballot, but we forgot to send in the application. Next time, for sure. So today I went to the poll just after it opened. They moved my precinct to a new location. I was a little nervous about the very small parking lot, but I was early enough that it wasn’t an issue. The city has a new check in/check out system so hopefully that all goes well and there aren’t any hiccups.

My civic duty is done once again. While I was out I also dropped my two rolls of film into the mail to get developed. I’m using the same New Hampshire based lab as last time. Here’s hoping the turn around time is as lightning fast as last time. Also, here’s hoping my Ebay Nikon’s A (basically aperture priority) mode works and I didn’t ruin a roll by test driving it.

I’m back at work after the holiday. My exercise ring is closed. All is right with the world… except for the whole empty nest thing and my parents’ health situation and all of that stuff. Other than that, all is right with the world.

Happy Tuesday.

Seventy-Nine Minutes

I have seventy-nine minutes to go until the long weekend. New Years is so close I can practically smell Times Square.

Two unrelated things come together in this post. First, I am curious how many of my loyal readers and only friends are planning on going out for New Years Eve. By going out I mean going someplace where more than 10 people will be present. Doesn’t matter if it’s inside or outside, I just want to know if you are going to an actual party. Second, WordPress.com has just given us access to a third party plug in/embed thing that lets us add polls and surveys and stuff like that to our posts. I add ’em and no one response to ’em, but I keep adding ’em!

I posted one of these polls the other day before I knew how to see the results without actually adding a response. Once I figured it out I found there were seven responses. Six of them were me. Wheeeee!

73 minutes to go.

What percentage of the work day is left? It’s 4:18pm. I work from 9:00am to 5:30pm. I have worked (7 * 60) + 18 = 438 minutes. There are (8 * 60) + 30 = 510 minutes in the day. I have worked ((7*60)+18)/((8*60)+30) * 100 = 85.88% of the work day. Fuck yeah, math.

Answer the poll! Polls are fun! Specifically, polls are fun when you’re a lame blog poster like me so let me have fun!