Gonzai Gallery

That was Bill Maher's conclusion last night (he donated $1m to Obama last winter). He also concluded that 'Mormon has broken' but he won't gloat because 'Republicans are licking their wounds - also known as Romney's health care plan'. Yowza.

Now back to real life. Phooey.

ETA - 2012 Electorial 'In Memoriam' - snerk

Home for the evening and more or less ready for Sandy. Couldn't find any D batteries anywhere, and that's what the flashlights run on, but plenty of AA, AAA, C...lots of candles, radios, lots of stuff charged & ready to go. Freezer is nearly full with ice packs, plenty of non-perishables, books from the library, generally good to go.

Went to do the early voting thing today, the first day it was available. There are five places in my county for that, first we went where we went in 2008, a community center. Naturally every rec field was in use, there was no parking, and the police had to close down part of the road to do traffic control. I saw exactly one sign for Democrats but hundreds for Republicans. Every electioneer - Republican. Eesh. The line? Out of the center, across a pedestrian bridge and into the ballfields on the other side. 2+ hour wait. There was no way Mom could stand that long, so we set off for another place, a library where my Mom used to work and my father had been the manager for many years. Plenty of parking there (nearly abandoned shopping center) but another long line. Not as long this time. A guy ahead of us had gone to a third location before going to the community center and now to the library - he said the first one had a 3 hour wait. Apparently we like to vote around here.

There was another avalanche of Republican signs, but there were only two electioneers there - one for Romney, and one real live Congressional candidate. A Libertarian refugee from the Ron Paul camp. We told him we sympathize, but we didn't want to waste our vote. As it turned out, we were between two middle-aged white men retired on disability. Both Democrats! Very fortunate, it could have been an awfully long wait. But the line moved steadily and it took about 50 minutes to get in, then almost no wait to vote. And Mom seemed to understand the machines better this time. Then we browsed the library, Mom ran into a librarian she used to work with, and then we moved on. I do have to say, though, I was very concerned by the plethora of Republican signs, bumper stickers, etc, some of them outright racist/homophobic, in a blue state and a traditionally Democratic stronghold neighborhood. I hope it's just squeaky wheels. It was certainly heartening to meet two white working-class men who thought Obama was by far the better candidate.

If you have not encountered it yet, do read
( Ta-Nehisi Coates' cover story in this month's Atlantic )
. It's long, but well worth it. (And I'm a fan of the artwork, too.)

Being as it's the 50th anniversary of the movie and all, USA network is having a special showing of it, Saturday, April 7th (that would be tomorrow) at 8pm EST. The movie will be introduced by a certain person for whom I voted this week. You know the one. Except if we speak his name in connection with TKAM, certain people will promptly hate on the book and movie. But if you're a TKAM fan, you're likely a fan of his anyway.

It's all a wee bit crazed here in Baltimore, both for me and for the world at large, for a few days. Yesterday, of course, was the Obama train stop. I watched it on television, it was virtually the only topic of conversation in town yesterday (except the Ravens, of course.) Mostly we just want to know, who was the operatic bass who sang the National Anthem? He had my mother in tears.

Today, we have the Inaugural Concert (I hope to see a little bit of it), then the Eagles/Cardinals game (which I'll miss much of to take CJ to class and pick up dinner), then of course the major event: Ravens/Steelers. I'll be pacing the floor shortly. And staying up late. But not going to the Boscov's 'greet the team on their return' shindig. Too cold, and - 1am? Are they kidding?

Tomorrow is MLK Day, with a huge parade downtown and many places (but not my office) closed. Though the office is open, Mom has her first post-op doctor's apptmt tomorrow, and then my sister-in-law will bring her to the office for a big document signing party. Mom needs new PoA and health care documents, and Molly also needs them, so we're going to be notarizing and witnessing each other's documents. Tomorrow night is the 200th anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe's death, featuring John Astin. Sold out, otherwise I'd go.

Tuesday - the inauguration. I believe we'll be watching on it on the net at work. If we have time - it's Molly's last day at work, so there will be meetings, paperwork, reviews, delegation of tasks, etc. I would like to see the actual event. After work it's off to get Jim Leonhard's autograph - last week's signing was sold out, so I conceded and bought a ticket online this time. I wish I could afford to buy a Leonhard jersey to get signed, but the finances aren't there at the moment. I did go and get Ray Rice at Modell's Friday, that was free :) Well, two hours of standing in line, but the autograph and a pic with him were free.