I'd like to revise my opinion of the Zalman Corporation of Korea

Other than these episodes you're about to read, I feel fine. I came to the conclusion last night that all of my angst about everything comes from a simple fact. I have a broken heart and I need to let it heal. This will take time. I can't force it. I can't suddenly will myself to be over that. However, I can acknowledge the fact instead of wondering why I'm so intensely lonely. I'm lonely because I miss what I had but I did what I had to do. It doesn't sound wonderful, but that realization took all sorts of pressure off my soul Sunday night. I woke up Monday morning feeling happy and that's all I'd wanted.

So now, ( geek stuff about lack of torque. )

Augh!

Couple this with buying a GameCube and finding out it's screwed up from the get-go. No matter which controller I used, I got at least a one-second delay. This made playing any kind of driving game impossible. I was so looking forward to playing Crazy Taxi (and Metroid, which isn't a driving game but it came free with the GC). Off to Sears tomorrow.

This concludes Dante's Spending Spree. I bought a few things this weekend (the Zalman I bought about a month ago but hadn't a way to mount it) and had enough grief that I'll be socking money into the savings account for a while.

-"at least she doesn't smoke"

When the polls close next Tuesday

(This is a rewrite. I'd started this and my battery died. Usually I plug in and it saves state. I wasn't so lucky tonight.)

I love Election Day. It's very emotionally charged for me. When I was a junior in high school, I got the chance to spend Election Night at the county Board of Elections on behalf of a TV station about eighty miles away. I'd watch the numbers update on the VT220 terminals in the lobby (as did about fifty other people), write them down, go to a pay phone and plunk down about 55 cents each call to reel off what I'd written. I'm such a geek that I loved this: I still remember this vividly.

If you like watching the returns come in, that's how it happened then. Even with all of our technology, it's probably not all that different now since no one is going to let a reporter into their tally office. As you watch, it'll be useful to follow this chart outlining the times the polls close in each state.

I finally feel psyched that W will lose. Is it the statistic that 110,000 new Democrats have been registered in Pennsylvania? Maybe. Actually, it's this article by Ron Suskind really crystallized my thinking (The New York Times Magazine published "Without a Doubt" on the 17th, but it's no longer free at the NYT site). It doesn't directly bash Bush -- instead, Suskind interviews insiders from the W administration and others about his use of faith as his method of operations. It could be a smokescreen for being a bully, but that doesn't come up in the article. Just read it, even if you're a W supporter, to get an idea what Bush is really like. Maybe you'll see why the rest of us don't trust him running the country and would vote in almost anyone else. I suppose W epitomizes how religion is the opiate of the masses because he's sucking the pipe and blowing its smoke in our faces. Some inhale, and the rest of us may want a hit but know better.

W is running an emotional campaign. I'm tired of it. The commercial where he hugs the girl whose father died on 9/11 (but came from a swing state) doesn't say anything accept "he's fatherly". He can hug; he may even care. That doesn't mean he'll listen to anyone that did research on what to do. He's made up his mind. That's not how democracy should work -- edicts without foundation. As least this article takes the mask off. He calls anyone that doesn't agree "reality-based". Reality's scary stuff because it destroys theories. Weak theories must be dissolved for the valid ones to prevail.

I go back to work tomorrow. In fact, I have to get up way early for me (7:30), drive my car to the shop and take the commuter train into town to catch the T to work. Oh man, then I have to pick it up a couple days later. Then Friday is my last day at the Malden office -- my commute to the Queen City begins Monday. Fresh faces, new places, and a shinier lighting scheme.

-come home America