THE VIEW

from our yard. Pretty hard to beat.

GLAD IT'S OVER

Congratulations to our new President. Whether you voted for him or not, I think most will agree that this is a significant moment. Now I just want to take a long break from politics.

First big snow of the season here.

JUST VOTED

for Obama if anyone was wondering.

Utah uses a newfangled electronic voting machine. After checking my name off a list (but not asking for ID or any other form of verification) they gave me a plastic card, the same size and shape as a credit card, that they had run through a small machine to indicate which precinct I should vote in (two separate precincts voted at the same location--Jon's school). I took the card to a machine and followed the instructions to insert the card into the machine. Upon which I was informed that my card had already voted. I took it back to the nice people at the desk, they swiped it again and it worked the second time around. No one was watching or questioning. I could have very easily used the card to vote, taken it back to the desk and told them that the machine said the card had already voted (which wouldn't have even been a lie), and then taken it back to vote again. An extra vote in Utah probably wouldn't have made any difference but recent experience shows that only a few hundred votes in key areas can make all the difference in the world. And there would be absolutely no way to verify, double-check or othwerwise invalidate my double-voting. I don't like this at all. Nor do I like the fact that there is, apparently, no hard copy of my ballot (the machine asked if I wanted to print my ballot; of course I said yes and heard the machine's innards whirring and clicking, but I saw no proof that anything printed or that the print was accurate etc.).

I hope I am simply being too paranoid and anxious after a long, difficult political season.

WOW!

After all of the political craziness of the last weeks/months/years, we need more impressive frivolity like this:

KIDS ENJOYED HALLOWEEN

As they always do.


Julia made her own costume (with much help from Grandma L.)

COOL COSTUME

Probably the best costumes I saw on campus yesterday. Apologies for the fuzzy cell phone pics





They even had the trademark Pacman sounds. Cool

COOL

Some of the coolest pictures I've seen in a long time here.

SOME POLITICAL FUN (?)

Joe Biden can't count very well.



Some (and of course we don't know how many) support Obama for some interesting reasons (like his pro-life positions or his determination to keep the troops in Iraq)



Here's an episode of Dancing with the Stars that might get some good ratings.

TAKE THE TEST

Based on selected quotations of the two presidential candidates, who do you support?

I think this is actually a pretty poorly organized test; many of the statements don't really oppose each other; some don't even present a real difference to choose. Still, I'm not surprised that in 10 of the 13 I picked McCain (but still plan on voting for Obama).

Thanks to Kathy for finding this.

LONG TIME NO BLOG

Don't quite know why I've disappeared from the blogosphere of late. I've been busy but what else is new?

So, I'll try to turn over a new leaf and post something here a bit more often.

Item for today: 103.1 JACK FM. This is our local variant of a nationally syndicated format/station (in some other places, I've also heard a version called "BOB" rather than "JACK"). It may be "corporate radio" at its homogenizing, impersonal finest (I don't think there is even a local DJ on except in the mornings). But it plays the soundtrack to my life: 60s and 70s classic rock, 80s new wave, 90s alternative, and a random mixture of songs, many of the "wow, I haven't heard that song for ages" category. If you were A) alive in the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, and/or 00's and B) liked to listen to music during one or more of those decades (probably the more the merrier), I recommend that you check it out (available via the web if not on the FM dial near you).

Example: the last few songs played on the station:

PHIL COLLINS -- I DON'T CARE ANYMORE
COLDPLAY -- VIVA LA VIDA
EDDY GRANT -- ELECTRIC AVENUE
FOREIGNER -- DOUBLE VISION
HUMAN LEAGUE -- DON'T YOU WANT ME
LYNYRD SKYNYRD -- SWEET HOME ALABAMA

Sweet!

PEER PRESSURE?

Or the power of crowds.

Went to a stake Priesthood meeting this morning at the rather early hour of 7:00 am (which prompted the Stake President to resort to the old quip that the purpose of the Gospel is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable).

Out of a crowd of several hundred (chapel and cultural hall both full but not to bursting), I counted 4 blue shirts (one of which was mine). The rest were white. I obviously didn't get the memo.

How do conventions/traditions like this get established? I'll probably be cantankerous and continue to wear my blue shirts at least for a while but perhaps I'll get broken down into conformity at some point.

18 WONDERFUL YEARS

WONDERS NEVER CEASE

Meet Coco, the newest addition to our home.



What's next?

UPDATE: Coco is a dog, a shitzu. His arrival is the result of three straight years of constant begging on the part of Jon. She seems to be a sweet puppy so far.

WARTS AND ALL

I'm probably very late to this game but I quite liked the cameo vocal of a certain tadpole in this:

PERHAPS

the best eight minutes in pop music history



Gotta love Bono's mullet.