Vote

I'm going to be out of town next week, so I went to early vote Saturday morning at the Board of Elections in downtown Sanford.

Here in Lee County, we briefly used touch screen voting machines but switched back to the cards where you blacken in the ovals. These things are pretty much foolproof. And, there's a written / paper ballot in case the software malfunctions and you can go back and do a hand count if necessary. Foolproof.

Anyway, there were ballots on both sides of the sheet. When I went up to feed the ballot into the scanner / counter I asked the guy overseeing the scanner if it mattered which side was up.

Election Official: "No. It will read no matter which way you feed it in."

Me: "So it's amphibious! Just like Charles Shackleford."

Election Official: burst out laughing really loud "I'll have to remember that one."

Thursday Night ESPN Football NC State 28 - Florida State 24

Barn Burner.









Thanks to Chip, my brother Chuck and sister-in-law Brenda for going to the game with me.

NCSSM

Working this week at the North Carolina School of Science and Math. Enrollment is 680 of the top High School Juniors and Seniors from NC.

Today the school held its fall Faculty and Staff Luncheon and the student Wind Ensemble played.

This is their arraignment of the spiritual We Shall Overcome.



The school has a collection of cameras and recording devices on display in the Performance Hall. Here’s an Edison Cylindrical Recorder.

 

Christine O’Donnell is a [bleeping] Idiot

Christine O’Donnell does not believe / know that Separation of Church and State and Freedom of Religion are in the Constitution of the United States of America.

Here’s 8 minutes of video so you can see for yourself. She is not being humorous, not being sardonic or sarcastic and she is not being quoted out of context.

“Where in the Constitution is the separation of Church and State?” @ 2:45.

“You’re telling me that the separation of Church and State is found in the First Amendment?” starting @ 5:25.



By the way Christine, since you’re so ignorant, here’s another little bit of information that might surprise you: The first 10 Amendments are called “The Bill of Rights”.

Rights, Christine; The Bill of Rights! The right to believe and worship as you wish. The right NOT to have government dictate religion.

What a stupid [bleeping] idiot.

Weekend Update October 17, 2010

Saturday

Typical Saturday – did some house chores and then watched college football.

ECU beat State in overtime. This was a disappointing loss as State clearly did not play well. We let ECU run all over us in the first quarter – 3 touchdowns! Second quarter – State scored 3 touchdowns.

In the second half – nothing. The game goes into overtime and ECU wins after intercepting Russell Wilson for the 3rd time in the game.

We pissed away the ECU game. Granted, State does not have a lot of depth (especially on defense) and midway through the season we’re banged up without a lot of backup. But if we had played our game (and not ECU’s) – we would have won. The kids put out a great effort – the loss was due to poor preparation and coaching (IMHO).

Later Saturday was the annual neighborhood block party / pig picking. Perfect weather – nice and sunny and mild. I forgot my camera so I don’t have any photos. A lot of people were asking about all the clearing I had done on my lot. I joked that I was putting in some trailers to rent out to migrant workers.

Interestingly, a couple (actually 3) of politicians showed up – NC House candidate and a couple of County Commissioner candidates. Being a semi-rural soccer mom and almost totally white neighborhood – the politicians that showed up were of the tea-bagger variety. Well, not tea-baggers, but all 3 were Republicans.

I actually had a nice time talking with these guys. One on one – you can have an intelligent conversation once you get away from the jingoistic campaign crap. One guy though (running for County Commissioner) – well – he’s weird. I mean weird.

Sunday

 

The Lee County Community Orchestra is pretty good. They play several concerts each spring and fall in Depot Park. Today was their first concert of the fall season.

Sitting outside on a warm sunny afternoon – listening to nice music – great way to spend the day.

Faux News Love

I despise former Senator John Edwards and anybody associated with him - including his sleazy former aid Andrew Young.

I'm not a fan Fox News either. But here's a little love from Shepard Smith (Ole Miss) of Fox News. Thanks Shepard - and back atcha buddy.

Weekend Update October 10, 2010

Good week this week. Work is going well and life on the home front is routine – which is good. Had the brakes done on the Focus – 92,000 miles – which is a very long life for brakes. Of course, most of my commute is interstate so the brakes don’t get used or abused.

Went to the Boston College at State game Saturday, of course. State was hitting on all cylinders – offense and defense. In fact, the last meaningless BC touchdown was when State’s bench was in and both teams were expected to just run out the clock. I think it ticked off Coach O’Brien because when we got the kick off – he let reserve quarterback Mike Glennon throw the ball and move down the field. We almost scored another touchdown before time ran out.

It was hot sitting in the sun. The temperature may have been in the mid 80s but it sure felt a lot hotter than that.

Next week State travels down east to East Carolina Teachers College. State will be favored but the Pirates also have a pass oriented offense. Fasten your seat belt - there could be 80 points put up in that game.

Thanks to brothers Dave and John and their mom for going to the game with me.

Printed out the photo taken at the Dook - Army game for Chip, Erica and John. Put them in frames and dropped them off on the way home.

Sunday

Met up with Serxner for breakfast. Then came home and did a little housekeeping and yard work. Nothing special - just another lazy Sunday.

Took some time in the afternoon to watch Julie and Julia on Netflix. 4 stars.

This week I'm going to start power washing the deck. It should be mild when I get home and that will make for more pleasant work. I try to clean the deck yearly. Otherwise it can be a real chore if I miss a year or two.

Woulda Coulda Shoulda

 

The NC State – Virginia Tech game was exciting. State honestly looked like the better team. We moved the ball better and our defense didn’t let VT get any long drives till late in the game. But VT made a couple of big plays (kickoff return and interception - both for touchdowns) that made up for their generally average play and at the very end VT made just enough of a defensive effort to win the game.

Also, Virginia Tech managed to stop State at the end of two very long drives - when State was in scoring position. Anytime you leave 2 touchdowns or field goals worth of points on the field – you make winning harder. Combine that with VT’s 2 big touchdown plays – and VT wins.

 

After the game, Nuke, Erica, Chip and I stopped at Sadlacks for a beer. There was a band playing which was amazingly good. So we ended up staying till the last set.

Have some video of the band and the gang dancing. But Nuke threatened me if I posted the video. He does look like a chicken when he dances. Guess I’ll just hold on to it in case I need to do some blackmail in the future.

Overall - a good, fun, weekend. Would have been even better if State had won.