Wondrous Apparitions, Provided by Magicians.

triadruid and I voted without incident this morning at our usual polling place. We were in line less than half an hour. Our polling place either serves two precincts or they split the one precinct into two halves, based on whether you live west or east of Holmes Road. The line for west, where we do not live, was impressively long, but the line for east, where we do live was pretty short. This leads me to ask, of course, "Where the hell is East of Holmes? Am I gonna have to go around the precinct and yell at people later?". So far, I have suppressed this urge.

We then wandered over to the Obama field office and were promptly put to work knocking on doors in the final get out the vote push. We covered two small territories (with a break in between to pull up illegally placed signs that the city was bitching about, and to get lunch). Most people whose doors we knocked on were reasonably happy to see us, either to announce that they had already voted first thing that morning, or that they were getting ready to head out to the polls.

A lot of people had questions. The most common thing we were asked was when the results would be known, which made me think that a lot of the people we were talking to had never voted or been involved in the process before. Other people wanted to know when the polls closed, what they had to take with them to vote, or if they could get a ride to the polls. We fielded these things reasonably competently. A few people wanted to know where they could get the t-shirts we were wearing, and we told them they'd have to volunteer with the campaign. At least one person took us up on that.

So that was all good, and now we are tired. There is pulled pork in the slow-cooker, and soon there will be pork burritos with black beans. Shortly following that, we'll be looking for some entertainment for the evening, during which we can get some of the returns, but not be fixated on the returns. Also, I'll be having a beer. I believe I have earned it.

This post is all about the linking. And the buying. And the thinking.
First off, politics:
Via next_bold_move, I found a clever little widget that matches your stand on political issues with stands avowed by various candidates for the presidency in 2008. My top match was, surprisingly, a guy I didn't know was running, former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel. That link goes to his bio and position statements, which are in a .pdf (be advised). Oddly enough, when I used the widget this morning, this fellow was at the top of the list for 'most often top matched' by users of the site. He's pretty progressive, so I wonder if that means that the widget link was circulated mostly in progressive forums, or if there really is a much larger percentage of progressives in the population than I usually suspect.

Second, capitalism.
- Dover Books has a bargain books section that is extremely compelling to me. I'm trying to hold off from buying 10-15 books at the moment. We're only talking about $40-50 worth of books, but bookshelf space is at a premium at EHQ...
- A friend in Oregon is going through some tough times (sudden departure on the part of her partner) and facing some financial woes. She is a consultant for one of those sex-toy party companies, and earns commission on purchases from parties and over the interwebs. My course of action is clear in this matter, I think. ;) (And if you were thinking, "Oh crap, I'm out of lube" or something on that order, please consider buying from this lovely lady, okay?)
- The Red Jak energy drink that is amber is not the same as the Red Jak energy drink that is red. They are made by different companies, just... have the same name, and taste very similar. Who knew?
- In other energy drink news, Bawls Sugar-Free tastes like Nerds candy dipped in caffeine. Mr. Yuck-face applies. lexpendragon is welcome to the entire world's supply of the stuff.

To His Grace, Darren H., Duke of Parma:

We received your missive yesterday afternoon with much joy and gratitude and are looking forward to the day when we might employ the information contained. Please accept our thanks and the highest compliments of our meager court. The Baron is fortunate indeed to have such an able and honourable fellow as yourself in his employ.

With warmest regard,
featherynscale
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I intended to make up a grand flourishing name for myself in the above note, but my brain doesn't seem to have any gender-neutral titles in it other than Dr. and Rev., and neither of those seem appropriate for the circumstances. The grand flourishing name does not work without a title. Curse you, European history.
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Election day was so unreal to me yesterday that I didn't even check the results until this morning, and I am, as a rule, a compulsive election clicker. As it turns out, our guy will not be the next Mayor, which is sort of a bummer, but I figure the other guy is okay too. They were the two best of a weird lot. And, they didn't vote back in the local rep who keeps getting indicted for fraud and then claiming that she wasn't aware she was defrauding people. So that's something.
EDIT: Or not. The paper is calling the mayoral race opposite to what I read from the election board this morning. So who can say, really?
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Lois McMaster Bujold, although initially very compelling to me, has fallen off of my list of authors to be excited about new releases from. I just finished the first volume of her new series, and I'm disappointed. You sold me a romance, lady! Not that it wasn't a well-written romance, as these things go, but still. I'm looking for great, world-altering drama, and the biggest challenges Our Heros faced was a one-shot monster and a bunch of farmboys who try to run off a foreign suitor. Booooo-rrring.
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Tonight I have no meetings to attend, no classes to teach, no particular obligations. (Well, I have to be around to take a phone call, but that's it.) Holy crap, people, I might get some laundry done.