I cannot see a good end to this situation in Iraq. Apparently, one of our soldiers shot an unarmed man. Riverbend’s reaction at Baghdad Burning really puts it in perspective. So much for the strategy of winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people.

I’m glad I have a big screen HDTV. I can see football and basketball games with incredible clarity and I don’t have to worry about me and my kids being in the middle of a fist fight. Everyone seems to understand that players must show some control, and I agree with that. But fans have a responsibility to behave as well. If you walked in to a restaurant or even a bar and started acting like that, you would be removed. Why is a sports arena any different? I hope this trend doesn’t continue, because I’d like to take my kids to see these games, but for now the fans are too out of control.

After a nice holiday weekend of eating too much, I’ve started a diet. I’m about 40 pounds overweight. It will not do. Although, I’ve been going to gym regularly, it hasn’t been enough. So I’m limiting my caloric intake to about 1500 calories a day for now, after a couple of weeks I’ll raise to somewhere between 2000-2500. It’s no fun. I’ll just treat it like I did when I quit smoking and when I quit drinking. No more eating for fun. No more have some more cause it’s yummy. I don’t miss smoking or drinking anymore, hopefully I won’t miss that either.

And this just in, Tom Ridge is calling it quits. Does that mean that color codes are gone too? I hope not, I’d miss them. Did anybody else notice that all of the moderates in the cabin, Ashcroft the exception, are resigning?

And the President is off to make nice with Canada? How about the time bomb shaping up in the Ukraine? How about the labor situation China? Iraq? Afghanistan? Nope. Canada. I guess I just don’t get it.

One last thing, I must be doing something right, I’ve received 2 African Bank Scam emails and 3 Golden Lottery Scam email in the last 2 weeks. If I respond to all five, I should be good for somewhere in the neighborhood of $32.1 Million. I’m not sure why they need to deposit directly into my account using my account numbers or why they need my Social Security Number. And fronting the $10,000 in good faith money seems like a lot but look at the return!

The Plan. The big plan, of course, is to walk the entire length of the Appalachian Trail from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mt. Katahdin in Maine. Since, I do not have six months free to thru-hike it, I hike sections on weekends and use a week of my vacation in the summer to take a big backpacking trip. So far I have hiked about 250 miles from Calf Mountain in the Shenadoah National Park to just North of Pine Grove Furnace (the halfway point on the trail.) At my current pace, it will take me about 17 more years to finish. The plan for this weekend was to walk from Whisky Spring Rd across the Cumberland Valley and finish on Rt 850. 23 miles walked from Friday night to Sunday morning. The real challenge is that there is no camping in the 18.2 mile stretch that goes across the Cumberland Valley.

Friday. I met my partners in crime, my brother and his dog, for this long walk around 5 o’clock. We were on the road by 6. We had to take two cars so we could drive to the end point to leave a car, then drive to the starting point. It was just after 8, when we started hiking. We had about 3 miles to hike to get to the Alec Kennedy Shelter where we would spend the night. It was dark, but there was a quarter moon and not too much cloud cover, so we were able to see without too much trouble. We climbed the mountain and got to the Alec Kennedy shelter around 10, and to our surprise, it was not empty. Inside, wrapped in his sleeping bag was Turtle Dan.

Turtle Dan had started walking, in March, at Springer Mountain. He made it to Harpers Ferry, WV, before he realized that he wasn’t going to be able finish, before Katahdin was closed for winter. So he got a ride north to New Hampshire and walked the Trail over the White Mountains. He then went to Katahdin and walked south back to the White Mountains. Now he was heading north again. He said he wouldn’t be able to finish the whole trail, but he would make sure he hiked in each state along the trail. His plan was to go to New Jersey and slack pack a bit, then move on to New York and Connecticut to finish out his trip. Not bad for a 71 year old back packer.

Saturday. After a good night sleep (well as good as you could hope for sleeping on a plank of wood) and breakfast and coffee we were ready to walk the 18.2 miles to the next shelter. It was very overcast and threatening to rain when we set out. We walked out of the mountains and into the Cumberland Valley with a misting kind of rain falling on us. The trail led between two cornfields. We got the whole authentic farm experience from it too. They had recently spread manure. We walked through fields for a mile or two before we came to the little town of Boiling Springs. The spring there is not really a hot spring, but I managed to miss why it was that the called it Boiling Springs. The Appalachian Trail Council has a Regional Headquarters in Boiling Springs and the trail goes right through the town and right by the ATC building. We stopped there but they seemed to be closed. We took advantage of their Porch. I taped up my feet a bit, try to slow down the formation of a couple of nasty blisters. Ahhh the joy of new boots. We had a big snack (or a small lunch) and headed out again.

When I planned this hike, I had looked at the map, and I’d been to Boiling Springs before, I assumed that we would be walking through cornfields and pastures. That’s mostly what they have in the Cumberland Valley. I was pleasantly surprised as we walked out of Boiling Springs. We did not go right back into fields, we walked through small wooded corridors between the fields and pastures. I know that a lot of people do not like the stretch of trail that runs through the Mid-Atlantic. They feel it runs to close to civilization, that there isn’t enough wilderness. I understand why they feel that way, but that’s not how it seems to me. Maybe because I’ve lived most of my life in the Mid-Atlantic sprawl, I see it differently. I find it remarkable and reassuring, that in the middle of farms, towns, highways and suburbia there are enough little pockets of wild to string the Appalachian Trail through them. We walked past houses, farms, a shooting range, but most of those people never knew we where there. We walked in the invisible world that is the Appalachian Trail.

4 or 5 miles out of Boiling Springs, the trail went over a fence (someone had built stairs over the fence) and into a pasture. In that field there were two horses and the trail went right between the two of them. As we walked though this pasture, the horse to our left looked up and started walking towards us. My brother gave it a polite nod, and the horse nodded back. The horse got a little closer and must have got a whiff of the dog. The horse started and snorted and started swinging his head back and forth. It came around and got between my brother and me. For a second it look like the horse was going to knock him down. He told the dog to sit, remarkably the dog did. That seemed to placate the horse, he went back to grazing, but now he was standing in the middle of the trail. My brother and the dog walked to the other side of the field and went over the fence. I cautiously walked around him, giving him a wide berth. Just when I thought I was in the clear the other horse looked up. He walked over to me until his big horse face was right in front of me. Unsure of what else to do I reached up and petted his nose. He jumped a bit (I’m pretty sure I did too.) I started walking again. The horse fell in behind me, with its head practically over my left shoulder. I stopped and looked at him and he gave a horse look that I took to roughly mean “whatcha looking at!?” I think, maybe, he smelled the trail mix in my left pocket. I started walking and he followed me almost to the fence before he went back to grazing. I know, it’s not like I came face to face with a grizzly or something, but it was an up close and personal encounter with two very large animals.

That brings us to about the halfway point in the walk. I’ve bored you enough for one day with this, I’ll publish Part 2 soon.

I went on a 23 mile backpacking trip this weekend, and I’d really like to write about it, but I’m swamped with a Project due and a test tonight in my class. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to catch up this week.

When I decided to start a weblog of my own, my reasons were about me. I would be able to air out my thoughts. I would be able to publish my opinions. A blog about me. All of those things are still true, of course, yet I find myself thinking about others when I blog. I picture an audience. I feel a relationship with other bloggers. Not all other bloggers, but with some of them. Especially, those who read my blog. I find that I look forward to their comments, and I look forward to reading new posts on their blogs.

That is why I was shocked when I went to The Fine Line 3.0 last night. It was gone. Vanished. When I checked again this morning, I found a note saying that cleolove is moving on, no more blog. I am surprised how much this effects me. I’ve never met this person. My direct communication with this person has been minimal. But, I’ve read her personal thoughts and she has read mine. And now my only link to her is gone. Why do I care? I really don’t know. But, I will miss reading her blog. I hope that she finds happiness in whatever she it is that she is doing.

4 days, 50 some odd hours, early mornings, late nights, much troubleshooting, lots of training, some frustration, and not much sleep. And now I’m ready for a much deserved day off. But first, I think I need a good night’s sleep.

I make great wings. I don’t usually brag, but if I can’t say here, where can I say it?

It started this summer. I went to Rochester, NY to see my brother. He took me to a bar to some great wings, in Buffalo. What could be better than buffalo wings, in Buffalo? It was great we ordered the Suicide wings. The waitress sized us up and tried to talk us out of it.

“They’re very hot.” She said with a trace of pity in her voice.
“Great!” I exclaimed.

She gave me a look that said, it’s your funeral, and walked away. They were hot. I loved them. We gorged ourselves and a good time was had by all. On the way out, i bought a gallon of their suicide wing sauce. I figured it would be great for football season.

Football season rolled around, and i bought a big old bad of frozen wings and baked them up. I put the suicide sauce on half of them and regular wing sauce on the rest. They were …. ahhh …. OK. I said to my wife, “Wife, have some more wings!” And she said, “No thanks, I don’t like them.” I love being married to a woman who is honest. This was not the result I was hoping for.

Over the last 9 weeks, I’ve been working to improve the wings. Every week, taking what has been successful and trying to improve on it. And every week, offering my latest batch to my wife to see if she likes them. And finally, I have succeeded. The proof came last week. I ordered a pizza and an order of wings from Domino’s. My wife started on the wings before i had a chance.

“How are the wings,” I asked.
“You’ll be disappointed.” She said.
“Why?”
“Because they are not as good as yours.”

I tasted the wings, and she was right. What do you know, I do make great wings. It’s a small victory, but it makes me feel so good.

If you been reading, you know that this election has bothered me. I’m not one to sit in a funk, if I can avoid it. I distracted myself from by reading On the Beaten Path. It is the story of the author’s hike from Georgia to Maine on the Appalachian Trail. I loved this book. I’ve never “thru-hiked” But I have put in almost 300 miles on the AT. I’ve also met a lot of thru-hikers out there. The book was wonderful. It not only described the trials of walking over 2000 miles, it delved into the psyche of these people who decide to abandon everything for 6 months and hike the trail. If you have ever been curious about the AT and thru-hiking, give it a read.

Reading the book, of course, got me to thinking of many times out on the trail. Especially the thru-hikers I have met. Back in June, I met so many northbounders and I can’t help but wonder how many of them finished. They would have to be done by now if they were going to be able to finish.

If you know of the status of any the following thru-hikers let me know. They answered to the trail names:

Chuggs
Skywalker
TBott
Goose
Saffron
Puck Finn
Nine Monkeys
Buck Wilde
Mountain Squid

They knew me by the trail name of Hawkeye (and my companion Short-Term).

There were many more than that, but my mind is too cluttered to recall all of the names. I hope that they were successful in reaching Katahdin, in Maine. I hope that someday I get a chance to make the same trip. Until then I’ll just keep hiking the AT a weekend at a time.

Because I am liking the whole SBC thing and because apparently a full time job, part time school and fatherhood still leaves me with too much spare time, I made another button. Help yourself if you are so inclined. If you don’t know what a Shitty Blogs Club is go here.

And make sure you read a shitty blog today.

While, blog surfing I saw that ReaZ was mirroring anti’s list of the members of the SBC. This seemed like a good idea, so I have added the list of shitty bloggers to the left column.

Today’s is Veterans Day, let’s not forget those who have fought to protect us or those who are fighting now. I may disagree with the reasons for war, but I respect those who are willing to put their lives on the line for my country.

ABC is playing Saving Private Ryan tonight, although you may not be able to see it. Several affiliates, including those owned by the right-wing Sinclair Group, are refusing to air it. They feel that the violence and profanity in the movie may be too much for family viewers. It is ironic to me that Sinclair endorsed a candidate for President who has led the country into a very violent conflict in Iraq and whose running mate told a Senator to “Go Fuck Yourself!” I can only imagine that they feel that make-believe violence and language is much more upsetting than the real thing.

Next week at work, we are launching a new software package. It’s a Maintenance Management system and it will require us to train all of our maintenance techs, tooling techs and stock room people. It will be a very big deal. I’ll be working long hours and spending more time climbing around machinery with techs than I prefer, but it should be interesting. I also have a project to work on for my class, so I apologize in advance if I slack off on the blogging. After that kind of fun in the beginning of the week, I am rewarding myself with a day off on Friday and a backpacking trip that weekend.

Yasser Arafat is dead. I will not demonize nor glorify the man. I will say that I hope, now that he is gone, that the Israelis and the Palestinians can work toward a peaceful co-existence. I think the two state solution is a good one. It has flaws, but all compromises do. These people, the Palestinians and the Israelis deserve peace. There has been to much killing. Can it be done? I was hopeful during the Camp David talks, but things have gone so poorly since then that I just don’t know.

I really enjoy playing blogshares, but I don’t really know what I’m doing. It’s all good, cause I’m making lots of blog money.

That is all.

Just a quick note.

As of 10 o’clock this morning (give or take a few minutes) it’s been Five Years since I’ve smoked a Cigarette. Seems like a lifetime ago. I can’t picture myself smoking the two three packs a day (Cowboy Killers, Malboro Reds) that I did.

Five years later, I feel better, food tastes better, and I’ve got all that cigarette money to spend on more important stuff.

Jeckles, why are you obsessed with your rating in Blog Explosion?
I’m not obsessed.
Oh Yeah, why do you check it so often?
I just want to see how people rate my site.
So you want a high rating?
No, I don’t care about that.
Why all this checking?
It’s the 1’s. People leave ratings of 1 on my blog. I don’t even know why. No explanation. No comment. Nothing.
And you’re not obsessed?
No!
You send emails to the people who give you the 1’s.
I just want to know why they left it.
No you don’t, you want to make them feel guilty about it.
You’re saying that like it is wrong.
Stop being such a sissy.
But I’ve worked really hard at this. I learned some CSS. I put a lot of time and energy in it.
Good for you. You should be proud. Now stop being such a baby and suck it up. Not everyone will like your blog. Some will disagree with you, some will think it looks bad, and some people will give you a 1 just because they are like that.
And there is nothing I can do about it?
Nope.
I’m sad.
Don’t be. Watch this.
Ahhh Star Wars.

I’ve wanted to write about the NHL season for a while, but I really don’t know anything about it, and I’m too much of a bum to do the research. So I’ve brought in a guest blogger to do the honors. My good friend KGE doesn’t have a blog of his own but I’m trying to talk him into it. Give it a read and leave him a comment with some feedback. Maybe we can talk him into starting a blog of his own.

Why millionaires should not have a union:
MHO about the NHL Lockout
– KGE

As of the start of this writing the National Hockey League has been locked out for 53 days, 15 hours, 25 minutes, and 12 seconds. There are no negotiations scheduled, and at this point none likely for the foreseeable future. And almost nobody cares. That is what should scare the hell out of professional hockey, both management and labor. This season is on the brink of disappearing and almost nobody cares. The Stanley Cup may not be awarded for the first time since it was cancelled due to an influenza pandemic¹ and almost nobody cares. Half of the league could potentially disappear if this goes on for more than a season and almost nobody cares.

Here is my message to the National Hockey League Players Association: MORONS!! YOU ARE KILLING THE GOOSE THAT LAYS THE GOLDEN EGGS!! MAKE A %$^#ING DEAL!!

I don’t blame the owners. It is kind of hard to do that. They have spent the last decade inflating salaries beyond any reasonable level for a sport that gets the same TV ratings as arena football². They have had two franchises file for bankruptcy, with a third perilously close, in the last 5 years. They know that they are foolish, shortsighted men who are not to be trusted. And so they are seeking a system to protect the sport from themselves. A salary cap will prevent somebody from going on a drunken rampage and giving Bobby Holik 8 million a year. A salary cap will keep the Detroit Red Wings from acting like the Yankees³ and keep the New York Rangers from acting like the Redskins⁴.

It is hard to blame the players too. They don’t want the good times to end. They want salaries to continue to escalate out of control. I can see where I might like my salary to jump like that too. But something has to give. Under the proposed CBA the average NHL player’s salary would be 1.4 million dollars a year. Average! It is awfully difficult to feel sorry for a group when the base proposal would make the average player a millionaire. Players have said that they will never accept anything even vaguely like a salary cap, and cite the NFL as why they won’t. Unless I am mistaken, under the current system in the NFL the sport has thrived, taken over the #1 spot in America from baseball, and everybody has gotten filthy stinking rich!

I am just a fan. All I want is to watch my Flyers play this year. Hell, I will settle for watching any hockey this year⁵. But if a deal isn’t done, and soon, then the NHL could slip from irrelevancy into oblivion. In the United States almost nobody cares about hockey. An extended work stoppage will make it so that almost nobody will even remember hockey.

¹- Raise your hand if you remember the pandemic. If you are less than 85 years old, put your hand back down, you stinking liar. It happened in 1919.

²- Nothing against the AFL mind you, I think it is a cool sport. Go Rampage!!

³- That would be spending huge amounts of money to contend for the championship every year.

⁴- That would be spending huge amounts of money to crash and burn every year.

⁵- I have been watching as much minor league hockey as I can. Go Phantoms!!

I’ve joined the Shitty Blog Club. You can too. Click here if you want more info. anti-[everything] made a nice button for the club that looked like this:

But being the malcontent that I am, that just wasn’t good enough for me. I made a couple of buttons that would match the other 80x15 buttons i have here.

If you want to join the club snag one of these buttons and display it somewhere on your site, then let anti-[everything] know and you’ll get added to the list.

If you think this is dumb, then go join some other club we didn’t want you anyway!

I should let it go. George W Bush was lawfully elected to the office of the President by the majority of the People in this country. I disagree with them. But that’s the thing about democracy. The will of the people rules the day.

Oh. I know it’s not that simple. I’m stuck on one thing here. It really upsets me. Values. If you think strategically we had to do something in Iraq, I disagree, but I understand. If you believe that massive tax cuts for everyone including the very rich will help spur the economy, I see where you are coming from. I beg to differ, but I understand your position. But I am confused about how people voted for values and somehow George W Bush won because of this.

I am not trying to be divisive or condescending to anyone’s view. I am truly confused. And, frankly, quite upset. I am a registered Democrat. Would you like to know why? Too bad, I’ll tell you anyway.

I come from a Republican Family. I learned Republican type things as a kid. In high school I joined an after-school club called the Progressive Politics Club. We debated the burning issues of the day. Gay Rights. Death Penalty. Abortion. Taxes. The Environment. I loved it. I got a chance to really show off how well I knew these issues. I parroted the views I had heard from Republicans and made it clear I was quite the Conservative. Then a terrible thing happened. All the liberals graduated. The next year, first couple of meetings sucked. All of us conservatives sat around and agreed with each other.

I couldn’t take it, so I volunteered to argue the liberal position, as the Devil’s Advocate, in order to flesh out the discussion. Over the course of the next few months, an amazing thing happened. As I gave the liberal stance on the death penalty, I realized that I did not think it was right for anyone, not even the government to take a human life. As I argued the pro choice opinion I realized that the issue was complicated, and while I felt that (and still do) abortions were wrong, the reality of it was that the government, especially the Federal government is ill- equipped to legislate that. There is a lot of grey area when it comes to abortion, and setting a federal law would potentially leave a rape victim force to bear the child of her attacker or force a woman ill-equipped for mother hood to carry her child to term only to abandon it or raise it in abhorrent conditions. As I looked at the other side of these issues, I realized that my values dictated that I register as a Democrat.

The values I hold dear are: Respect for Human Life. Compassion for the Poor. Protecting the Environment so that the wilderness that I have loved since I was a child will remain forever. The Equality of all Men and Women, no matter what they think, or do. No matter where they come from or what culture they embrace or what there religion is. Honesty. The belief that we are world citizens and should abide by the same rules as everyone else. To respect others, no matter what.

I looked at my values and I looked the Bush Administration’s record over the last 4 years. I felt that they had not lived up to my values. John Kerry Embraced many of my values so I voted for him. And he lost. OK. But now I keep hearing how Bush won because of “moral values” and I don’t get it. It’s said as though “moral values” is a tangible, well-defined doctrine. I searched WikiPedia for “moral values” but it had nothing for me. I don’t see how 59,459,765 people can have the same exact morals. It seems to be tied to religion, but that doesn’t make sense to me either. The Protestants can’t even decide whether the want to have their Trespasses forgiven or their Debts. There are differences. Values are personal. My values and your values are not the same. Not exactly. And that’s OK. Hell, it’s good. But what I am hearing is that somehow a vote for Bush was a vote for “Moral Values”. Values like discriminating against Gays, Muslims and Arabs perhaps?

Like I said, I’m not trying to be flip or rude or disrespectful. (Come back later and I’ll do my best to be all of those things.) Right now I am very upset. I am a moral person. Yet, there is this notion that the only moral vote was for Bush. It sounds like the Red State people really believe that.

Having explained how I feel, I’m asking for comments. From everyone. Red or Blue. Help me with this. I can’t believe that all Red State folks are bigots. Help me understand this. I want to believe that this isn’t as polarized as it feels right now. I don’t care if people agree with me. But I don’t like having my moral fiber challenged.

Last week sucked for football. May fantasy team lost and I only got 5 of my picks right dragging my season total down to 73 - 43. Oh yea, the Ravens lost and TO did the Ray-Ray dance in the endzone. That was first time I was sorry that I have a 65″ HDTV. On to the Picks:

Sunday, Nov 7, 2004
1:00 PM New York NYJ (6-1) vs. Buffalo (2-5) J-E-T-S win
1:00 PM Oakland (2-6) vs. Carolina (1-6) Panthers win
1:00 PM Dallas (3-4) vs. Cincinnati (2-5) Bengals win
1:00 PM Washington (2-5) vs. Detroit (4-3) Lions win
1:00 PM Arizona (2-5) vs. Miami (1-7) The Fish pick up win number two
1:00 PM Philadelphia (7-0) vs. Pittsburgh (6-1) The Steelers upset the Iggles
1:00 PM Kansas City (3-4) vs. Tampa Bay (2-5) Chiefs win
4:05 PM New Orleans (3-4) vs. San Diego (5-3) ‘Bolts win
4:05 PM Seattle (4-3) vs. San Francisco (1-6) “hawks win
4:05 PM Chicago (2-5) vs. New York NYG (5-2) Giants stay hot
4:15 PM Houston (4-3) vs. Denver (5-3) Broncos win at Mile High
4:15 PM New England (6-1) vs. St. Louis (4-3) The Rams show up and win this one. Too many injuries for the talented Pats right now.
8:30 PM Cleveland (3-4) vs. Baltimore (4-3) Ravens show off swanky new Black Uniforms on National TV. And the take out their frustration on the Browns.
Monday, Nov 8, 2004
9:00 PM Minnesota (5-2) vs. Indianapolis (4-3) Colts beat the Mossless Vikes in a shoot out.

My fantasy team is in trouble. At least Bulger and Portis are back from their bye weeks. The 3-5 Charm City Bruisers (my team) faces the 5-3 PSU Returns in ‘04. I run a real risk of falling to 3-6 which is going put my playoff aspirations on the ropes.

I can’t believe this. This worst president in modern history was re-elected with more votes cast for him than any other president in history. Let’s keep it in perspective, he also had more votes cast against him than any other President in history. The pundits say that the W in Chief’s strategy was simple. (Pro) Gun,(Anti) Abortion,(Anti) Gay (marriage), and (a whole lot of) God. The GAGG strategy. And it worked. I’m too tired to think straight right now so I won’t attempt to even get a good rant going. Several bloggers have summed this up nicely. I invite you to read what they had to say about it:

Wil Wheaton
Alan
Julius
OneGoodMove
NickerBlog
Shelley
TBogg

I will keep pointing out the error of W’s ways. I will not relent. Do not worry. This isn’t going to turn into a “Political Blog,” But I have always felt strongly about politics and if when this administration does something that raises my ire, I will post about it. I invite comments. Maybe between us we can figure out how to get this country back on track. Pretty ambitious, I know, but a worthy goal nonetheless.

On a related note. I found on Blog Explosion, that I could see the blogs of all the people who have rated my site. I’ve been feeling a little blue about my ratings. I haven’t lost sleep over it or anything, but I would like it if folks like my little blog. So I went to the blogs of the folks who have rated my site. 5 of the 16 were right wing type blogs. Another 5 were folks that I’m pretty sure like my little Blog. You know who you are. It really bothers me to think that people are rating my blog poorly because they disagree with me. None of them ever even bothered to leave me a comment. I know the ratings aren’t a big deal, but just because you don’t agree with me, doesn’t me my site is bad. You might think it’s bad cause I’m boring, or cause my layout is lame, or for any number of reasons, but my opinions? *Growl* If you disagree with something I have to say, And you feel strongly enough about it to give me a bad rating, then leave a comment saying what your beef is. Not that I’ll change anything, but at least we’ll know where each other stand.

Since perhaps I’m doomed to have a poorly rated site, I had no choice but to Join the Shitty Blogger Club.

So there.

That’s all for now. I’ll be back with more boring and irrelevant posts tomorrow or the next day.

What I beautiful day. The sun is shining, flowers are in bloom, spring is in the air. I feel the harmony between all men and women. It is the dawning of a new age of co-operation between nations and cultures. The coffee even tastes better somehow.

Don’t worry about me. It’s just the denial talking. I haven’t got much sleep and I have a long day ahead of me at work. Tonight when I get home, maybe I’ll brave enough to face reality. Until then I’ll just walk around with this manic smile plastered to my face.

Have a wonderful day

Not exactly the outcome I was looking for. It is almost midnight and several states are still undecided. Florida and Ohio look like they are leaning towards Bush, but there are still people in line in Ohio so who knows. It is not a lock for either candidate. It looks like the earliest we will know who the president will be is Thursday.

I don’t know what to think right now. I am disappointed. I truly the higher turn outs would equate to more votes the more moderate candidate. I thought that candidate was John Kerry. My support for Kerry is still strong, but I think the nation is more divided than I had thought. That makes me sad. This divisiveness makes me tired. Being on the losing end of this divisiveness makes me sick. I hope there is good news between now and tomorrow.

For now I have to go to bed. Still have a job to do no matter who the president is. I’ll take comfort in the fact that no matter what happens, I know that there are a number of like minded individuals out here in the blogosphere.

Sorry I don’t have anything useful to say. Don’t worry as the facts become clearer, I’ll find something to say.

Sweet Dreams and let’s hope we don’t wake up to a nightmare.

VOTE. I mean it. Go out there and do it. The latest polls are in and it looks good. Check out the Electoral Vote Predictor. It looks like several swing states have swung back to Kerry. Besides, the Redskins lost, so it might just be a lock for Kerry.

But let’s not get overconfident. Go out there and vote. There has been a lot a talk about voter intimidation. I hope it is no where near as bad as it sounds. Know your rights, click here if you are unsure. If you don’t know what you are supposed to do at any time you can call the National Constitution Center at 1-866-MYVOTE1 and they will connect you to your local board of election. And if you think you have been wrongfully discouraged from voting call the Election Protection Hotline at 1-866-OUR-VOTE. (thanks to JuliusBlog)

Let’s win this thing. There has to be enough of us to win. We just need to get out there and vote.