So I went to the caucus tonight. The less-organized, democratic flavored one of course. This was a new precinct for me from four years ago and my what a difference. I am glad that my 14 year old son decided to wander in and attend with me as well. It is a very good introduction to the greatness and sadness that is democracy.
The gymnasium was nearly at capacity, which was a good sign. 303 people in all were registered. I walked in with Obama and Edwards as my leading candidates. Immediately I noticed the number of Obama people was larger than I thought it would be. I decided I would wait and see how the groups shook out before choosing a camp. With a few minutes before the start, the Obama group had about overtaken half the gym and Edwards had hardly grown, so I went to the Edwards side. It was touch and go for a while, but Edwards finally got enough people to be viable and we nearly pulled enough people over to get a second delegate.
It was great that Ian got to see how a caucus works because next time around, he will be eligible to participate. He seemed genuinely interested in how things worked and picked up the basic gist of things. It was sad because he saw how crushed some people were that their candidates of choice were not viable. One woman was even crying openly. Hopefully he takes it as a lesson in how passionate people can or should be about the political process.
I'm glad Obama and Edwards came out on top tonight. I am happier tonight than I was 4 years ago. Most of all, I am glad that the phone calls and visits to my door will end!
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Happy New Year
It's now 2008. Whoohoo.
So anyways, I have decided in addition to writing more, I will read more. This is not just my own idea. I had read Steven King's On Writing. One thing he talked about was listening to (unabridged versions!) audiobooks, especially while driving. I saw an ad for Audible.com that offered a free download with a trial membership, so I signed up.
My initial download was Darkly Dreaming Dexter. I had seen the first season of Dexter on Showtime and really wanted to check out the book. Since I am terrible at returning anything like movie rentals or library books, this seemed like the perfect, not to mention cheapest, method for me. I have to say that while Audible.com is a clunky at best site to navigate, I thoroughly enjoyed the book once I finally had it onto my ipod.
I very much enjoyed the plot differences between the series and the book, and Lindsay's exploration of the Dark Passenger and his dark comedy were the high points of the book for me. This is especially brought out in the internal dialogue of Dexter. The shifts between first and third person are also very deft and not jarring as they are in some other books I've read.
I was so happy with being able to fit an extra book into my schedule by using my drive time to work that I decided to renew my membership when I got a special half price offer. Here is where Audible let me down. I punched in dexter in the search and navigated to the other book that was offered for Jeff Lindsay. Unfortunately, this is the third book of the series. The second book is not even offered on the site! Also, their bandwidth has really taken a drastic hit lately, making the download process almost literally painful. All said though, I am really liking the new Dexter book I have.
I have about 3 weeks to research my next download from them, any suggestions?
Non Sequitor - Comic: The Ungift, Part One
So anyways, I have decided in addition to writing more, I will read more. This is not just my own idea. I had read Steven King's On Writing. One thing he talked about was listening to (unabridged versions!) audiobooks, especially while driving. I saw an ad for Audible.com that offered a free download with a trial membership, so I signed up.
My initial download was Darkly Dreaming Dexter. I had seen the first season of Dexter on Showtime and really wanted to check out the book. Since I am terrible at returning anything like movie rentals or library books, this seemed like the perfect, not to mention cheapest, method for me. I have to say that while Audible.com is a clunky at best site to navigate, I thoroughly enjoyed the book once I finally had it onto my ipod.
I very much enjoyed the plot differences between the series and the book, and Lindsay's exploration of the Dark Passenger and his dark comedy were the high points of the book for me. This is especially brought out in the internal dialogue of Dexter. The shifts between first and third person are also very deft and not jarring as they are in some other books I've read.
I was so happy with being able to fit an extra book into my schedule by using my drive time to work that I decided to renew my membership when I got a special half price offer. Here is where Audible let me down. I punched in dexter in the search and navigated to the other book that was offered for Jeff Lindsay. Unfortunately, this is the third book of the series. The second book is not even offered on the site! Also, their bandwidth has really taken a drastic hit lately, making the download process almost literally painful. All said though, I am really liking the new Dexter book I have.
I have about 3 weeks to research my next download from them, any suggestions?
Non Sequitor - Comic: The Ungift, Part One
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)