Voted

When cattitude and I went in to vote this morning, we were voters 82 and 83 for our election district. In a typical election, voting at the same time in the morning, we get 21 and 22. The acquaintance who works at that polling place confirmed that they'd been busy and things had gone smoothly.

I then went up to Staples and Stop and Shop for various necessary (toner, butter) and desirable things. Along the way, I got to tell two or three more people "thanks, I've already voted" when they offered me election literature, and saw several others out handing out palm cards.

I also, finally, saw some posters for Elliot Spitzer other than the few that our incumbent assemblyman put up that said "Espaillat Spitzer Democrats." The Spitzer ones have his name, the name of the lieutenant governor candidate, and the slogan "Day One Everything Changes."

Voted

When cattitude and I went in to vote this morning, we were voters 82 and 83 for our election district. In a typical election, voting at the same time in the morning, we get 21 and 22. The acquaintance who works at that polling place confirmed that they'd been busy and things had gone smoothly.

I then went up to Staples and Stop and Shop for various necessary (toner, butter) and desirable things. Along the way, I got to tell two or three more people "thanks, I've already voted" when they offered me election literature, and saw several others out handing out palm cards.

I also, finally, saw some posters for Elliot Spitzer other than the few that our incumbent assemblyman put up that said "Espaillat Spitzer Democrats." The Spitzer ones have his name, the name of the lieutenant governor candidate, and the slogan "Day One Everything Changes."

Not exactly karma: political note

These are Andy Tannenbaum's notes on one House race this year, Texas district 22:

This is Tom DeLay's district. The ethically challenged Congressman got on the ballot before his association with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff got him indicted. Quick like a bunny he moved to Virginia claiming he was no longer a Texan so his name could be stricken from the ballot and some other Republican could take his place. The Texas courts didn't buy the instant Virginian idea and so his name is on the ballot but he is not running. Texas Republicans are now running a write-in campaign for Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, a wealthy Houston dermatologist. Writing in her name would be hard enough if the voters could actually write on the ballot, but due to the voting equipment, they have to spell it out character by character (with no hyphen available) using a trackball.

Were this RISKS, PGN would make notes on usability and advise that if you're selecting a last-minute write-in candidate, you should pick one whose name is easy to spell. I'm wondering how they'll count votes for, say, Secula-Gibbs, Gibbs, Sekula, and so on.

Not exactly karma: political note

These are Andy Tannenbaum's notes on one House race this year, Texas district 22:

This is Tom DeLay's district. The ethically challenged Congressman got on the ballot before his association with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff got him indicted. Quick like a bunny he moved to Virginia claiming he was no longer a Texan so his name could be stricken from the ballot and some other Republican could take his place. The Texas courts didn't buy the instant Virginian idea and so his name is on the ballot but he is not running. Texas Republicans are now running a write-in campaign for Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, a wealthy Houston dermatologist. Writing in her name would be hard enough if the voters could actually write on the ballot, but due to the voting equipment, they have to spell it out character by character (with no hyphen available) using a trackball.

Were this RISKS, PGN would make notes on usability and advise that if you're selecting a last-minute write-in candidate, you should pick one whose name is easy to spell. I'm wondering how they'll count votes for, say, Secula-Gibbs, Gibbs, Sekula, and so on.

Another phone interview scheduled

I got email last night, from Ruth who set up the first phone interview, asking if I was available at 9:30 this coming Friday to talk to Dan. I checked that they meant telephone again rather than in person, and agreed.

I'm hoping this leads to actual work quite soon. It should almost certainly leave me with a clearer idea of how much of my time they're likely to want, and how much money I can get for it. Knowing how soon would be a bonus, given what Deb said this past Friday.

Another phone interview scheduled

I got email last night, from Ruth who set up the first phone interview, asking if I was available at 9:30 this coming Friday to talk to Dan. I checked that they meant telephone again rather than in person, and agreed.

I'm hoping this leads to actual work quite soon. It should almost certainly leave me with a clearer idea of how much of my time they're likely to want, and how much money I can get for it. Knowing how soon would be a bonus, given what Deb said this past Friday.

Dogs

After we voted, I decided to walk with cattitude at least partway to the subway. We went up Park Terrace East and into Isham Park, a smaller bit of green just east of Inwood Hill Park. We'd been having a pleasant time, looking at late flowers in gardens and admiring the fall colors on the trees. We started to take the long way around the lawn, when I noticed a dog standing some distance away from us, with no human visible nearby, a German shepherd or similar.

A closer look showed a couple of other dogs nearby, lying just behind a fence, in shadow.

We decided to be prudent, and walked back the way we'd come. I noticed a woman standing near the path we'd come in on, with a fairly small dog on a leash. I went over to ask her if she recognized the dogs. She didn't, and thought they might be the group of wild dogs that people have seen in the neighborhood occasionally. I'd only heard rumors of them, including signs a while back asking people to donate money so the wild dogs could be spayed/neutered, get their shots, and so on.

She decided to walk over and take a look. Cattitude started after her, so I went with him. We got closer, and saw that there were actually four dogs, with no collars. The one that had been standing started barking, and two of the others stood up.

The woman's dog barked back, and tried to approach the German shepherd, which moved toward us.

We started backing off; the woman picked her dog up and carried it. We again returned to the lawn near the dead-end circle, with Cattitude on my left, away from the dogs. It is agreed between us that I protect him from dogs, though this is the closest I've come to needing to fend off more than over-enthusiastic licking. I walked with him the rest of the way to the subway: however slight the actual risk, part of protecting him from dogs is to provide reassurance.

(Another dog-walker heard our description and said it sounded like the wild dog pack: he told us that he'd seen them three times in the last couple of years, and that they've been reported as far south as 187th Street, in Fort Tryon Park.)

After running some errands, I called the city's all-purpose information and services number, 311. It started by telling me about Election Day, offering numbers to press for more information on voting, and saying that city offices and the public schools were closed, and talking about garbage collection and alternate side parking. "For all other calls, please wait." The agent who picked up seemed unsure about what I wanted, and offered me 911. I explained that this had been an hour and a half earlier, and after taking some notes, she offered to transfer me to Animal Control. Animal Control told me about their Web site and periodically asked me to keep holding. I gave up after a while, since it seemed possible that Animal Control was also closed, and I didn't know whether the dogs were still there.

Dogs

After we voted, I decided to walk with cattitude at least partway to the subway. We went up Park Terrace East and into Isham Park, a smaller bit of green just east of Inwood Hill Park. We'd been having a pleasant time, looking at late flowers in gardens and admiring the fall colors on the trees. We started to take the long way around the lawn, when I noticed a dog standing some distance away from us, with no human visible nearby, a German shepherd or similar.

A closer look showed a couple of other dogs nearby, lying just behind a fence, in shadow.

We decided to be prudent, and walked back the way we'd come. I noticed a woman standing near the path we'd come in on, with a fairly small dog on a leash. I went over to ask her if she recognized the dogs. She didn't, and thought they might be the group of wild dogs that people have seen in the neighborhood occasionally. I'd only heard rumors of them, including signs a while back asking people to donate money so the wild dogs could be spayed/neutered, get their shots, and so on.

She decided to walk over and take a look. Cattitude started after her, so I went with him. We got closer, and saw that there were actually four dogs, with no collars. The one that had been standing started barking, and two of the others stood up.

The woman's dog barked back, and tried to approach the German shepherd, which moved toward us.

We started backing off; the woman picked her dog up and carried it. We again returned to the lawn near the dead-end circle, with Cattitude on my left, away from the dogs. It is agreed between us that I protect him from dogs, though this is the closest I've come to needing to fend off more than over-enthusiastic licking. I walked with him the rest of the way to the subway: however slight the actual risk, part of protecting him from dogs is to provide reassurance.

(Another dog-walker heard our description and said it sounded like the wild dog pack: he told us that he'd seen them three times in the last couple of years, and that they've been reported as far south as 187th Street, in Fort Tryon Park.)

After running some errands, I called the city's all-purpose information and services number, 311. It started by telling me about Election Day, offering numbers to press for more information on voting, and saying that city offices and the public schools were closed, and talking about garbage collection and alternate side parking. "For all other calls, please wait." The agent who picked up seemed unsure about what I wanted, and offered me 911. I explained that this had been an hour and a half earlier, and after taking some notes, she offered to transfer me to Animal Control. Animal Control told me about their Web site and periodically asked me to keep holding. I gave up after a while, since it seemed possible that Animal Control was also closed, and I didn't know whether the dogs were still there.