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WHO? Oliver. oof San Francisco again, Brooklyn before, Atlanta & Chicago wayback. RECENT: 2 days What am I doing? Kerry rally poor grandpa fun driving with le Back in Albuquerque 1,000 miles in 48 hours New Mexico Arrival more burningman good day TRAVELS: Biodiesel trip across America (January, 2005) Paris (April, 2005) Election work in NM (November, 2004) ARCHIVES: September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 May 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 August 2003 June 2003 LINKS TO PALS: elly Toshok Pete Tuggy Workstatus Nathan Express Train SEARCH: RSS: Get your RSS feed here |
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October 31, 2004 08:37 AM2 days
Vote Jerry/Edwards on Thursday. October 27, 2004 09:27 PMWhat am I doing?So, I'm working in New Mexico. At election day, I'll have been here for about three weeks, and have driven well over 3,000 miles throughout the state (some with elly). I'm volunteering with a group similar to the Election Protection Program also link, whose aims are to ensure a fair and unbiased election and reporting process. It turns out that my Aunt Donna in Nevada (whom I really respect), and my age-old-pal Anurima in New York are both working on the same thing! My group is called "Voter Protection," and is an arm of the Democratic Party on New Mexico. I've been visiting voting machine certifications in about a dozen counties all over the state. What actually happens is that I show up in some random county in the middle of the night and crash at the nearest Holiday Inn (yes, I've tried many hotel chains, and these seem the most reliable here in New Mexico, but YMMV). The next morning, I seek out the County Clerk's office (some are really pretty like this), meet some nice person (usually an older woman), and go to the attic/jail/basement/warehouse to view their voting machines. I then stand around, or help out as the county clerk's employees install paper ballots, test out all of the lights, push the buttons, cast their votes, then compare a thermal tape print out with their expected vote tallies. If all goes well (eg: there are the right number of recorded votes on the print out), they seal the machine with tamper-proof seals, record the seal numbers, and we move on to the next one. It's really a pretty tedious process, but one that I really do feel is important to the overall Political Process to make sure that everything is above-board. I said I wanted to come here to work without ego, to do whatever I could to help, that I would be an indian among many chiefs. Since I've gotten off the road, I have held true to that: doing such exciting work as emptying the trash, building tables out of found wood and boxes of envelopes, shredding dcouments, buying things at Office Max, and doing silly little things that have to get done by someone! I'll do it! October 27, 2004 08:04 PMKerry rallyLast night, after getting a Teamsters' tee shirt, I went to a big John Kerry rally here in Albuquerque. He was late, and delivered the standard stump speech, but it was still fun to be there with all the supporters and nice people. I ate a bannana.
October 27, 2004 06:02 PMpoor grandpaMy automobile dealership-owning-union-hating Grandfather would roll over in his grave. I sure liked it though!
October 23, 2004 06:46 PMfun driving with leI had some nice company for a few days of driving out here in New Mexico. elly flew out from San Francisco to drive around big New Mexico, and help out on the Kerry campaign. We saw many things! Here are some of them!
October 17, 2004 12:09 PMBack in AlbuquerqueI made it back here from Santa Fe and parts north last night. It's nice here in this house with the parents that every liberal kid wished they had (lawyer dad represented Wen Ho Lee, and is now representing the Holy Land Foundation), big open spaces and a nice dog. I've driven a really lot this week, and even daily morning yoga hasn't quite been enough to keep my body sane. I'm trying, but I'm *tired*. I drove to a movie theater last night, got there, parked my car, and then walked all the way to the box office before realizing (thanks Alicia!) that I was too exhausted to sit through a movie. I'm doing laundry now, and sitting in Walker's room (the son) listening to about the most diverse playlist I've ever heard. Jazz & classical are all that I haven't heard so far. I am trying hard not to get caught up in planning my future, and looping around on myself too much, and the busy-ness of verifying election machines is helping with that. I just want everything to be ok. I'm tired of fighting. I just want to cuddle in bed and give love. I'm not needy today.
October 13, 2004 11:22 PM1,000 miles in 48 hoursWow. I've been here just barely 48 hours and crossed the state twice, driving a thousand miles. I am fucking ehausted. It is less than 40 degrees out, and my car was pelted in a hail storm today. I will not be deterred! I am working in New Mexico on the Voter Protection Program, helping to ensure a fair election in this swing state. Tonight, as I drove the 365 miles from Gallup, NM (yes, the one in the song "Route 66"), to Raton, NM, I listened to the final Kerry / Bush Debate on the radio. It was old-tymey, radio style :) Fuck, I want to tell you about all the crazy people (cowboy election officials, nice dreadlocked hippies, artisan coffeeshop-Outfoxed-showing-ladies), and all the great things (mountains, skies, driving, life in general), but I am too damned tired. Life is good, work is fulfilling, and here are some beautiful pictures. more here, and even more here.
October 11, 2004 04:25 PMNew Mexico ArrivalHi! I got to Albuquerque today, on very little sleep, ran around, found a nice Wild Oats market right near my host's house, which is very nice. Met the wife part of my hosts, and promptly drove off to the DNC party HQ. Met my connection there (that sounds nefarious, doesn't it?), and the other two in our party, and the four of us ran off to look at the Bernalillo County voting machines! Next step, I go back to the host house, get my stuff back, and then drive 5 hours to Silver City to verify all 33 of their machines tomorrow. I'm going to stay here! hhehehe :) October 10, 2004 06:35 PMmore burningmanelly did an amazing job of scanning in all of our Polaroids from Burningman. Please Go look.
October 08, 2004 11:36 PMgood dayMaybe it's the planning to leave, maybe it's just the air. Who knows. Here is a brief summary of nice things that happended today, in chronological list form, as I prefer:
October 08, 2004 01:55 PMsomething that mattersSo, for a long time I've felt compelled to do something that matters, and given the timing, the election always seemed like the right thing to be involved with. I put out feelers, set emails to campaign headquarters and did other various non-specific things. Since I have a house in a swing state, I felt like Michigan was where I was supposed to be. That didn't really work out, and it seemed like it might be really depressing to be there all alone, so I scrapped that plan. I have a childhood friend who worked in politics for a whole bunch of years, so I hit him up for ideas & help. He's put me in touch with the New Mexico campaign (swing state) and a neat group called the Voter Protection Project. So, I'm going to go get on a plane to Albuquerque in a few days and go drive around the state, certifying voting machines. WHEE! October 03, 2004 06:51 PMupdates(Why does it always seem like I'm announcing updates, rather than just doing it?) Lately, I've been pretty fucking depressed. I've had a hard time noticing or acknowledging it, because everything is relative, but it's really there. I'm sleeping lots, waking up aimless, and generally fucking off. Granted, fucking off is what I hoped to do during this, my Time Of Unemployment, but I didn't think it would feel quite this way. I've discovered that I need something to occupy my mind and my time. Countless little Unix tasks are fun, but not enough, and anyway, they're even more fun when they serve as a counterpoint rather than being the focus. Likewise, social interactions with friends used to be contrapuntal excursions and fun, but now they seem more like obligations. That sucks. My friends and time with them is something that I truly value, and I don't want to take it for granted. I've tried to wrap myself into a political cause, and we'll see how that turns out, but for now it's not quite doing it for me yet. I don't know what I need to do to motivate, or what the issue is, but I think it was best described when elly talked to me about how I'm trying to find a cause, a reason, something to change the world right now rather than letting it happen organically, through a lifetime of actions. Ages ago, my cousin Fran was trying to help me determine what I wanted in my second job, and she described that there are people that work on the big picture, and people that actually implement and get it all done. I need to understand how that really applies to me. I spend my life implementing (hell, I'm a sysadmin, right?), but I idealize the planners, the idea-people so much that I think I'm trying to be them right now. w.r.t the campaign, I've stated that my hope & intent is to implement, to make one vote happen, to do the littlest of things, but my mind so often wanders to such broader topics, and such grander goals. I need a Project Manager for my life, I think.
Today I was able to get perspective on some things. After a sensible decision to reduce pointless errands (tee hee), I did a quick bike tune up and rode all the way across the city to join elly, xep & eric for roller staking in Golden Gate Park. The ride (god, that slowly leaking flat tire is KILLING me) was arduous and cold, but rewarding when I found nice young ladies skating. My skates turned out to be nothing more than an anchor, but I'm glad I trekked over there. We say the Bluegrass festival, and I ate corn on the cob, my favorite. Basically, I just need to get the fuck out of the goddamned house and do something. :)
bye for now! |
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