Webthoughts

Today is Election Day in the United States and I encourage everyone to go out and exercise your right to vote. This is a right that is too often ignored and that is a very frustrating thing to me.

On a general topic mailing list that I frequent, political discussions frequently pop up, especially around election time. There is one person on the list whose opinions on matters political always interested me greatly. Frankly, he does complain a lot about the leadership in Washington D.C., but he makes some very good points. However, the other day he revealed that he does not vote because his "vote wouldn't matter anyway."

With that one statement, he has completely and utterly invalidated any arguments he has had about our government. If he doesn't go and vote to express his opinion, then he has absolutely no right to complain about the leadership we end up with. This goes for everyone, not just him. If you don't vote, you are saying that your opinion doesn't matter and therefore, you have no right to complain about the leadership that those that did vote put into place.

Again, I urge you to vote. Is our political system in the United States perfect? By no means is that answer yes. It's not perfect. But it's a heck of a lot better than what many other countries in this world have and countless people in the past have died to protect our right to enjoy our political system. Take advantage of that. If you don't like the way our leadership is running the country, vote for those that you think will do a good job.

I'm off now to vote. I hope you do the same.

The last 48 hours have not been fun. At all.

Stomach viruses are vile, disgusting things and are a very miserable experience. And really, there isn't much more I can say on the topic without passing at least some bounds of decency.

At any rate, I'll be really happy when I can eat again.

...my wife has it now too. Fun weekend. Woo.

I just realized that I haven't posted anything since my last cryptic posts about the stomach virus that made its way through my household. Suffice it to say that the virus is now over. Everything is back to normal (and I'm even regaining some of the fifteen pounds I lost over those four miserable days). The only difference this time is I seem to have lost any taste for Fritos. It's probably best if you don't ask why.

Thanksgiving was a quiet affair this year for the most part. My wife and I went to see her family on the 18th at her parents' house, but it was a quick trip (two hour drive out in the morning, spend a few hours there, two hour drive back in the late afternoon). It was great to see everyone, but it would have been really nice to stay longer. Unfortunately, with my work schedule, it was not to be.

On Thanksgiving Day proper, we actually spent most of the morning cleaning up around the house (something that had gone by the wayside since the time of the Great Virus Outbreak of 2006). Early afternoon arrived and we headed over to my parents' house (a much shorter trip than her parents' house) to spend the rest of the day with them. My brother and his family were unable to be there that day and my sister lives about 1,500 miles way and just can't make it back for one day, so it was just the four of us. Good food, great time with family (and a rousing game of Scattegories to round out the day), but it was a little odd to not have everyone there. A good day, all-in-all though.

My wife and I had talked about getting up early on Friday to hit some of the big sales. However, better wisdom prevailed and we actually didn't get up until about 9:00 a.m. We did hit a few stores starting about 10:00, but didn't spend much. My wife had to work that afternoon and I spent the time getting all the Christmas decorations pulled from storage and watching Nebraska/Colorado on TV. When my wife got home from work that night, we spent some time putting up the tree and getting some Christmas decorations strewn around the house.

Saturday saw a variety of activities including finishing decorating the tree, watching the Oklahoma/Oklahoma State game, and getting lights put up on the house, not necessarily in that order. I spent most of the afternoon working on the lights on the house. My time on the roof reinforced my dislike for heights (as it does every year). This year, I spent time putting clips on every one of the lights I strung across the roof-line. The results look quiet nice, but it took a long time to do. Unfortunately, I started to loose light and it started to rain, so my house-lighting activities were cut short. I'll post a picture of the final results once I get the rest of lights put out (which, it appears, will be in a few days as it's supposed to rain until at least Tuesday).

It really was a good holiday weekend. I hope it was for all of you as well.

Here's a neat list of five products that Apple prototyped, but never brought to market. It's an interesting look at Apple's past and makes you ask the question "What might have been?"

Thanks to The Unofficial Apple Weblog.