So, how'd I do?

(1) Turnout will be massive. With 112 million people voting, I think I hit this one on the money.

(2) We'll know who won by noon tomorrow. It's not yet noon, but I think it's all over but the concession. I should have been more exact in the wording, but I think this one's at least a leaner.

(3) Badnarik hasn't a chance (so that I'm at least one for three... just kidding). A gimme, but you've got to vote for who you think is the best candidate. Life is too short to vote against people.

(4) Despite what partisans for both major parties say, the world will not end if their man doesn't win. However, this won't stop dire predictions, the gnashing of teeth, and other idiocy. In work (about the predictions, gnashing, etc., not the end of the world).

(5) Whoever does win will not enjoy much of a "post-election" honeymoon. In work.

Cheers...

It's over...

A few minutes ago (it's 11:17 am right now on the East coast), Fox reported that Kerry has called Bush to concede. If he spoke Russian instead of French, I suppose he could have concluded his phone call with a line from the opera Eugene Onegin: "Счастье было так возможно, Так близко! Так близко!" ("Happiness was so possible. So close! So close!")

Of course, Bush could have said the same thing, too, had he lost.

I wonder whether the loss will make Kerry less superstitious, or be the basis for exacerbating his apparent fondness for talismans and charms?

Cheers...

Turning base...

The charge on my cell phone does not hold nearly as well here on the Island as it does in Houston or Pagosa. I would venture to guess the reception is so marginal here that the unit has to step up its power consumption to make do. Unfortunately, "making do" in this case doesn't do the job, as I've lost two clients in the middle of phone calls.

Fortunately, one of the calls resulted in a 3500-word translation that was delivered and invoiced this morning, which puts November off to a reasonably cautious start.

I've punched a number of items on my pre-departure to-do list, and a visit to the post office is about the only thing left short of actually putting stuff in my luggage. My dad is amazed that I'm not fully packed, sitting on my suitcases (as it were), seeing how the train leaves the Locust Valley station at 10:59 am tomorrow (I plan to take the LIRR to Jamaica, and then hoof the rest of the way by cab.)

* * *I hinted a couple of days ago that we'd gone through some old photos, which I thought would be a good exercise, both to fire off those old synaptic paths in my mom's head and to improve my scant knowledge of the family history. At first, I was disappointed that my mom could not remember any but the obvious subjects of the photographs we looked at (e.g., her parents, me, etc.), but then I got to thinking that I'd be very hard pressed to identify people in photos I'm part of, and I am -- theoretically, at least -- in tip top shape mentally.

(You there! Yes, you! Please refrain from snickering!)

There was some unintended fallout resulting from the photo session, having mostly to do with my grandmother, but we can talk about that when the kids are asleep.

Cheers...