Gary
10/31/04
Well, I'm choosing not to believe your poll and Emily's druggy dream. :-) I'm anticipating a Bush concession speech Tuesday night.

As for trick-or-treaters, I was at Grandma's for the evening and... I will let her give the details, but it was somewhat less than 400.

Happy Halloween!!

Happy Birthday John!!

Ooops! Though Girl Scout nut time doesn't sound quite right... :-) --Gary

Also, new pictures from Texas!

Cool! :-) --Gary

Lindz, congratulations on acing the learners permit test! Very cool.

I voted last week by absentee ballot.

Oliva, Emily, Paul, hope you're feeling better!

Happy Halloween everybody!

Knowing how tight Bush was (and is?) with the bin Laden family, Osama is probably pretty busy this week putting out Bush-Cheney yardsigns. --Gary

Another P.S.: Looks like the Ohio story is no longer available. I just tried it and got a "registration" page. On some newspaper sites, you have to sign up to be able to see old stories.

Yeah, I know; but the article is about Ohio. I'm guessing it's of interest to Miami because "Florida" has become a buzzword: The article talks about Ohio becoming "another Florida." --Gary

P.S. Feel better, Emily! and Olivia! and Paul!

Well done, Lindsey! And, Paul... jeez! Watch yourself! --Gary

Olivia, how are you feeling? I hope you're doing better. You shouldn't be sick on a no school day. I can see why Teghan loved your build-a-bear dog. He is really cute. What's his name?

(Can I get a cool galloping horse on this note?)

Now the good news...Clinton has joined the Kerry campaign. He and Kerry are speaking somewhere today. Hallelujah!

Clinton and Kerry were in Philadelphia today at noon (our time). I watched it over the lunch hour. Clinton was great! Excellent speech, as always with him, plus this joke (which Kerry delivered, as he said Clinton said it backstage): "What do Clinton and George Bush have in common? In eight days, they will both be ex-Presidents!" --Gary

And be sure to check the projects page, everybody: brand new item there today!

Yeah, sorry I don't have any pictures of the new deck yet. I do have my little Palm Pilot camera, but I haven't got it where it can talk to my PC yet (gotta get that fixed!!). But when the pictures do come, you'll all be impressed. Paul (and day-laborers Lindsey and Livy) did a fantastic job. It's beautiful. And huge, compared to the old deck -- it was like adding another room.

Have fun on your camp-out, Erika!

Also just another thing we did was go to the arcade there and it was Amanda, me, Ryan, Sean, Lauren, Livy, and Tristen and all of us together ended up with 1,529 tickets and so Livy and Tristen got some neat stuff. But we got there and Amanda and Livy and me went over to the little Chuck E Cheese game, you know with the lights and stuff and Amanda hit the jackpot the first time and won 450 tickets just from that! So then we all got addicted to winning tickets and then Lauren won the jackpot on it for like 120 tickets I think and we think Livy may have a gambling problem when she gets older. She kept coming up to me saying "Just one more token Lindsey, just one more." But we had fun. Also there's a dance game you know where two people play, well me and Livy have it at home so we thought we would do it ther. Well there's this kid probably 16 or 17 and he's on there ALL NIGHT like doing these really fast songs and he's just a nerd really because he's got a hat with a little ticket in it and he's trying to give people tips as they play it, anyways Amanda could tell you about him. But we had a lot of fun there.

Hey, find a computer in that place, get on line once in a while, and send us updates!!! :-) --Gary

Good point! In Kansas City, listen on KCTE (1510)! Have a great time, y'all!--Gary

Also, new project on the Projects page!

P.S. I just noticed that on some of the old Projects pages, some of the photos are missing. I know what happened, and I will fix it soon!

Dang, I hate when I do that! I must have written over it when I was adding something else. Sorry about that, Emily. I can fix it tomorrow from the backup files in my office. --Gary

Weird! Should have. --Gary

From the crawl: "Out of all the 50 states, only one has a name consisting of only one syllable. And that state is...." But the answer appeared on the crawl itself after about five seconds. :-) --Gary

Oh, and early voting started in Texas today, there was a line 20 people deep at the mall when I ran in there earlier. I may early vote... I hear the World Herald endorsed Bush, YUCK. I have never understood why Nebraska goes Republican.

That is an excellent recap of the debate -- thanks for finding it. The "buggy and horse days" -- ha! :-) The author didn't, though, bring up one of Bush's biggest goofs. When he tried to needle Kerry with Kerry's recent statement about reducing terrorists to the level of "nuisance," Kerry shot back quoting Bush several months ago about how he doesn't think about Osama any more, he's been marginalized, etc. And then Bush, with this "gotcha" look on his face, said he knew he'd never said anything like that, and went on to say it "sounds like another of my opponent's little 'exaggerations.'" I swear, he almost made the quote marks with his fingers. The capper, of course, is that Bush said exactly that, and some of the news analysts were running that clip within minutes of the end of the debate. Which proves that Bush has not seen "Fahrenheit 9/11" yet, because that clip is featured prominently! :-) --Gary

No, the note below is the only newsletter I've gotten today. It's funny, I always expected this Kerrey to be running for President; seemed like he had everything going for him. To me, our current candidate was always "the other Kerry." --Gary

I'm on a Macintosh right now (with Internet Explorer) and couldn't get this to work; error message="MSN Video does not support your computer's operating system." Could someone summarize, please? --Gary

Whew, you're making me tired just reading about it, Lindsey! :-) --Gary

Way to be wacky! :-) --Gary

I just got back for cheerleading and I get to cheer at the homecoming game on Thursday, It should be fun!
We're having spirit days all this week for homecoming. Today was pajama/toga day, I just wore pajama pants and slippers. Tomorrow is class color day, sophmores are blue, I'm not sure what I'll wear for that, but I'll probably do something. On Wednesday, its Wacky Wednesday! I have an awesome outfit planned for that day, I'll definately send in some pictures that day! Thursday is green and white day, and we get out early for the game, and no school on Friday!
I just saw Garys review of Fahrenheit 9/11. I probably would have given it an 8 or a 9 too. I really liked it, I thought it was very intresting.

Happy Birthday, Ryan :)

Well, better than nothing, I suppose, but I was hoping for a big splashy broadcast on network TV... --Gary

I give Bush 216 electoral votes by carrying these states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming. Which is most of the South and almost all of the Midwest/West.

I give Kerry 322 electoral votes (270 are needed to win) by carrying these states: Arkansas, California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. Which is most of New England, some of the Midwest, and the West Coast. Note that I've got Florida on Kerry's side, even though Florida left a bad taste in our mouths from four years ago; but I'm counting on Democratic outrage to create a high voter turnout everywhere, and especially Florida.

Amanda, the site you mentioned predicts, at the moment, a Bush victory with 290 electoral votes, Kerry with 248. The main differences between their picks and mine are Florida, Michigan, and Ohio, which they give to Bush, though with razor-thin margins. (Florida odds 30 to 29, Michigan 4 to 3, and Ohio 30 to 29.) I'm hoping Kerry will do better than Bush in all three; but they are such big prizes (FL 27, MI 17, and OH 20) that if Kerry takes only one of them the balance tips back to his side.

Of course, all this has to be weighed against the possibility of electoral fraud, a very real possibility with the Bush machine at work. I predicted a Gore win in 2000 and I was right! Though it didn't exactly work out that way....

Here's a cool little interactive electoral map where you can plug in these states and see for yourself, or try other possible outcomes. And speaking of outrage, I also wrote a review of Fahrenheit 9/11, which you gotta rent if you haven't already!

Yes! Came out a few days ago, and on its first day sold 2 million copies, I understand. I saw it yesterday myself, and agree with Karen, Emily, and Erika: everybody should see it. Go get it! --Gary

I will. (In fact, it just got over.) Bush was better prepared for this one, and he'd obviously been coached not to make funny faces on-camera. But he's still...Bush. He might have picked up a few undecideds, but so also did Kerry. On undecideds, I read someone on the MSNBC site today who said, "All you undecideds out there: Get over yourselves! Make up your minds already!!" :-) --Gary

Interesting! I'll compare mine to theirs, and indicate where they're wrong. :-) --Gary

I left my state-by-state breakdown in my office; maybe I can pick it up tomorrow, but I'll put it up her Monday at the latest. --Gary

I couldn't link directly to the article, so the above link takes you to the paper's main page; you'll find the article under the "Local News" section. Way to go, Emily! I wish you could be in St. Louis tonight to ask Bush some hard questions! :-) --Gary

Ha! That would be good. :-) (Except we're a Pepsi-only campus.) As to how much the U is getting for this, I don't know. But I imagine it's at least enough to buy a new Lexus each for the Board of Regents.... --Gary

If anyone still has any doubts about how "real" reality shows are, these facts should help: Lee is not officially enrolling in classes, he will only be on campus for one month(!), and his "friends" in the show have already been cast (chosen from actual UN-L students who applied). It all starts today, and he will be followed by a film crew wherever he goes. One future episode will show Lee trying out to be a drummer in the University Marching Band.

The Chancellor, my old friend Harvey Perlman, sent out an email this morning to all staff and faculty which began "By now, the few of you who may have still thought otherwise, are probably convinced I've lost my mind." He says he is "satisfied" that the show will not portray the University in a bad light; he hopes that the show will demonstrate that a person can gain "redemption through higher education." Though his real objectives, I'm sure, are: 1) national exposure might boost UN-L's enrollment, which has been steadily declining over the past several years, and 2) a pile of money from NBC. He ends his note with: "I hope that turns out to be the right judgment. I am tempted to say something like, 'if it doesn't work you can vote me off the island' but I've already used that line. All I can say is join me in keeping your fingers crossed." Sure, there's no way this could go wrong...!

Some of the University professors, like one in the School of Music, have already said they won't let Lee in the classroom. He said, "When students are paying what they are paying for this class, this kind of character poses a major distraction that students should not be subjected to." He also said, "I have kids of my own and did not want to put myself in the position of glorifying that behavior."

More as the story develops! :-)

Your idea was for kind of a "wish list," right? Things you wanted for Christmas? I could make up one of those if you like. It would be completely voluntary -- anyone who wants to post their list may do so. Ready when you are! :-) --Gary

It was good. I don't think it would have caused anyone to change their minds if they'd already decided, but it did clearly show the differences between the two tickets; so in that sense it was helpful for the undecideds. ...Though how anybody could still be undecided at this point just baffles me... --Gary

So, you all watched the debate last night...? I thought Edwards did well. Cheney was Cheney: Smug, and looking like he was doing us a favor by giving up 90 minutes of his valuable time. I'm pleased to see that the news services are following up on two lies misstatements Cheney made. One, when he criticized Edwards' attendance in the Senate by saying he (Cheney) was president of the Senate but "I never met him until tonight on this stage." Turns out they've met several times, including a time last April when they appeared on "Meet the Press" together. Plus, other Democrats have been quick to say that when Cheney does come to the Senate, he spends all his time talking with the Republican members, never the Democrats. And two, when Cheney stated flat-out that he has never linked 9/11 to Iraq. Keith Olbermann on MSNBC said, "That's news to anyone who has lived on this planet," and NBC ran tape of a press conference where Cheney stated invading Iraq will allow us to get at the bases where 9/11 was planned, etc. The only statement by Edwards I've heard questioned was when he said Halliburton got a 7 billion dollar no-bid contract from the government; turns out it wasn't a no-bid contract -- it's just that no one else submitted a bid. All in all, an interesting debate, and it helped me make up my mind: I think I'm going to vote Democratic!

P.S. I heard an interesting statistic today. As you know, Bush-Cheney took a budget surplus and turned it into a huge deficit, so that our national debt right now is 7 trillion dollars. ...Odd how the Republicans always call Democrats the "tax and spend" party, but anyway... How much is 7 trillion dollars? If you went back to the day Jesus was born and started earning 1 million dollars every day, on this October morning in 2004 you'd have about 10 percent of 7 trillion... Thanks, Dub!

BTW, we got a paperview box too to watch the game and all the channels to go with it and we like it pretty well. May rent some movies from it too!

Anyway, the day should be getting cooler as it goes by, frost tonite, they say. Got just a dab of rain last night. My backyard fence is red with the grapevine leaves, but not many more are changing. Made Ryan's Salsa this week and it was really good, also made spaghetti sauce and marinated veg's. Carol brought me tomatoes and Bag 'n Save had good produce sales. I love hearing about all these BUSY things these young kids are up to. I couldn't keep up with any of you!

Kerry -- fine
Bush -- Needed drinks of water, has beedy little eyes, looks angry, doesn't answer questions, took drink of water, can't say words bigger than 5 letters, isn't taking notes because he is too stupid to spell "it", Kerry hurt Bushs feelings, he just goes on and on, when will it ever stop?, Why is Kerry so mean?, will he ever make sense?, please stop repeating words we heard the first 72 times.

Oh also, we need a picture of Cinderbwella!