Last time we were having elections, there were two ladies from one of the lists handing out postcards: a pretty picture on one side, without even their logo, and a bullet-point extract of their program on the other side, with the logo.
We took some; one of the women told my mother “you know, I don’t think you look like our target voters”. “Oh, I’m not, but I do think you’re a better choice than most and I do love the pictures. It’s the first time I see a political handout that’s not junk!”
I get political e-mail!
From Newt Gingrich!
<mutter> How the hell did I get on THEIR list </mutter>
For a while there, I was getting political email from Republican candidates…from Arizona and New Mexico. I don’t know how I got onto their lists.
Heh heh. I’ll suggest it to them, including the farm upstate bit.
By breathing, being alive, being a member of the phylum chordata…
I DVR everything because I hate commercials in general. Bonus hatred for seeing the same commercial blip by at least 3 times in an hour program.
Another benefit to DVRing: I can watch an hour program in 40-45 minutes.
Go to dentist. Need a filling. Cha-ching!
Come out of dentist. What’s that noise? The radiator fan running for no reason other than to drain the battery to the point the car won’t start. Whippee!
Get home. Dog has crapped in the middle of the family room.
Can the day be over yet?
I’m not sure how “mini” this rant is, but it doesn’t warrant its own thread.
I am a fan of Spider Robinson’s Callahan series. Over the years, I have hung out in various online incarnations: first a MUSH, then Usenet (alt.callahans), LiveJournal, now Facebook. Of course, in all those years, I have gotten to know certainpeople reasonably well; some of them I friended on LJ and Facebook and got to know them more.
Last Friday, the wife of a fellow Callahanian (whom I have known online for probably 10+ years) died suddenly. They were married for ~40 years, and were still utterly devoted to each other. I was very sad to learn of her death, and have been thinking about it since. Not obsessively, but I’ve been melancholy.
And I can’t really tell anyone or explain it to people. You would think it wouldn’t be the case anymore, but most people still don’t understand how a “merely” online relationship can be meaningful, and touch your emotions in a real way. Just because I’ve never met these people in person doesn’t mean I shouldn’t care, or be touched by the sudden loss. But somehow, I get the feeling that if I try to talk to people about it, I’m a geeky freak who isn’t in touch with reality or something.
Anyway, I’m ranting here, because I figure if anyone would understand how meaningful an online community can be, it would Dopers.
I’m sad for my friend. And I wish I could talk about it in a way that people would understand. 
{{Indyellen}}
It’s weird how people sometimes just go ‘Ohh, someone online’, like that means they’re not a real person- but if you said someone was your penpal for the last 10 years, that would be fine, you’re allowed to admit that they’re a friend, even a good friend.
My rant really is mini- the flat fire alarm has gone funny, and claims a ‘general fault’, unfortunately, this means it’s beeping loudly and irregularly. I can hear it in my bedroom. Someone’s coming to fix it tomorrow, at least according to the agency, but until then there’s nothing I can do- it’s hardwired in so we can’t turn it off. It’s a piece of crap, and cries wolf at random, so everyone just ignores it anyway.
Ugh, I’m probably going to have to sleep with earplugs in tonight, if I can find them.
Yesterday I made a batch of spiced pumpkin soup. Today, even though I’ve washed my hands SEVERAL times since last night, my hands STILL smell like curry powder. What the hell do I need to do, soak my hands in vanilla extract?
Chop up some garlic and fish. THAT should cover up any lingering curry smell.
Run them over the stainless steel faucet in your sink - stainless steel kills odours on skin for some arcane reason.
My mini-rant - I got home from work (half hour drive) and went to grab my backpack (which has my purse in it) off the passenger seat, and oh no - where is it? Oh, I guess I left it on the desk at work. :smack: By this time it’s full on rush hour, so my half hour drive home would be probably 3/4 of an hour now to get back there, and they’ll probably be closed by the time I get there (not to mention fighting rush hour traffic there and back again, which I don’t want to do in the best of circumstances).
So I call my husband’s cellphone because his company’s head office is close to my work, but his stupid phone doesn’t ring as usual (he wasn’t in the area anyway, so I guess that was moot). Stupid forgetting something as important as my purse!
Baking soda or stainless steel.
Drink a shot in her memory, then smash the glass into the nearest fireplace.
And have another shot for yourself, if you feel you need it.
Be well. Grieve. Heal.
Take your time.
What he said. We understand.
When I explain something like that to most people, I just skip the O word. My family knows that “the husband of a friend from the forums” has been in the hospital for way too long due to West Nile Virus; other people know that “the husband of an American friend” has been in the hospital for way too long due to West Nile Virus.
My kitchen sink is porcelain-clad cast iron, but I’ll try the baking soda.
Actually, I may just let it go - the smell is very faint now and it’s not like my fingers smell like ASS.
People got all huffy when the USPS suggested dropping Saturday delivery and only going to five days a week, I can’t imagine the bruhaha that would ensue if they did what you are suggesting. People get very entitled down here.
Your faucet is porcelain-clad cast iron? :eek:
Not to belabor the point, but your faucet isn’t stainless steel? I just run my hands over the faucet occasionally when I have onion hands or something.
You sound so disappointed - you know they can, right. 
You guys have Saturday delivery? I did not know that. If you move into a new area in Calgary, you get NO home mail delivery - it’s all neighbourhood superboxes now. I’ve lived with that, and it really isn’t so bad - so you walk 15 feet to pick up your mail instead of going to the front door.
Stupid Calgary drivers, and stupid Calgary weather.
The rest of my poor family is STILL on the road - it has taken 2 hours to do a drive that normally takes 10 minutes.