It took me forever because I never received a sample ballot and I was unfamiliar with the issues. I wound up going to a couple of different newspapers and became aware of the issues I would be voting on.

Nah. I think she's just sleep-deprived after working a 100hr week at the hospital and realizing I won't be in town her last weekend in Houston (:eek:). I did give proper notice, several months (and again, weeks) in advance. It may not have registered.

I've had the week from hell, too. I'm getting on a plane in 5 minutes, then putting my liver through its annual high-altitude trials.

I just gave directions to Sal Paolantonio.

A Ground Stop was issued for Air Otter

Sal Paolantonio (born June 13, 1956 in Queens, New York) is a Philadelphia-based bureau reporter for ESPN, primarily reporting on NFL stories. Since joining ESPN in 1995, Paolantonio has become a staple in their NFL coverage, as he contributes to shows such as SportsCenter, NFL Live, Sunday NFL Countdown (from a game site) and Monday Night Countdown (from the Monday Night Football site). In 2004, he added studio work to his duties, replacing Suzy Kolber as the host of NFL Matchup, an X's and O's football show, joining him are Merril Hoge and Ron Jaworski. His best known work for ESPN is covering the Terrell Owens saga with the Philadelphia Eagles during the 2004 and 2005 seasons. Sal has also been an adjunct professor at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia since 2001.

In 2007, he and fellow sports journalist Reuben Frank put out The Paolantonio Report: The Most Overrated and Underrated Players, Teams, Coaches, and Moments in NFL History, ISBN 1600780253. It has been the best-selling NFL book in the country (Oct. 11, 2007) according to Amazon.com.

I think you gave notice at the Astros DO, or at least were talking about it. :D

He's a prick. I've dealt with him on numerous occasions.

He did pause before saying "please", like he's not used to saying that word.

Not surprised.

It took exactly two hours from the moment I walked in the building until I had snaked through several lines all over an old shopping center that's now partially converted to a DeKalb County office building until I made it to the voting machine.

Early voting in Texas is so much simpler. You walk in, you hand them your voter registration card and ID, sign the book, and go vote. In Georgia early voting involves filling out a stupid "application" that includes writing the exact same information (name, address, signature) on the same piece of paper multiple times. And then having multiple people look at the form and your ID to see if you filled it out correctly. And then finally they use that to decide if you're eligible to vote early or not, and then after that you finally get to vote.

And like most public-facing government employees, DeKalb County election workers are not hired for their personality or intelligence. Lots of power tripping high school dropout types standing around barking orders at people. They reminded me of the TSA, only worse. I mean, at least TSA people have some authority.

Anyway, the deed is done, and the vote is cast.

^ to you for sticking it out for 2 hours!

LOL, beats the old punch card system Harris County was using up through the 2000 election. I was shocked the first time I had to vote with that. I remember having to tear up my first ballot and get another one and start over because it didn't load into the holder correctly and I was voting several lines off.

The system I used today was a Diebold touch screen system. I kind of preferred the eSlate that's used in Texas in Harris County and several other areas.

I was passing through an air lock with Mike Tirico and he didn't realize you had to wait for the one side to form a seal before you opened the other door.

yadda yadda yadda 80 mph wind gust - it's a good thing he's got short hair.

Had I not done it today, I wouldn't be voting. This was literally the only time I could go.

Needless to say I was very tired and very hungry when I finally got home around 8:30 PM. I got up at 5:30 AM this morning in Lubbock after about four hours of sleep, flew to IAH, then on to ATL, and then stood in line forever to vote.

But after some pretty good fajitas and a couple of really good margaritas I'm feeling better. Now I'm home, lying on the sofa watching Adult Swim with the partner and catching up on FT, and I have a cat sleeping on me.

Overheard on my LBB-IAH flight early this morning
 

While the CRJ was being de-iced this morning after we pushed back from the gate, I heard the following conversation from the passengers in the row behind me.

"Now why are they washing the plane?"

"I don't know Myrtle 'cause it looked clean when we got on it."

"Well they need to rinse that stuff off because it's gonna streak."

"Uh huh. Them boys need a lesson in how to wash heavy equipment right. They musn't have worked on a farm."

I get those all the time......