Birthday Post

So my friend Becky O. wrote a blog post all about me and even created a wonderful card for me, just for my birthday…and now she’s sending people to my site! So I guess I ought to write something to amuse you all. Oh, the pressure!

I’ve been having a whole bunch of things knocking around in my head recently, and not very much time to write (although today I’ve been kind of goofing off because it’s my birthday and I can goof off if I want to), but since my friend Tammy seems to be able to write up a storm, I think I ought to put some of these thoughts onto the screen.

So, here we go – Random Thoughts for November (hopefully to be fleshed out into real posts soon):

  1. Guitar Hero and Rock Band are to actual music-making as American Idol is to actual singing. Not that I’m not fascinated with both, but I fear that some parents might think their kids are getting some semblance of a musical education by giving them these toys, and they are wrong, wrong, wrong.
  2. Starting up one’s own business is lonely, hard work. Did I mention it was lonely? And hard? Especially doing it alone?
  3. Don’t get freaked out on me, because I KNOW I’ve never talked about this before, but partly in reference to #1 and #2, I am looking into public schoolteaching.
  4. However, one of the best things about working at home is the fact that I can make my own food a lot more.
  5. I asked the guy who does our lawn to do some yard cleanup, and he weed-whacked my herb garden. I know it was a little weedy, but it was enclosed with a nice little white wire fence that clearly says, “I’m a garden!” No more chive-rosemary scrambled eggs for me in the morning. Oh well. I’m sure the rosemary would have died during the next cold snap.
  6. I’m knitting a grocery shopping bag out of all my used grocery bags. Ray thinks it’s silly to knit one bag out of many bags, but I think it’s kind of a cool way to recycle, so when I’m done, I’ll take a picture and post it on the site.

So that’s what’s been happening. Concerts, as usual, of course. I try not to write about those (although there are some good stories!) because I’m afraid I might reveal some of my true feelings about certain new artistic directors of certain local, internationally-known orchestras (ahem).

So thanks, Becky, for the beautiful card! If you’re new to the site, ignore all the Twitter posts and browse to the tags to the right. Some meatier posts are aboutmy gardening adventures…that’s a good place to start.

My Birthday Card

Tweet the Vote

Today, millions of Americans will go to over 200,000 distinct voting locations and using different systems and machinery to vote. Some voters will have a terrific experiences, and others will experience the same problems we have been hearing about for years – long lines, broken machines, inaccurate voting rolls, and others will experience problems that we haven’t heard about before. That’s why a new citizen-driven election monitoring system called Twitter Vote Report (www.twittervotereport.com) was just launched. Using either Twitter.com, iPhone, direct SMS, or our telephone hotlines, voters will have a new way to share their experiences with one another and ensure that the media and watchdog groups are aware of any problems.

And YOU can help! Be a citizen journalist! Submit a report about conditions at your polling place.

Four ways to submit reports to Vote Report:

  • Twitter: include #votereport and other tags to describe the scene on the ground
  • SMS: Send text messages to 66937 (MOZES)starting with the keyword #votereport plus other hash tags
  • iPhone: We have a Twitter Vote Report iPhone app in the App store!
  • Phone: Call our automated system at 567-258-VOTE (8683)to report about conditions, using any touch-tone phone

And if you would like to talk to a human to report bad conditions you’ve observed, please call our partner 1-866-OUR-VOTE.

As news outlets and blogs will report on Election Day stories, www.twittervotereport.com is an invaluable resource for thousands of voters to get immediate help. From questions like “where do I vote” or “how do I make sure that my rights are being upheld,” Twitter Voter Report augments these efforts by providing a new way for voters to send text messages (aka tweets) via cellphones or computers which will be aggregated and mapped so that everyone can see the Nation’s voting problems in real-time.

Imagine a nationwide web map with pins identifying every zip code where Americans are waiting over 30 minutes to vote or indicating those election districts where the voting machines are not working. Collectively we will inform each other when the lines are too long and ensure that media and watchdog groups know where problems exist.

For more information, go to www.twittervotereport.com. The complete list of tags or keywords that you can include in your reports is listed there. And please help to spread the word — send this to everyone you know!