Five O'Clock Somewhere

Welcome to Five O'Clock Somewhere, where it doesn't matter what time zone you're in; it's five o'clock somewhere. We'll look at rural life, especially as it happens in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, cats, sailing (particularly Etchells racing yachts), and bits of grammar and Victorian poetry.

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

The bells, the bells!

They just don’t stop ringing!

The tribulations of living in an undecided household in a battleground state: The phone just won’t stop ringing. Monday, I was trying to grade a huge stack of papers, plus I was hoping to rack up some word count for NaNo, and we had incoming calls on average every ten minutes. It was frustrating, since it kept me from concentrating on the papers I was grading. I was tempted to disconnect the phone, but then, there might have been an important call coming in.

Part of the problem is that among the three registered voters in this household (the cat isn’t registered to vote – she’s not old enough yet), we have one Democrat, one Republican, and one non-party-affiliated. That means both parties make phone calls calling on their own member, and both of them are also courting the non-affiliated voter as well. And then one of us is a union member, so we get calls from the union, and we have ourselves on mailing lists for a couple of charities and environmental groups, so we get those organizations’ phone calls as well.

And then there are the calls on behalf of individual candidates, often in the form of pseudo-polls bashing the opponent.

Yes, we let the answering machine take all of the calls, but still, every time one comes in, it’s a distraction. I ended up going in to work extra early to get away from the clamor. And I didn’t make any progress on my NaNo novel at all – I’ll just have to make double progress tomorrow.

I will be soooo glad when this election is over. And no, I still haven’t decided who I’ll vote for yet, at least on the Presidential ticket.

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5 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

Hmm... Just think about what NM would be like if it were a swing state instead of a leaning Obama. Floridians must be half crazy to live there this time of year! They face more advertising money per capita than residents of any other state.

Tue Nov 04, 01:51:00 PM MST  
Blogger Pat said...

Mom/Carol Anne was slightly inconvenienced today due possibly to dirty politics. Our precinct was voting in the eastern third of the local elementary school library; just ahead of Carol Anne were three young adults who may have been voting in their first presidential election.

There was a snafu. A young woman had moved from Rio Rancho to our neighborhood earlier this year. Conveniently, a community organizer was available to re-register her, so she filled in a new voter registration form so she could vote in her new precinct.

But, her voter registration was never turned in and so she would have to drive 45 minutes back to her old precinct, and 45 minutes back, plus waiting and voting time. The organization that had taken her voter registration and then failed to turn it in to the county clerk's office? ACORN. The young woman's stated party affiliation? Republican. Hmmmm......

Tue Nov 04, 07:19:00 PM MST  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

well, we are wondering?Has Tadpole been offered a place in the new administration for his work for our new President? Zorro & Blondie had a wonderfull nite waiting for friends to call with the good news from Ohio and Penn, it ended up a great evening with all of our friends and Brothers from the track world celebrating the big victory. As the London Times said " This is a night we will always remember, a great night for America and the World!

Wed Nov 05, 11:51:00 PM MST  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This time will be remembered by generations. A people said, "No More."

Thu Nov 06, 12:04:00 PM MST  
Blogger Pat said...

Actually, Gerald worked for Senator-elect Tom Udall and now is living in the state where more of the Udalls live. With Mark Udall elected ot the senate in Colorado, and a Udall cousin in a type race in the Pacific northwest, the Udalls might just have a bit of a say, especially in issues that affect the environment and the West.

Thu Nov 06, 01:17:00 PM MST  

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