Is there a better way to spend election night than in a newsroom? Highly doubtful. Each November (and especially every 4 years) an “all hands to battle stations!” alarm is sounded, and our newspaper becomes what I imagine to be a perfect facsimile of clattering typewriters and copy boys running furiously down to the press with the latest type. We all down some suds afterwards, bitching and grousing about how difficult the night was, but deep down, we are very, very proud.

There’s something immensely satisfying about waiting in line to vote. It’s the most diverse group of people you could possibly assemble, and everyone looks determined as hell. It’s slightly scary, however, to hear some of the conversation while waiting in line. Lots of “do i need my ID? do i need my voters card?” No and no… and then I see comments on our newspaper site saying “To shorten lines, Democrats have been asked to vote on Wednesday the 5th” and I want to punch people in the face. I only had to wait 35 minutes, but my polling place had several hundred in line that evening.

I walked to vote and that felt ever more right. It was 70 degrees in November, an anomaly in itself, and we now have the first African-American president elected. A CityLink worker in his truck stopped me to ask where the polling place was. He had that same determined face… and a look of elation.

It’s Christmas morning. And Washington Post’s Hank Stuever sums it up perfectly.

There’s so much to love about the standing part today, amid all the drab beige, taking in the smell of someone else’s coffee, rereading the entire newspaper, stuck in the line of voters that doesn’t seem to move but, in fact, does. Then comes the sticker.

What a wonderful and boring thing, voting together.

Poppy Bush drew comparisons to Warren G. Harding, whose prose reminded H. L. Mencken of “a string of wet sponges. … It is so bad that a sort of grandeur creeps into it.” When Harding died, E. E. Cummings lamented, “The only man, woman or child who wrote a simple declarative sentence with seven grammatical errors is dead.”

Election Day; Starbucks reminds us that they’re giving away free coffee to those civically responsible. I spent the wee hours of this morning doing my last minute candidate research; and as always, I’ll be printing a little cheat sheet to take with me into the voting booth (or terminal, as it’s all electronic now.)

It’ll be my 3rd Presidential election. I was barely 18 in 2000, a lucky coincidence that made my first opportunity to vote more exciting than most. Firsthand, I’ve seen my political ideology evolve and mature like some sort of finely honed manuscript.

Surprisingly, even my status update feed on Facebook is inundated with friends posting articles and commentary blasting those they don’t agree with, praising their candidate and otherwise being rather dickish. While I’m happy that so many are taking an interest in this election cycle (and it certainly feels more energized than 2000 and 2004), I’m left with a bad taste in my mouth that people have forgotten how to debate their disagreements. 

Or how appreciate differences, for that matter. CNN contributor Bob Greene wrote “If you can’t (or can) say anything nice. . .“, a fun piece about ordinary Schmoes being asked to say something nice about their political enemy. If a McCain endorser, tell me why Obama is not the undoing of America. And if an Obama booster, tell me why McCain isn’t enough to head to our Canadian neighbor come 2009. “This just might catch on. In these last days of the campaign, this might start something– in city after city, in state after state, people might make themselves feel better by looking for the better side of the man they oppose.” I love the idea.

So enough of the bickering, enough of the hatred and pointedness we’ve endured for two long years. Vote merrily, if you haven’t already.

In deference to our Jack-o-Lantern obligation, Laura and I picked up a couple of victims and spent two Sundays ago making a mess of things.

Lessons learned? Smaller knives are good, smaller pumpkins even better. And be ready for rogue pumpkins with 6-inch walls and insides that really aren’t that hollow.

Afterwards, while driving her home, we noticed that it was flurrying. Let it be known that winter arrived in Peoria on October 26th. Yikes.

The pumpkins grew moldy quicker than I expected, so I kicked them out of the house. Would they be stolen? Bashed? Defaced? Violated? None of the above, I’m proud to report. They sat guard all night on the front porch as I toiled away at work.

Radiohead – Reckoner (Flying Lotus remix)

Dusty Springfield – Spooky

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Being a kid from Kansas, I grew up thinking the colors of fall consisted of yellow and brown. Oranges were rare, and reds practically unheard of. I was given the enviable assignment to document the foliage around Peoria a few weeks ago, a fun task under ideal conditions. But we were in a period of dreary darkness, with wind and rain the whole week. So I made the best of the flat lighting and I think it may have turned out better than if I had relied on the photographer’s crutch of warm, buttery sunlight.

You never realize the big bunches of leaves shading the land or the sound a breeze makes blowing through them until they’re gone. A grande finale for the outdoors, a sure sign to gather cans of soup and throws to keep warm by.

Shot in two days, with narration by naturalist John Mullen of Forest Park Nature Center, I present to you a Soundslide on fall.

update! My dad took umbrage at my Kansas slight, sending me these photos of trees in my former Wichita backyard. I’m impressed.

A bittersweet day… word that another coworker is leaving the paper before the year is over. I suppose that’s “the way things are,” testament to a transient world where no one stays anywhere for very long. Selfishly, I feel like the battle to be a journalist gets just a little bit harder each time someone heads toward greener pastures.

I need a haircut and my stylist is on vacation until the end of November. I’ve brought back the beard, but remain undecided about what to do with the rest.

The maples are bare after catching fire just a few weeks ago, and within 5 minutes of my walk back from the library, I ran into two other coworkers who took buyouts in the last year. One was waiting at a light, yelling my name from his car… and the other now works at my neighborhood Starbucks.

But there is still beauty out there…. the oaks are finally changing colors, one of the last to do so each autumn.

Shugo Takumaru – Sleet

It’s a little disconcerting when you’re eating a late-night bowl of soup with some bread, washing all this down with a nice tall glass of water, and you notice a piece of glass missing from the part of the rim where you’ve been drinking. Is this now in my stomach? People eat strange thing all the time and end up fine, right? Or was it already chipped prior to dinner?

Tomorrow I’m covering the ABC show “Extreme Home Makeover.” It’ll involve an all-day stake-out and lots of guessing. These TV shows sure are secretive.

Photo not taken today: a pair of older women waiting at a bus stop near downtown in the dreary mist. Each had an umbrella; one a green toad with little eye flaps on top, the other a ladybug. I pulled a U-turn right in the middle of the street, parked, and watched them fold up their umbrellas and climb aboard the bus.

I’ve been staying up terribly late this week… you see, I’ve found comfort turning on a solitary desk lamp in my home office. I sit at this old bank desk – a free find on the street –  jamming on the keys and shuffling paper around, with my Tivoli table radio tuned to 700 WLW out of Cincinnati. Truckers call in to a talk show for hours on end, spouting nonsense from meteor sightings to political ramblings to major slowdowns on the inbound I-983 at the junction interchange thingie. It’s a beautiful thing.

As you can see, things look just slightly different around these parts. Consider it a tweaking, a new coat of paint for an otherwise ugly jalopy.

At your left are my most recent Flickr uploads. These are usually party photos and otherwise shitty quality camera phone pix. But it’s sometimes the best way to see what I’m up to on a day to day basis.

Below all of this is the new “Daily Bread” section. I’ve ditched the separate entries used for interesting links and have gone to a real-time list instead. I think it’s much more practical and easier to quickly browse when you’re at work and supposedly working. Get to it!

But most important is the fact that you Internet Explorer users never complained about things being all crazy looking… nothing was lined up as it should have been, and I apologize. I installed Vista tonight and immediately set about fixing it. Man cannot live on Mac alone?