My Left Thumb

...voted for Obama/Biden!!!

Thanks to all the early voting, the line was relatively short. I got there at 9 on the dot. Cast my ballot at 9:49, got some breakfast and now I'm done!!! I still have about an hour before I have to leave for work! Best believe I'm rocking my "I'm A Georgia Voter" sticker.

Random Observations:

I live in a culturally diverse area of DeKalb County. There are black areas, white areas, mixed areas and countless immigrant areas. When I voted in the primary, there were all different races represented. Today, however, it was pretty much 90% black voters at the polls. I counted 7 white people and 4 of them came in together.

I voted in an elementary school. Kids are so cute with their "Just Say No To Drugs" propaganda. There were all kinds of anti drug pictures on the doors of the classrooms. Poor, naive souls. LOL

Saw a sign on the walls that alarmed me. The theme of the month for the school was "Be A Citizen." One of the questions was "How many strips are on the flag?" Do you mean stripes? Also, it said "How many stars are their on the flag?" Do you mean there? It woulda been one thing if this was a student thing, but it was actually typed and printed. What's going on with the schools?

Somebody behind me smelled like an entire ounce of weed. I'm just saying, take a bath before you come to the polls and stand in line with hundreds of other people please.

Is there an unwritten rule that in order to be a poll worker, you have to wear a bad wig? Maybe just in my precinct.

On one of the classrooms, they had a poll of who the students would vote for. Obama 17, McCain - 0.

I got a parking space right in the front of the school. I started to park around the corner like everybody else, but something told me to take a chance. I was rewarded.

Had my camera but couldn't use it. Wish I coulda documented this experience.

The touch screen voting is really easy. I would recommend that all states use this.

It sure felt good seeing all these black people voting. I have the urge to call my grandma and have her tell me about the old days.

I don't do the smiling thing... but I had an involuntary smile come on my face as entered the voting booth. I know I musta looked-ed silly, but I didn't care. I BARACKED THE VOTE!!!!

Time: 11/02/08 8:00 PM.
Place: The Swamp Restaurant - Gainesville, Florida...

I had just polished off my Hawaiian Burger... The majority of Jameil's Hickory Burger was in a take out box. Also, the waitress just brought the key lime pie that we ordered to go. I'm watching the Simpsons on mute, while waiting for the server to bring the check. Jameil opens the box and tastes the pie. Then she gives me a little piece. We are sitting inside, directly next to the door that leads to the outdoor dining area. An older (60's???) white woman comes inside...

"What were you just feeding him?"

Jam and I look around for a minute to make sure she was talking to us...She was...

"Key Lime Pie"

The woman stands there with her mouth wide open. I didn't get it at first. Okay, now I get it. She's pretending like she wants to taste some of our pie. We laugh and she starts to walk off. Then she comes back...

"Have you guys voted yet?"

We tell her that we are going to vote on Tuesday. I start to mention something about my experiences trying to early vote, but then realize that would prolong the conversation so I hold my tongue. The woman starts telling us about the importance of voting and how people have to vote...unless they are McCain supporters. They can stay home or vote on Thursday
We laugh some more, but through the jocularity, it hits me... as it hits me every time something like this happens... WE MIGHT HAVE A BLACK PRESIDENT!!!

I'm not one for inspiration or motivation, but even cynical old me can't help but feel inspired that in a nation that once considered us 3/5ths of a person, and didn't allow us to vote or even use the same water fountains, a person of African descent is being strongly considered to hold the highest office in the land. And he got there by appealing to all races in this melting pot. If that ain't the American Dream, I don't know what is... I don't know, I guess I'll get back to my regularly scheduled cynicism later, but conversations like this make me feel good about this country. Honestly, I didn't think it was possible. I've never been happier to have been wrong about something in my life. One more day!!!

One Man Poll*

Breaking Poll Results…. 100% of members of Rashan Jamal’s household are tired of polls.

Further Polling reveals the wide gap between those that want more polls and those that wish they would just stop. 98% of participants say that polling is unreliable while 2% remain undecided.

Another Gallup Poll of 1 registered voter in Dekalb County, Georgia presents some shocking results. 97% of those surveyed say that polls can be manipulated to suit any point of view. One poll participant added, “depending on what newspaper or tv station you watch, either Obama’s gonna win or McCain is gonna win. Guess what? I did not know that. Thanks for explaining 50/50 to me.”

Pollsters continued to survey voters in an effort to paint the true picture of how people feel about polls. A recent
CNN/USA TODAY poll reveals that some voters (99%) believe that polls should only be conducted by people you’ve heard of. This serves as a bad sign for the Beauxdreaux Aloyishus Polling Academy which has been training annoying people to poll since 2006.

And in a surprising turn of events, a whopping 99.9% of sarcastic bloggers that have nothing else to write about reveal the truth about polling. The numbers mean nothing in most cases. They only serve as false security for dummies or false hope for the deluded. The campaign is never over based on what 750 people or some other ridiculously small cross section of society that answers unknown phone numbers think. Also, people lie. They’ll say one thing but vote another. Bradley Effect anyone? (I should really link that.) Or how about the 2000 election when people went to bed thinking Gore won and woke up finding out that nobody won. Then finding out that Bush’s brother stole Florida for him… Wait, that’s not what I was talking about. The point is anyone can do a poll and get any answer they want. I’m just tired of it.

*all polls have a margin of error of +/- 4%.

Less Talking, Please!

I don't like to hear celebrities talk. I really don't care what their opinions are about anything. This goes doubly for athletes and triply for rappers. As much as I like hip hop, rappers are not exactly the shining example of eloquence when not holding a microphone. I wish they would just shut up. I love N.as' music, but listening to him in an interview is akin to taking a hot poker and sticking it in my left eye, then turning it ever so slightly. It's torture, son. How is it that you manage to be so poetic on wax or whatever Cd's are made of, yet so ignorant in interviews? No, I'm not gonna link any interviews or anything. Partially because I'm lazy, but also because I don't want to read or hear some of the ignorant stuff he says. If you need examples, just go to MTV News and search N.as and you'll find a smorgasbord of niggatastic quotes. He's just one example that I pulled out because I actually respect his music. Don't get me started on the Sha.wty L.o's of the world. The ones that are always beefing with somebody about something or other and try to be so hood like that's the goal in life. Really, you wanna be hood? Then let me hold your money while you play tough guy. And whoever came up with the idea to give rappers DVD's should have to pay penance. If I see one more almost famous rapper with a DVD or a Yo.u.T.ube video holding guns and talking ignorantly, I'm gonna scream. Stick to doing what we pay you for. More music, less talking.

Working backwards, athletes always say the same thing. We gave it 110%. We're taking it one game at a time. There can only be one winner. We just tried to go out and play hard. Enough already. You know how I watch sports? With the volume down. As if the inane announcing team isn't bad enough, the sideline interviews rarely if ever provide any insight that your average 13 year sports fan couldn't provide. Just play the game, yo! And I don't wanna hear about how the refs are cheating you. We all know that Kobe travels every play. You talking about it just makes you sound like a whiny lil trick. It's not gonna change anything. And your contract? How about you just stop talking about it and be about it. If you gonna sit out a year, then do it. Don't make empty threats and then when you realize that its not gonna work, go running back. Chill with that. I'm all about workers rights and the right for you to get as much paper as possible, but don't look to me for sympathy when you are making loads of money. How bout you do what you get an obscene amount of money to do: more playing, less talking.

Celebrities make me sick too. I wish they would just shut up. Don't whine about the paparazzi when you play into it. Don't get me wrong. I'm down with respecting your privacy, but at the same time, why are you gonna be an attention whore and then get mad when people give you attention? You knew people would be taking pictures of you getting out that car when you decided not to put on underwear. Stop frontin! Also, I don't care about your pet projects. Sorry, things are not more important just because a celebrity talks about it. At least not to me. Also, unless you have Opr.ah status, I don't really care who you are voting for. It's not gonna sway me. While I'm talking about celebrities, your disingenuous apologies are for the birds too. You aren't sorry. You are only sorry you got caught. Keep it real with us. Just act/sing/dance/write/direct/whatever you are famous for, less talking.

Matter of fact, let's not limit this to famous people. All them Internet posting, talk radio talking, letters to the editor writing blowhards with ridiculous opinions should stop too. If I want your opinion, I'll give it to you. Or I'll read your blog. Less talking, please!

Super Tuesday

It's Super Tuesday and I was all set to stay up until the polling places opened up and cast my ballot. Not that its anyone's business, but I plan to Barack The Vote tomorrow. The polls open at 7, and since I'm usually up at that time anyway, it makes sense to get it out of the way first thing in the AM. That was my plan at least.

You know what they say about the best laid plans... I can't do my voting early in the morning. Why, you ask? Cuz I have to be at work at 8:00 in the morning tomorrow. That's a huge adjustment for me. My normal work time is 4:30-1:00. That works perfectly for me. I stay up all night, and sleep all day. I can usually manage to stay in the bed until 2:00, 2:15 at the latest. That's why you always see me blog commenting in the wee hours of the morning, much later than most people. But I actually got a promotion that I just found about today when I got to work and training starts at 8. This was a promotion that I didn't really have my heart set on, I just did it so I could get away from what I was doing now. I was starting to get burnt out doing the mindless job. Don't get me wrong it requires skill, but after being in management for the previous 2 years, it was like taking a step backwards.

The hiring manager called me at 1:30 on Friday to have a phone interview. I was grossly unprepared since I had not heard anything from them in the previous 2 weeks. I almost forgot that I applied. Luckily, I know how to answer interview questions since I was on the other side of the interview process for a long time. I managed to BS my way through the so called interview and provide quick answers. I had no idea what kind of timeframe we were looking at to make a decision. Apparently, the decision was already made since as soon as I got to work today, I had an email telling me when and where training was. The whole process was kind of bootleg, but I'm not gonna knock it, as it worked out in my favor. I was supposed to work until 1 this morning, but since I had to be at work for training bright and early, I knocked off early today. Unfortunately, my sleep pattern still thinks I can stay up until the sun comes up. Yep, I'm a be dragging tomorrow, but I'll get a nap after work tomorrow.

Back to the original point. Tomorrow is Super Tuesday. I'm still gonna Barack the vote, but I'll have to do it after work. After a long ride home in rush hour traffic. After the need for sleep has fully hit me. But I gotta do what I gotta do, right? The only reason I didn't do the early voting thing is that I wanted to rock my I VOTED sticker to work. I know that's a crazy reason, but thats the truth. Now I'll have to get it after work. I hope all of you that are in one of the Super Tuesday states exercise your constitutional right. It's vote or die, baby! (That reminds me of the South Park episode where P. Diddy was threatening people that didn't vote. Watch the last 1:10 of this video and prepare to laugh your ass off. "Vote Bitch or I Will Muthafucking Kill You" SO FUCKING HILARIOUS!!!) Anyway, I better try to get about 3 hours of sleep. I'll holla at y'all later.