Dear Mary Beth,

What a treat it is to receive a message from you twice a month asking for campaign contributions. I duly note that with each passing month, parting with my cash is “more critical than ever before.” So you can imagine the sheer euphoria when not only do I get your message from your automatically-generated e-mail processing machine, but when I get the same exact message with different borders and formatting from the DNC website as well.

Having gladly contributed in the past (several times), I can appreicate that presidential campaigns are now a billion-dollar industry. However, the e-mail overload hasn’t energized my comment; rather it is curbed my enthusiam.

Since your systems are not able to seperate out requests for political contributions from general information updates, offer alternatives ways to make an non-monetary impact, and just send too many messages asking for money, I have decided to remove myself from the DNC and Kerry-Edwards mailing list.

I am sure me and my limited contributions don’t make much of a difference, as your team has probably learned from spammers that the responses usually justify the financial outlays. But I’d like to think that a little more focus on encouraging non-financial activism would have resulted in financial activism by default (how many times have people said “well I cannot volunteer personally, but this contribution ought to cover it…”?)

So while you have my support, you won’t see anymore of my money until you begin to practise responsible e-mail practises. Go Kerry.

Most Annoyed,

Rodney

Today begins the audit. Last week was really crappy in terms of time taken for audit prep, so I am hoping that now that they are on-site, I will have respite for a few days to get some other tasks done.

Let the good times roll

I was naughty today. I had McD’s for lunch. I can’t walk past it w\out being drawn to it. I ate there because I felt fat today, which is the worst reason to eat there. But I fixed that easily.

In an effort to justify my Palm Tungsten T to myself, I also bought a diet tracking proqram. Really because I want to see what I eat every day and compare it to the ideal. So after only 2 days, I have a good idea of what foods to reduce and increase.

Seeing the numbers converted into graphs drives the point home. When even the Palm Pilot tells you’re fat (I didn’t know it could talk), it is time to hit the gym.

still at the Migration Board. And today is “Bring A Baby” Day. Even if it is not yours. Wah.

Well, I am at the MigrationSverket. Also known as the Migration Board. I am here because I have to get my passport stampedwith my work and residence permit for the next year. In the waiting area are 3 categories of people:
1. They are looking for permanent resident status.
2. They are EEC citizens
3. Other

Now because of Murphy’s Law, I am in group 3. This group ranges from the sinple needs like mine (I just need the visa placed into my passport), the the ridiculously complex (an obscenely obese man who wants to register his mail order bride and can’t understand their reluctance when he doesn’t even know her age).

But WTF, it isn’t I don’t have anything else to do.

Well, not new, because I got it off of E-Bay. Normally I am not a purchaser off of E-Bay, but the action said that it was owned by a small start-up company that only used it for a few hours until they realised the application they were developing would not work with it. So they are sending the Palm device, with everything in the box, the receipt and the warranty. The T3 costs US$399. In addition, they are throwing in the 512MB expansion card and the travel cradle that they bought. Based off of the vendors they got the stuff from, that’s an additonal US$160. So for me, it met my E-Bay rules:

1. Any successful must save me at least 25%
2. The payer must accept credit cards so that I can reverse the payment if not what is promised
3. Seller feedback must be 95% positive or above
4. Negative feedback must be responded to for a fuller evaluation

When all of those conditions are met, then I feel good. But even then, I’ve only participated in 4 auction since eBay was established. And they have all been electronics purchases that have not failed me yet.

So all I need to do now is to sit back and wait for my T3. Robin is getting my Palm IIIc. It’s not the most advanced on the market, but then Robin is not an advanced computer user, so for him, a color screen and 8MB of memory is more than what he needs!

Remember when Clinton was punished by the GOP for dodging the draft? I do. It was a rallying point for the GOP faithful as another reason he shouldn’t be Commander-In-Chief of the US armed forces.

Forward to now, where we have a President who can’t prove that he served in the National Reserve as there are no real records to be found. There are some records, but they are circumstancial at best. They can’t find people (not the plural) who remember him serving. To add fuel, the Vice President was waived from participating on multiple occasions.

So it does ring hollow when the “Dubya Machine” goes into high gear attacking veteran’s records. It bothered me when Senator Max Cleland was attacked by the machine (he also tried to partner with Bush to his peril — he forgot that at the end of the day, politics is politics and that he needs to always be on his guard). And we can all remember when John McCain’s service credentials were attacked (he might be a fellow GOP member, but again, politics is politics).

Again, I hate towing the democratic line, but I have to agree here. Whether Vietnam service was 2 years or 4 months, I credit Kerry for answering the call the serve and not trying to exempt out or skirt his service. And that he was anti-war upon his return doesn’t mean that he is any less patriotic. Indeed, standing up against the status quo is sometimes the most patriotic thing a person can do. During the civil rights era, standing up against the status quo meant bracing water hoses, attack dogs, selective public establishments, church bombing, and attacks. It is unbelievable that the “Dubya Machine” went so far as to cut snippets of a Kerry speech to make it fit their means. Shame on Swiftboat Veterans for Truth.

I have the fortune of watching this election from a filtered lens. The lens of non-American news networks that present less bias than either CNN or Fox. And it seems shameful that attack ads on both sides cover up the real issues. A billion dollars will be spent on the presidential campaigns this year, and yet we haven’t evolved politics to a point yet where we can discuss issues.

A billion dollars wasted. Especially since the majority of the voting public made up their minds a long time ago.

Slept in late…feel a lot better…and uploaded tons more photos (some will be duplicates I know…sorry about that).

I now have about 1300 photos…or about 80% of all my photos up at Fokti.com.

For those of you who used to visit my O-Foto collection, I’ve stopped loading photos to them. They are crap. I say that because they only offer upload, and make you pay for them to burn your photos to a CD based on # of pictures (I would have had to pay over US$40) if you want then back en masse. Furthermore, they require you to buy something preiodically.

Now I understand the model is that they make money on the selling of pictures, but why stay with them when I can print photos on fotki for a similar pirce, and for $25 a year, I have full upload and download access to my pictures and can structure my photos anyway I want?

O-foto just lost a customer in me….although I will still use it to view other people’s stuff.