Miklb's Mindless Ramblings

MiamiHerald.com | 10/28/2006 | Glitches cited in early voting
So it seems that some early voters in S Florida are having issues with their electronic voting machines. They tap one candidate, but the other shows on the screen you get to review your choices. The kicker is that what is being reported in the media is that all incidences are voters who are choosing Davis, yet Crist is showing on the review page. No media reports that I’ve seen mention the reverse, nor has anyone reported the issue with other offices up for election. As the Miami Herald article says, this will really get the tin foil cap wearing crowd frothing at the mouth, perhaps this time with cause.

www.flpin.net I was recently contacted about mentioning this site, and after taking a look around, it appears it could indeed be a good way of putting people in touch with organizations that deal with issues they are concerned with. Basically you choose issues that you are concerned with, a region of Florida, and then the database outputs organizations that match. You can then sign up for announcements from those organizations, so as to better mobilize concerned citizens. I didn’t look at the registration process, but the privacy policy states that all information such as address and name are voluntarily offered, and that they do not share email addresses with the organizations that are linked to from the site. You can sign up with the individual organizations if you care to do so, but that is all done off site from FL-PIN.
The only problem I had was the broadness that organizations can set for their issues. If I do a search under Protecting the Enviroment, marine/estuary, the results currently are FCAN and Pinellas Progressives. Hardly organizations specifically dealing with such a topic. I would limit organizations to a primary issue, with the ability to choose a few secondary issues. Especially as the site grows, and number of organizations increase. Otherwise, the search concept is useless, as all organizations can simply choose all the areas so as to increase exposure.
All in all, the concept though is a good one, and positive tool for citizens and organizations with common goals to find one another.

As I age, and my path this time around grows longer, it bewilders me the dynamics that occur between us humans. Even as “life” continues to get in the way, and forks appear at every turn, people still continue to cross my path. Such was my evening. A last minute call, a ticket to a hockey game, and two men I’m proud to call acquaintances, nonetheless friends, produced a profound feeling.
A few more forks in the evening (not to mention a couple of High Lifes and Jagers), and I was faced with another question of what being a friend was.
However, I can say without a doubt that the two men that I was privileged to accompany to the hockey game have routinely given me reason to check myself, without any overt actions. To me, that, camaraderie aside, is the true nature of friendship.
Thanks guys.

It’s amazing how going back to work, working 60+hrs a week, and trying to assimilate a day time schedule can wreck any routine one had prior. I finally got two days off, in a row, to rest and reflect a little on where I’m heading. I’m really looking to establish a little more of a domestic life, call it a goal. I’ve all but abandoned my WP endeavors the past month, and feel guilty for it. I simply did not have the mental wherewithal. My inbox has routinely had 100+ messages, and my RSS feed is about 4000 unread links. Over the next week, I will catch up on my emails, start working off the RSS, and begin working on my blogs. My WP blog, WP Station hasn’t been posted to in a month, so I’ll try to catch up on the bigger releases I’ve missed, and try and do a re-boot for the fall. From there, I’ll probably release the theme used there.
I’m hoping some of those moves will also help me with my personal life, as that has really been a shambles. From the monumental mistake I made in February, on through the summer, my life has been turned upside down, no really fault but my own. There is probably no other bad decision I’ve made in my life that I’ve regretted more, and wished I had a mulligan, time machine, do-over, anything to alter the course.
Unfortunately, we don’t really get those, and I have to deal with the results of my actions, and I guess it’s time I deal a little more.
But if you are reading this, and you know who you are, I can only say I’m sorry, I regret that horrible day, and I miss you.