Yesterday, I went to the Election Commission headquarters here and voted early.  Not all states allow this, and South Carolina calls it “In-Person Absentee,” apparently, but in my case, since I’ll be at work all day on Tuesday, breaking away to vote would have been difficult (and perhaps impossible), especially considering the lines they’re expecting.

I arrived and got into one long, winding line to actually register to vote.  They ask why you want to vote early, and as long as it meets their criteria, they approve you, take your ID and register you in the system.  You are then directed to a second line that takes you to the actual voting machines.

Considering it’s a beaurocratic process, it is surprisingly efficient.  The lines do move fairly quickly. Faster, in fact, than they typically do on Election Day itself.

Still, it took about an hour and a half to vote.  Not because of problems with their set-up, not because of problems with the machines.  The only “problem” was that there were just that many people there to vote.  Already.  And that’s not a problem at all:  it’s wonderful that there are that many more people who are finally waking up to the fact that not only can they have a voice in this country, but that it’s something they actually should do.

Election Day is going to be a long day in many ways. But I hope you’ll all go and be part of the process.  No matter who you vote for, you owe it to yourself to make the effort.  And please don’t fall victim to the “my voice won’t count” crap some like to toss around to discourage you from showing up:  at some point, you have to have at least a little faith in the process, and the only tried and true way to guarantee beyond any doubt at all that your voice won’t be heard is to not vote at all.  That’s not really what you want, is it?

Yes, while it is still technically October, this is the first day of November sweeps.  Those of you who know me well enough are already aware that the idea of beginning something with the name November sweeps before November has actually even arrived is just the kind of thing that would typically annoy me to no end.

But I’m fine with it.  Actually, I’m practically delighted about it.

Sweeps extends for four weeks, beginning on a Thursday and ending on a Wednesday.  For the first time in about five years, this year’s November sweeps starts before Halloween, which means that it will end on the day before Thanksgiving.  The past few years has had the year’s final ratings measurement period beginning on the first Thursday of November and ending on the Wednesday after Thanksgiving, which meant that we’d have to be back at work, putting in our 150% on the Friday after Turkey Day, while still miserable in our tryptophan-induced walking coma.

This year, on the other hand, (and as it always should be), I’ll be able to sit back and relax on that Friday.  Or recover.

Bring on the bird!

You gotta love politics.  At least that’s what they tell me.  I’m very much on the fence on that one.

What I do love is the humor of watching diehard Republicans run to the defense of Sarah Palin’s $150,000 makeover to make her look “presentable” on the campaign trail by either pointing to examples of lavish spending on the other side or by changing the subject entirely.

Sure, there was that $400 haircut John Edwards took so much flack about.  And it was absolutely justified.  No haircut is worth $400 unless the scalp itself could somehow immediately be removed from the head and put on display at the Louvre.  If it’s not worthy of being called a piece of art on that level, it’s not worthy of a $400 price tag.

The last haircut I got cost me about $30, and that included a shampoo, a tip and a bottle of this cool, minty shampoo that helps me actually begin to wake up.

Then there’s that lavish meal that Michelle Obama had at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York.  You know the one, right?  You’ve heard about this one…it has been a popular forward lately.  Two steamed lobsters — not one, but two, thank you — Irianian caviar, and a bottle of champagne…a lavish meal for a would-be First Lady before she even is a First Lady.

Of course, unlike the Edwards haircut, this Obama pig-out was a work of fiction.  According to Snopes.com, the day Michelle Obama is accused of ordering this pricey snack in the Big Apple, she was actually campaigning in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

But I have to admit, the Irianian caviar was a nice touch from the hate-mongers.  Still, heaven forbid that facts get in the way of a smear job.  And it begs the question:  if the other side is so much better, why would they even have to resort to a blatant lie to make themselves win points?

Another example of avoidance is a recent email that pulls quotes from Barack Obama’s books that seem to indicate that he’s going to transform America into some kind of Muslim stronghold.  I’ve gotten this one a few times, too.  The funny thing is, since I actually read The Audacity of Hope, it was painfully obvious that the writer of this email hadn’t.  What wasn’t absolutely made up was taken so far out of context that it might as well have been made up.

But the bottom line is this:  the Republicans were wrong to spend that money.  Period.  And to think that they had shown so much promise when they made fun of that haircut.

The same way Kerry was wrong to make military service a campaign issue in 2004, after he had been so right in condeming the practice when it was used against Bill Clinton in 1992.

Part of Palin’s appeal, apparently, is that she’s just a “regular gal.”  She’s “one of us.”  She and Joe the Plumber may not be neighbors, but they could hang out together sharing beer, nachos and a football game and it’d be completely natural.  She’s not fake, she’s not pretentious.  She is who she is and she’s fine with that.

So why does she need a $150,000 makeover?  Why spend that money?  If she’s so proud — and if she’s so right to be proud — of her modest, frugal ways, then why not parade that look around?

And please spare me the crap about the clothes not being hers.  Sure, they’ll be donated to charity so somewhere down the line some everyday woman will be able to wear a designer suit once worn by Palin herself.

Who cares?

If they’d really wanted to be so charitable, they’d have stayed away from the designer racks, gone to Target for whatever clothes they felt Palin really had to have, and donated the rest of that money to a local women’s shelter so that those women could have gone on a shopping spree for clothes for themselves and their children.  After all, $150,000 goes a lot further and could have helped a lot more people if designer brands weren’t in the mix.

I wish someone would give me a third of that money.  I’d show them what being frugal is really all about.

One week from now, we’ll go to the polls and vote for president.  At least, those of us who aren’t too lazy or too jaded will do so.  Then we’ll count up everything and find out, depending on which party leads, who won or who “stole” the election.

This next week promises to be full of more bitter attacks, more of those forwarded emails that lie and distort virtually everything, that no one bothers to take the time to fact-check before sending them on to the next victim, and more nasty political spots that turn the stomaches of everyone except the most blindly-loyal candidate supporters.

I’m sick of this election.  I’ll be glad when it’s over.  And I’ll be even happier if we get that positive change we’re being promised.

There are days when I feel like Dr. Cox, and days when I feel like J.D. (the younger one leaning against the wall).

But I make it a point never to skip down the hallway, with or without a basket.

Who couldn’t use a little help in the kitchen?

That’s the slogan for a brand of boxed meals that are guaranteed to make cooking a meal easier. We know said brand as “Hamburger Helper,” although there are also varieties for Tuna and Chicken.

And whether the prospect of serving up a meal that isn’t entirely from scratch offends your sensibilities or not, if you’re trying to save money and/or just busy enough, such a thought might become a bit more appealing.

Here is a list of the varieties of Hamburger/Chicken/Tuna Helper from Betty Crocker. You’ll use that for this week’s question.

• First to play last week: Cat of Sweet Memes. Congratulations!

(According to the rules, “First to Play” requires you to be the first to include the link to the specific entry in which you answered the questions, not just the general link to your blog.)

Here is this week’s “Sunday Seven” question. Either answer in a comment here, or put the answers in an entry on your blog…but either way, leave a link to your journal so that everyone else can visit! To be counted as “first to play,” you must be the first player to either answer the questions in a comment or to provide a complete link to the specific entry in your blog in which you answer the questions. A general link to your blog cannot count. Enjoy!

THIS WEEK’S QUESTION:
List the seven varieties of Hamburger, Tuna or Chicken Helper that are the most appealing.

Either answer the question in a comment or answer it in your journal and include the link in a comment. (To be considered “first to play,” a link must be to the specific entry in which you answered the question.) You may include this link in the URL space when leaving your comment, or in the comment itself. As long as it’s there in one spot or the other.

MY ANSWERS:
1. (Chicken) Fettuccini Alfredo
2. (Hamburger) Creamy Stroganoff
3. (Chicken) Fried Rice
4. (Tuna) Fettuccini Alfredo
5. (Tuna) Creamy Parmesan
6. (Hamburger) Homestyle Salisbury
7. (Hamburger) Bacon Cheeseburger

Charleston is slowly drying out after yesterday’s record rainfall. (And there wasn’t even a hurricane to blame it on!)

Here’s another set of questions, inspired by some volunteering I did this morning. I’ll have more on that tomorrow.

• First to play last week: Donna of Just Me. Congratulations!

(According to the rules, “First to Play” requires you to be the first to include the link to the specific entry in which you answered the questions, not just the general link to your blog.)

Here are this week’s “Saturday Six” questions. Either answer the questions in a comment here, or put the answers in an entry on your journal…but either way, leave a link to your journal so that everyone else can visit! To be counted as “first to play,” you must be the first player to either answer the questions in a comment or to provide a complete link to the specific entry in your journal in which you answer the questions. A link to your journal in general cannot count. Enjoy!

1. When was the last time you donated money to a charity, and which cause was it?

2. Think of the last time you were specifically asked for a handout from someone who approached you on the street: did you give him or her anything?

3. What led to that decision?

4. Take the quiz: How Good Are You?

5. Which kind of charity/organization of the following list are you least likely to donate money to: a church, a people-oriented charity, a children-oriented charity, an animal-oriented charity, a college, or a food bank?

6. If you could permanently block a single, specific charity from ever contacting you again, which would you block and why?

If you have a Reader’s Choice question you’d like to see asked (and answered), send me an email! I’d love to be able to include it in a future edition of the Saturday Six.

It started raining this morning in Charleston, and it’s still raining a bit now.

Not that there’s anything wrong with rain, but when you combine a day’s worth with flood-prone areas and a high tide that doesn’t help the situation, things get soggy quickly.

When I walked out to my car a little while ago to run an errand, by the time I got to the car, I was standing in four inches of water.  My tennis shoes will likely be dry again in early 2010.  A friend of mine from church told me she tried to walk her puppy in her backyard and they both nearly ended up going for a swim.  And speaking of church, the front yard of mine is a lake.  I’m hoping that no water made its way into the building itself, but there was no way to get to the building to find out.

And local weather guru Jared reports that we’ve shattered the old record today with more than six inches of rainfall.

I’m hoping for drier weather tomorrow.

Or then again, maybe you will, given my luck lately for dealing with extraordinary levels of ineptitude of companies that are clearly letting the computers that do their thinking for them run completely amok.

I’ve just been overbilled by the New AT&T. No, it isn’t a joke. I only wish that it were.

For those keeping score, here’s the recap, updated to this latest snafu:

• In mid-July, I signed up for “Auto Draft” service, which allows the New AT&T to automatically debit the payment due from my checking account on the due date. One less thing for me to worry about, assuming they don’t screw things up. I received an email from them thanking me for enrolling. So they clearly knew I had done so. Just sayin’…
• In August, I got an email saying my payment was past due. I went to the website and saw that the payment was due. So I attempted to pay it online and a box popped up warning me that since I was already enrolled in Auto Draft, I should not proceed with a payment because doing so could result in my checking account being debited twice. So I followed their website’s instructions, and waited for them to just debit the money as I had previously instructed.
• They didn’t. My telephone service was suspended. I called — on my cell phone — and explained why I hadn’t paid, and reminded them that they had my account info: just debit the payment and be done with it! They informed me that it takes at least a full month for Auto Draft to kick in, no matter what the website says. So I paid. Phone was back on that day.
• September’s payment was due on Wednesday, Sept. 10. They authorized a debit from my account on Thursday, Sept. 4th for the amount due plus a $30 reconnect fee for my prior month’s “late” payment. On Saturday, Sept. 6th, they suspended my internet service for “non-payment,” despite the fact that they had already authorized the auto draft two days before that for a payment that still wasn’t due for another four days. When I called and pointed all of this out, they told me there was nothing I could do until the billing department returned the following Monday. I asked for a supervisor, and my internet was restored that Sunday.
• Fed up with two months’ worth of foolishness, I cancelled my home telephone service on Tuesday, Sept. 9th.
• At the end of September, I received October’s bill, in which they charged me $31.40 for long distance service they clearly knew I didn’t owe, since the local telephone service that would utilize long distance was no longer active. Somehow, their computer system was able to reason that I shouldn’t be billed for local service, but couldn’t quite jump to the same logic when it came time for long distance. I called, and they assured me that they’d credit not only the erroneous long distance service, but the $30.00 reconnect fee they charged me for “non-payment” despite my being enrolled in Auto-Pay at the time that fee was erroneously billed.

My high-speed internet service runs $47.95 a month, plus a few taxes and minor fees. Nothing like the fees they tack on to a telephone line, but I expect that to come any day now. So at most, my bill ought to be $51 or so.

When you know what they’re supposed to charge you, it becomes pretty easy to spot an error.

Figuring that I should owe about $51, and that they owe me the $30 reconnect fee they billed me in September, I was expecting a bill for about $21. I’m lousy at math, but even I can get that far.

So imagine my shock — or lack thereof — when I get my bill for November and see that the amount due is $79.66.

It appears that they credited me $31.40, from the previous month, which would take care of either the long distance or the reconnect fee, but clearly not both, and only charged me $51.11.

But they have billed me $31.71 for another month of long distance service. And they still know that I no longer have that telephone service because they still didn’t bill me for local service. And if I try to make a call on that line, nothing happens.

I think it’s going to be a long day.  Not necessarily for me, but for the operators at the New AT&T who get to sit through this sordid mess.

Again.

I have an occasional day when I can totally relate to Dr. Cox in Scrubs:

This was one of them.

Last month, I mentioned that my apartment complex entered into an agreement with Comcast, my local cable provider, to get basic cable service for all of its residents.  In exchange, Comast lowered the monthy fees to $40, down from a total of roughly $56 or so (which includes taxes and fees), and we now pay that $40 as part of our rent.

In the end, it’s saves us all money if we already had Comcast service.  I’m all for that.

The only missing ingredient for this to actually work, of course, is Comcast adjusting our bills so that we don’t get charged the old rate.  And that isn’t happening.

This new billing procedure went into effect on October 1st, which means that when I paid rent this month, I paid $40 more, and I no longer owed Comcast a cent.  But I got a bill from Comcast saying that I owed them $58 for service.  I called them and was told I would have to get my apartment complex to call.  I did.  In fact, I was there when she called to get everything straightened out.  They assured her that the bill I got in October would be corrected so that I wouldn’t owe them anything.

Oh, yeah.  You know exactly where this is going.

Yep.

I got my Comcast bill yesterday.  Not only did they not correct last month’s billing error, but they charged me an additional month’s service, so I now have a total balance of $116.  I called them again and was given the standard, “Have your apartment office call our business office” line, and was told that they’d have this whole mess straightened out in time for November’s bill.  The problem, it seems, was that they didn’t get all of the information they needed to get the billing straightened out.  They did, however, get all of the information they asked for, which leads me to believe that it’s their screw-up.  It doesn’t help at all that their attitude of “have your people call my people” means it’ll be another full month before I get a bill that shows what I already know:  that I owe them nothing.

Is it too much to ask that a business you pay money to actually fixes a problem when it’s first pointed out?  No waiting around, no failure to act, no blaming someone else for not doing something they weren’t even asked to do.

Just fix it.  I don’t think that’s too much to ask at all.

The gas station where I buy the most gas here in Charleston now has regular gas selling for $2.95 a gallon. That’s still entirely too high, but it’s less than three bucks a gallon, so it’s still worth celebrating.

But even with the lower price, it’s still a good idea to look once in a while at the places you go and how much gas it takes to get there. This week’s question involves a little driving distance. It’s actually a two part question, in that in addition to destinations, I’m asking you to list the distance from your door. You can calculate this fairly easily with a site like Mapquest, or you can estimate if you’re good at distance.

So think of a typical week and come up with the seven places you go most often, then figure out how far away from your home they are. Simple enough, right?

• First to play last week: Cassie of This, That & The Other Thing. Congratulations!

(According to the rules, “First to Play” requires you to be the first to include the link to the specific entry in which you answered the questions, not just the general link to your blog.)

Here is this week’s “Sunday Seven” question. Either answer in a comment here, or put the answers in an entry on your blog…but either way, leave a link to your journal so that everyone else can visit! To be counted as “first to play,” you must be the first player to either answer the questions in a comment or to provide a complete link to the specific entry in your blog in which you answer the questions. A general link to your blog cannot count. Enjoy!

THIS WEEK’S QUESTION:
Name the seven places you go most frequently each week and list the distance from your door.

Either answer the question in a comment or answer it in your journal and include the link in a comment. (To be considered “first to play,” a link must be to the specific entry in which you answered the question.) You may include this link in the URL space when leaving your comment, or in the comment itself. As long as it’s there in one spot or the other.

MY ANSWERS:
1. Work, 1 mile
2. Food Lion, 1 mile
3. Church, 4 miles
4. Zaxby’s, 3 miles
5. Ladles Soups, 3
6. Charleston Coffee Exchange, 2 miles
7. Gym, 3 miles

I hope you’re having a great weekend so far, and that your Saturday is brighter, drier and less gloomy than the one here in Charleston. If you’re ready for a little diversion, then get ready to enter a state of interrogation…about the states we call home.

• First to play last week: Judi of Talking to Myself. Congratulations!

(According to the rules, “First to Play” requires you to be the first to include the link to the specific entry in which you answered the questions, not just the general link to your blog.)

Here are this week’s “Saturday Six” questions. Either answer the questions in a comment here, or put the answers in an entry on your journal…but either way, leave a link to your journal so that everyone else can visit! To be counted as “first to play,” you must be the first player to either answer the questions in a comment or to provide a complete link to the specific entry in your journal in which you answer the questions. A link to your journal in general cannot count. Enjoy!

1. Other than the state you currently live in, which state have you visited most often?

2. If you had to move from your current state, which three states would you most likely consider for a new place to live?

3. Think of your home state: off the top of your head, do you think you could accurately name your state’s slogan, the state bird, and at least half of the counties (or parishes) that make up your state?

4. Take the quiz: Which State Should You Live In?

5. Which state do you have the hardest time seeing yourself visiting some day?

6. What’s the biggest tourist attraction or draw you’d mention to someone considering a visit to your state?

If you have a Reader’s Choice question you’d like to see asked (and answered), send me an email! I’d love to be able to include it in a future edition of the Saturday Six.

I’m pretty sure this photo has not been Photoshopped, and I’m fairly certain that this had to have come from the third presidential debate between Senators Barack Obama and John McCain.

But I obviously missed something, because I didn’t notice McCain making such an expression, and I think I would have remembered if I had.  He looks like he was suddenly stricken with a hairball.

Anyone know what this was all about?

And more importantly, the question at least half of the world must know the answer to before anyone can be a truly informed voter:  what does Joe the Plumber have to say about McCain making such a face?

I certainly hope that such an incident wouldn’t keep him from buying that business that he likely wouldn’t face higher taxes on despite McCain’s claims.