What a crazy week.

Most of this rant pertains to the elections, but a brief portion here at the top will be devoted to wildfires. Why? Because apparently I care. Here’s how it breaks down:

Ever Monday and Wednesday, becuase of how my schedule works, I eat lunch in my room. This is usually EasyMac or Ramen Noodles deppending on my mood and how much time I have. If I’m not studying for a quiz/exam, this wonderful meal is enjoyed over a rousing hour of CNN. I’ve been working this routine for about two months now, and I’ve noticed something odd.

All CNN does is cover California wildfires. 5 minutes of news (Iraq, pre-election stuff, UN) and then 5 minutes of wildfire (Maps, phone calls with park rangers, constant reiteration about the “luxury appartments” that are “not that far away.”). Constantly, back and forth. For the ENTIRE hour. It’s absolutely insane. I don’t mean to sound callous, but why do I care about a stupid fire?

It’s probably going to burn things. Neat. They’ll put it out eventually and hopefully no one dies. It really serves no purpose to tell me about something I can do nothing to change. And it’s not as if they even have compelling images for me to gape at between bites of my microwaved entree. It’s just this billowing smoke on the other side of a highway with a patrol car in the foreground.

I don’t get it.

But on to more important and exciting aspects: CNN on Tuesday night. I came home and Hank was taping House. Once it was done, I turned off the TV and realized about 3 seconds later what I was missing. I flipped it right back on and was glued to the news for the rest of the night. I only watch CNN not because I like it that much better, but because our remote is currently occupied by one very dead battery. CNN is 18, FOX sucks, and MSNBC is Sixty-something. It’s just easiest.

Ian came in later and we watched it for a while. I called Lizz but she had homework, so Ian just politely listened to me say crude things about Rick Santorum and how I wasn’t going to miss him at all. Then it started. Wolf Blitzer comes on and gives his “We’re projecting the Democrats will take control of the House,” and I cheered. I was that excited. Ian left soon afterwards, and Hank doesn’t usually sleep here anymore, nowadays at least, so I was alone.

I went on and on, and one by one, the Senate races came in. It was finally down to just 3: Montana, which still was in the 50% reporting; Missouri, which was bouncing all over the place; and Virginia, which was coming down to an insanely close margin. I sayed up until 1:30 AM until they finally projected Missouri to go to Claire McCaskill. She’d declared victory some time before that. I stayed awake just long enough to throw some slights at Jim Talent, and then I turned in.

I woke up and they still didn’t know exactly what was going on. During my Wednesday lunch-in-the-room they called Montana for Tester, and right afterwards Rumsfield resigned. I swear right then and there I was done. I don’t need Christmas this year, becuase that’s the most I could ask for. I know some other butt will take his place, but ditching ol’ Don was the best news I’d heard in a while.

Until that evening, when Joey Risch told me that Virginia didn’t even need to go to its much-expected and highly-anticipated state-sponsored recount. We’d done it! The perfect conclusion to one the brighter election nights in my life.

To pause briefly and go over what I had to do to vote: Once my absentee stuff got here on Friday, I filled it out as fast as I could, and then I had to go get it notarized, to prevent fraud I suppose. After that was the adventure looking for Kirksville’s U.S. Post Office. The advantage being, there aren’t too many places for it to hide.

I managed to get it in just before the 4 PM delivery to Kansas City, which gave me hope that it might make it. I feel like it made it.

To bring things back to the focus though, here’s a letter:

Dear Democrats (Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Howard Dean, I mean you),

DO
NOT
SCREW
THIS
UP.

We finally catch a break, and I’ll be damned if we don’t seize the opportunity. The entire election was run on the ‘New Direction’ slogan, which is cool, but I’d better start seeing action soon. It could be really easy to slide back and lose one or both of these in another two years. It could also be, not easy, but possible, that you could do such a good job that we get a Democratic president in 2008.

I think we can do it.
Just pay attention, and don’t sell out.

-Tom Hogan
[Informed Voter, One of the Last]

In the local department:
Minimum Wage Passed:
-Huzzah. I don’t know if I’d make any more, but it’s cool either way.

Amendment 2 Passed:
-Didn’t expect that, but it’s a way-pleasant suprise.

Light Rail Passed:
-Oh boy… Who knows what this means.

So that’s the deal. I’m going to bask in the glow of victory for a little while before I start getting really critical of the Democrats for not doing enough now that they HAVE CONTROL OF THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH OF THE GOVERNMENT.