Into the gray

Standing outside my office, 3:30 p.m. yesterday...

Standing outside my office, 2:30 p.m. today ...

9" of new snow means ...

Not going snowboarding Thursday would be a crime.

I voted for Pedro

Date: Nov. 7
Total mileage: 19.7
November mileage: 133.1
Temperature upon departure: 22

Wow. I'm fried.

I'm also too hopped up on Diet Pepsi to quite quit the computer yet, so here I am, still - after 11 straight hours of this - watching these election returns trickle by, and blogging.

Newspaper journalists and politicians are alike in that they live for three things - natural disasters, wars and election day. I too got caught up in the ballot-day frenzy, participating in loud whoops and rounds of applause in front of the TV, gnawing on practically petrified pieces of Domino's pizza, updating CNN.com every five minutes, and scrambling in the final, stressful hours of the morning to lay out all of the late-arriving stories. It was a roller coaster of an evening, and I leave it feeling a little despondent.

I expected this. All of the candidates I would have voted for lost - soundly. My vote - had it existed - wouldn't have even mattered. U.S. House Democrats trounced the incumbent Republicans - soundly. It could signal changes in the direction of the war and the economy and the environment.

Or, it could not.

I set out on my mountain bike before work today, relearning how to negotiate snow-packed roads. People moved dream-like through a nearly deserted downtown, with entire streets full of tourist shops locked away from the icicles. I caught a soft pile of sandy snow with my front wheel and side-swiped a guard rail. I had to laugh at the way simple things can so easily become hard.

I crossed the bridge into the dark shadow of Douglas Island, its towering mountains locking away direct sunlight until spring. As I rolled over the bridge's summit, I noticed a strange figure circling an intersection roundabout - otherwordly at first, but as I got closer, I saw glasses, a frizzy wig, and a wheel - a single wheel - spinning through the crunchy snow. I squinted at his sign and prepared to shoot him my best icy stare as I went by what I was certain read "Vote for Palin."

But when I finally met him face to face around that ice-slicked circle, I saw what he was actually advocating.

"Vote for Pedro."

And I realized what he was actually saying was, "Smile. It's all just a silly game anyway. And, regardless of your feelings about chimichangas, all of your wildest dreams can come true."

And I couldn't help it. I smiled.

Just vote

Tuesday is general election day.

Don't forget to vote.

I won't be, because I am a L.O.S.E.R. After raving about how much I hate all the bureaucracy that goes into registering to vote, I promised myself I'd do it. Then I put it off, and put it off. Then, finally, I went into the DMV. I waited over an hour to apply for my driver's license, and when I asked for a voter registration form, they informed me that I had missed the 30-day cutoff.

Shoot.

That doesn't mean I can't do endorsements though, for those Alaska voters who were coherent enough to register in the state they live in.

If I could vote for governor, I'd vote for this guy: Andrew Halcro.
Sure, he doesn't have a prayer of actually winning this race. And it's easy for me as a non-voter to say I'd quote/unquote "throw away" my vote on him. But he's a former Republican state representative who got little liberal old me to root for him, so I can't be the only one. Plus, I have this hang-up about wanting to "throw away" votes on the delusional hope that important leadership positions will be filled by people who are smarter than I am. Tony Knowles might be. But Sarah Palin? Eeeeeeee.

If I could vote for Congressperson, I'd vote for Diane Benson. I've only ever lived in states with embarrassing loyalty to out-of-touch career politicians (please, Orrin Hatch anyone?) But Don Young? 17 terms? Please, please, please stop the madness. But speaking of throwing away votes - Geoff tells me he's going to cast one for Juneauite Bill Ratigan, who is running under a party called "Impeach Now." This irks me to no end.

As far as national races, it's almost hard for me to say what I'm rooting for. I'd like to see the Democrats take control of Congress, but at the same time, that would mean hang-ups and squabbling and vetos and little-to-no action from the Legislative/Executive branch for two whole years. Actually, on second thought, that would be wonderful. Go Dems!

But no matter how you feel about the whole thing, you might as well take five minutes Tuesday to show up the L.O.S.E.R.S. like me, the ones glancing wistfully as we pass bustling polling places, and cast a vote. I'll be the one awake until the wee hours of Wednesday morning waiting to see the results (I have to - it's my job), knowing full well that I had no say in them.

Sad.