I’ve been in a hiatus of sorts, deciding what’s next for this blog. I think I’ve pretty much got it figured out; stay tuned in the next couple weeks or so to see if I can pull it off.
In the meantime, check out this week’s Nuvo, where the Hoosier Beer Geeks are profiled and yours truly gets in a slightly drunken quote or two.
Whee!
In the process of cleaning house ‘round these parts, I’ve updated my blogroll and made some additions. Here’s a roundup of the new linkage:
My fellow Beer Geeks have been busy! Chris started up a new blog called The Non-Profit Dad, Jim has come back from blogging hiatus with He Writes About Words, and Jason comes at the blogosphere with Circle and Squares. (these, of course, in addition to Mike’s Ridehorsey and Renee’s Feed Me Drink Me. I wonder if we’ll have time to update in between pints…
I also added a couple of sports-related blogs: first up is Stampede Blue, the SB Nation blog that covers the Indianapolis Colts. These guys know EVERYTHING about the Horseshoe, and have the team covered down to the tiniest detail. Yeah, I know, you wouldn’t have guessed I’m a football fan, right? (Just don’t tell the Indie Rock police).
I’ve also added Charlie Weis Ate My Baby, a local sports collective blog full of the best kinds of snark (and way too much Yankees coverage for my taste, but I’ll let it slide!)
Speaking of CWAMB, I have added frequent contributor Jason’s Xtra-Rant to the blogroll – not updated as frequently as I’d like (hint, hint!) but chock-full of miscellaneous techie, political and humorous stuff sure to keep you occupied for quite awhile.
I’ve also updated my link to the old Shakespeare’s Sister, now Shakesville. Fellow Hoosier Melissa’s group blog is an absolute must-read if you’re fed up with the current state of political affairs. Plus, her Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime postings will have you humming old jingles and cursing the advent of YouTube.
Finally, I’ve added some links in a new “noteworthy” section of the blogroll. These don’t fit into any real category, just places I visit to get my daily fill of laughter, outrage, hope and help.
If any of you have a link to a blog or site that you think I’d be interested in, send it my way! And if you’re a Hoosier blogger and I don’t currently link to you, I’d be glad to do so. Just let me know.
File under: Reasons why I don’t live anywhere NEAR my hometown…
According to Shakesville (by way of Bilerico), Ligonier is going to be home to Indiana’s premier creationist science museum, Discovery Express. Yes, folks, that’s right– the sleepy little villa of racial disharmony up in Noble County that’s home to the annual Marshmallow Festival (fitting, eh?) is now cementing its reputation as a repository for idiocy under the guise of science. And to think, I used to live there!
My heart’s all aflutter with anticipation. Perhaps they’ll have a big diorama showing cavemen and dinosaurs living in harmony! I can’t wait to read about how plants are proof that there is a God. Will they give a discount for anyone arriving with an In God We Trust license plate? Maybe I can hold my secular humanist meetings in their spacious third floor conference room!
But seriously… the sheer enormity of the volume of ridiculousness is frightening. Are public school children going to be forced to take field trips to this place? Proselytizing to a captive audience, how lovely! It wouldn’t surprise me, seeing as how there are public school teachers involved in running this thing. Brian Shidler is the West Noble HS Band director and Kellie Shidler works with the color guard.
The other thing that disturbs me greatly is the apparent amount of community involvement and support for this place. It would be one thing if a couple of loonies were putting this out in the woods somewhere, but it’s listed on the front page of the Visitors Bureau website. It’s a good thing I no longer bank with (or work for) Lake City Bank. I’d be pulling my accounts if they’re financially supporting this sham, which it seems that they are.
Don’t get me wrong. I think it’s a great thing to teach science to kids, and wholeheartedly support innovative teaching methods and nature education. But to do it under a fraudulent umbrella of creationism is shameful, and it makes me embarrassed to admit that I’m from that neck of the woods. Discovery, indeed.
Not much time today, so I present the following:
*In the grand saga of Stephen Colbert vs. The Decemberists, it looks as though Colbert emerged… um… victorious? Check out this AP article (must have really been a slow news day!) and watch the video here. I’m just in awe that they got Henry Effing Kissinger to come in on the joke.
*Congratulations to the illustrious Dodge of MOKB! He’s (finally) a proud daddy. Go over and send your well-wishes, and check out his music blog while you’re there… it’s one of the best around.
*Apparently happiness is distracting! I suppose this is true; after all, how many of us have immersed ourselves in working, drinking, or other activities to get our minds off of a breakup? It could also explain why I’ve been having so much trouble getting things accomplished lately…
*My friend lmb has a great follow-up to my ‘rules of engagement’ blog post. Ah, the things you experience while working retail…
*I’m fascinated with Google Zeitgeist – a complete composite of search terms for 2006. It hurts my soul that “Paris Hilton” is in a number one spot on anything, let alone search engine hits. (h/t commonplacebook)
*Torpor Indy talks about the elephant (or should I say, Wild Turkey) in the room this holiday season: the fact that liquor stores won’t be open on New Year’s Eve or Christmas Eve this year. Those days fall on Sundays, and thanks to our nearly archaic Blue Laws, no alcohol sales allowed. I realize there are more pressing things to worry about, but I do kind of shudder at the thought of ringing in the New Year at a bad party… sober. Ew.
You think you’re having a bad day? You might reconsider when you read this article from the Indianapolis Star (courtesy of stAllio). Apparently, Steak and Shake inadvertently sent out 600,000 coupon mailers to Indianapolis residents that should have gone to their Dallas market. No big deal, right? Well, the mailers feature a big Cowboys logo and the words “Proud Sponsor of the Dallas Cowboys”.
Sent to Indianapolis residents.
On the same weekend that the Colts are playing the Cowboys in Dallas.
Oops.
To atone for their actions, they’re offering the following:
Steak n Shake will offer dine-in customers wearing Colts gear a free milkshake — including the Colts Blue and White Side-by-Side Shake — from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday.
Anyone who knows me knows that I harbor an unabashed love for the chrome-covered confines of Steak and Shake, so this news is awesome. Anyone care to guess how many shakes they’ll give away on Sunday?
I am truly and utterly exhausted. Want proof? I left the house this morning with my towel turban still snugly attached to my wet head, and didn’t realize it until I was almost 20 minutes away from home. Needless to say I’m wearing a ponytail today.
Why the forgetfulness? Probably because I’m nearly comatose from one of the wildest Election Day rides I’ve ever been on. I won’t call it a tidal wave, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t enjoying the downpour.
Rather than volunteer in the party apparatus as a poll worker this year, I decided it would be more fun to work for a candidate. I ended up working as a team captain for a state representative involved in a fairly contentious race—my job was to make sure the polling place volunteers had adequate food/literature/energy, and to observe the turnout/voter makeup at the polling places. (I’ve chosen not to name the candidate to preserve a bit of anonymity since my job is sort of strange with political affiliation).
Honestly, turnout was up, but that it wasn’t clear who it was benefiting. My candidate draws a high number of swing, independent and unaffiliated voters so voter turnout means less than the good, solid GOTV – passing out lit, signs displayed prominently, and (the best part!) organized labor conducting a walking campaign through the urban part of the district ALL DAY. It was really a sight to behold.
What wasn’t a pretty sight, though, were all of the machine issues taking place. In my area, four out of seven polling places had issues getting the machines up and running. In one case, the machine stopped mid-tally, forcing the voter to wait until they were assured the vote was indeed counted. It was also pretty ugly listening to anecdotes from voters who had been voting at the same polling place for years, only to arrive there this morning to find the location had been changed with no communication whatsoever.
And don’t get me started on everything else that I witnessed yesterday. How about the suddenly missing yard signs; the pro-life zealots blocking entrances; the partisan clerks handing out their party’s “sample ballots” (with the opposite party’s candidates grayed out) at the sign-in table; the inspector who decided he was going to open the machine and count the ballots ahead of time so he wouldn’t have to be at the polls past 6:00; the fact that my name was mysteriously taken out of the voter rolls and after half an hour of phone calls with the Election Board to correct the situation, no one even asked for my ID; candidate posters and brochures inside the polling area, and candidates’ wives participating in electioneering even as voters were headed to the cubicle with their ballot in hand; inspectors telling my volunteers that it was “no use” in their passing out lit because “everyone’s decided around here anyway and you’d be better off going to the black area”; and my personal favorite, a candidate’s RV parked with the engine running in the middle of the street in front of a polling location, forcing drivers go into traffic to get around it. I’ve never seen so many one-fingered salutes in my life.
After all the craziness subsided, I headed over to the special-edition Drinking Liberally Election Night Extravanganza at Spencer’s Stadium Tavern (one of my favorite bars in Indy). Well, there wasn’t exactly an extravaganza, but there were lots of inebriated liberals screaming obscenities and cheering as the returns came in. Kudos to Jason and the DL crew for giving local D’s an alternative hangout to the Marriott… I have nothing against state party hobnobbing, but being in that room during the 2004 returns seriously scarred me for life.
I had a lot of fun at Spencer’s, which I wasn’t expecting, and got fairly drunk, which I also wasn’t expecting. I’m just glad we weren’t playing the “do a shot every time we win a seat” game, because I’d be getting my stomach pumped.
And now, of course, starts the horse race/clusterfuck that will be the primary season. Let the games begin, I suppose.
I’ve been invited to participate in a very cool event tomorrow! Bil Browning, of Bilerico, has invited a group of diverse Indianapolis-area bloggers to take part in a question and answer forum with some of the more progressive candidates for statewide office. It should be an interesting discussion, to say the least. Here are the details:
EVENT: Blogger meeting with Marion County progressive candidates for state office
WHEN: Friday, October 20 at 2 p.m.
WHERE: Pike Library meeting room – 6525 Zionsville Road in Indianapolis
WHO: Candidates:Russell Brown (D – State Senate)
Rep David Orentlicher (D – H86)
Susan Fuldauer (D – H88)
John Barnes (D – H89) and
Mike Kole (L – Sec of State).WHAT: Open forum with the candidates. No topic is taboo and audio and video recording is allowed. Got questions the main stream media hasn’t asked? This is your chance to ask them and report on it.
Participating blogs
A Commonplace Book
I’m pretty familiar with every blogger scheduled to attend, and I’m constantly astounded by the wit, intelligence and passion displayed by them on a daily basis. It’s intimidating as hell to be included with the likes of Shakespeare’s Sister and TDW, but I’m very excited to meet everyone and to ask some questions of the candidates.
Anything in particular you think I should ask?
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