Today's the last day that a contribution to a candidate running for office will make any real difference. If you've been thinking about kicking down, now's the time, and even $20 can help.

Last night I went out with my partners for a Larrupin' dinner, and this morning I dropped the same amount on Jerry McNnerney who's down South, a PhD in Math, a Wind-Power expert and running against greasy-oilman Dick Pombo. That $200 contribution (ouch!) is enough to get me on the FEC's lists. Yeehaw.

Here's what happens when you take your toilet away:

Here's a closeup of the naughty bits:

And then just some photos from my life:

The Chap3 boys are up here now and we had a good morning of meetings. Seems like we'll have a real business and even be able to pay ourselves decent.

Also, Firefox 2.0 is out. Go get 'em, especially if you can ditch IE.

Finally, shiny new core-duo 2 lappy from Apple, though I'm holding out for the consumer-grade version. Lighter, smaller, plastic... all the things a boy wants.

Got to have a little power outage last night -- probably wind-related -- a taste of the Red Dawn to come. It was kind of fun to set up the candles, inverter, headlamps, dominos, etc.

It creates a new kind of camradre in the household, goes well with the previous car-related feelings that lean me towards feeling like Westhaven is home.

And now, some borat:

Fly my pretties! Fly!

So I was looking at this old rusty Toyota, an '83 pickup with an improbably low 80,000 miles on it. That's nothing for one of those little suckers. It's a bit beat up and has some funked up parts as you might expect, but it runs real good. I was excited for a bit, but now I'm thinking not so much. It's just not enough car for $1,800.

I probably won't go for this one, but the process of checking it out seems to have flipped my switch for car ownership. I think I'm ready to take the plunge. The question is whether or not I go cheap and quick -- because there's a limit to how long I can spongue off my roommates for rides and I don't have a lot of extra capital atm -- or hold out until I have a little iron money in my pocket and get something nicer, more reliable, more interesting to drive.

I'll be looking...

Thoughts in no particular order:

• Would like a light pickup. Something no bigger than old shifty, last summer's road trip rig. Good combo of hauling, sleepability, etc.
• Would like something diesel, though that costs and limits options quite a bit.
• Would like a manual transmission.

The real important thing is that I get something that runs, that can make the trip to SF and back, and that gets decent gas mileage. The rest is fluff, as this is a one year car I think; something to keep me going around here while I decide whether or not it's worth it to buy a real rig.

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconier
Things fall apart, the center cannot hold
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Win or lose, there's going to be a brief window for political types to some formin', stormin' and normin' before they have to start performing again in the great dance of 2008.

On my side of things, there are lots of fights waiting to break out, some of which flare up already.

There's a huge brewing battle in the incoming wave -- not my people, but the 30 and 40-somethings -- over slices of the pie, positions of influence, credit and blame. I also think there's a reckoning coming with the men from the women, who have not been that well represented lately.

There's also an internet fight waiting to happen between the younger, smaller, more hungry and open companies (like mine, but also a lot of others) and the existing biggies of online campaigns, none of whom are really exemplary. That should be fun.

Over on the other side, with the prospect of power slipping away, it would appear that there's blood in the water. I don't have much insight, but since I know our fight is going to be real and hard and brutal for a bit, I certainly hope they clobber one-another too, and maybe even bust up some of their hellish coalitions for a while.

Will be intersting to watch and be a part of. I'm not really directly engaged in this national election -- although local issues are piquing my interest. In truth I'll probably get more engaged afterwards, when the course-charting for '08 begins.

I'm off into the the hills today/tonight. Will be good to get away from technology for a while before the rains make this an improbably proposition.

That's what it's all about, friends.

This is brutal:

It's heart-wrenching, but he also nails the pronounciation of "Missouri." That's training, baby. That is motherfucking training. Hats off, Michael.

This is personal too. My g-moms has the Parkensens, though thanks to good medication she usually does a little better than Mr. Fox looks here.

Michael does the nice-guy thing, so I'll fill in the bad cop.

Seriously, fuck Jim Talent. Fuck him with a spiky sandpaper dildo, and deny him even that brokeback spit-lube. He's a corrupt, sold-out hack who probably doesn't even personally give a shit about Stem Cells, but he knows what his fundimentalist freak base wants to hear. I've had it with these faux-pious anti-science bastards shitting all over our country.

It's time to take it back.