Cafe Bucky

Thanks for my health.

Thanks for my daughter, who’s one of the smartest and coolest whippersnappers on either side of the Mississippi.

Thanks to the blue voters – we almost got a break. It’s good to know that so many of us do our own thinking, and aren’t susceptible to having the church or media-driven fears dictate our votes. And thanks for living in a free country, where I can at least comment politically. Could have been born in China, or somewhere where you have to self-censor everything posted. Thanks to those who took their personal time and effort to try to make a positive change in this last election.

Thanks to my new friends in the Mission District, who have made the experience of working onsite fun again! I love my work. Thanks to others that offered me gigs – it was great to be in the position of getting to make a choice.

Thanks to all of the New Yorkers that make this place work. The taxi and towncar drivers (to and from the airport), the subway operators, the people running the Main Library, the sidewalk vendors, the cops and firefighters, and so on. There really are a lot of folks that keep New York humming.

Thanks to my West Coast friends. I’m happy to be able to call Kevin, Andrew, Steve, John, Maureen or others on short notice, and be able to hang out. It means a lot to me (especially when my family is in New York).

Thanks to those who continue to make interesting music, like FC/Kahuna. And super thanks to the guys (especially Rusty) running SomaFM.

Thanks to those who continue to support the work of innovative or off-the-beaten track films (such as Napoleon Dynamite), and those who push art in new directions, like the Machinima of Red Vs Blue.

And a big thanks to those in the Linux and Mac communities, that continue to push what is possible in computing.

And thanks to whoever is cooking my turkey at Arte Cafe. I’m getting hungry!

I’ve been working at Metaliq for a couple of weeks now, and am really enjoying it. The people and the project are great, and it’s a happy, energetic environment.

… And the Mission District (SF) is a very interesting place to work. arty techy down-and-out and up-and-in. There’s quite a blend of people and things going on. Sort of like the East Village, packed up and moved to California. Substitute burritos for pizza. The Barrista with fluorescent red hair rides a mountain bike on the Left Coast, and takes the subway in NYC. All bits of the same scene with tweaks.

So, surrounded by gurus of Flash, I’ll be taking the plunge into learning as much as I can about it. Yep.

I’ve dealt with HTML interfaces since.. hmm.. I think late 1993. They’ll never be as rich and expressive as a well-done desktop app. Nosiree. I’ll still do a lot of HTML when need be, but I must say that Flash has reached a point where I’m won over. There are certain things that bug me about it (like my mouse scrollwheel doesn’t affect a flash scrollbar, or I can’t have the browser search within the text of a .swf), but they’re really outweighed by What’s Possible.

And it’s that whole “What’s Possible” with Flash aspect that has me excited about the Web yet again (not that I have ever lost my enthusiasm in all these years, but now I see a large transition on the horizon)

What if the qualifications for President could be changed, but only in one way for the time being? (and by some sprinkling of political fairy dust, you had some input into the choice…)

And it was a choice between:

* letting foreign born leaders be eligible (such as Arnold Schwarzenegger)
* or letting someone run for a third term (such as Clinton)

Which would you choose?

I thought about what I might write about the election. It’s easier for me to say that I agree with many opinions I’ve seen in the New York Times, on Salon, and elsewhere. Michael Moore had a good piece entitled “17 Reasons Not to Slit Your Wrists”. John Perry Barlow wrote Magnanimous Defeat.

And I could point at 20 others. I’m not alone in my realization that we’re living in Two Americas, all intermingled on the Interstates on our respective trips to Starbucks or Walmart. This chart sums it up nicely (thanks Andrea PS!): http://chrisevans3d.com/files/iq.htm

I’m not surprised to hear that the Canadian Immigration web site is receiving a sixfold increase in traffic. A lot of people are shocked and fed up, and in a mind to move on. I could see moving to Vancouver, and perhaps Montreal could be fun for a while…

But hey, I’m back in California for a while; perhaps two months. Land of Life Guard Station #25 in Santa Monica, The Golden Gate Bridge, and more practically, a new contract in the San Francisco’s Mission District. I’ll get my fill of Mexican Food, which is something I miss when I’m in New York. It’s also nice to have a little space and to be able to drive. I’m looking forward to heading up to Lake Tahoe and skiing this winter!

California is the Golden State, with a little tarnish here and there as compared to its best days (which I think were the 1960’s). We have had a fair number of Republican Governors. Just look at the history in my lifetime:

1959-1967: Pat Brown (Democrat)
1967-1975: Ronald Reagan (Republican)
1975-1983: Jerry Brown (Democrat)
1983-1991: George Deukmejian (Republican)
1991-1999: Pete Wilson (Republican)
1999-2003: Gray Davis (Democrat)
2003-present: Arnold Schwarzenegger (Republican)

I was also surprised from my research of how we’ve voted for Presidents. Check out the .gov archives. California helped elect Clinton, but it also voted for Nixon, Reagan, and King Bush I. Don’t look at me, I didn’t vote for them!

Ok, that’s enough political stuff for now. It’s a Sunday Morning in California, and that means the Sunday Morning Ride. Since I don’t have a crotch rocket (that would be a motorcycle.. as in Road Racer.. as in speed, man…), I’ll climb into a four wheeled substitute, an E36 M3. Time to appreciate the hills and valleys!

I may write what I think of the election later. Perhaps on the plane ride tomorrow ….

On E-Day, Sophia and I went to see “Crossfire” live at Time Warner Center. We came back later for the night show, with Paula Zahn sitting in with James, Tucker, Paul, and Bob… I hauled along my trusty D1 to get some zoom blurs.

Paul gets the scoop during commercial:

Let’s head for Times Square:

And watch the crowd outside the Nasdaq CNN set:

Perhaps Rudy has something to say?

And of course, no political outing would be complete without seeing some real heartfelt support – this guy climbed up the traffic light…

Tired and anxious about the result – time to go home:

E-Day. The most important election I’ve seen in my 43 years.

I went to a place like this:

To vote like this:

Because I’m actually thinking about the right thing to do for the next generation, and they look like this:

(I wish Sophia could vote. She has so much more sense than some that are many times her age)

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?messageDate=2004-11-01

and if you want something more suitable for tea in the parlor:

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/?041101ta_talk_editors

New York City and the SF Bay Area are two places that are like countries unto themselves. They’re so different in temperment and outlook than much of the USA.

And since I flit between the two (back to California on Friday), it’s hard for me to predict what will happen on Election Day. In the countries of Bay Area and Gotham, we will have elected a President Kerry. Our respective populations are a bit more politically clued in than the mindless Walmart Nation mainstream. We tend to be a bit more savvy on foreign policy than the “Freedom Fries” idiots. We don’t choose our president on the basis of one pet issue (like Social Security), and blindy ignore what’s really going on in the world outside our ticky tacky tract houses. We understand really basic distinctions such as “church” and “state”. And we sure don’t let fearmongers control our votes. We’re not the Tupperware Vote, or the Not So Good Ole Boys.

So it’s with great anxiety that we wait for the election outcome over the next 36 hours. New York and the Bay Area are a given, but will we roll our eyes in disgust over how much of the country votes? One wants to trick the GOPpy people into reading more tabloids on November 2nd, or hanging on to that remote control to watch one more “reality” show. Tell them they can still vote on the 3rd.

My hope would be for a landslide in either direction (for Kerry, or, for Kerry!). The fact that the polls are a toss up means that we have a very divided country right now, and that won’t fade away come Inauguration Day. We really need a mandate. Will the youth vote make a difference? Will the people who would waste a vote on Nader get an 11th hour clue? Will we ever get rid of the anachronism of the Electoral College?

… and, exhale.

So I’ll stay mostly within the two other countries of New York City and SF Bay Area, where there seems to be some notion of politics grounded in reality. Hopefully the rest of the populace will join us in taking our country back on November 2nd. It is not a country “by and for the corporations, or the religious right who would dictate science”. Is it for the people, and should be governed by someone who has a working intellect, and who has earned their right to be on the scene. Let the people speak with their votes, unimpeded, with freedom and ballot receipts for all.