Vote For Me, Le Marquis!
Dan left today. He and Annie are flying back to LA together. They each have one more semester in graduate school to go. I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to Dan, he went out last night and didn’t comeback until I was in bed. Then this morning, I left for work, before he got up. Anne got two hugs from him, and then passed one on to me. I guess that that counts? Otherwise, I just got a re-gifted hug, or maybe a hand-me-down hug. 😥
The concrete repairmen showed up today. This crew was hired by Davey Tree Service, to repair the damage done by their truck before Christmas. They removed the broken slabs and then framed the trench left by them. They should return tomorrow, to pour the new concrete. If everything goes according to plan, I should be able to drive on the new driveway next week, after it has cured. What looks like a week of good weather, with steadily warming temperatures, should facilitate this plan. It also allowed Anne to get out on the bicycle today. She rode 17 miles. That’s 17 miles for the month and for the year and 17 more miles than I have ridden in 2012. She has thrown down the gauntlet, let this year’s bike race begin.
Anne will be working the Missouri Presidential Primary next month, as an election official. The only thing on the ballot is the presidential primary, but it is still pretty much just a beauty contest. As bad as the partisan bickering is on the national level, it is even worse here in Missouri. The Republican led Missouri legislature voted to make the Republican primary non-binding, hence the beauty contest crack. It did not allow the Democrats to do the same, which could have saved the state the cost of an election. There are five candidates on the Democratic ballot, Barack Obama and four other people who I have never heard of and likely never will again. The Democrats wanted to forego their primary and have a caucus, like the Republicans are going to have, but were denied that opportunity. There are ballots for other parties, besides the Democrats and the Republicans, but their irrelevance has caused me to forget who they might be. Like I said, it is going to be a beauty contest. Anne plans on getting lots of knitting done that day.
The Missouri Republicans plan on having a caucus, similar to the more famous Iowan, one, held this week. While the primary was scheduled for February 7th, their caucus is not scheduled until March 17th, by which time Missouri’s candidate selection will be lost in the pack. I propose that we Missourians take action now to regain the limelight. I considered proposing a reality TV show format, like “The Biggest Loser”, we could even ask the Donald to MC, but it would be hard to compete with the year-long soap opera that has been the Republican Presidential race so far. Instead, I propose that the Missouri Republican Party adopt a game show format, called “Missouri Republican Gladiator”. Each caucus member would mount a raised column and with a foam padded club, “debate” the other candidate’s caucus members, until there is only one. The television ought to be electric and will easily catapult the great state of Missouri to the forefront of the national political debate.