Evening walk to the west side

After meeting my friend Amber downtown for coffee, I took the long way home to my specific subway line on the west side, and played with the night settings on my camera.

How can you improve on a win-win situation? Triple Win.



I have no idea what this sign is trying to tell people. It is posted over stairs going into a basement, so maybe it's just intended to distract visitors from hitting their head on the overhang. What's going on with that poor guy's flat top? Is he pulling something out of the bag to wipe the spot off his nose?



A French designer captures the American national mood.



The other night I dreamt that I didn't own a puppy, but instead an animal that looked like a cross between a pigeon and a seal. This painting seems to capture the metamorphosis of those three (or maybe other?) animals. Check out the fins mid-torso.



Didn't quite ever get this shot- maybe time to look for a bitty tripod. In any case, a grouping of objects you'd find in many a man's living room: Bombay Gin, polka dotted Vespa helmet, elephant statue, finely tailored clothes. Is this homage to 007?



Teeny, tiny, complimentary matches from a luggage store. Infinitely cute... but pretty tough to use for those with a slow twitch reflex.

Who IS writing the fortune cookie slips these days?

Last night my friends Andrew & Thomas invited a few of us to their fave restaurant, Homes Kitchen. They have eaten everything on the menu, so always do a fantastic job of picking special dishes & hosting. Often when I head to Chinatown I have order envy, but not last night:



And by the way- who is writing fortune cookie slips these days? Do they have ANY insight into my current lifestyle?

Regularly Scheduled Programming

I've gone cold turkey on the news. Back to our regularly scheduled programming:

The shoes, of all things, set the tone for the day

Tuesday started off on the right, er, left foot, when I realized that I packed two left shoes. Yes, I love my waterproof Merrells so much that I own 2 identical pairs- just didn't think it through when shoving them in my suitcase. Took it as a good omen.










My fourth day of canvassing was brightened not only by the prospect of finally seeing the results of our work, but also because Cindy drove down from Brooklyn to be my persuasion partner for the afternoon:







Luckily it didn't rain too hard- which was much appreciated by my non-waterproof shoe encased feet, as well as for the poll lines in PA:



We hit 136 houses to encourage people to go to the polls, got in a quick nap at my lovely hosts' home, and then headed to the viewing party for all Bucks County Volunteers:



Joe the Voter is very different than Joe the Plumber in that his name isn't Joe, he isn't a plumber, and he's actually licensed to do things- in this case by the FCC, and to scuba dive:



This was my favorite t shirt of the night- MLK Jr and JFK in the background:



And here's the mood at the party after the TV declared victory- YES WE CAN!

Hitting everyone, well, most everyone with the right message

Canvassing was again, uneventful. At the HQ they told us that we reached 1MM houses on Sunday- so it feels good to be part of an effective machine. Today we left hangers with instructions on where to vote, during what hours, etc. They're expecting a turnout which could overwhelm the polling infrastructure.

I had a few run ins with people voting for the other candidate who felt compelled to share with me a such, but no reason to provoke them, especially since I was on my own. There were also supporters who yelled at me from their cars, or in person. One woman yelled at me through her screen door, "Keep going, girl! You're going to win it for us!" and another yelled at me through her screen door, "Give me ONE good reason to vote for Obama, lady." Odd who called me a girl vs. a lady.

My favorite sign of the day: O'Bama with the apostrophe being a little shamrock:



This street shall go unnamed to protect the inhabitants' privacy, but it has a similar name to where the Desperate Housewives live.



A birdfeeder collection:



The squirrels found payload at this particular garbage spot:



This isn't exactly Heartbreak Hill, but seeing this incline was a bit demoralizing:



At the end of the day there was a bit of brightness in the darkening sky with a hot air balloon:

Keeping the brain busy

An embarrassing admission: canvassing is pretty boring. Especially today as they asked us to hit as many houses as possible without human interaction. We just double checked on addresses, and placed door hangers with polling location information. I went to 119 houses, and to keep my brain busy I focused on pictures.

First up - a pink McCain sign- in support of a cure for breast cancer? In support of women's rights? Hmmm:



This bird feeder has bee honeycomb inside- click on it for a better view:



At a rest room stop, didn't hear much honking in this part of PA:



A teacup full of rainwater and leaves, a sand castle shovel, and cement chicken.




A burning bush:



Canvassing the last hour was somewhat invigorating because we ran into McCain volunteers who were also leaving door hangers. Imagine the awkwardness if these neighbors come home at the same time:

Side by Side in Bucks County, PA

Started campaigning today in PA. They sent me to a neighborhood which was 50/50 McCain/Obama, but I was asked only to connect with registered Dems. Not any indications of the differences between the various houses, though there were some patterns with the various makes of cars.

All of the pre-work and reading seemed lost until I stumbled upon, gasp, an undecided voter (!?!) I just told her to check out the Barack Obama site which has a simple side by side comparison of the most important issues. Chickened out on trying to persuade her beyond that. Which reminds me, have you read some of those side by side comparisons?

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/