word!

Yuck. Every election cycle gets worse it seems. I was so fed up with every media type outlet in the last month/year, I actually stopped using a few of them. So we have a new President. I can actually say we had a decent choice this cycle for candidates, I didn’t feel like I was choosing between two douche bags the puppet masters danced out for us, like has been done for the last 8 years. A person could feel good about either candidate.

None the less, McCain didn’t win. I think he was screwed over since his initial presidential run in 2000 when his campaign stalled as a frat-boy from Texas noodled his way into the White House. McCain never really recovered from that. His form in the campaign was off, and the administration sure didn’t do him a single favor for torpedoing his run in 2000. Ah, time for a change.

As for the US Senate race in Mn, it was ridiculous. Why didn’t the two main idiots just say they were gonna bash the other in so many ways that it would look more like a sissy fight than a run for elected office. These two took pride,it looked like, in hating the other guy and finding new ‘campaign’ ways to do so. Yuck.

Al Franken got what he deserved. After losing outstate Mn in the primaries to his DFL competitor, he was blase enough to admit that his real opponent was Norm Coleman the whole time. I sure that statement and attitude were enough to convince some couple hundred voters to switch to GOP or even Independence Party, which fared better than may have been expected. It is of note that the Independence Party did play a spoiler of sorts in this election as well. Just goes to show that 3rd party politics may liven up the electoral scene.

As for the citizens of Minnesota, the majority of them took it upon themselves to raise their taxes via a sales tax increase. They bit this propaganda hook, line, and sinker (or art piece, I forget). Little did anyone mention that the arts and parks would greatly benefit from a good chunk of this amendments ‘great outdoors’ improvement plea. Little did the state government have to worry about, because with it’s passage, they passed the buck (no pun intended) and get to bask in squandering my generations taxes on whatever they have to money to.

Where did all that ’state lottery’ money go we Minnesotans were promised a decade or so ago? All I have heard was embezzlement charges against the big shots running that gig. Yuck.

These taxes tend to stay on the books too. Mankato for one, is a city around the area that has had implemented an extra sales tax to pay for a ‘regional’ project in the Civic Center, but now after the initial taxing period has expired, they conveniently found numerous other ‘priorities’ that needed funding. Yuck.

Almost can’t wait for another even numbered year. Yuck.

As the wedding is a mere 7 months away, it seems to be all the rage to create a wedding website. This will be located at michaelpiotter.com/wedding which is currently just a page really, but will be fully functioning at least before May 9,2009.

Enjoy!

I have recently had the divine opportunity for smuggling of a little known product back from across the Mason-Dixon Line. It’s Cheerwine and it’s a nectar from the gods.

Well, maybe not. It’s a great soda (not pop mind you) that’s like a Cherry Pepsi and Dr. Pepper mixed.

How did I find out about this stuff? My sister had some when she was in Carolina and said it was okay, but having heard it hyped a few places, I needed to see what the deal was about this beverage. So I had the sister pick some up on a recent trip to the Carolinas. And I was not disappointed!

Now if I can find a constant supply/supplier, I can maintain my fix on this wine. Word is it’s available in Duluth, Bernicks from St. Cloud,Mn; and Iowa. I do get to these locales, just not often enough to actually scout out where Cheerwine may be sold.

Recently completed two major life tasks. One involved eBay and the other Mensa.

The eBay feat was more of a co-inky-dink. Having spent considerable sums of money buying and selling on eBay since a pre-historic 1999, I’ve finally obtained a Turquoise Star. This is eBay rating for a 100+ positive rating. Even more impressive in my book, is that I did it without a negative review about me as a seller or a buyer. That probably means more to mean than the 100+ rating, but it’s still nice. They sent me an email with a fancy little certificate that would go great as plaque or framed accolade.

The other recent feat took a bit more brain power. Mensa has always had that geekish-nerd calling to me. Having pondered how to get into it since high school, I finally talked with some members at the Minnesota State Fair. After taking a pre-test and being given a discount to join by the sister’s boyfriend for National Testing Day, I decided to pull the trigger on this deal and see if I could get in. So after a 3 hour test which really included 2 tests,each in it’s own right an intelligence, one the infamous Wonderlic Test (the great football genius test). The test went good and all, with a bunch of similarly aged kids trying to see if they had it as well.

Just last week, I got a letter from Mensa. It said I passed. That’s it, you’re in. No score, no numbers. That was a bit anti-climactic, but being in the 98th percentile should be good enough I guess. I was told at the testing for a score, the proctor would have to be licensed to give a score by the state (i.e. psychologist) and such. Bummer, teachers aways had great pleasure in handing out scores, good or bad, but I guess they were paid to unlike our proctor.

So two such neat accomplishments in such a short span feels good, now I’ll have to go after a few more things on the list….

I suppose I shouldn’t keep my little secret any longer, but by the telling title of this post, you probably can take a rough guess as to what it might entail. On June 1, 2007, I finally purchased a personal dream of mine ~ a Chevy Corvette.

Purchased it from a chatty retired contractor in Hutchinson, Mn after seeing it in the Hutch Leader newspaper. It’s a 1988 350 V-8 White Coupe, with Red Interior. Came with factory installed Bose speakers and an after market CD player.

Quite a fun ride. Having never had driven, let alone owned a true sports car, it’s a blast to drive. Extremely responsive on the gas, meaning I can pass cars just by pressing the pedal, no hesitation. Ah, speed is nice.

Now, what we’ve all been waiting for the photos:

More pix of course on Flickr