saturday, my transmission started acting strange. my car's a stick shift; on the shifter, there's three up and three back, with reverse where sixth is on some cars, just below fifth. on saturday, though, putting it in any "up"gear actually put it in third, and any "down" gear, including reverse, gave me fourth.
i managed to get it to a transmission shop (probably taking a year or two off the life of my clutch in the process) so someone could take a look at it. the linkage (the thing that goes between the shifter and the actual transmission) gad broken, which is a lot better (easier and cheaper) than either connected part. unfortunately, any parts would have to be shipped. so instead, the guy did a clever hack and the linkage is now held in place be a zip-tie. so right now i'm waiting in an aamco for an estimate to get it fixed properly, as in "won't pop off randomly down the road".

i'm having a really good time watching the Republican party turn on itself. the question of who gets to be party chair is going to be fun, between the half of the party that thinks McCain's "liberal pandering" cost them the election and the half that thinks Palin doesn't belong anywhere near a position of power, it's going to be a good show.
then there's Palin herself. when Senator Stevens steps down, which seems almost inevitable at this point, some people think Palin will actually be gutsy enough to go for the seat herself. this despite the fact that her approval ratings as Alaska's governor have dropped almost 20 points since she started the campaign, and the word from the McCain campaign that she didn't know Africa is a continent, not a country.
the next two years could be a very entertaining show.

okay, the secret can come out now: Carrie, this whole thing was just a nation-wide group birthday present. Happy birthday! i hope you like it.
also, it's November (in case your birthday wasn't enough of a tip-off). when're you due?

okay, so it's all exit polls, very little in the way of official results yet, who knows what could happen tomorrow, but... right now, CNN, BBC, and *NBC have Obama over 300. perhaps most importantly, McCain has congratulated Obama on his results.

thank you God. thank you America.

i have now joined the record swarm of early voters. i had a brief urge to vote for the socialist candidate (they're listed in alphabetical order of last name in Ohio, so i saw him first), but then realized that was stupid, especially in Ohio, where it actually matters.