Freedom isn't free, but lots of other stuff is
Did you guys vote today? Well, did you??
Paul and I went to our precinct about 10:30 this morning. It was (in)conveniently located in the lobby of a nursing home, which wouldn't have been too bad except it was a high-traffic zone for little old ladies with walkers and kind old men with canes and oxygen tanks. They were all very nice as they darted back and forth through the line of voters.
Actually, there were two lines for voters, one for people with last names starting with A through K and another for L through Z. (No, that's not an even division of the alphabet.) Paul was in the L-Z line and I, with my unwieldy and totally-too-long hyphenated surname, was in the A-K line. And while his line snaked around the lobby and out the door, mine was practically non-existent. I was in and out in less than 40 minutes. He took more than twice that long.
Then, proudly wearing our "I Voted" Palmetto Project stickers, we were off to Starbucks, which was giving away free cups of coffee to voters. While we were driving, Paul mentioned a rumor had been going around the L-Z line that Chick-Fil-A was giving away free chicken sandwiches to voters. So I turned to the Internet and -- lo and behold! -- found out lots of businesses were offering bountiful blessings to voters.
WSJ has a little feature about some of the Election Day-only deals available for voters. (If for no other reason, check out the link to watch the embedded Starbucks commercial. I really dig it.) Charleston didn't have anything as cool as free tattoo removal (Dallas) or free flu shots for voters (lots of cities, including Memphis).
We did, however, got our free scoop of ice cream at Ben & Jerry's tonight, followed by a chicken strips dinner at Shane's Rib Shack. Of course, we didn't go to the polls with the intention of getting lots of free stuff, but I'm not complaining about free coffee, dinner and dessert.
And now, we're going to play some Rock Band until the West Coast polls close. I guess we'll watch the returns on CNN to see how those futuristic Star Wars-esque holographic interviews work out.
posted by Kate at 7:47 PM
Copyright 2001-2009, L.K.C.S. It's MINE, all MINE. If you wanna use it, gimme credit and a link, okies? And don't run with scissors, because you're just going to poke somebody's eye out with that thing. No, really. 
5 Comments:
Just, FYI --
They may have been giving away free stuff elsewhere, but Memphis kind of sucked today.
Hugo and I called around for 30 minutes trying to find locations where we could get Chik-Fil-A, Ben & Jerry's, free Starbucks, etc. No dice.
Nobody in Memphis seemed to be offering the deals.
Asses.
YAY
What a night. Virginia, Ohio, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Iowa, Florida. Maybe North Carolina. Places that have gone republican the past two elections going for Obama.
Unbelievable. McCain's speech was great - he was very forceful about unity - it was just a great night.
I just wish I could believe McCain's more vocal supporters in that crowd will heed his words. He ended his campaign on a gentlemanly note, the way I remembered him back in 2000.
You know - it still doesn't seem real. It's like - the last 8 years has been pretty much a disaster in terms of America's standing in the world and honestly our own backyard (economy, military is all fucked up, the government is all fucked up from the cronyism and unqualified people in charge making job offers based soley on party affiliation).
And then - its like - just one night, and everything has changed yet still the same. There is 10 weeks left for Bush to still set up businesses nicely in terms of regulations that are hard to undo once done (because there is a lengthy public commentary etc) or time for Bush to trash things up more through executive orders.
But there is that hope - that in 10 weeks - a new day in American policy will start. Hopefully, a new day that is better for Americans.
But even after that 10 weeks and Obama is elected - the country is still going to be pretty fucked up and who knows how long it will be before its essentially fixed.
Christ - i sound like a campaign worker or something. It has honestly been the first time i have voted for the winner - even in the primary. Someone who, when he speaks, speaks at a level that shows thought and intelligence. And for the first time - a politician who seems to believe what he says.
Obama brought out the idealist in me, that i hadn't seen in a long time.
>>It has honestly been the first time i have voted for the winner - even in the primary.<<
Wow, that's not a good feeling. At least my first vote -- in 1996, the year I turned 18 -- went for the winner.
It's funny, I used to work with someone at the library who was a diehard Democrat. And she turned 18 the year Reagan was elected. She used to always say, "I came in voting for 12 years of losers! Can you imagine how excited I was to finally vote for somebody who won?!"
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