andrew ager, dot com

I voted before 8, with Isaac in tow.  He amused the lineup as we waited for 30 minutes or so to vote.

Aftger he got dropped off at daycare, I went over to the Obama office to figure out what I was going to be doing.  I did:

• Visibility - 1 hour: waving signs and wearing a giant sandwich board on 12A, right by the 89 ramps.
• Phone banking - 3 hours: knocked off about 130 calls with a TON of other volunteers.  I should note that I was in the local Democratic office overflow area, as the Obama phone bank was packed.
• Canvassing - 2 hours: hit some territory in West Lebanon confirming that supporters had already voted … had pretty good results.  Then dropped off my results, and headed for home.

It was a GREAT experience, overall — only one car gave me the finger, and no one was a jerk while I was canvassing.  The sheer volume of Obama/Democratic volunteers was seriously heartening as well.  There were just hordes of people, all working really, really hard.

22 minutes until the first big news shows up … will be sporadically liveblogging as kids allow!

November 4th, 2008 | Tags: election, obama, Politics and Policy, volunteering | Category: Politics and Policy | Leave a comment

I’ll be taking a day off from work and working for Obama’s campaign on Election Day.  I have no idea what I will be doing, but I’ll be working from 10AM - 4PM.  In the evening, Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight has a great timeline of things to watch for over at Newsweek, breaking down hour-by-hour what to specifically pay attention to.  In short, Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Nevada, Missouri (rural), Ohio,  Minnesota and Wisconsin.

November 3rd, 2008 | Tags: election politics obama mccain volunteering | Category: Politics and Policy | Leave a comment

From Pharyngula, this news:

Some Christian fanatics are concerned, quite reasonably, about the economy, and have chosen, quite absurdly, to try and correct the problem with prayer. So far, so typical, but then … well, they picked a peculiarly oblivious way to do it. They prayed before a statue of a golden bull on Wall Street.

We are going to intercede at the site of the statue of the bull on Wall Street to ask God to begin a shift from the bull and bear markets to what we feel will be the ‘Lion’s Market,’ or God’s control over the economic systems. While we do not have the full revelation of all this will entail, we do know that without intercession, economies will crumble.

October 31st, 2008 | Tags: economics, golden idols, insanity, missing the point, religion, ridiculous | Category: Politics and Policy, Rant | Leave a comment

So after about a 4-week baby-related layoff from exercise, I started up again this week.

This time, and for the next few months, it’s CrossFit.  Conveniently, the first workout (WOD — Workout of the Day) was the CrossFit Total, a strength session based on the squat, press, and deadlift.  It’s “scored” as a total of the biggest weights you can do one of for each lift, and used a measure of base strength.  So it’s a nice test to see how all the stuff I did over the summer carried over the layoff.

I scored 680: 285 on the squat, 120 on the press, 265 on the deadlift — pretty good, considering!  And it had been nearly 7 weeks since I last deadlifted, so that it didn’t go higher isn’t too surprising to me. That was Monday. Yesterday, it was this nuttiness.  I did 75# cleans and assisted dips — 18 minutes, and DAMN! was I knocked out.  In a good way.  More cleans on the way tomorrow (7 max effort singles), followed by some crazy shoulder work on Friday.  Should be fun!

October 29th, 2008 | Tags: crossfit, fitness, working out | Category: Health or the Lack Thereof | Leave a comment

It’s not just Obama seeding hope around these days, it’s also Mike Singletary.  That press conference gives me the first real hopes for success I’ve had about my favorite team in close to 10 years.

Aside: yes, I am also a Patriots fan, which was an unexpected development in 2001, about the same time the 49ers began sliding into the basement.

October 28th, 2008 | Tags: 49ers, Football, hope, sports | Category: The Sporting Life | Leave a comment

From around the web this week (and earlier):

• Joe Klein interview with Barack Obama
• Ta-Nehisi Coates on Obama’s grandparents
• Make-Believe Maverick, Rolling Stone’s cover story on McCain
• The actual exchange with Joe the Plumber (plus transcript)

The interview just makes me think “how can anyone who considers themselves rational in any way NOT vote for Obama?”  Coates’ piece is just a gorgeous reflection on race and human decency.  Tim Dickinson’s RS article (and I think this is even the Tim Dickinson I knew in grade school/high school!) is just a devastating account of McCain’s life that pretty much lays flat any notion of “maverickiness” that he put out to the pundits and voters ca. 2000 … the guy we’re seeing now is pretty much the real McCain.  Finally, that full exchange with JtP is just astonishing, in the best way.  Watch it.

I also liked Jacob Weisberg’s piece on why Libertarianism is a big FAIL in the face of the economic crisis, but I don’t necessarily agree with it in the end — he’s obviously been ready to gloat over this for a while, and that bit drags it down a touch, but I definitely agree with his overall assessment of the utopian and unreal nature of most libertarian arguments.

October 23rd, 2008 | Tags: good stuff, mccain, obama, Politics and Policy | Category: Internet Eh?, Linkitudinous, Politics and Policy | Leave a comment

Decided to watch rather than post, so quick summation: McCain got his ass handed to him by Obama.  Seriously.  Score was even until McCain had to bring up the attack stuff … and he went deep into the toilet after that.  Sure, a few good points and clear policy pieces here and there, but the overall feeling I got was that the guy was sputtering, pissed off, and incredulous at how calmly he was getting whooped.

October 15th, 2008 | Tags: mccain, obama, Politics and Policy, presidential debate | Category: Politics and Policy | Leave a comment

Naomi Mary Ager!

Delivered Friday, October 3, 2008, at 12:41PM.

Stats:

7 pounds, 11 ounces

20 inches long

October 4th, 2008 | Tags: baby, laura, Naomi, october 3 2008, The Girl | Category: Anniversaries, Home Life, Photos, The Girl | Comments (4)

“Hey, can I call ya Joe?”  Nice first words!

And after that easy-going niceness, we get fully-formed sentences, cogency, coherency, and … this might have gotten a bit more interesting.

Palin’s GOPAC boot camp seems to be working well right now.

Palin: “I’m not gonna answer maybe the the moderator wants me to … “  I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.

Liking ThinkProgress’ liveblog tonight, too.  538’s at it tonight, too, along with Andrew Sullivan.  Those places are all far more insightful than I!

9:25PM — Palin seems to be coming off a little better right now.  Is it the chipperiness?  If so, it makes me gag.  Still, Biden’s a little lecture-y.

9:31PM — Her climate change stuff is CRA-ZEE.

9:40PM — Palin on Iraq is really not very good.  Biden is VERY GOOD here, best of the night.  CNN’s tracker seems to agree.

9:47PM — Palin’s voice is like fingernails on chalk.  I can’t stand it!

Oh, goddammit, it’s not hate of “our freedoms.” Stop it.

Biden was even better on Pakistan; Palin even worse.

9:54PM — I just can’t believe Palin is an actual candidate.  Biden’s not all that and a bag of chips, but COME ON.

10:00PM — Palin on the defensive a bit, as Biden *finally* finds his stride.

CNN’s tracked uncommitted voters seem to generally prefer Biden answers to Palin answers.

10:10PM — Did she just say “how is Main St. viewing theocracy”?!?  Huh?  Biden on the “what if I’m Pres.” bit was awesome, Palin, not so much.

10:16PM — Good, Ifill’s pressing Palin on her Cheney-esque “expansion of power” bit re: the vice-presidency.  Anyway, Biden’s better at answering this stuff.  A lot better.

Palin rarely bumps up high in the audience response; Biden seems to hit big peaks regularly, at least in the second half.

10:22PM — Wow, she’s really falling apart.  Who’s “Lingel”?  538 Part 2points this out:

9:12 CDT: [Sean] Palin on Biden’s teacher wife: “God bless her, her reward is in heaven, right?” That is the sound of every teacher in America voting for Barack Obama. Wow. What a mistake.

That there was a good catch.

This one had been way more fun than the Presidential debate. I think Biden started slow, but powered through by the midway point to win it outright.  Palin confused things with chipper mannerisms early on.  Biden wins.  She’s a freaking joke.

October 2nd, 2008 | Tags: biden, palin, Politics and Policy, presidential debate, veep debate | Category: Politics and Policy | Comments (2)