Monday!
As you can see by Itzl's concerned look, this group is for us to check in at to let people know we are alive, doing OK, and not affected by such things as heat, blizzards, floods, wild fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, power outages, or other such things that could keep us off DKos. It's also so we can find other Kossacks nearby for in-person checks when other methods of communication fail - a buddy system. Members come here to check in. If you're not here, or anywhere else on DKos, and there are adverse conditions in your area (floods, heatwaves, hurricanes, etc.), we and your buddy are going to check up on you. If you are going to be away from your computer for a day or a week, let us know here. We care!
If you'd like to be part of the Itzl Alert Network, please leave a comment asking to join, or send us a message asking to join. We'd love to have you. The bigger our network, the less likely someone will be stranded all alone.
That means back at work. and therefore, access to the internet on breaks. I pre-scheduled this last week in case my home internet was still down so y'all could check in early if you wanted.
Tomorrow is the election and since my office is a polling place, I don't expect to get a lot of work done.
I sought out the diary I wrote on the last couple of presidential elections. I've worked here now through 4 presidential elections, this will be my 5th. Each election, the people who come in have been increasingly not well behaved.
Clinton's final election, people were all so civil and nice. The lines were quiet and orderly and the children were mostly calm. The unruly children were kept in check by their parents.
Bush's first election was also calm.
His second election was terrible. The people were suddenly rude. They were loud, aggressive, pushy. They tried to use my desk as a polling booth, their children flushed toys down the toilets, unsupervised by the parents. Others kicked my desk. Some of the children tried to climb up on my desk to get Itzl. The parents didn't even look around for them. There were drunks coming in (they could vote, but they weren't very nice - and one puked. We don't have janitors during the day - guess who got to clean that up?)
Obama's election was almost as bad. At least no one puked.
I have no clue what tomorrow will be like. I have prepared my desk for the onslaught and have made arrangements to keep Itzl hidden. We will not get a lunch break tomorrow - I can't leave my desk unsupervised. And I will have to be here from half an hour before the voting begins until the poll closes. If only I could rely on Security to protect the computer and equipment at my desk...