Diary of a Delegate: First Week

I was selected as a delegate on March 23rd, on March 24th I received my first call. It was not a big deal, but already I knew things were going to be a little different for me for a while.

By the weekend I had started receiving mail from various candidates.

Saturday I began to rethink this whole thing, I was getting a fair amount of calls and mail, usually a couple of each per day.
This wasn't necessarily a bad thing, I just wondered if I would have time for it all when things began to pick up.

Saturday night there was an open house for one of the "local" candidates.
The meeting was held at another delegates house. When I got there I was a little surprised. There were a bunch of cars parked at the end of a very long driveway, one of the longest driveways I have ever seen. I parked the car and and started my journey toward the house. At the door I was greeted by the person who told me about the event, it was nice to finally meet him.
And then I met the candidate. He was nice, and I think he had a true belief that he could make a difference, but I began to wonder how much he really knew about our state when he slaughtered the pronunciation of one of the counties, and no in case you're wondering it wasn't even one of the counties that I expect people to mispronounce.

I guess there were more people there before I arrived, because the crowd was pretty thin while I was there. I knew most of the other people who came, and it was kind of interesting to here peoples questions, and to see how there were answered, but I admit I was a little surprised by the experience, I guess I expected more people. I ate a few sugar cookies, had a glass of cheap root beer and called it a night.

Billionaires are just like the rest of us

Right now people of all shapes and sizes are participating in classes on campus all over the country. In one hour Bill Gates will also be in school.

At 12:00 noon, Bill Gates will be "going back to school."

Yes I said Bill Gates, and my Mac didn't even explode.

And while there are somethings that I am less than ecstatic about when I think of Bill Gates. (Read Microsoft Windows - pretty much every prior version).

I think the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation is, well, amazing.

So I thought would share the link if you want to have lunch with a billionaire (BringYourOwnLunch).

ttfn

Microsofts new phone: the Pumpkin

Well they did it they announced today that Microsoft wants to be the new name in cell phones (yeah they've been trying this for years now... currently losing ground).
So they've got two new phones.
I give you the Microsoft Pumpkin (official representatives will call it the Kin,
but I think the pictures speak for themselves).
Enjoy.











(and this is the app that I'm working on. the Jack-o-phonern)

Q of the..._______ 2

I read this in a political column the other day, and I thought it was profound... both for politics, and for all of us.

"Many in this world are afraid and angry with one another. While we understand these feelings, we need to be civil in our discourse and respectful in our interactions. This is especially true when we disagree. The Savior taught us to love even our enemies.¹³ Yet there are some who feel that venting their personal anger or deeply held opinions is more important than conducting themselves as Jesus Christ lived and taught. I invite each one of us individually to recognize that how we disagree is a real measure of who we are and whether we truly follow the Savior. It is appropriate to disagree, but it is not appropriate to be disagreeable. Violence and vandalism are not the answer to our disagreements. If we show love and respect even in adverse circumstances, we become more like Christ."

Quentin L. Cook

Diary of a Delegate: Genesis

In the beginning there was nothing, so I started a blog: a political blog.

And it grew
and it grew

and it GREW!

Last year I noticed that the local political coverage was not giving me the information that I wanted, so I decided to do something about it, I went forth and began interviewing the local candidates. Through the course of my interviews I learned quite a lot about a good number of candidates. I also gained something of a reputation as... um... well, for lack of a better word, expert (though I myself still strongly deny these accusations).

To make a long story short, my local political precinct chairperson moved, and I was asked if I would take over, you know, for the interim. I said I would.

Now being a precinct Chairperson is not a terribly hard thing to do, it's basically only a few weeks of work in a year, and they basically walk you through it step by step. Nonetheless, I could tell that the few weeks of work may not be the most convenient weeks for me to be needed.

I felt that I wanted to be informed, and involved, so the idea of being a state delegate seemed a little appealing. But I didn't go into our neighborhood caucus meeting with expectations of "winning" anything.

Almost as quickly as I had started the meeting I was reinstated as the precinct chairman. I decided worse things could happen, so I just let it go.

Then we voted on county delegates. I didn't even want to be a county delegate, but someone (my mom) forgot which thing they were supposed to nominate me for, so instantly I was nominated. This I also won quite handily (along with 2 others from our group).

And then came the nominations for state delegates, this was the big one, and I kind of wanted to do it. Only two of us were even interested in the position. I didn't really lobby hard for it, but I must have said the right things; I won by something like one vote.

And just like that I was a delegate,
and a delegate,

And a precinct chair.

It seemed like a pretty good idea at the time, but honestly I had no idea what I was getting into.
"My diary of a delegate" will take you through my experience, both the good and the bad (to the best of my remembrance), and this is how it began.

10 thing to make you rethink the iPad

There's been a lot of buzz about the iPad latetly, and with the first "real" reviews coming out I thought I would throw a few cents in the pool, and share some of the things an iPad doesn't do or have.

Interestingly enough my inspiration was this post here.
From which I will take number one.

• One Battery, and you're stuck with it. Seriously you can't upgrade your battery, you get what you get and if you ask David Pogue of the New York times he'd tell you that Apple lied. They promise up to ten hours of use, but he easily got twelve. Apple Fail.

• No Dos Prompt, any power user will tell you that if you really want to get the most out of a machine you have to have a command prompt but all apple gives you is these pictures. I mean seriously what does it even mean? a floating envelope? Give me a Dos prompt!
• No cords. I myself am quite fond of cords, I'm just now starting to figure out which ones go where, and they help me know where my stuff is. Where's my computer? Oh here it is attached to this here cable. Phew, thank goodness for cords.
• In one or two years there will be an even better model. Of all the audacious things to do, Apple is releasing a device this week that everybody knows will be obsolete in five or ten years. And they tend to follow a schedule, so we already know that next year there's like a 99% chance that there will be a new iPad and it will be even faster, and more better.
• There aren't even a million apps. In fact there aren't even 200,000. That's like .00003 apps per person, and that's just not enough. We want more!
• It doesn't come with Iphone OS 4.0. In fact They're going to make us wait until July, and then we don't even get a choice. Like it or not, they're giving us a newer, faster, better version of their operating system. And it will probably include something like multitasking. Hey I have a hard enough time concentrating on one thing. LEAVE THE IPAD ALONE!
• You know what bugs me the most? It doesn't have a pager. I mean those were the good ole' days. Anyone could contact you, anytime. All you got was a number, and then it was like a treasure hunt, first you try to figure out who's calling, then you get to find a phone. And crisp clear alerts. I mean these messages might be very important, I don't want some non-obtrusive sound to play to tell me that I have a message, I want it to be unmistakable.
• Beta Max. Beta Max was way better than VHS, but is there a slot for a BetaMax tape? no, no there isn't. In fact there's not even a place to put your VHS tapes. It's unconscionable.
• Dot Matrix compatibility. Now I don't know for certain, but I bet Apples not going to support dot matrix printers with this thingy. But seriously there were hundreds of thousands of those printers made, and almost everybody has purchased at least one of them. Apple Probable Fail.
• Farmville. Yeah that's right I said it no Farmville. No Farmville, and not fishville, and no Heroes vs. Villains, no Vampire Wars, I mean what else are people going to do at 2:30 in the morning. Seriously nothing is open.
• Free iPad, no Free iPad. I know there are thousands of sites that would tell me that I just won a free iPad, but no one who has one will ever know. Those ads won't even play on an iPad. What is this socialism? only one iPad per person? I should be able to here that lady just like everybody else when she says "Congratulations you may be eligible for a FREE IPAD!" Not Fair! Not Right!!
• It doesn't work with the Apple Magic Mouse. I mean have you seen that thing, it's like a mouse with a track pad built right in. It's probably the greatest mouse ever created, notwithstanding its diminutive size. One touch screen is not enough you never know when you may need multiple multi-touch surfaces.
• World Peace. That's right you're one of the freakin' biggest companies in the world, and we expect more from you, surely this cause is important enough for you to focus on. It's not like this is a new thing either, we've been asking for it since before you were born. You've had like thirty years. And you've barely even started on it. TOTAL APPLE FAIL!!!

Here's hoping that you'll learn from your mistakes.
We are to say the least disappointed.