Here’s the obligatory election-day post.

It looks to be a tight race heading into the finish. Regardless of the outcome, it’s likely that there will be numerous legal fights over issues ranging from voter eligibility to fraud from electronic voting machines.

After voting, I plan to follow the election results and analysis. For that, I will turn to The Drudge Report and The Daily Show.

If you’re trying to predict the outcome, you might be interested in reading the last pre-election polls. A slightly more accurate predictor of the popular vote outcome is probably the Iowa Electronic Markets, which allows investors to buy futures for the outcome of the election. As it forces people to “put their money where their mouth is,” the market is rather accurate. The latest prices on the IEM Presidential Winner-Takes-All popular Vote Contest indicate a probability of a Bush victory at less than 1% better than a Kerry victory. The markets do not speak to the Electoral College outcome.



VOTE!

Twenty minutes ago, I woke up with a start and looked at my clock. “6:23” it said. The alarm should have gone off three minutes earlier — man, was I lucky to wake up on my own!

I got up, took a shower, and came back to my room. I was about to get dressed to go to work when I noticed that I had very few clean clothes handy. “That’s odd, I must have forgotten to do laundry on Sunday,” I thought. “Wait a second… I don’t remember doing anything on Sunday.” Suspicious, I ran to the computer and checked the computer’s clock. “Sunday, October 31, 2004” it said. D’oh! Needless to say, I felt stupid.

Meh. I think I’ll go back to sleep.

Tonight, my Fraternity celebrates it’s new association with a host of fresh members, people whom I look forward to one day calling “Brother.”

We call this day Bid Tuesday and celebrate it with age-old traditions and revelry.

Looking back to 1996, we can see that not much has changed.^*

* Note that the milk chug pictured was (and still is) completely optional

I need to drive less; at least, that’s what my odometer is telling me. Three weeks ago today, I picked up my Bimmer from the dealer. In that time, I’ve put 3,000 miles on it. Pundits might point out (accurately) that 1,200 of those miles are from driving to Indiana and back. Even so, doesn’t 1,800 miles in a score of days seem a tad excessive? At this rate, I’m on track to drive over 30,000 miles per year. Needless to say, I’m glad I don’t have a lease.

I think that I would like to continue my new tradition of taking a vacation somewhere exotic every February. But where? Perhaps a ski trip to Whistler in British Colombia? Maybe Vail? The Swiss Alps look tempting, too. I suppose I *could* go somewhere warm, but I have no particular desire to do so. There has been talk of a group going skiing around New Years, but my availability is questionable because of a prior commitment. Decisions, decisions…

So, I’m in the auto parts store today buying car wax. I get to the register and prepare to pay for the merchandise. The clerk is looking around at nothing in particular when his eyes pass the window and he does a double take. “Whoa, there’s a nice Bimmer outside,” he says. I glance in the same direction. “Yeah, that’s mine,” I nonchalantly reply. “Cooool.”

Now, the experience would have been a lot better if the clerk had been an attractive 20-something chick. Alas, there are not many attractive 20-something chicks working at auto parts stores. In fact, I can’t recall ever seeing a female under the employ of an auto parts store. I’m not trying to be sexist — it just seems as though the auto-parts retail employee demographic is heavily skewed towards the Mars side. It’s probably even more skewed than the engineering demographic.

Anyhow, at about the same time as the clerk is complimenting my car, I hear the words “Hi Jeff” from behind me. I whirl around to find… my manager! Strains of “It’s a Small World” briefly float through my head before I beat them back into the dark recesses of my mind, near my “knowledge” of combinatorial algebra. I respond with appropriate greetings, as one would be apt to do. It’s easy to forget that colleagues at work and school lead real lives too.

I remember finding it very awkward when I would run into my high school teachers at the grocery store. It’s a social situation with no clear solution other than to scream in panic and run away. Graceful? No, but quite effective at avoiding uncomfortable conversation. Of course, the fact that I worked at the grocery store didn’t help matters.

You know who else you might run into at an auto parts store? Maybe Jay Leno. Unlikely but possible. Maybe it would be some other late-night comedian, like Jon Stewart.

Last week, Jon Stewart made a fantastic TV appearance when he went on CNN’s “Crossfire” as a guest and verbally annihilated the two hosts. The two hosts were so taken aback at their supposedly-comedic guest’s intelligent commentary that they were reduced to making jejune quips about the lack of humor. Hilarity (from the embarrassment of the pundits) ensued. See what all the fuss is about over on iFilm.

On a related note, Jon Stewart is a Pike.

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Fun election-season quiz: Which two people ran for office and received identical numbers of electoral college votes, therefore sending the matter to the House of Representatives, and eventually (after 36 ballots) resulting in one becoming President and the other Vice-President? (Hint: peanut butter)

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Blogroll update: There’s a new auto-highlight-when-updated feature on my blogroll: blogs that have been updated since your last visit are marked with bold type. Nifty, eh?