I haven’t voted in at least 12 years. In fact, it may have been 16 years. I was registered to vote in the town where I grew up and went back there to vote a few times after having moved out of town. When I moved back, I was technically in a different district, but I still voted in the same polling place, not having updated my information. I grew disenchanted in the political process, however, and stopped voting.

With the current state of world affairs – both political and economic – I felt that I needed to change my ways and get registered once again. Fortunately, that process was dead easy in that I received a mailing due to having recently renewed my license or registration at the DMV and a recent law about making voter registration available at the DMV for those taking care of motor vehicle stuff. I signed the form and a few weeks later my card came in the mail. This morning I stopped at the polling place in town, surprised to see a line of people outside the door at 6:00 am. By the time I parked and walked to the door, the line ended inside and it moved very quickly. Apparently, the line was due to them just opening a few minutes late. I was in an out in minutes after having cast my votes. I will even follow the results with interest tonight and am hopeful that it isn’t a repeat of the last election with contested results.

Pennie made a comment yesterday that I wholeheartedly agree with. She said that the election means that the campaign ads and endless media coverage will at least come to an end for now. I enjoyed this blog entry by Scott Adams, author of the Dilbert cartoons. He puts a nice perspective on things that almost always make me laugh.

The other day our monthly electric bill arrived. It has typically been about $150 or so per month, which I think is pretty high already. Yes, we do use a fair amount of electricity. And, yes, it is the electronics that probably account for at least half of the usage. In the summer months, the air conditioning can double that amount. Our electricity is provided by the municipal electric company. They have traditionally been fairly priced and often lower than the major utilities in the area. Well, I don't know who was smoking what, but someone thought it was okay to slap a 24% rate hike into place in December, with the largest chunk of this reflected in the bill that we just received. Yes, that's correct. 24%. It isn't like the rates and fees haven't gone up due to higher energy costs over the years we've lived in this house and suddenly they realized that they were giving electricity away. The explanatory letter that arrived with the bill blamed this increase on the higher costs of the electricity that was purchased from the suppliers. The municipal electric company resells electricity that is purchased from the producers. I'm sure that costs have risen, but it seems to me that there's something seriously wrong with a process whereby a rate can be increased so dramatically in one fell swoop, especially where there are no choices available to the consumer.

I guess the people making decisions like this are the same ones that think it is okay to present a referendum for a small town to spend 3.2 million dollars to upgrade athletic fields and claim it is for the good of the town. And even better - when that referendum is voted down, they go back to the drawing board and are apparently getting ready to present a new referendum that will be for 3.9 million dollars for pretty much the same stuff as the original one was going to provide. The average homeowner will only see an increase in their taxes by a few hundred dollars per year. Amazing.

So our electric bill goes up by $50 or so per month, property taxes will naturally increase annually, but for some stupid playing fields we can pay another $20 or so monthly. When does it end?

I hate being in the stock market. I guess it is actually good that I am, though, as it means that I have assets. I am a stockholder of UPS stock, since I'm a UPS management employee. What I hate about the stock market, though, is the wild swings that it takes. The market has been volatile for a bit now due to all kinds of things. If it isn't wars, it's inflation fears, or unemployment figures, or consumer spending, or housing starts being off. Today's news began with more nonsense about sub-prime mortgages. And then it was like a bomb dropped when it was announced that US companies added 4,000 fewer jobs to the rolls in August. Bam. I'm looking at red numbers all over the place. Why do people panic on news like this? I have a theory. They're not. The reason for the wild fluctuations in the market is that the big money people are making more money. They make money on good news and they make money on bad news. It has nothing to do with what we see as a down market or an up market. It has to do with the transfer of wealth from one area to another and the gains made in that transfer. I could, of course, be all wet, but whatever is going on - I hate seeing the red numbers. I especially hate it on Fridays, because my Vista sidebar stock Gadget will not change until Monday, so I get to see the red numbers for 3 days.

I'm expecting a quiet work day today as it is a holiday for many. The Post Office, government offices, banks, most schools, and many businesses are observing Martin Luther King Day. we've come a long way since he led many to protest discrimination and segregation, but we've still got a long way to go, I believe. In my opinion, all humans were created equal, no matter the color of their skin, heritage, nationality, religion or gender. Unfortunately, we humans have all of those reasons and many more to treat our fellow humans unequally. I wonder if we will ever evolve to the point where this is not true...

What a horrific situation in Asia. My heart goes out to the survivors. It certainly reminds us of how fragile we are when we see the force of nature take such a toll on humananity. We are but guests on this planet. No matter how hospitable we make it, we can't control nature. MSNBC - Tidal wave toll tops 21,000 in southern Asia