riding up the noisy Powell cable
the air smells oddly of fresh nova lox
with a slight fruity tang - from where?
as, out on the hill, dozens of iPods
walk determinedly past windowfuls
of lingerie and jewelry
living the history, still
of San Francisco

I was a poll worker for the first time this election, in San Mateo County, and while I don't know the final numbers, the more experienced poll workers all said this was the highest turnout they'd seen since 2004.

There was a lot of fear of the single electronic voting machine, even though the county uses something called E-Slate instead of the Diebolds everyone's been hearing about...and many complaints about the length of the ballot, and the lack of information about incumbent judges...and I was surprised at the number of requests for partisan literature (can you imagine?)

I'd strongly encourage everyone to become a poll worker. Part of being an informed voter is understanding how everyone's vote will be counted. You won't get that from the Secretary of State's press releases or even gootubed Schoolhouse Rock videos, and you sure as hell won't get it by harassing people over the phone in the name of your favorite candidate (however important that may seem at the time.)

The real elections process, the part that actually matters on Wednesday, is that real people cast real ballots for the candidates or issues they'd intended. The process, however cumbersome and broken, can run smoothly -- and in my precinct, it did. Take a vacation day -- you can spare one -- and help your neighbors vote.

A few days ago, my friend Neil gave a brief answer to the question "Spamfighter, howcome you got into spamfighting?"

I get asked that a lot, too -- and while my answers vary depending on my mood at the time (and usually go on way longer than the questioner actually probably wanted), the core hasn't ever really changed: I think e-mail is cool.

More than that, I totally love the idea of worldwide, near-instantaneous yet non-interruptive human-to-human communication. I love it like Gir loveded the piggy, only slightly more sane and hopefully a lot less like an alien robot.