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I should be really happy with the election results. Elliot Spitzer won for governor of New York. Democrats took a large lead in the House and are one vote up in the Senate (two if you count the Socialist from Vermont). Polls show voters are interested in cleaning up corruption and getting out of Iraq. Donald Rumsfeld resigned.

I should be pretty pleased. I'm not.

CO, SC, SD, TN, VA, and WI (at least) passed amendments to their respective state constitutions to define marriage as being between one man and one woman. I'd like to take this opportunity to note that none of these amendments actually changes the status of gay marriage in those states. None of them have ever allowed gay marriage, and DOMA protects them from having to recognize unions from other states. This is a preemptive attack by conservatives against the possibility of change. You know, Virginia was starting to grow on me. I was beginning to think I might be able to settle down here someday. So much for that idea.

Hey Virginia, you might want to update your slogan.

If you are a United States citizen, go out and vote! If you're in Virginia, vote no on ballot item #1, the modification to the Virginia Bill of Rights that actually takes rights away.

I'm in VA, but I can't vote on it because I'm a New York state resident, on the books.

I'm going to rant and rave (mostly rant) about Internet Explorer 7, which was released recently. I know that betas have been available for ages, but I think the release versions of IE are insecure enough.

Just for reference, even if Microsoft did fix all the things I'm complaining about I still wouldn't switch from Firefox. Also, I'm being nitpicky. If I was forced with a red hot spork, I could probably come to tolerate using IE7, at least moreso than IE6.

I have five drafts waiting to be written on, and some of them have been sitting so long that I'll probably just delete them. I thought now that midterms and such are done that I'd be free to blog, but... eh. I've been photographing trees and such because it's fall and I like the colors.

On an unrelated note, rule 34. I have no idea what most of the first thirty-three rules are. The first two are "Don't visualize" and "No, really, don't visualize!." Rule 34 is NSFW, so you'll have to click below to read about it.

momz0r called me tonight. We usually try to catch up at least a couple of times a week, depending on how well our schedules mesh. Tonight, she had this to share (and I'm paraphrasing here, I don't remember her exact words. I've captured the spirit of it though, and her general tone.):

If you ever get ice cream from one of those vending machines, and you get an Edy's strawberry popsicle, be careful. They're really cold! I got my lips stuck to it! You know on that movie you'll shoot your eye out where Ralphie gets his tongue stuck to the pole? It was just like that, except it's a popsicle. I was going to go back into the store to get a cup of water, but I think they would've laughed at me.

No, Mom, they would've been laughing with you.