One election ago blog.

Clear and warm for November, but sneezing and coughing have been winding their way through the family recently, so it was a little hard to enjoy the outdoors this weekend. I blame Ann’s Wednesday play group, the Virus Hour, for the outbreak. At least she’s over her round of nasal upset, which means upset for everyone. It's hard to treat her for these kinds of things, since she’s so adverse to medicine in a dropper that she’ll grab the bottle, dropper and all, and try to hide it. At her age, her hiding skills aren’t very far along, but she’s still making the effort.

Our new DSL connection at home has finally settled down, and except for occasional fluttering, which I take to be normal, it’s nice and smooth. When I mentioned the new connection to a friend of mine, he told me, “Your life will never been the same.” So far it's about the same: still in that struggle for the legal tender. Actually, I’m used to fast connections, since I get one at the office, so the new home connection is nice, but not revolutionary. It’s Lilly (especially) who benefits, since she can access various games at great speed, but her mother can access Japanese newspapers quickly too.

This year’s election naturally made me recall the one before. I spent all that day (November 7, 2000) at my New York office, and flew home that evening. The last thing I saw on a TV before I got on my flight, I remember, was soon-to-be the notorious network call of Florida for Gore.

Later, I wrote this about that evening: “On Election night, I rode a shuttle bus from Midtown Manhattan to LaGuardia. As we waited for more passengers, the driver was discussing the merits of his candidate -- Gore -- with an elderly couple on their way home to Texas. They were Bush supporters.

‘Governor Bush is a good and honest man,’ the older man said.

‘You think dat politicians don't lie sometime, you only foolin’ yourself,’ said the driver, who had a distinct Jamaican accent. He went on in this vein for a time, and finally said, ‘Well, look at the last eight years, day been great. Clinton and Gore ha' been takin' care of business.’

‘Yeah,’ said the Texan, ‘monkey business.’

That, I figure, is the election in a nutshell.