Daniel’s Pilgrimage

I guess I should acknowledge here that my birthday was last week. I turned 32 on Thursday. I had a nice day that included my lovely wife making me a basket of goodies and a very fun potluck.

In bygone days of youth the question would always be “what did you get?” Well, I’ll tell you! Alicia’s basket of goodies tops the list. It included a bunch of yummy snacks from Trader Joe’s. The in-laws gave me a BN giftcard and some cash so expect to hear about the amazing books I get. My parents got me some very cool pottery pieces from Baltimore Mud. Quality gifts all around!

So what does my 32nd year of life hold? That is a good question! I guess you’ll have to keep reading to find out!

All day long in my news reading there have been basically propaganda pieces(like this) in favor of a bailout of the US automobile industry. Politicians and executives pointing fingers and saying “if you don’t do this it will be on your hands” and other stupid stuff like that. If GM fails the only people whose hands it is on is the execs at GM for leading a company that puts out crappy cars that no one wants to buy. I’m sorry to the people who will lose their jobs… but that is not a reason for everyone in this country to chip in and cover a private company that is burning through $5 billion(!!!!) a month.

Well, this is going to be the first presidential election that I’ve ever voted in. Two years ago I documented who I was voting for right before my first ever time voting. I figured I’d do the same thing this time around. Here we go:

President

Obama(D) vs McCain(R) vs McKinney(G) vs Nader(I) vs Barr(L) vs Baldwin(IG)

I’ll be voting for Obama. I probably line up more with Nader or McKinney but being in a swing state and definitely lining up more with Obama than McCain I can’t do third party. Not that I think poorly of John McCain. I have a lot of respect for him and his service for this country, just have philosophical differences. FYI, any personal attacks against any candidate will be deleted from the comments so don’t waste your time.

US Senate

Warner(D) vs Gilmore(R) vs Parker(IG) vs Redpath(L)

This one is easy, Warner was a good Governor who worked across the aisle and seems to be a solid guy. He will represent the Commonwealth well in the Senate.

US House

Bobby Scott is running unopposed and people seem to like him.

Richmond Mayor

Grey vs Jones vs Pantele vs Williams

This is the one that has interested me the most so far. I’ve been down to Grey and Jones for a while now and keep going back and forth between them. I said before that Grey lost my vote in the second Style Weekly debate… but I think I’ll still end up voting for him anyways. I don’t trust Pantele AT ALL so he’s not even been an option. I’ve liked some of what I have heard from Williams but he didn’t run a serious campaign.

City Council District 7

McQuinn vs Kenney

Last election I opposed McQuinn but she had a quality opponent last time in Reggie Malone. This time Kenney only seems to be running because he has issues with Delores. She’s got my vote this time as she has done a reasonable job over the past 2 years.

School Board District 7

Coleman vs Edmonds vs Bond

It’s amazing to have such a small election with 2 high quality candidates. Either Don or Torey will serve us well. I’ll be voting for Don since I know him better and wish I would have voted for him 2 years ago. Part of me wishes Torey had run for City Council. I probably would have supported her there over McQuinn. Maybe in 4 years.

Update: I voted. The only change is that I wrote in Torey Edmonds for City Council. I guess that is my way of showing her support while still voting for Don for School Board.