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I got up early so I could get to my polling location when it opened, but I spent 30 minutes searching for my keys before I could leave. D’oh!

When I got there, I stood in line for a minute or so looking at the giant "Diebold" logos on all the equipment and then requested a paper ballot. I already knew my county had paper ballots available and I could see them on a nearby table, but it threw the elderly poll workers for a loop. Obviously I was the first person to ask for one today, but I hope I’m not the last.

The paper ballot was designed like a standardized academic test with ovals that you filled in with a black pen to make your selections. It was two-sided, and by the time I made all my choices, my hand was cramping a bit. I put it in the envelope they provided, sealed the envelope, printed and signed my name on the front, and gave it to the same election worker who’d fumbled around getting the forms for me in the first place.

As I left, I was keeping my fingers crossed that they would be able to figure out where to put it so my votes would actually be counted.

In summary: it’s WAY less convenient to use a paper ballot than an electronic voting machine, but I feel a lot better knowing that my votes are printed somewhere in black and white.

When I first began voting, it was with the now-infamous "butterfly ballots" where you poked a stylus through a card to make your choices. Even before the 2000 and 2004 elections, I was uneasy about electronic voting with its suspicious card exchange protocols. Until something better comes along, I’m going to keep requesting paper ballots. I think it’s the least I can do to make sure my voice is heard.

I am really enjoying yoga class and I’m glad went back, but it’s a little shocking how much flexibility I’ve lost. I know – what a surprise that sitting in front of a computer for 12+ hours a day for several years whilst ageing at the same time should have made me so unbendy!

The nice thing about plunging into a class with a lot of advanced students is that it’s taken away any trace of competitiveness that I might have brought to my yoga practice. There’s no way I can even think about doing some of the advanced poses right now, so I can just pay attention to what my body is capable of at each moment and do whatever seems best.

I can already see my upper body muscles becoming more noticeable and I’ve definitely dropped a little excess weight. For the most part, I’ve stopped noticing my appearance in the mirrors during class and now I’m only concentrating on whether or not I’m positioned correctly.

I don’t expect to get back to my early-30s yoga proficiency for a while, but it’s nice to notice some immediate progress. Plus, the strength, endurance, flexibility and breathing control will really come in handy when my band finally starts performing!

I have a long list of things I need to accomplish this weekend. Unfortunately, I’m having a bit of trouble getting any of them done.

Yesterday, my husband and I had breakfast at 2 o’clock in the afternoon, which pretty much set the tone for the rest of the day. Our follow-up errand was to gather paint samples to help us decide what color the studio should be. I’m leaning toward a light terracotta shade; he likes bright orange. There must be a compromise in there somewhere, but I think we’re going to have to line up all the chips against the dark baseboard and oak flooring and see wha…

Aaaaagggghhh! While I was composing that paragraph, one of my cats jumped into an empty laundry basket in front of me and peed in it! WTF?!? Oh, how I hate them sometimes. I’ve put the basket outside to deal with later.

So anyway, we also attended my friend A’s pre-wedding party yesterday. I got a nice chance to chat with Dorothy and Me. You have to see Me’s sonogram photo where the baby’s flashing a peace sign. I can vouch for its authenticity – I’m the person who scanned it from the original printout.

After the dinner, my husband left to play a gig and I continued refrigerator shopping. It turns out that at 31.25" wide, our current fridge is extremely small. The space it’s in only has about another inch on either side, so we’re still looking at having to get something way smaller than most of what’s on the market. Of course, that doesn’t make it any cheaper.

When I got tired of shopping (and it never takes long), I went home and played Bejeweled 2 for a while and then went to bed. Do you remember the Mind’s Eye videos from the early 90s? They consisted of state-of-the-art (at the time) computer animation shorts with new age-y synthesizer music. Bejeweled 2 strongly reminds me of those videos.

Today I need to hit my list again with a special emphasis on getting my pre-Jamaica shopping done. I don’t have a decent swimsuit or a dress to wear to A’s wedding. If I don’t find something today, I may be forced to make do with old, icky stuff from my closet.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

I don’t know if it was good or bad that I slept until 10 this morning, but I definitely needed the sleep.

As I was leaving work yesterday, I impulsively called my sister and ended up horning in on her movie date with her husband. My only worry was that with a 8:10 p.m. showing, I might get sleepy before the movie ended.

When I got to their house, it turned out she’d been trying to call me but I couldn’t hear my ringtone ("Breakin’ the Law" by Judas Priest) in my purse over the din of Queensryche’s "Rage for Order" album on my car stereo. That’ll happen.

The movie time had changed since yesterday and now the next showing was at 9:50 p.m. Ouch.

Their babysitter was already there, so we decided to go to a local pub until the movie started. I drank a big cup of Red Bull on ice and therefore managed to make it through the whole movie without dozing. Hooray!

The movie was "The Prestige," which I liked despite the fact that a major plot device centered around something "scientific" that taxed my suspension of disbelief beyond its comfortable stretching point. However, I later realized that it helped explain some other parts of the story that didn’t seem to make sense when I first watched it, so I guess it’s good that I kept thinking about the movie after it was over.

I made it home around 1:00 a.m. and went to bed immediately. If I woke up when my husband came in from his gig, I don’t remember it.

I have tons of errands to run today and I feel as though I’m already behind. Yoga class was the first sacrifice to the late wake-up, but I can’t really afford to skip anything else on my long list. I guess I’ll wrap this up, shower, grab a bite to eat and head over to the paint store. Woohoo!

Well, the studio remodeling project is proceeding apace. I’d show you photos, but we packed up the cable that connects from the camera to the computer and it might be a while before it comes to light again. So far, the vocal booth has been framed in, there’s a new door to the utility closet, the thermostat is in a more convenient location, and the carpeting and linoleum are gone from half the room. We’re so excited!

The plan underwent some scope creep while I was at work, encompassing the addition of two skylights, a drum riser with soundproofing underneath, and a sheet of Plexiglass to be mounted in front of the drums. So far we’re still within the original budget range, so I’m not arguing. Admittedly, the original budget included some fairly big stuff we’ve decided not to do, but it’s nice to stay within shouting distance of a dollar figure I’ve heard and approved.

After work today I’m meeting with an electrician about our chronic breaker problems. To keep him from fleeing our house in disgust, I spent a long while yesterday evening mopping the cats’ side of the basement. Ick, ick, ick. The good news is that the whole house is now pine fresh.

I also impulsively purchased yet another Littermaid cat box (just one this time). I know, it’s like putting a "kick me" sign on my own back. There was a lot of cursing involved in getting the @#$%& thing put together, but it seems okay so far. When they work, they’re wonderful – it’s just that Littermaid doesn’t seem to bother to make them very well anymore.

I’m up ridiculously early this morning. In fact, hubby and I tried to go to breakfast at our favorite place around 6:30 only to find it isn’t open until 7. After we ate elsewhere, I attempted to pick up my dry cleaning and discovered that they’re not open until 7 either. Come on, people!

I skipped yoga this morning because one shoulder is having some complaints and I think one more day of rest would be helpful. I’ll go tomorrow morning instead.  The diet/exercise/supplement program I put myself on last week is really paying off. I can tell that my jeans are much looser and my stomach is flatter. I won’t exactly be beach goddess material by the time I leave for Jamaica next week, but at least I won’t be a beached whale either.

Thanks to NaBloPoMo, I’ll be posting tomorrow and Sunday, too. Maybe I’ll actually think of something interesting to say. You won’t know unless you come by!

My husband and I had a germ of an idea: we wanted to have the hideous 1970s inlaid wood bar taken out of our studio and have a soundproofed vocal booth put in its place. We also thought it would be nice to remove the couldn’t-possibly-be-up-to-code wood stove and its room-hogging brick base.

We’d been kicking around the idea for a long time and my husband finally called a friend of his who owns a construction firm and asked him to come out and give us a bid. The guy showed up yesterday morning, took a look around and named a very reasonable figure. If not for the hideous clutter consuming the room, he and his crew would gladly have started work immediately.

Instead, they’re starting this morning. THIS MORNING.

We spent yesterday evening dragging tubs of office paperwork, microphone cables, drums, computer gear and other miscellaneous junk down the stairs into our guest room. Everything that couldn’t be immediately moved ended up draped with a sheet.

Of course, we haven’t really had a chance to think everything through yet – that’s what scares me. All of a sudden, the plan includes relocating a closet door and a thermostat, taking out an ugly built-in shelving area, and putting down hardwood flooring where the current flooring will have to be taken out. We’re going to have to have new floor coverings put throughout the room sooner or later and it might as well be now; however, our desks are both enormous and weigh a TON. I guess that’s the workmen’s problem…

Ready or not, we’re plunging headlong into Studio Makeover ’06. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

My company is moving to a new office the week after next, so every employee is packing box after box of stuff to go to the new place. Some people seem to have jammed more books, games, toys, posters, action figures, shipping tubes, files, papers and small appliances into their cubicles than I have in any given room of my house.

I am not one of those people. So far I have loosely filled one box with personal items, including my stress ball collection (two of them), framed photos of my husband and cats, my desk lamp (with a burned out bulb), a potted philodendron, and miscellaneous books. When I leave the office next Wednesday, all I’ll have left to take is my laptop, a large teacup, a coaster, the contents of one drawer, and any uneaten Luna Bars that may lurk in my file cabinet.

My officemate and I have been given eight or ten huge plastic tubs for packing the things that we want the company to move for us, and so far we haven’t even filled one.  You can tell that neither one of us has worked for the company for a particularly long time.

The most important thing I have learned in this process so far is that there is absolutely no point in my ever filing anything. I went through every file folder in my drawer and ended up keeping exactly three sheets of paper. Everything else went in the recycle bin.

I used to be more of a nester at work, but I got out of the habit after repeated moves from one desk to another and one office building to another. I used to be that way about the stuff in my home for the same reason, but now that we’ve lived here for twelve years, the goods have started to collect.

So what’s your desk style? Are you a "big cube o’ fun" type or is your cubicle as Spartan as mine?

It was SO wonderful to have a three-day weekend! I desperately needed the extra day to get things done, refocus and rest.

On Friday, I got up and went to a 6:15 a.m. yoga class. I was still quite sore from Wednesday’s class, but I don’t think I slacked off all that much. I can’t stand the sight of myself in the mirrors and I don’t remember sweating so profusely during class in the past, but otherwise it seems to be going well considering how many years it’s been since I last attended classes regularly.

Later that morning, the dermatologist took a divot out of my upper arm to remove a mole that looked too dark and square for her liking. It stings a little now and then, but I think I’m going to make it.

I spent the rest of the day doing whatever I wanted to do. While I was driving around, I managed to compose the final lyrics to one of the songs I’ve been trying to complete for months. Woohoo!

I stopped by Costco and bought "Magical Thinking" by Augusten Burroughs to read while I was getting a pedicure and having my hair colored. It was hilarious and I highly recommend it. After I read Pajiba’s review of the movie of Burroughs’ "Running With Scissors," which said that the book was much better, I bought that book, too.

Speaking of being influenced by reviewers, I recently read "Television Without Pity: 752 Things We Love to Hate (and Hate to Love) about TV." One of the shows that the authors kept praising was "Clone High," an animated show I’d never heard of. After I finished the book, I ordered the first season of "Clone High" and received it last week. Hubby and I watched an episode before we went out on Saturday and it was just as entertaining as Wing Chun and Sars said it would be. It’s definitely not for the kiddies, but quite funny!

When I wasn’t reading, I spent my weekend getting costume accoutrements so my husband and I looked like proper goth folk on Saturday night. It was kind of fun to wear as much eye makeup as I could layer on. We went to two parties on Saturday and still made it home before midnight. We’re very lame.  I’m still wearing my black fingernail polish, just ’cause I can. I’ll let it go after the last of the trick-or-treaters comes through tomorrow evening.

Today I’m ready to face my work projects with renewed vigor and pack the stuff in my office in preparation for next week’s move to a new building. But first, another 6:15 a.m. yoga class…