So, tonight I look back at the directions that I wrote to the venue for my wedding (the Catholic ceremony, that is, for those who must know), which included a Google Maps pointer for the church, naturally.

To cut a long story short, not only is the smallest incorporated place (population 29, that is) in Ohio now in Google Street View's coverage (all five or so streets and two intersections in the town limits, albeit just an intersection view of side streets from the main road of the town), the said church can be seen. And there's the church hall across the road, too.

It's a massacre!

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Time for some alarmist titles, methinks. Well, first some disappointing news from my university, then something possibly a bit happier.

And after some more marital bliss-inspired absenses from tph, I wake up to discover that the 2009 papers catalogue for GEND at the teachers' college/university that I graduated from (twice, even) is basically empty. Really. Take a look. (Thanks, Kerry. She's a fellow GradDipArts graduate in GEND.) Trying to finish the undergraduate major might be amusing, let alone an honours year or graduate diploma. Sigh.

And in far more cheerful (possibly) news, Kiwibank now have a Visa debit card with prettier designs than Westpac New Zealand's offering -- and, at first look, cheaper fees, too, especially with regards to the foreign currency fee; 2% versus Westpac's 2.5% might well be worth it. Sigh. Again.

I wonder if I will qualify to receive a card...

Or even if it is worth it. I will have to think about it.

I hear some other queues in Ferguson Township, Centre County, Pennsylvania's polling places are better, and much better at that. But walking past the same local precinct (that I was standing outside of earlier, waiting with my wife for her turn to vote), Mike's Video, TV & Appliance, shortly before (hence the bad photographic quality of the Motorola V325), I came across the following:

Basically, I saw a queue that went in to a neighbouring bank's carpark.

But that was just a preview of the rest of the line:

The queue then went around part of the polling place's carpark quite happily, then past the front of the building ... where it finally went through a really narrow front door.

I write this at around 7.08, with a shade under an hour left. I passed by in a car just about 5 minutes ago, and the queue was about 5 metres shorter at that point.

So I turn up at the local polling booth with my wife. Basically, she's previously been half an hour or so late and is usually the first (give or take) to vote. This year she was voter number 63 and we waited an hour.

While she was inside, I decided it was safer to wait outside and have fun (as much as can be had by a resident waiting for their citizen spouse to finish voting) watching the queue snake around the booth, while I sat there hoping the embassy will actually count my vote in the NZ elections later this week.

Or, the Report of the Committee of Inquiry into the Various Aspects of the Problem of Abortion in New Zealand; you might well find my original scans of this inquiry report (also known as the McMillan Report, after its chairperson, a certain Labour politician called David Gervan McMillan) useful. I'll write some comments about it in the next fortnight.

(Disclaimer: And, in case anyone thinks otherwise, the release date of this title to PG had nothing to do with the current NZ general election; I can not and do not control these release dates in any way as I only submit the scans to be proofread and I only keep a small sort of guidance on this process in terms of the quality of the proofed text while it is being proofread. Or so I think that is what I was told to do. Sorry.)

Voted

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And the said overseas ballot papers (having become available this afternoon) are now about to make their way through the postal system to the embassy in DC.

Thank goodness that is all over.

For now.

(And no, I'm not going to tell you whom I voted for.)

More books uploaded!

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Since the fun of seeing the results of my scan of Hinemoa uploaded to Project Gutenberg, I haven't written much. That said, in the intervening time, three of my scans have been processed, and have been uploaded:

Of the three, I'm most proud of the third book. The scanning may not have been the most time-consuming, but it was significant as the parliamentary response to the Mazengarb Report, which I found to be the most rewarding book to scan (and the first that I did).

Enjoy!

Oh, the joys of choreographed campaign stops: just hold a question and answer session with primary school students.

And from the back files of obscurity, while I did discover this a while ago while Movable Type was down, I have (maybe) always wondered what one could do when illegally embezzling city council funds as a lord mayor -- buy a Darth Vader voice changer, maybe? And don't forget a fridge and a pile of gift tokens, too.
No, not the current round of elections in the United States. Polls open tomorrow for New Zealand's overseas voters in the 2008 general elections, if I have my time zones right. Unfortunately, I haven't exactly decided whom to vote for with my electorate vote, yet (even though it seems that I know a large proportion of the Workers Party candidates). Worse, I nearly forgot someone (this being Helen Clark) actually called this said election not too long ago.

An attempt to help with this indecision by vainly e-mailing the major parties (and where possible, local electorate candidates) yielded only one response from a party I hadn't exactly put down on my short list. Maybe this is why I'm finding the television commericals that Barack Obama and John McCain are putting up here in Centre County and the surrounding area rather mild compared to what I hear about the apparently dirty New Zealand campaigns.

Thank goodness that I've decided what to do with my electorate vote.

Now, all I have to do once I download, print and fill out the ballot papers is to find somewhere with a fax machine...