Voting, Political Ads and the Other Jamis

I voted this morning. Got up a little earlier to make sure I had time, it's that important to me. Call me a big nerd if you like (won't be the first time), but the truth is, I feel like voting really is important - it's a responsibility that I take seriously and believe it or not, I've voted in every election since I was 17 and 1/2. My birthday feel between the primary and election in a presidential election year and I found out that there is an exception for people in that category, so yes, I voted LEGALLY before I was 18. I'm not going to go into issues and who I voted for (I didn't pull either "full party ticket" lever, but those who know me can probably guess who I voted for in most of the races). The new electronic touch-screen ballot things are cool, with the exception that the senior citizen woman in front of me couldn't figure it out and the absence of the Big Red Button that makes the whirring noise and the curtain fly open. The woman in front of me had an election official helping her, trying to not look at how she voted, but still make sure she'd done what she intended. "Do you see the check next to the candidate you want to vote for?" "I touched his name and it changed color." "Good, and there's a check mark?" "I didn't check anyone, I just touched it. .. " Which was followed by about two solid minutes of "Well, I just don't know. I mean, I did what you said, but I just don't know. I don't know if it counted. I hope it did. I just don't know . . .." I miss the big red button. My mom used to let me push that after she voted, it's a joy Eddie will never know in this high-tech world. Sigh. Mostly, the best part of the election is that the commercials, phone calls, flyers, emails and yard signs will hopefully go away for a while. I hate negative ads, and frankly, I hate commercials of all kinds, but the political ones are the worst. Blah. Jerks. "My opponent kills and eats puppies for sport." "Did you know that my opponent wants to sneak into your house at night and club you to death in your sleep? It's true!" Now, onto the stuff that will blow your mind. Apparently, contrary to what you might have thought (or hoped), I'm not the only Jami. This Jami left a comment on my previous blog after realizing that we are both named Jami, live in Pittsburgh, have a toddler and a dog that is part dachshund. We're going to start a club, so if you know any other ones, send them our way. Then, in this post I mention that if you Google "Jami Atwood" (who is not me) that you find my blog. Well, Jami Atwood Googled herself,and found me and commented, which is just one of those weird things. So, because someone else googled her and found me, I found that if you google her you find me, so I mention it, so when she googled herself, she found me. Make sense? And it's only Tuesday.