TMI Tuesday / I voted!

1. Have you ever had a moving violation? An auto accident? That was your fault?

Yes, yes, and yes. I've had speeding tickets - many speeding tickets, failure to maintain an assured clear distance (I rear-ended someone), and failure to yield (turned in front of an oncoming car that I didn't see coming). But no tickets in the last 10 years.

Accidents, I've had a few. Slipping and sliding on Michigan ice, rear-ending someone when I wasn't paying attention, turning in front of an oncoming car that I didn't see: those were all my fault. I've also been hit by a drunk driver who ran a stop sign and rear-ended by folks not paying attention. Our van was side-swiped by a trailer of a semi (and the driver left the scene of the accident so we had to chase him down. Asshole.)

2. Have you ever voted? How old was your were you the first time you voted?

I registered to vote on my 18th birthday and I vote whenever possible. My first national-level election was Senate/House of Reps when I was 19 and my first presidential election was when I was 21. I've never missed a November election, presidential or not. I rarely miss local elections or primaries and only if I absolutely cannot be there (I vote absentee if I know I'll be gone).

3. Are you glad this election cycle is over?

Oh yes, most definitely. I hear tell that South Carolina is a pretty state and I'm hoping to find out once all these election signs are gone!

4. Do you have guilty pleasure? What is it (or are they)?

Blogging, reading blogs, savoring white chocolate Lindor truffles, and reading. Spousehole always makes me feel guilty for reading because he thinks I should be constantly cleaning, like his mother always is. I, however, clean only out of necessity, not as a hobby. (If she runs out of things to clean in her own home, my mother-in-law goes to her church or her children's homes and cleans. I'm totally serious. It's an obsession with that woman.)

It's not right for a woman to read. Soon she starts getting "ideas" and "thinking."
(In the comments, name the movie and the character who voiced this quote)


5. What is the most embarrassing thing you have done recently?

I got totally, hopelessly lost trying to find my own house. I was coming home from the library (my second home) and found a road unexpectedly closed. There was a sign saying the road was closed and to follow the detour, but there were no detour signs anywhere. I tried following someone else who was cutting through a subdivision, but lost them at an intersection and then couldn't find my way out of that subdivision. It was ridiculous. Everything went in circles and nothing I tried got me out. After a crazy amount of time I found an outlet back to the road I came in on. I went back to the "Road closed - follow detour" sign to see if any detour signs had materialized, but no. I ended up driving all the way back into town and then taking the only other way I know back to my unincorporated village. Complete waste of gas, but no more so that driving aimlessly around an unfamiliar subdivision. In talking with others later, I learned that going back into town and around the other way (as I did) was really the only viable option anyway. Crazy.

I have also turned into the wrong driveway in my own subdivision. The houses are all so similar. Even Spousehole has trouble finding our house sometimes. I planted some mums by our mailbox to try to make it easier to locate which driveway is ours. I can't do too much more to personalize it because (a) we are only renting, and (b) the homeowners' association rules are designed to prevent too much personalization. Uniformity (i.e., monotony) is the order of the day around here.

Bonus: How much impact has the Wall Street and general economic wilt had on you?

A HUGE impact. We are trying to sell our house in Michigan and we've had to lower the price a couple times and still no bites. The average time on the market in our city is 17 months! It's starting to feel like we will never sell that house. It looks so good too - all kinds of upgrades, newly refinished hardwood floors throughout, new storm doors - I'm tempted to move back if it doesn't sell by the time our lease here in S.C. is up. Spousehole can try to find a new job in Michigan or he can stay here and the kids and I will go back without him.

Spousehole had moved his 401K money into safer investments (bonds and money markets) last winter, so we didn't actually lose money there and even made a little. We'll get it back in mutual funds and such after a little time and after it gets rolled into his current company's plan (or an IRA, which I would prefer). My little IRA is all in bonds, so it also wasn't hurt. Not sure about the kids' 529 plans, because those were set up by and are handled by my in-laws investment advisor. I suspect they've likely lost money, since the kids are quite young and the investments for their age groups tend to be in riskier funds (most 529 plans start in the riskier investments for little kids and then get more conservative as the child approaches college-age).

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I VOTED!

Spousehole stayed home this morning so I could go vote child-free. I got in line at 6:45 (the polls opened at 7:00) and there were about 200 people ahead of me. Outdoors. In the mist/rain. Once I got close to the building, however, I got lucky. There are three precincts in the building and the indoor line for my precinct was short, so they were letting people from my precinct inside to get into the line. Woo hoo! All in all it really wasn't so bad. I was home at 8:15. Spousehole hadn't even showered yet, since he didn't think I would be back so quick. I think my precinct moved faster because a lot of the area is still not so densely populated and there are a lot of military families, most of whom vote absentee. I know my subdivision has a lot of Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard families and all the military-affiliated folks I spoke with voted absentee, whether here or where they are from originally.

If you are a U.S. citizen and haven't voted yet, GET OUT THERE AND VOTE! Remember: if you don't participate, you have no business complaining about who the rest of us choose. Non-U.S. citizens may complain all you want, of course, since you don't get a choice. But if you are eligible to vote and don't, I don't want to hear any complaints from you, m'kay?

To blog is a self-invasion of privacy