the first proposal considered by the floor was to remove the caucus system from the 1st January 2009, and instead allocate the delegates to the presidential nominating committee by proportion of the primary vote. This was followed up by a motion to limit discussion to 10 minutes per side, with each speaker being limited to 5 minutes. This was seconded and then this motion was discussed for several minutes. The proposer of the motion withdrew it, and was immediately followed up by a motion to table the motion to to remove the caucus system from the 1st January 2009, and instead allocate the delegates to the presidential nominating committee by proportion of the primary vote pending the outcome of the special committee that had been formed to look into this very matter. This is a non-discussable motion, that was discussed through a number of points of information. the point of order was raised that the original motion had to be discussed under the ruled of the Texas democratic party because it had been brought to the floor by petition of more than 20% of the delegates to the convention. The Chair ruled that it had been brought to the floor, but that there was nothing that prevented a motion to table, and that motion was denied. the chair called for a voice vote to decide on whether to table the motion ... pending .. etc. the voice vote was (to my ears) darned close, but the chair called it for the motion to table. The point of order was raised and seconded from the floor that it was impossible to tell what the outcome was because some people yelled louder than others and called for a division. the chair had to agree, and the convention floor caucused by senatorial district for 3 minutes for each district to cast their vote.

It was now 6:30pm. I decided that this was going to go on for a while, and since I was only an alternate there was no real reason to hang around for this, so I went home, had dinner and got some sleep.

The delegate who was staying with us got home at 1am, somewhat addled.

There are a lot of stands selling stuff. including American flag outfits.

We left home bright an early (6:15am), and after the effects of the precinct caucus purchased emergency supplies at HEB {peanut butter crackers are useful for this purpose, and we fortified other members of our precinct with them}

We got to the traffic jam for the convention center by about 7am -- I know my way there
it took about an hour to travel the last mile to convention center, and then another 45 minutes to sign-in as delegates. we browsed the tables for 15/20 minutes and took our seats

speeches:
Mark Strama, and the former mayor of Dallas gave the most rousing ones.
Sean Astin's speech was vapid. Dude, I don't care what sex the next president is. yes, the country is ready for a woman president, yes, I think they are also ready for a black president (if Colin Powell had decided to run, they might have been ready a couple of years ago) but this doesn't mean I think that Hillary is the right candidate, and the sense of entitlement sticks on my craw. The theme of the day was coming together once we have settled on a candidate. yea, hillary has an ever shrinking chance of success and after the statesman-like speech on race from Obama this month he's shown his depth of thinking. {by way of contrast we listened to a BBC documentary on Enoch Powell's River's of Blood Speech while stuck in the traffic jam. The documentary skirted the implications of it so I'm not sure that it had the impact that it might have }
one of the prospective candidates to DA is waaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyy too legally blond. She may have a fine legal mind but she doesn't convey the gritty determination one might expect for a prospective Travis county district attorney, who has responsibility for prosecuting members of the Texas legislature. Your opponent was less glib, but she gave the impression that she knew what she was going to face.
Dale Henry: good grief dude, you're an engineer through and through, but please get some public speaking classes. Your opponent in the run-off spoke during the senatorial district 14 caucus, which was really really really stupid/rude of him, and the organizers to schedule.

I got to recite the pledge of allegiance for the second time, and sing along with the star spangled banner {out of mtb0001's earshot)

at about 4pm we finally got to caucus... the Obama delegate next to me suddenly stood up and started to leave. YIKES!!! Katherine herded him back. Depending on your view both the Hillary and Obama delegations made optimal voting decisions. The two leaders of the Obama delegation had 12 votes, and the other 4 had 11 each. two of the hillary delegates had 11 each and so the result 2 to Obama + a game of chance for the other 5 positions. the first hillary delegate drew the lowest card in the deck and it was all over: 6 Obama state delegates + 1 Hillary delegate +1 hillary alternative. We then drew cards for all of the other people who got zero votes and ended up with 5 obama alternates and 1 hillary alternate.

I drew the Queen of hearts in the lottery, so I'm an alternative to the state convention in June. mtb0001 only drew a 9, so she didn't make the alternative list, however she (and I) also filed to be at-large delegates. I'm the middle-aged white dude demographic, so my chances are really zero. she's the Female demographic, so she stands some chance. Se did suggest I should have circled the GLBT orientation to be part of that demographic, but since we;'re in Austin that's not that odd.

I'm looking forward to the next round.

There were about 7000 people at the county convention for congressional districts 25 and 14:



and to the left:

I started out as a fox.

A Co-Worker introduced me to the kill dash nine rap

mtb0001 and I went to Lost Pines Resort in Bastrop for a weekend of relaxation and doing nothing for her birthday treat. We took no work, no laptops, and spent the time relaxing, reading, playing ping-pong, having wraps, massages, and pedicures. A wonderful time was had by all, it would have been nice if the weather had been dry and we could have gone walking/hiking

We got home early yesterday and retrieved Marmite from the kennels and hunkered down for the night. I wrapped exposed pipes outside with towels and dripped taps to prevent freeze damage. Stupidly I left the shed unlocked and sometime between 2pm and 8:30 this morning someone stole my road bike. Reported to the police, and I'll call the insurance folks later in the week, I'm sure they have more important things to do right now with all the accidents than find a bright red giant OCR3 road bike.

It's below freezing outside, and the deck and porch are covered in a sheet of ice, with more forming making things treacherous. I'll take pictures on my next work break and put them up.

-Richard
working at home while the roads are icy and treacherous

Last year did not start well, and went downhill for a couple of months as I became dispondant. November and December have been better, and I hope that 2007 starts of much better than 2006 did...

Jan: On christmas eve I was in a car wreck -- I'm okay, but the car's been in the shop since the tuesday after with no end in sight
Feb: Is this me, or is this the person I want to be?
Mar: Went around to a friend of a contradancer friend last night to play games.
Apr: You scored as Faerie
May: Dryer has given up the ghost.
Jun: Thought about the design for an inlay, and turned it onto a userpic.
Jul: What Doctor Who character are You?
Aug: I Had a great time in the heat with mtb0001 and J.
Sep: between 1815 and 2020 I:
Oct: Benjamin Franklin wrote
Nov: Note: this is a light-hearted review of papers at an academic conference by an outsider.
Dec: I ate this yesterday, but it's taken me until now to have free time to post

I discovered tonight that Tuscany Market net work is now closed -- I have no nearby (as in walking distance from my office) source of good veggie pizza, lattes, and breakfast tacos

I would have linked to their website, but, like the business, it's not working.

I was thinking of going over there for pizza before board games... now I need to find another source of comestables.

After the Dixie chicks the other night mtb0001  and I went to Magnolia Cafe. I decided to fore-go my usual Migas, and instead I settled on their Three Alarm Taco. I have been too busy to post the review until now, but here it is...

The Test Taco: Three Alarm Taco
Quantity required for breakfast: One, but I ate two
Cost: $5.95 for two ; $4.25 for one

Appearance:
Totally yummy, I faced the taco only with the feeling of 'How and I going to get this in my mouth without drooling'
The tortilla was soft and stretchy. the filling was a mix of scrambled egg, potato, cheddar/jack cheese and chipotle sauce, with a thick and delicious pot of regular salasa on the side of the plate. I do not know where you were meant to put this, since the tacos were really stuffed full: I had to fork some of the filling before eating the taco with my fingers.

Taste:
Wow. really good. An excellent taco. the chipotle sauce was not overpowering, and they tasted excellent.
I had to taste the salsa on its own, and that was excellent too.

Overall:
I would eat this again, but $4.25 is too expensive for an everyday breakfast taco. Could go there with someone else and split two.

My journal posts are friends-only by default

If this is one of the few posts you can see comment on it and I will add you as a friend.

If you want to know when I am free my google calendar is at:

If you need to contact me some other way, then my email address is richard@illuin.org

Yikes! Just filled in my google calendar, and it's going to be a busy end to the year!

We used to get tacos from here regularly, then we switched, so this morning,feeling the need for some sustenance I stopped by this purveyor of breakfast comestibles.

The Standard Test Taco: Potato, Egg, and Cheese with Salsa
Quantity required for breakfast: Two
Cost: $1.14 each (2 toppings for 85c + 30c for potato or cheese)

Appearance:
Forgot they do not wrap their tacos in foil, they come in a paper tray wrapped in greaseproof paper; help yourself to Salsa.
On unwrapping the tacos I was disappointed, the tortillas did not look to have much filling, this was untrue, but it was how they looked.

Egg and Potato: they appeared to have been cooked together as they were mingled in the taco. the egg appeared well-cooked and the potato lacked the crunchy bits of saturday's tacos.
Cheese: pretty standard taco cheese, a little sparse.
Seasoning: None
Salsa: fresh and spicy; you get your own, and so can get less liquid if you like.
Tortilla: soft and flexible where it was touching the filling, dry and stiff elsewhere

Taste:
A bit of a curate's egg: the excellent Salsa made up for other deficiencies in the taco.

Downside:
Did not look as appealing as the other tacos, and was disappointed in the quality of the tortilla.

Overall: A cheap breakfast taco near home.

I ate this yesterday, but it's taken me until now to have free time to post

The Standard Test Taco: Potato, Egg, and Cheese with Salsa
Quantity required for breakfast: Two
Cost: $1.84 each (Build your own taco 2 toppings for $1.49 + 35c/topping)

Appearance: Normally I get these to go, so this was a new Taco Shack experience for me. On the first taco the cheese had not melted, on the second one the cheese had time to melt.

Potato: well cooked with some crunchy bits.
Egg: Seemed a little runny to me, but quantity nicely in proportion to potato
Cheese: pretty standard taco cheese
Seasoning: None
Salsa: Pleasant taste, not watery and had some fire to it.
Tortilla: soft and flexible, started splitting a little

Downside:
Concerned about how well cooked the eggs were, which distracted me from enjoying the taco. I was also running slightly late and had to eat hurriedly.

Overall:
A good breakfast taco near home at an OK price; one is not really large enough for breakfast

The Test Taco: Potato, Egg, and Cheese with Salsa
Quantity required for breakfast: One
Cost: $2 for potato and egg and (bacon or sausage) + 35c for cheese (50c for another meat)

Appearance: Yummy (I was hungry)
Potato: well cooked
Egg: Chunks a little on the large side
Cheese: pretty standard fare
Seasoning: very tasty
Salsa: Bland, not spicy or tasty at all
Tortilla: soft and flexible, did not break during eating

Downside:
charges for cheese, and would not substitute cheese for either Bacon or sausage
Salsa rather watery, consequently the taco driped alot

Overall:
A good breakfast taco near work at a reasonable price, given only one required.

Benjamin Franklin wrote

They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security

Someone I know posted a list of democrats willing to give up essential liberties:

http://blog.xcski.com/2006/10/01/democrats-on-notice

Marmite graduated from training class today,

here is a picture of him with a little mortar board on his little head:



What is Marmite?

between 1815 and 2020 I:

• left work
• Picked up Marmite from daycare
• drove home
• replaced laptop keyboard
• replaced laptop ethernet card
• reconfigured network for new card
• cooked dinner
• went dancing
  

Spent an hour tonight sealing the sheetrock Manuel Castro (excellent drywaller) put up just before we went away for the weekend. Might be able to get some attempts at paint-texture this weekend (sponging on/off, and ragging on/off) to see if we can do something nice for the dining room. Meet someone the other night who is a cabinetmaker, if I don't get around to replacing the missnig corner cabinet in the dining room, then might ask him to quote for the job.

okay, sometimes programmers say things that are surprising to me and I am left scared and wondering
a) are they really saying they can't write a C program to query data from a database in less than a day (and convert it to Java when they discover the target platform doesn't have a C compiler, but does have a java compiler) in less than an hour or two
or b) are they taking the piss out of me for writing a program to get this data out?

Now, these aren't dumb people, I'm just surprised that they set limitations on their own abilities.

oh, and the platform only has a java 1.2.1 compiler on it, so old and out of support that I'd be worried if I was the sysadmin, not even 1.2.2 or 1.3 or 1.4 or 1.4.2 or any patch level in between.