In which Primo finds yet another way to get out of going to a promised dance class with me

Primo: If I run [for the county government], then we won't be able to go to that dance workshop.

Me: Of course not.

Primo: It is the prime Saturday for getting [nominating petition] signatures.

Me: So that's why you'll run.

Primo: What?

Me: You have been promising to go to dance lessons with me for six years. And you always find an excuse not to go.

Primo: But I don't know if I want to run. I don't know if I want to be a county representative. And I for sure don't want to do it in the snow. I mean, if I run, that would mean you couldn't treat me like someone who stays at home.

Me: But you do stay at home. And you do not have a job.

Primo: But running for office is a full-time job.

Me: Uh huh. So I am supposed to go to work - I was perfectly happy not working - I am supposed to go to work and be gone from the house for 11 hours a day - and then I am supposed to come home and do all the housework?

Primo: Not all. But I can't do it all.

Me: You're not.

Primo: Not what?

Me: Not doing it all. You're not cleaning the bathroom. You're not doing the cooking.

Primo: But I am doing a lot.

Me: But not all.

Primo: Well, I can't do everything and run for office and get up early and shovel the driveway before you leave for work.

Me: So I am supposed to do it?

Primo: I don't know.

Me: Run or don't run. But don't blame me for your decision.

Primo: Do you think I should?

Me: I am staying out of this. You decide. But do not put it on me if you decide not to run. Do not say you can't do it because I won't do all the work around the house and there is snow. If you don't want to run, that's fun. But it is not my fault.

Primo: If I run, I can't take that Saturday for the dance class.

Me: Of course not. I knew you would find a way out of it.

In which we watch "House of Cards" and Primo is horrified because it portrays politicians as Bad People

Now that the election is over and Primo does not have a job, something I still am not crazy about, although at least I come home to a house with the laundry done and clean dishes - we are working on Principles of Clean Bathrooms and The Proper Way to Clean a Kitchen Floor, he finally has time to watch TV.

He could have had time before, but he would rather spend his free time arguing about politics than watching Last Tango in Halifax or Orphan Black. I do not understand the man.

So now he is willing to watch TV. I had watched both seasons of the US version of House of Cards and the entire British series, so I know how it ends.

I won't spoil it for you guys.

Unless you want me to.

Just give me the word.

Oh wait. By the time this is published, season 3 will already have shown. Unless they make huge plot changes, then...

I better stop.

So Primo is crushed that politicians are evil and venal and do not work for the Good of the People but instead work for the Good of Themselves, like any other human being.

Of course, that is one of the big challenges in management. How do you align the interests of the employee with the interests of the organization? It's called agency theory. Basically, it says that people do what they are paid to do.

If you pay someone ten dollars an hour to answer the phones, that person will answer the phones. If you pay someone ten dollars an hour to solve customer problems, that person will solve customer problems.

You have to look at it like this: That customer service rep you just hired (for the outrageously low wage of ten dollars an hour - sheesh - up your wages some, you cheapskate). Do you want her to answer phones? Or do you want her to solve problems? It's harder to manage when you have actual objectives and when you have to determine whether someone is meeting those objectives, but that is how it is done.

How does all this apply to politics, you ask?

What are we really paying politicians to do?

Or, rather, what has to happen for a politician to be paid?

He has to be elected. And then he has to be re-elected.

How does a politician get re-elected?

By advancing the interests of the people and groups who can help him get re-elected.

Those people/groups are not necessarily the ordinary voter.

But hey - I am sure I am preaching to the choir here.

And really, Frank Underwood isn't even about getting re-elected. He is all about power, which, actually, is also a pretty big part of the human condition.

But Primo is idealistic. He thinks politicians are Good, at least politicians on his side.

But then we got caught up in a more mundane aspect of the show. Someone - I don't remember who - probably Zoe and Frank - get busy on the kitchen counter.

Me: We could do that.

Primo: No we couldn't.

Me: Well. Maybe not. We've been together long enough that a lot of the thrill is gone.

Primo: It's because we don't have enough counter space.

In which my brother has a GIRLFRIEND and we all LOVE HER

Primo and I went to Austin last weekend for my brother's 50th birthday. My sister organized the party from afar and it was wonderful. I saw friends I had not seen since high school. Yes, high school. My brother and sister found one of their junior high friends a few years ago and now they are all tight as thieves again, just as they were when we lived in the Panama Canal Zone. Adele flew to Austin from Seattle for the party.

My sister also invited other family friends from the Canal Zone who now live in Texas. I had become facebook friends with William, whom I used to babysit, but had not seen him or his parents for over 30 years.

Primo and I got to the party. Primo saw Adele and went to inspect the beer with her - they had met earlier that day - and I saw Mike, my brother's best friend from high school, who is my mom's son from another mother, which does not sound as good as my brother from another mother, but that's how the relationship was.

Then I introduced myself to a group of people standing in front of the food - I realized that being polite to them was the only way I was going to get anything to eat - and they laughed and said, "But Goldy! Don't you recognize us?"

It was William, who is now an adult,  not a cute little blonde kid in diapers, and his dad. Holy smoke. Thirty years can change a person. I guess it changed me, but they recognized me. William's dad no longer has hair, so that might be part of it, plus I was not expecting to see them there.

I saw Mike's ex-wife and his two daughters and met the ex-wife's new husband. I met some of my brother's Austin friends.

And then a new person arrived.

An attractive woman bearing what turned out to be a fabulous appetizer. (Try these - you will not regret it. I am making them on Wednesday when some friends are coming over for dinner.)

My brother introduced her to me. Nicole. "This is my girlfriend, Nicole," he beamed.

Holy smoke.

My brother has not introduced a girl to us since we were in college.

I know he has had girlfriends since, but Nicole is the first one ever to make it to a family event.

This was big.

My sister and I tried not to be too obvious as we checked her out. We were subtle. We just had normal, Oh hey how are you conversation. Raved about the appetizer. Asked her where she's from. Asked how she and our brother met.

We brought Primo and my brother in law into the conversation.

Talked about Nicole's dog, who died a few years ago. Where she was born. What she usually does for the holidays.

I deliberately didn't ask what she does for a living because that seems kind of rude and reductive, but then she mentioned that she is  - hmm, what is a good fake job that is as good as her real job? - in charge of restoring historical public buildings. Yes. Her real job is that cool. She is an architect by degree, I think, which is what my brother studied as well.

She is NICE. She likes my brother, even though she has seen his house. (He is a little bit cluttered, although not in the main living areas.) She likes my brother's dog. She was gracious and poised as her boyfriend's sisters, mother, and brothers in law descended on her.

We saw her again the next morning when we all met at my brother's house for breakfast.

She was still cool.

I know I should have ignored her. I should have met her and then figuratively turned my back, not asked her any questions about herself, not exhibited any interest in her at all. I should have started trash-talking my family in front of her. I should not have asked her about her family, about where she's from, about what she likes to do, about her work, about anything.

I should have been completely uninterested. After all, that's how Primo's family is. Isn't that the right way to be?

(Can you tell I am a bit cranky about Primo's family right now? His mom and dad are causing more drama and I don't know where it's going to end. Let's just say that I do not believe them that they will actually consider assisted living, even though they say they have found some places to visit. I know this is going to turn into drama that Primo will have to resolve and that will cost us money and it is making me cranky.)

I know how I should have treated her, according to the Sly and Doris School of Sibling/Children Significant Others.

But Sly and Doris are wrong and Nicole is LOVELY and my sister, Primo, and my brother in law and I voted and we told my brother MARRY HER. WE LOVE HER. We would be so happy to have Nicole in our family. Cross your fingers. I want this to work.

(They have only known each other two months, so it is way too early to decide about marriage - but it could work!)

In which Ted (not Primo's brother Ted but the jerk I was involved with in Springfield and no, I do not know why I gave the jerk and Primo's brother - ha, see what I did there? - the same name) sends Primo a facebook friends invitation

Do you guys remember Ted the clergyman whom I met through my alumni association? AKA Ted the Jerk, or, more accurately, Ted the First Jerk, as Primo's brother Ted is Ted the Second Jerk.

Neither of them is really named Ted, of course. I messed up with the character naming here and I didn't keep track. I am sorry about that - remember the two Cathys in Wuthering Heights? (There were two Cathys, right?) I had such a hard time with that. And maybe there were two Heathcliffs? I can't remember - it has been a long time since I read that book.

Anyhow, that wasn't fair of me to give two characters the same name. I hope the context of what I have written will help you keep it all straight.

Anyhow, Ted the First Jerk, or TFJ, is a guy I met years ago at an alumni event. I didn't know him in college. You may read all about it here, but be advised, I think the posts show up in reverse order.

Quick summary:

1. I meet Ted.
2. He starts to call me, almost daily.
3. He makes me a cake for my birthday and transports it to a restaurant where I was meeting my friends.
4. He tells me he is really attracted to me and that he thinks there is "potential" between us, but he CAN'T DATE ME RIGHT NOW.
5. He keeps calling.
6. We kiss and mess around but don't you know.
7. My landlady, who goes to the same church he does, tries to warn me about him but her words fall on deaf,  infatuated ears.
8. He keeps calling and flirting.
9. He takes me to meet his parents.
10. He continues to tell me how attracted he is to me, blah blah blah.
11. I go out of town for work and he still calls me at the hotel every night.
12. We finally sleep together - and I don't hear from him for two weeks, at which point he leaves me an angry phone message that I tricked him.
13. Nine months later, he calls to tell me that there is a house for sale across the street from where he lives (I had been in an apartment when we met). I blow him off, sort of, and don't engage.
14. A few years later, I organize an alumni event and get an email RSVP from him with the domain name "tedandsueswedding.com" or whatever. I look at the site - oh come on, like you wouldn't? - and realize he has married a woman he talked about to me all the time. In their cute little "how we met" story on the site, they say that they started dating at the same time that Ted was telling me we couldn't date, which, of course, was true, because he was seeing someone else.

Now we are here. Now we are years and years later and I dodged a huge bullet with him. He turned out to be a jerk and I ignored the signs to my detriment. But he is in the past and that's fine. He can stay there.

Remember that Primo and I went to the same college. So Ted, Primo, and I went to the same college. It's a small school and if you don't know someone directly, you probably are within one or two degrees of separation.

Primo knew sort of who Ted was. He knows more about him because I told him about Ted, but he and Ted were not friends in college.

However, they have many friends in common.

Last week, Ted sent Primo a friend request on facebook.

"What should I do?" Primo asked.

"Tell him to go f* himself," I said.

"No, really. I'll reject the request if you want."

I told Primo the whole story. He knew some of it, but I don't think I had ever given him all the details.

He got madder and madder.

"I should tell him not only no, but how dare he! He knows you are married to me! It's on my profile!"

I panicked. "No! Don't say anything!"

"But he was a jerk! I need to say something! I need to write him a nasty note."

I did appreciate the show of gallantry, but the last thing I needed was to resurrect the issue.

"This is done. It was over years ago. I don't care about him - I am just mad at myself for being so dumb. If you say something to him, he will think that I have spent this time thinking about him and I haven't."

Primo nodded. "OK. I will just reject the request and I won't say anything."

He paused. "But you say that he was mad because you guys slept together? And you tricked him into it?"

"I didn't trick him into it," I said. "But there may have been some silk scarves. Loosely tied. You know."

"Wait! You've never used scarves with me!"

"You didn't spend five months teasing me, either," I answered. "You were upfront from the very beginning that you liked me and you were interested in the long term. And you sure didn't feel guilty about sleeping together."

He laughed. "Nope. You said you weren't going to sleep with me until my divorce was final but I had it all planned out. That Gateway Nap was all part of the plan. And I wasn't mean to you after and I didn't disappear. I knew what I wanted and I wanted you."

Like I said. Dodged a bullet and came out ahead.

In which Doris finds the watch she suggested that I had stolen when she couldn't find it at our house when they were here for our wedding

You guys, I could have sworn I already told you this story, but I searched the site for "watch" and "lost watch" and I got too many hits and you all know I am as lazy as can be and I decided it would be easier just to write this up again than to keep searching.

Do you remember that when Sly and Doris were here for nine days for our wedding? When they ate all of our expensive cheese and drank all their own booze and then started on ours? NB - we do not buy cheap booze. We almost never drink hard liquor - I might have a Bailey's cut with half and half and I make rum balls at Christmas. Primo has a few sips of scotch a few times a year. We buy the really good stuff so that when we have friends over, we can offer them something nice. We still have almost all the hard liquor that Primo had stored in the bottom cupboard in his kitchen in his apartment when we met nine years ago. All of it except what Sly and Doris drank when they were here. Their palates do not deserve the good stuff - their mouths and tongues are pickled by now and surely cannot taste anything.

Anyhow. They were here for nine days of drama and I was so happy when they left, only there was drama with their leaving - Doris could not find her drivers license,  because she could not find her wallet, because it had fallen out of her purse when we had gone out to dinner and she had not noticed because she was drunk, and I was panicked they would not let her on the plane, but I insisted that Primo drive them the 90 miles to the Big Airport where Sly and Doris could get a direct flight home - better Primo drive 180 miles round trip than Sly and Doris be forced to navigate an airport like the hoi polloi (I first wrote, "hoi pollo" and thought, "Does that mean ordinary chicken?") - and let security deal with a frail 70-years-old woman, which they did. They let her on the plane even without her ID. Sometimes sense does prevail.

The other drama was that Doris could not find her watch. Why she did not notice this until just before leaving, I do not know. Is it not the practice of people who wear watches to wear them all the time? I have not worn a watch since I was in 7th grade and got one for Christmas. I don't like wearing jewelry - I don't even wear my wedding ring and you all know I never got an engagement ring because I did not want one, I wanted a Good Trash Can instead (and a paid-for house and a trip to Paris). Perhaps I am not as au courant on watch-wearing practices as I should be. But if you have a watch, why wouldn't you wear it?

Doris did not notice until just before they were supposed to leave that her watch was missing. Half the team looked for her wallet, the other half looked for her watch. No luck in either case.

Primo assured Doris we would look for her watch and mail it to her.

He and I scoured every inch of every space where Doris had been. We got on our hands and knees and looked at the entire living room and dining room floors and the bedroom and kitchen floors as well. We checked in the bedding, in the sofa. Took out all the sofa cushions. Even checked the guest room, where Doris had spent only a few minutes. We looked and looked and looked, but never found a watch.

Primo told Doris with regret that the watch seemed to have disappeared.

For the next six years, every now and then, Doris would ask about the watch. She even suggested once to Primo that perhaps I had found it and was keeping it for myself.

1. I do not wear a watch.
2. I do not like Doris.
3. Why would I wear something I would not otherwise wear belonging to someone I do not like? It would be a constant reminder of that person!
4. Perhaps she thought I was keeping the watch as a trophy, stuck in a drawer. I would occasionally pull open the drawer, look at the watch, and cackle.

I don't know what she thought except she thought that I was somehow responsible.

Six years she spent being ticked off at me about the watch.

Wait.

No.

Five years.

Why five?

Because last month, when Primo visited Sly and Doris, Doris laughed - oh, how she laughed - that guess what? She had found the watch! She had put on a sweater that she had not worn since they had visited, stuck her hand in the pocket, and found the watch!

Isn't that funny?

She found it a year ago.

A year ago.

After five years of asking Primo about the watch and implying that there was some nefariousness going on with me and the watch, she discovered that she had had it all the time.

And had not bothered to tell Primo.

Because. Because. Because I don't know why.

In which Primo and some of his comrades plot to change - not overthrow - the party

You guys, I keep thinking there is nothing more to tell but guess what? The drama just keeps coming.

1. Primo might not want to run for the county government after all. I don't blame him. It would not be fun work and the county representatives do not seem to get a lot of appreciation.

2. Primo is at a meeting right now with a grassroots organization that did a lot of work on his campaign. The leader is a super nice lady - Renee- whom I really like. She is so sincere and so sweet. I think I may have told you - but perhaps I did not - that the local party apparatchik tried to take over her group - which she had founded - to do the party's will. The party's group the next town over - the group that had fired the drunk/scabies guy, was not going well and the party wanted to use  Renee's group to pick up the slack. But Renee and her group had already made their plans. The party tried to order Renee to do what they wanted and she told them to go to heck.

They are having a meeting tonight - Renee, Primo, MaryJane, a few of the other local activists - to talk about their next steps. They are considering splitting off to form their own group so they can work on reforming the party. There is some unhappiness with the way the elections turned out and of course blame is being assigned, as is proper, because that is the first step. Unfortunately, it is no longer possible to cut people out of photographs, otherwise I am sure the scissors would have come out along with the long knives.

They want to reform the party and get rid of the current leadership and I wish them well.

In which it turns out that the Scabies Kid might not have been fired for scabies

You guys! Primo found out that that guy who was fired for not showing up for work because he had gone to the hospital with scabies and then had to move in with someone else because who would want to stay in the house where he caught scabies? (although who would let someone with scabies move in with her?) might not have been fired for not showing up for work.

The woman who let Scabies Kid stay with her the 17 days between his being fired and the election cleaned out the room he had been staying in -

and discovered NINETEEN EMPTY VODKA BOTTLES.

So there may have been more to this story.

In which Primo waits to be thanked but I don't think he should hold his breath

It's been a week since the election and Primo has not gotten one single phone call from anyone in the party to thank him for running. He ran at the party's request. He put a ton of time into the campaign, as did the volunteers. We put our own money into it - although not like last time, when we put in enough to pay for a semester's worth of tuition at a fancy school and enough that would have covered my entire three and a half years of college and room and board at a semi-fancy school.

Wait. Now I have to do the math. About $6,000 a year tuition and room and board when I was there - yes - $20,000 would have covered most of it.

Primo is a bit cranky that nobody has called to thank him. He has made an effort to thank everyone who worked on his campaign and everyone who voted for him. He has called his opponent and has been gracious in his defeat.

All he wants is someone in the party leadership to call or email and say, "Thank you." It's not too  much to ask, I don't think.

In which Primo does not win

And it's over. Primo did not win.

I am sure you are shocked, shocked.

But I have to tell you guys that it is super thrilling to see my husband's name on the ballot and then to look at the election results on cnn.com and see his name.

He did not do too badly, considering. He was running against a 30-year veteran while he was working full time at a very demanding job and with almost no money. He and his team raised about $10,000, I think, and that was all spent on door literature and for creative services. There were no radio ads, no TV ads, no newspaper ads. That is for candidates with money. We are not candidates with money.

He got almost 30% of the vote, which is really not shabby at all. Perhaps he does have a future in this.

Sly and Doris even called to congratulate him. They almost never call him. He has to call them. They called and they were sober and they were nice. It was a red-letter day.

Primo for Congress

Posted by Primo · November 5

I need to repeat this on its own instead of having it buried at the end of my "Thank you" post from late last night:
Congratulations to Congressman [incumbent] on his nth successful re-election campaign. He deserves respect as a seasoned professional in this business and was a formidable opponent.

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• Recent Activity

  Mary , Kathy , Jennifer  and 4 others like this.
• Kathleen  Nice of you to be magnanimous but he's been sucking off the public teat for too long. Old white men are part of the problem with this country.

  Like · Reply · 3 · November 5 at 2:02pm
• Nancy Classy Primo.

  Like · Reply · 1 · November 5 at 6:23pm
• Leslie Sorry Primo. I'm with Kathleen . [The incumbent] sits on Science & Environmental committees while denying climate change. He's not to be respected. He's helping kill the environment and my grandchildren's futures.

  Like · Reply · 1 · November 5 at 2:13pm
• Kathleen  Just another way to say "seasoned".

  Like · Reply · 1 · November 5 at 2:02pm
• Primo for Congress Kathleen and Leslie, I understand how you feel. Congressman [incumbent] may not deserve respect for most of the policies he supports, but he does his job in a professional manner. He doesn't conduct himself in a way that brings shame and ridicule upo...See More

  Like · Reply · Commented on by Primo · November 5 at 5:07pm ·Edited
• Blue State Thank you and you're being entirely too nice.

  Unlike · Reply · 1 · November 5 at 9:15pm
• Primo for Congress No mud was slung at me in this campaign. We need to be nice except when it's absolutely impossible, or when it's absolutely necessary not to be nice. This is [our state].

  Like · Commented on by Primo  · November 5 at 9:27pm ·Edited

• Yesterday at 12:41pm
• Amy Listen, I am just a lowly volunteer with little $ to give to candidates. I coudn't stomach volunteering for [Suzy Q] unless it was secondary to another candidate on the ballot that did motivate me to volunteer. [John Doe] was my third choice for AG so that didn't help. I was excited about [Brad Pitt] but he also lost in the primary. The only candidate left that was exciting on my ballot, in my county, was Primo for Congress. But he had zero support and money. I hate [the governor] as much as I hate [the incumbent] but my motivation to help was only sparked by Primo. He actually stood for some great policy issues and I believed him. I didn't trust [Suzy Q]. Primo could have been a great partner to [Angelina Jolie] in Congress! Too bad there wasn't more support for a host of candidates equally motivating, like [Billy Joel], [Christie Brinkley] etc.

  Yesterday at 12:53pm · Edited · 4
• Primo Amy, I would give you a big hug right now if I could. You have no idea how much that kind of support means to me. Thank you!

  Yesterday at 1:01pm · 4

In which it is election day

It is 7:21 a.m. on Tuesday, November 4. Election day. Finally.

Only this will all probably start again tomorrow. Primo will not win this race, but he might want to run in the special election for the county government. Woo-hoo.

I have hardly seen him since last week. That's been fine with me - Season 3 of Scandal, Season 5 of The Good Wife, and Season 2 of Major Crimes all came in at once. Talk about feast or famine. So of course I have been forced to spend all of my free time watching TV. If I had rejected the DVDs this turn, I would have had to wait another few months to get them again. Such are the lines at my library.

As I watched Fitz running for president on Scandal and Cyrus' complete evil - evil masked by a pudgy, middle-aged face - and Olivia's eyebrows and forehead and as I watched Eli and Alicia deal with the charges of vote fraud, I decided that I prefer my politics to be fictional. At least on a TV show, an obnoxious person can be dispatched somehow. Although upon further thought, I realize that the only people who get killed on Scandal are the good guys. The bad guys stay alive, probably because it is more fun to watch bad guys than good guys.

So Primo has been out knocking on doors and working hard and I have been watching TV and that is fine with me.

I am ready for this to be over. The dining room table is still pushed to the wall, where it was moved over two weeks ago when they filmed the ad. The guys would have moved it back, but Primo wanted to vacuum that space first and of course nothing happens right before an election. The doorstop for the back door has been sitting in the junk drawer in the kitchen for two months  now. The tub has needed re-caulking for three months. There are still financial issues from Isabel's estate that Primo needs to resolve - he has not given ownership of the time shares to the girls yet and has been paying the fees, which made me - I will admit it - bitchily angry. "Why on earth do I go to Peet's in the afternoon with my 50% off coupon that is good only after 12:00 to get coffee for the next day?" I demanded. "Why am I doing that to save two dollars when we are paying an extra hundred dollars a month for a time share that we do not own?" I was super cranky.

I will vote today. I will vote for Primo, even though I disagree with him,  because he is my husband and I love him. If by some miracle he were to win, I would have to get involved just so he wouldn't vote the wrong way on legislation.

In which Primo gets personal and it works.

Primo's campaign facebook posts have tended toward the dry and policy oriented. I have suggested that a more personal, authentic approach might engage people more. Sure enough, this post from today is the most-commented post he has ever had:

My top five stories from a great weekend on doors for the coordinated campaign:

1. Within the first hour yesterday, a lady said "I usually vote Stripes, but this year I'm voting for the PD candidate." Her statement provided a nice jolt of motivation on a cold morning.
2. Apartments can be very difficult to canvass, but yesterday afternoon I figured out that some apartments could be accessed through their back doors. Most of the people on my list were not home or had moved, but I found some of them. I spoke to two men unloading a truck; one of them lived in a unit I was looking for, but he wasn't the person on the list. I talked to him about the election anyway; he said that he wanted to vote against the governor but wasn't sure that he could vote. It turned out that he had been convicted of a felony but had been off papers for years. Some people had told him that he still couldn't vote, but I assured him that he can (and used my phone to show him an ACLU webpage to remove any doubt). He will be voting for my party's gubernatorial candidate and for me on Tuesday.

3. A short time after the encounter described in the previous story, something even more amazing happened. I went to a house with one name on the list, a young woman, but the person who answered the door was a young man. It turned out that he was the woman's fiancé; he knew that she'd be voting for our candidate but said that he had never voted before and didn't plan to vote this week. He felt that his vote didn't matter because neither side seemed to be working for him and he didn't like politicians. I explained that I was not a typical politician but an engineer who got into politics because of what the governor has done to our state. After a few minutes, I learned that he had been affected by the recent cuts to the state health insurance plan and was angry about it. I explained that he should be angry at the governor and assured him that his vote for our candidate could make a big difference because she will immediately accept hundreds of millions of dollars from the federal government to expand the insurance plan. I asked him to please think about voting this week, and he said "No one's ever talked to me about voting the way you just did." The next discussion topic was how to register at the polls, and I think he'll be there on Tuesday!

4. Another apartment story: Two upstairs units, one outside door, two doorbells, no response to either one after about a minute. I was about to leave literature on the doorknob when the door opened. The man who answered was on my list and quickly volunteered that he's my party, but he added that his wife (who wasn't on the list) is disabled and can't get to the polls because they don't have a car. I didn't have the phone number for rides to the polls, but I asked for his number and made a note on the first page of the walk list that he should be contacted ASAP. I turned in my list, picked up some more turf, and by the time I turned it in yesterday evening someone in the office had already called him. All canvassers should have this information with them: Citizen Action will provide rides to the polls, and the number to call is 555.5309.

5. My next-to-last door today was a great way to wrap up a very busy weekend. It was dark already, and nothing stood out about the house as I walked up to it. The lady who answered the door immediately recognized me and said -- in a very positive and encouraging voice -- "We voted for you last week, and we already have signs!" She and her husband had put away their yard signs for trick-or-treating but hadn't put them back up because they were raking leaves this weekend. She promised to put them up again, but I volunteered to do it for her and asked whether I could add a Primo for Congress sign to their lawn. The answer was yes, and she handed me her signs as I marked the "Supportive" box on my walk list.

After putting up those signs and turning in my lists, I spent another hour putting up more signs around my neighborhood. In two days, we're going to elect a new governor. I can't wait!

In which I am pretty much DONE with politics and am ready for the darn election to be done

So where was I? It's been a while since I have written. I know the posts show up regularly, but I am writing them way in advance and sometimes I have time to write and sometimes I don't. I have a new job - three months now - and Primo is running for Congress and he has quit his job and even though he promised if he could quit his job, the drama would stop, that has not necessarily been the case.

1. Primo hosted a karaoke fundraiser the other night. It is one week until the election. He and the team decided to host a fundraiser one week before the election. But I guess that is not unheard of in political circles. I guess I can see event happening right before the election. I can't see waiting until one week plus three days to plan the event. Primo and I are like matter and anti-matter when it comes to planning. As in, I plan and he does not.

The fundraiser was fun and he actually raised some money. This is good because as I have already noted, I am not interested in spending our savings to pay campaign debts.

He gave a speech about an hour into the fundraiser. He talked too long, which blesshisengineerheart, is something he is wont to do, but he did spend a lot of that time thanking his wonderful wife, so I can live with that.

He also mentioned the "confluence of events" that led to an engineer friend of his from California, who just moved back here to be closer to his aging parents, move in next door to a big party mover and shaker. The friend, Pablo, asked the new neighbor, who just bought the house next to Pablo's parents, if the neighbor knew Primo. The neighbor did not, but asked another big party mover and shaker if he knew Primo and that mover and shaker did. Pablo and mover #2 were both at the fundraiser. Worlds colliding.

When Primo used "confluence of events," my friend Mari laughed and said Primo was such an engineer.

2. Primo was interviewed on the morning show on the local public radio station. I listened on my way to work. He sounded good, although of course I was yelling at the radio that he was wrong, wrong, WRONG on the positions. The only question he didn't handle well was the first one, which was, "Tell me why you would be a good representative." He never really answered the question, which I know is not uncommon for a politician, but I think it had more to do with the fact that Primo has not had to look for and interview for a job for years. He was with the same company for 15 years and before that, he was always recruited and followed old bosses to new companies.

3 He has also had a few interviews that have been videotaped. He has sent me the videos to watch, but the thrill is gone of watching my husband on video. I already know what he thinks and I get to hear it at home, not just in 30 minutes on some public access station.

4. They didn't make enough yard signs. And they waited until ten days before the election to make them.

5. Primo and the team spent the Sunday two weeks before the election making a campaign ad. I first heard the concept for this ad on the 4th of July. And they are just now making it. They filmed at our house. In our living room. They moved furniture and Primo was all "Wooo!" about that, worried they would damage the furniture. It has been almost two weeks but the furniture still had not been moved back. I would like my house to be restored to its natural state.

6. Primo went to pick up an order of 5,000 pieces of door literature today. The printer had made only 1,000 pieces. Someone sent the wrong email or something. I have screwed up print orders before. Wait. I screwed up a print order once. When I was 22. I have not made that kind of mistake since. I have found all sorts of new mistakes to make, but now, when I am spending a lot of money, I double check the order and request confirmation from the vendor. I don't understand how this order could have gotten so screwed up.

7. I need to form a support group for the spouses of politicians. It can be non partisan.

8. I don't know why I thought of this, but I had a boss two jobs ago who, two days before our big annual conference, asked me to put together a communications plan for the new office I was opening in The Grand Duchy of Fenwick. I asked him what he wanted to communicate and he didn't know, but he wanted a plan.

I called the communications director, who sighed and said not to worry, he knew what to do. So the amazing communications director put together a 12 page communications plan - without an actual message but including our strategies for facebook, LinkedIn, and twitter, and then he and I presented it to my boss.

After we finished the presentation, my boss looked at us and asked, "But aren't we going to do anything with social media? What about that social media? I've heard we should use social media."

I am ready for the election to be over.