I got two pretty awesome presents yesterday…

The first was a red Swingline stapler. Anyone who’s seen Office Space knows the story of Milton and his red stapler. (For those that don’t, just go rent the movie or watch it on Comedy Central.) The story behind it is I have been working as a subcontractor for a few months for a place where I used to be an actual employee. Since becoming a subcontractor, my workspace is constantly moved almost daily between cubes, offices, and random tables. While I was in a meeting yesterday someone put a red stapler on my desk! I still have yet to figure out who put it there, and everyone I have asked has denied it. I’m not sure if it was intended as a gift or not but I am keeping it until someone asks me, “Have you seen my stapler?”.

The second gift was a black iPod classic(named “The bPod”) as an early Christmas present from my awesome wife. I have wanted an iPod for quite a while but had a few hangups. I was too lazy to rip all my CDs, I’m not usually an early adopter and iPods kept improving every year or so, and I tend to over-think any purchase above $10. Since the iPod Classic came out, and the iPhone/iPod Touch is a pretty huge leap, I figured it was about time.

Flickr Places is a new app rolled out by Flickr highlighting photos, groups, and photographers from specific locales. When I checked out the Winchester Places page, here is what I saw:

That’s my Rouss Fire Hall photo! The photos are randomly selected from “interesting” photos. I have also seen photos from Drew, Mark, and Kevin show up here. I refreshed a few times on the Arlington Places page but never saw any of my photos there…I’m guessing there are a few more photos of Arlington than Winchester.

The Places application is nice, but fairly basic. I think there is room for more localized content and goodies. One example would be integrating each places page with the flickr forums. Flickr maps have also been updated but I haven’t checked that out yet…

Who are you voting for in 2008?

I was sent a link via email yesterday with a series of questions that show where you line up on the issues with the current mainstream presidential candidates (sadly no third part candidates, only republicans and democrats. It turns out this quiz is actually a trimmed down version of another questionnaire designed by Minnesota Public Radio to help you select a 2008 Presidential candidate. After filling both questionnaires my views most aligned with Dennis Kucinich and Chris Dodd (both were the top two in each questionnaire though they switched places). Who’s views do you most align with?

On this same day (yesterday), Kucinich introduced a bill to impeach Dick Cheney. It remained on the floor for nearly an hour before being sent to the House Judiciary Committee where it will most likely die. The democrats were voted in to congress in 2006 because the people wanted serious changes made to the way this country is being run… what have they done? They pass non-binding resolutions about the Iraq war, they fail to overrides Bush’s veto on the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)… the only thing that comes to mind is an increase in minimum wage.

I applaud Kucinich for at least standing up for what he believes in instead of standing up for what will get him the most votes or money. This is more than I can say for most politicians. Also, Kucinich has a pretty hot wife, have you seen her?