The Independent Stitch

From PC to Mac, continued

It's been quiet around here, except for occasional exclamations of wonder and some muttering. If this post is semi-coherent, forgive me and chalk it up to too much time in training mode.

Getting a Mac through its initial paces turns out to be exceptionally easy. Attempting to leap across the chasm to full professional functionality resembles landing in a foreign country with a language related to, but completely different from, one's native tongue.

The overall take is good.

Long-term plans

My goals are shifting as I explore the possibilities. I decided to obtain the machine to hopefully sidestep the massive problems I've been having with the layout software. Adobe tech support has not been able to solve them. I suspect at this point that they are resulting from resource allocation conflicts occurring because I've been running under Windows. They have not been solved by multiple, repeated drastic measures, like installing and uninstalling software so many times I lost count months ago, wiping the hard drive and starting over (several times), or purchasing a new PC and going through all of that again.

I acquired a minimal Mac (though not a miniMac) as a desperation move to get my small publishing company out of a total and dangerous stall. The plan has been to put some sort of layout software on the new platform and keep moving, seeing whether I can get past the logjams and back into business.

Adobe appears to have revised its previous policy of not permitting cross-platform upgrades. The information that this can now be accomplished is hidden several layers deep in the company's site, but it exists. At least for the moment. Ah, yes, the service note that can be found by digging into and reading many pages almost randomly is dated 11/17/2008. Sometimes I feel like I'm wasting my time going and looking at these companies' sites in such detail, but sometimes it pays off.

I'd been thinking I would go back to QuarkXPress, which this year has more liberal upgrade and cross-platform use policies than Adobe does (and than Quark has had in the past). And built-in support for Asian languages, which could be handy at any moment. I may still get Quark in the foreseeable future. However, my brain already feels like it's being put through a food processor because of the change in operating systems and it's going to be challenging enough to cope with an upgrade to a familiar program. Yes, I used to be moderately fluent in Quark, but it's been five years. . . .

Right now I'm thinking I'll stick with the Adobe software for which I already have reflexes in place, and figure out a way to make the layout tasks easier by hooking up the Mac laptop to the larger monitor (which is Mac-compatible) and the Wacom tablet (essential) and maybe the keyboard I'm familiar with.

But that's all future work.

Back to some surprises that have arisen during the PC-to-Mac change:

Easter eggs

In computer lingo, an "Easter egg" is an "intentional hidden message or feature" in software or a book or the like (mostly but not all electronic objects). Having gotten a Mac in order to run publishing software, I feel like I'm already discovering Easter eggs galore in the universe of this machine: capacities that would have been worth the shift all on their own, if I'd known.

Friends have been suggesting software that runs only on Mac and looks nearly magical, if it does what it says it will.

Scrivener has been built to handle long, complex documents. Almost every writing project I engage in is long and complex. This software looks like it will become my new favorite. The only thing it won't be good for is projects that I'm editing for outside clients where I need to keep track electronically of the changes I'm making. Over the years, I have learned how to keep a massive project in my head while moving parts of it around and rewriting as I go—simultaneous awareness of both macro and micro levels (as I think of this, I'm usually carrying around a dozen or so such projects at a time). It's a good set of skills to have, but one that sometimes requires Excedrin. Scrivener looks like it will do a bunch of the heavy lifting at the macro level, leaving large portions of my brain under less stress. It can keep track of drafts, notes, completed chapters, research, images. . . . I have several big projects to load into it already. They're large enough that I may get them all there by some time next spring. One at a time. Thanks, Jenny G. in Ireland, for the tip.

Journler looks like it's fantastic for recording random thoughts that I won't want to lose, and helping coalesce ideas, and assembling smaller projects. I have a lot of random thoughts. It would be good to be able to find them again more easily.

And Quicksilver is a utility that will save a lot of keystrokes. For example, it can be used to launch programs . . . or to group-resize photographs for the blog. And lots more. I won't learn how much more very fast, but it will be put to use soon and I'll learn its capacities gradually.

Thanks to Corey in Seattle for both of those leads.

Now, I haven't actually used any of this software yet, although I have downloaded and (more or less) installed the programs, and have provisionally opened them, and have gone through the tutorial for Scrivener, eyes wider with amazement at each screen.

Within the operating system itself (Mac OS X v. 10.5, known as Leopard) there is a feature called Spaces, that's like the separate desktops I had in the Linux build on my other laptop. Very nice for preventing operator overload on a system that's used for several different purposes. Open the space for writing Book A and all you see there are the tools you need to write that book. Shift to the space for mail and browsing and general computing work, and Book A is neatly out of sight, yet still easy to access, in its own space. And so on.

Another feature of OS X is called Exposé, a sort of simple little program that helps the operator deal with a gazillion open windows and find exactly the one that's needed.

There's a whole lot here. I've removed a bunch of things from the dock (combination start menu and task bar) to remind myself I don't have to master it all at once. Just enough to get the work done. Which means quite a lot of it.

The foundations

I'm still learning the Mac's basic operating processes. I've learned a bit about installing programs from the three above. It's easier on a Mac than on a PC, although it's apparently so easy that many resources don't describe how to do it. And so easy that someone coming from the world of Windows and Linux needs a little help to figure it out.

The Mac comes with an impressive array of software already installed for the fun stuff a person can do with computers: music, photos, movies, address book, browser, and the like.

iWork, which is Apple's own suite of office applications, has to be bought separately, but is a cinch to install. Now I have a word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation program. I'm told they open and save to MS Office formats. I'm not sure they'll handle my Open Office documents directly, but I can save those as other formats before I bring them in. It'll just take some conversion time. (I remember when word processors could not read each other's formats at all.)

Programs discovered on the web apparently get downloaded as what are called DMG files, which are disk images, a concept I'm familiar with from Linux, but there the similarity ends. The DMG file gets "mounted" on the computer, as if it were a separate drive, and then you do something involving dragging it to the Applications folder, which should (and sometimes is) all you have to do . . . except sometimes it's a little more involved than that . . . and then you "eject" the disk image, and then, if you want to, also delete it from the computer, a point that's not remotely obvious unless you know it's obvious.  I'm not very good at this yet, which is why it probably sounds confusing. Yes, it's easier than PC installation and apparently doesn't usually require a reboot, or disabling and re-enabling the antivirus software. But it is NOT totally evident.

And I haven't figured out why there is now an alias (shortcut, to us PC types) of my entire Applications folder now located in a subfolder related to one of the new programs and I can't figure out how to get rid of it ("error 61" the last time I tried). Nor can a friend with many years of Mac experience.

I'll be visiting the Mac shop on Monday. It is sensibly closed for the holiday weekend.

Meanwhile, I have lots of other things to learn about this system.

Like, for example, user names and passwords. I've been having to carry my handwritten notebook full of this information around with me, which is hardly convenient. The Mac system is well thought out, and there's undoubtedly a miraculously easy solution to this problem. I've gotten as far as a niggling idea that it's called "keychain," but I haven't figured out how to implement it yet.

Then there is the built-in browser, Safari, which is in many ways like Firefox, the program I'm accustomed to and can install here if I like, although I'll give Safari a shot first. I can't figure out yet how to have Safari okay pop-ups for SOME web sites while leaving the pop-up blocker generally on, and I haven't located a TinyURL plug-in for it yet, although I have many of my frequently use sites bookmarked and I have my "sub with Bloglines" thingie installed. ("Thingie" is a technical term for "item that does what I want it to.")

Composing on the new Mac

I've just written this post entirely on the new MacBook. There aren't any pictures because I wanted to get a post up before I go digging into the next part of a help system or manual (leaning heavily on David Pogue's Switching to the Mac, Leopard Edition, and Mac OS X Leopard, both The Missing Manual series, and Robin Williams' Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard). I have great faith that the Mac will handle photos beautifully.

Wait, here's a photo. I just took it with the computer's built-in camera (which also does video). It took me about two minutes to figure out how to operate the program and the camera and to snap the picture.

It will take me quite a bit longer to figure out why it's a mirror image.

Emblematic of this whole process.

Acccomplishment: I've ALMOST quit hitting control-C and control-V for copy and paste. I've ALMOST got the hang of doing command-C and command-V instead.

Special thanks to Donna, Kris, Susan, and Kristi, as well as Jenny G. and Corey, for moral support and practical advice.

Changing horses in midstream: PC to Mac

In yet another leap of faith yesterday, I bought yet another new computer. Sometimes the completely illogical decision is the one that needs to be made. Of course, there are never ways to tell in advance whether a leap-of-faith decision is totally idiotic or absolutely correct.

I have worked up to this by attempting to reduce fatigue: going to bed as early as possible (sometimes not very) and taking time within every day to read something escapist, in this case three fantasies by Robin McKinley: Chalice, and the two related titles The Hero and the Crown and The Blue Sword:

When facing a decision of this magnitude, it's good to refresh the mental palate. There's nothing like monstrous dragons and not-entirely-human foes that require magic to be defeated to make my real-life challenges seem less momentous and disconcerting. (I've been meeting freelance deadlines, too. They don't have the same bracing effect.)

I now have a MacBook. It is not, contrary to friends' advice, a MacBook Pro, which several people have told me is the minimum I really need in order to do what I want (that being, for the most part, editing, designing, and publishing books). Nor is it a desktop Mac with a big monitor, which is what I think is likely to be the best tool for the job. I'm told that this MacBook will, however, run the programs I need to run, even if not optimally, and my leap of faith did not extend to the number of dollars required to get one of the other solutions into play.

Although it appears that I'll be able to get the upcoming publication that has been plagued by computer problems off to the printer in the foreseeable future from the PC system (too late to start over on that one, and I think I've got workarounds that are sidestepping the file corruption), the past year-plus (nearly two years, but I try not to think of that) of hardware and software glitches has nearly driven me out of business. My choices are to quit . . . or to be brave, jump into a parallel universe (without benefit of seeing what's really in there), and keep going.

Let's just say that quitting is very difficult for me to do. I'll go do something else for a while, but if the task I wanted to accomplish was something I want to get done, I will return to it. Hopefully with new ideas, crazy or not.

Balancing the unknown and unpredictable with a some reliable activity, I have completed a pair of fingerless gloves, made from the yarn that LynnH over at Colorjoy! kindly sent me:

I've shoved up my sweater sleeves so you can see the fingerless gloves better. The pattern is from the new Luxury One-Skein Wonders, by Judith Durant. The design is "Silk-Merino Fingerless Gloves" by Andra Asars, although the original was designed for superfine yarn and I modified for worsted-weight (I worked on smaller-than-usual needles, cast on 52 stitches, and finished the thumb area when it contained 22 stitches; I also lengthened both cuff and finger areas).

Changing operating systems is not trivial. It requires a whole different way of thinking. I will also need to change layout software, at least until I can afford to acquire what I'm currently accustomed to, because Adobe does not currently permit cross-platform upgrades, which means I'd need to start over by purchasing a new, complete edition of the Adobe Creative Suite (I have already purchased two of the earlier versions, which are running on my and my daughter's PCs). Not an option right now.

However, I do have two alternatives that will not require additional major investment. QuarkXPress permits cross-platform upgrades, and Scribus (open source layout program) appears to have evolved since I last examined it. More research and testing required, plus a learning curve in that direction.

I'll also need to see how many of the fonts I've acquired will run on Mac as well as PC. I've been purchasing only OpenType (Type 1 flavor) fonts for the past couple of years, so all the new stuff should be fine. However, some reliable oldies will need to be replaced, or I'll simply need to do without them.

I think the Mac may be much easier to use in many ways than the PCs. However, my brain is accustomed to thinking about certain tasks in specific ways—to install a program, you do this; to uninstall one, you do that—and even my excursions into Linux have only been partially successful because I haven't taken the time to do the background training that's necessary to become fluent and versatile in a new system. I've been with the PC line of computers since CP/M (my first computer was a Kaypro II, with 64K RAM . . . not a typo). At the time, Apples only had 40-character displays and the PCs offered 80-character lines. I moved on through MS-DOS and versions of Windows from 3.x up to XP, with one brief excursion into the Apple IIc. Parallel universes indeed. Give me a C:\> prompt and I will probably remember what to do with it.

I feel like I'm starting again from scratch. For example, I know this machine runs Mac OS X. I have even been able to find the place within the system data that tells me it's version 10.5.5. However, when you start working on figuring out what resources there are for learning how to navigate Mac's OS X operating system, everybody's talking about big cats: tigers, panthers, leopards, and the like. I finally figured out that what I have here is a leopard. Whew. That makes everything completely clear. Right?

The best news is that the library OWNS the book I was looking for, called Switching to the Mac, by David Pogue (oops, that was a tiger version; easiest to find), and it OWNS the Leopard (newest) edition, and the book was CHECKED IN at the very branch where I was located when I was doing this research.

It's already apparent (in the first 24 hours) that people who use a computer for normal tasks would find it very easy to get up and running very quickly on a Mac. However if, like me, you want to do the equivalent of brewing tea for a hundred people in what amounts to a single mug, you'll need a different approach.

Oddly, the Linux-like qualities of the operating system that I have so far encountered are comforting. For example, many changes require me to enter the machine's basic password.

I do keep trying to hit CTRL-S to save things (looks like CMD-S may be similar) and I was a little more accustomed than I thought to being able to delete either forward or backward from the cursor, depending on which PC key I chose (delete or backspace). The Mac does not seem to have that capability (confirmed by a friend). Although I think there's a way you can make the machine do that.

Right now, I'm seeking the basic truths of life: How does a Mac organize itself, and therefore me? And if Windows crashes and there is no sound, do you still have to reboot?

Quote of the day: From Dreams from My Father, by B. Obama

From the preface to the 2004 edition of Dreams from My Father, by Barack Obama (New York: Three Rivers Press, p. vii):

"Almost a decade has passed since this book was first published [in 1995]. . . .

"Like most first-time authors, I was filled with hope and despair upon the book's publication—hope that the book might succeed beyond my youthful dreams, despair that I had failed to say anything worth saying. The reality fell somewhere in between. The reviews were mildly favorable. People actually showed up at the readings my publisher arranged. The sales were underwhelming. And, after a few months, I went on with the business of my life, certain that my career as an author would be short-lived, but glad to have survived the process with my dignity more or less intact."

Ann McCauley's new book

Talk about needing to get caught up! I started this post about Ann McCauley's new book, Together or Separate: Knitting the New Twinset on October 8. Apologies for the photos, which were done with the camera (which was handy) rather than the scanner (which was not). They have some glare that doesn't do them justice. You'll get the idea, though.

Those who know me in person will strongly suspect (some would possibly swear under oath) that I am not a "twinset" type, unless that means wearing a jeans jacket with jeans once in a while. But usually not. They'd match too well.

What Ann has in mind for "twinset" is not the typical sweater-plus-cardigan-plus pearls (so hackneyed that Wikipedia even defines it that way). Then again, Ann's design sense, while classic, is far from typical or traditional, as demonstrated by her first book, The Pleasures of Knitting: Timeless Feminine Sweaters. (In that case, the word "feminine" means not "frilly" or "frivolous," as it might, but "intended for women, and having a type of grace associated with women.")

"Twinset" in this case means complementary pairs of knitted items; their relationships in this book vary from skirt-and-jacket to sweater-and-vest to cardigan-and-socks. The non-twinset types among us, like me, will be most tempted by single items, although I might make both partners in the set . . . in colors or textures not intended to match.

Here are a few of my favorites from the book:

That brown cardigan would dress me up while still being comfortable to wear. In the book, it's accompanied by one of the most extraordinary and appealing hand-knitted skirts I've ever encountered (I'm basing my assessment on having seen and handled the actual item). I'd love to have the skirt as well as the sweater. Alas, I'd be hard put to find a place in my life to wear it. The sweater, on the other hand, would look terrific with my best jeans.

I also am fixated on this cardigan, on which I might not even change the color, which is one of my favorites:

This camisole could be really useful for summer . . . for me, in a color other than white:

Some folks would love the camisole with the coordinating cardigan that's in the book.

And this vest (which goes with a useful, midweight turtleneck sweater) could be a wardrobe standby, and also a quick knit with details to add interest during both making and wearing:

Interestingly, the turtleneck (shown on the cover, in the image above) and the vest are worked in Brown Sheep's slightly different shades of white: one pure (underneath), one warmer (on top). They're also in different weights of yarn. It works.

Ann writes some of the most thoughtful knitting patterns I've encountered. Where she surprises, and she does, is in the careful choices she makes and the subtle touches she adds, like that color shift.

Her decisions about yarn are extremely deliberate. The alpaca she chose for the brown cardigan (above) and its matching skirt holds its shape exquisitely, even in the stress of skirtdom. The only mistake I made in knitting one of Ann's designs from The Pleasures of Knitting was working with an economy-level yarn; the garment (Peri's Parasol) would have been better in the yarn Ann specified. I substitute all the time, and rarely end up thinking that. Although I wear my sweater a lot, I plan to re-knit it some day using a different yarn. . . I'm not sure which, because as I recall the yarn Ann used has been discontinued. There will be something equally good, of course. It just may take me a while to find it.

Peri's Parasol is one of the most satisfying knits I've ever made. It's based on the Barbara Walker stitch pattern after which the garment is named. That particular stitch pattern is a serious challenge to chart, for those who like puzzles. The stitch counts change on most of the rows. I actually ended up knitting the sweater from line-by-line instructions, which I resist strongly, so that shows the appeal of Ann's design. (I did get the pattern charted—after I'd finished the sweater, mostly to prove to myself that I could. I'm not sure it was worth it, even for a chart diehard like me.)

The ways in which Ann selects, combines, and transitions between the parts of the garments and the patterns within them are equally conscious. As a dancer, she understands movement, and that knowledge shows in her garments.

The results of her efforts don't strut their stuff as well in the pages of a book as they do in person, and the pleasant, mainstream models in the two-dimensional presentation give the impression that these designs are more "normal" than I find them to be when I see them in person. Fortunately, Ann has all the garments from both of her books and brings them out for trunk shows. It's remarkable that even the pieces she has worn for years look brand-new (she's undoubtedly not as hard on her clothes as I am on mine, but I think they'd even hold up reasonably well for me).

So I drove to Boulder early in October for a trunk show of Ann's work, held in an upscale clothing shop where those knitters who walked through the door would be ideal candidates for making her designs . . . although Ann's designs also work for those of us who want a whiff of that elegant world in our lives, even though we don't regularly shop for investment clothing (or, rather, define "investment clothing" as a high-quality t-shirt).

The striped sweater and cowl Ann's wearing in this photo are one of her sets of "twins," knitted in a choice of gauge and yarn that doesn't scream "handmade," with a quality that embodies "custom."

If I had time, I'd be thinking about knitting a couple of those vests from Ann's new book (shown in white) as gifts for the upcoming season. I am sorely tempted by the brown sweater.

Because I don't have time right now, I'll be thinking about this for a while, and it is pleasant pondering.

And I trust that when I choose to knit one or more of Ann's designs from either of her books, I will . . . as I did on the first . . . find it satisfying to knit and a reliable, versatile addition to my wardrobe.

__

Computer update: I think I have the book file to a stable point. When I removed the trial version of InDesign CS3 that I downloaded in one of my tech-support-guided attempts to solve the corruption in the book file, it took thirty-five minutes to uninstall. Yesterday morning, my regular version of InDesign crashed twice before it would open and play nicely . . . following a reboot.

Typepad's new composer works fine on my desktop computer but does not like my laptop, which is the machine I use for blog posts.

One of the three wireless access points I've been using around town has upgraded its security to a type of encryption that my wireless card balks at. I haven't been able to connect.

Did someone say, a long time ago, that computers were going to make our lives easier and save us time? I have been doubting that lately.

Although I finished a MindMovie (visualizing smooth work flow and improved, regular income production) and I couldn't have done that without the computer, and it all went along just fine. I'm actually thrilled with the results, and they reinvigorate my hope that computers may be productive tools (sometimes) after all. Alas, I can't share it here. Although most of the images I located to use that are not my own are covered by Creative Commons copyrights that permit noncommercial use with attribution, a small handful would need copyright clearance for anything beyond personal, private use, and I don't have time to do that.

Mind Movie for eliminating computer problems, yeehaw!

Okay, after messing with ALL of my computers for MORE than a year (actually, almost two years), I have found a visualization called a Mind Movie that is perfect for my needs. I've never embedded a video thingie before. Let's see how this works. (I prefer to use the sound control to the right of the play-progress bar to turn the sound down to about 10%.)

2.25 minutes, including all credits.

(The video needs a wee bit of proofreading and editing. Not enough to impede its impact. And when I view this in my browser, the central message area is too narrow to display the whole thing, including its volume control button. I've just made several attempts to fix this. Ah, well, maybe the visualization process hasn't had time to work yet.)

Find more videos like this on Mind Movies Forum .com

Especially intriguing to me in this sequence is the idea of tech support people who can solve any problem fast, and the concept of computers as money machines (which I am interpreting not to mean "they suck up all your money" but "they provide a reliable means of earning income").

Thanks to the creator of this Mind Movie. At the very least, it may help me keep a positive attitude toward technology. My patience has been wearing very thin, possibly thinner even than the components in computer circuitry.

Election day in a vote center

One of our vote centers is a terrific place to spend election day. It's strictly non-partisan. In the case of VC26, where I spent yesterday, it is also a calm oasis where the goal of all workers was helping as many people as possible vote, quickly and with technical support and warm encouragement, regardless of how they might mark their ballots.

If this post is a little less coherent than usual, it's because I'm short on sleep, although I wanted to continue my story of election processing because this is stuff I didn't know before I got into it.

Prep

The night before, Noah, our center's supervisor, called all of the judges who would be serving with him. He gave us his cell phone number in case anything came up or we had questions. He reminded us to be on site at 6. He told us that the church where our center was located would let us use the fridge and stove for our food (as it turned out, the church folks also provided us with hot water, coffee, two kinds of cookies, and a bowl of candy; it was lovely).

I had packed up food for what would be at minimum a fourteen-hour day and might drag on well past that. I had also planned to take a cooler, but after Noah's call I shifted to a less bulky grocery bag. Peanut butter on a bagel; a small container of sauteed tofu with chili peppers (the peppers turned out to be a great, spicy pick-me-up around dinner time); a couple of small bananas; "green juice" (SuperFood = liquid vegetables); a cookie, cut into fourths for quick nibbling; a container of yogurt; tea bags; and, although they ended up being inconvenient to eat and came home with me, an apple and an orange.

Getting started

Here's what the morning looked like when I headed for the vote center:

When I arrived, about eight people clustered outside the door. A few minutes later, Noah the supervisor and Connie, the site troubleshooter (second in command), arrived. As with everything else throughout the day, people had to work in teams composed of different party affiliations. That included opening the center.

By the time we got inside, the gathered group had expanded. Twenty people staffed this small center.

Election judges are sworn officials. It's a lot like jury duty. The work is paid . . . about as well as jury duty. Overall, our county had about a thousand election judges in action during this season. We also ended up with about 90 percent turnout of registered voters.

Here's how we were allocated:

• Greeters: 2 (greeters actually have one of the most challenging jobs . . . they make sure no election-related material comes into or within 100 feet of a voting center, and they also prep people to be ready for the computer judges)
• Computer judges: 4 (look people up in poll books, check or issue signature cards, direct people to correct balloting areas)
• Ballot judges: 6, working with paper ballots
• Electronic voting judges: 2
• Provisional ballot judges: 2 (including me)
• Ballot box judges: 2
• Supervisor and troubleshooter: 2

When any worker wanted or needed to take a break (get food, run to the restroom, stretch legs by walking up and down the hall), a qualifying person from another team would substitute or cover two adjacent positions. "Qualifying" means "of a different party affiliation." Independents and student election judges could pinch-hit anywhere. We had five student judges, who were high schoolers earning class credit. They worked regular stations, as computer, ballot, and ballot-box judges.

In addition, the center was occupied all day by poll watchers, also party-balanced, who arrived at the official opening time (an hour after we got there) and pretty much stayed all day. They had to be registered in advance and wore name tags. Unlike the judges, they were free to come and go, and although we generally had four at any given time at least one of them was there all day until closing.

I was initially a little confused when the poll watchers kept coming up to us and asking how many provisional ballots had been voted. Figuring it was just curiosity, we counted ballot stubs whenever they asked. (Toward the end of the day, this resulted in a little competition between the provisional ballot station and the electronic voting station to see who was processing more voters . . . we provisional judges won, but it was close.)

After a while, I realized that if there was a question later about how many voters had been processed by a station, the poll watchers would have information that was completely outside the carefully multiply-documented official system. They also asked perceptive questions about the process, fortunately when we weren't busy.

I discovered shortly after I arrived that I'd left my freshly brewed hot tea, in a cup with a cover, as we'd been told we would be required to use, at home on the counter. Fortunately, Noah said that folks who were not working near the computers could use mugs from the church kitchen, and there was hot water so I had time to make some tea by about 8:30 a.m.

Back to setup. The basics were in place: booths, tables, chairs, computers.

The ballots were in boxes on a large, rolling shelving unit that was shrinkwrapped. Teams cut the wrap off and inspected the boxes, all of which were sealed with security tape. We had lists of procedures that we'd been trained in that involved who was responsible for which boxes when, as well as counting and recounting ballots and filling out and signing off on other official paperwork. Chain of custody procedures were followed carefully throughout every piece of the process that I observed.

For people who were voting with paper ballots, our center had twenty-one privacy booths (those spindly-legged aluminum things). We also had one electronic voting machine. This particular electronic machine did permit voter verification of the votes before they were cast, and did produce an auditable paper trail.

By 7 a.m., we were ready to go and the first group of voters was lined up outside the door.

The day

The many hours didn't drag, although we were far from the busiest of voting centers. There were times when we'd joke about asking other centers to send us busloads, please, and times when people had to wait. After the early morning rush, I'd guess the longest wait for any voter at our center was about ten minutes. We had a few problems with phone lines and routers through the day, but thanks to the two backup systems we could, in general, proceed without delays. One of the county tech people spent about half the day at our site, but the problems did not have much impact on our work.

I did have a little time for knitting. I ripped back several times before I figured out that while working at a voting center even an experienced knitter needs a tally sheet in order to work a simple four-row twisted-rib.

There's a rule that no cell phones are allowed in the vote center. One reason is so that people can't take photographs. The bigger reason as far as the judges were concerned is related to my knitting problem: judges need to perform a large number of intricately intertwined tasks very quickly, and we needed to do them in a way that makes everything accurate and auditable. When someone's talking on a cell phone nearby, that becomes extremely difficult. We had a couple of people who got calls while in the center and getting them off the line became a top priority.

All the areas were color coded. I trained first as a ballot judge (regular paper ballots), so I had a purple manual. Then I was called in to train as a provisional judge (orange). This is also the fingerless glove I was working on as it looked by the time we started our closing procedures after the voting ended:

Over the course of the day, I especially enjoyed the diversity of the people who came through the center. Although it was located in a part of the city that I don't think of in conjunction with the word diversity, our parade could have exemplified that concept. We had people of all ages and a full range of ethnicities, sporting tattoos, greasy work clothes, or fancy suits. We had quite a few people who were not native English speakers.

There were two rules on the site:

1. No election-related material in or near the voting center.
2. Everyone who wants to vote gets to.

Everything else was a regulation or procedure: which form to use when, how to mark and file the paperwork, and so on.

In the provisional area, we saw all the irregularities. Mostly we helped people who were on the mail-in ballot list but had not received or had not voted or had damaged their mail-in ballots. They voted a provisional ballot so the tallying judges (elsewhere) could verify that they hadn't voted twice. We also saw people whose registered addresses did not match the addresses on the identification they presented. And anything else that didn't fit the norm.

One forty-ish woman who came in had never voted. She said she was not registered, but that her husband thought she could both register and vote on this day. It was past the registration deadline, but we told her that yes, she could vote. Her ballot almost certainly wouldn't be counted, unless she had registered at some time she'd forgotten (perhaps at the Division of Motor Vehicles when renewing her license), but at the very least she would be registered for the next time and she'd get practice in the process.

Not turning anyone away who wants to vote is my idea of a good time. At the provisional ballot table, we did a lot of education and a fair amount of soothing, because people are sometimes upset to discover they have to vote this type of ballot.

A lot of kids came in with their parents. We ended up holding (and bouncing) one three-month-old boy while his parents voted, his mother with a provisional ballot and his father on the electronic machine.

Noah and Connie could answer most procedural questions that came up, and in case of emergency Noah had what we called "the bat phone," with which he could call the county's highest election officials. We used it a couple of times.

Anything that was far enough out of the ordinary to require a consultation with Noah, Connie, or the bat-phone folks was written up in an incident report, so that it could be sorted out more thoroughly later.

Closing down

At 7 p.m., we closed promptly and according to the procedures in the manual. We counted and cross-checked all ballots. It's like balancing a checkbook about three times. We filled out more paperwork and signed off. Judges who were finished with their stations' duties helped out at other stations.

The unvoted paper ballots no longer have any value, so we sealed up the boxes for convenience but no longer needed to maintain chain of custody for them. The tallies of ballots and the voted ballots continued to be guarded and backed up vigilantly. The final tallies were recorded and transmitted in three ways:

1. One copy put into the sealed ballot box.
2. One copy given to the supervisor in the master paperwork for the center.
3. One copy given to the supervisor in a stamped envelope to be immediately mailed back to the elections officials.

Everything else was similarly documented with appropriate, not excessive, redundancy.

None of us could leave until the ballot boxes had been picked up for the final time . . . by the same team that had been transporting our ballot boxes at intervals throughout the day. One of the ways this semi-closed system works is that the people who are working together become familiar with who is there and who should be doing a particular job at a particular time. Even though we'd never met each other before, and I can't tell you the names or party affiliations of anyone I didn't work directly with or sub for, a sense of order, community, and responsibility prevailed.

We folded up and stacked the tables and chairs, and disassembled the computers and voting station. Soon the entire complex center had been reduced to a neat pile of boxes that would be moved the next day; a set of accordion files (one for each station); a green container with all the summary information for the center; and the final ballot boxes, one regular and one provisional.

We had been in a news blackout all day. After we were basically done, Noah checked his cell phone and gave us a couple of preliminary results: Ohio and Pennsylvania. When we left the center, that was all we knew.

As soon as the ballot-box couriers had arrived and the appropriate people had checked the necessary security procedures and signed the necessary papers for the last time, we were done.

Noah thanked us, and dismissed us.

Here's what the parking lot looked like as I left:

__

Regular life waited for me to get back. Here are vote stickers on the computer log that I maintain to track changes to and events on the system:

 

My summary thoughts

I personally welcome the move to mail-in ballots, because I like the leisurely timing and ease of voting. However, if we lose our vote centers by changing to voting methods that do not bring people together physically then we lose an unusual neutral ground and a way of building community that seems unique and not easy to replace.

The U.S. Electoral College favored the Republicans in the last election and the Democrats in this election. Overall, I think the system is outdated and needs to be revised. I also think that revision needs to take place in conjunction with a shift to a system of preferential voting that would give people the flexibility to move away from the two-party lock on our government without potentially wasting their votes. It's time to take democracy to the next level, in many ways.

When I got home in the dark evening, I took down our yard signs. Regardless of anyone's sentiments, we now all need to pull together.

In terms of the results, if the country is run as well as the Obama campaign was, we'll be okay . . . or better.

Okay, it's time to vote, if you're in the U.S. and haven't done so already

If it's after 6 a.m. Mountain Time, I'm at the vote center. I've taken all my meals for the day with me—no fridge, no microwave, and election judges can't leave the site until the polls have closed and the center's votes have been tallied and submitted. No cell phones (or unofficial computers, of course) allowed in the vote center.

Tomorrow it's back to real life again: independent publishing, knitting, spinning, sheep, figuring out how to make the next mortgage payment (so far, the bail-out hasn't trickled this way). . . . 

__

In 2008, the United States is holding its 56th presidential election. The first, in 1792, was uncontested (George Washington).

I grew up when Truman, Eisenhower (x2), Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon were the presidents. This will be the tenth presidential election I've voted in, and I've voted in three states (although I've been a resident of more than that), with voting systems that range from lever to electronic to paper ballots, both fill-in and punch-out.

• 1972   Nixon/Agnew (2nd term) - McGovern/Shriver
• 1976   Carter/Mondale - Ford/Dole
• 1980   Reagan/Bush, G.H.W. - Carter/Mondale (2nd run) - Anderson/Lucey
• 1984   Reagan/Bush, G.H.W. (2nd term) - Mondale/Ferraro
• 1988   Bush, G.H.W./Quayle - Dukakis/Bentsen
• 1992   Clinton/Gore - Bush/Quayle (2nd run) - Perot/Stockdale
• 1996   Clinton/Gore (2nd term) - Dole/Kemp - Perot/Choate
• 2000   Bush, G.W./Cheney - Gore/Lieberman - Nader/LaDuke
• 2004   Bush, G.W./Cheney (2nd term) - Kerry/Edwards
• 2008   Information in progress at time of posting

__

Addendum while up at what a friend calls o-dark-thirty, although it's not quite o-dark-fifteen, actually: Got a confirming call last night from the supervisor of the vote center where I'll be working. We will have access to a fridge and a stove! Amazing!

Necessary respite (reading notes), plus a few election comments

If you live in the United States and haven't voted yet, Tuesday, November 4, is your day. Get in there and register your opinions officially.

I'll be at one of our local vote centers as an election judge from 6 a.m. until the work for the day is done. The initial time commitment was until 8 p.m.; that extended last week until "at least 10 p.m." We have been assured that we won't need to stay all night.

Makes just showing up to vote look more do-able, doesn't it, even if there's a line? In our state (and I think most places . . . I've voted in five different states over the years), if you're in line when the polls close you can still vote.

__

In response to indicators of incipient personal burn-out, I did work on several necessary items this weekend but I also cooled my jets over the past week with some reading, none of it heavy-going (I couldn't have handled that).

From left to right:

Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us, by Seth Godin: Not a how-to book but a call to breaking out of molds and marching to our own drummers, gathering like-minded folks along the way. Lots of people I know are doing this, or on the cusp. This book encourages and articulates. Highly recommended for the conceptually minded.

Brave New Ballot: The Battle to Safeguard Democracy in the Age of Electronic Voting, by Aviel Rubin: I saw this book at the library, where the librarians had gathered election-related titles on a special display. I'm grateful that they put it there.

Avi Rubin is a computer scientist who specializes in security. While there has always been a risk of voting fraud, no matter what technology has been used, he differentiates between retail fraud (which affects a limited number of sites) and wholesale fraud (which can compromise a whole election). Previous systems were vulnerable to retail fraud. Electronic systems are vulnerable to wholesale fraud.

Rubin is not opposed to electronic voting—and he outlines the type of system that would allow electronic voting to be reliable, accurate, voter-verifiable, secure, and auditable—but he knows exactly how the systems we've been using fall short of what we need to make sure democracy remains democratic.

It's extremely well-written—as good as many mysteries—and clear and easy to understand, even for a non-tech-type. I learned some things about computer science that I'll actually remember.

Published in 2006, the last national election the book covers is 2004. I hope (and trust) that some of the safeguards mentioned have been put in place in time for the current election. I do know what the concerns are, why they matter, and how they can be fixed. That's HUGE.

Yes, I voted on a paper, with a mail-in ballot. That's my top choice of voting methods anyway, because I like the paper ballot and I prefer to have all the time I want for marking my selections (thus mail-in). Brave New Ballot confirmed that I'm not just being a stick-in-the-mud, at the same time that we do need a good electronic system to make voting easier for many people, including but not limited to people with disabilities.

Highly recommended for anyone who is old enough to vote, or will be.

The Shiniest Jewel: A Family Love Story, by Marian Henley: A graphic memoir (like a graphic novel, only true), this tells a story of near-50-year-old Marian Henley's journey to finding a family, including a son. It's funny and touching and a quick read. Thanks to Susan for leading me to it.

__

Question: Are these people in our neighborhood in favor of or opposed to the McCain/Palin ticket?

That blue yard sign on the left is the usual McCain/Palin combination. There are two of those people with their heads (well, entire upper bodies) sunk in the ground, although only one can be easily seen in the photo (there's one foot of the other one sticking up at the far left). And a lot of other ominous symbols here.

The signs on the tree say, "BEWARE! / TURN BACK NOW!"

? ? ?

We live in a politically very mixed area, and I'll be interested in how our precinct results turn out tomorrow.

__

And last night, an election-year tradition: a comedy/musical/parody show by an established group of local performers, the Mostlies (started out as "Mostly Not Ready for OpenStage Players," referring to what was then the only (?) community theater group). I've been going to their shows for about fourteen years.

They usually announce that no one will leave unoffended. I went with a group of friends (not all in agreement on politics), and we all laughed until our sides ached. It felt great.

__

Our state, Colorado, is being treated as a battleground or swing state.

I've appreciated some ads our regional ABC-affiliate is running. They last fifteen seconds. They consist of videos representative of Colorado, a bit of type that says "political ad-free break," and a countdown indicator giving the number of seconds of relief remaining in the interlude. My daughter tells me there have been trees with snow blowing past, a ski slope with the lift ascending, and (earlier today) a really cute one with a puppy in the snow.

Blue yarn and Spindlicity's 2009 calendar, nice to find in the mailbox!

Yesterday was the end of a week in which I needed some grounding influences, and two delightful ones arrived in my mailbox:

See the blue yarn? You can also see it here, at Lynn H's ColorJoy! blog. More on that in a moment. I want to end with it.

A gorgeous calendar, thoughtfully put together

Janel Laidman over at Spindlicity has created a 2009 calendar to support that online magazine for handspinners, newly reborn (and welcome back!). She took the photos (nicely styled) and put together a very appealing calendar.

Some of the months are natural-colored, and others, like July, blaze brightly:

The spindles range from antiques to contemporaries, with an emphasis on the latter (so you could actually acquire one that appeals to you), and include many varieties. Janel knows spinners: not only are the spindles identified by maker (when that's possible), the fibers are identified.

The daily blocks are nicely laid out, with six weeks in each calendar's spread. The extra days (from the preceding or following month) are labeled with gray numbers and the month in question is in crisp black. I don't know about you, but I appreciate being able to see that much of a month's neighbors before or after I've flipped the page.

Looking through the pages, there's a whole lot of visual diversity. We have four positions in our house for wall calendars, one of which (by the kitchen table) is reserved for Leslie Anne Ivory's cats.

I know exactly where this calendar will be spending its year: opposite my desk, where I'll be able to look at it during most of the hours of the day. This year's occupant of that space has been offering me a delightful sequence of Chinese folk art. Previous years have seen Wolf Kahn there, and also Deborah DeWit Marchant, who will be upstairs in '09.

Janel's spindle images are perfect for that spot: colorful, calming, inspiring. I'll be looking forward all year to October, for Tracy Eichheim's wonderful spindle, along with hand-combed Polwarth from The Spinning Loft. (Which reminds me that Tracy's building me a spindle some time this fall. He had sold out of what I wanted at the Estes Park Wool Market.)

Blue yarn and a nudge in the right knitting direction for the (scattered) moment

The blue yarn arrived in the company of one of ColorJoy! Lynn's nicely thought-through and laid-out patterns, this one for wristwarmers/handwarmers.

My daughter saw the pattern sitting where I'd left it on the couch last night and this morning said, "I think I want to make those, and I think I have the yarn." The pattern is set up as a formula, rather than specific instructions. There are actually two patterns in the packet (there's information on the backs of those pages, too), with lots of possibility for variations. The ideas will work with any weight of yarn, so I'll bet my daughter does have something she can use even though her stash isn't very big yet ( . . . yes, she does have access to some portions of mine). And I'll also bet that with Lynn's thorough instructions my daughter won't be asking me many questions while she's working on this project (I'm happy when she asks questions, but I'll bet she'll also be happy, as a new knitter, not to have to ask as often).

Browsing through the pages of Lynn's pattern also has me wondering how many of the people on our holiday gift list might enjoy a nice pair of wristwarmers.

Meanwhile, yes, with Lynn's propitious nudging I've cast on with the blue yarn and started knitting some fingerless gloves. My start is shown with the calendar page. I noted yesterday that I had several projects and project-planning bits of swatching going, all of which felt like walking uphill with lumber tied to my feet. Not so with Lynn's gifted yarn and this small project, which I'm working in a simple pseudo-cable rib.

Looking ahead

Our county is predicting that on Tuesday we'll be processing about 60,000 voters at the vote centers, of which there are either 33 (as we were told in training) or 32 (from my count on the website). The outlying centers won't have very many people, so the city ones (including the one I'll be at) may see several thousand voters each.

If I were still a regular ballot judge, I wouldn't have a chance of knitting a stitch. Over in the provisional area, with fewer voters needing more extensive record-keeping, I might get in a row or two. I'm glad I know what I can take with me that will be soothing, instead of cumbersome.

Thanks, Lynn!

And great work, Janel!

On using things up, and Halloween, plus continued training to be an election judge

I've got about eight blog posts that I haven't gotten written . . . running behind, while running all day.

Here's what the toothpaste and the hand cream look like this week . . . almost time to get new tubes . . . our days look similar, by the time we hit 11 p.m. or midnight:

And that's about what I feel like right now, too. Squeezed out.

There's dealing with the computer stuff (this week, both the ongoing layout software problems and some challenges with the publishing-company-specific financial software); and then, part of a new print run arrived in cartons so damaged I had to order replacement boxes and am repacking the whole shipment . . . and I have to do the job NOW in order to document any potential claim that might be filed with the carrier (there's a general post about damaged books in the publishing business that's working in my head); plus the details of scrambling to earn a living, because the delayed release of the book that's been stuck in software limbo dammed up the cash flow, which was adequate but not abundant in the first place. And my daughter has had two mid-terms and a presentation and one or two papers to write, which have complicated matters in the household. (Oh, yes, and the sebaceous cyst on the older dog's hip ruptured about ten days ago and we've been treating it three times daily, hoping to avoid surgery.)

Fortunately, I have lots of work of the income-producing kind to be done, in addition to keeping the publishing company alive. I spent two days this week doing preliminary work for one freelance job, and devoted sections of time every day to coaching another client through book-contract negotiations (yes, there's also an intellectual property lawyer in the mix . . . my job is to translate the contract terms into English, so the writer knows what he's signing). Oh, and reviewed and started negotiation on a contract for another job that I'll be doing (the company's never had anyone ask for changes to its extremely vague contract, so my relatively minor changes have been kicked upstairs to legal for review). And, of course, I've been working on the Major Writing Project, for which I do have a negotiated contract (it's in the wrong paragraph, though: it's not income-producing right now). Then I have a deadline on a freelance article (including photos) on Monday. It's half written, and I think it's going well. I just need the time and energy to keep doing everything that needs to be done. And figuring out how to keep the cash flow moving. With freelance work, much of what is done now gets paid for several months down the road.

In the middle of this, there was the fantastic concert by the Soweto Gospel Choir on Wednesday night that we won tickets to! I needed the break.

And the county elections office called up and asked if I'd have time (ha) to train as a provisional ballot judge, to supplement my training as a regular ballot judge, which happened on Tuesday night, so I did that yesterday afternoon. I've been assigned to a location that's conveniently located about two miles (3.2 km) from my house. I'm very grateful not to have been assigned to a vote center that's an hour from home! I'll be one of two people handling provisional ballots all day at that site. I have a feeling that parts of this election may hinge on provisional ballots, so I'll be glad to experience how they're handled in this county.

As we say around here when we're feeling overwhelmed, "Never a dull moment."

Nanowrimo starts today—the annual one-month stint in which people write whole novels, egging each other on. It's great fun, and definitely crazy. I've participated (and "won") the past three years, but I think I'll be sitting this one out. If "sitting" is what you can call what I'm doing.

I can't even focus on knitting, although I've been swatching (forgot the yarn-overs on one side of the second repeat of the pattern), knitting baby caps (that's going okay), and trying to get started on a simple top in handspun linen. The linen's been hanging around for a long time and I finally got an idea of what I might do with it. I'm doing okay with the baby caps. On everything else, I just feel scattered and like I'd better get up and do something else, even when I'm exhausted and it would be best just to sit and knit for a while.

But it was Halloween yesterday. I love Halloween, even when I don't have much time to put together a costume. My daughter needed to figure out an alternative that would fit with the dress code of the job she was working. She succeeded, and we were both amused by the cat walking the dogs.

You can't see her ears very well in that photo, in part because their color matched her hair so nicely. Here's a better look at them, along with a close-up of the REAL county animal license:

I had ears, too, which I wore to the election office. Mine were black-and-burgundy (they did not match my hair), and although we had another pet license that I could have worn I never had time to find a ribbon to tie it on with. Maybe next Halloween I'll get that part done.