Two things to comment on. Well, three actually.

Item 1: President Bush stumped in our little town today. It was the same stump speech he gave on Friday in Cleveland. After a stop in Canton, Ohio this morning, he showed up here in Cambridge at about 2:15pm. Things would've been a bit better if we hadn't waited four hours in the rain before he came on. But, why complain? After all, the last time we had a sitting president visit was 1912. Yeesh, that's almost a century ago. Interestingly enough, John Kerry and John Edwards are speaking as I write this in Zanesville, Ohio, about 25 miles to the west. I'm not hearing anything different from the Democrats tonight than I heard at the Democratic Convention last week. I didn't buy into it the first time I heard it.

Item 2: I started ( or re-started ) my old job. I received my first paycheck today, which I promptly blew on pro-Bush propaganda and pornography. Actually, I just bought some stuff I needed from Wal-Mart. I can't stand going in there to buy things, but going to K-Mart just makes me depressed. And speaking of depressed, my old job makes me feel that way. Hopefully I can lose it soon in favor of the Time Warner Cable tech support gig.

Item 3: Read http://blamebush.typepad.com. I'm not sure of the author's true political leanings, but I don't care. This blog is funny as hell. Beware though- if you take politics so seriously that you can't laugh at yourself, this site will just make you go through your blood pressure medication quicker.

That is all!

Today I got a call from Time Warner Cable about the resume I submitted for a technical support position. They want to meet with me tomorrow morning for an interview. OK, this is good. Unfortunately this position would be a 20 minute drive away, which may be too much for my tired old car to handle on a daily basis. If the job looks to be worth it I will find some way to make it happen. This interview gives me hope anyway, even if for whatever reason I don't get the job.

As a radio ham, the events of the sun interest me. It may not be obvious to those outside this hobby but the condition of the sun plays a major role in radio propagation. Recently solar flares have erupted, causing some strange conditions on the radio. Some of these conditions are strange enough to cause aurora as far south as Texas. Here in Ohio we may get some aurora soon. Check www.spacew.com out for an idea of how likely aurora is where you are.

Two friends and I made a journey yesterday to the big city. Our goal was to introduce a friend to Chipotle Mexican Grill. As a fan of Mexican food in general, from my standpoint it was a crime for him to have neglected such a fine restaurant. If you're into burritos, I can think of no better place to eat. Try the hottest sauce they have. You won't regret it.

As a sideline we also hit the radio dealer, or in amateur radio, the candy store. We bought a few things but nothing of note. I tried to show one of my friends the joys of synchronous AM, but the HF bands were so bad I couldn't find any station with enough fading to be able to appreciate its quality. Oh well, another trip perhaps. And surely another burrito to go with it.

I just heard this morning that I'm going back to work for my old employer. Its a meager convenience store clerk position that I had during my college years. I don't really look forward to going, but at this point I really don't have a choice. I've tried just about every other option, including state employment. There's just no opportunity around here. Or if there is, I can't find it.

I got a nice letter from the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio today telling me I didn't get the job I applied for last month. Oh well. At least they were courteous enough to send me a letter. I would've liked a state job. From what I've heard, the benefits are decent, the atmosphere is somewhat relaxed and its difficult to get fired or laid off. That's a nice combination. Actually, I'm sorry I didn't get the job because I was looking forward to referring to PUCO as "Puke-o". Who needs perks when you work at a place called "Puke-o"?

I know, I know. You don't want to hear about Gmail anymore. Well, let me recommend a few Gmail utilities, and then I'll shut up about it. If you're like me and have kept all your email since the late 1990's in a Netscape mail box, then you'll want to try either one (or both) of the utilities below.

Mark Lyon has written a gem called GML. It reads a Netscape mail file and automatically sends your messages to your new Gmail account. gExodus by Cheah Chu Yeow does essentially the same thing, but was written differently. I found gExodus to be more reliable than GML, but I think that's due to my computer. Both do work, and if you use them be sure to thank the authors for such cool and useful software.

The job interview for the ad sales gig went well. At least, I think it did. Its always difficult to gauge your own performance in these things. I spoke with the manager and to be honest, she did most of the talking. She was explaining the position and I was eager to hear about it. I hope I didn't come off as too passive. I suppose the ultimate barometer of sucess in these things is getting the job.

I'm looking forward to this holiday weekend, though I'm not sure why. Outside of a minor get-together here at the homestead I'm not planning on hitting any big shindigs. The most exciting thing I'll do is watch Clay Aiken perform on A Capitol Fourth. The sound will be muted, of course.

A friend of mine hooked me up with a Gmail account. If you don't know what Gmail is, then you don't really need it. Anyway, I know what it is and I don't need it either. But it is cool as hell, considering you get a mail service with a gigabyte of storage along with the famous Google search. I've already used it to wade through my old mail. Now I can find stuff that I thought I'd either lost or deleted. Incidentally, some of my mail dates back to 1997. No, I do delete stuff. Just not enough. Anyway, if you can get a Gmail account, by all means try it. I'm loving it.

I've got a morning interview tomorrow with someone the local temp agency put me in touch with. The job is selling advertising for a local free tabloid paper. Its part time, probably no benefits and $8 per hour. That's actually a reasonable wage here. I have no idea how it will go, but I'm crossing my fingers. Frankly, I'm happy to be getting an interview.

A promising job lead has cropped up. At least by my standards its a promising lead. I called the local temp agency and the woman I spoke to thought she might have some work for me. Its a vague, almost non-existent possibility but in my present state I consider that to be a good thing. She'll call me later this morning. I just hope I'm conscious enough to hold a coherent conversation with her.

I ate at Chipotles tonight. My stomach is telling me to run out and get some hi-octane antacid, but I'm resisting. I'd rather tough it out like the clueless masculine dumbass I am. Anyway, its not like I'd be asleep right now anyway. I haven't got to bed before 2am in weeks.

The Cassini space probe has sucessfully entered orbit around Saturn. Its on a four-year mission to discover little-known obscure scientific trivia about the ringed planet that geeks like me will find cool as hell. Later this year it will jettison its probelet Huygens towards Saturn's moon Titan. Titan is one of the few places besides Earth that may have a shot at harboring life. The cool thing about Cassini is that it has thousands (if not millions; I'm not sure of the exact number) of signatures that have been digitally scanned onto a DVD and bolted onto the side of the spacecraft. Back in the mid-90's NASA requested that folks sign their name onto a postcard and send it in to have it included. Cool huh? I think I got a few friends and family to sign my card. Its mind-blowing to realize that my late father's signature is orbit around Saturn at this very moment.