Long-distance voting

I sent in my absentee ballot for the US election this morning, doing my small part. Not that it will make any difference. I've linked to pollster because they have state-by-state pages, which cannot be said of the otherwise superior fivethirtyeight, which currently projects WA to Obama by 14.6. Not exactly a squeaker. Speaking of your vote mattering though, those same clever guys at 538 have an interesting analysis of how likely it is that your vote will matter. Tragically, for some of the most strongly-opinionated people I know, that chance is identically zero, as many of those most interested in the outcome aren't US citizens at all...

Disclaimer: geological activity may affect features on this map

The New Zealand ski season is surprisingly long, so last weekend we headed down to Mount Ruapehu for a weekend of skiing on an (active) volcano. The weather the first day needed a little improvement - visibility was low, to say the least. But on the second day the forecast of unlimited visibility held true and much good skiing was there to be had:





There are several differences between skiing on the Alps or the Rockies, and skiing on an active volcano. First of all, especially this late in the season, when much of the snow has melted, it looks somewhat like you're skiing on the moon. There are warnings signs about what one should do in the case of an eruption (the last major eruption was in about 1995), and you have in the back of your mind the strange knowledge that the aforementioned geological activity is not on the timescale to which we are usually accustomed.

Our chariot

Photos have been promised to many -- at long last, here they are.




One of our early tasks was to find a car. While we don't need it for commuting, as the ferry is much easier, we decided that a car is by far the easiest way to explore the island. We (and by "we", I mean "I") settled on this 01 Toyota Corolla. Glamorous it isn't, but I'm satisfied we made an excellent choice. Besides, it's not easy finding a manual in NZ!

Golf

I've read or been told that New Zealand has the highest per capita rate of golf courses in the world, and it doesn't surprise me. A bit of research/googling seems to indicate that NZ is second, or perhaps tied for first, though there are lots of claims to the highest rate. Anyhow, the result is a good situation, lots of good, cheap golf. The Waitakere Golf Club is a nice spot to play -- the course is in reasonable shape, very affordable, none too crowded and about a half-hour drive from the city. The scenery is pretty impressive, though you can certainly get your workout walking up and down all the hills.



Now if only I could hit the ball from an uphill lie...

The sad, sad Chicago Cubs

I have to say the cubs have managed to exceed even my expectations for ineptitude in their inevitable failure. While some might accuse me of bitterness as a fan of the second-worst team in baseball, I have to say that the cubs just wouldn't be the cubs if they didn't do this sort of thing.

I am slightly disappointed that they did so poorly that I can't even espouse my conspiracy theory involving the trib and the potential sale of the cubs. That involved losing in the NLCS in 6.

That said, I think the BoSox are going to regret having shown Manny the door, I'm taking the dodgers over the rays in 6.