Allergy Season is Officially Here

It seems early every year, but allergy season is well and truly upon us. I started experiencing symptoms a couple of nights ago but this morning it felt someone pepper sprayed my eyes. On the upside, it won't be long now before all of the deciduous trees break bud and the forests come back to life.

The Conference Bike!

Last night Neighbor Dave and his boy Porter helped me move the rest of CORE GIS back home from the Activspace last night. While we were loading things up, he told me about an unusual experience he'd had earlier in the day. While passing through lower Ballard on his motorcycle, he saw a SEVEN PERSON BICYCLE making its way down the street. He stopped, gob-smacked, and stared at them in awe. The guy steering the contraption smiled and said "you look like you need to go for a ride!" So Dave jumped right on and started pedaling with the rest of the folks. It turns out this unusual machine is called a Conference Bike and is being imported by the Dutch Bike Company, located just down the street from our house. I cannot wait to check this thing out, mostly because it looks really fun, but also to see how the power train is constructed.

Just Caucused

We caucused in Washington today, and as the PCO for my precinct I served as the caucus chair. The turnout was unbelievable, some of the preliminary reports I've heard say that we doubled 2004's record turnout of 100,000. If my caucus location was representative, I can believe it.

Over 74 people turned out from my tiny little precinct (about 3 or 4 more showed up after sign-ups had officially closed) and the breakdown for the first tally was 51 Obama, 14 Clinton, and 9 undecided. We spent about 1/2 hour giving speeches and debating the merits of each candidate. I was really moved by how passionate many of the Obama supporters were, in particular one older gentleman (literally a 'graybeard') who explained that when he hears Obama speak, he feels the same way he did as a ninth grader listening to JFK.

After the speeches, we allowed participants to change their stated preference, and re-tallied the vote: 58 Obama, 15 Clinton, and 1 undecided. Our precinct has 6 delegates, and they were apportioned 5 to Obama, 1 to Clinton.

It was a really fantastic experience--crowded, stuffy, somewhat chaotic, but at the same time, intensely moving, as neighbors and friends talked face-to-face about their beliefs and preferences.

Photo of our caucus courtesy of Didi Anstett.

UDPATE: Obama crushed Clinton, not just in WA, but everywhere else.