Counting votes

Yesterday afternoon the desk that we ordered for Torsten's desk arrived, so last night we put it together, and by the end we were cursing ourselves for not forking over the extra cash to have the delivery guys assemble it. I guess we were thinking that it would be easy like Ikea stuff, and oh, it was not. Even now, it is together and functional enough for him to work on temporarily, but there are quite a few little stabilizing pieces that still need to be added in order to ensure that the whole thing won't collapse.

Also, we put it together backward, couldn't figure out how to fix it, and had to set up in the reverse direction from what we had originally planned to compensate. Because we are awesome.

Still, though. There was one point when we figured out that we had done something really obvious and straightforward wrong, and then, mostly because we were tired, we cracked up for quite some time, and I was on the floor laughing and practicing going limp in case I ever need to get arrested at a protest (unlikely, but it's always good to hone these skills, right?). And it was just... you know, one of those moments. You still wish that you'd hired someone to do it for you, but since you didn't, at least you're laughing, and laughing together.

And, I realized I forgot to include one important difference in my post yesterday. My vote actually matters! I mean, I always voted in DC, but the city is something like 92% Democrat, so it's not like my vote made a difference. I did it out of a belief that everyone should vote, and my desire for civic participation, and not because I actually felt like I had an effect. Plus, DC doesn't have statehood, so the only elections we got to vote in were local and presidential. No Senators, no Representatives. At least, not voting ones.

So now, not only do I live in an actual state with actual voting rights in Congress, but it's a SWING state. My vote matters EXTRA much! It's like I'm making up for lost time. In fact, next year apparently there's going to be a very interesting election. President Obama appointed Colorado Senator Ken Salazar as the Secretary of the Interior, which is great for him but also interesting for the Senate race because he was widely expected to win reelection in 2010. Now he's been replaced with someone who has little experience and is not well-known, Michael Bennet, which means that the 2010 Senate race here is much more open that originally expected.

And I get to vote in it! Instead of just electing Eleanor Holmes Norton as DC's shadow representative AGAIN.

Also, I take my voting extra seriously because of Torsten. You know how parents usually feel like they're voting on behalf of their minor children, trying to make the best choice for them as well, since they can't vote for themselves? Well, Torsten is also not able to vote, since he isn't a citizen, so I feel like I'm voting on behalf of both of us.

Luckily, we agree politically, because how could I not vote in the best interest of someone who makes me lie on the floor laughing over the normally miserable task of assembling a desk?