PlanetHolt.com

The Iowa Lottery has been running advertisements lately for their “Midwest Millions” game. The specific ad to which I'm referring has a young man being interviewed for a job. The interviewer says something like, “So let me get this straight. You’ve got no experience, you borrowed this resume (from your roommate), and you expect me to hire you for this job?” The young man shrugs and sits uncomfortably. The interviewer says, “Well, I have a good feeling about you. You’re hired!” The announcer states, “The chances of this happening are only one in a million. With the new Midwest Millions game from the Iowa Lottery, your chances of winning are one in three!”

I found Seth Godin’s recent blog Off the Record to be quite interesting, particularly the idea of adding something to the effect of, “This is off the record unless we're previously agreed otherwise” to one’s email signature. I tend to assume things that are sent to me are not to be widely disseminated, and I will ask permission if I intend to share my correspondents’ thoughts with others. I generally expect the same of others, although I am (for the most part) fairly careful about what I put in writing.

Godin also mentions taking and posting embarrassing pictures of one’s friend being a bad thing. Comparing my gallery with some of the pictures I have in my local Aperture library, I think I’ve been fairly good about keeping the more embarrassing pictures private. I usually go so far as to retouch the pictures I put online (that blemish probably was not the reason the picture was taken—why not take a couple minutes and clean it up?). Still, if I’ve screwed up and published something you’d rather I hadn’t, I apologize. Please let me know, and I’ll take it down. Generally, the intent of this blog is not to embarrass my friends.

I got a new phone today to replace my broken K550i, but unfortunately I don't have any of my contacts on it. It also doesn't have Bluetooth, which means I can't transfer the contacts from my computer nor can I use the hands free in my car. On the other hand, it's a $20 Go-Phone (Motorola c168i) that I've loaded with my old SIM card, so I guess I can't complain that much.

I voted this morning. Everything went smoothly: waited in line, showed voter card and passport, took ballot, marked ballot based on wingnut libertarian views, turned in ballot, and proudly walked out with "I Voted" sticker.

In case you haven't heard, my cell phone is broken, so for the time being, you'll have to email me.  The address is bholt@ this domain name.

The Iowa Hawkeyes travelled to Champaign Saturday to challenge the Fighting Illini of Illinois. After building up a lead over the first three quarters, the Illini held off a late Iowa comeback to win 27-24. Most of the McDonald clan were in town for the game. I had some Quad Cities friends in town as well, and Nathan organized a surprise when he showed up with Raff, Adam K., Adam's girlfriend Sara, and Pritch.

See the gallery for more pictures from the day.

Returning visitors may have noticed I changed the site's default theme to the new version of Garland I've been working on lately. There will probably be some more tweaks (and who knows, maybe still a complete overhaul) but I think this is an improvement in the short term. What do you think?

Our immigration team contacted me yesterday with good news: my Indian employment visa went through!

FedEx should be returning my passport to me tomorrow. I also hope to book my flight tomorrow, which will pretty much solidify my travel dates. I expect to fly British Airways, Chicago to Mumbai (via London), on November 19 December 1, with my first day in the office at TCI to be November 24 December 4.

So, Al Gore was at Harvard today.  I could only stay for part of his speech since I had to leave for chorus rehearsal, but it was crazy how many people were there.  Walking away from the speech I saw that the rest of the campus was basically dead.  Many people that I know had their classes cancelled today so that they could go watch the speech.

On Meet the Press Sunday, General Colin Powell announced that he'll be voting for Obama this November.  The former secretary of state made a compelling argument for why Obama is the better choice in this election.

Perhaps the most important point General Powell makes is regarding whether or not Obama is a Muslim.  While knowledgeable people realize that this is not true, I have heard few prominent speakers answer this claim with something like "and what if he is?"

I find it extremely disappointing that one can say, with a nudge and a knowing look, that someone might be a Muslim, implying that this is somehow dangerous, and one should be suspicious.

The common retort to this "attack" is to correct the speaker, stating that Obama is in fact a Christian.  While realpolitik makes this politically wise, it misses the point. Being Muslim, Hindu, atheist, or of any other religious belief should not itself bar one from being president. Kudos to General Powell for standing up and making this an important point of his comments. It is absurd that the mere hint that one might not be Christian makes one un-American, and I hope more people stand up to the bigots that believe this rubbish.