Estoy Nueces

I can't believe we don't know who our next president will be. I am not a patient person. And today, I probably have people in seven cities in this country hearing me say very bizarre things on the radio. I record my radio shows in advance. Yesterday I carefully recorded everything for today's shows. I left "holes" in a few places to come back in and fill after I knew the result of the election. I didn't care who the winner was, I just wanted a declared winner early.

Last night Mark and I had a wonderful dinner at El Arroyo. It was fun to be with a group watching the results roll in on the three televisions they had set up. It was exciting to be a part of the whole political process. After dinner I went back downtown and walked up to the capitol to be a part of the excitement there.

A light cold mist was falling and a wildly Austin eclectic mix of people milled in front of the capitol. Many many of the obvious dotcommie yuppies, lots of older, staid Republicans and lots of UT frat boys and fresh-faced young girls. Okay, there was a lot of missing-in-action of the true Austinites. No old hippies, few pierced faces, no homeless.

The Governor's Mansion stood more imposing than ever. I stood on the steps looking in at the glow of lights and wondering what the Bush family was doing. My adrenaline had been pumping since the polls closed, I can imagine what there's must have been. I wandered on around to the crowd in front of the capitol and watched Jimmie Vaughn and Lou Ann Barton on a huge screen TV. I couldn't tell where the stage was or where they were performing, I could only see the TV. It was fun to be in the excitement but I wasn't really a part of the crown and I really wanted to see if there was any new vote information so I headed back around and back down Congress. At a brokerage there was a TV screen inside with the news on. People were gathered around the window watching the results roll in. At Texpresso a little group sat drinking coffee and watching election returns. Everywhere you looked, people were interested in the election. It was fun.

I went back to work and fiddled around waiting for something to happen. Nothing did. Finally I went back to my shows and filled the holes with more generic information. Not expecting that we wouldn't know by today who won the election I still said things about the election that might have sounded funny under the current circumstances. I tried to say things like, "I hope you candidtates won." "I hope you were happy with the results." That may seem stupid in light of no result and no winner. Oh, well. You takes your chances....

I sit here watching the news minute by minute. I don't know why. Obviously, nothing is going to change today. Today it is just politicians and talking heads over and over again reexamining what we already know. Unbelievable that it can be this close.

Cold cold cold today so I'm bundled up in a heavy sweater to go to work. And that is where I must go---and I'm going to be more generic than ever. No sense making the same mistake twice.