a nuts and bolts rant and whine and a question or two.

[nosmokes]

and i'll probably get a kick in the ass and deserve it, too, but here goes.

is anyone else having to pay for yard signs? they're charging us $5 per here in lane county oregon and i'm gobsmacked. i spent a few hours at the kerry HQ phone banking on saturday and was a bit taken aback when it cost me $10 to walk outta there with a yard sign and 2 buttons. i don't begrudge the $10, but i sure can't afford to supply any of my neighbors with a yard sign at $5 a pop, and i live out in a semi-rural area. the odds of any of 'em driving into town to drop $5 on yard sign lies somewhere between slim and none, nigher the none.

and the yard signs themselves... the U-shaped heavy gauge wire with the vinyl sleeve that fits over it? bogus design. what are you supposed to hammer on to get a sign into the ground so that it stands up to a better than 5mph wind? i know we're the progressive party, but is it really necessary to reinvent the wheel? there's a reason that yard signs are placards on a stick that you can hammer into the ground. yes, yes there is.

and as for the phone banking, the script they have given us here is lame ass, and the volunteer chiefs are quite adamant about following it closely, and not getting into any policy discussions, which i can understand. but they have called it *carry oregon*, so when i call someone i identify myself as being a volunteer from *carry oregon*, and then i hafta spend 30 seconds explaining that *carry oregon* isn't kerry oregon, and if it's an elderly person it can be confusing as hell. shoot, it's confusing as hell to me!

and the campaign HQ itself has limited parking, so most of the parking is on street at meters. well, the meters are 2 hour shots and they wanna schedule the volunteers for 3 hour shifts.

yeah, i know, i shoulda gotten there sooner. but i din't and i'm bitchin now. but i'm done and i'll keep showin up.

but the $5 yrd sign really sticks in my craw...