It's Election Day in America

As a resident of North Carolina who is from neighboring Virginia, today's election, in spite of the constant tv ads, radio spots, mailings and robo calls, is of great interest: North Carolina carries 15 electoral college votes whereas Virginia has 13. But, Ohio with 18 electoral college votes is considered the most important battleground swing state.

In the Sunday edition of "The Washington Post," Chris Cillizza who is an excellent non-partisan political analyst with his 'Post" blog 'The Fix,' predicts that President Barack Obama will get 277 electoral college votes while his challenger Mitt Romney will have 261; Reid Wilson of the non-partisan "National Journal" forecasts that Obama will get slightly more votes 294 for Obama and 244 for Romney.

Hopefully, everyone will get a chance to vote. I am fortunate to live in a swing state and I realized that people in Fort Mill, South Carolina, which neighbors the Tarheel State, and Bluefield, West Virginia, which neighbors Virginia, have to be agonized over the fact that their state is not in play.

Similarly, people in far away places like Baku, Azerbaijan, and Nairobi, Kenya, are watching this election very closely, perhaps in some cases just as much as Americans.

Lastly, in order to be 'remotely' objective, we should point out that the top image is of a Greek donkey (it may actually be from Macedonia); I am a Turkish-American:)

http://www.nationaljournal.com

http://www.thehill.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix

http://www.theonion.com (a satirical publication)

Saturday Tweets_ Patio Party Time

Let's jump in the pool, here are some tweets from the 15:00-16:00 (3:00-4:00 p.m.) hour New York time today; at that hour, it was 4:00 p.m. in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 8:00 p.m., in London, England, 10:00 p.m. in Istanbul and 11:00 p.m. in Dubai:

1) @LailaLalami (Laila Lalami is a writer whose work frequently appears in "The Nation"): "What a difference 4 years make. A majority of Democrats support keeping Guantanamo open and approve of drone program."

2) @GroveWinery (a winery near Greensboro, NC): "Patio Party! Sunday! $2.99 glasses of wine all day_ Readings from local novelist_ Free food tasting."

3) @WVUSportsBuzz (West Virginia University sports): "The WVU volleyball team competed in its annual Gold-Blue match today with Team Gold claiming victory."

4) @tnr ("The New Republic"): "Will the Obamas be able to convince people who already support him to vote."

5) @ncatsuaggies (North Carolina A & T University in Greensboro, NC): "Welcome to all our new followers. We are 5 followers short of 500. Who should we follow to even things out?"

6) @davidmtset (Dave Test): "The internet is a better place beacuse @GMinusG exists." (referring to the "Garfield" satire "Garfield Minus Garfield" with no fat cat).

7) @LOLGOP: "Paul Ryan taking over your Medicare is like Mitt Romney and Bain taking over your factory." (Yes, this tweet is the reason for the purple elephant).

http://www.lailalami.com

http://www.thenation.com

http://www.grovewinery.com

http://www.letsgomountaineers.net

http://www.tnr.com

http://www.ncat.edu

http://www.garfieldminusgarfield.net  

Greensboro vs. Roanoke- Best Road Trips (6 of 6)

Today, we conclude our look at my hometown of Roanoke, Va., and my adopted city of Greensboro, NC, by comparing two unique road trip opportunities within a short driving distance from each respective zip code.

The first one of these is the North Carolina Zoo, located in Asheboro, NC, which is about 35 minutes away from Greensboro and is located in the same county as the Richard Petty Museum in Randleman, NC.

This month, the zoo is offering Batology 101 on Sat., Oct. 22 at noon. Among the things which will be discussed is how bats apparently dine on up to 1,000 mosquitoes. We have no idea if that is the appetizer or the main course.

On Oct. 29th and 30th, the same zoo will have a special "Boo at the Zoo" program featuring a 'guess the pumpkin size' contest.

As for what is arguably the best trip from Roanoke, unless it is a day when Virginia Tech is playing Clemson and traffic is backed up to West Virginia (as is the case today), there is the Floyd Country Store in Floyd, Va., which is about 40 minutes from most parts of Roanoke due to the hilly roads.

The Floyd Country Store is known for its Friday night jamborees from 6:30 p.m.-10:30 p.m. On Oct. 15th, the store will hold a cd release party for gospel and country singer Janet Turner who is from the region. And, on Oct. 29th, the venue hosts an old time country dance with Mac Trayhan and Friends.

So, which road trip would I choose? Hmmm....this will be put me in the pickle jar again, but since I am a bit allergic to elephant dung (forgive the political humor), I will go with the Floyd Country Store though the North Zoo is an exceptional place to visit, especially if you have kids who aren't allergic to elephant dung.