This year, our county had it set up so you could vote a couple of weeks before the election. I think it was the first time--I know you've been able to vote by mail for several years (just because of preference, not because of any particular need), but I didn't think far enough ahead to do that.

Bob voted on Wednesday during the day, and I don't think he had to wait at all. I was seriously thinking of just waiting until Tuesday, and sort of looking forward to standing in line for a couple of hours or so and just hanging out with a book and being late to work, but I decided that wasn't really very responsible, so I went today.

It took about an hour, I think. I have no idea how many people were there, but there was a line winding through most of the floor of an office building--the wastewater office or something like that. It wasn't too bad--I had to fill out an application to vote early, stand in line, then give it to someone who looked me up in the computer (although I didn't have to show any identification at all, which seemed sort of weird--it would seem I could have been anyone as long as I knew an address and date of birth), then stand in line again, and eventually be handed a paper ballot, which I then took to a little carrel and filled in by hand.

Someone behind me remarked that this was the "low tech" way of voting, but I didn't mind at all.

Then, once the ballot was filled out, you folded it and put it into an envelope, signed the envelope, and dropped it into a box, and were handed an "I Voted" sticker and a wrapped peppermint, I guess as a reward.

So now I don't have to worry about it on Tuesday, and it isn't as though my mind is going to change between now and then.

After I voted, I went to the post office and bought stamps and checked my box, and went to the bank and made a deposit, then went to Comp USA and bought Norton Utilities--one for Bob's PC and one for my Mac. The PC version was $50 and the Mac version was $100--I have no idea why. Bob says it's because they don't sell very many of the Mac version, so they have to make it up in price. For all I know, he may be right.

I'd been needing to buy it for awhile, but it was just hard for me to spend that much money on something that isn't fun. But the Mac had been crashing at odd times, and a couple of days ago I got the dreaded Mac "bomb" for no apparent reason, and I got it again last night, so I decided it was probably time to bite the bullet and just do it. When I ran it tonight, it found several minor errors that really didn't seem like any big deal, but who knows.

I did the Live Update thing where it goes out to the Symantec site and downloads any available updates, and after it downloaded 5MB worth of files, taking close to an hour to do it, it crashed. Naturally. And while it's downloading, it shuts down your access to anything else at the same time, so it's pretty inconvenient. I'll try it right before I go to bed, if Bob's ready to go to bed, too. If not, if he's staying up late, then I won't be able to, because I'll need to let him have the phone line.