The first presidential “debate” takes place tonight at 9pm EST before an expected 50 million viewers.

As you have likely heard, each candidate signed a 32-page contract (PDF) agreeing there will be no candidate-to-candidate questions, no rebuttals and no follow-up questions.

Some of the rules are so particular, such as the height of the podiums must be the same, but 10 feet apart (apparently a condition required by Bush so he doesn’t appear as short as he really is against Kerry).
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Now that it gets dark so early, this town is freakin scary! There are no lamps on our street, and for the most part people seem to disappear indoors once the sun goes down. The good thing is there’s terrific opportunity for stargazing right from our driveway.

The bad news is, I ventured out to Gimme! coffee down the block, and as I’m walking down our steps I hear some rustling in the bush (directly beside the steps). I figure… squirrel maybe, whatever. As I reach the bottom, said rustling becomes hefty thumping, and as I turn to identify, I’m pretty sure I saw a raccoon. But it was so damn dark that I could really only determine the general size of the beast, and saw some white fur around where I thought the head should be. And it was thumping at me as if to say “get the hell out of here NOW.” So I hustled down the driveway fearing it might be a SKUNK even, and I wasn’t going to risk hanging out for the spray! I’ll be checking for signs come daylight, for those little tell-tale handprints. Or dumped garbage bins anyway. ACK.

I’ve been using my film SLR camera quite a bit lately, and took some photos in Cascadilla Gorge. When I got the film back the other day I was quite excited with the results of these two shots:

I did some research online looking for photo tips when shooting waterfalls. Hopefully the info was good, because I used it. Today was beautiful and hot, so I headed up to Cornell and took some shots around the grounds. I also brought my tripod for shooting the waterfalls in the gorge. In a few hours I shot two+ rolls, so I should end up with a handful of decent images. I can’t wait until the leaves are turned colour - I hear by the 2nd week of October they should be in their fullest glory. In Vancouver we don’t really see the leaves turn. They’re either green all year or just go straight to brown and fall off.

Finally I’ve got some photos to show you!

I spent five days in DC visiting Karl while he photographed some hotels. We started out with a bang at the Mandarin Oriental, a gorgeous 5 star joint close to “The Mall,” the long strip where all the monuments and memorials are in Washington. We took a mini-tour in the morning when I arrived, then Karl worked while I played.

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As posted on the Drudge report GIRL CRIES AFTER BUSH/CHENEY SIGN RIPPED BY THUGS… . Except, there’s this.
I guess it’s too much effort for the Washington times to do some research.

Another day, another ride on a Greyhound Bus! I’m headed to Washington DC to hook up with Karl. He’s photographing the Mandarin Oriental hotel, so I’m joining him for some adventure in the nation’s capital. I’ve never been, so this will make for a fun addition to my exploration of the East Coast.

The Smithsonian has free admission, and apparently one could spend days checking it out. So I’ll see what’s happening there. Don’t think I’ll be causing much trouble in that city. :O)

I will also get a chance to see cousin Graham who lives there, working for PBS.

Most likely I’ll return Friday, though if Karl’s dispatched somewhere else of note, I may tag along. Also, the Hound stops through NYC so I should be tempted to spend a day there. Matt leaves for Japan on Sunday.

TooDaLoo!

My first try at a stencil. See it soon on a sidewalk near you!

I have been wandering quite aimlessly around Ithaca in the past weeks. The other day I came across a monastery in a house right beside Cascadilla creek. There was a monk sweeping the porch, wearing that pretty, reddish robe. The next day I saw two monks walking on the sidewalk next to Dewitt Park.

There was also some kind of hippie sit-in at the church down the street. This seemed to be a whole day event, and involved a conglomeration of several mutt dogs and colourfully-clad, dreadlock-coated thirty-something folks. No indication of what purpose the gathering was about. My only thought was the church was serving free dinners and that was the attraction.

On Friday night after a delicious dinner at Taste of Thai, we encountered a freakish assembly of birds in the trees near Center Ithaca on the Commons. This is apparently a growing concern as these birds are creating quite a menace. There were literally hundreds, if not thousands, of them united in screeching song, echoing between buildings, in just one or two leafy trees overhead. Unbearable noise, and I wonder what their attraction to this spot is all about. Whatever the deal, it’s a CREEPY thing to see.

Today near the Commons at Aurora Street, there were about a dozen people with scratchy signs pointed at traffic calling for PEACE NOW, and the like.

We saw Garden State At Cinemapolis last night. They still have cheap Tuesdays here: $5.50 admission! Thanks for the recommendation Karl. A happy sort of self-discovery film, and impressive writing/directing debut by Zach Braff, who also stars. Me thinks he’s got a grand career ahead.

And also since we have been rocking our Netflix subscription, here’s a list of all the flicks we’ve seen in the past month:

Canadian Bacon
Step Into Liquid
Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media
The Trial
Crimes and Misdemeanors
The Towering Inferno
1984
Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism
The Weather Underground
The Falcon and the Snowman
Stranger than Paradise
North by Northwest
Salvador
They Saved Hitler’s Brain
Winged Migration
Control Room (at cinema)
Coffee & Cigarettes (at cinema)

Yeah, well, we’ve got to entertain ourselves somehow! And we’ve also seen several episodes of Six Feet Under (cant ever get enough, nope) and Curb Your Enthusiam. Whew!

These observatory towers are common in the architecture around here:

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If anyone wants a gmail account, let us know, we have invites. A gig of storage. That’s lots!