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And… what do you think? Sound off in the comments… all two of you. And no, it’s not done yet.

Comments like this chicken-or-crap essay pointed out by John Gruber notwithstanding, I’m still on the fence to a certain degree about this election. I’ve appreciated John McCain’s willingness to go against the party establishment the past few years, a reason I’ll be voting for our current senator as well. On the other hand, Barack Obama appears to have a solid technology platform and it’s undoubtable that he’s inspired a lot of people to take interest in politics.

At the end of the day, I want to make an informed decision and choose the candidate that aligns most closely with what I believe. Now, my most closely held beliefs may or may not be held by the candidates; in today’s political environment it’s almost impossible to tell what beliefs are genuine. (Not completely impossible, mind you, but those guys don’t typically win, endorsements or not.) As far as political beliefs go, it’s sometimes hard for me to tell just what I believe. Less government spending is good, abortion is bad, morals in general are kinda… not sure. After this policy and that boycott, I’m wondering how right the “Christian right” really is.

Sounds like a job for… a political quiz! Or rather, several. First stop is The Compass, a several-part quiz that shows where you are on a two-dimensional graph that compares social and financial issues. The postmodernist in me is actually quite proud of my position, but other people are not impressed. And it doesn’t help me pick a candidate.

Enter Glassbooth (found via TechCrunch). They’re supposedly nonpartisan and nonbiased, and I’m inclined to believe it. You first pick your most important issues and then rate your position. What I like most about it is that you have the option of remaining neutral on an issue if you so choose. It then compares how you feel about the issues with how the candidates feel about the same issues, and it gives you quotes and voting records to back it up.

So who am I voting for? Should I really have wondered in the first place? Actually, I’ve got more in common with Obama than the Libertarian candidate. Wonder how I would have compared with Ron Paul…

kan mai layout hold teh lolz? or does i need a bigger bukkit?

You can see the idea I’ve got for my theme here. Make sure you can scroll up and down.

My illustrious podcast has been delisted from iTunes due to there not being any new episodes for several months. And my illustrious car decided to start hating me last night by giving me both a seriously dead (as in you-can’t-jump-start-it-you-have-to-go-get-a-new-one dead) battery and a flat tire at roughly midnight. Fortunately, the Microsoft of the retail world is open 24 hours and the tire store that’s always having a great day is very good at changing tires first thing in the morning.

I’m dating a very awesome person who is so awesome she’s worth dating even though she lives 212 miles away.

All in all, I’d say the new blog is off to a great start. Now if someone could tell me which OpenID plugin for WordPress actually works, that’d be great.

So… after about 15 minutes of careful deliberation, I realized that I’m probably better off sticking with WordPress for the time being. Biggest reasons are 1) I already know how to theme it, 2) I already know how to use it, and 3) it has an iPhone client.

But chyrp is still very cool and you should still check it out. I just need to stick with what I know for the time being, as pathetic as that is.

Old posts are still archived at the oddEvan archive. And I got my fancy Evan Hildreth button that isn’t up yet from the brilliant button maker which is also very cool.