It's just a stupid sandwich

Annapolis is all abuzz this week with talk of what kind of sandwich Gov-elect Martin O'Malley will select to bear his name at the venerable Chick and Ruth's Delly.

Will he honor his Irish roots and choose corned beef or will he kowtow (or cow-tow, perhaps) to the vegetarian lobby and select something without meat?

Or most importantly, does it matter? It didn't matter four years ago when Gov. Bob Ehrlich went against recommendations and chose a turkey sandwich and this time around is no different.

The local media can't seem to get enough of this story and yet I can't seem to care. The tv stations talk about it every chance they get and The Sun has already given more ink to sandwichgate than to O'Malley's selections for his deputy chiefs of staff. Pardon me if I'm more concerned with the governor-to-be's decisions on taxes, slots, and the death penalty, than I am with his lunch choices.

All of this hullabaloo takes me back to an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm where Larry David is honored with a sandwich at Leo's Delicatessen. In typical Larry David fashion, he's not happy -- he doesn't like the sandwich selected for him (whitefish, sable, onions, capers and cream cheese) and wants to switch with his friend Ted Danson (the turkey, cole slaw and Russian dressing.) Hilarity, of course, ensues.

Now life imitates art and I have to tell you, I like the art version better. I'm certainly not against a little levity in politics, but this is a damn sandwich. If we're talking about something more relevant like cookies, it might be a different story.

And for the record, I think I like Attorney General Joe Curran's sandwich pick the best. His is the pizza bagel. He catered to the Italians and the Jews all at once. Can't go wrong with that.

One entrance, 13 snowglobes: Black Friday 2006

It's almost as if JCPenney doesn't trust us.

Every year the store gives out free snowglobes (formerly ornaments) to the shoppers willing to brave Black Friday. And every year, we're right there front and center, ready to stake our claim.

(If you're new to this blog or the AlisaBS family, please see my Black Friday 2005 entry to better understand the significance of this annual event.)

But rather than distribute the snowglobes at each of the store's four entrances, this year the Owings Mills Mall location only gave them out at one. It's almost like they were afraid people would try to get more than one by going in another entrance. Silly retailer. It takes a lot more than limiting the point of distribution to stop my family.

Or at least it takes more than that for most of my family. My husband shirked his duties this year, managing only one snowglobe for the greater good. He whined about there only being one entrance and tried to rest on his previous year's success. Not good enough. I expect a better showing next year, mister.

Thankfully my father and one brother (Matt, the good twin) stepped up this year, nabbing four each. I yoinked four as well. So 13 in total isn't bad, especially considering the roadblock thrown up at us.

I was also pleased with our shopping haul on the holiest of shopping days, despite the lackluster bargains across-the-board. As we poured over the ads, nothing really jumped out at us as a must-have. I have no need or desire for a PlayStation 3 (not that there are any to be had anyway) and I wouldn't know what to do with a TMX Elmo if I tripped over it and squeezed out its very last annoying giggle.

I did, however, get some $8 iPod speakers (quality, I'm sure) as well as a good deal on Apples to Apples and the Scene It TV edition at Boscov's. I also bought an all-in-one printer and Rich got a bargain on some new luggage. I get all tingly thinking about the dollars whose lives were spared by extra percentage-off coupons!

Here's wishing you a season of price cuts, clearance merchandise, and closeouts!

Insert your own clever "change a lightbulb" joke here

I'll admit it. I've been known to make a negative comment about the Baltimore subway every now and then. But with the recent eruption of violence at various subway and light rail stops, I trusted that the MTA would be on top of things and make something as simple as parking lot lighting a priority. Not so.

Since daylight savings time kicked in a few weeks back, the parking lot at the Owings Mills metro station has been very dark from 5 p.m. on. At least half of the lights seem to be out and even the ones that were on didn't exactly cast off much light.

The parking lot there has also been under construction for a full year now, meaning that in addition to a dark lot, I also get to take a circuitous muddy route twice each day.

My husband and I took it upon ourselves to contact the MTA to let them know about the lights that were out. This was far more of a challenge than it should have been.

Rich called the MTA last Monday night to report the outages and the woman who answered said that wasn't her department and she couldn't forward the message. He said something to the effect of "I thought you might want to know considering the crime that's being going on lately at the stations" and the woman said "There's no crime there," and she hung up on him.

When we tried calling back, he was put on hold for a while and then disconnected. Eventually I called back on the cell phone and they said I could call the MTA comment line between 8 and 6 to report it. He called back the next day.

A week later, I arrived back to another dark parking lot. This time I'd programmed the MTA comment line into my cell phone and seeing as how it was only 5:40 p.m., figured it was the perfect time to call. But, after being on hold for 20 minutes, the comment line closed and kicked me over to a looped recording. It told me to press 1-6 to leave a comment. I pressed 1-6 and then I got the same message again. When I got home, I went to the MTA website to post a complaint.

My husband's actions yesterday, however, proved to be far more effective. Fed up with being unable to get through to anyone on any of the various phone lines set up for rider comments, he starting contacting some news organizations and politicians about the lights. Then, last night, on Channel 11's 11 p.m. newscast, success! They had a reporter out there showing the lights being changed.

It's disgusting that it took so much time and effort to get a few lightbulbs changed. The MTA claims it only became aware of the light situation yesterday, so to me that basically says they haven't had any MTA police or staff even glance at the parking lot in nearly a month. Pardon me for not feeling exactly, um, safe.

But what's today's lesson? Don't piss us off. Eventually we're going to get our way so let's just make it easy, okay?

So yay for Rich and as my dad proudly noted, "Keep complaining."

No I.D.? No problem!

With my first stint as an election judge now complete, I'm glad to say that everything went relatively smoothly and without incident.

It was certainly a long day. I arrived at 6 a.m. and didn't make it home until close to 11 p.m. But, we had close to a 50 percent turnout at my precinct with nearly 1300 voters coming through, so it all seemed worth it.

While we did have long lines at times, most people didn't seem overly bothered by the wait. Interestingly enough, the only real issue that upset voters was that they didn't have to show any I.D. in order to vote. No license, no utility bill, no nothing. As an election judge in Maryland, we are only allowed to ask for I.D. from a first-time voter who registered through the mail or if someone challenges the potential voter's identity.

Apparently some argue that voters may feel disenfranchised or intimidated if they're asked to prove who they really are. The American Civil Liberties Union, for example, regularly challenges attempts to require I.D. at the polls, saying it is akin to a poll tax and may discourage minorities or poor people from voting.

But from my vantage point, the real feelings of disenfranchisement came from voters who realized that anyone could have shown up and voted under their name.

Working as a check-in judge the whole day, I can tell you that at least 80 percent of the people who came in handed me a driver's license or a voter identification card as soon as they walked up. This included minorities, newly naturalized citizens, senior citizens, and people from all walks of life. They were proud to be able to vote and eager to exercise that right.

And just about every single person showed surprise and/or outrage that I didn't need to see their I.D.

One particular gentleman came up to me and asked what would stop him from giving his neighbor's name and voting as him. The answer? Absolutely nothing.

It's not like this in every state. According to the Election Reform Information Project, a non-partisan forum for election reform, 21 states currently require voters to show some form of I.D. Clearly Maryland isn't one of them but I think it should be.

The electronic age makes voter fraud even easier than before. Thanks to the National Center for the Study of Elections at UMBC, any person with internet access can easily go to a website and find out a person's polling place and party affiliation, as long as you have their name, date of birth, and zip code. Then they can show up at the polling place, give that name, and voila, instant voter fraud!

To top things off, the voter rolls still contain the names of people who have died, unless the family of the deceased has specifically notified the local board of elections. This means that a quick glance at the death notices in the newspaper can arm a person with all the information they need to vote under a dead person's name.

I have no desire to discourage anyone from voting. I was proud that as an election judge, we gave every single person an opportunity to cast a ballot, whether on the electronic voting machines or by a paper provisional ballot.

But in an era where trust is a thing of the past, it's time for Maryland's voting laws to catch up. Voting is one of the most sacred rights we hold as citizens and it angers me to no end that people are willing to jeopardize the security of an election so people don't get their feelings hurt.