Regardless who wins this will be an historic election. However, I am very disappointed with some of the campaign strategies on both sides of the isle.

Negative campaigning is very distasteful. It is like playing the dozens If you don't know the dozens you are probably not black. But it is when you dis your opponent through put-downs of their character, their person or their family. Take one little thing, pull it out of context, amplify it to suit your own needs and then talk about it in a disrespectful tone. Written out like that it doesn't sound so good. Listening to that stuff (from both sides) either deceives you into believing a partial truth or in some cases a complete lie; or it seems so blatant that you wonder how anyone can believe it. And, suffice to say that what people believe is very much influenced by what they are told.

But I am so amazed at this election. Never would I have believed that a black man would have the potential to be elected to the highest office in the country where I was born. The country where my ancestors had few individual rights. The country that is my home even though there were times it felt inhospitable. I am so happy about this I can hardly contain myself!

WOW! Tanya Saint-Val is excellent!!!

I just finished the migration to Drupal. Now I can concentrate on learning and enhancing Drupal on this site. I am amazed with how powerful Drupal is. So many modules have been created it is very difficult for someone new to get a handle on which modules should be used in a basic site. I understand many modules depend on the purpose of the site but some (like cck) should be included in any site.

I have been working on migrating trasna.net from Wordpress to Drupal. I am as enthusiastic about Wordpress as I have ever been. But I really like the flexibility Drupal offers and the fact that I am not limited to simple blogging. It is a very well developed CMS and a well supported platform.

I decided to migrate the hard way...completely manually. I am about 2/3 the way through the migration as of the date of this post. In many ways it is unfortunate that I started with version 6. Unfortunate because many of the modules I need are not yet available in the 6.x series. All of the links are there and most of thr blog articles have been migrated. I am building the site on xonxor.com. Once everything has been entered I will move it all back to trasna.net as a Drupal managed site.

Edith Lefel has long been one of my favorites. For some reason I just can't get enough of this video. It is from the aptly named CD "La Voix du Zouk."

We recently remodeled our first floor 1/2 bath. The decor was definitely 1960s to late 1970s vintage. It had black tile half way up the wall, and black linoleum. The one nice feature and one reason we waited so long to update the bathroom is this mural which was hand painted on the wall.

On the side of the Trolley it says Wolf & Warren Sts to South Ave. Anyone familiar with Syracuse, NY recognizes those street names immediately. It is painted directly on the wall so unfortunately it was not possible to save the painting.

This is the chancel area at the church I attend. The walls in this area are now covered by a very nice mural. I love the play of shadows on the wall. So I am glad I was able to take this picture before the walls were painted.

The following prayer is by Desmond M. Tutu, former Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa. I offer this prayer for all of those in conflict around the world and especially for my brothers and sisters in Kenya.

Peace for the Children of God

O God, all holy one, You are our mother and our father and we are Your children. Open our hearts so that we may be able to discern Your work in the universe and be able to see Your features in every one of Your children. May we learn that there are many paths but all lead to You. Help us to know that You have created us for family, for togetherness, for peace, for gentleness, for compassion, for caring, for sharing.

May we know that You want us to care for one another as those who know that they are sisters and brothers, members of the same family, Your family, the human family.

Help us to beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks, so that we may be able to live in peace and harmony, wiping away the tears from the eyes of those who are less fortunate than ourselves. And may we know war no more as we strive to be what You want us to be: Your children.

Amen.

Our friend Stan Wright lost his struggle with leukemia. We miss him dearly. I look forward to the day that we will see him again along with other loved ones lost over the years.

The first snow had fallen in Syracuse. We experience all 4 very defined seasons in central New York. And I enjoy the change of seasons. Each one has its own unique qualities and its own beauty. Many people like to complain about the weather but I try to enjoy all different kinds of weather. I am glad the snow has arrived.