post-next -Ted Drake’s sketchbook

Thelma Drake, a republican congresswoman, lost her bid for reelection this week. I’m happy about this, but not for the reason you may imagine.

Rep. Thelma Drake late Thursday night conceded the election for the 2nd Congressional District to political newcomer Glenn Nye after a bitterly fought race.

With a small number of absentee ballots still being counted, Republican Drake released a statement saying some voters waited in line for hours and many troops serving overseas, including Iraq and Afghanistan, sent absentee ballots.

“Those ballots have been counted and the voters have decided,” she said, congratulating Democrat Nye.
Daily Kos

I search for my name all the time. Not because I’m self-centered, far from it! Not that I’m less than spectacular…

I search for my name when testing search engines and the latest startup concepts. I know what is a decent result (anything that features myself prominently).

No, I’m just tired of articles for Thelma and her gun club popping up in “Ted Drake” search results. It’s a small, but annoying thorn in my side. Hopefully in a few years these results will disappear and I can bask in the glory of an all-Ted result page.

It’s a good thing I am so modest.

It’s so great to be here in Budapest…

I’m in Romania today to give a lecture to a university group on using Yahoo! Boss for building search applications. Imagine my embarrassment when I noticed the PowerPoint was filled with Budapest instead of Bucharest… arggggh. I feel like a nincompoop.

I tried to prepare for the trip by watching Romanian films. Unfortunately the selection on Netflix was a depressing story about two college women arranging for a illegal abortion during the communist era, a documentary about prostitution at the train station, and a vignette of peasant life in the country before the revolution. Somehow Netflix overlooked the happy go-lucky, feel good movie of the Romanian century.

First impressions of Bucharest

• Some stretches reminded me of the area between Seattle and Canada, minus the mountains.
• There are lots of stray dogs and my hotel room has a blurry painting of an angry dog running at me.
• Everyone speaks perfect English, as well as 5 other languages. Americans speak English and Loud English.
• There’s a big mixture of architecture. I’ve seen abandoned shacks, Victorian, Romanesque, Classicism, Communist Block, Las Vegas Glitz, and Hollywood ala Sunset and Vine.
• While everyone tells me there’s no vegetarian food and to look for Indian restaurants, I had a great meal at an old communist soup kitchen type place. I had a sauerkraut/potato soup, polenta, marinated mushrooms, and a rice/vegetable dish. It wasn’t fancy, but tasted great, was inexpensive, and great fun. I’d go back in a minute.
• There are way too many cars. It reminds me of the song “nobody walks in L.A.” by the Missing Persons.

I’m looking forward to seeing more of the city tomorrow and the art museums on Saturday. Now, if I could only stop calling it Budapest…

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