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So today I had an IS contractor at work come up to check out my system. We're being upgraded tomorrow, and they had to make sure all the system details are worked out for our department beforehand.

This guy saw my John Ashcroft "Terror Level" tongue in cheek monitor on my desktop and was like, "What is that?" I expected the worst. My desktop is one of the few places where I allow myself complete freedom of expression, since I'm usually the only one who looks at it.

I said it was Ashcroft.

"Not a fan of John Ashcroft's, huh?" he said.
"Nope. I'm a true-blue Democrat." I pointed to my Howard Dean sticker on my bulletin board.

Then he threw me for a loop. Told me his entire family had been Republican for awhile, and that he'd been that way too, but they were all starting to pull to the left (except his mother). Even his sister who had worked on Bush's campaign, Perry's campaign, and had gotten personal invitations to the inaugural!

We found out we were both from Austin, and really had a nice chat about what's going on. He's married, and they're thinking about kids, and he's really worried about everything going on right now. I told him about the draft, which worried him. His 35th birthday is coming up, so he might get lucky, but he was glad to find out.

He also told me he supported gay marriage(!!) I told him he could never vote Republican again, sort of jokingly to him, but also completely seriously, which I think was understood.

In such an oppressive Repub environment every day, this was a serious breath of fresh air. After the convention this weekend, I've been feeling more and more excited.

FSC