shellen dot com: November 2004 | Sincerely, Jason Shellen

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Blogger.com screenshot in traditional Chinese

As described in our help article, Blogger goes international. Blogger is now available in:

We have some work to do to get the interface translated as well, but stay tuned for further developments and more languages.

Our users have had the ability to publish in over 95 languages for a while now, but it's been hard to get to that step without having blog creation or sign-up in one's native tongue. Cheers to the birth of even more blogs!

BYOY (Yams)

The Shellen family has grown to the point that we can't always celebrate Thanksgiving together any more. Since we'll be celebrating separately this year, I thought I'd share some family "factoids" in the spirit of the holiday:

Rather than the traditional fall decor, the table is decorated with Smurf figurines.

Popular side dishes include Green Beans 'n' Haggis, French Onion Ring Pop Tart Pie, Moons Over My Hammy®, Vienna Sausages with Ketchup Remoulade and Cranberry Vodka Jell-O Shots.

We draw straws for which two of us get to pull the wishbone, and then inevitably somebody asks "what did you wish for?" and then we inevitably have the same old tired conversation about how if you tell what you wish for your wish won't come true, even though it's a bunch of superstitious BS.

Every year, Mom tells the story about how our dear sweet Nana's favorite part of the turkey was...well, a gross part.*

Jason, Taylor and I take turns ruining the day, depending on who ruined Easter and who is scheduled to ruin Christmas Eve. Sometimes we give Dad a shot at it, too.
We stroll from door to door in our neighborhood singing Thanksgiving carols such as "O Bloated Night," "The Twelve Days of Leftovers" and "Hark! The Dallas Cowboys Stink."

*Seriously.

Voter Cheatsheet

My co-worker Jason Sutter posted a photo of his Voter Cheatsheet so I thought I might as well post the list of props and measures I voted on as well. I don't have time to give you the full run down on why I voted the way I did other than to say I used the California Ballot Proposition links Eric rounded up to help me decide. Thanks Eric!

Prop 1A - Yes
Prop 59 - Yes
Prop 60 - Yes
Prop 60a - Yes
Prop 61 - Yes
Prop 62 - No
Prop 63 - Yes
Prop 64 - No
Prop 65 - No
Prop 66 - Yes
Prop 67 - No
Prop 68 - No
Prop 69 - No
Prop 70 - No
Prop 71 - No
Prop 72 - Yes
Measure X - Yes

Of course I voted for John Kerry too.

The voting experience itself was unsettling as Alameda County uses the controversial Diebold machines. Worse yet was that my polling place doesn't allow you to get a printout of your ballot to double check that what is on the screen. Blech! I did however get a sticker that says 'I Touched the Future - Touch Screen Voting'. Double-blech!

Ok, now I'll vote

I just received a 'Get out the vote' email from an email list I'm on for the band Jimmy Eat World . I expect this from Vote or Not, MoveOn, and the DCCC, but you know things are bad when rock n' rollers are begging you to vote.

update: Now iTunes is bugging me to vote too! Alright already i'll vote more than once if I have to. As they say, vote early and often.