In just ten days, the 2005 Primary Election is going to be held here in the County of Armstrong.

Also, Dad's birthday was on the 3^rd, so we went out to dinner at the Texas Roadhouse in Butler. After finishing our dinners, Mom mentioned it was his birthday to one of the waiters...And got a group of them to come out and sing for him. In addition to the song (which was just like the one sung to me at Red Lobster for my birthday), he also had to wear a hilarious-looking giant cowboy hat while they sang it...And to make it more embarrassing for him, someone in his work crew (who had brought his son) was also here, and they both made fun of Dad a little after the song was finished.

Here's what I got done for this week:

• Monday: I finished punching the ballots, as well as checking them to make sure I got the right holes punched in each card. After that, I started working on getting the registry booklets punched - fortunately, this time it's with an automatic punch.
• Tuesday: I continued getting the registry booklets punched, and managed to get the cover and note pages done for all of the books. There's only seven more books to be punched, and I got covers and plastic spines added to the first twenty.
• Wednesday: Work on the registry booklets continues - All of the pages are punched now, and only 17 more need to be bound.
• Thursday: I finished binding the last 17 books, and started work on crimping metal spines to the laminated ballot pages, using a type of pneumatic press. I sat at a table with a pedal below my right foot, and a tank of compressed air to my right as well. After placing the spine and page in a vice on the table, I stepped on the pedal, causing the vice to squeeze the metal spine, and lock the page in place. I managed to get them all done today (I only had to do this for pages 5, 6, and 7, for both parties), and started double-checking those to make sure every district has enough copies, and to make copies for those without any.
• Friday: I finished double-checking the pages, and got ready to put these inside the page/mask holders used in the actual voting booths (I had someone help me this time, to get the job done faster - I worked on one party's set while she worked on the other, and I helped her out when I was done with my set). The page/mask holders were put in the indentations of what I can only describe as a large, slotted table, followed by putting the ballot pages in the right slots, followed by the yellow masks I punched earlier, and finally locked in place. After finishing each district's set of page/mask holders, I checked them to make sure the arrows on the pages lined up to the holes in the masks. After getting the holders for all of the districts complete, I had to start making copies of more specimen ballots, as someone needed two for every district, for both parties. I only got a few done, but it should only take a day or two more (depending on whether or not I have to do anything else in the meantime) to finish this.