Let the Voting Begin

NOTE: Started this Friday before my home game then got stupid-busy. Will have a knitting post tomorrow (Tuesday). Promise! Photos are already on my computer! :)Oh, and this is a photo-heavy post!

OK, people. This is a warm-up for Tuesday's mid-term elections. Vote early, vote often!

First, let me explain the Roaming Gnome concept. If you are traveling alone, there are often places you would like to photograph. You then have two options: 1. Take a picture of the building/site/hysterical monument with random strangers in it or with a vast empiness that looks like a postcard, or 2. Ask a stranger to figure out your camera so you can have a picture of you with same building/site/monument.

This concept lets you find a middle ground. You have a "thing" that can appear in your pictures. Have I visited the Neues Rathouse/Glockenspiel in Munich? Parliament and Big Ben in London? The Little Mermaid in Copenhagen? Yep. I'm not in the picture, but here's my cute little roaming gnome in my place.

Unfortunately, this concept reaches my feeble little brain about 15-20 years too late for trips to Munich, London, Copenhagen, Paris and various other locations, but it sure will be fun on work trips when I venture out onto college campuses all by my lonesome. Hoover Tower at Stanford, here I come! :)

So, let's meet our contestants. We'll go littlest to biggest. Remember, all of you will be seeing a fair amount of the winner on this blog (think traveling sock on the Yarn Harlot blog!)

First, our friend Ernie. I don't know how long I've had this guy hanging out on my desk, but I'm guessing it has been at least since I was at Minnesota, which would have been 1995-96. Complete with Rubber Ducky! Advantages: Small. Smush-proof (he's a pretty durable plastic). Disadvantages: I'll always either have my hand in the picture or his legs cut off. And, he's easily drop-able. Not a great trait in a little somehing you're probably going to be holding out at arm's length somewhere you would really NOT want to drop it.


Next, this nifty little nameless cow that was a promotion for something once upon a time. He has "Millennium" printed on his back, and that's some sort of a hotel chain, although I have no idea where. Advantages: Small, Smush-proof, again (he's made of the same thing as a squeeze-ball would be). Disadvantages: He had a cow bell-type tag around his neck until yesterday (Thursday) when I took the test shots. This has started him down the path to doing his best impression of Nearly Headless Nick of Harry Potter fame. Probably can't see it on the photos, but he has a little cut on his neck, right in front and right above where the first "full" row of stars is on his "shirt."

Third, Sharka. Got him at Crazy Shirts in Hawaii several years ago. I also own a Sharka t-shirt and hat, but that's beside the point. He's a cool surfer dude and about as friendly of a shark as you'd want to come across. Advantages: Small, has weighted beans in his butt, so he'll sit on his own pretty easily. Disadvantages: I'm a little concerned that the string tying his surfboard to his fin could get caught in something and cause a disaster in a tightly-packed bag when I'm trying to move stuff around in a hurry. That and he has spent many perfectly-groomed years on my desk and I almost hate to think of him eating dirt in some strange locale.

Finally, Tigger. A new addition as of Monday night's trip to the happiest place on earth (AKA Disneyland, for those of you who have not been indoctrinated to the Way of the Mouse). The Eeyore was cuter, but Linda (my inspiration for this adventure) uses an Eeyore as her roaming gnome and I didn't want to be a TOTAL copycat. Just for your reference, the Pooh was mildly creepy and I seem to have blocked out the Piglet. Advantages: Cute as hell. Easy to grab by his spring-like tail so my hand won't always be in the picture. Very short minkee-like fur, so he won't get too terribly nappy/gross as he ages. Disadvantages: He's the biggest one of the four. The tag you can see sticking out of his butt in this picture is removeable, so don't let that hold you back or change your opinion.

Here's a side-by-side comparison. Diet Pepsi can included for scale ... and carbonated caffeinated refreshment.

And finally, test shots taken following Friday night's game. PLEASE VOTE! either via comment or via email. Enjoy!