I spent Election Night at the CNN Grill up in Columbus Circle. There I watched the returns come in with people like Mayhill Fowler, David All, Steve Garfield, Mindy Finn, Tracy Russo, Hilary Rosen, Cyndi Adams (yes, that one) and others.

I left shortly after Obama's speech --I was afraid that if I left earlier and tried to catch a cab or a train I'd get either stuck in traffic or underground (am not that lucky with mass transit in general, LOL!)

Columbus Circle on a Tuesday night is usually deserted but on Election Night there were cars everywhere and even though there was a bit more pedestrian traffic what was amazing was the loud hooting and hollering that was happening a few streets bellow ---and elsewhere.

(#reportthevote) (#videothevote) So today am walking around the East Village with the kids in their scooters and a camera crew from CUNY.TV. Michelle Garcia pinged me earlier yesterday asking me if she could follow me around to see what I as a blogger. And I was like, "sure, no problem" not having a clue what it meant.

They've literally have captured almost moment of our walking and talking to friends, neighbors and strangers. We had a miss going to Evan's school --I didn't find a poling place there but we went to Aidan's school because PS 63 which is right next door is one of the main polling places in the area.

While the kids hung out in the recess yard (aka the school playground), I talked to friends and interviewed voters coming out of the polls. Since we couldn't go  with either rolling cameras or  microphones, I walked around the section where they had set up the booths. I saw two interpreters, one for Spanish and the other Cantonese & Mandarin. I spoke to some of the teachers there --they have "professional development day" in days like these.

As y'all know, babysitting in the city is rather expensive. I had the kids with me all day yesterday and instead of capitulating I brought them with me to the Teamsters' HQ :

Teamsters Local 237
216 West 14th St.
btwn 7th and 8th Aves
New York, NY 10011
Sun noon-9pm
Mon 10am-9pm
Election Day 9am-9pm

If you are in the 14th Street area, send in your RSVP.

The kids helped with picking up all the callers' paperwork and taking it to "the lady with the computer", so she could process the information on their central database. They also streamed some videos and did some interviews. You can see the fruit of their labor at the culturekitchen channel on Qik.com.

Sarah Jessica Parker, or SJP as we like to call her, was phonebanking Friday at the Obama HQ; of course, looking flawless.

New York has the onus of making 2, 000, 000 phone calls by the closing of the polls on election day. Please take some time off and get your arse parked at one of the phone banking locations.  If you have an iPhone, get the Obama phonebanking application, and volunteer from the comfort of wherever you're at the moment.

Isn't this special.

Australian Immigrant Rupert Murdoch owns Times of London, the British publication that first published about Obama's 'Auntie Zeituni'.

Rupert Murdoch owns Fox News, that "fair and balanced as long as it's talking about extreme right-wing politics" network.

I have to reblog this because last night I saw one of the best quick comments about this bailout travesty : On the eve of a black man coming into the White House, they hustle all the money out of the Treasury. (H/T Ruby and Professor Kim)

Michael Moore sees it more broadly : this is the way the wealthy stage a coup before they're taxed in the coming administration.

I grocery store bills are ridoncuously high due to the assorted allergies we have to manage. My oldest has something in the order of 15 allergy markers; while the little, their father and me have abut 5 allergy markers each. Eggs, nuts and sesame seeds can lead to life threatening reactions.

No wonder I spend most of my week at supermarkets. A loaf of spelt or gluten-free bread is anything between 4 to 7 dollars. Same with cereals and other sundries. So I spend my days shopping online or checking local supermarkets for sales on anything that is wheat free.

Guess what I saw at the supermarket on Avenue A and 4th Street?

There is a protest today in front of The Waldorf-Astoria brought to you by PinocchioPolitics.org.

They are staging a "Lie-in" at 10:30am at the Waldorf, where they are trying their best to have Sarah Palin meet with foreign leaders behind closed doors and without any media scrutiny.

I actually have to go up that way today. I'll drop by around 11am and see what's going on.

More later.

Yesterday I wrote the following about Hillary Rodham Clinton :

Shameless.

Despicable.

Unfit to be President of the United States.

My words hit the front pages of both Daily Kos and The Moderate Voice. By evening Keith Olbermann had the following to say about Hillary Clinton's latest "gaffe" :

The most important part of the transcript is after the jump :

culturekitchen is one of the sponsors of techPresident's online presidential forum, 10questions.com.

The submission period is coming to an end in 5 more days. Thanks to my computer woes, I've been remiss at following up on this fantastic opportunity to ask the hard questions to the candidates; but not any more.

I am calling on all the NYC-based sponsors of 10Questions.com to come spend Sunday afternoon with me at Rapture Cafe in the East Village. I'll be there from 3:00pm to 6:00pm downing coffees and making video clips of everybody who wants to submit a clip to 10questions.

We have the cameras, we have the computers. Rapture Cafe has the coffee, beer and WiFi.

What does that mean? If you don't have a digital camera with video capabilities, a computer with WiFi or both, just bring yourself, even a friend and don't forget your thirst for a latte.

Where?
Rapture Cafe
(http://rapturecafe.com )
200 Avenue A
Between 12th and 13th Streets
NYC

When?
3 to 6pm

Questions?
nyc.blogdiva@gmail.com