Super mardi gras

It's Super Tuesday - the day when 24 states are holding primaries and caucuses across our fair country. Several thousand delegates are at stake for both Democrats and Republicans and my home state of California promises to be a hotly contested state on both sides, with 370 Democratic and 173 Republican delegates at stake.

I'm looking forward to seeing how today's voting goes. Will my party nominate Hillary - the experienced, passionate leader who promises a swift plan of action to make change? Or will the party go with Barack - the young, refreshing, charismatic fellow who also hopes to set a new course for this country? Or will it be too close to call a definitive winner?

As a stalwart SF liberal, I probably should be out voting, but instead I don't get to sport one of those red "I voted!" stickers because I mailed my absentee ballot in last week. Why absentee? Because I learned that my polling place had changed from the super convenient garage right next door to my building to someplace up a very steep hill. This panda is all about convenience.

But today is also mardi gras - the annual anything-goes, get-it-all-out-of-your-system day of celebration before the 40-day dry spell of Lent.

I'm not a religious fellow, and it's likely that any good Catholic would want to see me stricken dead, but mardi gras seems like a fun cause for celebration. Certainly any festival that would put either Britney Spears or Hulk Hogan atop a parade float is a-okay by me.

And as a stalwart SF hedonist, I probably should go out tonight and cause some sort of ruckus, but thanks to a late conference call tonight and an early morning meeting at The Corporation tomorrow, I'll probably be watching the election results on the television.