An Anti-Climactic Ending to the First Ballot of the Year

Time spent: less than one hour

It's been almost 2 weeks since I last posted and not much more than one hour total was spent in that time on this project. I did call SPS to ask for details around the BTA. At first the woman did not know who to refer me to. Finally I got the name of a gentleman to call, which I did, but when I got his voice mail instead, it deflated my interest knowing the likelihood of our connecting 'real time' was slim to none.

Meanwhile in the past two weeks the free hours I've had to myself (usually from 7p-10p), I have had no desire to process new data.

Having said that I did arrive at a decision, but as my opinion is not the focus of this project so much as the research put towards it, I will not be conveying the results of my vote.

The project was never far from my mind and I experienced guilt, anxiety and disappointment at not being able to keep what I felt was a simple goal of 2 hours a week. At the same time I realized that this project is all about following the life of the ballot and that the interruptions and distractions are part of the process. Also, I had to remind myself that I knew from the beginning that it would not be realistic to research every ballot measure or candidate. This ballot came almost immediately on the heels of this project being launched and it was a great introduction for what lies ahead.

The lessons learned for this first ballot of 2010 were that 1) I started my research too late in the process and 2) it is difficult at best to follow the flow of money when it comes to government spending. Based on this, I've learned that in order to have a better shot of making an even more informed decision towards future ballots, I need to start looking ahead now for what is coming up for the remainder of the year.

That will be my next focus.