Before work yesterday, I went and voted. It's my civic duty, and as I may have mentioned before, I like to complain. Eligible non-voters don't have as much right to complain. Anyway, last night, when I got home from class, I turned on the TV. And, after watching for a short while, I did something I've never done before, and something I never thought I'd do: I voted again. Yes, twice in the same day.

I'm kind of ashamed about what I did, because it goes against some of my core values. And like I said, I've never done it before. I never intend to do it again. But as I was watching TV, I really was getting the feeling that the wrong guy was going to win. I've had that feeling before, and frankly, I don't know what was different about last night. I acted before I thought, and I let my emotions lead me down the wrong path. I'm left with a pit in my stomach and an unshakable feeling that people will never look at me the same way again. Or worse yet, that I may never look at myself the same way again.

I apologize to any of my friends and family who feel as though my doing this has let them down.

It's still not clear whether what I've done made any difference, though I expect that will be announced today. All I know is that I felt that I wouldn't have been able to sleep at night if Mario Lopez finished one vote shy of making it to the Dancing With the Stars finals, and I had not done my part to help him. He's clearly better than Joey and Emmitt. But when I saw all the pre-teen girls get all dreamy eyed over Joey last night, I got concerned, and I did what I thought was right at the time.

In hindsight, a couple of sleepless nights might have been preferable to the shame I'm feeling now.