Tired of all the election talk?  Me too, but this is my first chance to say a couple of things. For instance, many of the national talking heads are calling this election a mandate for Republican rule. Knowing the definition of mandate, I wonder how you can call an election in which nearly 70 percent of those eligible to vote did not vote. And, as I predicted in the election issue of this paper, that included 88 percent of you students, the younger voters. So again, we old people thank you for putting your lives and your futures in the voting hands of a few of us old folks.

When only three out of every 10 eligible voters bother to go to the polls and that 30 percent of voters consist of what I call the “27 Percentors,” or those that always vote against progress, then we expect the results that we got and you as college students are destined to feel those results.  We have, in fact, taken another step back to what they, the 27 Percentors, want, and that is a return to the era of the first U.S. President who could have been called a Tea-Partier, Andy Jackson.

But, off the election, I am finding, in my unscientific experiment, that ours is becoming a much friendlier campus. I do not know if the sour-pusses have just given up or if this old man riding around campus and smiling at everyone is just being noticed and you are returning my smiles and greetings.

We have some very cold weather coming in this week. It is time to abandon the shorts and short-sleeve shirts and bundle up to stay healthy. I have spent the last four days sick as a dog but I have an excuse, I am an old man.

So take care of yourselves because your health is one of your greatest assets.