You’re the best

I’m going to tell you a little secret. I have a love-hate relationship with our Best of Northern Nevada issue. It’s counting those crazy paper ballots. I usually enlist people around the office and family members to help me count the danged things, but I take the results pretty seriously so I either count or write down every single vote. It’s a simple but tedious task that stretches my not-very-elastic attention span. This year we took steps up front to try to ensure as little ballot box stuffing as possible, and in terms of ballots we had to throw out, we were very successful.

You can check out the complete analysis of the ballots here.

That’s the hate part, although mild irritation would be closer to the truth. The love part has a lot to do with the parts of “Best of” that aren’t on the page. I love the horseraces in the hotly contested categories like “best casino” or “best tattoo” or “best bar.” It’s thrilling for me to count up the hash marks and add in the Internet votes.

At any rate, this is one of those issues that requires a herculean effort on the part of the staff. First, thanks to Miranda Jesch, Dennis Myers, Kelley Lang, David Robert, David Jayne and Bob Speer, the editorial team that makes this issue so fun to read. Thanks, too, to the business and advertising folks who sell and place the ads that give us enough room to make this “Best of” the best “Best of” around: General manager John Murphy, Lori Lacey, Mark Martens, Dawn Archie-Johansen, Karen Brooke and Daphne Menden. Thanks, also, to all those ad designers, distribution drivers and corporate stars who keep this place ticking along. Finally, thanks to the readers who voted and who take this issue home and patronize the businesses, groups and individuals who go the extra mile to be the best.

Reason to vote No. 48: You should vote because if it is a close election, the U.S. Supreme Court—and not the voter—may decide who becomes president.