Halloween was forecast to be chillier this year than in years past, and I overbought candy. I forget how many bags, but it was two heavy sacks from Target, at least $50 worth. I had way, way too much, so I opened one bag and had three miniature Snickers. Kate had about that many miniature Reese’s. We both nibbled on the Starburst, for a grand total loss of maybe 2 percent in gross payload, maybe less.
Then I turned on the porch light at 5:30 p.m. Buzz Lightyear arrived at 5:40, and by 7:10 I was completely cleaned out. Every year, I forget how crazy it is. Hundreds of kids, easily. I enforced the one-to-a-customer rule almost unilaterally, with a few exceptions for exceptionally cute costumes. Didn’t put Screamin’ Jay Hawkins on the iPod speakers, as I had to start work at 6, so I sat on the porch in my lawn chair, laptop open, farming pharma-news, passing out candy. Because that’s how you gotta roll when you’re a work-at-home editor whose family deserted her on the one night of the year the doorbell will ring 200 times.
A few notes to consult for next year:
1) Buy more candy. There is no such thing as too much.
2) Snickers are totally over. One kid in 10 prefers them over Reese’s Cups. It’s time to admit to yourself why you buy them, you pig.
3) The two-bowl system — chocolate and fruit groups — is a winner.
4) It’s just not Halloween without Screamin’ Jay Hawkins.
A majority of our trick-or-treaters are “non-residents,” as polite people say in Grosse Pointe. There are more African Americans living here than there have been in the past, but not as many as we see on Halloween, and the circling cars dropping off and picking up kids sort of underline it. This happened in Fort Wayne, too, and it used to bug me. It doesn’t anymore. If your own neighborhood offers a paucity of candy, come on down to mine. All are welcome on my porch.
The stupidest story to turn up on the world’s Health pages last night: Avoid Halloween candy hazards, from the Los Angeles Times Online. No, it’s not about poison and razor blades; even the most dull-witted editors have stopped beating that dead horse. No, it’s about the hazards of “digestive upset,” “choking hazards” and “damage to orthodontia.” It contains some helpful tips you have probably never considered: “Feed them a healthy dinner before they go out so they’re not as tempted to snack,” and “Limit kids to about two pieces a day from their stash of goodies, or have them trade in their candy for a toy, book or family outing.”
As my husband often says, “Where would we be without newspapers to remind us to wear sunscreen?” The author of this groundbreaking piece, Alison Johnson, seems to specialize in this sort of thing. When I googled her name and home newspaper, the Hampton Roads Daily Press, I got another tips piece, on how to get through your child’s first haircut. Tip: Take a comfort item. (” If kids are nervous, let them hold a favorite stuffed animal, toy or blanket.” Forehead smack. I never would have thought of that!) Don’t miss the classic “how to eat to stay cooler,” either. Tip No. 1: Eat smaller, lighter meals.
Eh. On to the bloggage, it’s manic Monday:
The NYT explains Theatre Bizarre. Yes, the words “outré” and “leitmotif” appear.
Elizabeth Warren, Obama’s best hope to win back the masses. At least, NYMag seems to think so.
P.S. The auto bailout worked. Why doesn’t anyone know this?
Finally, the Washington Post looks into the crystal ball, post marijuana legalization. Worth your time.
Me, I must run.
Snarkworth said on November 1, 2010 at 10:13 am
We got none, nada, trick-or-treaters. We’re on a farm, up a long driveway, so this sometimes happens. But here I sit with three bags of FunSize (R) Snickers.
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coozledad said on November 1, 2010 at 10:20 am
Neither did we. Same sort of well off the road situation. I can wear the goat mask and loincloth in peace, confident no one will invade the magic circle.
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Snarkworth said on November 1, 2010 at 10:25 am
Make that two bags of FunSize Snickers.
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Connie said on November 1, 2010 at 10:26 am
Bought no candy, kept the lights off. Have done so ever since my kid left for college, and wasn’t there to help with the door.
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Deborah said on November 1, 2010 at 10:40 am
We live in a highrise. They had a memo posted in the lobby about letting the doorman know if you wanted to let trick-or-treaters from the building come to your unit. There are maybe 5 young children in the whole place. We haven’t participated since we’ve lived there because it seems like a lot of trouble for not much.
In the Central West End in St. Louis Saturday night I saw the lamest costumes ever. All the women were dressed like strumpets, no imagination what-so-ever, same cleavage filled, lowcut, shortskirted outfits with those stockings that come up to mid-thigh with plenty of skin showing between the stocking and the skirt, same high, high heels. And they all wore a stupid platinum wig. I mean, come on. The men were all dressed like various video game characters that I’ve never heard of.
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brian stouder said on November 1, 2010 at 10:41 am
P.S. The auto bailout worked. Why doesn’t anyone know this?
This is like when Christine O’Donnell (et al) reclaims their virginity; especially here in Allen County, Indiana, where our farm-subsidy acepting, cynically sneering auto bailout denying Rightwing stooge Stutzman will walk right over his Democratic opponent, even despite the stench of hypocrisy that seems to be the cachet of our arising righties.
Far from being an example of the excesses of government, the bailout and the TARP seem to be the successful-government equivalent of hot sex – lots of fun, but to be greatly feared and stigmatized, rather than thoughtfully utilized (or in Stutzman’s farm-subsidy case – “I’ll have mine, but too bad for you”)
edit: Deborah – blame it on Lady GaGa. We left Grant to handle candy dispensation, and Pam came with the girls and I around the neighborhood, where we saw lots of what you describe (and I’m not complaining!).
edit 2 – Alex – we’d a saddled up and driven out, if I knew where I was going! I say this because, despite being alive for 49 years now, I had never tp’d anyplace before last night. Long story – but the bottom line is – we acted on a tip and mounted a covert operation at about 8 pm, with the whole crew embarked (in the minivan), about 2 miles from home.
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alex said on November 1, 2010 at 10:41 am
None but a few brave souls come to our house since the neighborhood figured out we’re queer. Kind of painful watching people deliberately skipping us. On the other hand we know who our real friends are.
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Snarkworth said on November 1, 2010 at 10:54 am
*burp*
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Deborah said on November 1, 2010 at 10:57 am
Brian, Lady GaGa dresses in amazingly imaginative costumes. If any of the women I saw had one hundredth of that kind of creativity it would have been a spectacle to behold. But alas no.
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Peter said on November 1, 2010 at 11:02 am
Wow Alex, the queer guy couples in my neighborhood are the go to spots – kids instinctively know they give out more and better candy than the do gooders.
We ran out mid afternoon, and again in the evening, to the point where I handed out packets of microwave popcorn and rifled my niece’s haul to recycle the bad stuff.
And as far as Snickers are concerned – kids like them far better than Baby Ruths.
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4dbirds said on November 1, 2010 at 11:10 am
Hubby and I went to the Sanity Rally on Saturday. We drove in across the bridge to Georgetown, crossed over to 6th street and parked in a garage for 18 bucks. I was stationed in Berlin when the wall came down and the two events were quite similar. Streets were blocked off to cars and filled with people. Everyone was smiling and happy. Even when we were jammed up and not moving, everyone managed to say excuse me, pardon me etc as we tried to go along our way. The actual rally? I was there but I didn’t see it. Too many people. I only saw the back of heads. Couldn’t hear much either.
We live in a townhouse situation and we didn’t have many for halloween. I think the kids go to the McMansions to get the full size bars.
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Dorothy said on November 1, 2010 at 11:13 am
Second year in a row we had no kids. Like cooze and snark we are out in the country and no one on our street goes door-to-door here. They all drive into Mount Vernon on High Street and hit the big ol’ Victorian houses. Oh well, a bag of Reese’s cups will last me about 2 months!
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Rana said on November 1, 2010 at 11:25 am
alex, that is shitty behavior!
No sign of trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood last night, which produced mixed feelings. On the one hand, I was too disorganized to buy candy for them, so it was good none came to be disappointed. On the other, this is a neighborhood with a lot of kids, so it was strange to see none of them. I wonder if they all went to the event Saturday night that I saw advertised in a lot of local stores instead.
(I have to say, I’m a total grump when it comes to the alternative events – the ones where people go from store to store in the mall, or from car to car in church parking lots. As a kid, one of the best things about Halloween was that it broke all the normal rules – you got to dress up, you got candy, you got to go wandering around with your friends after dark, you got to stay up even if it was a school night. These pre-packaged things say so many sad things about the state of our society these days, I always shake my head at them.)
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LAMary said on November 1, 2010 at 11:30 am
alex, the kids here have the same theory as the ones Peter describes. The gay houses have the best stuff and frequently the best decorations. On my block there are more gay households than straight households so the kids have always been cool with it.
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ROgirl said on November 1, 2010 at 11:33 am
Not a big crowd last night. I don’t know if it was the cold weather or just that there aren’t that many kids in my neighborhood now. I did notice a lot of masks, fewer groups going around together, and a number of older kids coming to the door solo while a parent waited on the sidewalk, something I don’t think I’ve seen before.
I still have some unopened bags of Butterfingers and Nestle’s crunch bars, and an open one of Reese’s peanut butter cups.
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Deborah said on November 1, 2010 at 11:47 am
I keep checking the internet to see if they captured Osama Bin Laden yet. Wishful thinking and the only way democrats will win tomorrow unfortunately.
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Sue said on November 1, 2010 at 11:48 am
Unfortunately I did not make it home for the trick or treaters so I have several yummy bags of candy and some crap filler candy to use up.
Also, for another year I must complain about the quality of the Halloween vandals in my community. A real dearth of smashed pumpkins in the streets again this year. No toilet paper anywhere and I assume that the only egging that took place was at an alderperson’s house, who gets egged almost every weekend anyway. I blame poor parental skills.
Although the semi-rotten pumpkin in my front yard looks like it was picked up and dropped very quickly as the culprit had to quickly wipe his/her hands on his/her pants.
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MichaelG said on November 1, 2010 at 11:48 am
No kids at my house last night either. I live in the ghetto so I guess all the local kids went to Nance’s house.
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Moe99 said on November 1, 2010 at 11:50 am
Snarkworth, thanks for the laugh at chemo this am!
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Snarkworth said on November 1, 2010 at 11:54 am
Courage, Moe!
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John g. Wallace said on November 1, 2010 at 11:55 am
I always wanted to give out “fried chicken embryos and beer.”
Was pretty busy here – they southern variety rednecks pull landscaping trailers full of kids to the non-forclosed houses in the development.
The dogs rate Halloween lower than July 4th. Dogs hate doorbells. I always hated Dominos for their crappy pizza and the doorbell ringing commercial, “get the door, it’s Dominos.” That fooled the dogs everytime.
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Scout said on November 1, 2010 at 12:14 pm
Since we just moved several months ago I wasn’t sure what to expect, so I bought a box of 80 Welch’s Fruit Snacks packets and left the lights on until they were gone, about an hour. Then I hid the pumpkins, turned out the lights and we headed up to my daughter’s place to tour their haunted house. What a production! Daughter’s family and several neighbors spent a few weeks putting this thing together and it was really well done. Both grandkids (12 and 9) had starring roles as zombies. Pat and I wore those melty face scream masks and all black and the kids didn’t know who we were as we advanced on them and whispered their names in our creepiest voices! We almost got bounced for being more scary than they were. Heh heh.
Now the really scary holiday is upon us – election day. I have no idea what to expect. Now I’m hearing quite a bit of buzz (NPR, yahoo news) that the Teabaglican sweep might not be as all encompassing as the talking hair helmets would have had us believe over the past month. Guess we’ll find out.
And now, for this timely message…
A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was lost. She lowered her altitude and spotted a man in a boat below. She shouted to him, “Excuse me; can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don’t know where I am.”
The man consulted his portable GPS and replied, “You’re in a hot air balloon, approximately 30 feet above ground elevation of 2,346 feet above sea level. You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude and 100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west longitude.”
She rolled her eyes and said, “You must be an Obama Democrat.”
“I am,” replied the man. “How did you know?”
“Well,” answered the balloonist, “everything you told me is technically correct. But I have no idea what to do with your information, and I’m still lost. Frankly, you’ve not been much help to me.”
The man smiled and responded, “You must be a Republican.”
“I am,” replied the balloonist. “How did you know?”
“Well,” said the man, “you don’t know where you are — or where you are going. You’ve risen to where you are , due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. You’re in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but somehow, now it’s my fault.”
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adrianne said on November 1, 2010 at 12:18 pm
We had our normal complement of 60 to 70 kids, and had plenty of leftover candy. This year, the teenage boys took care of the door. Most awesome costume: Zombie hippie by Holly, one of Jack’s buds.
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brian stouder said on November 1, 2010 at 12:19 pm
Scout – word!
Moe – here’s wishing you continued strength
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basset said on November 1, 2010 at 12:40 pm
About two-thirds of the houses in our neighborhood are either seemingly abandoned or under post-flood repair, and the streetlights aren’t back on yet, so our only visitors were a young couple from down the street with their two preschoolers.
Then, as we usually do, we put a bowl of candy on the steps and left for a party; we’re used to finding it empty when we get back, this time it was gone.
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kayak woman said on November 1, 2010 at 12:46 pm
You can have some of my leftover candy. We used to get lots of trick-or-treaters. Last night I think we had five small groups. We didn’t even get the bus crowd this year. When my kids were small, they would lose interest in the candy after about a week and I would spirit it away before any insects or rodents found it. I always threw it out somewhere around Easter.
P.S. I’ve never been to Theatre Bizarre but the New York Times article quotes our nephew, Flec S. Mindscape.
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Dorothy said on November 1, 2010 at 12:49 pm
moe – waving madly in your general direction and hoping you’re feeling okay today.
Scout – LOVED the joke. Hope you don’t mind I copied and pasted it onto my Facebook page as a Note. Mike’s cousin will be royally pissed at me but she can kiss my Democratic ass.
oh and btw – speaking of politics: we were at a Halloween party on Saturday evening. The host told us that at 8:00 that morning their phone rang. He assumed it was something related to bad news because who calls on a Saturday at 8:00 AM?? So this voice asks for his daughter Samantha. Dan says “I’m sorry, she’s not home, she spent the night at a friend’s house. Can I help you?” (Sam is 22 yrs. old) The person started to say “Could you please let her know that the Republican Committee to elect so-and-so is trying to get hold of her…” and Dan interrupted immediately. He said as loudly as he could: WE ARE ALL REGISTERED DEMOCRATS IN THIS HOUSEHOLD AND I’LL THANK YOU NOT TO CALL HERE AGAIN! TAKE US OFF YOUR CALLING LIST!!!
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beb said on November 1, 2010 at 12:53 pm
Scout – nice tale.
Moe – best of wishes.
Everyone else – The day after tomorrow I’m plugging our land line back in. It’s been one stream of robo-calls.
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Cat said on November 1, 2010 at 12:56 pm
You know what’s spooky? Last night we listened to Screamin’ Jay and handed out Snickers. Only one boy objected due to a peanut allergy, but his mom shouted, “Get it for your dad!”
We went through four bags.
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Julie Robinson said on November 1, 2010 at 1:24 pm
beb, at least we don’t get the robocalls in Indiana*, but we have been inundated with callers who ask for me or our daughter. Does no one care about male voters anymore? One caller insisted he was calling on behalf on Tom Hurst, and repeated it six times as I kep asking the name. The candidate’s name is Hayhurst. I can’t decide if this was an incompetent from the Hayhurst campaign or someone looking to discredit him.
Snarkworth, thanks for the chuckles, and moe, keep fighting with all your might.
*In Illinois, my Mom has turned off all her ringers and the volume on the answering machine. If I want to talk to her I have to wait til she checks her messages and calls back.
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nancy said on November 1, 2010 at 2:57 pm
I’m way behind on this, but one of my Facebook friends posted a picture of their two-bowl system — one full of candy, the other with burnt toast, which they said they were giving no-costume beggars. Fun guy.
Robocalls are the bane of my existence these days. I haven’t gotten a legit call in a week. Seriously. Not one. The personal calls increasingly go to my cell.
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Deborah said on November 1, 2010 at 3:05 pm
I just got a robo-call on my cell from Obama about voting for Quinn for gov. He has no worries from me, I wouldn’t think of voting for a Republican for anything this year for fear, pure fear of having things revert back to the way they were during the Bush years.
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coozledad said on November 1, 2010 at 3:09 pm
He was that close to being another Nelson Rockefeller, but it turns out he was just another guy at your high school reunion.
http://wnymedia.net/smith/2010/10/carl-paladinos-halloween-drunktacular/
http://wnymedia.net/marcodien/2010/09/carl-paladino-show-me-your-puy/?related=post
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Jeff Borden said on November 1, 2010 at 3:31 pm
It goes without saying that the really frightful event will occur tomorrow, when our fellow citizens with short memories and long grudges return the House and, perhaps, the Senate back over to the political movement most responsible for our terrible state of affairs. In a Baltimore graveyard, someone will hear H.L. Mencken chuckling to himself as we get the government we deserve.
It’s going to be an even uglier two years than the past two. God, the idea of John Boehner being third in line for the presidency makes my stomach hurt. And won’t it be edifying to see people like Sharron Angle operating in the Senate, where she will ignore her Nevada constituents in favor of pursuing her own wacky political ideas. Interestingly, her election may be even worse news for Nevada as Harry Reid was the primary reason why the nuclear waste dump in the Yucca Mountains was never built. With him out of the way and Ms. Angle a junior senator with no clout, it’s very likely efforts to store the waste will begin anew and be much more successful. There’s definitely some karma at play.
We had about 115 kids. There was a notable lack of the big teenagers who usually show up. And a lot fewer gross, bloody costumes. Many of the adults were touring the sidewalks with glasses of wine or beers, which also is very cool.
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Colleen said on November 1, 2010 at 3:40 pm
My husband is kind of a Halloween Scrooge, and our neighborhood is positively INVADED,(Seriously…we’re talking people giving out 400 pieces of candy) so we went out. When we came back, just before T or T hours ended, the streets were a madhouse. Mini vans just spilling children forth.
I’m a little askeered of what’s going to happen tomorrow. I can vote and hold on to a little bit of hope, but…..
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Bob said on November 1, 2010 at 3:49 pm
“P.S. The auto bailout worked. Why doesn’t anyone know this?” I read (and admired) Megan McArdle’s fessing-up that she was wrong on the bailout. Now the Economist has made a similar nod to Obama’s crew getting it more or less right. Lessee, The Atlantic online and The Economist together reach 1, 2, perhaps 3 percent of Tea Party readers…
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 1, 2010 at 4:07 pm
Scout, I had to post that as a note on FB myself (but went to find another version to copy/paste, since the NN.C copy has odd spaces all through it). Very apt.
Moe, thanks for sharing updates; good thoughts and uplifting prayers your way.
Interesting side note: so is the positive outcome of Ford’s bottom line an added impact of the auto bailout’s success, or a counter-argument as to whether it was needed? I can imagine it both ways.
I chaired/mediated a homeowner’s association meeting on Saturday with 19 parties, 34 persons present, and we came to some positive conclusions after a highly contentious (i.e., “perhaps you’d be happier with your children and dogs with a home on some acreage out in the township”) opening. After that peaceful and constructive end to our two hours (i.e., “maybe we can plant some screening spruces and share the costs”), I’m optimistic that something productive can come out of Tuesday.
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brian stouder said on November 1, 2010 at 5:09 pm
As for me, I intend to spend tomorrow in non-sequitur mode*. For example, maybe a year ago, I began occasionally clicking over to Bossy from here at nn.c. Didn’t really appreciate her style, but to each her own, right? And then yesterday, I clicked her link for the first time in a good little while, and her latest post announces (in her somewhat annoying third-person way) her separation from her husband. The stylistic oddness of the post, coupled with its personal nature just did me in, but indeed – her blog presents a very different milieu than I’m accustomed to.
And when Pam and the young folks and I were trick-or-treating yesterday, we walked up to the firehouse and yapped with those guys a little, as always, and then a little later, a city police car rolled up and stopped, and the cop was handing out candy from his car! Very cool – something I’d never seen before. (and we got a nice photo out of the deal)
And, did you know that….ahhh – never mind.
*yeah yeah yeah – standard operating procedure, and all that
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Pam said on November 1, 2010 at 5:49 pm
I bought less than $20 worth of Halloween candy and had some leftover (even the Snickers). We’re getting fewer and fewer kids every year. We had a few bussed in kids, but then our neighborhood is very safe since we have 1 cop for every 14 citizens, or something like that. It started at 6:00 and we got our last kid at about 7:00.
Scout, I’m going to cut/paste your joke and send it to my “friend” Martha who constantly sends me crap emails. Like, what you see at Wal-Mart, stories of faith and angels, patriotic sappy drivel, Hallmark moments, TONS of messages where the stories were debunked years ago by Snopes, etc. I’ve begged to be removed from her distribution list, but haven’t been successful. She’s a Republican so your joke should get her a little aggravated. Can’t wait.
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derwood said on November 1, 2010 at 6:45 pm
During trick or treating last night we had a woman walk up, cigarette in hand holding an orange pumpkin and said she was trick or treating for her 6 year old who was with his father this year and she didn’t want him to not have candy at her house. I gave her some candy to make her smoking go away.
-daron
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Joe Kobiela said on November 1, 2010 at 6:51 pm
We were invaded, wiped out of candy in about 90 minutes.
Scout heard that joke 2yrs ago with the political partys reversed. Will be in St louise Tue afternoon thru thur afternoon. Landing Spirit of St louis in chesterfield, How do I kill 2days and where can I run? as far as the elections go, the dems had a majority and the Republicans could do nothing to stop any legislation that went thru. You rammed stuff down peoples throat they didn’t want so now you pay the price, in 2 more years if we don’t like how things are going, we will throw those bums out and try again. It’s what makes America great.
Pilot Joe
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Deborah said on November 1, 2010 at 7:14 pm
Joe,
You can run in Forest Park in St. Louis, a beautiful place. Go to Bar Italia in the Central West End, good food. There’s also a good bookstore on McPherson and Euclid. The Bowling Hall of Fame downtown is kind of fun. Chesterfield is far out in the burbs, the things I mentioned are in the city, so it may involve a cab ride or a trip on the Metrolink. Chesterfield is the pits.
And a lot of people wanted what the Democrats passed, more than half, just not the Republicans.
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coozledad said on November 1, 2010 at 7:19 pm
It’s a wonder how they manage to gloat with all them thangs astuck in they throat.
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Jolene said on November 1, 2010 at 7:22 pm
Right, Deborah. Obama was elected by a substantial majority, and the policies to which you object were supported by a majority of our elected representatives. If unemployment were at 6%, we wouldn’t be having this discussion.
On another topic, there’s an interesting interview of Jimmy Carter conducted by Bill Maher online. Worth a listen.
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prospero said on November 1, 2010 at 7:32 pm
The tsunami mid-term conventional “wisdom” started after watered down, nose of the camel in the tent health care passed. Instead of understanding that it was an immense step forward, “progressives” that still had out-of-joint noses from Kerry beating Dean decided that it wasn’t good enough, nor was the President on of “us”. Media reported raw poll numbers indicating overall dissatisfaction with Obama, and this became an overriding meme(God, I despise that word, which actually means refusing to actually figure things out logically and instead just buy into some mass hysteria, out of unoriginal thinking and pure sloth.)
The Democrats had a majority in the Senate, but as far as the Senate is concerned, Senate rules say there is no such thing as majority rules. So far as health care is concerned, if you add those who told pollsters they approved of what passed to Americans who think it was insufficient, the number is between 70 and 80%. So, you know, claiming “the people didn’t want it”, that’s either disingenuous or an outright lie, depending on motive and actual venality, or how much your tan makes you look like you work for Wilie Wonka. One way or another, media applied zero critical thinking and joined a mindless stampede that carried over to every other issue and debate.
T. Jefferson relied on a free press to balance the never go broke underestimating the intelligence of Americans thing. Unfprtunately, media entities that aren’t direct participants in obfuscation and propaganda have proved to be as ovine and obtuse as their uncritical consumers. It’s the Mencken definition of democracy: they know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard.
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Kim said on November 1, 2010 at 7:58 pm
Twenty kids for Halloween – 20 more than we have had in the seven years we’ve lived in this neighborhood. No streetlights, really long driveways through the woods to the houses, too much space between homes makes for more work than necessary for that candy bar. The adjacent neighborhood is more in line with the kiddies’ work ethic: high-end homes on smaller lots closer to the street makes for a nice high-end candy haul. Thank God nobody likes Jolly Ranchers in my house, and that I found a bag of Halloween markers in perfectly good condition in with the spooky decor stored in my attic.
In our old neighborhood – same deal as many of you talked about. A wrecker, filled with children from the “other” part of the city, pulled in and disgorged its load. I spent so much $ on candy but never cared because my kids were little and happy and so were the wrecker driver’s.
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Kim said on November 1, 2010 at 8:00 pm
Jayzus, Prospero. I’m not disagreeing with you but have a Twix or something.
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ROgirl said on November 1, 2010 at 8:35 pm
I still haven’t recovered from Gretchen winning Project Runway over Mondo. Now THAT’S an outrage. Those judges were smoking crack while they drove over a cliff.
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basset said on November 2, 2010 at 12:00 am
Joe, you could go to the National Bowling Hall of Fame. Or the zoo, actually a pretty good one and it’s free. Or Cabela’s, there’s one around St. Louis somewhere.
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moe99 said on November 2, 2010 at 12:49 am
RoGirl, if it’s any consolation Tom and Lorenzo agree with you:
http://tomandlorenzo2.blogspot.com/2010/10/project-runway-congratulations.html
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 2, 2010 at 7:37 am
Voted for a mess o’ Republicans this morning, and a short string of Democrats, but I’ll freely shout out across the Ohio River to any West Virginia NN.C readers — my friend Gayle Manchin’s husband Joe deserves your vote. Mr. Raese makes me nervous for all sorts of reasons, and has no public record to speak of, but many public statements that add up to incoherence. Senate control, meh — vote for Joe Manchin!
(Plus, anything Joe’s not sure of, he’ll ask Gayle, so it’s all good.)
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brian stouder said on November 2, 2010 at 8:53 am
nine page ballot; school board, constitutional amendment, judges, township trustee, auditor, sheriff, congress, senate; took about 20 minutes to get past the pollbook holder, through the line, to a machine, and out again.
When I pulled into the full-dark parking lot this morning, and as I was walking to the building, a fellow emerged from the shadows and approached me. He handed me a business card – and asked me to “please vote for my daughter”. (I was just glad I wasn’t being mugged, and said “thankyou”!)
When I got inside the building, I looked at the card*, and learned that his daughter is running for an “at large” seat on the Fort Wayne Community Schools board. One wonders how, of all the precincts in the city, dad decided to stand in the parking lot of that one. (my bet is, dad lives a block away – but who knows?)
*this was a violation of the law; you can’t bring campaign materials into the voting place. Dick Armey missed the chance to disenfranchise a vote for the D’s!)
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John said on November 2, 2010 at 9:16 am
I looked for the New Black Panthers guarding the steps of my precinct this morning, but didn’t see any. So I managed to vote in peace.
The only scary moment was when supporters of the Probate Judge candidate Chuck Norris started waving their signs. I was afraid of being punched with his third fist.
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