Dolphin’s Dock

Speaking of the party, we had a smaller than normal crowd this year (I think because we held it on a Friday since a bust October schedule prevented us from having a free Saturday night), but it was still a good time. This year I decided I was going to bake pretty much all the food for the party myself. Bad idea. It’s not that the food wasn’t good, but I took the day off to prepare for it and still didn’t have time to get everything done. After baking and cleaning, I managed to not get much more decorating done than the food table, placing a skull on the mantle, exchanging the white tea lights in the tea light holder with orange and black ones, and hanging a skeleton on the door. And I didn’t even have time to go get changed until the first two guests had already arrived!

The baked good I was most proud of and the was certainly most popular (both in terms of the amount eaten and the talk generated) were these “Witch’s Fingers” cookies. They looked so great coming out of the oven that I told TheBoyfriend™ that I sure hoped they tasted good because they looked so good that I plan on making them every Halloween from now on regardless. They actually ended up tasting good too (they are like an almond/butter/shortbread cookie), though some guests couldn’t bring themselves to try one. When you Halloween food looks gross enough to prevent people from trying it, it’s good stuff!

The next evening we attended a costume party hosted by our Jiu-Jitsu instructor. For this I carved our the patch on our school’s Jiu-Jitsu gis into a pumpkin. That was really well-received by fellow Jiu-Jitsu students and (surprisingly to me) non-Jiu-Jitsu students alike. I was surprised at just how much attention that jack-o-lantern actually drew. Our costumes which we’re really thrown together at the last minutes were also the talk of the evening it seems. Last year we attended as “Peace and Quiet” (a hippie and a mime), which everybody thought was great. This year, despite racking our brains, we couldn’t figure out a way to top it. TheBoyfriend™ found a unique costume at Kroger (of all places) for what he thought was only $4.99 (it was in the wrong spot, it was actually $12.99), so he bought it. It was an Elvis costume, but the catch was (if I can possibly describe it clearly) that it fit over the top of your head like a mask (stopping just before your nose) then the entire body wrapped around your neck and clasped in the front. The effect, wearing all black so that your body seemingly disappeared, was an Elvis with a tiny body and a full size head. I’m not much a fan of unaltered store-bought costumes and was hoping to still figure something out. But when it came time to leave and i still didn’t have anything fully created, an executive decision was made; I too would be attending as some small-bodied, big headed character. When we got to Kroger, the creativity kicked in. His Elvis was dressed in all white. They had a devilish character in all red. Slicing off the Elvis mask’s rubber sideburns and making a quick trip to Michael’s Arts and Crafts for a small set of wings and a halo turned Elvis into quite the convincing angel. Hence, as a floating miniature Angel and a floating miniature devil, we set off to the party as a great representation of a conscience (the little angel on one should and devil on the other). I don’t know how many pictures we posed for that night with one of us on either side of another party-goer’s head. Even people we didn’t know were asking to take a picture with us. I’d post one, but for all the pictures that were taken that night, we don’t have one.

I’ll post tonight’s Jack-o-Lantern once it’s carved. Have a happy, spooky, and safe Halloween!

[Charles E.] Peck’s body was recovered from the wreckage 12 hours after the accident. Yet for the first eleven of those hours, his cell phone placed call after call to his loved ones, calling his son, his brother, his stepmother, his sister, and his fianceé. In all, his various family members received 35 calls from his cell phone through that long night. When they answered, all they heard was static; when they called back, their calls went straight to voice mail. But the calls gave them hope that the man they loved was still alive, just trapped somewhere in the wreckage.

The barrage of calls prompted search crews to trace the whereabouts of the phone through its signal and to once again look through what was left of the first train, the location the calls were coming from. The calls searchers finally found Peck’s body about an hour after the calls from his cell phone stopped.

Charles Peck had died on impact. Yet long past his death, his cell phone had continued to reach out to many of those he cared most about, and ultimately led rescuers to his mortal remains. (As far as investigators revealed, they never found Peck’s cell phone.)

Calls from beyond the grave, or technical glitch? You decide?

Thanks to Southern Beale for replacing my stolen Obama yard sign. Not having the metal stand to put it on, I had to get creative, and so I’ve tied to to the column of my porch. That has the drawback of not taking advantage of being on a corner lot (my first yard sign was positioned so it could be seen from both roads, where as now it can be seen only from one), but it’s less likely to get stolen (to steal it someone would actually have to walk all the way up the steps and stand on my front porch while they tore it down; that would take more guts than i imagine the average sign thief has), and I don’t really have a choice as that’s the only way I can think to display it without building some kind of frame for it. I think it looks pretty good there though.

In only quasi-related news, I told TheBoyfriend™ much earlier this election season that this year, we (Virginia) were going to get to decide the election. This was still when our state was considered too close to call, where as now we’ve swung towards Obama, but still, looking at the numbers, it seemed clear: if Obama could win Virginia, McCain could have all the rest of the swing states (unlikely). McCain only stood a chance if he can keep Virginia red. Today, CNN agrees with me.

No on Prop 8
October 24, 2008

Apple is publicly opposing Proposition 8 and making a donation of $100,000 to the No on 8 campaign. Apple was among the first California companies to offer equal rights and benefits to our employees’ same-sex partners, and we strongly believe that a person’s fundamental rights — including the right to marry — should not be affected by their sexual orientation. Apple views this as a civil rights issue, rather than just a political issue, and is therefore speaking out publicly against Proposition 8.

Let’s hear it for Apple.

In any election, there is plenty of really awful crap coming from the fringes of either side. Somehow, McCain’s managed to turn it on in his more mainstream supporters and the results should be frightening to everyone else. When we have rally crowds shouting out death threats like “Kill Him” and “Off with his head,” it’s scary. When we have people placing Obama’s picture next to a photo of a noose and captioning the thing, “Asphyxiation: The F*cking Solution,” it’s even scarier (racism, death threats, AND NAZI allusions all in one illustration). When the people doing these things are not a small fringe group of protesters but mainstream McCain supporters, it stops being scary, and becomes horrifying.

I’ve heard it suggested that McCain intentionally brought this about so that he could then step in and take the high road urging “respect” has he’s been doing now the past few days. I don’t think that’s it. I think he’s urging “respect” because he’s as horrified as the rest of us are. He didn’t realize how much hatred and racism was present in his base until he gave them permission to give it voice. Now he sees it, and is desperately trying to put it back in the box. It doesn’t help him. The bizarre level of irrational rage his supporters are unleashing is only pushing away more moderate voters. To reduce the number of undecideds put off by the negativity of his supporters, McCain is now having to outright praise Obama. That’s hardly the situation he wants to find himself in.