Not quite Live-Blogging Hallowe'en

So, the first Trick-or-Treaters arrived at 5:40 pm. We were ready, and had the decorations up. We just hadn't turned on lights yet. So we did that as the first four kids were still walking away after saying "Thank you!"

Eric had bought six large bags of candy at Costco. He thought each one had 150 pieces in it, making 900 pieces. Based on our rough counts from the first three Hallowe'ens we've lived here, I thought we might make it through the night with those six bags, but I wasn't sure. As it turned out, Math teacher Eric made a critical error that made sure we'd get through the night.

The density of T-or-T'ers was the usual, tons coming in waves, stumbling over each other, falling down in the yard as they tried to wander to the next house in their masks. I saw a few repeaters as well, and when I could I called them on it. I don't think they were daunted.

I tried to count, at least through the first hour. From 5:40 to 6:30 we got 193 T-or-T'ers, give or take a couple. The first bag, which we thought would only have 150 pieces in it, instead lasted for well over 200 pieces. I checked the bag after and realized it never had a count, just "varies" for the number of pieces in the bag.

We had three of one type of bag, and three of another. I looked at the types of candy in each of the bags and decided that we would use up "Type 1" first, and it was Type 1 that had more than 200 pieces per bag, maybe as many as 250 per. The "Type 2" bags had a count of 150 on them... so instead of 900 pieces, we had over 1050! Eric had thought both types of bags said 150, his critical error, so about halfway through the second bag I stopped worrying about running out.

I lost my count of kids somewhere around 275 when a run of about 50 kids happened. I am not kidding. 50 kids. All at once. Lining up and pushing their way to the door. I lost count because a girl leaving the porch stepped into the yard and fell over a pipe-thing that's been in the yard since we moved here and is probably some plumbing thing, but the poor girl didn't see it and tripped, and I was busy asking some boys who had just finished to help her and make sure she was ok. All the while, I was handing out more candy to kids crowding the door. When the rush stopped I realized I had no idea how many kids that was. All I know for sure is that the kids kept coming.

We started the fourth bag about 2 hours after the first T-or-T'ers had arrived. Guessing that the first three bags had over 200 pieces each, we got at least 600 kids in the first two hours, probably a bit more. But right about the time we opened the fourth bag, the crowds eased up. It is a school night, after all.

It's now almost 9 pm, and we have gotten a few sporadic clumps of kids out late. It's definitely too late to be out, as a lot of people have already turned off their lights and locked the doors. Seems to me that prime T-or-Ting time is 5:30 to 7:30. If this is how it "normally" is, I think we'll be able to handle it in the future. I'd gotten all depressed and pretty much given up on Hallowe'en because I hated closing the door early. It's much better this year with some candy left over!

Ok, summary of costumes. Lots of superheroes. Mostly Batman, a scattering of Superman and Green Lantern, a number of Batgirls. Some Marvel heroes, mostly Iron Man. There was a Hulk and a Wolverine without claws. We saw some Oz costumes, 3 Dorothys, one Wicked Witch and one Glinda. A number of M&Ms. Lots of ninjas, but thankfully not as many Scream masks this year. I grew to hate them last year. There was one clever Scream mask, a scarecrow scream. If I'd seen more than one I would have gotten annoyed at it, but I only saw the one.

A lot of kids recognized Eric as a teacher this year. Last year at this time he'd only been teaching in the district for a few weeks. This year he's been at it a full year and was familiar to a lot more students. Eric had to remind a few kids that the Hallowe'en 'magic words' are not "Hey, Mister Gjovaag!" but "Trick or Treat!"

Every once in awhile when a kid said "Trick or Treat" we'd ask them for a trick. This stumped most of them, and amused me to no end. After all, Hallowe'en has become a sanitized version of its former self thanks to the candy aspect, and today's kids don't even know why the saying is "Trick or Treat" or what kind of a threat it is.

More than a few teenagers, and some younger, showed up at the door without a costume. We'd have them come up with a costume on the spot. I suggested that one was a lawyer, and he took it up immediately. Another one I suggested librarian, and she reluctantly decided that was ok. I'll just say I was amused.

A number of the little kids had difficulty navigating the step up to the door. Eric suggested we build a ramp. I suggested we build a ramp and have a hand reaching out from the side of it to match our "monster under the house" sign. It would be funny, but a lot of work to make sure it was safe. Probably won't happen.

Well, it's 9 pm. We made it for the first time. We could even leave the lights on longer if we wanted. A little boy just arrived right after 9, one of the late ones for sure. I don't think most kids are going to be out this late now. I'm feeling pretty happy.

I'm going to estimate close to 800 kids. Based on the amount of candy we have left... hrm... possibly a bit more than 800. If those first three bags had as much candy as I suspect they had, maybe as much as 900. But not much more than that.

A Sunday Review

TV this week:

• Doctor Who: "The God Complex" - I really felt for them, ending up in a 1980s hotel. Hard to imagine a worse time and place. Kind of freaky just on its own. Then you add in the fear rooms. Yikes. I seem to recall the Doctor having to break someone's faith in him before this, shades of Curse of Fenric anyone?
• Doctor Who: "Closing Time" - Wow. I really really really like Stormageddon. And Craig made for a really really good companion in this one. In short, this was a really fantastic episode for the moment just before the end of the series. So I just had to wonder what was going to happen in the next episode with the intriguing name.
• Doctor Who: "The Wedding of River Song" - The only way this works is if time's wibbly-wobbly removes memories from some people as they go along. Or adds them. Or something. But while I was watching it, the strangeness didn't bother me and I just wanted more. So I guess that's cool. More? Soon?


• Sarah Jane Adventures: "Sky" - It was far harder to watch this, or at least to start watching it, than I thought it would be because I knew we'd only get three stories, then it was over. But the tale of the baby who affects the power grid took me in, and I was soon enjoying it just like I was supposed to. I was a little surprised at the end, but not stunned, I guess.
• Sarah Jane Adventures: "The Curse of Clyde Langer" - Bits of this one definitely didn't make sense from a perspective of the whole alien confined thing, but the premise was so neat (as well as the special effects) that it almost didn't need to make sense. A lot more about Clyde growing up in this one. I liked it a lot.
• Sarah Jane Adventures: "The Man Who Wasn't There" - I suspect that if we'd gotten the other three episodes of the series, which were set before this one, then we would have gotten a sense of how Sky was getting nervous of Luke, and Luke was feeling replaced by Sky, and the whole relationship of the two at the beginning of the episode would have made more sense. But it still worked as it was, and I loved the way the kids made Serf dance. I bet the actor had either a fantastic time or the worst time ever performing that role. The end of this one made me cry, but I cannot think of a better memorial to Elizabeth Sladen than being forever remembered.

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Here are reviews of the DCBS comic books that I've gotten around to reading and reviewing, sorted by the original shipping date:

• Aug 24th
• Green Lantern Movie Prequel: Sinestro #1 - This might have worked if it had actually come out before the movie, and before the book that it talks about as coming soon in the end. Maybe. But coming out as late as it did... bleah.
• Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #13 - So not impressed with Guy Gardner, but then I'm not much impressed with Batman in this one either. I guess I'm just not much of a Green Lantern fan.
• Flashpoint: Hal Jordan #3 - Sweet and sad. Not much else to say about this one, really.
• Action Comics #904 - More of the strange Doomsday plotline, not real excited about it. Kind of glad it's all over.
• DC Retroactive: Justice League of America the 90's #1 - I'd forgotten that I don't really much like the Giffen League, and haven't read enough of it to be familiar with the characters. So I was confused, amused, and in the end bored. The back-up story didn't fit the tone of the new story at all.
• DC Retroactive: Green Lantern the 90's #1 - I read Kyle's stories as they came out, sort of. I recall a lot of the whole thing, so I understood this one. Not bad for a Kyle Lantern story.
• Superman Beyond #0 - Nice story. Of course, I'm just happy to see Aquagirl again. I was going to say that there wasn't much Batman for being Batman Beyond... but it's not Batman Beyond, is it?
• Justice Society of America #54 - A bit annoying how the writing and art tried to misdirect and yet failed because it was completely obvious that misdirection was happening. Otherwise, not too bad. I think I'll mostly miss this book.
• Young Justice #7 - The secret origin of Artemis? I liked it. Even if the team was barely in it, and I don't think Aqualad made any appearance aside from the cover. I still liked it.
• Northlanders #43 - Again, I wish I had remembered the previous issue before getting into this one. But once I *did* remember, well, that all came together. Brutal story.
• Doctor Who Ongoing V2 #8 - Multiple Doctors, multiple everyone, I understand the solution, but I really need to reread the previous issue to remember why it works. Not a bad series, per se, just annoying.
• Doctor Who Annual 2011 - Four little stories. The first one was just bizarre. Second one was a nice little peaceful one that made me happy. Third was strange mix with the companions and the Doctor and references to adventures we aren't going to see in detail. The fourth was a start to a new adventure with the new companion that I really didn't expect, so it'll be fun. No, seriously, I though the new companion was a joke.
• Aug 31st
• Flashpoint #5 - So, that's how it all ends... and begins. Because the Flash changed a little something in the past, everything changed in the entire DC Universe. It'll be interesting now to see what those changes are. Now I just need to catch up on my comic reading and I'll know.
• Justice League #1 - No Aquaman, metahumans hunted and hated by the authorities. Not impressed, not yet. And, sorry, Vic is a Titan. I'm having a very difficult time accepting that he'll be a member of the League and J'onn won't. I wonder if the Flash will undo this universe if it doesn't sell well enough.
• The Power Within - A part of the It Gets Better project, which talks about how kids are bullied and mistreated, usually for being gay. A very strong little story. I felt for the kid, but that last panel was a nice moment.

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My short story this week was Tanglefoot (A Story of the Clockwork Century) by Cherie Priest. I read Boneshaker some time ago, and loved it. I plan to read the rest of the books in the Clockwork Century series as soon as I can get time. This short story actually preceded Boneshaker, and it's strikingly good, terrifying and heartbreaking all at once. Since it's free and available online, and not very long, I suggest you read it and decide if you like it yourself.

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My Kindle book this week was Robert's Rules of Writing: 101 unconventional lessons every writer needs to know by Robert Masello. I admit it, I "buy" every free book I can find on Amazon.com. Most of them I'll never read. But once in awhile a true gem is turned up, and this book qualifies as such a gem. A good book to read in pieces, each lesson is short and sweet. And the lessons are surprisingly good, too. Excellent little chunks of advice, written up in an understandable way. Some of this advice has already benefitted me in my new job. Other bits I plan to use later, as I can put them into practice. But it's certainly a book worth reading if you want to be a writer and need some helpful hints.

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Fortean Times #278 (September 2011). Nice cover, classic style with that lovely ghost look. I liked the cover article as well. It was a good analysis of the Time Slip and what likely happened for real. I'd heard the original story of the two ladies who "traveled back in time" once before, but the research this article lent to the experience and to the events surrounding it made it much more interesting.

Strangedays has the usual round up of insanities. The poor woman who can't eat anything but rice reminds me of health issues that people all over are experiencing nowadays. Health issues make me shudder, and there are plenty of them in the first pages of this issue. The Durham Hum interested me quite a bit. I've heard of drumming and droning in some places that drive people nuts before, so it's always intriguing to hear about another one. The tribe that has no concept of time is a good one, if it's true. I can't quite understand it myself, which makes me doubt its veracity. Stories like that always make me think that the person doing the studying is misunderstanding something critical. I love Fortean Follow-ups, and wish that more articles got followed up on. There's a lot of fun garbage in this magazine that I would love to read more about later. I like the two Dutchmen who both are preparing for the end of the world, but not particularly well. The death page is particularly morbid this month with a complementary article to Strange deaths.

I liked the Science article about talking with animals. Nicely thought out and argued. Ghostwatch was properly chilling with the first story of the ghostly bus passengers, and I thought the black dogs article was fun... particularly since I've seen a "black dog" once, myself. Alien Zoo has some good bits as well, but then I like Cryptozoology. Mythconceptions was an interesting look at how Britain views itself, and how people in Britain view history. The Archaeology section was as deep as usual, with a particularly tragic story of remains found in a medieval well. Classical Corner is about suicide, which is not my favorite topic, but eh. The UFO files had some good stories, but nothing that jumped out at me. The Random Dictionary was about mysterious disappearances, and again had some good critical thinking.

I wasn't sure what to make of the Canine Intellectuals story, except that it ties in with the Science topic. There's a good review of the British Library exhibit "Out Of This World: Science Fiction but not as You Know It" that made me sort of wish I could go see it, but also sort of glad I didn't. A good short article on the Art of Bruce Pennington that should have had more examples of his art.

The rest is as inspiring as usual. Good forums, good reviews, good letters to the magazine. If you aren't getting this mag, you don't know what you are missing.

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Past Sunday Reviews -- Comics at Amazon.com -- Previews -- My Wishlist -- My Kindle Wishlist

Updated...

I finally updated my Firefox to the most current version, and my Thunderbird. I had resisted updating for quite some time... I was on a virtually obsolete version of Thunderbird, and my Firefox was fairly old. Both updates required multiple updates to reach the current versions. By that, I mean I would update, then the software would completely update again, then again.

I think I've got Firefox almost to where I want it. I had to download an add-on that made my status bar reappear, since I was not happy with the new garbage the developers decided to put in. I have some issues with the general layout as well, it just seems slightly wrong somehow. I think I was on that previous version a few years too long.

Thunderbird is going to take some getting used to. I don't like the tabs at all. I suppose I'll adjust, but I'm a grumpy old techie. I like neat stuff, but I don't like dramatic changes to stuff I use regularly.

I also want to write up a review of the new $79 Kindle I got. I really want to compare it to my old Kindle, which I still love. I think I shall do a full report, with pictures, soon. If I can get the time.

A moment in time

While waiting to turn left at a stoplight, I watched a car zoom into the intersection on a stale yellow to turn left in front of me. I got a very good look at the driver's face as he made the turn. I was a little surprised to see shock on his face, and watched as he rolled his eyes wildly. A glance in my rear view mirror showed me the reason behind the strange expressions, as there was a cop right behind me.

I laughed the rest of the way home.

Journalism vs Blogging

Some journalists blog. Some bloggers are journalists. But a standard blog is NOT journalism. It is much more casual, and lacks editorial oversight. By the same token, a newspaper's website is not a blog.

I just thought I'd make that clear. It's been a very long week.

A Sunday Review

Here are reviews of the DCBS comic books that I've gotten around to reading and reviewing, sorted by the original shipping date:

• Aug 17th
• Green Lantern Corps #63 - Yawn. Humans are the bad guys. Racism in the corps. More nonsense. Will these stories ever be resolved? Hard to say. Do I care? No.
• Flashpoint: Abin Sur the Green Lantern #3 - Not what I was expecting, really. In fact, I fully expected the cliffhanger of the previous issue to be resolved with blood and Hal. Good stuff, actually.
• Flashpoint: Wonder Woman and the Furies #3 - At first I was afraid it wasn't supposed to be read after the last Emperor Aquaman, but it all became clear eventually.
• Justice League of America #60 - What was that? A summary, or something else? It was more of the same of this team that I never liked, barely got through, and am glad is going away. Will they be remembered? Yeah, probably, but not by me.
• Power Girl #27 - What kind of idiot doesn't take Power Girl's speed into consideration when calculating how she will respond to multiple crises?
• Zatanna #16 - Ok, I know she's a responsible magic user, but if she just *has* to be home, why'd she bother with the flight and not just, you know, "ekat em emoh, won!"?
• Tiny Titans #43 - Aw yeah Aqualad! Aw yeah Mera doing laundry! Aw yeah Aqua-Ohs! Happy happy! Dang, I love this book. Silly and fun with very little worries about continuity. I definitely like having a book or two like this in my monthly pull.
• Fables #108 - A child will be a king, and some folks are sneaking into Oz. I think I'm following the story, but MAN I want to get the first few volumes in trade format so I can really catch up to what's going on.
• DMZ #68 - So Matty has to go around an see what the Five Nations of New York are, and he's starting in the "first" nation. What would the place be like after a decade of war, occupation and constant death?
• Sergio Aragones Funnies #2 - What can I say? If you like Sergio's art, you want this book. Period. If you don't, well... what the heck is wrong with you?
• Soldier Zero #11 - Wow. Pretty intense stuff, but hey, I thought they were hanging out in the Northwest, why would the rain be caused by the aliens?

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My Kindle book this week was Seattle Quake 9.2 by Marti Talbott. When Seattle is hit by a major earthquake, ham operators and a small local radio station work on spreading information and saving people. I purchased this book based on the description and the sample, and because at the time of purchase it was only 99 cents, which is a good price for what looked to be a good read. It was worth every penny.

The start of the book is split between two storylines, one about a private investigating firm monitoring a woman they think is a man's missing, once thought dead, wife and the other about the local radio station. While the storylines never quite merge, the distant between them evaporates once the earthquake actually hits. What pleased me as a reader is how much I really cared about the resolutions to both storylines as the book came to a close.

There is one major flaw in this book that threw me out of the story every time I hit it. Perhaps I'm being pedantic, I'm not sure. But I have NEVER heard anyone refer to the Alaskan Way Viaduct as the "Alaskan Freeway". I've heard it called Alaskan Way. I've heard it called the Viaduct. I've heard it called 99. I've heard a lot of different names for it, but in all the time I lived in Seattle and its environs (and I'm a Seattle native), I never heard any regular person on the street call it the "Alaskan Freeway" so every time a character in the book referred to it by that name, I stopped and thought, "Where the heck is this person supposed to be from?" because they sure aren't a native.

Other than that, though, it's a darn good read. The descriptions of the locations were good enough to figure out where people were and the descriptions of the devastation were terrifying, all the more so because they are clearly based on reality. I was amused that the Kingdome fell, but only because it places the book firmly in the realm of fiction and dates it to between July 1999 and March 2000.

The driving force of this book and what made it a compelling read was the characters. From the woman trapped in a high-rise to ham operators I cared about what happened to them, and found myself mourning the dead along with the characters. The very good depiction of ham operators made me realize just how important such people would be in an event like this. Yes, we have the internet, but when all communications are cut off, what then? Radio still works, and the hams get through where the rest of us would fail. So I felt a sudden desire to find myself a ham radio and get a license.

Definitely a good read, and one with few enough flaws that unless you are a pedantic Seattle native, you are probably going to enjoy it quite a bit.

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Past Sunday Reviews -- Comics at Amazon.com -- Previews -- My Wishlist -- My Kindle Wishlist

Happy Blogiversary to Me!

October 22, 2002 --- October 22, 2003 --- October 22, 2004 --- October 22, 2005
October 22, 2006 --- October 22, 2007 --- October 22, 2008 --- October 22, 2009
October 22, 2010
Nine years of this blog's existence... It accomplished what I set out to do. I wanted to write for an audience, and I wanted to write regularly. It was a lot of practice, and it helped me considerably to prepare for my current job. Writing every day meant that I was ready when I got hit with jobs that required daily writing.

Speaking of writing, my second Word Nerd column is up. Now I need to come up with another one.

I do have some blogs in the works. I got a new Kindle and plan on doing a review of it soon, comparing it to my first gen Kindle. I also intend to write my reviews of the last few Doctor Who episodes and the last season of Sarah Jane Adventures. And I'm slowly catching up with my comic book reading, although I'm about a month behind still. I haven't yet read Aquaman #1! That's what happens when you get a freakin' cool job that swallows 90% of your time.

I've been at my current job for two months and a week. And I still love it.

Trick or Treat for UNICEF online!

Hi, everybody. Eric here. You may know me from such blogs as "I Am a Teacher" and "The Wonderful Blog of Oz". Well, today, I come to ask for your help. For the past few years, through my Oz website, I've tried to raise funds during the Halloween season for Trick or Treat for UNICEF. In previous years, I've raised twenty dollars. That's not per year, that's total! So this year, I've decided to try something different: I'm telling people about it! (I know, radical concept!) So, consider this me telling you about it. If you can spare a dollar or two (or, better yet, five or ten or so) to help children around the world, take a look at my donation page. Thanks, and feel free to spread the word. But hurry! It all ends on Halloween!

A Sunday Review

I'm behind on reviews because, well, because I'm writing a lot more now, but on deadlines and subjects I don't choose, so it's harder to find time for me to write about other stuff. I'll try to get little reviews done as I have time, but my Sunday Reviews may be spaced out a bit more than they used to be...

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This week's movie was The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones Chapter 9: Demons of Deception (Verdun and Paris, 1916). Indy serves as a motorcycle courier before getting leave in Paris. A lot of dramatics in this one, as Indy carries orders that will result in the deaths of men he likes and admires after his report from a spy mission is ignored. Even more dramatic in its presentation is the Mata Hari scenes, where she has flash-forwards. Indy comes across as a jealous and controlling boy, not at all as cool as he usually manages to be. Very interesting storyline, very sad results.

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Here are reviews of the DCBS comic books that I've gotten around to reading and reviewing, sorted by the original shipping date:

• Aug 3rd
• Flashpoint #4 - Absolutely brutal finish to this one. I'm not liking the Reverse Flash at all. But then, I never have. And Aquaman... it's nice that Barry thinks he can get through to him. Nice and naive. I think it's all gone too far to pull back now.
• Flashpoint: The World of Flashpoint #3 - Pet peeve: Magicians burning themselves out at the end of a story. I mean, seriously. How, exactly, can she be so certain that she's never going to be able to use magic again? Can she see the future? I don't think so. Other than that, not a bad ending.
• Flashpoint: Deathstroke the Curse of Ravager #3 - Aw, a happy ending. No Aquaman in this one, but at least it was an interesting way to finish the storyline.
• Batman Beyond #8 - Wow, more on Inque than we ever got in the show, although it never contradicts the show (which Eric's been rewatching). This isn't a Batman book so much as the complete origin of Inque and her current life. Good issue.
• Usagi Yojimbo #139 - YAY! Inspector Ishida! Murder mystery! Intrigue! Excitement! And a really really bad poet! Ahem. Enjoyed this one, yup.
• Aug 10th
• War of the Green Lanterns Aftermath #2 - Blah. Does this mean the whole thing is finally over and we can get back to regular stories now? No more endless crossovers?
• Flashpoint: Emperor Aquaman #3 - Heartbreaking, as over and over the characters are given chances, but fail to come to the right conclusion. It's desperately true to the characters in some ways, particularly Vulko. If Vulko is evil enough to create the doomsday device in this world, he's evil enough to use it.
• DC Retroactive: Justice League of America the 80's #1 - Not really happy with this one. Yeah, Aquaman has a lot of focus, but it seems to be a bit too much angst for me. Eh, not bad.
• DC Retroactive: Green Lantern the 80's #1 - I don't know. Again, it wasn't bad, but I think I'm not that interested in the 1980s, I think.
• Birds of Prey #15 - A sort of disappointing ending, but not a terrible story overall. I just wish the gals had a better send off than this. I'm going to miss them.
• All New Batman The Brave and the Bold #10 - Hilarious tale from the viewpoint of a henchman. It seems unlikely that Batman would have time to be so interested in one person, but let's face it, this is what we want batman to be. Love the Aquaman appearance.
• Spongebob Comics #4 - No Mermaid Man in this one, but the book is overall fun so I'm not too disappointed.

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Past Sunday Reviews -- Comics at Amazon.com -- Previews -- My Wishlist -- My Kindle Wishlist

Occupy... what?

I admit I didn't take the Occupy Wall Street movement seriously at first. In fact, I still have a little trouble thinking of it as a true movement, although I've been very impressed that the occupiers haven't resorted to violence and rioting here in the United States. Should it devolve into that... well, that's what I've been expecting all along, I guess. So I'm finding myself more and more impressed despite my misgivings that any sort of sit-in will ever change the way we conduct politics in the United States.

There was a bit of a story today. I've seen a video, but it shows the aftermath more than the actual event. Apparently some 30 or so people decided to protest big banking by going to their bank, Citibank, and closing their accounts all at the same time. I approve of the closure of a bank account, though I'm not sure going in all at once is a good idea. In their case it certainly wasn't, as they were locked in by the bank security and police were called. The police arrested 24 of the protesters for "trespassing," which makes little sense to me, including a woman who, in the video, showed that she was a customer and that she was leaving. It's distinctly possible that innocent non-protesting customers got caught up in the chaos.

Now, here's the thing. I don't know what those people did in the bank.

They claim* that they went in peacefully and quietly and got in line to close their accounts. The bank manager panicked and told them to leave, so they started to leave. But then bank security locked them in, so they were stuck until police arrived to arrest them. If that's the truth, then Citibank REALLY screwed up, and should be sued for false imprisonment, the police should be sued for false arrest and the customers should get a nice, fat payout from Citibank and the NYPD.

*Update: An account from one of the protesters. They didn't get in line and they didn't leave when asked. They were making a commotion.

The bank claims** the protesters were conducting a sit in and didn't leave when they were asked. But the video shows them locked in the bank, and shows a woman who had left the bank being dragged back into it. If they'd been asked to leave, why were they locked in? How long was the event? Were they sitting there for hours, or just a few minutes before the security locked them in? Were the protesters being disruptive?

**Update: Citibank's Statement. Second update: Citibank changed the statement, removing this line: "To be clear: no one was arrested for closing an account; we didn't lock people in our branch - the police decided to close the branch; and we didn't ask for anyone to be arrested - that is a police decision."

Without some crucial facts, I don't know what to think of the event. I do think the way the woman is dragged into the bank in the video is extremely unprofessional of the policeman/security guard who does it, and he should be reprimanded at the least, fired at the worst.

Overall, I'm still not sure what to think of the whole protest thing. But if I had any money in Citibank, I'd be pulling it out already. And I only wish I could get my mortgage free of Wells Fargo, although that isn't likely to be possible any time soon. I'm glad we dumped BoA (aka Bank of EVIL) years ago, and I will never do business with that company again if I can at all help it.

There's some kind of movement to close down all bank accounts with big banks and move to credit unions on November 5th. I'd suggest that if you plan on moving your account, do it now instead. I'm betting the banks will claim there's a run if everyone does it the same day and shut down for a week or two (so make sure your bills are all paid up and you have enough cash to get by even if you don't plan on closing your account). But I whole-heartedly support moving your money to a local bank or credit union and taking some power away from the big banks that ruined our economy then took taxpayer money to "fix" it, and never did. Vote with your dollars.

I'm a Columnist Now

It's weird enough to see my name in print in a newspaper, but to have a column... wow!

My first editorial is up, with the overall title of "Word Nerd", which is what we finally decided on after quite a bit of discussion and even a tiny bit of argument. The editor, who is old-school, didn't want me to use the word "nerd" in the title, as he felt it would be detrimental to me. I explained that I'm a nerd and I accept it and that I don't at all consider it a negative, so he finally agreed.

I asked for column title suggestions on Facebook and got a lot of really good suggestions. "Gjovaag's Gjottings" and "Laura Borealis" were in serious contention for quite some time, until the editor made it clear he was hoping for something that didn't have a name in it. That sunk "Gjovaag's Gjournal," "Laura's Log," "Gjovaag Log" and "Laura's Lore".

My editor also wasn't keen on "Exile From Seattle" and "From Out of the Rain," which I liked but he felt would limit me later on. I re-used the second one as the title of this particular column, because I couldn't NOT use such a great title (which actually fits the subject) that's also a bit of a meta-textual reference for some of my fellow Doctor Who (Torchwood) fans.

The subject of my first column is about the recent changes in my life, particularly what I've seen since becoming a reporter in a small town. The title refers to both a physical and emotional difference in my life. My second column is written already and is about the thing I miss most about Seattle, which may not be what anyone thinks.

I've put up a photo of my column box, which will be appearing on all my future columns. I reduced the size to make it look better. Unfortunately, reducing it far enough that the picture doesn't bother me makes the text unreadable. If you want it full-size, you'll just have to subscribe to the newspaper.

N07 1337

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Links! (I'm not dead yet)

If you recall Katie, who was teased for her Star Wars thermos, then you'll be delighted to hear how Katie was treated at GeekGirlCon.

Check out these 33 scary stories available on-line.

Removing DRM would reduce piracy. Those determined to steal will do so regardless of DRM. But most people would rather be honest than dishonest, so punishing the honest as if they are already thieves just results in frustration and, eventually, piracy.

Do you have a cool lunch bag? Here's ten cool ones, including some anti-theft sandwich bags.

The following sound clip is from the Bachmann soundbite at Bad Lip Reading. Be sure to check out the others, they are really odd and amusing (most disturbing: Michael Buble's "Russian Unicorn"). But this clip... this one just consistently cracks me up:


And lastly, for my Mom.

Little Linkdump

I want one.

Alternative Disney Movie Titles

Superheroes at Sea World.