Halloween and Another Earthquake

Thank you everyone for your concern about how the Solomon's weathered the earthquake on Tuesday night; it's very much appreciated. In the event you are unsure, yes, that was dripping with sarcasm.

On a serious note, that was really something. It struck at 8:00 pm while I was reading the kids a story. The Wife was in the shower and missed the whole thing but boy was that was quite the experience. While it only lasted around 10-15 seconds, it was exceptionally violent; it's hard to describe, but it felt like the house was pitching to its side. The kids did not react well at all - the girl in particular really freaked out and was inconsolable until she fell asleep. I'll say one thing: now that I've experienced two earthquakes, I don't feel any desire to experience a third. And this one at 5.6 was relatively small.

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Obviously, today was halloween. Our town really takes this holiday seriously: the day starts off with a parade at the kid's school and a little show in which each class comes up and sings a song. I hate using words like "adorable" but it really was something close to that, particularly the girl and her kindergarden crew. The Girl, by the way, was a Dragon (kind of appropriate) while the Boy was .. get ready for it .. Derek Jeter. This is a kid after my own heart.

We went to a friends house for dinner and then headed downtown. There is a three or four block radius that *really* gets into the halloween spirit: haunted houses, spooky music blaring from speakers, extensive decorations, -- the whole nine yards. Then the high school kids come out and cause all sort of craziness. All in all, it's a really good time.

One weird thing happened though: an adult -- a freaking adult -- got in the Boy's face and started spouting off about how the Yankees sucked. Yes, he was a Red Sox fan and yes, he was serious. It was kind of bizarre; he kept going on and on about how they were in disarray, and welcome to their world of suffering and blah, blah, blah. It was really weird. I said to him, dude, he's a kid, he doesn't get this stuff but it didn't really seem to resonate.

Damn Red Sox fans.

One thing I don't like about halloween -- and I do not mean to sound like a curmudgeon now -- but if you think about it, the whole candy thing is really idiotic. The last thing in the world these kids need today - mine, especially - is 14 pounds of freaking candy. Actually, make the 12; the wife just ate two pounds worth.