David - Halloween Shenanigans R Us

Took some time out of the political bunfight that I am in the midst of right now and wandered around NY on Halloween night. There is a massive parade through the Village with a bunch of people dressed up to the nines. Kinda like a straight version of the Mardi Gras. Seeing thousands upon thousands of New Yorkers wearing their freak on the outside is a hell of an experience. Some highlights;
- chap in a flasher costume - what is a flasher costume you say? A man wearing a full body stocking with an enormous fake nob! (titter)
- a six foot two black man with a beard wearing a Wonder Woman outfit (double take and then some)
- more Darth Vader and Stormtoopers than you can poke a lightsaber at
- and a personal highlight - enough sailors to swab the deck of an aircraft carrier

Shoshe: Still here

I went to Spirit and Opportunity's second (Mars year) birthday party! :) It was very cool. We had carrot cake, cider and champagne, and the folks at JPL had cake and organic milk (apparently they weren't allowed to have alcohol). The rovers didn't get anything special for their birthdays as far as I know, but one of the models in the MER conference room had an "I am 2" badge, which was very cute.

Our friend Owen from Sydney visited us this weekend, which was awesome. My parents were up to, for my mom's art opening in a "nearby" town (2 hours away). On Saturday we went to my classmate's pumpkin carving party, and Owen carved his first pumpkin. B's becoming a pumpkin carving pro :) I finished grading my students' papers over the weekend, but didn't get any other work done :(

And on Friday night, we watched Stephen Colbert perform live.