I would like to take a moment to at least briefly acknowledge the passing of some noteworthy individuals. Much has been written about many of them already, but I wanted to at least take a moment to say "Thank you" to the unfortunately long list: Gerald Levert, Jack Palance, Andre Waters, Ed Bradley, Ruth Brown, Bo Schembechler, Robert Altman, Robert Lockwood, Jr., Betty Comden, and Robert McFerrin, Sr.

Two people I want to say something about are Basil Poledouris and William Styron. Styron is well known world-wide as the author of Sophie's Choice, but for me his most important work is Darkness Visible, a memoir about depression. I suffer from depression, as do many, and Styron's writing about his own experience helped so many deal with the disease. Styron was one of those rare individuals who was not only a great talent, but a great man. Poledouris' passing went nearly unknown, despite scoring such blockbusters as The Hunt for Red October (a personal favorite) and Robocop. Poledouris was one of the unsung greats of modern film music, providing deep, rich scores for a variety of films, and his talent will be missed.

So... A few thoughts on the election. I'm not as elated as many of my left-leaning comrades. See, a few of the seats won from Republicans were won by a "new breed" of Democrats. These are what can only now be called "Evangelical Democrats," those candidates who were either too raw to be part of the "good ole boy" network of Republicans or not in the pockets of the Abramoff types. Or not hot enough for Mark Foley. Anything's possible. One example is ex-Redskins/Saints quarterback Heath "benched-in-favor-of-a-guy-who-willingly-head-butted-a-concrete-wall" Shuler, who ran as a Democrat in North Carolina and won, despite being more of a modern Republican on nearly every issue (socially and economically conservative), and supposedly (although I heard this on CNN, so I'm not sure if it was a blanket statement on these new Dems, or a singular commentary on Shuler) won't vote on Sundays.

I guess that's okay, though... He barely played quarterback on Sundays.

Anyway...

So, a handful of the seats won to give Dems control are in the hands of those who only two years ago (roughly) would have run as Republicans. Jim Webb, who beat George "Macacawitz" Allen by roughly the same number as the number of auditioners to "American Idol" from Virginia, used to be a Republican.

What I'm getting at is the simple fact that it took a fairly sizeable number of Republicans - Reagan Republicans no less - that were so embarrassed by their own party that they had to change parties to send a message. In other words, the Democrats cannot assume that this is a true victory. It is a momentary swing in their favor. It is an opportunity. Just like the one given them in 2000, which they botched badly by not making damned sure Gore was ready for the camera. The Republicans knew then that they had the lesser candidate, so they marketed Dubya up, selling him the way Wal-Mart sells tube socks and teevees.

(Law of economics: you make money one of two ways. You either market low and sell to the lowest common denominator and hope everyone shows up, or you market the same stuff as the best and hope only the rich fall for it. The Republicans marketted Bush as evangelical everyman and the masses came, while the Dems marketted Gore as intellectual. Were it not for Katharine Harris and Florida, though, things might be different.)

Moving on...

So the Dems now have two years to (a) undo everything Bush will try and push through in the next eight weeks, and (b) make the country a better place for everyone who didn't benefit from the Bush tax plan, while not completely pissing off those who did benefit from the plan. Why is that important? Because if the Dems can do that, then they will have a much better shot of not only maintaining what they've gained this election, but they might actually gain a few more seats next time around, including a key seat on Pennsylvania Avenue...

...Provided they tread carefully on the issues that scared the religious right enough to get them to the polls in 2000 and 2004 in the first place.

The wife and I were invited to a Halloween party this year, which is always nice because we are notoriously bad at parties - not because I get drunk or I tend towards unpleasant behavior, but because my wife tends towards more shyness while I tend to be more chatty. Halloween parties sometimes are worse for us because we stress more than we should about costumes. This year was going to be particularly crazy because I was scheduled to work all day, up until about half an hour before the party, leaving me no time to get ready and leaving my wife to care for Sam all day.

My wife got an ingenious and quick idea from a colleague at work: she pinned fabric leaves to one hat and crocheted snowflakes to another, and sewed on letters to the hats so they read "Toro." I was thus a (wait for it...) Leaf Blower and she was the, yes, Snow Blower. Although, I tried to convince her to replace the leaves on my hat with a leaf from a book. I could then have TWO costumes in one: the sheet from a book could still make me a Leaf Blower, or I could be (for the sicker members of the crowd) Mark Foley (think about it...).

Think about it, and get back to me with your groans.

Sam, however, perhaps unsurprisingly, was her favorite animal. No, not Big Bird. She was...

A COW!

Sam and her inspiration...	Wait for it...
Tada!	Discussing any other costume was mooooot.

And now... Sam as the Chocolate Cow!

I tried to convince my wife to make an udder for the costume so I could run after Sam with a farmer's outfit and a coffee cup, and be the farmer, first thing in the morning trying to get cream for his coffee, but that failed almost as quickly as the Foley gag.

There are times I don't think my wife appreciates my humor.

There were a couple of other options for Sam, as you can see below.

I'd like to again thank Dana and AM for having us over, and letting us bring the grazing one. Sam was her usual self, but managed to not make a disaster of their home, which was appropriately decorated - which is to say "normally" decorated. What else can you say about a home full of Evil Dead and Nightmare Before Chritsmas stuff? I must say, though, that as cool as Dana's Ovechkin costume was, it would have been much scarier to have seen him dressed up as Jaromir Jagr...

I have to correct last months correction (apparently the whiteout was only on my screen...): I wasn't clear enough (basically I was typing too fast - sorry) when I made the correction about the Caps dog-and-pony show at the NHL draft. When AM emailed me about the original article, and I made the corrections, I didn't make it more clear that she had meant that Ovechkin wanted to be at the draft to meet the new guys, but that what I called the dog-and-pony show was not the team's idea. Thanks for being patient, AM.

Oy. Another milestone for Sammy. Her first trip to the Emergency Room. Sam was playing with her mom, playing with a ball, when she tripped and fell. She bit the inside of her cheek pretty bad, and there was some blood and a lot of crying. She wasn't too badly hurt in retrospect, but considering all of the case histories I've been privvy to from my mom's work, I know enough about the dangers of concussions, even for young children.

So, Sammy had her first hospital trip, late at night, which of course threw off her sleep schedule (and ours) for a few days. Sammy, despite a bruise on her cheek, is doing better, and spent no time getting back to her old self, diving off the couch and running around with abandon.

Mommy and I, however, are still suffering from the ocassional heart and panic attack.

Sam's new favorite chair (Elmo Giggling chair. We're in hell.)	Fine, Daddy. Take the picture. Can we go now?
All set for a Thanksgiving Outing.	Too cute in her holiday dress...
Like the hat?	Yeah - I'm sitting in the hamper. So?
We're lucky to have a happy girl...	...Who wants nothing to do with the press.
Hey! Food grows on trees!	Look out! Here she comes!
She's trying to put something in her pocket, but it really looks like she's dancing...	This is another one of those random shots that I just love. It's a great headshot of my baby.