Jay Maynard

I was worried, for the past few months, that Kerry would win big. I just realized why. I spent the past four months in Minnesota, California, and New York...three of the places that went for Kerry the most. I discounted what I saw and heard in Texas, because I knew in advance what they'd say.

I didn't realize just how little California and NYC represent the country as a whole, politically. Now I do. No, this is not a slam on those places, just a reminder to myself that I need to take their political leanings into account when hearing what they say as a population.

This one keeps coming up as a point of serious disagreement between Kerry supporters and Bush supporters. Instead of giving my views in a reply to someone else's comment, I'll break it out here so the discussion can happen in one place.

My view is simple, and will likely earn me no agreement from either side. ( Collapse )

I understand why it's such a divisive issue. I wish it weren't, but I see no real alternative. I also do not see that it will ever be otherwise.

From AP:

CHICAGO -- A groundskeeper found a rusted, hollowed-out shell of a grenade in the right-field turf of Chicago's Wrigley Field.

The dud was found Tuesday morning by a worker at the home of the Chicago Cubs. The police's Bomb and Arson investigators were called to examine the device, which they found to be empty and harmless.

``This thing was absolutely nothing more than a piece of scrap metal,'' police Cmdr. Irene Jones said.

Investigators said there was no way to determine how the device ended up on the field, but added that no break-ins were reported at the ballpark.

``Somebody probably had a few drinks and lobbed it over the wall,'' Town Hall District Capt. Bill McCorry said.

As I mentioned a while ago, the lady that runs Renaissance Dancewear is looking to either sell or close the business. I decided to place one last order before that happened so I could have the good stuff last a while, should she not find a buyer. I ordered five more TRON unitards, as well as another complete set of leotard and tights for the Xinchub costume, and more tights for my faire garb. Finally, I ordered a couple of short-sleeve unitards to wear through airport security so it's painfully obvious that I'm not carrying anything on my person. (I'm tired of the TSA assaulting me in the name of security; they've conducted pat-down searches on my person twice now, and neither time did they bother to explain what they were going to do first.)

The whole order is likely to go over a kilobuck...but I won't need any more for quite a while. If she does find a buyer, though, I do intend to give them a chance before starting a new search for a supplier. I hope I don't, though: I'm really, really happy with the tights I've gotten from the current owner, and she's promised to train the buyer extensively in all phases of the business, as well as provide her complete set of patterns and knowledge.

She wasn't aware of all that has happened as a result of the TRON costume. I pointed her at the tronguy.net site. I think she'll be pleasantly surprised.

Update: $1335. Worth every last penny, too.