Halloween has lost its appeal.

I used to love getting dressed up in a costume and trick-or-treating. I’ve been lots of things: a ninja, a clown, a cowboy, and Bugs Bunny.

Somewhere over the years, the costuming and door-to-door begging for candy lost its appeal. I think it was around the time where I realized that I can buy a ton of candy without having to rely on the kindness of neighbors.

I bought lots of candy today on the excuse that some child may come trick-or-treating at my door. I’m hoping that none will.

I’ve already started working on a candy-induced coma. mmm… candy corn.

I was reading this Newsday article about the Capitol being shutdown. A toy gun was brought into the building by two congressional staffers. The security guard was distracted by someone asking a question and then noticed what appeared to be a .38-caliber weapon on the X-ray machine image only after the staffers had left the security station.

The article included a number of quotes from staffers and representatives. This is the 4th from the last paragraph in the article:

Rep. Anthony D. Weiner (D-Brooklyn) questioned the sophistication of the security. “One thing we have learned is that when al-Qaida comes they will come dressed as 5-foot-3-inch midgets with plastic guns,” he said.

I don’t understand. When did we learn this?

I was pleasantly surprised today to see that an article I posted last week about iTunes was among the host selected entries in this week’s Carnival of the Capitalist. This week’s Carnival host was Chris Noble of The Noble Pundit. Thanks, Chris!

Curt of The Happy Husband pointed it out to me this morning. Thanks, Curt!

I’m pretty new to the whole blogging thing, so it is nice to know that other bloggers are reading my posts. It’s a very validating experience to see your name on someone else’s site.

I’ve been looking through my photo collection again lately. I have some great photos, if I do say so myself. I also have some really bad, crappy photos, so I can certainly use some work and practice.

In an effort to improve my skills and get a little bit of feedback, I’ve decided to take lots more pictures and post lots more of my photos online.

I’ve been looking at other blogs and photo sites to figure out how I want to go about this. Here’s a sampling of where I’ve been so far. These are in no particular order.

Interesting Angles

I thought these had some interesting approaches to presenting photography.

The Polapola Project
[So very cool! I like it! I found the link above at a metablog site called IdleType.]

Ten Years of My Life
[A very cool idea started just a few weeks ago. Great photos!]

Diego Golberg’s The March of Time
[Photos of family members over time. Very unique, patient, and oddly creative.]

Family Photos over Time
[Similar idea]

The Daily Photo Project
[I'm not sure of the value but it is interesting.]

The 12-hour ISBN JPEG Project
[This is impressive. This has been going since December 1994. There doesn't seem to be an archive of any sort though. ??]

Photobloggies

The following links came from a perusal of Photobloggies.

photojunkie zine
[a zine for photojunkies]

Heather Champ
[Deep talent. Great layout.]

Jeff Phillips Photos
[A great collection of photos. This is a great photo essay: The Chick Magnet]

Pink Elephant
[This site has great images. It hasn't been updated recently though. The photographer/owner/blogger has moved and is in school.]

a softer world
[Paneled and captioned comic-style photo strips.]

textism photos
[And the textism blog.]

Elvis the Fish Pencam
[Pencam photography.]

Chicago Uncommon Photographs
[Impressive photography of Chicago.]

Quarlo.com
[A photoblog where all pictures are shot on film. Impressive photography of New York.]

Professionals

Magnum Photos Features
[A photo library updated daily with new work from across the globe.]

Web sites for people who hate to read
[An old Slate article about photologs.]

The Obvious

photoblogs.org
[A couple of thousand photoblogs to look through in your spare time.]

I forgot to fall back. You know, Spring forward, Fall back.

My clocks were supposed to revert back to Standard Time last night as Daylight Saving Time came to an end. But I forgot to change them before I went to bed. Some changed automatically. If they hadn’t, I might not have noticed for a little while longer. It was the hour discrepancy between my alarm clock and the clock on the VCR that first made me realize something was up. It took a brief moment to run through the list of usual suspects (broken VCR, gremlins, aliens) before I came to the proper conclusion.

It would seem that my VCR and computer are smarter than my alarm clock. Both of them changed automatically this morning. Essentially, my alarm got me up an hour too early. Stupid alarm clock!

This is as good of an opportunity as any to say, “I don’t particularly like the name Daylight Saving Time.”

In the Daylight Saving Time, it is the word saving that throws me off. I think of my bank account. I am saving money by putting a little away for later use. I am deferring the use of that money. Obviously, daylight occurs exactly as long as the sun is up and I can’t change that. I can’t move any of that sunlight to another day either. There have been days where I wished I could pull an extra hour of sunlight out of an account, but that just can’t happen.

The correct meaning of saving in this instance is “to avoid unnecessary waste or expense.” What we are doing by changing our clocks is making better use of the daylight hours during the changes of the season. The change of the clock reduces energy consumption, crime, and traffic accidents. And we force the sun not to rise at 5:30 a.m. in the middle of the summer. We basically reschedule that event for an hour later.

And if you still don’t like the changing of the clocks, blame Benjamin Franklin.

Still need more people to blame? Read the history of History of Daylight Saving Time.

On Thursday, I wrote about the incident with Williamson County Sheriff John Maspero in which he was stopped by local police for possibly being intoxicated in public.

Today, the Georgetown Police Department released a taped telephone conversation between Maspero and Police Chief David Morgan. On the tape, the two discuss how they will handle this situation. Sheriff Maspero did not know he was being taped.

My favorite comment on the tape is a promise made by Chief Morgan to Maspero. He addresses the confidentiality of the conversation but gives himself an out. Morgan says that “[this conversation] is not going to leave this organization unless we get an inquiry about it .”

Well, it looks like there was an inquiry. It is not clear whether the police department volunteered the information or if the media made an Open Records Act request. Either way the Austin American-Statesman has the audio of the conversation between the sheriff and police chief as well as the original 911 calls and patrol car video.

The audio, video, and transcripts can be found under the heading “Multi-media” next to this Austin American-Statesman article.

My two favorite cartoons (still in print) are Ballard Street and Non Sequitur.

Oddly, they remind me of my own life.

As evidence, I present to you a few recent similarities:

• I think “they” are out to get me.
Publication Date: 10/25/03

• I am a born leader.
Publication Date: 9/29/03

• I make me laugh.
Publication Date: 10/23/03

• I tend to buy odd objects for no apparent reason (see below).
Publication Date: 10/20/03

I bought this for $20 at a garage sale. It’s a salon-style hair dryer from the 1960s or so. It makes a nice lamp.

NOTE: The links to the Ballard Street will expire in one month from the date of publication. The links to Non Sequitur are free for two weeks from the publication date. After that, the comics are available in a members-only archive.

My favorite part of the newspaper used to be the comics page, but it is starting to look quite bleak — a hodge-podge of old strips and bad new ones. I miss the classics of my youth.

I have nothing against cartoons like Ziggy, Garfield, or Wizard of Id. I read each one regularly, but in my mind they can’t compare to the great classic strips of Far Side, Bloom County, and Calvin & Hobbes. I miss those three the most.

But no need to despair, there are signs of hope.

Gary Larson, the creator of Far Side, has just released “The Complete Far Side: 1980-1994″, a 1250-page, two-book set containing over 4,000 cartoons, letters from readers, and commentary from Larson. This set includes every syndicated Far Side plus 19 more created after Larson’s retirement in 1995. Price: $95.

In less than one month, Berkeley Breathed will be returning to the Sunday comics page with a new comic strip called “Opus,” starring the penguin character of the same name from Bloom County and Outland. The new strip will appear on Sundays in The Washington Post starting November 23.

No news yet about cartoonist Bill Watterson or Calvin and Hobbes. I highly doubt that Mr. Watterson will make a return to newspapers.

I got Googled… my site stats show a Google search linked to my site for “commando cody flying suit.” That really makes me laugh.

I am like the 5th link on the search.

I am curious as to why someone would be searching for a Commando Cody flying suit.

My hometown is Georgetown, Texas. It’s the county seat of Williamson County and sits about 30 minutes north of Austin, the Texas state capital.

[I'm actually not from Peachwater... never lived there... but it's a nice place to visit.]

Over the years, Williamson County has developed a reputation for being tough on crime. (The county has the lowest crime rate of all counties with similar population sizes in Texas. Something’s working.)

When it comes to crime, the people (citizens, judges, etc.) are by no means without compassion. However, there is a historically-significant chance that if you get caught doing something seriously wrong or just plain stupid in Williamson County, you’re going to get in trouble with those rather compassionate citizens sitting on your jury and that nice judge at the front of the room. Not all cases are sentenced to the maximum penalties, but I would guess the penalties for crime are higher than the state averages.

I tell you this because something interesting has happened to the Williamson County sheriff.

After midnight on October 11th, the Georgetown Police Department received two 911 calls about a drunk man walking along one of the major roadways through town. This man was also urinating in bushes near the road. When an officer responded to investigate the reports, it was discovered that the man was none other than Williamson County Sheriff John Maspero.

The officer believed Maspero to intoxicated, but did not ticket him for public intoxication or for urinating in public. The police officer gave him a “courtesy ride” home. This is not particularly unusual in cases where an intoxicated person has committed no other crimes and does not pose a threat to themselves or others. He was released to the custody of a third party per policy.

What is unusual is to have your county sheriff reportedly “falling all over himself” and “peeing” along the main thoroughfare in town. It’s a bit embarrassing for the town and the county. In Georgetown, there has been a sense of pride about our strong stance on crime. This doesn’t help us feel so good about that stance. Feels a bit silly.

According to news reports, Maspero had attended a Chamber of Commerce cookout earlier in the evening. Since he had been drinking, he decided to walk home.

I do have to give him credit for making the right decision not to drink and drive, but doesn’t the sheriff have friends? Friends with cars? Deputies with cars who could get him home safely and less publicly?

The sheriff has announced through a spokesperson that he is taking some time off to go through alcohol rehab and address other issues in his life. I truly hope and pray that things go well for him.

Williamson County attorney Gene Taylor has asked Maspero to resign from his position or face an investigation. The sheriff in Williamson County is an elected official and can be removed from office by a jury. Under the Local Government Code, a public official can removed from office for “intoxication on or off duty.”

Maspero has said so far that he plans to return to his position after rehab and then run for re-election next year. This is just getting interesting. Oh, I hadn’t mentioned… Georgetown is a very politically-charged town. In recent years, we’ve voted our mayor out of office in a recall election and just recently fought over a Super WalMart and other retail developments.

Read the Austin Chronicle article for more information: Maspero heads for rehab.

[I made some edits in facts and opinions to this article on October 26th.]