Google had a halloween party yesterday. It was a big event. I vaguely recall it being a large to-do last year. I went down to see what the fuss was all about, but then went back upstairs and got back to work. We worked a lot last fall. Most of October and all of November, in fact.

I only got a few photos, but coworkers snapped more than a couple. One in particular got a large set. She put them up on . They even got some with people I recognize.

She got . Last time I saw her she was a couple weeks old.

Nobody managed to get my coworker Scott, even though he had lots of people take his pic. He and his wife Dana had . (Dana was "a grandmother", by the way.)

There were kids all over. The looked happy. Some pretty darn good costumes all around. The iPod guy was good. was a favorite. was very nice -- and he stayed in character! The guy who had a real, live bird was good. My favorite has to be . Just... wow. I don't think anyone but him could carry that off.

And finally is the 82nd representing in the background, yo.

It was a pretty good time. I had a few folks take my photo, and only one negative comment (which I didn't expect at all). A lady came up to me and said "You've got the scariest costume here". "How so?", I asked. She explained that there were "too many of you soldiers in the world today". I replied that there was almost not enough running around during WWII, and that without them and the sacrifices they made a lot of the people in this world would be leading fairly unhappy lives right now. The Dutch in particular, I said, didn't seem to think there was a shortage of soldiers in Fall of 1944. In fact, they're still happy there were so many back then. And then I went on to explain that my grandfather was in the 82nd Airborne and wore a uniform identical to what I had on. I said that I wanted to wear it to get a connection with what those folks went through, and that I'd like to think that there's some small part of me that has a little of what those guys had, to do what they did. She paused for a bit and then said "Well, ok I guess. So how does it feel to wear your grandfather's uniform?" And I told her that it was constricting and hot, but I was really happy I was wearing it.

Why do some people feel like they need to go up to complete strangers and be nasty like that? She was dressed as a witch. Would she be open to J. Random Holy Roller running some "You're setting a bad example for the kids here, with that witchcraft thing" nonsense past her, completely unsolicited like? I'm sure she'd have an open mind about that person's viewpoints and they would engage in meaningful dialog.

Lastly, I would like to comment on the ban on "weapons or weapon-like objects" as part of costumes. didn't get that memo. I even took my leg knife off. Hmmph