With election day looming, I'm picking up where I left off in 2002 and giving out my official Blogalicious endorsement. There's only one this time around, given that all the other races on my ballot are state or county. If you want my view on the Essex County sheriff's race, feel free to drop me a line.

Of course, the one race is pretty important. In the first post-9/11 Presidential election, you get the sense that the choice we make on Tuesday will shape America's long-term direction to a degree we haven't seen since Reagan was in office. Unlike 2000, there is a much more distinct difference between Bush and Gore. Not that those two were twins or anything, but the hot-button issue this time around - the whole terror and security thing - has made it much easier to see where these candidates diverge on all issues.

Even so, there's a great similarity to 2000 in that it seems like there's a healthy percentage of folks who aren't thrilled with Bush or Kerry. For every person who is voting for a candidate, you get the sense that there's someone else whose vote is against that person rather than for their opponent.

Or, to recognize another group, you have voters who feel like they have to vote for the major candidate that comes closest to their world view, even though their support is, well, uninspired. It's hard to get really excited by either Bush or Kerry. Which means we have to settle.

Well, I don't think you have to settle. You do have choices.

That is why for the 2004 Presidential election, Blogalicious endorses the third-party candidate of your choice.

For those of you to the left of center, that'd most likely be David Cobb of the Green Party or independent/Reform candidate Ralph Nader. For those of you on the right side of the aisle, Libertarian Michael Badnarik is probably a good choice, though social conservatives may find themselves opposed to some Libertarian positions. If Michael Peroutka of the Constitution Party is on your ballot, they may be more to your taste.

There are a number of smaller party candidates out there, especially of the Socialist variety. Check your state website to see your local ballot.

I know that a number of people get nervous voting for a third party candidate given the whole "vote for Nader is a vote for Bush" vibe from 2000. It's a legitimate concern. My personal belief is that neither major party is going to give us better candidates if we keep voting for the ones they currently give us. Of course, what we probably need is better people going into elective office, but that's another problem for another time.

Anyway, if you do have this concern, I have two suggestions:

1. Vote pair. For those of you living in states that are pretty much spoken for already, you can try to get someone who lives in a swing state and would vote third-party if they weren't in a swing state to swap votes. For example, a Massachusetts Kerry voter would vote for a given third party candidate while an Ohio Nader voter would vote for Kerry.

While vote pairing is best known in a left of center context, it's also set up for conservatives.

If you're interested in this, there is a link to a vote pairing website on Julie's blog.

2. Vote for all the third party candidates in the other races on your ballot. It doesn't send the same message, but it's something. I'd suggest even writing people in where you don't have a third choice, but given the possible ballot scrutiny after Tuesday, you may not want to put your ballot in jeopardy of getting bounced because you didn't use blue or black ink to write in your brother for county commissioner.

So that's it. I normally would urge you to vote early and often, but the way things are going that could be misconstrued. So vote your legally-allotted one time at the point in the day that makes the most sense for you.

As you may have heard, there's a new question facing all of us in Red Sox Nation.

Now what?

It's a valid question. Citizenship in RSN has generally been predicated (if not based) in the Sisyphean quest for a World Series title (rather than the eternal struggle against the Yankees, which will continue as long as both teams exist).

(Speaking of the Yankees, would it be OK to refer to them as the Tankees until they win another AL title?)

So now that the Sox have won a title, how does this change the fan base?

My argument is that, except in some smaller ways, it doesn't.

I don't mean to discount what's happened, or the euphoria that's settled over the region like a high pressure system. And I do think it'll have a positive effect on Sox fans. It'll certainly take one edge off of supporting the Old Towne Team, as detractors will have to find something else to pick on rather than 1918 and the Bambino.

(Speaking of curses, governor Mitt Romney participated in cutting down a sign on Storrow Drive yesterday that official reads "Reverse Curve" but has consistently been vandalized to read "Reverse Curse" and then "Reversed Curse". It's notable in that in climbing onto the cherry picker to help, he whacked his head on a crossbar and damn near fell off. Good thing for him he's not up for re-election until '06.)

Even with this easing of tension and the joy of a title, I don't think the core values of being a Sox fan are going to change. Expectations are going to be high, managers will continue to get ripped, and players will be cheered or booed as performance warrants (including hearing both in the same game).

Because while some things have changed, what's one Series win against a generationally-ingrained form of fandom? Or even go back before 1918, and look at the Royal Rooters. Vocal, passionate, and highly irritating, they lived and died with the Sox when the Sox were winning the Series every other year or so. If rabid support ran in Red Sox Nation in times of plenty, why will it stop now that we've found an oasis in the desert?

Consider that one of the sidebar stories, even during the Series itself, was the ultimate disposition of all the free agents on the Sox roster. We're so used to looking ahead to next year that we do so even when in the process of writing a dramatic chapter in the here and now.

Which leads me to think that being in Red Sox Nation is less about citizenship than it is about genetics. The qualities that make you part of the nation are hard-wired in your DNA. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you can enjoy the "rolling rally" that'll take over most of Suffolk County tomorrow.

OK, now I'll talk about the Sox.

(Don't take this as overconfidence; given that the Sox came back from a 3-0 defecit to get to the Series, I am well aware that Fate could very well conspire to have it done to them on the game's biggest stage.)

I have to admit to a fair amount of surprise at the 3-0 lead, especially given the offensive output in the first game. As much as having both Schilling and Pedro was supposed to work this way, it's rarely seemed like it was going to work out as hoped.

Then again, that's why Theo is the GM and I'm not.

I'm also still trying to divine something from the Sox making four errors in each of the first two games, and then getting its biggest defensive plays in game 3 from Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz. Granted, you can pin the Ortiz play on Jeff Suppan's bad base-running. You should also remember that Suppan started his career in Boston.

Also, I'm hoping last night was not the last time we see Pedro throwing for the Sox, but I'm not sure he and the team will come to an agreement. On some level I think Pedro still thinks of himself in terms of 5 to 7 years ago, while I think the team will hammer on his fragility and diminishing effectiveness after 100 pitches to squeeze him.

On a lighter note, would it have been too hard for Manny to win us all a taco in the first inning?

I can only say two things about the Fox coverage: they need to find a way to start the games before 8 pm Eastern and they need to bring Al Leiter back. I am pleased that Scooter hasn't come back, though I wish Tim McCarver would go look for him.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go barricade the door and put plywood over the windows. Just in case.

In an attempt to not discuss the 2-0 lead the Sox have in the World Series, a pointless observation about my dietary habits.

I think I like hummus now. I didn't before; past experiences led me to compare hummus to tile grout. Not sure if I'm eating a better-quality hummus now, or if my tastes have changed, but I'm eating it voluntarily.

Still not sure if I really like it. But I don't hate it.

This will probably not lead to a re-investigation into the gustatory properties of tofu. I've been down that road a few times, with poor results.

With the start of the World Series tonight, I've been thinking quite a bit about 1986.

And no, not about that play.

When the Series started that year, I was actually in New York. An open weekend in the football schedule allowed me to go to a debate tournament at the Bronx High School of Science. You'd think that a Sox fan in the Bronx that weekend would have gotten a lot of grief, but there's a certain percentage of Yankees fans who saw a Mets win as even worse than a Sox win. Being from Boston got some of my teammates free food at a deli, even.

I remember watching game 1 at the Carvel Inn, which was related to the Carvel ice cream folks of Cookie O'Puss and Fudgie the Whale fame. At least I hope they were connected, otherwise the gilded ice cream cone in the lobby would be hard to explain. This was also the first time I'd participated in getting pizza delivered (even now, I don't think you can get delivery in Manchester), and we got to needle the delivery guy by telling him the Sox were winning (the hotel being squarely in Mets territory).

We listened to game 2 on the way home from the tournament, which was problematic given all the chatter in the van. Pretending to be asleep helped for a while, but I came too close to actual sleep for this to work for the long-term.

Jump now to the dreaded sixth game at my friend Dean's house. Me, Dean, and two of his brothers are watching the game, and three of us are going nutty just where you'd expect us to go nutty. One of Dean's brothers - clearly more versed in the ways of the Sox - predicted that they'd screw up. You know the rest of the story.

Suffice it to say that I won't be watching any of this Series at Dean's house.

Looking back on the whole thing, I think I took the Series for granted in '86. The Celts were in the middle of their run with the Big Three, and the success of the Sox just seemed to follow along naturally. Even with the Pats' success now, I'm not making the same mistake this time around. It's safe to say that most of the region is following suit, though perhaps to an extent that would have been downright bizarre 18 years ago.

To that end, I will ask that if you're in the Boston area, and you don't actually have a ticket to one of the games, please STAY HOME. The last thing we need is more of the madness that followed the ALCS. I've bemoaned post-playoff violence before, and have liked to think that we weren't going in that direction. Clearly, though, we are, and that saddens me, even moreso when someone gets killed.

I'd like to think that the city will handle Series security similarly to the DNC, which seemed to go off pretty well (no one died, at least). I fear that the powers that be aren't up to the challenge, though. Don't be surprised if you see the National Guard around.

If anyone can convince me that brining Pedro into tonight's ALCS game 7 was a good idea, I'll eat my hat.

Don't get me wrong, I'm tickled to death that the Sox will be in the World Series. I just worry that a similarly boneheaded move will cost us later on.

Speaking of later on, tomorrow's NLCS game should be interesting. If things hold to form the Cards will win (rematching us from 1946 and 1967), but if the Astros take it... well, Clemens probably wouldn't pitch until they return to Houston. Bagwell would be back (as would, I think, Adam Everett), but that's not as big a story.

Not sure who I'm rooting for there.

Having just spent the last 3-plus days in Las Vegas, it's funny that the strangest thing I've seen since leaving on Friday was actually something I saw upon coming home and turning on the TV: A-Rod slapping the baseball out of Bronson Arroyo's glove.

Sin City, by comparison, was a den of normalcy. To wit, then, a short trip recap:

Friday we flew out, direct to LV on Song, Delta's attempt to be like Southwest and JetBlue. It's not a bad try for a legacy carrier, but it doesn't quite capture the mood of those other airlines. Certainly, I'd fly it again if the fares were right.

Got our car from Enterprise (more on the automotive front later), drove over to Circus Circus, where we were staying. Not a bad place, though it's on the top end of the strip away from some of the more notable establishments. It was a bit of a trial finding our way to reception and then to our room, but we got there eventually. After which we got some food, played a little, and went to bed.

Saturday we trekked out to the Hoover Dam. Before leaving, we noticed something about the car that wasn't showing the night before: a crack in the windshield. We figured we'd do our best with it and headed out.

If you've not been to Hoover Dam, and you're in the area, you should go. It's an impressive piece of engineering, especially when you consider when it was built. The "tour" was kind of duff, outside of getting to go down into one of the generating rooms (in the past you actually got to go outside at the base of the dam, they don't do that any more). But for the first time out, the tour is probably worth it.

We spent the afternoon in Boulder City, during which time we noticed our crack was growing. This necessitated a trip back to Enterprise to swap cars and work out insurance-related matters regarding the windshield (as it wasn't noted as cracked when we left the lot). We then got a a new car. I figured we'd get the Ford Focus. We got the Jeep Liberty. At the economy rate. And we were comped for the gas; we could return it dry at no charge.

Suffice it to say that if you're looking to rent a car the next time you're in Vegas, I would highly recommend Enterprise.

That night we went over to the Orleans Arena to see the Las Vegas Wranglers take on the Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies in a preseason ECHL tilt. You could tell it was preseason as there were no names on the jersies and no programs available. The one roster sheet we could get informed us that former Merrimack College standout Rejean Stringer was playing for Vegas. We were later told that former BU player Jon Sabo may have been playing for AC. The game itself was about what you'd expect, and we saw more blood than your average Vegas heavyweight title bout.

Sunday we just kind of kicked around, drove through downtown Vegas, some general sightseeing. Ate that night at Cravings, the new buffet at the Mirage. It's kind of upscale, and the food was pretty good, but pricey for a buffet. Earlier in the day we ate at an In 'n Out Burger, which was fantastic.

Monday saw more aimless wandering, though we actually walked around Fremont Street and the downtown casino area. Went into Binion's, but didn't spend too much time anywhere. Monday night brought us to the purpose of our trip, a wedding vow renewal ceremony at the Bellagio (savvy Blogalicious readers can guess which linked person at left was one of the participants). I will say that if you want to get married in Vegas and want it to actually be classy, the Bellagio would be the way to go. Had dinner in one of the restaurants at Paris. A good time was had by all.

Tuesday we pretty much traveled all day, going from Vegas to Atlanta to Boston. It was about as much fun as it sounds. And for the third time in a row, we landed in Atlanta and had to wait for another plane to get out of our assigned gate. Whoever is in charge of that process needs to be fired.

Quick assessment: I'd go back to Vegas. Don't know if I'd go more than once a year (or even once every two), but I could see putting it in a regular rotation.

I have this habit when watching sports that I'll flip away if the team I'm rooting for gets behind by a significant amount. I go back and check, and if a comeback is being mounted I'll stay away even more so as to not upset the karma.

That being said, I watched very little of last night's ALCS game 1 after the fifth inning. I was happy to see the Sox battle back, as I was already thinking of the various media types who would have pronounced the Sox DOA if the final had been 8-0 or some such.

That also being said, Curt Schilling should be back in Boston NOW to get treatment on his ankle. Cortisone, massage, hyperbaric chamber, whatever.

In other news, remember that WTC commemorative coin that was supposedly minted with silver recovered from Ground Zero? Turns out it's pretty much a fraud; the coin is silver-plated rather than solid silver (though I suppose there was microscopic print in the ad noting that) and the origin of that silver is very much in question. The New York AG is working to block the further sale of the coins. Kind of nice when law and ethics actually are on the same side.

Just got back from a week in Orlando, vacationing with the in-laws. So what did I do this week?

Sunday Flew down, and can now recommend JetBlue to one and all. Gawked at hurricane damage on the way from the airport to the timeshare. Got a tour of Celebration, Disney's planned community, when we got lost. It looks like a movie set - bigger houses on small lots.

Monday Lazed around, didn't do anything of note.

Tuesday Went to EPCOT, which is probably my favorite Disney park (which isn't saying all that much, I'm not a park fan generally). Had my own small world moment by running into old friend Cindy Demopoulos outside of the Mexico part of the park. Thankfully, it was without thousands of singing dolls as backdrop.

Wednesday Played golf with my father in law, which suggests a certain level of charity on his part. Two holes were under construction, which meant that I got to play my ball out of bulldozer tracks a few times. I'm sure there's a rule for that occasion, but damned if I know what it is.

Thursday Nothing.

Friday Took a small shopping trip that turned into a long march when a modular home got stuck on the highway that was also under construction. Wish I'd brought the camera.

Saturday Went to Sea World. It was OK. Didn't run into anyone I knew.

Sunday Came home, got to sit in the exit row and have it be only Sarah and me for the three seats in the row. So I had leg and hip room, which is pretty much impossible on coach flights for me. Good times.

If you've never read Lord of the Flies, you can get a rough approximation of it by watching the women's team on The Apprentice.

Week one, a woman named Stacie had an odd moment with a Magic 8 Ball. It was an unfortunate capper for her budding reputation as a loose cannon, and gave the other women something to focus on. They not only met as a group to agree on getting her eliminated, they also built up the Magic 8 Ball thing into some sort of serious mental episode, a breathtaking leap of logic for a group which, as far as I can tell, has no psychological training. Even more interesting was that Trump bought it and fired Stacie, though he was likely just getting rid of a distraction.

Now, of course, with no one thing to focus on, the team is now busy going after itself. The boardroom selections this week were clearly personal, and at times the post-challenge dialog seemed lifted right off of a middle-school playground. The producers must be praying for a hair-pulling, slap-happy cat fight, and they just may get one from this group. Woe to anyone who has to work with them (or worse, be managed by them) in real life.

At this point, the only woman who looks like she could win is the one who went over to the men's side when they swapped a teammate before the first challenge.

Thinking about the show itself, am I the only person who would like to see more of the challenge itself? I get the sense that the footage of the competition is tailored to meet the results and subsuquent boardroom session, which doesn't help me get a good feel for the contestants or pick out other issues or problems that the producers didn't bother to show.

So if you're a teacher, and you leave your sub to show a video during the last block of the last day of the week, do your sub two favors:

1. Have a task associated with the movie - worksheet, notes, quiz, something. Otherwise there'll be little attention paid.

2. Choose a video with a faster pace that would require more attention. The one I got to show today - a National Geographic special on rain forests - had more focus on visual, with good-sized gaps where students felt free to add their own commentary. I actually asked one kid, "Are you going to make noise during every second of this movie?"

It probably sounds worse than it was, but a little more structure would have gone a long way.

Turns out we did have the debate on last night, though I can't say that I actually watched it. It was more on in the background more than anything else. Just from tone I got the sense that Kerry was doing a pretty good job, as W almost sounded whiny at times. Maybe next time I'll watch with the mute on and try to figure out the "winner" based on facial expressions and body language.

It is a state law in Massachusetts that if someone is waiting to use a crosswalk, an oncoming motorist must stop and allow the person to cross.

As you can imagine, it is likely the least observed law in Massachusetts (post-1900, at least). Consider that, today, when making the one major street crossing needed to get back from the train to the apartment, the car that finally stopped from me had New York plates.

I like to think they were from upstate.

Where law fails guile is often required, and I have developed a move that works if there's only one car to worry about (rather than a line of cars, where it works much less often). I make semi-eye contact with the driver, nod my head like I've been given a wave or other signal to cross, and then take a step or two. As the car continues to move I stop short and look back at the car. The driver, who has started to slow because it looks like I'm just going to cross, gets confused enough that he or she actually decides to let me cross.

The best part of this move is that its development was completely subconscious. I don't think I realized I actually had a regular move until this morning. When I had to use it against another uncooperative local driver.

In other news, I won't be watching the Presidential debate tonight, or any other night that there's a debate in 2004. They're second only to the conventions in terms of staging, and it's not like either guy will say anything to get me to watch or vote for them. Well, they could offer me a million bucks to call in and tell what color ties they're wearing. It's not like they couldn't afford it.

Two things to note how high school has changed.

1. About half of the female students wear some sort of flip-flop as their footwear of choice. Of course, I saw this in college, but I figured parents would intervene with high schoolers. Then again, if Newsweek had to have a cover article about getting parents to say no, I should be happy that these young women are wearing anything on their feet.

2. Both of the papers that Sarah gets from home had a front page story last week about a teacher exposed to mercury. Turned out that when he moved a cabinet he discovered a pan with what was called a dime-sized amount of the metal in it. I can remember handling more than that - without wearing gloves! - in my high school chemistry class. That may explain a few things, actually.

Considering that a friend of mine seemed to always have some length of magnesium wire (it burns really brightly!), I think the overall handling of materials in my high school wasn't so great. I'm sure you can't find any loose mercury of magnesium in the place, now. Probably for the best.

Good news today - we were able to get out and do some more genealogy without my body creating foreign objects.

We've started doing some work on my paternal grandmother's side of the family, as trying to farther back with the Coens would require access to records which are probably scattered around northwest Ireland. In the process, we discovered that, to some extent, I'm even more of a Mainer than Sarah.

Turns out that Nana's dad started out on Cranberry Isle, which is just to the east of Bar Harbor. Sarah lives 45 minutes to an hour west of there. I figure that gives me ancestral rights to call her a flatlander (a term not so lovingly applied to anyone who hails from parts of Maine closer to civilization than you).

So there's some Down Easter in me, which explains my fascination with Moxie and Crown Pilot crackers.

We got home from the library in time for me to see BC lose to Wake Forest - again. Welcome to the ACC. I did not get to see any of Notre Dame's win over Washington. I hope this means the Golden Domers have turned the corner for good, but caution still seems appropriate.

I also had quite the moment this evening when I ran into some former RA colleagues after eating out. We discovered that you can sum up a decade of life pretty quickly, a fact found mutually depressing. Not that it was the best time to get into deep conversation, I suppose.

Got to sub for the shop teacher the last couple of days, which was pretty good work. Worst part being that I had to show the same video to three different classes each day. There is now one episode each of Junkyard Mega-Wars and Mega Machines more or less permanently burned into my brain. If you ever need to know how to build a truck that can carry a vat of liquid without losing much, or want to hear about what might be the world's largest carrot harvester, drop me a line.

I also got to show another tape twice, but only once per day. So I'm less sick of hearing about Sky City, a proposed 3300 foot residential tower for Tokyo that would house 130,000 people. Let the dystopia begin!

But I shouldn't complain, it went pretty smoothly. I will note that the students were very adept at finding bits of wood and plastic to hit each other with, though once I confiscated a couple of pieces they tended to stop looking for replacements.

Next week I get to sub three days in an English class, but from talking to the teacher it sounds like I'll more be overseeing study hall. There will be some work assigned, but the teacher didn't seem to care what work they did as long as the assignments are completed on time. I suppose I'll get more reading done.

In Red Sox news, I was chagrined to read that the brain trust that runs MLB has banned Johnny Pesky from sitting in the dugout during games. Pesky himself seems OK with it - he spent half an hour talking to the apparatchik who sent him the letter - but from Pesky's comments it sounds like someone complained about his being there. I can understand that you don't want to give free passes for the dugout, but complaining about a guy like Pesky is a small, cheap thing to do.

It's good to know that the folks running the league are focusing on the important issues, like spare octogenarians in dugouts and pine tar that covers team logos. These are the issues that are tearing the league apart.

With the new TV season started, I've decided to change my approach towards reality shows. I'm limiting myself to one comment per week per show, tops. You may not even get that out of American Idol should it continue its trend of dullness. Maybe Ryan Seacrest's sunless tanners and hair lighteners will finally combine to make him the same shade of orangey-blond from head to toe. I'd write about that.

Anyway, America's Next Top Model started tonight on UPN. Too early to say much about it, other than they've bumped up the number of finalists to 14. That's a lot. It'll help fill out the season, but I blame The Apprentice and its large contestant base (or maybe just Mark Burnett - Survivor's got a big cast to start, too, don't they?). Regardless, it's been a pretty solid show for the genre, so take a look.

Speaking of The Apprentice, they've been trying to set up this guy named Raj as this year's Sam. Raj is a character, but he's so different from Sam that the comparison will never work (and to some extent I think they've discovered that, as they've moved on to trying to create this year's Omarosa). Anyway, in the first episode Raj shows up to the first task toting a cane, which Trump asks him about. I was praying he would respond with "You know the saying, Mr. Trump: everybody loves a cane" or that it was perfect cane weather.

Further evidence of Raj's dandyish mode of dress would be his collection of bow ties (with apologies to Monty) and that he appeared to be wearing spats in that first episode, too. Not while brandishing his walking stick, sadly.

A couple of weeks ago, I was walking past the Hotel Commonwealth in Kenmore Square and noticed a large, unfinished ground floor area of the hotel was being used as a wardrobing location for Fever Pitch.

While I know this is old ground for many of you, a quick digression.

Fever Pitch started out as a book by Nick Hornby, a recounting of his life-long fandom with the FA side Arsenal and how it impacted his life. It's a great read.

The book was made into a movie in 1997, with the lead ably played by Colin Firth. It's a nice little movie, a typically understated British film.

Now, of course, the Farrelly brothers have decided to remake it, putting the Red Sox in the place of Arsenal (not a bad choice if you're looking for an American team with obsessive fans, and both have red as a main color) and Jimmy Fallon in the place of Colin Firth (which is a real letdown, even if we're thinking in the Farrelly brothers comedy mode; it's not like they'd have cast Firth, but couldn't they have gotten someone a little closer to his level than Fallon?).

I bring this up today as Sarah and I were at the Sox game last night and was, along with the rest of the crowd, offered to stick around after the game to serve as extras for the filming of the movie's climactic scene. We were told what would happen, which seems stupid (though if you know the story it wasn't too surprising). More than a few people figured that now they didn't have to see the movie.

Jimmy Fallon had the mike at one point and got the crowd going with a "Yankees suck" comment, which was about the worst thing we'd heard all night, even sitting in the bleachers. We were sitting near entertaining drunks this time rather than obnoxious ones. They did get a little mouthy when they decided to taunt Larry Bigbie late in the game, but given that we couldn't really make out what they were yelling I don't think Bigbie was any wiser.

Got to do two things today that I hadn't before.

The first was sub in front of a regular class, as I got to fill in for a middle school foreign language teacher. This could have been dicey, given that it's been 20 years since my last French class and I've never taken Spanish. Given that I showed a video in three of the five classes, and there was in-class group work for another, the amount of damage I could have done was limited.

The first period did use a Jeopardy-style game to review several chapters. Having done this with various age groups, I would ask that anyone choosing to do this in the future:

a. Realize that a game-based review will naturally stir up competitive instincts. Have at least some detailed rules and maybe don't use gender-based teams. That just seems to make the competitive part of things worse.

b. Don't have the students make up the questions. Let's just say there was some widely divergent difficulties for questions worth the same amount of points. It'd also probably be a better review if the person making up the test created the questions, as they could then better reflect possible test questions.

c. Think twice about having students run the game. I understand the empowering aspects of this, but I found the students were more interested in getting their teams to win than actually reviewing material.

Continuing on the scandalous line, I also learned from another teacher that one of the regular subs from last year was dating a high school student in a neighboring town (she was 18, but still in school) and selling pharmaceuticals without a licence, if you get my drift. I could have Sub of the Year wrapped up already!

The other first was that I got to stand on Causeway Street in Boston in front of what used to be a McDonalds and enjoy the sunlight. For those of you familiar with the area, you know that that spot has been cloaked in darkness since sometime during Teddy Roosevelt's presidency. This section of the Green Line - from North Station to Lechemere - was the last section of elevated railway in the city.

Not that it'll be missed - in time. For now, I'm sure everyone who has to take a bus from North Station to complete the trip into north Cambridge wishes it were back.

Speaking of North Station, I appreciate the synergy and ease that one terminal for both Green and Orange Lines represents, but would it kill them to put in automatic token machines? Every time I've been through there, regardless of time, there's been a line to get tokens. I'm sure there's a perfectly bureaucratic reason for the lack of such machines.

Just as the George Harrison album promises, all things must pass.

I am now the proud owner of something that looks like a small peppercorn. Hopefully, it doesn't have any friends back at home.

Not surprisingly, I am feeling much better. Given how this one felt, I can only imagine what it's like having one that requires surgery. Let's hope that stays in the imagination. Ouch.