Happy Halloween

I logged into Blogger this morning and discovered that The Jersey Exile had 666 posts to its name. Spooky!

This year we're actually planning to go out and enjoy the Halloween festivities as a family. I've taken tomorrow off so we can take Andriana for her first attempt at trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. It should be fun. Apropos of our location, my wife picked out a witch costume for our daughter, and I have to admit that she looks cute as all get-out in it (picture to come).

I've always liked Halloween, but living within a stone's throw of Salem - a.k.a., the Halloween Capital of the World - takes some getting used to. Last year I was taking the train home from work on Halloween night, and only when I got to North Station and saw the moderately crowded waiting area teeming with costumed freaks did I stupidly realize the course of action I had committed myself to. It took almost three hours to get home that evening, what with the trains delayed due to the expanded Salem schedule; and it took my wife over an hour to get from our house to the commuter rail station (which is five miles away!).

Having learned from my mistake, tonight I'll be driving home. But even then I'm likely to hit bumper-to-bumper traffic. Between this and leaving the house an hour early to beat the Sox parade revelers, I'm going to have earned a nice vegetative night on the living room couch.