Overthinking Halloween in a Time of War

Last week, I beta-tested the Halloween costume I'd alluded to earlier -- it's a police uniform:

I'm in the middle.

With the tan and brown color scheme, it's more of a sheriff-style uniform. It's actually pretty close to the Sheriff Grimes outfit on the upcoming zombie series, The Walking Dead, though his is short sleeved and the pants have a tan stripe up the side.

My habit of buying stuff from police supply catalogs started before the Internet made it easy -- I started with a Streamlight hazardous-environment-rated flashlight and some other stuff from the Gall's catalog back in the mid-'90s, when you actually had to seek them out.

Now police and public safety supply catalogs are just another source for bargain sites and Google shopping searches. Which does make it easy to find uniform shirts on clearance for 10 bucks (or less). That's why I had the uniform shirt. And handcuffs (real ones) and a holster (also real).

Add some pouches and some brown pants, and a trip to Ranger Surplus for some patches and pins and a cap gun, and I was pretty much set. (Though I just did get a Sheriff's badge on eBay, and am waiting on a few patches. I actually found some Fairfax and Loudoun County patches on eBay, though I stayed away -- I'd rather stay on the Halloween costume side of things, vs the "impersonating a police officer" side.)

I could be a soldier for Halloween... but won't
I've also got a bunch of pieces of militaria, bits of tactical gear and camouflage that I've gathered over the years, from which I could probably cobble together a passable soldier costume, but the idea of an adult dressing up as a soldier during a time of war makes me distinctly uncomfortable. (Unless it's "sexy soldier." That's okay.)

Even though I never really outgrew my military fanboy phase (I never served), in a time when fewer than 1 percent of Americans are in the military, with an ever-wider civil-military gap even as we're fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it feels wrong to me seeing a civilian play dress-up for Halloween. Or cosplay. Or airsoft. For adults, anyway.

(Then again, I did wear a flight suit and bomber jacket for Halloween a few years back. But I think "Top Gun fighter jock" is a little different, since that was never on the table, anyway... poor vision, very average reflexes.)

There's a Perfectly Good Explanation Why I Bought Boys' Footie Pajamas

Stopped by Target on the way home to buy gum. (I was all out of gum. I needed gum.)

Here in this photo, there is eight dollars worth of gum, next to eight dollars worth of Belle and Sebastian Write About Love:

They were both on sale, and they're both pretty pink.

On impulse, I also bought a set of boys' size large footie pajamas. They were on sale for ten bucks, and I thought I might be able to use them for a Halloween costume.

That's not going to happen:

I am simultaneously disappointed and relieved that I can't wear boys' size large footie pajamas. (I had thought that with the fattening of America's youth, I might have a chance, but I couldn't even zip up the leg. And why does the zipper go down one leg, anyway?)

Now comes the hard part:

I have to return them.

Virginia's Hurricane Preparedness Tax Holiday and the Princeton Tec FUEL Headlamp

May 25-31 is Virginia's Hurricane Preparedness Tax Holiday, when you can buy a bunch of supplies that are useful for both emergencies and regular existence, all exempt from state sales tax.

The list of tax-exempt stuff includes duct tape, ice packs, batteries, first aid kits, emergency radios, tarps, coolers, generators, fire extinguishers, glow sticks, and of course, flashlights. (See the full list on the VA Tax site.)

Actually, looking at the list, you have both the fundamentals of a home disaster kit, as well as the fixings for a fairly swingin' beach party.

Now, I've been on something of a headlamp kick lately (which I will discuss in a later entry), and as luck would have it, Dicks's Sporting Goods has the Princeton Tec FUEL on sale for $19.98 until Friday, 5/28.

At the Dick's in the Dulles Town Center, they had the older 3-LED model, as well as the newer 4-LED model, both at that price. The 4-LED model is marginally brighter, with a slightly lower run time; either one should be fine (both take 3 AAA batteries, included.)

I haven't had a chance to play much with the FUEL yet, though in general, I'm a fan of Princeton Tec lights. The Dick's sale price is already better than most places I've seen online, and with sales tax out of the way, you get the instant gratification and the added savings over shipping and handling costs.

The Macbook Makeover Is Free, But the Wardrobe Upgrade Will Cost You

The case of my Macbook cracked on Wednesday, right at the spots where the nubs on the screen bezel contact the palm rests.

I didn't bother taking a picture, because it's a known issue and looks exactly like all the other Macbooks that have experienced the problem.

I scheduled an appointment at the Apple Store in Tysons Corner (which is the nation's first, incidentally) -- they took a look at it, and since it's an acknowledged issue, fixed it for free (even though it's out of warranty).

So, I've got a brand-new top case and keyboard, and screen bezel. It's almost a good thing that this happened, as my case had been getting awful grubby (because I'm a greasy, dirty person). Now, it's like having a new computer:

The dark spots are shadows, not dirt. Not yet, anyway.

My Macbook has been a real trouper (outside of the occasional unexplained kernel panic). I don't baby it, but I don't abuse it (outside of running too many Firefox tabs and windows) -- I may spring for more RAM and a hard drive upgrade, because it just works and I have no real need for a new model right now.

Anyway, I didn't get away completely free. I had to kill about an hour while the Apple Store Geniuses made the fix, so I stopped by Banana Republic, which I am somewhat chagrined to admit is the perfect store for me.

I usually just head straight to the back, to poach from the sale racks. Though this time, they were having a sale, taking 30% off all previously-marked down items:

The dress shirt, a small, slim fit stretch poplin number, was $9.09. The other shirts were about $10 (except the red v-neck, which was $17 -- red costs extra, apparently). The pants were $9.09 and $10.49 -- it'll probably cost more than that to get them hemmed. And the cushioned leather wing tips were $23.79. So that's a dress shirt, 3 other shirts, two pairs of pants and a pair of shoes for $95.

This is why being a guy rules. (Not least of which is, if you don't really care about fashion -- and why would you? -- you can pretty much wear clothes until they fall apart. Or you get fat.)

Incidentally, I would have gotten more things, except the selection of smalls is usually pretty limited. I have no idea what the Freakonomics blog folks are talking about -- smalls are pretty hard to come by, and I rarely see any XS clothes (some of which I can wear, some I can't), as opposed to XL and XXL stuff, which I see plenty of, and shake my tiny fist at.

Tags: apple, powerbook, banana republic