Happy Hallowe’en!
Our plans for the day got slightly scrambled because the “do not track” list proposal from a coalition of nine privacy and civil liberties groups (including PrivacyActivism) got a chunk of media attention today (New York Times, Ryan Singel on Threat Level with a very good article, a lame discussion on Slashdot but still it’s on Slashdot) and Deborah wound up doing a late-afternoon interview on KGO. Oh well; good problem to have! During this time the morning fog and clouds lifted and it turned into a lovely sunny afternoon in San Francisco … and it looks like it’ll be a beautiful night as well.We’re going out for dinner tonight at Ma Tante Sumi, a place we’ve been to on Hallowe’en several times over the last 15 years (as well as for birthdays and New Year’s Eve and other special occasions), and one of the few places in the Castro that’s staying open past 8 p.m. tonight.
Hallowe’en’s always been one of our favorite holidays, and of course our hood is one of the best places to celebrate it. We’re both in a fairly low-key mood tonight, so rather than trick-or-treating, we’ll have a nice relaxing dinner, perhaps a glass of champagne and a bottle of wine (Chateauneuf de Pape probably suits our mood better than Adastra) … and no doubt a scrumptious dessert.
And then tomorrow morning I fly back up to Seattle, for my goodbye party, cleaning out my office, and then an exit interview.  So a big part of me is feeling very reflective, appreciating all the friends we’ve made at Microsoft and the Seattle area and cyberspace, during my time there and in particular the last three and a half years, and thinking about what I’ve learned and how I’ve changed. At the same time, my post-Microsoft plans involve working on some very exciting things with Deborah (and spending lots of time together too!), so I’m very much looking forward to the future — and I’m sure those friends will continue to be a part of it.
I was playing with one of those silly facebook applications that lets you choose a mood (and optionally spam all your friends, but I always skip that step) and wasn’t sure which one to choose. “Romantic” wasn’t there, alas, but there were still plenty of other good options. Happy? Festive? Excited? Content? Unfortunately there isn’t any alternative for “more than one”, so I decided to go with “content” … which is, now that I think of it, kind of how I’m feeling.
Happy Halloween, all!