Grandma & Jennifer

I went out to see my grandmother yesterday, along with my dad, uncle Ross, aunt Dodi and cousin Kelly. She has improved a lot since Friday, and I don't see any reason to think that she's in immediate danger.

Afterwards I stopped by Terri's house and met my new adopted niece, Jennifer. She's 3 and had been trick-or-treating, I guess for the first time. She's extremely cute and outgoing. I found out from Terri that they're probably going to move to Idaho this summer, because Ed has found a job there. He's currently driving out there to work, and will be shuttling back and forth for the next several months.

As for the election, polls seem to be showing that Bush has a slight advantage in swing states. Kerry's hopes seem to rest on two factors: that undecideds go to the challenger and that turnout by Democrats will be unusually high. But the fact that some states that should be easy Democratic wins (and where Gore won big) like Hawaii, New Jersey and Minnesota, remain close is a very, very bad sign it seems to me.