Were you perhaps on a death panel?

Not yet. But a woman needs career goals.

I think he still collects nuts, bolts, wires, and other metal things he can sneak. He says they are for the robot he's going to build.

More proof that Leif is made of awesome.

A self-reparing battlefield zombie robot? Hey, the military says they aren't going to do it. It's Leif or North Korea as long as Joe is tied up with that transporter.

Leif is getting older every day, MM needs to get the world taking over thing done before Leif can beat him to it. He's already starting to like strategy based computer games.

I too have a pair of maglites, one by the bed and one right where I can grab it in my car.

I have a gun. It's in a safe. The safe is hidden. We never ever ever mention it around Mal. If he suspected there was a gun in the house, he'd go looking, and he'd probably figure out how to defeat the three levels of security.

When he's old enough, I'll take him target shooting, and teach him gun safety. And I still won't tell him I own a gun.

This is the best I can manage to square my background of "raised by Quakers" and "raised in NM where everyone has guns."

I've already taught him to flip off the NRA headquarters every time we drive by it. From, you know, below the level of the dashboard so they don't shoot us.

One should have a universally comprehensive batch of pictogram cards on hand so that you may still engage in conversation with guests who do not speak your language.

I'm stealing this idea...oddly, this happens a LOT to me.

I've already taught him to flip off the NRA headquarters every time we drive by it. From, you know, below the level of the dashboard so they don't shoot us.

Seriously loving Raq right now.

One should have a universally comprehensive batch of pictogram cards on hand so that you may still engage in conversation with guests who do not speak your language.

I'm stealing this idea...oddly, this happens a LOT to me.

They sell these in travel stores. They are more oriented toward travel, but they are pretty comprehensive.

I've already taught him to flip off the NRA headquarters every time we drive by it.

I just shake my fist and growl. I used to know their General Counsel. He was CRAZY. Fun guy, but insane.

I have a lot of friends with guns -- smart, thoughtful, careful, liberal people who happen to like shooting them. I have no problem with the idea that there are a lot of good and reasonable gun owners. And I personally hate the things from somewhere at or perhaps beyond the Teppy end of the bench, and would happily see every last one on earth melted down into a giant steaming pile o' slag.

I might never had known we had guns (in a hidden safe) in the house growing up but there was a break in and I overheard my Dad telling the police that might have been what the burglars were looking for.

Seriously, explain to me why ANY non-law enforcement, non-military person needs an AK-goddamn-47.

There was someone who was a casual friend for years and years. I stopped speaking to him after he ranted about having to replace the AK-47 (that he didn't have a permit for!) that was STOLEN OUT OF HIS CAR. This rant was on the heels of him bragging about applying for the permit that would allow him to carry a gun into a hospital or school, which he wanted because he thought it was a neat idea.

I can't imagine owning a gun, and yet when I bought the place in Otter Lake there was a BB gun in the house. I let Bobby keep it. He is very good with the target practice. My father hunted and I grew up around guns, but they upset me far too much to have them around me. I know far too many good people that have had their weapons stolen by bad people. And the potential for accidents. Eeep. Just too upsetting for me.

The mention of the screwdriver weapon reminded me of a murder suicide thing in my neighborhood that still freaks me out. A woman stabbed her former partner over 200 times with a screwdriver in their garage. (They had split long before but still lived in the same house for financial reasons) She then shot herself a couple days later in the back yard. It just was so distressing to think of what kind of rage she had to be in to kill someone that way. The news did report that she had recently stopped drinking coffee, so there is that.