"Aah," I say. A big giant "aah." That would be an "aah" of scared-ness, not an "aah" of relief... the shootings of the last week -- the spree, the rampage, the sniper attack, whatever you want to call it -- are in the county where I work. It's weird, because I always view Montgomery County as a safe, wealthy haven; I think of myself as traveling away from violence and chaos in D.C. (the place where I have jury duty ONCE AGAIN in November because there is so much crime and so few people, the place where a friend of a friend just got mugged at gunpoint and then had the awesome gumption to ask for her keys back, and it actually worked! but those are both other stories) and toward this cushy, spoiled suburb where everyone thinks about traffic solutions and banning Santa Claus in the town parade and having the highest SAT scores in the country. Things work here, better than they do in the District. Not that I would ever want to live here -- too boring, too bland, too many giant stores and SUVs, too much stuff and not enough stuff to do -- but I'd be lying if I said I didn't like being able to park my car wherever I want, and the fact that I can go to a monstrosity of a Target to get socks and potting soil and a new clock radio. And I like the good bagel place and the freakily awesome knitting store.

Anyway, I'm sure it's hypocritical somehow, but it does make it more shocking that this stuff is happening here and not in a scary part of D.C. (Of course: Not that I'm asking for or expecting it to happen in D.C., and, regardless of location, I would like it to stop, please.) And today was the first time I was faced with the question, "why would someone kill random people?" from a child who really wanted to know the answer rather than an world-weary adult who already knows there's no answer. Obviously I didn't have one, but I told her that and we talked about it. I probably got a B- in my handling of the situation... low 80th percentile on the scale of good handling. Her school, under a code blue alert when all the doors are locked and kids can't go outside, was surprisingly normal. All the kids seemed fine. I don't know what to say, really.

In news of the trivial, goodbye Yankees! I was sad but not surprised. It's a fitting ending for my year of almost disliking the politics of baseball enough to disown it entirely. Anaheim was scrappy (albeit owned by Disney, ick. Not that Steinbrenner is better, really, but whatever.) The Yankees were so not dominant, and this was their definition of a rebuilding year -- half the team was new, and some of the old-timers were too old. So now I can root for Minnesota with a clear conscience. Screw greedy, evil baseball management! Go Twins.