Wow - time really flies. It's already been almost a month since my last post. If I'm going to earn my link from HayDuke, I'd better come up with something compelling to say. So I'll riff on the dearth of maternity clothing stores in Columbia. By my count, we have 1 - Mimi Maternity at the mall. While Mimi has a nice selection of quality clothing, it can't possibly serve the needs of the entire expectant constituency in Columbia. And there is only (as far as I can tell) one baby furniture store, too - Lullaby Baby on Red Branch. Target carries both maternity clothing and baby furniture, but some parents-to-be want higher-end options. How is a pregnant woman supposed to outfit herself and her child's nursery with so few choices?

OK, this is an issue that may not gain a whole lot of traction right now, what with the elections coming up in a matter of weeks. But I felt it my duty to expose the plight of the pregnant and fashionable.

In other news, it appears that the Owen Brown Giant has taken a turn for the worse since the KC Safeway mercifully shut its miserable doors a couple of months ago. merriweatherraven and I would regularly drive right past Safeway (twice, actually - once on Eden Brook and again on Guilford) to get our groceries from the OB Giant. But lately the service and selection have been lacking, and it's been trending down long enough to indicate a real problem rather than a simple anomaly. Last night a number of items were out of stock, the Fuji apples looked anemic, our cashier was...suboptimal...and the entire front of the store reeked of exhaust. We're hearing good things about the Food Lion in Oakland Mills - perhaps it's time to check it out.

Geez - that's two consecutive topics of limited relevance or significance to whatever meager audience I have here. Sorry.

Last try: Maryland beat Virginia today, in dramatic fashion. Woo hoo!

(When in danger of losing your audience's attention, always go for the cheap, unifying plug for the local team. If that fails, the U-S-A chant is a sure winner.)

Actually, I am a proud Terp and am really happy to see that we won. Well, perhaps "see" isn't the right term, since the game wasn't televised. The only game that's been televised live this season was that unfortunate incident in the state to the west. Oh, and if you have ESPNU, you could see the Terps get stung by those pesky bees. But other than that, we're in the dark. My research tells me that we're getting the shaft not from ineffectual athletic department negotiation skills (as was my suspicion) but from the ACC media bosses. Which I guess I can understand. There are only so many contracts to go around, and now the ACC has some teams that are much sexier than the Terps. (I'm sure there's a sexy Freidgen joke in here somewhere, but I'm gonna leave that to some creative commenters.) I think I'm going to do a little more digging to see if I can gain a better understanding of how these things work. Maybe I can lead a petition of disgruntled Terp couch potatoes.

Aight, that's all for me. Enjoy the veal.

I haven't fully formed my intentions for this blog. Initially I set it up just so I could participate in others' blogs. But now that I've been given prime real estate on Hayduke's blog, the pressure's on to come up with some musings of substance. Perhaps thoughts on our beautiful HoCo from the perspective of someone vaguely aware of the inner workings of the issues, but not tied intimately to them. Like an everyman's POV on life in our little oasis.

You know, things like:

-- How exactly did the David's lobby get strong enough to hold off Whole Foods in Columbia, which has the ideal WFMI demos?

-- Why aren't there more unique, independent shops and restaurants here?

-- When Columbians are out of town, and someone asks them where they're from, do they say DC or Baltimore? For that matter, do they read the Sun or the Post?

...and other essential topics.

Or I could broaden my subject matter to news items from around the globe. Definitely some foot-stompin' fodder there.

Or I could use this space to ponder my cybernavel and blab about my personal life (which is about to get verrrrry interesting - but I'm not prepared to discuss the whys or hows just yet).

I simply haven't decided what direction I want to take this trip in just yet. I certainly haven't the time or inclination to post for sake of seeing my thoughts in print - and I doubt anyone else does, either.

I'll close for now with this:

A popular commentator noted that the reason so many people are feeling disenfranchised right now is because the country is being run by the extremists. 80% of the people are fairly tolerant and moderate, but it's the other 20% that mobilize. Moderates aren't really activists by nature - they're every bit as passionate about their beliefs as anyone else - but they have other shit to do, like getting on with their lives, instead of judging people for how they live theirs. So the inaction borne of moderate thinking results in everyone being subject to extremist representation. Points to ponder as I consider my own activism - which to date has bubbled up only in times of strong dissatisfaction, anger, or incredulity. Should I be doing more? Would it matter? And how do we convince the moderates to make the effort for government and culture that more accurately reflects them? How bad does it have to get? Are they destined to be only reactive and not proactive?

"I don't know what you come to do, I just came to stomp my feet!" A lyric from one of the most rockin' Robert Randolph songs - and a fitting blog title, I think, because there may very well be some foot-stomping going on here or in my responses to other blogs. In my view, that could be either positive (cuz I'm gettin' down with my bad self and I'm very excited about it) or not-so-positive (cuz I got to vent). So enough about the origins of the blog name...onto more pressing business. And as soon as I know what that is, I'll post again.