Halloween

We made it through the holiday.  We really made it through.  And there were fun moments!

• DF dressed up as a cowboy (and was adorable).  The FP Gal got him a toy gun and holster.  The gun is bright orange and he has absolutely no idea how to hold it.  Mostly he carried it by the barrel.  Tonight as we were out, I tried to hold his hand while crossing the street.  He told me that he didn't need me, his gun would protect him.  
• Relia has the whole trick or treat thing down pat.  Mostly.  We drilled her on saying 'thank you' and after a half dozen houses she finally got the hang of it.  Sometimes it would come out as 'trick-or-treat-thank-you!'.  
• It was a bit of a challenge to teach all of this to DF.  He wanted to simply park himself and keep taking candies.  We had to urge him to move on.  Fortunately he charmed everyone.
• There was one house that offered coffee or cider to the adults.  God bless you!  I always forget how wonderful warm cider is on a cool night.
• When we got home we discovered that one of our pumpkins was missing.  Unfortunately it was the one Relia designed.  For some reason she wanted prominent eyebrows and, boy did she get them.  I tried to comfort her by telling her that they must have really liked those eyebrows.  She told me that next year she definitely won't do eyebrows!
• Both kids have full buckets of loot.  It was bedtime when we got home so they haven't had a chance to inventory yet.  I imagine tomorrow morning will be interesting . . .

Happy Monday

Stranded Traveler Advice

(via Instapundit)

I found myself nodding along with all of this.  I'm constantly surprised, in this day and age of easy internet access and use, that more people don't go to the small trouble of checking the weather.  If there will be severe weather, try to get around it.  Leaving early is a great tip.
I will say that the airlines have gotten much, much better about mass cancellations in the past few years.  They issue waivers further in advance and with more flexibility.  They do a very good job now of reseating people from cancelled flights.  Even hold times seem lessened. 
The other advice, to have some small emergency pack is also a great one.  I always travel with allergy medicines and make sure to have some in my backpack.  That's my big 'miserable without' item and I don't want to be found short.  This, of course, will vary for others.
A very good read.

Have a Great Friday

Polar Bears

My dear DF is working on his conversational skills.  Often while we are in the car, he'll say to me "can I talk to you, daddy?".  I tell him 'yes', of course.  And then the conversation goes like this:

Me: What should we talk about?
DF: Polar bears.
Me: Ok.  What about them? What do they eat?
DF: Fish!
Me: And what do they drink?
DF: Cocoa!

And we soon run out of things to say about polar bears.  Actually, we ran out a long time ago but he isn't very good about thinking up new topics.  (Btw, I told him that around Christmas time they drink Coca-Cola and he misunderstood that as 'cocoa'.)  The other day I tried to mix things up:

DF: Can I talk to you daddy?
Me: Yes, but we should talk about something different.  Let's talk about . . . cars.
DF: (unsure) Ok.
Me: Do you have a favorite kind of car?
DF: Yes!
Me: What is it?
DF: It's a secret.
Me: A secret?
DF: Yes. (pause) And a surprise!
Me: (laughing) Ok, how about mama, does she have a favorite car?
DF: Yes. (pause) And it's also a secret and a surprise.

Someday he'll tell me and then I'll share it with you folks.

Happy Monday

Time Off

I went up to work tonight and got all ready to go.  Then they asked me what I was doing there.  Apparently I had the night off.  Actually the week off.  I took some time off and had forgotten I'd done so.  So now I've got an easy week and I'm not sure what to do with it. 
Any suggestions?

Have a Great Friday

Not Much to Say

I know that the blog has gotten very quiet of late.  There just isn't much for me to say lately.  Sorry about that.

Happy Monday

Vendee Globe

As you may know, I've become a bit fascinated with the sport of solo sailing.  It all started when I read 'A Voyage for Madmen', an account of the 1968 solo race around the world.  (And really, it's a wonderful read!) 
Anyway, every four years they race again and 2012 is one of those years!  Starting on November 10th (or about then), twenty sailors will depart from the Vendee region of France, sail down the Atlantic and circumnavigate the globe.  In the 2008 race, thirty sailors started and only eleven finished.  The winner finished in 84 days.  The history of the race suggests that this winner will shave a few days off of that finish.
Should be fun!

Have a Great Friday

Book Mountain Library

I want to go to there!  Seriously, what a beautiful place!

Happy Monday

To Steal a Shuttle

A wonderful little article here where the writer thinks his way through how one of the remaining space shuttles could be stolen.  The plan is big and complicated and would take quite a bit of money.  I wouldn't be surprised if this gets kicked around the internets for a bit and a better plan comes forward.
A few years back I had an idea of a story based on stealing a jumbo jet.  I tried it out for NaNoWriMo but shelved it when it didn't work.  A nice ambitious story but it bogged down because it didn't have enough dialogue.
Anyway, Nano is again next month.  I've been trying to figure out if I should even bother with it.  Between job, kids and the big reading project, I doubt I'll have time for sustained writing.  (My writing has been very on and off this year.)  I've been kicking a few ideas around.  One is pretty good but I'm afraid that I'll ruin it if I don't have enough time to really work on it.
But the jumbo jet idea has surfaced again and again.  With a few different ideas, a few different angles.  Maybe this time I could get past the dialogue thing.
And then the space shuttle article comes along . . . I just don't know . . . 

Baseball Playoffs

The baseball playoffs begin today.  I was hoping that the White Sox would be included in the mix but, alas, that wasn't to be.  They had a better season than expected but fell a bit short. 
MLB has changed their playoff format.  They added two more playoff slots to bring the total number of teams to ten.  In exchange for the addition, they've made it harder for the wild card teams.  Today all four of them will play in two single game elimination matches.  Should be exciting.
Here are the teams in the order that I'll cheer for them:

1. SF Giants - I watched a bunch of Giants games this year simply because they have the best looking stadium in the majors.  Hope they get to play a bunch of night games!
2. Washington Nationals - The sports scene in Washington DC has been brutal for a very long time.  It wouldn't bother me if they had some success.
3. Baltimore Orioles - Similar reason as the Nats.  The last time the Orioles were good was 1996.  Good for their fans to enjoy something nice.
4, 5. Oakland A's, Cincinnati Reds,  - Not really rooting for or against.
6. Texas Rangers - They've had a lot of postseason joy in the past couple of years.  But that was after decades of being bad.  Not rooting for but wouldn't be bothered if they won.
7. Detroit Tigers - I'd be warmer to them if they weren't divisional rivals.  But alas they are, and I don't really like them.
8. Atlanta Braves - This is probably left over feelings from the 90's but I'm still tired of them.
9. St Louis Cardinals - The Cards fans that I work with are almost as bad as Packer fans, but only during the playoffs.  Which I guess makes them similar to Twins fans.  Anyway, the sooner they exit, the sooner the mass emails about the 'redbirds' go away.  Can't happen soon enough.
10. NY Yankees - Of course they get the last spot.  I'd like to see them swept and humiliated. 

Have a Great Friday

C-c-c-c-old!

We were right around 80 degrees earlier this week.  Not anymore!  This morning it started out windy.  All day the temps dropped and now it's frigid.  The five day forecast says that we may have flurries in a couple of days. 
Good times.

Happy Monday