Five Things That Scared Me Today on Halloween

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
Somehow I forgot to record this classic tonight to watch with the kids...Dang it!

Today is the big day.  I can't believe that we finally made it.  And as one (or maybe three) wise blogger(s) said, I can't wait for it to end!  After donning my costume for Pumpkinman, the ward "trunk-or-treat", and now Halloween, I'm ready to retire it.

Waldo is ready to retire!

One thing that I did notice and made me happy was that my kids seemed really unselfish this year.  Last night at the Trunk-or-Treat, S. was passing out his candy to everyone that he could find and he was genuinely happy about it.  Tonight, E. came home early from trick-or-treating and was so excited to hand out candy to the neighborhood kids who came to trick-or-treat.

And finally, as I walked to my car tonight in some other neighborhood, some random kids came up to me and were really excited to give me some Halloween candy.  Bless their little hearts!  Anyway, seeing such unselfish, good-hearted acts of kindness and generosity made my holiday this year.

But it wouldn't be Halloween without a few scary surprises, so here are my top five things that scared me today:


#5 - M. (My son) - Yes, he is the cutest little baby pumpkin that you've ever seen.  He also managed to slime me pretty good before I could even get out of bed this morning.  Then he was leaking as I left for the office.  Sure, it could have been much worse, but it was a heck of a way to start off the day!  I'll never know how one cute little guy can have so much liquid inside!

#4 - Driving - I had to drive around a little tonight to try and find (and keep up) with my kids as they made the rounds trick or treating.  There were kids everywhere!  And they didn't seem to care that I was driving or not.  And they certainly were not following their parents to look both ways before they crossed the street.  Heck, they were strolling right down the middle of the street!  This was definitely a night that called for both hands on the steering wheel and both eyes on the road!

I want candy!

#3 - Candy - The thought of all that candy in my house makes me nervous.  Heaven knows the last thing that I need to eat more of is candy.  Usually, I'm pretty good, but occasionally I'll go on these binges were I think that Skittles, Almond Joy, and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are actually on the Food Pyramid somewhere!

This promotion gave me a fright tonight...

#2 - Lines - A colleague of mine told me that Chipotle was offering $2 burritos if you showed up in costume.  I really don't know any sane person that would don a costume just to score some free food.  ;-)  Against my better judgment, however, I decided to swing by because I may well be losing my mind since I was already in a costume and I was hungry.

As I drove past the restaurant, however, I could see that the line inside insane and the restaurant was total Thunder Dome as people clamored for their cheap "Boo-ritos."  I decided that a $2 burrito wasn't worth a 2 hour wait in line!  Instead, I pulled into Jack in the Box for some of their tasty tacos (2 for 99 cents!!) and a yummy pumpkin pie shake!

Hurricane Sandy

#1 - The Thought of Halloween Lasting One.More.Day - I heard on the radio today that one of the governors on the East Coast signed an executive order moving Halloween to November 5th this year due to the after-effects of Hurricane Sandy.  Thankfully, we don't have hurricanes here on the Left Coast!  And frankly, I'm glad this [pagan] holiday is over and I don't have to think about candy or costumes or trick-or-treating for another year!

Halloween Mash-Up: It's a Dead Man's Party (Oingo Boingo and Christopher Walken)

I love this video!  Happy Halloween!

Ward Trunk-Or-Treat

E dressed up as a super cute puppy!

We are officially back in our home ward (local church congregation) now and our ward had its "Trunk-Or-Treat" party tonight.  I met the kids there after work.  In honor of The Mostess, here's a straight photo dump of the night's festivities and the kids' cute costumes.

I love our cute little pumpkin!

I love this picture of E!  :-)

Home Alone!

Did anyone see this story last week?  10 year old Paityn Mock was home from school because she was sick when a burglar entered the house.  She was on the phone with her mom, who had just dashed out to the grocery store.  (What parent doesn't do this?)

Paityn then hung up and called 911 while her mom raced home from the grocery store.  The 911 operator was able to get Paityn to make a break out of the house through the garage.  The girl then hid in the front yard behind a tree.

Meanwhile, Paityn's mom was doing like a 100 miles an hour to get home.  She was flying past cars, passing with abandon, and running through stop signs.  Paityn's mom was so fast that she actually beat police to the house and ran inside.

Paityn Mock

I choked up a little when I heard  the 911 call where Paityn helplessly yells: "Mommy!  Mommy! No! Don't go in there!"

Cop cars rolled up seconds later and arrested one of the burglars, while a couple got away.

Frankly, I think that the burglars were lucky that Paityn's mom took it easy on them.  I know some mothers that are fiercely protective of their kids (as they should be).  Kinda like the "Mama Grizzlies" that Sarah Palin referred to in one of her interviews.

I even know one mom who honestly believes that under the right circumstances, she could kill a man with her bare hands.  I think that those would have been the right circumstances for this mom and pretty much any other red-blooded American mom.  These robbers ought to count themselves lucky that they were only arrested!

My Dilemma...

My Garmin Nuvi 755

I love my Garmin GPS unit.  I use it every day, even when I don't need it to know where I'm going.  Recently, however, the unit has gotten a bit touchy in that it switches to battery power if the power cord gets bumped in the car.

It was only minor annoyance at first, but I had to switch cars the other day and my darling little girl, E., apparently took an interest in my Garmin.  Now the unit is DOA and will not charge at all with the power cord.

So here's my dilemma:  Do I try to buy some parts to see if I can fix the unit or do I just buy a whole new Garmin?

The Garmin 2455 at Costco

I've had my eye on this little gem at Costco for some time now.  My current Garmin unit is probably at least two years old, so it would be nice to upgrade.  Also, I figure it will probably cost me about $30 to try to buy the replacement parts for my current unit--but with no guarantee that it will solve the problem.

On the other hand, I could just walk into Costco, plunk down $160 bones, and be the proud new owner of a brand new unit.  The great thing about buying a GPS unit from Costco is that if the thing ever goes bad, you can just take it back and Costco will replace it.

I've done that before and it is very, very convenient.  Costco's return policy is AWESOME!!

I think it's a little optimistic to think that Santa would have room in his sleigh for this and I don't know how long I can wait.  Driving around town without my GPS unit just feels...wrong somehow!!

Anyway, feel free to weigh in and let me know what you think I should do...Repair or Replace???

I Drink Your Milkshake!

Daniel Day Lewis Enjoys a Refreshing Milkshake

One of the things that I love about Fall is that pumpkin pie and pumpkin-pie flavored items are readily available.  I especially love pumpkin pie shakes.  I've traveled far and wide this Fall to sample pumpkin pie shakes from all over the West.  Here are my ratings of the best (and worst):

Arctic Circle's Pumpkin Pie Shake was the best of the bunch!

#1 - Arctic Circle - This shake is very, very thick.  AC advertises that it extends above the rim of the cup.  You will definitely need a spoon to eat this, but the spice and flavoring is perfect.  I just wish that the nearest AC wasn't so far away!  :-)

Jack in the Box's Pumpkin Pie Shake Rocks!  (But Forget the Egg Nog--Yuck!)

#2 - Jack in the Box - Frankly, I thought that Jack in the Box would win this competition for yet another year.  That tells you just how good AC's shake was.  You can't beat Jack in the Box's two tacos for 99 cents deal--particularly when you combine that with one of their creamy, tasty pumpkin pie shakes.  I actually splurged the other night and had four tacos and one shake.  Luckily for me, there are plenty of Jack in the Box locations locally.  You can bet that their pumpkin pie shake that I had the other night will not be my last!

McDonald's Pumpkin Pie Shake was merely average

#3 - McDonald's - McDonald's does so many things well.  Let's start with their french fries.  I'm lovin' it.  Not to mention their $1 drink menu.  It's my new secret addiction.  Their pumpkin pie shakes are just okay.  A  nice treat, but not up to the standard of AC or Jack in the Box.  I give them credit for trying, however.  Unfortunately, not every franchise has pumpkin pie shakes on their menu.  I stopped by my local Mickey D's today and they only had Egg Nog on the menu so far.  That needs to change!

Jamba Juice's Pumpkin Smash Smoothie

#4 - Jamba Juice - I was excited to have Jamba's pumpkin smash earlier this week.  So much so that I departed from my "regular" beverage smoothie of choice.  Unfortunately, I was disappointed.  As I told a friend of mine, the pumpkin smash is just too sweet and not "pumpkin-y" spicy enough.  I think next time, I'll stick with the Caribbean Passion.

Sonic Invites you to "Drink More Pie"--I say "Save Your $$$"

#5 - Sonic - Okay, this is the only one that I haven't actually tried this Fall.  But I had one last year in St. George.  It was a reward to myself for finishing the St. George Marathon.  Even though I love Sonic, their pumpkin pie shake was not good.  And that's saying something because I think I was so calorically depleted following that marathon that I would have mainlined just about anything that promised to raise my blood sugar level.  Sadly, I'm pretty sure that I'll never be tempted to try another Sonic pumpkin pie shake!

Where are your favorite places to get pumpkin pie shakes this Fall?

Now Serving...

It's blue skies and 76 degree temps this morning as Team Striker awaits the serve...

Team Picture

It's Cool to be Kind--to Animals

With Olympic Silver Medalist Gretchen Bleiler and her husband Chris Hotell

Last night, I got a chance to go to an event that was being co-hosted by a client and friend of mine.  The event was a fundraiser benefit for the ASPCA and was at this spectacular house in Bel Air.  Bel Air is this tony neighborhood in Los Angeles in the hills above Westwood (where UCLA's campus is).  It is nestled between Beverly Hills and Brentwood and the Getty Museum is practically around the corner.

It was kind of a long drive, so the first thing that I did when I got there was head for the food.  The ticket that I had to shell out for was not cheap, so I was expecting some decent food at least.  (There was also wine tasting going on, although I didn't bother with that.)  I was not disappointed in the menu.

I took a picture of the menu for all you "Foodies" out there.  I should have taken a picture of the food.  It was that good!  :-)

First up was the salad.  The balsamic vinaigrette was outstanding, as were the beets and pear tomatoes.

Then we had some finger foods.  The mini paninis were extremely tasty.  I thought that the turkey and havarti cheese were outstanding, but my conscience felt much better knowing that it was "cruelty-free" turkey.  Hey, given that it was an ASPCA-event, I was just glad that it wasn't a vegetarian menu--or vegan.  (No word on whether it was GF--sorry Kaari!)

I also liked the mini chicken pot pies as well.  Again, I didn't even know that there was such a thing as "cruelty-free" chicken.  I just know that it tasted good (and I bet it cost more!).

I also got a chance to wander around the house and the grounds a bit.  The swimming pool was so beautiful. It had these fountains shooting up all along the pool and there was a spectacular peek-a-boo view of the beautiful lights of Westwood and Los Angeles.  From "The Hills," the city below really does look like a jewel and worthy of its name ("The City of Angels").

The dessert bar is at the far end of the pool (yes, I had several desserts!)

View from Above...Note the city lights in the background

Anyway, it was fun to be able to visit with my clients and meet/visit with some interesting people (including All-World, Olympic Snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler and her husband).  On my way out, I grabbed a swag bag.  It made me feel a little more like a celebrity!

The Swag Bag Table was a little depleted by the end of the night...

I enjoyed myself and gained a new appreciation for the ASPCA.  Among other things, I was reminded that puppy mills are bad and rescue animals are good!  ;-)

All in all, it was a great night--great people and a great event.  Thanks AKS and the whole S&Co. team for planning and pulling the whole thing off!  You are total pros!

Now if I somehow could have avoided that long drive home!

Twas the Night Before Pumpkinman...

'Twas the night before Pumpkinman, when all through my room

Not a creature was stirring, as I dreamed of my costume;

My transition bags had been laid out with care,

In hopes that on race morning I wouldn't have to prepare;

And I was all nestled, all snug in my bed,

While visions of Gatorade and a personal best danced in my head;

When my brother arrived late and put on his striped convict cap,

Just as I had settled down for what I hoped was more than a nap,

When out of my phone there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the lobby I flew like a flash,

Grabbed my brother's gear and was glad he hadn't crashed;

On race morning, we spoke not a word, but went straight to our work,

We prayed that the water wouldn't have any strange quirks,

After the swim, we mounted our bikes,

And rode on and on, up the hill nobody likes;

Then sprang from our bikes to run through Boulder City,

Trying hard not to puke, that wouldn't have looked pretty,

But I heard us exclaim, as we crossed the finish line,

"Happy Pumpkinman to all, and to all a fast time!"

Exhausted, but glad to be done!

Ripped From the Headlines

A colleague of mine at the office likes to send out funny stuff via email on a daily basis.  From time to time, some of it actually is funny. I thought that this recent batch of true headlines was worth sharing...Enjoy!

Let's hope the new one does a better job!

Oh, is that how it works?