I thought it was just Utah, you know? I thought that all those billboards all over the city telling people to spend a boatload of money on their wedding was a Utah thing.

Apparently not.

According to One Perfect Day by Rebecca Mead, the wedding industry has grown to be a 161 Billion dollar industry.

That’s $161,000,000,000 for people like me who have a hard time imagining what one billion is, much less 161 of them.

I feel guilty for blaming the Mormons for all of this. I thought that it was a conspicuous religiousity that was like an announcement to the world, “Look at me! Not only am I getting married in the temple, I’m spending a lot of money to do it!”

Man, I couldn’t have been more wrong.

All of it just seems wasteful to me. Mike and I didn’t even want a wedding and our parents forced us to have a small ceremony in the backyard. It cost about $2000 and I still feel guilty for it. I remember how proud my mom was that we had a wedding for “only” $2000.

After spending all that time the last two months scanning every photo we found in my grandpa’s house, I’ve see a LOT of wedding photos from the twenties until present time. Most of them were very quiet ceremonies with parents for witnesses.

The most endearing was my great-aunt Dixie’s wedding. There were no photos in the collection, but my grandmother had saved a newspaper clipping from the announcement.

In a church ceremony, Sunday, August 23, at 7:00 pm in the Salmon Medthodist Church, Miss Dixielou Lipe, daughter of Laurence Lipe of Salmon, exchanged wedding vows with James C. Allen, son of Morgan Allen of Salmon and Florence Thurber of Montpelier.

The Rev. Don I. Smith performed the single ring ceremony against a background of baskets of gladioli.

Miss Lipe was beautiful in a gown of white taffeta with a white satin cummerbund. Her finger-tip veil was held by a white cap. She carried a corsage of white roses and carnations.

White taffeta and a satin cummerbund is a far cry from the gowns of extreme now.

More importantly, the wedding is just one day. After scanning all those photos, the wedding photos are just a very small percentage of the whole life that was my grandmother’s life. I have a hard time with the “Your Day, Your Way” idea. It’s just one day. Is it really worth $30K?

• Good morning, Twitches! Getting fed, exercised and ready for CodeAway today! #
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My photo of Linda with the kitty litter on her nose showed up on this website:

• lolsecretz.com: had 2 menny cheezburgers

This is what they did to her:

After having to have her put to sleep back in September, I’m still a little touchy about it. I left his comment on the site:

Actually, Linda died of kidney failure.

Funny thing is, the person who made this didn’t notice that Linda had a piece of kitty litter stuck to her nose.

There was so much more potential for funny and it was just lost on this one…

Since they didn’t ask permission to use my picture AND they made a joke about her being sick, I’m trying really hard not to be bugged by this.

I’m reluctant to see what kind of LOL they’ll give her with this photo…

I’ve received a lot of joy from LOLCats. I realize LOLSecretz is a different website than LOLCats, but they used the LOLCatBuilder to put it there. I never uploaded Linda’s picture to their website and it is freakin’ impossible to find it in their collection. Do I call our lawyer to have them remove it?

My daily dose of funny cats has kept me happy despite this hell of a year.

I’m trying really hard not to be bugged by this…

• @libel_vox Dude… "Blitz" isn’t a cool word… Unless it’s coupled with the word "ballroom." #
• Headed to the treadmill. #
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• @ThomAllen Nokia N95 Gotta buy it from Europe, though… #
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My life has gone all pear-shaped lately. Too much stuff to talk about and I don’t even think I can talk about it here.

“Oh by the way, I told the entire Internet about this…”

“Thanks, that’s just what I needed a little privacy…”

Yeah, so all I can think about is that and I’m spending far too much time in Merriton right now. If you haven’t been reading there, you really should. I have 2007 in the box and a book ready to release in a couple of weeks, so get caught up and keep reading.

Funny how much easier it is to lose myself in my imaginary world when the real world is so painful right now.

It’s November 15th and I already have six entries for next year’s Halloween. All throughout the year, I collect Halloween articles and post them in October. That’s great for me because during my busiest month of the year, I end up having to write less because I already have a huge list of entries just waiting. This is the first year where I have six entries written before I’m finished with November.

I’m beginning to think that I might be a little crazy.

This is also the first year where I have no idea what I’m going to be for next year’s Halloween before Thanksgiving. I am purposely putting off the costume decision. I’ll probably decide in January or maybe February. All last year, I was planning on being Rogue, but it was going to be yet ANOTHER costume I would have had to explain all night long, so I opted for the easy way out: Mrs. Incredible.

Maybe next year I’ll be the girl in the pink wig or something simple like that.

Nah…

Here’s a collection of the costumes from the last few years:

I never had to explain that I was Alice from Alice in Wonderland.

Vampire is another costume that just doesn’t need explaining.

Tippi Heddren from The Birds, however, was a never-ending barrage of “What are you?” all night long. I even had the movie playing on the television and people kept asking me what I was.

I didn’t expect anyone to know that I was “The Homecoming Queen Has Got A Gun.” They just kept calling me a dead prom queen. The gory head wound was enough for everyone.

No one asked me what I was this year. It was a refreshing change.

If you’re going to dress up like a Star Trek character, you better go with Original Series. Deep Space Nine and Trills was just too much of a stretch.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Jedzia Dax.”

“…”

Despite her popularity, Mother Nature is another costume where everyone asks, “What are you?”

I wish I had photos from parties before then, but this as far back as it goes…

• Kristen went home at noon. I’ve been sleeping ever since. Her constant talking is endearing, but overstimulating. #
• Good morning, Twitches! Time for some exercise and Animal Crossing. #
• @kitykity That’s great as long as you keep your eye on the long term as well. Sending good karma your way… #
• @matto Whenever anyone says they are doing something for you, they really mean they are doing it for themselves. Accept it and gleefully … #
• Finished up email. Eating breakfast instead of exercising… #

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This is the original header for Pick Me! The current header is just a squashed version of it. I found it in a royalty-free collection of old illustrations. When I saw this drawing, I imagined myself as the little girl raising her hand.

I imagined the bored boy at the right to be Real Live Preacher. He was the first blog I ever read. He is an old pro at this blogging thing and I thought of him as a little bored with it all.

That boy in the red sweater is Hugh Elliott. He wrote a blog named Standing Room Only. He doesn’t write there anymore. Now he writes Bible Versus. He was the second blog I found, courtesy of Real Live Preacher.

I have no idea who the girl in the yellow dress is. I kind of feel like she represents the adoration that I want to achieve. She looks like she’s my one fan. Everybody has one fan. When I’m writing, I think about her most of all.

I wouldn’t be blogging if it hadn’t been for Real Live Preacher and Hugh Elliott. Thanks, guys!

Here is my new mascot, courtesy of I Can Has Cheezburger:

• PICK ME!! « Lolcats ‘n’ Funny Pictures – I Can Has Cheezburger?

Sometimes people ask me why my weblog is named Pick Me!

When I started my blog, I knew that there were lots of blogs out there and I imagined a huge list of them. I wanted people to read mine, so I decided to name it “Pick Me!” so people would read mine.

Back then, the top Google search for the phrase “Pick Me” was for a online dating service, but four years later, I’m on the top of Google for that phrase.

Tomorrow, I’ll tell you a story about the girl in the header.

• Sold my second Starling Fitness Journal! http://tinyurl.com/yovkrz #
• @groby I will post pictures on there tonight. Thanks for the tip! #
• @groby How does that look? http://tinyurl.com/yovkrz #

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V for Vendetta is a primary theme for the building in Sugarhouse that has been boarded up and awaiting demolition. Where Sugarhouse Coffee, Pib’s Exchange, Orion Music and Artopia used to be, there are just boarded up windows. I took a walk yesterday and snapped a bunch of photos of the graffiti there. You can see all of the photos here.

• Sugarhouse Graffiti – a photoset on Flickr

I had no idea that I would be nostalgic from just a few months ago. Back in July of 2006, I filmed a walking video for Starling Fitness. It shows the Sugarhouse area in its prime. You can see a clip here:

Unfortunately, the most exciting parts of this area were most vibrant at night, when it’s MUCH harder to film, so you can’t see the huge crowds of kids hanging out in the area. It was just the early morning crowd that day, but you can see it all in full detail.

I still sell these DVDs, so if you are missing Sugarhouse or feeling nostalgic, you can buy one for five bucks here:

• Order Starling Fitness Walking Videos Here

Two years ago is too short to feel nostalgic about and I feel a little like when KCGL went out of business. It’s like we have lost something cool and eclectic. I’m sure it will regrow somewhere else, but until then, we’re sad.

• Nightmare about Reavers. If I ever meet Joss Wheadon, I’m punching him in the nuts. #
• @Ladanea Try not to dream about Reavers. #
• Up, exercised and breakfasted. Day three of Kristen visit. Too busy for much Twittering. #

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This V for Vendetta stencil has shown up all over Sugarhouse. This is the one in front of the post office. A two-color stencil with the word “Remember” is painted on the boarding covering the windows of the old Sugarhouse Coffee building. The building is scheduled for demolition and Sugarhouse Coffee has moved down the street to another location, but it hasn’t recovered. It makes me sad to see it all boarded up.

I think I’ll go take pictures of it tomorrow.

I never even liked Sugarhouse Coffee. They were mean to me almost every time I went there. Their wireless was unreliable and their service was surly. Why am I so sad that they’re gone?

I guess I miss the scene. The place was always packed with pierced youth. They reminded me of myself when I was younger and it felt good to see them all together, talking and learning how to smoke. I didn’t want to participate, but I liked seeing them there.

I wonder where all those kids have gone…

Moby is cool, but he just raised his coolness quotient:

• film music | mobygratis.com

you can then listen to the available music and download whatever you want to use in your film or video or short. the music is free as long as it’s being used in a non-commercial or non-profit film, video, or short. if you want to use it in a commercial film or short then you can apply for an easy license, with any money that’s generated being given to the humane society.

I have one question. If it’s free to use in your film, is it free for me to just download and listen to on my iPod?

Via: Twitter / Jen Simmons: You can use Moby’s music fo…

• @Trula Get runnin’ babe! #
• @Trula DAMN Twitter’s slow… #
• @kitykity No, honey. The Writers Strike is still going on… #

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How can something so ugly look so beautiful in the morning light?

A friend of mine asked me some questions about social networking sites. He wanted to know about validation:

• how do they validate that a user is who they say they are?
• how does one get to be part of the community (invitation, referral, etc.)?
• are there restrictions to being part of the community?
• how does reputation get established?

I was eager to respond and after writing a huge email, I realized that I have been thinking about these sites for a long time. Here is my response:

I have an account on LinkedIn, FaceBook and MySpace. You didn’t include these, but I also consider them social networks and have accounts with them as well: LiveJournal, Flickr, Twitter, Classmates.com and Runner+.

I don’t believe there is much validation of who each person is. I know that FaceBook will delete people who obviously are not real, like they did with Jonathan Swift. I have never had any of them actually call me to verify that I’m an actual human being instead of a spam account. So many of the accounts are of the “spicychica2” variety that validation would be impossible.

I was able to sign up for all of those accounts on my own without an invitation. It seems that the sites that are invitation only are in the growing stages and they dole out invitations to prevent their servers from being overloaded.

If you are obviously just spamming, then your account will be deleted. Sites like MySpace and LiveJournal have a way to flag users as spammers if you get email from an offender.

Reputation is a funny thing. It seems that the young folks don’t care. I’ve seen them set up accounts, write tons of content and then just abandon the account with no remorse. Me? EVERYTHING I do is in my full name. I NEVER use a pseudonym, so the concept of setting up an anonymous account and abandoning it is foreign to me.

On LinkedIn, it seems that being a “friend whore” is looked down upon in some circles and seen as a badge of honor in others.

All of these social networking sites are missing a key factor. They treat all friends with the same weight. There are many people that I’ll call friends, but only a few I would tell personal secrets to and even fewer I would fully trust. This trust thing isn’t digital. It’s almost infinite in the differences and changes on a daily basis depending on how we interact with each other. It’s not an on/off type of thing, and that’s what a lot of these sites are missing.

My best advice to you is to set up an account in each network and play with them for a while. They are each quite different. Personally, I’m sick of them all. What’s the point of a social network if it isn’t focused around something that you do together. That’s why I am perfectly willing to edit my profile and gather friends on Runner+ or Flickr because we have a common love (running or photography). Sites like MySpace and FaceBook really haven’t been very useful to me and I just use them to point at my REAL blogs.

Here are some links to some people who have specialized in various social networks. Lindsey Pollak is a great person to talk to about FaceBook. She wrote a book about getting jobs after college and is an expert on Gen Y. Jason Alba is the person to talk to about LinkedIn. He just wrote a book about LinkedIn and how to use it for your career.

Wow, I didn’t realize that I had this many thoughts about social networking sites. I think I’ll post this on my blog.

• OMZ! The Internet is down! Comcast isn’t so Comcastic right now. #
• Thank Zod for my iPhone. Gotta charge it, though. It has been 3 days. #
• Internet is back. Phew… #
• @ThomAllen Sorry I can’t be there. Sounds fun, though. Say hi to everyone for me. #
• @MarinaMartin Do you have my stapler? #
• @robertmerrill Thanks for the best laugh all day! #
• @MarinaMartin Yes, that was an Office Space reference. God, I loved that movie. "I need more FLAIR!" #
• @JesseStay El Ranchito on 4800 West and 4800 South. West side of the Salt Lake Valley, right? #
• @MarinaMartin Sadly, Office Space is not available on iTunes. #
• @JesseStay Glad you like El Ranchito. I love. My old stomping grounds! :) #
• Hey guys, check out my new food journal for Starling Fitness: http://tinyurl.com/yovkrz #
• @groby Thanks! Hope you like it. #
• @groby Funny story about the Bento boxes on Starling Fitness. Remind me to tell you sometime. #
• @groby It’s too long of a story for Twitter. #
• @JustTerry Gas Pump Unions are the reason you can’t pump your own gas in Oregon. #

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I love the feel of my MacBook keyboard. It’s quiet and feels so good to my fingers. I searched for years for keyboards like this for my PC. It’s just one of those details that Apple pays attention to that regular PC makers don’t. They just slap on any OEM market keyboard that’s cheapest because they know I’m going to replace it anyway. I wouldn’t HAVE to replace it if they hadn’t chosen the cheapest instead of the best. I’m still angry at PC manufacturers, apparently.

When we went off Daylight Savings last Sunday, my computer automatically adjusted itself. It didn’t ask me if it was alright and it didn’t pop up a window announcing what it had done. It just moved the time back one hour. As a former PC owner, I feel conflicted. I don’t like my computer to do things like change the time because I have never once trusted a computer to do anything right.

iPhoto is a really snazzy program that will just easily download your photos from your camera to your computer. You can do all sorts of great organizational things with the photos and name them. It’s still not as good as Flickr, but it’s getting there. The only problem is, I don’t trust it. Just like I don’t trust the time, I want to download my photos into a special folder and name the folder with the “event” name and date. I don’t want the computer to do it for me automatically because if I had trusted the PC to do that for me, I would have no pictures to show for the last few years. I developed habits to organize my photos for myself and now that I have software that can do it for me, I’m uncomfortable with it.

Well, that and the fact that iPhoto becomes unstable when you use it for the number of photos I have on the hard drive. And the fact that it stores TWO copies of every photo for me just in case I screw up. I’ve worked hard on habits to make sure that I don’t just save over my photos accidentally. I don’t NEED my software to make a backup copy. I do it myself and I trust my systems more than software.

I had to learn new keystrokes for cut, copy and paste because Apple exchanged the Control button for the Apple button. I don’t know who came first on those keystrokes, but it was the only irritating thing I had to learn in order to get used to the Mac. Now, when I switch back to the PC, I push the wrong keys.

The switch to Mac was far easier than I expected and easier than Mike expected. He thought he was going to have to talk me down over and over again, but I just learned the new keystrokes, refused to trust the software and moved on. Maybe someday, I will learn how to love iPhoto and trust it with my camera snaps, but until then, I’m a sort of PC/Mac hybrid. Enjoy the Mac, but trust it like a PC.

• Printing up a Starling Fitness Journal. Preparing for 2008. #

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• Printing up a Starling Fitness Journal. Preparing for 2008. #

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Post an entry every day for a month? Heck, that’s not NaBloPoMo. That’s my life.

• NaBloPoMo: National Blog Posting Month

I have to admit that NaNoWriMo really ruined me for writing fiction for over a year, so I’ll probably never participate in that again. This, however, is what I do anyway.

In fact, I do this for several weblogs, it’s just that I get to write about whatever I want here, so I like it better than all the others.

Wanna come along? Click on the kitty…

• Good morning, Twitches! #
• @libel_vox I LOVE Freezepop! Thank Zod for Guitar Hero II. I would have never found them if it hadn’t been for that game! #
• Wow… Twitter SMS and IM is about 40 slow. That makes a conversation a bit stilted, don’t you think? #
• It’s after 8am. Gonna go sell some fruit at Nook’s. #
• Remove shawnz #
• @mithra LOL! #
• @missbhavens Let’s do the Time Warp AGAIN! #
• Twitter is so slow that it’s impossible to have a conversation. Twitter off… #
• Twitter is worthless today. When something comes to me after it has been posted an hour ago, it’s just too old. Get on the ball, people! #

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The Ancient Ones used to sit on a scale on the the bureau in the foyer of my grandparent’s house. Grandma had it set so the woman outweighed the man. I never thought about that until I just wrote that sentence. Considering how many years she had to fend for herself and the men in her life let her down, it makes sense that she would consider the woman to be more important.

The Ancient Ones were incredibly important to my grandma and because of that, they became important to me as well. I suffer nagging guilt knowing that I am personally responsible for breaking the woman figurine three times. I know Stacey, my sister, broke one as well. I remember Grandma bending over the woman figurine with Superglue many times.

After Grandma died, Grandpa moved the scale to the piano, but it sat there empty and weighing only dust.

I didn’t get a good picture of the last remaining Ancient One. I snapped a photo of needlework that my grandma had created. It hung on the wall in the living room, and to the left of the needlework, there was a wall sconce. On it, sat the last remaining Ancient One. Just like my grandfather left alone after my grandma died, this half of a matched pair sat alone in the house in Billings. I only noticed him in the photo when I was home and transferring the pictures from my camera to the computer. I wish I had realized he was there when I was in Billings. I would have taken a better picture.

It kills me that I have no control over who will get the last Ancient One. It even scares me that he might end up in an estate sale. Since I have absolutely no say in what goes where, I am aching to know that he might be lost forever and I didn’t even get a good picture of him.

While I was writing the eulogy and preparing the photographs for the board at the funeral home, Stacey and my Uncle Danny slaved away cleaning my grandpa’s house. When Stacey cleaned out the basement, she found my grandma’s stash of McCall’s craft magazines and yarn patterns. I rescued them from the garbage bin and took them home to Salt Lake City. I looked through them last month and mixed in with them was this catalog from Home Interiors and Gift. It’s dated 1962, but amazingly, the company is still in business today.

• Home Interiors

On page 12, I sat on my couch amazed. Here is what I saw:

The ceramic pair are labeled “The Ancient Ones.” For less than five dollars a pair, my grandmother, bought The Ancient Ones from an interior decorating company that sold their products like Tupperware to women in the sixties.

It’s so strange to see what I consider a family heirloom in a catalog. It feels so very precious to me, yet back in 1962, you could just order as many of them as you wanted. In fact, my grandma must have ordered several sets because I KNOW I broke one beyond repair. My grandma was an antique collector, so I guess in my childish mind, I assumed EVERYTHING she owned was an antique. I guess not. Some of it was just tchotchke.

• Woke up to TWO blogs plagiarizing my site. Why? It’s so easy to just write your own. #

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Last month, with all the Halloween fun, I forgot to post about Night Flight Comics’ event, 24 Hour Comics Day. Jason Alderman, one of our CodeAway buddies, participated in the event and we were able to snap a few shots while he was there.

Sponsored by Night Flight in Salt Lake City, Utah. 15 participants strive to create an entire comic in 24 hours. We dropped Jason off at 10 am on 10-20-07 and picked him up at 10 am on 10-21-07. Are no sleep and lots of camaraderie conducive to creating a good comic?

You can see more here:

• 24 Hour Comic Day – a photoset on Flickr

• Night Flight Comics – Events

• @robertmerrill Against Ref.1 The school system is broken, but vouchers aren’t the answer. #
• Just finished signing up for Facebook. How many social networks must a man walk down before you can call him a man? #

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This postcard from PostSecret made me really sad and I thought I would write about it a little bit.

The last time we played pinochle, I won. It was the first time in years that I won and should have been an indication to me at how sick you were. I took the deck of cards from your house after you died. It was the only time I remember truly winning on my own.

I didn’t even consider letting you win. I wish I had.

PostSecret‘s beneficiary is the National Hopeline Network. It is a 24-hour hotline (1 (800) SUICIDE) for anyone who is thinking about suicide or knows someone who is considering it.

• Good morning, all! Getting Twitterfied. #
• I don’t feel like working today. Maybe I’ll play a little Animal Crossing and see if I feel better later. #
• I’m back. A little Animal Crossing and I’m STILL not wanting to work today. What’s the matter with me? #
• @MarinaMartin What the bleep are you talking about? #
• @shawnz It makes MUCH more sense when you read the article. I was seeing it blind on MarinaMartin’s side. #
• @Trula Keep it up, babe. Natural eyebrows look much better. We’re humans. We’re supposed to be a little furry. #
• @groby Maximum Beast Protection? #
• @groby Ah… MacBook Pro. I’d feel lost too. #
• @mrdonut Welcome back to Twitter, buddy! #
• @Ladanea Did I see your face on NaBloPoMo? #
• @Ladanea Since I write a blog post every day anyway, I figured I’d join. #
• @NewspaperGrl You gonna do my web photo next? #

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I couldn’t get into Buffy, but I LOVED Firefly. Joss Whedon just announced that Fox has given him the go ahead for seven episodes for a series. Not just a pilot, seven episodes.

• Watch with Kristin – Best News Ever! Joss Whedon Spills Exclusive Deets on His New Series

Fanboys freak out now…

Via: Unshelved blog

This entry from Wil Wheaton got me thinking.

• WWdN: In Exile: gaming monkey

“This was my first CD,” I said.

“I know,” she said. “You tell me that every time we hear a song from it.”

“And one day, you’ll hear it, and I won’t be here for some reason or another, and you’ll wish I was here to tell you.”

Mike and I don’t do too much explaining our previous selves. We’ve known each other since third grade. When we bought our first CD players, we were buddies. He got his first, but I wasn’t too far behind him. I don’t need to tell him that the first two CDs I bought were Tears for Fears’ The Hurting and The Book of Love’s self-titled album. He already knows. He was there.

I got the CD player for $99 at K-Mart on sale. I put it in layaway and it took me a month to pay it off. In the meantime, I bought my two CDs and waited to be able to play them on that slim CD player. I ended up giving that CD player to Dylan and Joan. They didn’t have one and he kept protesting that he wasn’t going to buy one, so I forced him to upgrade.

We hardly ever reminisce, Mike and I. Maybe I should start just reminiscing whenever I hear a song from The Hurting just to open the conversation about our shared history.

• Reviewing test footage from new camera. Craft stores are excellent for testing cameras. #
• Waiting for the trick or treaters while editing film. #
• STILL waiting for trick or treaters. It’s warmer this year. Where the heck are they? #
• @libel_vox We’ve had a total of five kids come. Not five groups… five kids… #
• Street is a "ghost" town. Still waiting for more trick or treaters… #
• @basykes Coming from the woman who potty trains puppies for fun. #
• Total trick or treaters: 15 kids It’s the only time of the year when I wish I lived in the suburbs. #
• Lights out. Nighty night, Halloweenies! #
• Getting ready for the Geek Lunch today at 1pm at Iggy’s in Jordan Landing. Hey, all! Mike’s coming too! #
• I’ve been quoted: http://tinyurl.com/2fac7r/20071101/TEENS03/711010323/-1/RSS #
• @WasatchGirl Welcome back, babe! You coming to the Geek Lunch today? #
• Decided to track my username and real name to catch anyone who might be trying to talk to me. #
• @WasatchGirl Or you can just be casual and pop in every now and then. Either way, we’re here for ya. #
• Gonna go shower now. See you guys at lunch! #
• Leaving for Geek Lunch now. #
• The hostess at Iggy’s has no reservation for us. Did any of you call ahead? #
• The manager is being cool about it. Am I at the right Iggy’s? #
• @missrogue Popularity contests only suck when you lose. #

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My entry about writing with a pencil was quoted in the Erie Times:

• GoErie.com: Pencil in your thoughts By LUKA GLINSKY

They were nice enough to include the URL to my blog (if not a link). Thanks, Luka!

To read my full thoughts about thinking and pencils, read here:

• Pick Me! » No. 2 Pencil

I thought I might be showing up as the number one search for the phrase “No. 2 Pencil,” but I’m hidden all the way on page three. Thanks for noticing me, Luka!

Well, my favorite month of the year is over. I love October more than April (the month of my birthday) and WAY more than December with all its Xmas madness. When October is over, however, I’m grateful.

That’s what I get for celebrating a one-day holiday all month long.

• Everyone welcome @lindseypollak to Twitter! Hiya, babe! #
• Good morning, Twitches! #
• @meriwilliams No, you’re never too old to listen to Avril Lavigne! She has a UNIVERSAL message! #
• Changed my desk. Now the sun is blasting me in the eyes in the morning. Luv it! #
• @kitykity Great costume! #
• Policeman just drove by my house. Glad to know they’re watching over us. #
• @apperceptions Well, at least we know you were conceived in love… #
• @robertmerrill No, samurai do not wear glasses. If you are myopic, they just kill you. #
• @robertmerrill Samurai eat Mac & Cheese for lunch. #
• Looking at "ghost" photos on the Internet. They all look so fake. When did ghost photos stop scaring me? #
• @meriwilliams Get well, babe… There’s always next Halloween. #
• My Xacti just came. I’m watching the battery charger for the light to go out so I can play with it! #
• @libel_vox I saw that guy looking for you! Luckily, you’re libel_vox AND Matt Reinbold. #
• @libel_vox No malfunction on the RSS. I was fixing some old entries from 2006. Weird problem with WP. #
• @Trula I used to work at K-Mart and would see angry mothers ALL the time, especially at Xmas (stress). You’re right, all races have this … #
• @robertmerrill LOL! #

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You know you’re at a geek party when there are so many iPhones in the room. Not only that, we were all stoked about taking our pictures together with the phones. There were even MORE people with iPhones in the room, but we were too lazy to gather the rest of them.

It was an AWESOME Halloween party this year. You can see all the photos here:

• Halloween 2007 – a photoset on Flickr

I am in that strange lull where I don’t know what I’m going to be for Halloween next year. It feels weird to be so undecided a mere 300 or so days before the holiday. What am I to do?!

If you forgot to dress up today, just go here and print out this great last minute costume:

• Trick. Or. Treat!

SCARY!

Via: Unshelved blog

This arrived a little late for me to incorporate it into my Halloween invitation to the party, but I’m eager to use it next year.

• Skull-A-Day: FREE Skull Font!

I just have to learn how to install a font on my Mac. I’ve never had to do that before.

Via: Craftzine.com blog: Free Halloween Skull Font

• At Weight Watchers. Had to force myself to come. #
• @Trula Maybe she meant it as a compliment. He WAS talented… #
• Finally putting the house back together after the Halloween party. Repositioning my computer on the desk. #

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punkin.jpg by jonathanpberger from Flickr

I haven’t carved a pumpkin for years. Mike and I used to do one each year, but back in the early nineties, we bought a plastic pumpkin that looks almost real and plugs into the wall. The single bulb inside it has lasted all this time and we just drag it up from the basement every year.

Lazy? Yes, but I never have to deal with the rotting stench of pumpkin.

Looks like Jonathan P. Berger is far more ambitious than I have been for years. Good form, Jonathan, good form!

Via: Craftzine.com blog: Lolcat Jack-o-lantern