Welcome to November

--
Halloween


This year for Halloween, K went as Luigi, a video game character who is the brother of the well-known Mario character. His friend, Max, dressed as Mario.

M went as a hobo. J and M spent a lot of time making the suit and other clothes look "lived in".

In Other News
A week ago, J and I picked up our new van, a Dodge Grand Caravan. Red. It's very nice, has seats that fold into the floor, and lots of other great features. We traded in our 9 year-old Ford Windstar. If it was sad to be parted from us, it didn't say anything. We'll miss it, but we're happy to move up to something new.

On Friday, J and I had a date night (Laurie babysat) and went to the Purple Rose Theater to see the show "Best of Friends". The play was written by Jeff Daniels, the actor, who lives in Chelsea when he's not filming movies. He is also the person behind the theater, and a number of his plays have been performed there. We've also seen plays written by Mitch Albom, of "Tuesdays with Morrie" fame.

After the play, we walked over to Common Grill and had a few appetizers followed by dessert.

Links
This ship is not sinking.

From the great “Fake Science” site:
Solar power
Cow formations

The Refinance List

---

J and I asked a local bank about refinancing, and part of their application process requires us to gather a number of documents and other items for them to review.The last time we refinanced, in 2003, the list of things we were supposed to provide was much different from the list we received from the bank:

1. Most recent pay stubs, for one month. Must show YTD income.
2. 2008 and 2009 W2s.
3. 2008 and 2009 tax returns.
4. Alphabetical list of all Facebook friends, including email addresses and Mafia Wars scores.
5. Most recent two months bank statements, all pages.
6. Most recent quarterly statement for investment and retirement accounts, all pages.
7. Construction paper hand turkey with feathers and crayon smile
8. Summer and winter property tax information.
9. A 500-word essay describing where you were on 9/11, and how it affected your feelings about your mortgage company.
10. Home owner’s insurance information.
11. The colors and depths of the carpet in your home, if any.
12. Most recent monthly mortgage statement(s).
13. A song about your favorite brand of hot sauce following the 12-bar blues pattern.
14. Signed application and authorization.
15. Three peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, three apples, and strawberry/banana yogurt cups for our mortgage review team to eat while we process your application. Please include plastic spoons for the yogurt.

Banks sure have changed since the recession began.

---

J and M saw this live at the UM football game a few weeks ago. I get dizzy just watching the video.

Very, very neat contraptions.

Following my habit of posting links to neat lamps, here's another one.

---

Nothing new or different here for us - same as last time. I've started several books in the past month, and have only finished one or two. Nothing noteworthy, though, so I don't have any recommendations. I haven't been swept off my feet lately, literary-wise.

---

Halloween approacheth. What theme should I use for my pumpkin this year? What's that you say? The Michigan State Spartans theme, like the picture of the pumpkin I have here on my blog? A theme surrounding the Spartans? Alright then, but only because you insist. It'll have to compete with the UM pumpkins the kids claim they're going to create. We'll see.

---

I've always thought it would be fun to pick locks - how exciting to be able to let your neighbors in when they forget their keys, or break into the elementary school to change MEAP scores. If someone wants to spring for this set of lock-picking devices, I'd surely write a thank-you note.

Some links

---
First, An Update
Today is the MSU/UM game in Ann Arbor. It should be a good game. J and M will be there in person to cheer on the Wolverines, and I'll be watching it at home in a comfortable chair.

Soccer season is going well - M is playing goalie for the first time this year, and has only allowed three goals in his three appearances. He plays for 25-minute shifts (which is half the game). He has done very well.

K scored a goal a few weeks ago, which was fun to watch. He and the other third-graders are starting to "get it" as far as being in the right place and how to pass the ball. It's fun to watch K improve his skills.

Motor Vehicles
It’s not too early to make an entry on the ol’ Christmas list: A Batmobile!
Kind of the same idea, but not on my list: A Radio Flyer wagon.

Libraries and books
Library for lighthouses
A book-themed restaurant.

A neat idea for a hook that uses the weight of the hooked item to hold it in place. The same site has some other fun things on it that are unusual or interesting.

Pictures


This lawn looks like a ten-year old mowed it, then played football on it.


This is the book I'm currently reading. Note the position of the bookmark in the book - if it doesn't get a little more interesting soon, I'm going to use the bookmark somewhere else.


The pumpkin from our garden. Our biggest disappointment, other than its size, is that it is not orange. We got a good number of other veggies - tomatoes, peppers, and basil leaves - so it wasn't a total loss.


This looks familiar. Playing it is like riding, and occasionally falling off, a bike.

Statistics for this blog

---

From May 2010 through this afternoon, this graphic shows where people have been when viewing this blog, and what browser they were using. Blogger.com has a link that says "Next Blog >>" that's at the top of most of their blogs, and that's probably how most of these people found me. I have gotten a little spam in the comments sections, which I hope will not continue, but for the most part visitors have been kind.

Click on it to show a bigger version.


---

Links and More

Family Status
Not much going on here this weekend. The boys don't have soccer games this weekend, so we're going to wrap up some loose ends and also attend a reunion party for former Pall employees.

We went to the year's first PTO meeting on Wednesday. J is a co-treasurer and runs the Yahoo! mailing group for the school. I'm going to run the Science Fair this year as I did two years ago (it is held every two years.) We're trying to do our parts to help keep the trains running on time, so to speak.

Some Links I've Been Saving Up
Neat lamps made from found materials. The artist's website is here; check out the furniture, and his other lamps. He's very talented.

Hand-made cameras.

Fun clocks.

Fun car drawings.

Someday I'm going to make something like this battery USB drive. But probably not a battery - scooping out all the junk doesn't look like any fun.