Flying Together – Our Conversations in October

We are deep into November and I am just finding time to thank those of you who made comments in October.  Here are some of my favorites from among your deep comments on my shallow thoughts:

Flying Together

I knew someone who knew someone who had one [tape worm] and didn’t know it until one particularly violent sneeze and, look, there’s a worm coming out of your nose. – Lucid Lunatic (on Eat All You Want and Never Gain Weight) [my favorite comment of the month]

You are a cornball. - Amber (on Oh! The Places You’ll Go…)

OMG quite literally I think I just pulled a toe muscle from laughing so hard, dang the likeness is um shhhh please don’t tell no one! – Sanity Found (on Cookie Monster Slayer) [I promise not to tell anyone]

I know its sappy, but I liked the post. – Mondain (on 26 Reasons Why I Love my Wife)

Almost Painful

Normal is strange. I would not want to be normal. I like being me. – Brit in La (on Y B Normal)

Being normal is overrated! – Scream Riot (on Y B Normal)

That’s great! I totally have those days, and the good start makes the bad ending that much worse. – Rebecca (on How’s Your Day Going?)

Those poor lemons need a lucky rabbit’s foot. – mssc54 (on Making Lemonade)

I love to lollygag. I like to bum around even more. Yeah, I’d say I have a bit of “procrastination” in me! – Tanya[would you start a blog already?] (on A Day in the Life of a Procrastinator)

I really need to stop being so ordered in my responses (a preview of one of my quirks). – Unfinished Person (now Unfinished Rambler) (on Quirks and Addictions)

Comments are amazingly addictive. I almost feel guilty turning friends on to blogging. I kind of feel like a drug pusher. – Trish (on Quirks and Addictions)

Living Well

Thanks! I just found out I’m going to live to 102. Of course, they told me to lose weight, but really, why? So I can live to 105? I think I’ll continue to eat my cheesecake thank you very much! – Stacybuckeye (on Fifty Web Tools that Will Predict Your Future)

I only had time to complete one quiz before my boss came in! – Leaving Evangeline (on Fifty Web Tools that Will Predict Your Future)

Apparently I’ll make it into the hundreds. No thank you. I want to die before I stop being able to wipe my own butt… - Lindsey (on Fifty Web Tools that Will Predict Your Future)

Scary!

My pumpkin does not look like Einstein… It looks more like Frank-Einstein. – Daniel’s Critical Corner (on Carve Out Some Time for These Pumpkins)

Eww! That’s gross! He (?) is holding entrails in one hand. – Leaving Evangeline (on Angry Pumpkin Man)

…this takes the cake for “How you can use vegetables to Scare Kids. – Chirax (on Alien (Predator) Pumpkin)

Umm…people might wanna be careful handing out sugar-free treats. Most of them are made with a sugar substitute that acts as a laxative. – Leaving Evangeline (on Top Trick or Treat… Treats)

Just for Daisyfae

 I tend to write off the musical 70’s because of disco, but Neil Young’s best stuff was buried in there – not to mention Bruce and Blondie! – Daisyfae (on Bye, Bye to the 70′s…)

Breaking Sound Barriers

The person or persons who compiled this did not grow up in the 80s. I’d wager that they are dead. – Literate Housewife (on What’s the 80′s Got to Do with It?)

Wow, what a truly bleak decade that was for the music industry. – The Word of Jeff (on Smells Like the 90′s);

I had a stuffed Rocky doll when I was a kid. That’s all I have to say. (God, I’m pathetic). - Chartroose (on Sarah and Bullwinkle are At It Again)

I was just telling my mom that I can’t bear to listen to Palin because she sounds like a kindergarten teacher. – Softdrink (on What if the Candidates were Phones?)

I am writing my choice in for that office…which is…Mighty Mouse, at least he was truthful with his motto: Here to save the day. – Lizziegram (on What if the Candidates were Phones?)

Attention!

…inspirational that is, a yoda reading and all, maybe i should pick up a book, like if yoda reads and all… - Beaverboosh (on Yoda Reads!)

Lovely bones made this list?? Geeezzz And above The Joy Luck Club? I despair! Truly… Gosh, who ever made up this list isn’t terribly well read. I just went through this list carefully. I think whoever wrote it subscribes to the Oprah Winfrey book club. YUCK! – Amber (on The Top 100 Books of the Last 25 Years)

I’m going to have to see if I can find out what criteria Entertainment Weekly set for determining this list. But, from a literary sense, I find it lacking unless the list is based on some kind of pop culture standard. – The Word of Jeff (on The Top 100 Books of the Last 25 Years)

Ritin

Hey, I duz the bestest I can with whut I learnt. – mssc54 (on Rules for Writing Wicked Good Papers)

Thank’s for them, tips I will have used them all day long or not. – Staceybuckeye (on Rules for Writing Wicked Good Papers)

Make certain all sentences are full and complete. If possible. – Hayden (on Rules for Writing Wicked Good Papers)

I don’t never use no triple negatives, and I always eschew hyperverbosity and prolixity ’cause I jest ain’t smart enuf to use dem highfalutin’ werds! – Chartroose (on Rules for Writing Wicked Good Papers)

I read and rite godder these days. – Chirax (on Writing to Intimidate)

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Thanks again!

Five for Friday – Halloween “Trick or Treat” Dogs

Knowing that many of you have animal friends, I thought I’d share these photos of Halloween “Trick or Treat” Dogs with you:

Yoda Lives:

You can see the excitement written all over this poor dogs face (I’m getting goosebumps):

Hot Dog!:

Now, this group is actually frightening:

Enjoy!

Carve Out Some Time for These Pumpkins!

As we move into Halloween, here are a three (cool) carved pumpkins and one bonus (lame duck) pumpkin (I think I would enjoy having just a touch of this creativity):

Here’s the first (brainy):

Pumpkin Einstein

and the second (interesting):

Prenatal Pumpkin

the third (artistic):

American Pumpkin

and the lame duck:

President Pumpkin

Enjoy!

What if the Candidates were Phones? – Asks Babs Winfrey-King

I’m going to sound like a mix of Barbara Walters, Oprah Winfrey, and Larry King:

If the presidential and vice-presidential candidates were phones, what kind of phones would they be?  This was posted at Paul Gregoire’s blog and I think it’s really funny.  What do you think? (asks Babs Winfrey-King):

http://gregoire.org/2008/10/06/if-the-candidates-were-phones/

Enjoy!

Five for Friday – Jack-O-Lanterns

What would halloween be without a Jack-O-Lantern?  If you haven’t carved yours yet, here are some creative ideas from ptnoticias.com that they call Pumpkin Way.  There are many more ideas at their site, but here are a few that I liked:

Toothy:

http://ptnoticias.com/pumpkinway/

Constipated (my personal favorite – I like the look of sweat on the rind):

http://ptnoticias.com/pumpkinway/

Devilish:

http://ptnoticias.com/pumpkinway/

Scared:

http://ptnoticias.com/pumpkinway/

Faux Scary:

http://ptnoticias.com/pumpkinway/

Enjoy!

Adver”tease” Me – Creative Ads

I love creative advertising. I found these at Hongkiat.  These are just a few:

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/70-creative-advertisements-that-makes-you-look-twice/

Probably photoshopped.

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/70-creative-advertisements-that-makes-you-look-twice/

I like the idea of drawing attention to trees.

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/70-creative-advertisements-that-makes-you-look-twice/

This is just great.

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/70-creative-advertisements-that-makes-you-look-twice/

My wife’s kind of workout.

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/70-creative-advertisements-that-makes-you-look-twice/

Not too comfy looking, but certainly catches your attention.

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/70-creative-advertisements-that-makes-you-look-twice/

I don’t like Pepsi (or what I call the P word), so I think this is really funny.

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/70-creative-advertisements-that-makes-you-look-twice/

 Chocolate communication – sweeeet!

Some Picks from Our September Conversations

I’m a little slow getting this published…

September was a busy month.  There was a post on Don’stuff nearly every day.  Many of you were kind enough to read and comment. 

The month started with books (Alex Award Winning Books for Mature Teenagers, then Teen Books that Adults will Love) and ended with chocolate (Ten Things You Should Know about Chocolate).

You liked reading about Sarah Palin (The Times story about her kill on Bullwinkle was the top read of the month), stories about her comprised five of the top fifteen you read.

Since it was such a busy month, and since summarizing would virtually recreate all the posts, I’ll instead present a few picks:

Top Picks of September 2008

 The picks begin with the Most Comments during the month, Leaving Evangeline:

Most Comments during September 2008

 Move on to the Most Unique Comment (“drop dead droolable phew”) by Sanity Found:

Most Unique Comment - "Drop dead droolable phew."

Slide over to Leisure Guy, who provided the Most Helpful Tip about Marianne’s Ice Cream Parlor at 1020 Ocean Street in Santa Cruz, CA.

Most Helpful Tip - "Marianne’s makes their own and have some terrific flavors."

 Dig into the Most Kind Comment by Amber:

Most Kind Comment - "...great post Don! One of my favorites!"

Knuckle up to New Friends: Chirax , Mssc54, Jeff, and Unfinished Person who seem to think like I do (frightening):

The Keystone Kops

 

 

 

 

I was double knuckled to Heart ur Club: I was picked by Literate Housewife for I Love Your Blog and by Chartroose as a honorary member of the Kool Kidz Klub:

Big Pickers: Chartroose and Literate Housewife

The most frequently visited and Most Commented On Post: Sarah Kills Bullwinkle.  Concerned Citizens included: Leaving Evangeline, lizzygram, Mssc54, JT Hartman, Matthew E, Burt Parks, Rock Golf, Left Right and Centered, Virgomonkey, joannemarie, ilegirl, Jimmythegreek, Blue Dog, Shawnbarr, jointefforthost, steadycat, Mark Gibson, WordPress Hawt Post, Alaskan For Palin, Ken, and Keith Pitts.

Post with the Most Comments - Sarah must be one of the friends.

My pick for Favorite Post: Deja Vu with a Twist of Sons

http://donstuff.wordpress.com/2008/09/13/deja-vu-with-a-twist-of-sons/

Dredged up as Best Suggestion for a Post : Beaverboosh suggested Spinal Tap

The nugget as Best Suggestion for a Post (Part Deux): Lucid Lunatic and Literate Housewife suggested Golden Earring

Let's Rock: http://donstuff.wordpress.com/2008/09/10/radar-love-in-the-twilight-zone-two-great-videos-by-golden-earring/

Snot unkind is Stacy at Stacy’s Bookblog who is kind enough to allow me to play guess who games and win books:

http://stacybuckeye.wordpress.com/

Almost Finally, thank you to David and Tonya for playing along – even though they don’t have a blog.  They are the only people I communicate with on this blog that I actually see (we live about a half a mile apart).

Thank you to all of you for joining in on the fun.

Finally, this is for Sanity Found (the original Cookie Gangsta), Amber, Lindsey, and all others who comment regularly on cookies:

If You Want to Rock, Please Don’t Wear Matching Clothes

These guys were cool when… Well, they were likely never cool.  Anyway, here’s a look at some original boy bands – just for fun.  I thought Sanity Found and Leaving Evangeline might enjoy this (the photos are from Goofy Photos).  (note: I was once in a group named the Gern Blanston Quartet – there were three of us – and we looked way cooler than Gert Jonnys, because we never dressed alike).

Fish, Flea, Culture – Quite a Week Ahead

Our kids (10 and 12) have planned their “once in a lifetime” events and we are on our way to Hawaii.  They are planning to learn to surf, visit the USS Arizona Memorial, visit the Polynesian Cultural Center, swim, hula, snorkel (my nightmares are recurring… meaningful, if you read an earlier post about swimming with the fish) and visit the flea market.  We are hoping to cram in tons of relaxation between rushing from event to event.

I’ll report back next week.

http://www.hawaiipictures.com/pictures/oahu.html

http://www.hawaiipictures.com/pictures/oahu.html

Building Community in Costa Rica

I had an opportunity to travel to Costa Rica with some high school kids from my church to refurbish a community center.  Each of the communities around San Jose (the capital city) has a community center, but many of them had been taken over by drug dealers and were unsafe for kids.  The particular community center we were to take care of was in serious disrepair.  It had been abandoned for several years and it took two days just to clean up the yard and make repairs to the building (including adding an interior wall to cordon off one end for a police outpost).

As we worked on the yards and made repairs, some of our kids walked through the neighborhood meeting people and telling them we were reclaiming the community center from the drug dealers.  We set up a couple of tables and some games as kids started spilling in from the neighborhood.  While we painted the building, kids played in the freshly cleaned yard and/or colored pictures at the tables.  Neighbors brought food and we ate together – it was great!

The person who set this up for us was a kind of renegade missionary – not really affiliated with an organization, just trying to make a difference among people who need an advocate.  He took us to a local government meeting one evening (with the mayor and city council) and made a pitch for them to hire people to run after-school programs at the community center.  They were very kind and told us they would consider the request (we found out later that they had some people in place within just a few weeks).

By the end of the week our work was complete and the police were in place in their new office, so we were free to do some sightseeing.  One of my goals had been to hike in a rainforest, and I had convinced the rest of the group to take a short hike.  We found some tour guides to take us into the rainforest (but off the touristy, beaten path).  It started raining about five minutes after we stepped out of the vans, rained for the next two hours while we hiked, and stopped raining just as we were getting back into the vans.  It was a fantastic experience as we hiked through lush jungle, along beautiful streams, and past small waterfalls.  This was the only time it rained while we were on this trip and it just seemed fitting that it was while we were in a rainforest (I don’t think anyone was upset about getting wet). 

Following our hike, we toured a butterfly farm and I bought a blue morph.  The farm only boxes butterflies that have died, so no butterfly was harmed in the making of my memories.  The one funny line from the staff, however, was that butterflies are not sold to be pets – they are sold to be food.  How odd.

A couple of goals met, time spent with some great kids, many new friends, a sense of accomplishment… good times – great trip.

I’ve added some photos – not mine, but they look just like my memories.  Thank you to http://www.monteverdeinfo.com/photo_gallery.htm

Costa Rica Jungle http://monteverdeinfo.com

Blue Morph http://monteverdeinfo.com