Halloween OverKill
Previously, my compulsion to compete kicked in a mere two days before the office potluck & decorating contest, forcing me to hastily ponder the Pumpkins of Halloween Past for an Kick Ass Win-It-All Idea.
As soon as I typed the words ‘take over the world’, I became completely obsessed with what I believe to be the coolest pumpkin I’ve done to date. I was soooooo excited, soooo worked up, that I bought my supplies and pumpkin last night at 7:30pm, sat down at 10pm and didn’t let that sucker go until it was absolutely perfect…at 1am.
It would seem I did not need to go to such lengths, as only one other person bothered to enter a pumpkin at all. Here’s a shot of the competition:
Sweet, Adorable and Darling in Every Way Pumpkin #1
Here’s mine:
HUGE Show Off Attention Monger Pumpkin #2
I think I seriously overshot my audience. No here seems to have seen or appreciated the high level of humor that is Pinky and the Brain (click for video).
Also? This:
Oh My God It’s TWO SIDED? Why Don’t You Go Kick A Child?!
All things being equal, I think this appetizer beat both of us:
Franken-Lunch
Side note: Why is it when you sneeze while driving, it’s ALWAYS right in the middle of trying to come to a gentle stop so the 19 pounds of Green Chilie Chicken stacked in your seatwell does not slosh all over the floor?
The City of Newcastle is currently going through its annual Budget process, and suffice it to say, there is as much tightening-of the belts going on here as everywhere else. While our immediate future is not yet set, one of the many solutions being discussed is the cutting and/or closing of parks, recreation and events, along with many other important City services including Police and Fire.
Although my job is not officially yet on the line, it’s entirely possible that any events I’m able to pull off next year may depend SOLELY on my ability to obtain sponsorships. Seeing as we’re all walking around with a death-grip on our wallets right now, I went to work yesterday dressed as my most earnest Halloween wish:
Filthy Rich Sponsor
I was one of only four people who dressed up, and thus felt completely out of place. A little like Pam in the Office Halloween episode, except without any of the Hilteresque embarrassment.
My wig got more attention from everyone in the office than my poor little pumpkin did, the most of which was from Josh and Brian, who both asked me how much it cost, where I got it and whether I thought it would be inappropriate if they asked their significant others to wear one.
Not really what I was going for. But definitely worth the laughs.
This is my homes-girl, Steph, kickin’ it in style:
Keepin’ it Real J-Lo
Here’s hoping you all have a wonderful, Happy, Howling Halloween filled with great costumes, scary movies and yummmy snacks! Leave a comment to let me know how it goes, k? Have a blast!
Out of My Gourd
We’re having a pumpkin decorating contest at work this Friday. My original reaction to this announcement was, ‘Ugh. Burnt. Out. Brain. Tired. Creativity, DEAD.’ Two weeks ago, I was perfectly content with the idea that the sum total of my responsibility for this event was a potluck bowl of rice and a giant dish of Green Chilie Chicken.
But. then. A few days ago, The Voice started meeping. From waaay in the back closet of my brain, where I keep all lonely piles of Later-If-Not-Never cares, I felt it tilt it’s head to the right, tap a fingernail on the floor and mumble, ‘hmm. pumpkin contest.’
To which I thought, ‘SHUT UP. I’m tired. I’m not doing it.’ Another tap. ‘It’s just a *little* pumpkin contest.’
Closing my eyes, I thought, ‘I. DON’T. CAA-A-ARE. And also? Hey, CRAZY. Shut uuuuuup!’
‘Huh. Looky there. Martha Stewart’s got about a bajillion pumpkin decorating clips on Comcast On Demand. But no. Don’t watch it. I DARE you.’
‘Crap!’
So yeah. Guess what I’m doing tonight? The same thing I do every night. Trying to take over the world! [insert plan for the World's Greatest Pumpkin here.] Bwah-ha-ha.
I’ve drummed up a few old entries from the Great eBay Gourd Competition I’ve mentioned here before, but am still coming up a little ‘empty-shelled’. Anyone got any bright ideas? What are your Great Pumpkin plans this year?
Swan Lake
Gourdilocks
Gourd-In-the-Hat
Lady Gourdiva
the Matrix Re-Gourded
RASCI, the MonGourd
The Gourdfather
The Gourdtrige Family
La Gourdia
UPDATE: Wow. I learn the craziest, most randomest things while reading my blog feeds. From Presentation Zen (a blog about, you guessed it – presentations) I found this awesome pumpkin carving contest gallery from Duarte Design. And, dang. Just…DANG. Their employees have been doing this for 13 years, and from the looks of the Specimen, Carved Crusader and WIIIIIILSON! pumpkins, they’re my kind o’ people.
Direct Mail Daydreams
My mailbox gets a lot of catalogs every week, for everything from event supplies and recognition items to sports park equipment and corporate gifts (Question: when did it become chic to give lobsters as incentive rewards? Is that something that’s totally normal at a whole different level? I can kinda see this playing out in a high-power law firm. Like, one Friday at 4:45pm Mr. Big Boss walks up to a file clerk, slaps him on the shoulder and says, ‘great job on the Heinekeschmalt brief, Phil – here’s a big fat LOBSTER!’ He flashes a smile, tips his hat and strides out the office whistling, leaving Phil in the long shadow of the filing cabinets with this dumbfounded look on his face and a scrawly red tangle of bug legs sticking out wildly from both hands.)
So, uh, TANGENT. Sorry.
I DO actually have a point. It’s this: I was flipping through the latest Baudville catalog this afternoon when I actually stopped and screamed for a second. Because holy crap, MY PIN IS IN IT*.
It’s not actually for sale, but I designed it and they manufactured it. Apparently they thought it was good enough to make a nice example, and that’s FINE with me! If you want one, let me know. I should still have a few around here.
*Apologies for the very annoying automatic resizing of Baudville’s online catalog.
Shiny Pennies and a Bee
Reading my blog feeds this morning, there were three or four that really grabbed my attention. First, eBay Ink posted eBay Inc Reports Third Quarter 2008 Results. Apparently revenue was up. While I found that news a little relieving for the sake of my ePeeps, I’m going to have to dig into that article again more attentively, because at first glance I don’t understand how that worked out at all – what with all the firing ten percent of their workforce while spendng a bazillion dollars to aquire more companies, the down economy and all those pissed off sellers. But maybe I’m just jumping the gun to Q4.
Second, Psychohistory published several excellent posts about the economy and politics after the debate last night. The kind of posts I usually skip over because A) try as I might, my eyes glaze over as soon they hit words like ‘dividends’, ‘preferred paper’, and ‘balance sheet’ (mathity-math-math-math) and B) I’m swinging the emotional pendulum of bored, frustrated and non-plussed by the election and the constant stream of ranty opinion posts/status updates I come across daily only make it worse.
If saying I read a blog with posts I don’t read sounds confusing, let me clarify. I read Psychohistory because it also talks about Linkedin, eBay, Coin Collecting and the occasional fun Battlestar Galactica review/spoiler/commentary. All good stuff in my book.
The reason he was able to pull me into two opinion posts on polictics AND money math was by the clever use of SNL. Because as soon as I saw Financial Advice for the Current Market Conditions: Don’t Buy Stuff You Can’t Afford, I immediately got busy hunting the interwebs for the video version.
During which I read through his other posts and found myself thinking a couple of thoughts that included, ‘damn, if everything doesn’t come down to marketing’ and ‘that tax stuff he’s talking about actually makes sense’. huh. scary.
Why the Liberal Political Engine is Working in 2008
The liberals have learned, and learned well from the mistakes in 2000-2004. They can’t defeat the conservative economic agenda of the past thirty years without killing the names of the heroes of those years. Clinton made this compromise, but while it preserved him even in the face of the 1994 Republic Congressional wins, it didn’t make the party stronger. As recently as 2004, people were talking about a permanent Republican majority. (Yes, it wasn’t that long ago).
Problems with Obama’s Tax Cut = Tax Cut Accounting
By using tax credits, Obama can state, with a straight face, that he isn’t going to raise taxes, he’s just going to redistribute the burden more fairly. And technically, he’s correct.
However, if you treat tax credits as entitlement spending, then you see that what he actually could do is radically increase the tax burden on the country, but cancel out a large volume of transfer payments from the spending side of the equation. So it looks like the tax burden has stayed the same. It looks like spending has not increased.
There are really big things I agree and disagree with on both parties. But primarily, I operate from the belief that true freedom is not just the endowment of choice, but the responsibility to chose. (I read the Road to Serfdom in college, and it’s stayed with me ever since.) Anything that takes away a person’s choice is something I’m inherently against. Which is my main problem with the Democratic Party. (And yes, McCain, Palin, Abortion, BIG RED FLAG FOR ME.)
It’s not that I think Democrats don’t mean well or that we shouldn’t try our best to make life fairer and better – it’s that I think there are an awful lot of choices that government shouldn’t be making for us. At. All. But it often seems we find it easier to make things the Government’s responsibility, instead of our own. And that feels lazy.
Whatever your bent, I think we all share in a common desire to do good and make the world a better place. I’m not sure at all how the pieces are going to fall in the next 20 days, but I am sure it’s scary to me either way. So I just have to remember that no matter who we elect, he can’t do his job without help from a whole lot of other people from a whole lot of other places; and to have faith that we’ll all do our part to keep this country on track.
As we like to say in our house a lot lately: Just get in there and FIX. IT!!
P.S. Is it a lot to try and cram two videos into one post? I hope you’ll bear with me. Because during this morning’s SNL hunt, I found the Most Awesome Super Surprise Villian in the History of THE WORLD – and I know that you know I would not be me if I restrained myself from sharing this:
Step Into My Other Office
From June to September, I spend as much time throwing events at Lake Boren Park as I do planning them at City Hall. At least, that’s how it feels. Recently, a Bellevue resident spent some time there on a foggy September morning and took these wistful pictures of Newcastle’s signature park. Thanks, Bob!
