Its the great pumpkin Charlie Brown.

Ok I sit here writing this as it gets steadly darker outside. Teri is eagerly awaiting the first trick-or-treater to knock on our door. With that in mind, I had to stop at the grocery store on the way home today, and brave the zoo that it was, to get more candy for Halloween. Seems that after the Halloween party [wink wink, nudge nudge] we were out of candy and needed more for the hoards that are going to descend on us tonight [we got all of 10 kids last year]. Speaking of which, did anybody notice that with the time change on Sunday it is now getting dark in the middle of the afternoon? Ok Teri decided to turn off the motion sensor on the skulls and bones we have on the front door because every passing car was setting them off and she didn't want to scare away the little kids. I am still waiting for the first trick-or-treater now that it is 5:30 and starting to get dark. Ahhh the ravaging mob of kids...

The party went real well on Saturday, even with Teri loosing half her hair to stress. We ended up getting a couple of family members wanting to go along with our 12 invited guests which was swell since even though a couple of people didn't show [cough cough Lora] we still ended up with 16 adults present. With the alcohol flowing freely and everyone admiring Teri's costume, we played some get acquainted games and had a good time. [Sorry brief interuption there as Teri wants me to sit outside with her and await the masses of children that are sure to descend on our house, its now 5:45] I think that the only thing that wasn't good about the party is that everyone left at around 10:30, which I guess is the trials of having a party for older adults who have to get up and work the next day; Vegas being the 24/7 365 day a year city that it is. Sorry Jenn, no pictures, I don't have a digital camera and am not really into having a piece of my soul stolen by a mechanical device. I did dress up in a cool costume also, going as a mad scientist with my labcoat and artfully mussed up hair. The ensemble was completed by Teri's awesome last minute contribution - a lab beaker to drink my beer from.

Well, its nearly 6 and I am trying to decide whether to watch the football game or sit outside looking for the rampaging kids-in-costume. I could always just slowly eat the chocolate bars and peanut butter cups outside and then plead a stomach ache and go inside and watch the second half of the game. Ooops what was that, a knocking on the door? Wow we do have kids in the neighborhood, three pipsqueeks just made Teri's night by begging for candy. Guess I will have to go outside after all...

Halloween, its the new Christmas...

First of all, "Hi everyone I'm back!" I had a bout of stay away from the computer-itis. I just could never get the urge to plop my butt down in front of the PC at home for the last two weeks. Probably a combination of the 20 page paper rough draft being due and a rollout of an application at work that bombed and doubled our normal call volume. Anyways back to some serious blogging...

I have a question for everyone, is it my imagination or are people starting to decorate their houses for Halloween just like they do for Christmas? Is it a Vegas thing? I know that there were always people that got into it and did the haunted house thing and everyone puts out a jack-o-lantern or two, but now it seems like people are spending a couple hundred bucks on decorations. There are even three or four houses in our neighborhood that have put up Halloween lights, orange and purple monstrosities and lots of houses are sporting plastic blow up whatevers. Are we going to have full yard displays soon? Vampire Claws and his 8 tiny skeletons? Visions of pumpkins dancing in their heads? Ok I admit it, Teri and I have gotten tons of decorations also, but its for the party, yeah its for the Halloween party...

School daze

Ok I have been asked why I still go to school, me an oldster at 39 taking University classes constantly. I go to school cause I have this thing about always wanting to learn new stuff. If I had tried hard enough I could have had about 3 or 4 degrees by now. As it is I currently have over 160 undergraduate credits mainly concentrated in 4 areas: Chemistry - My original major and what I wanted to do with my life until a bad semester with a man hater dyke sue the University for discrimination woman chemistry professor. She gave every male student in her Quantitative Analysis Chemistry Lab a 'D' or an "F'. It got so bad that I turned in a lab write up that I had done and got a 'D' on it and my female lab partner turned in the same lab write up with just a few changes and got an 'A'. Computers - I tuned into computer geekdom in the late 80s and have managed to learn 7 or 8 computing languages, everything from C++ and Visual Basic to Fortran, UNIX, Java, and RPG. In addition, I have worked for various help desks here in Vegas for the last 10 years or so and have mostly enjoyed my jobs. I have also picked up a couple of certifications along the way. History - Probably one of the subjects that I enjoy the most. As soon as I finish my 20 page paper class and take one Freshman level class I will have enough credits for a degree in history, but will probably wait until I finish my other subject area... Secondary Education - Teri has just about convinced me to become a teacher as I would love to have summers off to enjoy my hobbies: computers, robots, and gardening. It would also be cool to teach in the same school as my wife, plus Teri keeps on telling me that I have a gift for teaching people stuff.

Even if I do manage to get my two degrees in a year or two, I have already decided that I am going to get a masters in computers or chemistry or both and maybe even continue on and get that elusive PhD in some other subject. I have also thought about going back and finishing up my chemistry degree even though there is not much I could do with it here in Vegas. I figure by the time I am done, between Teri and I we will have paid enough that they should name a building for me at UNLV.

Odds and ends

Time to dash off a quick post on things that are going on in our lives. The Ren Fair this weekend was a little bit of a disappointment, but I guess that is what you get when there is a 30 mile an hour wind blasting through. I did run into some old work buddies and am planning on inviting them to our Halloween party. Yes Teri and I have given the party a definite go. It is Saturday the 29th at 7 pm and should be a blast. (Laura we need your address to send you an invite) Teri's birthday is this weekend and should be an interesting experience as she is hitting the doldrum years when you just seem to not be able to get excited about your birthday. Speaking of birthdays, Josh's on again off again party is off or at least for Friday, but he is thinking of doing it instead on the following Saturday, stay tuned. I have been royally procrastinating on my 20 page paper and I have the rough draft due on Tuesday. I hope my professor doesn't mind a real rough and hurried job. Is anyone else eagerly awaiting this holiday season's plethora of great movies? Teri and I and friends are very anxious for the new Harry Potter movie and also Narnia. Teri also got her hopes up that the new Collin Firth porn movie (j/k kinda on that) was going to actually be playing Vegas on her birthday weekend, no such luck...

Procrastination, its making me wait...

Ok I have been real bad in posting again. I actually haven't been getting on the net much lately. I could blame it on football season starting, but that's not really it. I could also blame it on the fact that I have been reading more lately, I have, but thats not it either. I guess I am just a spurt worker, I write in spurts, blogging for several days straight and then taking a week off. I know I have been bad this time though becuase my brother, who secretly reads my blog, mentioned that I hadn't posted in over two weeks. Oops my bad. I decided that I had better write something now though as it is a busy month with UFC coming up, the Las Vegas Renfair, Teri's birthday, Josh's birthday, and even Halloween (with our party now a definite). If it seems like I am making excuses in advance, I am [chuckle]. Hopefully I haven't lost my audience or been put on Jen's bad links list. At least it seems like I have good company as everyone whose blog I visit hasn't seemed to be writing either, other than Vavoom and Martin who are as reliable as mailmen...