Dolphin’s Dock

Halloween is finally here, but it’s really snuck up on me this year.

I didn’t start working on a Halloween template for my blog until, oh, September 29th. So yeah, I had to put this whole thing together in 2 days. I didn’t get my Halloween party invitations out until the 4th or 5th (for a party on the 20th!). Speaking of the party, I bought my pumpkin for it on the 19th! I haven’t been much more on schedule since the party either.

TheBoyfriend™ and I have a costume party to go to this Friday. Do we have costumes? Nope. We know we’re going as “Peace and Quiet” (he as Peace, a hippy, and myself as Quiet, a mime), we just don’t have anything to put on. To make things worse, he has to meet with a client this evening so we won’t be home til about 8:30 or 9 so I’m going to have to go pick out my costume (all I really need is a striped shirt and face paint, I have everything else for me) tonight and he’ll pick out his tomorrow during the day (we have Jiu-Jitsu class on Thursday night so no time to do it then). I realize it makes me sound like a total control freak, but he doesn’t take Halloween as seriously as I do and I’m worried he won’t put together a costume on his own that is up to my exacting standards (geez that makes me sound even worse than I thought it would).   I also wanted to carve a special jackolantern to take to the party, but really I have no idea when it will happen.  I can’t carve it tonight because it will rot, and I’m just not sure the likelohood of me getting it carved in time if I wait til afterwork on Friday.

To confuse matters further, we’re taking care of a sick cat.  Actually 3.  Sigyn got a cold a few days ago, but has just been sneezing so we’re just monitoring her instead of rushing her to the vet.  She seems to be getting better but the other two have picked it up and it seems to have nailed Hobbes pretty good.  When we woke up this morning he was laying on the foot of the bed with his third eyelids (cat owners know what I’m talking about) extended and his nose so clogged that he was breathing through his mouth.  Needless to say he’s at the vet as we speak and I’m just waiting for them to call and tell me that he’s fine and I can come pick him up.

Ahh well.  This Halloween is just proving to be a bit trickier this year.  I guess it will server to make the treats taste even sweeter.

Can I just say that I want one of these desperately¹

1. just not desperately enough to spend $42 (!!!!) on one [↩]

Nothing is as fun as a box!

=^..^=

The Congressional Budget Office has released their estimates for the costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.  The verdict:  By the time it’s over, it will have cost us $2.4 trillion (that’s $2,400,000,000,000).  Numbers so big are hard to get one’s head around so how about this:  $2.4 trillion is $8,000 from every man, woman and child in America.  I don’t know about you, but I could use an extra $8,000.  With $8,000 I could pay off my car and still have enough left over to cover rent for just over a year!

Of course, taxes aren’t being paid by every man, woman and child in America, which begs the question: just how much are YOU paying for this war?  Are you getting your money’s worth?

We need the rain terribly and it looks like we might get some tonight.  My new bonsai tree however needs the sun.  If we must have cloud-cover all day long, at least let’s get some water falling from the sky as well.  So far, loads of clouds, not a drop of rain.

Jackolantern 2007

The design should look familiar to anyone who has visited here (as opposed to reading the feed) this month. Unfortunately, I had trouble getting a decent picture of it lit, it kept blurring. I didn’t have time to pull out the tripod and take a picture that way (to avoid the blurring) because i was already running late on getting everything set up for the Halloween party, and by Sunday morning, the finer pieces (like the tree branches) were already wilting pretty badly.

Update: Well, as I said, I was unfortunately unable to get a decent lit shot this year because I didn’t have time to set up the tripod for one before the party and the heat and humidity caused this guy to wither in record time (plus I don’t know what health it was in in the first place with the drought and all. All of the pumpkins for sale seemed kinda small this year). What I did though for those who really want to see it lit is digitally “light” the above photo in photoshop. It’s below the fold check it out. And remember you can click either picture for a larger view.

Continue reading Ignis Fatuus

As I said before, getting ready for my annual Halloween party is an all day event for me. Usually I watch Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas at some point during that day, but this year somehow the television got tuned to Mtv (I don’t know how, I think it’s the first time my tv has ever been on Mtv) which was running the entire second season of “So You Think You Can Dance.” Now I realize that that season has come and long gone for those who were fans, but I’d never seen it before. I have but one thing to say, there should be more shows on tv with scenes like this:

I might watch more tv if there were…

I should have taken it as a sign when getting out of bed was even harder today than normal.  I arrive at work (late, I told you getting out of bed today was harder than normal), open up my MacBook and find only a grey screen with the flashing ? of death sitting in the center of it.  Tried resetting the PRAM, connecting it to the iMac via firewire, booting from an AppleCare CD, nothing works.  Best I can tell, the harddrive is a goner.

Figured I’d bring in the left over Halloween cookies from this weekend’s Orange + Black party, so I brought them in an set them on the table in the lobby.  Then, later, I went to retrieve something from the printer and decided to get a glass of water and a few cookies.  I got my water and as I reached down to get my cookies I managed to dump the entire glass of water all over on of the cloth lobby chairs, the carpet and the table.  Oh yeah, and that glass had pretty much drained the water cooler so I can’t even refill.

Sorry posting has been slow lately. It’s been an extraordinarily busy week at work. This is my desk right now:

Hint: When I’m actively using all four monitors (and I am), it means I’m uber busy. Usually, at least one is just sitting there for the geeky factor.

Halloween has long been my favorite holiday. This is probably pretty obvious to those who’ve been reading here and at the old Where the Dolphin’s Play blog for awhile as it’s the only holiday that I create a brand new custom theme for each year. We also throw an annual “Orange and Black” Halloween party at our house (where attendees wear orange and/or black clothing). Actually I guess it’s more accurate to say that I throw an annual Orange and Black party every year, and TheBoyfriend™ politely sits back and let’s me do my thing (though he makes spiced hot apple cider each year which is always a hit). I also carve at least one jack-o-lantern every year (I used to do two or three but for time’s sake now I usually just do one), but I’m guessing that’s a bigger to do for me than it is for most people. I fire up Adobe Illustrator about mid-September and start to work creating a custom pumpkin pattern for that year, picking at it here and there ’til I finally get something I’m completely satisfied with. Then, having the pattern established, I visit several pumpkin-selling venues to find a pumpkin that is perfectly suited to my specific pattern. Once all of that is done and it comes time to carve the pumpkin (generally the day of the party), I get up early so I can take my time, and 5-7 hours later, I have the perfect Halloween jack-o-lantern just in time to spend another 2-3 hours decorating before guest begin arriving.

Why Halloween is my favorite holiday is a little harder to figure out (even for me). Continue reading Halloween