I'm a NaNoWriMo Winner for 2008

I just won my third National Novel Writing Month. This years novel, East Bend of the River. was completed two days early at 11:28 PST. Wahoo.

My Top 15 Podcasts

You can get interesting information and opinions through websites on the Internet. Thanks again Al Gore. In addition to websites and you-tube videos there is the radio version of the Internet called "Pod casts". They can be listened to from your desktop computer or downloaded to mp3 players like i-pods or Zunes. You can find interesting pod casts on the i-tunes site or another place called Podcast Alley. I'm a big listener to pod casts. Some come out daily, some weekly and others on very irregular schedules.

Here's my personal top fifteen in no particular order:

1- Skeptoid

2- The Enlightened Spartan

3- The Detroit Tigers Podcast

4- Through the Bible

5- 60 Second Science

6- Common Sense

7- Hardcore History

8- Bolt Talk

9- In the Word

10- Motivation to Move

11- Escape Pod

12- Backstory

13- One Minute How-to

14- Astronomy 161

15- Writing Excuses

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad

Happy 51st Anniversary mom and dad.

Wow... your marriage shows a level of love, honor and commitment that is unheard of in today's society; where five years together is considered by many a major achievment. You've been through the good times and the bad and your relationship has only grown stronger. Hope you have a great day!

We love you mom and dad!

Happy 20th Birthday Erin

Wasn't it only twenty years ago ??? Where does the time fly?

Wicked Clown Prison

Well, we all had fun- even the little kids.

Happy All Hallow's Even (Halloween)

From the Wikipedia:

"Halloween has its origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain (Irish pronunciation: [ˈsˠaunʲ]; from the Old Irish samain).[1] The festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture, and is sometimes[2] regarded as the "Celtic New Year."[3] Traditionally, the festival was a time used by the ancient Celtic pagans to take stock of supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores.

The ancient Gaels believed that on October 31, now known as Halloween, the boundary between the alive and the deceased dissolved, and the dead become dangerous for the living by causing problems such as sickness or damaged crops. The festivals would frequently involve bonfires, into which bones of slaughtered livestock were thrown. Costumes and masks were also worn at the festivals in an attempt to mimic the evil spirits or placate them.[4][5]

The term Halloween is shortened from All Hallows' Even (both "even" and "eve" are abbreviations of "evening," but "Halloween" gets its "n" from "even") as it is the eve of "All Hallows' Day,"[6] which is now also known as All Saints' Day. It was a day of religious festivities in various northern European Pagan traditions,[7] until Popes Gregory III and Gregory IV moved the old Christian feast of All Saints' Day from May 13 (which had itself been the date of a pagan holiday, the Feast of the Lemures) to November 1.

In the ninth century, the Church measured the day as starting at sunset, in accordance with the Florentine calendar. Although All Saints' Day is now considered to occur one day after Halloween, the two holidays were, at that time, celebrated on the same day. Liturgically, the Church traditionally celebrated that day as the Vigil of All Saints, and, until 1970, a day of fasting as well. Like other vigils, it was celebrated on the previous day if it fell on a Sunday, although secular celebrations of the holiday remained on the 31st. The Vigil was suppressed in 1955, but was later restored in the post-Vatican II calendar.

Halloween today: It is often celebrated in the morning and afternoon as well. Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, ghost tours, bonfires, costume parties, visiting haunted attractions, carving jack-o'-lanterns, reading scary stories, and watching horror movies. Irish and Scottish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century. Other western countries embraced the holiday in the late twentieth century. Halloween is celebrated in several countries of the Western world, most commonly in the United States, Canada, Ireland, Puerto Rico, Japan, Australia, United Kingdom, and at times in parts of New Zealand. In Sweden, the All Saints' official holiday takes place on the first Saturday of November. "

A Big Week

What can I say it will be pretty big around here for the rest of this week and the next. Monday thru Thursday its been teeth, teeth and pulling teeth. Tomorrow it's Halloween and BMO and I have planned some great fun for the trick or treaters. We'll be taking some photos and putting them up here.

Then it's November 1 and National Novel Writing Month. November 3rd is Erin's birthday, Nov 4 is election day and then it's more work and an all day CE course on Saturday. Whew... I'm getting tired just thinking about it.