Author: Christine

Reading Jenn’s post about Halloween got me thinking about it myself. This will probably be one of Jason’s last years going out trick or treating (he’s 11 – we get to stop soon, right?), and of course I have mixed feelings about this. It’s hard sometimes watching your child grow up. Ironic that some schools and churches worry about Halloween celebrating pagan rituals – which it does, I realize that – but Jason’s Catholic school allowed them to wear their costumes to school today. I think that’s great – it’s such a waste to spend money on a costume to wear it just a few hours.

When I was growing up, it seems like we always got to wear our costumes to school. In Kindergarten we had a parade with the other class, and then we had a big party. I dressed up as Raggedy Ann – my Mom made my costume and I had a wig made of red yarn. It was really quite adorable – I might have to see if we can find a photo tonight and post it!

My parents were involved with the Jaycess and Jayceettes, so they always worked on the Haunted Houses that they sponsored. I would go with them, watch them building the house, knew the maze pattern, what was contained in every room and how it was all fake. I remember one year, I was so excited to finally get to go through the Haunted House when it opened – and I was TERRIFIED! I started screaming and crying right after we went around the first corner, but it was too packed to get back out – so I ran through the whole thing, crying the entire way. I guess knowing all the secrets didn’t help in the end.

When we moved to Kankakee, there was a house in our subdivision that went all out for Halloween. They had the black lights, the glowing things, candles, haunted house music – and they would sit on the porch, dressed up as a scarecrow with straw and everything – and just as you convinced yourself that the scarecrow was fake, they would leap up and grab you! I think I fell for it every year, even though I knew to expect it.

My parents always got candy from me out of my goodie bag at the end of the night. I remember coming home, dumping it all out on the floor, inspecting it (because the days of razorblades and pins in candy had already started), and then sorting it out. The pile for my favorites, the stuff that was just ok, and the stuff that I hate. I am a picky eater, and I don’t like nuts in my candy bars. I love peanut butter, but I can’t stand peanuts in what should otherwise be a smooth candy experience. My parents got my Snickers and anything else with nuts, along with those nasty peanut butter chew things – the ones in the orange or black wrappers. I hate those, eating them feels like you are going to pull a tooth out!

What are your favorite Halloween memories from your childhood? Do you still dress up for Halloween? Are you going to any costume parties this year? What are you going as? What is your favorite Halloween candy? What is the worst candy ever?

I’ve never been a big fan of the “tip jar” that you see on some blogs. I understand why people put them there, but I don’t know if I would ever give someone money through one. Sure, if they were raising money for a specific campaign (walking for breast cancer, biking for MS like I will be doing in April) I am more likely to send a donation to the cause. Or I might send someone a gift from their Amazon Wishlist. But I don’t normally toss money right in to the tip jar. Then again, I don’t give money to the people begging on the street corner either.

Last week, I mentioned that I had been sent information on adding two basic, non-obtrusive text ads to my sites. In exchange for two little href links on four sites, I got a nice chunk of change. I will get that same amount of cash once a month, along with new links to switch out. Jennifer pointed out this post about blog spamming and said that she was going to change from my default skin to avoid the text links.

This confused me, and I really don’t agree with Orange Haired Boy’s post at all. I posted two text links, href tags only. I got to pick where they are at on my site, and if you scroll so far down on my sidebar that you even see them I would be amazed. I checked the links myself to make sure that they went to legitimate sites without pop-up ads that cart you off to some porn spam mecca – and they don’t. (I could have asked for different links if I wanted to even, but I took the ones they sent to me.) On one of my sites, the text is visible, but blends almost in to the page – and I made it display “below the fold” on a page that otherwise requires no scroll. My e-mail was from a different address and ISP altogether, and to be honest – I didn’t do that much checking in to it anyways. I wouldn’t have even looked at the headers of the e-mail if it wasn’t for OHB’s post. I think he’s wrong to suspect some scam – especially based on my own experience.

Maybe it’s just me, but if you wave some free money in front of my face, I will take it. I am all about the cash. Within 24 hours of posting my 2 links on 4 sites, I had cash sent on over to my PayPal account. Bing, bang, boom, and I was $90 richer. Oh yes, you read that right. $90 for 8 text links total. Plus if I refer friends and they sign up, I get a few dollars (one time only) more. Oh yeah, $90 a month and then some? I am *so* there! (If you want to sign up, leave a comment – I’ll have them e-mail you.)

Why pay money for text links? Easy! It boosts your rating in Google if you get a site that frequently updates (and is therefore frequently spidered) to post links to you constantly. In the past, I have seen traffic hit my site from Google just hours after my posts about things like Ben Affleck’s toupee. Google is my bitch. (I mean that in the best way, as I absolutely love to use Google for my searches all the time.) So there is no scam here at all – just a quick way to make some cash.

Considering the volume of spam I get, if I got more spam because of the text ads, so what? Spam is a lot easier to take if you are getting paid for it.

Speaking of Google, after seeing their AdSense ads on other sites and reading Matt’s feature about Blogging for Dollars, I decided to sign up. I never received notice about whether or not I was approved though – so today I tried to just log in to the site, and it worked. Guess they approved me. Now I’ve gone and added the AdSense banner to the bottom of every main page and to every individual archive page. It’s fun and amusing to see what ads you get for some of my posts, especially that last one about Howard Dean being metrosexual.

Which brings me full circle to the point of this post – edited at Google’s request. Just look at the PVR Blog results from talking about Tivo!

I’m all about the Benjamins… does that make me a bad person?

Let’s be clear. I know absolutely nothing for the most part about the three main candidates running for mayor in Houston. I do not live within Houston city limits, so I do not get to vote for the position. I tried to watch the debate last week between Orlando Sanchez, Bill White and Sylvester Turner. I couldn’t handle it. Between Orlando’s makeup and eyeliner (yes, seriously), Bill’s jug-handle ears that left me making gestures to the TV as if I could pick him up by them, and … well, Sylvester is just a freakin’ idiot that leaves me wanting to throw things at the TV – I switched the channel within 10 minutes. If I need a political update, I’ll just head to Chuck’s site and get the update on the Texas and Houston political scene.

I did notice the most recent television ad for Orlando Sanchez though. It starts off with an image of a tire splashing through a pothole, with the voiceover telling us how Orlando will fix Houston. You know, the usual babble that we always get. The handshaking, the smiles – the makeup and eyeliner. (I can’t deny that I find the man creepy, but that really had no part in my impression of the ad.)

At the very end, they show a crowd gathering around him. The crowd is diverse – blacks, whites, Hispanics, oriental – a mixture of people, much like Houston itself. One problem though – they were dim. I can’t really explain it, but it was as if there was no lighting on them – but Orlando?

Orlando was glowing. Like Jesus, risen on Easter morning. A glow that could probably be seen for miles. A glow that made me realize just how far politics in Texas have gone.

A vote for Sanchez is a vote for God. Smite him, and you will be struck down. I am sure of it, and I am glad I don’t get to vote in the Houston elections after all!

On a sad side note, the day after I noticed Orlando’s glow in the commercials and decided I really wanted to blog about it – I stopped seeing the commercials. For a week or so, I saw them all the time. The glowing image of Orlando was burned in to my brain. Now? Nothing. However, there are some old episodes of Seinfeld on the Tivo … maybe I’ll get lucky. Trust me, if I get a photo of it, I will share!