I hope you’re all having a wonderful and fun Halloween thus far! I’m gearing up for the trick-or-treaters that are going to start coming around soon. The official start time is 6pm or something like that, but I’ve seen a few groups outside already. At least, I think those girls were trick-or-treaters — or maybe they always walk around in their equestrian riding apparel like that! When I was a kid, we didn’t have “official” trick-or-treating times. We went immediately after school and stayed out until we got tired, ya know?

Anyway, my husband and I always have a bet on what the most popular costume of the night will be. A week’s worth of washing dishes is at stake here, and I went with Batman while Jerry went with Iron Man. Um, yeah, I think I’m going to win that one!

Mini Twix and mini Snickers at our place tonight, with me snacking on the goodies between visits. I can’t wait!

I don’t watch too much reality TV, so I didn’t catch that new show America’s Toughest Jobs as it aired during the last three months, but I’ve heard some great things about it, such as the fact that it was actually pretty entertaining and informative.

The premise sounds almost the same as The Apprentice, but instead of selling products and performing other business-related tasks, the contestants tackle dangerously difficult jobs. Just how dangerous? Well, get a load of these job descriptions:

• Crab fishing in the Bering Sea
• Truck driving in Alaska over icy, curving roads, often in the middle of nowhere
• Logging in the Pacific Northwest
• Bullfighting in Texas
• Driving Monster Trucks in California

And those are just some of the jobs the contestants had to perform. Yikes! I’ll never take sitting behind my keyboard for granted again!

Anyway, this show sounds kind of fun. I need to see if any of my friends have it on TiVo so I can catch a few eps.

I haven’t done a Booking Through Thursday meme in ages, so I went over to the site to check out today’s question — then realized that I liked last week’s question about favorite literary couples a bit better! Here it is:

Name a favorite literary couple and tell me why they are a favorite. If you cannot choose just one, that is okay too. Name as many as you like–sometimes narrowing down a list can be extremely difficult and painful. Or maybe that’s just me.

I have several favorite literary couples, beginning with Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan from The Great Gatsby. I know that they weren’t together much in the novel, but I was always fascinated by the way Gatsby held on to Daisy as an ideal throughout his life and how he did everything in order to impress her. Romantic, yet desperately sad at the same time.

I also like Catherine and Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights. These two characters by themselves aren’t that interesting, but they made an intriguing couple, and I’ll never forget the book’s image of two corpses being entwined together for all eternity.

There are other couples I like as well, even though their romances, like the ones listed above, didn’t end happily, such as Aeneas and Dido from The Aeneid, Tess Durbeyfield and Angel Clare from Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Captain Charles Ryder and Julia Marchmain from Brideshead Revisited, or Anna Karenina and Count Vronsky in Anna Karenina.

Hmm, are there any great literary couples whose love did work out??

The Philadelphia Phillies won what has to be the most anticlimactic Game 5 ever in World Series history. This game began Monday night, when the start was delayed several hours because of rain. The two teams were able to play to a 2-2 tie through 5 1/2 innings before the game was suspended. Inclement weather on Tuesday prevented the game from being continued then, so it wasn’t until Wednesday night that the teams picked up right where they left off — in the bottom of the sixth.

Three and a half innings later, closer Brad Lidge nailed down the 4-3 victory, and the Phillies won their first World Series championship since 1980.

While I’m glad that someone other than the Yankees or Red Sox won the title, I was really hoping that the Rays could take this one. The Phillies seem like such a boring team that I couldn’t get behind them and wasn’t happy for their win. I guess it was nice to see Jamie Moyer, a former Cub, get a ring after all this time in the majors, but other than that, there was no compelling angle to the Phillies win.

Anyway, now the baseball season is finally over. The new champs can go on their customary Disney vacations (or is that just for Super Bowl winners?), the Rays can go home satisfied with their complete turnaround this season, and everyone can look forward to next year.

Time to focus on football, basketball, and hockey now!

I spent some time looking through the JNJ (Johnson & Johnson) website today, and was surprised by all the medical products that they put on the market. I’m not just talking about Band-Aid® adhesives here; I mean truly sophisticated tools, equipment, and supplies that are invaluable for medical diagnostics purposes.

For instance, the Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Biosense Webster manufacturers special catheters and imaging software that help with the detection, treatment, and management of heart arrhythmias, allowing patients to live much more comfortably than they would otherwise.

I had no idea that Johnson & Johnson produced more than Band-Aids® and baby shampoo, so browsing through the JNJ website was an eye-opening experience. In addition to their vast array of consumer and medical products, I was impressed by the way JNJ gives back to the community through various health care programs and initiatives, both in the U.S. and around the world. The following link will take you to an informative page that tells a bit more about JNJ’s commitment to giving:

http://www.jnj.com/connect/caring/corporate-giving/?flash=true

At a time when most companies are solely concerned about improving the bottom line and delivering record profits year after year, it’s nice to see a major corporation like Johnson & Johnson putting more important values first. You can bet I’ll continue buying their products in the future!

By now you’ve probably heard the tragic story of Christopher Bizilj, an 8-year-old Connecticut boy who died at a Massachusetts gun club over the weekend when he lost control of the Uzi he was firing and accidentally shot himself in the head.

When I first read the headlines for this story, I was shocked. I had no idea that 8-year-olds were allowed to shoot Uzis, even with parental permission and adult supervision. I mean, as a parent myself, this just boggles my mind. What was the father thinking?

But after reading more stories on the subject, I learned that it’s not all that unusual for young kids to handle automatic weapons like that. One news article even went so far as to say that this scene (8-year-old with automatic weapon) can be found on any given weekend at gun clubs across the country.

Really? That’s a terrifying notion.

But legal or not, I still have to wonder, what the hell was the father thinking? His excuse was that Christopher has handled guns before (hunting and whatnot), and that he was under the supervision of a firearms instructor at the time of his death. That’s still b.s. There’s no way that kid should have been allowed to shoot a freakin’ Uzi in the first place!!

Look, I’m all for the 2nd Amendment and don’t care about people who collect guns. But a line has to be drawn somewhere as far as age goes, otherwise we end up with horrific tragedies like this one.

And what’s going to happen to the father? I have a feeling that if he wasn’t a doctor (and white), CPS would be all over his ass, investigating his home and interviewing his other kids.

This country makes absolutely no sense sometimes. If Bizilj had left Christopher home alone so he could run to the store and buy some bread and milk, he could be charged with neglect or endangerment. But putting an Uzi in the same kid’s hands is well within the law? You’ve GOT to be kidding me!

(AP Photo/NECN - New England Cable News)

I don’t have any players left for tonights Indy-Tennessee game, and the outcomes of all of my matchups are pretty much determined already, so I can post about my FF results a bit early this week. I had a great week overall, even though I only went 3-2 in the standings. The losses I had were very close (and mostly due to byes and injuries), while my wins were all blowouts, thanks to a bunch of great players coming back to the starting rotation.

The biggest news was that I finally had Brian Westbrook back after missing I don’t know how many weeks with broken ribs, a sore hamstring, and a few other problems. It seems he had everything but Plantar Fasciitis during the time he was out! But he came back with a vengeance, rushing for more than 160 yards and scoring two TDs! What a boost he was to my sagging lineup! I can’t wait to see the kinds of numbers he puts up for the rest of the season.

Studs:
Steve Smith, 23 points
Drew Brees, 23 points
Donnie Avery, 22 points
Brian Westbrook, 19 points
Santana Moss, 17 points

Duds:
SF D/ST, 0 points
Jason Witten, 0 points
Derrick Mason, 0 points
TJ Houshmandzadeh, 2 points
Brandon Jacobs, 4 points

(AP Photo/Rick Havner)

Ok, I know people have been asking Tampa Bay’s Evan Longoria about Desperate Housewives actress Eva Longoria all season long, to the point where the leading Rookie of the Year candidate is sick of answering questions about her. No, he doesn’t know the other Longoria personally. No, they’re not related, etc.

But I don’t think I’ve ever heard an opposing crowd taunt him quite the way Phillies fans did in Game 3 of the World Series last night. Whenever Longoria stepped up to the plate, the whole stadium erupted in an “Eva! Eva! Eva!” chant — which I thought was absolutely hilarious (since I’m 12)!! This didn’t happen in Boston during the ALCS, did it? Leave it to Phillies fans…

(Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

We’ve decided to buy a third car in order to preserve our new van during the winter months. It’s just going to be a junker, nothing special or fancy. The only requirement is that it needs to be reliable enough to start in below-zero weather. We should be able to find something decent out there, as I know a lot of people are selling things at rock bottom prices in order to get cash to pay off their bills.

We’ll also need to get some cheap auto insurance for it, but that shouldn’t cost too much — especially if we go with our current carrier and get a multi-vehicle discount.

The reasoning behind this decision is that we want to preserve our $25,000 van as much as possible in order to make it last a good 10 or 15 years. That shouldn’t be too hard to do, especially if we switch up to a winter car and keep the van away from harsh elements like snow and road salt.

The big news around here is that Oscar-winning Dreamgirls actress Jennifer Hudson’s mother and brother were murdered in their south side home yesterday. Still missing is 7-year-old boy Julian King, Hudson’s nephew. An Amber Alert was issued for the boy on Friday, and the FBI are now involved in the case — though that doesn’t necessarily mean officials believe King has been taken across state lines.

Jennifer Hudson reportedly flew into Chicago immediately upon hearing the news of these incidents.

This is a crazy, tragic story. I’ve read some speculation about the whole motivation of this crime spree being to hold the boy for ransom. If that’s indeed the case, I think the perp will find it next to impossible to carry out his plan. I mean, this is a major news story now, and there’s no way it’s going to end with a wire transfer to an offshore account.

I feel bad for Hudson, her sister, the boy Julian, and everyone else affected by these senseless murders. Just utter senselessness all the way around.