Did I scare you?? No? Well… darn. Oh well, never mind. Here are some fun Halloween inspired videos for you.
Please to enjoy!
Panic at the Disco – “This Is Halloween” (from Tim Burton’s “A Nightmare Before Christmas”)
Another Panic at the Disco song. Apparently these boys really love Halloween!
Various Artists – “Do They Know It’s Halloween?”
Poetri’s work is always infused with humor. He’s awesome.
Please to enjoy… “Monsters In My Stomach”
Mia is 3 today (according to Fanless, it’s more like "3-teen")! She is such a sweet and smart little girl, and she has already informed me that when I come to her birthday party we are going to ride bikes at the park. Daddy’s purple bike, to be specific (I don’t think Daddy actually has a purple bike, though).
Happy Birthday, princess! (Don’t cry, Kim.)
![[mia+copy.jpg]](http://searchingfornormalcy.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/mia2bcopy.jpg?w=297&h=401)
I was scanning some old pictures this afternoon so that I could print them out later on for scrapping. I came across this picture of me holding my niece on the morning of her baptism. This was taken in 1979 outside of St. John’s Catholic Church in Hialeah, FL. 
Please to be noting my gigantor specs, flared jeans and pre-John Frieda Frizz-Ease hair. Oy… My niece, of course, was just as cute then as she is now (see wedding pic below).
Wow, I haven’t done one of these in a looong time. Well, I’m not feeling particularly poetic, so instead I’ll share this funny video I saw on Dooce’s blog.
David Sedaris reading one of his essays on David Letterman. Please to enjoy!
Just about all of my friends have children, as well as most of my cousins. I was just watching an investigative program about abducted and abused children and it got me thinking about all the kids I know, and how I would hate for anything like this to happen to them. The show offered some good information on how to keep children safe and I wanted to post some of that info here.
Most of this stuff is common sense, but maybe as a busy parent you just haven’t had the time to think about any of this. Consider this a friendly reminder. I feel it’s important for parents to teach their children a few simple safety lessons. Sadly, crimes against children are prevalent in this day and age. As a parent, every possible step should be taken to ensure your child’s safety. Please take the time to read this, to discuss rules with your children, and teach them what to do in case of an emergency. Particularly with school-aged children, as they will not be under their parents’ supervision for most of the day.
Teach Children Key Information
Teach your children their full name, address, phone number with area code, parents’ names and work phone numbers. Also teach them how to make an emergency call to you or 911 from a pay phone.
Teach Children About “Safe” Strangers
Children should be taught at an early age what type of stranger is okay to ask for help when they are lost or frightened. Good examples are: a mother with children, a clerk in a store, or a uniformed police officer.
Know Where Your Child Is Going
Children should always inform you before they go anywhere. As a parent, ask the questions: who, what, when, where, why?
The Buddy System
Never let your children go anywhere alone. Remind them that there is safety in numbers and they should always use the buddy system.
Don’t Let Children Be Lured In
Children should be taught not to go near cars or be lured by adults asking for directions, needing help finding something they lost, saying that their parents are in trouble.
Develop a Password System
Children can be very trusting of adults, especially adults with whom they may be somewhat familiar. It is critical that you and your children have a password system. Share the password only with your child, family members and trusted friends, and arrange that any adult who tries to accompany your child must have the password before they will go anywhere with them. Provide your child’s teacher(s) with your contact information and ask that they verify with you if anyone attempts to remove your child from school property, even if it is a friend or family member.
Reinforce Safety Skills
Parents should take every opportunity to reinforce safety skills. If an incident occurs in your community, speak frankly about it and use this time to discuss and re-emphasize the safety rules with them.
Take the Initiative to Be Informed
As a parent, be informed by knowing where the child predators live in your neighborhood. For more information, call 1-800-262-3257 or visit the state Sex Offender Registry Web site at: http://criminaljustice.state.ny.us/nso
Know How to Report Your Missing Child
Time is a very critical factor in abduction cases. The first 24 hours are crucial when a child goes missing. When you cannot find your child, you should immediately call local law enforcement and provide your child’s name, date of birth, height, weight, and any distinctive marks such as eyeglasses, braces or scars. Request that your child’s information be immediately entered into the National Crime Information Center’s Missing Person File, and call the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1800THELOST.
Always Keep an Up-To- Date Record of Child’s Information and Description
In case of an emergency, it’s critically important to have readily available up-to-date records of your children, including a recent photograph, fingerprints, physical description and even a DNA sample. Parents can contact the local police department to get information on having childrens’ fingerprints and DNA registered and kept on file.
Hopefully you will never have to worry about a missing or lost child. But this is most definitely a case of “better safe than sorry.”
I just made this cute Scrapblog page and wanted to share. It’s a pic of Tere, Fanless and me at our friend’s party this past Saturday. 
It’s been almost three months. Actually, it’s been 87 days to be exact. That’s how long it’s been since my parents left to Panama. (I know; you’re thinking “Oh my God, not another ‘parents in Panama’ post!”) Yes. Another ‘Parents in Panama’ post. It’s my blog, so deal with it.
I thought it would be easier by now. I thought I wouldn’t miss them as much as I did that first week. I thought I would be really cool with it by now. That is so not the case. At all.
My mom had the internet set up at their farmhouse just as soon as she could. And that helped a little bit because then we could email each other frequently. I don’t have a landline so I could only call her from my cell. Calls to Panama from my cell are $2.24/minute. I didn’t know that until I received my first post-Panama statement. I almost fell out of my chair. I’m kind of a broke-ass, so that rate? Yeah, not so much.
Well, Mom just learned how to use Yahoo IM (thanks to my cousin). I use Yahoo IM every day for work. Because all the employees in my department work from home – and are located in different states – we use IM or email to communicate with each other. So now my mom IMs me every morning when she sees me online.
At first I thought it would be great. Cool even. I can communicate with my mom instantly, not have to email her then wait hours for a reply. But it’s not. It’s worse. As a matter of fact, it fucking sucks big ass donkey balls (I wonder how many Google porn searches that phrase will refer to me??)!!! Because every time Mom sends me an IM message it just reminds me –again – how far away my parents are.
It reminds me how I can’t just pick up the phone and ask “How do you say this in Spanish?” Can’t just jump in my car and drive the 15 minutes to west Kendall to visit them. Can’t call my mom during “Oprah” to ask if she’s watching, or to ask her for advice when Fanless annoys me (believe it or not, it does happen). Can’t hang out with my dad in the living room watching really,really, bad Spanish-language variety shows on Telemundo, while my mom makes tortilla de platano or garbanzos fritos in the kitchen. Can’t have surprise visits from them during the day to distract me from yet another mundane workday. Can’t listen to my dad tell funny stories at the kitchen table while my mom inserts sarcastic comments in the background (what – you think my sarcasm is self-honed? No way! I totally inherited that from my mom).
Fanless and I had lunch with my sister, her BF, my niece and her husband a few weeks ago. During the course of conversation we discussed holiday plans. My sister will be out of town for Thanksgiving. My niece will be at her in-laws’. Fanless and I don’t know what we’ll be doing yet. For Christmas Eve, we are going to my niece’s in-laws’, and to my niece’s for Christmas Day. All great plans, really. Genuinely sweet and family-oriented.
But mom and dad won’t be there. And I know me. I’m the “mushy” one, the sentimental one, the cryer. And I will probably cry (as I am right now). And feel shitty. And wish they were here.
Did I mention the big ass donkey balls? And how much this sucks them? Okay. Just wanted to make sure I got that point across.
Sorry for the melancholy. But that’s all I got right now.
Peace out, yo.’
* Title references to this Barenaked Ladies song:
I read about this really cool Japanese website on Elise Blaha’s blog. You can upload your pics and it converts them into “old” photos. Being a lover of black and white photos, I am so in love with this effect!
I used my absolute favorite picture of The Boy and me to test it out. I’ll also show you the comparison to Photoshop, because while I can get around Photoshop, I am by no means an expert. If you are unfamiliar with Photoshop tools and filters, the Bakumatsu site makes it really easy to enhance the visual interest of your photos in one click.
Here is the original image. The only thing I did to it was adjust the brightness in Photoshop (it was taken inside a dark bar, so the lighting – even with the flash – was pretty bad):
Here it is after I altered it in Photoshop. I used “grayscale” to remove the color, and “blur” to smooth out any blemishes and “unevenness.”
I like that it’s black and white, but I feel it’s a little “flat.” It almost looks like it was colored in with a black Sharpie. That’s okay, but I’d like to see something more interesting.
And now here it is after using the Bakumatsu tool:
![oldphoto[1]](http://lh3.ggpht.com/lougalindo/SOROYLuuXQI/AAAAAAAAAYc/pszFGtulwuQ/s1600-h/oldphoto%5B1%5D%5B4%5D.jpg "oldphoto[1]")
I really love that it has that old grainy newspaper feel to it. I think the effect really lends interest and “texture” to the photo. I can’t wait to print this out and use it on a layout!
Anyway – Bakumatsu… check it out, play around, enjoy. It’s free!
Peace out!
