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RTDNTOTO 🐻 Random Thoughts Deserving No Thread Of Their Own 20 (2025)

JNA said:
Who remembers listening to a rebroadcast of Orson Wells Radio theater War of the Worlds ?
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I remember listening to it sometime in elementary school - maybe 4th grade. I seem to recall we also listened to the original Orson Wells version that was set to a really rudimentary animated slideshow that we watched on a reel-to-reel projector that got wheeled into the class.
 
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luckless pedestrian said:
unpopular opinion: Trick or Trunk Halloween means people are way too paranoid or your community doesn't have dense neighborhoods for trick or treating
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I have a standard anti trunk-or-treat rant whenever my staff proposes doing public engagement at the one in the municipality we work for. We still go and table at it from time to time but I hate the car orientation of it and the undermining of the tiny bit of autonomy some kids get on Halloween in their neighborhoods.
 
Faust_Motel said:
I have a standard anti trunk-or-treat rant whenever my staff proposes doing public engagement at the one in the municipality we work for. We still go and table at it from time to time but I hate the car orientation of it and the undermining of the tiny bit of autonomy some kids get on Halloween in their neighborhoods.
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yes. this!!!
 
luckless pedestrian said:
unpopular opinion: Trick or Trunk Halloween means people are way too paranoid or your community doesn't have dense neighborhoods for trick or treating
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I used to feel the same way but after taking our kids to a few trunk or treat events I've changed my mind.

Our elementary school PTA began hosting a trunk or treat event back around 2017 or 2018 and it's a blast. It's in the parking lot at our school in a very dense neighborhood on the edge of our downtown - the kind of neighborhood where the people who live right there get 500 or 600 kids at their door on Halloween, most of whom are running around unescorted by adults (or adults who are trailing 12 houses behind).

When done right I think it's a good chance for the parents of little kids who enjoy dressing up and decorating and handing out candy to do so because they might miss out otherwise because they've got to maybe chaperone some kids.

I didn't go to the one at the elementary this year (it was Wednesday night) but judging by the pictures that my wife took, some of the parents go all out decorating their displays. I used to participate and would load up the back of my truck with straw and pumpkins and put a bunch more pumpkins around it and dress like a farmer. My $60 display definitely would not be cutting it this year!

I was on a walk the other day and saw a sign outside a church advertising a Trunk or Treat event and for some reason it had a picture of the Monopoly guy on it. It made me think that if I had a Rolls Royce or a Bentley or something like that, I'd take it to my kid's elementary school Trunk or Treat, dress up as the Monopoly guy, and hand out 100 Grand bars and gold foil wrapped chocolate coins (even though the chocolate in those are generally pretty terrible). I'd pop the trunk open and it would just be filled to the top with 100 Grand Bars and "gold coins" and I'd stand there in a top hat and monocle. It sounded funny in my head but, judging by her reaction, it was apparently much less funny when I tried to explain it to our 15-year-old.
 
We're preparing ourselves for Halloween Mayhem... we live in "THE" trick or treating neighborhood of the city. We are stocked with 3,500 pieces of candy and fully expect to run out.

Our house is one block off "Halloween Street." The street self shuts down without any barricades or police--the pedestrians simply take it over and it ceases to be possible for a vehicle to get through it. Yes, it is that dense with people at the peak, and it should be epic this year since we have fabulous weather and it falls on a Friday.
 
SlaveToTheGrind said:
Our Halloween routine of the last several years...lights out and go out to dinner. Longhorn on the agenda tonight.
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Same here but dinner at a friend's house. We've handed out candy before and even stocked up for early evening/if plans fell through but when we leave for dinner we'll just put what we have left out in a bowl.

We bought a pumpkin but have been too busy to carve it!
 
Spent the better part of the week in Eugene, OR working with a group to try to (dismantle? suggest? reduce?) state Planning law. Long drive home last night.
Turning around to go back down (this time to Portland) for the Nuggets/Blazers game tonight. Taking my oldest son and his friend... my kid will do most of the driving...

Last weekend a wind storm blew down some huge branches in the neighbor's yard behind my (old) house. I still co-own the house with the soon-to-be Ex wife. Through this process, we have agreed to give eachother space and respect our home areas. However, after a $3200 estimate to remove the damage, I am now going to go over there this weekend to help clean up for the neighbor. I got my chainsaw out and got it running in the parking lot of my apartment. Got a lot of looks from residents and neighbors. After seeing that it was functional, I quietly carried it to my apartment (it is on my patio now)... I felt this may look weird, but it IS Halloween... :doubtful:
 
Wondering why my water bill has suddenly started coming to me addressed as AICP. That is correct, but not something that would normally appear on a utility bill (or mortgage, or HOA dues, for that matter).
 
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