Halloween '18: Hot Dog and a Movie

I got the idea from a friend at work. He said he was going to sit outside with his family and project cartoons on his house while they handed out candy.

After talking to him, I thought, I could do that instead of playing Halloween music. I bet Charlotte would get a kick out of it. All I needed was my old Proxima, a DVD player, and the computer speakers I was already going to use. 

I was thinking of showing either The Nightmare Before Christmas, Pooh's Heffalump Halloween, or It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. I went with the Peanuts gang.

Here's the test run at 5:45. The image is dim, but you can see it.

It was looking pretty good by 6:30. Next year I'll remove the bulbs from that house light.

Okay, the driveway is ready.

Is the front porch lit? Yep!

Is Charlotte ready to go? You bet! (The irony of this costume is that Charlotte refuses to even touch a real hot dog... I suppose that makes the outfit scary to her.)

Daphne and Char hit the neighborhood haunts while I stayed home to hand out candy and babysit the DVD player.

I wondered if only the parents would recognize It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, but many kids told me that they love this cartoon. One princess excitedly shook the top of her candy sack as she whispered to me, "That is my favorite movie!" 

The ladies got home around 8. For fun, I turned down the house lights and fired up the opening scene of The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Did Charlotte get any candy?

When she was little, Daphne would organize her candy and tally it on a sheet of paper. So when her dad stole a piece of Halloween candy, Daphne would catch it and call him on it.

Char also organized her candy, but she didn't write anything down. *rubs hands together*

I think I can get away with a few thefts...

Pumpkin Indigestion

Here are Char's plans for last night's pumpkin carving. She thought it would look creepy if a large pumpkin ate a smaller pumpkin. That's why the pumpkin on the right is saying, "Eat You!" It's hard to make out, but Char did draw a small pumpkin in its mouth.

Daphne made the ghost pumpkin. It reminds me of the line from the Charlie Brown Halloween special, "I got a rock." Char's pumpkins are on the left. 

Let's zoom in.

Yes, that does look creepy. Good idea, Charlotte.

For a final touch, I taped this word balloon to a paper clip.

I think we're ready.

Children of the Corn (Maze)

In 2015 we found 19 out of the 20 punch stations in Pumpkinville's Big Maze. In 2017 we found all 20, but it took us two visits. On Sunday we found them all in two and a half hours.

We're getting better at this, and we got our steps in, too!

 Let's go in.

"Found one!" You can see that it was windy out there.

I used to think that I have a good sense of direction. I don't think that anymore. Daphne handles the navigation when we travel. That includes corn mazes. She printed the maze's layout and highlighted the rows that we had searched. 

What's with Trolls this month? I took Char to that movie almost two years ago. Char had a Trolls hair day at school, the third graders watched the movie in class, we listened to the Trolls soundtrack in the car, her class sang a Trolls song at the music program, and now the corn maze is Troll-themed?

Here she comes.

Done!

I have blogged about this corn maze twice before. Last year I wrote, We then left the maze to celebrate: Char ran across the hay bales, I got myself a two-dollar hot dog, and Daphne filled out our punch cards for the drawing. That pretty much sums up our personalities: Char's about fun, I'm about food, and Daphne's the responsible one."

The only thing that has changed since then is the hot dog. Now it costs three bucks.

I Got Zero for Halloween

Like my neighbors, you might ask, "What's a guy your age doing on a skateboard?" The answer would be, "Having fun with my kid."

I bought this Zero skateboard last weekend from shopgoodwill.com.

I touched up the scratched black paint after cleaning the bottom of the deck. Black paint is easier to match than red or white. If you're not doing a full restoration, you can make a big difference by touching up just one color. The deck doesn't look new, but it does look better.

I pulled off the old grip tape with the help of my hairdryer.

The new Santa Cruz grip tape nicely suits the upcoming holiday. 

I liked the skulls, but the original Zero wheels were too beat up to appreciate the artwork.

I replaced them with Sector 9 wheels that look just as bad, but they're bigger in diameter and will hopefully keep me from planting my face into the boulevard.

But honestly, you don't have to actually ride a skateboard in order to play with it.

A Caturday Morning

Daphne leaves at 6:30 AM when her jazz band has practice at 7. I let Charlotte play with my laptop during breakfast on these mornings.

Initially, letting the computer entertain her was for survival - there's a lot going on when you have only 30 minutes to get yourself and your daughter ready to leave. But Charlotte can do so much for herself now; using the laptop is just a tradition.

This morning Earl crawled up to Char's shoulder while she was watching cat videos on YouTube. I took a picture to send to Daphne, and the moment I pressed the button a man appeared on the screen eating breakfast with a cat on his shoulder, too.

It's kinda weird how that worked out.

Back in Business

Daphne took Charlotte to a jazz band practice after school yesterday. That gave me some time to shop at Goodwill.

I was tempted by this Schwinn Continental.

I like local history, and this 1973-1974 bicycle license sticker from Cedar Rapids is cool.

The small frame didn't fit me, and Char wouldn't be interested in a boys' bicycle, so I passed. I left with a Pixies Acoustic: Live in Newport concert DVD instead.

I headed to the TV in my garage when I got home.

I thought I'd watch some of the Pixies' concert while I messed around at my workbench. I couldn't. The Apex DVD player rattled like a metal box full of marbles when I pressed the eject button. Well, shoot.

Buying another used DVD player isn't a big deal; all the thrift stores sell them. 

What makes the Apex player special is that it is a cheap unit made in China. Many times Chinese manufacturers skip the step where they set the region code. It's not advertised as such, but this Apex model (AD-1600) is a region-free player that is compatible with both PAL and NTSC DVDs. That's handy when I want to watch the Turkish Superman while working on a bicycle.

I considered throwing the Apex away, but I decided to void my warranty and open it up. I don't know anything about DVD repair, but it couldn't hurt to look. 

I spotted a problem as soon as I removed the cover. This broken, rubber belt was hiding in the corner.

The black pulley wheel (on the left in the picture) turned when I manually moved the disc drawer. The smaller motor wheel below it spun freely. My guess was that the broken belt used to connect the two.

Daphne had a bag of rubber bands that I could dig through.

It's not a perfect match, but this band looked like it might work.

It was lucky that the wheels were so easy to access. The band quickly slipped into place with the help of a toothpick. 

Fingers crossed:

Yea! Now I can watch the Pixies play Wave of Mutilation acoustically. 

I don't know how long this repair will last, but the Apex avoided the landfill for now. I'll keep a few extra bands in the garage and call this a win.

I like Saturdays at Flix

I don't typically like upgrades. Every few years I get a new laptop to use at work, and I always seem to get less. Yes, my latest laptop weighs less than it's predecessor. But it doesn't have a DVD drive, and it has also has less memory. I have to use an external DVD player and a external hard drive now.

Also, familiar programs that have worked for years are no longer compatable with the new laptop. What kind of an upgrade is that?

So, I was disappointed when I heard that Merle Hay Mall was closing its huge, 800-seat theater and building a new one. I'm glad to admit that Flix Brewhouse is an upgrade that I can appreciate.

I like buying tickets and reserving our seats ahead of time. I didn't know how stressful finding seats for the family was until I didn't have to do it. Shuffling down a crowed isle only to be crossly told that those open seats are "taken" is embarrassing and frustrating.

I like the food. It's weird eating in darkness, but they have dim, under the counter lights to help. My go-to is the supreme pizza, hold the peperoni.

I like the programming. Instead of commercials, Flix runs thematic clips before showtime. For example, we watched parts of old cartoons like The Land Before Time and The Flintstones while waiting for The Good Dinosaur to begin.

I like the previews. At showtime, Flix runs about five previews that take no more than 10-12 minutes. That's it. I've watched 30 minutes of previews and commercials in other theaters. When Charlotte was younger, 30 minutes plus a full length movie was too long of a time for her to stay focused and entertained.

I like the displays. I'm sure these are not Flix exclusives, but these displays are fun photo ops.

Would I recommend Small Foot? No, I would not. 

Would I recommend watching Small Foot at Flix? Yes, I would.

Getting a Grip (Tape)

Skateboard Update:

I haven't applied grip tape to a skateboard before, so I thought I'd practice on my beater board before I tried to regrip the Sector 9 deck. 

I decided to apply tape that had a design on it rather than just standard black. Finding grip tape with an appropriate image proved difficult. Many of the designs feature drugs, women's bodies, and/or profanity. I understand I'm not in the target audience for skating accessories. No skateboard designer ever slapped their pen on the table said, "There! This should appeal to a middle aged man in the Midwest!"

I picked a skull image since Halloween is coming. I'm not sure if the skull is a reference to something else, but Charlotte thinks it looks cool. That's good enough for me.

I watched several sketchy YouTube videos about applying grip tape. I finally decided to follow this guy's advice ---> Link. He seemed trustworthy, and his teeth are very white. 

The clear grip tape mutes the Sector 9 logo, but the tape will keep Charlotte from sliding off the deck when she rides it. I suppose that's more important...

I'm using the larger wheels that were on Char's short-longboard. They should work for now.

The Sector 9 board has come a long way since it left Davis, California (don't eat the sugar cookies when you visit ---> link.) I'm pleased with how the skateboard came out, and I'm glad I took a chance on it.

Mini update -10/29/18: I scored some different Sector Nine wheels for a reasonable price on eBay. I really like the ride and look. I think this project is done.

Just Fortunate to be Here

We attended Char's music program last night. The theme was based on the book The Day the Crayons Quit.

When Char's class walked onstage, a mother near me commented, "These kids look huge!"

I recorded my favorite part of the program, but for some reason the video is a useless black. I'll have to describe it. While she was singing, Char took one second to look me in the eye and scowl. Then she went right back to singing with an innocent face. It's now our family joke, and she pulled it off flawlessly.

She gave me the same look while singing in church last Sunday. She makes the face right at the end of this short video. You can see it on my phone, but sometimes the blog cuts video clips short.

Each grade performed a 15 minute set. When the second graders began singing "You are my Sunshine," a preschooler sitting behind us sang along note for note. When it was done, she said, "Hmmmpt. That's my song!"

The program ended with the third graders singing "True Colors." Thematically, that's a great song choice. Also, this version is on the Trolls soundtrack that we listen to in my car, so hearing Char sing it felt personal.

This is the last time Charlotte will be part of this program. Next year she'll be in the 4th and 5th grade program. That makes me a little sad. It could be worse. I know parents who are near my age, and they are already starring at an empty nest.

So, my melancholy is brief. Instead of worrying about what we are leaving behind, I focus on looking forward to what is ahead. In reality, I'm just fortunate to be here.