I had an incident, and I might as well tell you about it.  I’m 5 years old, and my mom takes me to my first Halloween party.  It’s a big auditorium with what seemed like a trillion sniffly kids.  I really hadn’t been out of the house that much ‘til then, but I’m in my tiger costume, with that high quality crinkly mask.  So as the parade starts (a bunch of costumed creatures walking around in a circle..), my mask rides up on my head and I can’t see through the two little holes.  I’m now going the wrong way.  It’s a disaster…. blinded, getting trampled, and going the wrong way.  My mom needs to come in, grab my hand and pull me out of there.  I was so humiliated.. so ashamed… that I walked away from Halloween and never went back.

Charlie Thomas here, exploring Arcade Creek on Thursday morning on a Chamber of Commerce day at Haggin Oaks.  Oh, look..! A frog..right next to my Titleist.  I DID get up & down from there, tho!  That Par 5 # 18 is quite a finishing hole..great day with my buddy Dana, Kenny, and Dave the city attorney on a furlough day.

Life is tough enough on the streets without cruel humans.  Big Ben–the cat whose X-ray is shown–was used as BB gun target practice. Not cool. You can see the pellets lodged near the vertebrae. Since arriving at the Placer SPCA in Roseville in late June, Big Ben has been slowly paralyzed by their proximity to the spine.  To fix the cat will require delicate surgery..to the tune of $ 1000.  If you can help pay for Big Ben..or to find out more..go to placerspca.org.

OMG… we can give thanks today for what might be called the 40^th anniversary of the Internet… and the simple network message that started it all:  “lo.”  On October 29, 1969, that message became the first ever to travel between two computers connected via the ARPANET, the computer network that would become the Internet.  The electronic dispatch was supposed to be the word “login,” but only the first two letters were successfully sent… before THE SYSTEM CRASHED.  Five minutes later, the first piece of SPAM came over… advertising a porn site.

I think we can all agree that guys love to see women in Halloween costumes that are sexy versions of actual professions. The sexy police officer, the sexy librarian, the sexy nurse, etc. But, can all professions be sexied up? Well, no, not according to Maxim Magazine, which claims that there are some professions which simply cannot be “sexified”. They’ve compiled a list of 10 professions that not even the hottest women can make sexy. They are …

• The sexy crossing guard
• The sexy bathroom attendant
• The sexy Subway sandwich artist
• The sexy speech therapist
• The sexy Jihadist
• The sexy transit worker
• The sexy modern-day pirate
• The sexy Pope
• The sexy women’s studies professor
• The sexy cable technician   

That last one, the sexy cable technician, might work, what with the obligatory butt crack and all…

First there was a report that Bob Seger was re-recording two of his older records, including Smokin’ OP’s. Now comes word from his management that he in fact is recording older material, we just don’t know what older material. It will be out by the end of the year though, tentatively called Early Seger-Volume One. Stay tuned.

As everyone’s heard, Mark Sanchez of the Jets was vilified for discreetly downing a hot dog near the end of their 38-0 victory over the Raiders.  Well, he’s now bought 500 hot dogs and 500 hamburgers… and donated them to the Community Soup Kitchen of Morristown, New Jersey.  The thing is… why does anybody care what he was eating on the sideline?  If you’re getting blown out, I could understand that munchin’ a dog might look unbecoming.  But in this case… he should have treated everybody to a whole platter of chili dogs…. all while wearing those giant beer stein sunglasses.  And next weekend, how ‘bout on 3^rd and 6… he brings out a Happy Meal?

Roger Daltrey says you can add The Who to the list of bands who will get their own Rock Band game. In an interview The Republican, Daltrey says, “There is one planned. The idea is fabulous. Anything that gets non-musical people interested in music is wonderful. In my opinion, music is our last true great freedom. They can burn our books, they can burn our paintings, but they can’t stop us singing and making music.”

Look for it next year.

Southwest is having a special that is almost too good to ignore right now. For the next couple of days, they are practically giving away flights. Some are as cheap as $25 one way. If you go past 350 miles they go up to $50, etc. Their website has been bogged down for most of the day, but if you can get in, you could save a fortune.

The pilots aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 188 say they were not sleeping when they overshot Minneapolis by 150 miles.  They claim they were on their laptops, looking at scheduling procedures…. and just lost track of time.  Right.  I guess that’s possible.  Or they could have been logged in to “Rate a Hottie.” Andy Borowitz has another theory….