Spending the week in Scottsdale, AZ and I took a few pictures.  I had to share these two in particular that I took this evening.  I don’t know where you may be at right now, but my oh my the sunsets in Michigan are NOTHING like this!

So here are a few pictures from last year, just because I am getting a little excited about this years party.

The Trophies

A phenomenal job by a local trophy shop.  I bought the little cheap trophies that you can get at any Halloween store and had those mounted professionally on trophy bases and gave ‘em name plates for each category.

The Invitations

Printed on 5”x7” card stock with my (new at the time) HP Color Laser (I love that printer).  These turned out MUCH better than I thought they would have when I first started the project.

The Costume Contest Ballot

We used this to capture everyone’s thoughts on the categories of costumes presented.  This year, I am thinking I might do something a little easier to tally.  Not sure yet!

So I realized that since I got Facebook, I haven’t posted to my blog.  Completely forgot about it.  So, I did a little homework and have learned that I can update my Facebook with my blog posts and using Windows Live Writer I can generate a tinyURL and tweet the announcement at the same time… Watch out internet – here I come!  Viciously attacking you with my random musings.

A couple thoughts for today:

1. Been going though a great book with Sherrie that I highly recommend for all my fellow information workers out there:

2. If you haven’t seen it yet, check out Microsoft Silverlight’s new showcase with “DeepZoom” at: Hard Rock Memorabilia – Not only is the content interesting as hell, but the technology that is in place to zoom in to those images and navigate that data is truly amazing!

3. This gloomy weather (in mid July) has one thing going for it… It has me thinking about HALLOWEEN!  Starting to plan out this years party today.  Got lots to think about and plan.  I will be posting some of my thoughts on it here and the months tick by.

Some good friends of mine Kim and Dennis Niec have put together a great song as a political satire about taking the media at face value.  Check it out - don't forget to vote for your favorite candidate as well as the video - I look forward to your comments!!

Well, it's right around the corner.  I have been working pretty hard on learning what I can for this year's costume.  I will be going as Indiana Jones. There are a tremendous number of resources out there for this guy, and I need to thank everyone that contributed in any way shape or form to the sites listed below.  They have been a great help in putting together the information and pieces to my costume.

Here are the pieces I am going with for my costume so far...

	Let's start the little tour with the famous revolver.  Learning about the various weapons used by Indian Jones throughout the films has been a real treat.  I will be going with a rubber Smith & Wesson replica.  From Western Stage Props.
	I am mostly going with a "Raiders" style costume, so I needed a good brown leather holster (black was used in the Last Crusade)  Along with the majority of the costume, I have ordered this from Todd's Costumes.
	In order to hang that holster with care I am going to need a sturdy leather weapon belt.  The buckle on Indy's outfit was particular, so this too has been ordered from Todd's Costumes in the replica section.
	Next on the list - the whip holder.  This is not much more than a small strap of leather with good strong snaps in the appropriate places.  Again, purchased from Todd's Costumes, if for no other reason then he had it - and I needed it.
	Finally on the list of weapons... the classic bull whip.  The photo to the left is slightly different than the whip I purchased - that picture is cluttered.  I ordered an eight foot bullwhip from Western Stage Props in a beginners whip set.  Including instructional DVD and safety goggles.
	Naturally I will need a classic place to hold all the treats and tricks for this Halloween.  Next on the list is the shoulder bag also purchased from Todd's Costumes.
	I will need some way to hold that bag up... so a good sturdy leather belt and custom buckle is next on the list.  With all this strength, I am going to have to stuff that bag with some goodies... Future posts may detail the Grail Diary I plan on making and some of the other goodies.
	Last, but not least, the fedora.  This classic piece is going to "top" things off for this post.  As it is the last thing that I have ordered so far.  I went with the Dorfman Official Indian Jones Fur Felt Fedora from Todd's Costumes.  I went with fur vs. wool because it is my intention to display this with pride in my movie room.

That is all I have for you today.  I still need to find a good shirt, pair of pants, Jacket and boots.  They are all very particular to the Jones ensemble, but I am a bigger guy and most of the places don't offer replicas in my size without paying for oodles of custom work.

I will post some more once I get the pieces together and actually try them on.  I also plan on posting some end product shots of the Grail Diary I am working on along with some other props, so stay tuned.

So Sherrie and I decided to take a trip with the family.  I already had a personal day set for Thursday, and a friend of ours had mentioned the idea of a train ride, so it all sounded good.  We called Amtrak and made some reservations for four to go from Battle Creek, MI to Chicago, IL.  Madison was extremely excited, and we had charged the Nintendo DS for Nicholas, we were all set.

Thursday morning came, and after staying up WAY too late, we woke up with almost no time to get to the train station (two hours away.)  Sherrie scrambled and miraculously got herself and the kids ready to go in about thirty minutes, with me just standing by taking direction from her.  We loaded up the car and hit the road.  I was doing everything in my power to get us to the train station on time.  I managed to get us about 20 minutes away with 35 minutes to spare, when my daughter's nerves caught up with her, and she unfortunately threw-up in the car.

We then pulled over to a truck stop and cleaned her and the car up the best we could with the materials we had.  After a short chat with Madison, we discerned that it was just nerves and she was in fact still ok, I bought her a little travel pillow and we continued on to Chicago by car.  The new plan was to get to Chicago by car (we missed the train departure,) hang out for the day and get Sherrie and Madison to Union Station by 6:00 PM when the train was scheduled to leave, and I would just pick them up with Nicholas back in Battle Creek.

We arrived in Chicago about 10 minutes before the train would have and found some parking near Macy's downtown.  It was a lovely day, and we walked the city a bit.  Nicholas had gotten his clothes wet, so we went by Old Navy and picked up some new clothing before heading over to Shedd Aquarium. 

Madison was pretty excited to take a taxi for the first time, so we hopped in one of those and headed over to Shedd.  It was a nice trip and we were able to see the Blue Angels practicing for their show later in the weekend. 

I have never been to Shedd before, but quickly learned that it is a bit overpriced for the total value.  I would strongly recommend eating somewhere else as well, as the average "meal" you get there is 8.99 a person (my daughter had a corn dog, fries and a drink. for that price, and I feel that is absurd.

After wandering around the aquarium a bit, Nicholas started to have an episode (he has Autism and is sensitive to too many people), mix that with the dark areas in some of the areas and he wasn't enjoying it at all.  I took him outside for a bit to calm down and we headed back in for our lunch, and to finish the tour.

We took a cab back to the car and I headed out to get them to the train station on time.  Little did I realize just how congested Chicago gets on a Thursday at 5:00, on top of that, I didn't really know the roads that well.  I ended up taking a right turn into a road that has no exits and is made to help you get out of the city without traffic.  VERY BAD MOVE!  As Chicago faded from view in my mirrors, I had no choice to but to continue on.  I ended up navigating us down through South Chicago, and back to familiar territory I-94!

The rest of the trip went fairly smooth, and we ended up getting back home around 1:00 AM.  Overall, it was a great time with some very unique experiences that we will never forget.  Sometimes the best laid plans are extremely memorable, and I recommend to everyone to enjoy what happens no matter how much it goes away from the original idea!

Just a quick post to remind everyone out there of the importance of backing up your blog...  Just when you think, ah - it's just my blog, I don't need to back that up... that is when you will switch hosts and forget all about it ;)

Scott