Random Thoughts in the Past 24 Hours

Kids With No Costumes – 8 PM rolls around and the kids aren’t coming as frequent. Then the doorbell rings and there are seven teenage boys with shopping bags asking for candy. No costumes! What’s the protocol on this? Do I give them candy? Let me tell you, with seven teenage boys at my door, I sure as hell was going to give them candy or fear the aftermath of what would happen to my car’s tires. There was even one guy with no bag! I made a comment and he asked if I had a bag that I could spare. I politely declined and whispered “Moron”.

Buying Candy – It’s pretty hard to find Reese Peanut Butter Cups at 5:30 on the night of Hallowe’en. But I managed to find some at Zellers. However, it was $10 for a bag of 90! I picked up two bags with the notion that I would return the other bag. This is a smart thing to do people! It’s like the keg party you’re at that has a spare in the back room JUST IN CASE. Just don’t let some thirsty partier crack the last keg before the others are finished, or you’re stuck there all weekend drinking it – or in this case, eating Reese Peanut Butter Cups. Anyhow, keep your receipt to avoid these hangups. For mental note’s sake for next year when I’m reading this entry, I didn’t get through a bag of 90 Reese Peanut Butter Cups. I probably used 70, along with Mike’s Rockets.

Peanut Allergies – The big thing nowadays is not to give candy with peanuts in it in case of allergies. Well, some may question my purchase of the Peanut Butter Cups but the way I see it is that it’s clearly labeled so if a kid can’t eat it, at least he has all that other peanut free candy that they got from the neighbourhood. We received some great compliments on the choice of the Peanut Butter Cups. Plus, if we get stuck with candy afterwards, it’s easy to swallow 20 of those in a day. Ugh.

Throwing Eggs – Let the following life fact echo in everyone’s head and stay there for eternity. “If thou thinkest an egg thrown at your buddy’s house is funny, you must also be prepared to find it funny when he retaliateth by dumping the leaves from his yard in front of your door.”

Ringing the Bell – Ah ha, I bet you thought I was talking about the kids at Hallowe’en ringing the bell? Nope. This is about ringing the bell on the public bus. Now, I consider myself a seasoned rider of the public transit system so I will give this person the benefit of the doubt. Anyhow, as I sat on the bus this morning, the lady next to me asks if I may reach up and ring the bell so that the bus driver knows to stop at the next stop. Well, the next stop is the building I work at…and where 90% of the bus unloads in the morning. Being a seasoned rider, I realize this is pointless as we all know that in the morning, the driver KNOWS to make the stop there. It’s just a given. It would be different if it’s an odd stop along the way. So here is my list of ‘When There is No Need to Ring the Bell.”:

• When you are getting to the end of the line. The driver knows enough to stop there.
• You don’t have to ring the bell if there is a major stop coming up. Granted, you would have to know this beforehand after many trips on the bus. A fine example is the mall. Someone is 99% guaranteed to get on or off at this stop. So there is no need to ring the bell.
• There is no third option.

So there you have it. Palmer’s Thoughts for the past 24 hours. Oh, plus I love cable for the sole fact that I can watch the Rick Mercer Report. That guy is freakin’ hilarious.