Okay, this has been a busy day for me so far. First I went to work for four hours. I had to distribute a little goody bag to all of my employees. It wasn't much, just a bag with a Halloween themed pencil and pencil sharpner, a tombstone eraser, a Halloween pin and a little spring toy that jumps. They where just meant to be something fun for all of them to play with todya. I wanted to try to get them into the Halloween spirit.

I had to leave work early so that I could decorate the house. We don't do it the night before because of vandals. I put a lot of time and effort into this and I don't want stuff stolen or broken. I refuse to not do it, because I enjoy it. I snapped some pictures in the daylight just so you can see how things are going so far.

Here is the front yard from two different angles:

The best Candy Bowl ever

The upstairs bedroom ghost, which only really looks scary in the dark. I'll try to get pictures of that later as well so you can see.

I've got to go get my costume on now. I'll try to get a picture of that as well so you can see what I dress as.

Now of course before I did all the work I needed to get something to eat, so I stopped by Hooters for lunch. And you know what, bless the staff there for keeping the holiday spirit alive. Everyone was in costumes and it really helped get me in the mood.

My waitress Tyler

She looked good, but not as good as Ktreva will later in her costume.

I love Halloween!

Posted by: Contagion at 03:23 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 Yay! Happy Halloween!!

Posted by: Richmond at October 31, 2008 08:14 PM (RCeqK)

2 Tyler would have done very well in the Sexy Pirate Contest!

Posted by: RAT at November 01, 2008 08:25 AM (zvltl)

3 Unfortunately I got her picture after that contest was over.

Posted by: Contagion at November 01, 2008 09:05 AM (V7qLP)

4 Less than 3 weeks, dude. 'Course, there won't be any pirate chicks there, but still...

Posted by: T1G at November 01, 2008 09:22 PM (8l3lA)

5 Hey- where's the pic of the window ghost at night? And where's YOUR costume??? I feel so let down!

Posted by: Rave at November 02, 2008 04:44 PM (2M/UD)

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It's the morning of Halloween! I've got a couple of hours of work then I finish the transformation of the house into a haunted house for the kids. I'll keep you posted as the day goes on.

So what are you doing for Halloween?

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Tonight the boys and I carved our pumpkins. We started at 7:30 and Boopie is still working on his. Now, I've seen some cool pumpkins out there, ones that have some great designs. None of ours look like these:

I'm not sure who carved all of these, but they are impressive.

Posted by: Contagion at 08:27 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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According to all of the media sources I don't need to vote for president. Apparently Obama has already won.

They are calling that Obama has 355 electoral votes and McCain has 156. I guess us third party voters don't even get enough to get our candidate even 1 electoral vote.

Posted by: Contagion at 07:56 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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This weekÂ’s review is sponsored by Petey of PeteyÂ’s Powderhorn. He donated a can of Beamish Irish Stout by Beamish & Crawford in Cork, Ireland. Thank you Petey!

It came in a 14.9 fl oz nitro can. Yes, this is one of those beers that have the widget that when the can is opened it injects nitrogen into the beer making it creamier and have a thicker head. The can is black with a cream colored ban at the top, which may be trying to emulate what the beer looks like. In bold read letters running the length of the can is the name beamish. The company logo, a red B in a red circle, is in the middle with the worlds Genuine Draught Irish Stout.

There is a nice dark mahogany color to it with ruby highlights. ItÂ’s almost black like a cup of coffee. When the can is first opened and poured into a proper pint glass the bubbles flow on the inside of the glass as the head forms. It gives the look of waves flowing down the inner part of the glass. The head is a thick and creamy tan color. It leaves a decent amount of lacing on the glass.

The smell is a faint combination of Cocoa, Coffee and nuts. There is also a nice undertone of roasted malts. The flavor is mild for a stout. There are subtle notes of roasted coffee and chocolate malts. A mild bitterness is noticeable in the finish. As well as a very slight nuttiness. There is not much of an aftertaste to it at all.

This is a medium bodied beer. There is a nice creaminess to it that coats the mouth and throat and helps to keep the flavor fresh. Even though it is creamy, IÂ’m surprised that it isnÂ’t heavier bodied. I like my malts to be a touch thicker.

This is a pretty good stout, itÂ’s very easy to drink and goes down smoothly. It wouldnÂ’t be my first choice of stouts, but I definitely wouldnÂ’t pass one up. I could also see myself picking up a four pack when I was in the mood. ItÂ’s pretty good. I give it 6.5 out of 10.

Posted by: Contagion at 07:42 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I hate to sound like a broken record, but I know my posting has been off the last couple of weeks. A lot of that has to do with the fact that I've been up to my eyeballs in the upcoming elections. I'm not talking just Federal, but also state and local. I've been spending a lot of time doing research, listening to radio shows and watching debates and news reports. Sometime in the last couple of days I've reached a boiling point of anger and frustration that folks, honestly I just kind of started not caring.

I'm tried of all the mud slinging. Look, I don't need a commercial that twists the facts, gives partial truths and is biased to try to sway me to vote for their candidate. Seriously mud slinging is the lowest form of campaigning that I, personally, compare to bullying and playground harassment. Seriously, I know that there are some people that will fall for this type of shenanigans, I just think that if you are going to use mud slinging you are highlighting your opponents weakness because you don't have any strengths.

Then there is the endorsements. I have some news for these candidates, some of your endorsement hurt you more than help you. IE when you get an endorsement from Governor Blagojevich (with his 13% approval rating), you may not be getting the boost that you want. IE if you are trying to get me to vote for you, getting an endorsement from Blagojevich, Rockford Mayor Morrissey, local hero I've never heard of, anyone being investigated by the feds, any foreign government or figure or any celebrity is not going to help your case. I'm sorry. I mean seriously there is a local politician that has a quote from Blago on his mailer, two more have Morrissey. A man running for an elected office is using a "ten time local high school championship winning hockey coach" for an endorsement. I've never heard of this guy before, and honestly just because he can coach a high school hockey team to a championship doesn't mean his opinion means anything to me.

Then there is the buddy-buddy campaign. You know, the one where the candidate is trying to be your friend and he makes all of these promises on what he's going to do for us in the position he's running for. Then at the end he makes "the promise". ie "I'm going to save the tax payers money, you have my word on it!" Really? You're word, you don't say. Well that changes everything. I mean, c'mon, I don't know you from Adam yet I'm supposed to take you at your word that your going to do something. Since I'm just a naturally trusting and gullible individual, I'm just going to blindly take you at your word. I mean it's not like you've done anything to prove yourself trustworthy to me. As far as I'm concerned your word is no better than that of the bum that sits on the corner that promises to pick up the trash in my alley if I give him $10.00.

Now mix that in with the fact that I honestly don't like most of the candidates that are running for positions, I've just had enough. Especially at the presidential level. I stopped caring if Obama or McCain win, because honestly folks, we're screwed either way. I'm voting libertarian because I honestly can't cast a vote for either one of those tools.

Posted by: Contagion at 09:06 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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I'm starting to get really bad about posting! What the heck is up with me? Well, I can let you in on some things. Friday night I went to Fritz's with Bruce. We spent some time there having fun. I hadn't been back down to Fritz's since before I left for Oklahoma. It was good to get back there and see all the familiar faces and help put Fritz's daughters through college.

Saturday afternoon we had some family fun. We took Clone to some local seasonal attractions. The Pumpkin Patch and Edwards Apple Orchard (Or as Clone called it, "The apple torture"). Edward's was destroyed by tornado back in January and it was good to see that they were up and running again. The new buildings looked nice and the new layout was much more customer friendly. I hate to say this, but it almost looks like the tornado was almost beneficial to the business. It may have been heart breaking, but the buildings look fantastic and are much larger.

Some of the highlights from the day are:

My impressing the crowd and staff at The Pumpkin Patch with my skills at the pumpkin launcher. Think of a water balloon slingshot set on a permanent pole. They have two smaller ones that are actually water balloon slingshots and a large one that is custom made using what looks like surgical tubing. The guy running the games was verbally impressed with how far I could pull the tube back. The other people out there had trouble pulling it back with in feet of how far I could pull it. Now, I'm not saying I'm strong, I just have a good technique for these things. Another guy that tried between my two turns came over and was talking to me about how far I flung those pumpkins.

Clones favorite souvineer wasn't anything we bought, but a piece of wheat I picked while we took a hay ride. The boy wouldn't let go of it all day and even brought it in the house at the end of the night.

At night we went to a Haunted Hayride at Lockwood Park that was put on by the Rockford Park District. It was fun, Clone was brave and didn't get scared. He just sat there and looked on entertained by the antics of the monsters.

Overall we had a great time. It was something we needed.

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Yea, it's about like that.

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Bruce of Back to the Batcave donated tonightÂ’s beer for review. He actually gave this to me about a month ago, and IÂ’m just now getting around to reviewing it. Tonight beer is AmericaÂ’s Original Pumpkin Ale by Buffalo BillÂ’s Brewery in Haywood, CA.

It came in a 12 oz shortneck brown bottle; the label has a black background with a picture of a pumpkin on it. The name of the beer is at the top and the name of the brewery is at the bottom. Under the name of the beer it claims, “Ale brewed with real pumpkin and spices.”

There is an orangish/amber color to the beer. ItÂ’s clear and light passes through easily. I was unable to detect any haziness or cloudiness at all. There was no head when poured into a glass. As it poured it fizzed like a carbonated soft drink, but nothing lasted more than a couple of seconds. Almost as soon as I finished pouring the beer the head disappeared to nothing. As it sat in the glass it almost looked like I had a glass of some kind of dark apple juice instead of beer.

The smell is an overpowering combination of pumpkin, cinnamon and nutmeg. It gives the beer a scent of pumpkin pie or my friendÂ’s wifeÂ’s pumpkin squares. I was unable to detect the scent of malts, hops or any normal beer scents. The taste is almost like the scent. A very strong combination of pumpkin, cinnamon and nutmeg. There is a strange slightly bitter aftertaste.

It is a light bodied beer that is kind of watery. ItÂ’s very easy to drink. There is no coating to the mouth or throat, which helps the aftertaste to fade even quicker.

I really did not find this beer to be very pleasurable to drink. The flavor, while fine if eating a desert, is not really something I look for in a beer. It was overly sweet and really not much of any beer taste. Seriously, it was almost like drinking a pumpkin pie smoothie. Yet, it didn't taste too bad with Apple Cider Doughnuts. Honestly I think Bruce bought this for me because heÂ’s on a personal quest to find the nastiest, most horrible beer for me to drink. He must take some kind of sadistic pleasure in having me drink some really god awful swill. Heck, this isnÂ’t even the first pumpkin ale heÂ’s given me to review. With that being said, IÂ’m sure it takes no one by surprise that IÂ’m giving this beer a rating of 2 out of 10.

Posted by: Contagion at 07:43 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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...as of this post. Go help this poor schmuck out. I mean, how much lower can you get?

more...

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Man, I have been neglectful! Holy cow, it's been almost a week since my last post. Now I guess I could have rightfully claimed that it was because I was out at Trail of History for most of that time and away from a computer, and that I was just too damn tired last night to post. But I know how much all of you demand my attention and I really should have tried to post something last night... and I didn't.

October has been flying by so far. I can't believe it's almost over and I'm just now getting around to starting to put up Halloween decorations. I'm WAY behind this year.

I do have some stories from Trail to share with all of you, but they'll have to wait. I've gone and hurt my back and I took some pain killers to help take the edge off, it's making it so I can't think clearly. I'll wait until things get better.

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This weekÂ’s beer is brought to us by Petey of PeteyÂ’s Powderhorn. He gave me a can of Belhaven Scottish Ale Draught by the Belhaven Brewery Company LTD. In Dunbar, Scotland.

It came in a 14.9 fl oz nitro can. You know, the can with the widget in it that injects nitro into the beer making it extra creamy. The can is two tone with the upper half a tan color and the bottom a dark brown, which may be in homage to the way the beer looks in a glass. On the front of the can there is a picture of an old Scottish village. In a half circle above the picture is the name Belhaven. Below the image it says Scottish Ale in gold outlined boxes.

When poured into a glass it has a dark reddish copper color. ItÂ’s clear with no cloudiness to it at all. ItÂ’s too dark to make out whatÂ’s on the other side of the glass, but light still passes through. The head is thick and creamy. It has a nice tan color to it and it lasts for a long time. There is a very minimal amount of lacing on the side.

The scent is grainy and cereal like, almost like a whole grain or bran cereal. The gentle scent of hops follows along with a touch of fruit. The taste is much like the taste. There is a sweetness of toasted malts with a mild hop follow up. There is a fruit flavor that is reminiscent of apples or pears. A slight nuttiness is also present. The aftertaste is mild and fades quickly.

This is a medium bodied beer. There is a creamy coating that washes through the mouth as it is drank. It helps to lock in the flavor. ItÂ’s easy to drink and is refreshing.

IÂ’m a huge fan of Scottish Ales. IÂ’ve drank many of them, and this is a pretty good one. ItÂ’s a little light in the color and flavor, but still not bad. The smokiness and dark roasted malt flavor is not present like in most Scottish ales. Overall I like this beer; IÂ’m giving it 7 out of 10.

Posted by: Contagion at 08:25 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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This last weekend the family and I went to Fort Obie in Colona, IL for a re-enactment. I was able to procure a keg of Scottish Ale from Carlyle Brewing Company to bring along. ThatÂ’s right fellow beer lovers I got my hands on 15.5 gallons of the malty goodness from Carlyle! There was some debate on whether or not we tap the keg Friday or Saturday night. Since I brought it, I wanted to make sure it got drank and we tapped it Friday night. A couple of hours later I had Red come in and tell me that the keg was floating and we were almost out of beer.

I went and checked, sure enough that giant aluminum tank was already three quarters empty! In order to preserve some of it for Saturday I pulled the tap and we switched to other beverages. Needless to say other than my shaving hair off of my arm to prove how sharp my knife was and scorching a table top in the cabin by setting peanut shells on fire, not much happened.

Saturday night is a different story.

At dinner I was cutting potatoes to put into the stew when I must not have been paying as good of attention as I should have been because I cut the tip of my thumb off. Oh, I did it good, there is a nice chunk missing. I had to change bandages four times because I kept bleeding through them. ItÂ’s fine now, it just looks like the tip of my thumb is missingÂ… because it is.

I went and tapped the keg, we started on that until it emptied out and then we switched to other malted beverages. My lovely wife, Ktreva, went to play games with the other women… which led to many interesting stories that I’m not at liberty to go into. But to give you an idea it ended up involving her hording a bottle of Captain Morgan Private Stock, putting objects down her cleavage to hold them… like bottles and spoons, biting people and finally earning herself the new nickname, “Princess Patina” after she redecorated the outside of the fort with her gastro-squeezins. Oh, and a two day hangover.

Last night I went to Buffalo Wild Wings in Rockford for Monday Night Football with some friends, including Bruce, Shadoglare and J-man. I ended up cheering for the Cleveland Browns, not because I like them, but because I donÂ’t like Eli. That and there were some NY Giants fans in the bar and it was fun to give them a hard time. The fact that it turned into the Browns spanking the Giants made it funnier. The Giants fans were less and less amused by my antics, but their reactions where amusing!

Posted by: Contagion at 06:22 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Today, October 9th, is Ktreva and mine's 9th wedding anniversary. 9 years ago today my beautiful and loving wife took one for the team and threw herself on the grenade that is Contagion.

I couldn't be happier.

Happy anniversary honey! At least we get to spend it together. A month ago at this time we thought I'd be in Oklahoma still.

Life is good.

Posted by: Contagion at 07:18 PM | Comments (13) | Add Comment
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1 Happy anniversary! Here's hoping you can sucker her into many, many more years!

Posted by: Shadoglare at October 09, 2008 08:06 PM (SvMhS)

2 Happy Anniversary to the two of you!

Posted by: vw bug at October 10, 2008 04:10 AM (FPOeI)

3 Happy HAPPY Anniversary!!

Posted by: Tammi at October 10, 2008 08:01 AM (pWX3U)

4 Hooray! Happy Anniversary - that reminds me - I need to get something planned for my hubby - two years is coming upon us quickly.

Posted by: Carmen at October 10, 2008 09:29 AM (ICKzK)

5 Happy (belated) Anniversary! Isn't the 9th for diamonds? Or gold? I'm sure it's something sparkly.

Posted by: Mrs. Who at October 11, 2008 10:46 PM (z+bTV)

6 Sorry it is late! Happy Anniversary - hope you celebrated.

Posted by: oddybobo at October 12, 2008 07:59 PM (dVFQh)

7 Happy belated Anniversary!

Posted by: Jerry at October 12, 2008 10:27 PM (2AQdm)

8 Happy Anniversary and many more to come!

Posted by: Quality Weenie at October 13, 2008 07:30 AM (BksWB)

9 I'm a little late, but Happy Anniversary!

Posted by: Rave at October 13, 2008 12:52 PM (EnApd)

10 Happy Belated! Hope you had a great day!

Posted by: caltechgirl at October 13, 2008 07:21 PM (IfXtw)

11 Happy Anniversary!!!!!

Posted by: BloodSpite at October 13, 2008 07:56 PM (+cZ0Y)

12 Congrats to both of you!

Posted by: Omnibus Driver at October 14, 2008 11:20 AM (LBZjj)

13 A belated Happy Anniversary from me too!!

Posted by: Richmond at October 14, 2008 08:29 PM (r2sJ8)

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ItÂ’s been a couple of weeks since IÂ’ve done a beer review. Last week I was busy with stuff and the review suffered, sorry. This week IÂ’m reviewing a beer that Blogspawn Bruce of Back to the Batcave donated. ItÂ’s Blue Marble Organic Pilsner by the Blue Marble Brewery in Chico, CA (subsidiary of Butte Creek Brewing Company). Why he decided to get me a hippy beer I donÂ’t know.

IT comes in a standard 12 oz brown bottle with a tan label. There is a picture of the earth in the upper right corner and the name of the beer takes up most of the label. Below the name of the beer it claims, “An Earth-friendly beer with an out of this world taste.”

It has a pale yellow color, like lemonade. There is cloudiness to it with floating bits. Light passes through easily, but you canÂ’t make out images on the other side of the glass. It poured a thick foamy head that fades really slowly. When I poured it into the glass, I poured it gently, but it produced more head on a beer than IÂ’ve ever seen before. It took three pours before I could pour all of the beer into the pilsner glass. The head was so thick that on the second attempt it actually extended out of the glass.

The smell is mainly of bitter hops. There is a hint of lemon grass, corn and sweet malts. It has a very mild taste that starts with sweet malts and finishes with a bitter hop flavor. As the beer warms to room temperature it takes on a biscuit finish.

ItÂ’s a light bodied beer without much mouthfeel to it. There is no coating which could be good because the unpleasant aftertaste would last longer than anticipated. The carbonation is at a nice level, but is inconsistent with the amount of head that formed.

This isnÂ’t a bad beer, but it really is bitterer than I would prefer, especially in a pilsner that is supposed to be mild and maltier. It was pretty easy to drink, but the taste kind of haunts you and not necessarily in a good way. I really did not enjoy this beer, but I can see how some people would. Overall I give the hippy beer 3 out of 10.

Posted by: Contagion at 07:01 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Shadoglare of Refractional Darkness is fed up with the Candidates. To be honest so am I. I've been caught muttering "McCain, Obama... either way we're screwed". Shadoglare decided to look at the Libertarian candidate running for president, Bob Barr. After checking out his website, I think I found my new candidate. I don't agree with his war strategy, but the other issues I'm concerned about are either acceptable or I agree with them. So I say, Vote Bob Barr!

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My blogless friend Smokepoles sent me this little joke.

John was in the fertilized egg business. He had several hundred young layers (hens), called 'pullets,'and ten roosters to fertilize the eggs.

He kept records, and any rooster not performing went into the soup pot and was replaced. This took a lot of time, so he bought some tiny bells and attached them to his roosters. Each bell had a different tone, so he could tell from a distance, which rooster was performing. Now, he could sit on the porch and fill out an efficiency report by just listening to the bells.

John's favorite rooster, old Butch, was a very fine specimen, but this morning he noticed old Butch's bell hadn't rung at all! When he went to investigate, he saw the other roosters were busy chasing pullets, bells-a-ringing, but the pullets, hearing the roosters coming, could run for cover.

To John's amazement, old Butch had his bell in his beak, so it couldn't ring. He'd sneak up on a pullet, do his job and walk on to the next one. John was so proud of old Butch, he entered him in the Renfrew County Fair and he became an overnight sensation among the judges. The result was the judges not only awarded old Butch the No Bell Piece Prize but they also awarded him the Pullet surprise as well.

Clearly old Butch was a politician in the making. Who else but a politician could figure out how to win two of the most highly coveted awards on our planet by being the best at sneaking up on the populace and screwing them when they weren't paying attention.

Vote carefully this year, the bells are not always audible.

Yea, it's the moral of the story that really rings true this year.

Posted by: Contagion at 05:22 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Well, after a month of being back work is starting to return to normal. I'm still getting the shaft, but I'm not getting screwed.

Our inventory manager went off on vacation and since I used to hold a similar position to her, I got nominated to cover for her while she was gone. Of course I wasn't in the meeting that this was decided. They communicated I was going to be doing it by e-mail, why I was in a staff meeting. So I didn't find out until I was out of the meeting. When I responded by e-mail to the inventory manager that she would have to show me what to do, I received an out of the office message. Come to find out she left for her vacation right after she sent me the e-mail.

I've spent the last couple of days trying to figure out how to do her reports, which are completely different from what I used to do. Then I've spent hours trying to figure out how she got her data, which I'm not being very successful. Unfortunately I'm not getting very far. I'm getting pressure from other people in my office, however they aren't willing to step up and help. So I'm just doing the best I can and letting it go, my excuse is, "I'm teaching myself."

Now I'm going to sit back, have a drink and work on my resume.

Posted by: Contagion at 07:22 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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1 People suck.

Posted by: Rave at October 08, 2008 06:33 AM (2M/UD)

2 Yeeah, sounds to me like a set up. People suck.

Posted by: Wes at October 08, 2008 07:38 AM (1crE/)

3 for crying out loud that place sucks! Make sure that resume is really good!

Posted by: Carmen at October 08, 2008 01:38 PM (ICKzK)

4 oh yea - saw a pic of you in your "celebrate diversity" shirt - I bought the same one for my husband - he loves it.

Posted by: Carmen at October 08, 2008 01:38 PM (ICKzK)

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This last weekend I was having a conversation during football with some of my friends regarding what historical research I've done over the past couple of weeks.

When I uttered the statement, "Now that I can document zombies in in the 18th century, I can talk about them while at a re-enactment." Graumagus made the comment, "That statement is wrong on so many different levels of geekdom."

I think he might be right.

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Holy crap! I've seen some impressive catches over the years, but this high school kid makes a great one-handed, back flip catch.

WOW!

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