Tag: fun

a new jack o’lantern for Halloween

Once again it’s the Halloween season.   Well, not really a season, because it’s just one day of trick-or-treat, but I suppose some folks do lots of decorating for it.  It seems like the “spooky” decorating is becoming more rampant each year.  But I digress…

Are you going to go to the most sincere pumpkin patch to wait for the Great Pumpkin?  Each Halloween night, he rises out of the pumpkin patch to scare little children, er, I mean, to give them candy and presents.  That’s what I hear anyway.  I haven’t ever been to one of those sincere pumpkin patches.  Maybe I’m not sensitive enough to know if one is sincere.  Whatever…  Let’s get to the point of this story…  I’m digressing again…

One Halloween holiday tradition I’m trying to get started is putting a flaming pumpkin of poop on someone’s front porch.  I mentioned this a while back, but it has yet to catch on for some reason.  I know, creating a jack-o-lantern out of poop is not ideal, so here’s an update (consider it version 2.0).  Take a standard jack o’lantern (however you want to spell it), and cover it with poop.  Take it to a friend’s porch.  Then you set it on fire.  It’s a guaranteed good time!

Some of the staff here voted and nominated Mango-Man’s house as the first place to try out this new Halloween decoration.  I’m sure it’ll draw trick-or-treaters to his house, with all the bright fire on his pumpkin.  He’ll have to let us know how it turns out.  🙂

our buffet o’ bacon

Last night I had the entire Buffet o’ Blog staff at my house, and we created a Buffet o’ Bacon.  There was regular crispy bacon, baked bacon-wrapped smokies with BBQ sauce (which were awesome!), shish-ka-bobs with bacon, ham, and cheese, and there was some bacon-wrapped croissants.  It even got a little crazy when someone put candy corn on some of the bacon-wrapped croissants before putting them in the oven.

Needless to say, we had a great time.  We shared our unique analysis of the second presidential debate (and it’s too bad our discussion wasn’t recorded for a podcast), and we did some multiplayer network gaming (to build an empire and conquer the world), and we ate lots of bacon.

I do have to say the bacon-wrapped croissants didn’t turn out as well as expected.  Here’s a picture before cooking, when it seemed like a good idea:

The problem was, most of the croissants absorbed all of the bacon grease, and thus were quite “heavy”.  We’re gonna have a talk with that “Important Doctor” that frequents this blog, because he’s talked of using bacon grease in your diet, and there’s some flaws with that plan.   I still think the bacon and cheese plan might work, as long as you drain the bacon grease.

Ironically, the ones with the candy corn turned out pretty good.  The candy melted and most of it ran off, and the bacon grease drained off some, too.  So what was left was like a cracker with bacon and a honey glaze.

All in all, that evening was the awesome!  I do think we’ll have to do this again…

the special days of August, pt 1

As we’ve done in previous months, we’re going to look at the special days and holidays of this month.  As usual, this is not a complete list — those can be found elsewhere.  But I guarantee you will not find another list like this one.  This is not a mere list, because we add our own unique commentary and analysis.  In other words, we try to make it more fun.  And you are welcome to add to the discussion in the comments section.

Let’s get started with the month-long celebrations and observances in August:

  • Family Fun Month — A good family outing is a vacation, but if that’s not feasible at this time, try playing the Nintendo Wii.  🙂  This is not a joke — everyone who has tried it has enjoyed it, no matter their age or prior video game experience.
  • Admit You’re Happy Month — Go on, admit it!  Although if you really aren’t happy, you should acknowledge that, and then do something about it.  And fortunately, you’re at the right place.  My personal research has shown that reading this blog will make you happier.
  • National Catfish Month — Mmm… fried catfish…
  • National Golf Month — The sport of golf requires skill and discipline, sure, but it’s boring to many people (myself included).  That’s why I wrote a post about making golf less boring.
  • Peach Month — The best way to enjoy peaches is in cobbler, with vanilla ice cream.  Mmm…
  • Romance Awareness Month — I’m aware of romance.  So I’ve got this holiday covered already.
  • Water Quality Month — This is the month when local water municipalities strive to provide quality water.  Oh, wait, I hope they do that every month.  So what is this observance for?
  • National Picnic Month — Picnics can be a good time.  They make a good diversion from work if you take one during lunch. Just make sure the weather cooperates.  Ironically, this emphasis on picnics is in August, which is typically the hottest month of the year.  That should not be.
  • National Inventors Month — I’ve invented something before, so this is about me.  🙂
  • American Artist Appreciation Month — I’m an artist!  For real, check it out!
  • Foot Health Month — If your feet aren’t healthy, you should stay off them more (i.e., stay in bed more, sit on the couch to watch TV and/or play video games more).
  • Home Business Month — I have a home business.  I wish this meant I would automatically make more money this month.

Now let’s look at the weekly events / celebrations / holidays in August:

  • Week 1 : National Simplify your Life Week — This is actually a good idea.  Slow down, relax, focus on your top priorities, and laugh more.
  • Week 2 : National Smile Week — Smile!  You’re on Candid Cookie!  🙂  Really, studies show that smiling and laughing are good for you, and can even add years to your life.  (And of course, I have to plug my blog here, as its purpose is to make people happier.)
  • Week 3 : Friendship Week — For this week only, I’ll be your friend.  Let’s do lunch.  Have your people contact my people…
  • Week 3 : Air Conditioning Appreciation Week — This holiday is appropriately placed in August.  I’m very appreciative of my air-conditioner!  But, on the other hand, I just wrote an article on my other blog explaining why you don’t need air-conditioning.  It’s true!  Read it if you don’t believe me.
  • Week 3 : American Dance Week — All you party people out there, GET YOUR GROOVE ON!
  • Week 4 : Be Kind to Humankind Week — This is a good idea.  We are all brothers and sisters, after all.  (Well, I’m assuming all my readers are human.  If you are a non-human species and can read this, please let me know via our contact form.)

This is getting quite long (as it usually does), so I’m going to break it up into several parts.   Click here to search for the other entries for August.

Qwerty Warriors!

Today’s post goes out to all of today’s readers asking themselves the question:

…how can I beat back boredom and help pass the time?
…how can I improve my typing skills and thus my job performance?
…how can I play a game, save the world and still accomplish the above?

well today is your lucky day!

I now present to you …(queue echo effect)
QWERTY WARRIORS!!!! (click here to play)

The rules are simple:
simply pick your skill level and Destroy the oncoming soldiers, tanks, mech warriors and other enemies by typing words to shoot them (note: be sure to hit the ‘enter’ key to submit the word typed)

why don’t we start a friendly competition to see how well you do?
after playing leave a comment on this post with your name, skill level, and score.

(there is also a high scoreboard to see how well you place against other players online)