Mind the Poll

The end of September is rapidly approaching.


This may be as hard for you to believe as it is for me.  My kids just started the school year.  They have yet to figure out exactly what they are going to be for Halloween.  It is suddenly getting dark like two hours earlier than it did just yesterday.


There are Halloween decorations that need to be dug out from their storage place.  Candy needs to be bought.  Of course, the candy must be bought soon enough so that the selection is still good.  That way I will enjoy the inevitable leftovers (by which I mean NOT Almond Joy or Mounds).  However, we can't buy it too soon or I will eat it all well before Halloween and there will not be any leftovers at all.  There won't even be candy enough on Halloween night to appease the hoarding, costumed masses that arrive at our door into holding back on their arsenal of eggs and shaving cream at least until they get to the next doorstep.


Then, once Halloween is over, it'll be time for Thanksgiving.  That means preparatory eating needs to begin to expand my stomach enough to gorge myself on as much turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes,  ham, cheesecake...(you get the picture) as possible.


Then comes the really rough month.  Christmas will be right around the corner.  That's more decorating and a tree to buy and care for.  There will be toys that my kids want, requiring me to elbow my way through the aisles past less well informed parents who stand about, staring at the overwhelming number options before them.  You can recognize these parents by the way they stand slack-jawed and sweating in the toy aisle holding a nearly but not quite identical toy in each hand and glancing back and forth between them trying both to figure out exactly what the difference between the two is and remember which one their kid wanted.


I also need to avoid being distracted.  Too often, I feel sorry for such parents.  Then I break my own momentum and offer help.


"That one talks and shoots plastic missiles, but it doesn't have as many point of articulation.  That other one is more posable and actually a lot cooler as well being twenty bucks cheaper, but it doesn't talk.  Random Helpful Dad, awaaaaaaaaay!"


Then there is the customary grandmother that asks me (the tallest guy in the store) if I could get that extremely large box from the top shelf for her.  If I set down my own shopping spoils to help, someone else might pick up the last God-knows-what that I was trying to get to the register with while I'm not looking.  It might very well be the grandmother who just asked for my help that snatches my booty (don't let you mind go there) and runs off with it.  I need to harden my resolve and not help any fellow shoppers this year.  Spirit of giving my a...


You know what?  I'm pretty sure I'm getting ahead of myself here.  I'm starting to think about the New Year already and it's still September.  It is still September, isn't it?  I wasn't rambling for that long, was I?


Anyway, the original point of this post, nearly lost in the gaping void of my tangents, was to remind everyone to vote in our monthly poll.  It is in the left hand column and could use some more activity.  While I see that a lot of people are stopping by daily, very few, percentage wise, vote on the poll.  So please, if you haven't done so already, take a second to pick an answer.


This may be your last chance to influence what the monthly image is going to be.  If you miss such an opportunity, you may never forgive yourself.  Or go ahead and blow it.  They're your regret-filled sleepless nights, not mine.


Thanks all and have a great day.  I'm going to set up my tent out in front of Toys R Us now just to be safe.