Thursday This & That

It's the last day of October.  I don't like Halloween and it's celebrations. I find no joy in answering "Trick or Treat" to see if it's little kids in cute fairy costumes outside my door, or far-too-big kids hiding behind evil depictions to get "free" candy that cost me a fortune. 

In the past, I have acquiesced to Marty and let Nick go trick-or-treating a number of times so he hasn't missed out on any childhood rites of passage.  Tonight though, Nick & I will hide out in our respective rooms to keep busy and leave all the downstairs and outside lights off.  Marty has his usual Thursday night out with the guys and they'll be meeting up at a Starbucks. 

October 31st is also the day that, in 1987, my then S.O. passed away from cancer.  It was the day before his 40th birthday. Hard to believe that ordeal was 26 years ago.  The Lord made big changes in my life at that time and has equally provided blessings and trials since. 

Oh, and before I forget, Marty came through his surgery fine, though almost had to spend an extra night in the hospital.  He isn't experiencing as much pain as he expected, he always fears the worst, so is doing pretty well. 

Nick has his piano lesson today after school, then after that we need to stop at a store for a few items.  I haven't figured out what to fix for dinner, so maybe something will strike me while I'm at the store.  Since I made a soup for lunch, I might just feed Marty leftovers from last night, and Nick can have his imitation crab sandwich and I'll punt, popcorn sounds good fixed with melted butter and grated Parmesan cheese.  Yum.

I'll spend the evening working on October's NewFO or think about what I can put on my November Get It Done list.  Did I miss October's, guess I'd better go check.

Yesterday on my return home from taking Nick to school, I came upon an accident that had happened no more than 5 or 10 ten minutes prior.  A young man riding a small bicycle rode against the red light as a city utility truck was coming through from the left on a green light and was struck and killed.  Very tragic, yet as tragic as it is, it's one of those pet peeves of mine, that of bicyclists who have no regard whatsoever for the rules of the road.  Now his life is gone, his family will be grieving his loss (if they find out who he is - not carrying i.d.), the driver who hit him must now live with that, even though he was not in the wrong.  And countless other drivers, like me, who had to see the bicycle still stuck under the truck, and his lifeless body on the pavement as it had not yet been covered.  I am fully of the mindset these days, that bicyclists need to undergo training, testing and licensing before being allowed on the streets and roadways and that infractions by them should be ticketed and fined the same as other vehicle infractions.