Trick or Treat

The Pumpkin Guessing Game is here. Yippeeee! Good luck. Jack-o-Lantern and his friends wish everyone a happy Halloween. Boo! Hahahahaha.

Happy Jack

We don't hear this one enuff do we?...so let's crank it (find that 11 on your dial) in honor of our favorite guy, Jack-o-Lantern! Go, Jack, Go!

"They couldn't stop Jack or the waters laughing (laff-laff-laff-laff) and they couldn't prevent Jack from being happy!"
Secret: if you have it turned up loud enough at the end, someone yells "I saw ya."

Countdown To Pumpkin Guess '07

Tomorrow is the big day for those planning to play Guess The Pumpkins out of the October issue of the Journal. Below are the details from the Journal (in color for the blog only) with instructions by our very own VIP Jack-o-Lantern. Click right on the article to get a whopper-sized view. Don't let it scare you when it opens. Want to play but don't have the issue? No prob— Go to the CSA website in the Links at right and click on "Current Journal" you'll get a pdf version of the October issue and you can start counting pumpkins. (Note: it takes a minute to open up so be patient.)

WHY IS JACK SO HAPPY?—because this is Jack's time of year. Him and his spooky friends will be waiting for you tomorrow. Come back on Halloween, look through the issue carefully and join him and his friends and make a guess on how many pumpkins you found. You can play all day long and check in as often as you like. The answer will be revealed the following day. Have a great day. See you all on Halloween!

What Calibre Is That?

FRIDAY SWING—did you mark on your calendar to come back and blog your pumpkin guess on Wednesday, October 31? Make sure to play Jack-o-Lantern's Find The Pumpkins guessing game (it's in the October issue of the Journal). See you right here on Halloween. There'll be a few surprises awaiting you on Insider on that day. NANOWRIMO.ORG—starts November 1 and goes all throughout the month. Is there an Arthur Conan Doyle inside you? Try writing a novel. Join up for free and chat with others along the way. There are even parties you can go to. They spring up everywhere. It's one of those "power to the people" sort of things. Nanowrimo is a phenomenon that has swept the globe. Really. Check it out.

MAKE MY DAY—Speaking of Doyle, who is your favorite detective all time? Is it Joe Friday? How 'bout Inspector Morse? Click on comments below and share your top three. Mine? I'd have to go with Dirty Harry, Bullitt and DCI Frost. But I sure did like watching Angie solve crimes. What was the crime again....don't know...did it matter....no. Not even!

I'm 10-10 and 10-99 and also 10-100

You know how I get caught up in CB radio talk and all that. (I'm buying one reeeel soon.) CB codes 10-10 and 10-99 basically mean everything is 'jake'. And 10-100 means I need a bathroom break. You can use those if you'd like at your next cocktail party. Now the Supersuckers are gonna take us Eastbound And Down. You comin' along? (Yes, I've played this once before but so what? Right? BTW....where'd my Smokey and the Bandit DVD get to?)

Foto Randomitis (and we luuuuuv it!!!)

TUBERS AND STREAMERS—Have you been to youtube.com? (Who hasn't?) Now have you tried ustream.tv? Anyone can be a broadcaster and visitors can chat with hosts in real-time, apparently. I've been told there is sports and other programming. If anyone checks it out, post us a review.


DARK POWER—Saturday, October 20 is Lights Out for an hour. Are you gonna go dark to support global energy awareness?
Go to darksky.org and read all about it. This photo is from their website where they held a Digital Dark Skies contest. (Click on photo to get a bigger view.)
"Guillaume Poulin’s photograph of the Aurora Borealis is a stunning example of the beauty of night sky we too rarely view."


BLOGGERS IN PHOTO MODE—Kathy sent me images from the Lodge LA picnic recently which coincided with the Sokol LA Youth Day. Great shots. Thanks Kathy.




Tom sent me this shot taken at a Slovak Festival in New Jersey last month. Thanks Tom!

Quick, what's two weeks away and full of pumpkin guesses?

If it isn't just another start of the week what is it? A happy start? No that's too far-reaching. A survivable start? Yes that's more real world for the beginning of the week. As you sit by the Ides of October and stare down another Halloween a mere two weeks away and are probably scrambling to find your stick-on window ghosts and bats keep in mind that on that Hallow Day of Tricks And Treats you can come back here and blog your guess as to how many pumpkins you can find in the October issue of the Journal.

Jack'o-Lantern's Fun Pumpkin Guessing contest is only in the pages of your favorite magazine. Don't forget to blog your guess on Halloween right here with Insider. Tell your fellow CSA members and pass around the magazine so plenty of your friends and relatives get a chance to look it over and play.

Here's Jack (with friends) making his technicolor appearance:



He'll be back on Halloween. ....Will you?

YOW! I'm Speaking Dali-Laman!!!

WEBSPREE—did you realize that you can get animated e-cards at superlaugh.com? Really. I'm not kidding you. Go see. Then go over to freearcade.com. I hear that's a good place for gamers. (I hear.) Share YOUR favorite fun websites. Let us know!

DARKLY DREAMING—anyone going dark for one hour on October 20? You better! It's called 'Dark For An Hour' and it promotes energy-awareness. People all over the world are getting on this. Let's get involved. (I hate being left out of anything, don't you?) Check out (and sign up) at darksky.org. You don't have to live in SF, so join already. I did.

"UNGA-GALOONGA", WHICH MEANS, AS WE KNOW, TOTAL CONSCIOUSNESS....I installed these energy-efficient light bulbs (with the Energy Star rating on the package). The bulbs are cool, literally. Seventy-five watts seems to be good, 100 too. The resulting dollar savings over a year is gigantic. Blog and tell us what level of energy-savings consciousness you are at and if you've reached 'Total' yet.

CZECH FUN PHRASE—Jaké je vase telefonní císlo?


OCT JOURNAL

The Treasure Was In The Way They Opened Their Hearts

Think Pink was the theme today at the CSA Home Office as employees donated money for breast cancer research, wore blue jeans for National Denim Day and as an added highlight took part in a treasure hunt for chocolate kisses in pink tin foil. (While pink panther music played over the loudspeaker.) Everyone was a winner, as the photos below prove. Some found kisses with stars on the foil and that got them special little prizes (candy and other trinkets). All in the name of raising money for a worthy cause. Thanks to all. Have a great weekend!

Zords and Endives

"Kamarati moji, mna srdce zaboli - Svitaj, Boze, svitaj - Naco sa mi, naco"
....this from the band Miro ZiariSlav's CD jacket cover, and all for three minutes and thirty-one seconds full of bongos and flutes and whatever that meant above. I just call it 'Zords and Endives' for no particular reason other than that's what I feel. Music is about feel, right? Now where are the elves and where's rumplestilskin dancing about with ents, hobbits and poptarts?

Xylophone isn't a phone? Not at all??

This blog is, today, to be subtitled:
The Random Photo-Op Middle-Week Insider Blog, With Benefits, Etc. Etc. Etc.
(When one uses more than one etcetera it means one has a great deal of 'material' one wants moved to the curb.)

SO—you like comedy? Laughter? Funny stuff? Get over to threestooges.com or go check out abbottandcostello.net or surf around the listing for W.C. Fields (Even better go to youtube.com and look at some of his clips. I'm recommending "If I Had A Million" in two parts. Quite applicable today.)

Here we have Moe, Larry and Curly selling Brighto, which makes old bodies new....works on cars or humans—but not both—apparently.



NOW—can you guess where this is? Multiple choice: A) in the Czech Republic; B) Mount Snowden; C) Mount Wilmot; D) Insider's backyard.



AND—This from the 'oblivious factoid' file: When is it proper and correct to use the word 'and' five times in a row in a sentence. Never, you'd say. Me too. But we'd be flat broke wrong. For instance: "In a sentence describing Abbott and Costello you don't use a hyphen between the words 'Abbott' and 'and' and 'and' and 'Costello'." Five ands. There. Bam!

But no worries 'round here Insider is NEVER proper nor correct neither. You'd never EVER catch me using five ands. Three maybe.

The More You Monday, The Better You'll Tuesday

A YEAR GOES SO FAST—We said congratulations today to our officers celebrating their one year anniversary as elected leaders of CSA. From left: Cary J. Mentzer, Vice President, Helen E. Gaydusek, Executive Secretary/Treasurer and Daniel J. Wenzler, Sr., President.




OCTOBER SWING—there's much happening this month. Here's a barrage of dates to read over and then forget about soon after you've moved on from this blog. But I know you'll come back to visit, riiiiiight?!

October 5, National Denim Day;
Oct. 10, Lodge Pingree Social;
Oct. 20, Czech Homecoming, St. Louis;
Oct. 20, Dark For An Hour (energy awareness), check out darksky.org;
Oct. 27, Czech Museum Book Sale (at CSA Home Office in Oak Brook, IL);
Oct. 28, Czech Independence Day;
Oct. 28 Lodge LA Heritage Dance;
Oct. 31 Halloween....oh, and Jack-o-Lantern's Pumpkin Guessing Game.
Remember to come here on that day and BLOG YOUR GUESS.



Ummmm, late last week someone named Glorp posted for Insider. Hope no one got too alarmed. He's harmless. Just a simple bot with big dreams. BTW—If you happen to see him walking down the street will you please flip the 'off' switch on him and then call me. He's gotten loose again and I've got to track him down. You can't miss him. He's bluish, made of metal and wears a wrist-watch. Let me know won't you? Here's a recent photo if that helps (make sure to click on him to get a bigger view). tyvm