We got the news at 1:30 this morning. Well, actually, we were asleep when the email came in and the social media posts went live... Nathan’s school district was officially on strike. 

Ohhhhh, I stumped y’all with last week’s challenge photo, didn’t I? I wasn’t expecting that. 

Let the madness begin!!!! Yes, it’s actually time to begin my Kevin’s 7 year-in-review lists. I know I say this pretty much every year, but how are we here already??

This year is almost done! Holy heck. How did that happen so quickly. Time to start thinking of 2019 goals. Yikes!

I don’t get it. Being parents, Katie and I have seen our in-theater moviegoing decrease dramatically. Or, at least, that’s how it feels. 

No, not snowflake in the insipid “liberal snowflake!” sense of it all. I mean it a bit more ornamentally. Like, me at about age five. In a snowflake ornament that has seen better days. 

In the last few months, Nathan has become a junkie for Gravity Falls on Disney XD. Never heard of it? It's about a pair of twins who travel from California to spend the summer with their great uncle in the backwards town of Gravity Falls, Oregon. It's very much an animated and semi-kiddified hybrid of Twin Peaks and The X-Files and winds its way, over the course of two seasons, to a storyline in which the kids battle to save the world from the apocalypse.

I’ve entered a few contests on Goodreads for free copies of what’s known as Advanced Reader Copies (ARCs), or unfinished copies of forthcoming books. What makes them ARCs is that they usually aren’t 100% proofread/edited or have finished artwork or whatnot. 

Nobody got last week’s challenge photo and I’m neither surprised nor upset. It was a very unique photo to which I really just wanted to see how you’d all respond. 

Because of the predicted snowmageddon, we decided to lay low and stay home all day. Basically, big plans to do absolutely nothing. 

It’s about to turn a little white here in Chicagoland. Yup, it’ll be fun alright. 

The other day, Kimbot posted on a subject that I immediately knew I was going to, er, procure as a post for myself. Basically, she asked, “What’s the ‘thing’ that people see and it makes them think of you?”

Yesterday was all the sides. Today is the turkey!

When we host Thanksgiving at our place, Katie likes to get as much of it ready a day or so in advance as humanly possible. So she typically takes the day before the holiday (Thanksgiving Eve?) off to do just that. Since Nathan has the whole week off, that extra day is helpful in that regard as well.

Oh how this sight makes my heart swoon.

Wow, I know the focus and lighting were rough on last week's challenge photo, but I was still fairly certain someone would get it. Oh well. No big deal.

It’s been 14 months since my first announcement and, as it seems it hasn’t gained much of a following, I thought I’d remind you all that my #yonduonterra toy photography does have a home on the web at kapgar.com/yonduonterra.

Guess what McDonald’s has now in their Happy Meals...

Have you seen the teaser trailer for The Wandering Earth? It’s a sci-fi film out of China based on a book by Liu Cixin and looks ridiculously cool!

Oh. My. God. This is too much for me to handle right now. 

I’d post something more substantial, but my mind is spinning so much over this image George Takei tweeted that I just cannot focus on anything else. 

This trio is a mother lode of musical goodness! Hand me downs of the best kind. 

I got all kinds of weird, wild, and awesome guesses on last week’s challenge photo. Alas...

So the, um, People’s Choice Awards are happening as I type this. I don’t usually put much faith in what we the people have to say about anything. I mean... 45. ‘Nuff said.

Ohmigod, it only took three years of her living here, but the neighbor in our end unit finally spoke to us as we were putting up our Christmas lights.

I really wish I had more to talk about, but all I’ve got for you at the moment is a Snippet post about the entertainment that’s moving me lately. 

Can I tell you how nice it is to have a working one of these again? It’s an Aiwa CA-DW235 and the sound is great!

The Paqui Carolina Reaper One Chip Challenge... supposedly the hottest single chip known to man. Yes, like a corn or tortilla chip enhanced with the Scoville rating of a Carolina Reaper pepper. Boxed individually in a coffin. It's quite charming, actually.

Compared to previous years, Katie and I kinda took it easy with the Fall 2018 batch of new TV shows. We only added six new shows. And, honestly, I can only guarantee we’ll stick with half of them. 

Some people immediately knew this was spaghetti. Sometimes I like when that happens because it forces everyone else to have a little fun and come up with something unique, like... my ear. Yes, that was guessed several times.

A few months ago, I told you all about a video that Nathan made using my iPhone. I also promised I was going to edit it together a bit and post it for everyone. Well, here it is...

In case you were wondering yesterday what I meant by “Implement Rankings accordion” on my honey-do list, and since they’re now successfully implemented, how about I give you a little background. 

I took the day off work today so I could go into Nathan’s classroom and be a “Mystery Reader.” That is in the middle of the day, though, dividing it into two awkward halves. 

I think October fared pretty well for me. Take a poke around below and let me know what you think!

I don’t know how we did it, but tonight was an absolutely perfect cool Fall night for trick-or-treating. And we had another good one last Saturday at my parents’ neighborhood for more trick-or-treating.