My mom went to the South Point Save-On while you were with me two afternoons ago on Monday. She got me a few Halloween things from the bulk section, some small pumpkin-shaped candies and some orange and yellow jujubes. There were also black jujubes in the same bin with the orange and yellow ones, but mom managed to just get me orange and yellow. After Save-On, she went to the Peninsula Village Safeway where she got me some ORBIT COOKIE brand pumpkin-shaped Halloween cookies with orange sprinkles. Also at Safeway, she got some more of those ready-to-use mashed potatoes from their meat section and I had those last night with my supper. And I had a couple of the pumpkin-shaped cookies today for my dessert after lunch.

My dad doesn’t know what was going on yesterday, but the Pattullo Bridge was closed yesterday morning resulting in extra traffic for my dad on his way into work over the Alex Fraser bridge. And then on his way home from work on Highway 91, the 64th Avenue off-ramp was closed therefore backing up traffic. Some cars had to continue down to Highway 10 while others drove all the way down to Highway 99, took Highway 99 to King George, and then took King George back up. And my dad was an hour late getting home the day before (on Monday) because of a stall at the North end of the Alex Fraser.

My mom told me the story about they had some suspects who were planning to try and kill the one guy who’s running for president in the States, Barack Obama, because he’s black. My mom thought it was weird to hurt someone only because they’re a different race. Wouldn’t the world be pretty boring if we were all the same?

I remember you were reading in the Vancouver Sun when you were here two afternoons ago on Monday afternoon the story about people who carry their backpacks all wrong, ones who only use one shoulder strap instead of using both of them. I was smart and always used both shoulder straps when I was going to school, but my bag was quite heavy especially when I was in High School because I had a lot of large print textbooks and I also remember you read in the same story that “a lot of people are wearing their backpacks too heavy, which is harming their backs and their health.” It wasn’t until after I left High School when they came out with something that might’ve worked for me...a carrier pack on wheels.

I told my mom about the car we saw in the parking lot at the dog park on Monday that was covered with seashells. She said that the shell covered car that we always use to see after we first moved to South Surrey was black. If it was the same car that we saw on Monday, then that would’ve been the first time in a long time that I saw it. And remember I told you that they had the one we always use to see on the news once?

My mom didn’t tell me until just a couple days ago that Chloe was bugging her when she recorded the message that’s now on our answering machine that came with our new phone. While she was sitting at the kitchen table recording the message, Chloe jumped up on the table and started nuzzling her and the phone. And my mom doesn’t know what was with Izzy, but she was following my mom everywhere all day yesterday.

Angie, one of the ladies in my dad’s carpool, had a funny story to tell yesterday. She was looking after her mom’s bird and dog. Her husband, Andy, had to get up and let the dog out at 3 in the morning one night while they had them. When he let the dog out, the bird started to go nuts and managed to hurt itself somehow. There was blood all over the cage.

I remember you said that you are thinking about buying a joystick to use when you’re playing with the flight simulator on Google Earth. We use to have a joystick that we used when we played games, but it didn’t work that great. This was a long time ago when all we had for a computer was a 386, but I don’t know if newer joysticks would work any better in present time. If you get one sometime, you could try if out and let us know how it works for you.

My Sony camera’s been acting up lately. I’m hoping that my mom and dad will take it in to be fixed while I’m with you tomorrow afternoon. I’ve now had the camera for two years and I have a three-year warranty, And if my parents drop my camera off to be fixed, they’ll probably have to leave it there for a few weeks.

Remember I said when you were here two afternoons ago on Monday that I thought the trick-or-treaters started showing up at around 6PM the last few years. And then my mom reminded me when she got home that they didn’t start showing up til around 7 last year, she thought that this was because the time doesn’t change til later now. You can probably come at around 6:30 on Friday.

See you tomorrow at 1PM.

-Neil