Some thoughts, in no particular order

• We really need to network our two computers. This running up and down the stairs with a USB stick is getting old.
  
• On the other hand, it must be said that USB sticks rule all.
• There are a lot of people doing NaBloPoMo. A whole, whole lot. If you don't already know how many, take a guess now and I'll tell you in a minute.
  
• Dad's coming for a visit today.
  
• For someone who goes on about technology as much as I do, you'll be surprised to hear that yesterday I think I saw my first real, live iPod. Ever. They're either smaller than I thought, or I was wrong and that's not what it was.
  
• I calculated the number of people in NaBloPoMo by copying the list into a spreadsheet and deleting the lines between sections. There are a total of two thousand sixteen people signed up for this daily blogging business.
  
• Thirty-one people have donated prizes, to be awarded to randomly chosen participants who successfully complete the month.
  
• A couple of them have donated more than one prize, but still, the odds of winning something are not in my favor.
• But, thanks to this list, I am still in the running.

And now, to round out the post, I'll throw in some pseudo-Halloween pictures. (The pictures are real, it's the Halloween that was pseudo.) Since Costa Rica doesn't really celebrate Halloween, I told the girls we'd carve a pumpkin if we could find one, or some other likely-looking fruit or vegetable if not.

I knew there were actual, orange pumpkins for sale at the fancy grocery store, but like Thanksgiving turkeys (which go for close to $100), they were imported specially for the expats, and priced accordingly. $15 for a pumpkin? I think not.

I was actually kind of looking forward to making a watermelon o' lantern, but unfortunately I found a squash/gourd vegetable (for $2) that is, in fact a pumpkin in every way except for its skin color. Stands to reason, in a country where oranges are green on the outside and yellowish orange on the inside. And where what looks like a succulent mandarin orange is, in fact, something much more suited to squeezing over your fish than putting directly into your mouth.

I also bought some giant cookies, a can of frosting and some chocolate chips, so while I carved the jack o' lantern (with a face on each side), they made their own pumpkin faces.