Happy Halloween 2025!

Tonight I am sitting by our front door answering it for all of the trick-or-treat kids in our neighborhood. Right now it is still the young kids and we always hand out glow-in-the-dark bracelets. The chemical kind that you get at night in amusement parks. My logic is that the lights will help the kids be more easily seen. As the night goes on, we will switch from young kids to older ones and they are more interested in candy and we have a giant bowl of that.

While handing out treats, I am also fixing a couple of technical problems. Tonight is probably the worst night to do that as I finally get a problem figured out and the doorbell rings. Fortunately I have solved two cumbersome issues and feel like I have accomplished something while still answering the door every couple of minutes.

While waiting for kids to come by this evening I noticed that our Amazon Show device had a really dim screen. I looked for an adjustment knob or button but there isn't one. As the device is supposed to understand verbal commands, I asked, "Alexa, how can I brighten the screen?" The device quickly replied, "Go into settings-appearance and adjust the brightness there." What a useless response, I thought as there are multiple setting menus on the stupid thing. Did I need to go into the settings on my wife's phone which controls the device? There is also a settings on the screen when you touch it. I started with the one on the screen. That only seemed to control where the pictures are coming from for the constant slide show we get to see.

I asked my wife for her phone. I went into the Alexa app and looked for settings to control the device. I couldn't find anything and so I headed back to the device. This time when I touched the screen on the Amazon Show, I noticed an icon that looked like a "V" at the top of the screen. That usually means to swipe down and so I did. It brought up yet a 3rd setup screen which had the appropriate controls for device brightness. I cranked it up a bit and now I can see the pictures clearly on the screen.

With the Amazon Show visible I thought I would sit down and crank out one more blog entry for the month. I had the option of going upstairs and getting my personal laptop, going downstairs and getting my work laptop, or using the Chromebook I keep on the desk next to the kitchen. Following the path of least resistance, I reached for the Chromebook. This turned out to be the most lengthy choice.

I opened the Chromebook and didn't see anything on the screen. Sometimes it can be a bit slow to respond but it needed to be turned on. I pressed the "On" button and saw that it had unexpectedly quit. I logged into my account on the device and it needed to do 2-factor authentication. Chrome being a product of Google likes to try to authenticate on our Android phone. I thought it would be simple as the desk by the kitchen is where we keep that phone. Unfortunately the first attempt didn't work and I got instructions similar to the ones from the Amazon Show. I ran through them without any luck only to have the doorbell ring from candy goblins. By the time I got back to the Chromebook and my phone, both had gone dark. I had to turn on the screens and discovered my Chromebook started the login process all over.

Fortunately when I entered my login information the Chromebook sent the MFA signal to my phone and I just had to confirm it was me logging in. I didn't need to follow any of the convoluted instructions that didn't match what I saw on the screen. As you can tell by this post, I solved the problem and used my Chromebook to write this post. Now it is time to go back to answering the door for the children in the neighborhood.

Sending Candy Inexpensively

My wife and I just got back from a trip to Disney World where we took part in "Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party" in Magic Kingdom. We had hoped that it wouldn't be crowded and that we would be able to ride a number of attractions without foot-cramp-inducing lines. It turned out to be the most crowded day of our 5-day trip. We did catch a bit of a break though when a giant thunderstorm drenched everyone in the Tron line and we only had a 15-minute wait.

One of the joys of the Halloween party is the trick-or-treating you can do. When you enter the park, they give you a special wrist band and a bag to store your sugary loot. We would find ourselves near a candy stand and quickly filled our bags with candy. The people handing out candy didn't give you one or two pieces, they gave you a huge scoop. When we filled our first bags, they gave us a second one each and we filled those too.

I love candy but can't really eat very much of it. I would estimate that I have about 3 year supply of candy for me. That translates to about a week for your average child. I have 6 grandkids that would love to take all of the treats off my hands. For the 3 that live here in Utah, I can just give the candy to them the next time I see them. For my grandkids in Ohio, I need to get it there somehow. I would love to use the trick that my 8-year-old grandson still thinks works but unfortunately it doesn't. I can create a package and send it in the mail, but postage will cost more than the value of the candy. Ultimately I will bring it to them when I see them next month as that is the most cost-effective way of sharing with them. 

Why Do We Have Malls

Last night I went with my youngest daughter to do some Christmas shopping. She had a list of places that she wanted to go and one of them was at the local shopping mall. I was amazed that we parked only 3 spaces from the front door. Then I was even more amazed at how empty it was inside. Sure it was a Tuesday evening, but I remember not being able to walk through a mall when I was a kid trying to do my own Christmas shopping.

I think online retailers have really taken a significant share of business from the local malls. How can small businesses compete with online prices? Everyone wants to get a good deal and an online presence is a lot less expensive than a brick-and-mortar storefront.

We visited exactly 3 stores in the mall. The first was the Vans store because I wanted to see what cool styles they had. I am looking for something specific and wanted to see if they had it. Nope, they didn't. However they did have a display where you could custom order your own shoes. No need to go to the mall though, just visit their website and order it from there.

The next store was a candy store where they had every candy I could think of. Naturally I had to get a little something for myself. That was one store worth going back to visit later.

The last store was Bed, Bath, and Beyond. While some of the stores had nobody in them, this one was full of women and girls picking up items. There were 4 check-out stations running as fast as they could and there was still a 5 minute line. It was as if the whole mall existed for that one store.

Naturally I came home and surfed the Internet for gifts to give my siblings. 20 minutes later, I had everybody shopped for and got the best prices available. I could see why the mall was seemingly empty. This leads me to the question of why we still have malls? Surely it can't be because of Bed, Bath, and Beyond.