Pittsburgh

Lorie’s Friday 5 for 10/25/2013

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First, I want to thank everyone for being so understanding about last weeks post being missing. My husband is fine, we’re hopefully going to find a new vehicle this weekend and put this little deer laden adventure behind us.

Let’s kick-start the moving on….

Since it’s the spookiest time of the year I thought I would use this week’s Friday 5 to take a look at things Halloween related. These are five (probably) random, (rarely) newsworthy and on (nearly every) occasion strange or unique stories. I hope there’s at least one thing on the list you haven’t already heard about so you have something to talk about while trick-or-treating this week.

Let’s see what we can scare-up…

1. Halloween evolved from a Celtic called Samhain (pronounced “sah-win”) and who believed that the boundaries between the living and the dead overlapped and the dead would come back to cause havoc. Their festival involved large bonfires that attracted bugs, which would attract bats, another common sight in modern Halloween.

2. Haunted houses are very popular, both the kind haunted by people in costume and the kind haunted by the bodily challenged.

Freaky angry looking bunny with Amy Bruni and Kris Williams from Ghost Hunters

Scare House Bunny with a couple of TAPS Ghost Hunters

One in my “neck of the woods” has consistently been ranked one of the top in the United States. Scare House in Pittsburgh has even been voted the #1 haunt in the world by TopHaunt.com! If you like getting scared, this is a great place to go.

3. Trick-or-Treat is a huge, am I right? What kid doesn’t love running around in costumes and shaking people down for candy? Americans buy over 600 million pounds of candy each year for Halloween. No word on how much of that candy is bought and consumed by the purchaser before the trick-or-treaters even get into costume.

4. In the US superstition says that black cats are bad luck and associated with witches. In the UK white cats are considered bad luck around Halloween. The cats, reportedly, were indifferent about and then suddenly rushed out of the room.

5. Halloween just isn’t Halloween without a good ghost story. Most everyone has one. Some people like the folks at TAPS go out and make them. Some people collect them. Take the time to tell a good ghost story this Halloween and scare the pants off someone you care about.

That’s this week’s 5. If you have an idea for next week’s Friday 5, or if you would like to Guest Write the Friday 5, I would love to hear from you! Send me a note here and we’ll get you on the blog!

Have a great weekend everyone and let’s stay spooky out there!

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Friday 5 for 9/27/2013

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Welcome to this week’s Friday Five. It’s been a week filled with backhoes, plumbing, piles of dirt around here. I certainly hope your week has been a little quieter and a little cleaner than mine has been! Let’s try to take our minds off things shall we?

To help here are five (probably) random, (rarely) newsworthy and on (nearly every) occasion strange or unique stories. I hope there’s at least one thing on the list you haven’t already heard about so you have something to talk about on the way to the next chocoholics meeting.

1. You’ve probably heard by now that Bill Gates has admitted that the familiar Control-Alt-Delete to log-on to your Windows computer was, well, a mistake. It’s the only one he admitted to, everything else is still being referred to as a “feature.”

40 Foot Tall Rubber Duck floats into Pittsburgh, PA past bridge filled with people

40 foot tall Rubber Duck floats into Pittsburgh, PA

2. The giant rubber duck that’s been making its way around the world made its way to the United States and debuted in Pittsburgh, PA today! The artist behind the duck says that it has healing properties, I don’t know about that but it sure is it cute.

3. My daughter and I discovered the phenomenon of Bat Dad a few weeks ago, but he was everywhere this week. This Vine mastermind has created some hysterical videos, but I really do have to wonder how if his family isn’t starting to think it’s getting a little old.

Man with beard styled as a bowl and eating Ramen Noodles out of it.

Isaiah Webb is not afraid of getting food in his “Incredibeard”

4. Have you seen the guy who likes to style his beard in really unique ways? Like into a<a< span=””> title=”Beard for a bowl” href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/24/ramen-beard_n_3982332.html?utm_hp_ref=weird-news&#8221; target=”_blank”> bowl for his Ramen noodles? I guess he’s not afraid of getting a hair in his food.

5. Finally, here’s a great story about a little boy who wanted to do a a 5K with his older brother who has cerebal palsy but his mom didn’t have they money for a jogger so they could do it. Tobias decided to write a local television station asking for help locating one. He even offered to run with other children if someone would loan him one. This is an awesome little boy with a great story and an amazing ending!

That’s this week’s Friday 5. I hope you found something that lifted your spirits or put a smile on your face.

If you have an idea for next week’s Friday 5, or if you would like to Guest Write the Friday 5, I would love to hear from you! Send me a note here and we’ll get you on the blog!

Have a great weekend everyone!

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