So far, it’s not even suppertime, and we’ve had 8 or 9 kids, the last one heavily encrusted in glitter. But you never know, that may be all we get. Is it time to make a run for more candy? Not quite.

Ran out this morning and got a bag each of Snickers, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, 3 Musketeers, Butterfinger, and Nestle’s Crunch. This year, stores are featuring giant figures of Frankenstein and other such that are not the usual inflatables. The neighbors are getting in the mood.

My usual attempt at decorating for the 4-5 kids that show up has been done - stringing up several hundred lights on a big bush out front. I used to do a tree, but that has gotten too tall.

So far, one neighbor has an inflated pumpkin of the huge variety, another has one of the Frankensteins, while another has kind of an arrangement around a carved pumpkin centerpiece. Maybe it’s the balmy weather. Normally no one bothers.

I managed to get to WalMart, where the main display has a giant clear bubble filled with bobbing ghosts. We crazy Americans just can’t wait to trash up our front yards with all this stuff.

It happened a couple of weeks ago in a game between a carpenter and a deli worker. They weren’t your average players, but they weren’t experts either. They beat the current record of 770 points. That game was played by experts.

Take a look at the words they produced.

Don’t wear a mini-skirt, and heaven forbid that you have on a billowy skirt with a long slit up the side. A fierce wind comes up from time to time, and every tourist (all of them have cameras) and casual visitor, to say nothing of the odd busker and street performance artist, will note that you are wearing red underwear.

Seems he managed to interview some unsuspecting Americans under false pretenses, much to their later distress.

On a Friday afternoon of an exhausting week, a lunch of leftover sweet and sour shrimp does a couple of things. First, it reminds me of The Orchid, a small, usually empty Chinese restaurant in Berkeley that, sadly, is no longer. The owners took my sons under their wing for some reason, and whenever they showed up, they got freebies of various kinds. Sometimes, it was a free can of soda. Whatever they ordered, they got extra. My younger son wanted to have his graduation lunch there. Which was when we found that The Orchid had vanished.

The second thing? If you’re like me and have various reactions to MSG, the food makes my heart beat faster. Sometimes this is not so good, but today, as I listen to Hope Sandoval’s mesmerizing voice, and realize how much work I’ve got to do before 5:30, a little extra heartbeat or two won’t hurt.

And no, the shrimp is not as good as what we got at The Orchid.

They seem to go for the chest, or maybe that’s the largest part presented to them at the time of the encounter.

Cornell researchers say there seems to be a distinct connection between autism and TV watching by very young children. States where the study took place include California, Washington state, Oregon and Pennsylvania. The proliferation of VCRs and cable TV coincides with the alarming rise of autism starting in 1980.

The researchers are careful to state that they have not found the specific cause of autism. But what they do say should give anyone with kids under 3 serious food for thought.

We live in an age when infants watch videos, and youngsters are kept occupied with DVDs in the back seat during long trips.

Those who follow autism news might be wondering about the Amish, who have extremely low rates of the disorder. The Amish do not watch TV.

The manager was very accommodating, asking only that I show his good side, and whether he might find them via googling later .

An overcast day in SF can be better than a sunny day elsewhere.

Both my sons travel to SF via Caltrans. Of late, this route has been fraught with delays due to abandoned cars and citizens who view the rails as a fail-safe end to their lives. Yesterday’s fatality was visible to all riders of mid-morning trains if they cared to look, according to the eyewitness account.

Therefore, the morning routine now includes a scanning of possible calamities.

In Britain, the hospital superbug Clostridium difficile has claimed at least 49 lives in recent months. It is now considered to be more dangerous than MRSA.

So far, the only defense seems to be steam-cleaning wards, and asking visitors, patients and staff to wash their hands before touching anyone.