auntlada

Also, many of the shows that have had it as a plotline are sitcoms, so it's going to be treated in a comedic way. Unless it's a very special episode, pretty much everything is treated in a comedic way, regardless of the seriousness of it.

Or this one:

What was the original bombing he was a suspect in? Something at UCLA maybe?

I don't remember where I learned it, but I worked for a newspaper, so possibly I learned it from a legitimate source (although possibly Law and Order), but my understanding is that if the trash can is on private property, you can't go through it. If it's on public property -- set out on the street or kept in an alley or on a right-of-way that is not private property -- it's fair game. Now that I think about it, I think I learned it through work, not in relation to police, but in relation to people scavenging through dumpsters. If the dumpster is kept on the business's property, it's illegal to go through it, but if it's in the alley, it's legal. I would assume the same would apply to police searches without warrants. So the question is where exactly the trash cans were. I couldn't tell. Were they in a driveway or an alley or near the edge of the property in what might be a right-of-way? They do it here too (also relatively small town). The police and firefighters have a clinic once or twice a year at least to install car seats and do other kid things. I don't know for sure, but I suspect you can stop by the police station or a fire station for help also.

Because that works so well for everyone else.

Maybe she just found out that her college degree is useless for finding a job? Is anybody else watching for Netflix's "Virgin River"? The start date is Dec. 6, but no episode titles or descriptions are up yet. I don't know how early Netflix does that stuff. It's based on Robyn Carr's books and stars Alexandra Breckenridge and Martin Henderson.

My sister-in-law did that one year. It was great, except for the one she gave my husband (her brother). He has a beard and mustache.

I have no idea where Watts is exactly or South Wilshire or anything about the geography of Los Angeles without looking it up, but my guess is they are using Watts because that name means something to the rest of the country. We've heard of Watts.

We must either have the best kids ever that come to our neighborhood or almost no kids coming because we put out a bowl full of candy when we take our son out, and when we get back an hour or hour and a half later, it's at least half full. It's possibly some of both. I know we do have trick-or-treaters because I see them out. I did find a piece of candy in the yard a day later, but I suspect it fell out of some child's overful bucket (possibly my child's overfull bucket).

It would keep me from eating the leftovers.

I've never really understood how cities (or whoever) can decide to postpone trick or treating or hold it on a certain day. It's not really an organized, sponsored event. It's kids getting dressed up in costume and going door to door. If kids decide to go and people answer their doors and give out candy on a particular night, that's when trick or treating is, regardless of what people who may or may not be in charge of other things decide. I also don't understand parents being upset about it being on a school night. If you don't want your kids to stay out late trick or treating, don't let them. Give them a time they have to be home. (Or take them and bring them home at what you consider a reasonable hour.) It's called being a parent. It's your job to set the limits you deem reasonable. I guess that's my peeve for today: parents who want others to make rules for everyone's kids so they don't have to make the rules they want for their own kids. When their kids say, "But so-and-so gets to do it," do they not know how to say, "Well, so-and-so isn't my child. You are, and I say you're not doing it."

I have occasionally straightened other people's clothes (besides my husband's and child's), but only after asking if I can. Otherwise, it often comes off as creepy because it involves touching them in ways they may not be comfortable with. I mean, I wouldn't be comfortable with it if someone did it without asking, even if it was just picking a stray thread off my back. Now, if there's a kick-me sign on my back, everyone has permission to just pull that right off.

We quit feeding our cats first thing in the morning several years ago because one of them kept moving the time he thought he should get food earlier and earlier until he was meowing for food at about 2:30 a.m.

I hate the act of springing forward, but I loved the extra daylight in the evening in the summer when I was a kid. I'd still love it if I didn't have to get up and go to work every day just as I do in the winter.

I might use the one closest to where I was, but I would put the toilet seat back in the position it was when I went in there, along with anything else I moved. And I'd probably tell you about the hand towel if it was particularly dirty. Now that I think about it, it wouldn't be a bad idea for the homeowner/renter/person who lives there to put away any good towels and put out old towels for handwashing in case workers have to wash and dry their hands. I guess the good news is that at least the worker washed his hands.

We still get yellow page phone books (not Bell Yellow Pages, but different books published by random companies) delivered, sometimes several a year. I don't want them. They no longer have coupons in them, and I look everything up on the Internet anyway. Also, they aren't big enough to use as booster seats for children. (My grandparents used to use their big city phone books for that.)

Are they not required to give you a lunch break if you work seven hours?

The Bachelor or Big Brother, although I finally convinced myself to quit watching. Or perhaps I just stopped being able to watch live TV when my son was born. If I still had time to watch, though, I probably would.

I thought the detective was going to screw over the patrol cops somehow after all the talk about how they do the real work. Is Harold Perrineau staying on the show, or was this a one-time guest spot? Maybe it will build up to something, either Nolan getting to detective really fast or the detective doing shady stuff.

In my head, I am justifying all of this by saying that Lucy wrote down that she got the bottom score, but told Nolan and Jackson that she thought she had the middle score.

I was certainly more patient about finding answers then.

That was probably the FBI profiling unit. "Criminal Minds" wouldn't lie to me about how they work and what they drive, would it?

This is the epitome of a first-world problem, but I hate it when I've just thought of a question about something, and the website with the answer is down. It's not like I even need the information right away, but I thought of it now, and I want to know now. We are tentatively planning a cookout for our Cub Scouts. We have a new Scout, who I think is probably Muslim, although I'm not positive. His father earned degrees in Istanbul, and we're just guessing because I haven't thought of a polite way to ask that question. (When we notify parents about the cookout, we'll be asking about food allergies and dietary restrictions, but for now, we don't know.) So just in case, I'm trying to find out what brands of beef hot dogs or brats he would be able to eat (assuming he's not vegetarian). The brand I know best for brats is Johnsonville, and the website is down apparently. I don't need to know for another month, but I thought of it now, so I want to know now. I'm not a very waitable person.

Two options: 1) Does she ever talk? or 2) Does she ever shut up? I'm really bad at meeting new people and making small talk, so I tend to be really quiet or chatter nervously and share way too much information.

I have never been in a situation anywhere close to yours, so I may not be the best person to give advice. My first inclination, however, is to include something like what you wrote that I quoted. It may be harsher than you want to be, though, and it may close the door in a more permanent way than you want.