"Eighty-eight miles per hour!"

Today is a special day; an anniversary worth celebrating.

It was 50 years ago today that Dr. Emmett L. Brown was inspired to create the flux capacitor, which, as we all know, is what makes time travel possible.

So to you, Doc Brown, we tip our hats.

Other fun Nov. 5 facts, courtesy of IMDB.com: If she were still alive, Natalie "Lovey Howell" Schafer would be 105 today.

A lot of musicians have a birthday today: Ike Turner turns 74, Art Garfunkel is 64, Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits is 58. Strangely, Bryan Adams and Ryan Adams both celebrate their birthdays today. Bryan Adams is 46, and Ryan ("I'm not Bryan Adams") Adams turns 31.

And because there's always a Star Trek connection, today is Armin (Quark from "Deep Space Nine) Shimerman's birthday.

Woo-hoo! Birthday candles all around.

I swear, you could waste hours playing around with the "On This Day" function at IMDB. Plug in your birthday and see who you share a special day with.

For example, I have the same birthday as Ryan ("I'm still not Bryan Adams, and I'm getting really tired of smart-ass people making jokes all the time, especially when it leads to an entirely too long parenthetical note") Adams. What are the odds?

National Novel Writing Month progress

Well, it's only a few days into it, and I'm already behind. Meh.

Of course, there were some other minor details that were throwing the old monkey-wrench into the works, but I think I'm back on track.

Here's the first line of the story:

"And he says, 'Lad, I don't know where you've been, but I see you won first prize.'"

And no, I'm not explaining the context in which it's used. Maybe later.

A knight out on the town

We took my son, Brody, trick-or-treating the other night. We took him last year, but he was only a year old, so he wasn't much of a participant. He just tried to walk into people's houses and even gave hugs to a few people.

But now, he's a year older, and a little more prepared for trick-or-treating. I'd been working with him on exactly how the process worked.

"Okay, you ring the doorbell, and when the person answers the door, you say 'trick or treat.'" Can you say 'trick or treat'?"

"Yes."

"Well, let's hear it."

Nothing.

"And after they give you the candy, what do you say?"

"Thank you."

"Good job. That's using your manners." I'm trying to teach him to use good manners, which is akin to Mike Tyson teaching ballroom dancing.

So when the time came, we got him into his knight costume and gave him my wife's old jack o'lantern bucket to carry his Halloween booty in.

"Go outside?"

"Yep, we're going outside to go trick-or-treating. Can you say 'trick or treat'?"

"Yes."

"Well, let's go. Remember to say thank you when you get some candy."

"Thank you."

So we got to the first house and rang the doorbell. (Brody's still a little too short to handle that on his own.) The door opened, and Brody stood there quietly.

"Brody, what do you say?" my wife asked, hoping to prod him into saying "trick or treat."

Without hesitation, he answered "Please!"

Close enough.

Candy dropped into his bucket.

"Brody, what do you say?" I figured at least he'd nail this part, and he'd look very well-mannered.

"Bye!"

He says thank you every time I hand him one of his cars or give him some Goldfish crackers, but when he gets candy from strangers, all he says is "Bye."

He didn't get fussy during our brief trek; in fact, it was only near th end that he asked us to hold his bucket for him ("Heavy," he explained).

He still seemed a little eager to just walk right in to people's houses, especially the one answered by a young woman with glasses. He just stood there smiling after he got his candy.

He has a thing for brunettes with glasses.

And Rachael Ray, even though she doesn't wear glasses.

We ended up going to about a dozen or so houses and came home with a pretty good haul. Brody, being the generous soul he is, let old Mom and Dad have at the candy after he was done counting it.

The fact that he doesn't like candy didn't have anything to do with it, I'm sure.

McRib, for your pleasure

From now until Nov. 20, you can catch the McRib on its farewell tour at local McDonald'ses (pesky plurals!). They've got a swell Web site to promote the sandwich, which for some ungodly reason, has a fan following.

No, not a big McRib fan. But if you are, you can download some cool designs for farewell tour T-shirts if you want.

Why so much effort goes into preserving the McRib and not bringing back Hostess Pudding Pies, I'll never know.