Coolest Halloween Ever!!! Ever!!!!

I've had lots of ideas on possible posts lately. Sadly, none of these ideas has actually become a post (dare I say yet?). Instead of posting I have been:

reading a couple of very unsatisfying books

injuring my back cutting ivy (nothing serious)

unknowingly misusing a heating pad--and then knowingly

mostly enjoying the World Series

taking control over the distributing of Halloween candy at my parent's house = the little trick or treaters got the Hershey's bars and Almond Joys and I got the Mounds and the Peanut Butter Cups

watching NOVA's Darwin's Darkest Hour in bits and pieces (thanks for the heads up Science Teacher Mommy)

and attending the best Halloween party ever.

This last item will make up the rest of this post. Last Friday I was privileged enough to receive a ticket to my Brother-in-Law's office Halloween party (tickets were required and were checked frequently by some secret service types). First let me just say a few words about where my b-in-l works. I'll not give away the name or what they do (since I don't know exactly what it is that they do except that it has something to do with the Internet and that just about every major corporation in the world is a client of theirs) I'll just say that they are perhaps the coolest company out there. I offer that following proofs as to their coolness:

Proof #1 Lounge area that contains wii and playstation consoles with games galore (and free soda!) for their employees to use at will.

Proof #2 Game Room pictured here:

For those times when their employees just need to spend some time playing computer games.

Proof #3 All their conference rooms are named after Adam Sandler movies--maybe not the actor I would have chosen but I can still appreciate the coolness of the naming.

Proof #4 The Halloween Party.

There is absolutely no way to describe to you exactly how very cool this party is but I will try.

First off, the entire company takes part and even competes against each other. Second, the entire place is transformed--as in you can't even tell that it is an office (well 3 3-story office buildings in an office park). They drape to walls and the cubicles with black plastic to create pathways and to serve as the backdrop to the various themes each section takes on. As for the themes, they tend to be movies or TV shows with a few computer games thrown in by the IT guys. And they go all out--I mean all out. My b-in-l's section took on The Simpsons and recreated the living room from the show out of foam--it was life size! (sadly I didn't get a picture but trust me it was so good--I didn't get many pictures because it was rather packed and many of the rooms were rather dark). For treats they handed out donuts of course. Other themes that were done included:

GI Joe with some very real looking weaponry--they were inside set up as a base camp with leaves and dirt and rocks all over the floor (the whole way through I kept wondering how long it would take to clean up; I probably should also have been wondering how much time it took to plan and put it all together--see how cool is this company that they allow their employees to do this on company time and pay for all the props and stuff used) and outside patrolling the parking lot and setting up check points;

Star Wars with, I am pretty sure, the real Darth Vader overseeing the training of young light saber fighters (they had this set up with a camera projecting your training/fighting onto a big screen with the movie playing--so basically it looked as though you were in the movie--I thought of you and your boys Science Teacher Mommy);

Michael Jackson's Thriller choreography set in a graveyard (again indoors with dirt and rocks and leaves);

Peter Pan (I think several sections got together on this one) that began in the nursery then traveled out the window over the city of London and past a 10 foot replica of Big Ben and into NeverNeverland with mermaids, a pond with live gold fish, Indians, pirates, and a rope sling that swung you down a hall and out of NeverNeverland;

Pac Man was represented with a maze with glowing yellow dots hanging over us and ghosts traveling the hallways (and not just ghosts in white sheets these ghosts looked like the real Pac Man ghosts come to life);

The Flintstones, Scooby Doo, The Smurfs, and The Jetsons were also represented;

the basement of one building was set up to look like Vegas with disco dancing, a buffet, casinos, and the Little White Chapel with Elvis himself performing the services.

I could go on and on but I think you pretty much get the point. It was really cool. Here are a few of the pictures that I did manage to take:

The pond with live goldfish:


A pirate in the pirate ship:

The Smurfs and Gargamel:


An Ent from LOTRs:

Two of my nieces in Tweety Bird's cage:

Two of my nieces hitting the road in a Flintstones car.