18 months ago I came within seconds of taking my own life. I had lost my job, my family, my freedoms; I was at rock bottom. I remember feeling like I had nothing. That sense of emptiness was so scary. I wasn’t even mad – Just alone. But a random phone call from an old friend came at the exact right moment in time. I remember the taste of the cold barrel in my mouth and hearing the ringing of the phone. I can’t believe how close I came to leaving this World.

So today, on this Thanksgiving I have so much to be thankful for. I’m blessed with the best children a father could hope for; two wonderful kids who love me despite my flaws, who look up to me and love me unconditionally. I have two fantastic ex-wives who I remain friends with to this day. I cherish not only the times we use to have together, but the ones we have now as well. I have the most supportive family imaginable. My parents and brothers have watched me trip, stumble and fall and have always been there standing beside me when I need them.

I am also so thankful to you – all my friends old and new who follow me on Twitter, Facebook, this blog and the like. Social Networking has allowed me to chronicle my life – the ups and downs, good times and bad – and I am so thankful that you are there to tag along for the journey; sometimes offering advice or putting a foot in my ass if I need it. I appreciate you putting up with my crazy antics and listening to my wild stories. I can’t imagine what my life would be like without all of you in it.

Most of all I am thankful for my life – for the chance to sit and watch a sunset, or see the twinkle in my son’s eye on a Christmas morning; the ability to get in my truck, put the windows down and feel the wind against my face and know I am alive. I’m thankful for each breath I am blessed to take in this World because late on a Friday night 18 months ago I was a split second away from giving this life up.

Halloween has always been my favorite Holiday. I love the idea that we can dress up and escape our realities for just a night. It’s a chance for us to be something devilish and sinister. But mostly it’s just good fun. And do I need to mention the candy? You wouldn’t believe the treats my children brought home from school yesterday. If I was a homeless man I would trick or treat AS a homeless man…it’d be a convincing costume and a sure fire way to get some grub. Of course maybe that’s why I’m not homeless; I think outside of the box.

Every Halloween I can’t help but remember a friend of mine who lived nearby when I was growing up. Adam Baine was a super nice kid who had the misfortune (in my opinion) of being born into a ridiculously religious family. He wasn’t allowed to listen to ANY music with electric guitars, he only attended Christian schools, and of course he wasn’t allowed to celebrate Halloween. I remember feeling so sorry for him. His parents did their best to demonize the holiday after their attempts to make him oblivious to it fell futile. I imagine the most hell-like anyone was on those Halloween nights was poor Adam as he sat inside listening to the throngs of revelers knocking at the door.

I feel bad for people that are that raised in families that don’t celebrate Halloween. It’s that kind of moral repressiveness that makes kids and teens go crazy when they finally get some freedom. If you think dressing up constitutes some kind of devil worship I feel sorry for you. You are really naive and far too easily influenced. Halloween should be the least of your concerns. I still feel bad for him to this day. As a 10 year old, missing Halloween was a bane of his existence.

It’s my sincere hope that wherever you are today Adam, whether or not you dress up or party, that at the least you have a couple pieces of candy and enjoy this awesome tradition we all share. Maybe one day you’ll knock on my door and I’ll finally be able to celebrate my favorite holiday with you, all these years later.

To everyone that reads this blog; all you ghouls and ghost, vamps and zombies, creatures of the night and all things fun and frightening; I wish you all a deliciously tasty Halloween filled with many treats and most importantly, many more memories. Happy Halloween!

This is my favorite time of year. Halloween and Fall are finally upon us. There’s a crispness in the air, the darkening of leaves and the shortening of the day. I’ve always been fascinated with fall and Halloween. It’s without a doubt my favorite holiday. So I’m a little morose. I love horror films and the band Type O Negative and I anxiously wait 356 days of the year for the AMC Fearfest. I can’t help myself.

Maybe that’s what got me scouring the depths of the web this year for something unique and different to do this Autumn. What I found was an incredible artist named Len Peralta from Cleveland. He runs a few sites but without doubt his bread and butter is Monster by Mail. What he does is hand draw a 4×6 original piece of art based off the name you give him. Of course for the sake of research I sent him The HiTechRedneck. We’ll get back to that though.

Len basically offers four packages right now; It’s $25 just for the art, $35 for the art and a time-lapsed YouTube video of him creating it, and so on. I’ll let you check out all the specifics for yourself. I opened my email this afternoon to find a nice message saying my monster was complete and on the way. Plus it had a link to my video. It turned out fantastic. Take a look and see what ya think – but I couldn’t be any happier with it.

If you love Halloween as much as I do you owe it to yourself to get one of these made. Maybe you’re looking for a unique one-of-a-kind gift or perhaps you just want some incredible art; no matter the case check out Len’s work. You can follow him on Twitter, subscribe to his Youtube channel or check out his blog.

I hope you’re all having as special, creepy and scarily fun Fall as I am. Carve the pumpkins, hand out the treats and always remember – using garlic against a vampire is just a myth… I think.