I've noticed that we've been getting a lot of hits from people looking for free pumpkin carving stencils. If you are looking for information aobut how to carve a pumpkin, or how to make a pumpking carving stencil or template, a good place to look would be the sponsered links on the left hand side of the page. If you are looking for the Darth Vader Stencil follow the link. There are two really great links further on down the page.
While I don't have any free stencils or templates for pumpkin carving, I have done a little carving in the past. My favorite was a self portrait. Here is a little hint for making your own template. In a photo editing program, turn your photo into a greyscale image, and then adjust the contrast alot until the photo loses all it's shades of grey and has only black and white. Then you can decide if it looks enough like what you want to carve, if it doesn't pick another photo. You'll have to decide if you want to cut out the black or the white, inverting the picture will help you decide which part to cut out. I've found that it works best if you use an easily recognizable photo. There are tips about how to transfer the stencil to the pumpkin. I've found that using a needle to poke holes around the outside of the parts you want to cut helps. You can also use a felt tipped pen to shade the areas that you are going to cut.
Traffic is Killing Me Slowly
The winter traffic is making me want to die... somewhere warm like Arizona. It took us an hour to go the 10 blocks to Deerfoot trail and then only 10 minutes to go the other 200 blocks to the University. I don't know what the problem was, there were no accidents or any other problems. I get the feeling that there are 2 or 3 really stupid people who can't drive and who should lose their licenses, that are causing serious problems. They back the traffic up so much by driving 10km/h, that it takes 3 hours for the normal, smart people to be able to clear the roads. It's like driving in a parade.
-Gary Milner, guy who hates traffic but loves carving pumpkins.