It’s the day before Halloween and already people are getting their spook on across the country.

So in honor of our costumed brethren, we offer these  Halloween-related links.

First, see what costumes people are wearing today (Dwight and Michael notwithstanding) across the country on Twitpic.

Next, some creative ideas for last-minute costumes, including a sandwich, vending machine or “terrible record collection.”

So you want ideas for your pet on Halloween? Here you go.

And finally, a really awesome costume that will likely make your efforts seem rather trivial. But it is really awesome.

Two Sioux City Hawkeye fans saw fit to tie the knot this past Saturday – and they could think of no better time to do so than during the halftime of the Iowa-MSU game.

Their ceremony, held at Marty’s Tap, was anything but traditional.

Click play to watch the video.

In case you missed it, the Weekender recently endorsed Jake the Dog for Sioux City City Council.

You heard that right – a dog. Well not just any dog – but Jake the Dog, who made headlines over the past six months.

How could this happen? Well, no one is really sure. Or at least they aren’t saying.

But Jake has penned his second plea for votes (and support for his canine pals who are still locked up at the Animal Control Center) in a column in last week’s edition. Find his original plea here.

The best part – you can support Jake by buying “Vote Jake” swag – T-shirts, dog bowls, buttons and boxers with the “Vote Jake” slogan on them. The Afternoon Delight team has its eye on that “Vote Jake” thing.

After reading the news a Minnesota man has pleaded guilty to driving drunk in his motorized La-Z-Boy and then crashing it into a parked car after leaving the bar, we decided to investigate the popularity of these powerful pieces of furniture. There are quite a few videos of motorized recliners on YouTube, including the one below. Click the arrow to play.

Or there’s a video of a man driving his gas-powered lounger around a RV campground. It sounds just like a riding lawn mower, but without the ability to cut the grass. Click the play arrow to watch.

So couch potatoes, instead of asking your wife to get you another beer, you can cruise over to the fridge in the comfort of your chair to get it yourself. How convenient!

No one can get enough of Balloon Boy and the antics of his Colorado family.

The Huffington Post got into the fun by offering a downloadable photoshop image of the family’s saucer-shaped balloon. Readers can make their own image and upload it to the site.

You can find dozens of examples (like the one above) by readers, make your own and vote on your favorites by clicking here.

A commercial spotlighting a Sioux City business is gaining popularity on YouTube. Ray’s Midbell Music was selected to get a mock commercial produced for free by Rhett & Link, two filmmakers who create Internet videos, as part of a contest sponsored by MicroBilt.com. The tongue-and-cheek rap features Ray’s Midbell Music employees and their instruments making light of an old stereotype that “band people aren’t cool.” The shoot, which took place in August, lasted two days and the local music company saw the video for the first time last week. So far, the video has been viewed on YouTube more than 225,000 times. Click the play arrow to watch the video below:
–Samantha Suttle

So apparently Twitter isn’t just for live people — there are quite a few famous dead folks on there as well. Do a search for a deceased celeb, musician or politician and chances are, you’ll find a Twitter account for them. Some are created to remember that person’s work or words, while others are used as though that person was sending tweets themselves. Here’s a short sample of what you might find, along with the Twitter name:

Abraham Lincoln: @RealLincoln

Albert Einstein: @alberteinstein

Edgar Allen Poe: @MisterPoe

Jerry Garcia: @Jerry_Garcia

Jesus Christ: @kingofthejews

King Henry VIII: @kingohenry

Tupac Shakur: @TheReal2Pac

William Shakespeare: @willshake

Today marks the 57th anniversary of the creation of the barcode and if you’ve been to Google.com today, you’ll see the site is honoring the white-and-black symbol on its home page. A barcode can be found on just about any item you buy. However, you probably don’t spend much time looking at them. Yet Omaha artist Scott Blake does. In fact, the barcode is art to him. Check out some of his work here. His barcode art appears in collages, paintings, portraits and videos. He has created some famous faces out of barcodes, folks like Oprah, Marilyn Monroe and Andy Warhol.

If you’ve ever wondered what your personal information would look like in barcode form, find out here. On Blake’s Web site, you can customize your own barcode by entering some basic info like age, weight and height. Once the barcode is scanned, you can learn your personal worth. (Mine was a whopping $6.87!) If it’s enough, and worth sharing with the world, you can get it printed on a t-shirt or coffee mug right there on the site. Have fun celebrating the barcode!