I had a great time this week at a fundraiser in the Northland. Triality, Inc. held it's "Trix or Treat" event at the Majestic Comedy club in Zona Rosa. Triality helps people with disablilities and their families. There were four comedians that took the stage for the event, although only three of them were funny on purpose. That would be the three professional comedians for the evening... and me. Northland Hyvee stores were the major sponsor of the event, and let's just say that, as the emcee for the night, I found out the hard way that the managers of their stores have last names that are very difficult to pronounce. But it was a great time, the comedians were very funny, and all the money raised went to a good cause. That's no joke.

As the fall weather gets colder, parents not only start thinking about Halloween costumes and candy, but also about what Christmas gifts their kids will find under the tree this year. Already we're hearing the hype about the "hottest" toys of the holiday season. Leading the way: the "Tickle Me Elmo" Extreme doll. What makes it so extreme, you ask? Well, the little guy laughs so hard this time around that he slaps his knee and even falls over. You know, you can't help but smile when you see it.

However, it's not a good idea to buy toys based solely on hype. It's better to get something your kids will actually play with, preferably for longer than 5 minutes. This week I had the chance to watch kids in action as they played with some of this season's new toys and I came away with some new insight.

KMBC is once again part of the "Great American Toy Test." TV stations all across the country find kids to play with new toys so they can be judged both locally and nationally. We went to Operation Breakthrough in Kansas City with four boxes full of new toys and let the kids go at it. Something that jumped out at me right away with a group of Preschool kids was that the "hot" toy, the aforementioned Tickle Me Elmo, wasn't very popular. In fact, no kid touched it for about 10 minutes. Finally, one boy played with it for a short while, then moved on to something else. The Elmo doll was popular with the toddlers, however.

A toy that did make a big impact (but not necessarily in a good way) was a life-like monkey doll that moved on it's own. Instead of being a fun play companion, the little monkey freaked out the Pre-K kids. They were scared of it. They spent most of the time throwing it out of the window of a play tent. Eventually, it was laying on its side against a wall, twitching with its little electric motions.

If you're a parent trying to figure out the best toys for your kids this Christmas, you can check out our Toy Test reports next month. You can see them on First News in November, just in time for the big holiday shopping season that kicks off after Thanksgiving. We'll try to cut through the hype and give parents some good advice before they head to the stores.

It was a pretty good return on an investment. Andy Metcalfe paid $50 and ended up with a BMW convertible. Warren Buffet may soon be asking him for some investment tips.

Okay, some luck was involved here. Andy bought four raffle tickets in a BMW drawing at the "Race for Freedom" fundraiser this week at Gary Crossley Ford in the Northland. I was the emcee of the festivities, which included giving away the big prize of the night, a blue BMW convertible. Andy and his wife, Shari, from Liberty were the excited winners. I was just happy to have held the keys for a few minutes before making the announcement.

The "Race for Freedom" event was the second fundraiser for a great project. The money raised will go toward Freedom House, a new facility to be built in Liberty that will house several charitable organizations. It's a worthy cause, and one that Andy and Shari are very happy that they supported.

Recently on this very blog, I mentioned my deep devotion to Kansas City barbecue. So what's the perfect job for a barbecue fiend like myself? How about judging the world series of barbecue, the American Royal barbecue contest? I had that very honor over the weekend.

The Royal is actually two different competitions. The invitational is held on Friday, which, as its name implies, is for invited barbecue teams only. That's followed by the open competition on Saturday, which featured more than 500 teams this year. I judged the open competition so on Saturday morning, I sat down to eat and judge some of the best barbecue around.

Being an American Royal judge is quite an experience. While the atmosphere is fun, it's also serious. The teams spend thousands of dollars to take part in the contest, so the judges need to take their role very seriously as well. In fact, all the judges stand up before they eat, raise their right hand, and take the Kansas City Barbecue Society pledge. It's similar the pledge of allegiance and the oath witnesses take before testifying in court. Did I mention this is pretty serious?

After the oath, it's on to the eating. The key here is moderation and pacing. Judges taste six samples in five different categories (six if you count dessert), so if you eat too much at the beginning, you'll be stuffed by the time you get to the pork and brisket. It's not easy taking only a small bite or two of the delicious chicken and ribs, but believe me, you'll feel much better at the end. I've judged enough contests to know that if you don't pace yourself, you'll be mighty uncomfortable after it's all over.

It's a blind taste test, so I have no idea which teams I judged, but there were delicious entries in every category: chicken, ribs, pork, brisket and sausage. So what happens to the rest of the barbecue if the judges only eat a bite of each sample? Leftovers, my friends. I've been eating barbecue every day this week. Judging the American Royal is the gift that keeps on giving.

When it was all said and done (after several delicious desserts), I was happy and full and amazingly, could even walk out of the arena on my own. For a barbecue lover, it doesn't get any better.

As we watch the footage from the war in Iraq on our TV screens, from the comfort of our homes, it can be easy to feel detached from the conflict that has taken thousands of American lives. Unless you have a family member or friend serving in the war zone, the media coverage can become numbing after years of battle. Many of us don't want to become apathetic about this war, but the question is: What can I do? Fortunately, although the war in Iraq is extremely controversial, the support for our troops has remained high, and I recently was reminded of a great way any one of us can help our soldiers as they risk their lives serving our country.

It all started as a project set up by the student council at Lewis and Clark elementary school in Liberty. They decided to write letters to soldiers serving in Iraq. The entire school spent a day writing the letters, some 600 in all. They ended up in the hands of Captain Chris Andersen, a member of the 101st Airborne Division in Iraq and a Kansas City native. He handed out the cards to hundreds of his fellow soldiers.

Recently, Capt. Andersen visited the school to say thank you to the kids for their support and all the kind words in their letters. He told them how much each and every one of their letters meant to the soldiers in his platoon. Andersen's father, Pete, told me why the letters are so important. "The soldiers in many cases get literally nothing from home," he said. "When someone, particularly a stranger, is kind enough to take the time to think about them and the sacrifices they are making, in some cases it can mean even more than a letter from family."

Capt. Andersen showed the students at Lewis and Clark pictures from his camp in Iraq, eliciting ooo's and ahh's from the kids with pictures of all kinds of military equipment. But he also showed them pictures of ordinary Iraqis, telling the young crowd that the Iraqi people were very similar to Americans. "They're nice and they care about their kids just like we do," he told them. It gave the students a connection to a distant and complex conflict.

Andersen's father told me he hopes that our story encourages others to send letters to soldiers in Iraq. Let me add my encouragement as well. As our country debates the war, our dedicated military members continue to serve heroically. What can we do? Something as simple as putting pen to paper. It doesn't have to be brilliant prose. For a soldier overseas, support from home in any form is beautiful indeed.

Some people would say any day is a great day for a parade, but Saturday in downtown Kansas City was truly perfect. The weather was warm and sunny for the 81st annual American Royal parade, and I had a great time riding in the event.

The KMBC vehicles had some familiar faces: Joel Nichols, Donna Pitman and Erin Little. Also riding along, a not-so-familiar face: my son Jack, who enjoyed being in his first parade.

He's watched plenty of them. In fact, the last parade he went to was memorable. When we went to the Fall Festival parade in Liberty a few weeks ago, Jack insisted on dressing up as his favorite superhero. So, he went to the parade with his Spiderman costume underneath his clothes and as soon as we arrived, in dramatic fashion, he took off his clothing to reveal his Spidey outfit, complete with mask and gloves. Of course, this meant he got a lot of candy. Everyone made sure that Spiderman got all the sweet treats he wanted.

No costume for Jack at the American Royal parade, but he had a great time waving to everyone along the parade route. The American Royal event is always a good time, especially on a day that was perfect for a parade.