This link will take you to what happened in Anchorage’s Town Square as folks waited for the traveling musical “Mamma Mia!” to open. Note the down garments and gloves. Well, it is October.

(And I don’t care if it was organized in advance. I still think it’s fun.)

How do you get a job if no one will give you a job? John Shegerian explains “Why I hire former convicts and gang members.” Bless his heart.

In other Internet news:

No, I’m not giving away a package of cold and flu. You can get that for yourself by walking into any elementary school (aka “the Cootie Factory”) or riding public transit (ask me how I know).

Thus I’m giving away a package aimed at keeping you from getting sick, and that will help keep you comfortable if you do come down with something.

What’s in the package?

E-mails you don’t want to get from your house-sitter:

“I’m leaving a month early.”

“Do you have a plunger?”

Last week I got permission to pick grapes from a nearby fence. My first batch of jelly turned out a lovely wine-purple color and my apartment smelled like communion.

But it was a lot more work than blackberry jam: You pick, then crush, then simmer, then strain the pulp through a cheesecloth-lined colander, then add sugar and cook.

On Sunday I picked pretty much all the ripe grapes that were left. Yesterday I patiently pulled out the stems, made sure there was a one-to-four ratio of underripe to ripe fruit (I don’t use commercial pectin), washed them, crushed them, simmered them, and poured about half the results into a cloth-lined colander set over a bowl.

The yield was three cups of juice. I scraped out the drained pulp, poured the rest of the simmered grapes into the colander and walked away to do another chore.

And then.

CandiO wins this week’s dual giveaway of “Does This Make My Assets Look Fat? A Woman’s Guide to Finding Financial Empowerment and Success” by Susan Hirshman and the “Who makes this stuff up?” package of items from BlogHer 2010.

Congratulations, CandiO, and have fun with that Jimmy Dean alarm clock.

I’ll give you one hint about the next prize: It’s seasonal.

Check back on Friday to find out what the heck that means.