At least the Internet has some utility to it

I have to admit I don't have much use for the Internet.

Oh, I send and receive e-mails, more than I like to actually, but I prefer to buy, bank and generally carry out business in person.

For you folks who are fans of Amazon and eBay, I can say I almost ordered something over the Internet once. I was perusing a site that has bookstores from all over the U.S. on it and I ran across a used book that I wanted.

I was going to try to figure out how to use the site to place an order, when I noticed that the store that had the item I wanted was in Elmhurst.

So I got the phone number, called the store, talked to a human being, and the book was delivered the next day.

But I think I've finally found something that the Internet is good for.

In Friday's Sun, you probably saw a picture page that featured local pets dressed up in Halloween costumes. There were three photos of costumed dogs and one of a squirrel that wasn't costumed but was busily destroying a pumpkin. Cute shots, all.

At the bottom of a page was a reference to The Sun's Web site, www.napersun.com, where you could see more of these kinds of photos.

Well, I looked at that and "more" decidedly was an understatement.

Under the heading "Paws for Halloween," located near the top of our home page, you can flip through, oh, about a million pictures of dressed-up pets from all over the area.

I wasn't surprised to see all the costumed dogs. A dog will do a lot to please his master.

But what did surprise me was that there were a fair number of cats.

Now I've never tried to put a costume on our cat, Job, but I could imagine a trip to Edward's emergency room were I to be so stupid as to make the attempt.

And as I looked at the pictures of cats on our Web site, for the most part they did not look particularly happy about being garbed.

My favorite cat photo, by the way, was this little guy named Casey, from Plainfield, who had a devil costume, complete with horns. A cat doesn't need a costume to be a devil, but the image was perfect.

Our Web people tell me that Casey and the others will probably be taken off the site Tuesday, so if you haven't seen this display yet, your last chance is at hand.

As an aside, I wonder if Casey went trick or treating last night: "This costume itches and I'm in a bad mood so give me the candy or you're a dead man."

Contact Tim West at west@scn1.com