Monday morning

Proud to say that the Captain and I came in third out of 19 teams at the Trivia Night.  There were lots of President questions.  I answered Grover Cleveland for all of those.  None of those were ever right.  Poor Grover.  He's never the answer to any trivia questions.

The rest of the weekend featured watching tons of US Open golf.  Good stuff.  If you like that kind of stuff.  We do.

Other happenings....

Earlier in the summer, Cooper put up the Man Cave for a few days.  That has been replaced with a homemade marble run track.  Ramps, paper tracks, tubes.  He's been quite creative.  It's also a fairly decent size and is in the middle of the den floor.  When the ceiling fan is on, it alters the track placement.  Also, a big ol' dog running through the den alters the track placement.   

Jordan's taking Driver's Education this week.

And I'm headed to take a TB test.  More on that tomorrow.  How's that for a tease?

Peace and love.

Big day on the ol' calendar

Today is March 9 and that means it is also.....


Barbie Day -- The Barbie went on sale on this date in 1959. More than 900-million Barbies have been sold in the U.S. since then.

National Napping Day -- Now *this* is a holiday I can celebrate!

Panic Day -- Sponsored by a group in Pennsylvania "that encourages you to run around today in a panic and tell everyone you can't take it anymore." Oh wait....you mean we are only supposed to do that one day a year?

False Teeth Day -- The patent for false teeth was given on this day in 1822.

Niece M's Birthday -- She is 14 today. I am crying. Happy Birthday M!


OK people - surely there is something up there you can celebrate. Have a good day. Peace out.

Friday the 13th

13 Facts About Friday the 13th (and the number 13)


Every year has at least one and no more than three Friday the 13th's.

The longest period that can occur without a Friday the 13th is fourteen months.

If the first day of the month falls on a Sunday, that month will have a Friday the 13th.

According to Smithsonian Magazine "fear of the number 13 costs America almost $900 million dollars per year in absenteeism, train and plane cancellations, and reduced commerce on the 13th of the month."

There is no written evidence of a "Friday the 13th superstition" before the 19th century.

Theories state the fear of "Friday the 13th" is based on a combination of the thought of Friday being an unlucky day and 13 being an unlucky number.

Paraskavedekatriaphobia is the technical name for fear of Friday the 13th. Most people think the term is triskaidekaphobia, but that is the name for fear of the number 13.

According to the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute an estimated 17 to 21 million people in the U.S. are affected by a fear of this day.

Over 90 percent of Otis elevators do not have a 13th floor.

There are 13 steps leading to the gallows. There are 13 knots in a hangman's noose. It is 13 feet which the guillotine blade falls.

Apollo 13, 1970, the 13th mission launched from pad #39 (13 x 3), mission was aborted, after an explosion occurred in the fuel cell of their service module. The rocket had left launcing pad at 13:13 CST and the date was April 13th. (I watched that movie again last Sunday. Man, it's good. And at the end, I just cried and cried when they made it back. Even though I knew they would. Because I've seen it before. But there's just that scene where they are all waiting and waiting and waiting. "Odyssey, this is Houston, do you read?" It's quite emotional, don't you think? And Gary Sinese is just hot in case you were wondering.)

The 13th day of the month is slightly more likely to be a Friday than any other day of the week, with Monday being the next most likely day.

The U.S. Navy will not launch a ship on Friday the 13th.

OK, now you know. Hope today is a lucky one for you people. Hope you aren't freaked out by it because guess what? March brings another Friday the 13th!

A long, long time ago...

Today is "The Day the Music Died," marked by Don McLean in his classic song, "American Pie." On February 3, 1959, 50 years ago today, singers Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. "Big Bopper" Richardson died in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa.

Raise your hand if you know all the words to the long version of "American Pie"? (The LONG version....the one that's 8 minutes and 33 seconds.)

Man, I love that song.

Sing it with me people!

Bye, Bye American Pie...

Super Trivia

Since Super Bowl Sunday is coming up this weekend, I thought I would provide you with some by-the-numbers trivia. Throw some of this out during your Super Bowl party -- everybody will think you are uber smart.

• 8 million -- pounds of guacamole consumed on Super Bowl Sunday
• 14,500 -- tons of chips eaten
• 17 -- average number of people at a Super Bowl party
• 700,000 -- number of footballs produced annually for official NFL use
• 72 -- number of footballs used for the Super Bowl
• 20 percent -- increase in antacid sales on the Monday after the Super Bowl
• 6 percent -- people who call in sick on the Monday after the Super Bowl
• 50 million -- dollars spent on food during the four days prior to the Super Bowl

And finally, three more pieces of random trivia for you....

• More food is consumed on Super Bowl Sunday than any other day of the year, other than Thanksgiving.
  
• Super Bowl Sunday is the biggest winter grilling day of the year.
  
• More drivers are involved in alcohol-related accidents on Super Bowl Sunday than any other day of the year (except St. Patricks' Day) (I would have thought New Year's Eve would have fallen in there as #1 or #2, but I guess not...)

Who are you rooting for? I'm a member of the Steeler Nation.

Enjoy your weekend and your Super Bowl Sunday.

Peace. Out.

Friday Food Facts

Thanks to Friend Anne, I started following Foodimentary on Twitter. There is some great trivia and food facts both there and also on the blog. Here's a little taste... (Get it? Taste... Food....Man, I crack myself up.)

• Americans consume 400 million cups of coffee each day, making the United States the world's leading coffee consumer. (Trust me, I help these stats tremendously...)
  
  
• The three most common seasonings found in American homes (after salt and pepper) are cinnamon, chili powder, and seasoned salt. (I would have guessed garlic was in that mix).
  
  
• The last food that Elvis Presley ate? Four scoops of ice cream and six chocolate chip cookies.
  
  
• Granny Smith apples were first imported to the United States from New Zealand in 1960.
  
  
• More than 50 percent of the chicken noodle soup sold in the United States is bought during cold and flu season.
  
  
• Kiwis have more than twice the vitamin C of oranges and as much potassium as bananas.
  
  
• America's favorite fruits in order are: bananas, apples, seedless grapes, and oranges.
  
  
• Skim milk contains more calcium than whole milk because most of the calcium in milk is found in the water content not the fat content

Happy Friday people! Raise your hand if you're ready for the weekend!!!

Can your true love afford this?

For 24 years, PNC Wealth Management has calculated the cost of the items in "Twelve Days of Christmas" if purchased at current prices.

If your true love purchased one set of each of the gifts in the song, it would run him (or her) $21,08.10.

The cumulative cost of these gifts with the repetitions in the song is $86,608.51.

It's an interesting little site and breaks down how much each item would be, including some prices from prior years.

They point out some interesting things that have changed since they started this holiday tradition back in 1986.

The internet. Sure, it's convenient to order your turtle doves and your french hens online, but convenience comes at a price, mainly due to the shipping costs. If your sweetie purchased all your gifts online, it would cost $31,956.62 ($131,150.76 for the "entire song set").

The swans are the most "volatile" part of the index with wild swings up and down over the years.

The cost of entertainment has greatly increased. The ladies dancing and the lords-a-leaping have seen an increase of over 300%.

Here's hoping your true love can spring for a calling bird. If I had eight maids, I sure hope they would be doing something other than "a-milking"!

Actually I'm not getting any of this for Christmas. I got three painters painting remember? And Me and Captain True Love (sounds like a super hero doesn't it? Captain True Love!) decided we would get a new TV for Christmas. He got it yesterday and surprised me when I got home. Wanna' see it?

Looky there! Take a closer look! It's Jerry sittin' up there on the new TV...
Today is the kids' last day of school and my last day of work! It's gonna' be a five golden rings kind of day people!

One more thing to celebrate

Happy Poinsettia Day! Did you even know there was such a thing?

The poinsettia was named after Joel Poinsett, who introduced the plant to America from Mexico. Poinsett was a botanist, a US Congressman and Secretary of War under President Martin Van Buren. He died on December 12, 1851 and that's why today is National Poinsettia Day.

Also, contrary to popular belief, poinsettia plants are not poison. Read about it for yourself.

After all these fascinating facts about the poinsettia, I know you still have a burning question that I have not answered....

Is it pronounced poin-se-ti-a or poin-se-ta?

According to my ol' buddy Merriam Webster, either one is ok.

How do you say it?

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And here's one more reason that made me blog about poinsettias today....

Happy Friday people! Peace. Out.

Thanksgiving Eve

I have a small sadness hangover morning after my Lions very close loss yesterday. What a fun day it was. And really a very good, well played football game. But we lost. By two points. It's hard to lose. I'm not going to blame the loss on poor officiating, because I think that is a sore loser, sour grapes approach. But there were some calls that really didn't go our way and some situations that may have given the game a different outcome. I wondered on the way home if it's easier to lose a game by just a few points or to be completely wiped out. I think I would rather do it the way we did it. And also for it to just fizzle a bit in the last few minutes rather than miss a big play with a few ticks on the clock. That hurts very bad. Memphis Tigers. But anyway, it was a really good day. And just three points shy of being a really perfect day.

So that brings us to today, Thanksgiving Eve. I have quite a bit to do today. But I have the whole day to do my chores. And am really just looking forward to all of us being home together today. Even if it does involve cooking and cleaning.

I thought I would share some useless Thanksgiving trivia with you. Just in case you need some conversation pieces at your dinner table tomorrow.....You can thank me later.


Did you know....


....Benjamin Franklin thought the turkey should be our national bird. He felt it was more respectable and a native of North America.

....male turkeys are called "toms", female turkeys are called "hens", and baby turkeys are called "poults".

....a spooked turkey can run 20 miles an hour.

....a turkey can drown if he looks up while it is raining.

....the Pilgrims had potatoes available to them for Thanksgiving, but didn't eat them because they thought they were poisonous.

....the long, floppy skin thing that hangs down from the turkey's neck is called a "wattle".


Have a good day today people, whatever you may be doing!

Lots to celebrate today

Looking for something to celebrate? Today is your lucky day.

• Today is Whatever Happened to Gary Puckett Day?

• Today is Have A Bad Day Day, for all the people who can't stand being told constantly to have a nice day

• Today is National Alligator Wrestling Day.

• Today is National Carbonated Beverage with Caffeine Day.

• Today is National Pencil Appreciation Day. (The pencil was invented in 1895)

Also,

Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettyburg Address on this day in 1863. (So, you're saying he didn't write the speech with a pencil???)

Pop-Tarts were introduced on this day in 1965.

And, if you choose not to celebrate, but just prefer to wish a celebrity a Happy Birthday, your choices are plenty....

• Larry King (75)
• Dick Cavett (72) (Why would I think he is older than Larry King?)
• Ted Turner (70)
• Calvin Klein (66) (Is that all?!)
• Ahmad Rashad (59)
• Ann Curry (52)
• Meg Ryan (47)
• Jodie Foster (46)
• Billy Currington (35) (That one's for you Connie)

So see people? There are plenty of things to celebrate today. Have a happy one!

Happy Birthday USMC!

The United States Marine Corps was organized on this date in 1775. Semper fi!

Here's a picture of my favorite Marine....

I love you Daddy!

Who's it gonna' be?

Welcome Election Day. I'm so glad you are finally here. I don't know about you, but I'm so tired of constantly hearing about it on the news and watching all those obnoxious commercials. Let's just vote and be done with it. And tonight, hopefully, we will know who will be the next president.

While there may be focus groups and opinion polls and political pundits, there seem to be more accurate indicators of election results. Check out these time-tested predictors:

Halloween masks -- Sales figures for rubber masks of the candidates have foretold the winner of every election since 1980. This year, Obama masks have outsold McCain masks. But Palin masks outsold Biden masks.

Kids vote -- Since 1956, the Weekly Reader has polled students in grades 1 through 12 on their presidential preference. Apparently you can't kid a kid. They have correctly chosen the winner in 12 out of the last 13 elections. (My kids did this yesterday at school and they were so excited. They had little voter registration cards and everything. Jordan was even a poll worker....)

Washington Redskins -- In 18 out of the last 19 elections, when the Redskins have won their final home game prior to the election, the incumbent has held the White House. The one exception to the Redskins Rule was 2004, when the Green Bay Packers beat the Redskins, but John Kerry still went on to lose to President Bush. Last night, the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Washington Redskins in a blowout, predicting a possible Obama landslide.

7-Eleven coffee -- For the last few weeks 7-Eleven has been giving coffee-drinking customers a taste of the November general election by offering them a choice between two coffee cups: blue for Obama or red for McCain. Caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee drinkers alike have been weighing in on the presidential election via the coffee cup they choose. Results? Some 60% of the franchise chain's coffee drinkers nationwide have chosen the blue Barack Obama cup versus 40% who preferred the red John McCain.

Cookies -- For the last three presidential elections, the readers of Family Circle magazine have correctly predicted the winner in the Cookie Cook-Off. This year, Cindy McCain's oatmeal-butterscotch cookies received 54% of the vote and her winning recipe is in the November issue. Michelle Obama's shortbread cookies nabbed 44%.

The Bloggie Doggie is a little under the weather this morning. He is still very excited about the election, but glad he early voted.

Should be an interesting day people.

GO VOTE!!!

Rock the Vote People!

Have you voted people? If you didn't make it to early voting, I hope you are going to vote tomorrow. This is really a critical time for our country and I feel like liberalism is just hanging in the balance. I'm not going to go on a rant, because I sort of did that in an earlier post. So I'll just encourage you to VOTE.

Think your one little vote won't matter? Check this out....

1800 – ONE VOTE in the electoral college made Thomas Jefferson President over Aaron Burr.

1845 – ONE VOTE brought Texas into the Union.

1847 – ONE VOTE elected Whig candidate George G. Dunn over Democratic candidate David M. Dobson for the U.S. House of Representatives in Indiana.

1948 – 87 VOTES elected Lyndon B. Johnson to the Senate.

1867 – ONE VOTE decided on the purchase of Alaskan territory.

1868 – ONE VOTE prevented President Andrew Johnson from being impeached.

1955 – ONE VOTE elected the mayor of Huron, Ohio.

1916 – ONE VOTE in each California precinct re-elected Woodrow Wilson to the Presidency over Charles E. Hughes.

1960 – ONE VOTE per precinct made John F. Kennedy the President over contender Richard Nixon.

1962 – ONE VOTE per precinct determined the winners for Governor in the states of Maine, Rhode Island, and North Dakota.

1977 – ONE VOTE determined in a recount, decided that Robert Emond won the seat for Vermont State Representative over Sydney Nixon.

1984 – ONE VOTE elected a Monroe County, Florida commissioner.

1999 – ONE VOTE per precinct elected Leslie Byrne to the Virginia Senate.

2000 – 237 VOTES in Florida resulted in the election of George W. Bush to the Presidency.

2002 – 5 VOTES elected Dan Sparks to the Minnesota State Senate.

2004 – 129 VOTES declared Christine Gregoire the Governor of Washington in a third and final hand recount.

Thanks to my mom who found that great info.

The Bloggie Doggie reminds you that it's very American to vote. The right to choose our leaders is one of our greatest freedoms and blessings.

Happy Monday people! Go vote!

Trick or Treat or Disappointment?

I read this on brandi and boys and it was too good not to pass along.....The original story was on Yahoo and you can read it right here.

It's a list of the top ten Halloween treats nobody wants.

Toothbrushes

Candy Corn

Raisins

Smarties and Necco wafers

I can do without the Smarties, but I used to love those Necco things....

Dum Dum Lollipops

Makes you think you're at the pediatricians office....


Apples

Tootsie Rolls

Personally, I love me some Tootsie Rolls....

Miscellaneous hard wrapped candy

Laffy Taffy

What?!? No banana Laffy Taffy? What's wrong with you people?

Anything fun sized

It's Corny

Phillies win.

World Series Game 5: Tampa Bay 3 -- Phillies 4

Cole "What a Drool" Hamels was World Series MVP.

Nice that the Phillies could win at home. Always good.

Goodbye baseball. See you in the spring.


Today is National Candy Corn Day. It's available year round, but obviously is more popular around Halloween. The National Confectioners Association estimate 20 million pounds of candy corn are sold each year. Here is everything you wanted to know about candy corn but were afraid to ask.

**One serving of candy corn contains only about 140 calories

**Candy corn has 3.57 calories per kernel

**More than 35 million pounds of candy corn will be produced this year. That equates to nearly 9 billion pieces -- enough to circle the moon nearly four times if laid end-to-end.

**Halloween accounts for 75% of the annual candy corn production

**A cup of candy corn has fewer calories than a cup of raisins.

**Candy Corn was invented by George Renninger and produced by the Wunderlee Candy
Company in the 1880's.

**Candy corn isn't just for Halloween there is also: Reindeer corn for Christmas (red, green, and white), Indian corn (it's chocolate and vanilla flavored), Cupid corn for Valentine's Day (red, pink, and white), Bunny corn for Easter (pastel-colored)
The Bloggie Doggie wants to know "Do you hope to find candy corn in your Halloween bucket this year?"

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Have a sweet day people!

CTO (Check this out)

I read these stats about texting in today's paper.

• In April 2006, 6,939,637 text messages were sent.
• In April 2007, 13,259,013 text messages were sent.
• In April 2008, 37,501,895 text messages were sent.

TWIWI (That was interesting wasn't it?)

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TTFN! (Ta ta for now!)

Thanks for the material

Thanks to my mom who has provided me with some blog fodder by sending me some trivia and various quizzes. Check this one out.

PS - Keep those cards and letters (and comments!) coming....

Raise your hand if you're sure

Just read where Memphis which was named the 5th sweatiest city in America.

Is it any wonder?

Happy Independence Day!

The Bloggie Doggie wishes you a happy 4th of July!

The only person moving in my house right now is me. Gauge is following me around but promptly lays down and goes back to sleep. We went to the Redbirds game last night (super fun time) and didn't get home until 11pm. But then we sat up until midnight talking to Captain's sister and her boyfriend. That is wayyyyy late for me and I am feeling the pain of it this morning.

A little cooking for me today and then we'll just have a very laid back day.

Sports world is talking about....

A-Rod and Madonna. And now his wife and Lenny Kravitz. Totally nuts.

Brett Favre's unretirement. Fact or fiction? Neat little video of him here. Man, I love that guy.

I leave you this patriotic morning with some trivia on patriotic places in America:

• There are 30 places nationwide with "liberty" in their name. The most populous one is Liberty, Missouri (26,232). Iowa has more of these places than any other state: four (Libertyville, New Liberty, North Liberty and West Liberty).
• Eleven places have "independence" in their name. The most populous of these is Independence, Missouri, with 113,288 residents.
• Five places adopted the name "freedom." Freedom, California, with 6,000 residents, has the largest population among these.
• There is one place named "patriot" — Patriot, Indiana, with a population of 202.
• And what could be more fitting than spending the day in a place called "America"? There are five such places in the country, with the most populous being American Fork, Utah, with 21,941 residents.

Hope everybody enjoys their red, white & blue day!

Diggin' the Draft

Derrick Rose! Your number 1 overall NBA draft pick! Woo-Hoo for him!! That's the highest a Memphis Tiger has ever gone in the draft. (Penny Hardaway went 3rd in 1993). Rose stands to make over $4 million a year. He's 19.....But good for him. He'll do well as long as he keeps his head on straight. It's exciting.

Crazy goings on with the Grizzlies who picked Mike Love 5th, but later traded him for #3 O.J. Mayo. Grizzlies also traded Mike Miller and Brian Cardinal. I really can't get into the Grizzlies. Oh well. I did read that O.J. Mayo was considered the most NBA ready player among the 2nd tier (which I guess eliminates Rose & Beasley).

Joey Dorsey went 3rd in the 2nd (33rd overall) to Trail Blazers but was traded late in the night to the Houson Rockets.

The biggest surprise and disappointment all night was Chris Douglas-Roberts who tumbled to 10th in the 2nd (40th overall) and was drafted by the New Jersey Nets. They got a sweet deal for him. But what happened?!? He had been projected to go somewhere in the 20s in the 1st. Poor guy. Even ESPN's Jay Bilas said "It's inexplicable." Too bad it happened that way for him. Wish he had stayed one more year now....But again, everybody thought he'd go in the 1st round.

Can't believe Joey Dorsey went ahead of CDR. And I can't believe the Grizzlies passed on both CDR and Dorsey with their 28th pick.

Wasn't it something like 4 of the top 5 picks were freshmen? That's nuts. I think it was 12 freshman were drafted last night. But how do you tell a kid to stay in school when he has 2 or 3 million dollars being wagged in his face.....

Robin Lopez should have thought twice about putting on the hat....

Oh well. Enough about all that. It was fun to see who ended up where. Anne and I were talking yesterday that this year it seemed like we were familiar with so many more players probably because the Tigers played so many teams on our magical run through the NCAA tourny. But I'm proud of the three Tigers. I guess we do consider them like our own kids and we want them to do well.

Celebrate today! It's National Lemonade Day and National Sunglasses Day. Perfect for a day like today where it's supposed to hit 94 degrees.

Gauge thinks he'll just stay inside and sleep on my bed.....







Happy Friday!!