What a Mood!

Yep, i am in one.

Right now, i feel a rant coming on, and i don't want to, because i will probably hit publish and regret it.  And, as we all know, publishing anything to the internet is like taking out an ad in the classifieds forever.  No matter how you try to delete it, it will show up on some server someday to haunt you.

So i'm trying to refrain.

In that vein, Little Girl told me, as we were driving to the cat rescue shelter the other day, that one thing she noticed about Chicago when they were there was that when the light turns green, people actually go.  They do not sit, wondering.  The whole lane moves forward, as it should.  Although i could start another rant about this (and the people in the smaller towns around here who have actually started slowing down at green lights!), i am glad she got to see how traffic should flow.  It's not something she is likely to see around here.

Also, she noted, they don't stop 2-3 car lengths behind each other at the lights, either.  They tighten up the lines a bit so the people at the back can actually get into the turn lanes and not have to wait for the arrow to be done for that particular cycle and the rest of the lanes to get a green light before they can get in that lane.  Oh, no, more rant material, if it want it.  Not batting too well today.

Again, at least she got to see how real people drive.

Hm, what else can i go on about in order to distract myself from a potential rant about grown men who can't even find or hold onto their own glasses, thus demanding others, who are already sharing a vehicle, to finagle a way to bring him a spare pair, only to get there and find he found them?  Ahem.  Never mind.

Oh, okay, New Orleans' basketball team, the Hornets.  Why are we keeping Hornets?  Why not Fire Ants?  That's what we really have too many of down here.  Or, to complement the Orlando Heat, we will have the New Orleans Humidity.

Well, let's not discuss the weather down here, after all.  It's not always a happy topic.

Okay, a true story, which actually took place back when gas station owners pumped the gas for you.  An owner of a station filled a car and told the man how much.  The gentleman asked, "If I let you kiss me, can i get it for half price?"

When the owner asked why in the world he would do that, the customer responded, "That's the offer you made my wife yesterday!"

Enjoy the day, everyone.  Be careful whom you offer to kiss, and don't hit publish too rashly.

Today is

Apollon Day -- Ancient Roman Calendar (god of music, poetry, sunlight)

Asakusa Sanja Matsuri -- Tokyo, Japan (processions of elaborate mini shrines and celebrations; through the 20th)

Battle of Las Piedras Day -- Uruguay

Bike to Work Day -- great exercise, and going green at the same time

Flag and Universities Day --  Haiti

International Museum Day

International Virtual Assistants Day

Magnolia Blossom Festival -- Magnolia, AR, US (through the 20th)

Maifest -- Mainstrasse Village, Covington, KY, US (through the 20th; celebrating German tradition and welcoming the first spring wines)

Moonbeam Hopping Gala -- Fairy Calendar


NASCAR Day -- NASCAR charities raises money to improve the lives of children

National Cheese Souffle Day



National Pike Festival -- Fayette County, Pennsylvania, US (through the 20th)

National Pizza Party Day -- as declared by Garlic Jim's Famous Gourmet Pizza

No Dirty Dishes Day -- spread around the internet by a mom who needed the break, possibly; go ahead, break out the paper plates just on this day

Restoration of Somaliland Sovereignty Day -- Somaliland Region, Somalia

Revival, Unity, and Poetry of Magtymguly Day -- Turkmenistan

Rhododendron Festival -- Florence, Oregon, US (through Sunday)

Rhubarb Festival -- Intercourse, Pennsylvania (come on out and enjoy the music, games, rhubarb-inspired foods, and lots of family fun, including the Rhubarb Race Car Derby and best pie contest; through tomorrow)

Sanja Matsuri -- Tokyo, Japan (through tomorrow; celebrates the goddess of mercy and the three fishermen)

St. Eric's Day (Patron of Sweden)

St. Theodotus' Day (Patron of hotel keepers and innkeepers)

Visit Your Relatives Day -- if they are great, go have fun; if awful, go remind yourself why you moved so far away!

World AIDS Vaccine Day

World Goodwill Day -- commemorates the opening meeting of 26 nations in the First Hague Peace Conference, 1899


Anniversaries Today:

Henry II of England marries Eleanor of Aquitaine, 1152


Birthdays Today:

Tina Fey, 1970
Chow Yun-Fat, 1955
Rick Wakeman, 1954
George Strait, 1952
Reggie Jackson, 1946
Brooks Robinson, 1937
Dwayne Hickman, 1934
Robert Morse, 1931
Pernell Robers, 1930
Pope John Paul II, 1920
Margot Fonteyn, 1919
Perry Como, 1912
Frank Capra, 1897
Omar Khayyam, 1048


Today in History:

The Principality of Antioch, a crusader state, falls to the Mamluk Sultan Baibars in the Battle of Antioch, 1268
Vasco da Gama reaches the port of Calicut, India, 1498
Playwright Thomas Kyd's accusations of heresy (under torture) lead to an arrest warrant for Christopher Marlowe, 1593
John Winthrop takes the oath of office and becomes the first Governor of Massachusetts, 1631
Rhode Island passes North America's first anti-slavery law, 1652
Fire destroys a large part of Montreal, Quebec, 1763
The first United Empire Loyalists reach Parrtown, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada after leaving the United States, 1783
Napoleon Bonaparte is proclaimed Emperor of the French by the French Senate, 1804
The destruction of Saturdays forever after:  Edwin Budding of England signs an agreement for manufacture of his invention, lawn mower, 1830
The Disruption in Edinburgh of the Free Church of Scotland from the Church of Scotland, 1843
The United States Supreme Court rules in Plessy v. Ferguson that separate but equal is constitutional, 1896
A mass panic on Khodynka Field in Moscow during the festivities of the coronation  of Russian Tsar Nicholas II results in the deaths of 1,389 people, 1896
Bram Stoker's Dracula is published, 1897
The Earth  passes through the tail of Comet Halley, 1910
Jackie Cochran becomes the first woman to break the sound barrier, 1953
Under project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon, 1974
Mount St. Helens erupts in Washington, United States, killing 57 people and causing $3 billion in damage, 1980
In France, a modified TGV train achieves a new rail world speed record of 515.3km/h (357.2 mph), 1990
Photos from the Hubble Space Telescope confirm the existence of two additional moons, Nix and Hydra, around Pluto, 2005
A landmark bill passes in Nepal curbing the power of the monarchy and making it a secular country, 2009