Big Day

Today, if all goes well, we get the A/C repaired!  It looks like it may come under the warranty, so it won't cost much.

And, if we can pry the back door downstairs open -- the house has been leveled more than once, but we still don't know if it will open and then close again -- a family that is remodeling may give us a five year old washer and dryer!  We've had old models, and bought well used ones, for so long now, having an almost new set would be delightful.  It's just a matter of that door, and i have a week or so to work on it.

We've had a couple of offers from people who can come look at the roof trouble, and maybe get into the attic to make sure all is well up there.  Not the regular part where we store stuff, but the other part that we don't get into.  The roof probably just needs caps and new flashing around the bathroom vent pipes.

Bigger Girl has started her job as a pizza delivery driver part time.  She wants to earn some of her own way as much as possible, and she's been turned down so often as "overqualified" because of her training at the research lab.  She's glad someone finally took a chance on her.

This week i'm working 3 days, two babysitting Gracie and one cleaning Ms. P's house, as so i'm going to get us a GPS that she can use at work and i can use when i go on my trip next year, or when i deliver flowers.

Then it's just a matter of hoping the cars last a while longer, as i've been saying for a few years now.





Today is:

American Beer Day

Big Bang Day -- London, England

Boxer Shorts Day -- ???????

Cernova Tragedy Day -- Slovakia

Cranky Co-Worker's Day -- because we all have occasional bad days; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Feast of Osiris in Abydos -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Good Bear Day -- on Theodore Roosevelt's birthday, celebrating the stuffed toy created in his honor

Independence Day -- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines(1979); Turkmenistan(1991)

International School Library Day

Labour Day -- New Zealand

National Potato Day

National Tell A Story Day -- Scotland (preserving the heritage of traditional stories)

Navy Day -- US (on T.R.'s birth anniversary)

October Bank Holiday -- Ireland

Peniamina Gospel Day -- Niue

Radio Day -- US (US Commerce Dept. issued the first broadcasting license this date in 1920)

St. Frumentius' Day (Patron of Abyssinia; Ethiopia)

Sylvia Plath Day

Tunch Puddling -- Fairy Calendar (a contest of throwing twigs in a pond -- awards are for artistically thrown twigs and throwing style, among other things)

World Day for Audiovisual Heritage -- International

World Occupational Therapy Day -- International


Anniversary Today:

The NYC Subway begins operation, 1904


Birthdays Today:

Zadie Smith, 1975
Marla Maples, 1963
Simon LeBon, 1958
Roberto Benigni,1952
Jayne Kennedy, 1951
Fran Lebowitz, 1950
Carrie Snodgrass, 1946
John Cleese, 1939
Ruby Dee, 1924
Roy Lichtenstein, 1923
Bette Babray, 1920
Nanette Fabray, 1920
Dylan Thomas, 1914
Emily Post, 1872
Theodore Roosevelt, 1858
Niccolo Paganini, 1782
Captain James Cook, 1728


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Lettice and Lovage"(Play), 1987
"Beyond the Fringe"(Revue), 1962
"Walt Disney/Wonderful World of Color/Wonderful World of Disney"(TV), 1954 (the show had several different names over the years, but even when it switched stations, it was still the same show)
"You Bet Your Life"(Radio), 1947
"Nocturnes"(Debussy orchestral compsition), 1901(first performance of all three parts together)



Today in History:

Constantine the Great is said to have received his Vision of the Cross, 312
Founding of the city of Amsterdam, 1275
Founding of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1682
US Navy forms, 1775
Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs issues the Extermination Order, which orders all Mormons to leave the state or be exterminated, 1838
R.H. Macy & Co. opens its first store, on 6th Ave. in NYC, 1858
Boss Tweed is arrested, 1871
The first underground New York City Subway line opens, 1904
The first published reference to "jazz" appears, in Variety, 1916
Chuhei Numbu of Japan sets the long jump record at 26' 2 1/2", 1931
"You Bet Your Life," with Groucho Marx, premiers on ABC radio, 1947*
Benjamin O. Davis Jr. becomes the first African-American general in the United States Air Force, 1954
Mauritania and Mongolia join the United Nations, 1961
The British government suddenly deregulates financial markets, leading to a total restructuring of the way in which they operate in the country, in an event now referred to as the Big Bang, 1986
The U.S. prison population tops 1 million for the first time in American history, 1994
Gliese 229B is the first Substellar Mass Object to be unquestionably identified, 1994
Stock markets around the world crash because of fears of a global economic meltdown, 1997
The Boston Red Sox win the World Series for the first time in 86 years, 2004
The SSETI Express micro-satellite is successfully launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, 2005


*(Ultimate result of this a few years later is, of course, the funniest line ever on tv, when a man with 8 kids admitted to Mr. Marx that he did indeed love his wife, and Groucho countered with, "I love my cigar, too, but I take it out of my mouth sometimes!")