No Sleep 'til Disney!

Schedule:

Friday, 4am, wake up

            6am, head to Bible Study

            8am, get to work, deliver flowers

            1:30pm, home to pack

            4:15pm, leave for vacation

            11:45pm, check into hotel for the night

Saturday, 4am, wake up

                6am, head out to drive the rest of the way to Orlando

                2pm, arrive an  hour later than expected because we forgot the time changes from Central to Eastern and we lose an hour

                3pm, let the kids go meet up with Uncle J, Brooke, and Dre while Sweetie books the very last dining reservation available at any Disney restaurant in the whole place

                4pm, go relax and explore until dinner at 9pm

                9pm, dinner

                11pm, go to the Magic Kingdom, where they are open until 3am for resort guests only, and ride on almost everything with no lines after midnight!

Sunday, 4:15am, finally get into bed

              8:15am, get up and the fun begins again!

Yes, 3 hours sleep between Friday at 4am and Sunday at 4am.  Can you tell i'm running on caffeine and adrenaline? 

Today is:

9-1-1 Day -- the first 911 call in North America was placed, demonstrating the new system, on this day in 1968

Akiyoshidai Yamayaki -- Akiyoshidai, Japan (dry grass on the mountain side is burned in this coming of spring ceremony; date subject to change)

Bonten Matsuri -- Miyoshi-jinja Shrine, Akita, Japan (two day festival to ask for good crops this year)

Chip Week begins -- UK (a general celebration of chips)

Do a Grouch a Favor Day -- internet generated attempt to get us to either get the  grouches on our side, or make us cynical

Family Day -- AB, ON, SK, Canada

Independence Day -- Lithuania (National Day/Restoration of Statehood)(1918)

Islander Holiday -- PEI, Canada

Kyoto Protocol Day -- International (treaty on climate change; today is proposed as "Wear purple for Kyoto Day")

Louis Riel Day -- MB, Canada

Lundi Gras -- Fat Monday, Carnival, one of the last to days to feast before the Lenten fast begins Wednesday
     Bolludagur -- Iceland (Bun Day, the children wake the parents with a "spanking" while calling for cream buns that will be eaten that day)
     Old Mask Parade -- Oranjestad, Aruba (with the Burning of the Momo tomorrow, marking the end of Carnival)
     Rosenmontag -- German-speaking Countries (Rose Monday, highlight of Karneval)

Maslenitsa -- Russia (between Meatfare Sunday and Cheesefare Sunday is Butter Week or Pancake Week, when you stuff yourself before the Orthodox Church Great Lent)

National Almond Day

Presidents' Day -- US and Territories

Respectable Tales of Kelp-Koli -- Fairy Calendar (5 minutes only) 

St. Juliana of Cumae's Day (Patron of the ill)

St. Onesimus' Day (runaway slave of Philemon, converted by Paul, of whom the Letter to Philemon was written)

Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show (through tomorrow)


Birthdays Today:

Christopher Eccleston, 1964
John McEnroe, 1959
Ice T, 1959
LeVar Burton, 1957
James Ingram, 1956
William Katt, 1951
Richard Ford, 1944
Barry Primus, 1938
Sonny Bono, 1935
Vera-Ellen, 1921
Patty Andrews, 1920
Jimmy Wakely, 1914
Hugh Beaumont, 1909
Richard McDonald, 1909
George Kennan, 1904
Edgar Bergan, 1903
Robert Joseph Flaherty, 1884
Johann Strauss, 1866
Nichiren, 1222
Emperor Yingzong of China, 1032


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"What's My Line"(TV Game Show), 1950
"Le Voyageur Sans Baggage"(Anouilh Play), 1937
"The Marquise"(Coward Play), 1927
Chung Sai Yat Po(Publication; first Chinese daily newspaper in US), 1900
"Werther"(Massenet Opera), 1892
Ladies' Home Journal(Publication), 1883
"Orpheus"(Liszt Opera), 1854
"Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard"(First Publication), 1751


Today in History:

9th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet, 374
Pope Gregory the Great issues a decree saying that "God bless you" is the correct response to a sneeze, 600
English king Charles I accepts Triennial Act, requiring the king to assemble Parliament at least once every 3 years, 1641
The first known check (cheque) is written, for 400 English Pounds Sterling (currently on display at Westminster Abbey), 1659
Kentucky passes a law permitting women to attend school under certain conditions, 1838*
Weenen Massacre: Hundreds of Voortrekkers along the Blaukraans River, Natal are killed by Zulus, 1838
American Charles Wilkes discovers Shackleton Ice Shelf, Antarctica, 1840
The Battle of Sobraon ends the First Sikh War in India, 1846
Studebaker Brothers wagon company, precursor of the automobile manufacturer, is established, 1852
The French Government passes a law to set the A-note above middle C to a frequency of 435 Hz, in an attempt to standardize the pitch, 1859
The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks forms, 1868
The "Ladies Home Journal" begins publishing, 1883
The first Chinese daily newspaper in the US, Chung Sai Yat Po, begins publication in San Francisco, 1900
The first US Esperanto Club organizes in Boston, 1905
The first synagogue in 425 years opens in Madrid, Spain, 1917
Howard Carter unseals the burial chamber of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, 1923
The first patent is issued for a tree, to James Markham for a peach tree, 1932
Wallace H. Carothers receives a United States patent for nylon, 1937
Canadians are granted Canadian citizenship after 80 years of being British subjects. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King becomes the first Canadian citizen, 1947
Britain abolishes the death penalty, 1956
Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba after dictator Fulgencio Batista was overthrown on January 1, 1959
In Haleyville, Alabama, the first 9-1-1 emergency telephone system goes into service, 1968
The first computer bulletin board system is created (CBBS in Chicago, Illinois), 1978
The trial of John Demjanjuk, accused of being a Nazi guard dubbed "Ivan the Terrible" in Treblinka extermination camp, starts in Jerusalem, 1987
The Kyoto Protocol comes into force, following its ratification by Russia, 2005
The last Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) is decommissioned by the United States Army, 2006


*This is the same US state that still has a law on its books requiring every resident to take a bath at least once a year, whether the person 
needs it or not!