Of Cars and Tonsils and Moving and New Clients, a Random Tuesday Post

And now, a bit of random news and some random thoughts from around here, linking up with Stacy's Random Thoughts at Stacy Uncorked.  

The biggest news is Bigger Girl’s car, Cicero.  The transmission is gone, and we all know what that means.  Big, big bucks, and i may have to sell something to swing it.  Right now, we are so tapped out i’m thinking my engagement ring may finally have to go.

Meanwhile, she is driving the Jalopy and Sweetie and i are sharing Lunceford the Land Yacht.  It’s a good thing school is about over for the semester.

Also, she has strep throat again.  It’s starting to look like we need to get her tonsils yanked.  She’s 24, same age i was when mine came out.  Same age as Grandpa when he had it done, too.  It’s a sign, i’m sure.

Friend Chris has moved away.  He is in Colorado, starting a new life.  He took Sneaux, the rabbit, and says he has great roommates and the job worked out.  He has needed this, and i’m glad he got to go.

#1 Son has moved out.  He has left most of his big stuff as he moved into an already furnished place with roommates.  We hope it lasts, he is anxious to be out of the nest.

Ms. P.R. from church gave my name to a friend, and after meeting with Dr. D, i’m not sure whether to thank her or blame her!  When i told Ms. P.R. that, she laughed and said that summed it up perfectly.

Dr. D is a retired professor of economics who taught behind the Iron Curtain and can tell stories about escaping the Chernobyl fallout.  Brilliant, quirky, never at a loss for words (which flow in a steady stream, just like with Sweetie and Bigger Girl), with a house that i’m sure will take years to straighten out the higgle-piggle of paperwork and everything else, it’s going to be a fun ride working with her.  She says she wants me to edit her books, too, but we will have to see how much time i can dedicate to such projects.

My favorite quote from the past week is from Ms. V.  After i cleaned her windows, she said, “Wow!  It’s like putting on that new pair of glasses for the first time after your prescription has changed and you didn’t realize how much you needed new ones!”

Today is:

AFL-CIO Day (date of merger in 1955)

Bathtub Party Day -- celebrate how much fun it is to take a nice, long, hot bath in these days when showers prevail; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Boycott Day -- commemoration of the city bus boycott begun this day in 1959 in Birmingham, AL, US in response to the arrest of Rosa Parks

Constitution Day -- Sudan

Day of the Ninja -- sponsored by Ninja Burger! with its own website 

Dingle-Fritter, Gooseberry Humple, Tiger-Get-By, LoneFolding, and Zimbor-Quattor's (Multiple Squishing of) Celebration -- Fairy Calendar

Discovery Day -- Haiti

International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development -- UN

King's Birthday -- Thailand, also National Day and Father's Day (for His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s birth anniversary, the founder and "father" of the nation)

National Sacher Torte Day

Nones of December -- Ancient Roman Calendar; also observed

    Faunalia -- rural festival of Faunus

Repeal Day -- US (celebrating the repeal of Prohibition)

St. Bassus of Nice's Day (Patron of Nice, France)

St. Nicholas' Eve  -- Belgium; Czech Republic; Hungary; Netherlands; Romania; Slovakia; parts of the UK; special observances include

     Avond -- Leewvarden, West Friesland (St. Nicholas visits and, if you are good, promises to return with trinkets and candies, which are left in waiting shoes)

     Bonhomme Noel -- France (Celebration of "Goodman Christmas")

     Klausjagen -- Arth and Kussnacht, Switzerland (with a procession of mitre-wearing figures by the Lake of Four Cantons)

     Krampuslauf -- Austria (St. Nicholas celebration, which begins the evening before the Saint's day, involving chasing and throwing snowballs at the Krampus, the imp who travels with St. Nick to punish the bad children)

     Zwarte Piet -- "Black Peter", the companion of St. Nicholas who keeps track of the good and bad children, arrives in many areas tonight

Swap a Christmas Cookie Recipe Day -- because it's fun to try new ones

World Soil Day -- International Union of Soil Sciences  

Birthdays Today:

Frankie Muniz, 1985

Margaret Cho, 1968

Gary Allan, 1967

John Rzeznik, 1965

Art Monk, 1957

Morgan Brittany, 1950

Jim Messina, 1947

Jose Carreras, 1946

Jeroen Krabbe, 1944

J.J. Cale, 1938

Chad Mitchell, 1936

Calvin Trillin, 1935

Joan Didion, 1934

Little Richard, 1932

Otto Preminger, 1906

Strom Thurmond, 1902

Walt Disney, 1901

Bill Picket, 1870

George Armstrong Custer, 1839

Christina Rossetti, 1830

Martin Van Buren, 1782

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Catskills on Broadway"(Revue), 1991

"I Do! I Do!"(Musical), 1966

"Band on the Run"(Album), 1973 (US release date)

"The Dark at the Top of the Stairs"(Inge play), 1957

"The Abbot and Costello Show"(TV), 1952

"Dragnet"(TV), 1951

"Kejser og Gililaer/Emperor and Galilean"(Ibsen play), 1896

"Symphonie Fantastique"(Berlioz symphony), 1830

Today in History:

Cicero reads the last of his Catiline Orations, BC63

An earthquake in Naples leave about 35,000 dead, 1465

All Jews are expelled from Portugal by order of King Manuel I, 1496

London auctioneers Christie's hold their first sale, 1766

Henry Knox begins the transport of Fort Ticonderoga artillery to Cambridge, Massachusetts, a key to later forcing the British Fleet out of Boston Harbor, 1775

C F Schoenbein obtains patent for cellulose nitrate explosive, 1846

President Polk confirms that gold has been discovered in California, triggering the next year's "Gold Rush", 1848

Daniel Stillson of Massachusetts patents the first practical pipe wrench, 1876

The first automated telephone switching system is patented, 1879

The first electric car makes its debut; it could go 15 miles between charges, 1893

University of Pittsburg makes the first use of numbers on football jerseys, 1908

The American League for Physical Culture is founded in NYC, the first US nudist organization, 1929

The 21st Amendment, which repealed Prohibition, is ratified, 1933

Sister Elizabeth Kenny's new treatment for infantile paralysis receives approval, 1941

A cold fog descends upon London, combining with air pollution and killing at least 12,000 in the weeks and months that follow, 1952

The United Nations General Assembly adopts Pakistan's resolution on security of non-Nuclear States, 1976

Shuttle Atlantis launches world's 1st nuclear-war-fighting satellite. 1988

The Civil Partnership Act comes into effect in the United Kingdom, and the first civil partnership is registered there, 2005

Human remains previously found in 1991 are finally identified by Russian and American scientists as those of Tsar NicholasII, 2008

NASA successfully tests its unmanned Orion spaceship for potential human flight over 3,500 miles from Earth; several years and more tests will be needed before the vessel is ready for human travel, potentially paving the way for manned trips to Mars, 2014

Malta becomes the first country in Europe to outlaw conversion therapy, 2016