Calendar Collision (Six Sentence Story), Good Fences, and Advice

(Because some people like Blogger and some like WordPress, i am putting the same content at both.  If you  would prefer to read this on the other site, it is linked here.)

The question has been raised about the meaning of the sign i posted for Wordless Wednesday. 

This year, there is a calendar collision, as i term it.  Valentine's Day is also Ash Wednesday.

For those of us who observe the Lenten Fast, this can pose a problem -- you don't go out for a big meal and have lots of chocolate and candy when you are observing the fast.

If you want to pitch woo with your Valentine Sweetheart in that case, make your plans now and celebrate on Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) instead.

Happy Mardi-Ash-Valentine's Day; enjoy life, be humble, show love.

Linking up with Zoe's Uncharted Blog, where she hosts Six Sentence Stories, and the cue is Pitch. 

***********************************

Gosia, of Looking for Identity, has taken over Good Fences, and it's now Good Fences Around The World.  Post a picture of a fence or gate, link back to her blog, and go visit others to see what interesting fences there are out in this big world.

This fence always makes me smile when i pass it, they have some very cute critters that hang around:

They are eye catching, and always there.

A close-up.  The pink flamingos are for Mardi Gras, the geese are year-round.

***********************************

While i will not be delivering flowers this year for Valentine's Day as a contract driver as i have in years past, my hints for how you can help your delivery driver still stand:

Valentine's Day hints

So, once again, from the point of view of the person who just might be delivering your flowers, a few hints for how to make my job easier and assure that you will get those flowers there.

1.  Order early.  Earlier than that.  Yes, that early.

     Here's the thing.  The florists order lots and lots of flowers, and some are going to be in better shape than others.  The nicest ones get used first.  By 3pm on Valentine's Day, they are using the ones they would have passed over earlier.  Ordering ahead, and ordering for early delivery, gets you the nicest selection.

     Get them delivered the day before, to get extra points with your sweetheart. It means you didn't dawdle, you have flowers today, dinner out and a gift tomorrow, you made a big thing of it.  It also means you get the nicest flowers, as noted above.  And, if we can't find your location or have trouble, we have time for a redelivery.

     Think about it. You have flowers or candy or cupcakes or whatever delivered a day before. You come home with a card. Then, on the big day, you still go out for dinner and all the trimmings. You have just let this person know you are not simply waiting for someone to slap you upside the head and tell you to get with it, the big day is tomorrow. You are plotting and planning and putting thought into a buildup. It goes a long way, baby.

2.  Mark your home well!  This is for your benefit as well as ours.  After all, if we can't find you, what makes you think the EMTs can find you in the middle of the night?

3.   Delivery drivers know the town in general, but not every single side street, business, nook and cranny.  Give us your whole, complete address.  This means include:

     Avenue, Street, Boulevard, Drive, Circle, Lane, or whatever is in the actual title of your street.

     Your apartment complex name and apartment number
     or the nursing home name and room number
     or the business name and office number/division of the business where your sweetheart works.

     You know where it is, but we don't, and it's no fun having to guess.

4.  If you live in a gated community, please tell us, and give us a way to get in.  It's frustrating not to be able to get to your home because we need a code.  Give us a gate code, or at least a phone number, and i'll talk more about that later.

5.  The same goes for if you are having flowers delivered to a limited access work place.  Make sure we can get in there to it.  More than once i've had to wait until someone was leaving the building to beg to be brought in, and had to register, and all of that. Again, a phone number helps.

6.  If you and your sweetheart are both at work all day, give us permission, when you place the order, to leave the flowers in a safe place by your back door, under a patio, or with a neighbor.

7.  Tell us what time your sweetheart gets off work, if you really want us to go there.  It's frustrating to get there a half hour after s/he got off for the day.

8.  About phone numbers:  tell your sweetheart to answer the phone!  Yes, you usually don't answer if you don't recognize the number.  Tell him/her to answer anyway, on this day, because there is a surprise coming.  Give us your number as well, and answer it.  If we can get in touch with you, or your sweetheart, we can work out most delivery complications easily.

9.  High school students, please do not ask us to deliver to the school.  The people in the carpool lane get very upset with us, as they think we are cutting in line, and your sweetheart doesn't need the aggravation of trying to bring a bouquet home on the bus.

10.  Remember your driver is paid only for completed deliveries.  Time is of the essence for us, we want to successfully deliver as many items as we can, for the joy it brings you and the money it brings us.  There's no shame in earning some extra cash by doing this service, so help us serve you better by following the tips above!

***********************************

Today is:

Boy Scout Day -- celebrates the birthday of Scouting in the US

Calgary Boat and Sportsmen's Show -- Calgary, AB, Canada (through Sunday)

Cowtown's Last Old West Gunfight -- White Elephant Saloon, Fort Worth, TX, US (annual reenactment of the last gunfight in what was then Cowtown, between White Elephant Saloon owner Luke Short and former marshal T.I. “Longhaired Jim” Courtright on this date in 1887)

Death of Kelp-Koli -- Fairy Calendar

Feast of the Incappucciati -- Gradoli, Italy (members of the Confraternity of Purgatory make the rounds of the town gathering food for the souls in Purgatory, which is served at a banquet next week on Ash Wednesday)

Fettiger Donnerstag  -- Swabia, Germany ("greasy Thursday", so called because of the greasy Kuchli cakes and pastries made today to use during carnival before the Lent fast)

Gold Rush Days -- Wickenburg, AZ, US (celebrating the Old West; through Sunday)

Hari Kuyo -- Sensouji Temple, Japan (Festival of Broken Needles, in which all of the worn or broken sewing needles from the previous year are put in a sacred resting place.)

Hold Onto Your Head Day -- invented by someone for people like me, because heaven knows i'm losing mine!

Laugh and Get Rich Day -- a day to recognize the power of laughter

Love May Make the World Go 'round, But Laughter Keeps US from Getting Dizzy Week -- anually, the week before and including Valentine's Day; dedicated to Victor Borge’s notion that “Laughter is the shortest distance between two people” and Joel Goodman’s notion that “Seven days without laughter makes one weak.”

National Molasses Bar Day

Nirvana Day -- Buddhist; Jain; Sikh

Preseren's Day -- Slovenia (Honors their national poet, France Preseren, often called Day of Slovenian Culture)

Rebel Day -- birth anniversary of James Dean

St. Jerome Emilani's Day (Patron of orphans; Taos Indian Pueblo)

Tako-ichi -- Kita-ku, Tokyo, Japan (kite fair dating back to the Edo period)

Weiberfastnach -- Cologne, Germany (Women's Carnival, the day the women run the pre-Lent celebration)

Anniversary Today:

Founding of Universiteit Leiden, with the motto Praesidium Libertatis, 1575

Birthdays Today:

Josh Keaton, 1979

David "Phoenix" Farrell, 1977

Seth Green, 1974

Alonzo Mourning, 1970

Gary Coleman, 1968

Claudette Pace, 1968

Vince Neil, 1961

John Grisham, 1955

Mary Steenburgen, 1953

Brooke Adams, 1949

Robert Klein, 1942

Nick Nolte, 1941

Ted Koppel, 1940

John Williams, 1932

James Dean, 1931

Jack Lemmon, 1925

Audrey Meadows, 1924

Freddie Blassie, 1921

Lana Turner, 1921

Elizabeth Bishop, 1911

Lyle Talbot, 1902

William Tecumseh Sherman, 1820

Jules Verne, 1828

Samuel Butler, 1612

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Good Times"(TV), 1974

"RCA Victor Show Starring Dennis Day"(TV), 1952

"Danses Concertantes"(Stravinsky Ballet), 1942

"Two for the Show"(Musical), 1940 

"The Plough and the Stars"(Play), 1926

The Stars and Stripes(US Armed Forces Newspaper), 1918

The Birth of a Nation(Film), 1915

"Boris Godunov"(Mussorgsky Opera), 1874

"Flora; or the Hob in the Well"(Cibber's Opera, first opera performed in the Colonies), 1735

Today in History:

Mary, Queen of Scots, is executed on suspicion of having been involved in the Babington Plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I, 1587

Isaac Newton reads his first optics paper before the Royal Society in London, 1672

French and Indian troops set Schenectady, NY, afire, 1690

A doctor in Salem Village, Massachusetts Bay Colony suggests that two girls in the family of the village minister may be suffering from bewitchment, leading to the Salem witch trials, 1692

The Supreme Privy Council is established in Russia, 1726

The first opera in the US, "Flora," opens in South Carolina, 1735

A minor earthquake shakes London, 1750

The strange phenomenon called the "Devil's Footprints" mysteriously appear in Devon, England, 1855

Martin Robinson Delany becomes the first black major in the US Army, 1865

The Boy Scouts of America is incorporated by William D. Boyce, 1910

D.W. Griffith's controversial film The Birth of a Nation premieres in Los Angeles, 1915

The Stars and Stripes newspaper is published for the first time, 1918

Swiss men vote against women's suffrage, 1920

Radio arrives at the White House, 1922

Allende meteorite falls near Pueblito de Allende, Chihuahua, Mexico, 1969

The NASDAQ stock market index opens for the first time, 1971

After 84 days in space, the crew of the first American space station Skylab returns to Earth, 1974

The Melbourne dust storm hits Australia's second largest city. The result of the worst drought on record and a day of severe weather conditions, a 320 metres (1,050 ft) deep dust cloud envelops the city, turning day to night, 1983

The massive Internet collaboration "24 Hours in Cyberspace" takes place, 1996

A freak storm in the Hindukush mountains of Afghanistan triggers a series of at least 36 avalanches, 2010

My Good Advice Quota For The Week

Because i have houses to clean many mornings a week and a bakery job in the afternoons, i've had to pass on doing Valentine's Day flower deliveries this year.

It breaks my heart, because i love doing it and i love the crew at the flower shop.

Still, for the sake of the people who will be doing deliveries, i will offer my tips to those who want to order flowers for that someone special in the next week.

1.  Order early.  Earlier than that.  Yes, that early.

     Here's the thing.  The florists order lots and lots of flowers, and some are going to be in better shape than others.  The nicest ones get used first.  By 3pm on Valentine's Day, they are using the ones they would have passed over earlier.  Ordering ahead, and ordering for early delivery, gets you the nicest selection.

     Get them delivered the day before, to get extra points with your sweetheart. It means you didn't dawdle, you have flowers today, dinner out and a gift tomorrow, you made a big thing of it.  It also means you get the nicest flowers, as noted above.  And, if we can't find your location or have trouble, we have time for a redelivery.

     Think about it. You have flowers or candy or cupcakes or whatever delivered a day before. You come home with a card. Then, on the big day, you still go out for dinner and all the trimmings. You have just let this person know you are not simply waiting for someone to slap you upside the head and tell you to get with it, the big day is tomorrow. You are plotting and planning and putting thought into a buildup. It goes a long way, baby.

2.  Mark your home well!  This is for your benefit as well as ours.  After all, if we can't find you, what makes you think the EMTs can find you in the middle of the night?

3.   Delivery drivers know the town in general, but not every single side street, business, nook and cranny.  Give us your whole, complete address.  This means include:

     Avenue, Street, Boulevard, Drive, Circle, Lane, or whatever is in the actual title of your street.

     Your apartment complex name and apartment number
     or the nursing home name and room number
     or the business name and office number/division of the business where your sweetheart works.

     You know where it is, but we don't, and it's no fun having to guess.

4.  If you live in a gated community, please tell us, and give us a way to get in.  It's frustrating not to be able to get to your home because we need a code.  Give us a code or a phone number that will be answered, and i'll talk more about that later.

5.  The same goes for if you are having flowers delivered to a limited access work place.  Make sure we can get in there to it.  More than once i've had to wait until someone was leaving the building to beg to be brought in, and had to register, and all of that. Again, a phone number helps.

6.  If you and your sweetheart are both at work all day, give us permission, when you place the order, to leave the flowers in a safe place by your back door, under a patio, or with a neighbor.

7.  Tell us what time your sweetheart gets off work, if you really want us to go there.  It's frustrating to get there a half hour after s/he got off for the day.

8.  About phone numbers:  tell your sweetheart to answer the phone!  Yes, you usually don't answer if you don't recognize the number.  Tell him/her to answer anyway, on this day, because there is a surprise coming.  Give us your number as well, and answer it.  If we can get in touch with you, or your sweetheart, we can work out most delivery complications easily.

9.  High school students, please do not ask us to deliver to the school.  The people in the carpool lane get very upset with us, as they think we are cutting in line, and your sweetheart doesn't need the aggravation of trying to bring a bouquet home on the bus.

10.  Remember your driver is paid only for completed deliveries.  Time is of the essence for us, we want to successfully deliver as many items as we can, for the joy it brings you and the money it brings us.  There's no shame in earning some extra cash by doing this service, so help us serve you better by following the tips above!

Today is:

Aldus Day -- death anniversary of Aldus Manutius, inventor of italics

Arizona Renaissance Festival -- Apache Junction, AZ, US (the official sister event to the Robin Hood Festival in Sherwood Forest, England; Saturdays, Sundays, and President's Day through Mar. 27)

Bob Marley Day -- Jamaica (birth anniversary)

Carnaval de Barranquilla -- Barranquilla, Spain (four days of pre-Lent celebration and street dances that mostly shut down the city)

Gamelia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (anniversary celebration of the marriage of Zeus and Hera; date approximate)

Homstrom -- Scuol, Switzerland (burning of the straw man effigy of Old Man Winter, signaling the coming spring and winter's demise)

Yukon Quest International 1,000 Mile Sled Dog Race -- Whitehorse, YT, Canada to Fairbanks, AK, US (two week international competition for the best mushers and dogs from around the world)

International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation -- United Nations

Lame Duck Day -- US, on the anniversary of the passage of the 20th Amendment to the US Constitution; a day to recognize those whose tenure is running out

Laura Ingalls Wilder Gingerbread Sociable -- Pomona, CA, US (Pomona Public Library has on permanent display many of her original manuscripts)

National Chopsticks Day

Orchid Festival -- Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO, US (through Mar. 27)

Orchid Festival/Tropical Extravaganza -- Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, London (through March 6)

Oto Matsuri -- Shingu, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan (fire festival)

Pay-A-Compliment Day

Reggae Day -- Bob Marley birth anniversary

Royal Hobart Regatta -- Queens Domain Hobart and Derwent River, Tasmania, Australia (Australia's largest aquatic event, includes an Australian Wooden Boat Festival; through Monday)

Rubik-Cube Muddling Championships -- Fairy Calendar

Sami National Day -- Finland, Norway, Russian, and Sweden

Six Nations Championship (Rbs 6 Nations) -- annual rugby tournament between England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, and Wales (into March)

St. Dorothy of Caesarea's Day (Patron of brewers, brides, florists, gardeners, midwives, newlyweds; Pescia, Italy)

St. Peter Baptist's Day (Patron of Caceres, Philippines; Japan)

Waitangi Day -- Maori, New Zealand and Niue (treaty with Britain, 1840; also considered National Day)


Anniversaries Today:

Accession of Queen Elizabeth II, 1952 (upon the death of her father, George VI)
Massachusetts becomes the 6th US State, 1788
The College of William and Mary in Virginia is founded by royal charter, 1693


Birthdays Today:

Axl Rose, 1962
Barry Miller, 1958
Kathy Najimy, 1957
Robert Townsend, 1957
Natalie Cole, 1950
Bob Marley, 1945
Michael Tucker, 1944
Fabian, 1943
Gayle Hunnicutt, 1943
Gigi Perreau, 1941
Tom Brokaw, 1940
Mike Farrell, 1939
Francois Truffant, 1932
Rip Torn, 1931
Mamie Van Doren, 1931
Zsa Zsa Gabor, 1919
Mary Leakey, 1913
Ronald Reagan, 1911
Babe Ruth, 1895
Aaron Burr, 1756
Nicolaus II Bernoulli, 1695
Chongzhen, Emperor of China, 1611
Christopher Marlowe, 1564


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Masque of Kings"(Play), 1936
"Rhenisch"(Schumann's 3rd Symphony), 1851


Today in History:

The United States signs its first treaty, in which France recognizes the US and promises aid, 1778
New Jersey issues the first US railroad charter to John Stevens, 1815
Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles founds Singapore, 1819
The first 86 African American immigrants sponsored by the American Colonization Society started a settlement in present-day Liberia, 1820
Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, establishing New Zealand as a British colony, 1840
Harper's Weekly publishes the first picture of Uncle Sam with chin whiskers, 1869
The international arbitration court at The Hague is created when the Netherlands' Senate ratifies an 1899 peace conference decree, 1900
The Young Women's Hebrew Association organizes in NYC, 1902
The "Monopoly" board game goes on sale for the first time, 1935
Turkey holds its first election in which women can vote, 1935
K Elizabeth Ohi becomes the first Japanese-US female lawyer, 1937
Elizabeth II becomes the first Queen regnant of the United Kingdom and several other realms since Queen Victoria, upon the death of her father, George VI, 1952
Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments files the first patent for an integrated circuit, 1959
Justice Mary Gaudron is appointed to the High Court of Australia, the first woman to be appointed, 1987
The Round Table Talks start in Poland, thus marking the beginning of overthrow of communism in Eastern Europe, 1989
Russia captures Grozny, Chechnya, forcing the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria government into exile, 2000
A magnitude 8.0 earthquake causes significant damage to villages along the coast of the Solomon Islands, 2013

Only i could end up with this problem, and solution.

A couple of things have happened in the last few days that may not seem related, but in a weird way are.

Last Friday, while delivering flowers, i followed a delivery truck into a gated community (it's always a stroke of luck when that happens and we can get in that way) to find the homeowner wasn't there.  Upon calling her and leaving a message (they won't answer the phone because they don't recognize the number so you have to leave a message and hope they listen), she actually was one of those who did call back right away.

She asked me to go over to the garage and open the back gate, that i could leave the flowers on the porch in there.  We are allowed to leave flowers in a safe place like that if we have permission, so i opened the gate, while still on the phone with her, and got attacked by a hornet building a nest there.

He bit my ring finger on my left hand, the hand holding the phone at the time, so i screamed and dropped the phone.  Once i got rid of him, i picked the phone up, hoping it wasn't broken.  It was fine, so i called her back and apologized for screaming in her ear and warned her about the hornets.

Then i left her the flowers and went on to finish out the say.  The finger was a bit sore at first, but not too bad.

When i went to bed Friday night, after babysitting until almost 11pm, it seemed okay.

On Saturday morning, when i woke up to go back to work, the finger was swelling.  My first instinct, to grab a Benadryl, i ignored.  The last thing i needed was to be drowsy all day while driving all over town.  Of course, Someone had taken all the Claritin in the house and hadn't told me, so i stopped and bought one at the gas station's store while filling up.

By the time i had done three runs, the finger was swollen so badly that i knew i was going to have to get the ring cut off.  (It was swollen enough that morning that i couldn't get it off, but it wasn't so tight as to be uncomfortable then.)  Mr. R, one of the co-owners of the shop, told me, "I can cut it off!" and he did.  "I should have been a surgeon," he told me after he accomplished this feat.

It's not easy to get a pic of your own hand!  And this is after the swelling was down a bit.

After my final run, which ended after the shop closed, i went home and sent the doctor a text message.  He called in a prescription steroid to bring the swelling down.  The only pharmacy that's open 24 hours in our area took almost 3 hours to fill it (they are notoriously slow), so it was another late night.

Sunday we went to church, and yes i did the usual stuff, including nursery duty, holding ice on my hand by this time to try to help.  Then on to the restaurant to meet Grandma and Grandpa for Mother's Day lunch.

The Monday after Mother's Day is Women's Check-up Day, as i noted.  Actually, i had scheduled the first part of my annual physical for that day about two months ago.  When i went, they not only did the usual first part of the physical (blood pressure, ECG, visual field, hearing,  weight/height, lung capacity, ankle/brachial arterial check, and the blood draw and pee in a cup routine, as well as assessing my activity level, diet, mental wellbeing and etc. by questionnaire), the doc took a few minutes out to look at my hand.

It's much better, and by next week, when i go for the follow up to talk to the doc about the blood work results and etc., it should be back to normal.  It still itches, but less than before, and the swelling is about gone.

Now that i stop and think about it, only i would have something like this happen right before i was going to be at the doctor's office anyway.

Today is

Day of Purification of All Things -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Fairy Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Royal Humans Disbanded -- Fairy Calendar (and don't ask how we blew it)

Fibromyalgia Awareness Day 

Hug Your Cat Day -- another date given on many sites, and here's some advice about how to do it safely

International CFS/ME Awareness Day -- bringing awareness about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis

International Nurses Day -- birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale

Lailat al Miraj -- Islam (observance of Mohammed's night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem; begins at sundown, local customs and dates may vary)

Limerick Day -- birth anniversary of Edward Lear

National Nutty Fudge Day

Odometer Day -- actually first called a "roadometer", it measured wagon wheel revolutions, as 360 of them made a mile, and was invented and first used this day by William Clayton, Orson Pratt, and Appleton Milo Harmon, Mormon pioneers traveling to Utah in 1847

Olde May Day (Julian Calendar)

Pilgrimage to Fatima -- Fatima, Portugal (procession, mass, and etc. to commemorate the first appearance of the Virgin of the Rosary to the three shepherd children on this day in 1917)

Rotuma Day -- Rotuma, Fiji

Saint Andrew, the First Called Day -- Georgia

Snellman Day/Day of Finnish Identity -- Finland

St. Diomma of Kildimo's Day (Patron of Kildimo, County Limerick, Ireland)

St. Francis Patrizi's Day (Patron of reconciliations)

St. Pancras' Day (2nd Ice Saint; Patron of children, oaths, treaties; Albano, Italy; Iserlohn, Germany; Pontevico, Italy; Sestino, Italy; against cramps, false witness, headaches, and perjury)



Anniversaries Today:

Mick Jagger marries Bianca De Macias, 1971
Eddie Fisher marries Elizabeth Taylor, 1959 
Coronation of George VI of England, 1937
Maria Theresa of Austria is crowned Queen of Bohemia, 1743
National University of San Marcos is founded in Lima, Peru (oldest in the Americas), 1551
Jagiellonian University is fouded in Krakow, Poland (oldest in Poland), 1364
Richard I (Lionheart) of England marries Berengaria of Navarre, 1191


Birthdays Today:

Emily VanCamp, 1986
Cheryl Burke, 1984
Jason Biggs, 1978
MacKenzie Astin, 1973
Christian Campbell, 1972
Jamie Luner, 1971
Kim Fields, 1969
Tony Hawk, 1968
Stephen Baldwin, 1966
Emilio Estevez, 1962
Ving Rhames, 1961
Kim Greist, 1958
Bruce Boxleitner, 1951
Gabriel Byrne, 1950
Lindsay Crouse, 1948
Steve Winwood, 1948
Millie Perkins, 1938
George Carlin, 1937
Tom Snyder, 1936
Frank Stella, 1936
Burt Bacharach, 1929
Yogi Berra, 1925
Mary Kay Ash, 1918
Katharine Hepburn, 1907
Florence Nightingale, 1820
Edward Lear, 1812


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Lena Horne: The Lady And Her Music"(Musical revue), 1981
"Mary Had a Little Lamb"(Paul McCartney & Wings single release), 1972
"The Poisoned Kiss, or The Empress and the Necromancer"(Opera), 1936
The Symphony No. 1 in F minor(Shostakovich Op. 10), 1926
"L'elisir d'amore / The Elixir of Love"(Opera), 1832


Today in History:

Antipope  Nicholas V, a claimant to the papacy, is consecrated in Rome, 1328
Rao Jodha, a Rajput chief  of to the Rathore clan, founds Jodhpur, India, 1459
Philip Lenzi places the first ice cream advertisement, in the NY Gazette, 1777
Society of St Tammany is formed by Revolutionary War soldiers; it later becomes an infamous group of NYC political bosses, 1789
The Manitoba Act is given the Royal Assent, paving the way for Manitoba to become a province of Canada on July 15, 1870
US District Court Judge J. Dundy rules, in Standing Bear vs. George Crook, that Native Americans are persons within the meaning of the laws of the United States, 1879
Tunisia  becomes a French protectorate, 1881
In the North-West Rebellion, the four-day Battle of Batoche, pitting rebel Métis against the Canadian  government, comes to an end with a decisive rebel defeat, 1885
Ten weeks after his abduction, the infant son of Charles Lindbergh is found dead in Hopewell, New Jersey, 1932
Konrad Zuse presents the Z3, the world's first working programmable, fully automatic computer, in Berlin, 1941
A formal North American Aerospace Defense Command agreement is signed between the United States and Canada, 1958
West Germany and Israel establish diplomatic relations, 1965
The U.S. merchant ship Mayaguez seized by Cambodian forces in international waters, 1975
South Africa prisoner Nelson Mandela sees his wife for 1st time in 22 years, 1984
Amy Eilberg is ordained in New York as 1st woman Conservative rabbi, 1985
Fred Markham of the US becomes the first person to pedal a bike at 65mph unaided by wind, 1986
Ingrid Baeyens becomes the first Belgian woman to ascend Mount Everest, 1992
Russia and chechnya sign a peace agreement after 400 years of conflict, 1997
The Texas, US, legislature is brought to a standstill when 59 Democratic lawmakers go into hiding in a dispute with Republicans over redistricting, 2003
An 8.0 earthquake in southwest China kills more than 69,000 people, 2008
Queen Elizabeth II becomes the second-longest-reigning monarch in British history, 2011 

Silly Sunday: Directions

While delivering flowers, i've sometimes had difficulty finding places.  The routing computer at the flower shop used to be terrible!  It would give awful printed directions, often telling you to leave a business or area and go to a different one, then come back to the first one again for a second delivery.  It should have put all of the deliveries to the same address or area at one stop or right after each other.

It used to be that i would tell them to tell their route optimizer to go home, it was drunk.  They have sobered it up, although they called it reprogramming it.

It still isn't perfect, though.  If a particular road is so new it hasn't been added to its maps yet, it puts the stop in the right place, but skips giving you the directions for it.  That's when i have to "call back to the barn" and get them to tell me where to find it.

Yesterday i was on my last run of the day when the directions told me the name of a street on which to turn, but it's such a new street that it doesn't have a street sign yet.  Thankfully i was able to wave down a very nice young gentleman who told me where it was, then had me follow him since he was going that direction.  He pointed out the street, and i got that last delivery in.

Having to ask that nice young man for directions reminds me of a joke.

Boudreaux an' Thibodeaux was jes' settin' in front de little main street store in Ville Platte one day many year back, an' a man drive up an' roll down de window an' say, "Entschuldigung, koennen Sie Deutsch sprechen?"

Boudreaux an' Thibodeaux jes' say, "Heh?"

Den de man say, "Parlare Italiano?" 

An' Boudreaux an' Thibodeaux again say, "Heh?

One mo' time he try, "Hablan ustedes Espanol?"

Boudreaux an' Thibodeaux jes' shake dey heads an' de man drive off disgusted.

Den Thibodeaux turn to Boudreaux an' ax, "We speak Cajun French, an' we speak Cajun English, do you t'ink we need to learn a t'ird language?"

An' Boudreaux he answer an say, "Mais, non!  Dat man, he spoke t'ree language, an it don' do him no good!"

     

Today is

Clean up Your Room Day -- one of those holidays that no one knows how it got started, but it's a good idea, especially if your house is decorated by teens in "Recently Ransacked" style!

Constitution Day -- Federated States of Micronesia

Golden Spike Day -- finishing the first US Trancontinental Railroad in 1869

Hanswijk Procession -- Mechelen, Belgium (since the year 1272, the Sunday before Ascension Thursday, the town celebrates Our Lady of Hanswijk, in thanks for the ending of plague and war)

Infant Mortality Awareness Day -- as we celebrate mothers today, let's remember those who have lost children

Mother Ocean Day -- celebrate the wonders of the ocean, wherever you happen to be; day originally proposed by the South Florida Kayak Fishing Club

Mother's Day -- Belize; El Salvador; Guatemala; Mexico (always May 9 in these countries)

Mother's Day -- Anguilla; Antigua and Barbuda; Aruba; Australia; Austria; Bahamas; Bangladesh; Barbados; Belgium; Bermuda; Bonaire; Botswana; Brazil; Brunei; Canada; Cambodia; Chile; China(People's Republic of China); Colombia; Croatia; Cuba; Curaçao; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Denmark; Dominica; Ecuador; Estonia; Ethiopia; Fiji; Finland; Germany; Ghana; Gold Coast; Greece; Grenada; Guyana; Honduras; Hong Kong; Iceland; India; Italy; Jamaica; Japan; Kurdistan; Latvia; Liberia; Liechtenstein; Macao; Malaysia; Malta; Myanmar; Netherlands; New Zealand; Pakistan; Papua New Guinea; Peru; Philippines; Puerto Rico; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Saint Lucia; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Samoa; Singapore; Sint Maarten; Slovakia; South Africa; Sri Lanka; Suriname; Switzerland; Taiwan; Tanganyika; Tonga; Trinidad and Tobago; Turkey; Uganda; Ukraine; United States; Uruguay; Vietnam; Venezuela; Zambia; Zimbabwe                  

National Shrimp Day

Punch's Birthday / Covent Garden May Fayre and Puppet Festival -- St. Paul's Cathedral, London, England (Punch, of Punch and Judy, celebrates his birthday on the Sunday closest to May 9 with a fair and by preaching at the cathedral to other puppets and their puppeteers, or "professors".)

Resistance and Liberation Day -- Lebanon

State Flag and State Emblem Day -- Belarus

St. Cathal's Day (Patron of blind people, drought relief, epileptics, paralyzed people; Taranto, Italy; against blindness, drought, epilepsy, hernias, paralysis, plagues, storms)

St. Father Damien of Moloka'i's Day (Patron of lepers, outcasts, those with HIV/AIDS; Hawaii)

St. Job the Patriarch's Day (Patron against depression and ulcers)

Trust Your Intuition Day -- practice, and you'll get better at it

World Lupus Day 



Birthdays Today:

Kenan Thompson, 1978
Amanda Borden, 1977
Jason Brooks, 1966
Paul "Bono" Hewson, 1960
Phil and Steve Mahre, 1957
Donovan, 1946
Dave Mason, 1946
Marie-France Pisier, 1944
Judith Jamison, 1943
Gary Owens, 1936
Barbara Taylor Bradford, 1933
Pat Summerall, 1930
Ara Raoul Parseghian, 1923
Nancy Walker, 1922
T. Berry Brazelton, 1918
"Mother" Maybelle Carter, 1909
David O. Selznick, 1902
Fred Astaire, 1899
Max Steiner, 1888
Karl Barth, 1868
George Ross, 1730
Emperor Fushimi of Japan, 1265
Emperor Claudius, 213


Debuting/Premiering Today:

Twister(Film), 1996
"The Rest of the Story"(Radio), 1976
Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major(Shostakovich Op. 102), 1957


Today in History:

The Roman armies under Titus open a full scale assault on Jerusalem, 70
Vienna's church orders all Jews to wear a distinctive garb, 1267
Scottish nobles recognize authority of English king Edward I, 1291
Amerigo Vespucci allegedly leaves on a voyage to the New World, 1497
Christopher Columbus "discovers" the Cayman Islands, 1503
Jacques Cartier visits Newfoundland, 1534
Scottish Protestants under John Knox uprise against queen-mother Mary, 1559
England forcefully annexes Jamaica from Spain, 1655
Benjamin Franklin first tests the lightning rod, 1752
Louis XVI becomes King of France, 1774
The Barbary pirates of Tripoli declare war on the United States of America, 1801
New York City banks fail, and unemployment reaches record levels, 1837
In India, the first war of Independence begins, 1857
The First Transcontinental Railroad, linking the eastern and western United States, is completed at Promontory Summit, Utah (not Promontory Point, Utah) with the golden spike, 1869
Romania  declares itself independent from Turkey, 1877
The Supreme Court of the United States rules in Nix v. Hedden that a tomato is a vegetable, not a fruit, under the Tariff Act of 1883, 1893
The first Mother's Day is observed, 1908
J. Edgar Hoover is appointed Director of the FBI, 1924
First successful launch of a V-2 rocket at White Sands Proving Ground, 1946
Bill Haley & His Comets release "Rock Around the Clock", the first rock and roll record to reach number one on the Billboard charts, 1954
The nuclear submarine USS Triton completes Operation Sandblast, the first underwater circumnavigation of the earth, 1960
The Federated States of Micronesia  becomes self-governing, 1979
François Mitterrand becomes the first Socialist President of France in the French 5th republic, 1981
Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as South Africa's first black president, 1994
Deadliest day on the mountain: a rogue storm on Everest claims 8 lives, including experienced climbers, 1996
The Maeslantkering, a storm surge barrier in the Netherlands that is one of the world's largest moving structures, is opened by Queen Beatrix, 1997
Solicitor General Elena Kagan is the youngest Justice and third woman nominated for the Supreme Court of the United States, 2010
Microsoft announces plans to purchase Skype, 2011