Seeing that it is Thanksgiving Week here, and seeing that i'm one of the people talking about how thankfulness and gratitude need to come before the upcoming holiday season, i'm going to spend a couple of days talking about things i'm grateful for.
Today, i'm grateful to live in a country where there is freedom of religion.
Yesterday we got to attend a wonderful church service. We didn't have to sneak over to someone's home or secret meeting place to do it. Instead we got to drive over, and Sweetie was even able to help a friend there jump off his car (another thing to be grateful for, good jumper cables -- investing in a great pair several years ago has come in handy more than once).
While there, we sat in a clean, comfortable sanctuary in nice seats, not on a dirt floor in a hut, or huddled up in a semi-dark room hoping no one knew what we were doing.
After the service, we drank good coffee and chatted with friends, instead of having to sneak away carefully, and we got to talk over what we had learned openly, not having to hide the fact that we had been there.
Also, i'm grateful i got to attend the service of my choice, as did anyone else in this country, and that those who choose not to attend any at all don't have to, and we can still all be friends.
Today, i'm praying for people who don't have these freedoms.
Today is:
Armed Forces Day -- Bangladesh
Canadian Western Agribition -- IPSCO Place, Regina, SK, Canada (Canada's premier agriculture showcase; through the 26th)
False Confessions Day -- internet generated, and not for the faint of heart
Feast day of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin -- Catholic Christian
Festival of Madonna della Salute -- Venice, Italy
Furniture Memory Day -- an internet generated test of your memory; see if you remember where you got each piece of furniture you own, and how much it cost
Gerard d'Aboville Day -- marking the day, in 1991, he arrived in Ilwaco, WA, US, after departing Japan 4 months earlier in a rowboat!
Gingerbread Day
National Military Families Recognition Day -- US (by Presidential Proclamation in 1993)
National Stuffing Day -- various dates given on many sites, so if you enjoy stuffing, celebrate them all
No Music Day -- www.nomusicday.com for the explanation
Our Lady Halfsower/ Our Lady Manysower -- Greece (a good Greek farmer has half of his field sown by the Feast of Presentation.)
Revolution Day -- Mexico (observed)
St. Gelasius' Day
Ugly Day -- Fairy Calendar
World Hello Day -- unofficial but fun
World Television Day -- International
Anniversaries Today:
South Carolina becomes the 12 US State, 1789
Birthdays Today:
Ken Griffey, Jr., 1969
Troy Aikman, 1966
Bjork, 1965
Cherry Jones, 1956
Goldie Hawn, 1945
Harold Ramis, 1944
Tweety Bird, 1942
Juliet Mills, 1941
Marlo Thomas, 1938
Joseph Campanella, 1927
Stan Musial, 1920
Coleman Hawkins, 1904
Rene Magritte, 1898
Hetty Green, 1834
William Beaumont, 1785
Voltaire, 1694
Today in History:
Judas Maccabaeus, son of Mattathias of the Hasmonean family, restores the Temple in Jerusalem; this is the event commemorated each year by the festival of Hanukkah, BC164
The Pilgrims, aboard the Mayflower, reach what is now called Provincetown Harbor, Massachusetts, and sign the Mayflower Compact, 1620
Richard Johnson, a free black, is granted 550 acres in Virginia, 1654
In Paris, Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent, Marquis d'Arlandes, make the first untethered hot air balloon flight, 1783
Colonel Napoléon Bonaparte is promoted to full general and appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Armies of the French Republic, 1791
First Jewish Reform congregation in US forms, Charleston, SC, 1824
Moses F Gale patents a cigar lighter, 1871
Tom Edison announces his "talking machine" invention (phonograph), 1877
Rebecca Latimer Felton of Georgia takes the oath of office, becoming the first female United States Senator, 1922
First commercial crossing of Pacific by plane (China Clipper), 1935
The Alcan Highway is completed, 1942*
The British Natural History Museum announces that the "Piltdown Man" skull is a hoax, 1953
The first permanent ARPANET link is established between UCLA and SRI, 1969
The Dayton Peace Agreement is initialed at the Wright Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton, Ohio, ending three and a half years of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1995
NATO invites Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia to become members, 2002
*Not opened to general vehicular traffic until the next year
The kids are off of school for the coming week, and so everyone's schedule will be all catawumpus.
That's okay, no commuting. Just the long drive to see Grandma and Grandpa on Thanksgiving.
Maybe i can get most of the backlog of paperwork sorted out through the week. Then again, maybe i'll just slam my hand in the door repeatedly, that would be more fun.
This first-cousin-to-a-Luddite was resigned to the idea of at least some of these gizmos and gadgets because they were supposed to give us a paperless society.
Humph. One of the best things about heaven will be no paperwork. Wonder what the Pastor would say to that.
Today is:
Absurdity Day -- an internet generated absurd holiday
Africa Industrialization Day -- UN
Air Your Dirty Laundry Day -- internet generated, and be careful with this one!
Alascattalo Day -- Anchorage, AK, US (a salute to Alaskan humor; the longest running, shortest parade in the world, in honor of the "alascattalo", a cross between a moose and a walrus. Held in the alley behind Club Paris from 12:03 to 12:07 pm, a prize is given to the smallest and ugliest float -- yes, it must be both small and ugly. An anonymous queen will be crowned, if she has the bad sense to show up.)
Beautiful Day -- Fairy Calendar
Child Day -- Canada
Children's Day -- Egypt; Pakistan
Clean the Cat Hair Out of the Vacuum Cleaner Day -- internet generated, and always tops on my chore list
Day of Sekhmet and the Purifying Flame -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar
Day of National Sovereignty -- Argentina
Dia da Consciencia Negra -- Brazil (Black Consciousness Day)
Feast of Christ the King -- Roman Catholic Church
Globally Organized Hug A Runner Day aka G.O.H.A.R.D
Learn When to Start Thawing the Turkey Day -- US
Mother Goose Parade Day -- San Diego, CA, US
Name Your PC Day -- mine is Ol' Bessy, a/k/a Old Unreliable
National Day -- Myanmar
National Peanut Butter Fudge Day
Praetextatus and Paulina's Day -- Ancient Roman Calendar (Guardians of the Eleusinian Mysteries; date approximate)
Revolution Day -- Mexico (traditional)
St. Edmund the Martyr's Day (Patron against plagues)
Teacher's Day -- Vietnam
Totensonntag -- Germany (Protestant Church remembrance of the dead)
Transgender Day of Remembrance
Universal Children's Day -- International
World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims
Zumbi Day -- Brazil
Anniversaries Today:
The Princess Elizabeth (now Queen Elizabeth II) marries Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten at Westminster Abbey in London, 1947
Birthdays Today:
Bo Derek, 1956
Duane Allman, 1946
Veronica Hamal, 1943
Joe Biden, 1942
Dick Smothers, 1939
Richard Dawson, 1932
Estelle Parsons, 1927
Kaye Ballard, 1926
Robert F. Kennedy, 1925
Alistair Cooke, 1908
Edwin Hubble, 1889
Susanna Wesley, 1669 (mother of John, Charles, and 17 other children)
Peregrine White, 1620 (born on the Mayflower)
Maximinus, Roman Emperor, 270
Today in History:
Bögü, Khan of the Uyghurs, conquers Lo-Yang, capital of the Chinese Empire, 762
Zumbi, the last leader of the Quilombo dos Palmares of Brazil, is executed, 1695
New Jersey becomes the first state to ratify the US Bill of Rights, 1789
Curacao's government forbids slave work on Sunday, 1795
Howard University is founded in Washington, D.C., 1866
US State Department starts requiring photographs for passports, 1914
1st municipally owned airport in US opens, in Tucson Az, 1919
In response to the Soviet Union agreeing to remove its missiles from Cuba, U.S. President John F. Kennedy ends the quarantine of the Caribbean nation, 1962
The SETI Institute is founded, 1984
Microsoft Windows 1.0 is released, 1985
The number of protesters assembled in Prague, Czechoslovakia swells from 200,000 the day before to an estimated half-million, 1989
In England, a fire breaks out in Windsor Castle, badly damaging the castle and causing over £50 million worth of damage, 1992
The first module of the International Space Station, Zarya, is launched, 1998
Sweetie has been trying to drop a few pounds.
Now, considering that we've been married over 26 years, that's probably typical. After all, even though i'm thin now, after the kids i don't look the same as i did when i got married.
He is built exactly like his father, who put on 40 pounds in the 20 years after age 40, and then never really lost it, nor did he gain more. In fact, the last 17 years of his life, his weight stayed just the same, no matter how much or little he ate.
Sweetie, his father's spitting image, is on track to do the same, and he doesn't like it.
He grew up skinny. As in, 149lbs. at 6'2" skinny. And he grew up in a farming community, where in the summers he would spend from 7am to 9pm in the hay fields, throwing 100lb. bales of hay all day long.
So he grew up eating. Not only could his mother never keep him full, he and his twin brother were known throughout the community for being skinny dudes who had voracious appetites. Some days, after the aforementioned work in the hay fields, they would come home and split a whole loaf of bread and gallon of milk between the two of them, as well as eating all of whatever their mother had fixed for dinner.
Thus while his current work does require that he do some lifting and moving and carrying, he does not burn the number of calories he did when a teen. Nor does he have a teen's metabolism any more.
Now, he wants to reverse the trend of the last few years, and drop some of what he has gained. He's not obese by any means, but if he lost 25-30, he would feel better about himself. As for me, i don't care, i married him for him, not how much he weighs. He is welcome to drop a few if that would make him happy.
And he's been trying, for several months now, but without much success, which has disappointed him.
He started out by taking smaller servings of things like rice and potatoes, or skipping them altogether. He also claims he is eating less, although i haven't noticed it, but with all the appetites around here, he very well could be, and everyone else is just picking up the slack.
He says he's not losing, or not losing very fast. He's always been one to doctor up his food a little, add a bit more butter, get another bit of mayo for the sandwich, melt a little extra bacon grease into his portion of something, and i began watching to see if i could spot the problem.
Then, last night, #2 Son wanted to cook some steaks Grandpa had brought us for dinner. When he started the steaks, i started fixing a few things for sides. Sweetie decided he wanted green peas, which no one else did. When i went to get peas from the pantry, he said he would fix them himself, since he was going to be the one to eat them.
Surreptitiously watching him, i saw him open the can, drain out the water, pour the peas in a pan, mash a few of them with a fork, and then add, not a pat or two, but an entire half a stick of butter.
Well.
That could be the problem.
Today is:
Alligator Wrestling Day -- internet generated, and i wonder if a cat that doesn't want its meds counts?
Discovery Day -- Puerto Rico
Equal Opportunity Day / Dedication Day -- anniversary of the Gettysburg Address
Family Volunteer Day -- to get families working together to better their communities and the world
Flag Day -- Brazil
Garifuna Day/ Carib Settlement Day -- Belize
"Have a Bad Day" Day -- for the hidden, or not so hidden, grouch in all of us
Herring Festival -- Etaples, France
International Men's Day -- Australia; Canada; Ghana; Hungary; India; Ireland; Jamaica; Malta; Singapore; South Africa; Trinidad and Tobago; United Kingdom; United States
Kalamazoo Russian Festival -- Kalamazoo, MI, US
Liberation Day -- Mali
Natchitoches Festival of Lights -- Natchitoches, LA, US (over 350,000 lights go on every night from now until Jan, 6, with carolers on Friday and Saturday evenings downtown, festivals and events every weekend; come celebrate the season in the Oldest Settlement in the Louisiana Purchase)
National Adoption Day -- US (encouraging us to find a home for every child)
National Carbonated Beverage with Caffeine Day
National Holiday -- Monaco
National Survivors of Suicide Day -- US
Please Maintain Your Focus Today Day -- internet generated, but a good idea
Rally of the Tall Pines -- Bancroft, ON, Canada (an event on the Canadian Rally Car Race Circuit; through the 21st)
Ranch Hand Breakfast -- King Ranch, Kingsville, TX, US (a real ranch hand meal, cooked and served outdoors, on a working cattle ranch where you can watch cowboys round up longhorns)
Remembrance Day -- Gettysburg, PA, US (in conjunction with the Gettysburg Address Anniversary)
St. Mechtilde's Day
St. Nerses' Day
St. Obadiah's Day
Surin Elephant Round-Up -- Surin, Thailand (through tomorrow; includes elephant football!)
"What Ever Happened to Gary Pucket?" Day -- internet generated, and a fun question to research
World Toilet Day -- sponsored by the World Toilet Organization (yes, really)
Birthdays Today:
McCaughey Septuplets, 1997
Kerri Strug, 1977
Jodie Foster, 1962
Meg Ryan, 1961
Calvin Klein, 1942
Ted Turner, 1938
Dick Cavett, 1936
Larry King, 1933
Indira Gandhi, 1917
Tommy Dorsey, 1905
James Garfield, 1831
Today in History:
The Council of Clermont, called by Pope Urban II to discuss sending the First Crusade to the Holy Land, begins, 1095
Rabbi Isaiah b Abraham aha-Levi Horowitz arrives in Isreal, 1621
The Jakobinen club forms in Paris, 1794
The Jay Treaty, the first US extradition treaty, is signed with Great Britain, 1794
Lewis and Clark reach the Pacific Ocean, becoming the first European Americans to cross the continent, 1805
Warsaw University is established, 1816
The St. Petersburg flood, caused by storms, kills 10,000, 1824
The second Canadian railway line, the Montreal and Lachine Railway, is opened, 1847
Lincoln delivers his Gettysburg Address, 1863
Boss Tweed is convicted, sentenced to 12 years, 1874
Carrie Nation attempts to address the US Senate, 1903
NY receives the first Marconi wireless transmission from Italy, 1911
Samuel Goldwyn and Edgar Selwyn establish Goldwyn Pictures (anybody want to guess what this eventually became?), 1916
The first issue of Time Magazine is published, with Emperor Hirohito on the cover, 1928
Télé Monte Carlo, Europe's oldest private television channel, is launched by Prince Rainier III, 1954
The first automatic toll collection machine is introduced on New Jersey's Garden State Parkway, 1954
Ford cancels the Edsel, 1959
Apollo 12 astronauts Pete Conrad and Alan Bean land at Oceanus Procellarum (the "Ocean of Storms") and become the third and fourth humans to walk on the Moon, 1960
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat becomes the first Arab leader to officially visit Israel, when he meets Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin and speaks before the Knesset in Jerusalem, seeking a permanent peace settlement, 1977
Lt. Gen. Maurice Baril of Canada arrives in Africa to lead a multi-national policing force in Zaire, 1996
Vincent van Gogh's Portrait of the Artist Without Beard sells at auction for $71.5 million USD, 1998
The People's Republic of China launches its first Shenzhou spacecraft, 1999
Sweetie noticed someone at his work today with a shirt that had the logo of the pizza chain #1 Son works for. He walked up and asked the man if he worked with the chain.
Turns out it was Ryan, the franchise owner. So Sweetie asked him if he knew #1 Son, just to see what he would say.
Ryan proceeded to praise #1 Son greatly, talking about how he has no trouble turning a store over to him, how he is one of the best and hardest working young men he'd ever seen, as well as the best he's hired.
Sweetie then told Ryan who he was, and thanked him for all he's done for #1 Son.
We knew he was a good kid, and it's nice to have it confirmed.
Today is:
Calvin and Hobbes Day -- comic strip launched in 1985, with Calvin catching Hobbes in a home made tiger trap baited with a tuna fish sandwich
Children in Need Day -- UK and Ireland (telethon begins)
Day of Ardvi Sura (Aredvi Sura Anahita), Mother of the Stars -- Ancient Persian Calendar (date approximate)
Ebisu-san Matsuri, Ebisu Shrine -- Hiroshima City, Japan (festival of the god of commerce; through the 20th)
Elephant Round-Up -- Surin, Thailand (through the 20th; more entertainment than rounding up these days)
Feast of the Virgen de Chiquinquirá -- Maracaibo, Venezuela
Independence Day -- Moracco; Western Saraha
Makahiki Festival -- Big Island, Hawai'i (through tomorrow; Celebration of Life, based on the native precontact 4 month celebration)
Married to a Scorpio Support Day -- remembering those married to Scorpios and suffering because of it, and encouraging them too hide the flow charts and assert themselves today
National Day -- Oman
National French Vichyssoise Day
Ned Ludd Memorial Machine-Smashing Day -- internet generated, but enjoy! i know i will
Pushkar Camel Fair -- Pushkar, India (through the 27th; lots of fun for camels and their two legged friends)
Proclamation of the Republic -- Latvia
Push-Button Phone Day -- launched this day in 1963
St. Odo of Cluny's Day (Patron of needed rain)
Tap-Dancing and Tiger-Tuning -- Fairy Calendar
Total Disregard for Taste Day -- marking the debut of Howard Stern's radio show on this day in 1985
Vertieres Day -- Haiti (Army Day)
William Tell Day -- the famed apple-off-his-son's-head-shot was today in 1307
Birthdays Today:
Elizabeth Perkins, 1960
Sinbad, 1956
Wilma Mankiller, 1945
Linda Evans, 1942
Brenda Vaccaro, 1939
Mickey Mouse, 1928
Alan Shepard, Jr., 1923
Imogene Coca, 1908
George Gallup, 1901
Eugene Ormandy, 1899
Clarence Shepard Day, 1874
Dorothy Dix (Elizabeth Meriwether Gilmer), 1861
Ignacy Jan Paderewski, 1860
William Gilbert, 1836
Louis-Jacques Daguerre, 1787
Sojourner Truth, 1787
Today in History:
Old St. Peter's Basilica is consecrated, 326
The Japanese Emperor Kammy relocates the residence of Nara to Kioto, 794
William Tell shoots the apple off his son's head, 1307
The Holland/Zealand dikes break during a storm, resulting in thousands of deaths, 1421
The first English printed book, "Dictes & Sayengis of the Phylosophers", is published, 1477
Christopher Columbus first sights the island now known as Puerto Rico, 1493
Vasco da Gama reaches the Cape of Good Hope, 1497
The worst earthquake in Massachusetts Bay/Boston area, 1755
The first Unitarian Minister in the US is ordained in Boston, 1787
30 women meet at Mrs Silas Lee's home in Wiscasset Maine, to organize the Female Charitable Society, first woman's club in America, 1805
Mark Twain's story The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County is published in the New York Saturday Press, 1865
National Woman's Christian Temperance Union organizes in Cleveland, 1874
Standard time zones are formed by railroads in the US and Canada, 1883
The first newspaper Sunday color comic strip is printed, in the NY World, 1894
Britain flies its first sea plane, 1911
Lincoln Deachey performs the first airplane loop-the-loop, over San Diego, 1913
Sigma Alpha Rho, a Jewish high school fraternity, is founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1917
Release of the animated short Steamboat Willie, the first fully synchronized sound cartoon, directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, featuring the third appearances of cartoon characters Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, 1928
Off the south coast of Newfoundland in the Atlantic Ocean, a Richter magnitude 7.2 submarine earthquake, centered on Grand Banks, breaks 12 submarine transatlantic telegraph cables and triggers a tsunami that destroys many south coast communities in the Burin Peninsula, 1929
New York City's Mad Bomber places his first bomb at a Manhattan office building used by Consolidated Edison, 1940
In the United States, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is ratified, 1993
National Farm Joke Day makes it easy:
******
What do you call a crate of ducks?A box of quackers!*****
An out-of-towner drove his car into a ditch in a desolated area. Luckily, a local farmer came to help with his big strong horse named Buddy.
He hitched Buddy up to the car and yelled, "Pull, Nellie, pull." Buddy didn't move.
Then the farmer hollered, "Pull, Buster, pull." Buddy didn't respond.
Once more the farmer commanded, "Pull, Jennie, pull." Nothing.
Then the farmer nonchalantly said, "Pull, Buddy, pull." And the horse easily dragged the car out of the ditch.
The motorist was most appreciative and very curious. He asked the farmer why he called his horse by the wrong name three times.
The farmer said, "Oh, Buddy is blind, and if he thought he was the only one pulling, he wouldn't even try!"
*****
A farmboy was awakened by his mother early in the morning on the weekend. She told him he wouldn't get breakfast until he finished his chores.
One of his chores involved feeding all the animals. While he was feeding the animals he took out his anger at being up early on the weekend on some of them. He kicked a chicken, a cow, and a pig.
When he finished his chores his mother just gave him a bowl of dry cereal for breakfast. When he asked why, his mother told him that he didn't get any milk because he kicked the cow. He didn't get any eggs because he kicked the chicken and he didn't get bacon because he kicked the pig.
Right then his father came in angry about something and kicked the cat. The boy looked at his mother and said "Would you like to tell him or should I?" Today is:
Army Day -- Democratic Republic of the Congo
Beaujolais Day -- International
Day of National Revival and Feast of Sacrifice -- Azerbaijan
Descending Day of Lord Buddha -- Bhutan
Electronic Greeting Card Day -- internet generated, and of course probably started by the electronic greeting card websites
Fast for an Abundant World Harvest -- sponsored by Oxfam America
Great American Smoke-Out Day -- US (but no matter where you live, if you want to try, go without today)
Homemade Bread Day -- use the bread machine, it's fun and easy, i promise!
International Students Day -- International (meant to celebrate all students around the world, not specifically students studying in countries other than their own)
Malabo Fiesta -- Equatorial Guinea
National Baklava Day
National Farm Joke Day
National Prematurity Awareness Day -- United States
Polytechneio -- Greece
Presidents Day -- Marshall Islands
Public Restroom Hand Dryer Appreciation Day -- internet generated, and why? they've been proven less sanitary, blowing germs everywhere; i will not appreciate this one
Shogi Day -- Japan (a chess-like game)
St. Elizabeth of Hungary's Day (Patron of nursing, bakers; against plague)
St. Gregory of Tours' Day a/k/a Gregory Wonderworker (Patron of desperate situations; against floods, earthquakes)
St. Hilda's Day (Patron of business women)
St. Hugh of Lincoln's Day (Patron of sick children)
Struggle for Freedom and Democracy Day -- Czech Republic; Slovakia
Student Youth Day -- Turkmenistan
Take A Hike Day -- internet generated, and some websites say it's actually "Tell Your Boss to Take a Hike Day", but i don't recommend that unless you've recently inherited a fortune or won the Lotto
Winter Welcome Quadrilles and Dainty-Sixes -- Fairy Calendar
Birthdays Today:
Laura Wilkinson, 1977
Daisy Fuentes, 1966
Danny DeVito, 1944
Lorne Michaels, 1944
Tom Seaver, 1944
Lauren Hutton, 1943
Martin Scorsese, 1942
Gordon Lightfoot, 1938
Rock Hudson, 1925
Lee Strassberg, 1901
Atahualpa, last Emperor of the Inca, 1502
Flavius Claudius Julianus, Roman Emperor, 331
Vespian, Roman Emperor, 9
Today in History:
Diocletian is proclaimed emperor by his soldiers, 284
England and Spain sign an anti-French covenant/treaty, 1511
Elizabeth I ascends the English throne, 1558
France and Spain sign the Peace of the Pyrenees treaty, 1659
The Church of England organizes in New England, 1785
Congress holds its first session in the still incomplete Capitol Building of Washington, D.C., 1800
The Delta Phi fraternity, America's oldest continuous social fraternity, is founded at Union College in Schenectady, New York, 1827
Ecuador and Venezuela separate from Greater Colombia, 1831
Street signs are first authorized at San Francisco intersections, 1853
David Livingstone becomes the first European to see Victoria Falls, 1855
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Slavonic March is given its première performance in Moscow, 1876
Japan and Korea sign The Eulsa Treaty, 1905
The first US dental hygienist course is formed, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, 1913
US declares the Panama Canal Zone to be neutral, 1914
Lenin defends the "temporary" removal of freedom of the press, 1917
American scientists John Bardeen and Walter Brattain observe the basic principles of the transistor, a key element for the electronics revolution of the 20th Century, 1947
Douglas Engelbart receives the patent for the first computer mouse, 1970
In Czechoslovakia, the Velvet Revolution that would overthrow the communist government begins when student protests in Prague are quelled by riot police, 1989
Brian May of the rock band Queen was appointed Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University, 2007
Last year, i battled for months to find out what was wrong with my hands.
They were my main concern, and i attributed all of my other malaise and feeling "off" to that, and to the general sadness i often get in winter.
Day before yesterday i called the doc, as i have another infected cyst. He put me on the same antibiotic as last year.
The first dose was right before bed.
By midnight, my hands were swollen, my lips tingling, and i was feeling awful.
Bingo.
Pernio, the condition of my hands, was probably because i was having an allergic reaction to the antibiotic.
All that, including the pain of biopsies, and all for what was probably a simple allergy.
Of course, i couldn't have a standard allergic reaction, like to stop breathing or get hives or itchy, watery eyes. Instead, i get fingers that swell and hurt.
That causes a circulation problem, which then results in pernio.
At least, that's my hypothesis, i haven't seen the doc yet. He told me to go get a different antibiotic and call next week if the cyst doesn't clear up.
Wonder what he will say when i see him. Let's hope i'm right, it's the simplest solution.
Today is:
Birth of the Blues Day -- birth anniversary of W.C. Handy, "Father of the Blues"
Buss und Bettag -- German speaking Lutheran, Reformed, and United Protestants (Day of Repentance and Prayer)
Button Day -- internet generated; a day to collect, or reminisce about collecting, buttons
Dagur Islenskrar tungu -- Iceland (Icelandic Language Day)
Day of Declaration of Sovereignty / Day of National Rebirth -- Estonia
Famous San Diego Chicken Day -- a day to celebrate anyone who has ever slugged a purple dinosaur
Festival of Bast -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar
Geographic Information Systems Day
Have a Party with Your Bear Day -- internet generated, and if you have a favorite old Teddy, and want to indulge, go ahead
Hecate Night -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate; celebrated still by some Wiccans)
International Day for Tolerance - UN
National Educational Support Professionals Day -- US
National Fast Food Day -- why?
St. Gertrude the Great's Day (Patron of the West Indies)
St. Margaret of Scotland's Day (Patron of Scotland)
St. Matthew's Day (Eastern Churches)
St. Othmar's Day
Anniversaries Today:
Oklahoma becomes the 46th US State, 1907
Birthdays Today:
Oksana Baiul, 1977
Lisa Bonet, 1967
Dwight Gooden, 1964
Shigeru Miyamoto, 1952
Daws Butler, 1916
Burgess Meredith, 1908
W.C. Handy, 1873
Tiberius, Roman Emperor, BC42
Today in History:
The second and final revision of the Codex Justinianus is published, 534
Francisco Pizarro captures the Incan emperor Atahualpa after the victory at Cajamarca, 1532
The first colonial prison is organized, in Nantucket, Massachussetts, 1676
Kentucky becomes the first state to nullify an act of Congress, 1798
The New York Evening Post publishes its first edition, 1801
An earthquake in Missouri causes the Mississippi River to flow backwards, 1811
Missouri trader William Becknell arrives in Santa Fe, New Mexico over a route that became known as the Santa Fe Trail, 1821
Napoleon Guerin of NYC patents a cork life preserver, 1841
Fyodor Dostoevsky is sentenced to death for anti-government activities; sentence is commuted to hard labor, 1849
Amsterdam post office at Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal opens, 1856
William Bonwill patents dental mallet to impact gold into cavities, 1875
6,000 Armenians massacred by Turks in Kurdistan, 1894
Arturo Tuscanini begins conducting NY's Metropolitan Opera, 1908
US Federal Reserve System formally opens, 1914
LSD is first synthesized by Swiss chemist Dr. Albert Hofmann at the Sandoz Laboratories in Basel, Switzerland, 1938
UNESCO is founded, 1945
NASA launches Skylab 4 with a crew of three astronauts from Cape Canaveral, Florida for an 84-day mission, 1973
The Hoxne Hoard is discovered by metal detectorist Eric Lawes in Hoxne, Suffolk, 1992
After nearly 18 years of incarceration, the People's Republic of China releases Wei Jingsheng, a pro-democracy dissident, from jail for medical reasons, 1997
...that Thanksgiving in the US is being run over by Christmas shopping.
Many stores are now opening on Thanksgiving Day, starting the "shopping season" off early.
Imagine having to rush your meal so that you can get to work early because your store wants to get on with raking it in instead of giving employees a day to enjoy, along with the rest of the country.
Or the people rushing to get done with dinner so they can be first in line to shop.
This is making me angry, and i'm not the only one. The DJ's on the station i listen to are peeved about the loss of setting aside a day to be thankful, as a country, for all of our blessings.
Even if you don't have any formal beliefs, gratitude is good to practice. It keeps us humble, remembering that we are not the source, or center, of everything.
What i would love to see is for this to end up being a big flop. People staying away in droves, or even boycotting the stores that participate in the madness.
It won't happen, of course. Too many people will be afraid of missing a deal.
They are forgetting that they are missing something much more important.
An attitude of gratitude, and taking the time out to show it.
Today is:
American Enterprise Day -- US
America Recycles Day -- US
Changeling Restitution Day -- Fairy Calendar (Goblins)
Day of the German-speaking Community of Belgium -- German-speaking Community of Belgium
Don't Try To Do Everything At Once Day -- internet generated, and a blow to us multitaskers
Ennead Feast in the House of Ra, Horus, and Osiris -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar
George Spelvin Day
I Love to Write Day (perfect, in the middle of NaNoWriMo)
International Day of the Indian -- Declared by World Council of Indigenous Peoples in 1997
King's Feast / Dynasty Day -- Belgium
National Bundt Pan Day -- yes, really, celebrating the pan itself
National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day
National Peace Day -- Cote d'Ivoire
National Raisin Bran Cereal Day
National Spicy Hermit Christmas Cookie Day
Nativity Fast begins a/k/a Winter Lent (through Dec 24) -- Orthodox Christian
Republic Proclamation Day -- Brazil
Shichi-Go-San (Shrine Visiting Day) and the Seven-Five-Three Festival -- Japan
Sing in Your Car Day -- they need a day for this?
St. Albertus Magnus' Day (Patron of science students, scientists, and technologists)
St. Leopold's Day (Patron of Austria)
Use Less Stuff Day -- on some websites, listed as Nov. 18; either day, it's a good idea
Birthdays Today:
Kevin Eubanks, 1957
Sam Waterston, 1940
Petula Clark, 1932
Ed Asner, 1929
Bill "C.W. McCall" Fries, 1928
Joseph Wapner, 1919
Georgia O'Keeffe, 1887
F. William Herschel, 1738
William Pitt the Elder, 1708
Today in History:
Christopher Columbus notes the first recorded reference to tobacco, 1492
The NY General Assembly permits Jews to omit the phrase "Upon the faith of a Christian" from adjuration oaths, 1727
Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon begin surveying the Mason-Dixon Line between Pennsylvania and Maryland, 1763
The Articles of Confederation are adopted by the Continental Congress, 1777
Georgetown University, the first Catholic college in the US, opens, 1791
Zebulon Pike gets his first sight of Pike's Peak, Colorado, 1806
Isaac Pitman introduces his steno/shorthand system of writing, 1832
Union Major General Sherman burns Atlanta, Georgia, 1864
King C. Gillette patents the Gillette razor blade, 1904
The first telecast of an unscheduled event, a fire, takes place on W2XBT, in NY, 1938
In Columbus, Ohio, Dave Thomas opens the first Wendy's restaurant, 1969
Intel releases world's first commercial single-chip microprocessor, 1971
René Lévesque and the Parti Québécois take power to become the first Quebec government of the 20th century clearly in favour of independence, 1976
The Anglo-Irish Agreement is signed at Hillsborough Castle by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Irish Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald, 1985
An independent State of Palestine is proclaimed by the Palestinian National Council, 1988
The first Fairtrade label, Max Havelaar, is launched in the Netherlands, 1988
Cyclone Sidr hit Bangladesh, killing an estimated 5000 people and destroyed the world's largest mangrove forest, Sundarbans, 2007
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