fitbit Friday Update
Here is the entire, word-for-word, unedited email that I received from fitbit on 2/22/16 @ 6:15p: "Brilliant! You've earned the London Underground badge. * You've walked 25- miles--as much as the world's first underground railway. This triumph really lays the tracks for some big things in the future."- This has been a pretty good week for me: 11,031 steps on MON; 12,048 steps on TUE; 10,175 steps on THU.
- What's motivating me--for now--is the idea that I want to be in relatively good physical condition when I have my hip replacement on TUE 3/15. **
- Although I'm heading to Lincoln this afternoon, planning to take care of the little girls for Craig & Sarah tomorrow, I should be able to get Sammy out for an early morning walk & another after I get home from Orphan Grain Train early this afternoon.
- Tomorrow will be more of a challenge.
** While I don't think this is related to my OCD, I'll let my crack team of mental health advisors *** weigh in, should they choose.
*** They know who they are.
Mental Health MON . . . Special FRI Edition
My newly-appointed, crack team of mental health advisors * should be reassured to know that last night I finished reading The Pessimist's Guide to History-An Irresistible Compendium of Catastrophes, Barbarities, Massacres, & Mayhem-From 14 Billion Years Ago to 2007, compiled by Doris Flexner & Stuart Berg Flexner. According to my unofficial count, this book included accounts of:- 36 air crashes, including the 1937 Hindenburg disaster;
- 21 assassinations, including Julius Caesar in 44 B.C.;
- 6 automobile crashes, including a 52-car pile-up in Green Bay in 1990;
- 8 avalanches;
- 55 battles, conquests, & other military action, including the Fall of the Alamo in 1836;
- 77 earthquakes, including 7 in the U.S. **
- 12 environmental calamities, including the extinction of the dinosaurs, 65 million years ago [65 million years ago? seriously?!];
- 46 epidemics, which included the Spanish Influenza in 1918-19; ***
- 18 famines & droughts, including the Dust Bowl, 1932-37;
- 6 financial disasters;
- 156 fires & explosions, including the OKC bombing in 1995; ****
- 35 floods & tidal waves, including 10 in China;
- 58 massacres, other mass killings, & cruelty, including Nero persecuting the Christians in 64 A.D.;
- 15 mining disasters;
- 22 miscellaneous calamities, including The Big Bang, 14 Billion Years Ago; +
- 31 murders & infamous executions, including the Lizzie Borden Ax Murders in 1892;
- 5 nuclear disasters;
- 28 railroad disasters;
- 31 revolts, rebellions, & riots;
- 89 shipwrecks & other marine disasters, yet no mention of the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald; ++
- 78 storms, including Hurricane Katrina in 2005;
- 28 technological disasters; AND FINALLY
- 29 volcanic eruptions, including Mt. Saint Helens in 1980. +++
** Yet they omitted the earthquake that struck in the vicinity of West Yellowstone, MT, near the Idaho border, in 1959, forming Quake Lake, & resulting in 29 confirmed deaths. Lois & I visited this area on our 40th wedding anniversary odyssey in June, 2015.
*** FYI: Casualties included members of the Hill family. Their graves are in the cemetery in Corder, MO.
**** Lois & I have been to the memorial site & toured the museum in downtown Oklahoma City. In my opinion, it's worth a visit, although it's also very depressing. [Take note, Mental Health Advisors!]
+ {a} Another name for this would be, "In the beginning, God created the heavens & the earth." {b} It didn't happen 14 billion years ago. {c} It wasn't a calamity.
++ If you know the song, you started humming or singing it to yourself--or maybe even out loud--just now. You can't help it! "The legend lives on . . . "]
+++ I got to visit the site while attending a Western Alliance Conference of ALSS in the early 1990s. Lois & I visited the site when we vacationed in Oregon for our 25th wedding anniversary in 1980. Unfortunately, it rained that day, so hard, in fact, that when we were at the visitors' center at the foot of the mountain, it rained so hard that you couldn't even see the mountain.
After getting about halfway through this last entry, I realized that you were undoubtedly seeing my OCD at its worst. However, I had already invested too much time & effort to just stop, so there you go.
Criminal Minds
From Norfolk Daily News (2/25/16): "Rogaine stolen. Police in suburban Cincinnati are on the lookout for a bald man they said has been stealing hair growth & memory aid products from stores. Mt. Healthy police have issued an alert for 'a serial thief' they said recently took $847 worth of Rogaine & Prevagen products from a Walgreens store in the city just north of Cincinnati. Mt. Healthy Detective Chris Jones said that police are 'scratching our heads at this, no pun intended,' over the Rogaine thefts." [First, I have an alibi for the dates in question. Second, FYI, auto-correct kept trying to change "Rogaine" to "Romaine."]Political TUE . . . Special FRI Edition
From Omaha World Herald (2/23/16): "Gender-neutral approach for Target. Last fall, Target Corp. took its first baby steps toward a more gender-neutral store when it took down the 'boys' & 'girls' signs in its toy & kids' bedding aisles. The Minneapolis-based retailer is taking it further with a new kids home decor line that blurs the lines between what is for girls & what is for boys. The new Target brand, Pillowfort, began hitting stores this month . . ."'It was an aisle of pink, fairy princesses, ponies & flowers,' Julie Guggemos, Target's senior VP of design & product development said of Target's offerings for girls' bedrooms. 'And for the boys it was rockets & dinosaurs. Well, you know what? Girls like rockets & basketball. And boys like ponies.
"'Who are we to say what a child's individual expression is? We really wanted to develop a collection that would be universal.'" [Well, thank you, thank you, thank you, Target. Your humility in acknowledging your role in the gender-identity crisis experienced by young children is heart-warming, to say the least. * I think I speak for the majority of parents & grand-parents when I repeat, "Thank you," for helping us raise our children & grand-children.]
* And never let it be said that I'm willing to say the least.
There Is No Place Like . . .
Florida?
Also from NDN (2/16): "Backhoe joy ride. Officials said a 59-yr-old man took a backhoe on a joy ride across the famous 7-Mile Bridge in the Florida Keys, dumping boulders onto the road along the way. Monroe County Sheriff's spokeswoman Becky Herrin said in a news release that Carl Blank damaged the road & the sides of the bridge early TUE while recklessly driving along it for 90 minutes." [I suppose this could have been included in Criminal Minds, but the crime was unique to Florida, & I've been looking for an excuse to include Florida.]Canada?
Also from OWH (2/23): "Online rules prevent Canadians from taking 'Jeopardy!' test. 'Jeopardy!' host Alex Trebek, a famous Canadian, apparently won't be seeing many of his countrymen on the popular game show for the foreseeable future. The show said Canadians were precluded taking last month's online test that is a pipeline for 'Jeopardy!' contestants because of a change in that country's online privacy laws. Producers said MON that they were working to clear up the problem for future tests." [Also looking for an excuse to include Canada.]Special FRI Whimsy
From Readers' Digest '36 Favorite Facts That Are False' (Sep 2015):- "Caffeine Dehydrates You. Not really. The diuretic effect of caffeine is offset by the amount of water in a caffeinated drink. [I've said this for years, including those times when I was drinking the equivalent of at least one Mr. Coffee pot's supply of coffee per day. Now I'm in the process of cutting back, in anticipation of a day or two of 0% caffeine when I have my hip replacement. This week I'm down to 2 cups or less. Next week I'll try cutting back to 1 cup. Yes, I'm a little scared.]
- "Goldfish's 3-Second Memory. While not the smartest creatures, goldfish boast a memory span of 3 months. [Goldfish aren't smart? When we had goldfish, they showed a remarkable ability to learn how to roll over & play dead.]
- "Humans & Dinosaurs. Despite 41% of Americans thinking we coexisted, we actually missed each other by 64 million years." [Uh, having seen more than one Jurassic Park movie, I can state unequivocally that I'm one of the 41%.]
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