This Week Just Flu Away

Sorry for the light posting this week.  I was attacked by a swarm of very nasty viruses which made some equally nasty executive decisions about the way I’d be spending my week.  I’ll spare you the details.  Suffice it to say the time flu by and I’ll do my best to get back in the saddle by tomorrow.

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Someone Might Have Chosen the Wrong Career

We’ll file this one under “Things Every Burglar Should Know.” When Ontario police published an appeal for the public’s help identifying the perpetrator of a home break-in, they received a very helpful call – but not the kind they expected. Apparently the police statement failed to list every item stolen from the scene, and the burglar himself called to correct the error. Upset that the published report failed to describe the full extent of his offense, the brilliant thief left a recorded message on a police hotline.  His statement not only listed the omitted items but also named his accomplices,

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January 2011 Monthly Observances

For those who might not know (but need an excuse to party…) January 2011 is official: International Creativity Month (We ran out of Domestic Creativity in 2010. It’s all imported from here out.) Get Organized Month (I’ve given myself two days to get organized … August 5, 2017 and January 14, 2032) Volunteer Blood Donor Month (There are months we don’t get to volunteer?) Bath Safety Month (Let’s keep those tubs safe out there.) and Mail Order Gardening Month (Because some of us do better with distance between us and the plants.) Now you have your excuse. Get out there

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Is it Safer to Run or Just Hide Here?

Today Tesla passed his test and obtained a learner’s permit. This means my son can drive.  (Admittedly not until he finishes his first hour of behind-the-wheel training, but still…the State of California just authorized him to operate a motor vehicle.) The preemie who spent 3 weeks in the NICU after reaching the world more than six weeks before he was due. The baby who said his first words at exactly six months old.  (The words were “I love you” and he said them on Superbowl Sunday, 1996.  He’s been upstaging events ever since.) The kindergartener who stopped me at the

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Today I’m Giving You the Bird

January 5, 2011: National Bird Day here in the U.S. It’s also bean day, which works out nicely for those of you who don’t know beans about birds.  And for birds that eat beans.  Or people who eat beans with birds.  (Tasty.) The California state bird is the California Valley Quail (mostly because the Arkansas quail didn’t want to move that far and the Chinese Quail couldn’t understand our accents.). Callipepla californica became the official state bird in 1931. The birds are slightly smaller than pigeons (and much tastier…but I didn’t say that out loud). They were introduced to New

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Riffing on a Reading Theme

Yesterday Jessica Faust of BookEnds posted about the Facebook Book List Challenge and a list of 100 great books which everyone should read but most people never do.  (Yeah, that’s the short version. For her post, which explains it better, click through here.) I’m not on Facebook (and don’t intend to be) but I like the idea of a challenge, and I particularly like Jessica’s idea of reading at least one book from the list each year until she’s finished them all.  I like it so much that I’ve decided to totally copy her participate too.  Feel free to hop

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Taking on 2011, One Tree at a Time

I thought a lot about New Year’s resolutions, and this year I’m not making any at all.  That doesn’t mean I have no goals.  I probably have too many.  But instead of making resolutions I’ll break on January 5 or look back on next Christmas and wonder where the train jumped the track I’m trying something new in 2011: focusing on daily goals instead of long-term ones. You can’t reach the end of a long road in a single day but you can’t reach it at all if you don’t keep moving forward one step at a time.  All of

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