Friday

~~~Free Ramblings
Finally some good medical news for me. I went to my ophthalmologist this morning. I told him that the new prescription I got back in June just isn’t working. This was my 2nd trip to his office for this issue. I have a weird prescription with prisms, so I know they take getting used to. I told him something was really wrong. I now read the paper w/o my glasses. I have increased the font on my computer. He checked my prescription then checked my eyes and said all was good. Then he checked my glasses. Ah hah! They were the wrong prescription. The bifocal part was only half the strength he had ordered. So I go back to the glasses store. I show them my prescription, the note that is attached, and give them my glasses. The lady checks everything out and returns to say the new glasses will be ready at 3p today. No apology. Never admitting their error. I go back and get the new glasses. Eureka!!! I can see things in focus—for the first time in four months.

After they are fitted, I ask to see the manager. She appears and I tell her my sad story. How I thought I must be going blind for four months. How I was adjusting my life to this lack of focus. How I had brought the glasses to her store three times, each time, telling them something was wrong and each time somebody readjusting the glasses and sending me on my way. I mentioned I had been a customer there since they opened about 15 years ago. She apologized, promised to meet with her staff, explained that she would follow up and talked about the several checks they have to prevent this. I left, grateful that I could finally see things in good focus with the glasses. About an hour later she called me. She had called corporate and they agreed that this was not good. So, to help me out, I would be getting a credit on my card for ½ the price of the glasses. Finally a company who fixes its mistakes. Thank you EyeMasters. I will continue to use them, but will be much more careful.

I must say, this experience made me feel a little invisible. Here I am, at 60, telling people in their 20’s that I can’t see. They seemed to not hear me. A good combination, I can’t see them, and they can’t hear me. I now know that my brain is still working well, and that my brain knows when something is wrong. I also know that as I age in this country it just takes a lot longer to get people to believe me. I still have good communication skills. I can speak and I can listen. Too many workers see someone older and don’t listen. I’m no longer into getting the most expensive frames, the ‘in’ style, the fanciest extras. Now I just want glasses where I can see. So, to many, I’m just a dollar sign, who really doesn’t matter. Well, now I know, and it won’t be happening again, without me standing up for what is right and doing so a lot sooner.

It was clear and breezy here in Flagstaff today. It keeps getting closer and closer to a freeze over here. Last night got to 33°. The airport was 26°. Our high today was a sweltering 55°.
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~~~Random Facts
The average American eats at McDonalds more than 1,800 times in their life. [That is like eating 3 meals a day there for 1.6 years or one meal a day for over 5 years.]

It takes eight and a half minutes for light to get from the sun to earth.

~~~Crazy News
FARDAL, Norway – A Fardal, Norway, man said his attempt to rid his garage of wasps ended with the structure burning to the ground with his car inside. The elderly man said he poured lighter fluid on a rag and lit it in an attempt to smoke the wasps out of their nest, but the flames spread to the woodpile that held the nest and ignited a blaze that took down the entire garage, Aftenposten reported Thursday. “Maybe using lighter fluid wasn’t such a good idea, but it was an accident all the same and the wasps are gone,” the man said. He said he is waiting to hear from his insurance company to see if the loss of his garage and car will be covered.

~~~Before They Were Famous
Country music star Faith Hill had several jobs before becoming famous: selling T-shirts, working as a receptionist at a music publishing company and packaging merchandise for Reba McEntire.

Dustin Hoffman was once a typist for the Yellowpages. He can also be seen in a 1966 Volkswagon commercial.

Before her singing career, Whitney Houston began as a fashion model. She was featured on the covers of Vogue, Seventeen, & Glamour Magazine, as well as a Canada Dry ginger ale commercial.

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~~~October Month Long Observances

Birthstone: Opal Birth flower: calendula
Adopt A Shelter Animal Month ~ Apple Month ~ Celebrate the Bilingual Child Month ~ Domestic Violence Awareness Month ~ Emotional Intelligence Month ~ Gay & Lesbian History Month ~ Halloween Safety Month ~ Month of Free Thought ~ Nat’l Arts and Humanities Month ~ Nat’l Book Month ~ Nat’l Cyber Safety Awareness Month ~ Nat’l Popcorn Poppin’ Month ~ Nat’l Sarcastic Awareness Month ~ Photographer Appreciation Month ~ Squirrel Awareness Month ~ Vegetarian Month

~~~Week of 6 Oct
Physicians Assistance’s Week

~~~9 OCT Observances
282 days so far this year…83 days remain in 2009

World Post Day
^South Korea – Hangul Day: celebrating the invention of Korean phonetic alphabet 1446AD
^Uganda – Independence Day (from Britain, 1962)
^Leif Erikson Day – in United States, Iceland and Norway: celebrating the first European landing in North America 1000AD
^Ecuador – Guayaquil's Independence Day (from Spain 1820)
^Romania – Romanian Holocaust Remembrance Day
^Shi’a Muslims: Husain Day—led to the split of Shi’a and Sunnie 680AD

~~~Births on this day
~ The ARTS
1547__Miguel de Cervantes novelist (Don Quixote)

1940__John Lennon rocker/Beatle (Imagine)
1944__Peter Tosh Jamaica, reggae musician
1945__Jeannie C Riley Texas, singer (Harper Valley PTA)
1948__Jackson Browne Germany, rocker

~ATHLETICS
1940__Joe Pepitone baseball player (NY Yankee 1st baseman)
1959__Mike Singletary NFL middle linebacker (Chicago Bears)

~POLITICS/BUSINESS/EDUCATION
1891__Otto Schnering candy bar mogul Baby Ruth, Butterfinger

~SCIENCE/RELIGION
1890__Aimee Semple McPherson Pentecostal evangelist/radio preacher

~~~In Remembrance
1967__Che Guevara, Argentine revolutionary and guerrilla leader (executed) @ 39
1987__Clare Boothe Luce, American diplomat @ 84
2000__Patrick Anthony Porteous, Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross WWII hero @ 82

~~~Historical Events on this day
1701__Yale University is chartered as a "collegiate school" in Branford, Conn.
1776__The Mission at San Francisco is started today.

1855__Joshua Stoddard of Worcester, Mass patents 1st calliope
1872__The first mail order catalog was delivered.
1877__American Humane Association organized in Cleveland

1936__Hoover Dam begins transmitting electricity to LA
1980__1st consumer use of home banking by computer

~ Holy Mackerel
1915__Woodrow Wilson becomes 1st pres to attend a world series game
1989__Penthouse Magazine's hebrew edition hits the newstands
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New Game Today
Jeopardy Categories
(these answers all begin w/ the letter C)
1. The Silk Road transmitted the culture of this large Asian country all the way to Rome.
2. The Red Badge of Courage was written by this 19th Century American novelist.
3. His framed stories contain realistic and sometimes bawdy tales told by pilgrims on the way to the shrine of Thomas a' Beckett.
4. This 19th Century feminist writer was known for her portrayal of Creole life in Louisiana in such novels and The Awakening.
5. This American author celebrated the western frontier in her short stories and novels such as O Pioneers!
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Scroll down for answers
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Answers:
1. What is China?
2. Who was Crane? [Stephen]
3. Who was Chaucer?
4. Who was Chopin? [Kate]
5. Who is Cather? [Willa]

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