Saturday

~~~Free Ramblings
Today I needed to get a haircut. So I call the place. My lady doesn’t work there anymore. So I called her cell phone. Turns out she changed chains. Amazing how these ladies move around. Well her new location is in a shopping center, so there is plenty of parking. Turned out to be very little hassle. I also learned that one of her relatives—who died in 1964—left her 20 acres of land on Hopi. I didn’t know there were land owners there, but turns out, some families do own land from 1868 and while the tribe tries to buy the land back, it is up to the land owner. Good for her. She and her family won’t live there, but will do something with it. They go to Kykotsmovi on Monday to see the land.

Before my haircut, I went to get some annual blood work done. The lady who came in informs me she is a student from the local community college and is learning to be a Phlebotomist and would it be OK if she drew my blood. I said sure. Then a certified phlebotomist came in to observe. She missed the first time, and told the certified lady to do it. I told her she would never learn unless she practiced. So she stuck me again. This time she got the blood she needed. She seemed grateful that I allowed her to do it again. I told them I had a career in education and that everybody needs to learn. Then she asked me if I could come back again, because she had to do 90 successful sticks for her class. I graciously declined. I didn’t tell her the last time I had this done, the certified person missed twice and had to call in another person for a third stick. I guess I work hard to make my blood and will not give it up willingly.

I had to check the trees today. We got up to 70° and last night was only 42°. It was breezy, but sure didn’t feel like fall. In all my errand running today, I had to run the A/C in my car. If nothing else Flagstaff always keeps us guessing about the weather. The forest service decided to do another prescribed burn today. I was one of the smokiest we have had in a long time. It didn’t make it to the East side, but as the temps cool, I’m sure we will get some. These fires sure look ominous if you don’t know they are ‘prescribed.’ Actually they look ominous even when you know it is planned, especially with the breezes we had today.

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~~~Random Facts
25% of adults say online romances “don’t count as cheating

Elephants are the only animals that can't jump.

Smearing shaving cream over the bathroom mirror will reduce
that pesky fogging for about a week or two.

~~~Unusual News Story
VERNON, Conn. – Police in Connecticut said they arrested a man in ninja garb who was allegedly waving Nunchakus and talking about wanting to beat up politicians. Investigators said they received numerous reports of a man in a ninja costume waving Nunchakus Sunday on a Vernon street corner, the Hartford (Conn.) Courant reported Monday. The man was shouting about his desire to beat up U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, Ind-Conn., and other subjects, police said.
They said the man became cooperative when he saw officers with bean bags and Taser stun guns. Garland Eastman, 30, was charged with breach of peace. He was taken to Rockville General Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.

~~~Before They Were Famous
Before her notable role as Xena, Lucy Lawless had traveled to Australia and worked for a gold-mining company in a small outback town.
Long before the TV series Friends, Matt LeBlanc had trained to be a professional carpenter.
Heath Ledger's first acting gig was in a 1996 Australian TV series called "Sweat" where he played a gay elite cyclist.
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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 17 Oct
Food & Drug Interaction Education and Awareness Week
Teen Read Week
Nat’l Chemistry Week
Nat’l Character Counts Week
Nat’l Forest Products Week
Nat’l School Bus Safety Week


~~~17 OCT Observances
290 days so far this year…75 days remain in 2009
Internat’l Day for the Irradiation of Poverty
Mulligan Day—Do-Over Day
^India Dasara: 9 days of dancing and singing
^Haiti – Death of Jean-Jacques Dessalines (1806), leader of revolution and first

~~~Births on this day
~ The ARTS
1711__Jupiter Hammon 1st American black to publish poetry
1886__Spring Byington Colo Springs, actress (December Bride)
1903__Irene Ryan El Paso Texas, actress (Granny-Beverly Hillbillies)
1903__Nathanael West American novelist (Day of the Locusts)
1914__Jerry (Jerome) Siegel cartoonist: Superman
1915__Arthur Miller playwright (Death of a Salesman, The Crucible)
1919__Rita Hayworth (Alzheimer victim), actress
1920__Montgomery Clift actor
1921__Tom Poston actor
1941__James Seals Sidney Tx, singer (Seals & Crofts-Summer Breeze)
1942__Gary Puckett vocalist (& the Union Gap)
1948__George Wendt Chicago Ill, actor (Norm-Cheers)
1958__Alan Jackson country singer
1959__Dolph Lundgren actor 1963__Norm Macdonald actor, comedian, celebrity impersonator
1972__Eminem (Marshall Bruce Mathers III) rapper

~ATHLETICS
1848__William "Candy" Cummings created the curve ball
1946__Bob Seagren National Track & Field Hall of Famer: Olympic gold medalist
1938__Robert "Evel" Knievel motorcycle daredevil

~POLITICS/BUSINESS/EDUCATION
1780__Richard Johnson 9th U.S. Vice President
1930__Jimmy Breslin newspaper columnist

~SCIENCE/RELIGION
1912__Pope John Paul I (Albino Luciani) 263rd pope

~~~In Remembrance–
1849__Frédéric Chopin, Polish-French musician and composer @ 39 of TB or Cystic Fibrosis
1889__Nikolai Chernyshevsky, Russian philosopher @ 61

1910__Julia Ward Howe composer (Battle Hymn of the Republic), @ 91
1991__Tennessee Ernie Ford, singer and TV @ 72

2007__ Joey Bishop, member of the Rat Pack @ 89
2007__ Teresa Brewer, American pop and jazz singer @ 76

~~~Historical Events on this day
1777__ The Battles of Saratoga, a campaign that helped decide the outcome of the American Revolution, end.
1781__ Cornwallis defeated at Yorktown

1860__ 1st pro golf tournament held (Scotland) (Willie Park wins)
1888__ The first issue of National Geographic Magazine published

1933__Albert Einstein arrives in the US, a refugee from Nazi Germany
1934__"The Aldrich Family" premieres on radio “HENRY…”
1957__Britain's Queen Elizabeth & Prince Philip visit White House
1961__NY Museum of Modern Art hung Henri Matisse's "Le Bateau" upside-down, It wasn't corrected until December 3rd
1967__The play "Hair" open in NY
1968__Two black athletes make the Black Power Salute @ Mexico Olympics
1979__Mother Teresa of India, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
1989__Earthquake in SF (6.9) cancels 3rd game of 86th World Series

~ Holy Mackerel
1845__According to a Boston newspaper, the entire audience walked out of a reading of The Raven. The audience walked out, not because of the material, but because of their objection to Edgar Allan Poe, the reader and author of the macabre poem.
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Jeopardy Categories Quiz
(these authors all wrote about journeys.)
1. This American patriot was inspired by European designs on his travels. His design for Monticello reflected the influence of Palladio.
2. This medieval English author told tales of the pilgrimage to Canterbury.
3. This Florentine author journeyed to hell and back. He was guided home by his love, Beatrice.
4. This storyteller's character Odysseus took the long way home from the Trojan War.
5. This American writer revolutionized the use of everyday speech in his tale about Huck Finn's journey on the Mississippi.

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1. Answers:
2. Who is Thomas Jefferson?
3. Who Is Geoffrey Chaucer?
4. Who is Dante (Durante degli Alighieri )?
5. Who is Homer (0μηρος Homēros)?
6. Who is Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens)?

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