Wednesday

~~~Free Ramblings
I’m getting lots done for my trip. I had lunch with a friend and she will let me leave my vehicle at her house, take me to the shuttle to Phoenix and pick me up when I get back. That is good. I had planned to leave my vehicle at my house, but didn’t really like that. While I speak to my neighbors whenever I see them, I don’t know them very well. I really didn’t want to tell them I would be gone and yet, if my vehicle remained parked for that long, they might get concerned. I am ‘the old guy’ in our section of homes. This way, with my vehicle gone, they will know I’m gone and not be concerned. This would have been the first time I had left my vehicle in the parking lot, and I’m glad I don’t have to do that.

So I’m set. Tickets to Phoenix—check. Tickets to Denver—check. Motel in Denver with free shuttle—check. Tickets to Dulles and Johannesburg—check. Passport—check. Cash and credit cards—check. iPod loaded with Dan Brown’s latest and some good music—check. Luggage packed—almost.

This exciting trip will have me missing Halloween for the first time. As a little kid, I was always out trick or treating. I have some great memories. When I moved to AZ, I always had candy ready for kids. Yeah, even in isolated Shonto there was door to door trick or treating. A few neighborhood kids would go through the neighborhood. The little dorm kids—all 400+ of them (up to about 4th grade) would make masks and come through the neighborhoods with their dorm aides. For many years in Tuba, parents from all of Tuba would drop their kids off at the first BIA compound street, and pick them up after they had wandered through all the neighborhoods. Here in Flagstaff, we have a decent turnout. I always get a little irked with some neighbors. I first noticed it in Tuba, and it is the same here in Flagstaff. Some neighbors will close their curtains, turn off their lights and ignore the trick or treaters. I understand that some people leave their home and go out for the evening. That’s cool. But to just sit in the dark…I don’t get it. I’ve heard lots of reasons for this bizarre behavior but they all seem more like excuses. I guess it is because I used to have such a great time, I want this generation to have the same great memories. This year I won’t be able to participate. I hope the kids understand.

Tomorrow will be my last blog until I get back. I know that many people somehow find the time to add to their blogs while they are traveling. I just haven’t figured out how to find the time. I do try to see as much as possible, and only use the room to sleep. I do find time to check my email once in a while, just to let people I am still alive and kicking.

Well the weatherman sure hit it today. He said it would be windy…it was. We had gusts to about 40 with a steady 10-15mph wind. That breeze was a cool one too. We only made it to 53° today, but it sure felt colder than that—maybe it was the 65% humidity along with the biting wind. It will be cool here the rest of the week. I have no idea what it will be like when I get back, but I expect it to be much cooler. Actually I expect to come home to find snow on the ground.
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~~~Random Facts
A blue whale's aorta (the main blood vessel) is large enough for a human to crawl through.

In Pakistan, goats are often sacrificed to improve the performance of the stock market.

~~~Unusual News
WESTON, Fla. – The Florida man who holds the world record for largest collection of model cars, 7,000, said he broke his own record by growing the collection to 12,000. Sergio Goldvarg, 53, said Guinness World Records informed him this month that it is replacing his old record, certified in 2005, with a new record reflecting his current 12,000 total, which he reached in May with the addition of a model Formula One Ferrari featured in the 2008 Chinese Grand Prix, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Thursday. “In my house, I have a museum of the history of cars,” Goldvarg said. Gregg Hutchings, editor of Model Cars Magazine, hailed Goldvarg’s achievement. “Twelve-thousand is a pretty good number,” he said. “Hopefully it re-sparks the interest that everybody had when they were younger for model cars.”

~~~Before They Were Famous
Ralph Macchio, the Karate Kid, began his career in the 70's doing commercials for Bubble Yum and Dr. Pepper.

Madonna worked at a Dunkin' Donuts restaurant at one time.

Barry Manilow was fired from a job at a brewery, when he reportedly left the truck door open & spilled the beer all over the road.

Steve Martin was a performer at two amusement parks: Disneyland (in the Magic Shop on Main Street, USA) and Knott's Berry Farm.
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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

~~~21 OCT Observances
294 days so far this year…71 days remain in 2009
Internat’l Stuttering Awareness Day
Internat’l Credit Union Day
• British Empire: Trafalgar Day — celebrated in the 19th and early 20th Century
• Honduras : Army Day (1956)
• Hong Kong : Kite Flying Festival
• Laos : Full Moon Holiday
• Republic of China: Overseas Chinese Day
• Somalia/Sudan : Revolution Day (1964)
• United Kingdom: Apple Day

~~~Births on this day
~ The ARTS
1772__Samuel Taylor Coleridge England, poet (Rime of the Ancient Mariner)
1917__Dizzy Gillespie trumpeter, a creator of modern jazz
1921__Malcolm Arnold Northampton England, composer (Bridge over River Kwai)
1925__Joyce Randolph actress (Trixie-Honeymooners)
1940__Manfred Mann (Michael Lubowitz) rocker "Do Wah Diddy Diddy"
1956__Carrie Fisher actress (Star Wars-Princess Lelia)

~ATHLETICS
1928__Edward "Whitey" Ford hall of fame pitcher (NY Yankees)
1959__George Bell Dom Rep, outfielder (Blue Jays)

~POLITICS/BUSINESS/EDUCATION
1922 – Liliane de Bettencourt heir to L'Oreal
1949 – Benjamin Netanyahu 9th Prime Minister of Israel

~SCIENCE/RELIGION
1833__Alfred Bernhard Nobel Stockholm, created dynamite & Peace Prizes
1950__Ronald E. McNair physicist, astronaut: mission specialist aboard the ill-fated Challenger Space Shuttle

~~~In Remembrance–
1765__Giovanni Paolo Pannini Italian painter and architect @ 74
1805__Horatio Nelson British admiral- from injuries at Trafalgar
@ 47
1831__Nat Turner & 19 associates, led slave rebellion-hung @ 31
1969__Jack Kerouac American novelist- of cirrhosis @ 47
1992__Jim Garrison American attorney @ 71

~~~Historical Events on this day
2137 -BC__1st recorded total eclipse of the sun China
1520__Magellan entered the strait which bears his name
1879__Thomas Edison perfects the carbonized cotton filament light bulb

1944__HMAS Australia is attacked by the first kamikaze
1945__Women in France allowed to vote for 1st time
1950__Chinese forces occupy Tibet
1959__Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, opens (NYC)
1976__American Saul Bellow wins Nobel Prize for Literature
1997__Elton John’s tribute to Princess Diana, Candle in the Wind was declared by The Guinness Book of Records to be the biggest-selling single record of all time. In 37 days, the single reached 31.8 million copies sold, eclipsing the previous record held by Bing Crosby’s White Christmas. The Crosby song sold an estimated 30 million copies worldwide -- in 55 years.

~ Holy Mackerel
1918__Margaret Owen sets world typing speed record of 170 wpm for 1 min

1989__1st black owners (Betram Lee & Peter Bynoe) to own a major sports team, purchasing Denver Nuggets for $65m
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Jeopardy Categories Quiz
(these are things you should know…maybe)
1. In 1987, Wilma Mankiller became the first modern female chief of this Native American Nation, whose name can mean "The Real People," "Cave Dwellers," or "People of Fire."
2. This American poet explored new freedoms of language, structure, and subject matter in his collection Leaves of Grass.
3. This is the name given to the path of the forced removal of the Cherokee by the U.S. government from their homelands in the southeastern woodlands to western reservations after the discovery of gold on their lands in the 1830's.
4. This author whose novel The Bell Jar (1962) was released just before her suicide is most famous for her confessional poetry.
5. This poet-singer and cultural icon energized a generation with such songs as "The Times They Are A-Changin'," and has greatly influenced a-thinkin', a-writin', and music since the early 1960's.
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Scroll down for answers
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Answers:
1. Who are the Cherokee?
2. Who is Walt Whitman?
3. What is the Trail of Tears?
4. Who is Sylvia Plath?
5. Who is Robert Allen Zimmerman—Bob Dylan?

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