- June 4, 2012 -

My son just went out, came back a couple minutes later & said "it's cold out there!" Yep, it's June in Texas & a chilling 81° outside. Let's see, a lot happened yesterday. I didn't get much done Saturday (didn't even make it to lunch) but then finished EVERYTHING before 2:p on Sunday, so it was time for another rewrite. I moved stuff from Saturday to Sunday & made a whole bunch of change. Perfection is right around the corner. We'll see how today goes but I have high hopes because it looks great on the grid. Went to Home Depot yesterday & bought some gardening supplies. More like landscaping, but either way ... :) I bought a Texas Lilac & some red mulch. Took some of our spare bricks & build up a nice area around the base of the mailbox. Even squeezed in my hosta. Was channel surfing last night & ran across the Rocky Horror Picture Show. HA! I used to go see that every Friday night at midnight in Pearl River. It's not the same cut up full of commercials & without the crowd, but I did download the new 2011 release of the soundtrack w/ 20 songs on it, some of them not previously released. Sweet! Ann-Marie found a photo of me from back when we had our 1st home in Dallas. It was taken with my Webcam back in 1999. Funny how things don't change much. I still have the same 2 afghans shown in the background, have the same necklace & earrings I'm wearing in the photo, have no idea what happened to that top though. That was a nice house, small ... but we were still a small & young family starting out. The neighborhood was horrible though! What a bunch of terrible people. From bitching about the type of roof we had, to telling me I'd have to adjust my schedule around the neighbor's so me walking my dog doesn't upset HER dog (same person that bitched about the type of roof we had), complaining about me having the blinds open (she didn't like that she could no longer hide on the side of her house & get stoned with her son because I would see them with all my blinds open like that, neighborhood kids tormenting our dog, hurting our children, & the last straw, faking a story about our daughter being abducted by 2 men in a brown car that took off down the interstate with her. After about 15 police cars & a helicopter, the girl finally admitted that she made it all up because she was jealous that my daughter went to ANOTHER girl's house to play & not hers. I started the ball rolling to move that NIGHT. Anyway ... on a happier note, my Sims Social game is going well. :) City Council meeting tomorrow.

I was married for several years before I realized husbands & wives were supposed to have  date nights. We survived my ignorance & things that were a whole lot tougher, but I still think date nights are a great idea. You've got to keep the lines of communication open, & you do that by spending time with each other 1-on-1.

Meetup:

Use the internet to get off the internet... and be part of real-life local community! Use Meetup to find friendly local Meetups started by people in your town...
- hiking, biking, running, walking, fitness, weight-loss meetups
- parenting playgroup meetups
- photography, writing and filmmaking meetups
- tech meetups
- bookclub meetups
- business & entrepreneurship meetups
- game & hobby meetups
- dog meetups
- social fun meetups
- motorcycle meetups
- health support meetups
- community & political action meetups
- movie meetups
- learn-a-language meetups
... someday there will be Meetups Everywhere about Most Everything!
Meetup is starting a revolution in local community, everywhere... join us!

Plants in your office need as much light as possible, so you should keep the office lights on at night, right?

Wrong! Some plants, such as Christmas cactus, poinsettia, & chrysanthemum, need specific periods of darkness to start flowering. Flowering initiates the reproductive process, so maybe some plants are as modest as some people.

There aren't many of these shy types, but most houseplants aren't affected much 1 way or the other by ceiling lights. Light from fluorescent fixtures isn't nearly as important as window light. Assuming your office receives some natural light during the day, why not turn the lights off when you go home? Save energy.

Rebound:

A beautiful single mother living in New York City, Sandy (Catherine Zeta-Jones) surprises everyone, including herself, when she becomes romantically involved with Aram Finklestein (Justin Bartha), her 20-something neighbor who's many years her junior. Written and directed by Bart Freundlich, this charming romantic comedy also features John Schneider, Joanna Gleason, Lynn Whitfield and Sam Robards.

Should you fertilize houseplants year-round?

Spray-on sunblock:

Missed spots are less likely; reapplying is a lot less of a pain.

Tiananmen Square massacre takes place (1989):

Chinese troops storm through Tiananmen Square in the center of Beijing, killing and arresting thousands of pro-democracy protesters. The brutal Chinese government assault on the protesters shocked the West and brought denunciations and sanctions from the United States.

In May 1989, nearly a million Chinese, mostly young students, crowded into central Beijing to protest for greater democracy and call for the resignations of Chinese Communist Party leaders deemed too repressive. For nearly three weeks, the protesters kept up daily vigils, and marched and chanted. Western reporters captured much of the drama for television and newspaper audiences in the United States and Europe. On June 4, 1989, however, Chinese troops and security police stormed through Tiananmen Square, firing indiscriminately into the crowds of protesters. Turmoil ensued, as tens of thousands of the young students tried to escape the rampaging Chinese forces. Other protesters fought back, stoning the attacking troops and overturning and setting fire to military vehicles. Reporters and Western diplomats on the scene estimated that at least 300, and perhaps thousands, of the protesters had been killed and as many as 10,000 were arrested.

The savagery of the Chinese government's attack shocked both its allies and Cold War enemies. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev declared that he was saddened by the events in China. He said he hoped that the government would adopt his own domestic reform program and begin to democratize the Chinese political system. In the United States, editorialists and members of Congress denounced the Tiananmen Square massacre and pressed for President George Bush to punish the Chinese government. A little more than three weeks later, the U.S. Congress voted to impose economic sanctions against the People's Republic of China in response to the brutal violation of human rights.

Triple line the trash can when hosting a party. When the bag is full you can take out the trash discreetly & a new bag is already in place. No need to get out a new, noisy bag in the middle of the celebration. Multiple bags also make a leak or tear easy to clean.

Truth is that passing a college-entrance examination is nothing as compared with passing an examination as an adorable & infallibly wise father or mother.

Valedictory:

Of or relating to an act of bidding farewell : expressing or containing a farewell.

Donald's valedictory speech at the graduation ceremony stressed the importance of seeking out one's own path in life.

Valedictory addresses delivered by earnest young valedictorians at high school & college graduations are as much as sign of summer in the U.S. as baseball games & cookouts. Though we don't know where the 1st valedictory address was given, we do know that the word was an institution at some colleges in the U.S. by the mid-1700s. English-speakers & writers have also used "valedictory" in nonacademic settings since the mid-1600s. Since a valedictory speech is given at the end of an academic career, it's perfectly in keeping with the meaning of its Latin ancestor, valedicere, which means "to say farewell."

Van der Sloot arrested for murder in South America (2010):

On this day in 2010, Joran van der Sloot, a longtime suspect in the unsolved 2005 disappearance of American teen Natalee Holloway in Aruba, is arrested in Chile in connection with the slaying of 21-year-old Stephany Flores, in Lima, Peru. Flores was murdered on May 30, 2010, exactly five years to the day after Holloway went missing while on a high school graduation trip to the Caribbean island. In January 2012, Van der Sloot pleaded guilty to Flores’ murder.

In May 2010, Van der Sloot, who was born in the Netherlands in 1987 and raised in Dutch-speaking Aruba, was in the Peruvian capital for a poker tournament. He reportedly met Flores, a college student and daughter of a prominent Peruvian businessman, at a Lima casino. The two were seen entering Van der Sloot’s room at Hotel TAC around 5 a.m. on May 30. Approximately four hours later, surveillance video captured Van der Sloot leaving the room alone and carrying his bags. After Flores’ family reported her missing, she was found dead in the hotel room on June 2, beaten and with a broken neck. Her money and credit cards were missing.

After Peruvian officials reviewed the hotel surveillance video, Van der Sloot emerged as the prime suspect in the murder investigation. Police believed he had fled in Flores’ car and later abandoned it in another part of Lima, before traveling south to Chile. On June 3, Van der Sloot was arrested in Chile, and deported to Peru soon afterward. On June 7, the Dutchman admitted to Peruvian authorities he had killed Flores during an argument after she used his computer without permission (authorities suggested she might have discovered he was linked to the Holloway case). Van der Sloot stated he beat and strangled Flores then suffocated her with his shirt. The Dutchman later retracted this confession, saying he was frightened and confused when he made it.

On the day Van der Sloot was arrested in South America, U.S. authorities issued a warrant for his arrest in connection with a plot to extort $250,000 from Holloway’s family in exchange for revealing the location of her remains. Holloway, an 18-year-old from Mountain Brook, Alabama, was last seen leaving an Aruban bar and restaurant with Van der Sloot and two of his friends in the early hours of May 30, 2005. Her disappearance generated widespread media coverage in the United States. Despite an extensive search, Holloway’s body was never found. Van der Sloot was arrested twice in Aruba in conjunction with her disappearance but never charged.

On January 11, 2012, Van der Sloot, who has been behind bars in Peru since his June 2010 arrest, pleaded guilty in a Lima courtroom to Flores’ murder. Two days later, a panel of judges sentenced him to 28 years in prison and ordered him to pay $75,000 in reparation to Flores’ family.

One day before Van der Sloot was sentenced, a judge in Birmingham, Alabama, signed an order declaring Natalee Holloway legally dead. The judge made the ruling at the request of Holloway’s father, so that he could settle his daughter’s estate.

What happened to the TV network footage of the first Super Bowl?

What was celebrity chef Bobby Flay’s first job in the food business?
Delivering pizzas when he was in the sixth grade.

Which is bigger, a particle of sand or a particle of clay?
A particle of sand, with a diameter that ranges from 0.06 to 2.0 millimeters. A particle of clay is less than 0.002 millimeters in diameter.

Which landmark has the most, 2nd most, & 3rd most steps to the top?
A. Eiffel Tower
B. Statue of Liverty
C. Tower of Pisa

You'll have a better chance of being hired as the pastry chef in a French restaurant if you stop dieting.