• September 1, 2012 •

<- Where I wish I was today. :) Happy September & happy Labor Day Weekend! Pete has a 3 day weekend which will be nice. It's not long enough to head to the shore, but it's long enough to relax & enjoy. Yesterday was a nice, easy day. I like those. I finished up everything fairly early & had time to knit another afghan panel & play some Sims. The lucky Sim game of the day was Greenbriar, a house I built. Pictured is Misty Jones, 2nd generation in the game. She's just getting off work from her part time job at the grocery store after school. She has no special work-related traits at all & very few skills. I guess she's going to go into the business career? It's too soon to tell. Her 1st lifetime wish got nixed because it was "animal rescuer". Nope, not going to adopt a dozen stray pets & that doesn't bring in any cash. All of my Sims are successful workers in SOME field. We just need to find out what hers is going to be. She's met her love of her life in school, Colby Neil. He's older than her, so the day she ages up into a young adult they'll be married & starting a family of their own. Hazel if they have a girl, Harry if they have a boy. City Council Meeting Tuesday.

Blue Lovelies:

Blue Steel has a reputation for beautiful blue jewelry! If your favorite color is blue and you love jewelry then these Blue Lovelies are for you!

Brothers & Sisters:

This ABC drama series finds Nora Walker (Sally Field) and her diverse children struggling to deal with long-hidden family skeletons, numerous crises and intriguing secrets after the death of patriarch William Walker (Tom Skerritt). The kids include a conservative talk-show host (Calista Flockhart), two siblings (Rachel Griffiths and Balthazar Getty) running the family business, a war veteran (Dave Annable) and a gay lawyer (Matthew Rhys).

Co-worker divorces:
It's better to listen than to talk, although you might offer practical advice if asked. And whatever you do, don't say awful things about your coworker's soon-to be former spouse ("I've wondered when you'd get rid of him!"). A simple response - no matter the circumstances - is "I'm sorry. Thanks for telling me."

I kno your friends always tell you __________, but they may be __________ to __________ the truth.

International Bacon Day (2009)

Lucubration:
Laborious or intensive study; also : the product of such study - usually used in plural.
The historical archives include handwritten lucubrations from Benjamin Franklin himself.
The image of someone studying through the night by the light of a dim candle or lamp demonstrates perfectly the most literal sense of "lucubration." The English word derives from the Latin verb lucubrare, meaning "to work by lamplight." In the late 1500s & early 1600s, "lucubration" named both nocturnal study itself & a written product thereof. Today, "lucubration," most often used as a plural, can refer to any intensive study & implies pompous or stuffy scholarly writing.

Most of the interest & questions regarding the subject of investing in real estate tax liens are generated by some "get rich quick" real estate guy selling DVDs. Can it be done? Yes, but it's way too much trouble for the marginal returns.

On the road, take rest stops as often as you need to. Your kids (& you) will get antsy if you don't stretch your legs.

Penn’s Into the Wild premieres (2007):

On this day in 2007, Into the Wild, a film directed and co-written by Sean Penn and based on the true story of a young adventurer who died in Alaska, debuts at the Telluride Film Festival before opening in wide release the following month.

Into the Wild was based on Jon Krakauer’s 1996 best-selling non-fiction book of the same name about Chris McCandless, who, after graduating from college in 1990, dropped out of society, gave away his money and car and began wandering around the United States. He eventually traveled to Alaska, where he spent several months living in the wilderness, sleeping in an abandoned bus and keeping a journal chronicling his thoughts and experiences. In August 1992, McCandless died at the age of 24, possibly of starvation or from eating some toxic seeds. His body was discovered in the bus several weeks later.

In the film, the actor Emile Hirsch, who was born on March 13, 1985, played McCandless; he reportedly lost 40 pounds for the role. In addition to the veteran actor Hal Holbrook, who received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his performance as an older man who meets McCandless on the way and thinks of him as a kind of grandson, the acclaimed cast of Into the Wild included Catherine Keener, William Hurt, Vince Vaughan, Jena Malone and Marcia Gay Harden.

Into the Wild marked Sean Penn’s fourth time in the director’s chair. He made his directorial debut with 1991’s The Indian Runner, with Viggo Mortensen and David Morse, and followed up with The Crossing Guard (1995) and The Pledge (2001), both of which starred Jack Nicholson. Penn, who was born on August 17, 1960, made his feature-film acting debut in 1981’s Taps and the following year gained notice as the surfer-stoner Jeff Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. He went on to a lengthy list of critically acclaimed performances in such movies as Bad Boys (1983), At Close Range (1986), Casualties of War (1989) and Dead Man Walking (1995), for which he received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Penn earned two more Oscar nods, for his starring turns in Sweet and Lowdown (1999) and I Am Sam (2001), before taking home his first Best Actor statuette for Mystic River (2003).

Seafood Watch:
Seafood Watch recommendations help you choose ocean-friendly seafood at your favorite restaurants and stores. Our app brings you the most current recommendations for seafood and sushi along with complete information about how each item should be fished or farmed. Our new Project FishMap feature lets you contribute to the app, adding the names of restaurants and stores in the U.S. where you’ve found sustainable seafood and locating what other users have found at businesses near you.
Features
• Provides free, up-to-date recommendations at your fingertips with detailed seafood information
• Uses your phone’s GPS to load the right regional guide for your location
• Enables you to search for seafood quickly and easily by common market name
• Allows you to sort seafood by "Best Choice," "Good Alternative" or "Avoid" rankings
• Sushi guide lists fish by Japanese name as well as common market name
• Provides alternatives to seafood on the “Avoid” list
• New Project FishMap feature lets you contribute to the app by adding the names of restaurants and stores where you've found ocean-friendly seafood and locate businesses where others have found sustainable seafood
• Highlights our list of “Super Green” seafood that’s good for you and the oceans

September is National Preparedness Month. Create an emergency kit for your family & create a plan for any kind of natural or manmade disaster.

What American did the U.S. get in exchange for Soviet Russian colonel Rudolf Abel in a 1962 Cold War spy swap?

Francis Gary Powers, the pilot of the U-2 spy plane that was shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960. Both Powers and Abel had been convicted of espionage.

What Basketball Hall of Famer won a record 11 championship rings?

Which is the oldest, 2nd oldest, & 3rd oldest theme park?
A. Disneyland
B. Knott's Berry Farm
C. Universal Studios
ABC. Although Knott's dates back to the 1920s, it didn't become a theme park until 1968.