★ October 22, 2012 ★

Hello & welcome back! Happy Monday morning. It's been a busy couple days since I was on here last. After my last post, which was on Friday, I dusted the bedroom walls, fed the cats & dogs, dusted the dining room lights, neatened a kitchen cabinet & pulled out some cake mix that I'm going to bake this week, & did laundry. That was about it for Friday. Pete took the day off & we kept busy. Saturday I woke up & got ready for our annual LCFD Fundraiser. Thank you to everyone who came out & thank you to the Branch FD for coming out & visiting us! I know you would have been there sooner, but you guys got a med call. We got toned out during setup, so it was a busy day for both of our departments. Also a big thank you goes out to Judy, Keith, Paul, Myca, Kathy, Greg, Scott, Ben, Chai, & everyone else who helped get our shindig up & running. To those who set up, worked the event, broke it down after, & all who baked desserts ... without you guys, it wouldn't have been much. Congratulations to our raffle winners! We gave away an Omaha Steaks package, a $200 gift certificate to Academy Sports, an iPod Shuffle, & a blue ray player. What did I come home with? A tiny lost kitten. I'm starting to lose track of how many pets I've come home with from that place. Our new kitten is named Smokey. Our fundraiser was also Ben's birthday & my 3rd anniversary of being on the FD. Yep, I was recruited the night of the fundraiser while we were cleaning up (I was helping out) & voted on during the next business meeting. I was adopted into the LCFD family & it's been a great 3 years. There have been a couple times where I thought "What was I thinking?!" when I accepted that night 3 years ago, because as with ANY family there will be ups & downs, agreements & disagreements ... but in the end I have no regrets, accepting was one of the best decisions I've made. We're a family & we stick together. After our fundraiser, it was TV & bed for me ... it was a long day & I wasn't even on the front lines of the whole thing this year. Sunday was recovery day. :) I woke up & went through the Sunday paper, picked Josh up from work, came back & scrubbed the toilet, dusted my alarm clock, cleaned all the small appliances in the kitchen, neatened the afghan on my living room chair, dusted my office walls, & swept the dining room. Then I checked eBay, had some peanut butter on dark rye for lunch, & then Pete & I sat down & watched part 3 of 6 of Mildred Pierce. Good movie so far, but I really really really hate Mildred's 14 year old daughter. I would have sent her off to boarding school or to live with relatives. I would NEVER tolerate that kind of behavior from a child. Horrible little BRAT. I then looked at the yearly stuff & this is a good time to buy crystal, so I started shopping around. Then it was off you YouTube to see what good lot building videos there are & found a great Sims 3 house that I downloaded & added to my game queue. Then it was time to make the 2nd panel of this BEAUTIFUL red & white afghan I'm working on. I can't wait for everyone to see it. It's going to be the nicest machine knitted afghan yet by far. SO pretty! Pete & I watched Bad Teacher & Hawaii 5-0 & then headed off to bed. That puts me here, so now you're all caught up. :) LCFD training Tuesday.

Baseball Hall of Fame announcer Red Barber dies at 84 (1992):

On October 22, 1992, Red Barber—the legendary announcer for the Brooklyn Dodgers, with a voice that one sportswriter called "a spoonful of sugar drifting through a glass of iced tea"—dies. He was 84 years old. In an era when almost every major league baseball team had a distinct voice—Mel Allen for the Yankees, Curt Gowdy for the Red Sox, Harry Caray for the Cards—Barber’s erudite-but-homespun Mississippi twang was the Dodgers. He pioneered a colorful, reportorial style of play-by-play narration that generations of broadcasters have imitated: He gave his listeners a scrupulously detailed but carefully nonpartisan version of the events on the field, so that they could feel like they were sitting in the stands themselves.

Barber’s baseball-broadcasting career began with the Cincinnati Reds in 1934, when the 26-year-old announcer called the first major league game he had ever seen, and ended in 1966 when the New York Yankees fired him for noting on air that only 413 people had come to watch the last-place Bombers play. But from 1939 to 1953, his years as the play-by-play announcer for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Barber became a citywide celebrity. He invented an entirely new vocabulary that was nevertheless almost instantly familiar to anyone who listened to his broadcasts for more than a few minutes. To Barber, the baseball diamond was "the pea patch." An argument was "a rhubarb." A sure-thing game was "tied up in the crocus sack" and a team that had a game well in hand was "sitting in the catbird seat." Everyone who heard Barber say that the bases were "FOB" knew he meant that they were full of Brooklyn players; likewise, listeners knew that a player who was "assuming the ballistic burden" was coming in to relieve the pitcher.

Meanwhile, Barber broadcast some of baseball’s most important moments: the first night game and the first televised game, for example, along with Jackie Robinson’s first game as a Dodger and Roger Maris’ record-breaking home run. Fans adored him--once, after the Dodgers won the pennant, they mobbed him as he left Ebbets Field and pulled out handfuls of his hair to keep as souvenirs. During baseball season, his voice was everywhere. "People tell me you could walk through Brooklyn without a radio and still hear Red describe the game," sportscaster Bob Costas said. "You wouldn't miss a pitch because it would come from an apartment windowsill, from a storefront, from a car radio with its window open."

In 1978, Red Barber and Mel Allen were the first announcers to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Three years later, Barber’s vivid, literate broadcast style won him a whole new generation of fans when he joined newsman Bob Edwards for four minutes every Friday morning on NPR’s Morning Edition to talk about politics, gardening, family—and, of course, baseball.

Children's Hour:

In this daring drama, Karen and Martha are the headmistresses of an exclusive school for girls. When they discipline a malicious little girl, the vindictive child twists an overheard comment into slander and accuses her teachers of being lesbians. Soon the scandalous gossip engulfs the school's community, with repercussions that are swift, crushing and tragic.

Dairy cow produces about 6 gallons of milk per day.

Energy Star logo signifies that an electrical appliance is what?

A. Energy efficient

B. Recyclable

C. Greenhouse gass free

D. Asbestos free

Every detail, no matter how trifling it may seem, is important if it contributes to pleasantness, to beauty, to comfort, or to taste.

Feeling lost? Go back to your goals. Set some goals & start taking the steps required to hit those goals. Go back to dreaming a little bit, but don't stop there. Take the dream & convert it to bite-sized goals that are accomplishable.

Fisk homers off foul pole (1975):

On October 21, 1975, Boston Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk hits a homer off the left-field pole to beat the Cincinnati Reds in the sixth game of the World Series. The Sox went on to lose the championship, of course. Still, even 30 years later, the films and photos of Fisk urgently trying to wave the ball into fair territory provide some of the game’s most enduring and exciting images. As team president Larry Lucchino pointed out, "the appeal of baseball at its best was illustrated that night."

Before Game 6 began, the Sox were trailing the Reds three games to two. They took an early lead—they were winning 3-0 after their first at-bat of the game—but the Reds tied the game in the fifth. In the top of the eighth, the Big Red Machine took a 6-3 lead. But then, with one out to go in that inning, Red Sox pinch-hitter Bernie Carbo stepped to the plate. He knocked a three-run homer into the stands, and the game was tied. In the next four innings, the teams shuffled through a remarkable 12 pitchers as they struggled to gain the upper hand. The Sox failed to score in the ninth with the bases loaded and nobody out, and one of their outfielders made a miraculous catch in the 11th to prevent Cincinnati from ending the game.

Then, at 12:34 in the morning, Carlton Fisk came to bat at the bottom of the 12th. He cracked Pat Darcy’s pitch hard to the left. He stood at the plate, bouncing up and down and flailing at the ball as though he was helping an airplane land on a dark runway. "I was just wishing and hoping," he said at a ceremony a few years ago. "Maybe, by doing it, you know, you ask something of somebody with a higher power. I like to think that if I didn’t wave, it would have gone foul." Whether or not the waving was responsible, the ball bounced off of the bright-yellow foul pole above the Green Monster for a home run. Fenway’s organist played the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah while Fisk rounded the bases.

Unfortunately, it turned out that the Curse of the Bambino was a stubborn one after all. The Sox lost the series 4-3 the next night, on a ninth-inning single to center field. In 2005, to commemorate his amazing homer, the Red Sox officially named the left-field pole after Fisk.

In what sport do rikishi compete?

Irrefragable:

1: Impossible to refute. 2: Impossible to break or alter.

In his opening statement, the prosecuter told the jury that he would be providing them with irrefragable proof that the defendant had committed the crime.

Since at least 1533, "irrefragable" has been used as an English adjective modifying things (such as arguments or data) that are impossible to refute. It derives from the Late Latin adjective irrefragabilis (of approximately the same meaning), which is itself derived from the Latin verb refragari, meaning "to oppose, resist." "Irrefragable" rather quickly developed a 2nd sense referring to things (such as rules, laws, & even objects) that cannot be broken or changed. A 3rd sense once applied to inflexible or obstinate people, but that is now obsolete.

Job hunting isn't easy. That's why it's important to surround yourself with people who add the fuel of advice & encouragement to your fire. That fuel will motivate you to apply for jobs & stick to the baby steps.

Libyan Dictator Moammar Gadhafi is Killed (2011):

On this day in 2011, Moammar Gadhafi, the longest-serving leader in Africa and the Arab world, is captured and killed by rebel forces near his hometown of Sirte. The eccentric 69-year-old dictator, who came to power in a 1969 coup, headed a government that was accused of numerous human rights violations against its own people and was linked to terrorist attacks, including the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jet over Lockerbie, Scotland.

Gadhafi, who was born into a Bedouin family in June 1942, attended the Royal Military Academy in Benghazi as a young man and briefly received additional military training in Great Britain. On September 1, 1969, he led a bloodless coup that overthrew Libya's pro-Western monarch, King Idris, who was out of the country at the time. Gadhafi emerged as the head of the new revolutionary government, which soon forced the closing of American and British military bases in Libya, took control of much of the nation's oil industry, and tortured and killed political dissenters. It also made unsuccessful attempts to merge Libya with other Arab nations. Gadhafi began funding terrorist and guerilla groups around the globe, including the Irish Republican Army and the Red Army Faction in West Germany. Additionally, in the mid-1970s, Gadhafi, whose followers referred to him by such titles as "Brother Leader" and "Guide of the Revolution," published his political philosophy, which combined socialist and Islamic theories. Known as the Green Book, the manifesto became required reading in Libyan schools.

During the 1980s, tensions increased between Gadhafi and the West. Libya was linked the April 1986 bombing of a West Berlin, Germany, nightclub frequented by American military personnel. Two people, including a U.S. soldier, were killed in the attack, while some 155 others were wounded. The United States swiftly retaliated by bombing targets in Libya, including Gadhafi"s compound in Tripoli, the nation"s capital. President Ronald Reagan called Gadhafi "the mad dog of the Middle East."

On December 22, 1988, Pan Am Flight 103, traveling from London to New York, was blown up over Lockerbie, killing 259 people on board and 11 people on the ground. The U.S. and Britain indicted two Libyans in the attack, but Gadhafi initially refused to turn over the suspects. He also declined to surrender a group of Libyans suspected in the 1989 bombing of a French passenger jet over Niger that killed 170 people. Subsequently, in 1992, the United Nations imposed economic sanctions on Libya. These sanctions were removed in 2003, after the country formally accepted responsibility for the bombings (but admitted no guilt) and agreed to pay a $2.7 billion settlement to the victims' families. (Gadhafi's government had turned over the Lockerbie suspects in 1999; one was eventually acquitted and the other convicted.) Also in 2003, Gadhafi agreed to dismantle his weapons of mass destruction. Diplomatic relations with the West were restored by the following year.

Gadhafi remained a controversial and eccentric figure, who traveled with a contingent of female bodyguards, wore colorful robes and hats or military uniforms covered with medals, and on trips abroad set up a Bedouin-style tent to receive guests.

After more than 40 years in power, Gadhafi saw his regime begin to unravel in February 2011, when anti-government protests broke out in Libya following the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia earlier that year. Gadhafi vowed to crush the revolt and ordered a violent crackdown against the demonstrators. However, by August, rebel forces, with assistance from NATO, had gained control of Tripoli and established a transitional government. Gadhafi went into hiding, but on October 20, 2011, he was captured and shot by rebel forces.

Lie on your back, keeping your knees bent, feet on the floor. This opens the front of your body & quiets your mind.

Plan to include a holiday letter from the family in your holiday cards this year? Start writing it now. This will save a lot of time in December. Keep it short & simple, remember that most people receive a lot of mail & may not have time to read your letter entirely.

Provender:

1: Dry food for domestic animals : feed. 2: Food, victuals.

The restaurant's owner-chef prides himself on creating all of his dishes from local provender.

When English-speakers 1st chewed on the word "provender" around 1300, it referred to a stipend that a clergyman received from his cathedral or collegiate church, something also known as a "prebend." A mere 25 years later, the word acquired its current meanings. These days you're most likely to encounter "provender" in articles written by food & travel writers.

Real purpose of table manners is to avoid ugliness & not to gross out others. Per Emily Post: "To let anyone see what you have in your mouth is repulsive, to make a noise is to suggest an animal, to make a mess is disgusting." (This advice was originally intended for children, but I've seen more adults who need it than children!)

Select holiday pumpkins with care. There are 2 types available. Field pumpkins are larger, a brighter shade of orange, & more suitable for carving jack-o-lanterns. Sugar pumpkins are usually smaller & a deeper orange. Both types are edible, but sugar pumpkins have sweeter flesh for cooking.

Tap DJ:

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★ 3 Loopable Cue Points per Deck
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★ Voice Recording
★ GyroScratch™ Technology (4G's only)
★ 2 Included Skins
★ Import tracks from USB, or WiFi, or iPod
★ Discover new music by viewing top mixes
★ Stunning realistic turntable interface
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Tap DJ is a great app whether you're a beginner or a pro.
Tap DJ has many features found in desktop DJ apps that can cost as much as $50

Think about where you do your cooking prep work, this is where you want to store tools related to prep work such as your cutting board, knife block, measuring cups, etc.

What bachelor president, at age 49, married his 21-year-old ward in a White House ceremony?

Grover Cleveland, in 1886. His bride was Frances Folsom.

What members of the Girl Scouts are known as Juliettes?

Those who belong as individuals rather than through a troop or group. They’re named for Girl Scouts founder Juliette Gordon Low.

What oil-rich Arab sheikdom auctioned off vanity license plate number “1” for an incredible $14 million?

Abu Dhabi, in a charity auction in 2008.

Where do amateurs like to sing?

A. In the car

B. In church

C. In the shower

Which kind of whale is the largest?

A. Blue whale

B. Humpback whale

C. Sperm whale

ACB. Did you hear the one about the exploding whale? No, seriously, in Taiwan in 2004, a buildup of gas inside a decomposing sperm whale caused it to explode whilst on its way to the lab for a post-mortem examination.

Which state is the only place in the U.S. to contain a royal palace?

A. Hawaii

B. Texas

C. Alaska

D. California

Answer: A. Hawaii

You get a "brain freeze" when something cold touches what?

A. Your tongue

B. The roof of your mouth

C. Your teeth

D. Your uvula

Answer: B. The roof of your mouth.

You tried to enter a __________ contest, but the judges said, "No __________."