Black Friday 2012

Happy Black Friday & to all of you who are brave enough to be out shopping today, you're braver than I am. I'll shop online, but going out into the stores after the news photos I've seen ... no way! I fueled up with a Carnation Instant Breakfast yesterday & then got to work swapping out the shower curtain, dusting the bedroom lights & dining room wall decor, Went through the freezer & realized that I had forgotten veggies to go with Thanksgiving dinner & pulled out a bag of frozen peas, folded some laundry, dusted the TV in my office (the living room TV was in use), mopped the kitchen, & cleaned, neatened, & hosed

off the front porch. I checked eBay & then checked My Weekly Budget on my iPhone & decided I had enough money to spend on hobbies so I decided to buy myself some nice yarn on eBay. I then knitted another thin white panel on the knitting machine, checked Woot! & bought myself a random t-shirt (I love when they do that), checked Twitter & then it was Thanksgiving feast time. Pete, myself, Josh, & Kyle enjoyed turkey, stuffing, my amazing mashed

potatoes, peas, & pumpkin pie. Needless to say, not a single one of us was still hungry when we left the table. Of course, to hold up family tradition, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was on the TV, then we listened to Alice's Restaurant, & when the game came on we had that on the TV. After all the feasting was over, we all crawled off to our own corners of the house to recuperate. Pete was working in his office on his home network he's building, Josh

went off to his room & did I don't know what, Kyle went to his room & played Minecraft, & I came into my office & loaded up Sims Seasons. I added the foyer to Worthington & then loaded up my Authors game. This game started off in the spring with a cold 49° at midnight. Ian, my 2nd gen sim met & married Seraphina Prattle in school. Seraphina is a pretty blonde who is HUGE up top if you know what I mean. They had a daughter Nikki

(3rd gen) who is artistic (useful for the author career), a genius, a Taurus who likes soul music, ratatouille, & the color lilac. She was still a toddler when I closed the game for the night. When she ages up to school age, I then collect all the lifetime happiness points from the parents & get cool stuff for them &/or their family & then begin to play the child. Dad, Ian, already has over 100k lifetime happiness points. He's been very successful as an author, has a couple best-sellers under his belt already by the time he graduated high school, & has completed his lifetime wish. Considering where they live, it's good that I'll be able to get the teleportation device from his points. NO ONE is EVER on time to school or work because of where the apaartment is located vs where the school bus / carpool stops to pick them up. A game flaw with this apartment in Bridgeport. I love the apartment, it's huge & beautiful with 3 bedrooms (large enough for all generations), but getting anywhere takes 2 hours ... your ride only comes 1 hour before you start school or work. See the problem? Black Friday today ... if you're out shopping, good luck!

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory creator Roald Dahl dies (1990):

On this day in 1990, Roald Dahl, the best-selling author of such children’s books as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach, both of which were adapted for the big screen, dies at the age of 74 in Oxford, England. In addition to publishing a long list of children’s stories, Dahl wrote books for adults and penned numerous television scripts and screenplays, including the James Bond feature You Only Live Twice (1967) and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), starring Dick Van Dyke.

Dahl was born September 13, 1916, in Llandaff, South Wales, and educated in England. During World War II, he was a fighter pilot in the Royal Air Force. After publishing his first children’s book, The Gremlins, in 1943, Dahl wrote James and the Giant Peach, which was published in 1961 (and in 1996, adapted by Disney into a part live-action, part stop-motion animation movie). In 1964, Dahl followed up with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which became one of the best-loved children’s books of the 20th century. The book told the story of a poor boy named Charlie Bucket, who finds a Golden Ticket in a candy wrapper that grants him a tour of the famous but secret candy factory owned by the eccentric Willy Wonka. During his adventures in the candy factory, Charlie encounters a cast of strange and fantastic characters, including fellow golden ticket-holders Augustus Gloop, Veruca Salt and Violet Beauregarde and the diminutive orange-skinned Oompa Loompas.

Dahl penned the screenplay for his novel’s first big-screen adaptation, which was released in 1971 as Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, with Gene Wilder in the title role and Peter Ostrum as Charlie. Directed by Mel Stuart and shot primarily in Munich, Germany, the film received generally positive reviews but was a box-office disappointment. Dahl was critical of the film and opted not to sell the rights to the sequel, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, which was first published in 1972. In 2005, a second film, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, also based on Dahl’s book, was released and fared better at the box office. Directed by Tim Burton (Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Sweeney Todd), the film starred Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka and Freddy Highmore as Charlie and earned an Oscar nomination for Best Costume Design.

From 1953 to 1983, Roald Dahl was married to the American actress Patricia Neal, whose film credits include Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) and Hud (1963), for which she won a Best Actress Oscar.

During a golf swing, how much time does the face of a club spend in contact with the ball?

Fold laundry - productivity combats stress.

I can't tell what's dripping out of your nose. I hope it isn't __________.

If you plan to shop today, known as Black Friday, be sure to take a friend, make a list, & check it twice. If you plan to buy something you saw in an ad, take the ad with you to avoid any pricing hassles. Wear comfortable shoes & clothes.

Lowest scoring basketball game in NBA history occurred when the Fort Wayne Pistons edged out the Minneapolis Lakers 19-18.

MetrO:

MetrO helps you find your way in the public transportation systems in more than 400 cities around the world.
One application for all your trips: download the cities you need and search your route by subway, bus, tram, railway... (depending on cities). NO network connection is required after you have installed the cities.
Find the best route from your current location and check the map of the surroundings from within the program (in main cities).
Transportation networks evolve frequently, so does MetrO! We provide weekly updates, including the latest changes. For a few cities, you even have access to data taking into account temporary disruptions, monitored day to day.

Natant:

Swimming or floating in water.

Before me natant birds hunker against the teeth of a northerly breeze.

"Natant" & the smattering of other words birthed in the waters of Latin natare, meaning "to swim," can sound overly formal in many contexts. We're more likely to refer simply to an indoor swimming pool than a "natatorium"; similarly, instead of complimenting a friend's skills in "natation," you're more apt to tell her she's a good swimmer. The common German-derived word "swimming" suits most of us just fine. Science, though, often prefers Latin, which is why natare words often appear in scientific contexts.

PMI stands for private mortgage insurance. PMI costs about $65/mo. per $100k borrowed. You can avoid it by making a 20% down payment on a traditional mortgage. You can also avoid it by achieving a loan-to-value ratio of 80%. You do this by paying down your mortgage until it's less than 80% of the value of your house.

What happens to the turkeys that are reprieved by the president at the White House’s annual Thanksgiving Day pardoning ceremony?

The turkey and its understudy retire to either Disneyland or Disney World, where they get to spend the rest of their lives.

Which Harry Potter book as published 1st?

A. The Philosopher's Stone

B. The Prisoner of Azkaban

C. The Chamber of Secrets

ACB. The 6 books to date have collectively sold more than 300 million copies & have been translated into more than 63 languages, including Latin & Ancient Greek. Why, I ask, why?

Which novel did Charles Dickens write 1st?

A. David Copperfield

B. Oliver Twist

C. Great Expectations

Which of these states doesn't border on lake Superior?

A. Minnesota

B. Wisconsin

C. Michigan

D. Indiana

Whipping cream contains what percentage of fat?

A. 25-30%

B. 35-40%

C. 45-50%

D. 55-60%

Answer: B. 35-40%

"Why are you going to the doctor?"

"You don't want to know."

"Why aren't you married?"

"I'm waiting for my Prince Charming to come along!"