• March 11, 2013 •

Good morning & happy Monday! Saturday was a busy day so I fueled up with a Carnation Instant breakfast, cleaned the toilet, neatened my nightstand, cleaned the bar, processed an item waiting in my huge inbox, neatened the coffee table, was going to mop the closet but the entryway needed it more, dusted my office wall decor, fed the pets, & swept the living room. By then the mailman had been by so I went through the mail, went to work on eBay for a while, the FD got toned out to a vehicle fire, I checked facebook & took my game turns, the FD got toned out to a MVA, Pete & I sat down to watch Gettysburg & I got a lot of plastic canvas done, the FD got toned out to a mutual aid on a structure fire, I took the dogs out, Kyle & I had a baked potato for lunch, I did some quilt crocheting while watching another hour of Gettysburg (only an hour left ... LONG movie!), I showered, completed the master bedroom on Breckenridge & then opened up our house in the game & made a lot of changes in there to reflect the many changes here. Josh & Edward moved out, I created Smokey & added her to the household, & did a lot of adding, rearranging, & removing of furniture. One day I'll actually open that game & PLAY it instead of just updates. So far every time I've opened it, so much has changed since the last time I opened it that I end up just doing updates to get it caught up & matching with the current house & household. Sunday wasn't as busy. Well, it was busy, but each thing took a long time so it doesn't LOOK like I did a lot when you look at it in writing. We did sleep late on Sunday & after we got up I let the dogs out & then asked Pete if he wanted to go to McDonald's for breakfast. Over an hour later we actually left, went to Fuddrucker's instead (YAY!), stopped at Lowe's & priced some stuff, went grocery shopping, then came back, put the groceries away & I went through the Sunday paper, went to work on eBay for a while, checked facebook & took my game turns, went to the station & got caught up on some stuff there & then came back & did a bunch of LCFD stuff from here, finally finished after midnight & then took the dogs out & machine knitted until Pete came in saying he was hungry. A quick dinner & then bedtime. This morning Kyle helped by taking the dogs out & I updated the apps on my iPad Mini. Milligan Water meeting tonight.

According to a study at Tufts University, a 1-pack-a-day smoking habit will cost you at least 2 teeth every decade.

At least 1 new cat breed is added every year. That is "cat-egorically" impossible - isn't it?

Cat breeds in the world top 10:

1. Persian
2. Main Coon
3. Exotic
4. Siamese
5. Asbyssinian
6. Ragdoll
7. Birman
8. American Shorthair
9. Oriental
10. Sphynx

Cuba plays in World Baseball Classic (2006):

On March 10, 2006, the Cuban national baseball team plays Puerto Rico in the first round of the inaugural World Baseball Classic. While the Puerto Rican team was made up of major league All-Stars, the Cuban team was largely unknown to the world. Puerto Rico beat Cuba 12-2 that day, but the Cuban team would soon have its revenge.

Baseball has long been a favorite national pastime in Cuba. American sailors brought the game into port cities in the 19th century and its popularity soon spread. Professional leagues had sprung up by the 1870s and by the 20th century both Negro Leaguers and major leaguers spent their winters playing amongst Cuban professionals in the Cuban Baseball Leagues.

Professional baseball in Cuba was abolished in 1960, when Cuban President Fidel Castro instituted state-run athletic programs modeled after those in the communist Soviet Union. That same year, the United States placed a trade embargo against Cuba after Castro aligned himself with the Soviets, ratcheting up tensions in the Cold War. In spite of the trade embargo, the United States continued to allow Cuban émigrés to play baseball in America. The Cuban National League, however, does not accept players from other countries into its system, unlike winter leagues in the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Mexico and elsewhere.

Cuban baseball, then, had been largely isolated from the rest of the world since 1960, though the Cubans proved their mettle on the few occasions that Cuba agreed to allow their national team to play against outside teams. In 1999, Cuba played twice against the Baltimore Orioles of the American League, losing the first game 3 -2 in Havana, but winning 12 -6 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. (Fidel Castro watched the victory from his seat between Orioles owner Peter Angelos and Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig.) Cuba has also dominated play in the Summer Olympics, winning the gold medal in 1992, 1996 and 2004 and winning the silver in 2000.

In the 2006 World Baseball Classic, few thought Cuba--one of the only teams without a major league player on its roster-- had a realistic chance against the All-Star lineups fielded by the United States, Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Puerto Rico. While the combined annual salaries of the players on those four teams totaled $471 million, Cuban players made just $10 to $15 per month working mandatory day jobs and playing baseball at night.

Five days after being trounced by the Puerto Ricans, Cuba bounced back with immaculate play. They beat Puerto Rico 4-3 to move into the semifinals against a powerful and heavily favored Dominican team that featured major league MVPs Albert Pujols, Vladimir Guerrero and Miguel Tejada and superstars David Ortiz and Adrian Beltre. The Cubans prevailed 3-1. In the final, however, Cuba lost to Japan--led by star pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka and Seattle Mariner outfielder Ichiro Suzuki--which played the same style of game as the Cubans, relying on good hustle, situational hitting, strong pitching and team defense.

In the words of the architectural maxim, from follows function. Likewise, management follows leadership. The way you spend your time is a result of the way you see your time & the way you really see your priorities.

Los Angeles has a bus strike. Did you know that? The mechanics walked out. And to show you how important buses are in Los Angeles, the mechanics are the only ones who knew they walked out. -Johnny Carson 1972

Order an embosser.

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Spend an hour in a completely silent place:

You'll notice that your hearing will gradually become more acute. That's because constant noise overstimulates the delicate nerves that register sound.

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There are about 265 million pet cats in the world. Wow, that's a "cat-astrophic" number!

Toyota sells 1 millionth hybrid in U.S. (2009):

The Toyota Motor Company announces on this day in 2009 that it has sold over 1 million gas-electric hybrid vehicles in the U.S. under its six Toyota and Lexus brands. The sales were led by the Prius, the world's first mass-market hybrid car, which was launched in Japan in October 1997 and introduced in America in July 2000.

When the Prius debuted in 1997 it was considered a "gamble," according to a May 2008 report on Wired.com, because "gas was cheap, SUVs ruled the earth and global warming was only beginning to penetrate mainstream consciousness." However, the Prius's hybrid technology--which uses an electric motor to supplement power from the gasoline, resulting in lower emissions and higher gas mileage--quickly developed a following. Upon its arrival in America, the Prius was an early hit in Hollywood and environmentally conscious celebrities including Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz were spotted driving their Priuses around Los Angeles. For the 2003 Academy Awards, Toyota provided a fleet of Priuses to chauffeur celebrities such as Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart to the ceremony. Between 2000 and February 2009, Toyota sold over 700,000 Priuses in America, or more than half of the 1.2 million Priuses purchased around the planet.

Toyota went on to expand its stable of hybrids to include the Lexus RX 400h, the world's first hybrid-powered luxury vehicle, which launched in April 2005, and the Highlander Hybrid SUV, which debuted in June of that same year. A hybrid version of Toyota's bestselling Camry sedan followed in April 2006 and was also the first Toyota hybrid to be made in the U.S.

In 2008, Toyota passed America's General Motors (GM) to become the world's largest automaker. GM, which at the time had been hobbled along with the rest of the auto industry by a global economic crisis and slumping car sales, received criticism for being the home of the gas-guzzling Hummer and for failing to develop a hybrid vehicle when Toyota first launched the Prius (the name is reportedly linked to the Latin for "earlier" and meant to connote a car that's ahead of its time).

The same week that Toyota announced its 1 millionth hybrid sold in America, the Ford Motor Company reported that it had built its 100,000th hybrid vehicle in the U.S.