Your Birthdate: January 3

Being born on the 3rd day of the month is likely to add a good bit of vitality to your life. The energy of 3 allows you bounce back rapidly from setbacks, physical or mental. There is a restlessness in your nature, but you seem to be able to portray an easygoing, "couldn't care less" attitude. You have a natural ability to express yourself in public, and you always make a very good impression. Good with words, you excel in writing, speaking, and possibly singing. You are energetic and always a good conversationalist. You have a keen imagination, but you tend to scatter your energies and become involved with too may superficial matters. You are affectionate and loving, but sometimes too sensitive. You are subject to rapid ups and downs.

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Roscoe's says his fits him. I'm still thinking about mine.

Reading People Magazine.

They asked celebrities for their favorite Elvis song. Monkey see, monkey do. . . would you like to share your favorite Elvis?

They've got at least one thing right. Tyler Perry is one of their "50 Beautiful People". Sweet

Also from the magazine:

Make an anagram here.

A link to googlism.com. From this we learn that:

shirl is not at home in that little corner
shirl is sosooooo cute
shirl is feeling ok
shirl is left with a lot of time invested and empty promises of landing gear orders
shirl is usually open
shirl is easy as 1 2 3
shirl is single
shirl is the office manager and is ready to assist you
shirl is a full
shirl is executive director of houston habitat for humanity
shirl is the raiders chaplain
shirl is the only woman in another male dominated festival
shirl is constructing a simple but elegant maple valet to replace a 70s vinyl and chrome valet the owner is finding hard to let go
shirl is going to make her something similar using solid timber panels called pine innovations from porta
shirl is dedicated to her clients and customers and doesn't give up until the job is done
shirl is the 3
shirl is a registered nurse and midwife and an ordained elder in the wesleyan church
shirl is among them
shirl is writing an article for the napehe chronicle of physical education and higher education newsletter and has interviewed both kretchmar and reeve
shirl is a massage therapist with thirty years experience
shirl is a single mother who urges her son's baby
shirl is dead and someone is going to pay
shirl is known as "furniture
shirl is obviously injured

Up from the Comments

Oh such great stuff in the "favorite mathematician" comments. I'm surfing around now and will continue this post as I check out the links that have been left and that I find.

Kathryn leaves a link for Sofia Kovalevskaya. I had never heard of her, but Patti had, and had actually named her dog after her. Fascinating!

Susan leaves a link to her favorite math-blogger, Stu Savory. Good choice, Susan!

susan from the other-side-of-the-world weighs in with Paul Erdos. Reading about him now.

LDH sends us this page for Jacob Cohen. (Not to be confused with Rodney Dangerfield.)

more coming throughout the day . . .

Check out the Little Belts of Montana.

Good evening!

Up from the "when" comments:

"When.....the roll is called up yonder

When the roll is called up yon-der
When the roll, is called up yonderrrrrr...
When the roll is called up yonder I'll be there!

(An old church song that everybody knows in the South. How about elsewhere?)"

Susan asks, and I'll add: or tell us about any of your old favorite hymns.

Question for the day:

Who is your favorite mathematician?

You're a little gold key, and you unlock other
people's hearts. Your kindness and willingness
to be there for those you care about lets
people open up to you knowing they will be
accepted. People will rely on you, but be
careful not to give more than you have.


What sort of key are you and what do you unlock?
brought to you by Quizilla

Found at Roscoe's, the stone key.

Good evening!

Want to know the readability of your blog? Check out this site. Link via E.B.C.

W H E N

The nice thing about snows in April in Michigan: they don't last. All is green again now. Here's another remembrance of the snows of April 2005.

Otto's Monday Madness:

It's spring here in Michigan, but the weather today does not reflect that. My inspiration for this week's questions came from my mom suggesting the subject be SPRING! Thanks, Mom!! And thank you all for playing!! =)

1. What season are you in right now? Calendarwise - spring. Outside my windowwise - winter.
2. Do you celebrate anything special this time of year?Easter, Mothers Day, Six birthdays, and this year two graduations and a 25th anniversary
3. Name 3 things that come to mind when you think of spring (or your current season)? lilacs, tulips and pussy willows
4. In the current season, about how many hours of the day are daylight hours? 15
5. Do you do any 'spring cleaning?'not really
6. Do you wash your own car or take it to the car wash? car wash
7. Do you hang your laundry out on a clothesline on nice days? nope, dadgum it! Nothing is better than clothesline dried clothes

...and the following is optional; although I do encourage you to participate:

8. Post a picture that reflects the current season where you live.

Yikes! I'm all over the place!

American Cities That Best Fit You:

55% San Francisco

55% Washington, DC

50% Boston

50% Chicago

50% Honolulu

Which American Cities Best Fit You?

Picked up at White Pebble, who got it from Crossing the Rubicon II.

Sunday, so we Unconsciously Mutter:

I say ... and you think ... ?

1. Detachment::Retina. (Okay, I'm getting old. One worries about these things.)
2. Regard::to Broadway
3. Community::Church
4. Strike three::You're out!!!
5. Congregation::Church
6. Generous::Giving
7. Pretention::Facade
8. Pregnant::Women
9. Drinking::Buddy
10. Brilliance::Diamond

And a conscious non-mutter:

Sugar-N-Spicy is posting again with a brand-new look! Woohoo!

Saturday morning this and that:

Yay! Beverly has posted!! Always good to see someone break the block!

A hop over to Susan's for the Saturday morning me. A great bunch stops by to visit her . . . why not you? Say hey from me!

There is actually snow spitting outside my window. Sheesh! I'm gonna have to pull the winter jacket back out of the closet.

Kat has wonderful news.

Fleeting

THERE GOES SPRING
This is what it is like to live in Michigan. Tuesday, the temperatures peaked at around 82 degrees Fahrenheit. People were outside, laughing and playing.

Tonight it is 42 degrees Fahrenheit and getting colder. The forecast calls for one to two inches of snow tonight.

Go ahead and snicker. I don't mind.

Maria Von Tropp or Maria Callas?
Norman Maclean or Norman Vincent Peale?
Louise Erdich or Louisa May Alcott?
Robert Parker or Parker Stevenson?
Bea Arthur or Bea Benedict?
Michael Caine or Michael Landon?
Elly Mae Clampett or Miss Ellie Ewing?
Bill Gates or Bill Clinton?
Paula Abdul or Paula Jones?
Glenn Close or Glen Campbell?

Blogging.

Where you find people who touch your life in unexpected ways. Mandarin meg has shared her brilliance so willingly, giving us tools to play with in an easy manner that we can all work with. It has been an honor to be on her quilt. (I said quilt, not guilt . . . *grin*) Her quilt, which is her "blogroll", is the most balanced roll I've seen, with folks from all walks of life. Michelle, aka meg, quit her job the other day due to health reaons, and will have to curtail blogging. As usual, she uses classic understatement to let us know of the fact. It's in her comments, not the post.

Dear blogging friend, I salute you! You are always in my heart.

Guess-the-google.

Via Fishbucket.

I tried to get here earlier, but blogger was down for maintenance. *sigh*

Down for Maintenance
Blogger is temporarily unavailable due to planned maintenance.
This downtime will last half an hour from 4pm - 4:30pm (PST).

Cassie-B asks a Cardinal question, which led to visiting this page. Thanks, Cassie-B!

A Spring lunchtime walk.

Your Brain is 60.00% Female, 40.00% Male

Your brain is a healthy mix of male and female You are both sensitive and savvy Rational and reasonable, you tend to keep level headed But you also tend to wear your heart on your sleeve

What Gender Is Your Brain?

It's quiz nite at Cindy Loo's!

Saturday was a perfect spring day up here in Michigan; sunny, with temperatures in the low 70's. I packed up my camera and went hunting for spring. I got waylaid, though. I started at the Arboretum, figuring to get a quick walk in and assuming I wouldn't see any deer, as the parking lot was quite full. I was wrong, and you know how I am when I find the deer! I guess you can see that things are a little greener this week, so that will have to suffice for the spring-finding.



I had spied a couple of deer through the underbrush in an area towards the back of the park. There happened to be a bench in the area, so I sat down to see what would happen. (The benches are roughhewn and blend in with the woods. I suspect they're Boy Scout projects from years past.) Soon a head poked out of the shrubs. I shot a couple of pictures, then looked away. (Peek-a-boo with deer? See why I'm not normal???)



The funny thing: each time I looked back, there were more deer.
It turned out to be a 9-deer day, susan!

Happy Monday!

Start your day with a little flattery.

good evening.

I was checking my change before doing the laundry, and found that I have one of these.

Sunday's Unconscious Mutterings:

I say ... and you think ... ?

1. Great escape::Steve McQueen
2. Cluster::grape
3. Wrong place, wrong time::story of my life
4. Guided::missile
5. Forensics::CSI
6. Pros::Cons
7. Safety deposit box::jewelry
8. Quadrant::section
9. Precisely::exactly
10. Who are you?::I'm nobody

You Are 35% Normal(Occasionally Normal)

You sure do march to your own beat... But you're so weird, people wonder if it's a beat at all You think on a totally different wavelength And it's often a chore to get people to understand you

How Normal Are You?

Gulp. You may have suspected it, but now the truth is out, thanks to linkage from the normal susan on the other-side-of-the-world!

Your Linguistic Profile:

75% General American English

10% Upper Midwestern

5% Dixie

5% Midwestern

5% Yankee

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

From LDH. I'm hoping he won't hurt me.

Good Friday evening! Beautiful spring weather here. I had to make a last minute run to the post office. . . tax day and I owed $2.00 to the state. And I had waited until the last minute. Oops!

S P R I N G

Al Gore or Albert Einstein?
Sandra Day O'Connor or Sandra Bullock?
Dick Van Dyke or Dick Smothers?
Linda Ronsteadt or Linda Lovelace?
John Travolta or Elton John?
Eleanor Roosevelt or Eleanor Clift?
Sylvester Stallone or Sylvester?
Clara Barton or Clarabelle?
Ty Pennington or Ty Cobb?
Vivian Leigh or Vivian Vance?

Survivors Ready?

Reality shows come under a lot of attack, and I'm not going to defend them here. I do want to share how Survivor specifically works as a team-builder at our work place.

Each season, we "draw" Survivors out of a hat. Whoever draws the Survivor that ends up the sole survivor wins a prize. This is our game 1.

Next, each week we "pick our bootees". Points are awarded for correct answers, and prizes are given at the end of the game. Everyone who plays gets a prize.

Our workplace consists of six women and 31 men. Not all of the men play, but many of them do.

Stan watches the show with his granddaughter. Each week she calls her bootee choice in. Lillian watches with her daughter. Each week they watch the show together, the daughter clutching her survivor and saying "don't go, don't go".

As I think Pandora will attest, Survivor becomes something to bridge gaps in the workplace.

Works for me.

And so . . . "pick your bootee", please.

I love to visit Claude's Paris.

Don't find fault, find a remedy.
Henry Ford

Sweet! Our comptroller is a member of the local N.A.W.I.C. (National Association of Women in Construction) chapter. Tonight was their spring awards meeting, and the guest speaker was John L. Smith. . .Head football coach for the Michigan State Spartan football team. Our boss sent anyone from the office that wanted to go to the dinner/meeting (and paid our way). Yeah!

John L. is as funny and bouncy and off-the-wall as he appears in his television interviews. A great time was had by all!

Go Green!

Monday Madness a day late:

1. On what day of the week were you born? Thursday
2. Were you born in the morning, afternoon, or evening? 10:02 p.m.
3. How many siblings do you have? Brothers or sisters? 4 brothers, one sister.
4. Do you (or did you) ever wish you were an only child? And if you ARE an only child, did you ever wish you had brothers and sisters? Nope
5. Did you (or do you) dream of having a big family of your own? pass
6. In your opinion, which is (or would be) easier to raise; boys or girls? neither. Each child is unique.
7. In looks, do you favor your mother or your father? Father

"Rubble is the ground on which our deepest friendships are built. If you haven't already, you will lose someone you can't live without, and your heart will be badly broken, and you never completely get over the loss of a deeply beloved person. But this is also good news. The person lives forever, in your broken heart that doesn't seal back up. And you come through, and you learn to dance with the banged-up heart. You dance to the absurdities of life; you dance to the minuet of old friendships."

Anne Lamott, PLAN B Further Thoughts on Faith.

As always, thanks to Mandarin Design for the howto.

Let's say a big belated Happy Birthday to Mz!

Sunday's Unconscious Mutterings.

I say ... and you think ... ?

1. Horrendous::awful beyond comprehension
2. Home video::funny
3. What a girl wants::what a girl needs
4. Grounded::based
5. Trusting::innocent
6. Simplistic::forgetting the details
7. Buzz::bee
8. Balcony::my favorite relaxation spot
9. Roar::thunder
10. Hooker::pro

Still Life.

Raymond Chandler or Raymond Burr?
Kitty Carlisle or Kitty Hawk?
William Shakespeare or William Shatner?
Martha Stewart or Martha Graham?
David Letterman or David?
Sylvia Miles or Sylvia Plath?
Shaun Cassidy or Sean Penn?
Julia Roberts or Julia Childs?
Johnny Cash or Johnny Carson?
Hillary Duff or Hillary Clinton?

Amazing. Blogger.com let me publish two posts in a row with no hassle.

Have a great Saturday, everyone! Catch ya later!

I Am Not A Trickster

Well... you're not exactly the trickster type. Not that you don't have a sense of humor, you're just not the instigator of the hijinks most of the time. Don't feel bad - every trickster needs a straight man, and you're just the right one for the part. PS: Everyone has that dream.

Which Trickster Are You?
Take the Trickster Test at www.isleofdreams.net.

Swiped from SusanJayne.

Will this post?

Only once? Sometime today? We shall soon know.

More signs of spring in Michigan: the willow trees are golden, the maple trees have red buds. People are outdoors more, and there is less time spent on the internet.

Happy Friday!

This is amazing. Two weeks of issues with blogger.com and blogspot sites has to be a record. Argh. What to do.

This is amazing. Two weeks of issues with blogger.com and blogspot sites has to be a record. Argh. What to do.

Oh great. Blogger is still acting up? This is nuts.

And tonight is Survivor night. Anyone still watching?

Oh great. Blogger is still acting up? This is nuts.

And tonight is Survivor night. Anyone still watching?

Oh great. Blogger is still acting up? This is nuts.

And tonight is Survivor night. Anyone still watching?

More Signs of Spring in Michigan:

• Pussy Willows Pop.
• Robins are home. (I've seen two.)
• Driving around with the car windows down.
• Needing a jacket in the morning, carrying it home at night.
• Opening the windows at home.
• Hearing the bounce of basketballs on the pavement outside those windows.
• Motorcyle police people.
• The Dairy Queen is open!

How do you know it's spring where you live? (I know, I know, over there on the other-side-of-the-world it is autumn, but what does spring look like in your area?)

A Happy Birthday to Chris over on the other-side-of-the world, and best wishes upon your entrance into the military. Chris has made me smile so many times, and caused the unexpected tear of sweetness. Take care, kiddo!

Spring comes slowly to mid-Michigan.

A walk in the woods is very gray and brown and right now quite solid ground but after a few April showers it will be muddy and gucky and sticky. More people are out and about, and when I took my Sunday walk I couldn't find any deer at the arboretum. There were many tracks, though, and I had the feeling that they were blending into the scenery and laughing at me.

Otto sends us to the new April posting of 26things. Yikes, talk about difficult! I've failed to complete the last two, so I'm not going to make any promises, but it's always fun to keep the list in the camera bag . . . in case.

You have to work for spring in Michigan until May. In April you have to look high, look low, look beneath last year's tumbled leaves to find the new life coming. The green in the woods on Sunday was from the moss, thickly growing on stumps and trees.

Susan-Jayne started a new job. Hurrah!

"silence" is one of the items for the 26THINGS. As I walked through the forest, I listened for silence, but it wasn't there. The soughing of the pine trees; branches rattling and falling to the ground; dogs barking in the distance; birds chatterings; and while I was quieter than I was during the winter in my big old clod-hopper boots, I STILL can't walk silently on the trail. Something made me look to my right. This little fellow definitely qualified as silent.

Monday Monday.

I had become accustomed to it being light out at this time of the morning. Seems funny that it's dark now again . . . but I sure do appreciate that extra hour of sunlight in the evening!

Some Monday Madness.

The following questions all begin with Where you live...

1. ...did you have to turn your clocks forward one hour this weekend? Yes
2. ...what is the price of gasoline? 2.23/gal
3. ...which natural disasters, if any, do you have to worry about? tornadoes, blizzards
4. ...do you have a local newspaper, and if so, do you subscribe to it? yes, on the weekends
5. ...do you subscribe to a local cable company for television viewing? no
6. ...what is the speed limit on your road/street? 25 mph
7. ...how far do you have to drive to the nearest post office? .8 miles
8. ...what is the average temperature in April? uh. guessing 53F
9. ...what is the average temperature in December? uh. guessing 29F
10. ...are your four seasons drastically different from one another? yes

Cr...Chromium
You scored 20 Mass, 19 Electronegativity, 83 Metal, and 0 Radioactivity!
Oooohaaaaah.... shiny! You probably have an incredibly stable and
well-maintained group of friends... that probably also don't get out
much either. You're not one to get bogged down by a problem. Of course,
I'm basing this upon Chromium's ultra-low water-exchange constant and it's corrosion-resistant properties, and I wouldn't be too surprised if
the analogy doesn't even apply.


Link: The Which Chemical Element Am I Test written by effataigus on Ok Cupid

Found at Nitrogen Man LDH's.

ah, the Spartans are out of the NCAA Championship run. *sigh*

I guess I'll Unconsciously Mutter:

I say ... and you think ... ?

1. Renewal::Rejuvenation
2. Someone to talk to::You've got a friend
3. Count::on me
4. Expiration::date . . . on the milk. I'd better go check it.
5. Upload::Download
6. Publish::or Perish
7. Holy::Holy Holy
8. Change in the air::Spring
9. Titillating::amusing
10. Glorious::Sunshine

According to Cassie-B, April 2 is:

Children's Book Day
Reconcilation Day
and
Peanut Butter & Jelly Day.

Three things I can really get into. I love kids' books. I'm collecting pop-ups. And yesterday, at the bookstore, I picked up a teen-ager book, just to get a feel for what the kids are reading these days. I have to keep up with the nieces and nephews somehow.

Anyway, check out Cassie-B's for something to celebrate each day in April.

At the Movies:

Last night I saw the Upside of Anger. (Note: Kevin Costner fan here.) Joan Allen and Kevin did remarkable acting work in it and it was nice to see a movie about middle-aged people. I'd give it a 7 out of 10. (I give tens about every three years.)

ahem.

Go Green!

Why? Because . . .

From status.blogger.com:

Some BlogSpot blogs are currently receiving error messages that say "EOF while reading from control connection" when publishing. This varies according to which of our servers you are on at the time, so if you are having this problem, please try logging out of Blogger and then logging in again to publish, which should put you on a new server automatically. We are currently investigating the source of this problem.

Log off, log on. Standard answer to all problems.