Watching this makes me feel confident that I can manage the dance routines I'm charged with in Putnam County Spelling Bee!
Sunday, April 28, 2013
I Spy A Couple Of Pi(e)s
I'm genetically conditioned to share this, I have no choice in the matter.
(Thanks Jonelle!)
(Thanks Jonelle!)
Taking Inventory: The Week In Thanks
Life's been good for a long stretch now, and I've been happy most of the time.
Still, I had this moment walking out of the office earlier this week when I felt unusually uplifted. It's hard to put a finger on quite what brought it on, but it's worth some reflection.
At the moment I have no major physical issues: the back and knees are behaving; my weight's where I like it to be; no cold/flu; the hardest part of capping a couple teeth is behind me.
Dena and I are having great times: took in a date night at the movies; about a half dozen daily kisses, hugs, and snuggles; some silly playful note-writing to each other; plenty of talk about our future.
Work has been satisfactory: keeping up with e-mail; a solid performance review; a dependable team; management that mostly leaves me alone; plenty of mentoring opportunities; tutoring has ramped up to levels that would allow me to retire from State Farm any day.
Family's in good shape: Jack and his girlfriend enjoying life on the beach; Mom's diabetes in remission, and sleeping well; Dad-in-law met his birth mother.
Vacation's on the way: a week in North Carolina in June; a week in California in October.
Theater's cruising along: opening night is less than two weeks away and rehearsals have been going well; the cast and staff have been fun company; several of us had lunch together last week.
Condo association is seeing more units starting to sell as the economy's been strengthening.
The church band did a great job last Sunday, and our harmonies were especially good.
Behind it all, there might just be an increasingly good filter developing in my mind against self-destructive behaviors. I dream more and fret less. Try to listen more and talk less. And maybe nothing is more important than the ability to let the bad little things go - and in reality almost every bad thing is little. Mistakes and burdens come and go, and the blessings are constantly there.
A promising week of 70+ temperatures ahead is a big help too!
Still, I had this moment walking out of the office earlier this week when I felt unusually uplifted. It's hard to put a finger on quite what brought it on, but it's worth some reflection.
At the moment I have no major physical issues: the back and knees are behaving; my weight's where I like it to be; no cold/flu; the hardest part of capping a couple teeth is behind me.
Dena and I are having great times: took in a date night at the movies; about a half dozen daily kisses, hugs, and snuggles; some silly playful note-writing to each other; plenty of talk about our future.
Work has been satisfactory: keeping up with e-mail; a solid performance review; a dependable team; management that mostly leaves me alone; plenty of mentoring opportunities; tutoring has ramped up to levels that would allow me to retire from State Farm any day.
Family's in good shape: Jack and his girlfriend enjoying life on the beach; Mom's diabetes in remission, and sleeping well; Dad-in-law met his birth mother.
Vacation's on the way: a week in North Carolina in June; a week in California in October.
Theater's cruising along: opening night is less than two weeks away and rehearsals have been going well; the cast and staff have been fun company; several of us had lunch together last week.
Condo association is seeing more units starting to sell as the economy's been strengthening.
The church band did a great job last Sunday, and our harmonies were especially good.
Behind it all, there might just be an increasingly good filter developing in my mind against self-destructive behaviors. I dream more and fret less. Try to listen more and talk less. And maybe nothing is more important than the ability to let the bad little things go - and in reality almost every bad thing is little. Mistakes and burdens come and go, and the blessings are constantly there.
A promising week of 70+ temperatures ahead is a big help too!
Spelling Bee: Speller Bios
Here are some possible descriptions for audience volunteer spellers in the Putnam County Spelling Bee:
Mr./Ms. So-and-so...
... recently stopped sleeping with his teddy bear Pinky.
... 's science fair project involved cats and tweezers.
... 's ringtone is the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard.
... enjoys finding new ways to slap people.
... farts when she yawns.
... learned the hard way that puppies don't bounce.
... resigned as class treasurer when he was caught loansharking.
... is a volunteer reader for the deaf.
... had a pet mouse until he got a pet snake.
... holds the school record for number of days absent due to fleas.
... is translating the Bible into Klingon.
... has cumulophobia, the fear of being crushed by clouds.
... has bozophobia, the fear of being hunted by clowns.
... 's hero is Spongebob Squarepants.
... 's entry at this year's 4-H fair caused organizers to discontinue the sheep-shearing category.
... 's stuttering problem was recently cured by electroshock therapy.
... was voted by classmates as Most Likely To Fall Down Stairs.
... gave up bathing for Lent.
... ate her twin brother in the womb.
... spends his summers making bricks.
... was just fired from volunteering at the blood bank.
... was banned from the zoo for hugging the monkeys.
... 's favorite food is weasel.
... passed her bicycle safety exam on her 4th try.
... drinks her medicine with a straw.
When Mr./Ms. So-and-so grows up...
... he wants to graduate high school, like his father.
... he wants to serve in the U.S. military as a mime.
Mr./Ms. So-and-so...
... recently stopped sleeping with his teddy bear Pinky.
... 's science fair project involved cats and tweezers.
... 's ringtone is the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard.
... enjoys finding new ways to slap people.
... farts when she yawns.
... learned the hard way that puppies don't bounce.
... resigned as class treasurer when he was caught loansharking.
... is a volunteer reader for the deaf.
... had a pet mouse until he got a pet snake.
... holds the school record for number of days absent due to fleas.
... is translating the Bible into Klingon.
... has cumulophobia, the fear of being crushed by clouds.
... has bozophobia, the fear of being hunted by clowns.
... 's hero is Spongebob Squarepants.
... 's entry at this year's 4-H fair caused organizers to discontinue the sheep-shearing category.
... 's stuttering problem was recently cured by electroshock therapy.
... was voted by classmates as Most Likely To Fall Down Stairs.
... gave up bathing for Lent.
... ate her twin brother in the womb.
... spends his summers making bricks.
... was just fired from volunteering at the blood bank.
... was banned from the zoo for hugging the monkeys.
... 's favorite food is weasel.
... passed her bicycle safety exam on her 4th try.
... drinks her medicine with a straw.
When Mr./Ms. So-and-so grows up...
... he wants to graduate high school, like his father.
... he wants to serve in the U.S. military as a mime.
4 Ways The American Worker Is Back
America’s workers are shaking off the effects of the
Great Recession and beginning to swagger again. While the official
unemployment rate remains high, Americans are feeling better about job
prospects as the housing recovery, booming car sales and record exports
build economic confidence. Here’s why:
1. Layoffs are dwindling and jobs are becoming easier to find. The number of people filing for unemployment benefits last week fell to the second-lowest level since 2008. The Labor Department reports that 14 Americans voluntarily left a job for another opportunity for every 10 who were laid off or fired – a level of labor-market strength that has returned to 2007 levels. The volume of advertised job openings is up 80% since the depths of the recession in 2009. As a result of this improved demand for workers, more than half of those answering a long-running survey said they believe it would be somewhat or very easy for them to find a new job if necessary.
2. In 2013, American workers will make more than 15 million new cars for the second straight year, returning auto production to its highest level since 2006. Ford Motor Co. last week reported record profits in North America, where the company’s leading Fusion and Escape models each enjoyed sales growth of 25% from a year earlier. Pent-up demand for cars, with more Americans working and able to afford new wheels, meant that Ford’s average selling price last quarter rose $1,000 to $32,784.
3. American workers are making more of what the rest of the world wants to buy. While the outsourcing of jobs overseas still gets headlines for politicians, the fact is that U.S. exports of goods and services last year reached a new high of almost $2.2 trillion last year, up 39% from 2009. The number of American jobs supported by exports of everything from wheat to machinery to software rose to 9.8 million last year, according to the Commerce Department, up 15% since 2009.
4. Before long, American labor will nearly eliminate China’s manufacturing-cost advantage by growing ever more productive and exploiting domestic energy and transportation resources. In a report titled “Made in America, Again,” researchers at the Boston Consulting Group determined that, by 2015, it will be just as economical to manufacture many goods destined for American consumers in the U.S. as producing them in China and shipping them here. This is both due to steady wage gains by Chinese labor and the fact that U.S. workers are so much more productive per hour of work. While total domestic manufacturing employment will never return to mid-20th century heights, expect to hear a lot more about “insourcing” of industrial jobs thanks to America’s burgeoning low-cost natural gas supplies and sophisticated transportation logistics.
1. Layoffs are dwindling and jobs are becoming easier to find. The number of people filing for unemployment benefits last week fell to the second-lowest level since 2008. The Labor Department reports that 14 Americans voluntarily left a job for another opportunity for every 10 who were laid off or fired – a level of labor-market strength that has returned to 2007 levels. The volume of advertised job openings is up 80% since the depths of the recession in 2009. As a result of this improved demand for workers, more than half of those answering a long-running survey said they believe it would be somewhat or very easy for them to find a new job if necessary.
2. In 2013, American workers will make more than 15 million new cars for the second straight year, returning auto production to its highest level since 2006. Ford Motor Co. last week reported record profits in North America, where the company’s leading Fusion and Escape models each enjoyed sales growth of 25% from a year earlier. Pent-up demand for cars, with more Americans working and able to afford new wheels, meant that Ford’s average selling price last quarter rose $1,000 to $32,784.
3. American workers are making more of what the rest of the world wants to buy. While the outsourcing of jobs overseas still gets headlines for politicians, the fact is that U.S. exports of goods and services last year reached a new high of almost $2.2 trillion last year, up 39% from 2009. The number of American jobs supported by exports of everything from wheat to machinery to software rose to 9.8 million last year, according to the Commerce Department, up 15% since 2009.
4. Before long, American labor will nearly eliminate China’s manufacturing-cost advantage by growing ever more productive and exploiting domestic energy and transportation resources. In a report titled “Made in America, Again,” researchers at the Boston Consulting Group determined that, by 2015, it will be just as economical to manufacture many goods destined for American consumers in the U.S. as producing them in China and shipping them here. This is both due to steady wage gains by Chinese labor and the fact that U.S. workers are so much more productive per hour of work. While total domestic manufacturing employment will never return to mid-20th century heights, expect to hear a lot more about “insourcing” of industrial jobs thanks to America’s burgeoning low-cost natural gas supplies and sophisticated transportation logistics.
9 Debatable Tips For Living Longer
By Anne Roderique-Jones of Yahoo! Shine:
Extend Your Life
"Stop drinking coffee and alcohol." "Take an aspirin daily." How many times have you heard that advice for adding years to your life? Turns out, lots of long-held wisdom just isn't true. Read on to see which suggestions you should ignore and what actually ups longevity. Photo by Getty Images.
1. Lay off the java.
You've probably read that multiple cups of coffee a day can be bad for you (jitter city), but research published in the New England Journal of Medicine may prove the opposite. Male and female participants who had two or three cups a day and didn't smoke were 10% and 13% less likely, respectively, to have died during the 14-year-long study than those who never or rarely drank coffee. Men and women who drank a single daily cup were 6% and 5% less likely, respectively, to pass away. According to the researchers, more cups mean a lower risk of stroke, diabetes and heart and respiratory disease. But watch the cream and sugar-extra fat and calories could negate any longevity benefits.
2. Get eight hours of sleep every night.
While research suggests snoozing fewer than six or more than nine hours a night raises your mortality risk, "everyone has different sleep needs," says Shelby Harris, PsyD, director of the behavioral sleep medicine program at Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, NY. So if you wake naturally after only, say, six-and-a-half hours a night, forcing yourself to reach eight hours won't lengthen your life. To learn how much sleep you need, try awakening without an alarm for a week, if you can swing it. If you feel good and have enough energy most of the day, you've found your ideal amount of rest.
3. Lower your body mass index (BMI).
According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, weighing a little more can lengthen your life span. Adults with a BMI that qualified them as overweight but not obese (that's between 25 and 29.9) were 6% less likely than all others in their age groups to die. While BMI isn't always an accurate measurement of a person's health risks, registered dietitian Jen Brewer, author of Stop Dieting and Start Losing Weight, says if the extra weight comes from muscle mass, you're more likely to have lower cholesterol levels and a better ratio of HDL (good cholesterol) to LDL (bad cholesterol). It may also lower your risk for life-threatening heart disease, stroke and diabetes. And that's good for staying alive.
4. Don't worry, be happy.
Actually, being a glass-half-empty kind of person may keep you kicking longer. In a study published in Psychology and Aging, 65- to 96-year-olds who thought life would get worse outlived those who anticipated better days ahead. "Our findings revealed that being overly optimistic was associated with a greater risk of disability and death within the following decade," says lead author Frieder R. Lang, PhD, of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany. "Pessimism about the future may encourage people to take health and safety precautions."
5. Take a daily aspirin.
Popping that pill can help you live longer by preventing heart attacks, strokes and even cancer-right? "If you're a healthy, 45-year-old female, it may not make a difference," says Nieca Goldberg, MD, medical director of the Joan H. Tisch Center for Women's Health at New York University's Langone Medical Center in New York City. In fact, taking a daily aspirin can lead to bleeding, allergies and upset stomach. Ask your doctor if you can skip the pill, suggests Dr. Goldberg.
6. Drink 8 glasses of water a day.
Once believed to be the amount everyone needs for proper hydration, a longevity essential, a 2002 study from Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, NH, debunked the 8X8 rule. As Dr. Goldberg explains, "there's no magic number of glasses," emphasizing it's more about getting fluids, not necessarily from straight-up H20. Herbal tea and juices are hydration helpers (though soda isn't), but fruits and vegetables (like celery and leafy greens) are an even healthier way to get your liquids.
7. Milk does the body good.
You're taught that drinking it by the glassful keeps bones healthy and prevents fatal injuries. Yet a 12-year-long Harvard study found that women who drink milk three times a day break more bones than women who drink less than one glass of milk per week. While lowfat dairy may agree with you, calcium is what's key for strong bones. You can get it from leafy greens, beans, vitamin D (sunshine!) and even lifting weights.
8. Cut out booze.
A daily glass of wine not only can help your heart but also add years to your life. University of Texas at Austin researchers found that moderate drinking, such as a small glass of wine (about four ounces) a day, reduces mortality among older and middle-aged adults. Dr. Goldberg says it's because heart disease is the leading killer of women, and wine is chockfull of antioxidants, which prevent serious sickness. So fill 'er up-without overflowing that glass.
9. Take a multivitamin.
Even though half of all adults pop one, the 2011 Iowa Women's Health Study found that women taking multivitamins don't live longer than those who get their nutrients from food alone. Only calcium supplements are linked to a lower death risk, with 37% of users dying compared to 43% of nonusers in the study. Researchers' conclusion: Get the vitamins and minerals from fruit and vegetables, not capsules.
Extend Your Life
"Stop drinking coffee and alcohol." "Take an aspirin daily." How many times have you heard that advice for adding years to your life? Turns out, lots of long-held wisdom just isn't true. Read on to see which suggestions you should ignore and what actually ups longevity. Photo by Getty Images.
1. Lay off the java.
You've probably read that multiple cups of coffee a day can be bad for you (jitter city), but research published in the New England Journal of Medicine may prove the opposite. Male and female participants who had two or three cups a day and didn't smoke were 10% and 13% less likely, respectively, to have died during the 14-year-long study than those who never or rarely drank coffee. Men and women who drank a single daily cup were 6% and 5% less likely, respectively, to pass away. According to the researchers, more cups mean a lower risk of stroke, diabetes and heart and respiratory disease. But watch the cream and sugar-extra fat and calories could negate any longevity benefits.
2. Get eight hours of sleep every night.
While research suggests snoozing fewer than six or more than nine hours a night raises your mortality risk, "everyone has different sleep needs," says Shelby Harris, PsyD, director of the behavioral sleep medicine program at Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, NY. So if you wake naturally after only, say, six-and-a-half hours a night, forcing yourself to reach eight hours won't lengthen your life. To learn how much sleep you need, try awakening without an alarm for a week, if you can swing it. If you feel good and have enough energy most of the day, you've found your ideal amount of rest.
3. Lower your body mass index (BMI).
According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, weighing a little more can lengthen your life span. Adults with a BMI that qualified them as overweight but not obese (that's between 25 and 29.9) were 6% less likely than all others in their age groups to die. While BMI isn't always an accurate measurement of a person's health risks, registered dietitian Jen Brewer, author of Stop Dieting and Start Losing Weight, says if the extra weight comes from muscle mass, you're more likely to have lower cholesterol levels and a better ratio of HDL (good cholesterol) to LDL (bad cholesterol). It may also lower your risk for life-threatening heart disease, stroke and diabetes. And that's good for staying alive.
4. Don't worry, be happy.
Actually, being a glass-half-empty kind of person may keep you kicking longer. In a study published in Psychology and Aging, 65- to 96-year-olds who thought life would get worse outlived those who anticipated better days ahead. "Our findings revealed that being overly optimistic was associated with a greater risk of disability and death within the following decade," says lead author Frieder R. Lang, PhD, of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany. "Pessimism about the future may encourage people to take health and safety precautions."
5. Take a daily aspirin.
Popping that pill can help you live longer by preventing heart attacks, strokes and even cancer-right? "If you're a healthy, 45-year-old female, it may not make a difference," says Nieca Goldberg, MD, medical director of the Joan H. Tisch Center for Women's Health at New York University's Langone Medical Center in New York City. In fact, taking a daily aspirin can lead to bleeding, allergies and upset stomach. Ask your doctor if you can skip the pill, suggests Dr. Goldberg.
6. Drink 8 glasses of water a day.
Once believed to be the amount everyone needs for proper hydration, a longevity essential, a 2002 study from Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, NH, debunked the 8X8 rule. As Dr. Goldberg explains, "there's no magic number of glasses," emphasizing it's more about getting fluids, not necessarily from straight-up H20. Herbal tea and juices are hydration helpers (though soda isn't), but fruits and vegetables (like celery and leafy greens) are an even healthier way to get your liquids.
7. Milk does the body good.
You're taught that drinking it by the glassful keeps bones healthy and prevents fatal injuries. Yet a 12-year-long Harvard study found that women who drink milk three times a day break more bones than women who drink less than one glass of milk per week. While lowfat dairy may agree with you, calcium is what's key for strong bones. You can get it from leafy greens, beans, vitamin D (sunshine!) and even lifting weights.
8. Cut out booze.
A daily glass of wine not only can help your heart but also add years to your life. University of Texas at Austin researchers found that moderate drinking, such as a small glass of wine (about four ounces) a day, reduces mortality among older and middle-aged adults. Dr. Goldberg says it's because heart disease is the leading killer of women, and wine is chockfull of antioxidants, which prevent serious sickness. So fill 'er up-without overflowing that glass.
9. Take a multivitamin.
Even though half of all adults pop one, the 2011 Iowa Women's Health Study found that women taking multivitamins don't live longer than those who get their nutrients from food alone. Only calcium supplements are linked to a lower death risk, with 37% of users dying compared to 43% of nonusers in the study. Researchers' conclusion: Get the vitamins and minerals from fruit and vegetables, not capsules.
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