FRANKENSTEIN FRIDAY

Friday, October 26^th: It’s a freaky kind of Friday. Celebrate FRANKENSTEIN FRIDAY today!

Celebrated annually the last Friday in October, the day honors Frankenstein, a Halloween favorite. Although the day was created by Ron MacCloskey in 1997, Frankenstein has been around a lot longer. He was born in 1818 when Mary Wollenstonecraft Shelley, a mere 21 years old, wrote the story of Frankenstein. The movies in 1910 and 1931 propelled this green gigantic creation into popularity that continues today.

Celebrate life, even when it’s celebrating odd green creatures.

CELEBRATION OF THE MIND DAY

Sunday, October 21^st: Today is a mind boggling kind of day. Today is the third CELEBRATION OF THE MIND DAY.

Today honors the life of Martin Gardner who would have been 98 years old today. He passed away May 22, 2010 and wanted no memorials, but wished that his work with Gatherings For Gardner (G4G) continue. Martin’s life was dedicated to the pursuit of a playful and fun approach to Mathematics, Science, Art, Magic, Puzzles and the workings of the mind.

Celebrate a life lived fully; celebrate the magnificent power of our own minds. Grab a puzzle, exercise those gray cells, and appreciate the intricate inner workings of our own thought processes.

Need a little help to get started? Here’s ‘Ten Off the Shelf’ from G4G: http://www.g4g-com.org/storage/resources/CoM-Ten_Off_The_Shelf.pdf

INFORMATION OVERLOAD DAY

Saturday, October 20^th: Whoa … whoa … STOP! Today is INFORMATION OVERLOAD DAY. Computers were supposed to make our lives easier. And they have, in many ways. But in others … the information just keeps coming and coming, faster and faster.

Jonathan Spira, author of Overload! How Too Much Information is Hazardous to Your Organization started the celebration of this unique day. He urges people to send 10% fewer e-mail messages. He states that “the average knowledge worker receives 93 e-mail messages per day and many are unnecessary. If every knowledge worker in the U.S. were to send 10% fewer messages, the cost of Information Overload would be reduced by as much as $180 billion per year.” And that’s just at work. Then, we arrive home and have a deluge of emails to reckon with, not to mention checking our Facebook, Twitters, Linked In, Pinterest (and a slew of other social networking sites, not to mention the blogs we subscribe to) and soon the nights over and we haven’t accomplished a thing.

Some of the statistics posted on http://www.informationoverloadday.com/ are:

• A minimum of 28 billion hours is lost each year to Information Overload in the United States.
• Reading and processing just 100 e-mail messages can occupy over half of a worker’s day.
• It takes five minutes to get back on track after a 30 second interruption.
• For every 100 people who are unnecessarily copied on an e-mail, eight hours are lost.
• 58 percent of government workers spend half the workday filing, deleting, or sorting information, at an annual cost of almost $31 billion dollars.
• 66 percent of knowledge workers feel they don’t have enough time to get all of their work done.
• 94 percent of those surveyed have felt overwhelmed by information at some point to the point of incapacitation.

Keep in mind; those are statistics pertaining to work. What about the hours lost at home, hours spent trying to keep a handle on incoming information, in addition to the time we spend looking up facts and details that we really want to know! What can you do today to keep the information overload at bay? What can we do to take back control of our lives and our families? (A little ironic since I’m posting this ‘information’ via Facebook and a blog don’t you think?)

Happy Birthday Annie Peck

Friday, October 19th: A woman scaling mountains; Happy Birthday Annie Peck! Born October 19, 1850, Annie Smith Peck discovered she had a passion for climbing mountains. She scaled several moderate-sized mountains in Europe and in the United States, including Mount Shasta. In 1895, she climbed the Matterhorn and suddenly became quite well known.

According to Wikipedia, “She climbed Mount Orizaba and Mount Popocatepetl in Mexico in 1897. Although, already over fifty years old, Peck wanted to make a very special climb. She travelled to South America in 1903, looking for a mountain taller than Aconcagua in Argentina (6960 m). She climbed Mount Sorata in Bolivia in 1904, and in 1908 she was the first person to climb Mount Nevado Huascaran  in Peru (6768 m) (she climbed the north peak, the south peak is actually taller and was first climbed by Germans in 1932, fourteen years later Yungay, Peru ), accompanied by two Swiss mountain guides. She wrote a book about her experiences called The Search for the Apex of America: HighMountain Climbing in Peru and Bolivia, including the Conquest of Huascaran, with Some Observations on the Country and People Below.”

Annie continued climbing mountains well into her sixties. She was an explorer, a woman who followed her dreams, a woman who celebrated life. Thinking of you today Annie Peck!

NATIONAL EAT BETTER, EAT TOGETHER MONTH

Thursday, October 18^th: Have fun. Eat with your family! October is NATIONAL EAT BETTER, EAT TOGETHER MONTH. It is time for adults to eat meals with children and teenagers and to celebrate family meals.

Washington State University’s Nutrition Education Department sponsors this month of delightful eating together. They state: “Although nutritious food is important, children and teenagers report that what they like about family meals is the mealtime conversation. They like having time to share, find out what others have been doing, and to laugh.

Families make eating together memorable in many ways. Some families have candlelight dinners. Others shop together so that each person can select a vegetable for family soup that they make and eat together. Some try foods from other countries. Others celebrate and share family memories around a traditional family recipe. Whether your family meal is quick and easy or more elaborate, make it nutritious and make it fun by enjoying each other’s company as you share a meal.”

http://nutrition.wsu.edu/ebet/

MULLIGAN DAY

Wednesday, October 17^th: Can I have a “do-over”? Today is MULLIGAN DAY, a day for giving yourself, or another, a second chance. “In golf, a mulligan is a stroke that is replayed from the spot of the previous stroke without penalty, due to an errant shot made on the previous stroke” according to Wikipedia. Several versions if the story of how a mulligan got its name exists. I guess it doesn’t matter which is the correct version, I’ll take a “do-over” anytime!

DICTIONARY DAY

Tuesday, October 16^th: Words, words, words; celebrate DICTIONARY DAY. Today honors Noah Webster on his birthday, father of the American dictionary. He encouraged every person to acquire at least one dictionary – and to use them regularly.

In today’s cyber-world, paper dictionaries may be a thing of the past. But, they’re just as useful as ever, be it paper or virtual. Celebrate the day by playing some world games. Here’s a link with a baker’s dozen on-line word games, including Crossword Cove, Hangman, Word Kingdome, Cryptogram, Clockwords and more.

http://dictionary.reference.com/fun/

Pick a word, any word, and play the night away!

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF RURAL WOMEN

Monday, October 15^th: Celebrate today; the INTERNATIONAL DAY OF RURAL WOMEN. This day of honor is sponsored by the United Nations. (http://www.un.org/en/events/ruralwomenday/) Their site states:

The first International Day of Rural Women was observed on 15 October 2008. This new international day, established by the General Assembly in its resolution 62/136 of 18 December 2007, recognizes “the critical role and contribution of rural women, including indigenous women, in enhancing agricultural and rural development, improving food security and eradicating rural poverty.”

Rural women play a critical role in the rural economies of both developed and developing countries. In most parts of the developing world they participate in crop production and livestock care, provide food, water and fuel for their families, and engage in off-farm activities to diversify their families’ livelihoods. In addition, they carry out vital functions in caring for children, older persons and the sick.

Celebrate rural women today and also give thanks for the blessings and abundance we experience as women in the US. Our lives are rich with abundance that we often take for granted.

INTERNATIONAL EARTHCACHE DAY

Sunday, October 14th: Celebrate the earth we live on. Today is INTERNATIONAL EARTHCACHE DAY. Have GPS; must travel!

“Celebrate International EarthCache Day by logging an EarthCache. Find an EarthCache at http://geocaching.com/. The 6th annual International EarthCache Day returns, to help kick-off Earth Science Week 2012.

Join the Geological Society of America (GSA), which oversees the global EarthCache program, and the American Geosciences Institute (AGI), which organizes Earth Science Week. Explore this exciting and educational Earth science experience which often reveals hidden clues about the earth’s formation.

There are more than 23,000 EarthCaches around the globe and a staggering 3,300,000 people have logged those caches to date. Visit www.earthcache.org and www.earthsciweek.org to learn more.”

Now if you’ll excuse me, my GPS is calling me. I’m off for a day of geocaching!

POSITIVE ATTITUDE MONTH

Saturday, October 13^th: Too happy to permit the presence of trouble … October is POSITIVE ATTITUDE MONTH. This month is dedicated to establishing, boosting or forcing ourselves to adopt positive attitudes and discovering and/or creating positive self-images. The month was originally sponsored by Sylvia Henderson, of Springboard Training.

Are you in need of an ‘attitude adjustment’? Check out this site where they share five tips to implement for 21 days to a positive attitude habit.

http://lifeorganizers.com/cm_articles/115_21_days_to_a_positive_attitude_habit_773.html

Perhaps one of my own personal favorites is The Optimist Creed. (Yes, there is an Optimist club!) The creed is recited at every weekly meeting. The words are good to apply to every day of our lives, inspiring a more positive attitude and life.

The Optimist Creed (by Christian D. Larson)

Promise Yourself – To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.
To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.
To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
To think only of the best, to work only for the best and to expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.
To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

Happy Positive Attitude Month!