Practice Makes Perfect January 24, 2023
Posted by nrhatch in Food & Drink, Life Balance, Mindfulness.comments closed
Hearts, like eggs, are fragile.
However, once broken open, infinite possibilities await.
We can collapse into a pool of tears, become hard-boiled (or scrambled) by the ways of the world, or emerge sunny-side up.
Just remember, even a master chef can’t make an omelette without breaking some eggs:
Aah . . . that’s better!
Goats Have The Right Idea September 11, 2022
Posted by nrhatch in Humor, Joke, Life Balance, Mindfulness.comments closed
I choked on a carrot this afternoon and as my life flashed before my eyes, I thought, “I bet a donut wouldn’t have done this to me.”
***
I don’t want to adult anymore. I don’t even want to human. I want to goat.
No, not gloat . . . goat.
I want to eat all day and head butt anyone who annoys me.
***
Brain: I can see you’re trying to sleep.
Can I offer you a selection of your worst memories from the last 20 years?
***
If you wait long enough to cook dinner, everyone will just eat cereal.
That’s the first thing we learned in Home Economics.
***
People will stop asking you stupid questions if you answer back in interpretive dance.
You can thank me later.
***
A giraffe’s coffee would be cold by the time it reached the bottom of its throat. Every think about that?
***
My son asked if a punch bowl is where you keep the names of people you want to punch.
I told him, “I usually keep them in my head, but storing them in a decorative bowl seems really classy.”
***
My kids laugh because they think I’m crazy. I laugh because it’s apt to be hereditary.
Aah . . . that’s better!
Source: E-mail from unknown author (sent by Joan M.)
Keeping Up With Technology September 9, 2022
Posted by nrhatch in Humor, Joke, Life Balance, Mindfulness.comments closed
Remember the Good Old Days, when you would take a photo of your dinner, mail the film in for processing (after you finished the whole roll), wait for the photos to be developed, and then run around to all your friends’ homes to show them photos of what you had for dinner?
No.
Me neither.
***
Have you ever been in parking lot watching someone haplessly look for their car because they didn’t pay attention to where they parked it? Want to have a little fun with them?
Every time you see them hoist the key fob into the air, honk your horn and flash your lights.
***
Aren’t you glad you were young and stupid BEFORE there were camera phones?
***
I like to make lists. On paper. I also like to leave them on my desk so that I can guess what’s on the list when I get to the store.
Fun game.
***
I don’t know how to use TikTok . . . but I do know how to write in cursive, do long division, and tell time on clocks with hands.
So I’ve got that going for me.
***
You think you know stress. When I was a kid, if you missed your favorite TV program, you just missed it.
Forever.
***
These days, we have SMART phones, SMART TVs, SMART refrigerators, SMART thermostats, but our smoke detectors are still dumb.
We need a smoke detector that shuts off when you yell:
I’m Just Cooking!
Aah . . . that’s better!
Source: E-mail from unknown author (sent by Joan M.)
Over The Gorge We Go September 3, 2022
Posted by nrhatch in Life Balance, Mindfulness, Nature, Travel & Leisure.comments closed
Are you a sleepwalker?
This is NOT the Airbnb for you.
Do you like to cook on vacation . . . bringing bags and bags of groceries with you?
Ditto.
Afraid of heights?
Do NOT, under any circumstance, rent this place for your next weekend get-away.
On the other hand, this place is PERFECT for those who are physically fit, in good health, and light packers.
Light as in backpacks NOT steamer trunks.
Some experience with flying, base jumping, and skydiving would be helpful.
Ready?
Over the Gorge we go . . .
This Kentucky Airbnb, a one-bedroom, one-bath property suspended high above the Red River Gorge, is an acrophobe’s nightmare.
Reaching your rental requires climbing suspended stairs hundreds of steps long, with more climbing to retire for the evening
Personally, I’d love to spend the night . . . as long as I’ve got a sherpa to schlep my gear!
If you click on any of the links, you be able to see more amazing, cringe-worthy photos.
Aah . . . a September to Remember!
Beauty June 23, 2022
Posted by nrhatch in Gratitude, Happiness, Life Balance, Mindfulness.comments closed
“ At some point in life the world’s beauty becomes enough. You don’t need to photograph, paint, or even remember it. It is enough.”
— Toni Morrison, Pulitzer & Nobel Prize-winning African-American author
Aah . . . so true!
Do you agree with Toni? Have you reached that point in life yet? Are you taking fewer photos and smelling more roses?
There is something to be said for just enjoying the moment, without trying to preserve it for posterity . . .
I am grateful for what I am and have.
My thanksgiving is perpetual . . .
O how I laugh when I think of my vague indefinite riches.
No run on my bank can drain it
for my wealth is not possession but enjoyment. ~ Henry David Thoreau
Here’s to enjoying the moment HERE and NOW without trying to capture or possess it in perpetuity.
Aah . . . that’s better!
Happy Commencement May 27, 2022
Posted by nrhatch in Gratitude, Happiness, Life Balance, Mindfulness.comments closed
In a world with a few too many unhappy endings, here’s to new beginnings:
Aah . . . that’s better!
Champ Jaxon May 13, 2022
Posted by nrhatch in Life Balance, Mindfulness, Music & Dance, People.comments closed
Champ Jaxon has been playing guitar for a couple of years and has gained a degree of proficiency rarely seen in pre-teens.
He’s already appeared on stage with the Marshall Tucker Band and on national television on the Ellen Degeneres show.
He doesn’t know where he’s going . . . but he’s knows where he was grown:
Aah . . . that’s better!
Stay Curious May 5, 2022
Posted by nrhatch in Humor, Magick & Mystery, Mindfulness, People.comments closed
I think, at a child’s birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift should be curiosity.
— Eleanor Roosevelt, former First Lady of the United States
Like Pooh, I’m just curious . . . what do you think?
Would inventors, like Edison and Ford, have invented anything without curiosity?
Would explorers, like Columbus and Magellan, have explored without curiosity?
Would cooks, like Andrew Zimmern, experiment in the kitchen without curiosity?
Would anyone have eaten a lobster without curiosity?
Aah . . . stay curious!
What Day Is It? May 3, 2022
Posted by nrhatch in Humor, Magick & Mystery, Mindfulness.comments closed
The Great Courses lecture series is an extensive collection of home study courses in areas of Art, Science, Math, Philosophy, Brain Fitness, etc. Our local library offers a number of the Great Courses on DVD, often with an accompanying handbook.
One series that contains some FUN “party tricks” is The Secrets of Mental Math, presented by Professor Arthur T. Benjamin (an “engaging, entertaining, and insightful” lecturer).
From Professor Benjamin’s series of 12 lectures on Mental Math, I learned, inter alia, tips on Calendar Calculating.
What’s that, you ask?
Calendar Calculating allows you to determine the day of the week for a specific date without flipping through a calendar.
Note: Some of you will get a kick out of Calendar Calculating. Others will wish to stick with a paper calendar to check the day of the week for a given day.
To each his own.
The basic formula is: Month Code + Date + Year Code (minus multiples of 7) = Day of the Week.
(Month, Day of the Week, and Year Codes are discussed below.)
A quick example:
July 4, 2022 = 5 (month code) + 4 (date) + 6 (year code for 2022) = 15
From that sum, subtract “14” (to eliminate multiples of 7). The resulting sum of “1” means that July 4th this year will land on a Monday . . .
Go ahead. Check your calendar. We’ll wait.
Huzzah! A 3-day weekend for those of us in the USA celebrating our independence!
Here’s another example from this year:
October 31, 2022 = 6 (month code) + 31 (date) + 6 (year code) = 43 – 42 = 1 = Monday
Reminder: Some of you will get a kick out of Calendar Calculating. Others will wish to stick with a paper calendar to check the day of the week for a given day.
No judgment from me.
Days of the Week Codes (these are pretty obvious):
Monday = 1
Tuesday = 2
Wednesday = 3
Thursday = 4
Friday = 5
Saturday = 6
Sunday = 7 (or 0 because 7-7 = 0)
In order to perform the calculations quickly, you will need to memorize 12 Month Codes. It helps to have a quick pneumonic device for each month:
January = 6 (W-I-N-T-E-R has 6 letters) (January = 5 in a leap year)*
February = 2 (2nd month) (February = 1 in a leap year)*
March = 2 (March 2 the beat!)
April = 5 (A-P-R-I-L or F-O-O-L-S has 5 letters)
May = 0 (Hold the May-0)
June = 3 (June B-U-G)
July = 5 (F-I-V-E-R Works!)
August = 1 (“A” is the 1st letter of the alphabet)
September = 4 (F-A-L-L has 4 letters)
October = 6 (T-R-I-C-K-S or T-R-E-A-T-S has 6 letters)
November = 2 (in the US, Thanksgiving = 2-rkey day)
December = 4 (X-M-A-S or L-A-S-T has 4 letters)
*In a leap year, January has a code of 6 – 1 = 5 (because no leap has occurred yet) and February has a code of 2 – 1 = 1 (for the same reason).
Example: January 1st, 2000 (a leap year) = 5 + 1 + 0 = 6 ~> Saturday!
The “why” behind these code numbers is due to the length of each month. Since 28 days is a multiple of 7, February and March start on the same day of the week (EXCEPT in a leap year) because February has 28 days (EXCEPT in a leap year).
The rationale for the other months is similar:
March has 31 days which is 3 days longer than 28 so we add 3 to the code for March (2) to calculate that April’s code = 5.
April has 30 days which is 2 days longer than 28 so we add 2 to its code of 5 to get “7” for May. After subtracting out 7 (to reduce by multiples of 7), May’s code is “0.”
As I noted above: Some of you will get a kick out of Calendar Calculating. Others will wish to stick with a paper calendar to check the day of the week for a given day. I hear ya.
So does Goofy!
Year Codes
To calculate the Year Code for a specific year, the formula is Year (just the last 2 digits) + Leap Years (divide the year’s last 2 digits by 4 and ignore the remainder) + Year Code for the Century. The resulting sums are reduced by multiples of 7. Why? That’s just the way it is.
Here are the Century Codes:
1600 = 0
1700 = 5
1800 = 3
1900 = 1
2000 = 0
Example: The year code for 2022 = 22 + 5 (22/4 = 5 leaps)+ 0 (century code) = 27 – 21 (to reduce by multiples of 7) = 6
Just for fun, calculate today’s date to see if it conforms:
May 3, 2022 = 0 (Month Code) + 3 (date) + 6 (year code) = 9 – 7 = 2 and 2 = Tuesday
GO YOU! You are catching on QUICK!
Note: Some of you will get a kick out of Calendar Calculating. Others will wish to stick with a paper calendar to check the day of the week for a given day.
For those of you who want to dive in . . ..
Here are the year codes for the first 32 years this century:
2001 (1) 2002 (2) 2003 (3) 2004 (5) 2005 (6) 2006 (0) 2007 (1) 2008 (3)
2009 (4) 2010 (5) 2011 (6) 2012 (1) 2013 (2) 2014 (3) 2015 (4) 2016 (6)
2017 (0) 2018 (1) 2019 (2) 2020 (4) 2021 (5) 2022 (6) 2023 (0) 2024 (2)
2025 (3) 2026 (4) 2027 (5) 2028 (0) 2029 (1) 2030 (2) 2031 (3) 2032 (5)
Since year codes repeat every 28 years (from 1901 through 2099), for years like 2030, you can delete multiples of 28 to make mental calculations easier:
October 31, 2030 = 6 + 31 + 2 (year code)= 39 – 35 = 4 = Thursday
The same is true for the last century ~ reduce the year (1998) by multiples of 28:
1998 – 28 = 1970 – 28 = 1942 – 28 = 1914
Due to the repeating nature of year codes, July 4, 1998 fell on the same day of the week as July 4, 1970, July 4, 1942, and July 4, 1914.
As a result, it’s easiest to reduce to 1914 first and then calculate the year code:
14 (year) + 3 (14 / 4 = 3 leaps) + 1 (century code for 1900) = 18 – 14 = 4 is the year code for 1914 . . . as well as for 1942 & 1970 & 1998.
And that makes sense:
If the year code for 1998 = 4 . . . then the code for 1999 = 5 . . . and the code for 2000 (a leap year) = 5 + 2 = 7 – 7 (to reduce by multiples of 7) = 0 and we know that’s correct since we know that the year code for 2000 is 0.
Returning to our Calendar Calculation, you’ll be happy to know that July 4, 1998 fell on a Saturday:
5 (Month Code) + 4 (Date) + 4 (Year Code) = 13 – 7 = 6 = Saturday!
You are getting the hang of this! Take a bow!
The year codes repeat every 28 years (from 1901 through 2099) because the calendar shifts 28 times for the years PLUS 7 times for the leap years: 28 + 7 = 35. Since 35 is a multiple of 7, the days of the week stay the same.
1900 and 2100 are NOT leap years.
Quick Tip: To perform Calendar Calculations as a party trick using Mental Math, start by calculating the Year Code before asking for the Month and date.
If someone born on December 25, 1960 wants you to calculate the day of the week they were born, ask for the Year first:
Year code = 1960 – 28 – 28 = 1904 = 4 + 1 (leap) + 1 (century code) = 6
December 25, 1960 = 4 + 25 + 6 = 35 – 35 = 0 = Sunday
And, if they’re wondering, being born on a Sunday is good news (at least for those of certain religious persuasions):
Monday’s child is fair of face
Tuesday’s child is full of grace
Wednesday’s child is full of woe
Thursday’s child has far to go
Friday’s child is loving and giving
Saturday’s child has to work for a living
And the child who is born on the Sabbath Day, is bonny, blithe, good and gay.
OK, that’s it.
Go forth and calculate!
Foot Note: Some of you will get a kick out of Calendar Calculating. Others will wish to stick with a paper calendar to check the day of the week for a given day.
Mickey is OK with that. So am I!
Aah . . . Math is FUN-da-mental!
We Took A Trip March 20, 2022
Posted by nrhatch in Life Balance, Mindfulness, Travel & Leisure.comments closed
Most of the time, I’m happy to be HERE at home.
Whatever wanderlust I experienced as a youth has fled the scene, departed the premises, vacated my psyche.
But, even homebodies like us enjoy the occasional quick trip as a pleasant interlude to our daily routines.
So we took a short (two day) road trip to the East Coast of Florida.
Although our original plans included driving as far north as St. Augustine, we never made it due to heavy rain, threatened tornados, and our incredibly flexible itinerary.
No matter:
“A good traveler has no set plans and is not intent on arriving.” ~ Lao Tzu
We’ll see St. Augustine some other time.
Aah . . . that’s better!
When was your last road trip? Have you traveled much since Covid arrived on the scene? Do you prefer loose itineraries or plans that are “set in stone”?
Spirit Lights The Way 