~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
January 30

★~ Today’s Quote:  It isn’t sufficient just to want – you’ve got to ask yourself what you are going to do to get the things you want. Franklin D Roosevelt

★~ Bubble Wrap® Appreciation Day: 

Today we celebrate the joy that Bubble Wrap® brings to our lives. For the past 10 years, fans from around the country have been setting aside time on the last Monday in January to twist and stomp, often in unison, as they show their appreciation for Bubble Wrap.

BWAD was started in 2001 by a couple of bored radio DJs in Bloomington, Ind., supposedly looking to fill the news void between Martin Luther King Day and the Super Bowl.

Here are a few tips and ideas for celebrating Bubble Wrap Day: Larger bubble wrap makes more noise when you pop it; put Bubble Wrap on the soles of your shoes and annoy people with each step you take; have a Bubble Wrap contest—hand out sheets of Bubble Wrap and set the timer, and the person who pops the most bubbles within the allotted amount of time wins a Kazoo.

★~ Inane Answering Machine Day:

When I volunteered a lot for Cole’s school, one telephone technique I mastered was to know when I could safely leave a voicemail message on the answering machine of a member of my committee. This technique saved me countless hours of time on the phone.

I love people who have voicemail messages that assure me I have the right number and include how to bypass the message in the future. I don’t mind a clever voicemail outgoing message as long as it is short and changed every so often. What drives me nuts are people who refuse to listen to the message I have left and call me back using caller ID. If I leave a message, dadgumanseringmachinedarnit, I have something to say—so listen up before you call me back.

If you are leaving me a message—unless you are my sweet mother, it is helpful if you identify yourself with a name. Keep in mind it does not cost extra if you leave your phone number twice, and the shorter your message, the better.

Celebrate Inane Answering Message Day by calling yourself and checking out your voicemail message—and updating it as needed.

★~ Croissant Day:

Although it is most likely just a myth, the history of the croissant is a colorful tale full of adventure. In 1683, the Turkish Empire laid siege on Vienna, Austria. The Turks made several attempts to enter the city by force but were unsuccessful, so they decided to dig an underground tunnel. The bakers of Vienna, who worked in basement storerooms, heard the sound of digging and alerted the army.

The bakers received high honors and thanks for their assistance in outwitting the Turks. In celebration, they baked their bread in the shape of a crescent moon—the symbol of the Ottoman Empire. After the Turks were defeated, it became customary to serve morning coffee with the crescent-shaped pastry!

The legend goes on to say that over a hundred years later, Marie Antoinette (an Austrian princess who married Louis XVI) introduced the pastry to the French, who dubbed it a “croissant.” To celebrate National Croissant Day, warm up a delicious croissant and enjoy it with a generous helping of butter. Yum!

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1894 – C.B. King of Detroit, MI interested in all things pneumatic, earned himself a patent for the pneumatic hammer, the heavy jackhammer that runs on air and makes quite a racket.

♥~ 1933 – The famous radio western, The Lone Ranger, was heard for the first time. The program ran for 2,956 episodes and came to an end in late 1954.

♥~ 1982, Hall and Oates went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘I Can Go For That, (No Can Do)’ the duo’s fourth US No.1, a No.8 hit in the UK.

♥~ 1986 – The popular Love Stamp that pictured a little dog, went on sale this day. The U.S. postal stamp was the fifth in the continuing series. As of that date, more than 302 million Love Stamps had been sold.

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1882 – Franklin Delano Roosevelt 32nd U.S. President [1933-1945], only President elected 4 times [died 83 days after 4th inauguration], only President to serve more than two terms; died Apr 12, 1945

♥~ 1930 – Gene Hackman Academy Award-winning actor: The French Connection [1971], Bonnie and Clyde, Hawaii, Mississippi Burning, The Poseidon Adventure,Postcards from the Edge, Superman, The Firm, Crimson Tide

♥~ 1937 – Vanessa Redgrave Emmy Award-winning actress: Playing for Time [1981]; Academy Award-winner: Julia [1977]; Mary Queen of Scots, A Man for All Seasons

★~ Did You Know: 

♥~ Bubble Wrap® has been POPular since 1960, when Al Fielding and Marc Chavannes originally invented it for use as a plastic wallpaper with a paper backing.

♥~ In 1993, Fielding and Chavannes were inducted into the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame, along side the inventor of Turfgrass (C. Reed Funk of Rutgers University) and the inventor of the edible ice cream cone (Italo Marchiony of Hoboken).

♥~ Bubble Wrap® cushioning has been used for everything from a packaging material to a stress reliever.

♥~ Farrah Fawcett, former star of “Charlie’s Angels,” appeared on the cover of the July 1997 issue of Playboymagazine wrapped in Bubble Wrap® cushioning material.

♥~ There is actually a book dedicated to Bubble Wrap®, written by Joey Green and Tim Nyberg. Green and Nyberg completed the manuscript for “The Bubble Wrap Book” in one night, in a hotel bar on 827 cocktail napkins.

♥~ Bubble Wrap® can come in any color, although most stores simply sell transparent cushioning.

♥~ Among journalists, a “Bubble Wrap” is slang for a news story of little substance or consequence.

♥~  Throughout the years, fans have paid homage to Bubble Wrap in unique ways. There are homemade Bubble Wrap football helmets, handbags and dresses. One woman even got married in a Bubble Wrap wedding gown.

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The list of pet peeves that surrounds the telephone—the instrument we love to hate—is long, but the truth is, the telephone is my most favorite gadget on earth. I love talking on it, and I love calling people and love it when people call me. I talk to my sweet mom almost every day, and some friends a couple of times of week…and these calls are not just “fill my time while I drive” calls but a fun way to catch up. Ok, sometimes they are “fill my time while I drive calls,” but what are friends for…and I am happy to reciprocate.

Joe found out years ago that a mom in Cole’s class hated to talk on the phone. Judy greets you more or less with, “Hi, what do you want?” When Joe experienced Judy’s telephone manner firsthand, he decided in his usual way to lovingly torture her: He started to call her daily. When she wondered what he wanted, he would say things like, “I noticed at pick-up that you were wearing really nice shoes,” or “Did you see me wave at you when we were in the school drop off-line this morning?” When she would holler into the phone in a loud Columbian sort of way…“JOE, I’M BUSY. WHAT DO YOU WANT?” Joe would answer in an equally loud Italian way…“JUDY, I just want to talk to you. Is that wrong?” If you cannot torture your friends, who can you torture?

♥