A Little Fish In A Big Pond

According to BlogPulse, there are 144,637,323 blogs in existence. I don't know what percentage of those are active, but I figure mine is close to the bottom of the pecking order.

Today I received this e-mail:

Hello,

I just wanted to let you know that your website was featured in one of our our latest posts on The Travel Insurance Blog entitled 44 Family Vacation Stories.

Wow! What an ego boost. I've got a group of blogging buddies I've acquired over the years that are nice enough to stop in on a regular basis. Sometimes they even leave comments. But they feel more like friends. It was flattering to think I had strangers reading my ramblings, and they thought enough of them to pass them on to others!

I clicked over to The Travel Insurance Blog to check it out. It looks like a great resource, with travel insurance tips and lots of information about buying it. There's also some interesting non-travel insurance information, like the post I was part of, which linked to 44 different blogs that talked about the topic of vacations. Down near the bottom was mine, a post about my trip to Vancouver in July.

I'm always looking for great new blogs to add to my Reader, so I'll be spending a bit of time in the next couple of days browsing through some of my fellow traveler's stories.

New Year, New Job

My new year as a preschool teacher assistant started last month.  When it did, I moved down the hall to work in a new classroom.  The basic job description is still the same, but I've noticed quite a few differences.

I'm now working with the youngest children in the building.  They're two and three years old, and for some of them this is their first time away from Mom.  It's getting better, but at first there were some tears.  The first day there was someone crying almost all the time.

The lead teacher in this classroom is also a Kathy (actually a Cathy), which led to a lot of confusion when someone would call out the name. Since she's been there longer, she's Miss Cathy, and I'm known as Miss G.

This classroom has a higher percentage of special needs students than the last classroom., including three non-walkers.  One is on the cusp of walking-she takes several steps in a row, but the other two use a walker.  If not, they have to be carried.  Fortunately they have some of the smallest bodies, so it's not too difficult.

Because the school is inclusion-based, every classroom  has a team of therapists assigned to it.  In addition to the lead teacher and assistants who are there all the time, the Occupational Therapist, Physical Therapist, and Speech Pathologist spend time in the room as needed,  Sometimes there's almost as many adults as children!

In the old classroom, only a couple of the students hadn't mastered toileting.  Now I split the daily diaper duty with the other teacher assistant.  Only a handful of the children are wearing "big boy" or "big girl" underwear, and we clap and cheer when one of them is dry..

There's a daily lesson plan that includes large group activities (circle time, snack time, and outside play) and small group projects.  So far, I've supervised coloring, gluing, and finger painting.  On any given day, I could be helping someone complete a puzzle, string beads, or play on the floor with cars.  We do dress-up, read books, and listen to music.

In the old classroom my schedule was different each day, but now I have regular hours.  Although the classroom operates from nine until noon, I arrive a half hour early and stay after until everything is clean and put away. It's great having the same schedule every day.  However, there is one disadvantage. I get really hungry. For the past year I've been having lunch at 11:30.  Now, though, I don't eat until after I've cleaned the classroom after the session's ended at noon, so lunch is closer to 12:30.  I'm sure my stomach will eventually adjust.  If not, I'll have to start enjoying snack time with the kids.

I Just Realized...

That today (August 9th) is 8/9/10. 

I'll have to find something to do in honor of the day.  Any ideas?

If You've Happy And You Know It

According to the Secret Society of Happy People, August is Happiness Happens Month, and today (August 8th) is Happiness Happens Day.

Founded in 1998, the Society's mission is to help people recognize and talk about happiness. It encourages the expression of happiness and discourages parade-rainers, people who don’t want to hear happy news.

How does one celebrate Happiness Happens Day? The Society recommends...

celebrating the day by wearing your SILVER shades, donating your SILVER coins-pay someone's toll, bus or subway fare, buy a soda, or take up a donation for your favorite charity, or passing out SILVER kisses. Why SILVER? Because not-so-secretly happy people have a way of finding the SILVER lining in even the darkest clouds.

I know that happiness doesn't just happen.; you have to work at it. Abraham Lincoln said, "Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be", so today I tried to find the silver lining in the inconsequential things that happened as I went through the day:

• It was hot today, with a heat index pushing 100°.  However, the tomatoes love this time of year. I picked three full-sized and a dozen cherry fruits, and noticed there'll be some more ripe tomorrow.

• Hot weather also keeps the squirrels away from the bird feeder, so there's actually food there for the birds. 

• A sinus headache had me sitting on the couch doing nothing in the middle of the day.  Instead of being frustrated about it, though, I took the opportunity to close my eyes and listen to the soothing noise of the cicadas outside.    

• Twenty minutes of  work in the back yard yielded five mosquito bites, but also some nice-looking, weed-free beds.

• We took a walk after dinner, and my clothes were completely soaked by the time we finished.  However, it was late enough in the day that I didn't have to worry about sun exposure. And I don't get mosquito bites when I'm walking. And I got to walk through a sprinkler along the way.

Fat Cat

The other day Tony and I took both cats to the vet for their yearly physicals and shots.  The two cats are from the same litter, but only one of them, Jackson, has issues with his weight.  His brother Pepper eats whatever he wants and still manages to stay slim and trim. A while back we noticed that Jackson was looking a little extra chunky, so we started giving him less food each day, but despite our efforts, the vet told us that Jackson had gained some weight since last year.

We left the office with information on Jackson's recommended calorie amount-220 per day.  To figure out how much food that was, the vet suggested we contact the manufacturer to find out how many calories a cup of food contained.  With that information we could figure out how much to feed Jackson.

I didn't have any luck finding the information I needed on the company Website, so I called their information line this morning.  A nice woman was happy to help, but she explained that each variety (there are almost a dozen)  has a different number of calories. I buy several different flavors (because I figure the cats like a little variety), so I'd have to call back every time to get the information I needed.  There had to be a better way.  A little searching led me to the Pet Obesity Prevention Website.  It was full of great information and tools, including a chart that listed the calorie contents of the most common cat foods.

I didn't realize that there was such a large range of calories in the different formulations of our cat food.  It ranged from 362 calories per cup to 460 calories per cup.  Sadly, the flavor the cats are currently eating was close to the top of the calorie list.  I was unknowingly contributing to Jackson's weight problem!    A few calculations showed me that for Jackson's 220 daily calories he could eat a scant half cup of the current food, but if he changed to a different, lower calorie flavor he could have an extra two ounces! I've tried to lose weight enough to know that could be the difference between being hungry and grumpy or full and satisfied.

This afternoon I went to the pet store and purchased a bag of  "Healthy Weight"  cat food. In my diet there's a rough correlation between calories and taste (more usually means it's better).  I don't know enough about cat taste buds to know if Jackson will understand he's being consigned to the equivalent of bland portion control, but he's never been a finicky eater in the past, so I don't think we'll have a problem.  His new eating plan starts tomorrow.

Thirty Years Ago Today...

on August 2, 1980, Tony and I exchanged wedding vows.

A lot of things have changed over the last 30 years, but some haven't. Today's hot, sticky weather is the same as it was the day we said "I Do".  We got married at noon.  My house, where I got dressed, had air conditioning, but Tony's house didn't, so he went to his Best Man's place to get ready.

The bridesmaids and I met in the choir loft of the church.  One of them had a bottle of champagne, which we opened and toasted each other with.  I had been too nervous to eat breakfast, so I didn't want to drink too much on an empty stomach!  When it was time, we gathered in the back of the church.  The moms were escorted to their pews, then one by one the bridesmaids walked down the aisle.  It seemed like it took forever until it was my turn but when I saw Tony standing with the priest in front of the altar I forgot everything else.

I only remember little pieces of the ceremony.  The priest did a great job.  Even though now I couldn't tell you the titles of any of the songs we picked, they were beautiful.  After the ceremony was over we walked  down the aisle and I saw all the friends and relatives who had come to celebrate with us.

Tonight we celebrated with a special dinner. In honor of the occasion, the main dish was Chicken with Thirty Cloves of Garlic, which made the house smell wonderful.  Tony brought home a beautiful bouquet of red roses, which I put on the fireplace mantel so I can see them every time I step into the family room (and so the cats won't get them-roses are their favorite flowers too).

The Secret Code Of Credit Cards

Have you ever given any thought at all to your credit card number?  I hadn't until I learned about the Luhn algorithm.  Now I know that the numbers on my cards aren't just a series of random numerals.  They all have a meaning.

 The Luhn algorithm (or formula) was created in 1954 by Hans Peter Luhn, an IBM scientist.  When a card number is generated using Luhn's algorithm, various combinations of the digits on the card must add up to a number that is divisible by 10. For this reason, Luhn's formula is also referred to as modulus 10, or mod 10 for short.

The vast majority of credit card numbers have 15 or 16 digits. On a 16-digit Visa, MasterCard or Discover card, the first six numerals are known as the Issuer Identification Number (IIN) which identify the card issuer, and the next nine numerals are the card account number. (American Express uses an eight-digit account number, so their numbers are only 15 digits.)  The last digit in the number is a check digit. If you change or transpose any digits in a number, the Luhn formula will catch it.

I wanted to try out the formula, but I didn't want to use my real number.   I Goggled "credit card number generator", clicked on the first result, chose a random MasterCard number, and followed these steps:

The number I started with was
6256-0197-5318-0884

• I removed the non numeric characters (dashes), and reversed the string:

4 8 8 0 8 1 5 3 7 9 0 1 6 5 2 6

• Starting with the second digit, I doubled every other number (in red, to make it easier).

4 8 8 0 8 1 5 3 7 9 0 1 6 5 2 6

4 16 8 0 8 2 5 6 7 18 0 2 6 10 2 12

• I took the sum of every digit. 

4+(1+6)+8+0+8+2+5+6+7+(1+8)+0+2+6+(1+0)+2+(1+2)

4+7+8+0+8+2+5+6+7+9+0+2+6+1+2+3=70

• The last step is to divide the total by 10. If the remainder is 0 then the number is valid.

70 / 10 = 7 with no remainder 

4880-8153-7901-6526 would be a valid Master Card number!

Are You Linked?

Since you can never have enough social media in your life, yesterday I signed up for a LinkedIn account.

Actually it wasn't exactly my idea.  The communications director at work suggested it.  Because some parents are using LinkedIn for preschool referrals, she wants to expand the center's presence on the site.  I was able to help by signing up for an account and "connecting" to my employer.

You don't know what  LinkedIn is?  It's a business-oriented social networking site which has more than 70 million registered users.  It allows you to keep in contact with present and former workmates while helping you to build a professional network.  Tony's used the site for quite some time.  As a matter of fact, because he became a member of employee alumni groups for companies where he used to work, he's been able to reconnect with some coworkers he'd lost contact with.

The site lets you maintain contact details for people you know, which are called Connections.  A contact network is built up based on the concept of of "six degrees of separation". Your network consists of your direct connections, the connections of each of their connections (second-degree connections) and the connections of second-degree connections (third-degree connections). You can use the information to gain an introduction to someone through a mutual contact.

Signing up for LinkedIn was VERY easy. After my account was opened, I spent a bit of time working on my profile; education and employment information.   I then allowed the site to search my email contacts, and sent invitations to all the people who were already LinkedIn members.  Less than 24 hours later I had 9 Connections. They ranged from Web developers to writers to business owners. In theory, those 9 Connections could link me to more than 50,000 professionals.

At this point I don't think I'll be an extremely active LinkedIn user.  I'll make sure my profile stays up to date, and respond to any requests that are sent to me.  However, things may change in the future, so it's probably good that I'm now LinkedIn.

Age Has Its Privileges

I read recently that because of the new financial reform bill, banks may end free checking accounts. It didn't take long.  Yesterday when I opened the statement for one of my checking accounts, they included a message that starting in August, the account would have a monthly maintenance fee.

This checking account used to be for my business. Even though I closed the business more than a year ago, I kept the account open. I have my paychecks deposited there, and I use the money for unexpected events.  I didn't really want to close it, but what were my choices?  According to the bank Website, I could avoid the monthly fee by keeping a (quite large) minimum amount in it, or I could also take advantage of my age and open a "50+ year old" account. 

What?  Me a senior?

Shortly before Tony's 50th birthday a couple of years ago, he received an invitation to join AARP; now he's a proud card carrying member. Since the membership covers both halves of a couple, I didn't have the privilege of getting an invitation, and my membership card is in his name. I read the publications that come to the house. (a bi-monthly glossy magazine that usually has a "mature" celebrity on the cover, and a monthly news bulletin) but I've never personally taken advantage of any of the membership discounts I'm entitled to..

However, I can play the age card when it suits me, so after work I drove to the bank to open my new free checking account.  The process took two minutes. It involved finding my account on the bank's computer and changing the account type on a drop down list. They printed a change form for me, and I was done. I get to keep the same account number, so I don't have to fill out a new automatic deposit form at work, and I don't have to order new checks.

I may have to start investigating other discounts!

Garden Update

Remember the volunteer tomato plant that I discovered at the beginning of June?

It turned out to be a Roma.  It's all grown up, and sporting a couple of dozen fruits in  various stages of growth.  I picked the first one today.  Sadly, it had a crack down one side.  It's just a cosmetic defect, though; the tomato still tasted good.  All my tomato plants are growing together, and it's hard to tell where one stops and the next one starts.

Here's the tropical section of the deck, where a pineapple, philodendron, and ginger plant mingle with a spider plant in a hanging basket:

 

I put the plants on the deck in the spring.  Then the weather turned cool and I had to bring them in.  I repeated the process two more times before they were permanently out.  They didn't grow in the cooler weather; however, this month they're thriving. The pineapple is sporting several new sets of leaves (which grow from the center). There are some roots peeking out of the holes at the bottom of the pot.  Time to repot it! When the ginger went on the deck, it was just a sprout. Now it's got multiple stems, and they just keep getting taller.  The philodendron's stems are getting long.  One of them is close to three feet in length.  At the end of the summer I'll snip them off and pot them up in their own container.