Google 10th Birthday

So Google will be celebrating it's 10th Birthday sometime this month. This is a momentous occasion, especially since Google has grown so much in the last ten years:

Great Moments in Google History:

• September 15th 1997 - Google.com registered as a domain


• February 4th 2002 - Klingon becomes one of Google's 72 supporting languages


• September 1st 2008 - Google Chrome Unleashed

Stay Tuned for more great moments in Google History as we head towards one of the biggest birthday bashes of the year.

Everybody’s Day

September 27th was Everybody’s Day. No, literally it was a day for everybody! This one day celebration is full of festivities that were geared towards, well, everybody! Although I only found a website for extravaganzas in North Carolina, you can sponsor a day of carnival and fun anyday for your co-workers and their family. Give out fun promotional items like pocket sudoku or cube puzzle picture frames. It would be an awesome time to socialize with your co-workers and to plan a bit of fun within the sometimes mundane routine of work.

Pleasure Your Mate Month

May I make a suggestion? Change that humdrum routine of yours when romancing your mate; love-routines are so BORING! Be dynamic when expressing your emotional, physical, and spiritual affection for your mate! Be different and celebrate “Pleasure Your Mate Month” this September.

I know! I know! There are only 5 more days left in the month! But realize that pleasuring and appreciating your mate does not have to be limited to just September. So stop over analyzing! You think too much; just do but do it creatively!

How would you like to show your mate that you appreciate them in every aspect? Bake cookies in his favorite lingerie? Make a personalized photo book filled with her favorite funny moments as a couple? Escape to an exotic love-haven? Your challenge (if you dare to accept) is to implement an avant-garde and uniquely imaginative approach to appeasing and pleasing your mate!

Good luck promoting love!

Tastes Like Chicken! (National Chicken Month)

Chicken. It's what's for dinner. Since September is National Chicken Month, I expect all of you to be eating chicken non-stop for the entire month. Chicken in the morning, chicken in the evening, chicken at supper time. I recently got word that after the porridge fiasco, Mama Bear, Papa Bear and Baby Bear traded their off-temperature malted cereal in for 3 hot plates of chicken! If they can do it, so can you.

Seriously though, chicken is delicious, so go out and enjoy marinated chicken breast, jerk chicken, chicken tenders, chicken marsala, chicken curry...the list just goes on. And if you're not chicken (or vegetarian), you should try out one of these award-winning recipes. These are the magnificent recipes from the winners of this year's National Chicken Month cook-off, so they are guaranteed to impress.

Cooking chicken dishes can get messy, though, so you might want to grab a few aprons for your cooking crew. Personalize them in honor of National Chicken Month--the chickens, and the cooks who don't have to use stain-removal products on all of their laundy, will really appreciate them!

Happy Belated Birthday, Ice Cream Cone!

September 22nd marked the anniversary of the ice cream cone, which was the perfect excuse for you to eat all the ice cream you wanted! I plan on calling up some friends, dusting off the ice cream maker, renting some movies, and submerging into a world of pistachio and amaretto ice cream smothered in walnuts and almonds to make up for missing such a great celebration. YUM! Maybe I will make some s’mores to be extra indulgent. The kitchen will definitely be my area of entertainment for tonight.

Dear Diary Day

Dear Diary,

Did you know today was Dear Diary Day? Who knew a whole day could be dedicated to gathering my emotions and journaling every painstaking detail of my existence. Let me go down the list so we can both celebrate this special occasion:

• My fancy pen...Check!
• You, of course. My notebook with lock and key...Check!
• Gnawing heart wrenching sentiments…**Sniffle**… Check!
• Comfy plush pillow, slippers, and night robe…Check!

Diary, I just wanted to tell you that you are never judgmental; you always let my words sink in. And you ease my mind, organize my thoughts, and bring out my creativity... you…you…

I said I wouldn’t cry! **Sigh**

Fishy Business

Happy Fish Amnesty Day! I think I might actually be a few days early, but it never hurts to give fish a little break, right?! I figure there are so many other options for sautéing, baking, and frying that I can gear my attention towards promoting another food type. Here’s a lip-smacking, non-fishy recipe from Rachel Ray:

Jerk Turkey Chili with Fried Okra (Serves 4-6)

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 pounds ground turkey breast
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped or grated
• 2 jalapeño peppers, seeded and chopped
• 2 green bell peppers, seeded and chopped
• 3 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 tablespoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon allspice
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• Salt and ground black pepper
• 1 bottle beer, preferably an India Pale Ale (if you don’t want to use beer, use more stock or water)
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 3 tablespoons honey
• Grape seed, safflower or peanut oil, whichever you prefer, enough to go half an inch up the sides of your pan
• 12 fresh okra, thinly sliced by hand, mandoline or food processor slicing attachment
• Zest and juice of 2 limes

PREPARATION:

In a heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat, add two turns of the pan of EVOO. Cook the ground turkey until brown, about 5 minutes. Add in the onions, garlic and peppers, and cook until the onions are translucent, about 5-6 minutes. Stir in the chili powder, cumin, cinnamon, allspice, tomato paste, salt and ground black pepper, and cook about 1 minute. Add in the beer, chicken stock and honey and bring up to a bubble. Simmer for about 15 minutes.

While the chili is cooking, heat a high-sided sauté pan over medium heat with half an inch of oil. The oil is ready when rapid bubbles form around the bottom of a wooden utensil handle when it is inserted into the oil. When properly heated, carefully add the okra into the oil and fry until crispy and tender, about 2-3 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon to a paper towel-lined plate and sprinkle with salt.

Serve the chili topped with fried okra.

First Day of Fall, REALLY?

TRIVIA: The United States calls the season between summer and winter fall because...

…the leaves on the tree fall! DUH! So summer is done and the beginning of this cool to lukewarm season begins with blatant change; the trees get naked and the world seems to get warmer and deeper in color. So what is so fascinating about autumn anyway? If you take a poetic perspective, autumn always seems to have a melancholic nuance. But then again, autumn is aligned with harvest and that means food and fresh, good food is always a happy association for me! So I am assuming that this season is all about balance or yin and yang, because it concludes and initiates the two extremities (summer and winter, respectively). All I know is that autumn means the best chow-down holiday is approaching—Thanksgiving!

Talk Like a Pirate Day

We All Be Feeling Like A Pirate

Aye folks, Talk Like A Pirate Day be back. If ye missed last year's event ye better not miss out again.

Ye may be wonderin' what ta do for today. Dress like a pirate, talk like a pirate, and be a pirate for a day. If ye don't, I be sending ya down to Davy Jones Locker. Find ya treasure chest full of chocolate gold coins.

Let every message ye send out be written in pirate speak. Today is the day that the gathering of the pirate lords begins. So show your mettle and be a true gentleman or lass of fortune.

Man (and Woman!) Hattin', NY (Fall Hat Month)

According to one website, in September everyone is "encouraged to put aside their straw hats and begin wearing felt or fabric hats." Does that apply to me?!, you think incredulously. Well, if you would consider yourself part of EVERYONE, then you're darn tootin' it does! Yes, I know, we all loooove our straw hats and we wear them everyday, but summer is fading my friends.

So toss your straw and celebrate Fall Hat Month in style, with a nice Peter Pan-style hat or maybe even some sort of velvet domepiece. (For those of you who don't know, velvet's making a comeback, baby. I once met a man who swore he'd drape himself in it if it were socially acceptable.)

Don't know where to find a good hat? Or maybe you have a good hat, but you want to find some cool hats for your friends and coworkers so they finally ditch their straw? Look no further! From standard baseball hats to novelty hats, these guys have it all. What is a novelty hat?!, you ask. Seek, and yee shall find. Yee shall also find the all-around-coolest-best-looking-most-fantabulous hat of them all: the bucket hat.

National Woman Road Warrior Day

She works hard for her money!

So today is a day entirely devoted to Xena the Warrior Princess!!! Err, actually I'm being told it's devoted to traveling business women across America. These are women who are constantly on-the-go, dressed to impress, and working hard for their money.


If you know any women road warriors, you know they rarely get enough sleep, so they down cups of coffee faster than Hummer's guzzle gas. These women certainly cannot afford to spill scalding coffee on their freshly-pressed business suits as they walk briskly down the street, so why not support your favorite road warrior princess with a sleek stainless steel mug with leather grip that holds two cups of joe?


Let's raise our mugs high and cheers to the women road warriors of our great nation! Huzzah! No spillage!

National Love Your Files Week

O, hail all ye files! Where would we be without thee?

Behind every great genius, there are well organized files. Did Shakespeare save the first draft of Hamlet just anywhere on his desktop? Did Da Vinci keep the Mona Lisa on the same flash drive as the home video of his Uncle Milton’s 67th Birthday? No, these great men knew the importance of organized files. Though there may not be any concrete historical evidence to prove that organized computer files were a key to the successes of 15th and 17th century geniuses, September 17-23 is National Love Your Files Week, so we might as well assume so, right?

As the lazy days of summer fade into the fast-paced autumn and holiday seasons, the growing clutter on both your desk and computer desktop threatens to devour you with its mighty jaws of disorganization. Defeat this monster by showing your files some love! Show your files some appreciation by trying some new file management techniques. Replacing your old, worn bags with new briefcases or totes can provide a refreshing new home for important documents, planners, and that letter you swear you’re “going to mail tomorrow.” Throw out or delete anything you know you won’t need anymore, just in time to let the chaos of holiday clutter start to pile up!

This week, take some time to show the files in your life that you care. Slay the vicious monster of disorganization: all it takes is a click, a drag and a drop.

National Wife Appreciation Day

Forgot Your Anniversary, AGAIN?

Luckily September 16th is National Wife Appreciation Day!! But you knew that, right?

National Wife Appreciation Day is not only for those husbands who have a wife that fiendishly anticipates the anniversary of anything and although everyday should be a day for appreciating one’s spouse, Wife Appreciation Day commemorates the importance of everything that a wife does for her husband. So unlike trying to remember the exact place, date, and time you and your wife went to the supermarket for the first time together and what brand and color lipstick she was wearing that day, save yourself some trouble by sticking with the basics of simply appreciating your wife!

OK, so you forgot her birthday, your wedding anniversary, Christmas, AND Valentine’s Day but you remember when Super Bowl XLV is commencing??!! National Wife Appreciation Day is a great way to camouflage your poor memory. Hurry up, get creative, and surprise your wife today!

Blame It On The Large Hadron Collider Day

This holiday (which I just invented) is dedicated to everyone who is terrified of the unlikely prospect that the Large Hadron Collider will destroy the world. When anything goes wrong today, feel free to blame it on the LHC! It's like a get-out-of-jail free card, except there's no jail and no card because the collider obliterated them with spaghettified gravitational collapse.

Computer running slow? Collider's fault. Tripped going up the stairs? Definitely the collider's fault. Can't find your wallet? Why don't you look inside of that super-massive world-destroying black hole the collider created? I bet it's in there.

Despite mountains of evidence justifying the safety of these experiments written by the smartest and most accomplished people on the planet, I'm pretty sure that the LHC is responsible for every problem that has occured or will occur today.

Things not going your way today? Go ahead, blame it on the Large Hadron Collider! If you'd like to get continued updates, please visit this website.

Large Hadron Collider Power-up Day!

Well, the Large Hadron Collider made its first successful run this morning, and the world hasn't been sucked into a voracious black hole yet. Huzzah! For those who haven't heard of the LHC, it's basically the biggest, coolest, and most expensive science experiment ever built. Physicists from around the globe came together to create this machine, which is capable of re-creating the "big bang" in a carefully controlled setting that can be easily measured. The scientists working on this impressive project believe that that results from Large Hadron Collider experiments will completely revolutionize our understanding of the universe!

On Large Hadron Collider Power-Up Day, celebrate the achievements of physicists that are smarter than all of us with a bottle of wine and some party food! Let's wish them the best of luck with their new machine and hope they find out some information that can help improve our lives. Considering CERN, the agency coordinating the entire LHC experiment, invented the Internet — I'm expecting some awesome results!

National Honey Month - September

September is National Honey Month, and it's going to be a sweet one! Honey Month is sponsored by The National Honey Board (what doesn't have a formal organization these days?) which uses the event to urge consumers to appreciate the benefits of this "natural sweetener," while encouraging them to try different varieties of honey. Yes, apparently there is more than one. As it turns out, the flavor and color of honey depends on the particular flowers bees visit before making it!

In the United States there are over 300 kinds of honey, including alfalfa, orange blossom, sage, and sourwood. During National Honey Month, try as many of them as you can! No need to feel guilty for indulging in this sweet substance either: research has shown that in addition to providing a quick source of energy, honey also contains vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and antioxidants. You can read more about honey nutrition here. Happy Honey Month everybody!

(photo via Flickr)