TurkeyDay Facts.

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone.
20 quick & dirty facts about the holiday that many people consider their favorite:

> Thanksgiving Day is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November in the United States. (do other countries matter?)
> By the fall of 1621 only half of the pilgrims, who had sailed on the Mayflower, survived. The survivors, thankful to be alive, decided to give a thanksgiving feast. (with what meat?)
> Thanksgiving Day is celebrated on the second Monday in October in Canada. (whoop-dee-do)
> The Plymouth Pilgrims were the first to celebrate the Thanksgiving. (they stole their name from the car company)
> The pilgrims arrived in North America in December 1620. (just in time for Christmas?)
> The Pilgrims sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to reach North America. (doi!)
> The pilgrims sailed on the ship, which was known by the name of 'Mayflower'. (uh-huh...)
> They celebrated the first Thanksgiving Day in the fall of 1621.
> They celebrated the first Thanksgiving Day at Plymouth, Massachusetts.
> The drink that the Puritans brought with them in the Mayflower was the beer. (yay!!!)
> The Wampanoag Indians were the people who taught the Pilgrims how to cultivate the land. (but not beer)
> The Pilgrim leader, Governor William Bradford, had organized the first Thanksgiving feast in the year 1621 and invited the neighboring Wampanoag Indians also to the feast. (was the guy's first name "governor"?))
> The first Thanksgiving feast was held in the presence of around ninety Wampanoag Indians and the Wampanoag chief, Massasoit, was also invited there. ("invited there", I didn't write these...)
> The first Thanksgiving celebration lasted three days. (and we thought we ate a lot!)
> President George Washington issued the first national Thanksgiving Day Proclamation in the year 1789 and again in 1795. (he had wooden teeth... good for turkey eating?)
> The state of New York officially made Thanksgiving Day an annual custom in 1817. (do other states matter?)
> Sarah Josepha Hale, an editor with a magazine, started a Thanksgiving campaign in 1827 and it was result of her efforts that in 1863 Thanksgiving was observed as a day for national thanksgiving and prayer. (yeah, we do a lot of praying still, right?)
> Abraham Lincoln issued a 'Thanksgiving Proclamation' on third October 1863 and officially set aside the last Thursday of November as the national day for Thanksgiving. Whereas earlier the presidents used to make an annual proclamation to specify the day when Thanksgiving was to be held. (Abe rules!!!)
> President Franklin D. Roosevelt restored Thursday before last of November as Thanksgiving Day in the year 1939. He did so to make the Christmas shopping season longer and thus stimulate the economy of the state. (should it be moved even earlier now?)
> Congress passed an official proclamation in 1941 and declared that now onwards Thanksgiving will be observed as a legal holiday on the fourth Thursday of November every year. (see, we really don't have enough time to Christmas shop with this set-up)

Now go eat your weight in fowl flesh, you Turkey!

Discuss, Poll #45, Recycling Trash.

I bought a new TV this week, in support of the impending move (do I ever stop talking about the new job and new state? Maybe.) This was not a rash decision, but one I spent weeks researching. Most of this consisted of keeping an eye on the Sunday ads and finding the best deal. I even went to Costco (without being a member) and checked out their offerings.

What cinched it for me was a TV ad for Abt Electornics, here in Glenview. They were giving $75 credit for any recycled TV, towards the purchase of any TV bigger than 32" and meeting a minimum price. Well, getting rid of the tired and old-school TV I had bought for $25 seemed like a win-win for me and the local landfill. I pulled the trigger the other day and felt like I had found the best deal overall. And, I'd finally gone to the store that's just down the street from my childhood home. The place is HUGE. It can even be challenging to get service, though they have loads of salespeople roaming about. Now, I just need to keep my fingers crossed and hope the movers don't harm the brand new LCD flatscreen they'll be moving for me.

Do you have any weird, funny, or otherwise interesting recycling stories?

Results, Poll #44, MSP.

So, as you can well imagine, I had ulterior motives with this week's poll. But, the answers were still interesting, let's check it out:

> 5 people (31%) chose 'yeah, i have family there' - Though I was surprised by the next choice, this one takes the cake as most surprising. I had no idea that 5 people I know, let alone 5 people that also read my blog have family in MN. This is good news for me, since I'll be there in a few short weeks.
> 6 people (37%) chose 'once, on a quick trip' - So, the majority has been to MN already. I did not see that coming. I think I'd been there about 4 times before I accepted the job offer... but I like what I've seen so far.
> 5 people (31%) chose 'nah, but if i had a reason...maybe' - A 'maybe' is not a 'no'. So that's good news. I'll have to entice you through blog posts about MSP in the future.
> 0 people (0%) chose 'no way, too cold!' - well, at least no one said they'd never go to MSP. If you did, I don't think I could have taken that any other way than a slap in the face.

16 respondents this week... nice! Keep it up. New poll up now.

credo.

Wow, who knew your cellphone carrier choice had so much effect - Credo would like to tip the balance back to causes they, and possibly you, believe in. I'll admit, I've never thought too much about what the large corporations do with all the money we give them for products, but maybe it's about time to find out.

Brain Teaser, #9.

This is an unusual paragraph. I'm curious how quickly you can find out what is so unusual about it. It looks so plain you would think nothing was wrong with it. In fact, nothing is wrong with it! It is unusual though. Study it, and think about it, but you still may not find anything odd. But if you work at it a bit, you might find out! Try to do so without any coaching! You probably won't, at first, find anything particularly odd or unusual or in any way dissimilar to any ordinary composition. That is not at all surprising, for it is no strain to accomplish in so short a paragraph a stunt similar to that which an author did throughout all of his book, without spoiling a good writing job, and it was no small book at that. By studying this paragraph assiduously, you will shortly, I trust, know what is its distinguishing oddity.

martin & osa.

I found this lil gem of a his/hers clothing store in Old Orchard. I'd never heard of them before, but one of the many advertising kiosks in the mall caught my eye with some good-looking, simple, almost modern clothes. I found them just outside of the Nordstrom's entrance onto the mall.

Some of you may initially think that I picked this place because of it's name, and while I find some comfort in it, that's not the best part, check it -


They have the biggest dressing rooms I ever hung a pant in. People in NYC would kill for a place this big and well-appointed. I could comfortably place all of my clothing items into this one room.


Not only that, but they are well lit too. And, best of all...


... hooks! Haven't you ever said to yourself, as you dropped your coat onto the floor, "Boy, this *dressing* room could really use some places to hang clothes!"? Well, they have you covered. Not only are there long, horizontal bars about every two feet, you can also move the half-dozen hooks on each one! Plus, it's all adorned in this heavy gauge steel, even the door. It locks with such a thud and click that you really feel like no one will be barging in on you... as you hop on one leg while fighting to fit into a pair of skinny jeans.

It's was simply the best fitting experience I ever had. That's saying something cause I'm a guy and anal-retentive. And no, I didn't pick up the jeans in the picture... didn't fit just right.

New blog look, new blog city.

You may have already noticed that "replanted.chicagoan" has gone back to its original title of "transplanted.chicagoan". This is in anticipation of my impending move to Minneapolis, MN. I have been offered and accepted a new position at the company I menitoned in a previous posting. It's a well-respected company in the industry.

I don't plan on stopping the normal blog postings and now need to fill in with new MSP hotspots. So please continue to visit t.c as I make my transition to MSP. You remember the FAA's airport designations, don't you? MSP = Minneapolis-Saint-Paul.