Mnemonic

n. A form of words or letters that assists the memory

We used to have just 9 planets in the galaxy, and I honestly can't remember what little phrase they gave to help everyone remember the names, but I was a little science nerd and quickly remembered the names of the planets, constellations, etc. etc.

But now that we've got 8 planets and 3 dwarf planets, it's a little more complicated.

And so National Geographic set up a contest for a new phrase to remember all the planets in order, and a winner has been decided:

My Very Exciting Magic Carpet Just Sailed Under Nine Palace Elephants was created by a fourth-grader. Apparently, a song will follow, which is a bit weird, but so is Lisa Loeb, the singer of the song, so heck, why not.

The planets now are:
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Ceres
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Pluto
Eris

And speaking of Earth, the Planet Earth series, amazing viewing, was preceded by Blue Planet: Seas of Life, which I bought this week and have begun to watch. Just as breathtaking and mind-boggling, if not more so ... Depends on if you take to land or sea better, I suppose.

Decadence?

This Sunday has drawn to a close, and I'm beat. But it wasn't much of a day, and no, I wasn't being lazy, either.

There has been meal preparations, cooking, eating and cleaning up going on for about 12 hours straight. It started with a late brunch, thanks to the late night out Saturday into Sunday morning.

Brunch consisted of avocado and alouette omelets, rye bread, fruit salad, orange juice, mango darjeeling tea and coffee.

Then to break out of the house for a just a bit, I visited the nation's smallest naitonal park.

Any ideas?

That'd be the Thaddeus Kosciusko house at 3rd & Pine streets, just 3 doors down from where I live. He was instrumental in the American Revolution - you'll have to do your own searching for the complete story - but he also used his means to help set free Black slaves, and in his will asked that his money be used to buy additional freedom for Black slaves and provide for their education. I don't believe he died with much to actually carry out his will.

Such is the life of too many freedom fighters.

Of course, the reason for the what came before and what follows in this post is visiting friends of Chris & Michael who were in from Chicago.

The day continued with a little bit of updating to my Web site ... it's happening piece meal now, so I can quit writing about how it's "coming along."

That was followed by a 5-course meal by the housemate Rudge that delved heavily and deliciously into his Filipino roots ... Filipino wonton soup, korean lettuce wraps, menudo (NOT THE BOY BAND), stuffed tilapia and finished off with flambéed mangoes served over vanilla ice cream and washed down with "Iron Godess of Mercy" green tea.

And so now at 12:45, after the dogs have been walked and the last of the Oscars given out, I'm sitting at my desk in the most casual attire of the day and just waiting to melt into my bed for a good night's rest.

Full Moon Lunar Eclipse

These pics aren't anywhere near quality, I know, but I certainly learned a whole host of new features on my little digital camera just trying to get the pics to come out as they did!

Not that I'd ever have time to do all the settings before taking any sort of pics, but hey, maybe my next camera will be low-level professional grade?

Refreshed

I'm back in Philly, back at work and feeling renewed. A few days on the beach does an amazing thing for the mind and body.

Of course, the 60-something degree difference was startling, but I can't complain, as I love the changing of the seasons, and this winter hasn't been so winter like ... in fact, a good number of trees seems to have some early blossoms forming, which would make for a less exhilarating spring.

But, it's still early, so we'll see. And with a long weekend of the summer-style of life, I'm eager for spring, which means this trip might ultimately work against me ...

Looking Out to the Horizon

Day 3 of Puerto Rico is drawing to a close. It has so far encompassed a bottle of champagne, 2 massages, 2 days full days on the beach, 4 bars/clubs on the "trashy bar tour," 1 new friend, 1 new drink, 1 dinner on the beach, and yes, a clean up Saturday for Obama.

The trashy bar tour is led by Eduardo and his friends who are giving us the "off the beaten path" night life, which is far more interesting than any bar in Philadelphia.

But one thing that I noted, regardless of the venue, is the pool table on the dance floor or dance floor in the pool table area. I'm not sure what that is all about, but the poking is less than expected. Each night also included a rather serious drinking session before even leaving the hotel room. But, I'm not complaining, the view at night is of the cruise ships all aglow in the distance making their way out for the night, many many more stars twinkling in the night than back home and 5 of us on the balcony having a good laugh.

The drink of choice been chichaita, which is really done as shots. It's a good mix of rum and anise liqueur and some 8 or 9 bottles have been emptied, which is close to 55 shots.

And somehow, bedtime has been after 3 a.m., sometimes 5 and wake up time has been before 9 a.m. everyday!

When in Rome ...

So will I need a vacation to recover? I think the sun naps and massages are making it all work out. And my first day back is on the "slowest" day of the week for me.

So it's about time to get ready for dinner ...

Off to Puerto Rico

Sun, beach, ocean, friends, mofongo and much, much more.

It's time for me to cash in my 6-day work weeks from the holidays and step into the exact opposite of what earned me this time off; Stress is out the window!

And it couldn't come at a better time. Winter is setting in after some unseasonably warm days, but I won't be in the cold here for that long. Shortly after the sun comes up, I'll be at the airport.

And when I return, perhaps Barack Obama will have the Democratic presidential nomination, unofficially, but I'm thinking ahead.

Ever the optimist these days ...

Complain Too Much?

I had a comment left on my last post about my complaining about my jobs and how I should just wake up to the real world.

That's fine and dandy, except that I work in newspapers, and when I sit at my desk at my job for up to 2 hours after deadline (a time when the paper should already be off the presses) still waiting to see pages to send to the presses and nothing is done about it, then that's a legitimate problem.

It's been a problem since before I was there, and I found out after taking this job, that the inability of my current newspaper to fix itself to get the paper done by deadline was throwing off my print time at my last job, which prints at the same location.

Incidentally, that last little fact led me to the much better job.

And if the presses start their first job late, then the shit follows through for the whole evening. So this problem at my newspaper has been screwing me over for about 3 1/2 years now ...

But, I don't really have problems with the rest of my job,and unlike my last job, I'm being compensated far more fairly than at The Times Herald, where my editors essentially lied to my face every day.

Finding this out led me to quit, as I was being paid about $2,000 a year less than the person who I was supposed to baby sit. Apparently error, after error, after error was worth more than I was. And I had asked for better compensation to play babysitter, once that was added to my job requirements.

What was I told by my editor? Well, you know, the more you make only means the more you spend. Hello? what the hell does that mean? That's your reasoning for being unfair to me?

But alas.

I'm happy at my current job and my expectations are legit, not just by me, but by everyone else there.

And I've had some very good times at my first two newspaper jobs and at the AIA Bookstore, which, sadly, is closed for moving and revamping, which will change it drastically from "the little store that could" on Samson Street. Nary a familiar face will be seen when it reopens in a very stripped down fashion.

The problem at my job is accountants and number-crunchers running newspapers rather than editorial people.

There is no profit to in-depth, investigative journalism and there isn't much either if a newspaper is going to be appropriately staffed to do its mission, and so rather than newspapers doing their jobs, jobs are being cut and stories are falling through the cracks or slanting in ways stories shouldn't be.

Just look and see what Fox News has to do to make money and ratings and there you have the problem facing journalism today.

Will I continue to complain about jobs? Probably, but my issues have declined exponentially now that I'm where I am.