Groundhog Day

Today Phil saw his shadow, and according to legend that means the remaining days of winter will be harsh... in other words, it won't be an early spring. I don't know about you, but I haven't the foggiest clue why there is a "Groundhog's day" or why it's held on February 2nd, so I decided to research it. According to Stormfax® the holiday was brought from Germany and was originally called "Candlemas". It was held on February 2nd, because this is "mid-point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox". Apparently before the groundhog was introduced to the date, it was determined that if the weather was nice (sunny and warm) on February 2nd, then the remaining 6 weeks would be harsh, and if it was bad (cold, cloudy, and yucky) on the 2nd, then the rest of the winter would be mild. When the tradition merged with the native American Indian beliefs of the Punxsutawney area, then all of the components were ready to create Groundhog's day. The celebration of Groundhog's day started in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania in 1886, and it's been repeated every year since then. Today many people accross the country tune in to find out whether the groundhog named Phil from Punxsutawney will see his shadow when he comes out of his "home" on February 2nd. Today Phil came out wearing a Steelers Terrible Towel, but after seeing his shadow, he "peed" on the towel, in fright. I am hoping that isn't predicting a bad outcome to the upcoming SuperBowl... But that's another topic!

Vannoy (Update)

The scoop from Beaver Falls High School is that Mr. Vannoy returned to school Monday (1/30/2006) after national media attention for wearing a Bronco's jersey to his high school in "Steeler country". He apparently received a "massage chair" from John Elway, whose number was on the jersey Mr. Vannoy wore, which by the way is the same number that Ben Roethlisberger, current QB of the Steelers, wears. I wonder if that was on purpose or if it was coincidental? I heard from another source that the Mr. Vannoy's mother says the chair doesn't match the living room. :-) Anyway, the Friday before he returned to school the principal of the high school gathered all of the students in a group and explained that Mr. Vannoy would be returning on Monday. They were told to not to even "look at him funny", let alone touch him, or they would be expelled!... Not placed in detention, or suspended for a few days... Expelled... i.e. kicked out of the school! They were also told to not hold a protest or rally for Mr. Kelly (the teacher), or to wear shirts or buttons mentioning Mr. Kelly or anything like that. For the these last two days in school, Josh has been escorted by a police man through the school, and two teachers. During lunch they put extra staff (teachers) in the lunch room while Mr. Vannoy was eating. It sounded to me like the school officials feel our school is full of a bunch of hooligans that would want to hurt Mr. Vannoy... Which begs a very interesting question? If the teacher was the one who was wrong, and Mr. Vannoy is the victim, why are they protecting Josh from harm? Are they afraid that more paper would be thrown at him? I mean, if the teacher was truly as bad as the newspapers portrayed him, then Mr. Vannoy shouldn't have anything to fear, he should be respected for bringing to light a terrible problem within the school. Josh could be rallying the students, parents and school officials to be up in arms against this bad teacher... Instead the school had to quash a rally in support of Mr. Kelly because the students and I assume parents don't want to see Mr. Kelly let go... Reality often tells a better story than the newspapers!

Child Drowning

My youngest daughter attended a birthday party at a pool on Sunday. The party she attended was at a pool that is located indoors at our local Holiday Inn. She attended the party with other family members including, I believe, both of her older sisters, and her mother. After she came back from the party she told me that a little girl drowned at a pool party...

I tried to appear calm, but my ears perked up, and I paid a little more attention to her. She said that the girl was at a party at a different pool, and that she heard about it from the Beaver County Times, our local newspaper. My youngest is ten, so hearing that she heard it from the newspaper surprised me quite a bit. Her usual form of entertainment and news gathering are usually from the Nickelodeon, Disney, and Cartoon network channels. After a moment of surprise at my daughter's apparent maturity at reading the daily newspaper, she returned me to reality by telling me that her step-dad told her about it.

She told me that the kids thought she was just trying to see how long she could stay under water, so no one seemed to notice that she had been under the water for a long time. I did a quick search on the newspaper's website, and read the article. The coroner said she was probably under water for 10 minutes. The girl was only 5 years old, and couldn't swim. Her parents weren't at the party, they just dropped her off, and never expected any problems since there were lifeguards, and tons of adults at the party.

The article said the mother was called back to the pool when they found the girl, and she got there while they were trying to revive her. Unfortunately they couldn't bring her back. I can't imagine the agony those parents must be going through. I only had a nightmare about one of my kids drowning, and the feelings that dream brought to me were unbearable. I was able to wake up, but this poor mother and father will never have that.

I am not sure what the family is doing for arrangements, but my heart really goes out to this family. Please keep this family in your thoughts and prayers.

Today a second article came out that said they are investigating the security video to see if they can determine what happened. There is very little consolation in that tape for the parents, but hopefully it will relieve the guilt the lifeguards and other adults are most likely feeling. If it is someone's fault, then I hope the tape shows it so that person can be dealt with!

NOTE: Picture copied from the Beaver County Times website article.

Excited

Those that know me, know I am generally not much of a sports fan. I don't generally follow the teams, players or stats. I do enjoy going out and actually attending a game and I really enjoy a going to good baseball game. But for me, watching sports on TV just hasn't been as much fun. Last Sunday I was invited to watch the playoff game between the Steelers and the Broncos with someone I care about. Instead of my normal "ho-hum" attitude about the game, I actually "got into" the game. I was cheering the players on the TV, jumping up and down when a great play happened, and biting my nails on close calls. As you probably know, the Steelers won and have made it to the SuperBowl XL. This will be the first time in 10 years, and if they win, will have accomplished something they haven't done for 30 years (most of my life). Yes, I was ten years old the last time they won a SuperBowl. The playoff game was so exciting, that it really drew me in... Now I can't wait until the SuperBowl. Since the game, I have been wearing my only Steelers sweatshirt as often as possible, and I even found an old Steelers cap that I throw on to cover my hair that needs cut. :-) This week at work, we are having a SuperBowl bash (party) with wings, chili, nachos, and desserts. Everyone will be wearing their "Black and Gold", and tossing the pigskin around getting hyped for the game. I even scoured the Internet for every Steelers fight song I could find and made a CD for the party. BTW: Most of the good songs can be found at Steeler GridIron site. If you need a permission slip to wear the colors at work, school, or wherever, you can get one here! With all my newfound sports-related excitement I decided to throw caution to the wind, and without worrying (to much) about monthly costs, I ordered a DVR (Digital Video Recorder) from Comcast. After a quick call I have an free install for Sunday morning before the game! The DVR will allow me to pause the game if I need to go to the bathroom, or rewind live TV and get my own "instant replay". Of course it has many other features too, but that's not important for this Sunday, so I will save that for another story. I can't wait until Sunday, and the party at work on Friday will be, for me, the kickoff to the weekend. So don't call Sunday, Feb. 5 after 6 p.m. ET, as my TV, DVR, and attention will be on the network TV station ABC to watch the Steelers crush the Seahawks!

Happy Lunar New Year

Happy New Year - Well, Lunar New Year... Which is also called the "Chinese New Year". This is the "Year of the Dog", or the year 4703-4704 on the Chinese calendar. The Chinese calendar is based on the "lunar" or moon based cycle rather than the "solar" or sun based cycle that our calendar is based on. A lunar year is comprised of 12 cycles of the moon, or from "new moon" to "new moon". A pure lunar calendar uses 12 cycles of the moon, and each day of the month is a specific "phase" of the moon. This type of lunar calendar is not very practical because there are slightly more than 12 lunar cycles in an actual year. This means that from lunar year to lunar year the seasons shift and happen in different months, than they have in earlier years. As a matter of fact this shift requires the addition of another lunar month every 33 years in to keep the seasons in line. A calendar that uses this combination of lunar (phases of the moon) and solar (sun based seasons) activities is called a "lunisolar" calendar. The Chinese calendar is considered a lunisolar calendar. So get out your firecrackers, and red clothes to scare off the evil spirits, and celebrate the start of the new year!