Thanksgiving

As we finish the preparations which began days ago,

Take time today to do more than just enjoy the food.

Because we truly have been blessed.

When Geeks have Birthdays...

... they appreciate the humor in this:
which, incidentally, is what I plan on doing to mine once I have this next one.
29 forever! ;p

Happy Birthday, DH!

On this day in history...
Events:

• 380 – Theodosius I makes his adventus, or formal entry, into Constantinople.
• 1429 – Joan of Arc unsuccessfully besieges La Charité.
• 1859 – Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species.
• 1863 – American Civil War: Battle of Lookout Mountain – Near Chattanooga, Tennessee, UnionUlysses S. Grant capture Lookout Mountain and begin to break the Confederate siege of the city led by General Braxton Bragg.
• 1906 – The Canton Bulldogs-Massillon Tigers Betting Scandal, the first major scandal in professional American football.
• 1922 – Author and Irish Republican Army member Robert Erskine Childers is executed by an Irish Free State firing squad for illegally carrying a revolver.
• 1932 – In Washington, D.C., the FBI Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory (better known as the FBI Crime Lab) officially opens.
• 1944 – World War II: Bombing of Tokyo – The first bombing raid against the Japanese capital from the east and by land is carried out by 88 American aircraft.
• 1963 – Lee Harvey Oswald is fatally shot by Jack Ruby in the basement of Dallas police department headquarters. The shooting is broadcast live on television.
• 1965 – Joseph Désiré Mobutu seizes power in the Congo and becomes President; he rules the country (which he renames Zaire in 1971) for over 30 years, until being overthrown by rebels in 1997.
• 1969 – Apollo program: The Apollo 12 command module splashes down safely in the Pacific Ocean, ending the second manned mission to the Moon.
• 1974 – Donald Johanson and Tom Gray discover the 40% complete Australopithecus afarensisLucy" after The Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", in the Awash Valley of Ethiopia's Afar Depression.
• 1632 – Baruch Spinoza, Dutch philosopher (d. 1677)
• 1690 – Charles Theodore Pachelbel, German composer (d. 1750)
• 1729 – Alexander Suvorov, Russian general (d. 1800)
• 1784 – Zachary Taylor, 12th President of the United States (d. 1850)
• 1853 – Bat Masterson, American gunfighter (d. 1921)
• 1859 – Cass Gilbert, American architect (d. 1934)
• 1864 – Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, French painter (d. 1901)
• 1868 – Scott Joplin, Ragtime Composer (d. 1917)
• 1884 – Itzhak Ben-Zvi, President of Israel (d. 1963)
• 1888 – Dale Carnegie, American writer (d. 1955)
• 1897 – Lucky Luciano, American gangster (d. 1962)
• 1911 – Kirby Grant, American actor (d. 1985)
• 1913 – Geraldine Fitzgerald, Irish-born actress (d. 2005)
• 1916 – Forrest J. Ackerman, American writer (d. 2008)
• 1921 – John Lindsay, American politician (d. 2000)
• 1925 – William F. Buckley Jr., American writer (d. 2008)
• 1940 – Eric Wilson, Canadian children's author.
• 1941 – Pete Best, British musician
• 1944 – Bev Bevan, English rock drummer (The Move, Electric Light Orchestra)
• 1947 – Dwight Schultz, American actor
• 1948 – Spider Robinson, science fiction author
• 1955 – Clem Burke, American drummer (Blondie)
• 1957 – Denise Crosby, American actress
• 1964 – Tony Rombola, American guitarist (Godsmack)
• 1968 – Todd Beamer, American, acclaimed hero of United Airlines Flight 93 (d. 2001)
• 1974 – Taro Yamamoto, Japanese actor
• 1977 – Colin Hanks, American actor
• 1978 – Katherine Heigl, American actress

DEATHS:

• 654 – Emperor Kōtoku of Japan (b. 596)
• 1572 – John Knox, Scottish reformer (b. 1510)
• 1781 – James Caldwell, American revolutionary (b. 1734)
• 1957 – Diego Rivera, Mexican painter (b. 1886)
• 1960 – Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia (b. 1882)
• 1963 – Lee Harvey Oswald, accused assassin of John F. Kennedy (b. 1939)
• 1987 – Jehane Benoît, French Canadian culinary author (b. 1904)
• 1991 – Freddie Mercury, Zanzibar-born singer (Queen) (b. 1946)
• 1991 – Eric Carr, American drummer (KISS) (b. 1950)
• 2005 – Pat Morita, American actor (b. 1932)

HOLIDAYS AND OBSERVANCES

Roman festivals – in the Byzantine empire the Brumalia (a wine festival) were celebrated from this day until the winter solstice

R.C. Saints – Saint Andrew Dung-Lac and other Vietnamese Martyrs, Saint Chrysogonus, Saint Colman of Cloyne – Cobh, Ireland, Flavian of Ricina

Teacher's Day in Turkey

Lachit Divas is observed on 24th November each year in Assam, India to commemorate the heroism of the Assamese General Lachit Borphukan and the victory of Assamese army over the Mughal army in the Battle of Saraighat in 1671.

Evolution Day

A Christmas Question

Am I the only one having trouble waiting to "Christmas-ize" my blog this year? I keep telling myself to wait until the day after Thanksgiving, but I don't know if I'm going to be able to last that long.
I am also fighting the urge to decorate the house for Christmas. BEFORE Thanksgiving. Do you think it's because I finally have a real house to decorate and I can get ALL of my Christmas stuff out?

WFMW: Coupon Tips

A couple of my real-life friends wanted me to write down my tips for using coupons. If anyone has any more tips, feel free to add to my list.
I'm not a coupon queen, and I don't have an expert system. I clip coupons from the Sunday paper, and I receive e-mails a few times a week from couponsurfer. With the e-mail coupons, I select the coupons that I'm interested in, and I print them out.
Coupons aren't for everyone. If you are trying to decide whether or not to use coupons, determine if the money you will save using coupons is worth the time it will take to clip and organize the coupons. I happen to have more time than money, so to me it is worth it to spend time going through coupons, cutting them out and then sorting. Since clipping and sorting coupons is pretty simple, I usually wait to do the coupons while I'm watching TV. That way, I still get something done but I'm enjoying myself.
All of the work into cutting out coupons is wasted, though, unless the coupons are sorted. If you cut out coupons and then fail to use them thanks to poor sorting, then all you've done is waste your time.
I've used a few systems for organizing coupons. Currently, I do the standard baseball-card sheets for my coupons, and I store the sheets in a 3-ring binder. Because I subscribe to a coupon service with my e-mail, I frequently get the same coupon with only a different expiration date. To conserve space, I keep all copies of the same coupon together, filed with the most recent to expire coupon on top. This method may not work for everyone, though. Some people prefer to sort their coupons based on the coupon's expiration date.
When I prepare to go shopping, I always cut out and file my coupons before I go through the sales papers and make my lists. That way, I've recently seen many of my coupons as I flipped through my binder. I've had many an "a-ha!" moment while going through the sales papers thanks to viewing my coupons before. When I see a sale on an item that I also have a coupon for, I move the coupon to the front of my binder. That way, when I am at the store, all of the coupons I know I will use are at hand and I don't have to spend time at the store flipping though my binder. In this front section, I also place coupons for items that I know we will need soon, so I can watch for unadvertised sales. I have also placed coupons that are especially good (more than $1 off) and coupons that are expiring soon in the front sheet.
In addition to coupons from the Sunday paper and e-mail, I also have coupons that are loaded onto my shopper's card for Kroger. I get coupons loaded onto my Kroger card through Shortcuts and Proctor & Gamble eSAVER (these sites can also load coupons onto shopper's cards for other stores, I just happen to prefer Kroger). After I select and load the coupons onto my shopper's card, I print out the list of the coupons on my card and I keep the list in my binder. When I am making my shopping list, I glance over the printed out sheets to check for any additional deals. The coupons on the shopper's card can be used in addition to a paper coupon, so the savings can really add up - especially if the item is on sale.
If you are interested in a one-place site for coupons and store deals, you might want to check out Coupon Mom and Southern Savers. Both of these sites are free, and operate on the premise of buying when an item is on sale in order to have it when you need it. This type of shopping can be initially difficult on a shopping budget, because you will buy items in a greater quantity than you would for regular shopping. However, in the long run, this will even out because you will have paid less for the item. You might only shop to stockpile one category at a time, or do a pantry clean-out (eat based on what you have on hand) while you are building up your supply.
Even though coupons are a great money saver, there is a catch. Just because you have a coupon for an item doesn't mean that the item is a good deal. There are many times that the generic brand is still cheaper than the name-brand with the coupon. Take your calculator with you when you shop and calculate if that "sale" is really a sale. There may be a generic or a different size that is a better deal than the sale or what the coupon is good for.
It is also helpful to understand how coupons work. Items typically go on sale in cycles. If you keep a price book, you can chart the sale cycles of items in your area. Frequently, an item will go on sale either the week a coupon is issued, or 4 weeks after a coupon for it is issued, which is typically the last week the coupon is still valid. Stores can issue coupons for merchandise they carry, as can the manufacturer's of the product. In some instances, such as with Walgreens and Target, you can use the store coupon in addition to the manufacturer's coupon.
There are many websites and blogs that detail how to use coupons more efficiently than what I've detailed here. But these are the things that have worked for me!
To read more great tips, check out We are THAT Family.