I Made You Avocado

Today is National Mole Day! No, it's not for the animal. It's not for that weird thing growing on your back, either. It's based off of Avogadro's Number. You may remember Avogadro's Number from high school chemistry as being (6.02 x 10^23), or you may be more like me: simply remembering his name vaguely because it sounds like 'Avocado' and that was more entertaining to you at the time.

Well, the number is used as a unit to measure the atomic mass of a molecule. The actual would look like this: 602,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. Or you could say 'Six hundred and two sextillion". Frankly neither is very efficient, which is why there's a shorthand for writing such large numbers, and why every scientist should rename every important number after a notable figure. How much easier is it to say 'Avogadro's Number'?

It's celebrated today because of the 10^23 (It's like 10/23). Celebrate today by finding the atomic mass of all the molecules in an avocado. That seems fitting.

Thanks for reading!

~Kyle

Sponge + Cake

Today is National Sponge Cake Day! Sponge cake is a delicious kind of cake that tastes really good with strawberries and you should go out and find/eat some.

... I really am trying to keep this interesting, but I am now completely out of ways to tell you to eat something. I just don't have any personal anecdotes about sponge cake. So... yeah.

I mean I work at a bakery so a good chunk of my work is describing what food is to people. It's not even hard food either! People have asked me what's in our peanut butter cookies! It's a peanut butter cookie! UUUUUUGH!!!

It is really good, though. ... Sponge cake, that is.

Thanks for reading!
~Kyle

Saturday Sundae

Today is National Vanilla Ice Cream Day! I'm pretty sure I've mentioned vanilla ice cream is by far my favourite "base" flavour of ice cream. Literally any topping can be added to it because it just lends itself to other flavours. Anyway, today is pretty simple and I got it done in less than a half hour. So, you go to Target or whatever you grocery store or market stall of choice is and buy some vanilla ice cream. You then take it home, decorate it according to your tastes, and eat it. I'm not going to tell you how to top it or eat it because everyone has their own perfect bowl of ice cream and I'm not going to taint your mind with my ideas. Even though it's pretty much a fact that I'm the pro-est ice cream bowl maker alive.

Thanks for reading!
~Kyle

Pink Inc.

Today is National Pink Day! It really is a day simply celebrating the color pink. Why pink? I do not know. It doesn't occur naturally all TOO often, unless you live near a field of wildflowers. However there are some psychological aspects to the color pink that are pretty swell such as it's calming effect or the fact that it's often used to be representative of love. Of course, they say that if you see pink TOO often, you might become easily agitated. Even so, some companies base their entire business plan on taking everything and turning it into the same thing, but pink. But this is just one day, so I don't imagine any global disasters would happen if we threw on a pink shirt or hat. Girls: get your favourite pink article of clothing out for the day. Guys: Search your closet for your one pink shirt and wear it.

Thanks for reading!
~Kyle

Two Cents On Pennies

Today is Lucky Penny Day! Pennies aren't exactly worth what they used to be, as anybody who has ever been younger than anyone has been told constantly throughout their life. People have even talked about discontinuing them! That would be horrible! That's 1/4 of the world's good luck gone! The other 3/4 being 4-leaf clovers, rabbits feet, and horseshoes, of course. Sure, pennies don't exactly buy you candy anymore, but dimes haven't gotten me a soda lately either! So there! And what's up with arcade games being a whole dollar for one play? ...This is off-topic.

Lucky pennies are found in one place and in on manner. The ground and face-up. No, a penny with your birth year on it is not lucky just on that merit. Keepsake for a kitschy family project? Sure, but not lucky. No, a penny you find in a treasure chest isn't lucky. It's currency. By the way, your treasure hunts sound kinda weak if that's what you're pulling out of the sea. ONLY a penny found face-up on the ground is a "Lucky Penny".

You see, when a penny has charged it's luck up to a point where it feels sufficiently lucky, it jumps out of it's home in our pockets and purses in order to find it's own fortune. It lands on the ground face-up to signify to the next observant person that it is, in fact, lucky. Now, there are several ways to tell HOW lucky it is.

The first rule is: The shinier, the better. Why? Because that means it has so far been lucky enough to not run into any major troubles. with this rule comes the fact that you may just find a very young shiny penny. Those are mostly good for one lucky thing, as they were impetuous in their youth and thought themselves ready before they truly were. Hold onto them to see what small good thing happens, but don't expect too much from them, as they are a bit foolhardy. However, old shiny pennies are immensely lucky. Having obviously charged their luck for years in some sating lined wallet, they know exactly what they're doing. The danger comes when you find a scratched, worn, rusted, old penny face-up. It dares you to pick it up and accept it's challenge. Oh, sure. It's old. It's lucky. But it likes the risky road. It will make sure you DESERVE it's luck. Some of the scratches on it look almost as inhuman as Lincoln's visage on it's face. The ruins of the memorial on the back look almost apocalyptic. Sometimes, it is hard to tell whether you picked up a penny or a blackened copper disc. But what fun is luck if it falls into your lap? No, it's better to earn it. To have it thrown at you at high velocity along with a little bit of trial and a dash of fear just to see if you can handle the power of the penny! ... ...

... That got out of hand fast and I apologize.

Thanks for reading!
~Kyle

Lab Manual

Today is Read Me Day! After three pages of a google search (if you go past three, then you're just getting desperate), I could find just about nothing on this day. However, so few things actually use that phrasing, that I can only assume it to be a day about one thing: Read Me Files. For those of you who haven't ever installed anything on your computer, or maybe just don't look at any files that you have installed, a Read Me file is usually where the file you installed or downloaded is explained. It also might have hints on how to solve technical issues or an access code to a locker containing $1,000,000 in Mexico. So maybe next time you should read it.

Today is also World Laboratory Day! A day to celebrate all the wonderful things that happen in laboratories. Things like science. One of my favourite shows to watch as a child was Dexter's Lab, and due to this show, I now say "Laboratory" like Dexter did. I'd also like to point out that this new show "Dexter" has unrightfully taken it's place. When I say "Dexter" now, people think of murder rather than how annoying it is to have a ditzy blonde sister come into your secret lab and wreck the place. Oh, well. I'm gonna go watch a few episodes in honor of one of the greatest cartoons of my childhood.

Organized by flavor.

Today is National Organize Your Home Office Day! This is another one of those fancy self-explanatory holidays. It does however, have a few loopholes. In fact, I own one of those loopholes. I have no home office to clean. What I DO have, however, is a laptop and a desktop PC that could both use a little re-organization of some stray files. It's not as bad on a Mac, because it seems to know where files are much faster when I ask the Spotlight in the upper part of the screen. When I ask my PC where a file is, it not only doesn't remember, it chooses to look in all the least likely places for it to be before it finds it. Don't be fooled! I'm neither a Mac or PC. It's just that in that one area, Macs are most definitely better. Don't feel bad, PC's, you still have a lot more video games.

Today is also National Chip and Dip Day! This day leaves a lot to the imagination. What kind of chip do I eat? Potato? Tortilla? ... Corn Tortilla? I might even be inclined to eat french fries just because they are called chips sometimes. Which, by the way, opens a whole new floodgate of dips to choose from. Maybe you don't know what kind of chip goes best with what dip. Here are some of my favourite combos to help get you started.

Potato + Sour Cream & Onion
Potato + French Onion
Tortilla + Salsa
Tortilla + Queso
Apple Chips + Nothing. Apple chips are delicious. Dip them straight into your mouth.

Thanks for reading!
~Kyle

Treats for Tricks

Today is International Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day. As you may have guessed, today is a day to include dogs in your celebration. Although, if you were at one time a child with a pet dog, the curiosity of wondering what exactly a dog treat tasted like has overwhelmed you, and now you know what a milkbone's flavor is. I know I was one of those children, and in fact my mother was standing beside me almost daring me to do it while I ate it. I can tell you right now that it is probably much tastier to a dog than it was to me. I will also say, however, that Petco has dog treats that look like people cookies and taste like them too. Sure, it's not Nabisco, and I won't be going out of my way to get Petco's cookies for me instead of some Chips Ahoy, but they are pretty good. Amazingly good if you take into account that they are meant for dogs.

I'm getting side-tracked. Today, appreciate the existence of dog biscuits and all they are good for. Which is almost exclusively giving to dogs after they have done something that you deem as "Good". And you tell them "Good boy/girl!" as you hand them the treat. This is the proper way to bequeath treats upon canines.

Thanks for reading!
~Kyle

Write with your feet. More hands for pie.

The first Holiday of January 23rd: National Handwriting Day. This holiday was made by the Writing Instrument Manufacturers Association to make the public more aware of the significance of handwriting in this increasingly technological age. Celebrate by writing as much as you can by hand (If I had a scanner, this would be in my REAL handwriting and not "Handwriting-Dakota"). Mail people letters by snail mail or just pass notes in class (don't tell anyone I gave that advice). EDIT... I couldn't even get the special font to work! :( 

The next holiday is National Pie Day! As you may know by now, I thoroughly enjoy food related holidays, and this one takes the cake (or pie) (I know you saw that one coming) ) so far. I love pie of any sort. I ate three pizzas and a banana cream pie for lunch, and am getting ready to watch Sweeny Todd, as I can't find any meat pies in stores near me, so that's what I'll settle for. So, yeah... eat pie today.

And to make this the first day with THREE holidays, today is ALSO Measure Your Feet Day. You celebrate by... well... measuring your feet. I did this by going to see what size shoes I wear, as you will soon see in the lovely picture below, my shoes for the past two or three years may indeed be on their last string... literally. So take the time to measure your feet in any way you can manage. And hey, have a great day... or what's left of it. I'm so sorry for this super late update.

Thanks for reading!

~Kyle