Happy Thanksgiving Week 4...

Happy Black Friday everyone! I hope you are all relaxing after wonderful Thanksgivings with family and/or friends. I'm going to round out this week with one last thankful thought and Thanksgiving-themed story.

Today I am grateful for all the little things. So many times they can be the ones that bog us down, so we don't really have a great impression of them. But the flip side of that is, sometimes the little things are the best. For example, today there was no traffic getting to work AND it's raining so I don't regret not taking the day off. : )

In that spirit of gentle irony, I'll move onto my story for this morning from MSNBC. Earlier this week the news giant reported that employees from Goldman Sachs - one of the Wall Street nasties - performed community service over the holiday. The Salvation Army served over 10,000 meals in New York City yesterday, and employees from the investment firm were on hand...to take out the trash.

(Photo courtesy of MSNBC)

Happy Thanksgiving Week 3...

Happy Thanksgiving Eve, everyone!!! I hope today is your "Friday" for the week, and you can kick back tomorrow with family, friends and football then get up really, really, insanely early on Friday and prop up the economy.

I will be saving my Black Friday shopping for a more normal hour on Sunday, but what I'm thankful for today does not involve money. I'm grateful for my opportunity to volunteer at my local MSPCA. Since last December I have been a volunteer dog-walker, reaching Volunteer All-Access status - level 3 - last month. I am also a foster mom to whatever cat or kitten(s) need a little extra loving. I love learning about the different types of dogs and their temperaments. Teaching them good behaviors has taught me a lot about patience and perseverance, and I love the thrill I get when the dogs finally get the behavior down cold. And my temporary furry family has reminded me of the joy and responsibility in being in charge of another individual.

Today's story is from a blog on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer website. Sam Osborne is the director of the Rainier Valley Food Bank. What he is grateful for this year is the generous hearts of his community. Recently $2000 worth of food was stolen from the food bank - seriously, people?? - but area citizens and businesses have responded with remarkable alacrity. Everyone from Wal-Mart to children with piggy banks have combined to contribute over $25,000 worth of donations. In addition to in-kind gifts, a local food storage business has offered free storage to the food bank for all the new food, and a local alarm system company has installed a new alarm system free of charge.

Happy Thanksgiving Week 2...

Today's gratitude belongs to my parents. They field crazy phone calls from me, well, at all hours really, and they have always put me first even when I didn't realize it and/or was a total brat about it. I've gotten better at realizing when they do it at the expense of themselves, but I'm still working on the brat part, so thanks for putting up with that too. : ) They've been okay with me traipsing around the world alone and with people they don't know without uttering a peep; so thanks for giving me roots and wings (along with the occasional infusion of cash). You're the best!

The story featured today comes from the Trenton Times. It highlights 17 year-old Lindsey Curewitz's efforts to single-handedly restock the Trenton Free Library. She began culling 100 books off her own shelves to clear some space but that sparked the idea to start a book drive among family and friends. Helped along by her brother, she canvassed the neighborhood and beyond to collect 25,000 books and DVDs, ranging from children's stories to books on tape and adult non-fiction. Curewitz far outstripped the largest prior donation to the Free Library, a total of 300 books.

Happy Thanksgiving Week...

Seeing how Thanksgiving is this Thursday (and I'm actually getting to take off for the holiday!), I thought I'd celebrate Turkey Day all week long.

Each day I'm going to write one thing I'm grateful for and then post a link to a Thanksgiving- or gratitude-themed story.

So here goes for today...

I'm grateful for the ability to immediately talk to faraway friends. Both living far from my childhood friends and having college and post-collegiate friends flung all over the world, I'm grateful for the means to catch up with them in real-time without having to pay an arm and a leg. Catch up with and, in one case, check on - Matt In Iraq, I'm talking to you here. So yes, I guess I am grateful for Facebook and AIM and GChat.

Today's story spotlight is shined on Tammy the Turnpike Turkey. My friends from New Jersey hate it when other people find out they live in the Garden State and then proceed to ask: "Which exit?" Well Tammy can actually answer that question; well, she could if she could speak. NBC New York reported on our gal, who had made her home on exit 14B. Having parked at the Jersey City exit, Tammy eluded Turnpike authorities for quite some time before being captured by NJ state officials. Tammy had learned to negotiate traffic but was causing some trouble for motorists who had to hit the brakes when she fancied crossing the street. She is going to live in the Popcorn Park Zoo with a male companion named Gobbler to keep her company.

(Photo courtesy of NBC News New York)

We're in the money...

While I'm not a gambler, at least with money, and I do not see the point of the lottery, I have more than once wished to come into some money without committing a crime or losing a relative. The following stories are all about the wildly good fortune of some people who are/were really down on their luck.

USAToday reports on the Covenant Life Worship Center in Michigan. The 25-member church won the $70 million second prize in the Lucky 7s raffle from the Michigan state lotto. The $10 ticket will net the entire prize money since the church is a tax-exempt group. The pastor told USAToday she will put the money toward the church building fund, setting up a missionary fund, and supporting community service projects.

In the story on CBS News, a member of the clergy is the one giving away the cash. The Rev. Guy Blair, a priest in Wisconsin, donated 14 pieces of his mother's silver to raise money for a homeless shelter. He is hoping for $50,000. His mother, who passed away in July, agreed the collection should be auctioned to raise money for charity. Some of the pieces date back to the 1790s.

Lastly, 19 year-old Bjorn Halvard received a couple pieces of luck on his way to winning the 2009 World Championships of Monopoly. The cash prize was $20,580, or the total of the money in the game's "bank," according to MSNBC. But Halvard's winnings were real. He won when his opponent landed on two of his properties consecutively and couldn't afford the rent. Halvard plans to take a helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon and the Vegas skyline before finishing off his first-ever trip to the US by visiting friends in Los Angeles.

Thursday roundup...

Today's post is vaguely science-y...I'm not normally a science/math/logic person and do usually confound those who are with my thought processes, but that's another topic for another day. These science stories were easy enough for me to understand and fun to boot.

MSNBC reported on a new strain of super bees. Perhaps not good news for those who are afraid of bees, but this strain should take over the world any time soon. In an effort to root out the parasite suspected of causing the current, massive bee die-off, scientists have bred bees who showed an ability to sniff out the parasite in their hives.

On the non-agricultural side of the discipline, ABC News posted a story on a recent collaboration between American and Cuban scientists. President Barack Obama is trying to improve relations with the nation state to our south, and this delegation - the first in 12 years - is a step toward fostering goodwill.

You can file this last story in the "Duh" category. Today's Idea blog on the New York Times site highlights a story about silly scientific research. For every break-through on cancer treatment, there is a study published on what happens when you give monkeys typewriters. Denise Winterman's article creates two new categories for science journals - "Duh" (for things that should have been obvious in the first place) and "Huh?" (see monkey-typewriter example).

CNN published a story on the benefits of yoga for children who have been diagnosed, perhaps wrongly, with ADHD or depression. An unofficial study has noted these children are more focused and less crazily energetic since starting to practice yoga. Personally when I was little, I think I would have enjoyed a class called "Charlie and the Chakra Factory" too...

(Photo courtesy of MSNBC)

You don't need to be Michael Phelps to have a world record...

You apparently just need to be able to pull a double-decker bus with your hair...Yeah, I don't know either. But folks around the world tried for their 15 minutes of fame on Nov. 12, the fifth annual Guinness World Records Day.

Children from the Carrs Glen Primary School in Belfast, Northern Ireland went for gold in a category they created - largest gathering of storybook characters. The Belfast Telegraph reported pupils from the school dressed up as everyone from Hansel and Gretel to the Gingerbread Man. The children were joined by an official Guinness judge and enjoyed a story-telling session before receiving their certificates.

Speaking of gingerbread men, this next story is a double dose of record-setting. Eight-foot, one-inch Sultan Koesen of Turkey was on hand at a Norwegian IKEA of all places to unveil the world's largest gingerbread man. The cookie weighed a whopping 1,435 pounds and beat the previous record-holder by about 100 pounds. Shockingly MSNBC filed this story under "weird news."

The London Times posted a little snippet of what could be called weird if you are at all familiar with stereotypes of the British. Known for their collective stiff upper lip, Brits broke tradition when they set the Guinness world record for longest group hug. One hundred and 12 people - a lot of them strangers - hugged for one minute at St. Pancras train station.

(Photo courtesy of MSNBC)