Joke of the Day
The President, the First Lady and Dick Cheney are flying on Air Force One.

George looks at Laura, chuckles and says, "You know, I could throw a $1,000.00 bill out the window right now and make somebody very happy."

Laura shrugs her shoulders and says, "Well, I could throw ten $100.00 bills out the window and make 10 people very happy."

Cheney says, "Of course then, I could throw one-hundred $10.00 bills out the window and make a hundred people very happy."

The pilot rolls his eyes, looks at all of them and says to his co-pilot, "Such big shots back there..... hell, I could throw all of them out the window and make 56 million people very happy." :p

Who were you in your last life?
Find out on the following HTML generator http://www.thebigview.com/pastlife/

Apparently I was a female in my last earthly incarnation (phew!) and was born somewhere in the territory of modern North New Zealand around the year 1200. My profession was that of a seaman or cook. Well, cook makes sense since my dad was a chef and most of my uncles and aunts are.

It also says: A natural talent in psychology, you knew how to use your opportunities. Cold-blooded and calm in any situation. Your task is to learn, to love and to trust the universe. You are bound to think, study, reflect, and to develop inner wisdom. That's a pretty cool task!

Band(s) of Brothers?

This summer it seemed as if the every wrist on the subway had a yellow Lance Armstrong band around it. Men, women, children, both straight-laced, athletes and students all had them. But there might be a few new color plastic bands around now.

A recent Newsweek article The Pen-Pal Platoon discusses the new red bands supporting the soldiers that people adopted to send letters and care packages to.

Army Sgt. Juan Salas, 23, and Manhattanville College student started the My Soldier program and as an incentive to writing letters, participants get a red wrist band similar to the Yellow Livestrong ones, to show support for your adopted soldier oversees.

To sign up, click on the graphic:


I used to write letters to my friend's husband. Luckily now after a year-and-a-half he is finally home in time for the holidays. His men really loved the little toys, CDs, magazines and hand wipes I'd send. Most would even write thank you notes back.

It seems these plastic bands are definitely becoming a popular trend. I know I've been looking for the pink breast cancer bands for awhile now. I had liked the yellow bracelets that the whole city, my friends, John Kerry, and even my boss was wearing, but I didn't really follow Armstrong and his cycling career, so I felt it would be weird if I sported one.

But Breast Cancer research is a charity I'm constantly supporting and on a superficial note, the pink bands are prettier, after all like they say pink is the new black. However, these pink bands are selling on eBay for 5$ each plus shipping, instead of the original $1 cost. I don't mind spending the extra money but the terrible thing is the charity the bracelets are supporting are not getting the extra dough. :( Instead, greedy ebayers are pocketing the donation cash. tsk tsk!

It also appears that knock-off and counterfiet yellow bands have been spotted in the Boston area.

LINK: Yellow LIVESTRONG Bracelets Spark Charity Fad

ESPN to lauch wireless network
Sports fans can start doing The Wave. ESPN announced today that next year it will become a mobile virtual network (MVNO) operator and launch ESPN Mobile, a mobile phone service specifically targeted to hardcore sports fans. (More)

I'm going to hold out and stick with Verizon until The Lifetime Network comes out with their own cell phones ;)
Just think you could get Golden Girl gems like,
Blanche: "I treat my body like a temple"
Dorothy: "Yeah opened to everyone day and night."
TXT messaged to your mobile and "The Nanny" fashion advice, lol.

Confession: I really am addicted to the Lifetime Network and their sister channels WE and Oxygen!

LINK: Find out which "Golden Girl" you are, HERE

Why is NYC called the Big Apple? And what is the steam all about?


So when my friend was visiting the city she purchased a typical tourist gift--a pencil with an apple eraser on top. She then turns to me and says "Why is New York City called the Big Apple anyway?" I was dumbfounded, here I was born in New York and am now living here again, yet I had no idea why it's referred to as the Big Apple. Now the city that never sleeps is self explanatory but Big Apple?

I did some research and rumor has it that the "Big Apple" is so named because in the 1920s and '30s jazz musicians used the term as a way of saying, 'There are many apples on the success tree, but when you pick New York City, you pick the Big Apple.'"

"Also during the depression, many former financiers would travel from their suburban cottages in full suits in order to sell apples on the streets of New York. The rumor goes that several well-to-do families had to make ends-meet by selling apples and the charade became know to many as the "Big Apple" scam of New York. Since apples have always been a big part of the New York economy the name simply stuck and was eventually promoted by local government." For more possible reasons go to: http://www.ny.com/histfacts/apple.html

The Steam
Another New York mystery that I had never questioned was the steam that rises up from the ground. It was when another friend stopped by from London that he brought the oddity to my attention. I guess like the "Big Apple" it was just something I had always accepted. To save face though I think I told him it was because of the heat caused by the underground pipes and oh the subways of course. lol! Well, I wasn't too far off.

The City of New York is one of the largest consumers of steam. The so-called steam wafting up from the streets is often vapor produced when underground water hits hot equipment and escapes from beneath the streets. It can also be condensed steam leaking from the Con Ed system. Some 30 billion pounds of steam every year flow beneath the streets of Manhattan from the Battery to 96th Street. While it is unknown to most New Yorkers, Con Edison's subterranean steam system is the biggest steam district in the world, and boasting an annual steam production more than double that of Paris, Europe's largest system.
For more information click here!

The steam undergournd however causes pressure and needs to be released at times, thus those big orange cones that spew steam out into the air and looks like smoke.

The following is from National Geographic's New York Underground:
"Visitors to New York often notice the plumes of steam coming from manhole covers even on hot summer days. In 1882, to reduce soot from individual coal-burning heating units, a central steam-heating system was installed. As with natural gas, Con Ed meters monitor the steam used, and building owners pay a fee."

Txt Messaging, the New Love Letter?


My grandmother has a box of love letters from her husband, while I have saved txt messages on my cell phone and none of them even remotely declare love.

I can't think of the last time I received a love note that was not connected with a birthday card. Instead I have a bunch of spontaneous, funny and sometimes romantic texts saved in my inbox of my phone.

"Sweet dreams doll" "Can't wait for tomorrow...miss you" " "A am drunk"

I get all excited when my cell blinks at work and I see that I have a text message, because although having a private conversation in my wall-less cubicle would be inappropriate, I still can secretly text. It's like passing notes in class, which by the way I did often. I had a system that would allow me to pass notes undetected right under my teacher's nose. I would open my pen and twirl the little note around the spring, close the pen and ask my friend if they needed to borrow a writing implement.

Anyway, recently I started sentimentally transcribing some of them down in fear I'll lose the sweet words forever when new technology emerges and I'm forced to upgrade to a new phone. Or rather in my unfortunate case this summer, when I fell off a boat and into the water with my cell phone in my pocket losing my entire phone records to sheer clumsiness.

So although an actual love note could get mixed up with the trash or ripped up in breakup haste, at least there is a better chance of stumbling upon these notes in later years, giving you the chance to reminisce, while love txt's although exciting and instantaneous are much easier to lose or be deleted in equal twenty-first century haste.