Tag: work

the special days of April, pt 1

As we’ve done in previous months, we’re going to look at the special days and holidays of this month.  As usual, this is not a complete list — those can be found elsewhere.  But I guarantee you will not find another list like this one.  This is not a mere list, because we add our own unique commentary and analysis.  In other words, we try to make it more fun.  And you are welcome to add to the discussion in the comments section.

Let’s get started with the month-long celebrations and observances:

  • National Humor Month — Then this is a great time to be reading this blog, because we’re all about humor!
  • National Pecan Month — To me, this says “eat pecan pie”.  Mmm…
  • International Guitar Month — Rock on, dude!
  • National Garden Month — This is when Mango-Man starts his infamous all-natural “survival of the fittest” garden.  That is, he doesn’t use chemicals and pesticides, and he doesn’t even bother watering it much.  It truly is survival of the fittest.  🙂
  • National Mathematics Education Month — I hope you already know the basics that are needed to get through life.  As far as the advanced stuff, I took Calculus I & II in college, learning all about derivatives, integrals, differential equations, abstract algebra, matrices, etc., and I use absolutely none of it in real life.  A few people might need to know it, but I didn’t need it for the computer programming I’ve done.  But I digress…
  • National Grilled Cheese Month — We’ve already discussed this before.  You can also add ham or bacon to your grilled cheese, and Miracle Whip goes well with it, too.  Mmm…

The only week-long observance I want to bring up this month is:

  • Week 1 Read a Road Map Week — Being a man, I don’t need road maps or directions.  However, in the spirit of this holiday, we should do what is implied here: take a road trip!  Does anyone want to take off for Colorado?  🙂

Now we’ll look at the individual day holidays:

  • 1 April Fool’s Day — You already know about this.  You play pranks and jokes on people.
  • 2 Children’s Book Day — I usually don’t read children’s books, because too many of them are dumbed-down (unnecessarily so in some cases).  But if you consider The Chronicles of Narnia to be a children’s series, that one is definitely worth reading.
  • peanut butter jelly sandwich2 National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day — I like the food holidays.  🙂
  • 3 Don’t Go to Work Unless it’s Fun Day — I figure most people would choose to stay home.  Although even with my current job, where I get to do work I enjoy, I still could use another day off.  After all, we have to work more days than we have off, and we should strive to be balanced in life.
  • 4 National Walk to Work Day — So you get a day off, then they want you to walk to work. Ideally, though, this is a good idea, and a good time of year for it. But sometimes it’s just not practical.
  • 4 Walk Around Things Day — This is vague.  But I suppose if you’re walking to work, you’ll have to walk around buildings and parked cars and such.
  • 4 Tell a Lie Day — You shouldn’t do this.  Why is this even a holiday?  It’s immoral!  Even if it’s a “holiday”, we’ll still have to give an account to God for all that we say…
  • 7 Caramel Popcorn Day — I prefer cheese popcorn, but still, it’s a food holiday.
  • 7 No Housework Day — This is a great idea!  I’ll have to tell my wife about this one!  🙂  Instead of housework, we could do something more fun, like play games or watch movies or play sports outside.  Almost anything is better than housework!
  • 8 Draw a Picture of a Bird Day — Uhh… I’ll pass on this one.  But, if it’s your thing, go ahead…
  • 9 Name Yourself Day — On this day, you can change your name for the day.  So if you don’t like your name, or if you’d rather be known by a nickname, this is the time.  I’m thinking about going with “Master of the Universe”.  So all my co-workers (including my bosses) will have to refer to me as such, or I will ignore them.
  • 11 Eight Track Tape Day — I barely remember these (because I’m not that old).  I never owned any, but one of my friend’s parents did.  They were interesting, and some argue they were better than cassettes, which replaced them.  But now they’re relics, replaced with CDs and MP3s.
  • 11 Barbershop Quartet Day — Is it a coincidence this is the same day as 8-Track Tape Day?  Just kidding!  This would be a good day to check out the musical style of barbershop quartets.  Try something different for a change.  You can probably find some online to listen to.
  • 12 Big Wind Day — This day blows me away!  (Sorry…)  This is a holiday because on this day in 1934, the staff of the Mount Washington Observatory recorded the highest surface wind ever measured, anywhere on earth.  This big wind was officially recorded at 231 miles per hour.  To celebrate that, take notice of the wind outside, watching its effects and listening to it.  If there isn’t any natural wind, feel free to create your own big wind.  (AWW-RIGHT!)
  • 13 Blame Someone Else Day — I think politicians already do this every day, along with much of the mainstream media.  It seems like everything is President Bush’s fault, somehow.  I don’t care for this holiday, because people already do this too much.  We need to take personal responsibility for our lives.  If you’re going to enjoy life, it’s up to you to make it happen.
  • 14 International Moment of Laughter Day — On this day, you should take (a lot of) breaks to have a moment of laughter.  After all, laughing is like jogging on the inside — it’s good for you.  So for your health, make time for laughing.  And, of course, this blog is a good source of laughter.  🙂
  • clouds over island14 Look up at the Sky Day — Go figure out why the sky is blue…  Seriously, take a moment to enjoy the clouds.  It’s even better if there’s a storm coming through, with dark clouds and lightning.  I enjoy storm chasing, but it can get dangerous…

This is getting really long, so I’m going to break it up into two posts.  To be continued…  (Click here for the next part.)

the special days of January, pt 3

Here’s part 3 of the special days and holidays in January.

  • 24 Compliment Day — One website suggests giving at least 5 compliments to different people on this day.  I’ll give one now (which should meet the goal all at once) : You obviously have good taste in blogs, since you’re here reading this one.  🙂
  • 26 Spouse’s Day — Isn’t there already a holiday for this, like Valentine’s Day?  Oh, I know — Valentine’s Day is mainly for the women, because they get expensive roses and teddy bears and chocolates, and guys usually get nothing but a card.  So maybe this day is the more balanced of the holidays.
  • chocolate cake27 Chocolate Cake Day — Woohoo!  You know what to do : eat… lots… of… cake.
  • 27 Punch the Clock Day — This is an innovative idea, especially if applied to the clock at work.  Just make sure that you don’t lose track of when 5:00 rolls around if you break the clock.
  • 28 Fun at Work Day — Personally I have more fun not working, but at least this is better than a typical work day.  Unfortunately, the 28th falls on a Monday this year, which makes it even more difficult to carry out.  Here at Buffet o’ Blog we’ve had a couple of discussions (here and here) on ways to improve the work day.  Since these aren’t implemented full-time yet, this would be a good day to start.
  • 29 National Cornchip Day — We take them for granted now, but they haven’t been around forever.  Fritos corn chips debuted in 1961.  How do you celebrate this day?  Eat corn chips, preferably with cheese dip and/or salsa.
  • 30 National Inane Answering Message Day — Oh, this is a fun one!  Back when I was single and lived at the “Bachelor Pad”, we often put inane messages for callers to hear, and sometimes people left inane messages.  I still like to leave funny messages for friends when I know they won’t answer their phone.  (I know for a fact that Mango-Man despises the theme song from Sanford & Son, so it’s a great prank to call his work number after hours and leave that song on there.  He will act all upset and stuff, but he will really get a kick out of it, so everyone do this!)  🙂
  • 31 Backward Day — Is this because of the rap group Kris Kross?  Just kidding.  I looked online and found this about the holiday : “Try writing backwards or reading backwards.  Wear your shirt with the back in the front.  Eat your meal, starting with dessert.  Now that’s what I call fun!  Walk backwards, or talk backwards.  Play a board game backwards, from the finish line to the start.  Are you starting to get the picture!?  This day is limited only by your imagination.”  Um, no.  Although I guess we could play a board game like Monopoly backwards, where I start with all the money and properties with hotels.  🙂
  • 31 Inspire Your Heart with Art Day — Again, I looked online and found something amusing on this : “Look at a piece of art and ask yourself: What is telling me?  How does it make me feel?  What emotions is it evoking (if any) within me?”  I’m no art expert, but what I usually think about contemporary art is, “You paid how much for that?!?”  I suppose you could consider the environment of video games as art, especially something like Super Mario Galaxy, with its various unique worlds.  Yeah, that sounds like a good way to celebrate this day.

Hey, we finally reached the end!  January had a lot of special days, huh?  Or maybe January had a lot of rambling concerning its special days.  🙂  Anyway, there you have it.  As always, you’re welcome to share any thoughts in the comments.

the special days of January, pt 1

It’s now January, so we are going to continue our tradition of looking at the specials days and holidays of the month.  This is not a complete list — those can be found elsewhere — but I guarantee you won’t find another list like this.  As always, our unique commentary and humorous analysis will be interspersed amidst the listing.  Let us begin with the month-long celebrations :

  • National Hobby Month — Hobbies are a good way to relax from the stresses of life.  Reading can be a good hobby.  Reading this blog is an even better hobby.  🙂
  • Hot Tea Month — I prefer iced tea with a considerable amount of sugar, but to each their own.  Either way, tea is awesome.
  • National Staying Healthy Month — I prefer to observe this one every month…
  • National Thank You Month — It seems like this should be in November, because of Thanksgiving.  But it doesn’t hurt to be thankful on other occasions, too.  In fact, I’m thankful now that you’re reading my blog!  🙂

Now let’s look at individual day-long holidays and celebrations :

  • 1 New Year’s Day — You already know about this one.  There’s lots of parties (which begin the day before), and it’s a great excuse to eat a lot before you start that diet that’s part of your New Year’s resolutions.
  • 2 Run up the Flagpole and See if Anyone Salutes Day — Huh?  If you can run up a flagpole, that’s pretty impressive!  Actually, the phrase means to be creative and float an idea to see what people think.
  • 3 Festival of Sleep Day — This is what I’m talking about!  It’s a day for sleeping!  It’s on a weekday this year, and of course sleeping at work is not recommended, but if I understand the true spirit of the holiday, you should stay at home and sleep through work.  (We need more holidays like this!)
  • 3 Fruitcake Toss Day — Sounds interesting, if you were unfortunate enough to receive a fruitcake as a gift.  But it’s probably not good to throw it at somebody, because those things can be hard as a rock.
  • 4 Trivia Day — Did you know that this blog is the #1 humor website?  (This may be obscure trivia to some, but follow the link for more details.)
  • 6 Bean Day — This is a day for eating an extra helping of beans, however you like them — refried, BBQ’d, whatever.  And you should eat more beans anyway — I hear they’re good for your heart…  🙂
  • 7 Old Rock Day — Uhh… I’m not sure about this one.  I reckon it means you should appreciate old rocks.  But I don’t know why.  Although I suppose diamonds and jewels are rocks.
  • 8 Bubble Bath Day — Ah, the bubble bath…  I remember taking those when I was a kid, pouring way too much Mr. Bubble into the bathtub.  And being a kid, why would I care if the bubbles overflowed into the floor?  I mean, it got cleaned up somehow.  🙂  Unfortunately, most adults forget about the fun of taking a bubble bath, so this is the day to give it another try, to relive memories from your childhood, to find your inner child, and to go back to a time when life was simple and fun.
  • 9 Play God Day — This isn’t a good idea.  While God does has a sense of humor, He doesn’t appreciate people pretending to be a god.  And God isn’t someone we should push the limits on.
  • 9 National Static Electricity Day — This is the day to wear wool sweaters or whatever stirs up static electricity, so you can shock people.  But be careful, because you can overdo it on this.  There was a man in Australia who caught carpet on fire and melted some plastic because his clothes generated so much static electricity.  He was wearing a synthetic nylon jacket and a woolen shirt.  While having that much electricity is kinda neat, there could be some side-effects you might not want to endure.
  • 10 Peculiar People Day — This is a day in honor of people who are unique, extraordinary, unusual, odd, uncommon, intriguing, etc.  Basically, it’s in honor of me.  So feel free to send me presents and gift cards.  Or you can just buy me lunch.
  • 11 Step in a Puddle and Splash Your Friends Day — This one is self-explanatory.  Just remember to explain to your friends that it’s an actual holiday, to help them forgive you.
  • 12 Work Harder Day — Let’s just pretend this day doesn’t actually exist.  But, if you’re unable to convince yourself that, remember my motto : work smarter, not harder.

Well, this is getting really long, so I’m going to finish it in the next post.  Stay tuned…

increasing the continued success

I’m still excited about the increase in traffic last month.  It has been going up each month for five consecutive months.  I predict it will continue to increase, too, because we’re about to add some new features.  And of what we currently do, there are plans to make it even better.  If you like our humor, we’re going to get funnier.  If you like the stupidity, well, we’ve only scratched the surface of what we’re capable of!  If you enjoy the randomness, know there’s more where that came from.  Yep, things are going to get bigger and better here, you’ll see.

Some of you may be wondering how we can provide all this for free, when some of the other free blogs copy and paste their humor or they write only 3 to 5 posts per month.  It’s because I enjoy trying to be funny and I think people should laugh more.  However, that doesn’t pay the bills, so I’m forced to work other jobs.  If only I could write on this blog (and my other one) full-time, that would be awesome.  Then there would be more high-quality content here than you could shake a stick at.  If you’d like to see this happen, send me some money.  Use the “contact us” link in the sidebar to request the address where you can send me a big pile of U.S. currency.  Then it’s like I’d be working for you.  I’m okay with that, if you pay enough.  🙂  There’s also some benefits we’d have to work out, which has already been discussed on the blog here (like free sweet tea and nachos, plenty of breaks, etc.).  And not only would you get to enjoy more original content, you’d be contributing to my mission of making the world a better place.  It’s a win-win situation!