What do Pretzels, Colors and Smarts Have in Common?

Gellinger via Pixabay

I haven't done a Checkiday post in a while, so I thought I'd wander on over to the website to see what we're celebrating today. My three favorites? Pretzels, colors and intelligence (not necessarily in that order).

Soft pretzels always make me think of my high school best friend, Patti, a.k.a. "Pit." Soft pretzels were her lunch of choice most days, and she had a particular way of eating the pretzels. It wasn't anything weird -- just a way of saving the best for last. Not a bad philosophy of life. So today, on Eat a Pretzel Day, though I'm unlikely to go in search of a soft pretzel for lunch, I might just dig into the container of pretzel rods on my kitchen counter.

In addition to being a soft pretzel fan, Pit's one of the smartest people I know, which makes me smile at the fact that Eat a Pretzel Day falls on the same day as Smart is Cool Day. I suspect that some of my students didn't get the word, though, since six of them missed class this morning. Two had good reasons, and perhaps the other four did, too, and just didn't clue me in. Or, maybe no one told them that smart is cool. Checkiday says that "Smart is Cool Day...celebrates and highlights the importance of intellectual pursuits, knowledge and education, and is a day to strive to become smarter." As an educator, I'm pretty excited that there's a day dedicated to those things.

Pixabay

Another word for smart is bright, and bright is what drew me to National Color Day. The older I get, the greater the percentage of my closet contents that are black. I've always loved having a few black basics to build on because black goes with anything and is particularly fun with a splash of color. Black, white and brights are wardrobe staples for me but, as much as I love a closet full of black and white basics, I'd hate to live in a world that is black and white, literally or figuratively. I much prefer shades of gray, perhaps with bright and/or seasonal accents.

How about you? What are you celebrating today?

Happy Monday, Whatever You're Celebrating!

Pixabay

I bought my Amazon Echo Dot on a whim. My husband and I were post-Christmas shopping at the mall and we came across an Amazon kiosk. It was the first time I'd ever seen one and I loved the idea of being able to physically interact with things I can usually find only online. Although I didn't walk away with my Alexa, I ordered one shortly after we got home.

Since then, I've been finding out what she can do mostly by accident. One morning, I sat down in my office and said, "Alexa, good morning." I was pleasantly surprised when she answered me back (so to speak) with information about a special observance.

That has become my favorite Alexa trick. Besides Jeopardy. And music.

Some days, though, the observance she chooses to acknowledge (with or without a bad pun) isn't one that I find terribly interesting, and so I head over to checkiday.com. Today is (in no particular -- and non-comprehensive -- order):

• International Ataxia Awareness Day (A rare, degenerative neurological disorder. I had to look it up).
• World Pharmacist Day. (Happy Day, Karen!)
• National Comic Book Day (Alexa told me about this one).
• National Cooking Day (Think anyone will mind if I boycott this one?)
• National Psychotherapy Day (News to me!)
• National One Hit Wonder Day.

And there we have it. The one that set me to much too much Googling, wondering about one hit wonders. A few surprised me ("Come on, Eileen" by Dexys Midnight Runners, for example) and others had me googling the definition of "one hit wonder" because I was sure I knew other songs released by those groups. (I did. One hit wonders can have other releases, too, but are primarily known for one song).

It would be so easy to lose the rest of my day in lists of one hit wonders, sampling all those great songs (and some of the not-so-great ones) but instead, I will leave you with one of my favorites. Like Alexa, I reserve the right to choose the selection I want to highlight.

Happy One Hit Wonder Day. May it be filled with music, memories and fun.