Fatty, Fatty, 2x4?

Yesterday, there was a layoff at work. I was not impacted (although a couple of my projects were), unlike Oct 2012 when I was let go. While I didn't really think it had an impact on me, I notice that I did struggle to wake up this morning. And once I did, the song that came to me during my shower today was Elton John's 'I'm still standing'. I was thinking the words "Don't you know I'm still standing better than I ever did, Looking like a true survivor, feeling like a little kid...."

Should the worst case happen some time, and I am again on the job market, maybe I can become a scientist and study coprolites. Sounds like an interesting study, right? Well, it may be a valid and valuable study, but it is actually analyzing fossilized feces. Yep. What can be learned? According to the article, [scientists] found that King Richard III was infected with roundworm; in another, [they] identified an early example of how irrigation channels might have spread disease. [Other] work has looked at the effects of natural climate fluctuation on tapeworm infections on the coast of Chile, and how the expansion of the Incan Empire affected parasitism in agricultural villages.

If I do end up seeking future employment, I do not plan to move. This is where the kids and GRANDS and parents are, so we will hope to stay put. I did see a study noting that if we want to improve our sense of well-being, we should leave the Lower 48. According to this study, Hawaii reclaimed the top spot among states in the U.S. for well-being as 2014’s highest well-being state, Alaska, slipped to second. Montana, Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, Minnesota, Utah, Arizona and California rounded out the rest of the top 10. Kentucky and West Virginia continued to have the lowest well-being in the nation, ranking 49th and 50th, respectively, for seven straight years.

I do still need a job, but today's devotional reminds me that meeting day-to-day needs should not supplant my need for spiritual sustenance. The author talks about Matt 5:6, which, of course, is the chapter containing The Beatitudes. Today's verse reads, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled." The devotional includes this statement, which I found insightful. "Desire is an inward longing for something we do not have but feel we need. Hunger and thirst are appetites God gave humans to make us aware of a need. Hunger for God's Word and His attributes are the spiritual appetite God gives Christians to make us aware of spiritual needs. Do pagans pray to their idols and ask them for love, joy, internal peace, kindness, gentleness, goodness, meekness, or self-control? They ask for other things — material things, material blessings."

On the other side of the serious nature of spirituality is today's groaner of a joke from my Joke a Day calendar.
"The foreman at a construction site noticed that one of his carpenters, who was shingling the side of the house, kept throwing away every second or third nail. “What are you doing that for?!” he called to the carpenter. From his ladder the carpenter replied, “The head is on the wrong side of some of these nails, Boss!” Exasperated, the foreman called back, “Well, don't throw them away! They're for the other side of the house!”

I like that more and more states are including financial literacy in the topics students needs to learn. I want my kids and grandkids to be smarter about money and be more prepared for retirement than I am. The best way for that, both in terms of starting early and understanding the opportunities they have, is to introduce it in the curriculum. The article notes, "Financial education classes offered in the K–12 setting don't delve into complex concepts, she said. Instead, they teach students practical life skills, like how to balance a checkbook, the effect of interest rates and how investments can benefit from compounded growth."

I know there is a homeless dude in Detroit who understands finances. He will now take donations via credit and debit card. That's right. No, I would NOT feel comfortable giving a homeless man my credit card info.

In today's 'Things I might have to have' update, how about an Air Bonsai? Yes, a little bonsai tree that uses magnets to remain floating in the air? There is a Kickstarter campaign for it going right now.

You are not alone in thinking that your pants and belt must have shrunk since last month. Check out this chart. Details around all of the pieces that make up our diet are in the article, including less red meat and more added fats.

Yesterday, I shared a NERDsery rhyme from 2010. Luckily (or maybe unluckily) for you, it was not the only one I wrote.

I am certainly glad I still have a job, but I also still need my time off. We made it to the weekend, so I plan to do no (or at most minimal) work after tonight. And we are keeping the GRANDS on Saturday night, so I will certainly not be working then. We do have a couple of things on which we need to work that are not related to our jobs, though. Clean the garage. Finish gathering items related to estate planning. Begin gathering documentation for filing our income tax returns. Maybe those should wait until after I get caught up on The X-Files? Have a good weekend, my friends.