In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Smurfs, Belgium is producing a commemorative Euro coin featuring a Smurf.

I would LOVE to find one of these!

Some of you may know that my older sister collects Smurfs.  As a child, she began collecting smurf figurines and other smurf items, and she now has a huge collection of a couple thousand Smurfs.

Needless to say, she was thrilled when she read this and discovered that this year, the Smurfs will debut as a balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade!

I asked her if this meant that Macy’s would also have three extraordinarily large apple balloons. (Kudos to those who get the joke!)

How far you go in life
depends on your being tender with the young,
compassionate with the aged,
sympathetic with the striving,
and tolerant of the weak and strong.
Because someday in your life
you will have been all of these.
-George Washington Carver

From my mother’s page-a-day calendar:

Before he became President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson was a college professor.  From 1902 to 1910, he served as president of Princeton University.  During his tenure at Princeton, one of his duties was to expel playwright Eugene O’Neill, who threw a beer bottle through Wilson’s office window.

To all my readers who remember Billy Ray in all his achy breaky glory…

I want to be the first to tell you that the mullet is making its great comeback right here in the heart of the midwest!

I know this because I’ve seen it amongst the most influential demographic: the early-elementary kids.  Every single kindergarten, first, second, or third grade class that I have taught has included at least one student with a mullet, and usually more!

So be on the lookout for the mullet to reach your hometown!

(Anyone want to move to a deserted mullet-free island with me?)

3D Mailbox is an email program that adds a touch of adventure to your email.  In one version, new emails are represented by avatars.  Good emails are sexy models, while spam emails are goofy sumo wrestlers.  In another version, all emails are represented by airplanes.  Good emails go to the terminal (or to various hangars), while spam emails go to the airport boneyard.  Unsure emails circle above the airport until you “land” the email and choose where it will go.  I doubt I would ever use it, but it certainly looks entertaining!

Follow Cost is a site that shows you how annoying it can be to follow a particular “tweeter” on twitter.  Helpful if your cell account only allows a limited number of texts!

Here’s some recent unusual facebook friend requests for your amusement.

[Show as slideshow]

First, we’ll take a look at “Mike Baldwin”.  He’s a democrat who lives in Kansas City and graduated from the same high school as me, two years before me.  Aside from being a democrat, he looks reasonably legit.  I’ll probably approve him.  (Note to all my friends and readers who are democrats: Totally kidding and I love you all!)

Next let’s look at “Mike Fellenstein”.  He found my account using the Friend Finder, meaning that he somehow knows my email account.  But we have no friends in common and his name is not familiar to me.  I’ll send him a message and see what he says.

“Aaron Fries”.  He’s also a local graduate of my high school.  Looks legit.  He’ll be approved.

“Paul Cain”.  A quick Google search of his name reveals his personal website.  He is apparently a Pentecostal healer.  I believe in God and Jesus and Christianity… but this is a little over the top for me.  I’ll probably reject him.

“Matthew Spurs”.  Again, we have no friends in common and his name doesn’t ring a bell.  Sorry Mr. Spurs, but you’re probably gonna be rejected.

Facebook reveals the strangest things…

Somehow I highly doubt that this is what our founding fathers were thinking of when they created freedom of speech.

Larry Flynt has created a porno film starring a woman who looks suspiciously like Sarah Palin.  The character’s name is Serra Paylin.  The film is titled “Nailin’ Paylin”.

The plot involves two drunk Russians whose tank runs out of gas in front of “Paylin”’s home.  It’s a porno.  You can fill in the blanks from there.

Sometimes I’m really, really glad that I’m not famous.

From Traveling Thoughts:

If you had purchased $1,000 of Lehman Bros. stock one year ago, you would have $49 left.

With Wachovia, you would have $16.50 left.

With AIG, you would have less than $5 left.

But if you had purchased $1,000 worth of beer one year ago, drank all of the beer, then turned in the cans for the aluminum recycling REFUND, you would have had $214.

Based on the above, the best current investment advice is to drink heavily and recycle.

It’s called the 401-Keg plan.