First HILES/Adams Post 2012

What is it about January of a new year that brings about new direction and often a fresh outlook on life. It apparently is in the "genes" as you will see for my line anyway. But I definitely feel the sensation of "out with the old and in with some new". While scouring the news and web I came across this story that struck me with interest:

While this is not from my family tree -- it might have happened and I am just not aware of it. We have twins in the tree, but not that many identified, I'll have to work on that -- right . . .

But if you think about the above, these kids are going to have some great stories. One twin will be a "year" older and will probably never let the younger sibling forget about it. Then there is the fact that for income tax purposes instead of two new deductions in the year 2011, there will only be one.  Social security benefits will be effected, retirement dates effected, possibly school starting dates effected and other impacts that will bring about questions of "why".

While looking for related stories about this interesting event I came across another scenario that was really perplexing -- and that is that there was the occasion of twins being born right on the date of the "time" change. One twin was born under the previous time and the second twin born under the new -- the impact though was that the first twin to be born (the older) because the time was moved back actually had a later recorded birth time . . . all kinds of confusion.

Just for Fun in the New Year


The new year is only a week in, so it is fun to just enjoy that newness. One way is of course by looking at "cute" photos of the animals around us. I found a suitable website that produced just the kinds of pics that illustrate my point:

Click on the above and you'll see what I mean. How could you NOT think these pictures were cute. They came from a site at cuteoverload.com  and I suppose a few weeks into the year, they might not have the same impact that they have had this first week.

Speaking of "this first week" someone I know has just about completed her "first" week of the 2012 tax season which covers tax items for 2011. Some folks have already gathered their tax documents and have completed their tax preparation (the IRS isn't even accepting returns yet) so when the IRS "opens" for business these folks will be first in line -- I'm guessing they are getting a REFUND.

Because Gail has been at work all week, Sunday will take on a whole new meaning . . . Oh, by the way can you identify "maybe a disgruntled employee" in the above photo collage . . . cute.

A Word about "Words"


Recently in the news we read about Alec Baldwin be booted off a Southwest Airlines flight for failing to shut down his iPad when requested to do so. That prompted me to "check out" the game he was playing to see what the deal was. I do not play very many games on my iPad -- but I do like word games and that is what Alec was playing. He was apparently in the middle of a game of "Words with Friends". It is a scrabble-like game that you play on line with friends or maybe just other random players. I have since added it to my iPad (it is a free app). I actually like it a lot as I play against my spouse and we can play whenever it strikes our mood. I am embarrassed to say that sometimes we'll be sitting at the opposite ends of the sofa watching maybe a sporting event on TV and making our word entries at the same time . . . I can't though imagine ignoring a request from airline personnel about turning off the iPad.

But keeping with the sentiment of words I came across a new website that I found interesting concerning words:

The site is dynamo.dictionary.com and you can take a series of test word examples and pick the correct definition and from that they deduce "how many words" you may know. It was something that I had no idea about -- and for that matter, how accurate can they be. There are many words that probably would not appear on their test -- I think you know which ones I mean -- so that would mean there are more words that I know that they don't give me credit for . . . big deal. Anyway, it is a fun way to start the new year.


Dino, Dino, Dino

Dino is ever present in our daily life -- and me (& Gail) in his. We have had him now 35 days and in that time he has added over twelve pounds (from 20 to 32+). At this very moment he is sleeping next to my desk as I write this -- he is snoring quite noticeably -- when the snoring stops, I check on him. But earlier after another nap I did manage to squeeze off a few pics:

Starting from the top left, I caught him with his eyes just opening and he was looking at me sideways, awake but not budging. Top right, he gave a big yawn and finally made the move to start to get up. Bottom left he stood outside his bed and just stood there with a sleepy look. Lastly on the bottom right he was coming into consciousness and was ready for action once again. That will be replayed soon as it is getting close to his dinner time and his last shot at nourishment (other than grabbing leaves as he goes outside). He is such a good boy though.


January Events for the HILES line


As I mentioned it above -- what is it about January? There are some 150+ birthdays from the tree this month and several on this very day, back in time. But the real eye-opener for me was the number of Weddings in January in my direct line:

If you click on the above you'll see (from my website) some of the data that is available. Birthdays this month, those born on this day and from the Dates and Anniversaries section I pulled the weddings for this month. And the interesting thing is that my own (first marriage) wedding was in January and then going up my line -- my Parents, my Grandparents, my Great Grandparents AND my Gr Gr Gr Grandparents all married in January. I am not sure what to make of all that, but it is a fact. If you go into the website you can check out other facts as well.


And so ends the first week of 2012 and in a few minutes Dino will be having his dinner and in a couple of hours Gail & I will be enjoying our first Slider Saturday Night of 2012.

See you in a few . . .