On September 6, 1620, about 102 pilgrims traveled from England across the Atlantic Ocean for 66 days in a ship called the Mayflower.  Under extreme hardship conditions during their journey which included living in the cargo space of the vessel for the entire trip (they were not allowed on deck due to storms), they arrived at Plymouth Rock (now Plymouth, Massachusetts) on December 11th.  Their original destination was somewhere in the northern part of Virginia, but due to severe storms they were blown off course.  During an extremely cold first winter, nearly 46 people died.  In the spring of 1621, native Indians Samoset and Squanto (who spoke English), taught the pilgrims to survive by growing corn and other crops, how to get sap out of maple trees, and avoiding poisonous plants.  In the summer of 1621, they were faced with a severe drought, ending after three days of fasting and prayers, when rains suddenly came and saved their crops.  In the fall of 1621 a three-day outdoor feast was held amongst 90 people, including Indians, thanking God for their bountiful crops.  According to the first-hand account written by the leader of the colony, the food included ducks, geese, venison, fish, berries, etc. but there is no evidence to prove if the customary turkey was a part of the feast.  Pumpkin pie is unlikely to have been a part of the menu because of a diminishing supply of flour in the settlement. The pilgrims did, however, have boiled pumpkin.  It was two years before another fall feast was held, following a month-long summer drought.  In 1676, Governor Bradford proclaimed another day of thanksgiving.  There followed other yearly country-wide thanksgiving day celebrations dedicated to various occasions to be thankful, most of which were held in November or December.  In the mid 1800s, Sarah Josepha Hale, a magazine editor, mounted a campaign to make Thanksgiving a national holiday.  In 1863, President Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving Day to be held on the last day of November, mainly to boost the Union army's morale.  In 1939, President Franklin Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving up one week to appease businesses that wanted a longer Christmas shopping season.  However, after much controversy, Roosevelt signed a bill in 1941 officially making Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday in November.
 
As you celebrate Thanksgiving Day, remember that this is a time of thankfulness in our history for hardships endured, blessings bestowed upon everyone, a bountiful life, and the great respect and cooperation between different cultures.

 

 

In 1980, after recognizing a local need for a shipping supply distributor, Liz and Dick Uihlein (descendents of the founders of Milwaukee's Jos. Schlitz Brewing Co.) started Uline from the basement of their home in Lake Forest, Illinois. Their first product was the H-101 carton sizer (still offered today). It sold far beyond their expectations and encouraged the Uihleins to add more products to the catalog the following year. Uline has steadily grown and continues to be a family owned and run business. The product line has expanded to include industrial and packaging materials, including over 850 shipping box sizes alone. The 384-page Uline catalog reaches businesses nationwide, offering thousands of products with quick delivery.  Uline calls itself a pure distribution company that doesn't manufacture anything it sells.  Today, with over 2,000 employees nationwide, and headquartered in Waukegan, Illinois, Uline has distribution centers near Chicago, IL; Minneapolis, MN; Allentown, PA; Los Angeles, CA; Atlanta, GA; and Dallas, TX. They also have a satellite location in Tijuana, Mexico that opened in 2001. Their first Canadian location in Brampton, Ontario, opened in the Spring of this year.  Currently under construction in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin is a new one million square foot distribution center and a new 200,000 square foot company headquarters, both scheduled to open in 2010.  Uline's move will bring approximately 1,000 jobs to the state of Wisconsin.  (Sources:  www.uline.com  and www.jsonline.com)

 

 

Cody May's turkey shot on April 6, 2007 near his home in New Boston, Texas set a new world record for turkey beard length by the National Wild Turkey Federation.  The tom's beard measured 22.5 inches!  The previous record for beard length was 18.125 inches, held by Robert Tremblay of King George, Virginia.  For you non-turkey-savvy folks who are saying "What the heck is a 'turkey beard?" it is a cluster of long, hair-like bristles or filaments that look like modified feathers and grow from the center of a turkey's chest.  Unlike feathers, beards are not molted each year.  Although the beards grow at the rate of 3-5 inches per year, the length is limited because the end is worn as the turkey feeds.  On adult males (toms) these beards average about 9 inches long.  Approximately 10 percent of adult female turkeys (hens) also grow beards.  Some avid turkey hunters like to display their collection of turkey beards trophy-style (see The Wild Turkey Zone's website http://www.wildturkeyzone.com and search "Displaying Your Turkey Beards" article).  Turkey beards are also bought and sold online between collectors.  For more turkey information, go to The National Wild Turkey Federation's website www.nwtf.org.  The Pennsylvania Game Commission also offers answers to many of your turkey questions at http://www.pgc.state.pa.us/pgc/cwp/view.asp?a=466&q=171916.

 

 

To keep your computer running faster and cleaner, you should periodically defragment ("defrag") your computer (Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Disk Defragmenter), which will reorganize all of your data into a sequential order which can improve your computer's performance.  Before defrag is started, close all applications and do not access the internet or anything else until it is finished.  This process can be quite lengthy depending on how much information needs to be reorganized, and watching it in motion is available, but we liken it to watching grass grow - so, go for a walk, take a nap, read, or do something fun until the process completes.  Computer repair companies love this quick fix for a slow computer because it is usually the easiest of fixes, and "easy money" in their pocket!  And, to keep those bucks in YOUR pocket, all it takes it a little routine computer housecleaning on your part.

 

 

The Breast Cancer Site is asking folks to click on their site daily to meet their quota of donating at least one free mammogram per day to an underprivileged woman.  It takes less than a minute to go to their site www.thebreastcancersite.com and click on the pink window in the middle.  This doesn't cost you a thing.  Their corporate sponsors and advertisers use the number of daily site visits to donate mammograms in exchange for advertising on the site.  Please pass it along to people you know!

 

 

Surprisingly, quite a lot of Notaries keep copies of every document they notarize.  As a signer, be aware that allowing a Notary to keep a copy of ANY document notarized is not a legal requirement.  The only exception to this might be a Notarial act of making a certified copy and keeping a second backup copy for record purposes.  As long as a Notary maintains the required detailed and accurate journal of notarial acts, it isn't necessary for him/her to keep document copies.  (Source:  National Notary Association)

 

 

Carl and Gerty Cori studied together, loved together, worked together - and together contributed to the health of our nation and the world.  Born in 1896, Gerty Radnitz was home-schooled until she was 10, graduated from high school at age 18, and studied medicine for eight years at the German University in Prague, Czechoslovakia. She received her Doctorate in Medicine in 1920 at the age of 24.  Carl Cori was brought up in a scientific atmosphere (his grandfather was a physics professor and his father a marine biologist).  World War I interrupted his medical studies at the German University while he served as a lieutenant in the Sanitary Corps of the Austrian Army.  After the war, he returned to the university to complete his degree and graduate as Doctor of Medicine in 1920.  Carl and Gerty married in 1920, immigrated to the United States in 1922 and became American citizens in 1928.  They had one child, a son, and enjoyed the great outdoors.
 
The Cori's worked throughout their lives in the field of bio-chemical research.  Their great interest was in the action mechanism of hormones in the human body, especially the fate of sugar in animal bodies, and the effects of insulin and adrenaline.  In 1947 (at the age of 51), they were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discovery of the course of the catalytic conversion of glycogen" (sugar metabolism in the body).  The Cori's were inspiration to their colleagues and friends.  Together they published numerous scientific articles and went on to receive many prestigious awards throughout the United States and abroad.  Gerty died in 1957 at the age of 61.  Carl remarried in 1960, and died in 1984 at the age of 88.  The lives of these two great Americans have made a substantial contribution to the ongoing study, diagnosis and treatment of diabetes.  To learn more about diabetes, click on the American Diabetes Association's link:  http://www.diabetes.org/home.jsp.

 

 

The following recent recalls were issued by the U.S. consumer Product Safety Commission.  More details can be found at www.cpsc.gov.  BC-50 Battery Chargers (Imp: Fujifilm USA, Valhalla, NY); Portable Generators (Imp:  General Power Products LLC, Loveland, OH); GN9120 Wireless Headsets (Mfg:  GN Netcom Inc., Nashua, NH); Automatic Gas Vent Dampers (Mfg:  Effikal LLC, Orion, MI); Vitodens 200 Boilers (Mfg:  Viessmann Mfg. Co. Inc., Canada); General Electric Toasters (Imp:  Wal-Mart Stores, Bentonville, AR); SmartSpace Papasan Chairs (Imp:  Jo-Ann Stores, Hudson, OH); TV Stands (Mfg:  King Pao Enterprise & Studio Link Corp, China); Blue Ember Gas Grills (Imp: Fiesta Gas Grills, Dickson, TN).

 

 

Nov 1:  All Saints' Day; Nov. 2:  All Souls' Day; Nov. 3:  Sandwich Day; Nov. 10:  Marine Corps Birthday; Nov. 11:  Veterans Day; Nov. 15:  America Recycles Day; Nov. 18:  Mickey Mouse's Birthday; Nov. 19:  US Marine Corps Day; Nov. 20:  Children's Day; Nov. 22:  John F. Kennedy's Assassination; National Stop the Violence Day; Nov. 27:  Thanksgiving Day.
 
NOTICE:  Mazon offices will be closed on Tuesday, Nov. 11th in observance of Veterans Day and will resume normal business hours of 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday Nov. 12th.  We will also be closed Thursday and Friday, Nov. 27th and 28th for the Thanksgiving holidays, and reopen on Monday, Dec. 1st.  You may still submit invoices via fax, e-mail or drop-slot during our closed hours to be processed on our following business day.

 

 

Cell phone numbers went public in October and are being released to telemarketing companies and you will shortly, if not already, start to receive sale calls.  Most importantly, you will be charged for these calls!  To prevent this, call 888-382-1222 from your cell phone.  This is the National Do Not Call List and it will take only about two minutes of your time to block your number for five years.  You must call from the cell phone number you want to have blocked - you cannot call from a different phone number.  Help others by passing this information on.  Land lines can also be registered with this service via a telephone or the internet.  (Resource:  www.donotcall.gov)

 

 

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. - John Fitzgerald Kennedy

An elderly retired gentleman had severe hearing problems for some time.  He went to the doctor and the doctor was able to have him fitted for a set of hearing aids that allowed the man to hear better than he had ever heard before.

After the Thanksgiving holiday, the elderly man went back again to the doctor.  The doctor said, "Your hearing is perfect.  Your family must be really pleased that you can hear again."  The gentleman said, "Oh, I haven't told my family yet.  I just sat around and listened to the conversations.  I've changed my will three times!"

 

 

Looking for time-tested or new recipes for your own Thanksgiving feast?  There are so many on the internet we couldn't include them all.  A couple of good websites we did come across for sharing are http://www.kitchenlink.com/thanksgiving.html and http://www.cookingcache.com/cat/thanksgiving_recipes/default.aspx that will give you more selections than you can shake a stick at!  And, if you would like to know what to make from your leftover turkey dinner (if there are any leftovers, that is!), click on http://southernfood.about.com/od/turkeyrecipes/turkey_recipes.htm.