Election Day Forecast/Electoral College versus Popular Vote

HURRICANES AND WEATHER
Say Marco (we said when that tiny stormed was in the southern Gulf of Mexico). Well, now there is Polo in the eastern Pacific--not theatening any land area and giving me something silly to say.

Election Day weather--some trouble spots around the nation. To the right is the National Weather Service's warning map. The pink areas are one of the toughest locations because that is where there could be treacherous driving due to wintery weather. Here is just one of the warnings:

A STRONG WINTER STORM WILL BRING 8 TO 16 INCHES OF SNOW...WITHLOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS POSSIBLE...TO THE SAN JUAN...WEST ELK ANDSAWATCH MOUNTAINS AS WELL AS THE GRAND MESA. EXPECT SOUTHWEST WINDSTO INCREASE TO 15 TO 25 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 35 MPH CREATINGWIDESPREAD AREAS OF BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW. WINDS WILL SHIFTTO THE WEST AND DECREASE WEDNESDAY NIGHT.

The winter weather advisories (shown in blue) are also important but not as critical as the pink (warned) areas. There will be also be some showers and thunderstorms from D.C. to Norfolk to Charlotte, NC. It will be chilly or the northwest and intermountain region with highs in the 30s and 40s.

Houston weather looks great for voting...lows in the 50s and highs in the 80s. Look for a line of storms late Thursday into early Friday. Weekend looks nice and dry.

SPANISH WORD OF THE DAY
Can you believe I want to do election or eleccíon, pronounced ay-leck-SIOWN. Tomorrow is a big day, the eleccíon of a new president and others.

You can elect to help your children reap the many benefits of early language learning. Buy them our award winning DVD, Volume 1 of Let's Learn Spanish with Frank and Paco, a Dr. Toy Top 10 Educational Product for 2008. You can order it from www.frankandpaco.com, www.venturaes.com, www.dololanguages.com, www.carlexonline.com,www.thecuriousmindstore.com, www.amazon.com, www.bestbuy.com, and www.barnesandnoble.com.

AND MORE
We saw one today...one of those FEMA people. We were strolling down the path that runs along Oyster Creek and saw a man coming toward us with a safety vest on. When we got closer we asked him if he was inspecting the work which had been done to remove all the debris. He said very somberly but politely, "I'm with FEMA". And that was it and he passed us and kept on going. Maybe he was trying to say that he wasn't inspecting the debris removal. He is just some poor overworked FEMA guy who was taking a stroll to relax. I guess we'll never know. I had no idea that FEMA had anything to do with debris removal along a creek area.

The electoral college vs. the popular vote. Rarely does one not agree with the other. But as we all remember from the 2000 election...they can be at odds. In that election George W. Bush won with 271 electoral votes and a popular vote of 50,456,002 (47.9%). Al Gore had fewer electoral votes: 266 with a higher popular vote of 50,999,897 (48.4%).

Now, I'm a numbers kind of person and I like the idea of the popular vote deciding it. I think each vote should be exactly equal in value. The way it works now is that your state has so many electoral votes. Whatever way your state decides, the electors are "pledged" to represent the will of their state voters in December with their actual vote. Some states (not all) have laws which require the electors to do as the population of the state indicated through their vote.

The whole reason the electoral college came about was that during the early part of our country's history, states or areas with lean populations would not have enough to have any voice at all during an election. So, that is when the electoral votes were assigned. They didn't want the few largely populated areas deciding everything.

I personally think there is little need of this any more. But there are probably those from primarily agriculatural or lower populated starts who might disagree.

For more on the electoral college, see this link: http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/thepoliticalsystem/a/electcollege.htm

So, I'm putting up a poll--do you think the election should be based on popular vote--yes or no.

Happy voting everyone!
Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman

Monday Forecast/Extreme Ironing/Dia de los Muertos

HURRICANES AND WEATHER
There is a new area of disturbed weather that has potential to develop in the extreme southern Caribbean. Will keep you posted, especially if we get a Paloma.

40s and 50s will be the highs for the northwest and New England on Monday. There will be rain out west, over the Great Lakes states and in Florida.

In Houston, getting more and more muggy this week...like a sauna by Thursday with very high humidity and mild to warm temperatures. Look for some rain, maybe thunderstorms late Thursday into early Friday. Get those shorts back out...because you will be wearing them this week--including to the polls on Tuesday. No weather trouble in Houston for voting.

SPANISH WORD OF THE DAY
Since it's been all about the time change today, let's do time or tiempo, pronounced tee-M-poh. How did you use your extra tiempo--don't know about you but I got through that mountain of laundry.

This afternoon at the park, I met a couple from Ethiopia speaking their native language to their sons. The mother told me that she asked her son some questions to see if he could distinguish between the 2 languages. She was amazed to find out that he could quite easily--there was no confusing or mixing them. Well, that is because the brain of a child is perfectly wired to compartmentalize and organize language structure. Study after study shows this. In fact, they can learn many languages without confusion. The young brain identifies patterns and sorts accordingly. So, help those little ones learn language in a fun way---buy them our award winning DVD, Volume 1 of Let's Learn Spanish with Frank and Paco, a Dr. Toy Top 10 Educational Product for 2008. You can order it from www.frankandpaco.com, www.venturaes.com, www.dololanguages.com, www.carlexonline.com,www.thecuriousmindstore.com, www.amazon.com, www.bestbuy.com, and www.barnesandnoble.com.

AND MORE
This information comes from an article provided by Adriana Gutierrez, Spanish teacher suprema. Today (November 2nd) is celebrated by Catholics in Mexico as Day of the Dead or Día de los Muertos. It is a time of celebrating the memory of those who have died. Altars are set up with special cutout paper tablecloths--ofrendas. They make a special bread called pan de muerto (bread of the dead)...it is often laid in strips that look like bones and they eat sugar candy shaped like skulls. They make the favorite foods of the deceased and place them on the altar. Many believe that the dead will come that night and visit. They decorate sticks with marigolds--believed to be the flower of the dead and visit cemeteries singing songs and celebrating the memories of their loved ones. It is a time of rejoicing.

In the Catholic Church, November 2nd is known as All Soul's Day, a day to remember and pray for the dead--especially loved ones.

Well, I was reading one of Sarah's school take home magazines and they had a snippet (with a picture!) of farmers riding down a river in the shells of huge hollowed out pumpkins. Good grief, Charlie Brown, this is what happened to the Great Pumpkin and all of his buddies.

And this got me to thinking about other weird "sports" like extreme ironing. You are not seeing things...this is real! Check out this clip from youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olU947pcHeE

And there are organizations all over--here's one web site for you.
http://www.goextremeironing.com/

Now, you have a new hobby to take up.

Have a fun Monday! Don't get burned.

Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman

Sunday Forecast/Time Change/Suggestion for that Extra Hour

HURRICANES AND WEATHER
Well, it was balmy today...sweating as I took down the Halloween decorations. But although it was feeling somewhat tropical, the tropics are still quiet.

Cool spots in the nation--northwest and northeast with highs Sunday in the 50s northwest and 30s and 40s northeast. Look for rain for the northwest and the western Great Lakes states and southern Florida (where there will be thunderstorms). Houston will continue its pattern of 50s in the morning and 80s in the afternoon. It will get more mild by mid-week. Look for a line of showers and thunderstorms on Thursday.

Spanish word for the day is November or Noviembre, pronounced no-vee-M-bray. I just love the month of Noviembre!

So, now you are definitely thinking about holiday shopping. So make it easy and affordable with the kids--buy them our award winning DVD, Volume 1 of Let's Learn Spanish with Frank and Paco, a Dr. Toy Top 10 Educational Product for 2008. You can order it from www.frankandpaco.com, www.venturaes.com, www.dololanguages.com, www.carlexonline.com,www.thecuriousmindstore.com, www.amazon.com, www.bestbuy.com, and www.barnesandnoble.com.

AND MORE
Well, hopefully you know that Daylight Saving Time ends at 2 am Sunday November 2nd. Turn your clocks back (fall back) one hour. And since you now have an extra hour, make good use of it. Change the batteries in your smoke detectors. We did that today.

My Google Adwords is still not fixed. Now they are telling me they shut down both of my accounts as I am violating the Terms and Conditions. But they are not telling me how. They just gave me a link to go look at the Terms and Conditions, which I did. And, I can't figure it out. This is so frustrating. Does anyone have an adword account that works? Help!!!

Happy Sunday everyone!
Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman

Weekend Forecast/Trouble with Google Adwords

HURRICANES AND WEATHER
An early post today as I will be busy with all kinds of little ghosts and goblins.

Here's a treat...there is nothing disturbed (of note) in the tropics.

Weekend weather will be mild for the southern half of the country. Look for highs in the 30s and 40s for northern New England and in the 50s and 60s for the northwest and intermountain region (their coolest day will be Sunday). There will be rain for the northwest and intermountain region and some rain and thunderstorm in the southeast (mainly Sunday).

Houston area weather for the weekend...lows in the 50s and highs in the 80s with somewhat humid conditions. No rain is expected until at least Wednesday. Trick or treat temperatures tonight will be in the 60s and 70s.

SPANISH WORD OF THE DAY
Let's do fun or diversión, pronounced dee-vair-SYOWN. Halloween is wonderful diversión. And after trick or treating, you say it was great fun or fue muy divertido, pronounced fway mooey dee-vair-TEE-doh.

Adriana Gutierrez, our spanish teaching friend suprema, offered her site as a great place for kids to access language learning information. So check it out: http://myspanishlessonsonline.blogspot.com

And of course, with the holidays right around the corner, the perfect gift for little ones is our award winning DVD, Volume 1 of Let's Learn Spanish with Frank and Paco, a Dr. Toy Top 10 Educational Product for 2008. You can order it from www.frankandpaco.com, www.venturaes.com, www.dololanguages.com, www.carlexonline.com,www.thecuriousmindstore.com, www.amazon.com, www.bestbuy.com, and www.barnesandnoble.com.

AND MORE
Please note that this Sunday at 2 am, Daylight Saving Time ENDS. Remember to turn your clocks back (fall back) one hour before going to bed Saturday night.

Does anyone use Google Adwords? About a week ago, I checked my stats on my Google Adwords account and saw that there had been no activity (no impressions/no clicks) for some time. I went through the help with multiple back and forths with Google Adwords and they just kept referring me back to their online help info. Well, finally I gave up and set up a whole new account. Guess what? Nothing again. Now, keep in mind that I had been using Google Adwords successfully for a very long time and had made no changes in setup around the time it stopped working. By the way, I also use Yahoo's similar product. Anyway, I contacted their help again (of course you know there is no phone number). You just have to exchange emails. This time one tech said hmmmm....there appears to be a technical problem. Yes! Yes! Yes! I had also told them several times that they are not making any money off me if I am not getting clicks. If I set up a brand new account without getting it to work, surely this is happening to other folks. Will let you know what I find out.

Well gotta run--it's Halloween you know!

Happy Halloween!
Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman

Correction!!! Daylight Saving Time Ends Sun. 2 am

Hello all -
My previous post said "returns"...so sorry about that gaff! You still need to turn your clocks back (fall back) one hour before going to bed Saturday night.

Thanks Book!

Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman

Halloween Forecast/More Halloween Trivia/Daylight Saving Time Returns

HURRICANES AND WEATHER
Same area of disturbed weather in central Atlantic--no development expected.

Most of the country will enjoy a dry Halloween--the exception the west from San Francisco northward and then east to Salt Lake City--there will be showers and snow (in the higher elevations). Highs in the northwest will be in the 50s...northern Maine the coolest spot with highs in the 40s.

Here in Houston, I broke a sweat today--it's the return of moisture. And the humidity will be with us until next Thursday. Lows will be in the 50s and highs will be in the low 80s--very little change. In fact, there will be very little change for much of the country over the next few days as we see a somewhat slowing changing pattern stick around.

Trick or treating looks good in Houston -- temperatures in the 60s and 70s and no rain expected. Be careful everyone.

SPANISH WORD OF THE DAY
Have I got a neat one for you! Let's do spooky or espeluznante, pronounces asz-pay-looz-NAHN-tay. It was very espeluznante on Halloween.

I tell you what...when I realized that Sarah was getting closer to growing beyond that age of early language learning maximum benefit, I was spooked. I enrolled her in a Spanish program at her summer camp--taught by Spanish teacher suprema, Adriana Gutierrez. There are many ways you can expose you child to another language--rent videos in that language, read books with both, listen to music in that language--there are lots of choices at the Dolo Publications web site. And of course, you can have them watch our award winning DVD, Volume 1 of Let's Learn Spanish with Frank and Paco, a Dr. Toy Top 10 Educational Product for 2008. You can order it from www.frankandpaco.com, www.venturaes.com, www.dololanguages.com, www.carlexonline.com,www.thecuriousmindstore.com, www.amazon.com, www.bestbuy.com, and www.barnesandnoble.com.

AND MORE
The poll results are in, 5 people said they planned to early vote. You have one more day to early vote--Friday October 31st. The early polls close at 7 pm Friday evening. If you don't make it tomorrow, you'll have to go on Tuesday, November 4th. Thanks so much all poll participants.

Daylight saving time begins this Sunday at 2 am. You will set your clocks back (fall back) one hour before going to bed on Saturday night. That means an extra hour of sleep for people without kids. Since the time change was shifted to the first weekend in November, we have a later sunset on Halloween. So, it won't get dark for trick or treating until 6:50 pm.

We finally got our winterizer down today. In Houston, you want to put that down in October--usually the middle of the month and then in March you want to put down weed and feed. The winterizer is so important because it keeps weeds from emerging in the spring. And then, you won't be wasting all your time pulling weeds. Try it...I'm telling you this works!!! Get that winterizer on your yards now. Don't forget to water it in.

Here's some more Halloween trivia--In the Middle Ages, people believed that people who died the previous year without being reconciled to you might come and haunt you (as a ghost). They believed that you could appease them with special fried cakes known as treats. That way they wouldn't do any mischief to you--play a trick. Then, people started using that night as a night to seek reconciliation by wearing a mask and go to other people asking for treats and forgiveness. Over time (as we know), the focus became less on the asking forgiveness and more on the getting the treats. And that is where we got the tradition of trick or treat.

Have a safe and fun Halloween everyone!
Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman

Halloween Forecast/Halloween Trivia/Deal at Walmart

HURRICANES AND WEATHER
Still have an area of disturbed weather in the Atlantic, but it really looks like it won't develop.

Cooler places in nation are warming up over the next 2 days. Cool spots Thursday will be northern New England and the Pacific Northwest. Highs will be in the 30s in Maine and 50s in the northwest. There will be showers and even some snow showers in Maine. Rest of the country will be mild to warm and dry.

On Halloween the Pacific Northwest highs will be in the 50s. There will be showers and thunderstorms from the west through the intermountain region (including places like Salt Lake City). Halloween night looks dry everywhere except extreme northern portions of the Pacific Northwest.

Houston will be cool in the mornings and mild to warm in the afternoons for the next 2 days. Humidity will rise slightly. No rain is expected.

SPANISH WORD OF THE DAY
The word for the day is the verb vote or votar, pronounced bo-TAR. Don't forget to votar over the next 2 days if you plan to votar early.

80% of neurological development of the brain happens by the age of 8. Early language learning has been shown to increase the density of the part of the brain associated with language learning. So, if you want to get optimal impact for your child, expose them to language learning at an early age. One fun way is through our award winning DVD, Volume 1 of Let's Learn Spanish with Frank and Paco, a Dr. Toy Top 10 Educational Product for 2008. You can order it from www.frankandpaco.com, www.venturaes.com, www.dololanguages.com, www.carlexonline.com,www.thecuriousmindstore.com, www.amazon.com, www.bestbuy.com, and www.barnesandnoble.com.

AND MORE

Well, Gordy and I voted early today and it was a piece of birthday cake. We walked right in. Maybe one or two other people were there. I can not recommend this enough. You will save so much time and stress. Polls for early voting close at 7 pm on Friday, October 31st.

Here is a great tip for saving money...if you take the print ads for great deals at other stores to Walmart and show it at the checkout, they will honor it. For example, if Store X is offering strawberries for 99 cents a pint, and Walmart is selling them for $2.99 a pint, they will charge you only 99 cents. Try it! It works!

Yesterday I promised a bit of Halloween trivia. Here is the tale of the origin of Jack-o-lanterns. Legend has it that there once was a man named Jack. He never hurt anyone, but he never helped anyone either. He just lived his life, a lazy one, doing just as he pleased. He made no positive impact on the world. When he died and went to the gates of Heaven, St. Peter told him that he could not come in and that he would be banished for eternity to roam the world with a light in a turnip as warning to others who were not leading a selfless life. They called this Jack o' the Lantern. Over time, people began carving pictures of the face of Jack in turnips.This legend moved to the New World with the pilgrims. They had access to pumpkins and eventually they would carve the pumpkins and continued calling them Jack-o-the lanterns. Today, we call these Jack-o-lanterns.

Have a terrific Thursday!
Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman