water heater worked on - check
thermostat for the heat and air replaced - check
hole cut into the back of my house to fix a leaking drain pipe - check
Needless to say, been under some stress this week. Sorry I have not fulfilled my blogging obligation. Better luck next week!
The following is from MSN.com
In 2012, we will see three Friday the 13th's (the others fall in April and July), the maximum number that can occur in one calendar year. I
There are different theories on how Friday the 13th came to be, but the prevailing one is linked to The Last Supper. Judas, the apostle who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th person to arrive at dinner, making 13 an unlucky number on any day of the week. Add to that the fact that Jesus died on a Friday, and Friday the 13th gets its bad rap.
Although people are far less superstitious now than they were in the past, the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in North Carolina estimates that 17 to 21 million people in the U.S. have a diagnosable phobia of Friday the 13th. The illness Is called friggatriskaidekaphobia.
Part of the reason the number 13 is considered so treacherous, is simply because it’s right after 12. Numerologists consider 12 a “complete” number: 12 months complete a year, 12 signs complete the zodiac and 12 inches complete a foot.
You may have noticed that most buildings leave out the 13th floor, but did you know that planes often lack a 13th row and some hotels eliminate a Room 13? In Florence, the house between 12 and 14 is actually addressed as 12 and a half.
Some estimates suggest that the U.S. economy loses up to $900 million every time there’s a Friday the 13th—many people avoid business deals, or even work altogether, on the allegedly doomed date.
Some of our nation’s most famous 20th-century luminaries feared the day. Henry Ford declined to do any business, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt avoided travel. Rumor has it that FDR refused to roam not only on Friday the 13th, but also on the 13th day of every month.
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