Today Is ...

From husband Bill, Oct. 23, 2026

I certainly remember Avogadro's Number from my studies of chemistry in high school and at university. The number 6.02214076 × 10²³ was initially chosen so that the mass of one mole of a chemical compound in grams is numerically equal, for most practical purposes, to the average mass of one molecule of the compound in daltons.

While I ultimately became a journalist instead of my planned medical researcher or bench chemist, I was quite fortunate in the 1990s to land a job in New York City where I could indulge my love of a topic that has interested me since I was a young kid in the 1960s, playing with my chemistry set.

From 1992 to 1996, I was a Reporter, Writer, Editor, and Researcher for Chemical Marketing Reporter, an international weekly magazine on the financial and technical aspects of the chemical industry. This included agriculture chemicals, petrochemicals (aromatics and aliphatics), pharmaceuticals, flavors, fragrances, plastics, paints, coatings, oils, fats, waxes, surfactants, and more.

Yes, I'm a nerd ... and proud of it.

I still laugh at the title of my first position there: Oils, Fats, and Waxes Editor. It was my job to cover such products as castor oil, grease (both yellow AND white), carnauba wax, and much more from an industrial standpoint. I soon made the lateral move to Flavors and Fragrances Editor, then promoted to Heavy and Agriculture Chemicals Editor, and then majorly promoted to Market Research Editor.

I rank this job as my most favorite job since I became a journalist in 1982 partly because, as I still jokingly say, it made me appear smarter than I actually was. Also, my "groundbreaking" story on tung oil as a natural industrial lubricant in its infancy was cited in USDA and EPA governmental reports. My writings were also cited in the thesis of a university student.

From husband Bill, Oct. 23, 2026

While I don't really like yellow cake, there is enough other stuff going on to distract me, so I enjoy it as a whole. I do like Boston Cream donuts.

From husband Bill, Oct. 23, 2026

Today is TV Talk Show Host Day. My favorite talk show host is Joe Franklin. He is credited for inventing the talk show format. Saturday Night Live even did four skits in the 1980s as an homage to Franklin. I remember watching them.

I often watched Franklin's show. It was a combination of relaxing (boring) and interesting. "The Joe Franklin Show" was broadcast on TV from 1950 to 1993. I often watched it during the late 1970s and in the 1980s and early 1990s, when I was a late-teenager into my 20s and early 30s.

I think his talk show was only broadcast to New York City and its environs. I lived on Long Island, New York, at that time, and later in northern New Jersey, so I was luckily able to watch it in the late evenings.

From husband Bill, Oct. 23, 2026

For many years, I thought Capistrano was in Italy or Spain. It's in California.

From husband Bill, Oct. 23, 2026