Such a Thing as a Free Lunch

There is a new Panera Bread store opening up on Miller Lane, which is really close to where I work. Our office received some invitations to enjoy a free lunch on Panera, to help train their employees before the Grand Opening this coming Friday, April 1st:

Two time slots were available: from 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM and 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM. We were given a slot in which to show up.

As I got ready to head over, I heard that there was a line of people outside the store. For this reason, many folks in the 12:30 time slot decided not to go.

I didn't bring any money to buy lunch, and Jennie had the car today, so I was determined to head over, even if it meant walking. And so I did.

I walked across the "somewhat famous" overpass of I-75 to the restaurant. I took a shortcut through the drainage culvert, which, fortunately, was dry enough for me to walk upon.

When I arrived, someone from the restaurant handed me $12 in play money to go toward my lunch, along with a menu. As I waited in line, I mulled over what to order. I had never spent $12 for my own lunch before, so I wanted to make it meaningful.

I wound up ordering a half of an Italian Combo sandwich (on Ciabatta bread, with oven-roasted beef, smoked turkey, ham, salami, Swiss cheese, peperoncini, lettuce, tomatoes, red onions & their special sauce), a bowl of French Onion soup (in a sourdough bread bowl), and an I.C. Mocha.

I'd heard many orders for "Dan" called out, so I gave the cashier/order-taker the name "Danimal" to distinguish my order from the other Dan's. In all, I had to wait maybe 20 minutes to get my order, which I'd placed as a carry-out.

After getting my order, I ate my sandwich as I walked back to the office. The weather outside is marvelous - in the low 70's - no jacket required.

Windy though, as evidenced by my touseled hair.

Much thanks to the Panera folks for inviting us to help train their employees!

It's Time

"It's time."

That's what my boss said this morning as he brought a telephone to me. After almost 90 days, I finally have a phone. Granted that it came from someone who recently left the company, but a phone is a phone. It's nice that I won't have to go into someone else's office to answer a call.

The Husband Store - JOKE ALERT!

A store that sells husbands has just opened in Dallas, TX, where a woman may go to choose a husband. Among the instructions at the entrance is a description of how the store operates:

You may vist the store ONLY ONCE! There are six floors and the attributes of the men increase as the shopper ascends the flights. There is, however, a catch . . . you may choose any man from a particular floor, or you may choose to go up a floor, but you cannot go back down except to exit the building!

So, a woman goes to the Husband Store to find a husband . . .

On the first floor the sign on the door reads: Floor 1 - These men have jobs.

The second floor sign reads: Floor 2 - These men have jobs and love kids.

The third floor sign reads: Floor 3 - These men have jobs, love kids, and are extremely good looking.

"Wow," she thinks, but feels compelled to keep going.

She goes to the fourth floor and sign reads: Floor 4 - These men have jobs, love kids, are drop-dead good looking and help with the housework.

"Oh, mercy me!" she exclaims, "I can hardly stand it!"

Still, she goes to the fifth floor and sign reads: Floor 5 ? These men have jobs, love kids, are drop-dead gorgeous, help with the housework, and have a strong romantic streak.

She is so tempted to stay, but she goes to the sixth floor and the sign reads:

Floor 6 - You are visitor 3,456,012 to this floor. There are no men on this floor. This floor exists solely as proof that women are impossible to please. Thank you for shopping at the Husband Store. Watch your step as you exit the building, and have a nice day!

via e-mail from Mom

Distraught woman halts I-75 traffic

An uneventful day at work turned into something more:

BUTLER TWP., Montgomery County | Traffic was held up on Interstate 75 for almost a half hour Tuesday, as police officers talked a "mentally distraught" woman down from an overpass, police said.

The 35-year-old woman had climbed onto the Benchwood Road overpass and was standing outside the safety fence when Ohio Highway Patrol Trooper Randy Lewis responded to a 911 call, Butler Twp Police Chief Danny Hobbs said.

"She appeared to be depressed about some family problems," Hobbs said.

Butler Twp. firefighters used a ladder truck to remove the woman from the overpass, and she was transported to a hospital for evaluation.

Rescuers described her as "cooperative and calm."

We could see this happening outside the windows of our building. Police had closed down I-75 in both directions.

Groesbeck Branch of the Cincinnati Public Library

Greetings from the Groesbeck Branch of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County!

Jennie, Keisha, and I are here on the computers. It's been over 16 years since I've been inside here, and so much has changed. I can hardly recognize the place!

We've obtained library card applications, and we need to bring in our apartment lease to show proof that we are residents before they can issue us library cards. I guess it used to be that you simply needed to bring in a utility bill, but they've made their rules more stringent.

I haven't yet blogged about the move. Maybe I still have time. (checks the clock) I have 9 minutes left.

Update: I found out from the librarian that the old building was completely demolished and this one was built on top of it.

What Is Easter? - JOKE ALERT!

This belated Easter joke was recently spotted on the Jokes and Humor Weblog:

Three blondes (natural) died and found themselves standing before St. Peter. He told them that before they could enter the Kingdom, they had to tell him what Easter was.

The first blonde said, "Easter is a holiday where they have a big feast and we give thanks and eat turkey."

St. Peter said, "Noooooo," and he banished her.

The second blonde said, "Easter is when we celebrate Jesus' birth and exchange gifts."

St. Peter said, "Noooooo," and he banished her.

The third blonde said, she knew what Easter is, and St. Peter said, "So, tell me."

She said, "Easter is a Christian holiday that coincides with the Jewish festival of Passover. Jesus was having Passover feast with His disciples when he was betrayed by Judas, and the Romans arrested him. The Romans hung Him on the cross and eventually He died. Then they buried Him in a tomb behind a very large boulder ..

St. Peter said, "Verrrrrry good."

Then the blonde continued, "Now every year the Jews roll away the boulder and Jesus comes out. If he sees his shadow, we have six more weeks of basketball."

St. Peter fainted.

But will my brackets turn out the way I want? That's what I want to know. (g)

Creative Labs : The leader in Digital Entertainment for your PC and the Internet

Creative Labs : The leader in Digital Entertainment for your PC and the Internet

This particular link provides Driver Updates for my MP3 player/External Hard Drive. I'm hoping to find a driver that will work in Windows 95, since that's the OS I have on my laptop at home.

That way I can move files I'm developing in VB to my work computer and vice versa.

Operation Iraqi Freedom - The 2nd anniversary

"Iraq the Model" has some thoughts on the 2nd anniversary of Operation Iraqi Freedom. This blog is being written by actual citizens of Iraq living in Iraq.

I won't reproduce everything in this post, but I will share some excerpts:

...It is ironic that many cities in the world witnessed "Anti-War" demonstrations while in Iraq, the people were demonstrating against Arab countries interfering with the internal affairs of Iraq...

...Our support for this operation wasn't inspired from shallow reasons. It is inspired from the depth of the tragedy we lived in Iraq for 35 years under Saddam's regime and those who didn't live that tragedy will not be able to easily absorb my endorsement for the principle of using force to make the change...

...Iraq is definitely better nowadays than it was under Saddam despite all the sacrifices we had to give in the last 24 months and even by considering the body count (that I hate to mention) I see that Operation Iraqi Freedom has preserved too many human lives that could've been lost to the injustice and brutality of Saddam.
Like most Iraqis, I don't want Iraq to go back to the days of Saddam; nothing can match the freedom that we won. And let's not forget that most of the Iraqis who lost their lives in the last two years were victims of terrorism not the military operation itself...

Last Therapist Appointment in Dayton

I had my last therapist appointment this morning. Basically, we needed to do all the final paperwork so that they could officially terminate their services for me.

I'd been seeing him since September 2002, and it's remarkable how much I've changed over that time.

When we move to Cincinnati, I may decide to find a counselor, but not any time soon.

Praise be to God for his wonderful help in making me better!

I Spilled Coffee on my Blog!

Oops! I spilled coffee on my blog! That and a few other disasters, courtesy of Netdisaster.com.

Thanks to Mark "Exclamation Mark" Morris, the Official Iowan of 'Journey Inside My Mind' for the link!

The Weekend That Was

• The Small Print
• In Search of a New Home
• UK - UC Brief Recap
• Springtime - According to the Calendar

The Small Print

Mood: unstoppable
Eating: fast food
Watching: Willow and Jimmy Neutron: Jet Fusion, and a boatload of NCAA basketball

In Search of a New Home

This past Saturday our family went to Cincinnati to find a new apartment. My wife Jennie has been so awesome in scheduling these appointments. We wound up visiting four different complexes, and we placed applications with two of them. We should hear something today from both places.

UK - UC Brief Recap

Sad to see UC lose to UK on Saturday night. It definitely seemed that UK had a height advantage. It was a great game. You can quote me on that.

Springtime - According to the Calendar

The weather is still a bit nippy outside, but I've resorted to wearing heavy sweaters instead of my winter coat. We're in for some rain a lot of this week, it appears. Yuk.

Lucas plans 3-D Star Wars - Newindpress.com

Lucas plans 3-D Star Wars - Newindpress.com

It looks like we'll be able to see all the Star Wars movies in a new way for a long time.

Star Wars - Episode III Trailer

Star Wars: Episode III Trailer

Apparently this is the final trailer for the upcoming movie. Wow, it sure looks good. Maybe I should take the next several weeks off and get in line early. My wife and daughter would miss me, though.

via Brian at Blogs @ Cincinnati.Com: Pop Culture

Star Wars Chick Flick

This report comes from NewsRadio 700WLW: Sithies:

Star Wars creator, George Lucas says Episode 3 is, "a tear jerker. So far the women in the audiences have consistently cried through the second half...it works as an emotional tragedy."

Packing, Moving, and Throwing Away

Mood: Hungry
Eating: Homemade Reuben Sandwiches with Cream of Potato Soup
Watching: Stuck on You

Those three terms are going to describe much of our lives over the next couple weeks, as we prepare to move back to Cincinnati at the end of the month.

I believe that we can live with half of our stuff: books, papers, etc. We're selling a lot of the books at Half Price Books. Other stuff we're donating to Goodwill. Other stuff we may toss into the dumpster or have removed by other means (1-800-GOT-JUNK).

Happy Saint Patrick's Day 2005

St. Patrick's Day also happens to be the beginning of March Madness this year.

If for some unlucky reason you have to be at work today, you may want to surf on over to the official Guinness website. After confirming your age, you can check out the online newspaper, "The Surge and Settle".

It doesn't pass for the real thing, but at least it will tide you over until quitting time. Then you can head over to your favorite pub and grab a pint.

By the way, the local rock station here in Dayton is having a S.P.-Day party, which began early this morning. According to the announcement, there was to be no cover charge until 7 AM this morning.

With all this discussion, I suppose I need to add this, in closing: Please drink responsibly.

Definitely MY Daughter!

Here's the news:

• On Track To Move
• Definitely MY Daughter!
• Guitar Man

On Track To Move

On Monday I posted about our Potential Moving Derailment.

Yesterday my wife called to tell me she got the job in Cincinnati (Cincinnati Interview - Ready, Set, Go). Last night she handed in her resignation notice, in which Monday, March 21st, will be her last day.

We had hoped to receive an offer letter in the mail, but the woman from the hospital who called mentioned that the nurse in charge of doing that had been so busy that she hadn't typed something up.

(Aside: the lady who called asked Jennie if I was in broadcasting or something like that, because of how the outgoing message on our answering machine sounds. I could be in radio, dontcha know!)

Jennie's first day is April 4th. Night, really, since she's working 3rd shift.

We still need to find an apartment, and yesterday Jennie made a couple of appointments this Saturday for us to look at some places.

I've been concerned about my job here, but my boss yesterday said that they could work things out, if need be, for me to do some development work at home and not have to drive up here every day. We'll see.

Definitely MY Daughter!

I love making Keisha laugh, and I can tell that she's picked up my sense of humor. Last night we went to the library for a little while to return some items. After that, we drove to the gas station so that I could pay through the nose to fill the tank up halfway.

Whenever we are in the car - just the two of us - we're always kidding around with each other. For example, Keisha started making scary faces at me, and I would glance over at her and scream out as though I was scared. That would make her laugh, and, of course, egg her on.

After I'd finished paying through the nose at the pump, I climbed back in with my back to Keisha. I'd put on a silly face to surprise Keisha, but, when I turned toward her, she had a silly face of her own to show me!! We both laughed at each other.

Another thing I love to do to make Keisha laugh is some slapstick - a la Buster Keaton or Johnny Depp's character Sam in Benny and Joon.

As we started toward the steps of our apartment building, I pretended that one of my legs kept wanting me to turn around and go the other direction. I had Keisha laughing so hard she nearly wet herself!

Guitar Man

I've been going through the songbook we use at church to learn to play the chords on my guitar. I've especially wanted to learn the songs we sing in Kid's Kingdom. Thankfully, most western music is based on a three-chord progression, and this has been the case for most children's music.

Sometimes I get lucky and there are only two chords used; the root and the dominant fifth. In rare occasions, I only need one chord.

It's been fun, though, to play these songs at home. Last night Keisha and I sang a few before she went to bed.

New Jersey Blogger on CNN

Kate, from New Jersey (we don't hold that against her- just kidding!), was recently interviewed by CNN. A film crew came to her house and everything. While she hasn't let on what the interview was about, here's what we do know:

According to Sasha, the piece will air on CNN Friday night 3/18 at 10pm. Whee!
The crew left about 30 minutes ago. They were all so very nice. I felt like a doofus at times but it was a lot of fun. I am somewhat apprehensive to watch myself on television. Eeek! I'll be on national television! :::screaming::

A Sort of Irish-Type Memory

U.S. Newswire : Releases : "The Commitments to Play at Speaker's Annual St. Patrick's Day Lunch"

This story harkens me back 13 or 14 years ago:

I remember seeing this movie in 1991 or 1992 when I was at the University of Cincinnati.

Our campus minister had suggested that we go on a "date with God," just as we would with a member of the opposite sex. So God and I went to the Skyline Chili at Ludlow and Clifton. Even though he didn't want anything to eat, I did. I believe I had a three-way.

After that, we walked down Ludlow to the movie theater (can't remember the name), and I bought a ticket to see The Commitments.

I had a great time with God.

Horse -- What's Not For Dinner

When I saw this headline, I had a tiny giggle. The thought of eating a horse just seems preposterous.

American Horse Defense Fund: Senate Says, ‘Horses -— What's Not For Dinner’

Potential Moving Derailment

We found out today that the apartment we wanted to move into has been rented out to someone else. They needed for us to give the entire deposit to them a couple weeks ago. We did not have it.

Also, Jennie has not heard back from the place where she had the interview last Wednesday. The person with whom she interviewed said they want to offer her the job and that she would get a letter with the details.

Even if she got the job we don't have a place to stay down there. Our lease is up at the end of the month.

I'm still feeling kind of numb about everything.

Brain Flatulence

Mood: scatterbrained
Watching: Popeye and The Taming of the Shrew

Last week I had set several reminders in my Outlook account at work. I had even noted the appointment in my paper day planner.

We had been traveling this past weekend, and this morning, as I was getting ready to leave, I couldn't find my day planner.

Jennie and Keisha brought me to work because we're going to have some work done on our car today. When I arrived pulled up my Outlook account, I could have slapped myself:

I forgot I had an important therapist appointment at 9 AM. This was to be the last one, since we're looking to move to Cincinnati at the end of the month.

As I called and told my wife, I realized that, at best, I'd be late for the appointment. After talking with her, I called the clinic and rescheduled for next Tuesday at 10 AM.

I feel naked without my planner.

43 Folders - Introducing the Hipster PDA

This is a very inexpensive, low-tech way of doing much of the same thing that a PDA would do. I like it!

43 Folders: Introducing the Hipster PDA

Get Off The Mooch List

You know who you are. You stop by the website, checking things out, but you never let me know you're here. You take and take and take.

But that's okay. I'm not disappointed in you. I want to give you an opportunity to get off the Mooch List and reveal yourself. You can leave me a comment (we call them 'guideposts' around here) or you can send me an email at . In either case, just tell me that you want to get off the 'Mooch List'.

I'll even let you become an official part of this site, if you'd like. For example, if you're a Java programmer, you can become the Official Java Programmer for Journey Inside My Mind. Then you can tell everyone that you are an important person, because you are. To me. (from the FAQ page: What does it mean to become an "Official" of your weblog?)

I look forward to hearing from you.

Caring and Sharing - At Work And At Home

Mood: queasy
Eating: chocolate and ginger ale (for my tummy)

The timing of these events is rather odd.

• Consoling a Co-worker
• My Family Shares Everything, Apparently
• Or Maybe It's My Co-workers
• Restroom Foibles

Consoling a Co-worker

Last week the father of one of the ladies here in the office passed away. She knew it was coming soon, and she only worked for part of the week.

The funeral is today, and many of the folks here are going to it.

My Family Shares Everything, Apparently

I'm not one of those people. I'm trying to get the work I need to do finished so that I can go home. I think I caught whatever bug was plaguing Jennie over the weekend.

For breakfast this morning, I drank some ginger ale. I'd poured me a cup of orange juice but soon shuddered at the idea of putting citric acid in my already upset stomach.

Or Maybe It's My Coworkers

In this office of less than 40 employees, the environment is one of family. It's not surprising that many of them have gone to be with the one who lost her father.

I suppose it's not surprising, either that I may have caught something from one of them. When I arrived yesterday, I'd overheard that my boss's daughter had the same thing Jennie had.

Also the Sales Director came in, talking about how he had a migraine over the weekend, but now he thought he had the flu. "What are you doing here?" I asked him, incredulously. He later left, hopefully to go home and recuperate.

That's what I need to do.

Restroom Foibles

You might find this a bit funny. I was in the men's room a little while ago, conducting what you might call a "very swift major transaction". While waiting in the stall, I spotted yesterday's newspaper.

I turned to the Life section and began working on the crossword puzzle. After I'd completed about 2/3 of it, I decided I should head back to the office.

Just as I was getting finished cleaning up, the lights went off. The lights in the restrooms are motion-sensored, and I was the only man that had come into the restroom during my time there.

(A few weeks ago, by the way, the HR Director and I were eating lunch in the breakroom with one of the ladies. We talked about the lights in the restroom, and she had not ever noticed that they were set up that way.

Our office has over twice as many women here as there are men, so I wasn't surprised.)

I was finally able to get myself together, albeit in the dark. Then, as soon as I stepped out of the stall, the sensor activated and the lights came back on.

Good for me, because I really needed to wash my hands.

How To Ask Questions The Smart Way

The folks responsible for this document have developed it to help people ask technical questions in a way that is likely to get a satisfactory answer.

They are not a help desk for your project!

How To Ask Questions The Smart Way

Capo on 4

Here is one of those posts about my playing the guitar.

Some time ago, I found some chords and tabulature for the song "I Need You" by Jars of Clay. Until this past Saturday, I was really confused by it:

I've only been playing the guitar since December 2003 (see "Early Christmas Gift - Acoustic Guitar", from the December 2003 archives), and while I've gained some experience and expertise with open chords and some barre chords, I haven't developed a lot of skill progressing up the neck.

For Christmas this past year my wife Jennie bought me a capo. Well, she gave me the money while I went inside the store and bought it myself.

The great thing about the capo, of course, is that it transposes the key a song is in and lets you play it using chords you're familiar with. For example, a song in the key of E-flat can be played in the key of D by putting the capo on the first fret. Although your fingers take the shape of a D major chord, you actually play an E-flat major chord.

On to the Jars of Clay song... I figured out that I can play the song, which is written in E major, best with the capo on the 4th fret and using the chords I'd play in the key of C major.

I was fired up when I figured this out late Saturday night.

After strumming the chords for awhile, I realized that my baritone voice strains to match Dan Haseltine's voice on the song. No problem, however. I just moved the capo down to the 2nd fret, meaning that the song was now in the key of D major.

I then found that I could play the song and sing without straining.

Now, I just need to practice it more to get good at singing and playing in tempo.

Web Sites to Encourage and Enhance Reading

Last month our family attended a Reading Jamboree at Sinclair Community College. While we were there, I picked up a paper entitled "Web Sites to Encourage and Enhance Reading," compiled by Julia L. Hall, Educational Technology Services, Dayton Public Schools. I'm reproducing the list below:

International Children's Digital Library

Free books available online

Writing Den

This site was created to help students in grades 6-12 improve their vocabulary, reading comprehension, and writing

Children's Storybooks Online

Scroll down the page to find free storybooks to read

Word Central

Student dictionary, create your own dictionary, and daily buzzword

PBS Kids Stories

Online books. Some books have Spanish words. Children can click on the book and read it themselves or click on the cow and have the book read to them. Children can click on any word they don't know to have it read to them.

Rhyme Zone

Type in a word to find rhymes, synonyms, definitions

Write Site

An interactive language arts and journalism project for middle schools developed by ThinkTVNetwork, Dayton, Ohio

Primary Games

Educational activities for language arts and all content areas

Eduplace

Educational activities such as wacky tales, brainteasers, spelling match, and geonet geography.

Kathy Schrock

Brainboosters, homework help, and other educational activities

Dositey

Reading and writing skill activities

Yahooligans

Student search engine and educational activities

Earworms - Music Stuck Inside

At 43 Folders, Merlin writes:

I can’t stop listening to a Kelly Clarkson song (yes, that Kelly Clarkson. Shut up!). What are your worst, lifelong earworms? What songs have demanded to be played over and over to the point of madness?

I've explored this topic once before (see "Music in My Mind", from February 2003). I added my comments:

Ever since I saw the Grammys recently, I've had "Across the Universe" going through my head. I've since gotten a hold of a couple different copies of it - from the "I Am Sam" soundtrack and "Let It Be - Naked".

Moreover, I found the guitar chords and am learning to play it, so I'm sure it will be with me for quite some time.

The same is true for Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" and Johnny Cash's "Hurt". I'm learning both of them on the guitar, so they're always fresh in my mind.

But now that you mention it, I'VE got that Kelly Clarkson song in MY head!!! How ironic, considering that the song is entitled "Since You've Been Gone".

Bookworm Child

Keisha is reading chapter books by herself. Jennie and I heard her reading Junie B. Jones Is A Party Animal. She and I are already reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory together.

It's nothing for her to go through five to ten - or more - picture books in a week.

1068 Bars of Chocolate!

First up: The Small Print

Mood: creative
Reading:Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Twisted: The Collected Stories of Jeffery Deaver
Eating: Papa John's pizza
Watching: saw Bloodwork last night

1,068 Bars of Chocolate

Speaking of chocolate, Jennie and I found out yesterday that Keisha's 1st grade class sold 1,068 chocolate bars during the recent fundraiser - the most in the entire school! Because of this effort, the entire class will receive a pizza party. Keisha herself sold close to 100.

It's no wonder her teacher wanted parents to turn in the money with the highest denomination bills as possible.

Eating Out - The Bottom Line

A coworker and I were just eating some pizza in the break room. We were talking about different pizza places and the deals they offer. We came to these conclusions:

• Pizza places just want $20 from you. They don't care how it works out; just give them $20.
• Similarly, fast food places just want $5 from you.

It's nice to learn something new every day.

Pressure Beads May Provide ADHD Relief

WLWT in Cincinnati is reports on a non-medicative method of treating ADHD behavior, designed to complement an existing treatment regimen: pressure beads. It looks promising:

"By stimulating a point with the Chinese bead, it actually regenerates your spirit. So using it for ADD, in most cases, calms you down so you can focus ... you don't get frustrated," said Christopher Smith, acupuncture specialist.

When adhered behind the ear, the bead stimulates a specific pressure point. Smith said the beads work 24 hours a day, replacing edginess and distraction with focus and concentration. Patients on this therapy are urged to stick with the regimen prescribed by their doctor, Vara reported.

Women's History Month - March 2005

The U.S. Census Bureau has released the following Facts for Features for Women's History Month (March):

• Background
• Population
• Education
• Sports and Recreation
• Jobs
• Earnings
• Military
• Motherhood
• Marriage
• Editor's Note

Background

In 1981, the U.S. Congress passed a resolution establishing National Women's History Week. The week was chosen to coincide with International Women's Day, March 8. In 1987, Congress expanded the week to a month. Every year since, Congress has passed a resolution for Women's History Month, and the U.S. president has issued a proclamation.

Population

• 147.8 million -- The number of females in the United States as of July 1, 2003. That exceeds the number of males (143.0 million). Males outnumber females in every five-year-age group through the 35 to 39 age group. Starting with the 40 to 44 age group, women outnumber men. At 85 and over, there are more than twice as many women as men.
  
  http://www.census.gov/popest/national/asrh/NC-EST2003/NC-EST2003-01.pdf
• 82.5 million -- Estimated number of mothers of all ages in the United States. (From unpublished data.)

Education

• 31 percent -- Percent of women ages 25 to 29 years who had attained a bachelor's degree or higher in 2003, which exceeded that of men in this age range (26 percent). Eighty-eight percent of young women and 85 percent of young men had completed high school. The last year young women and men had equal rates of high school and college attainment was 1995.
  
  http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/education/001863.html
• 774,000 -- The projected number of bachelor's degrees that will be awarded to women in the 2004-05 school year; women also are projected to earn 293,000 master's degrees in the 2004-05 school year. Women would, therefore, earn 57 percent of the bachelor's and 58 percent of the master's degrees awarded during this school year. (These two percentages are not significantly different from one another.)
  
  http://nces.ed.gov/programs/projections/tables/table_27.asp
  
  http://nces.ed.gov/programs/projections/tables/table_28.asp
• 85 percent -- Percent of women age 25 and over who have completed high school. For the second year in a row, women have had a higher rate of high school completion than men (84 percent).
  
  http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/education/001863.html
• 26 percent -- Percent of women who have obtained a bachelor's degree. This rate has increased nearly 7 percentage points in the past decade.
  
  http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/education/001863.html

Sports and Recreation

2.9 million - Number of females who participated in high school athletic programs in the 2002-03 school year. In the 1972- 73 school year, only 800,000 females were members of a high school athletic team.

Table 1243 of the Statistical Abstract of the United States 2004- 2005.

Jobs

• 60 percent -- Percent of women 16 and over who participated in the workforce in 2003. Men in this age range had a participation rate of 74 percent.
  
  http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat2.pdf
• 34 percent -- Percent of women 16 and over who work in professional specialty or executive, administrative and managerial jobs, compared with 30 percent of men.
  
  http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/women/000819.html
• 20.3 million -- Number of female workers in education, health and social services industries. More women work in this industry group than in any other.
  
  http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DatasetMainPageServlet?_program=ACS&_lang=en&_ts=98617243523

Earnings

• $30,724 -- The median annual earnings of women ages 15 and older who work full time, year-round. After adjusting for inflation, earnings for these women declined by 0.6 percent between 2002 and 2003 -- their first annual decline since 1995.
  
  http://www.census.gov/Press-release/www/releases/archives/income_wealth/002484.html
• 76 cents -- The amount women, who worked full time, year-round, earned for every $1 their male counterparts earned. This amount is down from 77 cents for every dollar in 2002.
  
  http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/income_wealth/002484.html
• $2.9 million -- Estimated work-life earnings of women with a professional degree (i.e., medical, law, dental or veterinarian) who work full time, year-round. For women, like men, more education means higher career earnings. It is estimated that women without a high school diploma would earn $700,000 during their work lives, increasing to $1 million if they had a high school diploma and $1.6 million if they had a bachelor's degree.
  
  http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/education/000311.html

Military

• 215,243 -- Total number of active duty women in the military, compared to 1,219,134 men, in 2003. Of that total, 34,796 women are officers, 178,428 are enlisted and 2,019 are enrolled in military academies.
  
  http://web1.whs.osd.mil/mmid/military/rg0309f.pdf
• 1.7 million -- The number of military veterans who are women.
  
  Table 512 of 2004-05 edition
• 16 percent -- Percent of Persian Gulf War (1990-91) veterans who are women. In contrast, women account for 5 percent of World War II vets, 3 percent of Vietnam vets and 2 percent of Korean War vets.
  
  Table 513

Motherhood

44 percent -- Percent of all women of childbearing age (15 to 44 years old) who are childless. Seventy-one percent of these childless women participated in the labor force.

http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/fertility/001491.html

Marriage

• 62.9 million -- Number of married women (including those who are separated or have an absent spouse). There are 53.5 million unmarried (widowed, divorced or never married) women.
  
  http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/families_households/003118.html
• 54 percent -- Percent of unmarried and single Americans who are women.
  
  http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/families_households/003118.html
• 29 percent -- Percent of women in unmarried-partner households who have higher levels of education than their partners; by comparison, 22 percent of married women have higher levels of education than their husbands. Women in unmarried-partner households are also more likely than married women to earn more than their partners. Twenty-three percent of women in unmarried- partner households earn at least $5,000 more than their partners, compared with 17 percent of married women.
  
  http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/families_households/003118.html

Editor's Note

Some of the preceding data were collected in surveys and, therefore, are subject to sampling error. Questions or comments should be directed to the Census Bureau's Public Information Office: telephone: 301-763-3030; fax: 301-457-3670; or e-mail: pio@census.gov.

http://www.usnewswire.com/