It’s hard to believe, but we’ve been posting AbC (Anything but COVID-19) for over a year now. We’d like to start a trip down memory lane with today’s rather appropriate holiday.
Today is National Make Up Your Own Holiday! Is there something that you think we as a Nation should be celebrating? Click here to register your own special holiday.
Here is a list of all the Anything but COVID-19s we posted, starting last year.
3/20 – Today is Alien Abduction Day! It’s also National Bock Beer and Ravioli Day. BUT IT’S ALIEN ABDUCTION DAY!!
4/3 – Tie up your sneakers and grab your water bottles, it’s National Walk to Work Day…
4/10 – Today is Global Work from Home Day… Who’s In?
4/17 – Today is International Haiku Day – In honor of this, your G2X and FedHealthIT team has decided to present something a little lighter and more fun to brighten your day. This exercise may also give you a little insight to who we are outside of the Federal IT arena. We would love to hear your thoughts and welcome your own contributions in the comments section!
4/24 – On this day: 1800 – The United States Library of Congress is established when President John Adams signs legislation to appropriate $5,000 to purchase “such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress”. That initial collection consisted of 740 books and three maps. By 1975 the LOC collection stood at 17 million volumes and an annual budget of $116M. The Library of Congress submitted an $803 million budget request to House appropriators for fiscal 2020. Learn more here.
5/1 – Today is National Space Day and May Day – May Day is an ancient festival of Spring and a current traditional Spring holiday in many European cultures. Dances, singing, and cake are usually part of the festivities. So today, sing, dance and eat cake. For those who are space fans, we look to Monday and say May the 4th be with you.
5/15 – Today is National Bike to Work Day and National Pizza Party Day. It’s also the day the first McDonald’s opened and the day the first Mickey Mouse film was screened. That means… a pizza party tonight for you and all your at-home co-workers while you watch a Micky Mouse movie and don’t forget to jump on your bike to go grab lunch at McDonald’s so you can bike back to work.
5/22 – Twenty years ago today, the arcade game Pac Man was released. As the birthday of Arthur Conan Doyle it is also Sherlock Holmes Day and National Solitaire Day. It’s a long weekend, get your mystery on, play a little Pac-Man and conquer Spider Four Suits.
5/29 – Today marks John F. Kennedy’s birthday, and the date in 1942 that Bing Crosby recorded White Christmas. Only 210 days until the holiday season…
6/5 – On this day in 1956 Elvis Presley first performed “Hound Dog” live on TV. Presley’s suggestive hip movements during this performance earned him his nickname, “Elvis the Pelvis” and sparked the first controversy of his career with critics citing an “appalling lack of musicality”. Hound Dog became his best-selling song with about 10 million sold copies and estimated lifetime earnings of $4.3 billion. See one of his performances here.
6/12 – Since 2005 June 15 has been recognized as National Kiss a Wookiee Day. That means you have the weekend to find someone to help celebrate your love for Wookiees and Wookiee-like people in your life. With barber shop closures, there may be several closer than you think…
6/19 – Today is the anniversary of the first Garfield comic strip making its debut. It’s also Sauntering Day, an annual holiday that reminds people to pause, take a stock of their busy schedules, and slow down for a bit. Whether you do it today in honor of the cat that inspired taking it easy, or Sunday as part of Father’s Day, find some time to enjoy this weekend.
6/26 – Today is take your dog to work day. Since it is Friday and it is 5 o’clock somewhere, we should also note that it is tropical cocktails and food truck day. We’ll leave that combination to you to decide.
7/10 – In honor of the conquerors of the internet, today is National Kitten Day. As it also happens to be Teddy Bear Picnic Day, perhaps you should celebrate with a furry Picnic.
7/17 – Today is World Emoji Day. Show us your emojis! It’s also the 31st anniversary of the first public flight of Northrop Grumman’s B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber.
7/24 – In honor of National Tell an Old Joke Day, we would like to share an old classic by a very funny lady no longer with us. “What I don’t like about office Christmas parties is looking for a job the next day.” – Phyllis Diller
7/31 – For all you Potter-heads out there, today is Harry Potter’s Birthday (and J.K. Rowling’s). Our Nation also celebrates Mutts, Avocados and Getting Gnarly! So, curl up with your pooches, enjoy some Avocado Toast and crack the spine on the Potter series, or go out and be fierce (while social-distancing)!
8/7 – Today is the anniversary of the Purple Heart Award. Ordered by General George Washington on August 7, 1782, the Badge of Military Merit was only presented to 3 men under his command and was discontinued at that time. It wasn’t until 1932 that the Purple Heart was established in honor of George Washington by General Douglas MacArthur.
8/14 – Today is National Navajo Code Talkers Day. During WWII American codes used to convey secret messages between troops needed to be constantly changed as the enemy would break the codes in a matter of days. Philip Johnston, a WWI Veteran, suggested using the Navajo language as a code. 29 Navajo men were chosen to develop the code and 200 Navajos were recruited to be code talkers. They could translate messages in 20 seconds instead of what previously took 30 minutes. By the end of WWII the code remained unbroken.
8/21 – Monday is the Anniversary of Pluto’s demotion as a planet to a dwarf planet. In 2006 the International Astronomical Union (IAU) redefined what makes an object qualify as a planet. This resulted in Pluto’s demotion. Learn more about our solar neighbor here.
8/28 – Today is the 57th Anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr’s “I have a dream” speech made at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. One of the most iconic and moving American speeches, it quickly made King one of the most recognizable figures in the Civil Rights Movement and is often quoted to this day. Hear the full speech here.
9/4 – Today is the anniversary of our ability to find the answers to all our burning, and sometimes ridiculous questions, to put an end to the arguments of who starred in which movie or which athlete has the highest stats, and find our favorite animal videos with just a few key strokes… On this date in 1998 Google was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. If you don’t believe us, you can look it up here.
9/11 – This day in history will forever be a day that changed the world, how we travel, how we look at others, and the world, and through the understanding of what tragedy close to home can mean. Today we remember the almost 3,000 people that died in the September 11, 2001 attacks; and all of those who responded that day, lost loved ones, or were injured and whose lives would never be the same.
9/18 – Today is National POW/MIA Recognition Day. Today we honor America’s prisoners of war, those who are still missing in action and their families. According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, 83,114 Americans who fought in WWII, Korea and Vietnam are still missing. You Are Not Forgotten. Read more here.
9/25 – Today is the 28th anniversary of the launch of the Mars Observer. The mission ended August 22, 1993 when NASA lost contact prior to it entering its orbit around the 4th planet. Despite the setback two more missions were to follow with the Mars Global Surveyor and the Mars Odyssey. Find out more about NASA’s Mars explorations here.
10/2 – Today is the 70th anniversary of the first publication of the Peanuts comic strip. Created by Charles M. Schulz, its first incarnation was a strip called Li’l Folks that appeared in Schulz’s hometown newspaper, the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Due to proprietary rights, the strip name was changed to Peanuts, inspired by the Peanut Gallery on the show Howdy Doody. Schulz hated the name and refused to use it when asked his profession. Instead he would say, “I draw that comic strip with Snoopy in it, Charlie Brown and his dog.” See more about the legacy of Peanuts here.
10/9 – Today is National Leif Erikson Day. “Leif the Lucky” was the second son of Erik the Red, a famous explorer that established a settlement in Greenland. Leif sailed from Greenland to Norway, where he was converted to Christianity by Olaf I Tryggvason. He was tasked with spreading the faith and on his way back to Greenland he sailed off course and landed on a place he called Vinland. Vinland is believed to be North America, making Leif the first European to discover the Americas. Learn more here.
10/16 – Today is both National Dictionary Day and National Learn a Word Day. To celebrate here is a list of words you most likely don’t know from our favorite word aficionados. May you have a felicitous weekend.
10/23 – Tomorrow is the 75th anniversary of the creation of the United Nations. 50 countries, including the United States, met in 1945 to create the UN Charter. It was officially ratified in October of that year. See here for more on the history of the United Nations.
10/30 – Tomorrow is Halloween! Halloween originated with the ancient Celtic Holiday known as Samhain. Samhain marked the ending of the harvest and was believed to be a time when the barrier between the physical and spirit world would break down. Pope Gregory III moved the celebration of All Martyrs’ Day to November 1st and expanded it to include all saints, changing the name to All Saints’ Day, or All-hallowmas as it was more commonly known. Over time All-hallowmas became Halloween and was celebrated the evening before All Saints’ Day. Learn more here.
11/6 – This Sunday is National Parents as Teachers Day. We would like to salute all of those parents that have had to take on the duties of homeschooling your children during a time in which the world has had to face a whole new set of challenges. Here are some resources to help you.
11/13 – Today is Friday the 13th, a day steeped in superstition. Western culture has long considered 12 as a number of completeness (12 months of the year, 12 days of Christmas …). As a result, 13 became associated with bad luck. Many believe Friday the 13th earned its reputation when King Philip IV of France ordered the arrest of hundreds of the Knights Templar, many of whom were later executed. Learn more about Friday the 13th here.
11/20 – Today is the 32nd anniversary of the launch of the first module of the International Space Station (ISS), which took 10 years and more than 30 missions to complete. Five space agencies participate in the maintenance and use of the station, including NASA, Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada). Click here to learn more about the ISS.
11/25 – In light of the holiday and many of us suffering from cabin-fever, here is a site to help you find a hiking/walking trail to burn off tomorrow’s stuffing and pie. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
12/4 – Today is National Cookie Day! To get you started on your holiday baking, here is a link to the Food Network’s top 100 cookie recipes. We bet sending your favorite G2X team member some gingerbread biscotti would go a long way toward getting you on Santa’s Nice list.
12/11 – Thursday marked the first night of Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights. We would like to wish all our Jewish Members and their families a Happy Hanukkah. To put you in a festive mood here is Adam Sandler’s famous holiday song.
12/18 – The Holidays are right around the corner and you know what that means… School will be out! We thought we’d help you stir-crazy parents find something more interesting and festive to do to keep the kids occupied. Here we found a list of ideas.
1/8 – Today is National JoyGerm Day! Joygerms Unlimited was founded by Joan E. White to help counteract worry in the world. She designated January 8th as JoyGerm Day, her late mother’s birthday, to encourage people to “smile, hug, grin, and win over at least one grumpy grouch.” While we at G2Xchange support this concept, we prefer to leave such things to the experts and here they are.
1/15 – Saturday is National Nothing Day, created in 1973 by Harold Pullman Coffin, columnist for the San Francisco Examiner. It is a Holiday ironically created to protest, well, too many Holidays. To (not?) honor National Nothing Day, here is a list of some the best movies and shows to help you do nothing.
1/22 – Today we celebrate every sports fan’s favorite condiment, because it’s National Hot Sauce Day! The past year may have been a bit rough for those of you who are avid fans. Sports parties, pubs and arenas have suffered greatly and some of you may be going through wing-withdrawal. To add some excitement back to your tastebuds here are some hot sauce recipes with heat.
And for those of you who prefer to keep your stomach linings – personally we think they are highly over-rated – tomorrow is National Pie Day! Here’s a list of recipes to satisfy your sweet tooth.
1/19 – Today is both National Puzzle Day and National Fun at Work Day, so you have an official excuse to goof off. Here are some sites that can help with that:
2/5 – This Sunday is Super Bowl Sunday, which means disappointing ref calls, entertaining commercials, and tons of snack foods! Here are some of our favorite snack recipes.
2/19 – For all of you audiophiles, today is the anniversary of the day that Thomas Edison received the patent for the phonograph, and the beginning our fascination of all things sound related. Read more about Thomas Edison here.
2/26 – Sunday is National Science Day! Science is an important part of modern life that so many of us underappreciate. It affects all aspects of our everyday lives. The United States has created the National Science Foundation to report and track significant discoveries and creations from various science fields. Check out their website!
3/5 – So, this one is not “not about COVID”. After over a year of avoiding exposure to the pandemic, cabin fever is really getting to some of us. As luck would have it the CDC has lists of places which are relatively safe to travel to and which to avoid. You can even get some advice on travel preparedness. Click here to learn more.
3/12 – Today is National Alfred Hitchcock Day! Hitchcock was an English director, producer and screenwriter who has had a great impact on the modern film industry, both theater and television. Many of us watched Alfred Hitchcock Presents long after he had passed, in which he would often make amusing cameos. One of his most beloved and iconic films is Notorious, starring Ingrid Bergman, Cary Grant and Claude Rains. Click here to watch it.
3/19 – Having been stuck at home for much of the past year, many of us have upgraded, redecorated and organized our indoor areas to maximum effect. Well now it’s the time of year to start thinking about outdoor changes and it just happens to be National Backyard Day. Here are some ideas for how to make your outdoor space as welcoming as your indoor space.
