This past Saturday was Turner Volunteer Day. Loads of employees turned out and I was with a group that went to Piedmont Park and with wheelbarrows and pitchforks, spread at least 3 or 4 dump trucks full of mulch throughout the Dog Park.

I’m thankful to my brothers for not cutting me any slack as a kid, and my parents for raising us in a place allowed us to learn the value of hard work and manual labor. All that snow shoveling paid off when it came to my abilities with a pitch fork this weekend.

Just the same, every muscle in my upper body aches. It hurt to shampoo my hair and get the funk of the cooked mulch off my skin. On the other hand, it was beyond rewarding, especially when Kim and I took Max (dog) for a walk from her place above the Vortex down to the doggie park and were able to see all the beautiful smiling little four legged guys and girls playing on the fresh turf.

Sunday was spent being productive on “me stuff”, not the least of which was reading my new issue of Mental Floss cover to cover. One of the great bits in the magazine this month was a story on the QWERTY keyboard, and it’s less popular but far friendlier competeitor - the Dvorak keyboard. With increasingly achy wrists, I’ve shot a request for one to my IT group. I’ll let you know how the switch goes.