Polygon, the Dancing Bear

Occasional notes on politics, history, technology, architecture,
and the life of a county clerk

2002:
May / June / July
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November / December

2003:
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April / May / June / July
August / September / October
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2004:
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April / May / June / July
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November / December

2005:
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April / May / June / July
August / September / October
November / December

2006:
January / February / March
April / May / June / July
August / September / October
November / December

2007:
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April / May / June / July
August / September / October
November / December

2008:
January / February / March
April / May

Current entries

Monday, June 20, 2005, 3:52 pm

From the Clerk-Register: I keep thinking of things I ought to blog about, and I keep not getting around to it. In the meantime, here are a couple more letters to the County Clerk/Register of Deeds staff.

Tuesday, May 31:

Last week, I received a note from a customer:
I Love Washtenaw County.

I Love the clerks who are always helpful & friendly.

I'll never go back to Wayne County.
Over the weekend, I also heard from some folks who appreciated the service they'd gotten from the office.

"I'm sure you most of what you hear are complaints," one of them said, "So I thought I'd let you know how impressed I was."

Of course complainers tend to be more motivated communicators than satisfied customers. But in truth I have heard few complaints and many favorable comments from our constituents.

I can take very little credit for this. Rather, it reflects the wonderful job that all of you are doing, which I appreciate beyond words.

Washtenaw County received another boost recently with a high bond rating from Fitch Ratings.

According to the report, "Washtenaw County's strong tax base and prudent budget practices have produced consistent financial operations and solid reserve levels over the past eight years. . . . The county's debt burden is low."

Credit for the sound management of our finances goes to county treasurer Catherine McClary, county administrator Bob Guenzel, and the county commissioners.

Let's have a great week!

Monday, June 20:

I hope you had a good Father's Day yesterday.

Father's Day is one of those "minor" holidays, along with Halloween, Valentine's Day, Ground Hog Day, St. Patrick's Day, April Fool's Day, and of course Mother's Day, which are observed by tradition, but are never listed in labor contracts or official work schedules.

When I started working at the University of Michigan in 1998, I was startled to see decorations for each of these holidays, and others, appear in turn in the workplace, including around doors and mirrors of the men's room. Apparently many University bathrooms were done up this way, as staff members looked to remember and enjoy each of these small occasions, as well as staff birthdays and so on.

There are many such special days, but each one comes but once a year. Whether it's your birthday, or Halloween, or the (soon to arrive) Summer Solstice - we come to work as usual, but we anticipate a nicer day; ordinary work becomes a sharing of a pleasant occasion with our co-workers.

What if EVERY DAY was a small holiday?

The French revolutionary calendar, used in France and its colonies from 1793 to 1806, seems far-fetched to us now, but the folks who invented this also gave us the metric system which is still in use.

Each month in the French calendar was 30 days long (they had pretty names based on the seasons and weather) and consisted of three 10-day weeks. At the end of the year there were a varying number of extra festival days depending on whether it was a leap year.

But the most intriguing aspect of the calendar is that each day of the year had its own name. The days were named for plants, foods, flowers, crops, animals, minerals, farm tools, among other things.

Imagine what life would be like under such a calendar! Every day would automatically have a "theme".

Surely we would have dessert potlucks on Strawberry Day, or Orange Day, or Cherry Day. One day in the autumn (around the same time as Thanksgiving) was literally called Turkey Day. People would say "I don't smoke any more, except on Tobacco Day."

I'm not as sure what kind of observance would occur on Iron Day, or Salt Day, or Plaster of Paris Day, or Broccoli Day, or Dandelion Day, but I bet somebody would be ready.

There's a web site which claims to calculate the French calendar date for any day since 1792 (though obviously any dates since 1806 are pretty much moot). According to their calculations, today is the 1st day of the month of Messidor, which is "Seigle", or Rye Day.

Did you have a rye bread sandwich at lunch?

Tomorrow, the 2nd day of Messidor, is "Avoine" (Oats Day), perhaps a good morning to have oatmeal for breakfast.

Every day is an occasion to celebrate. But it's easier when the sun is shining.