Calendar Comet

I was one of those super cool high schoolers who took Advanced Calculus while many of my friends opted for a Free Period our senior year - I just couldn't get enough of math. So I guess it should come as no surprise that I now spend my days happily engrossed in calculations and Excel spreadsheets. I usually tend to forget just how nerdy my chosen profession of media planning is... until days like yesterday.

Ever heard of... Square Root Day? Anyone? Bueller? Well, believe it or not, but I actually hadn't either before yesterday. Thanks to no less than four of my new co-workers, I learned that I was living one of the nine days every century when the square root of the year (2009) is the month (March) and day (3rd)... 03/03/09... √9 = 3... 3² = 3 × 3 = 9. I mean, how cool is that??

No? Just me?

Being the Google-Lover that I am, I obviously spent a little (read: an embarrassing) amount of time looking into this mathematical marvel. Can you believe that it wasn't until September 9, 1981 that "Square Root Day" was even officially created?? Thanks to Ron Gordon, a high school teacher and the holiday's official publicist, this day now has an impressive fan base among my fellow number crunchers everywhere. I mean, who doesn't love an excuse to eat some celebratory root veggies cut in squares?

Aside from getting to live in anticipation of the next Square Root Day in only seven short years (April 4, 2016, in case you don't have a calculator handy), I'm particularly grateful for this new found knowledge because my Googleing led me to the below gem. It's a clip from Mathnet, a Dragnet parody featured on the late '80s/early '90s hit, Square One - only one of my favorite. shows. ever. Turns out the series was really just one sneaky ploy to underhandedly encourage an early childhood intrigue in math... And look at me now. Well-played, PBS. Well-played.

"These days are like calendar comets, you wait and wait and wait for them, then they brighten up your day--and poof--they're gone." -Ron Gordon, on Square Root Days. Yep, I officially heart him.