Hail to the chief

Today I'm celebrating Presidents Day!

Today is a federal holiday for honoring the leaders of our country. In other words, today's a day when the bankers relax for the day and the US Mail is not delivered. Most of the rest of us devoted members of the US workforce reported to work as usual on this third Monday of February. Although it is a "site holiday" for the many employees in the northeastern work locations in my company, my work location did not choose to give us a long weekend. Today's also a day when many conduct sales -- mostly furniture stores and car dealerships in my area. In the US most retailers are only closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, open on all other holidays.

Although today was designated as a federal holiday, the US does not have any national holidays or days where all employees in America are free from work and all business is halted. I believe that there are ten annual federal holidays celebrated by the United States: New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Day, Washington's Birthday (which is now commonly known as Presidents Day), Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. However, employees other than federal workers and bankers do not typically get all these federal holidays off from work.

I work with people from all around the world and am exposed to the various holidays celebrated around the world. Many European countries have laws mandating minimum paid vacations and holidays. The US does not. Most statistics show that US employees have fewer holidays and vacations than most other industrialized countries. I recall ABC News reported recently that most US employees earn 12-14 days of time off, but sadly work 3-4 of those days. In comparison, they reported that the Britains get 24 days and the French earn 39 vacation days (that's almost 8 weeks off!). I could never earn 8 weeks off for combined designated corporate holidays and earned vacation while working for my company. I've heard that some countries mandate up to 6 weeks off from work. I've noticed in many countries that there are numerous federal holidays where business is halted. My peers in those countries don't work on their federal holidays. They often have extended periods of vacation or holiday time. For example, it's often a challenge getting projects completed during the month of August because so many of the Europeans don't work. Throughout the year, I'm secretly envious to annoyed when my co-workers gleefully announce that they won't be working because of a mandated, federal holiday in their country. We typically get one holiday for the new year, but some of my Asia Pacific peers get multiple days off for the new year and celebrate a new year more than once a year!

Today in celebration of Presidents Day, I've selected the official anthem of the President of the US, Hail to the Chief. It's traditionally played by the US Marine Band to announce the ceremonial entrance of the US Commander-in-Chief, the President of the United States. You can download an audio file of the US Marine Band performing it from their site. Here's a rather unique performance of it that I found on YouTube by The Four Squeezins:


As posted on YouTube by FourSqueezins

This year we have the honor of selecting a new president. It's a rather historic year in our country. I found a rather interesting version of Hail to the Chief called Hillary Raps (Hail to the Chief) that you can see below. Huck, although I'll stay mum about my presidential candidate of choice, I can almost guarantee that the only time I'll give Hillary any time on my blog will be the amount of time that it takes for you to see the unique, timely YouTube video below. ; )



As posted on YouTube by alexdrummond

Today I hope that you squeezed in some time to celebrate Presidents Day! Don't forget to VOTE! That is, unless you're voting for the mum (as my British peers would say) this year! ; )


Image credit: ZingerBug.com