One of the joys of the New Year is getting my new calendar ready.

First, I transfer all the birthdays.

That makes certain that if I was wrong last year, I’ll be wrong again this year.

Secondly, I go through to record the dates of all the shows that I had last year just in case those kind folks call me again.

Thirdly, I go through the new calendar to enjoy the statistics that often go unnoticed in the first and last pages of daytime calendar books.

My favorite day-timer book is “Today,” issued by World Book Encyclopedia.

The book costs about twenty bucks with shipping, offering these pearls of trivia, just in case you want to share some at your next caffeine gathering.

Do you like wide-open spaces?

Go to Alaska, The Last Frontier, where there is one person for every square mile.

That’s the same as one person for every 1,760 yards times 1,760 yards.

For me, I need another visual. That’s the same as 17.6 football fields times 17.6 football fields.

Wanna feel like a sardine? Try New Jersey; 1,080 people per square mile. Like a big Pay-Less on Saturday.

Square miles info led me to area code trivia.

Ever since our local area-code changed from 206 to 360 many minutes ago, I have been proud of the fact that our Whidbey Island area code, 360, was the first in the country with a non-binary digit in the middle, a “6,” hopefully honoring the history of the six-pack on Whidbey.

That is something they cannot take away from us.

It has always been interesting to me that the numerical sequence of area codes has little to do with the proximity of boundaries.

For example, one would expect North Carolina to be area code 910 if part of South Carolina is 864.

But why is Louisiana’s 985 area code so close in numbers to Michigan’s 989 when they are extremes of the center of our great country?

OK, so it’s not a big thing in your family.

But, when you are lonely, and it’s winter, your day- timer calendar can be your best friend.

Ohio has a 937 area code, just one door down from Puerto Rico’s 939 area code.

Que?

I am curious why there are no area codes 111, 222, 333, 444, 555, 666, 777 or 999.

They sure would be easier to remember.

The only repeating three- digit area code is 888.

Be careful; 888 may be one of those heavy breathing area codes that cost a bunch of money.

500 is the area code for Personal Communication Services.

Things like how to order a microphone attachment for your phone or how to set a ring tone that has Fred Flintstone yelling “Yabba Dabba Doo.”

That sure cleared out my creditors.

If we have time, next week we’ll cover why the Colorado area codes of my birth, 719 and 720, were not allowed to go green to become 719½.