Not feeling your best today? Looking kind of crappy outside? Well duh. It's the worst day of the year, after all. Or so says Dr. Cliff Arnall of Cardiff University. The formula above indicates January 23 as the worst day of the year in terms of our overall emotional well being by taking into account the following variables: dreariness of the (W)eather, the arrival of those Christmas credit card bills or (D)ebt, minus monthly salary (d), (T)ime elapsed since Christmas and the failure to (Q)uit a bad habit as we resolved to do in the New Year, low (M)otivational levels and the need to take action (NA).

Aside from the inconsistent mathematical notation, I think the formula is at least intutive, if not precise. I mean, how many people in the Northeast say January is the best month of the year? I don't hear that much. Aside from a few nice birthdays, January pretty much sucks in my opinion. The good news is that Arnall's calculation indicates June 23 as the best day of the year. Clearly his calculation is off by four days, but I won't quibble. At least we're headed in the right direction now.