Category Archives: History

I saw the news about Frank Buckles via Mental Floss. Rather odd I couldn’t find it easily through the other “papers of record” earlier in the week. Two known documented participants remain. One retired sailor in Australia and a waitress … Continue reading →

Today is when things really got moving in the ongoing fight between Mexico and the mostly Anglo settlers. The mutual relationship deteriorated enough to have the occupants issue an official document about why they were making their own nation. It … Continue reading →

Home ownership was something I never imagined myself ever getting into. After all the headaches I witnessed my parents enduring through Reagan’s recovery, real estate felt more like a disease; buying was easy, selling was a nightmare. This perception also colored … Continue reading →

Living through Bush the First’s Recession as an underemployed college graduate had become routine by the time this holiday rolled around. I have fond memories of these days despite the horrific Milwaukee Winter: hours spent listening to my music collection … Continue reading →

It’s sad to see what a short memory Americans have regarding this president who laid down the ground work for the worst one (Bush II) to happen. But as the American Dad cartoon shows, Reagan escaped any serious punishment because … Continue reading →

The weather was nothing like this when I arrived then, it was raining but at least the temperature remained in the mid Fifties (F) until sunset. Somara went to her parents’ house to take a shower. I stayed behind to … Continue reading →

My last installment for the Seven Days of Christmas has almost come full circle! Although I began my annual tradition regarding the Holiday period in 2007, I fired up this Weblog format in 2005…so it seems I logged the essentials … Continue reading →

Christmas Day fell on a Monday again so I chose to work, earn the extra scratch but negotiated the 26th off, it would be a pseudo-short week. Besides, we lived in an apartment that was a mere several blocks away. … Continue reading →

Christmas 1995 was the comeback year for the Nineties after five crappy ones in a row! All the previous times were marred by a lack of money; people to spend it with; a lingering, dour mood; or a combination of the … Continue reading →

This became the first in a long line of lonely holiday streaks, the Nineties mostly sucked in this department. It was also my first in the adult world…no more four-week breaks, everybody still goes to work between Christmas and New … Continue reading →

Of the four high-school holiday breaks, I still find it amazing that the best one I ever experienced was in Beulah, ND. I think it had more to do with me being a senior than the location. The two in … Continue reading →

This is the Christmas when the whole holiday season lost its luster for me. After receiving the Millenium Falcon a year earlier, most gifts afterwards seemed anti-climatic, short of a personal computer; in 1980 those things cost as much as … Continue reading →

Christmas is over and that means Picayune reminisces (or navel gazes) about past holiday breaks. I thought I started doing this in 2006 but it originated during 2007 when I probably spent more hours hanging out at Blue Marble (sadly … Continue reading →

Better late than never was the defense I used for needing an extra semester. Maybe my family wouldn’t have been as irked if I were attending a public university taking the standard six-year plan at Illinois State. The biggest stigma … Continue reading →