The Terrible Catsafterme

The sad fact was that the trip on which Bob and I had embarked just one full week before had come nearly full-circle and was drawing to a close. We were in the heart of Washington D.C. at the busy Hotel Harrington when we awoke on Saturday morning, August 11. We had just one day left to try and cram in as much as possible in Washington D.C. and the nearby Arlington Cemetery. The temperatures had returned to an acceptable level, but the sun shone brightly above in the early morning hours as we left our hotel. Bob made the three block walk to our rented car while I watched the luggage. We met up and headed toward the National Mall. Read the rest of this entry »

Since my marriage had effectively ended not long before, I opted to forego holding Christmas Eve (or at least some portion of it) at my house for the first time since 1994. So we had a mess of places to visit and in addition I had my new girlfriend Carolyn’s family to contend with. As I had just gotten my first assignment as an associate manager at the Fairborn Kroger – there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in h-e-double-hockey-sticks that I was going to get out of working Christmas Eve either. But remarkably – and this is bound to end soon – it was the last Christmas Eve to date that I was required to work. Read the rest of this entry »

November’s been good to me so far. I continue to spend enjoyable evenings watching movies and eating Jackie’s home-cooking, which I must say is outstanding. Too good, in fact, as I’ve packed on nearly five pounds. These must go before we get to the holidays. During the first weekend of the month, Jackie experimented with straightening her hair. There is nothing significant about this, but it gives me an excuse to post these two gorgeous photos of my hot girlfriend. And this was far more exciting than the Bengals ridiculous loss to the Buffalo Bills that weekend. Read the rest of this entry »

The assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan by the loony John Hinckley on March 30, 1981 left quite an impression on me when it occurred. I remember Mark Staples knocking on our front door and delivering the news after school that Monday. I was a Jimmy Carter supporter in the last election (mainly because my parents were), and I was incredulous that an actor could have ascended to the highest office in the land. I later came around to having a great deal of respect for Reagan, but even then it shook me that our leader could take an would-be assassin’s bullet. The other thing that I could never get out of my mind was that Reagan’s press secretary James Brady (seen above left just before the incident in the blue suit) had been shot in the head. Read the rest of this entry »

I was ecstatic when my friend and co-worker Mike Anderson came into work at the Beavercreek Kroger  store sometime during April of 1995 to inform me that he had purchased the tickets for us to attend the upcoming Penn and Teller live show at the Fraze Pavillion. As I stood in the customer service booth on the front end – long before the store ever saw its major remodel – my jaw dropped when he told me that he had somehow snagged front row seats over the phone. I had loved Penn and Teller since my initial introduction to them way back in 1985. It was shaping up to be a great summer. Read the rest of this entry »