The Terrible Catsafterme

It was about 8:30am on the morning of Tuesday, July 14, 2009, when Bob and I checked out of room 2467 of the Paris Las Vegas hotel. We had had a great two days there, but it was time to work our way back to Los Angeles to continue with my California adventure. We crossed over the border and had made it halfway toward our L.A. destination when we stopped for brunch in Barstow at an eatery known as Quigley’s. Bob had the monte cristo and I went for the breakfast border burrito. We sat near a ‘biddy brigade’ that Bob ended up knowing. Read the rest of this entry »

Ronald Reagan was certainly an interesting choice to elect as our nation’s 40th President. Never before had America sent a former-Hollywood actor to the highest office in the land – when we elected Reagan for two consecutive terms from 1981-1989. Politics of course wasn’t completely new to him as he had served as President of the Screen Actors Guild and later two terms as California’s Governor. Having grown up during the 1980’s, I feel that he is as much a part of the American tapestry of that era as Michael Jackson. Read the rest of this entry »

Saturday, May 16, 2009 was my last day in Italy. As I laid in bed that morning, I was both reflecting on a great week – our day in Pisa, two days in Rome, two days in Florence, one day in Siena, and one day in Venice – and dreading the process of getting back home. As for the day itself, Chris and Sarah would be taking me to just a few additional places around Florence so that we could effectively ‘wrap-up’ the tour of their current hometown. It was a nice day, but the dreaded trip home was looming ever nearer. Read the rest of this entry »

Saturday, July 25, 2009, came up pretty quickly. After all I had only been home for a total of five days from California when it was already time to leave again for my last week-long vacation of 2009. The week in between was maddening as I struggled to both catch up and get ahead at work and home. But Friday the 24th rolled around and it was crunch time – time to pack and head out to Mom’s for the night. 5am, Saturday morning arrived and I was up and loading up the car along with Mom, Bob, Ashleigh, and Briana. Read the rest of this entry »

It might surprise you to know that our country’s 11th President, who served from 1845-1849, consistently ranks as being in the top dozen of our most effective Presidents. And yet for some reason, despite the song by They Might Be Giants in his honor, he is typically a forgotten President. Having only served one term, he was so exhausted by the hard work that he had accomplished, achieving nearly every goal he set out to, that he retired to his new home in Nashville and passed away just three months after leaving office. Read the rest of this entry »