The Terrible Catsafterme

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, 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 »

After driving all morning toward our destination on Sunday, July 12, 2009, the first thing that Bob and I did was obvious when we arrived in Las Vegas around noon: find an all-you-can eat sushi bar. We chose The Sushi Factory, the same spot we had previously enjoyed during our 2007 visit to Las Vegas. It was just as good as I remembered as we scarfed down the various delicacies. I mostly stuck to the expensive specialty rolls – which made up for the reasonable $21.95 lunch fee. Amidst the volcano, caterpillar, 310, the dynamite, and the myriad of deep fried, eel sauce doused raw fish, I was one happy camper. Still I didn’t quite stuff myself the way had during my previous visit. Read the rest of this entry »

Our nation’s seventh president Andrew Jackson, who served two consecutive terms from 1829-1837, left more of a legacy than just appearing on the twenty dollar bill. After a loss in the election of 1824 to John Quincy Adams, which was decided by the House of Representatives after Jackson had already won both the popular and electoral vote count, Jackson went on to a sweeping victory in 1828 campaigning as a member of the new Democratic party and and henceforth embarked on one of the most colorful Presidencies that our nation has ever seen. Read the rest of this entry »