Last week I detailed my first two days of my recent California Labor Day adventure, where I got to spend a few busy days visiting my brother on the West Coast. If you missed Part One, I suggest you go take a look. Things will make a little more sense as we dive into the back half of my ‘So Cal’ travels. Let’s get going, shall we? Day 3 I awoke early again (still on East Coast time), and got…
You may have noticed I didn’t publish a blog entry last week. That’s because I took the Labor Day weekend for a quick trip to the West Coast to spend some time with my brother, who lives in Los Angeles. It was a short visit, but boy did we pack it in. Day 1 After a cross-country flight, I touched down at the Hollywood-Burbank airport around noon local time, where I was picked up by my younger brother. His wife…
You know fall is approaching when college football season is back in business. The excitement starts this coming weekend – so who are you pulling for? Who’s your favorite team? Many folks root for the university they attended. That’s all well and good, except for when your college is without a football team. My alma mater, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) doesn’t have a football squad (although they did become the darlings of March Madness in 2018 when…
Ever since German immigrant Gustav Brunn created the Old Bay Seasoning blend back in 1939[1], it has become synonymous with the identity and culture of my home state of Maryland. The familiar yellow and red can is found in almost every Maryland kitchen, and for those of you who haven’t tried it, you really should. Not only is it great on seafood (its original purpose), but its versatility adds a “Maryland flavor” to chicken, beef, or even scrambled eggs. Some…
I was away from the writing desk last week, taking the weekend to drive back down south to move my youngest back in for another year of college. This time, it was a little different, as she was moving into her first apartment – off-campus (her university only guarantees on-campus housing for the freshman class). As you can imagine, this took a little more planning and research, since her university is about twelve hours away (driving time) from our home….
OK, I don’t mean to sound old here, but I have some strong opinions on all of this social media hoo-haa. Let me first point out that my career choice was Information Technology, and as such I do work with computers, servers, networks, and other technology services on a daily basis. That being the case, I am usually loathe to spend my non-working time on them in any form or fashion. Hell, I rarely even answer the house phone when…
You can’t watch a news cycle these days and not see some news story about weather extremes – both here in the US and around the world. There have been record high temperatures in London, with daytime highs well over 100 degrees. Extreme drought in the American Southwest has caused the water level in Lake Mead to drop to its lowest levels since 1937, revealing dead bodies (stuffed in oil drums) and long lost hulls of boats that were disposed…
July and August are terrible months for me, financially speaking. Not only are my annual property taxes and home/car insurance bills due, but it’s also time for me to man up and pay out the semi-annual tuition bills from my daughters’ institutes of higher learning. For those of you with younger children who are thinking about their college futures, I have three words of advice. Start saving now. Seriously. I had the good sense to open up 529 college funds…
Remember the good ‘’ol days of television? When one could only get three (free) network channels (maybe four, if you counted PBS) on that small, 15-inch TV set with the rabbit ear antenna sitting in the corner of the living room? What should we watch tonight, honey? Well, there are only four choices – pick one. In the early 1970’s that meant Telly Savalas as “Kojak” on CBS, James Garner starring in “The Rockford Files” on NBC, or we could…
Happy Independence Day, everyone! July, 4th, 1776 was a momentous day in our history, and we celebrate it annually with parades, cook-outs, vacation weekends and of course, fireworks. It’s hard to believe that’s it’s been 246 years since the thirteen colonies declared their Independence from the English Crown. In just four short years, we’ll be celebrating another milestone. Our Semiquincentennial, or 250 years of independence. I hate to be a party-pooper, but that seems like that will be hard to…