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The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich - William L. Shirer
One of the consequences of using Goodreads to catalog my library has been rediscovery of old books. The very first adult history book I ever read was "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" by William L Shirer. I found an old hardback copy sometime in the mid 1970s when I was in my mid-teens and couldn't put it down, and somehow finished the 1200 ( Read more... ) -
I Got You - Split Enz
Time for cliches. The past is another country, etc, etc. It has been said that people get emotionally attached to the music of their youth, and I'm no exception. Over on Facebook I've been posting a number of music videos dating from the late 70s up to the early 80s. Maybe its due to my impending 50th birthday. Whatever.
This song blew me away when ( Read more... ) -
The impending Five-Oh!
I'm turning 50 in about six weeks and can't decide on what I want to do or what I really want. draculachanter has been asking me for about two months if I want a big party, because it needs to be planned well in advance. We're living week to week right now and can't afford a big bash.
I don't want things or stuff. There's too much in the house.
In a recurring ( Read more... ) -
News of the World
I consider myself a reasonable well-informed person, and read the news every day on various internet sites, but feel the need to post on everything that happens. For years I have been avoiding television news, so my perspective may be different from those who watch on a regular basis. But here are my three cents on three recent happenings ( Read more... ) -
Books, I gots books...
I have been collecting books for decades, but it has only been recently that I started to write down what I had. That started after I joined Goodreads several years ago. The cataloging began in earnest in January, and right now I am up to almost 400 titles. I am concentrating on my history collection, and haven't got to the rest of the non-fiction ( Read more... ) -
Massive vacant estate in our neighborhood
We ran some errands this afternoon. When we went to the local post office in Elkins Park we noticed a massive abandoned mansion across the street. I ended up driving around the whole thing and it sits on 34 acres. It is a 110 room mansion called Lynnewood Hall, was built in 1900 for a member of the Widener family but is currently vacant. Here is a ( Read more... ) -
And the house spoke to me...
It happened on Saturday morning, around 10:50 am, when I was sitting in the dining room eating my breakfast. Nikki was still asleep upstairs, Kobuk was sitting on the floor looking at me, and Puck was chirping softly in her cage in the kitchen. Sitka and Cleo were elsewhere ( Read more... ) -
Crash!
Shortly after leaving work tonight at 5:30 I was in a crash. As I was crossing Roosevelt Boulevard on Grant Avenue, my Jeep was sideswiped by a white Infiniti that blew through a red light. It was sudden and I couldn't avoid getting hit. The Infiniti hit the right rear side of the Jeep and kept on going. I was able to get the Jeep across the ( Read more... ) -
Drive-by phone call from my ex
In what has become an annual event, I got a phone call at work today. It was my ex, and she didn't announce herself, but simply asked, "Are you going to be at Philcon ( Read more... ) -
Great geeky moments #1
Not sure why this popped into my head just now, but here goes.
draculachanter and I were watching The Fellowship of the Ring (extended version, of course) for the umpteenth time, and we got to the scene where Boromir (Sean Bean) tries to take the Ring from Frodo (Elijah Wood). She turned to me and asked rhetorically, "Why now? Why not earlier in the movie?"
I ( Read more... )