TOPIC: Childhood Memories...
One of fondest childhood memories comes from a hard time in my life. My mother and father were separated. My brother had died just a couple years before. Life had been unpleasant and ruthless (in some ways) to me. I was forced to work in order to have any money for "the little extras".
I worked for a man who owned hundreds of acres of tobacco fields. He picked us up for work at 5:30am in the morning. We arrived home around 6:00pm each night. We worked in the sun, the rain -- no matter what. And we didn't have those cushy harvesters that are used for bulk barns. We cropped tobacco (pronounced "bakker") by hand, then put it on a belt that went to the top of the harvester, where the girls would loop it on the "bakker stick". After we worked in the field all day, we went to the barns, climbed the wrungs and hung the tobacco. Since I was the smallest lad in our group, I was usually the one sent to the top of the barn, where temps were 120+F. Did I mention the snakes that would scare the bee-jeebers out of you in the top of the barns?
In some strange way, I have fond memories of those times. BUT, the best memory is of lunchtime.
We would go to this small, dirty little country store for lunch each day. The drink cooler held ice cold (not like today -- REAL ICE cold) bottled drinks. I'd get a small sandwich, an icy cold Pepsi bottle and a small bag of peanuts. After opening the bottle, I would pour the peanuts into my Pepsi, place my thumb over the spout and shake gently. Ahhhh, the taste of ice flakes, mixed with peanuts, in a cold Pepsi... mmmm... what a childhood memory.
Maybe I'll stop by the store tonight and get a Pepsi and some peanuts. Nah, it just wouldn't be the same...

QOTD: Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That's relativity. -- Albert Einstein

TOPIC: Darryl Littlejohn Facing New Indictment for 2005 Abduction Attempt
CBS4 in Boston reported, "A 19-year-old woman claims he was posing as a police officer when she was dragged into the back of his van last October. His D-N-A was allegedly found on handcuffs used to bind her hands. This alleged victim apparently recognized Littlejohn when she saw his picture on television in the wake of Imette St. Guillen's murder." BlogNYC reported:

"Reports have surfaced this morning that Darryl Littlejohn, the man indicted for the abduction and murder of Imette St. Guillen, is set to be arraigned this morning on seperate charges for attempting to abduct a college student in Queens in 2005.
The Queens district attorney's office said it would announce an indictment Thursday in connection with the abduction of a York College student on Oct. 19, 2005, but declined to identify the defendant. A telephone call to Littlejohn's lawyer was not immediately returned Wednesday.
The law enforcement official said Littlejohn, 41, had been linked to the attempted abduction of a 19-year-old woman who told investigators she was approached by a man driving a blue van. The official said that the attacker — carrying handcuffs and wearing a blue law enforcement baseball cap — forced the woman into the van, but that she later jumped out and escaped."

Originally posted on BlogNYC by James Poling

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QOTD: Nothing is too great and nothing is too small to commit into the hands of the Lord. -- Arthur W. Pink

TOPIC: Not double digits... yet
My youngest daughter turned 9 today. My little princess is growing up -- and fast. She is so mature, so intelligent and so much her own person. BUT, she's only nine years old. WOW!
I'm extremely proud of "Boo" -- for many reasons. She's a straight A student and the best reader in her third grade class. She's a future Beta Club member, an artist / designer, a beautiful young girl and unique in how she sees things in life. As with AJ (see 1/29/06), I am proud to be her father and her friend.

Happy 9th Birthday "Lyssie"!

OnThisDay: April 14th
1818 - US Medical Corp forms
1853 - Harriet Tubman began her Underground Railroad, helping slaves escape
1860 - First Pony Express rider arrives in San Francisco CA from St Joseph MO
1865 - President Abraham Lincoln shot in Ford's Theatre by John Wilkes Booth
1894 - First public showing of Thomas Edison's kinetoscope (moving pictures)
1902 - Marie & Pierre Curie isolate the radioactive element radium
1945 - My mother was born
1981 - First Space Shuttle-Columbia 1-returns to Earth

TOPIC: Moronics
I'm convinced there should be an area of study called "Moronics". It could include the inner workings of moron brains, the idiotic logic of their media ramblings and the peer group in which they function. We could start with far left-wing reporters, many liberal college professors and most of the rich & famous in Hollywood.
We'd would need to make sure we include the economics professor from UC Berkley who, on NPR radio yesterday, told us that the US economy is NOT in good condition. BUT, if the economy is in good condition, it's not due to anything current administration has done over the past 6+ years. What a total moron!
Anyway, the study of moronics should be funded out of the salaries of moronic college professors, moronic mass media news commentators (can't stomach the idea of calling them "reporters") and moronic drivers' estates (pre- or post-mortem is fine by me). Maybe, with much study, we could ascertain what makes these morons tick; why they think like they do (or don't actually think at all) and how it is they function in the real world (when they are so totally clueless about reality). What do YOU think?

TOPIC: 72% Of Teen Girls Who Have Had Sex Wish They Hadn't
It may startle you -- it did me. BUT, in a recent poll, 63 percent of teens who have had sexual intercourse said they wish they had waited. More than one-half of teen boys (55 percent) and nearly three of four teen girls (72 percent) surveyed said they wish they had waited longer to have sex. Source: National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy
Psychological Self-Help posted some good data showing sexual mores over the past three decades. It's website, Premarital Sex -- The Situation, was just one of the pages I found while searching for info on this topic. It's a good read!
Another source says "Teenagers and young adults account for nearly half the cases of sexually transmitted diseases in the United States though they make up just a quarter of the sexually active population, according to the first extensive national estimate of STDs among young Americans." Thankfully, a UNC study tells the truth -- abstinence is "the surest way to avoid STDs".
The Center for 4th & 5th R's seems to be a good place to read more about this topic. Morality does matter. Remember teens -- Everyone is NOT "doing it"!

QOTD: Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted. -- Albert Einstein (attributed)

OnThisDay: April 1st
1578 - William Harvey of England discovers blood circulation
1748 - Ruins of Pompeii found
1789 - US House of Representatives first full meeting, New York, NY
1826 - Samuel Mory patents internal combustion engine
1889 - First dishwashing machine marketed (in Chicago)
1945 - US forces launch invasion of Okinawa during WWII
1976 - Stephen Wozniak & Steven Jobs originate Apple Computer
1986 - World oil prices dip below $10 a barrel