brainsplotch

Today is Memorial Day, a day on which we are to remember and honor the men and women in uniform who gave their lives in defense of our country, and for many others, a day on which we remember and honor all of our family members who are no longer with us on this earth. So what do we as American generally do on Memorial Day?: We cook out, go to the beach, do yardwork, or just plain goof around. Now I'm not saying that doing those things is bad (after all, Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer--and a day off for most), but perhaps it's not completely in the spirit of what Memorial Day is supposed to represent. On Memorial Day 1998, I dragged my future wife to Belleville, Michigan, a town halfway between Detroit and Ann Arbor where several of my ancestors are buried. My maternal great-grandmother, great-grandfather, and a slew of others on my mom's side of the family have their eternal resting spots in Belleville. In the words of the old Blind Lemon Jefferson song, I ...

First day of the Memorial Day weekend, and the mosquitoes are out in full force in our yard. Those buggers are everywhere, making yard work an adventure. This is what happens when one lives in a community, Okemos, that was essentially built over swampland. I was able to mow the front yard, but the backyard will have to wait until tomorrow. Our neighbors, a young couple maybe in their late twenties or early thirties, are having a pleasant evening in their backyard, playing a game with the tiki torches going. I don't want to disturb them with my loud lawnmower. Besides, at this point it's nearing eight o'clock--too late to start anything new. I'm sure all of this is fascinating! Hope I'm not lulling anyone to sleep. I'm trying to devise of some future blog entries. I've entertained the thought of doing some reviews of some forgotten gems in my music collection. Recently, I've discovered the $7.99 bargain music bin at my favorite music retailer in the area,...

Hi everyone, I'm still alive! I thought I'd take a few minutes between watching the Preakness and going outside to plant some sod in the backyard to say "hi" to all one or two of my loyal readers out there in cyberspace. It's been one busy April and May for me. Between my oldest son's chess tournaments, soccer games and practices, baseball games and practices, and other sundry kid and school-related stuff, not to mention my Facebook obsession (which takes away valuable time that I could be spending doing important stuff like blogging), I've not been able to write anything in here. I really don't want to write in here if I don't feel like I have anything interesting to say. I don't know if writing little hodgepodge posts is all that interesting to anyone. Then again, nobody really reads this blog, so what difference does it make? Today, after my son's early morning soccer game, I got to go out by myself and drop off my lawnmower to get the ...