Commonality

I have never really given too much thought to my birthday in my adult life. It’s one of those things that, when you think about it, you are celebrating being another day older. I guess the only thing that comes about more often regarding this day is when someone has a similar birthday or some event happens to fall on this day. Other than that, it is an excuse to be with family and friends and to enjoy the fact that I have experienced a lot in the last year and however hard it may have been at times I have made it through.

Something fun to do this time of year is to find out what happened on this day and discover the people that I share this birthday with. This year, I share this Wikipedia list with you and I encourage you to do the same on your birthday as it is one of the ways to accumulate random Jeopardy knowledge. Enjoy!

Events:

• 355 – Roman Emperor Constantius II promotes his cousin Julian to the rank of Caesar, entrusting him with the government of the Prefecture of the Gauls.
• 1528 – Shipwrecked Spanish conquistador Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca becomes the first known European to set foot in the area that would become Texas.
• 1632 – Thirty years war: Battle of Lützen is fought, the Swedes are victorious but the King of Sweden, Gustavus Adolphus dies in the battle.
• 1789 – Pope Pius VI appoints Father John Carroll as the first Catholic bishop in the United States.
• 1844 – The first constitution of the Dominican Republic is adopted.
• 1856 – Scenes of Clerical Life, the first work of fiction by the author later known as George Eliot, is submitted for publication.
• 1861 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is elected president of the Confederate States of America.
• 1865 – American Civil War: CSS Shenandoah is the last Confederate combat unit to surrender after circumnavigating the globe on a cruise on which it sank or captured 37 unarmed merchant vessels.
• 1869 – In New Brunswick, New Jersey, Rutgers College defeats Princeton University (then known as the College of New Jersey), 6–4, in the first official intercollegiate American football game.
• 1913 – Mohandas Gandhi is arrested while leading a march of Indian miners in South Africa.
• 1917 – World War I: Third Battle of Ypres ends: After three months of fierce fighting, Canadian forces take Passchendaele in Belgium.
• 1918 – The Second Polish Republic is proclaimed.
• 1934 – Memphis, Tennessee becomes the first major city to join the Tennessee Valley Authority.
• 1935 – Edwin Armstrong presents his paper "A Method of Reducing Disturbances in Radio Signaling by a System of Frequency Modulation" to the New York section of the Institute of Radio Engineers.
• 1935 – First flight of the Hawker Hurricane, with its K5083 first prototype.
• 1935 – Parker Brothers acquires the forerunner patents for MONOPOLY from Elizabeth Magie.
• 1939 – World War II: Sonderaktion Krakau takes place.
• 1941 – World War II: Soviet leader Joseph Stalin addresses the Soviet Union for only the second time during his 27-year rule. He falsely states that even though 350,000 troops were killed in German attacks so far, the Germans had lost 4.5 million soldiers and that Soviet victory was near.
• 1942 – World War II: Carlson's patrol during the Guadalcanal Campaign begins.
• 1943 – World War II: the Soviet Red Army recaptures Kiev. Before withdrawing, the Germans destroy most of the city's ancient buildings.
• 1944 – Plutonium is first produced at the Hanford Atomic Facility and subsequently used in the Fat Man atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.
• 1947 – Meet the Press makes its television debut (the show went to a weekly schedule on September 12, 1948).
• 1948 – Deputy commander-in-chief of the Eastern China Field Army General Su Yu launches a massive offensive toward Xuzhou, defended by seven different armies under the Suppression General Headquarter of Xuzhou Garrison, the Huaihai Campaign. The largest operational campaign of the Chinese Civil War begins.
• 1962 – Apartheid: The United Nations General Assembly passes a resolution condemning South Africa's racist apartheid policies and calls for all UN member states to cease military and economic relations with the nation.
• 1963 – Vietnam War: Following the November 1 coup and execution of President Ngo Dinh Diem, coup leader General Duong Van Minh takes over leadership of South Vietnam.
• 1965 – Cuba and the United States formally agree to begin an airlift for Cubans who want to go to the United States. By 1971, 250,000 Cubans had made use of this program.
• 1971 – The United States Atomic Energy Commission tests the largest U.S. underground hydrogen bomb, code-named Cannikin, on Amchitka Island in the Aleutians.
• 1975 – Green March begins: 300,000 unarmed Moroccans converge on the southern city of Tarfaya and wait for a signal from King Hassan II of Morocco to cross into Western Sahara.
• 1977 – The Kelly Barnes Dam, located above Toccoa Falls Bible College near Toccoa, Georgia, fails, killing 39.
• 1985 – In Colombia, leftist guerrillas of the 19th of April Movement seize control of the Palace of Justice in Bogotá, eventually killing 115 people, 11 of them Supreme Court justices.
• 1986 – Sumburgh disaster – A British International Helicopters Boeing 234LR Chinook crashes 2.5 !2¹⁄₂ miles east of Sumburgh Airport killing 45 people. It is the deadliest civilian helicopter crash on record.
• 1991 – The last Kuwaiti oil field fire is extinguished.
• 1995 – The Rova of Antananarivo, home of the sovereigns of Madagascar from the 16th to 19th centuries, is destroyed by fire.
• 1995 – Cleveland Browns relocation controversy: Art Modell announces that he signed a deal that would relocate the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore to become the Baltimore Ravens, the first time the city had a football team since 1983 when they were the Baltimore Colts.
• 1999 – Australians vote to keep the Head of the Commonwealth as their head of state in the Australian republic referendum.
• 2004 – An express train collides with a stationary car near the village of Ufton Nervet, England, killing seven and injuring 150.

Births:

• 745 – Musa al-Kadhim, Imam (d. 799)
• 1391 – Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, English politician (d. 1425)
• 1479 – Joanna of Castile (d. 1555)
• 1494 – Suleiman the Magnificent, Ottoman sultan (d. 1566)
• 1550 – Karin Månsdotter, Swedish wife of Eric XIV of Sweden (d. 1612)
• 1607 – Sigmund Theophil Staden, German composer (d. 1655)
• 1661 – Charles II of Spain (d. 1700)
• 1692 – Louis Racine, French poet (d. 1763)
• 1753 – Jean-Baptiste Breval, French composer (d. 1823)
• 1753 – Mikhail Kozlovsky, Russian sculptor (d. 1802)
• 1814 – Adolphe Sax, Belgian musician, invented the saxophone (d. 1894)
• 1833 – Jonas Lie, Norwegian author (d. 1908)
• 1835 – Cesare Lombroso, Italian psychiatrist (d. 1909)
• 1841 – Nelson W. Aldrich, American politician (d. 1915)
• 1841 – Armand Fallières, French politician, President of France (d. 1931)
• 1851 – Charles Dow, American journalist and economist (d. 1902)
• 1854 – John Philip Sousa, American composer (d. 1932)
• 1855 – E. S. Gosney, American philanthropist and eugenicist, founded the Human Betterment Foundation (d. 1942)
• 1861 – James Naismith, Canadian-American inventor of basketball (d. 1939)
• 1880 – Robert Musil, Austrian author (d. 1942)
• 1880 – George Poage, American hurdler (d. 1962)
• 1880 – Chris van Abkoude, Dutch-American author (d. 1959)
• 1882 – Thomas H. Ince, American actor, director, and producer (d. 1924)
• 1884 – Mohammad-Taqi Bahar, Iranian poet, journalist, historian and professor of literature (d. 1951)
• 1887 – Walter Johnson, American baseball player (d. 1946)
• 1892 – Harold Ross, American journalist, co-founded The New Yorker (d. 1951)
• 1893 – Edsel Ford, American businessman (d. 1943)
• 1894 – Opal Kunz, early American aviator and feminist (d. 1967)
• 1903 – June Marlowe, American actress (d. 1984)
• 1906 – James D. Norris, American businessman (d. 1966)
• 1912 – N. Shanmugarajah, Ceylon Tamil engineer
• 1914 – Jonathan Harris, American actor (d. 2002)
• 1916 – Ray Conniff, American composer and conductor (d. 2002)
• 1921 – Eric Day, English footballer (d. 2012)
• 1921 – James Jones, American author (d. 1977)
• 1922 – Frank J. Lynch, American judge and politician (d. 1987)
• 1923 – Ray B. Sitton, American pilot and general (d. 2013)
• 1924 – Jeanette Schmid, Austrian whistler (d. 2005)
• 1925 – Michel Bouquet, French actor
• 1926 – Haradhan Bandopadhyay, Bengali-Indian actor (d. 2013)
• 1926 – Frank Carson, Irish comedian and actor (d. 2012)
• 1926 – Zig Ziglar, American author (d. 2012)
• 1930 – Tom Hornbein, American mountaineer
• 1931 – Peter Collins, English race car driver (d. 1958)
• 1931 – Mike Nichols, German-American director, screenwriter, and producer
• 1932 – Stonewall Jackson, American singer-songwriter
• 1932 – Francois Englert, Belgian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1937 – Leo Goeke, American tenor (d. 2012)
• 1937 – Garry Gross, American photographer (d. 2010)
• 1937 – Eugene Pitt, American singer (The Jive Five)
• 1937 – Marco Vassi, American author (d. 1989)
• 1937 – Joe Warfield, American actor and director
• 1938 – Mack Jones, American baseball player (d. 2004)
• 1938 – Branko Mikasinovich, Serbian journalist and scholar
• 1938 – P.J. Proby, American singer-songwriter and actor
• 1938 – Diana E. H. Russell, South African activist and author
• 1939 – Michael Schwerner, American activist (d. 1964)
• 1939 – Leonardo Quisumbing, Filipino jurist
• 1940 – Johnny Giles, Irish footballer
• 1940 – Ruth Messinger, American politician
• 1940 – Dieter F. Uchtdorf, American pilot and religious leader
• 1941 – Guy Clark, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
• 1946 – Sally Field, American actress
• 1946 – Viivi Luik, Estonian poet and author
• 1946 – Fred Penner, Canadian singer and guitarist
• 1947 – Jim Rosenthal, English sportscaster
• 1947 – Edward Yang, Taiwanese director (d. 2007)
• 1947 – George Young, Scottish guitarist, songwriter, and producer (Easybeats and Flash and the Pan)
• 1947 – Carolyn Seymour, English actress
• 1948 – Sidney Blumenthal, American journalist
• 1948 – Glenn Frey, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (Eagles)
• 1949 – Brad Davis, American actor (d. 1991)
• 1949 – Nigel Havers, English actor
• 1949 – Arturo Sandoval, Cuban trumpet player, pianist, and composer
• 1949 – Joseph C. Wilson, American diplomat
• 1950 – Amir Aczel, Israeli historian
• 1950 – Chris Glen, Scottish bass player (The Sensational Alex Harvey Band and Michael Schenker Group)
• 1950 – Nimalan Soundaranayagam, Sri Lankan Tamil teacher and politician (d. 2000)
• 1951 – Peter Althin, Swedish lawyer and politician
• 1951 – John Falsey, American scriptwriter and producer
• 1952 – Michael Cunningham, American author
• 1953 – Frank Hanisch, German footballer
• 1954 – Catherine Crier, American judge, journalist, and author
• 1955 – Alton Coleman, American serial killer (d. 2002)
• 1955 – Maria Shriver, American journalist
• 1957 – Cam Clarke, American voice actor and singer
• 1957 – Klaus Kleinfeld, German businessman
• 1957 – Siobhán McCarthy, Irish actress and singer
• 1957 – Lori Singer, American actress
• 1958 – Trace Beaulieu, American actor
• 1959 – Mare Tommingas, Estonian dancer and choreographer
• 1960 – Michael Cerveris, American actor
• 1961 – Kazuhiko Aoki, Japanese video game designer
• 1961 – Craig Goldy, American guitarist (Dio, Giuffria, and Rough Cutt)
• 1961 – Florent Pagny, French singer-songwriter and actor
• 1962 – Aznil Nawawi, Malaysian actor and singer
• 1962 – Annette Zilinskas, American musician and singer, who was the original bass guitarist for The Bangles then later lead vocalist with Blood on the Saddle
• 1963 – Rozz Williams, American singer-songwriter (Christian Death, Shadow Project, and Premature Ejaculation) (d. 1998)
• 1964 – Kerry Conran, American director and producer
• 1964 – Arne Duncan, American educator, 9th United States Secretary of Education
• 1964 – Corey Glover, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (Living Color and Galactic)
• 1964 – Greg Graffin, American singer-songwriter, producer, and author (Bad Religion)
• 1964 – Arkie Whiteley, Australian actress (d. 2001)
• 1965 – René Unglaube, German footballer
• 1966 – Peter DeLuise, American actor and director
• 1966 – Paul Gilbert, American guitarist and singer (Mr. Big, Racer X, and Yellow Matter Custard)
• 1966 – Elizabeth Price, English artist
• 1967 – Rebecca Schaeffer, American actress (d. 1989)
• 1968 – Caesar Meadows, American cartoonist
• 1968 – Kelly Rutherford, American actress
• 1968 – Alfred Williams, American football player
• 1968 – Jerry Yang, Taiwanese-American businessman, co-founded Yahoo!
• 1970 – Ethan Hawke, American actor, director, and screenwriter
• 1971 – Clonie Gowen, American poker player
• 1972 – Deivi Cruz, Dominican baseball player
• 1972 – Garry Flitcroft, English footballer
• 1972 – Adonis Georgiades, Greek politician and author
• 1972 – Thandie Newton, English actress
• 1972 – Rebecca Romijn, American actress
• 1973 – Nell McAndrew, English model
• 1974 – Zoe McLellan, American actress
• 1974 – Frank Vandenbroucke, Belgian cyclist (d. 2009)
• 1975 – Tarmo Saks, Estonian footballer
• 1976 – Catherine Clark, Canadian journalist
• 1976 – Mike Herrera, American singer-songwriter and bass player (MxPx and Mike Herrera's Tumbledown)
• 1976 – Jodi Martin, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1976 – Pat Tillman, American football player (d. 2004)
• 1977 – Patrícia Tavares, Portuguese actress
• 1978 – Sandrine Blancke, Belgian actress
• 1978 – Daniella Cicarelli, Brazilian model and television host
• 1978 – Jolina Magdangal, Filipino singer and actress
• 1978 – Taryn Manning, American singer-songwriter and actress (Boomkat)
• 1978 – Zak Morioka, Brazilian race car driver
• 1979 – Adam LaRoche, American baseball player
• 1979 – Lamar Odom, American basketball player
• 1979 – Gerli Padar, Estonian singer
• 1979 – Brad Stuart, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1979 – Myolie Wu, Hong Kong actress
• 1981 – Cassie Bernall, American student, victim of the Columbine High School massacre (d. 1999)
• 1981 – Lee Dong-wook, South Korean actor
• 1981 – Kaspars Gorkšs, Latvian footballer
• 1981 – Andrew Murray, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1982 – Sowelu, Japanese singer
• 1982 – Steve Millar, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1983 – Jon Hume, Australian singer-songwriter and producer (Evermore)
• 1983 – Janette McBride, Filipino-Australian actress
• 1984 – Ricky Romero, American baseball player
• 1984 – Sebastian Schachten, German footballer
• 1985 – Ettore Marchi, Italian footballer
• 1986 – Katie Leclerc, American actress
• 1986 – Conor Sammon, Irish footballer
• 1987 – Ana Ivanovic, Serbian tennis player
• 1988 – Erik Lund, Swedish footballer
• 1988 – Emma Stone, American actress
• 1989 – Jozy Altidore, American soccer player
• 1989 – Shaina Magdayao, Filipino actress, singer, and dancer
• 1990 – André Schürrle, German footballer
• 1990 – Valentina Nappi, Italian pornographic actress and adult model
• 1992 – Paula Kania, Polish tennis player
• 1997 – Hero Fiennes-Tiffin, English actor

One Percent

The polls have long since closed and while some may be happy with the verdicts and others not so much it is all part of the process that too few participate in. If you don’t believe me answer a couple of questions for me. Did you vote? If so, how many people did you see at the polling place?

That’s right, whether you voted or not you know that turnout stinks during off year elections especially when the campaigns that are drawing to a close are for positions that you wouldn’t otherwise think of. Just think about how much you know about this year’s election cycle, how much you know about the candidates, and how much you know about the positions they are running for. It is for this reason that you get more party voters than voters who consider the candidates themselves.

I admit that for many years I didn’t pay too much attention to the off year election cycles but that has slowly changed as many topics have come to the forefront of politics. I am not going to get into the details of those topics or discuss my position on many of them but they drive me to continue voting every year as they should for everyone who has the right to do so. Simply put, if you either like how things are going or want to see change you should be out there taking five minutes out of your day at least once a year to cast your vote and take a stand.

Come to think of it, the lack of turnout may bother me more than the results themselves. People like to complain and debate about the views held by politicians or political parties but they don’t bother to voice their opinion. People like to scream about the “one percent” having all the money and power in this country but they don’t bother being a part of the one percent that votes on an annual or biannual basis.

While I don’t have the money, I don’t have the influence, I am proud to be a member of the one percent. Just like party affiliation, it doesn’t guarantee that everything goes the way that I want or that I agree with everything that moniker stands for but it ensures that my voice is heard no matter how faint the whisper. Like many rights I ardently defend, this is not something for the elite few, it is something that belongs to everyone and I defend that right for all who respect it.

Enjoy the rights you have and the freedom that comes with them. Don’t allow others to taint those rights and stomp on the freedom that it ensures (even if you don’t personally partake of some of those rights and freedoms). Above all, make your voice heard.

Be Obsessed With Life and Hoard Memories

I have always been a collector. From as far back as I can remember I always remember being surrounded by things that I had hoarded. It seems as though that is just part of my personality and something that I will continue to wrestle with. For some reason, I am always looking for more stuff.

Don’t worry, you don’t have to call TLC for an intervention. There are things that I have done in recent years to curb this need. Actually, I haven’t really stopped collecting I just shifted my attention and I have chosen different things to collect.

What began with toys (Mask and G.I. Joe in particular) turned into Coins, comic books, baseball cards, movies, music, books, and other tactile objects from various years of growth has now transformed into a mission to collect memories and capture them in the best way that I can. From visiting different places and meeting new people to enjoying the simple things of a cold day and falling leaves. I want to remember as much as I can.

Of course, this has led to my hoarding of photographs and blog posts but at least it takes some time for those to come to fruition. I am always afraid of the memories that may be lost and the details that could fade into the smearing of ink on a calendar. Memories are what makes us who we are and I don’t want to feel lost again.

After all, isn’t that the root of the problem when it comes to most hoarders and collectors (there actually is a difference)? Things giving a sense of meaning and being. Things represent the memories and people in someone’s life. They can give a sense of belonging and can serve as the means of forming a home for many.

My memories, my writing, my photographs are my being. Literally, they are recordings of my life, from my perspective, and provide me with a great sense of accomplishment before the pen hits the paper or my finger clicks the shutter. My life isn’t reliant upon my collecting but my collecting is dependent on my living life.

One moment, good or bad, should propel us to the next and combined create the flawed mosaic that represents us. While our pieces may be similar and sometimes nearly identical, they are shaded in a way that is unique to each of us making no two collages the same. We have control of that life, life forms our memories, and our memories should color our passions.  

An Extra Hour

I'm starting this post in a random fashion by giving you the bird!

It may not be much to some and, in fact, it may be a hassle to others but having an extra hour this weekend has been a welcomed occurrence. Last year it was also a beneficial evening for a different reason as it meant an hour of overtime but this year it was simply a time for me to rest and the ability to get up an extra hour earlier this weekend.  Falling back was a means to fall back into a routine after a long and hectic week that had my body and mind divided between two completely different time zones.

However, weekends like this one can sometimes be the least productive times for me. After a particularly eventful week I am ready to just do nothing during my two day recuperation and that was exactly the rut that I fell into. I even put off writing this post until the very end of the day in the hope that I would turn the corner and get something done. But that was not happening and this weekend passed with only a short daytrip and a few blog posts written as the only things that were accomplished before a week that will consist mostly of making up for last week.

Even with an extra hour I still find myself asking where the day has gone. It seems like the hours, days, weeks, months seem to be going by so quickly that I am unable to keep up with them. Time and again I have to look at the calendar to make sure that it really is the day that I think it is or, as was the case a few days ago, that it really is November. Today, for instance, I found myself floored by the fact that I have been at my new job for just over a month now.

One more hour really doesn’t seem like much and over the course of the year it isn’t but for one day it allows us to fill that extra hour with whatever we want to do. Some of us sleep, some of us work, and some of us take the time to allow our minds to reset. Sometimes it is even a collection of all three. But this extra hour, like all hours, should not be taken for granted or forgotten. We may lose track of time but the memories and accomplishments contained in those minutes are what continues to reinvent our present. Today we got an hour of reinvention.

Not Good Enough For The Main Room

My wife and I decided to get out of the apartment today and just spend some time together which has been a rare occurrence as of late with work and other commitments. So we decided to revisit a place for breakfast which we hadn’t been to in a few years, Classic Diner. It’s a bit of a drive from our place but it is good to go back to places that you have fond memories of to either reinforce them or, as was the case today, quash them.

The parking situation and the wait have always been an issue with this popular eatery so that wasn’t anything that was any different from what we remembered. However, a big difference was noticed once our table was ready and we waded through the snootiness of the main dining room on our way to the back room where the vast majority of the tables were unoccupied. As the waitress walked back and forth trying to get our drink order right three times we noticed a pattern to the groups of people being ushered into the rear containment area… we were all dressed casually.

Maybe it was coincidence but based on the clientele on display in the front it didn’t seem like a likely scenario. From that moment on we had to wrangle the server if we wanted anything and even after watching her write down our food orders on her pad we still didn’t get everything we asked for. The only saving grace for the diner is the fact that what we did receive was excellent… just as we remembered it being. But great food is only part of the experience and we will not be returning any time soon.

After our breakfast experience we got in the car and began making our way back to the apartment. With no other plans for the day I brought up the idea of going for a drive and picking up a few things that we had been holding off on getting for some time now. Once my wife agreed I put a little twist on the trip by pointing the car in the direction of Cabela’s in Hamburg, Pennsylvania.

For those of you who are unfamiliar, Cabela’s is one of the largest retail chains in the country for hunting, fishing, and outdoor gear. The stores themselves are impressive both in size and design to the extent that when we pulled up we noticed that this location is larger than the Lowe’s and Wal-Mart across the street, combined. We were also allowed all over and not kept in the corner. It really is more of an afternoon trip rather than a quick stop and shop. That might explain why we didn’t leave until just after 5:00 PM mainly because of the Bargain Cave in the back and trying to get our bearings at times in order to locate a few specific items.

While I am certain that we will both not be going to Classic Diner again anytime soon, and my wife has no desire to return to Cabela’s in the near future, I am certain that I will make the trip up again to find additional items, especially ones on clearance, on a somewhat regular basis. Plus it is a really nice drive up into the mountains and you already know how I feel about going to the mountains. And I will be sure to take a few pictures next time I’m up there to give you a better idea of what I am talking about.

Until then, I suggest you find one near you and just go for a walk through the store. It is a completely different experience than what you usually find at a retailer (especially a chain with maybe Bass Pro Shop being the only exception). If you take the trip let me, and everyone else, know what you think by leaving a comment below.

Let These Serve As Reminders

Even some unexpected moments can serve as perfect reminders of all that we have.

As we live our lives, go to work, spend time with family there are always reminders that pop every now and again that remind us to appreciate what we have and to remember all that we have done. The last couple of days have been accented by such reminders for me. It is both one of the privileges and trials of being involved in organizations that embrace such a wide variety of people of all ages and abilities.

The first email I received a couple of days ago was while I was working hard in Arizona completely immersed in the various meetings and classes I was attending. It was an email from the District Deputy Grand Master informing all the members of my lodge of the passing of one of our fellow brothers at an unexpectedly young age. I guess it hit pretty close to home as there is a lot more that I want to do in life and it is certainly going to take more than 15 or 20 years.

I don’t even know if all that I want to accomplish could even be accomplished in one lifetime but I at least want to give it a good shot and that is certainly not enough time to do so. It really is something that will make you think about things that you could have done differently, the time that you may have wasted, and the changes that you know you need to make but have been putting off for way too long. Essentially, why wait until the new year to make resolutions when, at this point, that means you would have let another two months simply pass you by.

Fortunately, the other note that I got was something completely different and, as a matter of fact, quite flattering. I keep this blog as a way of remembering and a means to allow anyone who wants to look into my life to do so at their leisure. I’m not the government and I am a pretty boring person so there is nothing really for me to hide. But every once in a while I will write something that has piqued some interest and that was the case today as one of my posts was reprinted in the Rotary District (7450) newsletter.

I had no idea that this was going to be done but I have also always had a standing policy that people are free to disseminate my writing so long as they give the proper credit and citation. That was the case this week and makes me think that maybe I am accomplishing some of the things that I want to do in life and maybe there is a chance that, when all is said and done, I will have made a positive impact.

Sometimes we get so caught up in going from one project or event to another and fail to see the overall arch of what is being done and the impact our actions have beyond our immediate reach. Sometimes we need these reminders, happy and sad alike, to allow us to step back and think about all that we have seen, said, and done in our lives. You may even be surprised by how far your voice carries.