I love holidays. I really do. They’re all great – Christmas, Thanksgiving, The Fourth of July, Labor Day, Memorial Day. By far, my favorite time of the year is between Thanksgiving and Christmas, better known to most as Advent. I love the anticipation, excitement, commotion, lights, and music – yes, the music. I’ll admit to being a Christmas music junkie. I’m sure that I drive my family crazy with the incessant playing of Christmas music in the car throughout December.

However, there’s one holiday that I could do without. I often wonder why it is even considered a holiday. It’s Halloween.

Continue reading →

I’m not a huge follower of TED talks, but this one by Glenn Greenwald recently caught my attention. Glenn Greenwald is the journalist to whom Edward Snowden revealed the NSA surveillance documents and secrets. Greenwald subsequently published excerpts of those documents in The Guardian creating a firestorm of controversy.

Regardless of your opinion of Greenwald, Snowden, and the revelations Snowden provided him, the video is worth the 15-20 minutes to watch. It’s a well thought discussion that covers why privacy matters and, more importantly, the chilling side effects of mass surveillance.

Continue reading →

Sometimes, you have to love your parents. I got an email from them recently with a couple of photos from the early seventies, including this one of me with the Lone Ranger. It was taken at the car dealership where my uncle worked. Given how big I am in the picture, my best guess is that it’s from 1972 or 1973.

I obviously don’t remember having the picture taken, but I do have memories of the silver bullet the Lone Ranger gave me that day. I stashed it away in my desk at home. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s still somewhere in that same desk at my parents’ house!

By the way, take a look at those white patent leathers in the lower right corner of the picture. I don’t know who was wearing them with the white pants and red jacket, but that’s some vintage 70’s clothing!

During this past Labor Day weekend, I had the opportunity to visit Ypsilanti, MI. I wish it was a recreational visit, but Lisa and I went there to send our second off to college at Eastern Michigan University.

(By the way, if you’re unfamiliar with Ypsilanti as I was until this past April, it’s about 25 minutes west of Detroit and 10 minutes east of Ann Arbor – the home of the University of Michigan)

Overall, the drop-off went well, but it made for a busy weekend. In our quest to round-up all the supplies that we didn’t take with us or couldn’t fit in Brad’s luggage, I discovered the location of nearly every Target and Wal-mart within a 10 mile radius of Ypsilanti. I even got to check out a couple of Big Lots store locations too!

Here are a few photos from the weekend, a couple of thoughts about the area, and a couple of places worth checking out that aren’t a Target or Wal-mart.

Continue reading →