Nickel and dimed to death

"If I had a quarter for every time I said I had a nickel. I would have five times as much theoretical money." Stephen Colbert

The days that never existed

If someone ever tells you about a great historical event that occurred on October 10th 1582; you can tell them hogwash! The reason is: that date never existed! Neither did October 11th or the 5th, 6th, or 7th for that matter. For centuries western civilization had been using the Julian calendar which originated during Roman times and had been meddled with by various emperors. It had 365 days in a year and did not compensate for the difference in solar time and calendar time of about a quarter of a day a year. In the modern calendar we use a "leap year" when one day is added to every fourth year to correct for the difference. By 1582 the calendar was 10 days off and Easter was going to land on a Sunday in late February if nothing was done and would get progressively worse. Could you imagine Easter in January? Pope Gregory XIII decided to fix the problem, adding leap years and because of how out of whack the equinox was with the Julian calendar he decreed that Thursday, October 4, 1582 would be Friday, October 15, 1582. From then on we have had our modern calendar leap- years and all. The Gregorian calendar was born and October 4th-14th 1582 disappeared forever.

Always swing for the fences

Why do baseball movies bring men to tears? I have a theory. Baseball movies are about a man’s relationship with his dad, at least the good ones are. What guy doesn’t cry when Kevin Costner’s character in Field Of Dreams asks to play catch with his estranged father? I have seen that movie hundreds of times and every time I watch that scene, it’s like someone turns the faucet on. One time I was flipping through channels, came upon that scene and started crying as if by command. Sad I know. The Natural is another movie that tugs at my heartstrings. Man does Robert Redford have a sweet swing or what?

We spend our adolescent years emulating him, our teen years despising him and the rest of our lives trying to understand him. It’s complicated. Now that fatherhood is a few short weeks away for me, I am constantly evaluating the relationship I had with my father trying to sort what went right and what went wrong. Thankfully a lot more went right then wrong. He brought me up to be a man. Little league, Cub scout trips (he was the den leader) he taught me the value of being honest and always doing the right thing. Nobody is perfect but he got a lot right. Now I have to get things right with my own son and that’s a scary prospect. I think the goal is that someday my son will be watching Field of Dreams and start crying just like his dad does.

For all 10 people that stumble on this blog, it will be about more than just being a new dad. I will talk about politics, economics, real estate, books, and music. Of course there will always be posts about the trials and tribulations of being a new father.