...and this is how I feel

“Whatever else history may say about me when I'm gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears....

“May all of you as Americans never forget your heroic origins, never fail to seek divine guidance and never lose your natural, God-given optimism.” —Speech to Republican National Convention, Aug. 17, 1992

This is really how I feel.

We lost a great American this weekend. I will not say that he was the best-ever President of the United States, but to those who, in a knee-jerk reaction, say immediately that they hated him, he was no where near being the worst. This man, with a strong determination, dug in and decided it was time for Communism to fall, and fall it did! He decided that our government controlled too, too much, and it was time to reduce. He did it.

My own personal feelings about that particular Presidency stem from 8 days after I turned 10. I'd been reading our 1969 set of World Book encyclopedias most of my childhood. I read about Qatar (wait!--aren't ALL words with 'Q' followed by 'u'!?!) and several other obscure places, animals (I could barely even open the 'S' book for fear of opening to the pages and pages of pictures of snakes!) and I read about all the Presidents, individual profiles and the article about the US Predsidency. It was in that article where I read about the Oath of Office. I became so intrigued, I decided to fake illness, stay home from school and watch this process of the inauguration on January 20, 1981, and so I became completely fascinated by our government. President Reagan ran this country through from the time I was 10 until 5 months before graduating from high school. Formative years there.

While people point out the points they didn't like about his administration, has there ever been a President who's had 100% approval ratings? Abraham Lincoln (another Illinois resident!) rates as one of the best in history, but did all people in that era like his policies? NO. I understand why people didn't always like Reagan. Minorites and social issues fell near the bottom of his list of priorities. At that time, those issues were not things I considered. My interests lay in international areas. Although I never had the same fear of nuclear holocaust that people 10-20 years older than myself had, I really had no interest in seeing it happen. The cowboy in the white hat cliche paints too much of a superficial picture. In my portrait of President Reagan, he is a man who believed in an idea and stood up and took charge where most people would take the easy road and not make waves.

Rest in Peace Gipper!

Seems the thing to do if you have a weblog is to write out the "100 Things about Me" list. This is mine...in no particular order.


1. My first name is Melinda, and please don't ever call me Mindy.
2. I was born in Danville, IL, hometown of Dick and Jerry Van Dyke, Gene Hackman, Donald O'Connor, and Bobby Short.
3. I am the youngest of 4.
4. My brother is the oldest, then there are 3 girls.
5. My oldest sister has been diagosed with an Anaplastic Oligodendroglioma, a type of brain tumor.
6. Yes, it is sad, but it has brought us 4 a lot closer together than we've probably been since childhood.
7. I have 3 nieces--my brother's daughters.
8. I have a history degree.
9. I haven't directly used it for a paying job.
10. I have used the thing to do a TON of genealogy work.
11. I have discovered 7000+ relatives.
12. I live in Florida but almost never go to either coast.
13. I have also lived in California and Maryland.
14. Honorable mention: New Orleans, LA
15. My favorite city east of the Mississippi is Washington, DC
16. My favorite city west of the Mississippi is Los Angeles, CA
17. 10 Ten countries I want to visit include: UK, France, Australia, New Zealand, Greece, Germany, the Seychelle Islands, Chile, China, and New York City.
18. I've been to 3 foreign countries: Canada, Mexico, and Haiti.
19. I've broken each arm once.
20. I've broken my little toe on each foot at least a dozen times.
21. I have more great aunts and uncles living than I do aunts and uncles.
22. I got to visit the set of a current sit-com and had a blast!
23. I have fallen asleep, well, actually dozed, in the big leather chairs on the floor of the House of Representatives.
24. I was rocked to sleep as a baby by Denver Pyle (aka "Uncle Jesse" from Dukes of Hazard)
25. I met my favorite 80s teen idol, C. Thomas Howell, when he was filming Grandview USA in Pontiac, IL.
26. I did not get to meet Patrick Swayze and Jamie Lee Curtis who also starred in that movie.
27. I worked 2 summers on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan at a camp.
28. I worked as a nanny for 4 months.
29. My blog code: B2 d- t- k+ s u-- f i-- o+ x- e l c
30. My favorite photographer is Larry Kanfer.
31. I love the New Mickey Mouse Club from the 70s -- not the Brittany, Justin, JC incarnation.
32. My eyes are green
33. My hair is natural and brown with some gray.
34. I am 5'7"
35. I am not a morning person.
36. I've never habitually drank coffee, though I do like it.
37. Though I am not an alcoholic and not on any wagon, I don't think I've had any alcohol this year.
38. In 2003, I went to or travelled through 17 states.
39. In 1989, I went to or travelled through 24 states.
40. I once was 6 inches from Donny Osmond.
41. My favorite dog is a English Springer spaniel.
42. I think cats should be banished from the earth.
43. Snakes should be too.
44. I once wanted to name a son Taylor.
45. I stopped wanting to have kids about the time I turned 30.
46. My first boyfriend was Sam Rowland.
47. My current one - Daniel.
48. I prefer mountains to the beach but...
49. My favorite beach in FL is at Siesta Key.
50. My favorite beach in CA is Huntington Beach.
51. I swam in Lake Superior when the water was about 50 degrees.
52. I really loved Bryce Canyon in UT, but was only there for about an hour--need to go back.
53. I'm more of a dad's girl than mom's.
54. Most of our family came from Scotland, but a couple branches came from Germany.
55. Someday, I'm going to go trace the family roots overseas.
56. My favorite monument in Washington is the Jefferson Memorial.
57. Most romantic kiss was in front of it.
58. Though more conservative than liberal, I'm a closet Kennedy family fan.
59. I bite my fingernails, but I keep trying to stop.
60. I got stitches the first time when I was 10 b/c I stepped on a toothpick and they had to cut it out of my foot.
61. My favorite Disney show was the New Mickey Mouse Club from 1977-8.
62. My favorite mouseketeers were Allison Fonte and Scott Craig.
63. Now my favorite show is pretty much anything on the Travenl Channel.
64. My favorite Disney cartoon character is Mickey Mouse.
65. I'm going to be different and stop at 65.

Gator mating season is just about upon us. I just wandered down to the pond outside my apartment to ask a fisherman if there happened to be gators in that there pond. Indeed--a 3 footer and a 10 footer! Max will not be walking his walk near there anymore!

A few days ago, at work, there was a smaller sized gator hanging around up close to where tourists hang out. He was probably about 5-6 feet. He was probably a little lost from the less travelled areas of the lakes or he's been fed by others and was searching out other gullible tourons (local word, comb. form of tourist and moron). For those of you who visit Florida, be advised and forewarned: IT IS ILLEGAL TO FEED THE GATORS! Feeding the gators removes their fear of humans. They begin to associate humans with food (in the same way that Pavlov's dog associated a bell with food) and and they start hanging out, and soon attacking humans when they are hungry. Once that fear is gone, or once it is noted that a gator has been fed by humans, they almost always end up getting destroyed. You can't just move a gator--he finds his way back.

So, come to Florida, enjoy them from afar, and please don't feed them. I have been within 6 feet of one in the wild, and he and I left each other alone. We had that mutual understanding. :-)

A semi-interesting gator site.