Category: General

1. What are we currently in the golden age of?

That’s a tough ask. It is almost like once you type out the answer, the golden age is over. But I am going to say medicine. We now have such amazing technology and solutions to so many diseases and health conditions that it is truly a golden age. In the next few decades, the only folks who won’t be able to benefit will be those stubborn folks who don’t seek medical health.

It would be helpful if we had free healthcare to match all the amazing science but baby steps – we will get there.

2. What is a part of history that we consider to be a fact that is actually 100% fake?

A lot of early American history lore – George Washington chopping down a cherry tree is a totally made-up story that is regarded as a fact.

3. You just won a billion dollars; what are you still not buying?

A luxury yacht. I will never need/want to live on/own a luxury yacht. With that kind of money, I would just rent one for a spell if the urge hits.

4. What is the dumbest thing you explained to a coworker or classmate?

Keyboard shortcuts for cut, copy, paste, and undo.

5. What’s the deepest internet rabbit hole you fell into?

Just this week, I fell down a YouTube rabbit hole following a trail of breadcrumbs about Leonard Bernstein. A fascinating man.

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1.  Schools district’s are bringing back corporal punishment – were you ever paddled as a school kid?
I was not.  I believe my sister was while in 3rd grade as the teacher was a weirdo kind of dude who seemed to really get off on swatting the girls in his class. I remember there was some sort of controversy surrounding him but I don’t have the details.
There is study after study that have demonstrated that paddling students does nothing to improve behaviors, actions, attendance, skills, or intelligence in classrooms.

2.  If band names were literal, what would be the best/worst concerts to attend?
Mega-death.  Not a growing fan base because once you go to a show, well, you die.

3. Forget a billion dollars, it’s ridiculous. How would your life be changed by winning $20,000?
Pay off the ugly credit card debt.  Boring – I know.

4. What is a custom that needs to go away now?
All this parliamentary procedure in the House of Representives and the prolonged voting for a Speaker of the House.  So dang silly.  Make it a simple majority and just go with it.

5. What are some of the most passive aggressive phrases in workplace emails?
“Up to and including including termination.”  The big threatening sentence that all HR types want put onto any performance plan.

In my early college years, I got hooked on playing pinochle. Our version, played as a freshman in the dorms, was a simple single-deck game, and we played it nightly. I had a job working the security/front desk overnights in the dorm, and my floor mates would gather each evening, and we set up a tv in the lobby to watch Star Trek and Late Nite with David Letterman each night and played cards. They would usually stay up and play cards and watch the television until about 2 am.

My new obsession is 5-handed double deck pinochle that I hope to play when I go home for Thanksgiving this year.

5-handed pinochle
Several generations ago, my family invented a version of pinochle that allows five players to play and is won individually (not as a team). I think it speaks to our competitive nature that this is one of our favorite card games whenever we get at least five family members together.

At a family reunion this summer, I played it a bit and decided to write down the rules so I don’t forget the next time I play… one time, we tried to remember them after a long break, and we got it all wrong.

I still remember very distinctly the summer I learned to play this game. My cousin and great-aunt were visiting from the East Coast. After learning the rules and such, we started getting competitive. I remember being dealt an outstanding hand, outbidding my great-aunt (who was a legendary high bidder) with a bid of 72… and I managed to make it. It was a high point of my adolescence, for sure.

Hopefully, this version of the game is as cutthroat as it reads on the page We shall see. (Also, this seems worth a look)

1. What meals bring you back to your childhood?

Lasagne. My mom’s lasagne was my favorite dish growing up.

2. If you could describe your life with an already existing song title, what would the title be?

Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy – a classic Gemini battle.

3. What tricks does corporate America use to get us to spend more money?

Invent a problem. Invent a product to solve that “problem” and initiate a marketing blitz to ensure everyone is aware of the problem and only your product is the solution.

4. What band or artist would you buy their latest album without hearing a note of it?

Wilco and Bruce Springsteen – both sing of the sounds in my soul.

5. Who is the best sitcom character of all time?

Barney Fife from “The Andy Griffith Show.”

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