Tag: United States

365 Snap Shots of Life Blog Challenge: Day 19

· 2 Comments ·

January 19,2012

For the next few days I’m posting photos of my neighborhood. This blog challenge inspires me to grab my camera and take it with me everywhere I go. Last Sunday I went for a short hike with my daughter Elena. I decided to put on my “tourist eyes” and challenged my self to look at my neighborhood as if I was on holiday, just passing through. It’s amazing how much a place can grow on you, then you take it for granted and it ceases being special anymore. During my self guided tour I found out what a rich little community I live in and I’m so glad I moved here. These images are part of  large a mural that is on the wall of the 7-Eleven convenience store…amazing right? 🙂 Challenge yourself to put on your “tourist eyes” and view your surroundings as if you’re seeing them for the very first time. You’ll be surprised!

 

 

 

 

 

-EVA SANTIAGO copyright 2012

Day of Acknowledgment

· 5 Comments ·

Thanksgiving Day,
a day to give thanks,
should not just be a holiday,
but also a lifestyle,
with an attitude,
of gratitude.
Let’s never forget
why it is we truly celebrate,
or else we’ll only be feasting for naught-
having forgotten
the very ones who fought
so we could partake
in this amazing gift,
a treasure from heaven:
our FREEDOM.
That we seem to daily
take for granted.
Let our thanks be deliberate,
as we sit down with family to celebrate.
Oh, please America,
let us never stop our thanks,
let us always keep giving,
not only today on Thanksgiving.
America: Once one of the ten
lepers they were needing cleansing..
they reached out to be healed,
an then heaven touched them.
At once all ten were restored.

Healed and Restored

Nine of the ten ran off,
to live their lives without looking back.
Except for the one, America,
she came back on her knees in appreciation
to The One who healed,saved and restored.
Then she was blessed as a nation,
and she never ever since forgot
any of those who fought
for her freedom.
There are many who hate
gnashing their teeth everyday,
as they lay in wait
to see America fall on her face.
To see her crumble from outer space.
What they don’t realize,
is that America is great
because The One on His Throne,
sees her enemies and laughs,
and one day they’ll all be turned
from powder into stone.
Although America does stumble,
she was not made to break.
America is far from perfect,
if she was, she would be boring.
She is good…  being made better.
Oh let us never forget!
We must never turn our backs
on those who have fought.
Our freedom was blood bought,
to make America great.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING DAY AMERICA!!

Eva Santiago
Copyright 2009

Fall Foliage

RELATED ARTICLES

http://jlue.wordpress.com/2011/11/22/who-will-you-thank-on-thanksgiving/

THANK YOU!

· 4 Comments ·

I came to the USA,
33 years ago
Although I love my country of birth,
the place of my ancestors,
is still in my heart…
BUT I’ve lived in this great land,
for most of my life.
As a girl I ran on the sand
of her finest beaches.

Panama City Beach

I grew up eating
Georgia’s delectable peaches. 
I’ve seen the sunrise in the east,
to watch it descend
in the far west. 
My eyes have seen a feast,
but the sun setting where I live,
is always the finest,the absolute best.
All of my blessings
have been given to me here,
in this wonderful place.
Where God has given me favor,
and showed me His face.
I never give acknowledgement once a year.
For all that I have,
a life rich with flavor.
I look into the eyes of my loved ones…
daily I see,
daily I hear,
daily I know,
and daily I am aware of whom I’m indebted to.
Because I am rich without measure,
I look all around,
in my home, so MUCH treasure!
I appreciate you God,
for bringing me here,
I say it to you today and through out the rest of the year!!

Happy Thanksgiving Day to all of my family,friends and readers!

Eva Santiago copyright 2009

Fall in the Desert

 

30 Day Blog Challenge: Day 19

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Please refer back to my earlier posts and read what this challenge is about so that the later posts make sense 🙂

Day 19 Question #19: What is one of the super unique aspects of your own family today?

Answer: I had to think hard on this one because there are several dynamics that make my family stand out in a crowd. I believe a key aspect though is the fact that my husband is twenty years my senior. That has played a major role in our evolving as a family unit. I have been told by close friends that the way we are rasing our kids, resembles something more out of the 1950’s  landscape than 2011. We are one of those rare modern families that with God‘s favor and grace, can live on a single income which allows me to stay home so I can educate our kids. Yes, it’s tough at times going without some of the extra things we THINK might make us happy. But in the end stuff has to take a back seat to nurturing and educating our future. 

Another interesting side note is that my husband’s “old school” morals and mine came from two different places. His came from the era he was raised in . Mine came from having been born in another country and having been raised by two people who kept the traditions of our country of origin and instilled them in me  in a new culture and society.

Secondly the 20 year difference in our marriage enhances our kid’s education in ways I’d never imagine. They are exposed to several very different time periods; being that my husband is a baby boomer, our kids are more  familiar with  the culture that he grew up in than  their peers. Just for an example, ask my kids  about Red Skelton,  Nat King Cole, I Love Lucy, and a lot of the music and pop culture of the ’60’s and they can tell you in detail.Most kids their age, draw a complete blank. I was a product of the 1980’s culture so they are thoroughly familiar with a lot of the fashions, music and pop culture of that era too.

So the bridging the gap between two very different and unique eras has helped to shape and mold our family into who we are today.

IT’S A MAD,MAD,MAD WORLD!

· 6 Comments ·

A girl at school was just kicked off the soccer team because another class mate complained to the school officials that said girl would not be friends with her. Now the school officials are accusing the swimmer for being a bully. Who is the real bully here?

I just recently was kicked out of a church. Yes, you are reading correctly! My family and I are not allowed to come back to a certain church because I refused the pastoral counseling being offered to me. That was the main reason for our having been banned from this church. The other reasons are of no lesser significance: I was also told that the pastor did not like some of my views on this blog. Hello! The 1st Amendment guaranteeing my rights to freedom of speech were infringed upon. Lastly I was  told by this same man that my husband and I had to meet up with some key people he had already designated for us because we needed to learn from these people how to be “Godly parents”. Apparently this pastor is under the impression, that after  raising 4 great kids together for the past 22 years that we’ve been married, we haven’t a clue as to what we’re doing. 

Folks, when your kids were younger did you ever try to pick out their friends for them? That’s crazy right? So how can a school and a pastor even think that they have any say in whom a child or two adults choose to associate with? It’s a MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD and that madness has creeped into some churches.

Perhaps the best thing this pastor did by banning us from attending his church was to spare us any further hurt by him. Now THAT’S a silver lining on my cloud!

30 Day Blog Challenge: Day 16

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Please refer back to my earlier posts and read what this challenge is about so that the later posts make sense. :)

Day 16 Question 16: What were the big events going on in the world the year you were born? Who was the president?

Answer: 1970 was my birth year so here are a few high lights of what took place . Doing this was interesting  because I learned a lot about what happened that year.

1970

January 5

February 13 – Black Sabbath‘s debut album, Black Sabbath released; often regarded as the first true heavy metal album.
United States Postal Service workers in New York City go on strike; the strike spreads to the state of California and the cities of Akron, Ohio, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Chicago,Boston, and Denver, Colorado; 210,000 out of 750,000 U.S. postal employees walk out. President Nixon assigns military units to New York City post offices. The strike lasts 2 weeks.
May 4 – Kent State shootings: Four students at Kent State University in Ohio are killed and 9 wounded by Ohio National Guardsmen, at a protest against the incursion into Cambodia. 
June 21

July 4

August 26–August 30 – The Isle of Wight Festival 1970 takes place on East Afton Farm off the coast of England. Some 600,000 people attend the largest rock festival of all time. Artists include Jimi Hendrix, The Who, The Doors, Chicago,Richie Havens, John Sebastian, Joan Baez, Ten Years After, Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Jethro Tull.
September 18

  • Jimi Hendrix dies in London of drug related complications.
October 5

November 3

  • Democrats sweep the U.S. Congressional midterm elections; Ronald Reagan is reelected governor of California; Jimmy Carter is elected governor of Georgia.
December 12 – A landslide in western Colombia leaves 200 dead.

I’m a Firm Believer of the 2nd Amendment

· 5 Comments ·
I’m in the 1% that will send on things like this.

 

This says it.

 

1. Don’t pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he’ll just kill you.

2. I carry a gun because a cop is too heavy.

3. When seconds count, the cops are just minutes away.

4. A reporter did a human-interest piece on the  Texas Rangers. The reporter recognized the Colt Model 1911 the Ranger was carrying and asked him ‘Why do you carry a 45?’ The Ranger responded, ‘Because they don’t make a 46.’

5.  The old sheriff was attending an awards dinner when a lady commented on his wearing his sidearm ‘Sheriff, I see you have your pistol. Are you expecting trouble?”No Ma’am. If I were expecting trouble, I would have brought my shotgun.’

6 Beware the man who only carries one gun. HE PROBABLY KNOWS HOW TO USE IT!!!

But wait, there’s more!

I was once asked by a lady visiting if I had a gun in the house.  I said I did. She said ‘Well I certainly hope it isn’t loaded!’  To which I said, of course it is loaded, it can’t work without bullets!’ She then asked, ‘Are you that afraid of someone evil coming into your house?’ My reply was, “No not at all.  I am not afraid of the house catching fire either, but I have fire extinguishers around, and they are all loaded too”.

HAVE A NICE DAY But don’t Monkey with Me…

And Remember:

I’m a firm believer of the 2nd Amendment!
If you are too, please forward..
WHERE ELSE BUT AMERICA

ONLY IN AMERICA
We are the only country where we have homeless without shelter, children going to bed without eating, elderly going without needed meds, and mentally ill without treatment – yet we have a benefit for the people of Haiti on 12 TV stations, ships and planes lining up with food, water, tents, clothes, bedding, doctors and medical supplies. Imagine if we gave ourselves the same support that we give other countries. I feel bad for them, but I wonder who cares about America .

99% of people  won’t have the guts to forward this.


—
Kamel Shehata
Silver State Patriots

30 Day Blog Challenge: Day 12

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Please refer back to my earlier posts and read what this challenge is about so that the later posts make sense. :)

Day 12 Question 12: As far as you know, who in your family’s history has lived the longest?

Answer: My paternal grandmother, Isabel Sanchez was born in 1895 and she passed away in 1992. In her 97 years on earth these events took place:

1895        Feb 8, Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake,” premiered in Petersburg.
(MC, 2/8/02) 

1896        Dr. Herman Hollerith, inventor of a tabulating machine (1889), founded the Tabulating Machine Company. In 1911 it became part of CTR. In 1924 CTR was renamed IBM.
(www.answers.com/topic/herman-hollerith)

1897        Gilbert Loomis was the first car-owner to purchase auto insurance for his vehicle. The premium was $7.50 for $1,000 worth of liability insurance.
(WSJ, 6/19/96, Adv. Supl)

1898        Mar 24, The 1st automobile was sold.

(MC, 3/24/02)

1899        Mar 27, The first international radio transmission between England and France was achieved by the Italian inventor G. Marconi.
(HN, 3/27/99)

1900        Feb 22, Hawaii became a US territory. [see Apr 30]
(MC, 2/22/02)

1901        Aug 30, Hubert Cecil Booth patented the vacuum cleaner. [see 1869]
(MC, 8/30/01)

1902        Apr 18, Denmark became the 1st country to adopt fingerprinting to identify criminals.
(MC, 4/18/02)

1903        Jan 2, President Theodore Roosevelt closed a post office in Indianola, Mississippi for refusing to hire a black postmistress.
(HN, 1/2/99)

1904        Feb 3, Colombian troops clashed with U.S. Marines in Panama.
(HN, 2/3/99)

1905        Mar 11, The Parisian subway was officially inaugurated.
(HN, 3/11/98)

1906        Jan 13, The Golden Gate Hotel opened on Fremont Street in Las Vegas, Nev..
(SSFC, 11/13/05, p.F4)

1907        Feb 22, The 1st cabs with taxi meters began operating in London.
(MC, 2/22/02)

1908        May 10, The first Mother’s Day observance took place during church services in Grafton, W.Va., and Philadelphia. In 1997 Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia first proposed the idea that all mothers wear a carnation on the 2nd Sunday of May.
(AP, 5/10/97)(SFC, 9/30/99, p.E5)

1909        Apr 18, Joan of Arc was declared a saint.
(MC, 4/18/02)

1910        Apr 14, President William Howard Taft began a sports tradition by throwing out the first pitch on baseball’s Opening Day. Taft threw to Washington Senator pitcher Walter Johnson, who went on to hurl a shutout win, allowing the Philadelphia Phillies just one hit and ending the day with a 3-0 victory for Washington.
(HNQ, 8/9/02)

1911        Mar 7, The United States sent 20,000 troops to the Mexican border in the wake of the Mexican Revolution.
(AP, 3/7/98)

1912        Mar 23, Dixie Cup was invented.

(SS, 3/23/02)

1913        Apr 21, Gideon Sundback of Sweden patented the zipper. [see Apr 29]
(MC, 4/21/02)

1914        Sep 5, The First Battle of the Marne began during World War I. The German First Army was led by Gen. Alexander von Kluck.
(AP, 9/5/97)(WSJ, 12/31/99, p.A10)

1915        Jan 19, The neon tube sign was patented by George Claude.
(MC, 1/19/02)

1916        May 11, Einstein’s paper “The Basis of the General Theory of Relativity” was published.
(http://tinyurl.com/2dvp8de)

1917        Apr 4, U.S. Senate voted 90-6 to enter World War I on Allied side.
(HN, 4/4/98)

1918        Mar 19, US Congress authorized time zones and approved Daylight Saving Time.
(AP, 3/19/97)(www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/usstat.html)(SSFC, 3/27/05, Par p.15)

1919        Feb 14, The United Parcel Service was incorporated in Oakland, CA.
(HN, 2/14/98)

1920        Jun 13, The U.S. Post Office Department ruled that children may not be sent by parcel post.
(HN, 6/13/98)

1921        Aug 10, Franklin D. Roosevelt (39) was stricken with polio at his summer home on the Canadian island of Campobello, New Brunswick. Mrs. Roosevelt acted as her partially paralyzed husband’s eyes and ears by traveling, observing and reporting her observations to him. As First Lady, an author and newspaper columnist and, later, a delegate to the United Nations, Eleanor Roosevelt labored tirelessly for the poor and disadvantaged. In the words of historian John Kenneth Galbraith, she showed “more than any other person of her time, that an American could truly be a world citizen.”
(HNPD, 10//99)(SSFC, 8/1/04, p.D11)

1922        Jan 11, Insulin, then called isletin, was 1st used to treat diabetes on Leonard Thompson (14) of Canada. [see Jan 23]
(www.insulinfreetimes.org/00_spring/giants.htm)

1923        Apr 5, Firestone Co. put their inflatable tires into production.
(MC, 4/5/02)

1924        Jan 25, The 1st Winter Olympic games opened in Chamonix, France.
(SSFC, 2/17/02, p.A19)(MC, 1/25/02)

1925        Apr 10, The novel “The Great Gatsby,” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, was first published by Scribner’s of New York. A film version was made in 1974.
(TMC, 1994, p.1925)(SFEC, 2/16/97, Par. p.18)(AP, 4/9/97)

1926        Mar 7, The first successful trans-Atlantic radio-telephone conversation took place, between New York City and London. AT&T began trans-Atlantic telephone service via two-way radio this year.
(AP, 3/7/98)(WSJ, 10/26/00, p.A12)

1927        Jan 13, A woman took a seat on the NY Stock Exchange breaking the all-male tradition.
(HN, 1/13/99)

1928        Jan 31, Scotch tape was 1st marketed by 3-M Company.
(MC, 1/31/02)

1929        May 28, The first all-color talking picture, “On with the Show,” opened in New York.
(AP, 5/28/99)

1930        Mar 17, Al Capone was released from jail.
(HN, 3/17/98)

1931        Feb 21, Alka Seltzer was introduced. [see Dec 31]
(MC, 2/21/02

1932        Apr 23, The Royal Shakespeare Theatre opened at Stratford-on-Avon. It replaced one built in 1879 that burned down in 1926.
(www.guardian.co.uk/fromthearchive/story/0,,1740490,00.html)(Econ, 3/31/07, p.91)

1933        Oct 10, The 1st synthetic detergent, “Dreft” by Procter & Gamble, went on sale.
(MC, 10/10/01)

1934        Mar 26, Driving tests were introduced in Britain.
(SS, 3/26/02)

1935        Feb 28, Nylon was discovered by Dr. Wallace H. Carothers.
(MC, 2/28/02)

1936        Feb 6, Adolf Hitler opened the Fourth Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. 1061 athletes stood at attention half-hidden by a furious blizzard. Austrian and French athletes gave the Nazi salute in passing the revue stand.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1936_Winter_Olympics)(SSFC, 2/6/11, p.42)

1937        Jan 1, The US Social Security system began levying taxes on workers’ wages.
(Econ, 8/20/05, p.23)(www.ssa.gov/history/1930.html)

1938        Apr 25, First use of seeing eye dog.
(HN, 4/25/98)

1939        Jan 24, Some 28-30,000 were killed by magnitude 8.3 earthquake in Chillan, Chile.
(MC, 1/24/02)(AP, 6/22/02)

1940        Feb 29, “Gone with the Wind” won eight Academy Awards, including best picture of 1939. Victor Fleming was named best director, Vivien Leigh best actress, and Hattie McDaniel best supporting actress, the first black performer to receive an Oscar. Best actor went to Robert Donat for “Goodbye, Mr. Chips.”
(HN, 2/29/00)(AP, 2/29/04)

1941        Jan 22, The 1st mass killing of Jews took place in Romania. [see Jan 9]
(MC, 1/22/02)

1942        Feb 11, “Archie” comic book debuted.
(MC, 2/11/02)

1943        Feb 13, The Marine Corps began allowing women to enlist as reserves.
(www.mcleague.com/mdp/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=63)

1944        Jun 6, Cherokee tribal members communicated via radios in their native language on the Normandy beaches. Some 6,603 Americans were killed along the coast of France during the D-day invasion. A total of 9,758 Allied soldiers died during the invasion. “D-Day” by Stephen Ambrose was published in 1994.

1945        Jan 20, Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated for his fourth term.
(HN, 1/20/99)

1946        Jan 1, Kathleen Casey became the first official US baby boomer following her birth just after midnight. On Oct 15, 2007, Kathleen Casey-Kirschling became the first baby boomer to make an early filing for Social Security benefits.
(SFC, 10/16/07, p.A8)

1947        Apr 10, Ronald Reagan and his wife Jane Wyman provided names to the FBI of Screen Actors Guild members believed to be communist sympathizers.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.F2)

1948        Jan 27, The 1st tape recorder sold.
(MC, 1/27/02)

1949        Jan 10, RCA introduced the 45 RPM record.
(MC, 1/10/02)

1950        Jun 24, In Brazil the Maracana stadium in Rio was officially inaugurated for the opening of soccer’s World Cup, the first in 12 years due to WW II.
(www.soccerhall.org/history/WorldCup_1950.htm)

1951         Jun 1, The first self-contained titanium plant opened in Henderson Nevada.
(DT, 6/1/97)

1952        Feb 29, The first pedestrian “Walk/Don’t Walk” signs were installed at 44th Street and Broadway at Times Square.
(HN, 2/29/00)

1953        Jan 6, Jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie threw a party for his wife Lorraine at Snookie’s in Manhattan. His trumpet’s bell was bent upward in an accident, but he liked the sound and had a special trumpet made with a raised bell.
(SFEC, 7/27/97, DB p.34)

1954        Mar 22, The 1st shopping mall opened in Southfield, Mich.
(MC, 3/22/02)

1955        Mar 4, 1st radio facsimile transmission (fax) was sent across the continent.
(SC, 3/4/02)

1956        Mar, The Federal Hourly Minimum Wage was set at $1.00 an hour.
(http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/blminwage.htm)

1957        Jul 22, Walter “Fred” Morrison applied for a patent for a “flying toy” which became known as the Frisbee.
(AP, 7/22/07)

1958        Aug 4, Billboard, founded in 1894, premiered its all-genre singles Hot 100 chart.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_Hot_100)

1959        Aug 21, Hawaii became the 50th state as President Eisenhower signed an executive order, five months after he’d signed the Hawaiian statehood bill.

1960        May 9, The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the pill Enovid as safe for birth control use. The pill was made by G.D. Searle and Company of Chicago.

1961        Mar 18, The “Poppin’ Fresh” Pillsbury Dough Boy was introduced.
(MC, 3/18/02)

1962        Jan 30, Two members of the “Flying Wallendas” high-wire act were killed when their seven-person pyramid collapsed during a performance in Detroit.
(AP, 1/30/98

1963        Mar 21, The Alcatraz federal prison island in San Francisco Bay was emptied of its last inmates at the order of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.

1964        Jan, The Beatles made their North America TV debut on the Jack Paar Show. [see Feb 9, 1964]
(SFC, 1/28/04, p.A1)

1965        Mar 21, Martin Luther King Jr. led more than 3,000 civil rights demonstrators on the 50-mile march to Montgomery from Selma.
(SFEC, 3/16/97, p.T1)(AP, 3/21/97)

1966        Jan 1, By law all US cigarette packs began carrying the warning: “Caution! Cigarette smoking may be hazardous to your health.”
(www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1992/8/1992_8_72.shtml)

1967        Mar 3, The US performed a nuclear test at its Nevada Test Site. The Mushroom test was part of Operation Latchkey.
(www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Operation_Latchkey)

1968        Feb 10, Peggy Fleming of the United States won the gold medal in women’s figure skating at the Winter Olympic Games in Grenoble, France.
(AP, 2/10/97)

1969        Mar 3, Sirhan Sirhan testified in a court in Los Angeles that he killed Robert Kennedy.
(HN, 3/3/99)

1970        Jan 7, Woodstock, NY, farmers sued Max Yasgur (1919-1973) for $35,000 for damages caused by the “Woodstock” rock festival.
(www.woodstockpreservation.org/pastpresent/maxtribute.html)

1971        Jan 31, Astronauts Alan B. Shepard Jr., Edgar D. Mitchell and Stuart A. Roosa blasted off aboard Apollo 14 on a mission to the moon.
(AP, 1/31/98)

1972        Apr 17, A handful of women were first accepted as entrants to the Boston marathon.
(SFC, 3/10/00, p.D8)(www.boston.com/marathon/history/1972.shtml)

1973        May 14, US Supreme court approved equal rights to females in military.
(http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=411&invol=677)

1974        Mar 1, A grand jury in Washington, DC, concluded that President Nixon was indeed involved in the Watergate cover-up.  7 people, including former Nixon White House aides H.R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman, former Attorney General John Mitchell and former assistant Attorney General Robert Mardian, were indicted on charges of conspiring to obstruct justice in connection with the Watergate break-in. They were convicted the following January, although Mardian’s conviction was later reversed. In 2005 Vanity Fair Magazine revealed that W. Mark Felt (91), former FBI official, was the Watergate whistleblower Deep Throat, who helped bring down Pres. Nixon.
(HN, 3/1/98)(AP, 3/1/99)(AP, 6/1/05)

1975        Jan 1, The Federal Hourly Minimum Wage rose to $2.10 an hour.
(www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/coverage.htm)

1976        Jul 4, The nation held a 200th anniversary party across the land in celebration of America’s 200 years of independence. President Ford made stops in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, Independence Hall in Philadelphia, and New York, where more than 200 ships paraded up the Hudson River in Operation Sail.
(TMC, 1994, p.1976)(IB, 12/7/98)(AP, 7/4/01)

1977        Jan 3, Apple Computers incorporated under Steven Jobs and Steve Wozniak. In March  Apple produced the Apple II, the first pre-assembled, mass-produced PC.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Computer)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)

1978        Apr 7, A Gutenberg bible sold for a record $2.2 million in NYC. It was bought by Martin Breslauer for the state museum of Baden Wurttemberg.
(www.biblio.com/details.php?dcx=35363264&aid=frg)

1979        Jan 3, The top of the record charts included: Le Freak by Chic; Too Much Heaven by the Bee Gees; My Life by Billy Joel; The Gambler by Kenny Rogers.
(440 Int’l. 1/3/99)

1980        Feb 22, In a stunning upset, the U.S. Olympic hockey team defeated the Soviets at Lake Placid, N.Y., 4-3. The US team went on to win the gold medal.
(AP, 2/22/01)

1981        Mar 6, Walter Cronkite signed off for the last time as principal anchorman of “The CBS Evening News.”
(AP, 3/6/00)

1982        Apr 1, The U.S. transferred the Canal Zone to Panama.
(HN, 4/1/98)

1983        Sep 17, Vanessa Williams of New York became the first black contestant to be crowned “Miss America.” The following July, she also became the first Miss America to resign in the wake of her Penthouse magazine scandal.
(AP, 9/17/98)

1984        Feb 14, 6-year-old Stormie Jones became the world’s first heart-liver transplant recipient at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. She lived until November 1990.
(AP, 2/14/04)

1985        Jan 1, The 1st US mandatory seat belt law went into effect in NY.
(www.nysgtsc.state.ny.us/seat-ndx.htm)

1986        Mar 6, Georgia O’Keefe (98), US painter (Flowers), died in Santa Fe, NM.
(SSFC, 6/22/03, p.C8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_O’Keeffe)

1987        Jun 22, Fred Astaire (b.1899), Hollywood dancer, died at a Los Angeles hospital. His elegance and fancy footwork graced more than 30 films.

1988        Jan 3, Margaret Thatcher (b.1925) became the longest serving British PM this century.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_3)

1989        Mar 24, Good Friday. The nation’s worst oil spill occurred as the supertanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on a reef in Alaska’s Prince William Sound and began leaking 11 million gallons of crude. The Exxon Valdez struck ground in Alaska’s Prince William Sound and spilled 10.6 million gallons of oil. It was later renamed the Mediterranean and operated between Europe and the Middle East. Exxon then spent some $2.5 billion to clean up the spill and filed suit against Lloyd’s of London for reimbursement under a $210 million insurance policy. In 1996 a jury in Houston voted that Lloyd’s and some 250 other underwriters should compensate Exxon $250 million. The Exxon Valdez oil spill fouled approximately 1,000 miles of Alaska shoreline. The oil tanker ran aground in Prince William Sound, spilling some 11 million gallons of crude oil. An estimated 250,000 seabirds were killed. The Exxon Valdez spilled 240,000 barrels of oil in Alaska’s Prince William Sound.
(AP, 3/23/97)(TMC, 1994, p.1989)(SFC, 5/5/96, p.A-11)(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A10)(SFEC, 2/8/98, p.T5)(HNQ, 8/14/99)

1990        Jan 31, McDonald’s Corp. opened its first fast-food restaurant in Moscow.
(AP, 1/31/98)

1991        May 23, In a five-to-four vote, the US Supreme Court upheld regulations barring federally subsidized family planning clinics from discussing abortion with pregnant women, or from telling women where they could get abortions.
(AP, 5/23/01)

1992        Aug 24, Hurricane Andrew smashed into Florida causing record damage; 55 deaths in Florida, Louisiana and the Bahamas were blamed on the storm. It swept across Coral Gables, Florida, and destroyed two-thirds of the Fairchild Tropical Garden. It cost $15.5 bil in insured losses and was the most expensive natural disaster in US history. Insurance losses in the US and Bahamas totaled $21.5 billion.
(SFC, 7/12/96, p.A11)(AP, 8/24/97)(Econ, 8/21/04, p.62)(Econ, 9/17/05, p.73)

Melting Pot

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We are a nation of immigrants. I’m proud to say that I’m an immigrant as well. I came to The USA in 1976 and I thank God everyday for bringing me here. My aunt Blanca came here in the 1960’s and established herself with a job as a secretary in Chicago; once she was settled in she began to work on helping  many of her brothers and sisters come here with their families. My aunt Blanca is one of my one personal heroes because if it wasn’t for her starting the whole process, I don’t know if I would be here today.

Another personal hero of mine is my uncle in whose house I grew up. He came to the USA in 1968 with his new wife. He was a young doctor in Colombia and he gave it all up to come live here. He followed his sister Blanca to Chicago; his first winter here was rough; coming from a tropical climate like Colombia, he had to endure the great Chicago blizzard of ’68. Not only that, he had to really start over career wise; he would go to night school to learn English and in the day time he had to work hard to pass his tests in order to get his MD licence so he could practice medicine here in the US.

My uncle had made a very comfortable life for himself by the time I came to live with him and his family. 2 years after I arrived, he joined the Air Force. THAT was so amazing to me. He chose to give back to this great country of ours by serving in the armed forces and I have always been very proud of him for that. I don’t know of too many people who would give up their comfortable life style, an established medical private practice and all if its accoutrements  to serve in the military like this special man did. He gave back to a country that gave him almost everything.

So today I salute my family members who have served and are  still serving in the military: Uncle Frank, Mireya (sister), Diego (brother), Kelli, Tracy (brother-in-law), Frank (cousin), Joe (father- in- law, deceased), Kristina (Niece), Larry (brother-in-law), David, Don Sr. ( deceased ).

I also salute and thank all of my friends who are currently serving and who have served this great land of ours in the past. I can’t name them all because they are too numerous to name..you know who you are! Thank you for being the brave men and women that you are who keep this country free from the claws of oppression. God bless you and your families always!

30 Day Blog Challenge: Day 10

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Please refer back to my earlier posts and read what this challenge is about so that the later posts make sense. :)

Day 10 Question 10: What was the most mischievous thing you can recall doing as a child?

Answer: This memory always makes me chuckle because I really didn’t like my cousin I had to grow up with. He was always mean to me, so it felt good when this happened. We were vacationing in the south of Spain. My uncle was in the Air Force so while we were stationed in Germany, every summer we traveled around in Spain.

We had stayed the night in Rosas

 

a tiny, picturesque beach town. Tio (Uncle) had us get up around 5 am so we could get an early start. I was ready to go and when I knocked on my uncle’s hostel room door he told me to get the others up. My cousin was with me so we went to knock on the door of the friends we were traveling with. I  knocked on the door several times and nothing happened. So I walked away leaving my cousin there, who was still half asleep.

I went back into my room to get my belongings and then I heard a huge commotion. I poked my head out and there was an elderly man standing outside the door I had just knocked on. He was blasting my cousin out in French. I froze for a minute not getting the full picture. Then suddenly I understood what I’d done. I let my cousin take the fall and I was giggling like crazy. The upset French man slammed the door in my cousin’s face right when I walked up. My cousin looked at me in total bewilderment and I never explained to him what had just happened. Payback is hell baby!