Goodbye Beetle
Well, I'm not all the impressed with VW lately, but the Beetle has been an icon for as long as I have been alive and so I will miss the little car from Germany. I hope that mine will last a little while. It will be interesting to see what the future of automobiles and driving will be. I've been fortunate to see some amazing changes in my life time. I hope I will see many more to come.
Never Trust a Woman
After four decades of dealing with females I've learned one concrete lesson. Never trust or believe them.
My daughter is studying to be a forensic anthropologist. She has been doing it all on her own. Oh, she's asked me to help once with her books and one year she asked for a new laptop she needed, but aside from that she has been working on her own and putting herself through school. I'm incredibly proud of her and I love her more than she probably knows. This Christmas she asked for only one thing. She wanted to do one of those ancestry DNA tests. I had done one last year and so I ordered a kit for her. I knew (or so I thought) what one part would show but since she doesn't have much contact to her mother she doesn't really know where that side of her family comes from. She received the results today and shared them with me. I connected my profile to hers and we discovered something very shocking. She and I share 0% of our DNA. There is no way she is my daughter.
So after twenty-one years the girl I was told was mine isn't. There are so many things going through my mind; is she okay? How did I not see my wife was fooling around? Some where out there is a guy who has a daughter and (as far as I know) has no idea. Then there is the anger. All the nasty things my ex said to me after the divorce. All the crap she told other people about me when in fact she had been screwing around behind my back. More than anything I feel for my daughter who was looking for answers and only ended up with more questions. I love her more than anything and the fact that she isn't my biological daughter doesn't change that I love her and that I'm proud of all she accomplished. I feel horrible for her but I will make sure she always knows that I am here for her.
2020
The Final Year of the Decade
Well, we are finally at the end of a decade, not the start of one. At least if you are following the Gregorian calendar. If you don't believe me then check the article by Farmer's Almanac. You can also check the U.S. Naval Observatory as well. They addressed the issue back in 1999 when everyone believed that the year 2000 was the start of the next millenium rather than the end of one.
XKCD
By Far My Favorite Comic for Years
I have been reading XKCD since al least 2004, perhaps a little longer. To really get the entire comic you need to hover the mouse over the comic and wait for the mouse-over text to appear. It helps if you are a fast reader. The author used to have a really cool tag line with a rather condescending reference to liberal arts majors.
In any case, here is to another year of XKCD. By the way, the decade isn't over until
Degree Audit
Almost time to request a degree audit. After this coming semester I need to know what I have remaining so that I can graduate at the end of the year. I am hoping that they will at least accept nine hours of courses from Maryland as electives, which should eliminate those from my remaining coursework. What will be interesting is the remaining "e writing intensive "e courses that are showing as being required. Seems TSU isn't counting my old English and history courses which were much more writing intensive then than they are now. That's irony for you.
Genisis - Throwing it all Away
Released August 8, 1986
Throwing it All Away was released in August 1986. I remember exactly where I was the first time I heard the song. I was driving back to Baytown, Texas from San Antonio. I had no idea at the time what a metaphor for my life that song was about to become. In fact, in many ways it still is. I will never, ever be there again. Ever. You've thrown it all away.
Right now I get to focus on core business classes. At least next semester I will finally be taking some CIS courses. It will be interesting to see what these classes are like and how I do. I still need to see what credit I can get for my University of Maryland courses. If anything.