I heard somewhere that John Lennon

Used to read all the daily newspapers. You can become a pretty smart person if you do that. I know the newspapers are biased but the facts can be disputed. Newspapers print retractions all the time about how a previous article or ad was incorrect, they list the wrong data and then list the correct data “we printed x24 when we should have printed x23”. Unlike the Internet which is not the same.  The Internet isn’t the same yet I should say because perhaps sometime in the future there will be more fact checking and retracting.

Anyway my gut tells me that is where John Lennon got the inspiration for ‘A Day In The Life’ song 1967 released on the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. I heard he used to eat Kellogg’s Corn Flakes also. My gut tells me that is where he got the inspiration for ‘Good Morning, Good Morning’ song also on the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The TV ad for the Corn Flakes featured a Rooster and it went ‘good morning, good morning’ and so on and so forth.

Yesterday I was looking at videos on www.youtube.com. I was looking for videos of Ayn Rand and I found some. She was interviewed by Mike Wallace, Phil Donahue and Tom Synder. When I was done looking up Ayn Rand I started looking at Penn & Teller, then I started looking at other stuff. I got this bright idea to look up stuff for the Beatles. I found some interviews of all the Beatles. I also found interviews with Julian Lennon and interviews with Sean Lennon. I discovered that I like Julian but I don’t like Sean. Julian sure looks a lot like John Lennon but Sean makes himself look like John only because he wears the same type of glasses and has a similar beard. If Sean takes off the glasses and shaves the beard he will look like himself.

But while I was doing that I decided to look up on the Internet anything about my mother’s mother. Well I found her all right. Some distant relative of mine has done extensive research into his past. It isn’t a complete genealogy but it has a lot of information anyway. I don’t know the date she married but I do know when she was born. I also know when her husband was born and when he died. I also have a picture of my Great Grandfather and a picture of my Great Grandmother. Here is the picture of my Grandmother:

EdnaPardeeGraduation 

and here are her mother and father my Great Grandparents:

EmmaWestonMyGreatGrandmother   FentonJeffersonPardeeMyGreatGrandfather So I was reading the genealogy and then I went back to finding stuff. It hit me all of a sudden.  Maybe it listed where my Grandmother and Grandfather were born!!! So I went back to reading the genealogy. Hmmmmm my Grandmother was NOT born in Norway.  The picture above is of her high school graduation and I know this because of the name on it was her maiden name. The genealogy goes way back to 1567. My ancestors on my mother’s side were English. The ancestors on my father’s side were English, Welsh and Celtic.

So then it bothered me that my Grandmother was not Norwegian. I remember my mom saying that they were both Norwegian. So then I had to find the answer. I went to a place on the Internet and found some information about my Grandfather. It looks like he went through Ellis Island at the age of 12. He was in World War One. He was a carpenter specifically a house carpenter. He was 10 years older than my Grandmother. At the time of the 1930 census he was NOT a naturalized citizen. At the time of the census neither of them had any college. My Great grandfather was dead and my Great grandmother was listed as head of household. It also listed that it was a farm. It did not list the address though. I mention college because my mom said my Grandmother graduated from Michigan Normal College in 1920.  So then if the census is correct my mom is wrong. But she also said they were both Norwegian.

So…..in the final analysis I am not 50 per cent Norwegian I am only 25 per cent Norwegian.

Comfort when I was feeling bad

What have I been doing to comfort myself during this past week when things were all up in the air? Pain and suffering are not fun for sure.

I have been listening to music on the way to work and back, plus at home. I don’t have a radio in the car so I got my CD player and some CDs. I have been listening to:

Vincent by Don Mclean from the ‘American Pie and Other Hits’ album

This Street, That Man, This Life by the Cowboy Junkies from the ‘Black Eyed Man’ album

Ave Maria Opus 52 by Franz Schubert and sung by Jessye Norman (she sang this at Jackie Kennedy’s funeral)

I love You and Angel by Sarah McLachlan from the ‘Mirror Ball’ album. Now let me tell you that ALL the tracks on this album are nice.  If you can get your hands on a copy I recommend it highly. I bought the album because I had heard that Paul McCartney had either played the Angel track or had Sarah sing it at his wife Linda’s funeral. I was curious as to what had fascinated this songwriter/singer about this particular song.

Of my two friends I have in Tucson one is now back home in Ohio so now she is very close to you all. She and I went to dinner last Friday. She left for Ohio on Tuesday. Things weren’t working our for her here. We had a very nice dinner. I gave her a book that if she reads it she will be able to straighten our her life. She has already taken some big steps to do so. Many years ago when I was trying to straighten things out this book helped me immensely. Born to Win by Muriel James and Dororthy Jongeward. If you know of anyone that is depressed or on the down low please please recommend this book to them.

I just couldn’t tell you all what I was suffering I just couldn’t share it and have you all worry about me. I just couldn’t. For now things are looking up and I think it was just a bit of hasty pudding on my boss’s side he just didn’t have enough history with me to make a good decision. I stuck it out while he was looking for someone new because he is a person that wants to be fair one can see that in his actions and his words. He really needed someone to answer the phone so that he and W…. could get their jobs done without too much interruption. He does want to reward people for their effort so he may just end up being the best boss I ever had. I look up to him literally and figuratively. He is WAY over 6 feet tall.