Today is Sunday, October 22 and there are only 20 days until my birthday, so you still have time to shop.  Today we remember the birthdays of Franz Liszt, Timothy Leary and Annette Funicello.  On this day in 1746 Princeton University received its charter, in 1836 Sam Houston was inaugurated as the first elected president of the Republic of Texas and in 1938 the first Xerox copy was made.  In India, Mauritius and Singapore it is Deepavali Day, in Vatican City it is National Day and in the US it is National Nut Day and National Color Day.

Last week I attended my 50^th High School Reunion.  It was very interesting, to say the least.  Very few of the people there looked like they did in high school.  I remarked to one of my friends that I thought it was nice that many of the guys had their fathers come to the party in their place.  One of the things that made it difficult to recognize the girls was that their hair was nowhere as big as it was back then.  Many of them had also allowed the jet black color to grow out.  The guys didn’t have anywhere near as much hair and many of them had more skin than hair showing (yes, like me).

The reaction you usually saw when two people met was they would smile, look at the name tags, which had our yearbook pictures on them, and then say, “Oh my God,”  followed by your name.  Then there would be the usual questions like how are you, where are you living, do you have grandkids, etc.  On a couple of occasions I was tempted to respond with answers like, “I’m good now that I am out on parole.  I have a nice studio apartment in a walkup building in (pick your favorite lower income neighborhood).  I’m not sure about grandkids.  I sort of lost track of things over the past 15 years.”  I decided that I would behave and didn’t do that.  After the fact, I am sorry I didn’t at least once.

All in all, I am glad I went.  I had a chance to spend the evening with some good friends that I hadn’t seen for a number of years and it was nice to catch up with them.  I was also glad to see that some of the “beautiful people” from those years have gotten over that, some in a big way.  I saw a few women who definitely had some work done, some who didn’t and some who should have.  Don’t get me wrong.  The guys were not much better.  Generally speaking, many of them did not age well.  I think it would have been more interesting to not have our picture on the name tag, just our name.  I would be curious to see how many would be able to make the connection.

I had an experience the other day that I thought I would share with you.  I imagine that no one has ever really thought of this before.  I only did unintentionally.  I was logging into my email and I was getting ready to put in the password when I noticed the usual “Forgot your password” link.  Out of curiosity, I clicked on it to see what would happen.  What it does is ask a security question or two, then your email and then tells you that a link to change your password would be sent to your email address.  Great!  The only problem is that if you could not remember your password to get into your email, how are you going to access the link?  Just another one of those things that make you go “hmmmm.”

We just got back from Niagara Falls this past week and it was quite a trip.  We stayed on the US side because we do not have passports and didn’t think it was worth the time and expense to get expedited ones, just to look over at the US and wonder what it was like there.  Here is an interesting fact – Barbara and I were together essentially all the time.  My health app on my phone said that I walked approximately 11.5 miles.  Barbara’s phone (we have the same phones) said she walked a little over 12.  How can that be?  How do two people walk everywhere together and have one walk further than the other?  That is one of the problems with this new technology … but I digress.

As I was saying, we stayed on the US side.  The experience was truly something.  It was interesting to watch the river flow along.  You could see and hear the power as it got closer to the falls.  In one spot, where the rapids were really strong, there was a sign that said, “Danger!  No water entry allowed.”  Looking at the speed and the rapids, you shouldn’t need a sign to tell you that.  I am sure that there are some crazies who actually contemplate it and would like to give it a try.  There is a name for that type of person – dead.  

When we reached the point where the river actually goes over the edge, you could almost feel the power.  The mist blows and you feel it wetting you as you stand there.  It is an incredible sight.  Only two things were more exciting.  One was taking the boat ride on the Maid of the Mist.  That was a most amazing experience.  They give you ponchos and as you go by the American falls you get some mist and you figure that isn’t too bad.  Then they take you into the Canadian falls, the Horseshoe Falls, and you are enveloped on all sides by a massive spray and you wish the poncho went down and covered your feet.  It was a fantastic ride.  If you go to the falls and don’t take that ride, you wasted the trip.

The other thing that was exciting happened on our second day there.  We were standing at the head of the falls and Barbara and I became engaged.  Thank you.  You good wishes are appreciated and we will let you know where we are registered once plans are made.  We will probably be signed up with the Hurry Cane, some walk-in tubs and the AARP store, but we will let you know.

This week our fact tells us that there is actually a word for forgetting what you were about to say.  It is lethologica … sorry, I don’t remember what I had planned to say here.

Have a good week.