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happy birthday mom Now I'm not saying that I didn't enjoy spending time with my niece last week, but this had to be the best Tuesday that I have had in a long time. My week at work ended without any fuss and I had a clear idea of what I wanted to get done today. A simple combination of those two things made for a great day. With a fresh haircut, I was ready to spend the day outside in the heat. I wasn't going to be doing anything active, but any effort to keep me cool is worth it in my opinion. So newly shorn I sat back in my chair on the deck and read for a good part of the afternoon. My choice of reading material was Daniel J. Boorstin's The Discoverers. Before I go any further I must confess that I've had the book for some time, but never really read it until today. Looking at my Amazon history, I bought the book almost five years ago. Well, today it stopped taking up space on my bookshelf and kept me entertained and informed for hours. Thumbing through the book I began reading at the section devoted to maritime explorers and how America came to be put on the map if not discovered. Naturally the Vikings were there, but the people that really caught my interest were Amerigo Vespucci and Magellan. Both of those men did amazing things during their lifetimes. Plus the whole problem of determining longitude was very interesting. In plain terms they were never quite sure how far west they had traveled. After I was done with the sea portion of the book, I went backwards and read about the Crusades and how the Tartars helped Europe more than they realize. ... On Sunday of this week, my parents and my niece went to the northern part of the state to relax and escape from the everyday world for a little while. So far they have had great weather and I truly envy them. What was even better was that today was my mom's birthday and from talking with her on the phone she had a near perfect day. |