Personal: Genealogy and Historical Context

My mother was born in 1925. On the back cover of her memoir she points out that this was only 6 years after women were given the right to vote. That gave me a first glimpse that history is not so ancient, after all.

 I had thought that genealogy was the dry presentation of names and dates: born, married, died, etc.

As I investigated my own genealogy, I discovered much more information was available. For example, through the US Census records I learned that one great-great-grandparent was born and raised two farms away from the women he eventually married.

Personal: "A Kentucky Schoolteacher's Doggerel"

This is a book that's now available:  it's a re-release of my Grandfather's poetry!

Visit www.AKentuckySchoolteacher.com to order a copy.

Personal: Parkinson's Law Redux?

My first Parkinson's Law articles were written in August & September, 2015.

It's now February, 2018 ~ 29 months later.

FYI: Book Review ~ CreateSpace Publishing

I found a book through the Safety Harbor library titled "How to Self-Publish Your Book The CreateSpace Way," (2012-2013 edition) by Blake Webster & Steve Boga.

I needed somewhere to save my notes, so I'll do that here and add a review for you:

Personal: ABCInc at Amazon.com

Wikipedia says a "perfect storm" is an expression that describes an event where a rare combination of circumstances will aggravate a situation drastically.

Now, at age 68, I begin to search for my fortune. Again:

Fun: The Traveling Ice Scraper

Anyone who has lived where frost routinely covers windshields quickly invests in a sturdy ice scraper.

When I lived in Atlanta during the 1990s, I purchased a plastic scraper that had a blue handle and a thick clear blade. There's something reassuring about having the right tool for the job.

🌝 The story begins when I moved from Atlanta to Key West in 2002...

FYI: Free College!

Any Florida resident over the age of 60 can attend a Florida state college or university tuition free!

I've done that, and I'd like to share my experience at St. Pete College...

Fun: Both of his grandmothers were my ex-wives...

Both of my grandsons have graduated from high school, but I'd like to share a story from 1999 about my first grandchild's first birthday..

FYI: Rix Reading List - Updated 8/2/2017

I find a lot of articles that I want to blog about, revisit, or recommend to someone. This is a compilation of what I've found online:

Fun: My Walker, From 40 years ago

When I was in my twenties, age 30 was considered "over the hill." So, if this was going to happen to me, I planned how I could go over the hill in style:

Personal: Personal: Father's Day ~ 2017

FYI: Robots & AI

A quick review:

"Hidden Stories: How AI will Advance Careers, Not Steal Them" By Xander Kotsatos. The blog was originally posted on RocketFuel.com, but I found it through Linkedin.

Finally, something positive not a sky-is-falling write-up!

FYI: Robots, Journalism & Writing | Updated 3/7, 3/22, 4/6, And 6/1

In his article The 5 Jobs Robots Will Take First, CEO Shelly Palmer puts Journalists & Authors 3rd on the list of occupations in jeopardy! He wrote:

Personal: A Stent in Time Saves...Me?

{Groan: a trite title} ~ A Purely Personal Post ~

Yesterday I had a "procedure" that is both life changing and life saving: I had a cardiac catheterization that ended with a stent inserted into an artery on the surface of my heart.

I'm still processing it in my mind.

FYI: "Runway" Cash Flow ?!

I've learned a new term after many years of being involved in business start-ups: ~~ "Runway" ~~ It is a measure of how long a new business venture can last with the existing cash on hand.

FYI: Fiction Workshop class at St. Pete College

I was invited to talk to Professor Johnson's Fiction Workshop class at the Tarpon Springs campus of St. Petersburg College. This article is for those students...

FYI: Writing for CreateSpace

Create Space makes self-publishing really easy. I've released 3 books, have 2 in progress, and ideas for several more. And I'll help you with yours...

Bayshore Townhomes new Board of Directors

Our Homeowner's Association voted in a new board in October, 2016.

They suddenly became very secretive... They made a major decision without an official Board meeting.

Price Change: Gloria Jaggers Autobiography

I helped my mother publish her autobiography in 2010. The price is now $9.95, and is available from Amazon.com and CreateSpace. You can find it here: Gloria Jaggers.com

A Better Computer, Inc., blog is now at www.ABCInc.biz

Go to  www.ABCInc.biz to find my blog for A Better Computer, Inc.

The comments used to here, but they moved in December, 2016.

Audience, O Audience, Wherefore are thou, Oh Audience?

If you write, and no one reads.... ?

Maturity & Me

I thought this video was hilarious because it was so much over the top:

THE MYSTERY OF THE BASKET

(The acting is as bad as the guy is clueless.)

Overcoming Parkinson's Law

I'm still fighting with Parkinson's Law, but this time from the other side. (You can revisit my first post about Parkinson's Law here: http://www.jaggers.pw/2015/08/my-personal-bane-parkinsons-law.html or you can poke around the "August" Archives on the right.)

My days are filling up, but my mind/body is still operating in slow-mode.

My Personal Bane: Parkinson's Law

Remember Murphy's Law?

Early in 2015 I attended a SCORE seminar presented by Larry Hunt. He introduced the audience to Parkinson's Law: Work slows down to fill up the time available.

Google showed me that Parkinson's Law was first described in 1955 in an essay in The Economist.  It opened with a simple story.  It goes like this: "It is a commonplace observation that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. Thus, an elderly lady of leisure can spend the entire day in writing and dispatching a postcard to her niece."