You probbaly know that I’ve worked with computer’s all my life. What you might not remember is that the first computer my parents bought for me many years ago was the venerable Commodore 64. With it’s 64 bytes of RAM we played games like Choplifter, Tooth Invaders, Clowns & Bruce Lee. I also wrote my first computer programs in BASIC. And should I even mention the Datasette? Gee, loading computer software onto audio cassettes seemed like such a good idea at the time!

It’s amazing how 25 years later, all of those hours sitting with my mom and trying to fix the syntax errors in the tapes my Uncle Ott would send her actually seem like fond memories when at the time we wanted to throw the machine out the window.

Yes, the Commodore 64 is 25 years old now. I still have mine packed away. I could never get rid of it. CNN has a great article about the historic anniversary of everyone’s favorite home computer. Read CNN’s article here.

When you think of Christmas you probably think of Christmas trees, lights, Santa Claus, a blazing fireplace, gift giving, etc. But why do these images mean Christmas to us? Whether or not you believe the Christian mythology of how Christmas started, you should know that the holiday that we celebrate every December is a result of centuries of traditions from around the world coming together to form what we as a culture call Christmas.

To learn about all of these traditions and how they shaped our current Christmas celebrations, check out this great History of Christmas site put together by the History Channel. I stumbled upon it while looking for something specific, but wound up reading every page.

Enjoy! Merry Christmas!

Wow, can it already have been five years since the horrific events of September 11th 2001? It’s amazing when you think about it. It seems like just yesterday that I was at home sleeping and my father woke me up and told me that the World Trade Center and Pentagon had been attacked.

The terrorists tried to change the way that we live, and in that regard they succeeded.  But, it wasn’t in the way they expected. They pulled the country together and showed all the best in the American people. What’s more amazing is that the shock still hasn’t worn off either. The bright part in it all is that I think we can all be pretty sure we won’t let it happen again.

Wow, this one really makes me feel old! It was twenty years ago today that the space shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after lift-off from Kennedy Space Center. It’s one of the first historical moment that I remeber witnessing. It was the first “remember where you were” moment I had. I know that I was at my Grandparents’ house sitting on the floor watching the launch live.

The following people were lost with the Challenger…
Francis R. (Dick) Scobee
Michael J. Smith
Judith A. Resnik
Ronald E. McNair
Ellison S. Onizuka
Gregory B. Jarvis
Sharon Christa McAuliffe

Click here for a photo of the memorial to the crew at Arlington National Cemetary that I took when I was there.

Check out NASA’s bios of the crew.