Random Wordplay for Wednesday 3/13/19

10 years and counting ... the top 10 most viewed posts ... 

Used in a sentence:  'In celebration of the reality that 2019 marks the fact that I've been micro-blogging for (at least) 10 years and counting ... let's take a look at the top 10 most viewed posts ... (of any of my blogs combined)."

My most popular post of all time (to date) also  originally appeared in my end-of-the-world series I was doing in anticipation of the Mayan Apocalypse that was "happening" on 12.21.12  (which means that 7 out of 10 of them came from that particular countdown).  The actual item speaks to my career (my long time employer as of 2004) and my boss as of the posting (in Nov 2012, although that changed a bunch of times since then as said employer tends to reorganize on the regular).  As per my rule when it comes to posting, on the blog I only refer to real people the way that Edgar Allen Poe did with just a first name and a last initial AND I never even mention my employer .. yet somehow this #22 post saw the most views ever.  Here it is as it appeared earlier this decade:

100 Things I've Always Wanted To Say But Never Did And Now Maybe Should Since The World Might Be Ending -->

Thing 22:

File this under under "look ma, I went and got myself a career" ... but if the world is ending in 22 days, I should probably stop and thank those who have shaped my work life once I became an adult.  Throughout this series, I've been calling out those direct supervisors of mine with whom I've spent the most time over the course of my career as "company man" since early 2004, and tonight I thank the one who was my boss for most of the last two years.  Becki K guided me (and the special team I'm on that was created as part of our restructuring) through the joys (and challenges) of working from home (biggest joy -- I can do more for more people just through the power of the laptop and many many many web-based systems ... biggest challenge -- I am tempted to graze all day and have added double digit poundage now that my snacking habits have combined with a sedentary work day in front of said laptop).  She's one of those people for whom it is a pleasure to work because she has the skill to evaluate your strengths and to feed you projects that make you more successful because they match your talents ... while still finding ways to challenge you.  I've always been lucky in this job to have bosses who were also great people -- and I'm glad she continued that trend.  As of late, she's now my grand-boss (not to imply a generational divide, but to communicate the fact that she was recently promoted and went up a level), but at least I still get to interact with her from time to time.  Thanks Becki!

#1 MOST VIEWED POST IN THE LAST 10 YEARS OF MICRO-BLOGGING:

https://capcognition.blogspot.com/2012/11/bonus-post-thing-22.html

Random Wordplay for Wednesday 2/27/19

10 years and counting ... the top 10 most viewed posts ... 

Used in a sentence:  'In celebration of the reality that 2019 marks the fact that I've been micro-blogging for (at least) 10 years and counting ... let's take a look at the top 10 most viewed posts ... (of any of my blogs combined)."

My 3rd most popular post of all time (to date) originally appeared in my end-of-the-world series I was doing in anticipation of the Mayan Apocalypse that was "happening" on 12.21.12  (as have most of the entries in *this* particular countdown).  The actual item is one of just a few from that collection that weren't all "sunshine and light", and was me getting off my chest how I really felt about a certain person from my past that ruled over a darker time in my life.  Maybe she was the one who clicked through and read it time and time again?  Or maybe it was one of her lawyers to see if anything I said was actionable?  Regardless -- it's taking the #3 spot and so it continues to live on ...

100 Things I've Always Wanted To Say But Never Did And Now Maybe Should Since The World Might Be Ending -->

Thing 25:

File this under "I was going to try to wait and outlive you and urinate on your grave" (hey -- it's not all sunshine and light when the world is ending in just 25 days (allegedly)) ... but to she whom I've referred to sometimes as my bio-dad's fourth wife or sometimes as the step-creature, I just want it to be known that I am happy with who I am and content with who I have become IN SPITE OF the way you chose to "raise" your boyfriend/husband's kids not BECAUSE of it.  To any attempts to imply that I might not have gotten to college had I not runaway from home in high school, or that the stubborn streak that has served me (mostly) well in my life wouldn't have developed otherwise had I not taken you on as an opponent in my formative years (PS -- my genetic DNA is apparently partly Prussian, so that character trait was there all along) or that the strict we-shall-not-show-love-or-affection-in-this-household beyond making sure that only the most basic of your Maslow needs were met was somehow an intentional well-meaning choice to prepare me for a cold cruel world -- I reject them all.  All that is and was positive in my life is because so many others have gone out of their way to fill in the child-raising blanks of my youth and because good always triumphs over evil (and sure, maybe the "evil" comes from the metal plate that they put in your head after your car accident when I was young -- who knows from whence it came ...)!  As a matter of fact, the only thing for which I will thank you is the statement you said that set me free nine months prior to my 18th birthday (which is when the government would have allowed me to go) -- "I should have seen to it long ago that you were dead."  That touch of crazy was the key to my freedom.  So for that -- I give you thanks -- but for absolutely nothing else.

#3 MOST VIEWED POST IN THE LAST 10 YEARS OF MICRO-BLOGGING:

https://capcognition.blogspot.com/2012/11/bonus-post-thing-25.html

Random Wordplay for Wednesday 2/20/19

10 years and counting ... the top 10 most viewed posts ... 

Used in a sentence:  'In celebration of the reality that 2019 marks the fact that I've been micro-blogging for (at least) 10 years and counting ... let's take a look at the top 10 most viewed posts ... (of any of my blogs combined)."

My 4th most popular post of all time (to date) finally breaks the pattern of those in this series almost all being from my Mayan Apocalypse countdown (i.e.  the "100 things I've always wanted to say but never did and now maybe should since the world might be ending" posts), and it is also the highest ranked restaurant review I ever did on my companion "50 Tastes of Florida" site (currently on hiatus but expected to return in Q2).  Here's the thing -- when you review the local authentic Canadian outpost where you can score POUTINE served many different ways, the people apparently respond.  My blog stats won't tell me if everyone who clicked through to this one is Canadian ... but I'm guessing that's highly likely, eh?  Here's that post in its entirety:

And so it continues ... a brand new set of tastes for 2017 ...

 here's the SIXTEENTH of FIFTY tastes of FLORIDA 

(coming to you on sequential Thursdays.  All.  Year.  Long.)!

Establishment:  Dairy Belle 
Location:  Dania Beach
Meal:  Dinner
Drink:  can of CocaCola
Appetizer:  n/a
Main:  Hamburger Steak
(with gravy, grilled onions and fries)
Side(s):  Poutine (and coleslaw)
(REAL WHITE Curd Cheese and REAL brown poutine gravy from Quebec)
Dessert:  Banana Split
(vanilla ice cream, topped with hot fudge, strawberry and pineapple [with] whipped cream, peanuts and three cherries)
Server:   Counter Service (so order taker's name not gotten)
Website:  http://dairybelleicecream.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Dairy-Belle-Ice-Cream-143611982333390/

The first time I had Gazebo Room dressing (a Greek style condiment homemade in central PA), I was so enamored, that I drank it from the bottom of my salad and had to be stopped from taking a swig right out the bottle ... to see why that's relevant for this particular eatery "as seen locally on 'Check Please'" (so you just know it HAS to be good) and to see how that might have been a factor in the overall calculation of the Troy-score, read below:

AMBIANCE:   9/10 (somehow I didn't capture any pictures of the area, but luckily you can see some on their own website ... to be clear, it is exactly as it appears -- an eating establishment that catches your eye as you drive past that might remind you of an old fashioned drive in/drive up place where you'd take the family for ice cream at the end of a hot summer day ... and then the Canadian flags come into view, and you start to wonder what Canadian ice cream might taste like ... it's all picnic tables around the counter, but with a special covered patio area in the back for those tricky afternoon thunderstorms ... what was going to be a point deduction because we had to clean off our own table gets wiped out because there WAS a lady out cleaning up who was working in the back and we were eating around the side so she just didn't get to us in time ... BUT then there's another point being deducted because they had Delilah playing on the radio ... and although it's a story for another time and another place, "she" and I don't get along any more)

FOOD:           9/10 (was I happy that my little can of coke cost $1.75? -- no ... was the main dish's hamburger a little salisbury-steak-esque? -- yes ... could there have been fewer onions mixed in? -- sure ... did I care though once I got a taste of that rich brown gravy that covered everything [including the fries and the perfectly textured cheese curds] which served an additional purpose of keeping everything piping hot until the last bite? -- absolutely NOT ... let me put it this way -- I was finished with my meal and I wanted to take the container home because I didn't want to miss a single drop of that gravy ... and since I couldn't do that, I checked to make sure that no one was looking and I picked up the bowl and drank every single bit of that deliciousness ... heck, I might have even taken a scoop of that gravy instead of the strawberry topping on the old fashioned full size banana split ... so why the point deduction? -- because my tablemate got what was purported to be a Chicago dog, and as former Chicagoans, the lack of bright green relish was a slap in our faces)

SERVICE:      9/10 (it's a counter service type of place, where you order and they call your ticket number to go claim your food so there's not too much interaction with employees ... but the order taker was efficient and the aforementioned lady-of-the-tables stepped in when I approached a condiment station with a worried look on my face because I didn't know how to use the plastic utensil dispenser ... just a point lost because no one directed me around the corner to that area [although it could be that they have so many regulars that they just assumed everyone is already "in the know" about the layout])

BACON:         7/10 (for a dollar, the menu lets you add bacon to anything ... but with only one dish for which it was the main thing [a BLT, naturally], it's just not right to give too high a score in this particular category ... although if they find a way to "bacon up" those poutine choices [bacon gravy anyone?], then I am more than willing to retroactively raise the score in this category)

BONUS:         10/10 (+3 for hearing the accents on the customers that serve as an endorsement of the authenticity of the dishes, +3 for having Galvaude and Guidelle on the menu [not that I knew what they were, but all signs point to them being very authentic Quebecian dishes], +3 for us having the perfect timing to arrive when there weren't any long lines and to get in to order the banana split after the meal before a family of a dozen got out of their cars and +1 for being a place to which we will most definitely return, with visitors in tow, because EVERYONE should have a taste of that gravy)

TroyScore:  44 out of 50 -- aka 88, a B

#4 MOST VIEWED POST IN THE LAST 10 YEARS OF MICRO-BLOGGING:

https://50tastesofflorida.blogspot.com/2017/04/random-taste-for-thursday-42717.html

Random Wordplay for Wednesday 2/13/19

10 years and counting ... the top 10 most viewed posts ... 

Used in a sentence:  'In celebration of the reality that 2019 marks the fact that I've been micro-blogging for (at least) 10 years and counting ... let's take a look at the top 10 most viewed posts ... (of any of my blogs combined)."

My 5th most popular post of all time (to date) also comes from the end-of-the-world series I was doing in anticipation of the Mayan Apocalypse that was "happening" on 12.21.12.  (Spoiler alert:  no surprise there, if you've been following along.)  The actual item is me coming out of the closet about how Ronald Reagan was my first.  My first President, that is.  The one about whom I was first aware once I started being aware about such things.  I'm not sure *why* it's so viewed ... maybe folks later in life didn't realize I grew up in conservative central PA?  Regardless -- those darn Genesis puppets will always be in my head.

100 Things I've Always Wanted To Say But Never Did And Now Maybe Should Since The World Might Be Ending -->

Thing 88:

File this under a desire to just go on the record about something ... but I like Ronald Reagan and always have.  After all, you never forget your first, and although I was technically born a few months before Watergate and spent my earliest years unaware of Nixon and Ford and Carter (well I can vaguely recall Carter 'cause my dad's wife of that time had a distant distant relative who was one of the Iranian hostages or something like that) ... it's Ronnie who was the first president about whom I was really aware.  And I know with retrospection, there were some questionable calls now ascribed to him (or to Nancy as he aged -- Contras and ignoring AIDS and all that), but I think it all comes down to being fond of his Great Communicator persona.  Or maybe it was just that puppet of him that Phil Collins had in that video.  Either way, I'm glad I got to relive it all with the recent 100th birthday hoopla before this world ends in 88 days (allegedly).

#5 MOST VIEWED POST IN THE LAST 10 YEARS OF MICRO-BLOGGING:

https://capcognition.blogspot.com/2012/09/bonus-post-thing-88.html

Random Wordplay for Wednesday 1/30/19

10 years and counting ... the top 10 most viewed posts ... 

Used in a sentence:  'In celebration of the reality that 2019 marks the fact that I've been micro-blogging for (at least) 10 years and counting ... let's take a look at the top 10 most viewed posts ... (of any of my blogs combined)."

My 7th most popular post of all time (to date) comes from the end-of-the-world series I was doing in anticipation of the Mayan Apocalypse that was "happening" on 12.21.12.  (Spoiler alert:  it was a super popular series for me, because seven of these ten will come from it.)  The actual item is a shout out to Laura B, with whom I once worked at Gretna Theatre, and about whom I have no updates as to what came next for her life.  Maybe she's the one that keeps on clicking on it and running up the numbers?

100 Things I've Always Wanted To Say But Never Did And Now Maybe Should Since The World Might Be Ending -->

Thing 82:

File this under long overdue thanks ... but Laura B, wherever you might be, I don't want the world to end in 82 days without me expressing gratitude for helping me cope with my job at Gretna Theatre back in the day, particularly during those years of rotating artistic dictators (I mean directors) who threw us all quite a few curve balls in back to back to back seasons in the late 90's.  You and I were the constant in that office during those times, and like the true survivors we are, we came out on the other end of that drama intact (with a few great stories to tell)  Plus, you "got me", when I departed and changed the ticketing software password to "hairplug" to get back at the last smug pretentious couldn't-embrace-his-balding jackass that was in charge as I was taking my leave.  Good times -- and for that, I thank you!  

#7 MOST VIEWED POST IN THE LAST 10 YEARS OF MICRO-BLOGGING:

https://capcognition.blogspot.com/2012/09/bonus-post-thing-82.html

Random Wordplay for Wednesday 1/23/19

10 years and counting ... the top 10 most viewed posts ... 

Used in a sentence:  'In celebration of the reality that 2019 marks the fact that I've been micro-blogging for (at least) 10 years and counting ... let's take a look at the top 10 most viewed posts ... (of any of my blogs combined)."

My 8th most popular post of all time (to date) also comes from the end-of-the-world series I was doing in anticipation of the Mayan Apocalypse that was happening on 12.21.12 (or ... well ... *supposed* to happen).  The actual item is an ode to decorating the Christmas tree with ornaments of meaning, and it predates a similar video I post each year on the Facebook about my memor-naments (trademark pending).  Here's the exact text from that day:

100 Things I've Always Wanted To Say But Never Did And Now Maybe Should Since The World Might Be Ending -->

Thing 20:

File this under a desire to just go on the record about something ... but I sure do love decorating the Christmas tree each year.  And if the world really ends in 20 days, then this activity (which took over most of my day today) will have been the last time I will have gotten to do so.  I've stated it before in my writings, but I'm an expert reminisce-er and if you combine that with my apprentice hoarding skills (admitting is halfway toward being healthy), then it's no wonder that I enjoy the task  [If I had my druthers, I'd have a separate tree with ornaments a la the Hortons on Days of our Lives for each person who played some role in my life ... but I'm just not that crafty.]  Today I got to handle classic macrame ornaments that my mom's mom made years ago, various angels that were crafted by my own mom, the McDonald's apple pie Hallmark piece I got in the late 80's when I worked there, a beautiful see through medallion printed with "our first Christmas together" from the holidays in 1989 (my first with Wendy and Judy W), wooden bells that I brought back from Germany when I had my semester abroad, the 12 days of Christmas set that my sister Bonnie B gave many Christmases ago, memorial ornaments for those who have passed (like the 8 ball for DJ and the sugar cookie for JoAnne), the jingle bell that always hangs on the lowest bough to entertain the cats, the Cubs baseball item to commemorate my time in Chicago living so close to Wrigley and new (as of last year) -- the famous German pickle hidden within the tree (google it if you're confused).  Bottom line -- each and every item on the tree each year reminds me ... I am so blessed (a statement that gives great comfort as I prepare for the impending apocalypse).

#8 MOST VIEWED POST IN THE LAST 10 YEARS OF MICRO-BLOGGING:

https://capcognition.blogspot.com/2012/12/bonus-post-thing-20.html

Random Wordplay for Wednesday 1/16/19

10 years and counting ... the top 10 most viewed posts ... 

Used in a sentence:  'In celebration of the reality that 2019 marks the fact that I've been micro-blogging for (at least)10 years and counting ... let's take a look at the top 10 most viewed posts ... (of any of my blogs combined)."

Coming in at number 9 on that list ... something near the top of another countdown series I was doing (I do love me a countdown series) whereby I was using the Mayan Apocalypse that predicted the end of the world to occur on 12.21.12 in order to say things that I might not say except for the fact that the world was *maybe* ending.  The specific post was a shout out to my Whitman brother Corey (who isn't even on the social media), that went as follows:

100 Things I've Always Wanted To Say But Never Did And Now Maybe Should Since The World Might Be Ending -->

Thing 6:

File this under love ya like a brother, man ... but Corey W, if Friday is the end (yep, it's down to six days so I can call it "Friday" and it is clear to everyone that I'm talking about the next [or is that the "last"] Friday that we'll all have together), then I won't get to see you again.  So here's a toast to you (would that I could find Purple Passion -- that's the name of the celebratory drink when you won your wrestling matches, right? -- which was every time as you went undefeated, no?) and to the lifetime of events we somehow squeezed in to so few years.  Here's to trips to the rockpile and  frat house living at its finest (whether in the town house or next to Big Bertha herself) with all that that entailed, but most importantly -- here's to you for the way you accepted me into the family.  The parties have come and gone, but the memories are as if they were just yesterday, and the bond -- well that's for a lifetime.   For all that we've been through ... here's to you!

#9 MOST VIEWED POST IN THE LAST 10 YEARS OF MICRO-BLOGGING:

https://capcognition.blogspot.com/2012/12/bonus-post-thing-6.html

Random Wordplay for Wednesday 1/9/19

10 years and counting ... the top 10 most viewed posts ... 

Used in a sentence:  'In celebration of the fact that 2019 marks the fact that I've been micro-blogging for (at least) 10 years and counting ... let's take a look at the top 10 most viewed posts ... (of any of my blogs combined)."

Coming in at number 10 on that list ... the eulogy of sorts I wrote/blogged this time of year in 2013 when my father passed away.  Without further ado, here is that post, originally added to the capcognition blog on January 7, 2013:

Gone but not forgotten:  Ralph E Neidermyer Sr. (that's him in the photo joining me in an afternoon nap in the first year of my existence -- 1972).

This just seems like a natural fit with my daily-posting-schedule construct, so why not.  And, since it is looking less and less likely that I'll be returning to PA for the service (it's still at an unknown time due to a paperwork snafu, and I have a mostly prepaid vacation that was to have started Wednesday with vendors not being as flexible as I would need them to be), here's my submission for a eulogy:

Ralph was born in the summer of 1923 on Tuesday July 24th to Paul and Esther in Lancaster County.  He was apparently named after his father's brother, which may (or may not) be the reason that he got the nickname "Buddy" when it came to his family.  His father Paul had served in the "other war", as his wife (my grandmother) had called it in her scrapbook, and, with his six other brothers and sisters (two of whom now outlive him), they all survived the Great Depression and, as was customary at the time, Ralph did not finish school and he joined the military and served in the US Army Air Corp when the next big war came around.

He started a family (his first of many) after World War II, and, with a wife named Betty (who passed a few years ago), he had his first set of kids -- a Carol Ann, a Ralph Eugene Jr (we call him Gene), a Glenn and a Clyde (named after someone in Betty's family, which may, or may not, be the reason that he got the nickname "Titus" when it came to all of us).  In my 41 years, I've met them each at least once, and at least one of them many many times, and it is for this reason that I'm able to say that I was already an Uncle at birth, but I simply don't know all of the details of all of their lives.  Thanks to Facebook, I've actually reconnected with a few of their kids (the next generation), and I'm pretty sure now that some of their kids have had kids (the next next generation), which means that Ralph can start to add numbers to the kids, grandkids and great grandkids columns.

That marriage didn't work (note:  this will be a theme), which is sad for them, but good for me, as that allowed a second family to be formed, and soon enough, he was with my mother Mary (who, herself, had been previously married with a child named Bonnie and another one who was literally on the way when her first husband passed -- she would be named Holly) and, together, they had twins (my sisters Sherry and Sharon) and then they decided that they were done with kids (and I'm not saying that having twins had anything at all to do with that decision as I'm sure it's just a coincidence).  But seventies birth control being what it was, combined with the fact that the genetic ancestral heritage of my father's sperm was of the most stubborn obstinate Prussian stock, I decided to be born irregardless of the pesky IUD that was supposed to be in my way.

[NOTE:  It is perfectly acceptable for anyone who has stuck with this story up to this point to now pull out a piece of paper and to start to draw a map.  It may be the only way to not get lost on the journey of Ralph's.]

There were allegedly a few good years in the late 60's and early 70's in Bethel, which included annual visits by a Santa Claus who had the same eyes as Ralph, but who entertained the youngsters in the family in the remodeled and classically paneled basement where this photo was taken (circa '74), and the installation of a backyard pool (work must have been good at the concrete plant and the poultry processing plants where Ralph worked).  Drinking and dancing and even smoking were the adult entertainment rules of the day -- which, in retrospect, may have also been the reason that ...

... that marriage didn't work.  A judge decided that my mom couldn't possibly handle all five children as a single mother in that decade, and so the family was split, and me and my twin sisters went with my dad while my mother was given custody of her children from her first husband.  But Ralph was not deterred, and he went on to create a third family, courtesy of "Parents without Partners" (a pre-internet dating service if there ever was one)  -- in Elverson, PA with a lady named MaryAnn (who, herself, had been previously married with a child named Kevin and a child named Jimmy).  I don't remember all that much of this time other than I know he built a family room on to her house (which included squirrels running through the walls, as the story goes), and that we had a snowmobile that was driven through the winter woods (maybe to scare those darn squirrels) and that I was a "handful" who didn't do well in the blended family, and who spent time at the next door neighbor's house with a really nice older lady (whom I think we called "Aunt Catherine") and whom had allegedly taken my mother Mary's side of the divorce over that of new wife MaryAnn.  But ... guess what ...

... that marriage didn't work.  And it didn't work very quickly, for reasons I don't know for certain, but which may have been related to the long distance travel to work from Elverson to the heart of poultry processing plants in Fredericksburg or it may have been related to the lady he was wooing in that plant.  I'm just saying that my father's fourth family was jump-started when he found out he was having his last child, named Rhonda (who stole my mantle as baby of the family, not that I'm bitter or anything) with a woman named Paulette (who, herself, had been previously married with a child named Paula and a child named Trisha).  So now it's the 80's and now we're all in Jonestown for a minute, and then in Lebanon for my most formative years.

So, as an adult with the benefit of hindsight, it now kind of all makes sense that, by the time he got to these years, he was in his sixties and was definitely finished with kids and was content to spend most of his time away from all of us at work (and let me be clear, we did not necessarily "want" -- so again, business must have been good at the chicken plant to support this really large blended family) -- and so we didn't really get to know each other as father and son.  But I knew where his bedroom was, and I could hear him laugh at episodes of the Jeffersons and All in the Family as he would drift off to sleep, and I could place him somewhere in the house on the weekends (or outside mowing grass in horribly loud shorts with a papertowel headband that did little to stop his sweat, or in his basement or out back shed workshop entertaining himself with projects).  Those facts aside, we weren't exactly any kind of close, and our upbringing was left to his wife, and she and I didn't see eye to eye as the years went on, so much so that I ran away from home (a few times, but for reals in March of 1989 when I was a senior in high school).  He was home that night -- it was just he and I -- and he saw me carrying my three boxes of belongings across rt 422 as I made my escape, and he came to the front door to ask what I was doing.  I calmly told him "I'm leaving ... and I'll be fine.", which was seemingly "fine" with him.

A few years later ... and, true to form, that marriage didn't work.  Ralph, never one to be single for long, soon was married for a fifth time (I declined the RSVP with the message that I was sorry I couldn't attend, but that I might be able to make the next one).  But, finally, old age had settled in and there was no progeny from this coupling (which, by the way, didn't work).  There was retirement ... and there was a new job at Hersheypark ... and there was a lot more Santa Clausing that went on ... and then there was illness and a nursing home and cancer and a wheelchair and hospice and a passing.

There you have it -- 89 years (presented in about 17 times that number of words).  And what does it tell us about this man?  Ralph loved the ladies, that's for sure.  He came from an era where his obligation was to provide for the physical needs of his offspring, which he did without dispute.  And, if nothing else, I got to help take care of some of his final years stuff, which gave me a new perspective into his life.  It's through that lens that I now wish him peaceful resting, and that I now turn to finding a way to put to rest many of the unanswered questions that I have about the life he led, for he did so much in so many years and seemed so happy during and doing most of it.  And that's not necessarily a bad wish for the survivors who might be reading this post.  A long and happy life doing that which you want ... that's my wish for you. 

So rest in peace, Ralph, as, for at least as long as this post appears on the interwebs, it is documented that you will be missed.

#10 MOST VIEWED POST IN THE LAST 10 YEARS OF MICRO-BLOGGING:

https://capcognition.blogspot.com/2013/01/purposeful-memorial-for-monday-1713.html

Random Wordplay for Wednesday 1/2/19

10 years and counting ... 

Used in a sentence (posed as a question):  "Guess who's been micro-blogging for (at least) 10 years and counting ..."

It's me!  It's me!!  I'm the one!!!

First under "capcognition" ... and then rebranded as "sosaysTroy" in 2017 ... the official record reflects that I've been doing my thing on the Facebook and the blogger since 2009. 

Currently, the official "first post" is from November 1, 2009 -- although there's a hidden history of things that came before it on Facebook from before I had the two linked (and there's a slight chance that I'll be able to find those ancient posts some day soon with a little digging in my emails).  To mark the occasion, I'll be celebrating on Wednesdays all year long this thing that's kept me on the right side of sanity for a decade.

To kick off the festivities, here's my official first post ever on the old blog (at least for now), dated Nov 1, 2009:

What Chicago is talking about this week:

In order to escape from the actual news (more shootings ... more deaths ... more omnipresent violence), sometimes you have to push the boundaries of taste for a laugh. Best Halloween costume seen this year (and, fair warning -- it's on the other side of the line) was Drew and Stacey Peterson (Drew in prison garb, accompanied by a blue plastic tub). Most creative bastardization of Halloween tradition -- the outpouring of photo galleries with drunken, vomiting pumpkins! Happy Halloween or Happy Day of the Dead to you and yours ...

THE VERY FIRST OFFICIAL POST (FOR NOW):
https://capcognition.blogspot.com/2009/11/random-scandal-sheet-for-sunday-11109.html