Amerigo Vespucci…

Dear Reader,

Depending on your grasp of history you may or may not recognize the name Amerigo Vespucci. He was a Florentine Merchant who sailed the ocean blue… Hold your horses, neither him nor Christopher Columbus discovered America. Leif Ericsson had already been to North America about 5 centuries prior. Plus the natives were already there so there’s that.

Columbus did see land, which he thought were the West Indies, during his famous voyage back in 1492, it was not the West Indies or the Americas, it was The Bahamas. Amerigo Vespucci figured that out in 1502, As to who really discovered America that is a subject up for debate, as even the Chinese claim to have sailed the ocean blue.

The truth is even the first colonization of America happened way before the pilgrims settled on Plymouth Rock. The first colony was founded in Jamestown in 1607 the pilgrims did not arrive until 1620.

On February 22, 1512 Amerigo Vespucci died, perhaps not ever knowing that cartographer Martin Waldseemüller had added a Latinised version of his name to The New World. Other cartographers soon followed suit and by 1532 the name America was added to discovered land in the New World permanently.

While the events that lead us where we are today may not always be correct when told, the truth is, they still added to the fabric of our history.

So, just as history can and always changes, remember to cut people some slack. For, what they believed before may not be what they believe now. Hold people to the same standard you hold yourself, but remember always that to err is human and to rectify is not only wise but highly recommended.

USPS…

Dear Reader,

Ever since services like eBay, and Amazon began, getting things delivered to our door steps has become as common as writing emails, tweets or posts instead of letters. One can argue, that these delivery services far from erasing the need for the post office, it has kept it afloat.

The history of the United States post office goes as far back as 1775, however, it was not until February 20, 1792 when then President George Washington, signed the Postal Service Act, that we officially had a United States Post Office. Then later in 1970 it changed again into what we know now as the United States Postal Service.

Now of course, it has to compete with services like FedEx, United Parcel Post among others. Healthy competition is a good thing of course, but in the case of this one, I wonder, I mean nowadays, why write a letter when you can email it, why wait 8 to 10 days when FedEx can get it there in under 3 and sometimes overnight.

When I think of the United States Postal Service, I often think of the days in my youth when I would write letters to my pen pal in Taiwan. I went there so often that they already knew how much to charge me, I even had a post office box at one point. Like all things, technology has made it possible for me to communicate faster, and thus even the letters I write today are digital.

That is not to say I have abandoned old fashioned writing, I still write from time to time, mostly reminders to myself because as my age has progressed I’ve noticed there are things that I forget.

What is it that you write?

Busy Me…

Dear Reader,

This past seven days or so have been filled with activity, quite frankly I’m exhausted. Yet Nolan my cat has been successful in waking me up at all hours.

Of all that has taken place in the past seven days or so, I’d say my trip to Idyllwild California was absolutely the best.  Up on til this past weekend I was not aware there was such beauty so close to here.  We drove up to the mountain side, and saw lots and lots of trees and it was just wonderful. We had some pizza fresh made, and while we ate we got a good view of what can only describe as nature’s best views.  It was almost as close to a Thomas Kinkade as I’ve been able to get in these couple of years.  On our way back we stopped at a placed called Vista Point which is just a small parking lot over looking the mountains, absolutely gorgeous.  I made a wish there and I hope that when it comes true I will be back there. I had a moment of reflection there and of course it also reminded me of a place often described to me as a place to take a break before the end of the work day.

No doubt this weekend has reminded me of the old days. So much so, that in the last seven days I visited Martin’s grave, and I just could not believe, he had no flowers in it; not only that but the space reserved for flower placement was over grown with grass and looked as though no one had placed flowers in it in years.  My heart sank you see it was not too long ago it was his birthday.  I guess people do forget about each other. It’s been 14 years and I still think about him from time to time. I just got to thinking the way I see his face anymore is by visiting his grave, ah the wonders of technology, how far we come that now can engrave photos on tombstones.

This week has had many elements of busy, so much so I decided to make a list of things to get done before July. Here is hoping it all goes well and who knows, I might have more to report in the months to come.

Since, I have had limited uninterrupted sleep, I guess all I can report, where dreams are concerned is a dream I had this week. In my dream I was playing Keno, I’ve heard the name before and if memory fails me not, I think it’s a game similar to Bingo. Anyway, I’ve won at Keno. Then when it was time to claim my price, I had to present I.D.  I had like four of them a mix of guys and girls. I was confused and the first thing I thought is mail them to the DMV (Dept of Motor Vehicles). So I was then in an office which looked like a post office sorting place, and I was looking for a mail man.  I found him, this person had a gold heart locket type thing pinned to the shirt, it was pretty looking and out of place, don’t know why I think of it, or why it caught my attention, however, I do believe, it had letters on it, I don’t know what they were. For some reason I was not happy, I just remember saying, “Postman… Figures!” Then, I was in a room and waiting for someone or something. I woke up after that. Not much of a shocker dream, but it was a good one, I do not wish to win at Keno, but it’s nice to know in my dreams I can. 😀