last night i saw snowflakes!

It’s soooooooooo cold in Atlanta as I write this. Sure, we’ll be back in the 50’s and 60’s soon, and I have no right to complain. But imagine if you lived in a place where it was always warm, and then suddenly out of the blue it was cold? Isn’t that a little worse than living in a place where you’ve come to expect really cold weather? What will warm me up? Reviewing what happened this week in history, of course.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: JANUARY 18
On this day in 1861, Georgia seceded from the United States. Man, what if Georgia had never come back? What if the country had never been reunited? I would probably never even have been born. But let’s say that I had been born…where would I live? Who would I be? Maybe I have hypothermia but suddenly I find this very freaky to think about. Earlier this year I was reading the Mental Floss blog, and there was this entry that showed a hypothetical re-drawing of state lines: http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/17550. Isn’t that weird? I’d kind of rather live in a state called Piedmont; it sounds nicer. But I would be from Cumberland, not Carolina, which makes me slightly sad. Perhaps I would have moved to Superior merely for the humor factor. Hmm.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: JANUARY 19
Continuing on yesterday’s theme, I feel compelled to tell you that on this day in 1807, Robert E. Lee was born. Maybe if things had been different, that would be a holiday or something. Also on this day, Dolly Parton and Paula Deen were born. So a fairly good day for the south, until you consider that on this day in 1862, at the Battle of Mill Springs, the Confederacy suffered its first major defeat.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: JANUARY 20
I couldn’t find anything of interest to Southerners today. Unless you live below the Mason-Dixon and really like “The Office.” Then you might be interested in knowing that it’s Rainn Wilson’s birthday. Even if that show is all about Yankees.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: JANUARY 21
On this day in 1924, Vladimir Lenin died. When I was in Moscow, I got to go see the embalmed body. It was creepy. You walk around in a line, no talking at all, while soldiers stare at you with a look that will make you very nervous. I just read what they do to preserve the body, if they’re preserving an actual body, on Wikipedia, and it only furthered the creepiness/nervousness I feel about the subject.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: JANUARY 22
Man, I tried to find something to cheer me up after all those unpleasant thoughts about Lenin. Well, let me tell you, there was absolutely nothing pleasant to be found in all my scrolling. I was getting near the bottom and thinking I was going to have to scroll through again and try to find something at least mediocre to share as pleasant. And, then, do you know what I found at the bottom of the Wikipedia page? Today is the one-year anniversary of Heath Ledger’s death. Blurgh. The press will make this day so depressing. So why should I try to find any sort of pleasant value in it?

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: JANUARY 23
Today was a pretty good day for women in the United States! We had the first female doctor (Elizabeth Blackwell) and the first female secretary of state (Madeleine Albright). And also, Tiffani Amber Thiessen was born??

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: JANUARY 24
On this day in 1947, one of my favorite singers, Warren Zevon was born. In celebration, I advise you to have a sandwich, and to enjoy it. The nice thing about YouTube is you can watch many clips of Warren and David Letterman, which is how I found out about Warren. But sadly I didn’t see any of the clips where Warren Zevon talks about being the comedy deputy, which is one of the reasons I’ll always like him. Cause I thought that was so funny when I was younger. Well, here is a song: