Tuesday, December 24, 2013

A Christmas Eve Story

There are a few things that are more-or-less given at the holiday season. One is that you will get socks and underwear from your grandparents (if you are lucky enough to still have them around to give you gifts), another is that someone is bound to wax nostalgic for the movie A Christmas Story, and one is that every theater guild in the world, and television station will insist on totting out Dickens in one or more of its incarnations. To that short, but inevitable, list I wish to add the perennial return of The Bergquist Christmas Eve Story. Perhaps one day this will be as loved/reviled (take your pick) as any other holiday "classic." 

I have told this story to friends and family for years and even posted it on my blog a few times. Every year, someone asks me to tell the story again, and every year I get emails asking if I am going to post the story again to my blog. The answer to both questions is "yes." So, here it is.

The presentation of the story this year is dedicated to the memory of my recently departed father.  

I'll Be Home For Christmas

I'll Be Home for Christmas

by Kim Gannon, Walter Kent & Buck Ram

Dreaming of home at this Christmas time
Even more than I usually do
And although I know it's a long road back
I promise you

I'll be home for Christmas
You can count on me
Please have snow and mistletoe
And presents on the tree

Christmas Eve will find me
Where the love light gleams
I'll be home for Christmas
If only in my dreams

Wherever you are today, I wish you a lovely and happy Christmas with your family!

Donald J. Bergquist - December 24, 2013 - Lakewood, Colorado


Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve

Happy birthday to my cousin Elizabeth

Happy birthday to my cousin Elizabeth

Happy birthday to my cousin Abigail

Happy birthday to my cousin Abigail

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Winter Solstice (Northern Hemisphere)

“A day without sunshine is like, you know, night.” –Steve Martin Winter Solstice (Northern Hemisphere)

Friday, November 29, 2013

1972: Atari announces the release of Pong, the first commercially successful video game

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Friday, November 01, 2013

Today's Memories Are Drawn On The Dreams Of Yesterday!


Wherever you are today, I hope the memories you're making for tomorrow are excellent ones!


Don Bergquist - November 01, 2013 - Lakewood, Colorado, USA

Happy birthday to my friend Heather

Happy birthday to my friend Heather

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Oxymorons

ox·y·mo·ron (äksəˈmôrˌän)
noun

1. a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction
(e.g. Cautiously Exuberant, Cruel Kindness, Deafening Silence, Jumbo Shrimp)

[via New Latin from Greek oxumōron, from oxus sharp + mōros stupid]
noun: oxymoron; adj: oxymoronic; adv: oxymoronically

Happy birthday to my friend David

Happy birthday to my friend David

Monday, October 21, 2013

108 Days

After a near miss on a plane
You swear you'll never fly again
After the first kiss when you make up
You swear you'll never break up again
And when you've just run a red light
Sit shaking under the street light
You swear to yourself you'll never drink and drive again
“Four Minutes”

by

Roger Waters

Happy birthday to my friend Katie

Happy birthday to my friend Katie

Friday, October 04, 2013

Taken For A Ride: A Political Fairy Tale

Today's blog post was written by a friend of mine who sent me the following political fairy tale. 

Enjoy!

Once upon a time, a school board by a narrow vote approved the purchase of a new bus to get kids to school who previously could not get there. And this approval was signed by the highest authority and then reaffirmed by a panel of judges as being within the purview of the school board to purchase.

Monday, September 30, 2013

There has been a recent resurgence of stories about how the UN is trying to ban guns in the US. Apparently, according to the most recent revival of the canard that somehow our participation in the UN Arms Trafficking Treaty will be used to circumvent the Second Amendment and prevent gun owners from legally exercising their right to keep and bear arms. It also goes so far as to suggest that somehow the Executive Branch has no legal right to sign treaties. What!? This newest incarnation is wrong on more levels than ever before.

National Mud Pack Day

National Mud Pack Day

Monday, September 23, 2013

A Drive In The Mountains

Okay - enough already with the guns and the violence and the like - how about we talk about something lovely instead of something horrid! It is time to talk about something far more serene and tranquil! Autumn in the Rockies!

Cattle Drive Near Grant, Colorado

Happy birthday to my friend Susan

Happy birthday to my friend Susan

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Here's A Shocker For You (NOT!)


Wayne LaPierre from the NRA once again went onto the national media to give voice once again that the solution to the gun violence of the past week is to get MORE guns on the streets. 

Happy birthday to my friend Shereen

Happy birthday to my friend Shereen

Saturday, September 21, 2013

One-A-Day!?

Yesterday, on my facebook page, I posed the comment I posed here about the proliferation of mass shootings. Last night while catching-up on my back issues of The Daily Show, Jon Steward said something that I had a hard time believing. He claimed that there was - on average - one mass-shooting per day. 

Friday, September 20, 2013

Morning News

The first story I heard this morning was about the shooting in the Chicago park. My heart goes out to the victims and families. That was my first reaction. I have to ask though, that my second thought was of a story I saw this week where an NRA spokesperson blamed the DC Naval Yard shootings not on guns but on the fact that the shooter had a security pass to get onto the navy yard.

Happy birthday to my friend Lori

Happy birthday to my friend Lori

Monday, September 16, 2013

Talking About The Weather

"Everybody Talks About the Weather, But Nobody Does Anything About It."

~ Often attributed (perhaps erroneously) to Mark Twain

Happy birthday to my friend Hob

Happy birthday to my friend Hob

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Why Is *This* News?

For everyone who cried "foul" when the Washington Post was sold to Jeff Bezos, worrying that selling a newspaper to the creator of Amazon.com would mean the end of news as we know it, I have two words to say: "Too Late."

Today's screed is brought to you courtesy of the local CBS station who, this morning in the "news" ran a two-minute-long commercial for a sporting goods store. They, of course, didn't call it a commercial; not, the treated it as if it was somehow newsworthy. But I was left wondering why the story was "news."

Being familiar with the industry: having a degree in Broadcast Production and thirty-years of experience in broadcasting, I can only say that if they weren't being paid for all the time, then they are idiots! Even the weather forecast mentioned the name of this sporting goods store and indicating that the people that had been interviewed in the previous "news" item were at the right place because of "all that great camping gear at great prices" that the sporting goods store had.

I have mentioned product placement (thinly veiled commercials in programming content) before and said that I really dislike it… It takes time away from the coverage of actual news and it marks a departure of when broadcasters used to have to actually cover the news in their communities in order to keep their licenses. But this story made no pretense at news whatsoever! At 05:30 this morning they interviewed two idiots who had sat outside the store all night and were waiting to be the first people into the store.

To be clear, I only call these guys idiots because with the effusion of gushed admiration they spewed for this store, if they weren't being paid they should have demanded spokesperson fees (and unless the rules have changed and I missed it – that is still illegal – you have to at least pretend that your news is news and not commercials). The whole story was about how great the store was, how much exciting merchandise they have, and what a great place to shop it is.

It could have been so easy to pretend that the story was newsworthy. All it would have taken to give this commercial a veneer of newsworthiness would have been to waste half-a-minute of the commercial – uh, news – time to mention something newsworthy, say that the opening of the store created jobs; at least one assumes that the opening of the store. But the entire 05:30 story was about how great it was to have a new store and what great gear they carried. C'mon, Channel 4! WHY IS THIS NEWS!?

Wherever you are today I hope all your news is good news.


Don Bergquist – August 15, 2013 – Lakewood, Colorado, USA

Happy birthday to my cousin Nathan

Happy birthday to my cousin Nathan

Happy birthday to my brother Denis

Happy birthday to my brother Denis

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Teddy Bears' Picnic Day

The Teddy Bear's Picnic

by

Henry Hall

If you go down in the woods today you're sure of a big surprise
If you go down in the woods today you'd better go in disguise
For every bear that ever there was will gather there for certain
Because today's the day the Teddy Bears have their picnic

Every Teddy Bear who's been good is sure of a treat today
There's lots of marvelous things to eat and wonderful games to play
Beneath the trees where nobody sees they'll hide and seek as long as they please
That's the way the Teddy Bears have their picnic
Picnic time for Teddy Bears
The little Teddy Bears are having a lovely time today

Watch them, catch them unawares and see them picnic on their holiday
See them gaily gad about
They love to play and shout
They never have any cares
At six o'clock their Mummies and Daddies will take them home to bed
'Cause they're tired little Teddy Bears

If you go down in the woods today you better not go alone
It's lovely down in the woods today but safer to stay at home
For every bear that ever there was will gather there for certain
Because today's the day the Teddy Bears have their picnic

Happy birthday to my friend Jennifer

Happy birthday to my cousin Dirk

Happy birthday to my cousin Becca

Monday, July 01, 2013

Frost Lake Has Been Updated

Please take a look and let me know your opinion!

Thanks!

Don Bergquist - July 01, 2013 - Lakewood, Colorado, USA

Canada Day

Canada Day

Sunday, June 30, 2013

You're Not Leaving Without Me AGAIN, Are You!?

There is no way to miss the accusatory looks! She gives me them whenever the suit cases come out and the packing frenzy begins.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Again With The Birds?

My Uncle Dick tells the story of seeing a bird (a dove?) that followed his tractor as he was plowing the fields the day after my mom's funeral. The bird simple followed along as he drove the fields in the tractor. He had been thinking of my mother, and there it was. After following his progress, staying more-or-less even with him. It was a bit of a gloomy day, and when the clouds started breaking, the bird finally flew off. He described it as a very peaceful feeling.
Happy birthday to my sister Mary
Happy birthday to my friend Mamie

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Denny Bergquist 1934 - 2013

Denis was born on May 26, 1934 in Little Falls, Minnesota. He grew-up on a farm northeast of Parkers Prairie, attended Parkers Prairie High School and studied engineering at the University of Minnesota, and worked on road construction projects as a part of the Civilian Conservation Corps.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

"...If You Think You Love Him Now..."

Yesterday I had the honor of escorting my stepmother, Flo, as she ran some errands that needed to be done in prep for the funeral. I am surprised that I had never heard this story before, but knowing the person involved, I can believe this entirely!

Toast To Excess: It's National Splurge Day

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Happy Father's Day

I was driving through western Douglas County, Minnesota this afternoon when it suddenly struck me. As I passed the turn-off to The Kensington Runestone Park, it occurred to me that the last time I had been in that particular spot, headed that particular direction was just ten days ago.

Dad was alive, we had gone to his church so he could give confession, and go to mass. Then he wanted to stop in the park. We drove up to the top of the hill where we saw this scarlet tanager. We didn't stay long, because Dad tired so quickly in those final days. But he was in complete bliss as he stared out over the park he had helped to preserve and expand. I wonder, now, if he didn't know that this would be the last time he would see it. I am happy that his last drive was with me. I am glad to have had the time so share with my father.

Wherever you are today, I hope that you have not let any opportunities you have to spend time with your father pass you by!

Don Bergquist - June 16, 2013 - Kensington, Minnesota, USA

Best Laid Plans...

On of the lessons that my dad taught me was that not every thing you plan comes to pass. And just because you don't get what you plan for, it doesn't mean you don't get what you need.
Father's Day

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Driving East

By the time this posts today, I will be driving east, about four hours of road behind me, another ten-or so to go. Just me, my music, my podcasts, and my thoughts for the better part of a day-and-a-half to think about all the wonderful memories I had of my Dad.

Happy birthday to my friend Karl

Friday, June 14, 2013

In Memoriam

My sister called me from my parents' home in Minnesota this morning. Dad passed away as he slept this morning. At the end, he was where he wanted to be, at his home in Kensington, Minnesota.  I am informed that he was not in pain.
Flag Day

Tuesday, June 04, 2013

what really I R (k) S me...

Good morning, readers! Please pardon my relative silence over the past few weeks. I have been far too busy to really irked by anything. Even the things that should have sent me into fits of righteous indignation have gone uncommented. But this IRS “Scandal” has me so baffled that I have to ask you, my readers, to explain something to me.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Second Anniversary Of "The Rapture"

Does everyone else remember the rapture when all the righteous people were lifted bodily into heaven? No? Yeah, they wouldn't take me either!

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Armed Forces Day Best wishes to all our men and women in uniform! Thanks for the job you do and here's wishing you a safe return to your home and loved ones.

Monday, April 15, 2013

Style Is In The Eye Of the Beholder


I have to say that I am surprised at all the sloppy reporting being done on the change to the AP Style Guide! Their recent change to the wording regarding "illegal immigrant" has me, quite amused.
Happy birthday to my friend Dougie
Tax Day
Happy birthday to my friend Sara

Saturday, March 23, 2013

First Day Of Spring

Congratulations to my readers, Cathy and Dan who (in that order) came in First and Second in the "Spot The Error Contest."

Monday, March 04, 2013

What Is The Opposite Of ‘Indian Summer?’

According to Wikipedia, aheat wave that occurs in the autumn. The phrase refers to a period of considerably above-normal temperatures, accompanied by dry and hazy conditions, usually after there has been a killing frost. Depending on latitude and elevation, it can occur in the Northern Hemisphere between late September and mid November.
National Grammar day

Monday, February 25, 2013

Politenglish


Not since the Oakland Board Of Education recognized Ebonics as an official language has a new language designation been bestowed on such a pervasive and worthy language as is the case today. Due to the snowstorm this weekend I had an opportunity to watch news to my heart's content this Sunday and I had an earth-shattering realization. It is not that the talking heads were lying, they were simply not speaking English as we, the non-political mouthpieces, do.
Happy birthday to my friend Rebecca

Saturday, February 02, 2013

Travelogue: London - More Waiting


Sitting on the plane waiting for them to open the doors. The flight was good. I finished the book I was reading. I watched a couple movies, and I have all my ducks in a row to fly through customs – assuming there is no line.

Travelogue: London - Waiting


For such a lovely airport they really do not have their act on the ball! I had to go through three lines to check in for my flight and then another two to clear security. Granted, the first three were not, strictly speaking, the fault of the airport – no that was due to two officious tossers who work for British Airways! As I have time to kill before my flight, I might as well tell you all about it…

Travelogue: London - Departure


My packing was concluded the night before last. Everything that I need at home was in my suitcases other than what I wore to work yesterday (which I packed last night), my PJs and toiletries (this morning), and what I am now wearing. Yes, I can be a bit fastidious, but as I see it: That is planning for you! I am a planner.
Groundhog Day

Friday, February 01, 2013

Travelogue: London - Underground Sounds


The hum from some car ahead of me in the train that is disconcerting in its cheeriness. The repetitive “thump, thump, rattle, rattle.” The occasional flash-BOOM! And the sound of music coming from the iPod the woman at the other end of the car is listening to. The announcement: “We apologize for the inconvenience. This train is holding to allow for the departure of the train on the platform at Queens Park.

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Travelogue: London - Poetic Justice


Those of you who know me know that I am the last to think ill of anyone. (Or to paraphrase Douglas Adams: If I am not the Very Last, I did so as recently as this morning…)

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Travelogue: London - And In Health


Okay, the rant yesterday was because one of my coworkers had to be coaxed into staying home when they were sick and not passing it to the rest of us. I was suffering a bit of a frog in my throat, but that was only because I missed my allergy pill yesterday morning and, until found I still had some in my briefcase, I was suffering – but at least I was suffering in a purely non-contagious way.
National Inane Answering Message Day

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Travelogue: London - Camden Town


One of the many places that visitors to my home in Surrey wanted to visit when I was living here was Camden Town. I had heard of Camden Town and the Camden Town Locks, I had even visited them back in 2004 during my first visit here as a part of the tour of places that I took based on Douglas Adams' Dirk Gently novels. But the markets never impressed me.
Thomas Crapper Day

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Travelogue: London – Not Seeing London

Well, It was a lovely day… But that was the morning. The clouds started to build around lunch time. Then the rain came; a drizzly, drippy, cold and sloppy mess! On an afternoon like that, there is nothing for it but to curl-up with a few friends and a roaring fire; a place to be catered to among friends.

Travelogue: London - Seeing London

It's Saturday and my colleagues have all made their plans. In a limited way, they overlap with mine. The weather gods have grinned on us and are allowing us the favor of an absolutely beautiful day. The sun is out; the skies are a nearly cloudless blue. It is a great day to get out there and see some of the sights.
Australia Day

Friday, January 25, 2013

Travelogue: London - Turkish Food

With the classes over, and my entire team collocated for the first time since the team was established, we decided to celebrate and go out to dinner at a Turkish restaurant. (Another ethnicity with which I was previously unfamiliar...)

Happy Birthday, Mom

1936 - 1980

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Travelogue: London - Right As Rain


The forecast was, at least in that one respect, accurate! They had been saying for a couple days that the snow would be quitting some time around sunset to be replaced by rain shortly thereafter. I do not know when, exactly, things switched over, but by the time I left the office it was, indeed, raining.
Happy birthday to my friend Mary

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Travelogue: London - Snow


I do not remember it EVER being this bad for this long here! Granted, I only lived here for a few short years, but still! It has been cold, wet, and miserable here for the past four days! I do not believe that I have seen the sun since shortly before landing at Heathrow back on Sunday morning. Add to that the very short days this time of year and it makes it a lot easier to understand Seasonal Affective Disorder!

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Travelogue: London - Dining



The neighborhood we are staying in (on the border of Kilburn and Maida Vale) has changed a bit since last I was here. I had to look this up, but it has actually been about a year! The nice little gastro-pub in the next block is now a night club of some sort; at least, I assume that it is a night club. I have never actually seen it in use, but then I do not go out late in the evenings as much as once I did.
Happy birthday to my friend Ford

Monday, January 21, 2013

Travelogue: London - Snowfall

I've seen worse, but the city is practically at a stand-still! But, then, this is London and THIS is how they react to weather. It took us nearly two hours to get to the hotel from the airport yesterday morning. The trains and busses were running disrupted schedules, and the car service had to deal with the snarls of traffic that were the impact of 1/2" of snow that fell throughout the morning hours.

London Snow Bunnies
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Travelogue: London - Sleep


Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time. Of course, after years of making this trip, you've have thought that I might know better. I should have taken the experience of years as fact and just given-in to the fact that I cannot sleep on planes.
Innauguration Day

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Travelogue: London - Time Dilation


I understand the artificial sense of time dilation that flying give me... and it's not just the flying through the time zones that I am talking about... it's the comparison to other forms of travel that caught my attention. Allow me to explain…

Double-Take Redeaux


Okay, I promised that I would not do anything more about Gun Control Today’s rant is about illegal immigration. Here’s a short one for you: What is so wrong about calling an illegal immigrant an “illegal immigrant?”

Friday, January 18, 2013

Double Speak – Double Standard – Double Take

Okay, this is my last second amendment column for a while (I PROMISE!!!) but I just heard a news report this morning that I need to comment on. The cognitive dissonance it set-up in my mind was interesting because the speaker seemed to be completely oblivious to the logical false equivalence he was drawing. The double-standard it drew on was so deliciously dissonant that I had to rewind it to make sure I had not imagined it!

Off To London

Happy birthday to my cousin Stan
Happy birthday to my cousin Leona

Monday, January 14, 2013

Mr. Smith Is Rolling In His Grave!

The big news this weekend was the attempt by the majority in the Senate to limit the use of the filibuster. All the stories referenced the movie Mr. Smith Goes To Washington and all of them talked about how the filibuster had been used hundreds of times recently to prevent the senate from doing practically anything.
National Dress Up Your Pet Day

(The kennel I use - Best Friends Pet Care in Wheatridge, Colorado - dresses-up Saga for me...)

Monday, January 07, 2013

The USA Under The FSM


Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...
Happy birthday to my aunt Elaine

Sunday, January 06, 2013

Tuesday, January 01, 2013

Resolutions


Wahoo! I will have to do some research, but I think this may be a personal best! It is nearly noon January first and I have yet to break any of my New Year's resolutions! Yippee!
New Year's Day