Author Archives: Jeff

Dec 31

2018 goes down but not without a fight

Posted on Monday, December 31, 2018, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

It is 400 days until the 2020 Iowa presidential caucuses. Maybe. At least, as of the time of this post. Unless New Hampshire sees California as enough of a threat that we get another lesson in the disasters of early … Continue reading →

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Dec 28

‘The Orville’ returns

Posted on Friday, December 28, 2018, at 1:00 PM by Jeff

I don’t know how large the Venn diagram overlap is for “people who want a fun Star Trek and not grimdark” and “people who enjoy ‘Sound of Music’ references in their ‘Star Trek with the serial numbers filed off’”. It … Continue reading →

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Dec 28

Alamo Bowl preview

Posted on Friday, December 28, 2018, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Iowa native John Wayne portrayed Davy Crockett in the 1960 movie “The Alamo.”

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Dec 26

Iowa State’s last visit to San Antonio

Posted on Wednesday, December 26, 2018, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Hey, any time there’s a chance to dunk on Roy Williams, I’m going to take it. (Sigh…what could have been.)

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Dec 24

A genealogist’s Christmas wish

Posted on Monday, December 24, 2018, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS Dear Santa: Don’t bring me new dishes; I don’t need a new kind of game. Genealogists have peculiar wishes; for Christmas I just want a surname. A new washing machine would be great, but it’s … Continue reading →

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Dec 21

Utah edges Iowa in population, ahead of schedule

Posted on Friday, December 21, 2018, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

I said it was going to happen. I just thought it would take a little longer. According to census estimates, Utah has 5000 people more than Iowa. At the beginning of the 20th century, Iowa was the 10th-largest state in … Continue reading →

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Dec 20

An idea that has run its course?

Posted on Thursday, December 20, 2018, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Part of a series. In my previous posts about my creation of a school directions booklet and the issues I have encountered updating it, I’ve danced around the elephant in the room. And that is the fact that in the … Continue reading →

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Dec 19

Dance of the school administrators

Posted on Wednesday, December 19, 2018, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Part of a series. In the booklet of directions to schools from North Tama (the PDF, as always, is downloadable in the sidebar on this blog), I made it a point to include the names of school officials — superintendent, … Continue reading →

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Dec 18

The last AppleWorks user on Earth

Posted on Tuesday, December 18, 2018, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Part of a series. An Eagle Scout project is not an individual endeavor. It requires leadership and delegation, coordination and compromise. Making a booklet of directions to area schools was going to take a lot of time — and I … Continue reading →

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Dec 17

The ninth, and possibly last, school directions booklet

Posted on Monday, December 17, 2018, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

This map, working off the 2005-06 Iowa Dept. of Ed. districts map, shows all the public schools covered by the directions booklet in white. Previously included but now removed districts are in gray. First in a series. At the end … Continue reading →

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