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• The Selective Service System was formed on May 18, 1917. While doing some spring cleaning yesterday, I believe I found my grandfather’s registration certificate which shows it was signed June 1917. He was born on Nov 22, 1894 in case you were wondering. One thing perplexes me, the name on the card is “Walter Edgar Geeding”. My father was “Walter Everett Geeding Jr” and I was always told grandpa was “Walter Everett Geeding Sr”.
• I was told my great-great-grandfather, Simon Geeding, was a drummer boy in the Civil War (1861 to 1865).  Everything but the drummer boy part checks out according to FindAGrave.com. But according to the free part of Ancestry.com, Simon’s father was also named Simon, and his birth is listed as “Washington, Maryland, USA on 29 Sep 1788″. I just discovered this last night and is the furthest I’ve been able to track my family tree, just twelve years after the birth of our nation. As of now, the trail ends.
• I also found out last night that if you search for “Civil War” on Google, the first result is no longer the American Civil War, but the new Captain America movie that’s about to hit theaters.
• One of my readers has a close association with Gregory Popovich, not to be confused with current San Antonio Spurs head coach, Gregg Popovich. Popovich is the creator of the Popovich Comedy Pet Theater, who usually performs in Las Vegas but is currently touring. My family was given tickets to the show (exceptional seats, btw) at SMU’s McFarlin Memorial Auditorium and it was the perfect endcap for spring break with animal tricks, juggling, acrobatics, and other fantastic routines. I was told to speak to Popovich after the show, as he greets his audience in the lobby, and after mentioning his friend, he was kind enough to give my kids a couple of DVDs of his performances.
• During the show, there were a few minor sound issues, but at one point a video projection screen did not fully raise up and there were a few minutes of awkwardness, which appeared to be the venue’s fault. When I met Popovich after the show I didn’t bring it up, but he sincerely apologized for the “technical difficulties”. You could tell he really cared about his performance and the audience. I told him it wasn’t a bother, and I was more impressed with how professional he was about it and how he recovered, and that it was a beautiful lesson to teach our kids. He seemed very appreciative.
• If you are ever in Vegas looking for a great family show or if the Popovich Comedy Pet Theater is in your neck of the woods, you can get tickets here. And no, I wasn’t asked to write any of this in exchange for anything, I just really enjoyed the show and the warm and kindness of the performer.
• I was driving around the most opulent neighborhoods in Dallas on Saturday and passed an area that looked like it was blocked off for a motorcade. I knew President Obama was in Austin recently and then was going to speak in Dallas, but I thought he was already back in D.C., so I thought the blocked-off street was for local resident former President George W. Bush. However, when I turned on the news nightly news, it turns out it was for our sitting president. That made me wish I would have known about it earlier to watch the motorcade pass by. I’m not sure why I think it would be cool to watch a presidential motorcade drive by, it’s just security and limo driving by without any real view of the passenger, but it’s also one of those experiences one doesn’t get to see often.
• Random political idea that would never happen – Republicans and Democrats nominate two presidential candidates from each party, so in November there would be a total of four candidates (and their VP picks) to vote for. It’s nothing I’m endorsing, I just like thinking of the possibility and outcomes. So if you want to vote for your party, but really don’t like the sole nominee, instead of not voting altogether (some Dems will choose not to vote altogether if Clinton is the nominee and same for some Republicans with Trump) then you have another choice. It would be interesting to see, with four choices, how much a political party would win compared to the actual winner. Of course, this wouldn’t work with the electoral college. Remember, I’m not saying I want it this way, I just like thinking about how it would all play out.
• I was watching the evening news with DaughterGeeding and there was a clip of Donald Trump leading a chant of, “No more Oreos. No more Oreos. No more Oreos.” DaughterGeeding, with a look of equal parts astonishment and fear on her face, said, “I’m not voting for him!”
• The time change gave me an extra hour to mow the lawn.
• I’m going to continue my streak of never filling out an NCAA Final Four bracket.
• ‘CBS Sunday Morning’ thoughts:
  • It was a special edition episode titled “Guns in America”. The substituting host for Charles Osgood started the show off saying, “Our intent is not to take sides or pass judgement, but rather to take stock and cast light on a debate that seems to be growing ever louder with committed and sincere advocates on both sides.” I thought that was a good way to start things off for such a touchy subject, which I’ve been both sides on, and now remain divided.
  • To my surprise, Ted Koppel is now part of ‘Sunday Morning’. I love Koppel, but I think he should be doing so much more, like hosting ‘Face the Nation’ or being a part of ’60 Minutes’. I miss the days when Letterman would crack how bad one of his segments were going and that people better tune in to ‘Nightline’. Back then, they competed against each other, and it was always great when Koppel was on the show.
  • The widow of firearms manufacturer Samuel Colt had an Episcopal church built as a memorial to her husband and the three children they lost. “The church’s architecture contains guns and gun-smithing tools sculpted in marble to commemorate her husband’s life as an arms maker.” Here’s an example.
• Spoiler free season four ‘House of Cards’ thoughts:
  • I’m about five episodes in and thought it wouldn’t hold up, but so far it’s better than last season.
  • I really like the curtains in President Underwood’s Oval Office.
  • I’m not use to any Dallas references in any movie or television show, it just feels a bit surreal.
  • Ellen Burstyn was the mother of a president in a different television drama that was on ABC and now she’s the mother-in-law of a president. Her performance in both is solid.
  • Neve Campbell is surprisingly good.
  • The Samsung promotions last season was way too obvious and it’s the same this season.
  • As with all movies and television shows now, you see real world news anchors making cameos, but they drug a retired anchor, a well-established one, to lead a broadcast for a fake news network.
  • I’d love to see Robin Wright host SNL. I noticed she’s directed several of the new episodes of ‘House of Cards’.
  • It’s my understanding with the Roosevelt Room at the White House, tradition holds that a TDR portrait is displayed during a Republican administration and FDR with a Democratic administration. I noticed both in these episodes.
  • “If you don’t like the way the table is set, sometimes you have to turn over the table.”

I recently mentioned I’ve started a hobby of collecting vintage postcards of my hometown of Mineral Wells, TX. So far I’ve purchased some really fun postcards (mostly from eBay), and for those familiar with the town, it mainly consists of the most notable landmarks like the Baker Hotel, Crazy Water Hotel, Welcome Mountain, and some other stuff I’ll share at a later time. There’s certainly more  out there than I’d ever thought there’d be, but I’ve found my white whale.

At one point, Mineral Wells had a military based that changed names several times – Camp Wolters, Fort Wolters, Wolters Air Force Base. I’ve found several postcards, but most of them are pretty generic. But the one I really want is one that shows the front entrance, like the one below.

If any of you know where I can purchase this old postcard or one similar to it that shows the entrance, please let me know.

• I’ve got a new obscure hobby that I’ll go into further detail about later, but it’s collecting vintage postcards from my hometown of Mineral Wells. It’s been really fun and most purchases are only a buck or two on eBay. However, while looking for those items, I ran across this one which made me raise an eyebrow – Dallas, Texas Postcard Lee Harvey Oswald at State Fair Park Wax Museum c1965
• On last night’s ‘Late Show’, Stephen Colbert went home to South Carolina and interviewed his favorite elementary school teacher from his youth in her classroom.
• Buzzfeed – Syrian Refugees Had To Share A Hotel With A Furry Convention And The Photos Are Wild
• A statistical look at people that never marry.
• Buzzfeed – Men Are Having Baby Showers And Calling Them Dadchelor Parties
• Buzzfeed – Watching This Dog Reunite With Her Lost Puppies Will Make You Sob Like A Baby
• Google has a new travel planner aimed for the mobile user – Destinations on Google, that touches on almost every aspect of a vacation, from research to flight selection, hotel booking and itinerary planning. Destinations does not offer off-the-beaten-path guides or exclusive information that can’t be found elsewhere on the web. Rather, it’s meant to make researching and planning a trip on a mobile phone (typically a clumsy experience) more intuitive and productive for the occasional traveler by delivering good-quality basic information.
• The Robots Sent Into Fukushima Have ‘Died’‏ – But as soon as they get close to the reactors, the radiation destroys their wiring and renders them useless, causing long delays, Masuda said.
• IHOP waiter arrested, accused of giving away $3K in free drinks
• I find Anna Kendrick exceptionally adorable.
• As a fan of space exploration, I love this poster which illustrates every successful orbiter, lander, rover, flyby, and impactor with their trajectory. It’s the trajectory that really interests me. All of the math and physics involved with the planning of the rotation of each planet and object and their orbit is mind boggling, and this gives you a sense of it.
• Jeep stuffed a 707-horsepower engine in a Wrangler, just for fun – Jeep borrowed the 6.2-liter Hellcat V8 engine — which makes 707-horsepower — from Dodge and stuffed it into a Jeep Wrangler. It took sport seats from a Viper, and added 39.5-inch BFGoodrich off-road tires and massive axles and shocks.
• Brent Musburger (whose middle name is Woody, btw) was in Waco yesterday, but is today’s first dose of ‘MURICA! with that tie.
• This kid made chose wisely and is today’s second dose of ‘MURICA!.
• The Constitution has been successfully amended 27 times but has been attempted to be amended roughly 11,000. The National Archives is celebrating the 225th anniversary of the first 10 amendments, the Bill of Rights, with a new exhibit, and highlighting some of the most interesting failed amended attempts. (Personally, I’m still shocked that prohibition actually happened.) Here are some examples:
  • Another failed proposal, in 1846, called for presidential election via a lottery system. It called for each state to select its own presidential candidate. Then the name of each state would be written on balls equal to the number of congressmen from that state. One ball would be picked at random, and the candidate from that state would become president.
  • An 1860 proposal would have abolished the presidency outright and replaced it with an executive council.
  • An 1893 suggestion would have renamed the country the “United States of the World.” Another in 1866 would have changed the name to “America.”