True Heritage

"I think we're tired of this notion that we're being something we're not. All around the world there are people of Irish ancestry-So instead of who we were, let's start thinking about who we're going to be. We're Irish-American and proud. Is that still allowed?"

- from 'Last Ones Standing' by Ceann.

While reading over winter break, I began to think back to the genealogy research I had been doing (see Almost Irish from Jan. 12, 2008). Several of the dead-ends bothered me. There just had to be additional information.

Through the web resources of the Sons of the American Revolution, I found a search feature for locating the graves of Patriots (primarily veterans of the Revolutionary War). Typing in surnames from my family tree, I found I hit from the right county in Pennsylvania. This turned out to be the great grandfather of my great great grandmother, whose ancestors were previously not known.

As it turns out, we have a documented lineage dating back to the American Revolution - and eligibility for membership in the SAR.

Also cleared up was confusion over the ancestry of a great grandmother (my paternal grandfather's mother).

We actually have three Patriots (all soldiers) in our ancestry.

What did this research teach me? In addition to connecting my family with one of the defining events of recent human history, the lesser result of demonstrated ethnicity (almost entirely from England). This brings us to the quote which started this post.

Yes, Nathan B. Peoples immigrated from Ireland in the early 1700s, as did virtually every other Peoples family member of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania. Almost ironically (the Peoples family is from Ulster, and Scotland before that - so not that ironic), most of the men in my direct ancestry married English-born or descended women.

As such, it is much more appropriate to use the following flags in conjunction with discussions of my family's heritage than the Irish tri-color:

Ambition

I haven't completely abandoned this blog. Not yet.

It was an extremely busy fall, between Shelly's school schedule and Riverbed taking off - not to mention Patrick growing up!

If you're interested in following me, you can also read me at my purpose-driven blog: "Honey, I've been thinking about law school..."

One month to the day

It seems that I do not update this blog as much as I would like. I suppose when life and other projects come first, lack of updating is prone to happen.

It has been a busy month. In no particular order:

• Celebrated my first father's day yesterday. Patrick is learning constantly and it is fascinating to watch. He is extremely curious, as they are supposed to be, and as I told him tonight "it will always be your job to be curious to the point of getting into things you shouldn't, and mine to try to stop you." We spent the day itself at my Dad's for a cookout and visit. It was a good day.
• I will hit 200 miles on the new bike tomorrow, barring major misfortune. I love that I feel myself becoming more fit. I am only worn out after a ride if I'm bucking a very strong head-wind, and even that I recover from quickly. I've started taking 5 mile rides for my lunch break, just for the heck of it.
• I will be writing for SmilePolitely.
  
• Shelly started her summer class today, which has her gone right after supper till about nine. This leaves me with Patrick's dinner, bath, and bed. Tonight went well - lets hope for a trend.
  

Now for the more obscure.

I haven't yet been out of college long, but still longer than I was there. Its no secret that I would have done things differently. Maybe my major would have been different, maybe I would have stayed close to more of my friends, etcetera. However, I am not going to waist time thinking over how I should have done things.

I look back through my photo album, and I remember the ambition. The naive desire to accomplish something. These hopes were brutally killed by the three months of unemployment followed by six months of underemployment that left me extremely broke. The grave was dug deeper by just under two years at a soul-sucking job that, by the time I left, had me looking over my shoulder in public and cringing every time my telephone rang.

Those experiences, while I learned from them (we always seem to learn the most for situations that are in fact far from ideal), drained me emotionally and psychologically. I took the first coach out of Dodge that sounded interesting and have been riding ever since.

It has been a relatively pleasant journey, with little to truly complain about. Every job has its quirks, every career its ups and downs. But, have I regained that ambition? That burning passion?

Enjoying an activity doesn't make you passionate about it. It makes you complacent. The true me needs to resurface, in whatever role I play, and take charge of my life as it is. Not as it was. Not as it will be. As it is.

A call for American Independence - edit

I was asked to edit my letter to under 250 words. ::sigh::

“Time for Americans to act on oil prices”? (May 15 letter from Mr. Thomas) While I agree that the fluctuations of the price at the pump are often baffling and the profits of oil companies seam criminal, but to compare the rise in gas prices to national tragedies is insulting – not only to those who remember and relate to those dramatic events, but to the rest of the world.

American’s pay very little for gasoline as compared to other countries. The real problem is that Americans have been accustomed to cheap fuel for far too long. It has lead to our urban sprawl, our road congestion problems, our outrageously large houses, and even our obesity crises. Continuing to demand artificially cheap oil only treats the symptoms, while it inflames the disease.

It IS time for Americans to act. Start local and simple. Champaign and Urbana are compact communities in actuality, with a decent mass transit system. Without any action from government (though expanded MTD operation and bike lane system would be helpful), the average citizen can fight back and do something about fuel prices – with a good old fashioned boycott.

Not purchasing fuel at all for personal use is the only way to secure energy independence, and in turn national security, for these United States.

A call for American Independence

A letter to the editor of "The News-Gazette." (We'll see if they publish it - I'll link back to it if they do!)

"Time for Americans to act on oil prices?” (May 15 letter from Mr. Thomas) While I agree that the fluctuations of the price at the pump are often baffling and the profits oil companies seam criminal, to claim that “an 8 percent increase in the price of gas is no sinking of the Lusitania, no bombing of Pearl Harbor or downing of the Twin Towers, it is still an attack on our cherished way of life” is insulting – not only to those who remember and relate to those dramatic events, but to the rest of the world.

Taking my figures from a May 15 article on Slate.com (“Gasoline Is Cheap,” by Robert Bryce), “When measured on an inflation-adjusted basis, the current price of gasoline is only slightly higher than it was in 1922.” $3.11 then, $3.77 now according to the EIA.

Also, American’s pay very little for gasoline as compared to other countries. “In 2007, out of the 32 industrialized countries surveyed by the International Energy Agency, only one (Mexico) had cheaper gasoline than the United States,” (Bryce).

The problem is that America – and Americans – have been accustomed to cheap fuel for far too long. It has lead to our urban sprawl, our road congestion problems, our outrageously large houses, and even our obesity crises. Continuing to demand artificially cheap oil only treats the symptoms, while it inflames the disease.

Allowing prices to rise to where they should be – and to what most of the rest of the industrialized world is paying (roughly $8-$9/US Gallon in most parts of Europe, for example) is the only way to put the real cost of the American Way of Life in front of the average person.

Are there domestic sources of oil that could be tapped to ensure our energy independence? No. ANWR, that darling of environmental debate on Alaska’s famous North Slope, is estimated to contain enough oil to fuel America, at best, for roughly 530 days at current consumption levels (11 billion barrels (www.anwr.org – a pro-drilling site) at 20.7 million barrels per day consumption rate (EIA)).

That is hardly energy independence.

Opening more offshore drilling opportunities may open more reserves, and keep the addict fed for another decade or two – but at what cost to America’s tourist industry? Or for that matter, it’s already endangered fishing industry?

The previous letter is correct. America must act now. The actions that individual Americans make, as they always do, will define the society that the next generation lives in. We could respond but scraping together ways to continue to feed our addiction to oil, or, we can find alternatives.

Viable electric cars are already on the market, as are high mileage conventional and hybrid vehicles. Though honestly, unless you’re willing to walk to a destination a mile or less away, and bike to one 10 miles or less away, you really have no place to complain about rising fuel costs – or your expanding waistline.

Champaign and Urbana are compact communities in actuality, with a decent mass transit system. Without any action from government (though expanded MTD operation and bike lane system would be helpful), the average citizen can fight back and do something about fuel prices – with a good old fashioned boycott.

Not purchasing fuel at all for personal use is the only way to secure energy independence, and in turn national security, for these United States.

Bike to work week

So far I've made it every day this week - even with the mist/rain this morning. This morning was also the first time I rode with anther cyclist of a ways. We met up at Windsor and Neil and he later took off North on First. Not far - but still nice to have a little company in the rain!

Patrick is teething and has an ear infection. Last night he had us up off and on starting at 3:30. Shelly took him in this morning and they confirmed her suspicions. Poor boy.

My car has literally not moved since I brought home the new bike. This actually prompted a conversation about going down to one car. The biggest concern is what to do about January and February - and the times in December and March that aren't too hospitable.

Being a one-car family (and using that one sparingly) has long been a dream of mine. Maybe someday we'll actually do it - for now, I role on and see where things take me.

LinkedIn

Facebook for adults? Kind of. LinkedIn is a social networking site geared towards connecting colleagues and college classmates. It seems to work through the "degree of separation" theory.

So far, I have reconnected with someone I knew in college. Just by looking at the names of users from Millikin, it does seem popular with the business types as well.

It is free (supported by Google AdWords), and won't take much time to maintain, so why not give it a try?