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Saturday, June 06, 2015

Put Yourself Out There! You Won't Stay 32 Forever!

Welcome to the sixth of June, and the final stages of the retrospective portion of the blog.  Gosh, I can't believe I'm almost at the end of this month long project.  I honestly spent so much time planning this thing out that I have absolutely no idea what I am going to do after this is over!  I'll have to think of something.

Maybe I can do one of those things where I review a television show and point out all the flaws, inconsistencies, and bloopers.  They seem to be all the rage these days.  Let me know what you think.  I think I can make it happen, and it will bring this blog back to its pop culture origins.

For now, let's go ahead with today's blog post.



I am 32 flavours and then some
I'm taking my chances as they come
I am 32 flavours and then some
I'm nobody but I am someone, someone
     -Alana Davis



In case you haven't guessed already, we're at year number thirty-two.  Which happened just two years ago, might I add.  This just proves that we're getting closer to the final parts of this retrospective.

I think I'm gonna shed a tear.

Ahem...okay, let's have a look and see what I was doing in 2013.  Let's start with a photograph, shall we?



Ah, yes.  Here I am wearing my favourite colour and standing in front of my workplace - which has really blue walls.  There's a story behind this picture.  I'll tell it a little later.



#1 SONG THE WEEK OF 5/18/2013
"Can't Hold Us" - MACKLEMORE & RYAN LEWIS

Not my favourite song by these guys, but a fairly decent song nonetheless.  And this is coming from someone who is not a fan of rap typically.



#1 AT THE BOX OFFICE THE WEEK OF 5/18/2013
"Star Trek:  Into Darkness"

Sorry Trekkies.  I'm not a fan of Star Trek at all.  Though, I do have a tiny memory of this movie that is linked to a sad moment.  2013 was the year that my friend Graham passed away, and I remember that a week before he died, I sold him this movie when I was working electronics.  I sure hope he got a chance to watch it.



#1 TELEVISION SHOW FOR THE 2013/2014 SEASON
"NBC Sunday Night Football"

You know network television has taken a nosedive when football is the most watched show that year.  Of course, part of me wonders what the top show was on Netflix.  I predict that it was "Orange Is The New Black".  I could be wrong though.

Okay, so here's my story of turning thirty-two.  And remember that photo that I posted earlier where I'm standing outside of a department store wearing purple?  That was taken on the day I turned 32!

Yes, I remember that day incredibly well.  It was a scorcher of a day - temperatures reached 34 degrees Celsius by four in the afternoon.  I had gotten a printer, some clothes, and some iTunes gift cards for presents that year.  And some of the people from work bought me a little cake that year!  It was really a touching gesture on their part.

Then again, I spent part of my birthday celebrations at work.  Only I wasn't working.  Well, not really, anyway.  Confused?

Okay, well, let's take a look at the picture a little more closely.  Notice the tables that are filled with knick-knacks, paddy whacks, but no bones to give a dog?  No, my store wasn't having a sidewalk sale, nor did we have to remove items from inside the store because they were doing inventory. 

No, we were having a yard sale.  A yard sale for the Relay for Life.

Seriously!  Meet our team that year!



Yes, this fine group of people volunteered their time on Victoria Day Weekend 2013 to sell some of the stuff in our homes that were collecting dust to raise money for cancer research.  I donated some old comic books and some of my time to help sell some of the items that we brought in, and it was a fun experience.

Of course, having a barbecue set up and having live music from a local band probably helped us attract people as well.

I don't know exactly how much money we raised for that yard sale, but I want to say that it was close to a thousand dollars over the two days we held the event.  Can any of you say that your yard sales raked in a thousand bucks?  I know any I've had never did!

Of course, that was just one of many events that took place in 2013 that helped support fundraising events in our community.  There were others as well.



Like the time we held a spaghetti dinner for CHEO and for the Relay for Life and despite the heavy snow (the dinner was in March), we still had a fantastic turnout.  I even won a prize in the raffle that was held that night. 



And, of course there was the actual Relay itself.  I spoke about it in great detail the first year I did it (which you can read about HERE if you're interested), but here are a few pictures from the event of 2013, just in case you wanted to see them.



It's funny how I remember every single detail of that night...which I really should, given that it happened just two years ago.  But still, it got me thinking about a lot of things.

You know how earlier in this retrospective, I talked about how I didn't really have a lot of community spirit at all?  How I would hide from the world instead of facing criticism and abuse from a select few people?  Well, I found that by volunteering in the community, it helped get me noticed - in a good way.

I guess it all started with volunteering my time at my old elementary school.  Sure, it was a small step, but a necessary one to take at that time.  It got my foot in the door to embracing my community a little bit more.

And through my job, I have to admit that I did a lot of things involving community services as well from volunteering at yard sales, to painting banners, to walking around a track thirty-four times within a twelve hour period.



Yes, you read that right.  Here's the beaded necklace to prove it.  I ended up getting two more added on to this necklace after I snapped this photo!

Putting yourself out there is never an easy task - especially in a community in which you always felt isolated or alone because you were made to feel different from everyone else.  But when it comes down to it, I think everybody should try and find a way to make the most of a situation.

Look, I'll never be hobnobbing with the rich and famous of my hometown any time soon.  And honestly, I'm perfectly fine with that.  If they can't accept me for me, then that's on them.  And, I know that when it comes to communities, every one has their share of jerks.  I suppose one of the perks to living in a small town is that they get exposed to you fairly quickly.  In places like Toronto, New York, and Los Angeles, it's harder to tell them apart.  But of course, there's always the joy you get when you discover that someone who you may have written off as a bully or a jerk ends up being someone you can really count on.  Believe me, there was one instance in which I was absolutely frightened of one of the assistant managers at our store, but once I got to know them, they quickly became one of my favourites!

I guess it just goes to show you that you never know what you'll find unless you go out and explore it.  And I suppose that doing all sorts of charity work in the community helped me out in that regard.  Of course, that's nothing compared to the help that charity work does for the community as a whole.

Yep, 32 was the year I learned a lesson in putting yourself out there.  And 33 was the year I learned that toxic people have no place in my life whatsoever.

You'll read about that story tomorrow.

Friday, June 05, 2015

Finding Growth In An Unusual Place At 31...



I don't have any real negative feelings about year thirty-one in general.  But I don't have a whole lot of positive feelings about thirty-one either.  In fact, 31 was probably one of the most boring years that I have ever had in my life.

But you know, sometimes that could be a good thing.  The whole period between 28 and 30 were quite exciting and busy, so it was nice to have a year in which I could kick back and relax.

Now that being said, I really had a hard time coming up with a story to tell about this particular time period.  It was one of those years in which all the things that did happen, I already talked about (mourning the loss of a friend, which I talked about around year 26), or all the things that happened seemed boring.

I really had to think about how I was going to approach this one.  And I think that I found my answer.

We'll get to that in a second.  In the meantime, I thought I'd go over some of the pop culture references that were big in May 2012 - the month I turned 31.



First, here's a snapshot of 31.  This was actually taken during one of the periods that wasn't boring.  A friend of mine named Sharyn came up to Canada to pay a visit and we did lots of fun things together including playing tourist in my hometown, going on a boat cruise, and visiting a couple of her friends in Upstate New York.  It would have made an interesting story to tell here...but I already told it three years ago.  If you like though, you can click HERE and read all about it!



#1 SONG THE WEEK OF 5/18/2012
"Somebody That I Used To Know" - GOTYE f. KIMBRA

Okay, I never knew who these people were before 2012.  I still have no idea who they are in 2015.  But this song?  It's quite nice.



#1 AT THE BOX OFFICE THE WEEK OF 5/18/2012
"Marvel's The Avengers"

Not too surprised at this one.  The movie shattered box office records all over the world and was considered one of the best movies of 2012.  And, surprisingly enough, even though the movie came out three years ago, the 3D version on Blu-Ray still costs over sixty bucks! 

Well, at least it does at my store, anyway.



#1 TELEVISION SHOW FOR THE 2012/2013 SEASON
"NCIS"

Well, all it took was a whopping ten years for the show to finally be the most watched show of the season, but NCIS did it with style proving that patience - and having to endure a near decade with American Idol at the top - paid off.  It's still going strong in 2015, having been renewed for at least one more year.

Okay, so my 31st year included a visit from an old friend, the passing of another good friend, and a whole lot of nothing in between.  And as 31 was about to fade into 32, one significant event happened that changed the course of my life forever.

Okay, that was an exaggeration.  But it did change the way that I looked at work again.

You see, 2012 was one of those years in which everything began to change at the workplace.  We got a new store manager that year that was determined to leave his fingerprint on the store - which he did by doing the do-si-do with several departments - shifting staff around from one area of the store to another, swapping department managers around, and all sorts of things like that.  It was quite a shock to get used to all of the changes because they kept happening one right after another.  But I completely tuned it all out because my thoughts were that I had been in the dairy/frozen area for seven years and there was no way that I would be moved. 

Well, apparently seven years in a department wasn't enough to spare me from being shifted to another area.

I was one of the last ones to be moved out of the area, and I only found out about it when the manager who was over the seasonal department called me into the office and remarked that I hadn't been getting enough sun.

That was code for - your time in dairy is done.  It's off to seasonal with you!

To be absolutely honest, those words scared the hell out of me.  I had been in the same area of the store for seven years.  I knew that area inside and out.  I knew how everything worked.  I did my job and did it well.  It seemed incomprehensible for them to take me out of my element in the air conditioned bliss of dairy and move me outside where the hot scorching sun would give me a sunburn faster than a convection oven can bake a toasted tomato sandwich.

I had no choice though.  The deed was done.  The store manager felt that the food side had too many people, so three of us were moved over to the garden centre area, as he felt that the attention was needed out there over the summer.  His theory made sense, and I understood why the decision was made.

But here's the thing.  When you spend seven years in the same department, you get so used to it.  By the end of it all, I could do the job blindfolded if I had to.  That's how confident I was in it.  The idea of leaving that comfort zone was frightening for me.  What if I didn't like the garden centre?  I wouldn't be able to go back to the old dairy department.  It would just be a mess.  What if I hated the people I worked with?  What if I passed out in the middle of the parking lot loading soil into people's cars and I got run over by a Betty Bread truck?

Like it or not though, a month before I turned 32 - April 22, 2013 - Earth Day - I began my three month stay in the garden centre.



And I freakin' loved it!

Okay, so maybe it took a week or two to get familiar with where everything was.  I spent most of my time in the soil compound loading bags of black earth, fertilizer, screening, and mulch in four different colours into people's vehicles for the first part of my time there.  From there, I graduated to price changes and watering duties (of which I was tempted to water myself instead of the plants as it was so hot that summer).  Eventually, I even learned how to run the cash register, which likely helped me earn a place in the electronics department that July. 

Oh, and as far as passing out?  Never happened.  We always had ice water on hand to keep us hydrated at all times.

But I think the best part about working in the garden centre area was the fact that we had such a fantastic team out there.  All of us pulled our weight and we had such a good time out there.  And one thing that I will say was that it was 92.5% stress free.

(There might have been the one time in which I had been out in the compound a little too long, and I got a little bit cranky over it.)

Seriously, I had absolutely nothing to worry about looking back on it.  I think our store manager at the time did me a huge favour looking back on it.  He took me out of a stagnant situation, and breathed new life into me.  And, well...it may not be the most exciting thing that happened to me at 31...but it was what I needed.

And at 32, I discovered that charity sometimes begins at home.  That story will wait until tomorrow though.

Thursday, June 04, 2015

Thirty - Becoming The Pop Culture Addict

Well...here we are.  The milestone birthday to end all milestone birthdays - well, at least for now anyway.

This is the story that I plan to tell about the year I turned twenty-nine plus one.



But you know what?  Turning thirty years old was hardly anything to be frightened of.  After nearly dying at twenty-nine, thirty was definitely a welcome sight to see!

And of all the wonderful things that happened when I turned thirty, I can only think of one thing that I want to talk about in this piece.

And, we'll get to that in a minute.  But first, let's take a look at what was happening in the world of pop culture around the time I turned thirty.

Starting with a snapshot from my thirtieth year.



Such a cheeky shot.  This was back in the days in which the term "selfie" was still a novelty and not a necessity.  Sure wish we could go back to those days.  Oh well. 



#1 SONG THE WEEK OF 5/18/2011
"E.T." - KATY PERRY f. KANYE WEST

It's no argument that Katy Perry had a fantastic 2011.  She had quite a few chart-toppers that year, and many of them I loved.  This song though?  Not quite one of them.



#1 AT THE BOX OFFICE THE WEEK OF 5/18/2011
"Thor"

This is a movie that I am sure did phenomenally well at the box office, and I know that a lot of people who saw this movie loved it.  But I can't comment on it because I haven't seen it.  I wonder if it's available on Netflix?



#1 TELEVISION SHOW OF THE 2011/2012 SEASON
"NBC Sunday Night Football"

Really?  Well, on the plus side...it's not American Idol!  I was getting sick of that show!

But one thing that I haven't gotten sick of is writing in this blog.  Would you believe that I've written at least one entry in this blog for the last 1,472 days?  That's 1,472 different entries on different pop culture topics, as well as some personal tales that I feel comfortable enough to share with all of you out there!

And if you count back 1,472 days ago to the time that I began this blog, you'll see that the date will be May 24, 2011.



Yes, it was six days after I turned thirty that I started up A POP CULTURE ADDICT'S GUIDE TO LIFE.  And, looking back on it, I can't believe that I am still writing this blog four years later.

How time flies.

You know, I still remember the time that I decided I would try blogging.  It wasn't one of those spur of the moment decisions either.  I thought a lot about it and a lot of things while I was recovering from my mega surgery.  I was hospitalized for two weeks and spent another six weeks recovering at home.  What else was there to do but think about things?

I mean, it was quite an interesting time.  I had gone through an event that had almost killed me, but I survived.  And yet, here I was - almost thirty years old, and I had absolutely nothing to show for it.  I didn't really leave my mark on the world at all, and I really felt bad about it.

Oh, sure, I had been on social media for at least three years, but let's face it.  Anybody can post a meme on their wall, or play Candy Crush until they make it to level 400 or whatever stage they're up to now.  But I wanted to do something more than that.

Interestingly enough, I turned to my Facebook page for inspiration, and looking at my Notes section, it dawned on me what I should do. 

You see, I used my Notes section as a bit of a mini-blog.  I didn't write in it every day.  Just whenever I had something on my mind.  Sometimes it was something funny.  Sometimes it was serious.  Sometimes, it was controversial.  But whatever the topic, it certainly made people take notice.  Quite a few of my friends read the notes and commented on them, and it gave me the courage to put myself out there.  At least when it came to writing anyway.

I also wanted to challenge myself a little more.  Before, I was lucky if I did one or two written pieces a month.  I wanted to see if I could do a blog entry every day for a whole year. 

(As you can clearly tell, I overachieved on that goal!)

But seriously, it was challenging to come up with a new topic of discussion every day!  I had decided that if I was going to do this, I would have to make the theme of the blog something that I felt comfortable talking about.

And I chose to make it pop culture themed.  After all, I am a trivia buff, watched television constantly as a child, and could probably sing the theme song to every sitcom released between 1975 and 1999!  And initially my plan was to use pop culture references to discuss life lessons learned from them.  Of course the more I wrote in this blog, the more I strayed from that concept.

(Maybe after this retrospective ends, I'll go back to doing exactly that.)

Now, initially I wanted to begin this blogging venture on my 30th birthday - May 18, 2011.  But I had so much planned that day that I completely forgot about it. 

Besides, with the supposed rapture coming on May 21, 2011, I wanted to see if we would live through it before I started anything.  After all, when some 90-year-old crackpot claims doomsday is coming, you best listen.  Wonder whatever happened to him?

Oh, right.  He died.  Never mind.

Eventually, I settled on May 24, 2011 for the launch of the blog.  No particular reason why I chose that date.  I just wanted to launch it sometime after my 30th birthday.  Consider this blog to be my thirties accomplishment.

This way, I have a digital footprint on the world, and my own personal space to feel like I can totally be myself in.  Believe me, it's a great feeling.

And I hope that those of you who have kept up with this blog for the last four years have enjoyed the ride.  Believe me, your input is just as important in keeping this project up and running.  After all, your votes last month helped decide the anniversary project that I would work on.  So, thank you.



You know, this was the very first logo that I used for this blog.  It was nothing more than a hand-drawn logo using pink and blue gel pens (to match the original pink and blue colour scheme).  Seems so long ago.



The following year, I changed to yellow and purple, and upgraded the logo significantly.  I still have a soft spot for this one.  It's the logo I used the longest so far.



Then I used this dark purple and blue one very briefly.



A friend of mine made this one for 2014.



And finally, we have variations of this logo.  It's wonderful to see how this has evolved over time.  Who knows what the future will hold?

All I know is that this blog - however long it lasts - will forever take me back to thirty.

And for my story about thirty-one?  I haven't quite decided what I'm going to talk about yet.  But I think that it'll be an interesting tale no matter what.

Wednesday, June 03, 2015

Twenty-Nine - The Year I Killed My Gall Bladder

Well, here we are at the final week of my...biography.

But, you know, I don't like using that word "final".  That would imply that after this week, my story comes to an end.  And that simply is not true.  It's like that Natasha Bedingfield song "Unwritten".  Today is where my book begins, but the rest is still unwritten.

Kind of has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

So, what story will I be adding to the book of life this day?

Well, how about a story from the year that most people seem to want to go back to.  A year in which time seems to stop for people who are afraid of growing older.



I'm talking about that forever age.  Twenty-nine.

Seriously, I've known people who would rather celebrate the eleventh anniversary of being 29 instead of facing the fact that they are forty.  To me, age is nothing but a number.

Though I have to say that with one major exception, 29 was a fantastic year! 

Oh, what the hell.  I'd be one of those people who would go back to being 29 in a heartbeat.  Well, aside from being 19.  Or 9.  Actually, pretty much every time I have a nine in my age, I've had a great year.

Thirty-nine had better be epic.

But since 39 won't be happening for a few years yet, let's stick with 29, which I turned in May 2010.  And here's a snapshot of me from back then.



I swear, I'm not screaming in this one.  This was a goofy face.  Though I suppose that it could have been taken on the day in which I had a black hornet flying around my room.  I hate those things!



#1 SONG THE WEEK OF 5/18/2010
"OMG" - USHER f. will.i.am

Oh my God, indeed...never in my wildest dreams did I think that a song with Internet shorthand would top the charts.  Usher, I love your music, but this was one of your weak songs.  But then again, this was the time period in which I turned off Top 40 radio.



#1 AT THE BOX OFFICE THE WEEK OF 5/18/2010
"Iron Man 2"

Okay, the movie scene was a little better.  And I have to say - Robert Downey Jr. makes one heck of an Iron Man. 



#1 TELEVISION SHOW OF THE 2010/2011 SEASON
"American Idol"

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ...

Okay, so let's get the obvious out of the way first.  The only bad part about being 29 was the fact that I had to spend two weeks in the hospital that year.

You see, losing so much weight in such a short time period during my 28th year had a really unfortunate side effect.  Apparently it wasn't until I joined an online support group for people who had their gall bladders removed that one of the ways that gall bladder attacks could be triggered was excessive weight loss in a short time period.

Well, I lost most of my weight in six months.  I suppose that qualifies.

But here's the kicker.  I am a man.  And one of the stereotypical things that people claim men do is put off going to the doctor's office when they suspect that something is wrong.  I totally hate stereotypes and try my best not to generalize or stereotype anybody.

But in my case, it proved true.  When I started getting pains in my side around Halloween 2010, I shrugged them off, attributing them to indigestion.  But when the pains grew worse, I was thinking that something was seriously wrong.

I still remember the day that I knew for sure that something was not right.  It was February 2, 2011.  How I know the date is because that was the day that Southern Ontario was clobbered by heavy amounts of fallen snow.  We called it "Snowpocalypse '11".  Anyway, that night, I picked up some chicken from the deli at my store and ate it for dinner, thinking nothing of it.  The next day, I was in the fetal position, feeling as if someone was taking a pickaxe to my chest.  It is not a pain that I would wish on my worst enemies.  That's how bad it was.

Unknown to me, a bigger soap opera was unfolding inside my body.  My gall bladder - which was once as pure as the freshly fallen snow - had gotten corrupted and was now causing all sorts of trouble inside of me.  Oh, my gall bladder was bad to the bone, throwing gallstones all over the place, causing lots of interior damage.  As if that weren't bad enough, my evil gall bladder had decided that he wanted to embark on a relationship with my liver.  The gall bladder did everything he could to sink his claws into my liver, trying to make it see his evil ways.  And every time my gall bladder tried to inject his poison into my liver, the rest of my organs were screaming out "Drop that zero and get yourself a hero because he ain't no good for you, girlfriend!".

(Well, maybe not.  But that's how I like to envision it, anyway.) 

Whatever the case, there were only two options to go.  Either someone comes in and kills off the villain of this soap opera, or the show gets cancelled forever.  And if the show got cancelled, I die.  Not exactly the way I wanted to go.

It would take ten days before the surgery was booked.  Prior to that, I got the runaround by the hospital staff and I was bounced back and forth from the emergency room to home and back again.  With lost ultrasound requisition forms to nurses not knowing what was going on to my overhearing four nurses in the emergency room having a debate on what flavour of coffee creamer they liked best, I was not exactly having a lot of faith in the medical system.  But nevertheless, on February 10, I was FINALLY admitted into the hospital, and on February 12, my gall bladder was about to film his final scenes.

Oh, my gall bladder fought tooth and nail to try and continue to be the star of the show, but the rest of my body would not let that happen.  Oh, sure, my liver tried to stand in the way and prevent my gall bladder from being harmed (even going as far as sacrificing a quarter of itself to save the love of its life).  In the end, the relationship was doomed from the start, and the gall bladder's days of tyranny and villainy were silenced forever.  The liver would have some scars from the ordeal, but eventually after a long rest - and a couple of pints of blood red wine - O positive brand - it was fine.



As for me?  I was left with a foot long scar across my chest.  Apparently my gall bladder was too badly damaged to be able to be removed by laparoscopic measures.

My total recovery time was eight weeks - two in the hospital and another six at home.  Considering how serious the surgery was, it was necessary.

Believe me...when I had my very first surgery, I never expected it to be such a major ordeal.  I guess I know how to do it right, huh?

Though admittedly my surgery would not have been so severe had I listened to the warning signs and gone to the doctor a lot earlier.  If I had, I probably wouldn't have had such a hard time.  Lesson learned for next time, I suppose.

I'm just happy that there was a next time.

But you know something?  Throughout that ordeal, there was one thing that I was thrilled about.  The fact that so many of my family and friends were so concerned about me...that really made me feel glad.  I lost count of all the people from work who visited me.  I couldn't even count all of the people who signed my get well card.  And all the people who brought me treats and get well presents and things to read while I was in the hospital...that was such a nice surprise, and I thank you all.

(Oh, and thanks Mom for sneaking in my Nintendo DS and charger cord into my hospital room!  I know the nurses frown upon that, but playing Super Mario was the only way that I could stay sane.  You try having a hospital roommate that was 99 years old and had trouble breathing! 

All in all, my first surgery was a very scary and very painful experience.  But it wasn't all that bad.  I learned a lot about myself that day.  How strong I really was.  How much I was loved.  And how much damage a tiny little organ could cause a human body!

Gall bladder.  I don't miss you.  My liver's moved on from you.  She can find someone better than you anyway!

Tomorrow, we take a look at a milestone birthday.  And one very special thing that came out of it all.  Here's a hint.  You're reading it right now.

Tuesday, June 02, 2015

June 2, 2004

Well, what a crazy week it's been!  It's a week in which a peacock got loose on the streets of Toronto, and Bruce Jenner decided that he wanted to be called Caitlyn. 

I have no idea what's going on with the peacock, but I support Caitlyn on her quest to find herself.  It's definitely going to be an interesting experience, but I think she's holding her own.

Why, Caitlyn's journey could very well be mentioned in a future entry for the Tuesday Timeline

But not today.  Today I have another subject in mind.  And, as far as what the answer is...well, you'll have to place your wager on Final Jeopardy.  Do that while we go over the list of other events that took place on June 2.  And keep in mind that today's entry will fall sometime between 1981 and 2015.

455 - Vandals enter Rome and plunder the city for two whole weeks during the Sack of Rome

1692 - The first person goes to trial upon suspicion of being a witch in Salem, Massachusetts - Bridget Bishop would be found guilty and hanged just eight days later

1731 - Martha Washington (d. 1802) - the first First Lady of the United States - is born

1774 - The Quartering Act is enacted

1835 - P.T. Barnum hosts his very first American tour of his circus show

1896 - Guglielmo Marconi applies for a patent for his new invention - the radio

1919 - Eight American cities become the target of anarchists, who planted bombs to go off simultaneously

1924 - President Calvin Coolidge signs the Indian Citizenship Act into law

1941 - Baseball player Lou Gehrig passes away at the age of 37

1962 - A series of fights between Italian and Chilean soccer players take place during one of the games of the 1962 FIFA World Cup Championship

1983 - Twenty-three passengers aboard Air Canada Flight 797 are killed after a flashover takes place following an emergency landing caused by an in-flight fire.

1995 - U.S. Air Force Captain Scott O'Grady's F-16 is shot down over Bosnia

1996 - Game show host Ray Combs takes his own life following a battle with depression at age 40

1997 - Timothy McVeigh is convicted of fifteen counts of murder and conspiracy in regards to his role in the Oklahoma City bombings of April 19, 1995

2001 - Actress Imogene Coca passes away at the age of 92

2008 - Blues musician Bo Diddley dies at the age of 79

2012 - Original Family Feud game show host Richard Dawson dies at the age of 79 - exactly sixteen years after his replacement Ray Combs died

And for celebrity birthdays, we have the following people turning one year older; Sally Kellerman, Robert Paul, Ron Ely, William Guest, Susan Hart, Stacy Keach, Charlie Watts, Maree Cheatham, Jerry Mathers, Joanna Gleason, Dennis Haysbert, Dana Carvey, Michael Steele, Jonathan Stack, Tony Hadley, Kyle Petty, Andy Cohen, Jon Culshaw, Anthony Montgomery, Wayne Brady, Wentworth Miller, Matt Serra, Tim Rice-Oxley, Zachary Quinto, Dominic Cooper, Nikki Cox, Justin Long, Morena Baccarin, Fabrizio Moretti, Jewel Staite, Brittany Curran, and Jemma McKenzie-Brown.

Okay, so here we go.  Have you got your wagers ready yet?  Let's begin.



The answer is...June 2, 2004.

The question is - What is today's Tuesday Timeline date?

Okay, let's double the value of the next answer.

The answer is...this quiz show that has been hosted by Alex Trebek since the 1980s tests your knowledge in a variety of subjects.  Just remember to phrase your answer in the form of a question!



The question is - What is Jeopardy?

Yes, today's topic has to do with the game show Jeopardy.

Ready for Final Jeopardy?  Here we go.

On June 2, 2004, this contestant began a record-breaking run on the game show "Jeopardy".  He managed to last a total of seventy-five episodes winning thousands of dollars as a result.  You have thirty seconds.  Good luck.



Oh, what the hell...you probably already know the answer to this one already.



Who is Ken Jennings?

Yes, today we're going to take a look at the record-breaking run of Jennings, who went to battle against over one hundred and fifty people in his 75 consecutive appearances on the show as a contestant.  How did he accomplish such a feat?

Well, let's take a look at some events that took place prior to 2004.

Now, I grew up watching Jeopardy and loved the show.  Mind you, I didn't know any of the answers as a six year old unless the category just happened to be about Saturday Morning Cartoons, but it was a show that everyone in my family watched, so I guess I learned to like it through osmosis.  Anyway, one of the long standing rules of Jeopardy was that a contestant was allowed to play the game for a maximum of five games.  After their fifth game, they retired from the show and three new contestants were brought in.  Those contestants would later come back at the end of the season for the Jeopardy Tournament of Champions.

At least, that was the case until 2003.  That year, producers decided to remove the limit on how many episodes players could appear on, meaning that if a player won their fifth game, they could come back for a sixth, and so on.  It never really dawned on the minds of the producers that a contestant could ever last more than ten episodes, but they went ahead with it.  And until the summer of 2004, the record of most Jeopardy appearances was eight.



But then Ken Jennings came along.  A then 30-year-old computer science graduate who served on the Brigham Young University Quiz Bowl Team who grew up watching the show.  His first appearance on the show was Wednesday, June 2, 2004, and he unseated then two-time champion Jerry Harvey.  But due to the way that Jennings answered the Final Jeopardy question, he almost lost the game!  It was to his good fortune that the judges accepted the question "Who Is Jones?" (the answer to the Final Jeopardy question was Marion Jones), because Alex Trebek reasoned that because the subject was female athletes, there weren't a whole lot of female athletes to choose from - which admittedly was a sad but true commentary, even in 2004!

Anyway, Jennings won that game.  And the next.  And the next.  In fact, Jennings won so often that when the season ended in late June, they had to go on hiatus, and Jennings returned at the start of the 21st season where his streak continued!  And that wasn't the only time his run was interrupted.  He survived the 2004 Tournament of Champions, 2004 Kids' Week, the 2004 United States Election coverage, and the Jeopardy College Championships!  That is a huge streak.

Oh, sure, contestants tried their hardest to defeat the unbeatable Ken Jennings, but they failed.  It was hard to deny the charm that Jennings had though.  From the way he wrote his name in different fonts and styles to his cheeky bugger nature each time he answered a question, Jennings soon became a superstar in the world of game shows and a media sensation, appearing on "Live With Regis and Kelly" and "The Late Show with David Letterman" due to his long-running streak.  A total of one hundred and forty-nine contestants went up against Jennings and he managed to defeat them all.  It seemed as though nobody was ever going to take him down.



That is, until Nancy Zerg appeared alongside him on the Jeopardy episode that originally aired on...get this...November 30, 2004 - nearly a full six months after Jennings first appeared on Jeopardy!

That particular episode was a tough one for Jennings.  Although the third contestant, David Hankins, had a negative score and was unable to play in Final Jeopardy, Zerg proved to be quite a formidable opponent for Jennings.  Jennings had lost both of the Double Jeopardy questions, and Zerg had answered quite a few questions correctly.  By the time the Final Jeopardy round had arrived, both Zerg and Jennings' scores were quite close.  All it took was the Final Jeopardy question.

Oh, you know what?  Let's watch it together!



And that was how Nancy Zerg put a stop to Ken Jennings' reign as ultimate Jeopardy champion!  Of course, Zerg didn't last 75 episodes herself.  Not even close.  But you have to give her mad props for doing the one thing that 149 people before her couldn't do.

As for Jennings...don't feel too bad for him.  His final score after the November 30, 2004 episode?  A cool $2,522,700!  At the time, it made him the highest earning contestant in game show history until that record was broken by another Jeopardy contestant, Brad Rutter.

(Interestingly enough, Jennings and Rutter competed against each other in 2011 in the IBM Challenge where both took on Watson, the supercomputer.  Watson won.)

And since appearing on Jeopardy, Jennings has appeared on several other game shows including "1 vs. 100", "Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?", and "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?".  He has also authored a book "Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs" in 2006.

I have always said that I wanted to appear as a contestant on a game show.  But if I found that Jennings was my competitor, I may run out the door. 

But again, that's part of his charm.  Charm that we were first introduced to eleven years ago today.