My Autobiography

  My story begins in Cincinnati, Ohio, and, at this time, concludes in Scottsdale, Arizona. Throughout my journey from Ohio to Arizona, I have lived in eight decades, experienced two centuries, and witnessed two millennia.

In my youth, I was a tall, slender kid who was not very athletic. I performed well in school, but my report cards consistently noted "Doesn't work to maximum ability." I told my parents, "I prefer to work smarter, not harder."

At the age of 20, I had an enjoyable job, 45 rpm music, dancing, ham radio, and my car. I enlisted in the Air Force and lost everything; my job, my 45s, my friends, my ham radio station, and my car. Starting anew, I found a wife, a family, a new career, classic cars, and comfortable homes.

By the time I reached 40, I viewed myself as a self-made man; educated, well-travelled, prosperous, respected, and influential. However, a selfish wife, two greedy lawyers, and an obstinate court stripped it all away. Once again starting over, I discovered meaningful relationships, dancing, new careers, renewed prosperity, and a desirable lifestyle.

At 60, I enjoyed a comfortable home, a gentle cat, dance partners, and a fulfilling career. I owned real estate, luxurious cars, and spent weekends on the golf course. Life was good and I published my autobiography. Designed to resemble a newspaper, I titled it The Good Times because life had been "a good time."

Upon turning 80, I was residing in Arizona. I had a loving partner, a precious cat, a lovely home, vacations in Mexico, extravagant cruises, and a luxury car. I danced across both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and played golf at prestigious courses. By this time, my autobiography had expanded significantly since publishing the 2018 Edition of The Good Times.

Besides, with the advancements in technology, my unique newspaper format appeared in miniature on our small mobile devices. My careers had concluded long ago, but my lifestyles, activities, and adventures continued to thrive and evolve. It was finally time for The Good Times to undergo a transformation.

The new format features "chapters" and the stories that comprise those chapters. It is compatible with every device and you can click on a photo to enlarge it. You can read my autobiography like a book or use the Menu to choose specific chapters and stories. I still refer to my autobiography as The Good Times because life continues to be "a good time."

As the memories unfolded, images of the past surfaced. I wanted to share some of those images with my readers, so I added photo pages. Many of the photos are mine, but some are sourced from the internet and Google. You can access the photo pages by clicking the Photos button at the end of a story or chapter.

In my view, I grew up in one of the greatest centuries ever. The first decade of the 20th century witnessed inventions that transformed the world: the radio, the automobile, the airplane, the escalator, air conditioning, the vacuum cleaner, the safety razor, windshield wipers, and talking movies.

My parents experienced even more innovations: the pop-up toaster, the helicopter, traffic signals, short-wave radio, the electric razor, Band-Aids, Scotch tape, instant coffee, and frozen food. I was born in 1940, and by 1945, we had the first programmable, electronic, general-purpose computer.

Throughout my lifetime, television joined radio, jet engines revolutionized flight, automobiles came equipped with air conditioning and stereo radios, color photography replaced black and white, magnetic tape replaced records, CDs replaced tapes, and "digital chips" replaced them all. The computer evolved from 27 tons to 5 ounces and from 200 bytes of memory to megabytes of memory.

However, 20th-century science did not stop on Earth. It ventured into "outer space." We walked on the moon, orbited the Earth while living in a space station, launched people and cargo into space and returned to Earth in a space shuttle. We dispatched robots to Mars, explored our entire solar system, and peered into other galaxies using telescopes in "outer space."

As we transitioned into the new millennium, technology continued to amaze me. The Internet provided unprecedented access to vast amounts of information. Correspondence became instantaneous through email. Cell phones and social media enabled us to share photos, videos, and daily events with family and friends instantly, no matter where they were in the world.

Satellites offer aerial views and images of the entire globe, both land and sea. GPS safely guides us to unfamiliar locations anywhere in the world. Computers come in various forms: desktop, laptop, tablet, cellphone, and wristwatch. You can purchase anything from Apples to Zippers on the Internet and it will arrive at your doorstep the following day.

Meanwhile, drive-in movies, vinyl records, tape recorders, vacuum tubes, rotary phones, film, and typewriters have all become relics of the past. However, these remnants are not the only items on the lengthy list of extinctions. My America is also included!

The America I grew up in is facing challenges. It is plagued by illiteracy, poverty, drugs, homelessness, crime, fear, rampant inflation, uncontrolled spending, and massive debt. It is on the brink of succumbing to Socialism, and all the new generations seem to know how to say is "Shut up old man. It's our America now!" Good luck with that!

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