I Need an iPod

OK, it doesn't need to be an iPod, but something that will provide a suitable distraction when I am walking abouton errands and such. As I was headed to the bank today, I was thinking about how, as a public employee I get not Presidents' Day but both Washington's and Lincoln's birthdays (observed) off. I swear, they look for everything.

The problem is that the way my mind skips about, it's can be like watching James Burke hosting Connections at high speed, and that can be a problem. See, after a few hops to different topics, I thought about the Julian calendar corrrections and how many days things got shifted (I think it was 11 days here in the U.S., but at least we didn't change four times in one decade like the Soviet Union, which also tried weeks of different lengths).

Well, this brings up a real question: Are we talking about these men's birthdays in terms they knew them or in the corrected terms? Sure, it doesn't matter, but that doesn't keep me from thinking about it (my wife would probably say that it enccourges me to think about it). But consider this: If you were a great leader, or at the very least, on so judged by History (capital H), how would you feel about having your life, your birth, revised?

Mind you, I guess I would just settle for being so judged, but that will never happen. Still, it does make me wonder what, say, Bill Clinton thought as a child. "Hey, I'll be President one day, I think. After all, I wouldn't want such a thing to come as a surprise." Then again, many Presidents do think that. Heck, Kerry made life choices because he wanted to improve his chances of getting a nomination. Is that what it takes these days? Childhood confidence? Oh hell, that's more leaps. I will quit while I'm behind.