Thanks to Ted Stetson for posting this to the Wordos listserver:


One hundred years ago 1904


THE YEAR 1904
Maybe this will boggle your mind. The year is 1904 . One hundred years ago. What a difference a century makes!

Here are some of the U.S. statistics for 1904:

The average life expectancy in the U.S. was 47 years.
Only 14 percent of the homes in the U.S. had a bathtub.
Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.
A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost eleven dollars.
There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S., and only 144 miles of paved roads.
The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.
Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more heavily populated than California.
With a mere 1.4 million residents, California was only the 21st most populous state in the Union.
The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower! .

The average wage in the U.S. was 22 cents an hour.
The average U.S. worker made between $200 and $400 per year.
A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year,
a dentist $2,500 per year,
a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and
a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.
More than 95 percent of all births in the U.S. took place at home.
Ninety percent of all U.S. physicians had no college education.
Instead, they attended medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and by the government as
"substandard."
Sugar cost four cents a pound.
Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.
Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.
Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo.
Canada passed a law prohibiting poor people from entering the country for any reason.
The five leading causes of death in the U.S. were:
1. Pneumonia and influenza
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhea
4. Heart disease
5. Stroke
The American flag had 45 stars.
Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico,
Hawaii, and Alaska hadn't been admitted to the Union yet.
The population of Las Vegas, Nevada, was 30!!!
Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea hadn't been invented.
There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.
Two of 10 U.S. adults couldn't read or write.
Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated high school.
Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at corner drugstores.
According to one pharmacist, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health."
Eighteen percent of households in the U.S had at least one full-time servant or domestic.
There were only about 230 reported murders in the entire U.S.

Try to imagine what it may be like in another 100 years .
--

Some interesting facts there. What's the deal with Canada in 1904, oh sweet and kind Canada?

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Here I won't imagine what it may be like in another 100 years. Here, I'll imagine what it might be like for me one year from now. In the form of goals and resolutions.

1. I'll need to finish the Pocket novel and I need to finish it soon, so that I can go to the novel workshop. I'll be reporting the progress of that here soon.

2. I've been hesitant about saying this publicly, but here it goes. I'd like to have a second novel written (at least a good first draft) by late October for the Surrey Writers Conference. It is possible for me, I think, but first thing first. Get that Pocket novel done.

3. After a year of being lackadaisical at keeping short stories in the mail, I'd like to do better in 2005. Maybe I'll have a designated "mailing day" each week to stay organized and on top of things.

4. Short stories. I want to finish the stories I start and send them. Hit those deadlines.

What else is in store for 2005?

A move could very well be in store. Our landlord died in October and one of his brothers got custody of the property. He's selling it and there have been four bids for the place already. The buyer might let us stay or the buyer might let us go and tear this old duplex down. We're expecting to move, it's just a question of when.

There has been talk of moving out of Eugene. Portland, Oregon coast, Pheonix area, Cleveland, Austin? Right now it's all just speculation. We've also been looking for cheap places to live in Eugene.

I'm going to change employers, if I can. A move to the grounds crew on the Eugene Country Club would give me something like two dollars more an hour. If I want to maintain my seasonal status (and do more writerly things in the winter) I need a higher paying seasonal job. And the prospect of higher rent (we won't find another apartment as cheap as this one) is even more reason to work elsewhere.

We'll be going to Austin in the spring for Ximena's brother's wedding.

Of course, I'm sure, life will send suprises.

This entry is a little backwards, because now I'm going to take a look back at 2004. It definitely was the year of the Tango. Ximena and I started lessons in April and it's been fun. Tango doesn't possess me like writing does (that includes everything from the physical act of writing, reading about writing and writers, and learning about the business and publishing side, and reading writer-journals) but it's a great distraction from the writing-side. As my friend, Eric Witchey said, "It probably helps my writing."

This past year we discovered the Flylady and the Menu Mailer. For the latter, we've been eating out too much and Menu Mailer has made cooking at home easy and fun.

In 2004 I finally bought a DVD player. Our DVD collection has grown at a steady pace. A big part of it is the James Bond Special Edition Collection. I was a big Bond fan when I was sixteen back in the mid-eighties, and with this collection I became a fan again. Ximena became as interested in Bond as well. Sean Connery still rules as Bond, however Pierce Brosnan is a close second.

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Happy New Year To All! May 2005 be a great one.