Wow. I just browsed through a web site maintained by my high school graduating class. It lists every member of the almost 600 students, along with their senior yearbook photos. The site keeps track of where people are (with updated photos), who has not been located yet, and who is deceased, along with their obituaries. So the most detailed info is on the deceased ones.

Some people just knew, in high school, what they would go on to do and become. Others were uncertain and had some surprising outcomes.

I was not surprised that the one who knew since grade school that she wanted to be a nurse became one. Same for the one who decided she would be a doctor, a guy who knew he would be a lawyer, and several who wanted to be teachers.

But the surprises showed zero inclination that I can remember of what they eventually became.

There was the kid whose family immigrated from Italy when we were in grade school and vowed all through junior high that he would go back as soon as he finished school and was on his own. He stayed, became a high school English teacher, then a principal.

There was the very good looking guy who seemed to have no interests outside of girls, drinking, and music. He did get a degree in music, but then served a tour in Vietnam and returned to study veterinary medicine. Opened his own vet clinic and developed some patented medicines. Who knew?

But the most surprising was the guy who was hyper social, cussed constantly, and seemed like the most shallow person I knew, always mooching off of people at lunch. I took him for a perpetual drifter who would live off of others forever.

He first majored in fine art, then went to a seminary, became an Orthodox priest, and then an archbishop. He developed an educational program for children, wrote and illustrated books, directed choirs, developed a church web page, became a director of communications for the American Orthodox Church, and took in immigrants from Russia and Eastern Bloc nations when the Soviet Union collapsed and helped them assimilate. He married and had two chiildren, one of whom also became an Orthodox priest. A late bloomer, I guess.

Amazing what a difference there can be in people between high school and later years.

According to a report on NPR news tonight, the CDC says that the Delta variant of covid-19 now accounts for 51.7% of all new covid infections in the US, making it the dominant strain as it replaces the Alpha strain.

That didn't take long.

into their hands and give them the civil war that they want. That's what their behavior now is all about.

Start a battle with them now and their sympathizers across the country will claim that this is their moment, time to rise up and fight. Innocent lives will be lost.

Handle this as a legal matter instead of going in with guns blazing and their balloon of heroism will deflate.

three story building in downtown Buffalo. It was not occupied and there were no injuries, but the collapse has disrupted traffic in the area and blocked off one entry/exit to I90.

The building was in the process of renovations, but is now expected to be demolished.

Collapses of old buildings probably happen more often than most of us realize, but the Surfside tragedy makes us more aware of them now. Fortunately, this one is not a tragedy, except for the person or company that invested in the renovations.