| < April 2008 | Matthew Loar > Blog | June 2008 > |
So a while back my sister mentioned to me that when she was at the Experience Music Project (one of those touristy things to do in Seattle that I haven't done yet because no one has come to visit me), she saw something about a man who worked for Gibson back around 1920 who was famous for making mandolins by the name of Lloyd Loar. Naturally she was curious about this, so she did some web searching and turned up that he was somehow related to a baseball player called Lefty Grove. Now, we knew from this old book of my father's family geneology that had floated around my father's family that we were somehow related to Lefty Grove, so that settled that.
Well, earlier tonight I was looking at the website for the UW Extension program and noticed that they had a course on Geneology. This got me to thinking about it again, so I decided to do some poking around of my own. I soon found The Loar's Place, which turned out to be an absolute treasure trove. A distant relative has poured an amazing amount of effort into compiling records and placing them online. I will have to explore this more and get in touch with him.
As for the relation, it turns out that Lloyd Loar, Lefty Grove, and myself are descendants of Jacob Loar, a settler who arrived in Maryland in 1774, married, and had eleven children. By my reckoning, Lloyd and Lefty were third cousins to each other, and third cousins twice removed to me.
Isn't the Internet amazing?
When I arrived home tonight, I had received a package from my sister Aimee. It contained the Wii version of Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, as well as an envelope bearing the logo of my high school. It was addressed in my hand to me care of my sister. I realized that it was a letter that Mr. Blair, my senior-year English teacher, had had us write to ourselves four years in the future, sort of like a time capsule. I thought that I'd post the contents of the letter and comment on how things worked out.
Dear Matt, Mr. Blair says that the address goes on the side. But I'm smarter than he is, so I'm putting it in the center, where it belongs. He's probably going to read this too, but I don't care. I'm out of here in just a few days. I hope he enters grades first, though.
I got an A. No indication whether he read it or not.
Also, the text "Renee Pingolt has a problem with this paragraph" is scrawled in the margin. I don't recall what her problem was or why she was reading it in the first place.
Anyway, I'll be leaving for U of I this fall. It was hard to decide between U of I and Houston, but UH sucks, so there. Well at least I'll get to hang out with DeFalco and Petey while I'm there. Rock on!
Background: University of Houston offered me a free ride due to my National Merit Finalist status. I don't regret this decision. Of the universities that accepted me, I believe U of I was the best choice. I regret not applying to more places. Especially Harvard.
I did hang out with Petey quite a bit the first year, since he lived in an adjacent dorm. I saw DeFalco a few times at Circle K meetings.
Clowes is going to Purdue. I'm offering 2 to 1 that he's on academic probation by the end of the first year, and 5 to 1 that he has some kind of sexually transmitted disease.
This was an awfully mean paragraph. Clowes did spend only one year at Purdue. Last I talked to him, he was studying archeology and doing quite well.
I have no information on the second item, and prefer it that way.
Four years from now, I should be graduating from U of I, hopefully with a master's. Then I want to get a job as a software engineer. Ultimately, I want to run my own software company. You'd better be working on that, you slacker.
I was happy to escape after 3 years with a bachelor's. I am a software engineer. Right now, I'm just happy to have health insurance.
I'm really happy that I'm going to prom with Denise. I hope that I'm able to stay in touch with her and all the other Key Club people, both those graduating and those staying at WB. I hope also that Key Club is able to continue on and hold the line against NHS.
Thanks to Facebook, I've at least been able to wish people happy birthday and stuff. Last I heard back in 2005, a cheerleader was president of Key Club.
Anyway, I am in awe of how many amazing people are a part of our graduating class. I hope I am able to keep in touch with all of them.
It really sucks that so many of my favorite teachers will be leaving in the next few years. Mrs. Holy, Mrs. Joyce, and Mr. Gerut will all be gone. Others might join them. I guess I'll have to just come and visit the younger teachers like Mr. Feuerborn and Mr. Blair.
Well, I'm rambling now, so I'm going to stop. I need to save some wit for my graduation speech.
Excessive sentimentalism.
| < April 2008 | Matthew Loar > Blog | June 2008 > |