Today Is ...

from husband Bill

As the first Saturday in May, today (May 2, 2026) is National Free Comic Book Day.

I became a big fan of Jughead Jones comic books (digests) in the early 1990s, when I was in my early 30s. During that time, I was writing, editing, and researching for a weekly, international magazine on the financial and technical aspects of the chemical industry based in New York City, and I needed to read something simplistic for a change, so I chose Jughead.

Jughead Jones and I are very much alike. He's lazy, awkward, clumsy, and a free spirit, plus he likes to eat, especially hamburgers, and is not popular with the ladies. He is just kind of ... "there," being somewhat superfluous.

I have been a fan of Jughead since I was a kid in the 1960s. I enjoyed the comic strips, which I still do, and The Archies Show cartoon TV series that aired for one season in 1968, when I was seven years old.

from husband Bill, May 2, 2026

I particularly like raspberry-chocolate truffles and orange-chocolate truffles. I am also quite fond of marzipan-filled truffles.

from husband Bill, May 2, 2026

My father owned and operated an insurance agency for decades. He specialized in automobile insurance and "property and casualty" insurance. I studied insurance (and real estate) in 1985 between my two university degrees, regarding the possibility of taking over my dad's businesses. (My father also owned and operated a real estate agency, and my mom operated our travel agency.) I ultimately became a journalist, working from September 1982 to April 2017.

My dad employed a guy who just handled life insurance. I went to a Paul McCartney concert with him at Madison Square Garden in December 1989. 

from husband Bill, May 2, 2026