Last week my computer locked up in the middle of an update. My computer is my right hand. It holds over 40 years of genealogical research, the chapters I’ve written on the book I’m doing for the Maine State DAR, all my columns, a photo collection and my online banking, among other things.

The woman on the phone wanted to know if I could get rid of a rock rising up from a section of her lawn. She was responding to my classified newspaper ad offering to do “odd jobs.” At age 15 or 16, my mom suggested the “odd jobs” ad as a way for me to earn money.

Spend, spend, spend. Tax, tax, tax. You heard a lot of flowery talk about responsibly leading Maine. You heard about discipline and "investments" that would make the state better. "No, we won't raise your taxes," they said, "we'll just reprioritize state government and we'll use money we already have to do a few things responsibly."

I grew up and went to school deep in Appalachia, in far Southwest Virginia, near the Tennessee line. While the region is trying to reinvent itself, it still suffers the hangover of the decline of coal and manufacturing, and depopulation.

I recently received the birth record of a distant cousin’s spouse. I’d been having trouble locating his parents and the record revealed why. His birth record said he was illegitimate.

Americans elect members of Congress to do one basic job: make laws. On U.S. immigration, Congress has repeatedly, decade after decade, since at least 1986, failed to do their job of taking what is very wrong with current U.S. immigration law and making it right.

"I will work with the new Legislature to achieve the best education for our people, from preschool through college and beyond, beginning with full and fair funding for schools, including our career and technical centers." So said Gov. Janet Mills in her inaugural address, a week ago.

Earlier this week, the Legislature released a preliminary list of bills. There are the normal ones, looking to change the tax code in one way or another, several around energy – including a proposal for a Maine version of The Green New Deal – Republican proposals to undermine the state’s referenda process and a bill to codify the protections of the Affordable Care Act in Maine law.

The makeup of legislators in Maine’s current 129th Legislature is almost identical to Maine’s 115th Legislature. I was first hired as a legislator staffer for the second session of the 114th Legislature. The 115th was my first experience working for a full two-year session of the Maine Legislature.

Dear Gov. Janet Mills, By the time you read this, the word "elect" will have been dropped from your title, and you will be our new governor. I say "our" new governor, because too many politicians of both parties forget that they have been elected to represent everyone, including those who love them and voted for them, and also those who do not and did not. Believe it or not, I actually think that fact will not stray far from your mind, and that you actually will remember.

It’s a new day -- and a new year -- for more than 70,000 Mainers who have been waiting years for health care coverage. New Gov. Janet Mills has vowed that she will begin to implement Medicaid expansion as soon as possible. She has tapped Jeanne Lambrew, a national recognized expert on health care, as commissioner for the Department of Health and Human Services to reform and revitalize the department.

My grand uncle Charlie Fish was one of my paternal grandfather’s two brothers. What little I know of Grand Uncle Charlie is mostly from my father. Uncle Charlie could play any musical instrument, and he was his family’s black sheep, my father said. That is all I know of a relative I would have liked to have known. I started thinking of relatives who were part of my life. What firsthand details of them will my future family members have?

As 2019 looms many people will think about making resolutions.

Christmas is a time for giving, and boldly predicting what will happen next year has been my gift to you every year since 2011.

For much of the 2018 campaign, Democrats ran hard on the issue of health care, determined to hold Republicans accountable for their efforts to take coverage away from millions of Americans. Republicans, reading the tea leaves and the polls, had a death-bed conversion, particularly when it comes to protecting people with pre-existing conditions and ensuring that they are still able to get health care coverage.

Have I told you how Eileen met Santa Claus? December 9, 2016 (Was it that long ago?) Eileen and I were in Augusta, Maine shopping, browsing, and visiting her parents’ gravesite at Central Maine Veterans Cemetery. The day was overcast, sunshine breaking through the clouds now and then, but not enough to mitigate the chilly mid-20s temperature, 12 mph wind combination.

The more I read about the relationship of the White House press corps with recent US Presidents, the more I appreciate President Trump’s use of Tweets to communicate with Americans.

At what point in your life are you most likely to spend extravagantly? When are you most likely to waste? When are you most likely to purchase the thing you don't need, or indulge yourself on the thing that you want, or eat out more often, at more expensive restaurants?