On this day in 1800, President John Adams became the first acting president to take up residence in Washington, D.C. Unfortunately, the White House (or President’s Mansion or President’s House as it known at the time), was still unfinished, so Adams moved into temporary digs at Tunnicliffe’s City Hotel near the also half-completed Capitol building. The final site for the nation’s capital had been selected by George Washington while he was still president in 1790. Construction on the President’s House commenced in 1792, but was not completed until late 1800. When Adams first arrived in Washington on June 3, he wrote to his wife Abigail that he was pleased with the new site for the federal government and had explored the soon-to-be President’s House with contentment. However, he showed weariness at being unsettled. On November 1, Adams finally moved into his official residence, with the paint and plaster still drying and the building surrounded by weeds. Abigail Adams arrived in ...

Today's quote comes from Abigail Adams (1744-1818), the second First Lady of the United States and wife of the second U.S. President, John Adams: "Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and diligence." I agree wholeheartedly with Abigail. What she is saying is that people must take an active interest in learning. Books do not merely fall from the sky and into your lap -- you need to seek them out, whether at home or in the library. The same applies in the digital world, where you can find helpful videos on YouTube, informative articles on Wikipedia, and so forth. Unfortunately, far too many people believe learning stops the day you graduate from college. This couldn't be further from the truth. Just because you don't have to take exams or write papers anymore doesn't mean you can't learn how to play an instrument, read and write in a different language, or start your own business. Nothing enriches the mind like knowl...

Now that we're in the thick of the 2016 presidential race, I decided to dig up a few facts on presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton that you might not know. Admittedly, despite being your typical politics nerd, I didn't know any of these myself: According to the National Constitution Center, Hillary Clinton wasn’t interested in politics at a young age. Instead, she aspired to "become a baseball player, a journalist, and an astronaut.”  Clinton was once a Republican, even campaigning for Barry Goldwater in 1964. She switched parties in 1968 and wound up working for Democratic nominee George McGovern in 1972 and Jimmy Carter in 1976. In 1974, Clinton became a member of the presidential impeachment inquiry staff during the Watergate scandal. President Richard Nixon resigned later that year. Clinton is the first presidential spouse to earn a postgraduate degree and the first to be elected to national office. Hillary was the first presidential spo...

On this day in 1852, Rutherford B. Hayes, who would go on to become the 19th President of the United States, married Lucy Webb, a sociable, devout Methodist from his home state of Ohio. She was 24 and he was 33. Lucy met Rutherford when she was only 14, but the two did not start dating until she was in college. In 1850, she graduated with honors from Wesleyan Female College in Cincinnati, Ohio. After an engagement of a year and a half, the two were married in her mother’s home in Chillicothe, Ohio. The couple had eight children, six of which survived into adulthood. During the Civil War, Hayes served in Ohio’s 23rd Infantry regiment; at 40 he was regarded as an “old man” by the younger soldiers. Meanwhile, Lucy volunteered to lend a helping hand in hospitals, where she saw firsthand the atrocities of war. Hayes' fellow soldiers dubbed her the “Mother of the Regiment” for her gentle care and kindness. Not surprisingly, she would later be an activist for reforms in mental health,...

Today's quote comes from Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), principal leader of the Indian independence movement in British-ruled India: "A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes." - Gandhi Gandhi's quote is quite simple. If you think you're smart and capable of great things, that's exactly what you'll do. If you think you're not deserving of all the rewards that come from hard work, you won't get them. We are masters of our own destiny, and our lot in life is largely psychological. If you remain positive even in the face of life's toughest challenges -- if you refuse to give up -- you'll eventually prevail. However, if you allow only negative thoughts to pervade your mind, all that will do is induce negative situations. It is then you can become a prisoner of your own mind. Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, once said, "No one can make you feel inferior without your conse...

Today's quote of the day comes from Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962), who served as First Lady of the United States during her husband Franklin Delano Roosevelt's unprecedented four terms in office. "In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility." - Eleanor Roosevelt I agree wholeheartedly with Roosevelt; in reality, this has been a recurring theme on this blog since it was first launched. What I think Eleanor Roosevelt is trying to say here is that we are ultimately the masters of our own destiny. Life is what we make of it, and the world is our oyster. Whether you often complain about your dead-end job, big gut, or shabby city apartment, it's on you to take the necessary steps in your life to effect change. Simply put, no one else is going to do it for you! We must hold ourselves accountable for our choices, whether they end up being good or bad...