I was just remembering the weekend when my little brother, the Coast Guard Academy cadet (now a Coast Guard officer), was visiting and helping me move to my first apartment sans roommates. We were in a black hole, news-wise. No tv, no newspapers, no radio. As far as we were concerned, the world outside of Uhauls and boxes and heavy things did not exist. So it wasn't until late that Monday evening that we found out that President Reagan died and Smarty Jones lost the Triple Crown. Anyway, earlier in the day on Monday, we stopped by a post office so that I could fill out a change-of-address form. My brother, the budding patriot that he was, was annoyed that the flag was at half-mast. "That's no way to fly a flag!" he said, clearly annoyed. While I went inside, he stayed outside and raised the flag to the top of the pole. Later when we heard the news, he was mortified and I was delighted.

Amanda, my gunshot-victim friend, was an IRS operative at the time. Whenever a former president dies, government employees get the day off. After finding that out, she started rooting for Carter to kick it.