Daily Dirt: Personally HGBM, how was your day?

January 21, 2022 | By Steve Eighinger, Muddy River News Minister of Culture and Doctor of Love

Daily Dirt for Jan. 21, 2022

Way too many of the examples in today’s first thought are applicable to my daily existence … welcome to today’s three thoughts that make up Vol. 189 of the Daily Dirt.

1. Maybe because I’m old(er) I find the following texting acronyms for seniors rather hilarious. See if you agree:

BFF: Best Friend Fell.
HGBM: Had Good Bowel Movement.
BYW: Bring The Wheelchair.
TTYL: Talk to You Louder.
BYOT: Bring Your Own Teeth.
LMDO: Laughing My Dentures Off.
FWIW: Forgot Where I Was.
IMHAO: Is My Hearing Aid On?
ROFLACGU: Rolling On The Floor Laughing And Can’t Get Up.
FYI: Found Your Insulin.
GHA: Got Heartburn Again.
FWIW: Forgot Where I Was.
DWI: Driving While Incontinent.
OMSG: Oh My! Sorry, Gas.
CGU: Can’t Get Up.

2. There’s been much discussion in the past year or so over the advent of higher minimum wages.

Here’s some food for thought on that subject. The U.S. minimum wage is shown in increments of 10-year periods, beginning in 1940, and what the 2020 equivalent would be:

1940: $0.30 an hour, 2020 equivalent: $5.57.
1950: $0.75 an hour, 2020 equivalent: $8.23.
1960: $1.00 an hour, 2020 equivalent: $8.80.
1970: $1.60 an hour, 2020 equivalent: $10.92.
1980: $3.10 an hour, 2020 equivalent: $10.28.
1990: $3.80 an hour, 2020 equivalent: $7.69.
2000: $5.15 an hour, 2020 equivalent: $7.872010: $7.25 an hour, 2020 equivalent: $8.63
2020: $7.25 an hour, 2020 equivalent: $7.25.

The above figures were supplied by Taylor Bell, yahoo.com financial correspondent.

3. Sports writers at news outlets in Peoria, Springfield, Rockford, Galesburg and Macomb recently submitted their favorite sites to watch high school basketball games in Illinois. These were the top eight, but the selections are listed in no particular order:

Galesburg: John Thiel Gymnasium.
Moline: Wharton Field House.
Jacksonville: The Bowl.
Taylorville: West Gymnasium.
Peoria: Robertson Memorial Field House.
Peoria: Manual Gymnasium.
Dakota: Dakota High School Gym
Rockford: Boylan High School Gym.

Personally, my picks from West-Central Illinois, Northeast Missouri and the Metro East area in southwestern Illinois would be, in no particular order:

Quincy Notre Dame: The Pit is as good as it gets.

Quincy High School: Blue Devil Gym is a palace.

Jacksonville: Everyone should see at least one game in The Bowl.

Hamilton: A mini-Jacksonville.

Payson: A mini-Hamilton.

Mark Twain High School: A blast from the past (PUBLISHER’S NOTE: The Publisher did not coerce Steve to add this. JRG MTHS ’85).

Edwardsville: Spacious, modern, but with an old-school feel.

Steve Fact O’ The Day — Steve thinks it would be an excellent idea to have vendors selling food items in the stands at high school games. “There is no earthly reason why this would not be a success,” Steve said.