Today in 1965 (along with other events taking place on June 3), U.S. astronaut Ed White made the first U.S. spacewalk out of Gemini 4.

If you want unfiltered Steve, read this.

As long as we’re on a self-indulgence thing (which seems obvious for the Selfie Era), for those who care, here is a Half Century of Steve:

• Others born the day I was born: Bodybuilder Suzan Kaminga (who undoubtedly could clean my clock), singer and bass player Mike Gordon of Phish, and actor Jeff Blumenkrantz.
• Inherited physical traits: Height, nearsightedness, bad back (though it’s remarkable how much better your back feels after you lose 50 pounds), bad sinuses.
• Celebrities someone claimed I look like: Jeff Bridges, Channing Tatum (not sure how that happened), Brett Favre (by a guy who may have been inebriated at 7:30 a.m.).
• Little known fact about me until you read this blog (other than the spacewalk thing): I am the son of a 1960 Miss Wisconsin-USA pageant contestant and the first piano player of southern Wisconsin’s first rock and roll band. Really.
• Strange thing said about me: I don’t sound like I’m from Wisconsin. (Two native Illinoisians said that.)
• Favorite car I ever owned: My handed-down-from-my-parents 1975 Chevy Caprice coupe. 18 feet long, 4,300 pounds, 11 city mpg, 26-gallon gas tank. Seated as many people as you wanted. Cavernous trunk. It was like owning an El Camino with a back seat.
• Favorite car I have yet to own: The Corvette. Duh. Which? I could live with a 1965 or later C2, or a C3, or a C5. Or, let’s face it, probably any Corvette that showed up in my driveway, as long as it is not equipped with an automatic. To be different, I like the dark green Vettes:
  
  
  
• Non-Corvette you want: A big station wagon from the ’70s or ’80s, or a four-wheel-drive pickup truck. (Again, with a stick.)
• Musical instruments you’ve played (if that’s what you want to call it): Trumpet. Piano, though I hated it.
• Favorite musical moment: Marching in the University of Wisconsin Marching Band. Also, playing “When the Saints Go Marching In” on All Saints Day at our former church.
• Favorite rock group: Chicago. Duh. (But not the sappy ballads.)
• Favorite rock act not named Chicago: Electric Light Orchestra. Or Santana.
• Favorite rock solo act: Eric Clapton.
• Favorite old country song: Marty Robbins “A White Sport Coat and a Pink Carnation.”
• Favorite current country song: Joe Nichols “Sunny and 75.”
• Favorite classical music: Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, or something I played in high school (Gustav Holst’s suites in E-flat and F, Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Folk Song Suite.”)
• Least favorite music: Sappy ballads.
• Favorite movie: “Bullitt,” not merely because of Steve McQueen:
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAGL8C9y8bg
• Favorite comedy movie: “Airplane!”
• Favorite movie you can’t watch with the kids: Either “Fargo” or “Desperado.” You betcha.
• Favorite TV show: “Star Trek.”
• Favorite fictional character: Capt. James T. Kirk.
• Favorite conservative writer: Jonah Goldberg, because his couch talks to him.
• Favorite book of the Bible: The Acts of the Apostles, in which the apostles go from “Great, now what?” to “Hey, this works!”
• Favorite food group: Italian, possibly ironically since I am 0 percent Italian.
• Favorite meal: Brunch.
• Favorite breakfast: Pancakes and bacon. Or country fried steak and eggs.
• Favorite lunch: Bacon cheeseburger, with lettuce, tomato and raw onion. (And probably a bib.)
• Favorite dinner: Ribeye steak and shrimp, with a baked potato cooked until it’s molten.
• Favorite vegetables (yes, I do eat them): Corn on the cob, tomatoes, fresh spinach, asparagus, and red, orange and yellow peppers.
• Favorite fruit: Watermelon and fresh pineapple.
• Favorite dessert: Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.
• Favorite mixed drink: Brandy old fashioned with sweet vermouth.
• Favorite summer mixed drink: Tanqueray gin and tonic.
• Favorite beer: In the summer, Potosi Steamboat Shandy. Other times of the year: Leinenkugel Red or Capital Brewery Supper Club.
• Favorite discontinued beer: Heileman’s Special Export.
• Favorite cold nonalcoholic beverage: Sweet tea.
• Favorite hot nonalcoholic beverage: Coffee.
• Favorite Wisconsin-made ag product: Milk.
• Favorite exercise activity: Walking.
• Only exercise activity: Walking.
• Greatest athletic moment: Outside of the Heritage Bowl (high school friends of mine know the reference), it would be the night I hit a triple playing softball. I left part of my leg at third base, but the girl who came to watch apparently was impressed, since she is now the mother of our children.
• Favorite pet: Our Welsh springer spaniel, Puzzle, although she had amazing ability to inflict pain on her supposed owner. (Apparently our maximum-size Basenji, or PitBasenHerd, is channeling Puzzle from this side of the Rainbow Bridge.)
• Thing I miss: Our late Siamese cat, Mocha, jumping onto my lap while I’m trying to type on my laptop.
• Favorite sports team: The Green Bay Packers, of which I am an owner.
• Favorite sports team that doesn’t exist anymore: The Chicago Cubs of the day baseball era when Harry Caray was their announcer. Now, the Cubs have slightly more charm than the White Sox, which isn’t saying much.
• Favorite sports quote 1A: Vince Lombardi: “Winning is not a sometime thing, it’s an all-the-time thing. You don’t win once in a while, you don’t do things right once in a while, you do things write all the time.”
• Favorite sports quote 1B: Also Vince Lombardi: “If you chase perfection, you will catch excellence.”
• Favorite expression: Irony tinged with sarcasm. (Because I’m from the ’80s. As if you didn’t notice.)
• Things I wear that aren’t necessarily in style: Dress shirts with blue jeans. Also white shoes in the summertime.
• PC or Mac? Mac … when they work correctly.
• Most prominent person who got angry with me: Probably Madison Catholic Bishop Robert Morlino. Followed by Madison Mayor Paul Soglin, on three occasions when he wasn’t the mayor.
• Favorite president: Well … Ronald Reagan.
• Least favorite politician: Too many to list, but nearly all of them have the letter D after their name.
• Thing that ticks me off: Misspellings in big type in print.
• Thing I hate: Wisconsin winters.
• Least desirable personal trait: Impatience, because there is only one truly, provably nonrenewable resource — time.
• Favorite swear word (a question asked on AMC’s “Inside the Actors Studio,” though the answer is always bleeped out): Well, it starts with F, and rhymes with “puck,” because of its linguistic utility. (However, try to avoid swearing. We’re not going to put up with that shit.)
• Favorite time of day: Not the morning. I prefer to get up at 9 a.m. or later. (See “coffee.”)
• Favorite geographic trivia fact: From the Platteville Mound, you can look down on Charles Mound, the highest point in the state of Illinois.
• Favorite professional trivia fact: Cuba City was named by postmaster William Goldthorpe (because its previous name was “Yuba City,” and there was already a Yuba elsewhere in Wisconsin and a Yuba City in California), who also owned the Tri-County Press, where I used to work.
• Writer(s) after whom I patterned my style: Consciously? No one.
• Professional thing I haven’t done yet: Write a series of novels that sell millions of copies each. Also write something in Episcopal Church Rite I language. (Is it meet, right and my bounden duty so to do?)
• Biggest job I didn’t get: Announcer for the Milwaukee Brewers. I applied twice. They hired someone else twice.
• Career-specific professional advice: Don’t get hung up in how information is delivered. Learn to present information in words, graphics, sound and video.
• Non-career-specific professional advice: Be the best at what you do whether or not you get credit for it.
• Personal advice: Make the most of where you are now, because your life is what is happening while you’re waiting for your idealized life to begin. Also, speak out.