RobZerrvations
Musings from a Meandering, Mischievous Mind
Happy Holidaze.
I have been back in the real world for about four months now. During that time, I have come to love many things others take for granted. Things like health insurance, a retirement plan, a regular paycheck, paid vacations, you know, the stuff that makes working for someone else rather than yourself simply wonderful. Sure, some people will say they can't stand the place they work or the people they work with or for. I fortunately don't have that problem. I used to, many years ago, but the idea...
The Private Eye Who Will Not Die.
I really loved my job in the mailroom back at Associated Grocers. It was my first job out of college. I was pulling down $5 an hour and all I had to do was drive the mail car around. As you can imagine, I had an awful lot of time on my hands. It was then that Brewster McCabe came into my life. I spotted him one day on a street corner. 5th & Union, it was. Downtown Seattle. Even on a hot summer's day, he stood out from the crowd. Dressed in a London Fog and a fedora, he looked as if he had...
Ren-dering.
I headed back to the ren faire this time. Oh sure, I've been to ren faires in Florida, including BARF. If you aren't from Florida, you probably thought that was a commentary on the fair itself. No, it stands for Bay Area Renaissance Fair. I'm not really the rennie type, mind you. I never have been. Still I go each year, largely because I can get some good shopping in, people watch and marvel at all the people who find a ren faire the be-all, do-all. I guess it could be. It's just not for me. I...
A Long Way To South Dakota.
Ever since I was a little boy, I have wondered why in the world my ancestors came from South Dakota. Even when I went there as a four year old I wondered, and I was standing right in the state. There I was in Aberdeen, South Dakota, discovered by the cops in a phone booth trying to phone my daddy back in Washington so he could come and get me. South Dakota. They couldn't have picked New York, like my mother's side of the family did. Or sunny Florida. Or anywhere warm for that matter. It has...
Dirty Laundry Shrouded In Mystery.
I started thinking about faith recently. No, not New Orleans Faith, the one whose nose I hooked. As you know, my faith has been shaken several times in my life. People dying on you, being poor, almost dying from a illness... these things can really test your faith. So can marrying a Republican agnostic. I was agnostic at one time, true. I doubted the existence of God. I suppose I turned my back on Him at a couple points. And what happened was never a good thing. So, I learned the hard way that...
Lost Boy.
I have always loved the Peter Pan story. A boy who never wants to grow up, who falls for a pretty girl, ends up fighting pirates and in the end, has to choose between remaining a boy or becoming a man. Well, we all know which one I picked. Sure, there have been times when a winsome lass has lured me towards becoming a grown up, but in the end, it just didn't sound like much fun. Along the way, I battled pirates in Seattle, lost my shirt to the Indians (albeit in a casino), spent some time with...
What A Dump.
There are times when I think back to my childhood and marvel at our innocence. Not only as kids, but as a society. If you recall those days, you could go out for an entire day as a kid and there was a reasonable expectation that you'd return home alive. There wasn't any such thing as an Amber Alert or even an Amber, girls were named Debbie, Tammy and Julie; Amber was a color not a girl's name. We didn't have a lot of things we do now. There were only five or so channels. Games were played on...
Obliquetries and Weasel Words.
In some ways I love Mitt Romney. Now, this isn't about his campaign, well, at least not directly. Rather, it's all about marketing and how we love and respond to a good story. A day or so ago, one of Mitt's advisers told the Telegraph: "We are part of an Anglo-Saxon heritage, and he (Mitt) feels that the special relationship is special. The White House didn't fully appreciate the shared system we have." This, of course, comes on the heels of a campaign co-chair who said Obama didn't understand...
SWAK To The Side Of The Head.
Writing about my brief love affair with the Hermiston Watermelon (and actually that should be Watermelons) gave me pause to recall the time when I ran a romantic gift company. How? You shall soon see. Now, as most of you know, I am actually a hopeless romantic who tears up every time Notting Hill is on and Julia Roberts says to Hugh Grant, "I'm just a girl, standing before a boy, asking him to love her." Given my track record in the area of breaking hearts and having mine broken, you have to...
Wining Up With Something Fancy!
I read an article a couple days ago about wine. Not surprising, I guess, since as we all know, I love wine. I have never fallen for all the hype of wine. I have had some amazing $4 bottles and some pretty crappy $40 bottles of wine. I've drank from the cellar of one of the state's wine pioneers, enjoying every drop of experimental varietals that the world never got to see. I still have trouble pronouncing Viognier, but hey, I took Spanish, not French. And quite frankly, I will go for Pinot...
After You.
I've achieved immortality. I didn't really know I ever wanted to – I guess none of us set out to achieve it. But through the wonders of the Internet and the digital lifestyle we've all come to know and love, we have, in various degrees, a measure of immortality. Yes, we managed to best our ancestors on this one. Our ancestors are lucky if they have a headstone that has their birthdate and date of death. The wealthy ones may have gotten a nice carving or perhaps even a fitting line or two of a...
The Land of Misfit Toys.
If you remember Charlie-in-the-Box, King Moonracer, Bird Fish and the train with square wheels, then you know the Land of Misfit Toys. It was always my favorite part of the animated holiday show, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. During the original version of the show, the misfit toys are left on their island, forever to be misfits. The public howled at their fate, so a new scene was shot where the misfit toys were retrieved by Santa as his first stop on Christmas Eve. I think I've always lived...