Bob’s Ramblings

Facebook has become among many things, my own personal time machine. The only problem however is that I haven’t been able to find that Read-Only override setting.

I’m hoping that I don’t have to explain that sentence above. I’m sure that my readers are just bursting with the knowledge and excessive brain activity that will preclude me from having to take the time to explain that ‘Read-Only’ means, well just that; read only. It means you can look, but can’t change anything. Similar to a CD-ROM drive where you can put the CD (Compact Disk) in and view the ROM (Read Only Memory). Ok, I’m getting a bit technical here and I know how some of you feel about that.

Anyway, back to my time machine. I’m always running into and reconnecting with people from my past on Facebook. For the most part (those of you that have been paying attention) Facebook has been a pleasurable experience. It allows me to reflect back and make me realize just how old I’m getting.

In the movies, whenever our hero steps into a time machine, he/she is informed about how dangerous things can be if they go back in time and change anything. Even the most minute of changes could cause major catastrophe and in turn cause the universe to implode or explode or whatever universes do when they cease to exist. Our hero in this case isn’t hampered by a ‘Read-Only’ time machine.

Now that my extreme geekiness is beginning to show, perhaps I should get to my point. The point being that Facebook has become my personal time machine although read-only. I’ve been able to go back in time and reflect back on memories that I had way back in the day. I’ve been able to go back and think about some of the decisions I’ve made (both good and bad) and reflect back and wonder about the effect that such decisions have had on my life.

For the most part, I would leave everything almost exactly the way they originally went down. I’m a firm proponent of believing in the idea that “what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.” But I also believe that I should be given the opportunity for a mulligan (do over).

For example…

• Would it really have been bad to go back and prevent my Kindergarten self from getting his finger smashed in the car door in the Schwegmann’s parking lot in August 1976? Seriously. Had I not gotten that injury (I lost a finger nail for a while) then when Missy Moore had (accidentally mind you) stepped on this same finger during nap time a couple of weeks later, I wouldn’t have had to return to the emergency room. That incident did nothing for me except make me reflect back upon it now and realize just how much if an idiot I was back then.

• Would it also have been bad to go back and prevent myself from *ahem* putting rocks in my ears because the kids were too loud while waiting for the bus? Yeah, one got stuck, and it took another trip to the emergency room to get it out. Not to be outdone however, my younger brother did the same thing the following week, complete with his very own trip to the emergency room. To think that people actually used the expression, “Son! Do you have rocks in your head?” To which I could reply, “Well, as a matter of fact, there was this one time…”

Stupid shit like that, I should be able to do again, because although learning experiences. They sucked.

• I would have never worn those green corduroys. What was I thinking?

• I would have never had lit that bottle rocket that ended up hitting one of my friends, thus scarring him for life.

• I would have never hit my grandmother’s dog on the head with a badminton racket, thus causing him to scratch me and leave a scar under my left eye.

Ok, most things that caused injury to me and others would be things that I would want to do away with. But I do realize that my personal relationships with people developed the way they were intended and I shouldn’t want to change them.

I would think that perhaps had I not gotten involved with this woman or that woman or any numerous of failed relationships that I’ve had, I probably wouldn’t have developed into the person that I am today. Without that, I wouldn’t have Susan in my life. She fell in love with the person that I am today (ok maybe more like 8 years ago) and without learning through life experiences that may not have happened.

It’s funny and somewhat ironic that some of my favorite Sci-Fiction television shows and/or stories revolve around some time manipulation device. I love pondering the ‘what if’ this never happened or ‘what if’ that would have happened instead. I like wondering what would change (if anything) if people were given the power to actually go back in time and not fall victim to read-only mode.

Ramblings

So, I’ve been making some trips to the doctor lately. Well, two doctors actually. One is an Ear/Nose/Throat specialist and the other is my general practitioner. I’ve been suffering from allergies year round for like the past couple of years, so I decided to do something about it. So with the combination of prescriptions I’m taking, I’ve been feeling somewhat “out of it” (for a lack of a better term).

What I mean by “out of it” is that I get these bouts of dizziness often. If I turn my head too quickly one way or the other, I space out. I also get these periods where I’m confused. It’s really hard to explain really. But a good example would be something that occurred last night:

On my way home from work yesterday, I called my wife to see what she would like for dinner. I had to stop at the grocery store anyway, so I thought I would get a suggestion from her. She requested Chinese, which would work because there is a Chinese place practically next door to the grocery. So I decided to pop into ‘Hot Wok’ and place and order and then do my grocery shopping while they were cooking my food (’About 10 minutes’). Anyway, apparently I had paid for the meal after placing it, when I went to go pick it up after shopping, I couldn’t remember if I had paid or not. The woman behind the counter thought I was crazy for trying to pay for my food for a second time.

On top of the dizziness and confusion, I’ve been having somewhat restless nights. I toss and turn and I feel like I’m just lying there in bed the whole night watching the alarm clock. Yet, I must sleep because I know I’ve been having dreams (although bizarre ones, which is another story altogether).

So hearing the alarm clock go off this morning didn’t sit well with me. I felt like I didn’t sleep at all, but wanted to get coffee going, only to step into cat vomit (this is starting to sound a bit familiar). Grumpy Bob became Grumpier Bob and even more grumpier once I realized the air conditioner wasn’t working (deja vu). It’s also garbage day, and I neglected to get the garbage out the night before. Oh, and my father-in-law is coming over tonight, which means that my wife is going to be a complete ball of stress for the entire day because well, she stresses about these things.

So, I’m frantically trying to get things done. Get coffee going first (a guy has his priorities), fix the AC, and wonder what to do about the cat vomit that is on my bedroom carpet. I don’t want to make too much noise while my wife is sleeping because I was already having a bad enough day to have to deal with the wrath of Susan. Luckily she woke up on her own! Whew! I can address that mess now without having to fear for my life.

By the time I had gotten everything done, I realize that an hour has gone by since I woke up. So it was non stop since I woke up and I still haven’t had my first cup of coffee. I got the trash out to the street, addressed the litter boxes (we have three) and got ready for work.

So, I’m tired and grumpy and have to go to work now to boot (thankfully it’s Friday). I get into my car and turn on the radio to discover that Walton and Johnson are still running repeats. My CD player has a CD that’s stuck (I need to figure out how to get that disc out), so I either listen to what I have in the CD player (again) or put on the ear-buds and listen to what I have on my iPhone.

I put the song list on shuffle (I like to be surprised) and put it on full blast. I’m blessed with Detroit Rock City (KISS) and as I’m driving down my street, I find myself singing along with Paul Stanley, which I can assume must have been loud because I began hearing myself over the song. But the strange thing was, it perked me right up. I no longer cared about the ordeal I just went through at home, nor was I bothered about my commute to work.

Now, I need to just make it through the day (and night).

Ramblings

I’d like to take the time to mention that one of my readers has opened up a Subway in Metairie, LA.   I encourage all of my readers to show her some support and stop by the new Subway located on 2309 David Dr. in Metairie.

Is there anyone that doesn’t like Subway?  

So if you’re in the area of that Subway, hell even if you’re not in the area, you should stop by, grab a sandwich and a cookie and enjoy.

Subway via Google Maps

Ramblings

I got plenty of strange looks from people that were asking me my plans for this past weekend.  Not because I actually had plans, but because of what my plans were…

Coworker:  Hey Bob, what do you have planned this weekend?

Bob:  I’m going to a Jr High School reunion.

Coworker:  Cool.  Wait.  Jr High School reunion?  They have those?

Bob: They do now.

I had been looking forward to this event for some time now.   I was going to see what some people I haven’t seen in at least 23 years were up to.   On top of that, I figured that it was going to be fun and overall a good time.   I had a blast.

Now, I was a bit concerned about my wife at this event.  She’s somewhat shy when it comes to people that she knows, so putting her in a setting where the only person she knew was me, was going to be somewhat stressful.   I did my absolute best to calm her fears beforehand.  I just wanted her to enjoy herself.  I knew it was going to be completely impossible for her to have as good a time as I would.  I took steps in booking a hotel room and we left the house early in the afternoon so we could take in some shopping before going to the reunion.

After venturing to the Lakeside Mall for a bit, I was pleased to hear my wife suggest that we grab a couple of daiquiris before heading to the hotel so we could change.   I took this as meaning that she was going to give this a good effort on her part.  She wanted to have a good time and it became obvious to me that she was going to be quite the trooper.

Perhaps the only concern I had about attending this party was the fact that it was going to be held at someone’s residence.   I had recieved word that 95+ had already prepaid, with more planning on paying at the door.   We’re looking at over a hundred people in someone’s house.  The logistics of this alone was enough to make one wonder how this was going to go down.

When we showed up, I was relieved to discover that the house was quite large.   So I opened the front door and walked in and noticed that the place was huge.  I was asked my name on the way in and was “leied” by a greeter.  A name tag was attached to my lei with my name pre-printed on it along with a small copy of my 7th grade photo (I was a scrawny little thing back then).    I signed the guest book and noticed that Dana Rome (Teppen) and her husband Al was already there.  I was pleased to hear about this because Dana had told me previously that she wouldn’t be going.

So I walked through the house to the back yard and was just flabbergasted.  There were already a good number of people there and the place was decorated to the gills.  It was really nice.  I introduced my wife to Dana and her husband and went to go get a couple of beers. 

As I turned around from acquiring two Bud Lights from the pirogue, I saw Allen Shinault.  I knew I recognized that face, so I quickly glanced down at his name tag and he did the same.   Once we realized who the other was, hugs ensued.  It had been at least 25 years since we saw one another.   He was someone that I knew from Metairie Grammar, which I thought was too cool.

From that point on, familiar faces strolled on in.   The majority of the people were people I knew from my classes at Haynes.  I became more and more suprised by the number of people that not only attended Haynes, but attended Metairie Grammar as well.    As the hours rolled by, the number of beers that I consumed grew larger and larger.

Now, I could sit here and type out the names of every person that I made contact with, but like my friend Michelle mentioned, I was a social butterfly.   I made sure that I spoke to as many people as I could.  I’m certain that I missed a few, but I made quite an effort.

Among the highlights of the night was watching Eddie Carrick come incredibly close to falling into the pool.  He’ll argue that he wasn’t as close as it seemed, but what he doesn’t realize is that people started taking bets as to how much longer it was going to be before he actually fell in.   I at one point considered tipping one of the servers that were bringing trays of food around to assist Eddie and give him a nudge, but thought better of it.

An interesting thing that I wanted to point out was about the restroom facilities.  The toilets had some state of the art flushing mechanism that was on top.  It was a combination of 2 buttons, which I found incredibly weird at first, but quickly learned to adapt.  Also when I was washing my hands, I noticed a television set that was somehow part of the mirror.   At first I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me or that I had already had too much to drink.   However, as I was leaving the restroom I made a comment about the TV and someone else commented on how cool it was.   I considered getting back in line because I wanted to see what the score of the LSU game was.

The other bathroom was cool too.  There was some control knob on the wall that cold be turned and water would shoot down from the ceiling into the bath tub.   The toilet was the same as the previous one, but I didn’t notice a TV.   I did see the word NAMASTE in big letters near the ceiling and commented on it to the hostess.  She was somewhat surprised to hear me not only pronounce the word properly, but also by me explaining what the word meant.  

In my opinion, the night went by too quickly.  I had a wonderful time, and I think my wife did too.  I remember leaving the party, but I really don’t remember the drive to the hotel.   The next thing I knew, I was waking up in the bed at the hotel.  I noticed my Hawaiian shirt crumbled in a ball on a chair.  On top of that, my head was pounding.   I drank too much and didn’t eat enough.  I always end up doing that and make a promise that I seem to always break that I won’t ever do that again.

My 20 year class reunion is coming up in August.  It’s a good thing that it’s 2 months away because I’m going to need that much time to recover from this one.   I really enjoyed seeing my former classmates.  I just hope it’s not another 25 years before I see that bunch again.

Ramblings

I mentioned before about how Facebook has made it incredibly easy to reconnect with people from my past.  I’ve managed to reconnect with former classmates at both my Jr High school and my High School.  On top of that, I’ve also managed to reconnect with childhood friends as well.   Friends that I had when I stayed with my grandmother and friends that I had when I lived on Pasadena St have also been able to reconnect with me.  Overall, the whole Facebook experience has just been wonderful.

With that said, I’m really looking forward to the reunions this summer.

I went to Jr High school at Vernon C Haynes.  I entered in the Fall of ‘83 and left in the Spring of ‘86.  So, in a span of 3 years, I met some really wonderful people.   Granted, I had some carry over from my elementary school (Metairie Grammar) but not as many as you would think.  In fact, looking back, I really can’t remember which elementary school was responsible for the greater influx of kids that fed into it.  It’s really not important either.    What’s important is that tomorrow night, I’m going to see a bunch of people that I went to Jr High with. 

We’re having a Luau themed reunion.  I’ve never worn a Hawaiian shirt before, but there’s a first time for everything.  There are some people that I will see for the first time in 15 years.  Some I will see for the first time in 20 years, and some I will see for the first time in 23 years.   Some will be people that I went to elementary school with (very few) but mostly people that I know only from Haynes.

I’m looking forward into running into the kids from GT that I knew back then.  Eddie Carrick is among those, Donna McClary is among them, and Robert Reidenauer is also among them.  It’s going to be really neat to see what they’re up to now and also to meet their significant others.    Eddie of course I will see at our 20 yr high school reunion as well.

I will miss seeing some people that I really hoped to see.  Eddie Painter won’t be there.  David Marshall won’t be there, and Richard Howe won’t be there.   Most people probably won’t know what to think when they see me without David present, but they’ll deal.   I will however get to see Michelle Rigdon (at both reunions).   It’s going to be fun.  I’m looking forward to it.

Coming up in August will be my 20 year East Jefferson High School class reunion.   I went to the 5 year and the 10 year reunions and had a good time.  Apparently there was a 15 year reunion, but I never heard about it until after the fact (which puzzles me, but whatever).   That should be a good time too.  Some of the people that I will see there will be some of the ones I’ll see tomorrow night.  

What’s going to be interesting this time around is that I’ll be bringing someone along with me.  In reunions past, I’ve always gone solo.   I’ve only been married for 3 years, so I’ve been that single guy up to this point.  Plus, who wants to bring a date (other than a spouse) to a class reunion anyway?

So, I’m pumped.  I’m looking forward to drinking, eating, and having a good time with my former classmates.  I hope it goes well tomorrow night because I’m already thinking that stuff like this should happen more often.

Ramblings

What can I say?  I hate Father’s Day.   I hate it for two reasons…

First off, my father was about as useless as they come.  He left my mom when I was only a year old.  Even worse, my mother was pregnant with my younger brother at the time.  What kind of person does that?  What possesses someone to leave his pregnant wife with a 1 year old and a 5 year old to fend for themselves?  He’s an asshole.  I’ve tried reaching out from time to time in hopes that I could get some sort of explanation about why he would do such a thing.  Nada. 

Over the years, my mom tried to explain to me that my father was a self-centered and selfish man.  My mom also had to take drastic measures in order to FORCE the man to pay child support.  He’s spent a Christmas in jail before because he bailed on being responsible.   We ended up catching up to him by calling my grandparent’s house and lerarning that he was there.

I’ve never received a call from him on my birthday.  Not once.  I think he’s probably on his 4th or 5th wife.  He’s married to a woman that is only a few years older than my oldest brother.   He has a family with them.  He’s got a son and daughter with Leigh.   That means that I have a half-brother and half-sister out there that probably have no idea that I even exist. 

I never had a father figure growing up.  My mom never remarried.  She dated here and there, but nothing ever panned out for her to remarry.   I had no one to take me to scouting events.  I had no one to teach me how to hit a baseball or catch one for that matter.  On top of that, my mom had to work her ass off just to provide for me and my brothers.  I commend her for that.

Secondly, I hate Father’s Day because that means that I’m going to have to deal with Trace’s dad.  His dad is an asshole, and as much as it pains me to say it, his only saving grace is that he’s not as bad as my dad.   It’s been several weeks since we heard from him.  I’m predicting a phone call next Thursday evening letting Trace know that he’ll pick him up on Saturday and keep him overnight.   The guy does nothing for Trace.  It’s a chore for him to go to a fucking baseball game.  It’s inconvenient for him to drive out of his way for anything that Trace needs.  He’s a prick.  He doesn’t deserve to be Trace’s father.

There should be a Stepfather’s Day.   People can’t even really begin to imagine how difficult it is emotionally for stepfathers on Father’s Day.  What are you going to do though?

So, when Father’s Day rolls around, I’m going to call my mom and wish her a Happy Father’s Day.  She played both parts, and she deserves it.

Ramblings

Lately, my wife and I have been trying to get more stuff done around the house.   She and I are both notorious pack rats, so we’ve also began the process of purging tons of useless crap.   So far, it’s been working quite well.  We’re both upbeat about the progress we’ve made and I have even gone so far as to start emptying the storage unit that I’ve had for the last three years.  

Yeah, I’ve had a storage unit for the last 3 years.   A 10×10 space to hold all of the junk that I owned when I was a bachelor.   The fact that it ended up in storage in the first place and not in the house should have been an indicator that the stuff in there will never see the light of day again.   So I’ve been shelling out $120/month for the last 3 years to hold junk that I (HOPE) will never need again.    So I’m donating it all.  Yep, just giving it all away.  Which in the end turns out that I paid all that money for a storage unit to hold stuff that I ended up giving away anyway.  Hmm, I fail to see the logic there. 

The goal was to have the storage emptied by the end of October…2008.  Then it was November.  Now the goal is by the end of May.  I have promised Susan that I would be 100% completely out of that unit within the next week (er few days).    The money that I would be spending would go towards paying someone to clean our house twice per month.  This will make everyone in our home happy.

My wife has been looking forward to that for a very long time, and it finally looks like it’s going to happen.  In addition to that, we have developed plans for other things in the house as well.  For instance, she’s been wanting a new sofa and love seat for our living room.   She’s also been wanting a new kitchen table as well.  So we went and looked at some furniture this past weekend and found some things we both liked. 

Now you would think that in regards to buying new furniture, there is a bit of stress involved….

• Have to pick the right color
• Have to pick the right fabric
• Does it recline?
• Does it go with our other living room furniture?
• What about the animals?
• Are we paying too much for it?

Sure, all of those things are concerns for stress.  Imagine my surprise when we experienced next to no stress in regards to those things.  I mean it’s almost like we walked right into the furniture store, she picked out a sofa and loveseat, I agreed and we paid.  Ok maybe I’m exagerating a little, but it went down pretty much like that.

Here I am right now, writing this on the day in which the new furniture is being delivered and now I’m feeling the enormous stress.  Not because we have a window of 11-2 in which the furniture will be delievered, because my wife is stressing out about what to do with the old furniture.

Seriously, we’re getting rid of stuff.  We already know this stuff isn’t staying in the house.  We already know someone that wants the old kitchen table and we’re donating the old sofa and loveseat.  Why should temporary placement of the old furniture cause so much damn stress? 

I had to clear out some space in a room for the delivery guys to put the old furniture.  No problem, except that my wife was still stressing out about it.  I guess I just don’t get it.  This should be a happy and joyous time because in a matter of hours, we’ll be enjoying the new furniture.  

Calgon, take me away.

Ramblings

I don’t know if anyone reading my blog has taken the time to visit any of the links to the right hand side of the site underneath where it says ‘Videos’ or not,  but if you haven’t, you really should.

Why?  Because I find them quite enjoyable myself.  Most of them are by the Lonely Island (which I mentioned in a previous post) but I added a new one today called ‘The Ultimate Showdown’.

The Ultimate Showdown is a flash video that was created in lieu with a song that was written and performed by Lemon Demon.  The song has quite a catchy beat and is actually quite humorous to listen to.  The flash video depicts images from the song (it’s animated) and does a tremendous job of capturing what the songwriter intended.

Anyway, check them out.  I’ll continue to add more as I see fit.

Ramblings

My wedding anniversary is approaching once again and it’s normally about this time where I reflect back upon the last year and begin thinking if I have done everything that I could do to be the best husband that I can be to my wife. 

Sure I mess up at times.  I’ll ocassionally forget to put the seat back down or I’ll rip a loud one and blame it on the dog, but all in all I think I do pretty ok.  I’ve learned a lot from being married.  In fact,  I would tend to think that when it comes to relationships, I’ve become quite an expert.

For example:

“Do these shoes look ok?”  - the answer is always yes, even though I didn’t look at your feet.

“Does this outfit make me look fat?”  - the answer is always no.

“I’d rather not, but I will go if you really want to”  -  Face it, you’re not going.  Don’t try and convince her.

“I don’t care what we eat for dinner”  - keep guessing until you suggest what I’m really craving.

Sure, those are simple.   But every once in a while there comes that time when you make that incredibly stupid faux pas that you wish you could just forget about and move on.   I’ll fill you all in.

My little brother (he’s actually taller than me, and he hates when I refer to him as my little brother, but I’m not going to start calling him my younger brother anytime soon) is in the Navy.  He does Public Affairs for the Blue Angels.   As luck would have it, an air show was coming to the New Orleans area during the first weekend in May and he would be there.  So I spoke to my wife about it and she was thrilled.  No problem there.

But it also turned out that an ex-girlfriend of mine was coming into town with a couple of friends and asked me if I could talk to my brother about perhaps hooking them up with some special treatment of sorts.  Now, Monica and I are still friends, so I personally didn’t see anything wrong with it.  So I called up my brother and he said that he would hook her up with some VIP tickets.   She was grateful and I was happy to do her the favor.  My brother was also setting me up with some VIP tickets too as well as my friend Kevin.

So the day of the show, we get into the car and start traveling towards to New Orleans for the show.  I think it was right about the time I got on I-12 that my  brother called and mentioned that he was looking for me in the VIP section but didn’t see me yet.  I told him I was enroute. 

It was at that point that I began to panic.  Apparently, this VIP section was small enough for my brother to visibly identify everyone from where he was standing.  This meant that I would have no trouble locating my friend Kevin, but it also meant that the possibility of running into Monica was very likely.  So I kinda casually mentioned that it’s going to be really cool running into Kevin again.  My wife had never met him, so she was looking forward to meeting him.  She then asked if my older brother would be there and I said that we shouldn’t have any problem running into him.  She was pleased to hear that as well.  That’s when I dropped the bomb…. “Uh, oh, uh we may also kinda see my friend Monica there….”

<pause>

<pause>

“Monica? Like the girl you dated Monica?”

Oh shit! She remembers the name.  Shit shit shit.  “Umm, yeah. We may run into her.”

“We’ll be in the VIP section, so we shouldn’t see any of your ex.”

“Well actually, I kinda spoke to Chris and he hooked her up with some VIP tickets too….”

“And your telling me this now?  You didn’t think I needed to know this until now?” 

Apparently there are some things that I still have to learn, and believe me, school was in session that day.  We had to avoid Monica the entire time we were there.  I did get to say hello though.  I also had to promise never to ever pull this stunt again, which I heartily agreed to.

We stopped off at the Bud’s Broiler (I love that place) on Vets on the way out of town.  Susan never relented from what I had done, and I began to understand why.  As we were driving through Kenner to get back on the Interstate, I mentioned the upcoming reunions I had coming up.  One is my 20 year high school reunion and the other is one from Jr High.   I mentioned that my friend Michelle would be at both…

“Michelle? The girl you dated Michelle?”

“Uh, no.”

“Didn’t you date a Michelle?”

“Yeah, but that was in Baton Rouge, I didn’t go to school with her.”

“Who’s Michelle then?”

“She dated my friend David.”

“Oh ok.  Just don’t ever pull that shit on me again”

Believe me, I won’t.

Ramblings

Ok ok ok.  I’ll post something new very soon.  I’ve been jammed pack busy lately and my site has been neglected as a result.  Rather than rush a post today, I’ll take the time and post something tomorrow.  Perhaps something will inspire me between now and then.

Ramblings