Every now and then little snippets of songs pop into my head -- songs, for the most part, I remember singing in elementary school. Over the past few months several of these have popped back up for one reason or another. Hopefully by sharing them with you I will be able to get them out of my head, and into yours. Here are the seven songs, and what happened to them.
Pablo the Reindeer from Mexico
Santa's sleigh is starting to get a little crowded. At first there were only eight reindeer. R
After dropping Dad off at the airport today, my Vegas Adventure is officially two-thirds over. I figured CGE to be the first third, my time with dad the middle third, and Defcon this weekend the final third. As of 2:20pm today, Dad will be aboard a Southwest jet, zooming back east. I am currently sitting at a small table at a small McDonald's inside the very large Stratosphere Hotel and Casino.
It seems weird to talk about the middle third before covering the first, but the time spent with
Two and a half years ago I purchased a new 2006 Chevy Avalanche, a truck that came with pretty much every option but one -- a crystal ball showing me the future price of gas.
Back in the summer of 2005 (when Susan and I first began talking about buying a new vehicle), gas cost $2.20/gallon. Prices climbed to $3/gallon that fall due to Hurricane Katrina, but we (and everybody, I think) hoped that gas hike was temporary. Prices did settle a bit after that, but have been steadily (and sometimes
Over the past week I’ve had two different friends ask me details about my Lapband surgery – how the surgery went, how things are going, and would I recommend it. When I mentioned this coincidence to Susan, she pointed out that I haven’t blogged much about my surgery at all (which is unlike me). So, for my friends, and for you, here is my “three-month Lapband update.”
I had Lapband surgery on December 3rd, 2007. It’s an easy date to remember; it was nine years (to the day) that I got hit by a
Yesterday, our new CIO visited Oklahoma City for the first time. All employees were asked to clean up their work areas and dress nicely. I wore a nice pair of khakis, a dress shirt, and my suit jacket that normally only comes out of the closet for weddings and funerals. For those of you who don't know, I work in a basement behind locked doors; dressing up isn't a typically a job requirement.
If I seemed bitter or sarcastic on Monday, I was. Every time anyone of importance visits our branch,
Last night Mason and I attended the OKC Thunder/Atlanta Hawks game. The Hawks went into the game undefeated (four wins, no losses); the Thunder, 1-4. I know I (and probably most others watching the game) was expecting a good old-fashioned ass kicking, and while we did lose, the beating wasn't as bad as I was expecting.
The Hawks jumped out to an early lead, leaving the Thunder in the dust at 0-7. The Thunder scored a couple of baskets but the Hawks stayed out in front, leading 5-16 early on
Mason with a bucket-o-eggs.
Morgan, the Easter princess.
We colored eggs, the Easter Bunny hid them, the kids found them, everybody came over, we all ate, everybody went home, we all napped. That about covers it.
72 more Easter Pictures here.
Yesterday afternoon the final third of my Vegas adventures officially began. Around 5pm I checked in at the Defcon registration desk and received my badge and a handful of show-related materials. Most everyone’s badges are white with LEDs on the front of them; speaker badges are blue, and quite noticeable. I caught quite a few people staring at mine, wondering if I was someone important or not.
After registering for the con I drove over to the 4th annual Toxic BBQ, a pre-Defcon cookout. At
Saturday morning sucked. I worked approximately 12 hours patching servers all day at work.
Saturday evening was much better. Jeff, Andy, Scott and I (all childhood friends) got together for an evening of fun, food and poker. The idea came while the four of us talked at Andy's birthday party last month. Last night's poker night was similar to our gatherings of old, except instead of booze and pizza we had diet soda and a huge selection of health-conscious snacks (graciously provided by Jeff).
Last year on my birthday I compiled a list of things I wanted to accomplish before my next birthday. The first item on the list contains three short words: "write a book." Today is my 33rd birthday and as many of you know, I am proud to announce that I completed my goal. Commodork: Sordid Tales from a BBS Junkie is now available. You can currently order the book one of two places: either through Lulu.com or directly through me. If you purchase the book through Lulu you will have to create an acc
Susan’s surgery was a total success. When the nurses wheeled her into her room after recovery we expected to see her medicated or at least drowsy – not so. Susan was quite lucid, awake, and in no pain at all. For an hour or so they had her on oxygen and was monitoring her blood pressure, but now they’re not even doing that. Susan says that her stomach feels like she just did 100 sit-ups, but other than that she feels great.
Susan’s recovery room looks more like a hotel suite than a hospital
And no, I don't mean in some poetic, muse sense; I mean I literally lost my voice earlier this week. I started feeling bad on Sunday, felt like crap on Monday, felt like worse crap on Tuesday, and back to "just crap" today. Over the weekend my throat started burning and I thought drinking a lot of water would fix it, but it didn't. I slept a ton yesterday, and am feeling a little better today. Truth be known if it were just an average week I would definitely have stayed home yesterday and probab
Shortly after the premiere of 2004's "Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story," real dodgeball centers began to pop up across the country. One such center is Maximum Dodgeball, where Mason and I attended his friend Dominic's birthday party on Saturday.
Those of you who attended school in the 70s and 80s like I did (before school districs began banning the game) probably remember playing dodgeball. Teachers saw it as a way for kids to burn off energy and aggression, and we saw it as a way to pu
Last Friday marked thirty-five years of me walking the earth. It was probably the most low-key birthday I've had in a decade or two; maybe the quietest since Susan and I celebrated the event alone in 1996 and 1997, the years we spent living away from home in Spokane, Washington.
My co-workers who were stuck out of town with me in KCMO last week took me out multiple times for my birthday last week. "Let's go to the casino ... for Rob's birthday!" "Let's stop by the bar ... for Rob's birthday
At the time of its release, Venus Corporation's Multi Game Hunter (MGH) was a unique console copier that could connect to both Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis game consoles. The Multi Game Hunter included two interchangable adapters allowing it to plug into either machine; a third adapter, which allowed the MGH to play and dump Sega Master System ROMs while connected to the Genesis, was also available. These luxuries, however, were not cheap; MGH units (without the optional SMS adapter) original
Susan and I went to lunch with Johnny, Emily, and Emily's daughter Cecily today to Panera Bread. While a bit on the expensive side (their lunch special is $7, before taxes and a drink), it's a great place to go if you're on a diet. For lunch they sell sandwiches, soup and salad, and the lunch special allows you to pick two items from any of those categories. Today I got half a salad (around 200 calories), half a bowl of soup (around 50 calories), and a chunk of bread (around 150 calories). Yum y
After sunset, temperatures in the New Mexico desert can reach "cool" or almost "chilly" -- although apparently the experience can be negated by sleeping in the back of one's Chevy Avalanche, at which point the experience can more accurately be described as "sweaty" or "muggy." Good times ...
You know that crazy old lady that lives down the street that takes in stray cats? I'm that guy except instead of cats its arcade games. And I'm not that old (the crazy part is still up for debate).
The weekend before last, Mason and I repaired dad's trailer. From sitting outside, the wooden planks had rotted. I briefly considered converting the 8'x16' trailer's wooden planks to metal, but the $1,200+ estimate quickly changed my mind. What I would like to do some day is convert the trailer's
On Friday I received a short and to-the-point e-mail from Lulu.com (my book publisher) informing me that, due to a content violation, my book Commodork had been removed from their store. If I had any questions (and who wouldn't at this point?) I could visit their forums and post a message in the "Support Forums."
My heart skipped a beat. Had I done something wrong? I published Commodork over two years ago. Had it really taken this long for a problem to arise?
I visited Lulu's Support For
I got back from Defcon yesterday (1,100 miles, each way) and quickly made the transition back to work today. The week of sleep deprivation caught up with me; I shuffled my way through work today and am getting ready for bed right now, shortly before 10pm.
I can and will post a complete summary of Defcon in the very near future, but until then I would like to tell you one major observation/revelation I had during this past weekend. During the convention I realized that a very small percentage
This week in Security Guard Training Class, we took a break from our normal studies and spent this week focusing on first aid and CPR training. I've been wanting to tape a CPR class for a long time, ever since Mason was born. It's one of those things that I think is really important, and yet I've never set the time aside to actually do it. I was glad to see CPR training was included as part of the Private Investigator course; in fact, it was probably my final deciding factor in taking the class.
August, 1978
I'm riding in the back seat of my mom's car, a maroon Mercury Zephyr station wagon, on the way to my first day of school. I'm a little nervous, but upon entering the room I see a Star Wars picture book displayed prominently on Mrs. Cove's bookshelves, and I decide things will probably be okay. We just recently moved to Sun Valley, and I can't wait to get home from school and start exploring the neighborhood on my bicycle.
August, 1988
It's the first day of tenth grade and
Two days after Susan’s surgery, everything is pretty much back to normal. Sue’s been working from home and will return back to the office next Monday, but she’s also been out to Wal-Mart, to the hospital to visit her Uncle Ronnie, and all over the place. She did tell me that yesterday afternoon she took a three-hour nap, which tells me she might be pushing things a bit too hard too quickly, but other than that everything’s going great.
I had planned on staying home with Susan the day after
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord