Author Archives: Robert

I love that.  Let’s just keep fracturing the republican party even more.  Perhaps Giuliani can win the next one.  Ick.

Now if only the Dems can get their shit together and stick to either Clinton or Obama–sorry Mr. Edwards no one is paying much attention to you.  Besides, just a hint of your Southern drawl evokes a visceral reaction in the general public.  You can thank George Bush for that.

I’m undecided about Hillary & Obama.  I hear so many people talk about Obama and how “real” he is.  He’s not real.  He’s a young politician.

At this point anyone (or anything) would be better than our current president. 

Radio silence.  My blog has been in a state of suspended animation.  I, on the other hand, am not. 

 The meeting went well today.  They liked what they saw.  The week of training and extra hours of attention to detail have paid off (for now).  I did not realize how much I was putting into this meeting until it was over.  I’m almost dizzy–but in a good way.  There is now a great deal of momentum in my ginormous work project.  It’s liberating.  I’m kind of stressed but not really. 

…and I’m actually having a great time. 

It’s hard not to blog when there is so much to talk about but I have to put my energy into the project.  Once it’s done you’ll know why (doesn’t mean I’m going to not blog). 

Onward and upward!

Ahhh travel, travel, travel.  Seems like I just can’t avoid it.  Next week I’m off to New Hampshire for the Primary–actually I’m in New Hampshire for a software training class.  It just happens to start on the same day as the Primary.  Thank goodness I booked my hotel room way in advance. 

The nice thing about going to New Hampshire is that I have family nearby so I plan to stay an extra day to hang with the rellies.  I was originally going to visit my uncle Bob who was quite ill but alas, I didn’t quite make it in time. 

In early February, Ray and I are going to Washington DC to attend the Studio Theathre’s 30th Anniversary Gala.  My cousin Janet is the chair for the board.  I am very excited because I will get to see some more family.  I am very fortunate, my family gets along really well.  We always have a great time together.  I’m looking forward to the Anniversary Gala too!

I’m not looking forward to flying back East twice during the winter months.  

Ray and I have had such good travel karma.  I just hope it lasts for the next two months.  Nothing is worse than getting stuck somewhere due to bad weather.  One time we were flying back to Chicago from LA after Thanksgiving.  I had come down with one of those bugs where you puke so much it feels like your stomach is going to deploy from your mouth like an inflated airbag on impact.  We landed in Kansas City and all flights were cancelled–at the end of the Thanksgiving weekend.  We ended up renting a car the next morning and driving home.  It took nine hours. 

Ray and I have also been toying with the idea of an international trip in the early Autumn–and no I’m not talking about Mexico.  Greece would be nice.  So would Scotland.   Who knows where we’ll end up.  In some ways, I don’t care where we go outside of the continental United States.  I just want to see everything!

Happy New Year!  The holidays are over.  Life can get back to normal and with the dawn of a new year, we can all be optimistic that things will get much better. 

Let’s have a Britney-free 2008 shall we?

Ray, John and I went into Old Bisbee for the New Year celebration.  First we stopped over at Montefalco to have dinner with Terry.  Ray made a light meal of baked tortellini and salad.   We had a lovely time toasting to the new year and scarfing down the food.  After that, we made our way down to Brewery Gulch.  I was kind of cold, full and tired.  There were a lot of people out.  You know when you’re supposed to be in the mood to party but just don’t feel like it?  That was me…and Ray.  I can’t speak for John, he’s all young and was supposed to be in Vegas for New Year’s but had a little trouble getting there carwise so he was stuck with us.  Thankfully,  our friends Peter and Renee saw us from inside of Santiago’s where it was all warm and cozy and they had a table with room for three more people.  I had not seen either one of them for a while and it was fun catching up and being a dork with Renee.   We heard there was supposed to be some cool event going on in City Park for the midnight countdown and planned to go there…eventually. 

After hanging around there for a while, we went up to the park to see what was going on.  I was surprised to see so many people there.  The place was filled with people, music and laughter. 

Ray, John and I huddled together to keep warm.  It was kind of fun, the three of us just pressed up against each other like a little three-man fortress.  Finally the countdown began…or did it?  It’s kind of hard to tell in Bisbee.  There’s real time and then there’s Bisbee time. 

People who live here know what I’m talking about.

The music got really percussive and kind of hypnotic and the suddenly a giant–I mean GIANT–bunch of balloons took off into the night sky.  There was some sort of creature attached to the balloons and it was tethered to a few people on the ground.  Everyone started cheering and cameras were flashing like Studio 54 on a Saturday night.

I love Bisbee.  My funky little town. 

After the balloon creature flew across the park to the main stage, it did some sort of interpretive dance thing with some other creatureettes.  I don’t do interpretive dance at 12:00 AM in the park huddled together with two people for warmth.  We decided to go to the Bisbee Grand for a drink.  Yes, I drank.  It was New Years for chrissake and I was cold.

We went there for a bit and said hello to some friends.  After that we made our way back to the Copper Queen Hotel where we ran into Rene and Peter. Ray didn’t last much longer after that.  John and I hung out for a bit and then went back to Montefalco and ate some leftover tortellini and pecan pie with extra creamy Cool Whip (Extra Creamy partially hydrogenated trans fat if you ask me).

We all crashed out.  All was well. 

Happy New Year world!  I am forever optimistic about what lies ahead. 

Here are some photos from the evening:

Cobban & John

City Park before countdown

Happy New Year!!  Yay!

Isn’t that the sign for fuck?

The next morning, Ray and I took a walk around our place.  That’s Stolen Horseshoe int he background.

I had mentioned on the last post how it seemed that Charles Schultz may have had issues with women because all the girls in the Peanuts comics were quite nasty to Charlie Brown. 

OMG, check this out:

Charles Schultz and I were born on the same day.   As a child, I always related to Charlie Brown.  After watching A Charlie Brown Christmas again this year, I was surprised at how I still relate to him. 

What a profound little show.  It’s amazing how it still holds up to today’s standards considering it’s forty-two years old.  Of course, I’m forty-two and I’m still holding up. 

Lucy Van Pelt says that she never gets what she really wants for Christmas–real estate.  Little Sally is all about the presents.  Charlie Brown complains about the commercialism of the season when he sees Snoopy entering a Christmas decoration contest.  Could you imagine how Charlie would feel today?  

The best part is when Linus tells Charlie Brown what Christmas is all about by reciting the passage from the bible about the birth of Christ because that IS what Christmas is all about.  It has nothing to do with trees, Santa’s, Rudolph’s red nose or presents. 

Now, I’m not talking about all the other holidays that happen this time of year.  I’m not talking about that whole Happy Holidays PC bullshit.  I’m talking about the true meaning of Christmas.  I’m talking about how our society, through overcommercialism, has forgotten its past, its legacy.  It seems like every holiday now has a commercial component to it.  Is it just me or has every Target or WalMart dedicated a section of floorspace to a holiday or event day? 

Better break out the shamrocks, it’s March. 

Charlie Brown was a truth seeker which is a textbook trait of the Sagittarian.  I see a lot of myself in Charlie Brown.  I bet there is a lot of Charles Schultz as well.   I think Mr Schultz had issues with women though.  While the boys may laugh at Charlie Brown along with the crowd, it’s the girls who repeatedly call him a blockhead and remind him of how stupid he is.  There is a new biography out on Schultz.  I’m waiting for the paperback. 

The real highlight of the Charlie Brown Christmas is the music of Vince Guaraldi.  Mr. Guaraldi died way too young but released several jazz albums on the Fantasy label.  I love everything he does.  There are several tribute albums dedicated to Vince which is a total joke because the true genius of his music is him playing the piano. 

Linus knew the true meaning of Christmas.  I think Linus knew a lot more than that.  He’s like the weird kid on the block who grows up to be a rocket scientist.  

I struggle with the Christian religion.  The idea of the holy birth of Jesus coming to save me from sin sure sounds great until the whole, “You’re gay!?!  The bible says it’s wrong.” thing pops up.  

It just seems like that would be the last thing to come out of the mouth of Jesus.

Merry Christmas Charlie Brown!