Author Archives: Robert

A couple of days ago, I started tracking my Lopaka Lounge blog using Google Analytics.  I really didn’t expect to see much traffic going to my site and at this point it’s too early to assess all the data because there really isn’t any.  This morning, I got quite a surprise when I checked my site visits.  People were visiting from the US, Spain, Switzerland and Germany!

Hello world!

It just amazes me that I’m sitting in my little home in the Middle of Nowhere, Arizona and someone from Switzerland can see the same view out my window from the photo I posted a few days ago.  Our world keeps getting smaller and smaller. 

Google Analytics is a trip!  It tells you things like where the hits are coming from, what browser they’re on, screen resolution and operating system.  Big Brother is watching you and he knows what setting your monitor is on.  It’s almost like he can see you through the screen…

Hey you!  What are you doing there?  Does your mother know?

Who am I to talk?  If people could see what a person is doing through the screen of their computer monitor, I’d be in a hell of a lot of trouble.

Perhaps I should charge admission.

Once again there was a phenomenon in the night sky and once again I made an attempt to catch it on film.  Most of the time I’m trying to shoot meteor showers as they happen with regularity and are quite visible in the Arizona sky but early this morning there was a total lunar eclipse. 

Ray set the alarm to sound off at 2:00 AM but I was already up positioning my camera to shoot one frame every minute.  This time, I actually was able to get some decent time lapse footage. 

There was some thick cloud cover when I first went outside but it pulled away like a huge sky blanket just in time to start shooting.  Here is a video comprised of two different periods of the eclipse. You can see the white moon turn red and then, after a crossfade, become white again.

I have to say that it was much more of an experience watching it live but I still enjoy trying to capture the experience with my camera.  I am always humbled by the moon and stars.  To look up and see so much out there is a gentle reminder that we are all part of something bigger.

Sort of puts things into perspective doesn’t it?

I just returned from a weekend in SoCal.  It took ’till we got past Phoenix until my eyes stopped burning from the LA smog. 

I grew up in the suburb of Thousand Oaks.  It used to be kind of quaint.  Now it’s like the San Fernando valley but with ample parking (for now).  I have lost touch with SoCal.  I don’t understand it anymore.  Why would anyone want to live there?  It’s so smoggy, full of traffic, dusty and spread out.  Upon driving in, I was amazed how the urban sprawl now starts just past Palm Springs which is about 120 miles from LA.  120 miles of sprawl!!  One Liz Claiborne outlet blended into another.  Were we in Azusa or Van Nuys?  The two-lane highway turned into a multi-lane freeway and the BMW’s began to outnumber every other car with the exception of the occasional Hummer (Asshole! How could you drive that thing?)  No matter how fast you are driving, people are either flying past you or riding your tailgate while chattering away on the phone. 

You never see people walking.

My trips to LA are necessary.  Mother is having surgery and I need to go see her.  Ray’s mother is in her 90’s and not getting any younger so he goes to see her as well.  This is a difficult time for me and my siblings.  It’s the classic role reversal.  We are concerned about our mother and want to take care of her.  She insists that she doesn’t need help and that she’s not ready for this kind of care.  I don’t want to go into detail but I’m sure anyone reading this who has been through it knows what I’m talking about.

The whole weekend was stressful and to make things worse, I blew off meeting up with an aquaintance in Hollywood on Saturday night.  At first I felt really bad about it and later after admitting how much of an ass I was, I tried to explain the circumstances and apologised profusely.  But then he kept going on and on about my bad form and bad karma and how I had issues.  It was total overkill.  I quickly returned to planet Earth and realized that I was dealing with your typical Hollywood all-about-me actor type.  How could I have forgotten?

Ray and I got up early to drive the 8 1/2 hour trip so we could get home at a reasonable hour.  Fortunately for us, Arizona was having one of its fantastic sunsets to remind us why we love it here.  My old friends in Lost Angeles can tease me all they want.  When I get back to Stolen Horseshoe, I know I’m finally home.

No matter how crazy my day is, I always go to bed and wake up to something that puts things back into perspective; an incredible sunrise.  The photo on the right is the view from our studio/office/gym.  Just ahead to the east is the Mule Mountain Range.  That’s where Bisbee is located.  How could anyone be in a bad mood after waking up to a view like that?  I am truly blessed. 

Ray and I are off to Lost Angeles for the weekend.  Out tenent from Montefalco will look after the house and cat.  We’re going to check in on our mothers.  Ray’s mom is closing in on 91 and my 77 year-old mother is soon to have her knee replaced.  It’s about a nine-hour drive which is fairly easy and stress free until you pass Palm Springs. 

Palm Springs is about 120 miles from Lost Angeles. The LA sprawl starts right about there.  It’s disgusting.  Fast food places and outlet malls line the freeway and are visible as far as the eye can see.  The blue sky becomes brown.  The road gets more congested.  In no time, my eyes will be burning and I’ll start to feel ill from the smog.  I can’t believe I grew up there and thought that Hollywood was the place to be.  Blek.

Ray and I always make it a point to leave as early as possible on Sunday in an attempt to get back here by the late afternoon.  That way, we have a teeny-tiny little weekend at Stolen Horseshoe.

Gotta run!

There is some person out there who needs to be taken out and shot right between the eyes or better yet, have their limbs and other extremities ripped off one by one.  This individual has been using our phone number to set up bad credit accounts.  Since the day our phone was connected three and a half years ago,  we get daily messages for Steve Parra or Sandra Corrall to call <<insert credit collector or law firm here>> right away about an important matter.

For a while, our outgoing voicemail message said no one by those names lived here, but that did not work.  The lawyers and collection agencies would leave nasty messages anyway.  I’m assuming this person is from around here and possibly female because once, while purchasing something at the local Sears, I was asked for my phone number and when I gave it to them Sandra Corall came up.  Even when setting up XM satellite radio, Ms. Sandra was already in their database with our phone number.

If I ever find this person, I’m going to bitch-slap them into tomorrow.

On a related-unrelated note:  While I was at work today, I discovered there is an individual who has set up AOL websites that appear to be our County Assessor’s website from a search engine result.  This asshole capitalizes on the misspelling of the word assessor (assesor).  Yesterday I received a phone call from a man within the county who performed a Google search for our County’s Assesor, saw what looked like a link to our county site, clicked on it and was prompted to download a Microsoft ActiveX component.  After doing so, his computer became infected to the point of inoperability and had to go in for service.  I made several attempts to contact AOL because these sites all start with: user.aol.com.  I finally got through to their corporate office and asked for technical assistance.  My call was transferred to voicemail.  So far, I have not heard anything back.  Apparently, this is happening to other people as well.

What a surprise!

I hate Steve, Sandra and AOL.  I really hate the shithead who get’s their kicks by preying on people and their computers.  It’s so “Huhhhuhhh hu uhh…luuk whut I did..hu huuhhu…I mayde somfing bad happyn.” 

I had a little fantasy of our County Attorney getting in touch with AOL and actually finding the individual who is doing this and throwing their ass in jail but I quickly realized they would eventually get out on good behavior and get a superhighpaying job with some big computer company.

Perhaps AOL will hire them.

Hey everybody!  It’s 4 AM and I’m wide awake! 

What is it with me?  Actually, I know exactly what it is.  I think too much.  I have been told I suffer from clinical depression which is insane because I’m not depressed.  My mind just functions at warp speed.  I wake up in the middle of the night and the thoughts start rolling in.  That’s a common theme for creative types.  That’s why art is manifested.  We think too much and it gets to us.  Some more than others. 

It seems antidepressants are society’s answer to everything these days.  Everyone is walking around in a medicated fog.  I admit I’ve had bouts of taking mental meds.  One time in particular when life was all nutted up, my doctor recommended antidepressants.  I was worried about sexual side effects so my doc prescribed Remeron.  He said there were no sexual side effects but it may make me gain a little weight. 

Oh he was so cute. 

I packed on 20 pounds!  Remeron totally increased my appetite.  I couldn’t stop eating.  It also made me have to sleep at least 10 hours a night.  No insomnia there.  I was totally tired and fat, but man I was HAPPY!!

Then there was Wellbutrin which had the opposite effect.  I lost weight and was wired.  It almost made me lose my mind.  After about a year of Wellbutrin, I started having paranoid delusions.  I thought Ray was trying to poison me and felt like something bad was always about to happen.  These feelings were accompanied by freaky panic attacks that I had to keep locked up inside my head.  You can’t let people know the whole world is about to explode because they’d think you were crazy.  It was absolutely psychotic, but man. I was HAPPY!!

I don’t do antidepressants anymore.  That shit is nasty.  Ever since we got rid of the TV, started eating well and getting exercise, my depression stopped.  Oh sure, I have a few sleepless nights here and there and occasionally get a little whacked out emotionally but I’m not at all like I used to be.  I’m really quite well adjusted and happy.

Could you imagine if Vincent van Gogh were on antidepressants?  He might still have his ear but we wouldn’t have his art.  Mozart on Prozac?  I shudder to think. 

Hey world!  You want to feel better?  Get off your fat asses and go for a walk!  Turn off the TV and go outside.  Explore the produce section at the supermarket!  You’ll be glad you did.

I’m going back to bed…