We Opened a Toy Booth: Retro Rob’s

Last month, a vintage toy store named Gambit’s Toy Box opened its doors. Shortly after the store opened, people began sending me messages and tagging me on Facebook. One message read, “someone just opened a toy store that looks like your house.” Last Saturday while out running errands, Susan and I were finally able to swing by and check out the store. Even before I walked through the front door, I knew I was going to love the place. The window displays facing the street were filled with the toys I grew up playing with and the ones I’ve been… (read more)

I Finally Convinced my Baby Boomer Coworker to Watch Star Wars

I met Carol back in 1995 on my first day of work at a new job. In that office there were twelve helpdesk analysts and two admins who did all the adulting. Carol was one of those admins; she answered incoming calls and routed them to the technicians, processed warranty and purchase orders, and all sorts of administrative tasks. She also became the office’s unofficial mom. Carol was the one who organized parties and often played peacemaker when tempers flared. More than all of that, Carol became one of our dearest friends. Back in the 90s when Susan and I… (read more)

An Inexpensive Garage Organizer: Food Containers!

When you own as many things as I do, organization is a must. Despite having a relatively messy work area, I’m pretty disciplined when it comes to organizing my storage. Over the years I’ve purchased dozens and dozens of garage storage tubs, plastic “shoeboxes” for storing smaller things, and Ziploc baggies for keeping bits and bobs together. I own lots and lots of things and found out a long time ago, searching for those things drives me absolutely batty. I am always on the lookout for new ways to organize things, whether that’s labeling the outside of all those storage… (read more)

Back Update: MRI, X-Rays, Neurosurgeon and Physical Therapy

It’s been two weeks since I went to the emergency room with excruciating back pain. It took a minute to get all the pieces aligned, but last week I ended up with three separate appointments regarding my back. Last week was a bit of a roller coaster with lots of information, both good and bad, coming at me at a rapid pace. Here’s a quick summary of those appointments, where I am now, and what the plan is moving forward. 01. ANOTHER MRI Last weekend, I had a second MRI scan, this time to scan the thoracic portion (middle third)… (read more)

Lost Star Trek Special from 1975 Now Available On YouTube

Last week I announced that I had discovered, as far as I can tell, a previously unknown Star Trek special. Not only can I not find any information regarding this special online, but the Trekkies I reached out to — and the Trekkies they reached out to — can’t seem to find any record of it, either. As I wrote in my last week’s post, the special is a television airing of parts one and two of the classic Star Trek episode “The Menagerie,” presented together as a single episode. The special is hosted by Leonard Nimoy, who filmed original… (read more)

Did I Just Discover a Previously Unknown Star Trek TV Special?

One of my favorite hobbies (which I have previously discussed) is “digital archaeology.” I love finding, digitizing, archiving and sharing audio and video from the past that may not have mage the transition from analog to digital. I get great personal enjoyment from digging through old cassettes, video tapes, and even computer disks in hopes of finding something that got left behind, something that never made it to the internet and putting it there. To be fair, 95% of what I find already exists in some form. Most of the movies and television shows I find on old tapes have… (read more)

A Restaurant to Ourselves on Valentine’s Day

Having spent several years in high school and college working in the food industry, I can tell you first hand that fast food is never better than the moment it is prepared. Once it is baked, cooked, or assembled, fast food does nothing but get worse. I have eaten Long John Silver’s hushpuppies seconds after scooping them from a vat of boiling grease and taken bites of Grandy’s fried chicken so hot the dripping grease burned my chin, and I am telling you… there’s nothing like it. The fresher, the better. Based on the five years I spent working at… (read more)

When Backs Go Bad

Sometime in early December I began having severe back pain. It started in my lower back, worked its way up into my middle back, and finally settled near my kidney. The general consensus was that I might be about to pass a kidney stone, but I didn’t have any of the other traditional symptoms. A couple of handfuls of Advil a day made the pain bearable. And then, right before Christmas, the mostly dull and throbbing but occasionally stabbing pain morphed into intense back spasms. They mostly happen in the morning, when transiting from laying to sitting, and again from… (read more)

Swimming with Stingrays

“Isn’t that how the Crocodile Hunter died?” That’s the first question I asked when Susan informed me we would be swimming with stingrays while on vacation in the Cayman Islands. Turns out it’s everyone’s first question, so let me address it right up front. Over the past 80 years, 20 people have been killed by stingrays. To put that number in perspective, in 2021 1,554 people died from falling off furniture. You are nearly 80 times more likely to die from falling off your couch than being killed by a stingray. They’re pretty safe. Our cruise ship was too large… (read more)

Visiting the Jasper Mall

Jasper Mall is a 2020 documentary about a dying mall in Jasper, Alabama. The film follows Mike, the mall’s general manager, lone security guard, only custodian, and for much of the film, Jasper Mall’s sole employee. As visitors to the mall dwindle and the anchor stores are long gone, we watch vendor after vendor contemplate retirement or relocating their businesses. Through a series of vignettes we watch retired men who meet at the same courtyard table every day to play dominos, a man who sells knives and plays his electric guitar to fill the time between customers, and a young… (read more)

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