Category: Articles

Archive of articles Rob has written.

Last Call: The Goodwill Outlet Center

Upon entering our local Goodwill’s Outlet Center I was overcome by a wave of desperation. At first I assumed those feelings were emanating from other customers, digging feverishly through the mountains of stuff. The longer we were there I began to wonder if the vibes weren’t radiating from the stuff itself. Everything has a lifespan. Goods are purchased from stores by consumers and kept until they outlive their usefulness, at which point they’re either recycled, discarded, or enter the secondhand market. A big part of that secondhand market are donation centers. Last year, Goodwill alone received approximately 5.7 billion pounds… (read more)

RobOHaraLeave a comment

What I Watched and Read in 2019

It’s that time again — the time when I go back and look at all the movies, television shows, and books I consumed throughout the year. MOVIES Over the past year I watched a total of 101 movies. I’ve been tracking what movies I’ve watched for four years now. In 2018 I watched 111, in 2017 I watched 127, and in 2016 I only watched 82. I always set a loose goal of watching 121 movies (approximately one every three days) and did not reach that goal. My true goal is 100 movies a year, and I just barely made… (read more)

RobOHara

A Peek into the Confusing World of Popeye

As a kid I used to watch cartoons every morning while waiting for the school bus to arrive, and one of those cartoons was Popeye. Although the original Popeye cartoons by Fleischer Studios date all the way back to the 1930s, I was more familiar with the Popeye the Sailor series, produced in the early 60s. In the late 70s and early 80s, CBS brought back the characters for The All New Popeye Hour. This was around the time the live-action Popeye film starring Robin Williams was released, and the character became popular with kids all over again. Despite this… (read more)

RobOHara4 Comments

A Guide to (Many) NES Alternatives

Big Lots is already consolidating their Halloween shelves to make room for incoming Christmas-themed items. (Yes, in September.) One hot item for retrogamers this holiday season will be Nintendo’s official NES Classic Edition, a miniature version of the classic Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) that comes with 30 games built-in and goes on sale on November 11, 2016.. If the last video game system you owned was an original NES, you may not be familiar with all the ways you can play those old NES games, which vary greatly in both quality and price. In this post I’ll be discussing all… (read more)

RobOHara

An Open Letter to the Daily Sun

To whom it may concern: I am writing to inform you that effective immediately, my son will no longer be delivering newspapers for the Daily Sun. Additionally, I have grave concerns regarding the safety of the route he was assigned that I would like to bring to your attention. I initially allowed my son to take this part time job due to its relatively straight forward route and small number of customers. Despite only having ten customers (on a street with 20 houses), my son must cross three busy intersections. Despite having crosswalks, cross traffic does not stop or even… (read more)

RobOHara1 Comment

Hollywood 48 Hour Miracle Diet

For the past three months I’ve been dieting the old fashioned way — eating right, and exercising. But what if there were an easier way to shed a few unwanted pounds? What if, through the power of a miracle, you were able to magically shed up to ten pounds in two days? That’s what the Hollywood 48 Hour Miracle Diet promises purchasers. Normally one would think miracles would be limited to healing lepers, but no — for around $20, you can get your own liquid miracle. Please note that we were unable to test the Hollywood 48 Hour Miracle Diet… (read more)

RobOHara

December 3rd, 1998 (The Accident)

What were you doing on December 3rd, 1998? On the evening of December 3rd, 1998, my wife and I went out for dinner. It was both cold and rainy that night, which made it a particularly bad night to run out of gas. Which, of course, is exactly what happened. The lights in the dash of my Chevy Astro had burned out so I never saw the fuel guage pointing to E. My van coasted to a stop on the side of I-40 near Sara Road. There’s no exit off the interstate there, so we had to walk either a… (read more)

RobOHara2 Comments

MAME Cabinet #2 – The Stranger’s

After seeing my MAME cabinet, my friend The Stranger decided he wanted one as well. Several hundred dollars and months later, here is his the story of his cabinet. The Stranger’s MAME cabinet began life as a 1976 Atari LeMans cabinet. As far as MAME cabinets go, this is one of the worst you could choose. For starters, it has a steering wheel and gas pedal on the front. It also has a sloped control panel area, for the steering wheel. This particular cabinet had mouse crap and bird’s nests all through it. It was also free. The first thing… (read more)

RobOHara5 Comments

Tunica – Rob and Andy

Tunica Trip – April 22nd, 2005. Ever since my wife Susan took me to Vegas last year for my birthday, I’ve wanted to go back to Tunica again for a weekend of gambling. Don’t get me wrong; I loved Vegas, but Tunica is just a cleaner, friendlier place. Last Wednesday I finished by bachelor’s degree at Southern Nazarene University. Also last week, my good friend Andy filed for divorce (our weekend introduction was, “I just finished college and he just finished his marriage …”). We decided that both of those accomplishments deserved a weekend road trip, and it just so… (read more)

RobOHara6 Comments

Andy’s Ring (Fort Cobb)

Approximately an hour southwest of Oklahoma City lies Fort Cobb Lake, a 4,000 acre lake with another 2,000 acres of park area surrounding it. It’s a really quiet place, great for getting away and relaxing a weekend at a time. My buddy Andy and his family just put a brand new mobile home a lake lot down by the lake. His brother-in-law and I joined Andy on this weekend’s mission: his farewell to a piece of jewelry. That’s Andy. During the week, Andy is a firefighter in Mustang, OK. He is also, after ten years of marriage, now single. Without… (read more)

RobOHara2 Comments