Furlough: Week 3

The last day I reported to work was on Friday, December 21, 2018. The third federal furlough of 2018 officially began on December 22, the weekend before Christmas. The first two furloughs of 2018 were inconsequential in regards to our income. In January of 2018 we were furloughed for (I believe) two days, and in February, we were furloughed over a weekend (which didn’t affect our paychecks at all). They say the third time’s a charm, and it appears with this one, we’re in for another long one. I wrote a little bit about furloughs back in January of 2018… (read more)

RobOHara

A Look Back at 2018

2018 was another great year for the O’Haras. Mason turned 17 and Morgan turned 13, making 2018 the first year for us to have two teenagers in the house. Susan and I both turned 45, and spent our 23rd wedding anniversary at a bed and breakfast cabin just outside Guthrie, Oklahoma. My biggest achievement of the year was graduating from the University of Oklahoma with a Master degree in Professional Writing. Staying enrolled full-time in a master program while also working full time is no joke. After five long semesters, I graduated Kappa Tau Alpha (National Honors Society) in May… (read more)

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I Misplaced a 50″ Television

I’m the world’s worst when it comes to setting things down and losing them. I’m the guy who can lay a screwdriver down in the middle of a project and never see it again. I own five pairs of reading glasses and ten pairs of sunglasses, just because I lose them so frequently. Heck, one time I lost the television remote and found it two days later in the freezer! Discovering I’ve somehow misplaced a 50″ flat screen television is incredibly frustrating, but in my world, not terribly surprising. Before I tell you how I lost a television, I need… (read more)

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What I Watched and Read in 2018

For the third year in a row, I maintained a list of everything I watched and read throughout the year. For those who don’t want to skim through the entire list along with my one-liner notes and reviews, here are some of the highlights from 2018’s list. MOVIES According to my list, I watched 111 movies in 2018. This was down slightly from 2017 (127), but way up from 2016 (82). My minimum goal each year is 100, and I try to shoot for 121 (an average of one movie every three days), so I came close this year. I… (read more)

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Christmas 2018

Susan and I had already attended Morgan’s winter band performance, a Christmas party at my friend’s retro arcade, and hosted the annual making and baking of Christmas cookies before our yearly family gathering kicked off the evening of Christmas Eve. Susan spent the day getting ready for the party by cleaning and cooking all day while I prepared in my own way: queuing up just the right vintage holiday cartoons for the little ones to watch, and hooking up an original Nintendo for the older ones to play. The party went by in a flash, just like it always does.… (read more)

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Anchovies and Customer Service

The world of fast food is built upon consistency. McDonald’s goal is for a Big Mac made yesterday in Alaska to look and taste exactly like one made today in Wyoming. As anyone who has worked in fast food knows, this type of precision comes from tight controls that leave little room for thinking outside the box. As you may recall, I spent a few years in the late 80s and early 90s making pizzas. Although I worked for a few different pizza chains, all of them maintained tight control over their brand. Every employee wore the same uniform. When… (read more)

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Mason’s 17th Birthday

Mason turned seventeen years old on Wednesday. To celebrate, several of our family members came over for pizza, lasagna, a piece of cookie cake, and some ice cream. I didn’t sleep well the night before Mason’s party, and woke up Wednesday morning just before 5 a.m. I arrived at the office just before 6 a.m., worked hard on a project until 4:30, picked up the cookie for Mason’s party a little after five, and made it home roughly five minutes before our first guests arrived. It was a long day, and by the end of the evening I was wiped… (read more)

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Saying Farewell to President George H. W. Bush in Houston

George H. W. Bush, the 41st President of the United States, passed away November 30, 2018, in Houston, Texas, at the age of 94. His body was flown to Washington D.C. for a national funeral service. On Wednesday, December 5, President Bush’s body was flown back to Houston, where he was to lay in repose for 12 hours at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church for public viewing. “I want to go,” said Susan, “and take the kids. You up for a crazy adventure?” This was on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the kids arrived home from school around 3 p.m. By 3:30 p.m.,… (read more)

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I Just Published “The Human Library” on Amazon Kindle

In January of 2018 I began work on my senior project — a novel that ultimately became known as The Human Library. This wasn’t the first novel I worked on during grad school, but by the time it was finished and I had defended it before a panel of professors (all of whom are also published authors), it was the one that felt the most complete. After a few months of dealing with agents, I’ve decided to publish The Human Library myself through Amazon. While it’s a well-structured and complete novel, it’s just quirky enough that it’s probably not going… (read more)

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Thanksgiving 2018

As of the day before Thanksgiving, the only thing Susan and I had permanently mounted to any of our walls was the living room television. All of a sudden, twenty-four hours before the big meal, Susan decided it was officially time to make our house look like we had decided to stay. The two of us traveled in tandem throughout the house, she with a level and pencil in hand, and I close behind with a drill and pocket full of screws and plastic wall anchors. Within an hour or two, the coat rack, entryway mirror, inspirational chalkboard, and mail-tray-shaped-like-a-bicycle… (read more)

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