Ron's Big Life Update - December 1994

(written December 4th:)

"Monday! Monday! Monday!" - unattributed. probably never spoken.

How is everything in the wild wacky zany loopy goofy nutsy cuckoo world of e-mail? Hope your respective Thanksgiving plans are taking shape. I'd invite you all over to my place, but I'm not going to be there. (I'll be chowing with the usual bunch out here - I'll tell them you say hi.)

Another absurd weekend here in Tucson:

Thursday night - went bowling. Bowled a 164. (Only one strike, but seven spares.) Plus I bowled the whole game using M.H.Q. (Maximum height quotient). Then bowled a 94 lefty.

Friday night - was invited to a dinner party, and was asked to bring a main dish. Unfortunately, I got that request after I had arrived with a dessert. (O well.) My dessert was supposed to be a coconut custard pie, but I realized after it was already in the oven that I left out the main ingredient - the coconut. So I showed up with a custard pie, which I later explained by calling it "flan" in a pie crust. (No joke. I really left out the coconut.)

Saturday - got my oil changed. Woo-hoo! Then went out with Margaret on a very loosely-structured date. Which was fine with me.

Sunday - did laundry. Woo-hoo! Then watched a Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode, "Teenagers From Outer Space". (quote from movie: "Geez! Look at the V-necks on those alien outfits. It looks more like Student Council From Outer Space.") Then saw "The Mask" with Margaret and a few of her friends. Which was fine with me.

Monday - came into work, wrote the obituaries in advance for the volleyball team that we're going to CRUSH tonight, and wrote this e-letter.

Ron

(also written December 4th:)

Well, another Monday is upon us. And after the giant-sized feast on Thursday, I think this is going to be the longest, draggiest Monday in recorded history.

Hope your Thanksgivings were most excellent, as was mine. We gathered at Cindi's house (same crew as last two years) and all prepared recipes from the special Thanksgiving issue of Bon Apetit magazine (called "Food Porn" by someone at the party). ("I read it for the articles." Sure, you do...) Leftovers are now a staple in most of our households.

Friday, we had our last football game of the season. We played ASU here in Tucson, and beat them 28-27 because they missed a 40+ yard field goal with 30 seconds left on the clock. It was a great game, and merriment was had by all.

Saturday, went to lunch with Margaret, and then DJed a wedding. The wedding turned out great - I got the largest tip of my entire DJ career! The high point came with the bouquet toss; the bride tossed it straight up into the chandelier (sp?), and broke a few of the light bulbs. (Ron's comments: "Stay away from my car" and "Fortunately, those aren't Christmas lights or they'd all be out.") About halfway through the party, someone asked me if I have any disco. IF I HAVE ANY DISCO??!?!??? Well, not being one to disappoint, I played non-stop disco for the next hour and a half, and kept the dance floor completely filled. Life is good...

Sunday, spent the whole day with Margaret. (recall Margaret from my e-letter three weeks ago.) We'd been in this awkward zone between just friends and dating, but we cleared that up - I got the official yellow "proceed with caution" light. Some may read that as "Go really fast", but I don't think that's such a good idea, considering the type of vehicle I drive. I found out that Margaret is six days older than I am. Six days! Is this karma or what? We saw "Pulp Fiction", which was excellent.

Oh, and I taped all 28 hours of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Marathon on Thanksgiving day. We got all fourteen episodes, and that should keep us happy until next year. I've now seen the entire "Santa Claus Conquers The Martians", and the second half is just as good as the first.

And did you know that Barry Manilow's "Mandy" was actually a remake? The original was a song by Scott English called "Brandy" and hit #92 in 1972.

Not a big hit by any standard, and it's on Janus Records (which I've never even heard of). If you find a copy of "Brandy", send it to me.

That is all.
Ron

(written December 13th:)

"Hey." - James Brown

Life is good. My one class this semester ends today with a 20-minute presentation of my research - no problema. I should eventually print out the transparencies, but I think I'll do that after lunch. Ah, sweet laziness...

Things are going extremely well with Margaret (born six days apart, karma, etc.). We're at the stage where we're introducing each other to our friends. This is a significant improvement over my last few relationships, which fizzled long before this stage. So far so good; I'm keeping my fingers crossed (have you ever tried to type with your fingers crossed?)

My friend Matt just had his parents ship out his old Commodore 64, which has the hi-tech cassette drive. Woweee! This should be fun!

And if any of you are somewhere near Tucson for New Year's Eve, I'll be DJing at one of the hotels here in town. From all of us at Crap From The Past, have a Crappy New Year.

I've been mulling over the idea of a new radio character to fill the void left by the late Mr. Science. It would be called "Ramblin' Man", and would sound a lot like Grandpa Simpson. I dunno...

Today's high: low 60s. Wear lots of sweaters.
Good luck on your respective finals, etc.

Ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho,
Ron

(written December 22nd:)

"I got a girlfriend with bones in her hair/And nothing's better than that." - David Byrne, via Pat.

Well, hi. It would be in my best interest to learn how to use the "alias" thingy, so that I don't have to type in all the e-mail addresses by hand (which took about two hours this morning...)

The Mr. Science Radar Weather Station tells me that it's been fairly mild in the rest of the country for the last few days. Also true of Tucson - been in the mid-70's all week. (Some of us have been in the mid-70's for a lot longer than that...)

Saw Fellini's "8-1/2" last week. Did I enjoy it? Definitely. Did I fully understand it? Definitely not. It is an excellent movie, and probably one I should watch over and over. (8.5? No, 8-1/2.)

Campus is really dead right now, since finals ended two days ago. In my opinion, it should be like this all the time. Schools operate much more efficiently when there are no students to clog up the machinery. And it makes the restaurants a lot less crowded at lunchtime. Aside from the loss of some pretty scenery, I don't miss the students at all...

In the audio/visual world, I have a wonderful new addition to my home entertainment system - a COMMODORE 64!!!! Woo-hoo!!! My friend Matt had his parents ship out his old Commodore 64 (I think one of the machines in lab is controlled by a '64, and needs a new power supply - that's why Matt's computer is here). So I hooked the thing up (temporarily) in my apartment. Wow! I'd forgotten how technically advanced those things are! That 38,000-byte RAM (nope - can't use all 64K), that hi-tech cassette drive ("PRESS PLAY ON CASSETTE DRIVE. SEARCHING. FOUND. LOADING. READY."), POKEs and PEEKs, and so many other wonderful features that I'd completely forgotten about over the years. I do have an actual use for it, though, that I wouldn't be able to use a PC for. Lemme 'splain ("No, no time. Lemme sum up." - The Princess Bride) :

The way I record my radio shows is on VCR tape. A 6-hour videocassette costs less than a 90-minute audio cassette, and has much much much better sound. So, I patch my receiver into my VCR, and let it run uninterrupted for the entire show. Pretty slick, eh? Anyway, the video signal on the tape is pretty much useless unless it's a clock, or some other time-keeping device, so I can fast-forward to the end of the show or whatever. In the past, when I had cable, I would record the weather channel, or some other directory channel that had a live clock on the screen at all times. (People thought I was a little strange. Nothing I'm not already used to...) What I'm using the Commodore 64 for is a clock screen - the '64 doesn't use real computer monitors because those hadn't been invented yet; its output is to a TV. Hence, into my VCR, and a simple BASIC program puts a live clock on the screen.

("Ron, you're a genius. Here's a high-paying job, with business cards." - prospective employer)

Uh, I think the mainframe is about to crash, so I'll be cutting this short.

Toodles,
Ron