Ron's Big Life Update - July 1995

"They may be drinkers, but they're still human beings." - from a full-length Batman movie, 1967. (quote uttered by Adam West.)

Okay, so I've been back in Tucson for a week. This has been my first chance to sit down a write a substantial letter, since my three-week vacation left me exactly three weeks behind at work. I saw nearly everybody I know out east and spent way entirely too much time at my parents' house.

In a big nutshell (like a coconut, I guess):

Sat Jun 03 Flew into Newark, NY

Sun Jun 04 Went to a record show in Montvale NJ, at which I was able to buy a copy of some early Billy Joel, before he went solo. I got albums by Attilla and The Hassles, and they're awful. But worth owning.

Mon Jun 05 Had lunch with my friend Tracy from Rochester. Good chinese food. Also got my teeth cleaned.

Tue Jun 06 Visited my friend Jason (of Deth Boat) in NYC. He showed me the recording studio that he works at. WOW! This is the studio where they mixed the new Cranberries CD, as well as Black 47, Monster Magnet, and a whole slew of truly big-name acts. I was in awe. Also saw Karen, her husband Jeff, and their new house. Nice house!

Wed Jun 07 Margaret flew in from Tucson. And met the family. Oy! Actually, it went a lot more smoothly than I would have guessed, and the family just loved her.

Thu Jun 08 Margaret and I drove up to Rah-chester for the U of R 5th-year reunion. She'd never been out east, and really liked the green-ness of it all. I showed her all the different places along Route 17 and 390 that my old cars had died, plus the wonderful Kentucky Fried Chicken in Owego. We stopped at the Roscoe Diner, just to say that we stopped at the Roscoe Diner.

Fri Jun 09 We drove out to Niagara Falls, and took some great pictures. Margaret's first trip to Canada. Then went to dinner at the Distillery, featuring the world's most perfect food, Wings. (Any self-respecting upstate-New Yorker likes buffalo wings, even though we just call them "Wings". Must also be capitalized to emphasize the importance of Wings.)

Sat Jun 10 Saw my friend Jen, her fiance Brian, and their new (to me) house. Nice house! We all went to an antique fair, and spent some time outside. It was nice to be outside because it wasn't 105 degrees, like in Tucson. Later we went to a garage sale and I got a pair of huge, ancient Advent speakers for $30. Score! They were too big to take back on the plane, so they're sitting at my folks' house right now.

Sun Jun 11 Did reunion stuff, and saw Erin, Hayden, John, Antwann, Dave, and a whole bunch of UR alumni who looked familiar. Margaret and I hit Brugger's Bagel Bakery for lunch - a Rah-chester fave.

Mon Jun 12 Had a tour of Kodak in the AM. Went very well, but they're in no position to make me a job offer since the position doesn't exist yet. More to come when the paperwork comes through. Then went to lunch at Don & Bob's with Margaret. Then drove back to NY. Stopped at the Corning Glass Museum, which I had driven past many times, but never stopped at. (bad grammar)

Tue Jun 13 Margaret and I went to lunch with Grandma. Very nice; Grandma just loved her. Then I drove Margaret back to the airport, and she returned to reality.

Wed Jun 14 Drove up to Ithaca to visit my friend Ellen from Minnesota. (She's from Chicago, but I knew her from Minnesota, and now she's going to Cornell.) We ate at a tres-cool vegetarian restaurant, and saw Crumb. Excellent movie. On the drive up, I got hailed on, just outside of Binghamton. Hail! It was weird - God was dropping hail the size of marbles on my car. I dunno why.

Thu Jun 15 Drove back from Ithaca. No hail this time.

Fri Jun 16 Picked up Charles in NYC, and drove out to Boston. Saw Seth, Jeff, Christine, Chris, and a bunch of dogs and cats. We had a nice barbeque, and then went candlepin bowling. What a goofy sport - the ball is made of wood, and is about as big as a grapefruit. You get three chances to knock everything down, and they don't reset the pins in between rolls. Wacky.

Sat Jun 17 Charles and I stayed over at Seth's, and then went to brunch and saw the entire city of Boston. We took the T out, walked around for many many hours, and took the T back. Boston is monstrously cool, but ridiculously hard to drive in. Afterwards, we rented "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls", a Russ Meyer film with a screenplay written by Roger Ebert. Mondo bizarro.

Sun Jun 18 We all went out for brunch with high school friend Christine, whom I hadn't seen in quite a while. She too is engaged. She also pointed out that if you want the ketchup to come out of the bottle faster, you don't hit it on the bottom of the bottle. You hit it on the "57" numbers. Try it. Then Charles and I drove back to NYC. We passed Gerber Optical Inc. on Route 95 just outside of Hartford, Connecticut, which I had never heard of before. You'd think that since I OWN the company, I would have heard of it.

Mon Jun 19 A day off to do laundry. I think I also visited the high school and junior high to check in with some old teachers of mine. I pissed and moaned the whole day because I didn't get to meet Aimee Mann in Boston.

Tue Jun 20 Drove down to DC. Saw Jon & Laura, their 2-month-old son Adam, and their cat Max. I don't know about this baby thing - as everyone knows, children are not part of my little world. But Adam was cute, even if he does spit up his stomach contents on Jon's entire wardrobe.

Wed Jun 21 Had lunch with Terry (that's Terry-the-hot-babe if you're playing at home. I have to stop calling her that around Margaret), and dinner with my uncle, my cousin, and my cousin's new boyfriend. It's good to see family.

Thu Jun 22 Drove back to New York.

Fri Jun 23 Saw Jon's folks, and Russell and his four-month-old daughter Esther. Oy, more babies! But Esther was cute also, and seemed less susceptible to spitting up than Adam. (I can only hope that their little stomachs get more stable as they get older.) I'm glad I got to see Russell before he moves to Boise, Idaho. (on July 1)

Sat Jun 24 Washed and changed the oil in Mom's car, since over the course of three weeks I put 3,000 miles on it. Then flew back to Tucson.

So I saw eight states, two countries, and ten radio markets. (I did my driving with the radio on the entire time.) And I was VERY glad to get back to Tucson.

Once I returned to work, I got hit with the three weeks of stuff that I had not done. Oy! And now it's Saturday, and time to meet Margaret. (She gets off work in ten minutes.) I'll tell her you say hi.

Good night. And have a pleasant tomorrow.
Ron "Not-gonna-see-Pocahontas-because-of-all-the-hype" G