Ron's Big Life Update - July 1997 (III)

Yo, Chuck F. (And Pat and Seth, too. But this is mostly music, so you can delete this right now.)

I think the pop music scene is pretty bleak also, but not as bleak as last year. There are a few songs on the radio that I actually like: "Sunny Came Home" by Shawn Colvin (even though it's a rewrite of Sophie B. Hawkins' "As I Lay Me Down"), "Semi-Charmed Life" by Third Eye Blind (the same guilty pleasure as "Two Princes"), "Virtual Insanity" by Jamoqari (sp??), the Babyface/Stevie Wonder duet, "Your Woman" by White Town (I don't think that the opening sample is borrowed from anything), and a few others. The leadoff single from the Brand New Heavies was disappointing, so I'm waiting to pick up the album. Radio right now is not the greatest selection of pop tunes, but I'll take Hanson and the Spice Girls over the shoe-gazing grunge bands any day. (What a production on the Hanson record! It's the Jackson 5 all over again!) And the Spice Girls will last about as long as the New Kids, so I'm not too scared.

On a good day, I can pick up a bunch of pop stations from some smaller surrounding towns, and not one of them carries Casey's Top 40! I'm beginning to get a little peeved, to say the least. Does Casey air in NYC at all?

My idea: a duet between Johnny Cash and Mariah Carey. Cash and Carey! I gotta lay off the caffeine.

I saw "Face/Off" with John Travolta and Nicholas Cage. (I actually saw it with Margaret, but you know what I'm trying to say.) Every aspect of the movie is completely over-the-top-ridiculous. Which makes it very enjoyable, naturally. John T and Nicholas C were excellent, and I must say that John Woo is the king of ammunition. One thumb up.

Glad you liked Glen or Glenda. I agree that Ed Wood made some truly inspired dementia. I knew from the opening shot (some text on the screen that ran into the next scene before you had a chance to read it) that this was a doozie. You've probably seen "Orgy of the Dead", but don't rush out to see it if you haven't. I still think you'd enjoy "Mystery Science Theater 3000", now airing on the Sci-Fi Channel on Saturdays at 5PM and 12AM. There's been a little shuffling of the personnel, and now the filler skits can be unbearably bad, but the movies are still terrific.

No new news on the Crap From The Past front. I'm still flipping around the dial trying to find a suitable station.

Cash and Carey... I slay myself...

Ron

Ron's Big Life Update - July 1997 (II)

From the same creative genius that brought you such legendary breakfast cereals as Grouch-O's, Day-O's, and Barry Manil-O's...

It's the world's first breakfast cereal that gives you the great down-home taste of Meskeet...Meskeet-O's!

(It's been a buggy summer so far.)

This afternoon at lunch I also came up with the idea of Misfortune Cookies ("You will go bald, be found guilty of three misdemeanors, succumb to a life-threatening disease, and die penniless and alone.")

Most of my free time out here has been clogged up with house stuff. I spent the last few evenings mowing the lawn with our !@#$%^&* push-mower (I'll give it one more week and if it doesn't get any easier, it's history.), raking the lawn with our new rake, and taking up the soggy carpet and tiles from our basement floor. Apparently, we have a little seepage problem in the basement, which we've only noticed because we've gotten quite a bit of rain lately. In fact, since I've moved out here in June, the tornado sirens have gone off twice! I'm just guessing that the recent run of storms is atypical, though, and some drain tiles should fix the now-unfinished basement.

Been trying to settle into the usual routines, but they're not going as smoothly as planned. I found out that my free cable expires at the end of the month, so we'll have to tape as many episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000 as we can before they pull the plug. I also discovered, much to my dismay, that there aren't any radio stations out here that carry Casey's Top 40 on Sunday morning! No more Casey Kasem?!?!? I'm DYIN', I tell ya... And I got Alanis Morrisette's first two albums on CD. (She had two Canadian albums in the Debbie Gibson/Tiffany vein before she moved to the states and started over from scratch.) They're awful, but I now own them. I'm still flipping around the radio dial to try and find some suitable outlet for Crap From The Past - no progress yet.

Well, fare ye well. And for you Southerners, fare ye-all well.
Ron "Boogiemonster" Gerber

Ron's Big Life Update - July 1997 (I)

Hi. I'm finally settled into my new job and my new house. I'm now convinced that a house closing involves more signatures than anything else in one's life, but it's worth it. After about a week of unpacking, we can see the floor in most of the rooms! I've already mowed the lawn and made four trips to the hardware store, so I can say with pride that I'm a homeowner. Our first trash pickup is this Friday, and I can hardly wait!

We attached our VCR to the wall, and LO and BEHOLD! We have free cable. This marks the fourth (4th) time that I have gotten free cable this way. I must have the "kavorka" for free cable. Now if it only worked for donuts...

I found out that my new job involves a little bit of travel in the short term. I'm heading out to San Jose for two days in August, and possibly Holland (!) at the end of the summer. Woo-hoo!

I needed to pick a job title for my business cards, so I am now a "Senior Advisory Development Engineer," which means nothing, really. I wanted to be "Grand Poobah", but that was shot down pretty quickly.

The phone numbers don't spell anything funny, like PET-BANK or BIG-FOOT, unfortunately.

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods. The next time it snows, think of Minnesota...

Ron "Boogiemonster" Gerber