Winter 2022 - Three Months O' Fun

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20211210_141259.jpgHere it is. Almost Spring 2022. It's all over isn't it? Pansamatic done right? Oh sure they haven't called it off yet, but our government says we don't have to wear masks but still wear masks, we can just toss them in the trash right? It seems a squirrel has set up a hammock with a carelessly discarded mask here. Spring hammock swinging. Wouldn't that be nice?

IMG_6785.JPGThis was YEAR TWO of having a doggy scrubber wearing a mask as the top of my simulated Charlie Brown tree. My tree sheds every year where certain branches need to be faced towards the back, or MORE LIGHTS!   This is an extra mask that I wore once and it adorns the ceramic fox at my front door and for the December month, it's top of tree. Will it make it to year three?

IMG_6738.JPGLook at these masks. I build these, sometimes weekly. Wash and then build them.  I never saw another one like mine made with small spring paper clips. I only did that because I don't have a sewing machine nor can I sew. Well, other than the few stitches I've put in on the straps of the light use masks. (The ones where the coffee filter is exposed, can only be for short trips because breath contains spit which is why we're wearing these things in the first place. Ever taste a wet coffee filter? ) Now I can get rid of them, or not. I have squirrels. I have trees. I have squirrel hammocks.

IMG_6775.JPGThis was my latest mask I added to my mask collection. I bought it from an independent dollar store that was going out of business. They said I'd need another item to get two for one pricing.  Yes, I'm that cheap. So I grabbed this. Yes, I did convert it to my coffee filter system but, um....I just can't go out in public with a tiger muzzle mask. It will make a nice squirrel hammock. I'll build a multi floored hammock system.  It'll be like Skipper and Lil' Buddy had on Gilligan's Garbage Scow. (Working title...)

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Cornering the market on coffee filters and mini paper clips and Wally pillow case wrappers and generic black masks and elastic bands from other cheap paper masks since 2020. We're your cheesy mask superstore here at the Junk Blog. Yep. We did this for two years. Please don't let it get to 3 years.

Farther Along Cover.jpg2022. This year we need to go Farther Along. This is one of my favorite Randy California's Spirit albums. This album was the closest they came to a 1970's reunion to 60's Spirit and was way too short, but damn good. I used to be able to name all of the players, but I do know Ed Cassidy. He was the "world's oldest rock drummer" when he finally passed a few years ago. He was stepdad to Randy California and played with some jazz greats. I think one of the other guys was in soft rock group "Firefall" and then the 80's in "Heart". He was a paid player in both bands. I was a huge fan a few years ago and have everything I could get because Randy's Spirit has a ton of posthumous releases. (Randy passed in 1995.) But, when Randys mom passed a few years ago, all of the tapes "disappeared" and nothing was being released. I moved on to other bands and I found the Hugh Tube Aussies and Grateful Dead. Ahh, but the faucet was turned back on! A "expanded" re-release of a few of my favorites came out and well....

20211210_165849.jpg 8 CDs. "Mercury Era" Box set. Yep. I'm back in. There is quite a bit of material here that I hadn't heard. Yes, more unheard live sets including one recorded on a 4 track cassette machine. It's actually the masters of the albums  on Mercury Records. Randy actually took the masters and re-mastered them using mid 90's studio tech for a planned 2 disc compilation. So, those masters he made were cleaned up and release in full length fashion for this set. The only bad thing is on "Farther Along", a few of the songs were "enhanced" by Randy. It's only a few tracks, but far outweighed by the brighter/cleaner versions. It's Randy on guitar as well. I guess when an artist gets a chance to redo something he felt he didn't do right 20 years before... Okay. I guess I'm boring you now.  I just want to promote an artist that seems forgotten.

IMG_6759.JPGChristmas this year was very nice. We didn't have to sit six feet apart or wear masks. Nice to see family again at Thanksgiving as well. I picked the lights up because it seems strings of lights last three years and one or two strings that I put out this year seemed to be on their third year. Of course I bought them when I could because by mid December, you couldn't get these, at least around here. I'm used to a bunch of half priced sales between Christmas and New Years. I also got the barrel of "Moose Munch" in my stocking. If I'd received nothing but Moose Munch this Christmas, I'd be like "Best Christmas Ever!"

IMG_6734.JPG Spoke too soon. This would be the Best Christmas Ever. BOOZE as a GIFT wearing a CHRISTMAS SWEATER. Oh, it's wearing a familiar red wax hat. Must be MAKERS!  *Snoopy Dance*  This KY Bourbon was the first bourbon I tasted when I was tasting boozes like Oban and Blue Agave Tequila. There were better beverages than Buschhhhhhhhhhh beer?  It's been my favorite bourbon forever.

IMG_6741.JPGHappy New Years. I celebrated with my favorite brand of bottled water because of the animals they put on the bottles and a bottle of Barefoot. Yes, I know. Not the finest bubbly you could buy but at least this time it wasn't as dry as last years. Clean that stove top! I wouldn't walk barefoot on that stove top! Get that bottle of Lyslaw that you had on this blog and clean it up!  Make your stove be pH Balanced.

IMG_6733.JPGI asked for a "Burr" coffee grinder for Christmas. I had one grinder go bad after two years. It was a prediction I'd heard. Even if kept clean like mine was, it would go bad after two years. Yep. I needed another, so I bought another cheap one to fit the bill. "Burr" grinders are preferred by "coffee snobs" because they use gears to grind the coffee not a fast moving chopping blade. I just asked for one that was "cheap". What I got was this huge appliance. I haven't yet started grinding with it because of the counter space it will need for my daily grind of coffee. Yeah, I'll just set up a folding table and deal with it for two years. They all fail within two years.

IMG_6732.JPGAfter all, I have a ton of coffee to be ground. I loves me some Dunkin coffee. Got these for Christmas when the normal place I've been getting the coffee from stopped placing "Three pounds for 19.99"  coupons in the mail. Plus, this is about the only brand sold as whole bean at major stores and marts. Man, I miss the old Caribou coffee stores. I did try a bag of Caribou at home and well, I miss Caribou coffee stores.

IMG_6817.JPGThank goodness one of the things I did of summer last year when we thought we were coming out of the pansamatic was returning to Trader Joes. They have 5-7 blends of coffee beans and I can shop there again without being paranoid that I'd be shopping on top of everyone else. I always got a sample of hot "Joe" coffee from their sample kitchen. They haven't re-opened their sample kitchen at least at my nearby Joes. So, no no "Joe" brewed in  store.  One good thing is, their "Joe" blend is as good in the store as when I make it at home. They Burr grind right? Nah, they have ground right? It's amazing that it tastes as good at home. I wish Caribou's coffees would be like that...

IMG_6746.JPGGAHHHHHHH! This was "gifted" to me by my mother. It was clearance priced at ALDI for $1.65. I thanked mom. After all, I love me some pumpkin pie. I love me some coffee. Two great tastes that taste great together. Right? RIGHT? My trouble with any flavor in a coffee is that when you need to flavor the coffee or put in those horrible artificial favor creamers, you end up with a coffee flavored mess. Thank you Adam Carolla. Real cream is all he uses in his coffee or even a pat of butter? Yep. No other flavors. He hates the artificial flavors of creamer that are mostly water and hydrogenated oils. When I made  a pot of this coffee, it was stunningly artificial. You could taste the coffee, but the artificial almost marshmallow sweetness just made it a drain pour. I started using 4 scoops Dunkin and three scoops this. It was better, enough to almost use up the bag but in the end... 86!

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SO WHAT THE HELL IS THIS S**T???

Faithful readers of this blog know a few things about your obsolete junk blogger. One: I keep a lot of stuff for inane reasons. (Willy Wonka Fireball wrapper because it went all the way around a luggage transporter at my local airport.) Two: I'm obsessed with writing supplies. (Pen shootout and Burrows.) Three: I like music. (Repeat.) Four: I Like beverages. (Repeat.)  Five: I'm a cheap bastard. HA! Stop right there. This was clearance priced for 50 cents at my local "temporarily out of everything" store. I haven't "enjoyed" it yet, but for 50 cents... When I was younger, while visiting my local Big Lots, I purchased three cases of different "flavored" Pepsi beverages and I think paid $3 for the lot. Who knew that drinking "Strawberry" Pepsi or "Tropical" Pepsi would be something I'd enjoy about two cans each of and then... No recycling back when. "86" Yes, I will enjoy this beverage. 50 cents and I didn't have to buy a mask with a tiger muzzle printed on it.

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Awww. Palmer put out a nice chocolate dog for Valentines day. I bought one because it's a dog and it's chocolate and it's ....wait for it... HALF PRICED CLEARANCE? Yep. I wouldn't eat this because it's not chocolate at all. If you could put a wick in this, it would be the worst smelling candle, but would likely go for a really long time. Love/Hate with Palmer chocolates. Love all the stuff they do for holidays, hate the waxy texture/flavor of their chocolate. Hell, kids don't care. Well maybe they do. "Hello Uber Eats? Deliver yummies to my phone post haste! Put it all on the Underhills." 

Bad Pizza.JPG Now, you know I love pizza. I'll eat anything from the cheapest party pizza to the super deluxe deep dish Wicks pizza from Louisville, KY. (Then I'll place it in my hollowed out Palmer bunny and light it. Actually, ever fill a broken Palmer bunny with a shot of bourbon and drink from it like a shot glass? No. Good. Bad for you. *whistles innocently*.) This was a pizza from a small local restaurant that appears to have some great reviews so when the usual pizza joint with McPizza was filled to capacity on a Saturday, I suggested we try this place. Look at that crust. Lots and lots of overdone dough. Look at those thin burnt strings that were onions.  Oh there is cheese and meat and other veggies, but don't let that fool you. It's a dough monster. Sops up the heavy amounts of grease. It has to do something. But, the sauce? They said their house sauce was "sweet". No big deal. Well if there is such a thing as tomato flavored sweet tarts, this is it. Bleah. Several errors made on the Adam Carolla pizza faux-pas scale. I  love cold pizza but WTF is this? "86"

IMG_6751.JPGIt was late on New Years eve and I needed some popcorn shrimp that I would make during the radio show that I do on New Years every year. Supply chain issues and all that stupid stuff or everybody had the same idea so I had to settle for this. Popcorn Chicken. Look at the box. I eat Banquet's chicken strips dinner for my lunches, so these gotta be just like those right? Gee a few entries ago, I featured the box of bones that is Banquet Fried Chicken. Fond memories of a good product were dashed by how bad it was. I ventured a guess that they scrape those chicken pieces a bit to put in their other chicken products. So I thought these would be okay...

Mmmmm Edible.JPGI see. They used the dough from the pizza I 86'ed to make these little pieces of loosely "chicken" flavored dough. Eating these was like eating the eraser from a #2 pencil if it is fried to mush. Hell, what did I expect. I got exactly what I paid for. It's why you have dipping sauce. So you can't taste what you're dipping. At least you can taste popcorn shrimp because they actually contain a shrimp!

Wallace Sells Piecemeal.JPGSee my ugly dishes? I have a set of Corelle seemingly indestructible dishes. They  last forever and long survived most of the dishes I bought from a participating Dollar General when I finally went to "Big Boy" phase and moved out on my own. I've dropped these dishes on the floor or into the dish rack several times and they come back for more. Ahh, but they are glass. When I had a fork in my sink and one of my Corelle dishes was set in such a way..  I accidentally dropped my 30oz coffee tumbler, the fork acted as a fulcrum and well... I had shattered glass plate in my sink to clean up. I went along with a set of three dinner plates but quickly ran out of plates so out to uncle Wally's place where I found that I can buy Corelle  by the dish rather than an entire 4 person setting with tiny mugs that just aren't the way we 'Mericans drink our coffee. 30 OZ Aluminum Tumblers! It's 'Merican. Made in China. I got these "industrial" "restaurant style" plates and also bought one with a actual pattern on it bringing my available dinner plate total to six. I can entertain again! Bring your own tumbler.

IMG_6809.JPGSpeaking of cheap. Can you believe this failure? I mean you can expect coffee grinders to last two years but they are mechanical and have moving parts. Why would a $1 plastic bucket that I've used as recycling bin for the last twenty years just crack like this? I mean what kind of cheap ... Oh... Me? Yep. Put some Gorilla tape over the hole and keep it for another twenty years. By the way, yes, it is marked "VOMIT". It is a bucket I purchased in case I have Mr. Creosote over and force him to have a wafer thin mint. *Skitch* *Monty Python* Thanks*

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One thing I can say about being cheap, I'll try cheap adult beverages once to see if they are worth anything. I bought a 6 Pack of beer once on the way to my brother's cabin. I remember if it was really really ice chest cold, it was just "drinkable". "86". When I saw this at ALDIS I didn't hold much hope. Generic "Hazy IPA" which is a description of a type of beer  with a hazy, dank , wet hop sort of... I have no idea what makes it a "Hazy IPA" Point? It was 8.99, which is about 2-4 bucks less than similar beverages. I had recently found that Cleveland's own Great Lakes brewery makes a hazy IPA that rang every taste bell in my head. It became my favorite beer they brew. This? It was good. Especially for the price. Maybe an "intro to the style" beer, this would be a good choice.

IMG_6808.JPGAhh, but if you want to keep your head above water and don't mind swilling something "beer like" that is cold and will get you shnockered if you drink enough of them, this is the beverage for you. A twelve pack of pounders! Great size beverage for all your beverage needs. Truth? When I don't feel like shlepping to my local for a few of these, I call it a home/bar evening. I would have consumed them at the bar anyway, but I pocket the mark up of having college basketball on 17 TVS and a juke box that plays music I'd rather not hear and  peeps that constantly walk to the "tear em off" card machines for another $20 worth of hoping they will win $50 after spending $120. 

IMG_6866.JPGFinally, I have new junk. Planned obsolescence junk. When I had my first cell phone "gifted" to be, it was back before smart phones. It was prepaid. I paid $20 every three months. If I used it more, I'd have to top it up to keep it running but in the end, I had $120 credit in my account. When my friends were all showing me their flashy fruit phones or robot phones, I'd hold mine up and say "mine plays Tetris." A friend of mine convinced me to upgrade to a smart phone primarily so I could text peeps. I went to Wally and found one for $50 on the same carrier I had and took the plunge. Of course the money I had saved up I thought I had to use because it would not carry over to my new phone. Why then do I still have 20 cents on my new account? So, yes, I stayed with "Virgin Mobile" and I loved my new phone even though it wasn't that fast and took less than stellar pics. I got a nice rubber case for it and was ready to keep it for another 10 years of service. Then Virgin announced the were ending cell service. I was being transferred to "Boost". No problem. Everything stayed the same. La La La. Year 4 of smart phone ownership...until....  "Upgrade before your phone self destructs. This is a recording." 3G service was being shut down. Wait, I had a 4G phone. Wait. Boost was sold to Dish? Wait. Boost was moving to a different carrier making most of their phones obsolete or in need of a new sim card? Mine was one of the ones that was obsolete because my sim was Virgin/Boost Buyout. So? Hello Moto. I got a phone for free because I was willing to stay with Boost. Who know how long it will be before they are sold or they shut down and I'll need to upgrade again. Oh, did I mention that I have TWO of the Virgin Mobile LG Tribute phones? I bought the second one to be strictly a MP3 player and it does a hell of a job but it can also WiFi and take crappy photos. I think the max MP3 player sold up until two years ago was 4 Gig. Now, I got another for MP3 player . One for each ear. Yeah.

IMG_6854.JPGCompare. There is no compare right? One looks like an actual Motorola radio where one looks like it's a "spaaaaaaace phooone"  Bigger screen, more room to break I guess. I did buy a case for it but I need the rubberized case for all that extra bouncy goodness. It saved my other one from a fall or two. Did I mention that my previous phone cost $50 and my new one was free? I'm worried about what?

IMG_6867.JPGStill, the other case had a stand that broke and was fixed by Gorilla tape. It also had a nice plastic frame around it. It truly made my phone semi un-destructable. Hey, the new one barely fits in the camera case I carry it in. Why have additional...wait.. Yes, I carry this in a camera case. I don't keep my phone on 24/7 so I can keep up with the social meat-eye-uh. I don't purchase things with it. I barely use it. But damn it, I need a rubberized/protected case!

IMG_20220225_151401885_MP.jpg..because... I hang on to things for so long... We established how I think my new cell phone is going to be phased out in less than 4 years so I'll be left with another WiFi brick. Did I mention that LG has stopped making phones? Microsoft made their phones for a few years with their own operating system but didn't penetrate the market and stopped. However, MS's CAMERAS in the phones take some awesome photos so my friend still uses his as a camera! My LG's are bricks. I guess they did have better LGs but they also gave up on cell phones. Did I mention they work great as MP3 players? The Motorola phone however, took this picture of of the camera I have been using for a few years to produce this blog. I find something that works great and I keep using it until it just doesn't work. Then I keep it hoping one day I can fix it. It's why we're a junk blog. This is a Canon Power Shot A1100. It's the camera I found while I was buying cameras from thrift stores looking for one that took great photos in every condition. This was it. Note the fine battery door/masking tape securing system. Note the missing lens cover with the fake Sharpie marker colored tape around the exposed plastic. It says "PRO".

IMG_20220225_151608752.jpgI took these with my New Moto cell phone. It means that well, I can retire the point and shoot camera. NO! I must keep on using it! I need yet another cable to attach it to my computer! (Did I mention that my new phone uses USB C? Yes, another cable to buy backups for.) At least now I have something that I can carry everywhere and can take pics as good as this Canon. The LG's would take pics as long as I didn't move and there was sunshine on a cloudy day.  I can't make a movie with my Moto, but the point and shoot goodness of it keeps me from having another brick in the electronics wall. Did you see that GE stereo clock radio a few pictures back? Behind it a Sony "Silver" boombox with a dodgy CD player and non working tape player? Behind that a Hitachi tape dubbing boombox with missing tape door? Junk blog. -Ric

IMG_4495.JPGThis was HIFI! This was a studio amplifier with Minimus speakers that made a few albums. This made my band what it was. Cheap. Back when Radio Shack was still a thing, they introduced this small amp to the world. Way back when, you just couldn't get anything HiFi unless you had a ton of cash to throw into the wind. You couldn't go on line and get powered speakers you could plug into your turntable and have great sound. For that matter, you couldn't have wireless HiFi and buy a few items and have thousands of dollars of sound for $99. We had to struggle. We had orange foam on our headphones. Get off my lawn. Radio Shack sold a low priced solution so that if you had a piece of HiFi equipment and maybe you only cared to have that ONE PIECE of HiFi and you wanted to put it through speakers without expense of an amp... Let's say you didn't care to have an 8 Track tape player and a cheap tuner in addition to your amp. What do you do? If you have a make shift studio and you needed a system with somewhat decent sound to play back what you recorded in the CD store bathroom? It's why you had this Radio Shack amplifier.

100_4230.JPGYou needed speakers right? Small speakers with big sound. When you plugged Radio Shack speakers into a Radio Shack amplifier, you had a whole Radio Shack HiFi stereo system. Believe it or not, compared to going to your local Zayre to get the latest double deck stereo for $149 or a Lenoxx mini system from Grey Drug for $99, this system cost more but sounded like $1000. I know, it wasn't a true turn up your nose stereo system, but especially if you didn't need to tune radio stations, this was many people's stepping stone to better equipment. Essentially, if you needed small speakers that could take a whallop and yet be loud and at the same time decent sounding, these speakers were the solution. The only better small speakers you could buy were "studio" monitors that cost a hell of a lot. These came out before the "monitor" and "stereo"  television craze of the late 80's. That changed it all. Before that, it was a niche thing. Why have a stereo set up around your 25" console TV. It's mono sound anyway. I can't afford those new fancy stereo disc video systems. I can't afford a fancy stereo video tape player. If I want good sound in my movies, I go see them at a movie theater with that new surround system. Right?

IMG_4497.JPG"Simulated Stereo Amplifier That Is Better Than Soundesign"  Ahhh..this was it. Fake wood grain on everything before silver became a color for stereo equipment in the high tech 80's. Plastic case with wood grain sticky paper. If you had a pressed board case, it could have simulated wood grain that was guaranteed not to start peeling for the 90 day warranty. Fake wood grain was for the common man.  The HiFi elite wouldn't even light their cigars off this if it were on fire. They'd prefer to use their TUBE amp with real wood cases and wait for the tubes to heat up so they can light their cigars off of the heat.  "Simulated Walnut Grain Finish" Hmmm. I had a band called "Simulated Walnut Grain Finish" once.  "Tribute too?" "The Cars!" *and scene*

IMG_4498.JPG"Where do you connect the speakers?" "RCA outputs?" I think they made these with spring terminals where you could connect speakers that didn't have RCA ends. This model used the cheaper/simpler RCA ends and surprise! Radio Shack sold the speaker cables with RCA on one end and bare speaker wires on the other. Again, before stereo everything happened where you were generally not LOUSY with extra RCA cables that you could nick off one end to use for this. Ahh, but there was another plus for this little amp. You COULD plug a turntable into it. Before MODERN vinyl and record players could convert your records to MP3s or send sound to wireless speakers or even connect to a computer with a USB cable, you needed a pre-amp for any better record player. Otherwise you got no sound or a scratchy high "needle on the record" sound without an amplifier sound. This was the winner but you should only connect a record player to the record player input because other equipment would be distorted because you were amplifying something that didn't need it. I could explain OHMS and minimal sound outputs..if I understood any of it.

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Radio Shack on Radio Shack Crime. Ever trying to have the latest HiFi I woke this amp from my junk collection when my odd living room computer speaker surround sound amplifier that I was using for video..gave up the ghost. I needed something to play stereo when I watch Grateful Dead videos right? How about HiFi VHS movies or my DVD collection which includes mostly MONO DVDs of old TV shows. I needed the stereo right? I have just added a cheap DVR so now I need something that can take USB chip input stereo so I can listen to podcasts while I'm putting up my Christmas tree. I need to DUST dammit! Oh yeah, I have a big old MONITOR 25" TV. The type with a pane of tempered glass over the screen. It has an "RF" input on the back. That's it. So I still use the Radio Shark "Line To RF" converter that allows me to hook up video and stereo audio to a TV with only a RF on the back. Do I like antique crap or something? You know? JUNK? *Dun dun dunnnnnnnnn* No silly, if it's in working condition, I put it to use. I'm a creature of habit. I fear change. I even used the small speakers that came with that surround sound amp. Soundwise? Thin. Really really really thin. Like cheap boombox thin. Hey wait? I think I have two Minimus speakers somewhere in my junk collection. I took pics of them a few years back and haven't used them on my junk blog as of yet.. Hmmm. That would require more work... Hmmm... This Grateful Dead DVD called "Dead Set" from their Radio City performances from 1980 sounds like poo poo on my annual watching of the Grateful Dead. Sheit.

IMG_6717.JPGAll I want for Christmas is Crown Royal, a golden retriever with a Tampa Bay Buccaneers foam football around his muzzle and a gross of Swiffer dust catchers!  I dodged spider webs in the basement and dug these out. The spring connections in the back were in need of assistance. A little screwdriver action helped close the terminals on my pre-made RCA one end/bare wire the other. Thankfully my amp doesn't have the scratchy dust filled pots that help ruin my previous small amp. Yet. I clicked the resume on the DVD and well...

IMG_6719.JPG"Jeeeerrrreeeeeeee! Darrrrrk Staaaaaar!" I tightened up my headband for the extra RUSH during Jerrys guitar solo! *skitch* *Frank Zappa* *Thanks*  Admire the beauty of a TV so old, the channel display is a green two digit LED display. Admire my 60's living room lamp reflected in the tempered glass cover over the 25" screen. No letter boxing here ladies and gentlemen. Hey, what is that sound? Is that some BASS response out of that pair of Minimus speakers that has been in a box FOREVER now in use? Well, welcome to the 80's. Hot funk, cool punk, even if it's old JUNK it's still weedly weedly weeeeeeee from Jerry to me. *skitch* *forget it* Thanks. -Ric

PEEYESS: Shortly after I put these Minimus speakers into use and right during the coffee/nosh/smoke/bong rip/sugar cube/rail off a strippers belly section of this concert known as "Drums/Space" where the Grateful Dead drummers showed their stuff, I noticed the side of my screen going psychedelically green. "Wow!" I thought. I checked my bottle of water to make sure it hadn't been dosed. No, what I had was a classic case of an old friend I hadn't seen for "Ny-Un-Tee-Five Years" *skitch* *Roger Rabbit* *Thanks.* The Minimus speakers were an older model before they got used in video applications, They have large magnets inside of them. With tube televisions and monitors, if your speakers were not magnetically shielded, if they were close to TVs, they could "warp" the thin steel mesh inside a TV tube and cause it to distort the colors. If this went on too long, it would stay on the screen and you'd need a repairman to come out and use their "Degaussing" wand to try and get your TV to normal. I assumed these Minimus were shielded because in the 80's and 90's, these speakers were usually next to a television. Plus, I'd forgotten that this was a thing! It was like seeing an old friend that is largely extinct in these days of flat screen 70" TVs for $100 bucks from your local Walgreens. It was another reminder than maybe I should get an upgraded TV. Ahhh, I just moved the speaker two feet away. Problem solved. Time to watch the Blues Brothers. Orange Whip? Orange Whip? Three Orange Whips.

Fall Into The Blog 2021

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IMG_6671.JPGSad right? On this very blog, I posted this box of hamburger patties. I hate wasting food. Yet, I was fished in by the "shortage" rumours around hamburger and beef patties in the spring of 2020. Thankfully this was the only supply shortage I was party too. Now, the supply shortages are actually inflation and well, I'm sure this box costs two bucks more. Now, I did enjoy two of the patties, some sort of hamburger, but made with bread. They were tasty burgers, um... yeah. They were decent. Um..yeah. They were better than the cheap patties. Silly me. I don't really eat hamburgers, or check that, I don't really MAKE hamburgers. I leave that to restaurants. Now I could have used the meat for anything else. I could have even thawed and crumbled the meat into sauce with my spaghetti. Hell, rolled a few into meatballs. Yep. When I finally figured I'd try that, the patties were freezer burned. Not frost bitten, but the meat had turned white. It was a year and a half at least in my freezer. They have rules about this for good reason. I tossed them. I hated it, but tossed them. Welcome to fall 2021.

IMG_6672.JPGYet, this is booze. This tiny airline bottle of licorice flavoured booze has lived in my freezer for years. I keep it there for the one day I use it when I make a mixed drink my friends and I enjoyed a number of years ago. Like a Hairy Buffalo only adulterated with THIS. I've never had the nuggets to buy butterscotch schnapps and rum and triple sec and tequila and fruit punch and margarita mix.  Maybe I'll do it as a fall treat.

IMG_6657.JPGSpeaking of wasting food, I guess I'm going to have a few pictures where food was wasted because I had to waste it. There was a recent salmonella outbreak and for weeks, they weren't sure were it was coming from. I had bought this onion with the intent of making a pasta salad with tuna and I was looking forward to finally making one but OH NO! Yep. Unmarked yellow onions from exactly the time period I had bought this...RISKY! It was when at the beginning of the pansamatic, they recalled some other food stuff where I had missed the recall dates. Whew. I didn't miss this damn pansamatic. I started keeping a diary way back when as I usually diary when I take trips to Chicago or Louisville or Florida. I want to remember what happened on those great trips. I had started my diary for a Florida trip that was cancelled at the last moment and kept detailing what it was like to live through a pansamatic. I thought I was done with it when I ran out of pages, but started a new one when it looked like... What? Spring 2022? We have to live with this "bug" now... Hell. Happy thoughts right?

IMG_6649.JPGSo, more food. "Smart Ones" frozen meals are well, some of the best tasting frozen food you can get. Yeah, frozen meals are still heavily processed  and bad for you, but when you did a pansamatic switch from eating fast food almost every lunch to eating frozen microwave food, the lesser of two evils right? My mother turned me on to Smart Ones Pot Roast meals and she's right. Real roast with real veggies. Great. In fact I've had a few of these varieties of meals and all of them, with a little "enhancement" are great. "Enhancement" being adding some canned veggies. Maybe a little cheese here and there. It makes a smaller meal into a bigger meal and tastier. When I saw a "tuna casserole" frozen meal, I thought "why not?" Well... Have you ever heard of a frozen tuna casserole? Why not, right?

IMG_6651.JPGDana Carvey show. One of his bits was an official sponsor. Mountain Dew was an official sponsor. He sat with Steve Carell and stared into a glass of Mountain Dew asking "What does THAT look like?" So, I ask you. What does THAT look like? Yeah, okay, it has bread crumbs. I took it out of it's container because I never microwave in the container. I use a plastic lid for that.  "Citrus eee goodness? " No, Mr. Office.

IMG_6653.JPGHere it was, prepared with a cheddar cheese enhancement. It wasn't too bad, but it made me aware of one thing I never grew out of. I used to hate peas, now I love them. I used to hate canned HOT seafood. I STILL DO. Canned Salmon to me is the worst because it's crunchy. I love tuna when it's cold. I love Salmon when it's hot and fresh in a "piece" form.  My mom used to make canned Salmon patties and well I had to choke them down or refuse to eat dinner or eat everything else. The only thing I would have done is have more tuna in this meal, but no, I won't get it again. It was sort of dry because of the bread crumbs.

IMG_6641.JPGAs to this year's shortages. My local food store has a good selection of private label breads. If they didn't have the Italian bread on sale that I liked that week, I'd get the store brand. A few months ago, they didn't have any. The shelves were bare on everything but their generic white or wheat breads. I was happy they had it back in stock the next time I went. However, something was different. A completely different recipe? This one was more like fresh baked Italian bread and that should have been a warning.  After a weeks time I went for a piece and well, you see the result. I thought I could waste a few pieces, refrigerate the rest and finish the loaf. Oh no, the other side was a large stripe of growth down the underside. I never wasted any bread during the pansamatic other than when the bread had foreign substance sprayed upon it by what appeared to be a malfunctioning date sprayer nozzle. Ahh, we learn. I usually get a max of 5 to 7 days from any "fresh" bread, but bagged bread can last an average of three weeks without Mr. Mold showing up. It's just they didn't tell us that the loaves were different. Now they are back to the same old loaf. Ask your store manager about your loaf today! They'll be glad to talk to you I'm sure.

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Then there's cleaning. These are Pabst 12oz cans. I drink four of these each week because I like to drink Pabst while I do radio. I would have 24oz king cans dubbed "Ziggy Zockys" *skitch* *The Man Show* *Thanks.* but they don't sell them to the public where I live. At least once a month, I'd go to PA and hang with Boomer The Dog and I'd always come back with my supply. Well, that stopped. I've only had Ziggy's this summer that one time I visited Boomer when it looked like we were headed out of the pansamatic. Haven't been back since so it was back to the more expensive 30 pack. This pack, on  the first four from the pack, I found GLOOP on the cans. I have been cleaning my cans before I drink from them ever since I bought some Pepsi products from a surplus foods store that was near me when I lived in Louisville. Oh, did I mention they were in taped up cases? Oh did I mention they were from when Louisville had the FLOOD? When entire neighbourhoods next to the river were wiped out and were under water? Where exits were closed because you would go 1/4 down the ramp and be in the river? Well, two years later here they were for 1.99 for a 12 pack! Value priced. Old Dr. Pepper and old Mt. Dew in cans that were UNDER WATER? Needless to say, each can had to be scrubbed before drinking and even then, two year old Dr. Pepper tasted like two year old Dr. Pepper. Wash those cans! At least wipe them really good... We should all be good at that if you ever bought a bottle of pop in spring 2020 right?

IMG_6634.JPGHere's another odd thing that I gotta break out of.  I've never owned salt and pepper shakers. When I moved to Toledo, I needed some salt and pepper and bought these DISPOSABLE salt and pepper shakers. You know, the cheap ones you get for a picnic that get thrown away when you're done? The only thing more disposable would be the little salt and pepper packets you get with take out. Well, I don't use a lot of pepper and salt in my food. So, I didn't use these that much. Let's see, I worked for WIOT Toledo back in 1996-97. Hmmmm. Do the math. 1996-2021. Hmmmm. That's like making a popcorn string for your Christmas tree in 1996  and then tasting it in 2021? Yes, these DISPOSABLE salt and pepper shakers were 25 years old! Now, I used the salt shaker to add a little salt to my humidifier in the winter so I've refilled it with salt a few times, but the pepper? It's been so long since I've used it that I finally sprinkled a bit of it on my food at lunch a few months back and thought...hmmmmmm. "Self?" "Yes dumbass." "Maybe this pepper has seen better days." "Oh, YA THINK?" Yeah, it was time. I thought I should hang on to the containers themselves because I'd had them for 25 years! Yep. They are not going to the Smithsonian. They are not going to an antique sale. They are following the freezer burned meat or tainted onion. "86!"   

Moral Hygiene.jpgNow a few other things rather than talking about food. Ministry! This is their latest album and it's quite good. It's got enough "old Ministry" sounds as well as "new Ministry" sheen to be a classic album. Lead Ministry creator Al Jourgensen has varied Ministry for many years. He released a trilogy of albums that were largely against George Bush and released everything from Euro-Techno which he hates to sludge metal like the last album "AmeriKKKant". Fans of 90's Ministry when they were in their prime would dig the stuff on this latest album. Ministry was to come to a close when "From Beer To Eternity" came out, he even did a track at the end where he said we could "enjoy the quiet now..." but hell, as long as "Uncle Al" takes a breath, we know where our Industral/Metal bread is buttered. As long as it's a loaf treated with that stuff that doesn't make it mold over right? Talk to your manager. I'm sure they want to hear from you on such important issues.

Image-0003.jpg"Oh NO Theo, not another AUSTRALIAN band...." Amyl And The Sniffers release their second album "Comfort To Me", and well, I haven't taken it out of my MP3 rotation yet. Classic punk, and despite being the sophomore album, improves on their first self titled album into what a friend called "Blondie before Rapture". I'll agree. When this pansamatic stuff is done, maybe the punk sound will explode again in the US and make this group huge international stars. Music is too easy to make these days. GOOD music is harder. Lots harder. To make good music. Really really really HARD! Like twice the HARD. Tee shirt in a meat market HARD. Head light hard!

IMG_6640.JPGWelcome to the early oughts. Even Al Bundy had a TIVO, or wanted a TIVO anyway. When I saw this at my local Meijer, I thought...hell, they don't make VCRS anymore. Why do they kill such good analog tech? Was the VCR a good tech? All I remember was tapes that looked like crap after a couple plays, the hours of my life spent rewinding or fast forwarding to my content or replaying the transformation scenes in the Shaggy DA over and over. Um... did I say that out loud? I bought one of these to be the modern blogger. To capture the fun that is late night television when I'm out getting shnockered. I need that extremely left biased "humor" and can't miss the 100th time Seth Meyers imitates the My Pillow guy and says "Da Bears."  Actually, all I have is a collection of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" that I'm building. That's it. I don't have cable. I have the internet. Fast forward through the 72nd time Fran Tarkenton tells me I should call now and enter my zip code for great benefits. You wore huge fur coats on the sidelines! Did you ever watch the Shaggy DA transformation scenes on repeat? Um..really? Dean Jones was pushed.

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..and finally... more tech! When I was in Pitt, we went to Boomer's old neighbourhood and they had a classic small Foodland I believe. It was a 30,000 sq ft store, maybe less. It seemed like a large convenience store but it was a full grocery. I'm amazed by the nostalgia of these relics. We went in and took lots of pics. Well, recently when I got a big back up drive for my computer, I started sorting and going through all the pictures. I think this was taken in 2012 or so. I held up what seemed like maybe the first or second generation of CFL bulbs that were available. Note the price and the yellow of the container. My guess is this bulb had been there for at least 10 years and they had two of them. 8.99. Value Priced. I think I first got them in a 4 pack for $5 from Lowes when I moved into my home and they were 4th or 5th gen so they were truly COMPACT.  Cheers ya'll. Hope yewts have a good holiday season, although I may have a few more posts this year... -Ric

RIP Mike Trivisonno

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Triv RIP.jpg

Mike Trivisonno, "Mr. Know-It-All" to longtime listeners, passed away suddenly before his Oct. 28th 2021 broadcast. I like many tuned in at 3 only to hear them running a presidential press conference. Then, they ran the Browns press conference about the upcoming Browns Vs. Steelers game?  I thought something was up, but never could have imagined that I'd hear my former boss come on and deliver the news while breaking up. I'd pretty much listened to every show, at least the beginning of it during my day since about 2011, but I did know him/work for him in a  distant speck of a footnote sort of way.

He was an annoying caller on Pete Franklin's sports show. I didn't listen to Pete Franklin because what did I care about sports? Then he got hired at WNCX in the mornings. "Those Guys In The Morning", was about as horrible as it could get and their most memorable "bit" was the one where they answered the phones "Hello, why do we suck?" To which callers reply "Because you do...". I was just starting in broadcasting and I  was doing a college radio morning show at the same time, so I can't  say I remember Triv on that show.

Fast forward to when I was actually employed in radio. My friend was going to television and he gave my name as his replacement. I took a gig working overnight running the board and was the board op for the great Jaz McKay. I was able to do produced comedy bits for his show and he provided me great advice.  His tips made me a better producer and  got me the chance to work with Cleveland radio legends "Jeff And Flash"  afternoon drive as their technical producer, (Fancy name for the minimum waged guy that ran the board and played commercials.) BUT, I also became their "bit guy". I'd take the topic of the day and write/produce a bit about it. Triv followed our show so I knew him and spoke to him on the changeover.  He asked if I could do a bit  for his show imitating local sports host and making fun of how the Browns were leaving Cleveland. I have recorded proof of at least two bits I did for him.  I should have just spent additional hours (unpaid) doing lots more stuff for Triv. I thought he was just about sports. How wrong that was, but at the time...  Hindsight... Don't look back You can never look back. I saw a WIOT sticker on a Cadillac. :) 

I remember my last day at the station, on the drive home  and going across an old bridge, there was a "cyclone" (mass winds, heavy rain, cloud of dust) and everybody was stopped on the bridge. I thought "wouldn't you want to be on solid ground rather than a bridge in a tornado?"  Triv was taking calls about it as he let whatever was happening in Cleveland overtake the sports talk. (Yep. See? He was Cleveland more than just Cleveland sports.) I got home and called in to tell my story and he wished me well on my Toledo journey.

Everything that could be said about Triv in person has already been said on the tribute shows.  He always will be Cleveland. Another "Cleveland Radio Legend" taken away.  Safe home Triv.

-Ric

 

Mickey Dees Deals Junk

100_4681.JPGLookit! It's a JUNK BAG. It seems like something you would get from any thrift shop and filled with junk from your favorite fast food joint. Now that McDonalds has announced that they are not going to give out "Happy Meal" prizes made from plastic, we all have to mourn all the junk that could have fallen down our heater registers or chewed up by our dogs. Of course, if you worked at McDonalds in your formative years and you fondly remember those premiums that were in every box o burger given to a youngster.. Junksters like me kept some junk in hopes that it would be worth something or somehow there would be a personal museum to this junk. Search on the web for McDonaldsarina. (Is that a word? Who cares.)

100_4732.JPGFirst to the junk that crewmembers had to wear. Of course I kept this crap. I love buttons. There was a store in my local mall that had thousands of funny buttons to choose from and I used to buy my friends buttons that kind fit their personality every year for a few years. Nothing beats one of the guys giving one of our hot managers a pin on some undies. The pin was a picture of a strawberry and said "Sweet". We fell about the place. Thankfully this gal was one of the "cool" managers who didn't care that we'd point at her and say "I want to know what love is, and I want YOU..." Ahhh, the 80's and being a nugget head.

100_4733.JPGHere is something that some of you might remember but most of you will have no idea. Lettuce & Tomato Special is what McDonalds called a great idea. It was a quarter pounder with cheese with lettuce and tomato. In other words, a WHOPPER. Back in the 80's, McDonalds still cooked everything fresh but it went to a heated "bin" and the manager would order based on how busy we were. Food waste was HUGE because once the timer went out on what was in the bin, it went to the trash. We didn't have microwaves. If you worked at Burger King, well, that's why I didn't. So a brilliant ass marketer wanted to get in on the quarter pound "deluxe" burger trend but mayonnaise when warmed, sitting in a bin, wouldn't hold up that well. So, they invented a two compartment burger container. We had the meat with the bottom bun on one side and put the dressed cap on the other side. We had to label the generic foam with stickers. The ad line was "Keep the hot side hot, and the cool side cool." It was a great idea and was my favorite sandwich. Of course the condiments were all room temperature anyway, so we used to say "Keep the hot side hot and the cool side WARM".  I think it was out for six months and the ad guys wanted to change the name to something exclusively McDonalds. Therefore the name change to "McD.L.T." Hmmm. That double foam made a good ashtray after you ate your burger. It was a HUGE foam container. Shouldn't it come with BACON? No silly, this isn't a BLT , it's a McDLT!

100_4735.JPG I remember after the transition, they started a new ad campaign for the new named burger. There was such a glop of McMayo that to put cheese on this was almost a crime.  I liked it with the mayo but liked it better with Mac sauce on it. We couldn't put Big Mac special sauce on anything but a Big Mac. The customer is always right, give them what they want...except when they wanted a squirt of the Mac sauce on a quarter pounder. As crew though, we put it on everything we ate. Some crew would use it for their beef tallow french fries. Remember those? Cooked in beef tallow? Old Coke/New Coke right? Nothing better than a Lettuce & Tomato Special with beef tallow cooked fries with a cold ice filled original Coke and a delicious fried cherry pie. If you worked an 8 hour shift, you got that free. Ahhh, you don't know they joy of making 3.45 an hour, gotta have some perks. I think the McDLT was put to rest when McDonalds said they were getting rid of the foam packing. They tried a deluxe again then they tried a reduced calorie deluxe but nothing stuck. I miss that puss gut burger and why I didn't keep a foam for proof of the madness I'll never know.

100_4736.JPGHere was something I took pride in. Working at McDonalds had little else to be proud of because the work was so dull. Because I was still in school, I could only work a longer shift on the weekends so on Saturdays and Sundays, I "opened" the store. When I was working grill, that meant setting up breakfast. Turning on the grills, melting the butter, prepping the muffins, that kind of crap. Then we heard we were going to have fresh made biscuits. For a few weeks, I made them as a secondary if needed because the person that made them was always working cashier after we opened. One morning, I was asked to make them before we opened and I did. With the mix and fresh buttermilk, the kneading and the baking, somehow, some way, I was making an exceptionally fluffy biscuit. Every pan, every time, would be tall, and fluffy. For about two months, they came out exactly like that with only one or two that didn't rise as much. Then, they changed the mix, the recipe and the amount of buttermilk. When that happened, my biscuits were like rocks. Almost never much higher than the pan. However everybody else was having similar results. That ended my baking career. This came from my first paper hat and the button was another thing all the crew working mornings had to wear.

100_4690.JPGNew? I don't know what that arrow came from. There's the big purple taste bud flying a plane. We did have pencils to mark things with, and of course they were McPencils. The little finger puppet things were motion photos. You can see Ronald would cover his eyes if you held it at the correct angle.. The little tray? Mommas don't let your babies grow up to be crew. That was from a Playschool McDonalds play set. Fisher Price had the "Little People" play sets all sewn up in the 70's. I even had a camper with an actual TOILET. No kidding. Their little people were SQUARE. They had the same busy box like effects at the Fisher Price stuff. This McDonalds came with a car, people, plus crew. It had a merry go round and a paper fold out parking lot that showed where everything went. It also had a cash register that dinged and it came with several trays that you could shoot out to the counter from the back. You could wedge the trays between the gap between the head and the body of the customers so they could walk out to the lobby with their trays or eat in the car. You will work at McDonalds when you turn 16. You WILL work at McDonalds when you're 16. You will attend Hamburger University and become a shift nugget head. You will wear your uniform to school on Halloween. You will be forever a tool.

100_4688.JPGBelieve me. I have no idea why I have these. Other than the rulers that you used to get for free with advertising on them. Banks, political, McDonalds. As for the Hamburglar toothbrushes? Double mystery unless at one point they were promoting tooth care? Sure have a sundae or a milkshake or an apple pie, but then brush your fangs? McDonalds Slim Fast? Maybe brush your teeth with a Shamrock shake? It's mint flavored right?

100_4682.JPGWho said we couldn't have fun while we worked? It was all fun until one of these went into a fry vat and they had to close the vat, drain the tallow and deep clean/flush the unit. Hell, it could even ruin the fryer. So that's why these were NOT ALLOWED anywhere but in a box to the customers. I may have received this one when someone discarded it in the lobby or left it to be cleared or even when it was under the booths when we had to scrub the lobby tiles near the floor. It went home and into a box marked "future junk blog post."

100_4683.JPGHere is the real prize of my collection. Anybody who ate at McDonalds in the late 80's remembers these. "Fast Macs" . In the 80's TOMY was famous for making a ton of little wind up figurines. I remember in the late 70's they came out with a wind up robot that I prized like gold. Simple things for little future nugget heads. All sorts of spring operated crap flooded the market and McDonalds had the idea to put characters on cars. Collect 'Em All. They were a huge hit with the public and with us bored crew. These were all over the place in our break room, but again, off limits near fry vats and the grill. We'd have races and yes, there would be favorites. Was everybody that worked there a nugget head? Pretty much. These were fun little toys. They multiplied and the managers had to put them under lock and key.

100_4684.JPGMy guess is that's why I have multiples of the Big Mac model. I think it was those we raced because the others did tricks. Likely lined with something to make them pop wheelies and spin, but Mac, he flew. Of course I could be remembering that incorrectly. I think when I took these pics a few years ago, I didn't even try them to see if they did what they did, but I do remember they did something or other. My nugget headed-ness only goes so far.

100_4686.JPGYes, what we have here is a Fast Mac smash up derby. The Big Mac "Gremlins" have the advantage. The Birdie classic convertible is no match. The Hamburgular roadster may be fast, but fast is no match in a smash up derby. Ronald has the best chance driving a Willys 4 wheel drive. He can run over any of these 'chitboxes.  Sunday Sunday Sunday! We're going to turn the fairgrounds stadium into a giant McMUUUUUDPIT!

100_4685.JPGOut early is the Hamburglar! The Big Macs are all banging along, Ronald pops his Willys into 4 wheel and is going to do some Mac climbing while Birdie is just trying to keep the others from scratching the paint.  Ohh, one of the Big Macs threw a club! (Inside reference for fellow nugget heads.)  Holy sheit! The Batmobile lost a wheel and the Joker got away! Gimmie a Diablo and a Doc. Thank you nice lady. See the USA in your Chevrolet. 

100_4687.JPG ACCCCK!  (Cathy....) What's that in the sky? Why do we see Jo Swerling Jr. on the screen? It's the little green guys here to beam up all of our convertible VW's. Hey,they have issued a super suit with a manual to one lucky regular of the 80's Perry Mason movies and a FBI agent that ate milk bones and always talked scenarios. Okay, maybe I went to far with that reference. William Katt was pushed. To bad they couldn't clear the original music for the DVD set. Anybody that was haunted by the episode with "Eve Of Destruction" playing from the 27 year old high schooler's ride, you'll know what I mean. At least they got about 70% of the music cleared for the WKRP box set.  Scene. Junk Blog -Ric

Fall Variable (Bumma Sanger)

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Bumma Sanger.jpgSure. They wanted a "Summa Banger" but all they got was a "Bumma Sanger".  It's Tropical F**k Storm from the video/song of the same name and from their album "Deep States" They sum up in one song what I guess this summer has been for many of us. It looked so good as we were getting into it. Dipping our toes into doing things like the old days. You know, 2019? At least here in the states, there hasn't been the unrest of summer 2020 but pansamatic wise, we're going backwards. I needed an album like "Deep States" Every song on it grabs me and shakes me and says "this is the ONE!" I can place it on random and not miss the order the band placed it in  because, every song is as good as the next and there is no mood set, every song has it's own mood. I could rant on forever.  Yet, even in Austrailia, they were bummed as they had to cancel their record release party/concert. Now that truly is a "Bumma Sanger".

Butterfly 3000.jpg..Meanwhile, elsewhere in Australia, my other currently favorite band "King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard"  released their second album THIS YEAR. "Butterfly 3000". Oh yeah, it's completely different from anything they have released before, yet, distinctly Gizzard. Boy,  if that didn't seem like writing from a critical template, but that's what it is with this band. Don't like this record? Wait for the next one to see what direction they go.  When a band with this much talent and rabid fans (Dogs-Rabid-Bad) they can change it up and every album you see the best. I'd say for sheer volume, this band wins. Here's a minimal/electronica/psychedelic album but towards the end "Ya Love" lifts this album to heights that made me a fan. I may love King Gizzard but, I SAW/MET Tropical F**K Storm when they came to Cleveland.  Ohhh..  Shake the hand that shook the hand of P.T.Barnum and Charlie Chan. *skitch* Grateful Dead. Thanks.

IMG_6574.JPG*Cues Barney Miller Theme* I finished my Barney Miller box set over this summer so I'm back to consuming MASH eps. This taken from Lakewood park on a weekend morning. Nothing special but it shows that yes, I got out this summer. I didn't go anywhere special other than my one day in Pitt. So, If you're like me and enjoyed traveling, but after a year, you decided not to travel so much, daytrips were for you. Driving to the record store (yes, they are still there)  was a trip for me. Also going to the bar that damned the closing notes in March 2020 was another trip.  (Irish dive bar asked to close a few days before St. Patrick's day for a  microscopic spiky thing? F-That! The shag carpet on the side of the bar will keep us safe.) Hell, I just wanted to try it once. If you like a stripper pole and a cigarette machine that actually worked as items in your bar.. I'm just glad they were still there in 2021 serving up the finest in beverages. (Yuengling? We don't have that fancy stuff. )

LAWNMOWER REPAIR

IMG_6540.JPGI had been battling all summer the lawnmower. I have a Honda Electric. It's a plug in job. You know, the kind you keep mowing over the cord so that the cord has several patches in it? Yeah that one. This mower was provided by my friend Boomer so many years back when the lawn mower that came with the house decided to go all "80's Chrysler product" on me.  It was a self propelled deluxe model and one day I was mowing and heard chunks of metal being chewed and the unit wasn't self propelled anymore. The transmission had exploded. So, Boomer who had a yard with a back 40, (not good for corded lawn mowers) gave me this one. Funny, in all the years I've been mowing with this one, my sis-in-law and Boomer have replaced gas mowers.

This has plastic tires, and this one started to crack apart and gradually wore itself down and fell off. I had been trying to repair it all summer and this one I thought sure would hold. Gorilla tape, bushings and a clamp. You see, I couldn't get the bolt on the end to unscrew. So I thought I needed to go around it. Yep.

IMG_6536.JPGI mean, I had tried the clamp to hold it on and it worked for a few weeks but the clamp wore through the sides of the tire so much that if I made one wrong turn, it came right off the clamp or got stuck. You know, they have the internet right? You know you can find how to fix anything right? Not me. You know I still have a Haynes auto repair manual for my PARMAVAGON, a 1989 Pontiac 2.5L4 with stick. It helped me figure out how to fix my door and rig my electrical system so I could keep the car from overheating. How far we've come with cars since 1989.

Parmavagen Grand Am.jpgAin't she a 'beaut :)  This car was also a "Gift" from my brother, but I needed something that ran until I got new wheels. My Saturn SL had just been destroyed by a lumber truck and I needed wheels. I didn't have much cake and didn't think I could get into a fancy new Hyundai so my brother who had just bought a deluxe new Chevrolet extended cab full sized pickup, just gave me this because he was going to sell it for $500 but didn't want the hassle of advertising-showing.  It really helped me get through the summer, but by no means was it supposed to be a touring car. I used it as a touring car. Louisville-Pitt and Louisville-Memphis and Louisville-Cleveland. It was more than the Parmawagon could handle. Single best memory? When it was over 100 degrees while driving to Memphis and NO AIR. I heard a "POP" and my windshield decided to self destruct on it's own. From a small crack in the corner to a HUGE crack. Yeah, I used the vice grips on the window knob to roll down the window after that and endured hot wind. Anyway, back to the lawn mower.

IMG_6605.JPGWhen the taped up tire with metal lag washers and the clamp lasted 5 minutes before melting into a pile of goosh, I felt I had to go nuclear. I had to hacksaw off the AXLE to get the bolt end off of it and replace the tire. No internet looking for me. Oh no. I'd do it the hard way. Yep. I went to my local drug store chain where I get all my lawn mower parts. Yes, my local drug store chain, Doesn't everybody buy lawn mower parts from their local CVS or Walgreens? No, this local chain has everything. Like a modern Woolworths. I got my tire and took a hack saw and started sawing. I got a groove and started sawing and sawing and sawing. 90 degrees. 80% humidity. Saw saw saw. POP. The windshield on my current car broke from the heat. Well, no, but towards what I thought was the end of sawing the axle, I got a hammer to take it off. A few whacks and what? Did the axle just move? No, the BOLT just moved. What? It moved? Grab those damn vice grips that were a window crank on a 1989 Pontiac Grand Am....

IMG_6608.JPGJust like Snoopy when he cries out. "Waaaaaaaaaaa". Yes, those bolts DO twist off. They have a lock washer on them, but DUMB DUMB DUMB, they do come off! The new tire screws on and bolts into place. DUMB DUMB DUMB. So, I went thee to my local big box and matched up the bolt and got extra washers so that the tire fit "just exactly perfect" (thanks Bob Weir from the Grateful Dead.) One of the washers is already on the one side.

IMG_6609.JPGAll nice and new. No more forcing it while the tire disintegrated. I'm a Jean-yus right? Three more tires to go but the plastic is all pretty decent on those, for now. On to the one offs about this summer.

IMG_6526.JPGI was watching a late night show and they had Billy Crystal on and he was talking about the old times and he reminded us that this flick was indeed 35 years old. Running Scared. It's always been a favorite of mine. I don't think I saw it in the theaters but because I was taping all of the David Letterman shows in 1986, I have Billy Crystal when he was on the show promoting the movie. When it was available for rental, I got it and when I could get the DVD, likewise. It just reeks of mid 80's buddy cop tropes. 80's soundtrack? Check. Cops quitting the force in 30 days? Check. Jimmy Smits as a nefarious drug dealer. Check. What? There are a few catchphrases that I use to this day from this movie. "Mama! Could I have some more mini marshmallows in my cocoa?" "OhhhNoooo"  Ahh, but Jimmy Smits had the role of his lunchtime in this film. Great actor reduced to screaming "My COOOOOKE!" Yep. See it and enjoy a juicy trope filled flick, but still funny after all these years.

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Now to the retail of it all. Mom and I went to said retail store in Mentor. This was Higbees in the 1970s. Like many department stores like it, "what, spend money to redo the outside of our store? ". It became a Dillards in the 1990s and has maintained it's "classic" look since. Well, they used to have windows all across the store, but the decorations of Christmas or the latest 70's disco fashions displayed in the windows went away as smash and grab got too costly. This Dillards didn't have what mom was looking for and had very little in the way of Men's "hideyerfatinthesummerbywearingaHawiianstyleshirt" shirts. Plus this mall soldiers on and was pretty full despite being down two anchor stores at either end.

IMG_6547.JPGCan YOU tell what this used to be? (You can see what it was from the label scar, the impression left by having a sign on your building for years.) If you answered a MAY COMPANY, I would have given you a 70's cigar..or a McDonalds french fry from the floor of my 1979 Chevrolet Monza. May Company then became Kaufmanns which then became Macys in the mallmageddon of the early '00's. Oh, it didn't kill many of the stores just then, but Macys buying the May Company chain meant turning off regulars and killing off some of the smaller malls through the 10's. Then, as malls go, so does Macys go. Eating oneself. When Sears threw in the towel, if you had a mall with Sears/JCPenny/Macys, well that meant... Likely Macys was next and JCPenny has been shaky but soldiers on at many of the malls where other department stores are long gone. This one closed before the pansamatic. Who needs ya. We still got a Dillards which will likely become a Dillards Clearance before it goes and we have good ol' JCPenny. Hey, we also have a huge bowling alley/fun center with a trendy microbrew in one side that took an anchor and a Dick$$ Sporting Good$ $tore making it another anchor. HOTCHA!

New Starbucks Former Hodelmodel.jpgNow I have a few pictures showing that the summer was a good time to do the things I haven't done since 2019. You would think a year isn't that long to wait until I could have a cuppa sludge but to go to said sludge seller and sit in their lobby enjoying my sludge and get a "credit" for making a drawing at a new sludge shop, well, that's what I missed okay? Yep. This is a sludge shop that is like many of the new shops in Cleveland thankfully. They have an actual LOBBY. They have a place to stretch out and enjoy your doublesludgefrappecappacHimo. (Intentionally spelled that way.) This one and a new Burger King was on the site of an old hodelmodel. Guess they got out of that business just in time before the pansamatic hit as these stores have been there for two years, but the pansamatic..well, you know...

pikkituppikkitup.jpgSee a penny, pick it up, and all the day you'll BE GETTING THE GERMS! Really, I always pick up pennies, even though the feel like they are made of plastic these days. Since the pansamatic, I didn't pick up any change because I'd have to reach for the POOPIEZ. I used to say "if I get too rich that I won't pick up a penny, then I'll pay someone to pick it up for me." What a douche. I mean, what a douche. Revved up like a douche. Lord and lady Douchebag. I slathered it in Purell.

IMG_6520.JPGI can't say enough about the hand sanitizer that got me through the summer of 2020. Natural Concepts. It doesn't smell like real dook, but it does have a nasty kind of scent. Not really repugnant, but not the best thing to use on your hands before having a sandwich. I used to separate bottles, one for when I was eating and Natural Concepts for everything else.  The huge stocks at my local lawn mower parts store/drug outlet are dwindling but those that know, bought the now plentiful Purell. I had bought one of these to give to Boomer for his Christmas in June, but you know, I'm a cheepdog..and it was 99 cents..and not made in China..so..

Arnie And The Party Pals.jpg"WHY?" you may be asking. "Why buy something that you didn't like, even if it was at a give away price? Why Ricochet why?" WHY? Why ask why, Drink Kentucky Tavern bourbon till it's DRY. WHY? Because Red Fang, the stoner/metal/sludge/geek band came out with a new album called "Arrows" and keeping with their kick ass humorous cheap beer fueled videos, released "WHY" as one of the singles. Fans of Chuck E. Cheese rejoice for nostalgia reasons. This video tips the depression scale, but its full of funny mascots right? Witty video while the song talks about sinking into drug addiction. It really is brilliant. The band makes a cameo appearance. :)

IMG_6521.JPGHey, what would this blog be without a picture of BOOZE. Do I drink? Yes I do. Do I drink the cheapest stuff? Pretty much. I bought this because the price of bourbons has gone up and up. Not living in Louisville anymore I'm stuck with what my local has. Some of the cheaper brands are being squeezed out by the boutique bottlers. Now I've flirted with the bottom before, but bottom shelf bourbon, if you're not mixing it with something, ick.  If you live in Louisville, there is twice the bottom shelf offerings and some of them are really good as a straight shot. Here in Cleveland? Um... So, I got this bottle, and well, yes. It's a mixer not a sipper. Too bad I've stopped the cola mixers in an attempt to reverse the summer post-pansamatic pounds I had begun to place back on my frame. It isn't the worst cheap bourbon I've had and was good in cola, but spend a few more dollars and get something you'd drink as a sipping drink.

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Another good thing about this summer was going to Fat Heads Brewery. It was a Pitt restaurant, and when a deal fell through for a microbrew here in Cleveland by another company, they combined their super sized sandwiches with a Cleveland brewery and opened Fat Heads North Olmsted and brewed beer for the Pitt location. As their beer grew popular and they were selling it more retail, they opened a master brewery with a restaurant in Berea in an industrial setting. For two-three years it's been someplace I wanted to try but as I have weekends off, that's when they are most busy so I stayed away. This summer I've had one "long weekend" a month which I planned to be in Pitt. That didn't work. So, I went on a weekday to this joint and man. If you want to know what a palace to the art of brewing is, you gotta come here. HUGE tall ceiling eating hall is just a part of it. Large gift shop is another.

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...but the BAR. Yes, just about every flavor that they are trying to see if peeps like it and if it goes to retail, is here at the bar. Behind that was the brewing operation with employees tracking the process or putting ingredients into the brewing equipment. I can't state this enough. If you have a weekday off and you're around the home of WBWC, stop in for lunch and a beverage, beer fan or not. Oh yeah, they had plexi separating  the bar seats and you needed to be lead to the bar by the greeter. Damn pansamatic.

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Here's a few summer quickies. One tradition I had for a long time when I went to Mentor to hit the Record Den for the latest releases was to have a 32oz fountain drink on the way home. Indeed this summer was the return of the calories. Gee, you wonder why I said that pounds were ticking back up? Nothing better than a Cherry Dew and ..oh yeah, we're still in a pansamatic. At least that's Purell in there.

IMG_6544.JPGThe tale of the fans from the schmuck who buys them. For years I've had this type of fan. The one I had the longest finally froze up. It could have been saved with a trip to Boomer's Fan Repair service, but I just went out and bought a new one. That lasted several years until the metal in the base and the screws that attached the rest of it to the base went to bubble gum. So I bought one with a base that was really heavy and I thought it would be with me for at least ten years. Well cuz. Actually the base was a plastic substance and around the metal pole, that substance broke apart. I was able to shore it up with large washers but it failed and failed. So, like a sheep, I went and bought another, but this one is smaller. It's not as top heavy and the base is hollow hard plastic. Last longer yes? Ohy.

IMG_6554.JPGAnother thing I used to do is spend time at a participating Pawnera. I go to the coffee urns and mix dark with light to make a drinkable coffee. (Alone, not so good, but mixed, a good cuppo.) The few Pawneras I've been too this summer, other than the Purell dispenser they have at the front door, it's business as usual. Oh yeah, employees wearing masks. Okay. Oh yeah, some Pawneras are drive through only as they don't have staffing. Denied once I was.

IMG_6557.JPGNot denied here either! I went to the Arbys I'd gone too earlier that I'd creatively said "They don't have the seats." Ha ha ha. Still laughing. WHY? Well, on my most recent trip, I went in to have my slider lunch and well, they had just opened their lobby on the previous Monday of that week. WHY? Employees. I guess the word hadn't spread, but usually in the afternoon about the same time on the weekends, the lobby was pretty much the same. It was another chunk of returning to BPP. (Before Personal Pandemic.)

IMG_6594.JPGThe truth of the matter. I haven't been to Pittsburgh since going there once this summer. WHY? You figure it out. Therefore I can't buy my favorite serving size of Pabst. 24 Oz Ziggy Zocky size. I don't need that size beer for the drive alone to PA with no other meet fun so I'm back to the 30 packs for 4 beers once a week. Yes, I'm still doing that.

Braindrops Mugging.jpgKeep smiling. "Deep States" has great premier reviews and chart numbers for this little band from Australia and I'm sure more are going to tell two friends and so on and so on and so on. Third time for this pic on this blog. Braindrops, the TFS second album is no slouch. Get them all.

-Junk Blog

Summer Is Summer Again 2021

IMG_6402.JPGAhhh yes. Summertime. Post Personal Pansamatic. I say that because as far as I know, we're still in a pansamatic, but somehow, someway, at least in my state, it's "over"? At least the amount of cautions has been taken out of my daily routine. No masks pretty much anywhere. Most places have seating inside without even a partition. My grocery store still has some of their plexi up, but they moved the credit card machines back to where they were. All signs are now "mask required if you are not fully jabbed". So, there are still a few wearing them. I still feel odd going to the restroom at my local without wearing one. Maybe because I can SMELL again, and my masks anyway were good for NOT smelling. So, as I start doing things I used to do in dribs and drabs, I "celebrated" by taking this candy bar down from the desk shelf it stared at me for 15 months and chowed on it while I was on air. Anything for a bit right? How did the 15 month old candy bar do?

IMG_6405.JPGUm... Best by date Dec. 2020. Hmmm. It was melty. I tasted it, and it it was fine if a little stale tasting. What did happen is the layers of peanut butter solidified into a taffy like texture that stuck to the teeth. That was not so good, but still, it was my victory treat. 15 months passed. To quote the Grateful Dead: "I Wheel Survive". No worries, I had special sauce to wash it down with....

IMG_6398.JPG14 Year old OBAN scotch. Of course, Grand Macnish was the sub for this photo shoot.  Into a Dalmore rocks glass I poured the nectar of the scotches while I was on air. (Another 5 minutes of radio. Hey, keeps the show going right?) This scotch the single most expensive bottle of booze I've bought, period. I had it once long ago and it became the best scotch I've tasted. Sure I've had tastes of other scotches, but none topped this. So, I figured I'd get a bottle as a treat for my PPP. It was as advertised by me and I drank it slow. The error I made was trying to wash down the taffy like 15 month old Butterfinger with OBAN. Not recommended. Fun nonetheless. 30 seconds more of me gagging on the air. What a great show huh? Podcast. Phew.

IMG_6399.JPGNo problem. The summer cougar had brought me a 6 pack of fresh Butterfingers. I found the summer cougar at a participating Tarjay. He was only a buck and he looked happy, ready for summer. It's how I felt.

IMG_6387.JPGSo, with my new found no mask wearing but still distanced self, having turned the corner, one of the first things Mom and I did was again, go for a pizza. Then we went back to a "favorite" place to shop. I'd mentioned it before on this blog but now it was here. The return to Trader Joes. You could see lines outside the parking garage where the peeps must have lined up before they cleared all from coming in again. This sign said it best.

IMG_6396.JPGLook at that! It's whole bean coffee from Trader Joes. Different flavor coffee. Nice cans Doug. (It's how I kept my Dunkin and Aldis beans fresh, now I have replacements. ) One thing that was decent about this trip, it was Saturday about 4PM and the you could actually keep your distance from everybody. Really. They do have small stores, and always felt like you were elbow to elbow with other shoppers. It was a half full store. I don't think I've ever shopped at a half full Trader Joes. The other thing, at least for this trip, the coffee was the same price paid in early 2020. Even ALDIS raised their prices on coffee. Awww, but I couldn't get the shot glass free sample of coffee that I get every time I went there. Give it time....

IMG_6382.JPGHere's another sign that things are "back to the way they were". Of course, I can't purchase kitchen towels. I have to use old shirts. I hung the shirt back on my fridge so I don't have to drip water to the other side of my kitchen where I had a chair laid out as my "sterile" chair. It was the place I'd put things I was taking outside my house in the plastic bag "briefcase" that was during the pansamatic. All that is no more. Place the germ catcher back on the fridge. Dumbass. This happens to be a really old blue shirt from my retail days. Wonder if they want it back?

20210612_201836.jpgCLUNK! Hear that? Another transmission on a 1977 Ford Pinto sliding into gear. I guess I'm into slowly getting back the things I stopped because of the pansamatic. One of them was getting "credit" for drawing at a place I had never drawn before. This does include when a coffee house or restaurant does a remodel and it's new to me again. Here was the 'Bucks near me that moved locations to add a drive through. All 'Bucks in my area  are open until 9PM even on weekends and the staff is wearing masks, but otherwise, the lobbies are wide open. This was the very first credit I got for myself in 2021. I still think their coffee is harsh mud, but so be it.

20210622_170458.jpgAnother weekend, another new 'Bucks to get credit at. This one was a real outlier. See, two of these 'Bucks so close to me just waiting for my fat ass to sit back down and muss up some sort of cartoonery..but I couldn't because... This one took over for a Steak N' Shake restaurant and they didn't sub divide. So...HUGE! I mean you could use this store for an airplane hanger. Plus they had outdoor seating as well. The bathrooms alone were the size of efficiency apartments. Lets just say I'm going to this as my regular 'Bucks from now. This picture is only half the lobby! We used to have the smallest 'Bucks here in Clevo. I remember when I went to the one that opened that was three floors with a party room and thought that was big. Nope. There's a few more that I have to go and get "credit" for including another Steak and Shake conversion. I was bummed because the Biggsby coffee that is close to me still doesn't have indoor seating. I went to that store a lot for the two years it was open before the...yadda yadda.

IMG_6414.JPGSo the next big step to take in my PPP is a ROAD TRIP. Crossing STATE LINES. Taking COORS to the states it's not in! East Bound And Down! Loaded Up And Truckin! Burt Reynolds was pushed.  Oh yeah. Construction time again! Gee, I had forgotten about the fact that summer travels were plagued by orange barrels. Why? No freeways for me in 2020. At least not ones that see work every year like clockwork. I was headed to Pittsburgh and I was going the route to avoid the automatic tolls because I don't trust the cashless  "We'll Bill You" crap.  This was three lanes into one complicated by an exit on the freeway 1/2 mile earlier and at the bottleneck. 30 minute delay. Stopped on a bridge that shimmied from the weight of the cars and trucks. Ick. Yep. Welcome back to summer in 2021.

IMG_6419.JPGHere I was! Back in Pittsburgh. I wanted to do it all. Eat at the exotic Pitt restaurants. I was there to see Boomer. We pulled up to this very exotic "fast food" place where we both had the pleasure to dine at before and have a "tasty" double stack. Hey, wait a minute? Haven't you heard Pittsburgh? It's my PPP! I want to spread out in your spacious lobby with the fake fireplace  and enjoy 4 for 4! Have that drink "Mello Yellow Peach." Reality was? I needed to take a whiz. They still had the lobby closed. In fact half of the fast food joints in the area had closed lobbies. Employee issues or just a refusal of the fat guys? At least they had Frosties. Boomer tuned in the polka station and we enjoyed our fake ice cream listening to "chubby" over modulating when he spoke. Hey, when in Pitt...

IMG_6422.JPGSo we decided to go to this pizza joint. We like this place. It's smallish on the inside and a bit on the pricey side, but the food is always top notch. Because it had rained somewhat when I was going there and it was threatening rain most of the time I was there, the outdoor seating was not available. Boomer wasn't so sure that we could be in of doors and believe me, Pittsburgh had that vibe of "not just yet PPP time...". The place wasn't that busy, so he agreed that we could eat in. We had the Mufaletta hoagies which were great but could have used more and we both doctored up our take home halves to really make them tasty burgers. Then we went shopping. I went to the SUPERBEERSTORE. Glad to see it open and selling beverage, maybe not as full as it used to be but I was able to buy a 12 pack of Sierra Nevada Torpedo in the can. (Not readily available in Clevo...) Plus I bought the official ZIGGY ZOCKY size Pabst. What burned me about it, the 30 packs. They were 18.49 in Pitt. F the CAN SHORTAGE. We then went shopping at a place that we haven't been for ...wait for it... 15 MONTHS. (Ick. Ack. Ugh.)

IMG_6427.JPGIt was good to see. In fact, this store was busier than Trader Joes was, but with twice the space, it wasn't so bad. They also had all their checkouts open. It's always busy a 5PM on a Saturday. They didn't have their king sized subs that I love so bad, but Boom was able to do a ton of shopping. I joked that his fridge would have more food in it now that it has for..I won't say it. I had the Christmas gifts to give him which we went back to his place after this shopping trip and he opened while I consumed one of the aforementioned Sierra Nevada Torpedos that Boomer had been "aging" in the back of his fridge since my last visit in March of 2020. As always, it was more complex, less bitey and Mmmmmm that's good beer. We also went to his 'Bucks for a "coffee draw", where we both draw or he draws and I write. Jeeze, we remembered when some dude a few tables from us was wearing a mask March 2020 and we thought that was silly. Uh huh.

IMG_6455.JPGWhen it came time to do our show again, I had also "liberated" from Boom's "fridge beer cellar" , two official Ziggy Zockys. The 24 Oz "king can" Pabst Blue Ribbon cans. Since Pitt law says that you have to buy beer from a "distributor" unless you sell a lot of prepared foods, they sell these which I'm sure are bar specials. You can't get them here. I'd left two of them in Boomers care because "what, I'll be back in two-three months right" said the dog in March 2020. Here they were and I had to photograph the "best by" date just to prove that this had aged "gracefully."

IMG_6454.JPGUm. Yeah. A year from the best by date. Now I've had these cheap beers when they were a month or two past the best by date. The didn't taste quite as good (sic) as a fresh version but they still went down. I had faith that because Pabst has a little more hop content than your average BudMillerCoors and these were kept cold the whole time, they would at least be drinkable right? As someone that almost booted when having a warm Genny Cream Ale, I didn't hold much hope. Ahh, but 10 minutes of content! I'd do it.

IMG_6457.JPGOld in the plastic tumbler and new in the glass. I had to get the picture so you could see the difference in appearance alone. The old Pabst was drinkable..if you were a passive beer drinker. Pabst is brewed with corn to help it ferment quicker and they can produce more beer that way and at a cheaper price point. What they call an "adjunct" beer. Trouble is, beer is still very much alive when it goes in the can. The fermenting never stops. Sure you can slow it by refrigeration or brown bottles to block it from light, but eventually it becomes... The slight hops profile of Pabst had been eaten up and it was a strong corn flavor. Again, not bad, even passable, but not to me. Drain pour.

001 - KMart Seven Hills.jpgRemember these? Sure you do. This was the Kay Store that I bought the desk that I've been raving about in this blog. It was a shadow of it's former self. I do remember this store at least being clean and well stocked the few times I went to it. It closed sometime in 2019 and then it was announced it would be replaced by regional discounter Meijer. It seems they took a lot of K-Mart spaces here in Cleveland. I went to one in the summer of 2020 where I was annoyed by the long lines and the auto checkouts not being able to take cash because of the great change shortage of 2020. Remember that? I only had 5 items so I went to the service desk to check out.

Meijer Seven Hills.jpgTHEY TORE DOWN MY BIG-K! Yep. Brand new Meijer. They are super centers. I worked for Meijer for a short time while I lived in Louisville. This was state of the retailing art. It would seem in a small space, they are HUGE on the inside. I went shopping for groceries and well, prices were like every grocery store. Some things cheaper, some things more expensive. I didn't dwell on the "HARD" goods side for very long but I'll be going back lots because I timed it pin to pin my ride home at 15 minutes. I wonder what their portable desk stocks are like?

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Which brings us to something else I haven't done since before. I spent the Sunday in Mentor. I went to the record store to buy the latest King Gizzard album but it's not going to be out on physical media for another month. Damn. No biggy. I had lunch at a participating Arbys and decided to experience the "2 Dead Anchors" mall. Sears went a few years earlier and Macys went during the pansamatic, but surprisingly the place was fairly busy and fairly filled! It's still got a Dillards and a JC Penny, plus a Dicks sporting goods and a fairly new anchor sized entertainment center, so this mall had morphed and made it through the pansamatic. I noted while walking through that a local micro brew chain "The Brew Kettle" was open someplace near, but couldn't find it attached to the mall... It was attached to the entertainment center.

20210627_162930.jpgIt was the micro brew that features 400 variations on their one "okay" IPA. I had one version and it was terrible and another version that was better than the original. I had a guest beer that was a "sour" fruit beer. Good but not my cup of beverage. Then I had the Irish Stout and well, it's what I should have been drinking since I got there. Then the DOWNPOUR happened. They had to pull down their garage doors because the tables got soaked. It was so great to be watching the Cleveland baseball team get their asses handed to them while drinking great stout during a tsunami.

IMG_6490.JPGI left there and could have gone across the street to the 'Bucks were they had a lobby with 8 seats total. (Told you, small lobbies...) No, I drove down the road to the alt 'Bucks which to my surprise, was now a sub shop. The 'Bucks was another that didn't have a drive through and they moved across the street into a former Half Priced Books. I was sad that it wasn't a Half Priced Books anymore. I had bought "Greyfolded" from there a few years before which is Plunderphonics mix of a mess of Greatful Deads's Iconic song "Dark Star". It was long out of print so I was lucky to find it. Now, it was sub divided into a modern "new" long box 'Bucks and two other spaces. I got the unexpected credit from this place as well as the micro brew. I ended the Sunday with a stop at Speedway for a 32 Oz Cherry Mountain Spew and then a few beverages at my local while I finished writing for my radio show. PPP baby. We're back. Leon is getting LARGER! "Fat, Drunk and Stupid is no way to go through life." *skitch* Animal House. Thanks.

IMG_6477.JPGLook at that. A man built that. It's a 12 pack of 24 OZ Ziggy Zockies taking the place where the 30 packs I had to buy because I didn't travel for those long months. Brings a tear to my eye. Actually, these would rest with 2 in Pitt and 4 pack in my fridge...the rest consumed in Pitt. This really looks odd for me nowadays but so be it.  How did that mask get in there? -Junk Blog

Summer Daze Blog

2nd Post-2021 Meaning.jpgI know, it's mumbo jumbo to most of you. It's the "Thoughts On The Dead" guy's second post ever. I just liked that he said "work the jab". We'd have new meaning to that in 2021. April 6th 2021 he passed away from the other non vaccine "C" .  I mean the other "C" has been around for a short time and science effectively found something to beat it back. The BIG "C" has been around a long time and takes too many too soon. When I found the Grateful Dead and started listening lots, I looked at many websites. His blog was the only one with 20 posts a day! (Well, he made a lot of content.) It helped me do this blog in a lighter fashion and have fun with my posts. Plus, if you don't really like the Grateful Dead, he spread out on so many issues, TV shows, Bands. http://www.thoughtsonthedead.com/  I'm still missing the daily updates about John Meyer's hair. El Paso is a 2:30 song at most, how do you get it to 8 minutes?

Thunder(s) Over  1080P.jpg This is the year we reinstate some traditions around here. Sort of. It was a little too early to have the greatest fireworks show in America. Louisville, Ky. They have held it as long as I lived there and every year after. They added some neat things. It takes place on two barges on the Ohio river and the Main street bridge. They light the bridge on fire! Then they made a pedestrian walk across the river and  now they light that with LEDS. However, it happens in April. There were no lotteries if you got the jab in April. We can't have 100,000 peeps crammed on the banks of the Ohio. So, they moved them to 4 locations and televised the result. YAY!  *Pbbbbbtttttt* The good news is my tradition is in tact. See you next year Thunder.

IMG_6282.JPGThinkin and drinkin is all I have today. Thanks Greatful Dead. Makin "Cowboy Coffee", thanks Spirit. I hate it when they don't have beans. Ground coffee is not as fresh as the bean . ALDI doesn't have their breakfast blend in bean style anymore either. Looks like a job for Trader Joes! I haven't been to one of those tiny "peeps on top of peeps" stores since this pansamatic began. I use the cans of their coffee to hold Aldis and Dunkin. Stupid poop. Did you know that a can of peanuts has the same top size as a can of Trader Joes coffee. Didn't I say in the start of this blog that it would be funny?

IMG_6348.JPGNow THATS funny. Look at the size of those TIES. Yeah I cracked my set open and have been watching through them again and enjoying them even more than last time. I started watching MASH again but I  caught up to the nightly airings on MEtv, so I jumped off. MASH is so familiar to me, I can have it on as background noise and know if BJ is combing his mustache and annoying Major Winchester. Hey, I didn't promise a funny blog, I just turned on my head and spilled what came out. I should be writing this. We've been over that. It's my preferred way of expressing my stupidity.

IMG_6302.JPG"Hey Father Mulcahey, I got another trachea tube for ya. " Radar is going to barf. Get the skin to close around the tube. That's exactly what's supposed to happen... I'm a good Bic Pen user, yes I am.

IMG_6283.JPGI draw using pen and paper as well. No computer stuff here. I am a creature of habit and I fear change but sometimes you gotta change if they don't make a 5" Black And White TV/RADIO for those long days when you go fishing. When my favorite sketch pads became something that they just couldn't make and sell for $2.50, it only left the Strathmore company to make the size and sell them for $172 each. Wait? Is that just what Michaels sells them for? Oh, buy one get one for half. Better than nothin.

IMG_6317.JPGOf course there will be booze. I'm shown all through this pansamatic that "Fat, Drunk and Stupid is no way to go through life"...but a PANSAMATIC? Bring on the SKYY (Fris) and lets make some Marys. Actually this is the first time in years I bought some hot sauce. and just for this. Hot sauce makes my stomach all "WHOOOHOOO" but if I disguise it with cheap ass vodka (Not SKYY) it goes down well.

IMG_6353.JPGSo, I'm not a Crown Royal fan but this is the third bottle I've bought. Okay, well it is a nice smooth shot. They had some "flavored" Crowns and I never wanted to try them, but here they were in neat little one shot deals.  Let's see, APPLE Crown Royal tastes like I shaved some green apple Jolly Rancher candies into my glass and added CR. The VANILLA Crown Royal is kind of like taking a swig of CR and then licking 10 envelopes. Really, I can review beer and how it tastes all day because that's something I care about. Booze should be booze. Keep the sugary flavored sap out of it. It's not House Of Pancakes, it's booze. Let a bartender make a flavored drink. That's what they are tipped for.

IMG_6356.JPGDid I say I can review a beer? If you want a decent honey brown beer, this is it. Above standard. Boozy but  with sweet to temper. That's they way any alcoholic beverage should be. Don't know about drinking a beer with a orange sack of shit on them. Sorry artist who drew these cans. That makes me laugh. What does THIS look like? :)

IMG_6357.JPGWord to the wise. If you boil a pot of water on a stove, don't get distracted by finding endless hours of new music on the web. You should set a timer. I was boiling the water for another failed attempt at cleaning the clog my sinks are currently under going. I've tried it all except caustic stuff. Green stuff. Baking soda. A Rooter. I now have really clean pipes leading from one sink to the other sink but nothing going down the drain. So, it's another pan of hot water, and I forgot about it.  Once you do that, toss it. A man built this, it's a pot. Owner stupidity. Another landfill claims a pot.

IMG_6372.JPGYou get the MAXX for the MINIMUM. I wanted to replace my pot with a Faberware classic so I went ova dey to the Bed Bath And Stock Piled High. It's where I got it from, and no dice. All they had were the 1QT and since I've boiled through a few of those, I bought two the last time I needed them. I dejectedly walked out from Bed Bath And Crap On Pegboards and hello cuz! I never think of this place, but TJMAXX. Of course! They have all that pots and pans crap. They had just what I needed.  I bought two. I know me.

IMG_6369.JPGNow how desperate do I have to be to buy skivvies from a big box store? Get this, how much MORE desperate do I have to be to buy said skivvies from a HOME IMPROVEMENT store?  Junk improvement? Made in India. What the hell was I thinking? These are darker colors. I hate the white skivvies or the light blue skivvies because they might as well be white. I also don't want to go a department store to buy 1 pair rather than the chubb pack. Hell, I've bought some skivvies from Walgreens from one of those "special buy" bins at the front of the store. I don't care. Fits my ass. Wait, why does a home improvement store have SKIVVIES??? Cover more ASS at Menards.

IMG_6332.JPGSpeaking of things for your ass available in a CHUB pack from a big box store... Were we speaking of such things? This comes as the pansamatic is starting to wane in America. I mean, Gov. X-10 is going to allow all seats to be filled for our baseball thingy we have starting on Memorial day. Good job America. We're a little more back to "show me your papers or you can't come in." I should stop calling our Governor "Gov. X-10" because he extended so many curfews, but I'll always know him for that. I remember being a scofflaw by driving home from mom's place at 11PM when I should have been home at 10. Here's an idea, lets not have this pansamatic shit happen again, okay? You come here for ideas, I just gave you one. So, the big box store had only 3 packs of flushable butt wipes. I usually buy the 5 pack because I like the cool fresh clean ass feeling. I should get one of those squinter toilets. Hooray! They have the 5 pack again. Hoarder.

IMG_6361.JPGBlink and you'll miss these. I draw little cartoons in said pads that were mentioned at the top of this blog. When they are done, they get scanned in and then I gotta put the drawing someplace. These guys make the best clip board, so why not make a second product that I think is the best. Wal Stores haven't had these or they have ones that are damaged in some way, but I was lucky to find three of these in the last few runs. That's ten more years of drawings. Yep. I'll likely buy a few more because who gets photos developed anymore?

20210515_163434.jpgHere's a little retail trivia. Once upon a time in the Northeast Ohio area and towns and cities everywhere, there were department stores. If you wanted a console TV or appliance, you went downtown to buy it or you bought it from specialty dealers that would buy and sell. Then, someone got the idea to "stack em high and watch em buy". Here in Cleveland, we had Northeast Appliance and Tokyo Shapiro and Home Centers. In addition to home improvement stores getting in on the action. Then there came "category killers". A few smaller ones came and went quickly but SUN TV was the biggest of them all. They also had three aisles of a new thing called PC's. Nobody had three aisles of those. Quickly all the small players went by the boards and I was one of the employees that was in that roll. Then BEST BUY came to town and had no commissioned sales and they became the dominant player.  I worked for Sun TV for one week. It took me 30 minutes to get a customer out the door after selecting a higher end boom box. 30 minutes! We had to sell the extended warranty, and if we couldn't we'd bring in someone else to try and if that didn't work, a manager would take the third shot. Then, we had to wait in line to cash out the customer. If there were 6 or 7 people and only one line open... Then we had to go to the counter, wait in line again  while someone verified that it was paid for and tried the warranty sale again. Then the security guard had to inspect. 30 minutes! I went to beer and a movie with friends and never came back. I found this relic at my mom's apartment.  "Super SLEEPING Centers" . 

20210515_133918.jpgNow a tell about the end of this pansamatic in the United States.  I don't want to get happy. "Don't Get Happy" according to Mike O Meara.  https://mikeomearashow.com/  However on Mayday, I walked into my "no card so you can't get that box of cookies for $1" drug store.  No signing up on the web. Just walked in. I was against all the net sign up because every time you need to sign away your info so that they can market their high priced arthritis cream to you. So, I was there, I asked, and the counter girl gave me static. "We're not giving the flu shots" she said. Um, excuse me. Last time I checked the pansamatic is a FLU? Thankfully someone stepped in. There was also a little reluctance to not have me go on the computer for an appointment. After that, no problem. Got my shot and a Mothers Day card in the 15 minutes I had to wait. The cards are pre-priced. Didn't need a F-Ing card. Went to Mom's day dinner at a restaurant and SAT IN! Hadn't done that since March 2019. But the next weekend my eye was on the prize. It would be two weekends since my jab, and I felt safe enough to go to a pizza restaurant with my mom. This indeed was the last restaurant I'd attended before the pansamatic. I remember there were rumblings about something that was over there coming over here. The place was absolutely packed. It seemed like maybe it was the last time a LOT of the people would eat out.  Red Robin serves Donatos pizza at this location. Mom loves it. I loved that we were back after a year and three months. Same price as well!

IMG_6354.JPGSo, I'll tell you intrepid readers of this junk blog.  I returned to the "at least the Arizona tea is pre- priced at a buck so I don't have to use your g-d card" and it was even easier to get jab #2. Then Mom and I went back to Red Robin and got another pizza/salad. For some reason, it felt better this time. I mean, it felt good to go with someone I love and have something she enjoys and make all involved happy. So, what does this all mean? I'm not going to preach. Get it or don't, but now it's as easy as walking in. So, when does this pansamatic end for me? I've started getting my drawing pack mentioned in a previous blog ready to go and darken a participating Pawnera restaurant. How am I going to explain that I need a 70 Regular/30 Dark pour of my coffee? Looking forward to leaving my state to visit others again. I did something I've never done before. I bought the above.  Long ago at a convention in Memphis, a friend had a booze tasting. He had beer beverage to drink and I never touched to hard stuff, but he convinced me and others. We tried Cabo Wabo tequila. Mmmm, that's good booze. I lived in Louisville, KY at the time but I'd never had any bourbon and I tried Makers Mark. Mmmmm Thats Good BOOOOZE. Then he pulled out the OBAN. I locked in on this brand as being some of the best booze I'd ever had. Years and years later, my mom bought me a bottle for Christmas. It took two years to finish. You see, it's a $90 bottle of booze. I never ever considered spending  $90 on a bottle of booze. Well, this pansamatic has been something, and well, it deserved something really special to say I'm out of 90% of the worry.

IMG_5671.JPG...and with all that hope, the year and a half old Butterfinger bar will finally be enjoyed with a with a shot of OBAN to wash it down.  Doggy Radio is where it's going to happen. Why not. We need the content . -Ric

Briefcase Boogie

IMG_6233.JPGI used to carry this back before the pansamatic started. Since, it has sat in place on my recliner, only getting moved a few times, once being when I sat down with some bourbon to listen to the new King Gizzard disc. (KG) It's a tradition that goes way back...er..no it doesn't. But, I used to do it whenever a new CAKE album dropped, and well, King Gizzard is my Cake replacement. Whenever I went out on the weekends, or took a trip on an airplane, this was my luggage. It's only my second briefcase since I started carrying one to ferry my writing junk and other stuff to my radio gigs. In fact, my first one was provided BY one of the stations I worked for. I had to remove the stitched on name when I went to work at another station. "Secret" is what it said for Secret Communications. This was just before the ownership rules relaxed for radio stations. When I moved to Toledo, I put a station bumper sticker over the name and eventually worked to remove all the stitching on the bag. Eventually that bag was falling apart so I bought a replacement that you see here. Pansamatic rules means that I haven't been taking anything anywhere, let alone sitting in a coffee shop working for a few hours. I thought I'd open it, show it, and ready it for more staying home this summer.

IMG_6234.JPGThe front has a zippered pouch that I keep current items in. I like this because I don't have to unwrap the bag and get crap out. More on the contents in a moment.

IMG_6236.JPGThe back of the case has a large flap which is even easier to access. I keep directions to Chicago and a map in here when I drive. It can hold bottles of whatever I was drinking or will be drinking.  Just a handy flap where I'm not as worried about losing stuff. Yeah, I've had stuff bounce out of this when being transported, but again, while I'm driving, it's easy access.

IMG_6235.JPGThis is all the crap I've had in the front zippered pocket. Mostly cough drops which thankfully haven't been needed since Winter 2019. I gotta imagine the imitation "Compare To Halls" cherry drops are now really old and sticky, but then, they always got that way. I keep them in a hot car right in a black bag right? RIGHT? I have the current directions to Pitt in the center. It's just in case I forgot how to get to my friends house. Two years ago, they changed the PA turnpike to a non ticketed system. If I don't have a transponder, they "BILL ME". Yep. Nope. Government bills for a 1.25 toll? Yep. Nope. So I had to route a way around the tolls and did so. Sure it adds about 20 minutes for the trip, but I don't want to be in traffic court for a 1.25 bill to the PA government because I didn't receive a bill. Ick. The other? Portable pack of flushable wipes. For that fresh feeling after I s*it up a McDonalds restroom near you.

IMG_6237.JPGHere's the filling of the doughnut. Actually, this is a laptop bag and it has a expandable middle and Velcro closures to hold it in place. It also has another zippered pouch which doesn't have much in it.

IMG_6243.JPG...except BURROWS! Hey, I carry it everywhere. These highlighters I've had in both briefcases and I don't think they have any liquid left in them, but I keep them in there because that's where I keep 'em. The other mechanical pencils and Bic pens are in there because they are in there. I haven't drawn with a pencil in years. ..but it's in there.

IMG_6238.JPGHere's the heartbeep of the briefcase. The central nervous system. The inner garbage. A smaller version of my stuff. I had another bag that wore out after a few years because, well, I carry this to places when I don't want to carry the entire briefcase. Stuff I used to keep in the flaps of the briefcase I now keep in the flaps of this bag. It's a GYM bag. Guess who made it? No, not IZOD. No, not Gucci. No not TOTES. One more guess. HOLY SHEISS. ON TEEVEE there are CATS singing COUNTRY. OMG, now there is a silver hood ornament singing an 80's song! . Hell. I could just cut off the tag and put a bumper sticker over the logo, but eh. Named after a site right? Is there a drop on blood in it? It's a tribute to Winn Dixie's "Chek" brand Cola. Yep.

IMG_6241.JPGI keep smaller bags of crap in my big bag of crap that I keep in a bigger bag of crap. First was USB cables and cell phone back up batteries. (Currently being used elsewhere.) Inside the white zippered pouch is an MP3 player that I really don't use anymore. It's a 4 Gig. I don't use it much anymore. Did I mention that I don't use it much anymore?  It's in there because... you guessed it. Then, the drugs, chap stick and bandages. Am I carrying a purse?

IMG_6240.JPGMy music is now held in a cell phone. It's a cheap cell phone so all I use it for is keeping my music so I can listen to Spirit while writing or drawing. It doesn't even have a SIM card. It does go on line via WIFI. I had a really small tablet replaced with a larger tablet until I bought this. It was faster than either tablet, and now I use my big tablet as a timer, just to use it. The batteries are for the camera I carry in another bag. Always good to carry extra rechargeable. Why not buy two back ups. This on top of the 4 sets of back ups. See a pattern here?

IMG_6239.JPGYep. Burrows. Why do I need to keep a sample of every pen I own? Because. That's why. I even have a red pen in there. Do I use a red pen? Nope. It's in there. Do I use them every time? Nope. They're in there.

IMG_6244.JPGI keep the other pens with the paper that I carry in other little plastic bags. One of these carries the small book that I keep trip journals in. The other keeps my drawing pad. Neither one is populated currently. I started my trip diary when I was going to Florida back in March 2020. It's become my daily log of the pansamatic. The drawing pad I put into action when we could start going to restaurants and bars again. The debris is waiting for both to return. The red case carries a pair of reading glasses. They come in handy when I need to read the small expiration date of my Arby's 2 For $5 chicken choice coupon.

IMG_6249.JPGThis debris is also waiting for me to return to it. I keep 8 1/2x11 sketch book sheets in this folder and I keep my most recent drawings that I made on 8 1/2 x11 sketch book sheets as a reference. I used rulers and I used sticky notes to keep my fat hands from making smears on my paper. I haven't made a "project" drawing as I call them for a few years because it's a lot of erasing. I find small doodles with pen and paper to be the quick way to express my garbage. Plus, I can do it while swilling Miller Lite at a bar near you and carry the books in my pocket rather than my briefcase in my briefcase. 

IMG_6246.JPG Damn. I really want to start making the projects again, but I'll need to vac up my sofa desk every day because of all the eraser shavings I shed while doing the drawing. The paint brush was to dust them away without making a smear in the drawing. The MP3 thingy is a pencil sharpener as I used to carry colored pencils until I realized I've done maybe three drawings with them, but I keep the sharpener in there. *Sigh* It's all in there. Maybe by fall I can start carrying this whole briefcase again and go back to going back. Until then, if I need to carry stuff, I use plastic grocery bags so when I get it back home, the bags go into holding for a few days. The president says this will all blow over by Easter. Uh huh. *ANALOG ECHO* *DOOOOON'T YOU BEELEEEVE ITTTT*  - Junk Blog

IMG_6307.JPGWelcome to the tribute to the Burrows Brothers  retail chain here on the Junk Blog. Not really, but yes, this is to display what a nut I am for office supplies that I like and use and hoard and never ever will finish using because I'll buy more before it's anywhere close to being depleted. This is the only artifact I own from a time when Burrows Brothers was a leading office supply store here in Cleveland. If you needed more than just one pen, maybe a box of pens and a few steno pads, you could get them at Burrows. If you needed a greeting card or the latest Signet paperback collection of Al Jaffee cartoons, you go to Burrows. I don't think they sold tobacco products but you could get gum. For tobacco and magazines/paperbacks, we could go to Booklein. (I remember getting books and mags from B.Dalton or Waldenbooks. B. Dalton had the most Mad Magazine paperbacks, so I usually went there. )

IMG_6305.JPGI don't remember why I went to Burrows or when to buy these staples. More than likely, I went to the Great Northern strip center Burrows because I'd moved to North Olmsted when I was younger which I called "mall city". There was the mall, and there was two sides of the city. No "downtown" but Great Northern was the city center. I remember going to the Burrows in a Lakewood strip center near downtown as well. The one thing I used to love about Burrows was smelling the Mr. Sketch marker that had a "mango" scent, the cinnamon one was second. Signet Al Jaffee books were a reason to go as well. Mad Magazines Al Jaffee drew lots of cartoons and had a deal with Signet to release them. It seemed when a new one was out, Burrows was the only place to buy it. Al Jaffee was my favorite Mad artist because he used to draw a little caricature of himself in all his Mad stuff. The cover of "Al Jaffee Gags Again" (which was my first non-Mad book) had a simple drawing with a face like (*.*) and that was easy for me to draw.  Al Jaffee's Mad Inventions book was one of my favorites. He did some cartoons on "In the future" and lots of them were spot on. The one that sticks out is a typewritten letter full of edits sent to a loved one, would be completely sanitized and error free when auto corrected and printed out by a computer.  Hmmmm. *Gets the correction fluid and starts smearing the screen...* (Don't try this at home.)

IMG_6309.JPGTime marches on. You used to go to small office supply stores. Office Max got it's start here in Cleveland and was a office supply oasis with every possible thing you'd need for your office or home. Magazine and book stores became superstores with Barnes and Knobbly and Borders. Even the card stores were becoming more and more a thing. I don't think Wally had made inroads into the area yet, but they have 4-5 rows of office supplies and sell them dirt cheap, putting the squeeze on the big supply stores. Well, that was the end of Burrows. Even this lowly pack of 5000 Made In The USA staples was re-priced once as there is another tag under it. That's why I guessed this was purchased near the end of the chain's life.  Fondly remembered. What's silly about this? I intended to do a blog talking about all the stuff I have for drawing/writing and I figured I'd call it the Burrrows Brothers 2021 entry, but I did not have a picture of the only piece of retail debris I had from the chain. Done. Now, to the mess of junk I have.

IMG_6226.JPGHeh. A big grey hulking mess of tech, made in China. Lenovo was the IBM of a few years ago until they sold off the tech. They still are pretty decent computers. I bought this one a few years back when the M$ corp decided that Skype would be better if everybody ran it on a 64 Bit machine. Wait? What? You're going to make everybody using 32 bit machines just throw those away if they wanted to use your product? Yes. I needed a remote computer to do Skype with because my cell phone wouldn't cut it. I bought this. Why did I show the back of a laptop? Hmmm. Do I use Skype anymore since Zoom works better and on everything? Hmmm. Did I want to prove that this is what the world has gone too rather than pens/papers for just about everything? Hmmmm. Why don't I have a big "steelie" sticker showing I'm a Grateful Dead fan. Hmmmmm. This space for rent. Hmmmmmm.

IMG_6232.JPGLets first talk about "SURFACE." Surface is what I call a flat, smooth place where one can spread out paper to draw or write on. It matters because one needs a smooth flat space to draw or write on. This I got for sitting in bed and writing/drawing on. Pen and Paper. Writing and drawing. Who does that anymore? I'm writing this with a computer. IBM clicky key keyboard rat-a-tat-tatting away. I should try writing stuff with a computer and printing stuff out. It's what the trend is these days right? *get off my lawn!* Now I use this as a place for my remotes or as a desk when I sit on my futon.

IMG_6229.JPGI have pictures of my K-Mart Desks. I'm not going to run a pic of my K-Mart desk. You've seen them before. Now, it's the place where I do the majority of my writing chores for the radio shows I write for. A few years back, I was shopping in a Wally and found these. "The Ultimate Clipboard" they are called. Thick plastic. Elastic band to keep pages from blowing. They are pretty decent. This brought the "surface" to remote locations. Starbucks with community picnic tables? Whip out the surface. Smooth. A place to draw or write. Gee, I use pads right? I rarely use one sheet of paper to draw or write anything, but I have in the past. Hmmm, maybe I should get another. Wait? My Wally didn't have these in stock? I'll go to another Wally. They didn't have them. What? I went back to the Canton area and yes, they had a few left. I bought a few. Later, they had them in stock again everywhere. Why not buy a few more for safety. I like them. I don't want them to stop selling what I like so I better buy a few more...

IMG_6255.JPG...one for the car. One for my computer room. One to have in the living room. I'll give one to Boomer in Pitt. He'll like one or maybe two so I have one if I forgot to bring mine. I'll have surface wherever I go. See? I created a junk pile of stuff I'm probably never going to use all of.  I did have some dollar store clip boards to use as well, but they aren't the ULTIMATE. I want the ULTIMATE.  I like the ULTIMATE. I'm not obsessed or anything...

IMG_6262.JPGBut I am. Not really. Case in point, these. (To the side and back of this photo.) They are Canson XL (recycled) sketch pads. 3.5 by 5.5. I think I bought my first one from Pat Catans (a now gone craft store chain that was a superstore of drawing wares as well as every other dam craft product made. They had 8 aisles of stuff for artists alone. Hence, they carried every sketchpad made.) They were really cheap and decent quality. I started my "cartooning" (drawing with pen) on these pads and quickly became a fan of using them. Whenever I went to Patcats, I'd always pick up one or two of these. Michaels even carried them and at one time, they were selling these cheap as discontinued pads. I bought a few. Then when Patcats announced they would be closing as they were swallowed up by Michaels, I went to several stores and bought what they had left. Now, when I look on the web, I don't think they even make this size anymore. See? I stocked up. Lets see, I just passed 1000 sketches on these books. I started in 2010. 10 years for 10 pads. That means I'll use these up by the year 3000. Awww, well, I am going through them a bit quicker since the pansamatic, so 2050. Yep. The other pads are sticky pads of all sizes. I use them when I draw on a big sheet of paper to stop my big clumsy mitts from smearing. Envelopes. Lots. Note cards? Check. It's Burrows Brothers.

IMG_6266.JPGI started really trying to draw when I switched to overnights at the gig I was working at the time. There was a lot of down time during this over night gig and I started to draw at the encouragement of a friend who was in the business. He gave his advice to "trace" at first. Take an image and trace it. Eventually you get the feel of drawing and you can then try and duplicate the picture you're tracing without tracing it. Eventually you get the feel to start making original drawings with just reference pictures and then you don't need the reference pictures, you just know how to draw what you're trying to draw. It worked. I bought mechanical pencils and found that these Mead 8x11 sketch books were the ones I wanted to use. They had micro perfs so they tore out easy. They fit on my scanner so I could print them out if need be. They were heavy, acid free paper. Great for erasing. Lots of erasing. I bought a ton of these pads and still have them because I haven't drawn a full sized piece in a few years at least. Turns out, they aren't made anymore. BAM! Another reason to stock up.

IMG_6258.JPGLook! I can draw Boomer The Dog! Yeah, this is a children's "learn to draw" book, but when I saw it was Boomer The Dog! Hey, where are the paws? Okay, it is for kids but the for older folks learning to draw, these types of "here's how it's done" just didn't click. How do you go from 4 circles into a fully finished lion drawing in four frames always baffled me. It took my friend telling me the "Trace" method that got me jazzed on drawing cartoons.

IMG_6257.JPGJust a sampling of some of the "derbis" that I've built around my "cartoons". The 3-D pad was sold at a dollar store and came with a set of 3-D glasses. (The red-blue type.) These came in handy when I watched King Gizzard's "Cellophane" video. Look ma, two drummers floating in space and that harmonica player just gave me a dirty look! I've actually used the "cartoon animals" book to draw the animals listed, just to copy the features.  Happy Dino.

IMG_6250.JPGAhhh..Darice. Part of the PatCats empire that all faded. Double stick tape that frankly doesn't get much use around here other than to tape up a mirror to the back of my electrical box so that I can see what I'm doing when inflicting a pansamatic self hair cut. *shudder* Need to do that again. I should just get a bowl. They are also good if you need to block the glare from a downward LED light fixture that was put in sideways facing.  Yep.

IMG_6251.JPGEverybody needs a place for their STUUUUUUFFFFF. *skitch* George Carlin. *Thanks* Here's mine. Paper clips. Thumb tacks. Refills for pens and erasers. A ZIMA pin with led lights that I found outside of a bar way back when Zima was still a thing. Plus, a Sobe cap that has a tribute to one of Howard Stern's whack pack. "Riley Martin" who was all about UFO abduction sometimes spoke things other than English and this was one that Howard played on his show all the time. Imagine finding it in a SOBE bottle. "O-Qua Tangin Wann"  RIP Riley. There's a googly eye for one of my plants. SNL was pushed.

IMG_6254.JPGFolders and envelopes do do do do. Folders and envelopes do do do do. (Incense And Peppermints.) Does anybody know what words they say after that in that song? Heck these were bought for a dime apiece from some dime apiece back to school sale from a participating mart. Do I use them? A bit. Did I need to worry that these would be discontinued? No. Did cheap stuff like this cause Burrows to fold? Likely.

IMG_6271.JPGThis has been my mostly consumed product since I can remember. When I started writing a lot, I used spiral bound note books, but the spiral would wear and the tearing of pages would result in a mess. So, Mead gave us "Neat Books." I was home. They were compact and the pages could be torn out and stored cleanly. This was my way of doing things. I usually try to get them when they are on sale but in the past few years, they are getting tougher to find. I bought a CASE of these (20) when Target had them for for 50 cents apiece and I've been using them since because I had several more before I started on the 20. I still have several. Made In USA. They still make them but now they are "Assembled In USA". Ahh, but being past 15 years old a few years back, I noted the binding was falling apart when I used these. (Plus the fact that I was going through one every 6-18 months..) There was this pansamatic thing that showed up in 2020 and well... I had to rethink my Neat book strategy. I wasn't going anywhere to write anyway. It was stay at home Jones, and still is, but one of these that went fell apart a week after starting it and well...

IMG_6230.JPGSolution. 3 ring notebook. The advantage? I can take out a portion of a radio script I started and put it with where I'm starting it again a few pages after. That's it. That's all. Actually, there was one other use... You see, they make spiral bound notebooks now with micro perf pages, so they can tear out cleanly. They are only 70 pages usually, I need 80 pages. I'm a creature of habit, I fear change. *skitch* *Don Geronimo from the Don and Mike show* *Thanks*. I had a few of these laying around and figured, because I've switched, I might as well... So I have about 5 more pads to get through (made 80 pages by combining the paper) and then it will be back to neat books with cracked bindings.

IMG_6264.JPGOh yeah. The evil dollar store. Makes me buy stuff when there is no need for it. Construction paper?  Maybe once I needed a piece. 40 page sketch pads? I use them to throw them away. I'm like the parsley that Fred Flintstone had to buy just for the customers to throw away. Never has a lesson in economics been taught so well that by Fred Flintstone. Way Out. WAY OUT! That's where the fun is. WAY OUT!

IMG_6277.JPGYes, even the smaller stuff is squirreled away for me when it comes to my writing and drawing habits. Years ago, I got a spiral bound mini book from Dollar Tree and then, I guess it was from one of the first times I went to Orlanldo for a vacation, that I started a tradition. Writing a diary of my trips. Gave me something to do when I was on the plane or downtime in my room. It was small, so I didn't need a lot of surface. I found it worthwhile to remember the crappy service we got at a Chilis in 2016 when we went for a dinner. Yes, filled with that stuff. A few years later, I went to buy a few more but they looked the same, but were not the same. Cheaper/thinner and with cardboard backing. I used one, but the paper tore easily. So, I looked to replace and got the dogs/cats covered ones because they are better. I'm currently using Mead's version of one that I had started for my non trip to Orlando that I was going to take just before the pansamatic. It became my pansamatic diary and is still being written in with details: Tuesday- Woke, Worked, Mom Call, Bar, Late Night, Zzzzz. --I'll bet this working on this entry in this very junk blog with be in a weekend entry. Yep.

IMG_6259.JPG...and of course, what would  this junk blog be without dogs and pens. That's it. I have pens. Lots and lots of pens. I've compared pens on this junk blog, which means I have a ton of pens. Of course, I've compared how napkins and toilet paper were on this junk blog. Do I have a lot of toilet paper and napkins? Nope. Those get used every day. Pens? One by one. Refill the Bics. Here's a batch of the "old" Bic pens that blopped little blops of ink when you wrote with them. The newer ones do not. That's why it's all I use currently. There's some Papermate pens as well. They didn't blop as much as the Bics did but they still blopped. Blop blop fizz fizz. Oh what a mess it is.

IMG_6273.JPGOf course! When I find something I like, buy more than I can use in a lunchtime. Walking through a store and see a pack? Pick em' up. They will eventually get used.  Yep. Devo Obsesso.

IMG_6275.JPGI have more pens that I can use? To quote Adam Carolla: "Sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssshocking." It's the dollar stores fault. The BK420's you see in excess here were purchased because they had a low blopping factor and with a little cutting of the refill, they fit in the Paper Mate retractable pens that I also bought mass quantities of. Trouble was, the Paper Mates were old, and the ink dried pretty easily inside the pen. So, I got BK420 pens from Pentel and they worked as replacements. Hotcha. Of course, dollar store again. When Bic became the best pen to buy, I used a shell from the very few "gripper" pens to make a Bic Hybrid pen that I use to this day. Ahh, but I only had three or four shells, until I found the Prima pens you see "piled high". They worked , so why not buy 500 of them?

IMG_6267.JPG.....FOR A BUCK?????

IMG_6276.JPGYes, pens for a buck. Imagine my surprise when walking into the dollar store, they had a ton of the pens I thought they were not going to make anymore. Closeout Jones. I bought a ton of these as well. Too bad they don't get used because they will all be dry if I tried to use them. They had something like 14 separate pieces to make up a click pen from. Guess that's why they went the way of Burrows. 

IMG_6281.JPG...FOR A BUCK????

IMG_6280.JPGYes, I did have the same experience with mechanical pencils as well, only not as much. I still use my original G-Force pencil for drawing but when I found out they were not going to make them anymore, Boomer went onto Flea Bay and got me a DATSUN. Ahhh, but about a year later, there was a ton in the dollar store. Did I need more of them? Haven't you learned not to ask that question here on the Office Supplies Junk blog?

IMG_6279.JPGDon't get me started on the erasers that I tried and used. For a buck? These should really be donated to the eraser museum. They got a lot of nice erasers there. *skitch* SHUT UP! Okay. I'll shut up. -Junk Blog