robert.admin – Page 170 – Robert Raymond’s Blogtorium

July 30, 2013

Tourist

I don’t know why I’m going through this sudden interest in things religious. It’s a shallow examination (with little true understanding) so let’s not all pile on screaming that I’m a disbeliever or a heretic or whatever. Perhaps it’s because I’ve watched 54 years go by and have realized I’m mortal. Or I’m curious. Or whatever. But I’ve been getting on the celestial tour bus and riding through religions, checking them out and chatting with their inhabitants. For example, earlier this year, a coffee friend talked me into Lent, where I ended my slavery to things cocacoloaish (a soda boycott […]

July 28, 2013

A Storm of Swords (Review)

It’s 1am, I’m in the epilog, and com’on, George, let’s wrap this thing up. 924 pages. Not that it isn’t good. The Storm of Swords is the third installment (some 1800 pages in) of The Song of Ice and Fire saga, a massive and sprawling tale from George R.R. Martin. It moves well, and most chapters always have a reason for being. Better yet, he engages in a practice I most fully approve of – killing off main characters. But that’s the joke I’ve seen on the net – “Whenever a fan asks Martin when the book is coming out, […]

July 27, 2013

DOG EAR Contents

The following is a full list of “Dog Ear” articles, a collective blog about the wonders and frustrations of writing. A description of the entry is included in square brackets. New articles will post every Thursday, and will be added to this list. A dated Quest (DOG EAR) [Looking at an old favorite cartoon with new-age eyeballs] Future Nostalgia (DOG EAR) [Isn’t it really cool to see something from “today” somwhere in “tomorrow”?] Politics (DOG EAR) [When funny just isn’t funny] Missed signals (DOG EAR) [Sometimes people are baffling] Weight of years, and erosion of ages (DOG EAR) [Facts vs […]

July 25, 2013

Quest (DOG EAR)

My father wetted my interest in a number of things – model railroading, gaming, but most importantly reading. Sure, mom hammered me when I wasn’t reading in school, and I thank her for that. But dad was the pervasive reader, his shelves stocked with heavy tomes of great men, or thick classics like Atlas Shrugged and Winds of War. I took after him on this, setting off on a lifetime journey, not of one road of literature, but of many. I don’t even remember the specific incident – could have been after dinner, or in the car, somewhere. Just a […]

July 24, 2013

OpsLog – LM&O – 7/24/2013

My engineer trainee Cody is in the pilot’s seat and I’m lounging in the back, idling a couple of big UP rental engines, pumping air down the line to a ragged cut of freight cars in Calypso. It’s his first run over the railroad so I’m conducting for him tonight. Time to call for a warrant. “Dispatch, Extra 5354 with you in Calypso, looking for a warrant west to Cincinnati. Will require helpers at Hellertown.” “Extra 5354… This is, ah, warrant 5 to 5354. Checkbox two to Hellertown. And, um. Checkbox six, take siding. Checkbox eight, do not foul ahead […]

July 21, 2013

Stories of the Sea (Review)

I‘m really slanted on this book. See, it led to the resolution of a wonderful life-moment for me, just before it was too late. I picked this up at Slightly Foxed. Published by “Everyman’s Pocket Collection”, it is truly a pocket collection, dozens of great sea stories packed into a small hardcover – pocket-sized – book. I’ve read collections before – rather like them. A good collection will give you a wide range of selections; perfect for airplane rides – you get one you don’t like, skip to the next. And this, let me tell you, is one of the […]

July 18, 2013

Ya ya (DOG EAR)

Instead of writing over Friday lunch as is my norm, this time I got a lesson in writing. Cassandra and Darlene invited me to a “cultural lunch” – Jamaican food down in one of the strips along the west side of town. Bryon, a guy from Darlene’s team, came with us. I’ve make this joke before, since I was the only caucasian in this group, I felt like the gay white guy in a black comedy film. Anyway, lunch was great – barbeque chicken and rice and dumplings – yum! But the interesting thing was the conversation we had, and […]

July 14, 2013

ShowLog – Deland – 7/14/2013

My little confession that most people know – I am a theoretical socialist. I don’t know how socialism would ever be, or come about. I’ve talked to the Hyde Park radicals and gotten an earful of gibberish. I’ve read Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book and found nothing but slogans there. I have no idea what socialism would look like, or how people would work as one, for the greater good. Well, until this Deland Show. We had a lot of club members waiting at the ramp when Bob backed the truck in. The module racks came down the ramp, each […]

July 14, 2013

Cannibal Reign (Review)

I can’t tell for certain if author Thomas Koloniar was influenced by the story The Road. There, something happens, something that causes earthquakes, clouds the sky, and slowly kills off all plants and animals. As for the humans, well, they are forced to snack on the “other white meat”. Here, we know it’s a meteor. We see it coming as we establish our characters and then it hits – boom, and that’s pretty much it. One group is in a well-stocked missile complex, one set is in Hawaii (with the US Fleet and controlled borders) and a smaller group is […]

July 7, 2013

15 Views of Orlando (Review)

Carl Hiaasen sneers at Orlando, making it the butt of his Florida-bashing jokes. My model train club (based on Orlando) models Jacksonville (since it’s railroad-sexier). Orlando is a sprawling, simmering, distracted city. To those who use it for nothing more than the home-work drive, it’s little more than a blur beyond the I-4 guardrail. But I’ve lived here for thirty years, bicycled its streets, explored it from end to end. And when I heard about this collection of short stories punch-pinned across the city’s map, I had to check it out. In this collection, fifteen local authors have a go […]