How many man caves go under-utilized in America? How many people have dedicated a room in their house to gaming and parties and decked it out with a mini-bar, a poker table, pinball, maybe a pool table, dart board, some neon lighting and a few humorous posters, and then when it was finished, had a […]
A Different Drummer: What goes best on wood?
That question has come up too infrequently for me to become an authority, but I still need to know a lot about it. I’m not a woodworker, but I am a homeowner with fences, chairs, stairs, decks, railings, cabinets and retaining walls. Each different wood lives in different environments ranging from indoor cozy to outdoor […]
A Different Drummer: Wacky sleep habits
I have had the wackiest sleeping habits for the past year. I can’t quite explain why, and I don’t mind it too much, but it does take some getting used to. I tend to fall asleep early and wake up in the middle of the night raring to go. I’m up out of bed wandering […]
A Different Drummer: In search of ramen
I just returned from two trips to Berkeley. The first trip Susan and I went to the Shattuck Cinema and saw the new Japanese documentary, “Ramen Heads.” Then we walked to a nearby ramen restaurant called Ippuku on Center Street, which is an izakaya, meaning they serve brief meals, appetizers, and drinks in a casual […]
A Different Drummer: Yes, Susan went, too
We saw the Trailer Park Boys at the Paramount Theater in Oakland last Saturday night. That first sentence will surely divide my reading audience in two. Those who never heard of the TPB may think it’s a rock band or other singing troupe, and they would be wrong. Those who are familiar with the TPB […]
A Different Drummer: The Don of pinball
I bought my Medieval Madness pinball machine fresh off the factory floor from the only distributor for Chicago Gaming in California, a most industrious, voluble, and experienced man known as Don, of Don’s Custom Service, right up the road in Vacaville. Don is also one of the co-founders of the annual Pin-a-Go-Go Pinball Festival in […]
A Different Drummer: March of time
Wife and I had a nice walk up First Street with 1,500 other people on Saturday for the March for Our Lives Walk. We saw lots of familiar faces and engaged in conversations of heated agreement. We listened to the speakers. We felt their sincere concern. It is a shame we have to march to […]
A Different Drummer: How my oilfield days ended abruptly
It was 1977. I was standing in the Dog House with the driller on an Oklahoma oil rig, about to start working as a roughneck, a job I knew nothing about. It was summer work during my junior year at Penn State. My ride, Chris, a guy I just met that morning, had driven me […]
A Different Drummer: My days in the oil fields
In the summer of 1977 I left State College, Pennsylvania on a Greyhound bus bound for Oklahoma City to work my junior-year summer as an oilfield roughneck. I was excited and looking forward to the money and the rough and tumble hardtack scramble of running a live western oil rig, slinging heavy equipment, getting dirty, […]
A Different Drummer: Looking back at gainful employment
I’ve had 17 jobs in my life. Being retired, I think back on them to help me feel more comfortable now about having my feet up, watching the rain on a Tuesday morning, with music. I’ve worked since I was a small boy, though I’m not counting those early unofficial jobs. Maybe I should. I […]