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For Star Trek’s 50th Anniversary
I grew up watching Star Trek with my parents, and it played a particular role in bonding with my father. A 10th-grade dropout, a mechanic, a contractor and engineer with little regard for standards, measurements, or straight lines–nonetheless, my father was fascinated by the ideas in the show. Long after we’d watch a rerun of…
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Nerd
Rank on Tron machine at Comic-Con: 1 Drew a small crowd at the recreation of Flynn’s Arcade from the movie. In 1982 I was world champion at Tron for about 2 weeks…name printed in Electronic Games magazine, etc. My score still ranks #15 or #16 in history. Later, this image appeared on CNN in an article about “Top…
Fourth of July: Ground Bloom Flowers
This was the core of our annual firework arsenal. We’d often have a brick of these things, leading to a steady course of them over the evening, punctuated by fountain cones or other more exotic (expensive) devices. As the night wore on and we got bored with lighting them one at a time, we tried…
Potheads of the Caribbean
Some lowlife was trying to sell me ‘buds’ while in line at Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland. Putting on my businessman hat, I convinced him I was an executive from Ty looking into licensing deals on the West Coast…and that he could make more money cutting open his wife’s Beanie Babies, filling them with…
Halloween Homecoming
Nothing made me feel so awesome as people spotting me in the ‘Ambush’ costume, calling out ‘Rob! I heard you were coming back!’ and running up to hug me. I didn’t know how much I missed this community–until I was welcomed back. Also, there’s a dragon.
October Country
October Country . . . that country where it is always turning late in the year. That country where the hills are fog and the rivers are mist; where noons go quickly, dusks and twilights linger, and mid-nights stay. That country composed in the main of cellars, sub-cellars, coal-bins, closets, attics, and pantries faced away…