Just a heads up in case you didn’t notice, my blog has relocated. The new address is http://richsrantroom.wordpress.com
Don’t worry, all of my prior posts are still here and can be found in the Archives to the right.
Just a heads up in case you didn’t notice, my blog has relocated. The new address is http://richsrantroom.wordpress.com
Don’t worry, all of my prior posts are still here and can be found in the Archives to the right.
The recent observance of Columbus Day presents a wonderful opportunity for a Rant Room History Lesson.
Today’s Lesson: “The Perfect Formula for Creating an American Hero” or “How to Construct an Historically Relevant Day Off of Work”
stumbling upon the wrong continent via an oceanic vessel + misidentifying and then attacking the natives + abusive ownership of slaves + flippant execution of crew members for disobedience + never actually setting foot on what became U.S. soil = American Hero status + national holiday + the unnecessary closing of government institutions and banks
Class dismissed!
Did you ever notice that when you were a kid that trips in the car on vacations always seemed like they took FOREVER? It didn’t really matter where you were going, either. I could be along for the ride from Erie, PA to Jacksonville, FL or Jacksonville, FL to Orlando, FL and every trip just seemed like it took a fucking eternity.
Usually the conversation in the car would go a little something like this:
“Dad, how close are we?” I would ask.
“About 3 hours, Rich,” my Dad would annoyingly respond before adding,” but you asking me every ten minutes isn’t going to get us there any faster.”
That little cycle of dialogue would repeat itself, oh, about every…ten minutes.
But now that I am 28, long distance road trips have taken on a whole new meaning for me. Now the long trip is like my favorite part of the whole experience. It’s as if now the actual destination is less important than the getting there. Destinations are usually disappointing anyway, right? It’s the anticipation of where you are going and what may ensue that’s exciting.
If riding alone, the trip can be a time of self-reflection and relaxation as well as an escape from the rest of the world, all set to the music of my liking. Well, that’s if I had a CD player that is.
If riding with friends/family, that trip can be some of the most precious time that I ever share with them. How may other times in your life do you get to just sit so intimately with someone without the everyday trappings of life such as responsibilities and TV sets?
Strange how time can make you look at and experience things so completely differently.
Now, if only I could afford gas.
That’s the way it goes
On the road of life, I suppose
The reason for the long period of time between blogs posted on this site is that I have been going through a lot of personal shit as of late. Some of you may know, some of you may not know. I won’t get into it on here. All I will say is that I will now try my best to get blogs up here more frequently as my living situation at least has become a bit more stable over the last couple of weeks. I’ve got a little housekeeping to do in the ol’ Rant Room.
Thanks for your patience and enjoy the new blogs…
Have we really become this desperate? I usually don’t link to news stories, but this one was so incredible that I couldn’t resist. Check out this story, which features former Canadian Defense Minister Paul Hellyer demanding in the Ottawa Citizen that, “governments worldwide disclose and use alien technologies obtained in alleged UFO crashes to stem climate change.”
Maybe what he means is that we have to figure out this UFO technology toot-sweet so that we can create our own intergalactic space vehicles and hightail it the fuck off of this planet when the proverbial shit hits the fan. Dibs on Europa!
For those of you who don’t know, I am a huge radio nerd. I love both music and talk radio alike and, if forced to choose, would destroy my television with a sledgehammer much sooner than I would my radio.
Anyway…”There is big news in the world of radio” (I said that in Clark Howard voice by the way…that’s actually an AM talk radio joke…see, told you I was a radio nerd). The big news is that XM satellite radio has merged with Sirius satellite radio. I should use this opportunity to discuss the possible wide-reaching economic ramifications of this newly formed satellite radio monopoly, but a strange coincidence occurred: I became an XM subscriber literally three days ago. So, this merger essentially means more channels for me…so for once, I win. So why bitch, right?
That’s right, with the addition of the Sirius satellite line-up to my already existing XM radio line-up; will I ever leave my radio’s side? Like right now, I am listening to a Spanish sports channel. No, I don’t understand Spanish, but I can listen to it, and that’s the important part (although I am beginning to think that the word “lasso” means “goal”). Plus, with Sirius stations comes Howard Stern, now I can hear all of the neat things they may have bleeped out on the radio show when he was making fun of the mentally and physically challenged. Good stuff, huh? All of this for the same price as my original XM subscription…for now anyway, and that’s what matters right?…right?
Aw, fuck…see how they getcha!?!?
No, I didn’t commit suicide as many of you may have suspected (thanks for calling to check on me, by the way).
I’ve been working on a cover story over the last month or so, so that has been occupying most of the “writing part” (anatomical term) of my brain. All sorts of other things have been going on that have been sapping my time and energy as well. As a result, I’ve been neglecting the Rant Room (sorry Rant Room, but the writing I get paid for comes first). But now that the cover story material has been submitted, the Rant Room should be updated much more frequently…starting with my next post, in fact.
I hope some of you enjoyed some of my archived editorials that have been up here in the meantime. Thanks for being patient and not giving up on the page…the two or three of you out there who give two shits anyway.
more to come…
Rich’s Rant Room was an idea originally conceived about a year after I graduated high school in 1997. However, the original Rich’s Rant Room was an unauthorized extension of my grandfather’s business website. Needless to say, given the content of my site, he was not too pleased when he found out that I had hitched my site to his. The site was dismantled shortly thereafter, tragically leading to the suicide of many of my loyal readers who could no longer get their fix. Some claim that, to this day, you can still discern some remnants of the banished site on a largely unintelligible wreckage of a page where my writings were rendered the equivalent of scratchings on a cave wall.
Fast-forward to the present……
I plan to turn superfluous amounts of free time into a website that will hopefully be a regular stop for you along the information super highway where you can burn some of your own superfluous amounts of free time. I mean, that’s ultimately what the web is all about, right? This site will feature unedited versions of my previously published work as well as pieces that weren’t published along with new blogs and internet exclusive material. This is not the place to come to read life affirming platitudes nor is it a hub for positive thinking. In fact, you may leave the site feeling rather indifferent, bitter or downright melancholy upon reading a few of my more caustic musings. Read at your own risk. With that disclaimer out of the way, enjoy…and don’t hold that Big Gulp so close to your keyboard! Yeah, I’m talking to you, jackass.
