Monthly Archives: February 2017

some people go on cruises with rock stars and escape reality for a week. i can live vicariously through these folks. there is an annual event called the 80′s cruise that i’ve heard them talk about. brad and steve host trivia nights on the 80′s cruise, they also host my favorite podcast, stuck in the ’80s. they just got back from a warm 2017 cruise where they bumped elbows with band members from the go go’s, berlin, and a couple of original mtv VJ’s. they also brought back pics and podcasts for those of us that had to stay on the mainland.

the last two days seem like they were jam packed with “have to do” type of things. i barely had time for a nap. there were a couple of times i needed to be in 3 places at once. i could have used a clone. now i just wanna crawl inside an 8-bit greasy spoon, and rest my head on the counter.

february. other than groundhog day and the occasional leap year, most people associate this time of year with valentine’s day. ironically february is also heart health month, and this morning, tara wakefield was on KC Live showing the co-hosts how to do CPR. you can click here to watch the segment. tara hired me to teach CPR a few years ago, and a few techniques have changed, but we still tell people to “push hard, and push fast” when doing chest compressions.

the entryway to this arcade looks a lot like the one that i walked through more times than i can count at northpark mall back in the 1980′s. i saw this photo on retroist.com, and a flood of memories started coming back. i played games like frogger, centipede, popeye, spy hunter, moon patrol, and so many others. the image above looks brighter than it really was. i remember that place like it was a cave, and the only thing that helped us see in the dark was the dull glowing screens and marquees.

i googled the phrase “proceed until apprehended” a moment ago and there was 77,500 results. google’s findings associate it with career tips and leadership lessons, but someone else explained it to me as sticking to your principles, and holding fast to what you believe is right. louise mathis was the first person who gave me this advice, and i am forever grateful. by the way, i don’t know if i have permission to use the image above, but i’m going to leave it up until someone makes me take it down.

sometimes when jenny & i eat at home, i need dinner music. my usual “go to” destination is the retro cocktail hour. it’s on the radio saturday nights from 7-9pm, but the shows can be heard any time on their website. when i hear the beat of the bongos, and the swell of the horn section, i feel like i’m wearing a smoking jacket, and drinking a martini, even if i’m just wearing a t-shirt and pajamas.

they played folk, they played the blues, and they had us all singing at the end. jim mathis, mike brockman, and sunny sundberg came together and delivered a good time of music and fun at homer’s this evening. jim mathis opened the show by saying “we are not millenials. we are perennials. we just keep coming back.” one of my favorite parts of the night happened when they mashed 3 songs together: hot rod lincoln, folsom prison blues, and pinball wizard.

last friday i went back in time at tapcade. it’s an arcade, bar, restaurant, and theater on the edge of the crossroads. i ate street tacos for lunch, and played old video games like popeye, missile command, gorf, galaga, defender, spy hunter, and dig dug. i took southwest boulevard home instead of the freeway, and pulled over when i saw a sign for pies. this kind of advertising always got my attention when my family drove through the desert. i went inside and met the owners, tracy and tami. their roadside food stand is called the peddler’s daughter. they have shelves full of amish preserves, zucchini relish (i bought a jar), and pies. they are open year round!

when i watch the news about anything trump-related, all i see is two opposing groups of people getting further apart, and not listening to each other. the guy above is robb willer. he is a professor of sociology at stanford university. here’s a nutshell quote from ted.com: “Rob Willer studies the forces that unite and divide us. As a social psychologist, he researches how moral values — typically a source of division — can also be used to bring people together. Willer shares compelling insights on how we might bridge the ideological divide and offers some intuitive advice on ways to be more persuasive when talking politics.” this is a 12 minute presentation that robb willer gave in sept. 2016. this gives me hope.