Author: Rob's Surf Report

Rob lives near the geographical center of the North American continent with his wife, daughters, and one very needy cat. Most days he's a member of the law enforcement community, and tries to keep himself sane by making himself both stronger and more creative. His big plan is to find a way back to the coast and to stay there for good so he can surf the livelong day.

Give me a break.

Sometimes I think that I work way too much. I’m sure I’m not alone; according to ABC News, “Americans work more than anyone in the industrialized world.” They also “take less vacation, work longer days, and retire later”. I believe it. People are often like “at least you have a job” and “at least you have a nice paycheck” and I’m all like, “yeahh. . .” Thats so old. I’m working 50-58 hours a week, often including a Saturday and that tallies up to a month of extra work over a year’s time – considering how rare it is to get an 8-hour day around here, I can assure that I’ve done that much. I need time to be active, to be (somewhat) social, to do stuff around the house, and to write, of course.

The wife and I were talking about this yesterday. The house ties us down. It keeps me enslaved to my employer. So why couldn’t we just sell the house one day and move into an RV? That sounds nice. We could tour the country and take our time finding a place to set down roots. Or, we could follow the farming season and I could be like those migrant farmhands that work in the south in the winter and the north in the summer. That would be alright. But that’s so far out of the ordinary – is it feasible? I thought a good way to do it would be to get our passports, sell everything, go to Nova Scotia, hop a boat to Scotland, and never come back. Worse things have been perpetrated by better people, I’m sure.

Americans Work More Than Anyone | ABC News

Drawing a Blank – Seriously!

You know those times you’re in the middle of a conversation and you come up at a loss for words – maybe someone just threw a snarky dig at you or said something funny. Then you walk away before you think of the perfect response – you wish you could go back and say it. Or, you’re still conversing three subjects down the line, and now you can’t bring it up in context anymore.

I wish my memory worked better, because I know I’ve had some whoppers in my time – more than just “your mom”, “your face”, “that’s what she said”, or “bollocks!” Alas, due to the ravages of time on memory’s gossamer fabric, not to mention the way memory is formed in a narcoleptic brain, I can’t remember a single one, and I know I haven’t had one recently. I should probably write them down in my notebook, but you can’t go back and get the ones you forgot. I’m learning this as I go!

So what about you, does this happen to you often? Do you remember them, or is it silly to assume people remember them for fun?


This post was inspired by today’s Daily Post prompt.
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Surf report: building (and destroying) brains, printing houses, and getting to know your introvert

I thought that it might be nice to share a few of the things that I find around the Internet while I’m being distracted from running and writing in the morning – things that I like, things that I feel like I should share with … Continue reading Surf report: building (and destroying) brains, printing houses, and getting to know your introvert

Washed out

The state of my year?
Not what I thought it would be –
Danger of drowning,
Washed out to sea.
Grasping my board,
What else can I do?
Keep riding until
The water becomes blue.

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Image source: ASP @ G+ https://plus.google.com/photos/105899781254128778878/albums/posts/5883489988931905074?pid=5883489988931905074&oid=105899781254128778878


This post was inspired by today’s Daily Post prompt.

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I found a surprise in my apple (fruit)

So I was enjoying my piece of fruit for lunch today – an apple, in case you haven’t guessed – and I found an interesting surprise:

(spoiler alert – it’s not a worm)20130729-133226.jpg

I guess this is what happens when your food isn’t sterilized, irradiated, pasteurized, and processed to death; this is an inspiring piece of living, whole nutrition – so good that the seeds in the core had already sprouted! If that’s not evidence that proper care was taken of this produce, I could not fathom what is. We have been getting most of our produce via a local co-op program called bountiful baskets lately, and I have been seeing some differences. Oranges that aren’t so acidic, bananas with a much longer shelf life, the most delicious plums and peaches imaginable. Anybody who thinks that sounds good and isn’t part of one should look into that, we pay $15 a week for a basketful of high-quality produce.

Are you part of a similar co-op, or of one that deals in meat, dairy, or other goods? Let us know what’s kicking on your neck of the woods.

FYI:

This is what happens when I get a day off:

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Enjoy your weekend. 🙂