American Coffee

AmyJo sent a huge envelope of ephemera from her recent visit to Japan.
Items of note include: a robot purchased from a vending machine, sumo wrestler coasters, and some great canned drink packaging (err..cans.).

This is my favorite can label - American Coffee:


Thanks AmyJo!

More Ephemera

When I was in Indiana last June, the Fort Wayne Airport gave me this complementary cookie, which I forgot about until I was going through a junk box the other day and smelled vanilla.

Label reads, "I'm flying home - Fort Wayne International Airport".
I'm surprised it hasn't grown mold yet, some ephemera should not be saved because it will eventually attract rodents, so I took a picture to save instead.

Anaheim Public

I'm writing a history of the Anaheim Public Library for aclass, so I spent some time over there last week doing research.

Very easy to find -
just follow the palm trees a little past the 99 Cent Store.
After 5 hours of research, I went out to stretch my legs and couldn't help noticing what a pleasant downtown district Anaheim has. I had no idea.

I've started carrying my eyepatch in my camera case, and I'm glad I did because palm trees are always a good excuse for pirate pictures and I needed to run off some steam:

AArrrr!! (Eyepatch courtesy of AmyJo}
I'll spare you the library's fascinating historical nuggets, but here's a picture of the building Andrew Carnegie built for them:

Original Anaheim Library, Carnegie Building -
Now the Anaheim Museum.
One thing I will be sure to include in the paper though - As far back as the 1950s, you hear the Library administration going on about how people love the fact that they provide rocking chairs for their patrons.

In the archive I found notes from an interview with a library janitor who happened to know the histories of all the previous library janitors and he claims the first rocking chair was actually given to the Library by their first janitor, Malcolm McCauley and people liked it so much, the Library administration bought more.

So I want to be sure to give Malcolm McCauley due credit if that is the case. Though it's possible the janitor who was interviewed didn't know what he was talking about. You know how those urban legends are.

Though as far as urban legends go, if it is an urban legend, it's a pretty lame one.

Del Hell

I found the $6.66 combination for Del Taco:


It's the Macho Combo Burrito meal with a macho sized drink and chili & cheese on the fries.

Which is what I always order, but it is only $6.66 at the Del Taco that I stop at in Placencia (#228), it can vary by 10 cents either way at other Del Tacos. It is consistently $6.66 at this particular branch though (#228).


MMmmm...Del Taco - good old cheap and filling Del Taco - almost makes me not want to leave the West Coast.

I love that they include their phone number on the receipt, so you can call them.
I call them all the time.

Plunger Bomb

I'd forgotten all about this game, but it showed up on one of me & Todd's vintage 8mm filmstrips (circa 1990).

"Plunger Bomb" is really easy, it consists of going into a spacious dirt lot and throwing toilet plungers as high up in air as you can. It's like a combination shotput/javalin game.



I don't remember there being much of a competition factor in terms of one person trying to throw it higher that the other.

The simple joy of hurling the toilet plunger into the air and watching it fall to the ground again was it's own reward.

Plungers amongst the power lines.
My favorite part of the filmstrip was when our friend Chad ran on camera to take a turn and Todd hurled a plunger at him, hitting him squarely in the head.


Well, you've gotta do something when you're growing up in pre-internet small-town Indiana.

StorTroopers

Just like paper dolls in the analog world, StorTroopers are an effective means of pissing the day away.

Sandra

RLB

Pinewood Derby

I did a brief stint in the Cub Scouts of America (circa 2nd or 3rd grade, late 1970s). Pretty much the only thing I remember is the pinewood derby - you could buy standardized pinewood blocks with wheel kits, then fashion them into a car with sanding tools. Then all the Cub Scouts would race them at a big annual event.


My father was a lot more excited about the race than I was. This was when he was still drinking and I remember he melted down a bunch of lead fishing sinkers, drilled two long holes into the front of the car, then filled the holes with the molten lead.


The idea was to make the car heavier than the other cars so it would win (the racetrack ran downhill).

Then he sealed the lead filled holes with wood putty and painted the circles yellow like headlights; but that drew too much attention to the holes so he just painted the whole front with a thick coat of yellow instead.

It turned out I had the date of the race confused though, so I missed it and I'm glad because another Cub Scout told me they weighed the cars beforehand, so I would've been busted if I had attended, which would've been embarrassing.

With Meaning

More Selected Correspondence from the man himself:

Mr. Kilbuck in the act of writing. Valdez, Alaska. 1991.
"I found the flow of the blue sky and white cloud, and the smoke cloud, and the sand dust, and the bite of the bumble bee when i was young."

"The ole farts were talking the fish stories...Some fisherman overflowed his wader and fell in. I did not laugh, for i got overflowed with my waders too."

"I set his clock...so he can wake up and go to work early. Ha!"

"Candle light, star light, moon light, cat eyes, in the dark of night reading stories of wildlife running around with no where to roam, just in circles, circles of hope, with no rope to climb out of the dark what to do? It's raining here in Anchorage, Alaska and all of you are invited to burn at Willow, Alaska."

"Charlies Angels is on the tube, my kind of Karate kicks, and stances...all their emotions w/ feelings that move my eye. Stand up hair!"

"Weather is melting the winter ice, and snow from the roofs and it's really bright with the clear blue skies, with the mountains trying to hold on to the snow."

"Just clipped my hair down to the skinhead, and i feel fine."

"For anger management i made a pitstop at the Native Assembly of God Church to help move things around...Thats therapy for the thoughts. Scattered thoughts maybe, but it helps to move the thoughts around [wherever] they may land. A good sneeze helps the thoughts move too."

"The register is clicking all the way to the bank and i want it all. Expense w/ feeling."

RLB Kent

Mild mannered intern, RLB Kent.
That scar on the side of my forehead is from getting hit by a train.

Sandra's "Last RW Supper"

My talented Sandralein whipped up this drawing (in only about an hour's time!) for the Real World...Blogger Style! and I thought it was so great I would re-post it here, for scrapbook purposes.


It features the Real World...Blogger Style! members as participants in the Biblical "Last Supper", the role of Christ is played by Boz, of course.

[From left to right: Rosa Posa, Dvl, Mad Mathias, Marci, Sandra, RLB, Boz, Belle, AmyJo, Drew, Nancy, CJ, Cori]

Here's my favorite detail -

RLB Kissing the Artist (Sandra) [with Marci in foreground].
Good Job, Liebling!
It's a masterpiece!!

Film Noir

[From RW...BS's Film Noir Friday.]

Is this a film noir prop?


Sure looks like one to me.

It is a combination ashtray & timer made by my amateur porn roommate when I lived in San Bernardo. It would be the perfect thing for when you're waiting for a bomb to go off.