Blog@RioloRama The First Official RioloRama WebLog

Seasons are changing..

Hard to believe it's already summer...

I'm sitting here listening to Neil Young's live concert entitled "Heart of Gold" which was taped in 2006 at the landmark Ryman Auditorium, in Nashville, Tennessee. It is an amazing set which debuts his (new at the time) album, "Prairie Wind," among other classics.  I only bring this up because it is a very melancholy  set which easily fills the air with a heartwarming story from easily one of the most enduring artists of this era. So far, to date, it is one of his last recorded shows and it was recorded shortly after he had a brain aneurism surgically corrected, and the death of his father. The music and stories have a sense of reflection, but also a look to the future for new experiences and adventures.  In listening to this record, one can easily get lost in the experience and envision themselves in the shoes of a great artist and songwriter.

Only now that I am a bit older am I beginning to realize that as human beings, we are constantly at the proverbial crossroad of life. We are constantly altering our physical environment; adding to or subtracting from our nuclear group of friends; creating or settling feuds between family members; changing, starting or ending careers; or the most intimidating of all life's choices, having children. I am slowly beginning to realize that eventually everything changes, neither for the good nor the bad, it's just constantly changing. Granted, that sounds extraordinarily cliche, but sometimes there is truth in old words.

It wasn't until I started to cruise through old pictures and albums did I really realize the people and experiences I've had throughout my life. And the funny thing is, I will probably only see many of them with my own eyes a handful of times for the remainder of my life. People that once had such an impact on my life, are just sorta, not there anymore. Again that's fine, because there are no guarantees that I would even get along with who they have become, nor would I necessarily act how they once knew me.

Currently I have over 6000 pictures in my photo album, which seems a bit intimidating to even think about... Some probably have more, others probably have less, but its probably safe to assume that my index finger has gotten quite tired of the repetitive torture.   By reminiscing over pictures and a time long past, only then do I realize that pictures only grasp mere moments during the events of our lifetime. They are literally a snapshot in time (yes, pun intended.)

Although... Somehow.. I think that's the point. I think pictures are only meant to remind us of memories past or forgotten.  But I suppose I feel that the utility of memorabilia and pictures are meant to supplement memories, not replace them... For a number of years in college, I had gotten into the habit of just clicking away at everything on the other side of my camera lens. Now.. don't get me wrong.. There are some hilarious moments captured on film... But the purpose of our experiences are to live in and enjoy that moment, not constantly reflect upon them in the future. I think that in many circumstances we get too caught up in capturing every moment on film, or every event on tape, and actually miss out on the experience of life.

Why is it that there is rarely a perfect balance between the inadequate and the excessive? I can only assume during the college years I was certainly acting in excess. But once college had ended, I had rebounded in the other direction and completely stopped taking pictures at all. In fact, by the time I graduated college I was so sick of the damn "camera pose" I couldn't hardly stand it. But now.. years later, should I be sad to think that I should have taken more pictures to captivate more moments? Or should I take solace in the fact that by not taking pictures, I wholeheartedly lived in that moment for very memorable road trips and events of my young adult life?

For anyone that has exposure to historical archives, or have grand parents with old shoe boxes, you can really begin to appreciate how little archival footage there are of human beings in comparison to recent years. After the camera was invented, many people of the era had one picture; either of them, their kids, or the whole family... just ONE picture. But not these days, there are scrapbooks, and electronic albums, SIM cards, multiple online photo websites, and a variety of social networking websites to store and share your pictures and experiences with any passerby. Hell, we've even invented electronic picture frames which can hold up to and cycle through HUNDREDS of photographs in a number of hours. What ever happened to one picture in one frame?  Is the old "analogue" photographic technology obsolete?

At no time in history have we ever had as much technology as we have today, nor have we had the sheer volume of memorabilia. The next question is, who are we REALLY going to share these memories with, or who are we saving them for? Are we all going to have biographical novels? Is there going to be someone, someday that thinks we are worthy of a memoir? If many of these memories are collecting dust in an old hard drive, or even an old shoebox, are they really doing anyone any good?  Have we as a culture gotten more satisfaction out of knowing that we have captured the moment in physical form, rather than actually gaining the satisfaction of living that moment?

Think about the panic people endure when their hard drive crashes and they lose hundreds of children's photos. Think about the terror when the photo negatives are lost...  Where does this come from? Do we really think that by losing this physical piece of history, we are in a sense losing the memory?  Or is this the case-in-point that we truly cherish the physical memorabilia over the satisfaction from experiencing or living through a particular event?

I think what will be most fascinating is what happens in 200 years.  Not in the morbid sense, but more in reference to the development of our future culture and nuclear family with the knowledge and collection of our familial history. What if we had pictures of our families traveling across on the boat? Would we think of them the same way? Will our lineage look back and be able to tell their children and their grand children of people long past, and then pull out a 6000 photo gallery of that person to tell the story?  I mean to say, we certainly do not have that luxury with our ancestors, and our nuclear family has revered these people as once great beings. After all, in many circumstances, all we have is a check-in sheet from Ellis Island.. or maybe not even that.. Maybe many of us don't know where we came from, aside from knowing our family members were farmers or tailors or butchers.  What if in the future, our culture realizes we have lived in excess and stops archiving pictures and whole lives? Is there really anything lost?

So I wonder what people will think of us, and our culture, in hundreds of years when there is a plethora of archival footage and photographs to show how we lived.  Most of us only hear about our ancestors through word of mouth from other family members, and then that ONE picture is referenced, or perhaps a piece of war-torn memorabilia.  For many of us, our ancestors are held on a high pedestal of how hard their lives were, and what they had to live through and endure. What if they had a few hundred photos a year to show that Great Grandpa just hung out on the couch all day in his underwear? What happens if our lineage looks at our collections of memorabilia they say, "God, this guy really looked like a dick." Or worse yet, what if he really was?!

Ultimately I feel that photographs and videos are meant for ourselves, the ones we love and those we care about. They're a way for us to tell a story about our lives to those that we care about, who can't be present when we live them. Or maybe just a way of reliving the moments when we are together with those we shared the experience. With many of us having pictures from childhood, it is also a way to see how we grew up throughout the years and share that with people that weren't there.

With that said, it is also very important that we all pay attention to ensure that we are not capturing these physical memories in excess... If you're constantly looking through the camera's shutter, you're not really taking part in the experience, but you're just some creepy guy or gal with a photo fetish.  On the other hand, having no recollection of the experience does not pay tribute to an accomplishment or experience, regardless of it being either large or small.

So at this point, you must be wondering why I have entitled this blog entry with "Seasons are changing..."  Basically what I'm driving at is throughout our entire lives, things will always change. Sometimes they change in ways that we intend, and other times they change without our control. Regardless, we can't forget to live in the moment and enjoy what we have and who we are sharing it with.  If they're is no one right now in your lives, no problem, you're the most reliable person for yourself anyway.

What I learned this year was plant a garden.  You'll always be satisfied with what you've made, and gain great satisfaction when everything starts to bloom and come alive.  It is one of those small victories we all need in our lives to remember that we can do something right.  Even if you're in an apartment with limited space, get a potted plant that blooms. Or if you're in an office, get something to brighten up your space.

In the future I'll continue to send pictures along of my life and what my family is doing. Just know that I am intending to include you in reliving those experiences, and hope that you get a laugh at our expense!

Thank you for taking the time to read this entry, it had been quite some time since my last posting.

-Carlo

Tippin’ The Scales…

Been a while, eh?

Sure has been quite busy up here, but no big deal, just small projects that have been put off for a while.

Well, I had a great day this past week. For the first time since 2002 I have tipped the scales at under 220lbs, by weighing in at 218.4 lbs.  Sure, sure... I was naked and hadn't eaten lunch yet. But its been 8 years since I've been able to skip lunch and weigh myself out of the shower, and say I'm below 220. So... I suppose that says something!

Considering the fact that I weighed 248 the day I got married.

Although, I wouldn't give myself TOO much credit.. As much thanks goes to my wife & the daily walks with our dog, Sprout!

Seeing as how I had not weighed myself in over a year I was shocked to find out a month ago I was under 230lbs. Seriously, I had no idea I was cutting weight. I mean... this past year I was WAY to busy to go to the gym. I had biked a little bit in the past year, but honestly, like 8 times and probably not more than 5 miles.  I was still working the same hours, at night, and WAY more shifts than I had in previous years. So what changed?

Basically to sum it up, Katie had covertly but overtly taken over my diet.

I had little to no time to go grocery shopping for myself. I have had no time to make dinner for myself. And on some days, barely enough time to make my own lunch.

When we got married, Katie had MOUNTAINS of cook books, most of which she still has stacked on the shelf in our pantry. But one day, she decided she was just going to start going through them and meticulously picking out recipes that would be not only healthy but also tasty.

And thats really what it boiled down to, cooking healthy. Something I think we all could do a little bit more of. Granted, not all the dishes have been fantastic, but for the most part they all surprisingly tasted really good. Most of the time you wouldn't have been able to tell that they were "health food."

On some occasions, her and I would eat a dinner for 4 (on some days 6, OOPS), but because it was overall a much healthier eating style we didn't feel the pain.

It was not just the cooking though... Katie also started to cut out all my fall back, work muchie, junk food. Well, not like a tyrant. But she started to buy baked chips, and low fat salad dressing, and 2% milk (FML... I know), low fat cottage cheese, and more.

You seriously don't think about it, but over time, all of those itty bitty little calories just add up and add up.

I mean, seriously. When I stepped on that scale a month ago I was SHOCKED! Because I was in no way, shape, or form trying to lose weight. It just happened.

So that got me thinking. What if I had been thinking about trying to lose weight? What if I was literally TRYING to shed those pounds, and watching the scale on a daily basis..? Or sitting there and hating this low fat food, while the pounds were barely shedding, and hating my life. I mean, this isn't the first time I had gone on a diet, and isn't the first time I lost this weight.

It's all a frame of mind.

Ya know, I have had periods of time in my life where I have been MORE thin but I've always been kind of been a bigger guy. No problem, I actually like it - nice in the dead of winter, and those 27 below nights (like last night).

But I think all too often the american mindset is "The Quick Fix".

My epiphany was that I realized it has taken me a life time to gain this weight, so why should I feel that I can lose it in just a few months?  Or even weeks for that matter?

God forbid I try an alternative diet which promises to shed pounds over weeks, or guarantee results in just 48 hours. Not to mention all the "cleansers" out there, I'm shaking my head just thinking about it. Imagine what all those crash diets and concoctions are actually doing to your body? No wonder people gain all the weight back.

So from now on, that is how I am thinking about it from now on:

It took me years to put it on, its going to take me years to take it off.

I feel that having that mindset keeps you in the diet game longer, and would prevent falling off the wagon, and ultimately rebound weight gain. No one is saying you should settle for mediocracy. But if we all just focus on the fact that these things take time, we will be much happier in the long run. Once you get your mind over that hurdle of quick weight loss, you can do it. Shit, I didn't even try, and it happened. And we all know how I motivated I get about food.

So now that I am 30lbs lighter, I've decided to go back to the gym and see what will happen when I add a bit of exercise to the regimen. Mainly just cardio work, improving flexibility of my hips/knees/back, and some strengthening exercises for my lower back (yup, all that weight gain came with its side effects).Probably after a few months or so, I'll reintroduce some weight training but for now I'm happy improving the small things - areas that need improvement.

And yet again, I started going to the gym three times per week as of January 3rd, and would bike for 30 minutes. I've gone from 6 miles to 10 miles in that period of time - So, not bad again..

But ya know, I am not looking for any results, I am just continuing down this path of a better lifestyle to not only improve my well being but also be able to do more outdoor activities with my wife and dog without feeling winded, having painful knees, or sore feet.

So for those of you that may be trying to shed a few pounds, made some new year's resolutions, want to eat healthier or be more active. Aim for attainable goals, stay on the path, and stop worrying about it. You'll get there.

Thank… GOD

Well... I think it has finally happened... I think I get my life back.

It actually all started back when I moved to wisconsin back in 2008, to follow Katie so she could be closer to her family. When she graduated in 2007 she moved to northern wisconsin and because my schedule in michigan was leisurely I was able to come visit for one week a month for damn near a full year.

When I moved up in April 2008 it has pretty much been a rat race until.. really... this next week.

When I moved up here in April, we were just closing on our house and Katie was putting the finishing touches on our wedding. Aside from our own, we also had close to 5 other weddings throughout the summer of 2008. Regretfully, with our work schedules, our wedding, the honey moon and being out of state. We were only able to attend 4 out of the 5.   That may sound nice, but we were SLAMMED with work and travel from the middle of june until the end of August.

Not to mention, on top of all this, katie and I were adjusting to two new jobs AND we had to physically move all of our stuff to our new house. Some from michigan and the rest from katie's place which wasn't TOO far away.

Once we got through the summer, we were looking forward to having the fall and winter to ourselves to relax and enjoy. When we purchased the house we intended on renovating the basement during the winter of 2009 (Jan-March).

I was able to get all the permits pulled, all the plans made, learn home electrical wiring, and everything else JUST before the first of the year. But... there was a hitch in the gitty-up.

One of the doctors at our practice decided it was time for her and her husband to start a family. She was due Jan 16th, and had EVERY intention of working RIGHT up to her due date because her doctor said it was acceptable. For probably 2 months, management bothered her "so when do you REALLY think you're going on leave" "Jan 16th."  GAH!

So what happens? She delivers 7 weeks early. Don't worry, the kid is fine. But she delivers JUST before thanksgiving weekend, and yes, she's working the holiday. Luckily I was able to not have to fill in that weekend. But this started the cluster-fuck known as 2009.

So now, not only do we cover her maternity leave after Jan 16th, which she already planned on taking, but now toss another 7 weeks. The other on-site veterinarian helped A LITTLE when it came to picking up shifts, but I took the majority of the weight.

That responsibility goes two ways. I offered my services because I knew the clinic needed the help, there was no one else that could easily and readily fill in for the other doctor. We did have some doctors fill in from the referral center to help, but the other side of that coin was it was a HUGE physical strain on me.

Remember I said we were going to start our home renovation at the beginning of the year? Yea, like an ass, I decided to go through with those plans. So now, not only am I working my hours, I'm working at least half of the other veterinarians hours, and in my free time I was demolishing, building walls, running electrical, dry walling, painting and everything else...

When the vet came back at the beginning of march, I couldn't be more happy. I was finally able to finish off the basement. But... that too.. started to take time. I had the bulk done in three months, but then came the meticulous sanding, and priming and painting and cleaning and getting carpet and moving furnature, etc etc etc.

I would say that by early may i was completely done with the house. AWESOME. I was SO happy to now... okay. Katie and I didnt really get to spend our summer together, nor our fall, nor our winter nor spring. But okay... here comes summer 09, there isn't shit to do, time to sit and relax.

Wait... what? Yea.. The other full time veterinarian decided to quit. She gave her notice in May. Fuck.

She was outta there come the first week of July and so started our juggle of two full time veterinarians to run one emergency clinic 100% of the time. Huh? Oh yea, thats right, the other veterinarian now has an infant and as you would presume is handicapped by wake/sleep schedules and so-forth. Literally no additional shifts are picked up on her part, aside from a "special" weekend here or there. But its more of a "switch" than actually picking up more work.

Since we had gotten the basement done, katie and I thought that it would be fun to have my parents come up so we can redo the pond. When did we schedule them to come up? Yea, July.

So now, again, working my shifts and over half of the other doctor shifts, I slated a summer project to redo the pond. Much to our credit, we got a LARGE majority of the work done in 3 days. But it took me another three weeks to finish the landscaping.

Probably by the middle to end of august we finally had the pond where we wanted it. Awesome, lets relax this fall, we haven't had much time together but now is our chance.

Oh wait. At the beginning of 2009, katie and I planned to go to an Emergency & Critical Care conference in chicago for 5 days at the beginning of september. Seeing as how it was after labor day weekend we decided to take a little time off and go to michigan to see my family.

But... I can't really say I took time off. As i still had to make up for lost time as i was going to be gone for 10 days.

Some of those days came at the end of august, and the remainder came at the end of september.

Katie and I had  a nice time in michigan and in chicago, but i can hardly say it was a vacation. It just sucks that this year, the only way we could have had time to ourselves was to hide it behind a conference related to work...

It was nice to be in grand rapids, but we had practically NO time to see everyone we wanted to see including family members and some friends. The 4 days we were in grand rapids were rushed and not relaxing.

Even once we got to chicago, it was VERY fun to hang out with the people from work, but then you have lectures you have to attend and other things of that nature. Once again, it was nice because i really dont mind learning, but it just sucked that that was my "vacation" this year.

Here is the real kicker.

So, at the beginning of the year I was altering the schedule to make sure I could go to this conference, but, with this other veterinarian leaving I also then had to help pick up some of her shifts.

But I held out to the bitter end. I didn't pick up any additional shifts until i knew that they could not be covered any other way.

As it stood, I got back from the conference and worked my first day Sept 14th leading up until the beginning of october. I had to work 24 of 31 days. With our work hours, that was roughly 95 hours per week for a month. Maybe I'm off by an hour or so, but you get the hint.

At the beginning of october, after all those shifts. I was beat. In fact, I am beat. I literally think that sept/oct sucked the rest of the life out of me that I had. Since April of 08 I had slowly started to become more and more tired... more and more exhausted... And those last four weeks, broke me.

I had mentally and personally made the decision that I was going to stick it out as long as possible and help the clinic through this time. But I broke.

I contacted my employer, who, is a GREAT woman and I get a long with very well. Katie and I, and her and her husband (who is also a vet/owner with our referral center/management company) have started to become good friends which is very nice. I am extraordinarily grateful to work for a company as great as I am currently working. I tell people all the time, "okay, imagine just some cool people, who are put together well, with whom you sit around and drink with and socialize. Now they're your bosses."  And, of course I use "boss" loosely.   Anyway, I digress.

So I contacted my employer and pretty much just broke to see if there was ANYWAY we could get more people in our clinic to help. And in fact, they had already started to discuss altering the schedules for all our affiliate referral clinics to get veterinarians to help us out - which.. is no small task.

But... as if karma finally circled back, or the stars aligned, or who knows what... We got another veterinarian...

There was a veterinarian that interviews and to whom a position was offered, but she was held back by the pending sale of her house in northeastern illinois. We had no idea when she was coming up, we figured at least after march 2010. But then, out of the blue, literally within 3 days of me contacting my employer she writes "if we can change the schedule a bit, I can start in november..."

Are you kidding me...? What kind of dumb luck is that?! After a few changes in the schedule, her first day of work is Nov 6th.

Thank... GOD.

Thats all I have to say. I am sitting here a broken shell of a man... and I cannot be more happy for November 6th.

I was standing in the kitchen at home... when I read the email and I out of sheer amazement I said to Katie, "sweetie... we finally get our lives back..."

And thats just it. With this veterinarian starting... Thats what I am getting. Katie and I will finally be able to have our lives back and spend some time with each other. We didn't really have a first year of marriage, we were actually more of strangers passing in the wee hours of the morning, as one would come home and one would leave. Literally, we'd pass each other on the road, that was it.

I really am glad that I was able to be here for the clinic over the past year. I really am not saying this to be self centered or to gloat, but I'm not sure what the clinic would have done had I not been so accommodating. Granted, they'd have figured it out. But I think a lot more people would have been affected than just one.

The tone of this posting may have come across as upset or condescending, but really its not, its just exhaustion.  No matter what, I will never be tired of my profession nor working for this great company nor with my co-workers. But right now I am tired of my job.

I feel that once people reach a point of tiredness and exhaustion, thats when a profession becomes a job. I just need some time off.. and I'll get back in the game.

But... Thank... GOD.

Its all over. We're on the up'n'up. It is only going to get better from here!

I still wont be able to get back to grand rapids until after the first of the year.. so another holiday passes without seeing the family. But they're just days right? Its more important to celebrate the event rather than the day!

This winter Katie and I are going to have a ton of fun! We're looking forward to skiing at our local slope (74 runs, WOOHOO). We JUST bought two brand new sets of snow shoes! And there are a TON of trails around here! Who knows, maybe we take a trip out west to colorado, utah or wyoming for a ski retreat!

Well after just over 2000 words, I think I've summed up my last year and I will be looking forward to hitting the new year.

I need a good cold winter season to rejuvenate the soul.

Thanks for reading...

Just whipatit…

Oh my god...

It wasn't until I started to share my experiences from work with my friends and family that one had recommended, "You should write this stuff down!!!!"

I'm not quite sure that I'm ready for any book deals, but I think this will be an easy way to share a few things with a few people and hopefully get a chuckle or two...!

I was just coming off of the longest stretch of work I have ever worked. Many of you know, but for those that don't, I work a a 3rd shift emergency vet from 5pm to the following morning 8a. Since we work 15 hour shifts, we only have to put in 10-13 shifts per month.  In this particular stretch, I had worked 24 of 31 days which is roughly 95 hours per week for a month. GEH....

I was looking forward to getting off of work on sunday night, and at the last minute my manager had requested "we don't have anyone to fill monday, would you work it?" Well shit, why not. So as monday night rolls around, I was delirious and DONE working.

We get a phone call that this 8 month old dog MIGHT have gotten into a life threatening dose of some immunosuppressants 3-4 days prior. (Don't worry the dog is fine, its not the point of this particular story, but it is the cause).

Once the dog presented to the clinic it was accompanied by the owner, which a late 20's woman who at that time I wasn't ashamed to say was easy on the eye. The woman brought her 6 month old child, and her mother that was in her late 50s and a bit more simple.

We start going through the initial consultation, recommendations from animal poison control, and potential long term complications. I excuse myself to get some paper work together and inform the staff that we will be running some blood work and starting the animal on some IV fluids and such.

I came back to the exam room to continue my consultation. Now, we're probably in a 10x10 foot room and I'm leaning against the exam table and probably 6 feet way from the owner, her mother, and her child who is starting to fuss.

I am in the process of discussing some rather serious topics and complications, and the child is really starting to act up. So OUT it comes a tittie, just RIGHT in the middle of EVERYTHING! Just a HUGE floppy, fat TIT! And the lady just starts to JAM it into the face of the kid trying to get him to LATCH the hell on! And the kid is fussing with it and not "taking to the teet" and just pushing this tittie around and the girl is just holding her tit pushing it all over the place and its just.... FLOPPING... around.

Picture it. Me. ME! In a room with these two grown people, both women, a baby. And the lady just whips out a got'damn tittie and starts fumbling around with it in the middle of EVERYTHING!!!

I mean... I was delirious at this point from working that long, and then there is just a woman attempting to breast feed RIGHT in the middle of my consultation regarding her dog who might have a seriously complicated intoxication.

I held an absolute professional composure, and did not skip a beat with my consultation... but in my head, "AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH OOOOOOHHHH MMMMYYYYYYY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!!"

Ya know, fine, thats okay. Breast feed, its natural, whatever, okay, fine. It's nice that you're comfortable with your body and such. But why not cover it with a scarf? or a shall? or a coat? or a fucking napkin? or I dont know... maybe go outside.

So I got through that part, I left the consultation room and was waiting for the blood work while catching up on some paper work. Once it was ready, I had the staff put the owners back into a room for results of the blood work.

Now... when I go over blood work results with owners, I spread them out on the examination table to help owners get a visual understanding of the findings.

So, as you would imagine, the only thing that now separates me, the two women, the child and the breast is an 18 inch wide table. But OH, hey, I thought for sure after 15 minutes that kid would be done filling its gullet.

OOOOOHHHHHHH no, what the hell was I thinking? He was still latched the hell on.

So now, I'm standing at 6 foot tall, over a 4'5" woman with a tittie hanging out a kid latched the hell on, and now I have to look down to show the blood work to these women..

Well.... it would have been TOO easy to just show the blood work and get the hell outta there. But they were a VERY inquisitive bunch... and that consult was DRAAAAAAAGED out way longer than it should have been. Meanwhile there is just a floppy tittie, this kids face, a half of  a nipple and TONS of questions.

So.. after I got through that... I was done, mentally. I put in my time for the remainder of the shift, went home, and slept for three days.

After telling the story to a co-worker, who, herself had just gotten through the first year of her child's life commented to me, "Well its not illegal."

Thank you.

It’s back again!

For those of you who may remember, back in college I had a website on the main MSU AFS server.

It was back before the days of YouTube, Twitters, Blogs, Flickr, Photobucket, and in the early days of Facebook, etc, etc...

During that point in my life, my friends and I used to chat ALOT on AOL Instant Messenger, which is well known today as AIM. Now.. we spent ALOT of time on that thing, because its not like we had a lot to do other than party, go to class and hang out. So AIM was a great way to keep in touch with friends and family.

It is well known that I surround myself by some pretty hilarious people... And it was no coincidence that I started to log all of our funny conversations and would use them as quotes from time to time. Well.. after that quote page became quote pages.. I decided to add them all to my website, and nicknamed it "Halfway From Retarded"

Throughout the years since undergraduate, and now having left MSU just over 3 years ago, HWFR was removed and taken off of the web. BUT, I have had multiple requests from friends and family alike to repost HWFR because of its humor and hilarity!  Now, keep in mind that these conversations were from a younger day, and are certainly NOT politically correct. But they're funny for their immaturity and content.

So this is for all of you, new and old, who wish to take part in the cultural phenomenon known as

HALFWAY FROM RETARDED

http://riolorama.com/HWFR/halfwayfromretarded.html

Back up and running!

Well that sure was a pain in the ass...

We got the check today, but the computer nightmare is over...!

After returning home from our trip to chicago, Katie and I were greeted with the popping and fizzing of our computer's internal components... No fun, no fun indeed.

The computer technicians were pretty much on par with the fact that the logic board was toast, and would certainly need replacing. Too bad the insurance company didn't see it that easily. To make a long story short, the only way the insurance company would replace the computer was if the word "replacement" was in the physical record from the computer technicians. So, after a few weeks of debating and run around, we just got our insurance reimbursement check this morning!!

The replacement computer was already bought, so this was just money in the bank!    I think a fancy dinner is in store as a celebration!

It took probably a week or so to get everything set back up. All the programs, and extensions, and preferences, and bookmarks, and external hardware! It wasn't fun, but it was a good feeling to just CLEAR out the old hard drives, dust off the old equipment and get started fresh with a new system.

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Katie has been a little under the weather... We were under the impression that her pneumonia had come back early this year, but thankfully it was just some bronchitis. A little inhaler and some antibiotics and she's now able to get a good nights rest.. well, for the most part. I still hear her hacking most of the night.

At least her new job is panning out well. Katie has been thoroughly enjoying her new day practice and all of her coworkers seem to be getting along quite well. The hours are better, the pay scale is finally appropriate for her talents, and there is no one mother-hen'ing her every move. Needless to say its leaps and bounds beyond her last disaster of a job!

As for me, work as usual. Late nights, over worked, under slept. The clinic still has not yet found a replacement veterinarian. Well.. they HAVE, but before she can start working she has to sell her house in Illinois. So, good luck with that. She's a very nice lady, but her hands are tied regarding the move. DANG!

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Now that everything is all taken care of with the computer and we're out of the busy season at work, it's about time to get started on RioloRAMA.com!

I'm not exactly sure what the focus of the site will be, but I guess we'll just have to figure it out. Hopefully I can set up photo posting and things of that nature. I might just get everyone set up with an account through PhotoBucket, and just have direct links or something... Who knows.

It's been years since I've really written any HTML code, and now there are so many different aspects. But it really just boils down to having to learn something new. But who's got the time, especially with the holidays coming up? Well... I'll find the time sooner than later.

Maybe sprout will get his own website too? sprouticusprime.com  sounds pretty hilarious to me!  Speaking of which... a lady at work told me about PeoplePets.com or something like that... apparently its a FaceBook for pets... what the hell is the matter with people?!  Well.. in all honesty, sprout will probably have a page of his own by the end of the week.. haha

I actually just got done with my personal website, hotwirefoamcutterinfo.com. To make table top hobby terrain (hills, houses, castles, monuments, boulders, mountains, forests, etc), extruded polystyrene insulation is commonly used. So one day, i got it into my head that i wanted to make this terrain as a hobby.

What i found was that everyone wanted to and sought after Hot Wire Foam Cutters, but they are like 90-200 bucks each! What the hell! They are only a thin metal wire that is heated up as an electrical current is passed through it - like a toaster for got'sakes!

After about 4-5 months of research, I was able to figure out calculations for power supply requirements, metallic composition of the heating wire, schematics for table top designs and hand held cutters, and purchasing information for all the items.  I explained this all to katie one night, over a candle lit dinner, and she said "you know youre F*cking insane, right?"  the answer, simply put, yes.

After I figured out all this information, then became the fun part. I had compiled all of this information and decided to create a website to hold all of the information. As such, a month later - hotwirefoamcutterinfo.com

To enter into a video contest, I then created a series of 9 videos, broken into 5 parts on tutorials to show people how to create these devices. But, after i read the contest rules, I didnt comply.. damnit... well... at least the videos are made, and at least that is all over with.

Now the website is done, im offering the information to people for free and hopefully some day ill make some money off of it. But as katie and i put it, "its hobby money, to go towards other hobbies"  just fun money i guess, right?

Unless.. i make enough to stop working... then its money money!

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Well, i guess that is a good place to stop. Not a-whole-lot else goin on. Hope all is well in y'alls neck of the woods!!

WORK IN PROGRESS!

hello all!

time to get us a website!

So katie and I have decided to open up a website for Tom for christmas for his heating/cooling business.

And i knew that i wanted to open my own website again, and marco talked about getting his own website (marcoriolo.com), etc etc.

SO.

For like 7 bucks a month or something, i opened an account with GoDaddy.com and i can have basically unlimited websites, and you really only have to purchase the name of each website (you have to pay to register the names)

I opened up RioloRama.com just to have for general use or anything really. In due time we'll be able to post funny pictures, have discussion threads, maybe list google calenders, and tons of fun stuff!

even if we wanted, we could have login names and passwords to make it exclusive to our family!

i can also give you guys email addresses from riolorama.com too, like DnR@riolorama.com, sisterrachel@riolorama.com, dudenessmarco@riolorama.com, packfriendkatie@riolorama.com

JUST LET ME KNOW!

we can make dad a webpage that has all of his favorite links on it, funny videos, and stuff!

from my main account im currently hosting two web sites
1. www.RioloRama.com
2. www.hotwirefoamcutterinfo.com

The second website is something i made which took like 5 months of research to figure out. People use these hotwire cutters to cut polystyrene (the pink or blue insulation) for making terrain for warhammer and stuff. hopefully i can make a few bucks too! we'll see. I put a "donate" icon on my wirecutter website so people will give me money! and mom, i dont want you donating money to just donate money!

okay guys..  we now have our own website...

RIOLORAMA!