October 23, 2014

Rick Sometimes Rambles

Night Moves

Some days I just need to ramble. I think this is one of those days. Right now, I'm listening to the new Bob Seger album Ride Out. It seems to be a halfway decent album though I didn't think Seger'd still be making new stuff in 2014 when I bought one of his new albums in the mid-90s. I think I bought that at Media Play in Saginaw.

The Death of Media

Media Play was a really interesting store, selling everything from music to books to movies to video games to toys. It was a one stop place that seemed to have so much more than Best Buy, even is so much more referred to books. It's interesting that Best Buy eventually bought Media Plan and it went out of business in the early 2000s. I still think Best Buy will be out of business by 2020.

Digression

I digress. (Do you even write that or is that just something spoken?) Lately, John Mellencamp has released a new album, Plain Spoken, and John Grisham has released a new book, Gray Mountain. I used to get those new releases at the place who had the best price and try to go there the day it came out. You know, Meijer (@Meijer)  was the worst at having things out on their shelves in a timely manner. I used to get new release books at Sam's Club. Now, for Seger, I did buy it at Meijer but it had been out for a couple days; the new Mellencamp platter is totally digital as I bought it on iTunes, and the Grisham book arrived from Amazon.com the morning it came out. Times have changed. It's no wonder that a place like Media Play or Best Buy struggle?

The first vinyl LP for little Ricky, Foreigner's Double Vision. Probably purchased at a record store or maybe from K-Mart. It's hard to say as it was an Easter gift from the Easter Bunny. 

Nostalgia

Are you a victim of nostalgia like I am? I watched an episode of Family Ties earlier. What a great show from the '80s with a great introduction and theme song. I thought Alex P. Keaton was a great character with many good traits. The '80s were a different time and we probably didn't realize how good the times were back then. But we also think back fondly to the '70s and even the '90s. It's interesting that we never really think of the current as the greatest — yet we always look back fondly.

Pinch Runners

But I sure do long for the days when the starter went eight or nine innings and sometimes the closer came in with the bases loaded in the seventh with one out and finished the game for a real save. The sluggers then hit 35 to 40 homers and the stolen base king would swipe 80 to 100 bases without blinking. Heck, there were even Pinch Runners. Everything changes.
Rickey. He says he was the greatest. He might have been right. What does Rickey think? 

1999

As I write this, it's our 15th Anniversary. Lori's working hard at the kitchen table preparing a lesson for tomorrow. I'm watching Jeopardy on TV for no real reason. Tonight's episode is not the best. Much has happened in our lives since 1999. I was 27 then and Lori was 33. Now, we're older than that. The girls were younger, too. Courtney was almost seven and Amber was barely eight. Now, they're in their 20s … Time flies. And sometimes Rick rambles.

Have a great night and Happy Anniversary, Lori!



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