The Retro Dad

Not too long ago, I was quite surprised to see my youngest daughter jump for joy because she had found five dollars in her pocket. This of course was the perfect segue for me to tell her exactly what five dollars could get you back in 1983. I explained that in the Regan era, five dollars could buy me four hamburgers, a Big Gulp, and a few hours at the video arcade. To help drive my lesson on inflation home, my bride who was listening in at the time, threw in her two cents by telling my daughter, "Wow.. Daddy is really old". Where have all the arcades gone? The home video game market has all but killed video arcades. Sure there were home video game systems back in the early 80s, but the graphics and sound couldn't hold a candle to the giant CPUs inside of the old stand up arcade games. I saw the decline of video arcades coming a long time ago when I bought my first 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System in the late 80s. My friends and I immediately started spen...

Right off the bat, I'm going to warn you that is probably going to be a very boring binge TV list.  I simply don't watch that much television.  I would like to, and its always something I said I wish I had more time to do, but I haven't dedicated much time to it thus far. Here's what I have binged or watched over the last 44 days.. Binged Shows Better Call Saul Season 5 The Walking Dead Season 10 Fear the Walking Dead Season 5 Ozark Season 3 Shows I watch nightly The Flintstones Curb your Enthusiasm Everybody Loves Raymond New show I'm starting to binge Picard The X-Files Show I tried to binge, but quit after 40 minutes to an hour Tiger King Unpopular opinion I know, but I didn't care for Tiger King.  I experience nuts like this in Florida on a regular basis. I don't care to spend my spare time watching more of them and delving into their lives. Dispatches from Elsewhere I actually attempted to watch this show several times startin...

I've definitely put on a few pounds since this lockdown started.  Not right away mind you, as I came right out of the gate staying pretty active.  However, as my big projects finished, I'm not quite as active as I was a few weeks ago.  The biggest thing however, is the eating of carbs and more sweets.  Before the pandemic, I was eating a low carb diet and had lost over 15 pounds in a couple months time.  If I don't do something soon, I'm afraid these pounds will keep piling on.  Here's some visuals on the culprits that are slowly putting pounds on me.. Ham, Eggs & Biscuits Biscuits, Gravy and Eggs Daily Breakfast I wasn't eating breakfast before the lockdown.  I was doing intermittent fasting after dinner, until lunch the next day. which was usually about 16 to 18 hours.  Breakfast has always been my favorite meal, so it really has been serving as a nice comforting way to start my day. Donuts and Snack Cakes My bigg...

My Coca-Cola stash ran dangerously low this week.  While tidying up, I decided to try and extend my supply, by chilling and opening up some older Coke Bottles from my collection.  I had several 9 month old bottles of Coca Cola Classic, Coke Zero, a can of NEW Coke that was released last summer for the STRANGER THINGS Cross Promotion, and some 16 ounce cans of Coke Zero.  Here are my findings Coke Zero I cracked open a can and split it with my bride. I was shocked to find there was absolutely no sweetness to it at all.  I looked at my wife and asked her what it tasted like to her, and she said it was just like Seltzer water. Next, I opened a glass bottle and it was devoid of any sweetness as well. So Coke Zero obviously doesn't hold up well over time at least for 9 months anyway. Bottled Classic Coke  My favorite drink from the Coca-Cola line. It had plenty of carbonation and tasted perfect.  I popped it open after mowing my yard, and was super ...

I normally only grilled about once or twice a month before lockdown. However, my gas grill was put out to pasture a few months back.  I always meant to buy a new one, but to me it wasn't a necessity so I kept putting it off.  Now that I am spending all of my time at home, I've been getting the itch to start grilling more.  Unfortunately, I'm now furloughed, with no hope of accessing the busted and disgusted Florida unemployment system anytime soon, so I can't afford a new Grill whilst pinching my pennies.  However.. I did   free up enough scrilla to buy a charcoal grill for under $20.00.  I ordered it at Wal Mart and they brought it out to me during my grocery pickup last week. While I turned my nose up at char grilling years ago, I was kind of excited to try my hand at it once again.  My Dad spent hours teaching me the intricacies of how to properly grill from the time I was eight years old, so I was confident I could grill up a good meal for...

Shawn Robare, the author of one of my favorite retro themed websites..  Branded in the 80s  touched upon a point in his most recent article, that I've been pondering on lately.  He talked about how even though he was a child of the 80s, there were a lot of things about the 19 90s that felt very much like his experiences when he was younger.  This is exactly the way I feel for a few different reasons.   I've used the tag line 'Child of the 70s, 80s and 90s' for myself on different social media platforms from time to time over the years.  I say this because I was born in 1970, so I experienced my childhood through both decades of the 70s and 80s.  My son was born in 1990, so I kind of never stopped enjoying a pop culture generated for kids.  I would buy him toys and action figures that we would play together with for hours on end.  I also watched cartoons and kids programming with him that in turn led us to go out and buy more toys ...

I truly feel for people who have a birthday during the thick of this pandemic.  For anyone who has a milestone birthday during this mess, you have my condolences.  As for me, I turned 50 yesterday, and it was a pretty melancholy day.  I really can't complain though.  I had my entire immediate family with me all day, and it was pretty much a chill stress free day at home.  We have our health, each other, and are still holding strong. Truly, things can always be worse, so I am very blessed. I grew up not celebrating birthdays, so I think that the paramount occasion and importance of it all is lost on me.  I definitely am not one who would plan out a whole day, week, or month of events for my own birthday.  In fact, I feel downright uncomfortable celebrating my own birthday to tell you the truth.  I know it's simply a result of my upbringing, and that making it through another year of life should definitely be cause for celebration, but it just f...

Over the last 39 days, I've had a heck of a lot of time to ponder and self reflect.  During that time, there have been lots of things I've learned, noticed, and discovered.  This also includes things about myself.  Here are a few of those things that kind of took me by surprise. 3 Random things I've learned about myself during lockdown.. I like burnt toast I enjoy waking up before the crack of dawn I only have one vice... Donuts Burnt Toast This one kind of surprised me. I used to despise burnt toast in the way I hate coffee grounds swimming in my coffee.  I used to watch my Grandfather ask for his toast to be "burnt", and then subsequently take a butter knife to scrape off the darkest part of the burnt surface.  He'd say "Ah that's better" and would then begin spreading butter across the less charred surface. Strange as it may be, I totally get this now. When I eat toast.. I want my bread to be  toasted .    I HATE IT  whe...

As I sit here looking towards another weekend under lock down, I once again have that weird feeling so many others have right now.  That is, Saturday and Sunday feel like any other day to me now.  There's nothing special about them, and I don't look forward to them any longer. This is mainly because we are pretty much contained to our home, and none of us can venture out for fear of exposing an at risk family member in the household. It got me thinking of how much my life has changed during all of this, and how much I miss certain things.  Therefore, I decided to make a list of the top three things I miss and don't miss about being under a lockdown.. Top 3 things I miss since lockdown began Laughing While my bride and family indeed make me laugh, I'm not laughing as much lately.  Sure I get some giggles from memes and such on the internet, but then I see news that undoes all of that and really puts me in a bad place.  It's the main reason I've cut do...

I LOVE NY Pizza   532 Cagan Park Ave, Clermont, FL 34714 Phone:   (352) 432-3928 UPDATE! 7-01-2022.. The below mentioned lunch special here is now $5.99. Still a heck of a deal. Right before all of this Covid-19 business, I was doing some shopping in the Cagan Crossings shopping center located right off of Hwy 27 in the Four Corners area of Clermont, and a sign caught my eye.  I'm always down to save some scrilla, and I'm definitely always ready to try out a new pizza joint, so I stepped in for lunch to give it a try.  Two Slices for $4.99 and a fountain drink of your choice included (with unlimited refills).   Not a bad deal IF. . the pizza is up to par. I ordered two cheese slices with no additional toppings. I often do this for two reasons.  First, I've drastically cut down on my consumption of meat, especially that of the processed variety.  Second.. there may be no better way to size up a pizzeria's skills than by or...

So my back feels 110% better than it did a week ago. While it still has a ways to go as far as full range of motion and flexibility, I actually woke up this morning with no pain whatsoever, and enjoyed the best night sleep I've had in quite some time. I credit this breakthrough to two things.. the stretching I talked about in yesterday's blog post , and swimming.  It's not so much swimming, as it is floating, stretching and slowly twisting and turning my torso in a weightless environment.  With no pressure or strain on my lower back, I could actually feel my vertebrae relaxing and slowly cracking. When I get out of the pool, it feels as if my back has been through a strenuous workout.  It doesn't hurt mind you, it just feels spent and as if there's a void there.  It's as if my brain doesn't know what signals to send me, as my back has been tight for so long.  It's a weird, but it feels as if my back doesn't know what to do, now that it's no ...

Below is an article I wrote, which got my son and I inducted into the illustrious White Castle Cravers Hall of Fame.  Fans and enthusiasts of White Castle Sliders are known as 'Cravers'. Every year, the company picks around ten people from a pool of thousands, to be inducted into their 'Cravers Hall of Fame'.  The inductees are chosen due to their  loyalty, dedication to the brand, and willingness to do nearly anything to satisfy their  Crave .   The thing that cinched our induction, was an 1800 mile father and son road trip we took, for the express purpose of dining on White Castle sliders.  Some of our fellow inductees we share this honor with, are Stan Lee, Alice Cooper, and even John Cho & Kal Penn (Harold & Kumar).   Below is the original article detailing our trip.. Darrin & Darrin go to White Castle It ha d been seven years since I had last sunk my teeth into a White Castle hamburger when I found myself having ins...