Post Thanksgiving Blogging

So I'm back after the Thanksgiving holiday and the trip home. It was good being home, seeing the friends and family, and now back to reality, which means back to work tomorrow.

Comments on the 5 Year High School Reunion: We all agree that it was a good idea to hold the reunion, because let's face it, there were plenty of people there who none of us had seen in 5 years. Hell, some people probably thought I had fallen off the face of the earth as well. The only problem is that at this point, you really don't have any idea what people are doing with themselves. Everyone has the same story: either still in school (the "extended" undergrad or actually making it to the graduate level), working somewhere in the area, and many are still living at home. I guess we'll have to wait until the 10 year reunion to better gauge who's making something of themselves and who isn't. Otherwise, the reunion ended up being quite interesting as many people took advantage of the $1 kamikaze shots that were on special. Let's just say that most people were pretty loaded by the end of the night. We almost saw a fight break out (not a surprise). Best comment of the night: When asked how he was getting home, one guy (we'll leave his name unmentioned) who was visibly intoxicated says, "I'm driving...but don't worry....I'm the best drunk driver ever!" Upon hearing this, I just shook my head in utter disbelief. Ladies and gentlemen, these are the future leaders of America from the Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School Class of 2000.

When hanging out with Brandon along with Bob & Kelly Hipp (I'm still trying to get used to them as a married entity), my blog came up in conversation. First off, Brandon and Bob had some requests. They demanded some respect on the blog. One of the primary "Ross Rules of Life" is to give credit and respect when it's due. And I'd love to give Brandon and Bob some respect on the blog, but they need to earn that respect by adding more input in the way of comments. That's how you earn respect on the blog here...by the feedback you provide. Both of those characters are good friends of mine who always have a comment for everything else in life, and I simply ask that they help to make the RPR more interesting with their commentary to my postings, which would help advance the interactivity that we've all established. Brandon claims he's too busy with schoolwork and I believe that. Bob's also a very busy guy with school, but claims to read the RPR when he can. So I kindly ask these guys to minimize the criticism unless you've given your fair share of support. Thank you. (I should have prefaced this whole rant by the fact that they sat there on Saturday night arguing about the blog for a good 30 minutes, and I'm still not sure what kind of constructive criticism came out of the arguing/conversation.)

One suggestion was to do a retrospective on Bob & Kelly's wedding, which took place back in early June of this year. It turns out that the wedding was about 3 weeks before I created the blog, but I can definitely put together a write-up and hopefully add some pictures to go along with it. Look for that some time this week.

While we're on the topic of the RPR, I feel it's important to understand what I'm trying to accomplish with all of this, and the answer is: I'm not really trying to accomplish anything. It's similar to the Seinfeld mentality. That was the show about nothing, and this is the blog about nothing. Why do you think they invented the World Wide Web? So clowns like me could put nonsense out there for anyone to read. But in all seriousness, it's tough to please everyone. I write about what I like to write about, and not everyone is going to enjoy each and every detail. I remember asking my sister awhile back if she liked the blog, and she said she didn't really read it because a lot of the sports and music stuff was of no interest to her, and in many cases she doesn't watch a lot of the same TV shows that I watch (with the exception of Laguna). I know the girls out there may care less when I rant about TO and the Eagles. I know that non-Penn Staters could give two craps when I gloat on how great the Nittany Lions football season was. And many people who don't like my musical taste may not care when I talk about new bands or records that I enjoy. But really, I didn't want to turn this whole thing into a diary, and I think I'm doing a good job of that. Really, my life isn't all that exciting. I tend to think it's worthwhile to recap my weekends in New York City, because I feel it's a pretty cool place to be when you're 23 years old and your girlfriend plus other good friends are there. Then again, maybe you guys don't care when I do every Friday and Saturday night. I never talk about work, because for one thing, I don't want to, and secondly, I don't want to say anything that may get me in trouble some day. When it all comes down to it, I'm just writing down what's on my mind and what I think all the readers might find to be humorous/mildly entertaining. And if I can do that, then really this is just a fun task for me to keep myself busy and to keep me from getting to bed early each night. You could say it replaces studying and homework in that respect.

Didn't mean to go on and on with the RPR introspective, but just wanted to throw that all out on the table. With all of that said, that's it for tonight. I'll be back tomorrow with more.