tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72187982009-10-14T00:16:19.827-07:00Random opinions, thoughts and ideas from the second half of my life...RobertinSeattlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10303500620507734704noreply@blogger.comBlogger54125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7218798.post-35069171123747015312009-04-20T19:24:00.000-07:002009-04-20T19:34:37.625-07:00

In their feeble efforts to minimize the growing number of TEA parties around the country, liberals have been trying hard to poke fun at the idea of tea parties while using the expression 'teabagging.' For our liberal friends, here's the difference between a TEA Party and Teabagging: TEA Party: Acronym for Taxed Enough Already! Growing Form of Tax Protest made popular in 2009 when Obama announces

RobertinSeattlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10303500620507734704noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7218798.post-1125512542369294442005-08-31T11:20:00.000-07:002005-08-31T11:24:14.093-07:00

The aftermath continues to look worse for the people in the Gulf States, especially those hardest hit in New Orleans and the surrounding area. A current slideshow of pictures on the destruction. You might consider making a contribution to the American Red Cross for the staggering number of victims in this disaster -- we just did and will try to send more again shortly.

RobertinSeattlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10303500620507734704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7218798.post-1123349652419197252005-08-06T10:30:00.000-07:002005-08-06T10:34:12.473-07:00

My comments below (then you'll know why I found this article interesting enough to post...)Aug. 6, 2005 ROME (Reuters) - A Tunisair aircraft with 35 passengers on board made an emergency landing in the sea off Sicily on Saturday, Italian emergency services said. Two passengers were seen on the wings of the plane, an ATR 42, after it had landed on the water, police and fire brigade officials said.

RobertinSeattlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10303500620507734704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7218798.post-1122143718876006452005-07-23T11:35:00.000-07:002005-07-23T11:35:18.883-07:00

It's about time! The government finally put up a Sex Offender Public Registry and so far, 22 state have opted to join. I see that Washington State isn't on it yet and I plan on writing my Congressmen and Senators to make sure we get on the list. Is it me or simply the heavy media coverage? Seems like the number of sex offenders walking around freely has gone sky high in recent decades. I'm

RobertinSeattlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10303500620507734704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7218798.post-1121631957725710672005-07-17T13:24:00.000-07:002005-07-17T13:25:57.726-07:00

Her picture has been posted all over the place and no one has ever confirmed that she was undercover when Wilson wrote his article for the New York Times. So what's the big deal?

RobertinSeattlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10303500620507734704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7218798.post-1118606212551269452005-06-12T12:55:00.000-07:002005-06-12T12:57:24.330-07:00

As a followup to my trip to New Orleans this past March, a friend of mine sent me this link on How to Tawk Rite in New Orleans! Complete with a New Orleans dictionary.

RobertinSeattlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10303500620507734704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7218798.post-1117422556179490942005-05-29T20:05:00.000-07:002005-05-29T21:59:17.266-07:00

Lawyers, others question radio TIVO-like devicesI had personally pondered developing PC-based audio recorders years ago; just another project that got put on a shelf.My own comments posted to the Yahoo! Board in response to this lame waste of time and energy:So what else is new? People have been recording movies on TV for years since VCRs first came along. And I still remember the fuss about how

RobertinSeattlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10303500620507734704noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7218798.post-1117398044907440672005-05-29T13:20:00.000-07:002005-05-29T13:24:02.666-07:00

From the Oregon Daily Emerald -- University of Oregon News & Sports: 10 Reasons Not to Kill Bush. Jennifer McBride is a surprisingly level-headed student from Oregon (of all places!) writing about the current discourse in American society today. Well worth the read.

RobertinSeattlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10303500620507734704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7218798.post-1117248450027875802005-05-27T19:45:00.000-07:002006-01-02T11:04:07.236-08:00

Thursday night was Cake Night at the Barnes & Noble in Downtown Bellevue! Well, actually it was the roll-out for two new books in the Day Hikes series from Sasquatch Press: The Columbia Gorge by Seabury Blair Jr. and The Central Cascades by Mike McQuaide. (Seabury was my soon-to-be-ex Jeanne's first husband - try explaining THAT one simply to people!) Anyway, I did a similar cake for Seabury's

RobertinSeattlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10303500620507734704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7218798.post-1115763956674086092005-05-10T15:23:00.000-07:002005-05-10T15:25:56.703-07:00

Here's a link to a chilling 2-minute flash presentation on the global oil situation. Read it and weep. Then at least think about it...I'm posting this on my two main blogs and I'd love it if everyone would forward this link to as many people as they know so the message goes out.

RobertinSeattlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10303500620507734704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7218798.post-1114478542675669532005-04-25T18:22:00.000-07:002005-07-17T13:24:12.816-07:00

Friends of mine are constantly sending me pictures of interesting cloud formations for inspiration!

RobertinSeattlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10303500620507734704noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7218798.post-1113800071035904702005-04-17T21:54:00.000-07:002005-04-17T21:55:08.990-07:00

Where that sticker from the back of my jacket ended up...

RobertinSeattlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10303500620507734704noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7218798.post-1113670232161479912005-04-16T09:50:00.000-07:002005-04-16T09:50:32.163-07:00

Since eBay first began in the mid-90s (man, does that sound like a long time ago!), I've often thought about the possibility of an online marketplace for worldwide craftspeople. You'd browse the widest selection of arts and crafts and in every price range. You'd pick and pay for the items that you liked, receiving your prized work in a short while. Well, it turns out that Indigo Arts was started

RobertinSeattlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10303500620507734704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7218798.post-1113354859989925842005-04-12T18:13:00.000-07:002005-04-12T18:14:19.990-07:00

A lot of you have already written to me about the sand artist at SICAF 2003! Anyway, he's a Hungarian artist named Ferenc Cako and you can get to his website here. He also has more on his sand art at another site here (unfortunately, I think any bandwidth access might crash his host!). This dude ROCKS!!!

RobertinSeattlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10303500620507734704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7218798.post-1113341275168022752005-04-12T14:30:00.000-07:002005-04-12T18:15:09.446-07:00

A friend just sent me this video clip of a unique sand artist who performed at SICAF (Seoul International Cartoon & Animation Festival). Apparently from the credit at the end of this video, it was shot in Seoul, Korea in 2003. Maybe you can Google SICAF to find out more about this guy. He's definitely VERY unique and one of the best on-the-fly artists I've seen in a long time. Performance art?

RobertinSeattlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10303500620507734704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7218798.post-1112599736579562482005-04-04T01:12:00.000-07:002005-04-04T01:39:11.400-07:00

Well, I've been busy this weekend. With two of my large 4'X5' canvases prepped with extra gesso coats and base colors, I was itching to get working on a larger scale. On Friday, I also ended up getting a new wall and door put into my studio space for my privacy and sanity. Just in time for that First Friday Party!OK -- Here are the two canvases and I'm just starting to paint some light cloud

RobertinSeattlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10303500620507734704noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7218798.post-1112079415379139662005-03-28T22:55:00.000-08:002006-12-11T02:13:35.535-08:00

OK -- I've gone out and bought my first three 4'X5' canvases and I've primed them for painting. Each of these canvases is being prepped with the same process of a sky and earth division, proportioned out on an 80/20 scale (80% sky and 20% earth with cerulean blue and burnt sienna as base colors).

RobertinSeattlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10303500620507734704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7218798.post-1111702950709512582005-03-24T14:25:00.000-08:002006-12-11T02:03:12.228-08:00

Painting a cloudscape...Many of you already know that I've recently moved into a small studio to pick up where I left off over 25 years ago with painting. Over the past few years, I've given a lot of serious thought about the subject matter of my next series. I still enjoy the challenges in working with large high-realism pieces and the subject matter obviously has to be consistently challenging

RobertinSeattlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10303500620507734704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7218798.post-1111696709393105632005-03-24T12:38:00.000-08:002005-03-24T12:38:29.393-08:00

Ha ha ha -- this guy has evolved from street graffiti to hanging his own pieces inside of real musems in New York Ciy. This guy's actually infiltrated the Museum of Modern Art and placed a small painting on the wall that stayed unnoticed for 3 days! Cool! (I appreciate the fact that he doesn't do any harm or malicious intent.)

RobertinSeattlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10303500620507734704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7218798.post-1111562317578267882005-03-22T23:11:00.000-08:002006-12-11T02:09:00.822-08:00

I'm getting more and more in the mood to snap pictures these days now that I'm constantly on the prowl for cool clouds to paint. So my camera's usually ready for a good picture when it shows up. I pulled into a parking spot at my neighborhood QFC late this afternoon and had to do a double-take at the old Jeep parked next to me. (Click on this picture to see a larger version).

RobertinSeattlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10303500620507734704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7218798.post-1111469944346403122005-03-21T21:39:00.000-08:002005-03-21T21:42:56.676-08:00

Here's John Hargrave's second set of pranks with credit cards. He decides to find out just what you can and can't get away with when signing a credit card slip at the register. In fact, he even uses different signatures -- even making up stuff as he goes -- when he starts using those new electronic signing pads. Amazingly, despite some of the ridiculous things he draws and writes on those pads --

RobertinSeattlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10303500620507734704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7218798.post-1111469603509456092005-03-21T21:33:00.000-08:002005-03-21T21:40:29.660-08:00

John Hargrave has a self-proclaimed humor website, Zug.com. A while back, he did an article on the fallacy of credit cards. His first piece -- Part I of course -- covered his misadventures with signing an intentionally wrong signature on his payment slips and never having it checked by the clerks at the cash register. His pranks are both humorous and scary at the same time, when you consider the

RobertinSeattlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10303500620507734704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7218798.post-1111382864157948682005-03-20T21:26:00.000-08:002005-03-20T21:34:05.603-08:00

Being a lifelong gadget addict, I've always been on the lookout for the next cool toy. If they don't have it, then it's simply another invitation to invent it! Mobile PC Magazine recently came up with their list of The Top 100 Gadgets of All Time. This list is surprisingly wide-ranging and inclusive; I found the Popeil Pocket Fisherman on the first page! Of course, Ron Popeil is hocking his new

RobertinSeattlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10303500620507734704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7218798.post-1111227948209209362005-03-19T02:25:00.000-08:002005-03-19T02:26:52.523-08:00

And next door was the BG Mart, a gas/convenience store that sold Chinese & Soul Food (just like the sign says). They actually had some pretty tasty food: I tried the sweet-and-sour chicken with side orders of egg roll and black-beans-and-rice and corn bread. Yummm!Posted by Hello

RobertinSeattlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10303500620507734704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7218798.post-1111227757017453472005-03-19T02:22:00.000-08:002005-03-19T02:23:25.196-08:00

But what the heck -- I DID get two beds in the room so they wouldn't have to change the sheets or towels the next morning. (And they didn't!)Posted by Hello

RobertinSeattlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10303500620507734704noreply@blogger.com0