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By gregralphjohn, on October 7th, 2003
 Bob lands back in the Land of 10,000 Lakes We’ve been in California a little more than a month, with only the possessions that would fit in my car, but it’s time to finish the job. There is still a 10 by 30 foot storage unit filled to the door and ceiling with comics, furniture, a life’s worth of accumulated crap, all waiting for me OR the auctioneer if I stop paying the rent, and one more Minnesota Comic Book Convention to sell at. So I’ve been looking into whether I should take Bob with me on the plane to ride back across the country again in the giant rental truck? I’ll be gone almost 2 weeks, so my new roomies are only slightly more familiar with him than random strangers. I think he wants to come! He can help! He’s a super dog, after all.
I would never put him in cargo, so I had to find an airline that would allow him in the cabin with me. He had to get certified by the vet that he’s disease free and healthy, so we visited our new local vet, the Grove Way Vet just a few blocks from home, near the 7-Eleven and Trader Joe’s. They also gave me a gentle sedative for the flight, and suggested I could give him only half a pill, since he is not typically a hyperactive, nervous, barky dog. I agree. Nice people, and a good place.
In a fit of independence and frugality, I decided we could take the BART train all the way to SFO. READ MORE about Bob Flies Back to Minnesota to finish the move
By gregralphjohn, on August 27th, 2003
Wednesday, August 27, 2003. 515 miles in 11 hours
Check out the photo gallery page for more pictures of the MN to CA road trip.
 On our way, stopped for camera batteries! After spending a couple of days of frenzied packing and goodbyes, and with the invaluable assistance of my bestest and oldest friend Mike Ziegahn on the last morning, we are ready to go at 2:30 pm. I strapped that bike on there like we would be driving through a hurricane, and had my cable lock involved to force someone to cut all the straps to remove the bike and rack as one unit. I have three guitars in there somewhere, all my audio gear, and a trunk full of clothes and immediately useful household items for our new home in California. READ MORE about MN to CA Day 1: He’s Leaving Home, Bye, Bye
By gregralphjohn, on August 13th, 2003
 Bob with my "oldest" friend Mike Z. This sort of summarizes a lot of posts that I actually wrote back in May, but this one is a LOT shorter! And Better. I just started “blogging” back in May during the eclipse, thinking I would just, y’know, write stuff. Right now I’m going through a major transition, moving to California, leaving friends and family behind because I think I will enjoy the physical, social, and economic environment out there more while I figure out how I will spend the rest of my life. So that’s what’s happened lately, and so that’s what I have to write about!
It’s about 14 years of trying to run uphill.
“The gods had condemned Sisyphus to ceaselessly rolling a rock to the top of a mountain, whence the stone would fall back of its own weight. They had thought with some (my emphasis) reason that there is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labor.” Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus, 1942 READ MORE about Go West, Young Man! or… Californee is the place ya oughta be!
By gregralphjohn, on May 27th, 2003
 Spider-Man pushes aside the usual Monthly Monster and steals the show, and makes history. Scan of a copy I sold a year ago. Because I was born at the right time to make me just the right age to start reading comics at the best time since they were invented. It was kismet! But I had to fight an uphill battle against social stigma, economic hardship, and the most formidable enemy of all…
My mom didn’t like comics. She had probably read the “news” stories before I was born connecting comics with juvenile delinquency. Both my parents were very simple, very frugal, and they were mildly disapproving of “worldly” influences of pop culture and such. She did not allow playing cards, you know, the kind with kings and queens on them. Neither of them drank. My mom’s worst vice was candy. She taught me to love circus peanuts, chocolate, those round pink mints with 4 x’s on them. It was against her wishes that I started to involve myself in training for my very future career. I was a pretty good student and went to a well-respected private college, took the pre-med program with a degree in Biology. Within a year of graduating, I was starting down the road to comic book “investing” and retailing. But, you may ask, how did it happen? Or why? Well, I’ll tell ya…..
READ MORE about Why am I here…In the Comics business?
By dean, on May 15th, 2003
 Sitting at the back door of the College, with the house.
Yesterday was my last day at NRG, the country-wide spinoff of our local power company, NSP. They were sort of an Enron wannabe, dealing in global futures and building power plants from New Jersey to South America. Accountemps placed me there in the summer of 2001 and in early September, they told me they were going to pay the buyout fee and hire me permanently. Then the Enron scandal hit, their bonds were down-graded, they instituted a hiring freeze, and they started the inexorable slide into bankruptcy. Yesterday, I couldn’t get out of there fast enough, but I had to stay an extra hour (unpaid – timesheet already signed for 5pm) to leave my mess of now obsolete (like me) files a little more manageable for the next unfortunate minion to touch them. It was also the day they had the big nation-wide conference call with the employees about the bankruptcy hanging over our heads for about a year. Not my problem anymore. I hope my few remaining comrades survive and remain in good spirits.
A warning: If run-on sentences drive you crazy, don’t click that “READ MORE” or “CONTINUED” link!
READ MORE about Lunch, a walk, an eclipse, and starting a blog
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