The Days and Nights of Robierto

Do you ever lay in bed sometimes and you get a random song stuck in your head? And honestly it keeps you up until the early hours of the morning and you are so bugged that you can’t get it out of your mind, and you get so angry that you have to get out of bed sing the whole song through to finally be done with it? That happened to me last night and I didn’t get to sleep until 12:30 am. The song that was stuck in my head was “ Dumb Dog ” from the hit musical production of “ Annie ”. “ Annie ”, really? How did that song get in there? I don’t think I have even seen " Annie " for several years, OK, I watched it last week, but still, it isn’t even one of the songs that I like from that movie but it was just lodged in my brain. The lyrics that kept going over and over in my head were these, ( if you know the words feel free to see along ) Ain't got a scrap for you. Need you? Don't give me a rap for you. That’s funny because I used to think Annie was singing, “ Don’t give a ...

So yesterday I went over to the local Target to buy some exercise bands, as my old one snapped and popped me in the face, mid bicep curl. (Darn that Tony Horton, from the Power 90X infomercial, he gave me a crappy band.) So as I was walking to the exercise aisle I heard the faint sound of singing. I thought, “How odd since I’m not even near the media section.” But then I wondered if it might be one of those kiosks where you can push a button and hear samples from the albums being displayed. And since I was missing the coveted mix album “Slow Jams of the 70’s” from my slow jam mix collection, I should stop by and see if they had that awesome mix in their inventory. Well, as I rounded the corner what did a see? Just a lone man, in front of the votive candles singing, in full voice mind you, Billy Joel’s “She’s Got A Way”. Yes, I was a little shocked at what I saw and thought this singing man would be a little embarrassed as well and stop singing. Well, he didn’t stop; he turned, gave me...

Are you like me? I can't say no to free food. No matter how stuffed I am or how much I hate the food item being offered, as long as it is free I will eat it. I have been known to set up camp right next to the sweet sample people at Costco just to get as many free samples as possible. ( Hint : If you bring a baseball cap and a change of clothes to the store, the sample ladies will never be the wiser that you are the same person that passed by 15 minutes earlier.) Let me just say here, before I share my little experience, that I dislike fish a lot. I can't stand the smell, and it is one of those foods that I know I need to eat because it is good for me but the taste is just too much for me. Largely the reason that I have never traveled to an asian county is because of the smell that I will experience when I get off the plane. Fishy, just really, really fishy. I know that I would be dry heaving the entire time. And let's be honest, that is not good for polictical relations bet...

For those of you who have ever come to Salt Lake in January, you know that we have a tendency to get a nasty inversion. The cold air gets trapped in the valley along with all the pollution and it gets really depressing. It can stay this way for weeks until a storm or wind can come to blow it all out. If you are smart and have lived in Utah long enough, you know that the trick is to go up in altitude and then the inversion can’t follow you. Once you get out of the valley the sky turns to a bright blue and the sun comes out and it makes you want to go enjoy the snow in your swim suit. . . or birthday suit, whichever you are more comfortable with. Your call. On Monday, to celebrate Martin Luther King Day I went for a little hike up Millcreek Canyon. It was a beautiful day but still too cold to break out my shorts and tank top. ( In the winter I always wear summer clothes underneath my winter wear just in case it gets super hot all of a sudden. By the way, all my winter wear has buttons up...

Do you ever wonder how good of friends you need to be before you feel ok to read someone’s blog? Is there some sort of standard in place that can validate me looking at blogs from people that I have known, but not super well. I mean, they are not strangers, but they really are more like acquaintances. Ya know, I have talked to them, but it is not like we are “Kindred Spirits”, as Anne of GG would say. Even though they will never know that I am looking at their blog, I feel a little like a voyeur. I am looking and seeing all these pictures and personal feelings about their cats, and how much they love monster trucks, but I am unsure if I should be privy to that information when we are only friends because I knew who they were in high school. Sometimes, I feel like I should leave a comment, “Hey it’s me, Rob. Yes, Rob from school about 15 years ago. I said “hi” to you once after Chemistry. I just wanted you to know that I am reading your blog. Is that OK? I know I only knew you for a few...

So perhaps, you, like I, hope each New Years will be the New Years celebration to beat all New Years Celebrations. You have this huge expectation that pretty much includes: fireworks, falling in love, kissing strange people at midnight, and dancing until the early hours of the morning. New Years Eve-Eve you frantically try to find some activity that will make your New Years dreams come true, but no matter what you do it always ends up lame and you feel such a let down. You assume the rest of the world is having an amazing experience at some party but you just didn’t get the invitation. I can count on my two fingers how many great New Years I have had in my lifetime, that’s right, two. So now I have learned to set very low expectations for my New Year celebrations, which in the past years have consisted of having a pint of egg nog and turning in around 9:30 pm. This year I went to Island Park for New Years with some friends and it was an awesome experience. I don’t know how many of you ...

Some times after a stressful day, I like to suit up into my UnderArmor muscle shirt, strap on my sweat bands, and IPOD, and head to the gym. Now, just the mere sight of me walking into the gym causes those with lesser muscle power to flee from the weights area, and scurry to step aerobics. The intimidation factor is just so great! I don’t like to toot my own horn but, friends, I am huge . Many of you who have seen me as of late, will know of what I speak. And those who haven’t…well I say it’s OK to sneak a peek because it is quite impressive . When you think of perfect bodies names like Stallone, Schwarzenegger come to mind. Arnold? Sylvester?...idiots compared to the unadulterated muscle power or Robierto. While I am doing my squats and working on my lats, I do a lot of grunting and growls with every lift. It is scary, but people, how else am I to get rid of all that rage and excess gas? As a result of the anger and power of my lifting many have asked what kind of music I listen to wh...

I love my car. She holds a sentimental place for me as she is the first car that I have purchased on my own back in 2002, so she means a lot to me. She has gotten me to and from work safely lo, these seven years. But lately she has not be treating me as well I would like her to. As of late she has become a little high maintenance. Last night I took her to the Jiffy Lube for just a oil change and thought I would spend about $35.00. Well,I ended up spending about $131.00. I ended up getting her light replaced, all her fluids filled up (they were all so low that they couldn't even detect anything inside of her), and to top it all off we had to get her tires rotated. Now I know she is getting advanced in years. And I know that she can't hold her fluids like she used to. Her joints are just steel on steel, there is no padding left, so every time I hit a bump, man, I feel it. She makes a funny grinding sound so everyone gives us strange looks as we are coming down the street. The nei...

Maybe you have wondered as I have, whatever happened to Charo? That hispanic lady, guitar in tow, with those skimpy, sparkly culottes. Man, that chick had a good thing going for a while. All I know is that after my Saturday night bath as a child if it was a “clean” episode my parents would let me watch the “Love Boat”. (Now that I am older it is surprising how much hula-who was going on when Capt. Stubing wasn’t looking. Ya, know what I'm saying?) Did you ever notice, as I did, that it always seemed like Charo was a guest star on "The Love Boat". Why is that? A lot of people don’t know this but she appeared on the “The Love Boat” over eight times. Eight times, people! And I bet if I asked you why she was considered a “star” coming on that boat, lo those eight times, chances are you wouldn’t know. In all honesty I don’t think I really know. Ya, she played the guitar, and she did that thing called the “cuchi cuchi” but the question remains why was she so famous. Any ideas? ...

I believe that as part of our need to eat, sleep, love, and procreate, there is a need we all have to sing. When I say sing, I don’t just mean singing a nice little ballad, but a full on dance number or big hair rock song. That desire is suppressed very deep in some people and not so deep in others, but in every soul it is there. I say this because this weekend as part of my New Years trip, some friends and I joined in some “crazy karaoke”. Now, I, myself have no problem getting up in front of a group and doing my favorite karaoke song, “We Got the Beat” by the Go-Gos, with choreography mind you. (It really is quite spectacular; I finish with a back flip right into the splits. I can’t walk for an entire week after the deed is done, but it is well worth it.) Some people just aren’t as quick to jump up and perform. But it only takes one or two people to sing like fools and then all those quiet backwards people who don’t say much, but you know the wheels of craziness are churning in thei...