BJR
says knock you out
22 May 1997
Yes, I still exist. Just when you thought it was safe
to check your email, the monthly/bi-monthly/semi-annual/whenever I feel like it
newsletter has returned. For those of you new to the newsletter, there
are now over a hundred of you on the mailing list. When most periodicals
mention their number of subscribers (willing or not), they do so because they
are bragging outright. In the case of the BJR newsletter, we are also
bragging outright.
Some of you never rec'd the newsletter three months ago,
this is not our fault, but is the fault of the email program I am using.
Of course, some of the people on the list may not receive this either, so I'm
not sure why I'm going on about it. Let me explain it simply - I am cramped
in the window seat of a United Airlines Flight with some extremely loud people from
Maine behind me. Give me some room.
So, you must all be dying to know what's been going on in my
life for the last six months. I'm been working in a small town in the
midwest called Chicago. Actually, I'm in Deerfield, but once again it's
cool in consulting to say that you're working in the coolest city near to where
you actually are. For example our consultants in Idaho claim that they
are actually working in London. But our consultants in Idaho aren't real
good with geography. I've been in Deerfield for almost five months now,
and it's growing on me like skin-eating bacteria. It's almost a cruel
trick to
be 30 minutes from downtown Chicago and still end up eating
a McChicken Salad once a week.
I have done some great stuff with my spare time,
though. I've been to Florida to see my parents, my sister, her husband,
and my nephews. My sister is actually reading this, so I'll have to tell
the truth about the trip rather than my usual pack of lies. Dad and I
went fishing, where once again, the meaning of the word "fishing"
came into debate - my father considers fishing the triumph of man over beast,
albeit a scaly, wet, and in my opinion mostly inedible wet beast. My
definition of fishing revolves more around driving the boat and sleeping in the
sun. The differences are subtle, but they are there.
Also while in Florida I showed Jonathon and Braden that a "Supersoaker",
no matter how cool and fluorescent, is still inferior to "the garden
hose." I went to a local version of Sea World, where one of the
exhibits was a medium to large sized lady in a tight wetsuit pointing out fish
in a tank. Some family members were worried about the strength of the
suit. We also went to the beach a couple times and of course, I got
sunburned.
I'm now a certified scuba diver myself, but a wear a smaller
suit that the "exhibit" above. I did my check-out dives in Lake
Travis (in Austin), where visibility was about 1 foot. Our instructor
took us down to 60 feet where we swam around a giant refridgerator. When
we surfaced he asked what we thought of the sunken yatch. Apparently he
didn't see the refridgerator. My last two dives were in Cozumel, Mexico, which
was amazing. We saw an octopus, two eels (by the way, eels breathe in a
really menacing way, real slow-like. If you want to intimidate someone,
just breathe like an eel.), and lots of fish. Of course, I got sunburned.
This weekend is the start of regionals for the college world
series. Please check your local listing
for times. I really do recommend college baseball - the players are not
there to make money, although many soon will. People often refer to
baseball as "boring" - I often refer to those people as
"losers." Then, they usually refer to me as "shutup you
punk before I..." and then before you know it, I'm in jail again.
But baseball is great. It's fan-tastic. Someone I work with in
Chicago is a huge Cubs fan and goes to every game he can. I went with him
last week and in the
second inning, I asked him about this years Cubs team.
He mentioned that he doesn't really know any of the players names, but he comes
for the beer.
So that I won't end my newsletter with the word
"beer" (very bad luck in journalism), I'll give you scenes from the
next three months of Bryan's life: "Deerfield",
"Deerfield", and "Sleep" (August). Have a great Memorial
day, a fabulous summer, and don't hesistate to visit me in Chicago, especially
on weekends when I'm not there. Feed your dogs (I have a dog now, details
in the next newsletter if I remember) and "Keep hope alive." **
BJR
**Originally said by Jesse Jackson. BJR in no way is stealling Jesse's catch phrase, merely borrowing it.