How I Spent My Summer Vacation
Well, I was laid off from my job of nearly 12 years back in May…
And Thus Begins the Blogging Adventures of Arthur J. Knapp, International Unemployed Man of Mystery! 
Actually, other than being unemployed, and seemingly unemployable, and flat broke, and having no girlfriend, or friends outside of family or friends of family for that matter, I have been having a very nice summer. A few weeks ago, I spent an enjoyable week-long trip down at the Jersey shore with my folks, sisters, brothers-in-law and the two most awesome, pretty, smart, adorable, and awesome little toddler nieces ever, Delia (18 months) and Alyssa (16 months).
We were at Ocean City, NJ, a wonderful seaside town which I have fond memories of from my childhood. One little thing confused me on this trip, however, and that is why nearly every cashier, waitress, busboy, parking attendant, et. al., was an attractive young person from Russia, (nearly half of whom were named Marina). Mind you, I’m not complaining: these were the nicest, most professional boardwalk employees I have ever rented a bicycle from, (and I love the name Marina), but it did seem odd to me that this dry community, once a haven of American conservative Methodism, should now resemble something out of Robin Williams‘ Moscow On The Hudson
The other very nice trip I took was to the truly lovely city of Pittsburgh. A mere world away on the other side of the state, I had a lovely visit with some old family friends:
- Aunt Colleen, a beautiful mother of three, a wonder at making tea, and very much beloved by me.
- Bridgette, a brilliant poet, a lovely mother, and a first class friend. I am hoping that I can persuade this fan of old fashioned typewriters to allow me to share some of her pulchritudinous writing on the web.
- Christy, delightful mother of two, excellent at hosting too, and, um, has very nice shoes. My favorite childhood memory of Christy was her saying, “No, no, no, no, no, …” I mean, how endearing is that in a kid? Hahaha…I joke.
- Steven, aka the Boy. How strange that he now has his own the Boy, a beautiful baby who will no doubt make the Pittsburgh Steelers very proud some day. Steven, an extraordinarily talented artist, has recently (and mysteriously) joined U.S. Special Forces, where he is currently protecting American interests by, of all things, speaking Siamese, if you please.
One thing my family is looking forward to at summer’s end is my Dad’s retirement from the Social Security Administration. Having given the government 33 years of dedicated service, he can now look forward to…looking at his Social Security benefits checks. Oh, for crying out loud, his work his going to follow him into retirement!
OK, that about does it for my first blog entry. I have big plans…but very little follow through. Eventually, given that I am supposedly a web techie sort of guy, this site will be better designed than what you are currently seeing, (of course, I don’t know when you are reading this…). The site is powered by WordPress, and is currently using the default template theme Kubrick.
And Thus Ends Blog the First of Arthur J. Knapp, International Unemployed Man of Mystery!
Cheers.
Filed under: Life
10 Responses to “How I Spent My Summer Vacation”
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Arthur, do you know my sister lives in Pittsburgh? The restaurant where she worked burned down last week, so she’s unemployed too! Your nieces are gorgeous. I’d love to see more pictures of them. And if you want to use my name for a reference as a satisfied former co-worker, let me know! XO, Mary S-B
Mary, that’s so awful about your sister’s job. Hope she’s doing OK.
More pics of the little ones are on the way.
And thanks for the reference. Cheers.
Wow! This is the best Web site I’ve ever seen!
Nah. Just kidding.
All the best for the blog, Admiral. Hope it develops a good following. I’m currently suffering from flooded house, but I’ll drop you a line at more leisure. Apart from the lack of job, money, girlfriend, friends, etc., hope all’s well with you.
Nigel, thanks for stopping by!
First, there was foot-and-mouth, and now there is a whole flooded house thing going on? You just don’t get any breaks on your side of the pond, do you?
Cheers, my friend.
Arthur, Instead of working on a novel perhaps you should start sending in some short essays to magazines - I think your writing is so clever and funny. Love, mrk
Aww…thank you!
I am somewhat, sort of, kinda acquainted with a few people who regularly write magazine articles, like Ben Waldie from the Philadelphia Area AppleScript Users Group. He mentioned at the meeting I attended that he was, er, either giving it up or at least taking a break from it. I don’t recall the reason he gave, but I got the impression he found too little money in it. Of course, the fact that he writes mostly about AppleScript could have everything to do with it.
Love, ajk
There is a Philadelphia Area AppleScript Users Group??? and the PAASUG has meetings??
Hahaha !!!
Yup, here they are: http://homepage.mac.com/paasug/
Please try to control your shock and horror.
Oh POOR YOU!
When are you going get serious and help out on the family WORM FARM! You know damn well there is BIG CASH to made in LIVE BAIT!
GROW YOUR HAIR AND GET A BLOG!!!….. er ah YOU KNOW WHAT I MEANT!
But why am I the one who always has to give them a bath?