Project 3867: Christmas Eve Shop

So I know who the first employee will be

My mother-in-law is a professional Mrs. Claus, so a Christmas specialty store should be a given.

Use one of the bays as a photo op with Santa in his sleigh, which is "under repair," and use it as a fun activity where the kids can "help" Santa fix his sleigh. 

Borrow ideas from Bronners with a breadth and depth of items for sale. 

To keep it fresh and relevant, "find some Christmas in every day," and create this as a destination shop for Christmas, even in the middle of summer. 

Christmas in July celebration! 

Quirky events every 25th! 

A $1 stocking spot, with buckets of fun items to fill a sock to take home and hang on the mantel. 

Note: the property is now a garage, so 3867's shingle is now hung. This was a fun, creative series to work on and imagine the fun on a weird little triangular lot. 

Typing Out Loud: Retirement Careers

At the Neon Museum in Las Vegas. I could do museum work... 

At the tender age of 56, I have an eye on September 15, 2034, as my last day of everyday career employment, but not necessarily my last day of work. Funny that I would be writing this on the last day of work before the winter holiday break!

So what will I do with my free time? Dave and I, in addition to our old-people affection for porches, house projects, and whatnot, have started to discuss what we are going to do with ourselves once we hand in our keys. 

The simplest one for me is judging will probably occupy most of my free time, from test sessions to finally making it to those high school events in the Detroit area that I can't do during the week. Maybe that will compel me to travel more and actually allow clubs to put me up in hotels so I can take my time in areas I'm visiting instead of rushing back home. 

I also look to my mother-in-law for inspiration. She is a volunteer docent at the Grand Rapids Public Museum, working once a week. She enjoys the kids and educating them on things like fossils, vintage toys, and plants. I would love to be a docent at the GRAM, talk about abstract expressionism or take people through craft projects.

Or maybe like my mom, who, after retiring, went to work at the library to catalog books and teach genealogy. While that is not my bag, I would love to be involved in story time, maybe take on an elder Laura Ingalls persona, teach kids old-timey skills, and let them dream about adventure. 

Or take an easy-pay, low-risk, couple of hours a day job, prepping and feeding kids at lunch at the high school. I can't believe I didn't put working at a thrift store on this list initially!

It's going to be interesting to explore retirement "careers" in the next few years. I don't see either one of us idly sitting on our hands watching TV. But slowing down does seem like a dream come true. 

The Cereal Project: Bowl and Spoon

We have a Cardinals bowl just like this, easily adapted to fit our movie promo

In our kitchen, we have promotional bowls from Spartan Stores, Kellogg's, the Whitecaps, and Spaghettios. We also have collectible Star Wars spoons that change color in cold milk.

We have to tie the movie back to the cereal. I mean, it's all about finding the prize IN a box of cereal after all. 

I want a set - a bowl and a spoon. Logically, a spoon is smaller than a bowl. How about you get the spoon free in a box of cereal, but in a classic additional promo, you send away for the bowl? 

Cam's morning.

People can choose from various movie quotes or designs to submit for their bowl.  

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That's a wrap on the Cereal Project! I don't know what I enjoyed more, creating the prizes or imagining the movie for the promotion. To be honest, I'm surprised no one has greenlit sequels of movies featuring Hughes' teenagers all grown up.  Bender, Claire, and Allison from The Breakfast Club; the Baker family, Farmer Ted, Long Duck Dong, and Jake in 16 Candles; Lisa, Gary, and Wyatt in Weird Science; Keith, Watts, and Amanda in Some Kind of Wonderful; Andie, Duckie, and Iona in Pretty in Pink; they all still lovingly exist for fans in his quirky universe. 

Lipstick on the Mic: The 5. 6. 7. 8s

 

Woo hoo hoo hoo

You know them but you don't: they appeared as the house band for the Toyko club House of Blue Leaves in the movie and soundtrack to Kill Bill, they've had their songs sampled in various commercials, participated in several festivals, served as the opening act for several big names, and is a favorite on Little Steven's Underground Garage. 

From Wikipedia: 

The 5.6.7.8's formed when Sachiko and Yoshiko "Ronnie" Fujiyama, two sisters from Tokyo who both shared a passion for rock and roll, founded the band in 1986 with two other members. Originally, the line-up consisted of Yoshiko on vocals and guitar, Rico on second guitar, Yoshie on bass guitar and Sachiko on drums. After several line-up changes (including the bassist Yoshiko "Yama" Yamaguchi, who was the bassist featured in the Kill Bill movie), the band eventually became a trio after Rico's and Yoshie's departures. Yoshiko and Sachiko are still the main components in the band, and now Akiko Omo has rejoined the band as the bass guitarist (She originally joined the 5.6.7.8's in the early 1990s)...

... The 5.6.7.8's music draws from multiple genres of American music, including rock and roll, surf, rockabilly, doo-wop, punk rock, and psychobilly. According to Yoshiko "Ronnie" Fujiyama, the band wanted to "deconstruct rock 'n' roll into punk music by using distortion and noise and screaming." The band's influences include Chuck Berry and Sex Pistols. The 5.6.7.8's sound has been classified as garage rock, rock and roll, garage punk, punk rock, rockabilly, roots rock, surf punk, and surf rock.

Notable songs include Woo Hoo, Walk Like Jayne Mansfield, I'm Blue, and The Barracuda. 

December 2025: The Fifth Monkee, Bob Rafelson

A wool hat and a couple of buttons away from the full-on Monkees uniform

The man behind the curtain. I'm tired, so I'm lifting this from imdb: 

Bob Rafelson was an American film director, writer, and producer. He is regarded as one of the founders of the New Hollywood movement in the 1970s. Among his best-known films are Five Easy Pieces (1970), The King of Marvin Gardens (1972), and The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981). He was also one of the creators of the pop group and TV series The Monkees (1965) along with Bert Schneider.

From wiki:

Rafelson said that the idea for the show was inspired by his own misadventures while playing in a band in Mexico, which predated A Hard Day's Night. Rafelson said, "I had conceived the show before The Beatles existed," and it was based on his time as an itinerant musician more interested in having fun than in earning a living. Raybert Productions sold the idea to Screen Gems, and the band that they created was The Monkees.

Rafelson and Schneider won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series as producers in 1967. He has cited the series' "radically different way of cutting and doing a half-hour comedy because there were interviews that were interspersed [and] there was documentary footage."

He was nominated for an Oscar for Five Easy Pieces and had a long, successful career, retiring in 2002. He passed from cancer in 2022.

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That's a wrap on the Fifth Monkee feature in the blog. I feel like this P.S. to the post is kind of like the end credits to the Christmas episode, where they gave shout-outs to the crew, including the girls in the front office. 

Who else would I have included? Character actors like Butch Patrick, Vincent Beck, Art Lewis, Rip Taylor, Mike Farrell, Richard Kiel, and Len Lesser who had a late career revival as Uncle Leo on Seinfeld. 

Speaking of, other guests who had notable careers like Joey Forman (comedian), Alex Hay (model), Heather North (voice actress), Billie Hayes (dancer), Carl Ballantine (Magician), Paul Mazursky (director), Bobby Sherman (singer), David Draper (bodybuilding), Liberace (musician), and Anita Mann (choreographer).

James Frawley, who voiced Mr. Schneider and was a producer/ director for the show, should be mentioned. 

Credit to the Wrecking Crew who provided backing tracks. Producer Chip Douglas. I didn't know Glen Campbell, Stephen Stills, and Neil Young played on Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, and Jones, Ltd.! And special recognition to Jack Nicholson who helped produce and write the movie Head. 

Project 3867: It's All in the Details

Keeping it clean

Annnnnnd... we are back to cars.

You can't ignore the two bays and ample parking space on the property. But what service is missing in CP? 

Dave has lamented the need to have his truck detailed: someone to go in and clean it from top to bottom. Vacuum the interior, wipe the dash, and polish the chrome. 

Take care of the details. 

And people are funny about their cars. I'm in several Bronco owners groups and some lose their minds if someone breathes on their trucks wrong, let alone washes it wrong. 

One bay will be dedicated to being a soft touch, done-by-hand car wash. Softest shammies, squeaky clean windows and mirrors, polish up the black walls on the tires, get the chrome sparkling. 

The second bay would be dedicated to car detailing, getting every speck of dirt picked up, every goldfish cracker removed, and back to you with a new car smell. 

Inside, the shop will be dedicated to extras so the customer can maintain appearances: phone accessories, cleaning supplies, even mini trash cans and air fresheners. A peg board for local mechanics to shill their businesses.

I'd even resurface the parking lot with sparkling blacktop and bright lights that make the cars gleam. I really want to resurface that blacktop. 

Edited to add: I wrote this series early in 2025 as I was brainstorming ideas and concepts for the property at 3867 West River. Sometime in October, the site has a new tenant, and it appears to be back to being a garage. Best of luck to the new tenants!

Why Art Matters: The Random Pursuit of Knowledge

Wagner's Ring Cycle, as depicted by Bugs Bunny

So I'm in the throes of doing competitor analysis, and Hillsdale College is practically insufferable in the haughtiness of their noble pursuit of academic and intellectual pursuits. 

This opinion is pretty rich coming from someone who graduated from a party school with a marketing degree. BUT I was a double major, with a minor!

What I'm wondering - and this is a mashup of a Why Art Matters and Typing Out Loud - is if it is more respectable to obtain your knowledge from studying the classics, such as Socrates and Descartes? Or is it equally okay for a more modest collection of knowledge bites to occur, such as the series Uncle John's Bathroom Reader?  To paraphrase Elaine Benes scolding Jerry on Seinfeld, "Your knowledge of fine art is limited to Bugs Bunny cartoons." 

I suppose it is more direct and earnest to go straight to the source, but there is a joy to organic curiosity, or as I have described it, "falling down the rabbit hole." 

This year, I have been keeping a journal, cataloging something new learned every day. It has not been easy, and I am currently behind. It all started when I drove by the Big Rapids airport on January 1, and Will randomly asked me what the airport code was. I did not know. 

When I worked at Walgreens in the late 80s, we had to wear a button with the slogan "If I don't know, I will find out!" which reflected the corporation's enthusiastic approach to customer service. I liked it because instead of a chastised approach to ignorance, it framed the pursuit of finding out as a mission. 

How Glass Onion led to deck chair restoration. Before...

After!

Because of this wonder, I paused to watch birds swooping and flocking, only to find out that it was a murmuration of starlings. The song Glass Onion clued me into what a dovetail joint is, which led to  Facebook binging videos of furniture restoration, which also led to obtaining free furniture from the Marketplace to be restored. I cannot wait to start working on upcycling my free wicker furniture! 

Many years ago, a casual reference to the Stonewall riots on the show Mad Men led me down the rabbit hole of the many facets of the civil rights movement from the 60s that weren't covered in high school US history class. It wasn't just about the Vietnam War - this was about women's rights, migrant workers' rights, the rights of African Americans, and, for Bob Benson, who showed up hurt in Joan's apartment, the rights of the LGBTQ members of society. 

I'd be interested to know what professionals in the field of education and academics think. Is this considered surface bites of pop culture, no more nutritious than a McNugget, or are you eager to see the spark and cultivate it to something richer and more substantial? 

I type this as Duo Lingo's bird of knowledge is applauding day 2 of my learning some awkward Spanish.