Hello,
Who am I? I’m a kid of the 50’s. Born in ‘52, I walked alone to school by the time I was in second grade! It wasn’t far, just a block and a half, but nobody had any fear about a 7 year old walking alone to school. Now, it’s a different story. I practiced hiding under my desk at school in case atom bombs started dropping all around us. We knew what atom bombs could do! Besides dropping two on Japan during World War II, our government was exploding a bunch of them out in our western states and I’m sure we had some very radioactive days in the Midwest a day or two later. Speaking of radiation, I had a wristwatch with radium on the dial face so I could tell time in the dark by the glowing numbers. And go to the dentist and get an x-ray? They didn’t cover anything! Let’s talk about lead! Not only was my home painted up and down and sideways with lead based paint, I helped scrape and paint new coats of lead based paint all over. Speaking of lead, a friend of mine would melt lead down and pour it into molds to make his own lead toy soldiers which we would then play with, getting lead residue all over our hands! Speaking of hands, my friends would have little globules of liquid mercury which we would pass to each other from hand to hand. Fun, liquid metal! We had asbestos covered pipes in the basement that my friends and I enjoyed poking holes in, working our fingers into to touch the metal pipes underneath. Heck, I probably had asbestos pajamas! I shoveled coal into our furnace. Not too bad, I don’t think I’ll get black lung but that’s just how old I am! When we had ants in the house, we’d break out the DDT and fill up our hand pump sprayer, and spray it all over the place getting it all over our hands and what not. I would build model airplanes, cars and ships and didn’t realize that maybe the reason I liked it so much was because of the fumes from the airplane glue! I had a chemistry set and burned all sorts of chemicals just to see what they smelled like (breathing them in of course)! Anyway, I’m still alive, but I’m sure something horrible is awaiting me just around the corner!
I was a teenager of the 60’s. A crazy time in the U.S. and in the world. I was a Beatle-maniac! I loved that rock and roll. I remember watching the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show and, of course, all the other British invasion acts. The U.S. was in turmoil over Viet Nam. I remember watching the national news and listening to the daily stats on how many Viet Cong were killed and how many U.S. soldiers were killed. Surely we would win! College students protesting and rioting, the Democratic convention in Chicago, Weathermen, the SDS and love-ins. My father died when I was 13. By this time my brothers had married and moved out. My mother sold our home and we moved out to the suburbs. I remember sitting alone in our apartment, my mother at work. Just the hum of the air conditioner. All my friends left behind. A lonely, sad time. Things got better. We move on. The 60’s ended with Neil Armstrong stepping on the moon. I remember exactly where I was when that happened. Don’t you?
I went to college in the 70’s. Rock concerts galore! Let’s see. There was Led Zepplein, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Steppenwolf, Jethro Tull, Derek and the Dominoes, Elton John, the Allman Brothers, Pink Floyd, Humble Pie, Alice Cooper, Cat Stevens, Traffic, Mountain, Bread, Moody Blues and more. I couldn’t find a job when I graduated from college, so I signed up for the Peace Corps. But I sold out when a job offer finally came from US Steel! It turned out good for me because that’s where I met my wife. We’ve now been married for over 32 years. I was a computer programmer for US Steel and loved my job. It was my dream job! I was put on the “fast track” and found myself being put in a few jobs that weren’t related to programming.
So, now its the 80’s. I left US Steel and went to a company called Computer Partners and had another great 3 years working for them. The Ronald Regan years were great. My wife and I were making lots of money. The Chicago Bears won the Super Bowl in January 1986 for their incredible 1985 season. I remember watching Friday Night Videos before cable and MTV came to town. Saturday Night Live was still one of my favorite TV shows. My wife and I were consumed with our jobs and spent a lot of time at them. No kids. Tried like hell, but no kids.
Then the 90’s came. We decided to pursue my passion for food and we opened up a restaurant in the south suburbs of Chicago. Talk about spending a lot of time at work and being consumed by your work. My wife and I had a joke in the beginning of our restaurant lives. As we pulled our car into the back of the restaurant, we would look at each other and say “Ground Hog Day” in reference to the Bill Murray movie in which the same day happens over and over again. We had great fun and success with our restaurant. We found our cats in our garage abandoned by their mother, so we took them in. Total fun! After 5 year of working the restaurant, we finally took a vacation. We stayed at Los Abrigados here in Sedona, Arizona. Fell in love with the area and bought a house! We wanted to move here right away, but that didn’t work out!
The new millennium came, and the world didn’t end! I became a community volunteer in my village. I was the Chairman of our Cable TV Committee and I produced over 30 television shows. I was the Chairman of the Economic Development Committee. I was a Board Member of the Merchant’s Chamber. I was a board member in our Homeowner’s Association. Then I decided to run for Village Trustee and, low and behold, I won! I’m an elected official, a “politician” if you will! Doing this all while still the Chef/Owner of our restaurant. What I am most proud of during this time is that through our restaurant, we helped raise a lot of money for a variety of local, national and worldwide charities. After 16 years in the biz we sold the restaurant in 2008 and are now looking for something to do.
That pretty much brings us up-to-date. My wife and I are here in Sedona, Az. and we’re looking for jobs. The economy is not so good and there’s not a whole lot of jobs out there. In the mean time, I have my websites to keep me busy. My major website is www.redrockrestaurants.com which acts as “Your Gateway to Sedona Area Restaurants”. Ads are reasonably priced and if you need any restaurant help and/or consulting, or website design work, please contact us!
