The Old Lone Ranger

Das Boot

By Rich Marin | July 31, 2026 by Rich Marin

Das Boot is a 1981 German war film directed by Wolfgang Petersen, based on Lothar-Günther Buchheim’s semi-autobiographical novel about a U-boat crew during WWII. It’s known for being told almost entirely from the German sailors’ perspective aboard U-96, capturing the claustrophobia and tedium of submarine warfare punctuated by shear terror. It’s widely considered one of the greatest war films ever made, and one of the most technically demanding productions of its era (the interior U-boat…

The Back Half

By Rich Marin | July 30, 2026 by Rich Marin

I’m not entirely sure why the world works this way for us, but we seem to have a front half and a back half of the year. They are broken up by the month of July, which is our month with out family out here on the hilltop. The front half tends to be about planning some distant trip. The last few years have been, starting in 2023, Egypt/Jordan, Southeast Asia, Patagonia, and this year,…

Business Advice Memoir

Vibecoded

By Rich Marin | July 29, 2026July 25, 2026 by Rich Marin

I learned a new word this morning, vibecoding. Vibecoding is building software by describing what you want in plain English and letting an AI engine generate the code, rather than writing it line by line yourself. Some programmer coined the term in early 2025, and it’s since become mainstream enough to be the Collins Dictionary’s 2025 Word of the Year (how did I miss that?). How it works is that you describe the feature or…

Memoir Politics

The Nuclear Life

By Rich Marin | July 28, 2026July 25, 2026 by Rich Marin

There are so many things to worry about in the world at any time. As to the biggest existential threats at the moment, experts generally rank the biggest risks as, first and foremost, nuclear war. This risk that had us doing drills hiding under our desks sixty-five years ago is still the most immediate way civilization could end quickly, especially with tensions around Russia/Ukraine, and flashpoints in East Asia and South Asia….and now, the Middle…

Fiction/Humor Memoir

The Floating Circus

By Rich Marin | July 27, 2026 by Rich Marin

I will write this story and plan to publish it on Monday morning. That’s when we will be bouncing along on the 5 in a van on our way to the Royal Caribbean Terminal in San Pedro. That ride should take about two hours, so we should get there by about 11am, right on time for our special early boarding privilege (we apparently bought some package for preferential boarding and full internet usage that allows…

Fiction/Humor Memoir

Appled Up

By Rich Marin | July 26, 2026July 22, 2026 by Rich Marin

There is a line from a favorite movie that has always stuck in my mind. The movie is The Way written and directed by Emilio Esteves and starred in by his father, Martin Sheen. “The Way” follows Tom Avery, a California ophthalmologist who travels to France after learning his adult son Daniel died in a storm while walking the Camino de Santiago, the historic pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Rather than simply bringing…

Fiction/Humor Memoir

Theme Parked

By Rich Marin | July 25, 2026July 24, 2026 by Rich Marin

July is turning out to be the month of theme parks for me. Disney, Eagle Gold Mine (a stretch…but sort of), Santa Monica Pier and today, Warner Brothers Studio Tour. We did the Universal Studio Tour and Park last summer so this will complete two of the three suite (Carolyn tells me that next year we have to do Paramount). It’s nice and warm here in LA, not oppressively hot, but still sunny and warm.…

Love Memoir

Picnic at the Beach

By Rich Marin | July 24, 2026 by Rich Marin

There is no such thing as a perfect day, but there are days that are more pleasant than others. Yesterday was a pretty good day on this particular hilltop. It began with me having a kick-off meeting on a new case that I’ve just been assigned. By now I can tell if a case is going to be well-structured and organized or whether its going to be chaotic and all over the place. This kick-off…

Uncategorized

Z-Addendum

By Rich Marin | July 23, 2026 by Rich Marin

News flash! That extra Zepbound injection on Monday has caused me to drop almost 4 pounds so far this week and I hit a new all-time low in the 250s. Of course I did a double workout yesterday too with an hour with my trainer and two hours in the Gyrotonics studio (yes, I am a bit muscle sore today). But nonetheless, ya gotta love this Zepbound stuff. I’ve been paying for my own Zepbound…

Memoir

Zepbounded

By Rich Marin | July 23, 2026 by Rich Marin

It was bound (pun intended) to happen. On Saturday, I fucked up my Zepbound injection. The drill is that to get the Lilly Direct special pricing, I get my Zepbound in refrigerated vials and Lily also send me hypodermic needles and alcohol swabs so that I can self-administer the injections. The process is to take the plastic cap off the vial, exposing the rubber top membrane. Then I open the alcohol swabs and clean the…

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