Department of Rab

BACK!

2013-09-22T22:21:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the year long absence. Last year I moved 2000 km from my original hometown to start a new life in Western Canada. I went from a small Northern town of trees and rocks to a small Southern Prairie town of fields and crops. Go fiqure.

It has been a whirlwind year with lots of ups and downs. I just started an excellent new job a few weeks back and I'm loving it. I also got married in July. The last few months have been crazy busy.

I'm still into the mail and all that jazz. My email is departmentofrab@hotmail.com. Drop me an email if you want my address. I'm always looking for new pen-pals.

My life is going in a positive new direction so I leave you with this picture to illustrate it:

I'm also on Twitter. My handle is departmentofrab. Look me up!

-Rob

End of July!

2012-07-21T14:39:00.004-07:00

I have been off for a month as I'm in between jobs and moving. There has been a lot of changes in my life. The mail helps to keep me grounded. I finally found some time to work on the mail and update this blog.

I received this card from Russia :

Thank you Ksenia. I appreciate the card. It is missing the ID number though. Would you be able to provide it for me? You can send me an email or drop me a message on postcrossing.

Canada Post and Cheerios cereal are providing a free postcard to send to Canadian Athletes. Here is what it looks like :

I cut it out and then you have :

Hmmmm. What should I write? The free postcard comes with a ton of restrictions so I can't advertise my blog or even write my own name. Classic.

-Rob

Do not do try this at home!*

2012-06-15T06:59:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

So I have been super busy and always on the grind. I will skip the usual apologies and just get back to blogging. I have tons of stories and lots to talk about. I run my mouth so much that my favorite gal says she cannot even get a word in. Classic.

So here is quick recap (in no particular order) of everything:

Postcrossing

It is still going strong. My pen pals are still great. I receive a couple of pieces of mail a week. It is more manageable now and it is actually the relaxing hobby it should be. I usually work on the mail and watch netflix when I have the time. Here is a card I got from Lucy from Taiwan :

Dexter

Dexter is highly addictive. I know people may find the theme (serial killer) off putting but the writing and dialogue is the best. I have never watched a show where I cared about every single character. The characters are well-written and believable. The plot and storyline also keeps me hooked. I'm currently on season 3. I'm halfway caught up.

Video Games

My Xbox 360 died the red ring of death six months ago. I never got around to replacing it. I have been busy with postcrossing, martial arts and everything else in life that video games kind of went on the back burner. I kept a savings jar at home to save for a new one. Last weekend I went to a garage sale and found this :

For 100 dollars I got a 250G Xbox 360 with two controllers and tons of brand new games. I got all of the Call of Duty games and Skyrim. Also I got Mario Kart for the Wii. What a deal. Garage sales are the best!
My favorite gal still doesn't believe I even play video games. She will now!**

Other

* I'm fighting in a martial arts tournament in Ottawa this weekend. The website is http://www.ontariobjjchampionship.com/ottawa_open. Apparently Mario Lopez will be a special guest for unknown reasons.
I entered my weight class as 194.5 (GI) and 188 (No GI). I was 203 when I made that decision. Two weeks ago I kicked it into high gear to make that weight. So for two weeks I exercised 2-4 hours a day and walked on my lunch hour. I also watched what I ate and practiced portion control. I'm basically down to 191 pounds. I lost 12 pounds in two weeks. It worked and I only felt a little sore every so often.

** I know, I know. Everything in moderation. I promise Babe!

-Rob

Fire!

2012-05-27T20:25:00.002-07:00

I'm way behind in updating this blog and I had a ton of things I wanted to say on here but I will leave you with this :

There is a state of emergency for where (for the past few days) I live due to forest fires. The fire in the photo was put out and there are a few fires on the outskirts of town. Everything is okay as of late because it rained today and the wind has died down.

-Rob

Guest host : My Dad!

2012-05-08T20:09:00.001-07:00

My Dad is an amateur photographer and he is slowly but surely learning the fine workings of a digital camera so I'm proud to present some of his latest pics. He suggested I turn them into postcards but I also informed him I would post them on here. So here goes :

These are some of the birds on our deck. It can become a feeding frenzy!

Here is the cherry tree that the birds eat from also.

Here is a disassembled fish tank.

Here is a random building. (I will have to get my Dad to explain this one)

This is a petite lapin!

So thank you Dad for filling in for this edition.

-Rob

7 weeks!

2012-05-06T20:09:00.001-07:00

I only have 7 weeks left till I see my favorite gal again. To tide the time I sent her this in the mail :

It was a cool vintage card that I found in Toronto. My gal is the "butterfly" of my life so it was only fitting she receive this.

I went nuts with postcrossing today and sent out a whole bunch of postcards :

After working on the mail I didn't want to waste such a beautiful day (20 Celsius and sunny) that I spent the afternoon with my Uncle. Have a good week everyone!

-Rob

Hacked~Happy Anniversary

2012-04-29T15:47:00.003-07:00

Happy Anniversary to the best guy ever!!!!!

Just wanted to take over your blog and wish you a happy anniversary. I wish I could be there to share the day with you but we will have many others for that. Skype will have to do this year!!!!

This year has been amazing with all the great things that we have done. Vegas was the best ! This place was absolutely amazing and there are so many other places for us to visit.

I hope you know I will love you forever and always

Kate xo

Unacceptable!

2012-04-22T22:07:00.000-07:00

It has been almost a month since I have I have updated this blog. I feel bad. Sorry everyone for letting you down.

So with that out of the way I will bring you up to speed. I got back from Las Vegas last week! Words cannot even begin to describe how aweswome it is. I will have to post pictures later as I'm currently in Toronto (for work). I promise when I get back home on Wednesday I will post some Vegas pics on here.

I'm in Toronto right now and I forget how much I love this city!

I went to my favorite cinema at 10pm to see a movie. It was called Raid : Redemption. Check out www.imdb.com for more information on it. Then I decided to walk around a bit.

I stumbled into this and I found :

I hit the jackpot! There was a ton of vintage postcards (Beatles etc). The counter clerk looked at me funny when I came to his cash with a stack of postcards. And I bought a snack:

This is was the grossest sushi I have ever eaten! Okay I have to wrap this up because it's 1am and I have to be in a workshop at 9am.

-Rob

100!

2012-03-31T20:28:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the huge delay in blog postings. This is normally not my style. I have just been extremely busy. Let me give you a quick update on my life :

1) Postcrossing : I have been slowing it down. I have a variety of pen-pals which keep me busy enough.

2) Weather: The weather has been crazy in March (one extreme to another) The temperature has varied from 20 Celsius to -4 Celsius. And sometimes it would be sunny and clear and the next day freezing rain and hail. Welcome to Ontario!

3) Movies/TV : I have discovered the joys of Netflix. I'm watching Arrested Development and Justified.

4) Favorite Gal: I just mailed my 100th letter to her and to celebrate this milestone we are going to Las Vegas in 5 days. (Just kidding - on the celebration. We were going to Vegas regardless) I'm excited. Gambling athon here we come. (Ha!) My fav gal isn't too keen on gambling so I doubt I will break my previous record of 8 hours of continuous blackjack. Maybe next time.

5) Other : I still feed the birds outside. My car still runs. I guess I have no complaints. I'm also off to Toronto April 23. I can't wait to get back there and do some exploring.

Here are some photos:

This is my wall for March

Thank you Ana for the nice card

Thank you Mary for this gem

The birds

Fireworks from back in February

Comic book store in Regina

My fav gal!

Done and done!

-Rob

Luck of the Irish!

2012-03-18T17:27:00.000-07:00

Here is how I spent St Patrick's Day :

chillin,

partying,

sipping,

watching and

dancing (??)

-Rob

Tired and Sore!

2012-03-10T11:17:00.000-08:00

I have been on the grind lately and working hard trying to get back into shape. Today I'm trying to take it easy. Here is a card that I received and I think it is awesome :

Thank you Alena! Well I'm going back to listening to Howard Stern and working on some mail.

-Rob

Everybody Runs!

2012-03-08T08:14:00.000-08:00

I stumbled across this website: http://www.runforyourlives.com/. How cool is this? It is a 5k race (similar to Warrior Dash) but this time you have to avoid zombies! The zombies are real people dressed up and they chase you through the course.

I'm thinking of running it in June 2012.

-Rob

Snowed In!

2012-03-03T14:04:00.000-08:00

The weather here is crazy! I guess it is a good day to stay in and do the following :

watch Archer
watch Restaurant Impossible
work on mail art
text my favorite gal

Here is proof of the weather :

I had to shovel off the deck so the birds could be fed. I fed the birds and an hour later the bird seed was covered because it has been snowing non-stop. Classic.

In postcrossing news I received this card :

It was from the Netherlands. Thanks Elly. The best part was the stamp :

This is the special postcrossing stamp that can be purchased in the Netherlands. I think it is neat.
And here is another card I received that I wanted to show :

It is a copy of art from the Museum of Oriental Art in Moscow. Thank you Sochi. I plan to frame it. Too bad it got a little bent from travelling.

-Rob

A Leap Year for a Leap Gal!

2012-02-29T20:32:00.001-08:00

I have 30 minutes to complete this post before the Leap Year runs out. I didn't wear purple or yellow and I didn't take any crazy chances today. Maybe I should have done something crazy that would have made my gal happy*

I did send out the best Leap Year card ever to my favorite gal. I doubt anyone can top this :

See it's Superman leaping on a Leap Year. I'm pure genius. Ha!

-Rob

* Danger: forshadowing

Saskatchewan

2012-02-28T17:53:00.001-08:00

I Love Saskatchewan!

My first adventure out west was fun with my favourite gal. The Science Centre in Regina was pretty cool and surely beats Science North in Sudbury. It was interesting to see the different things that they had and more interactive activities!

Trying to use my muscles to prove that I am stronger than the world.. ahha corny!

Estevan is an OK city...

This was a fun day looking at cool rocks in Roche Percee... Couldn't find the real ones but these ones will due!

My new favourite place in Saskatchewan!

Well hope you enjoyed my little adventure!!!!

Rob~

Too much mail!

2012-02-24T16:56:00.000-08:00

I was gone one week to see my favorite gal and I came back to this :

I love mail! Honestly though- I don't even know where to begin with this pile. I have at least twenty pieces of mail to sort through and respond to. Classic. I have to keep this post short cause I'm going to my best friends house to watch my favorite show which is :

I almost love this show as much as I love Seinfeld. Check it out.

-Rob

Vacation!

2012-02-22T16:34:00.000-08:00

I'm currently on vacation so I'm sorry for the delay on my blog posting. And I'm sure my mail is piling up at home. But I'm having a good time on vacation and that's what counts! I could tell you stories after stories but I will take the weekend when I'm back home to get everyone up to date. In the meantime here is a picture of me completing my first ever out of province half marathon in Regin, SK :

I had a sub-par time (I don't even feel like posting it) but I enjoyed the last 6km because a gentleman named Glen kept me company. So thank you Glen! You made the last leg of the race bearable, because at the 9km mark I was finished mentally and didn't know if I could finish.

And I must give a thanks to my favorite gal who was my navigator and did all the driving and took all the pictures on my trip.

-Rob

K and R!

2012-02-14T20:28:00.000-08:00

So happy Valentine's Day everyone! And of course I must give a special valentine shout out to my fav gal of all time. And with that blog opening I will start with this:

This card came in yesterday from a fellow postcrosser. Thanks for saving my bacon because now I don't have to have a valentine card ready for Kate*. My work here is done. And as an added bonus I received this in the mail also**:

I could not have done a better job myself. Thank you Krista (postcrosser). So really I may have learned a valuable lesson which is - just don't worry about special holidays and let the postcrossers do all the work.***

-Rob

* I really did mail out 3 valentine cards to my fav gal and I sent them to Love, SK, Canada. From there the postmaster put a special postmark on them and mailed them to her current addresss. And best of all she received them today. I could not have done it better myself.

** See previous post : What are the odds 3 times in a row I received postcards in sets of 2 that can be grouped in themes.

*** Disclaimer : All pen-pals and postcrossers are important to me and I do not rely on them to send mail just so I can take advantage of it. I cherish all mail and appreciate their hard work.

Oops. I cannot forget :

and :

Everything Comes In 2's!

2012-02-11T13:23:00.000-08:00

So here is a weird coincidence. On Thursday 2 postcards came in the mail :

This one was a vintage card of New York sent by a postcrosser who lives in New Jersey. I love this card. The next card was :

This was a photo that a postcrosser took when they were on vacation. So Thursdays mail theme was New York. Which brings me to Fridays mail :

This card is from the Pride and Prejudice Zombie Collection and sent from Finland. I guess Fridays theme could be called violence and mayhem when I looked at the second card received on this day:

I love samurai movies and I train in Kali (weapons self defense) so I love this card. The message on the back basically said be nice to my favorite gal or my head will be chopped off. Errr. Thanks for the card?
I wonder what theme will be next week?

-Rob

Sidenote: I can't believe I'm watching Ghost Rider on television right now. Normally I think Nicolas Cage is the king of all cheese (Season of the Witch, Drive Angry, National Treasure, etc etc) but I figured I should watch it because I seen a preview for the new movie Spirit of Vengeance and I kinda of want to see it. The movie is okay but Eva Mendes character seems a little flaky.

THIS IS NOT RIGHT!

2012-02-09T20:17:00.000-08:00

Sorry for yelling in the title but I feel I must. Please allow me to explain and you will understand completely. I was browsing the card section at a certain store * in the town where I live.

I always do this because you never know what hidden gems you may find that can be used for postcrossing. I stumbled upon this :

Cool right? I thought so until :

I was stunned!!!!! This is a straight injustice! Let the comments fly everyone. I wish to hear your views.

-Rab

* The store owners took some photoshop liberties with the photo because that store does not look like that in real life. Trust me on that one. In reality the building is located in a crumbling downtown that has barely any stores people would shop in. It is not a picturesque shopping experience.

Someone guessed my age!

2012-02-06T12:54:00.000-08:00

Well one person submitted a guess for my birthday contest:

AnonymousFeb 5, 2012 06:29 AM

may be 27? :)

Well Mr. Anonymous you are the only person to submit a guess and it has been a few weeks so I declare you the winner. Please email me at departmentofrab@hotmail.com if you want to claim your prize.

Unhack!

2012-02-04T20:28:00.000-08:00

I'm back in full control here. Welcome back to myself I guess. So what have I been up to?Basically it has been a lot of mail and tv today. Normally I'm always on the grind and my weekends are taken up with various activities so it is nice to stay in and relax. Here is a list of things I did today:

Mail (Out)

Pen-pals - 3

Postcrossing (mine) 4

Postcrossing (kate and rob) 3

Mail (In)

Postcrossing -1

Pen-pals -3

T.V. Shows Watched:

Comedy Network - Chelsea Handler, Billy Gardell

Storage Wars

Billy the Exterminator *

Miscellaneous Tasks

Took a picture of my goldfish

Took pictures of birds eating birdseed outside on the deck

read more of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (see previous entry)

read the newspaper(s)

I must always include a pic so here goes:

This was the second best birthday card received! (The best one was the worlds biggest one sent by my fav gal but unfortunately it is a bristol board card and too big to scan on here!) I must thank my brother for this card. It plays the star wars theme and apparently it is interactive online if you go to their website.

And this was an excellent gift to go with the card. I didn't know they made this book in a bigger softcover. I had an small paperback version but I lost it after university somewhere. Thank you again P.G. But of course the best gift of all is seeing my fav gal in 2 weeks. Nothing can top that.

-Rob

* Please don't hold it against me. I was in some kind of trance. I was watching it and then I suddenly snapped myself to reality and changed the channel.

You have been hacked!!!!!!!

2012-01-31T10:54:00.000-08:00

Hello Fellow Followers!!!

I have officially hacked into this blog because I now remember the password lol.. Well I guess its really not hacking if I was given permission

Nothing much to report just my great adventure coming up in 17.5 days! I cannot wait to see my favourite gal :)

Our first New Years!!! It was a good night and many more to come :)

Have a good "hacked day" Robert!\

Love u xo

21 Million Versus 5

2012-01-28T20:07:00.000-08:00

So I had been putting reading off a certain novel because I usually hate feeding into popular stuff (ie Twilight and Harry Potter). Watching the first hour of the new movie that just came out (featuring Daniel Craig) made me bite the bullet. I went to my local used book store and bought this :

And as people have told me it is a hard book to put down. So the back cover states that 21 million copies have been sold. So 21 million have read it. Which brings me to the next purchase (which I thought was a gem) :

So maybe five people have read this old school fantasy book form the 80's. Ha! I think this book is cool though. So since the books came in two, I will leave you with two random pics*:

and :

-Rob

* Pic 1 is Christmas with my fav gal.
Pic 2 is what happens when I don't pay for dinner. Ba-zing!

GUESS MY AGE! WIN A PRIZE!

2012-01-25T20:12:00.000-08:00

So I promised a huge blog entry because it is my birthday. Well here goes:

Here was my first card. And when I opened the card it contained the following:

I hit the jackpot. I scratched one and won 6 bucks. And here is a card from a family member that means a lot to me:

I will treasure this card. Now onto the contest. Take a look at this next picture :

So here is the birthday boy and his fancy meal. Can you guess my age? If you can guess correctly my real age I will send you a random assortment of this :

Wait what is this?* Lets try this again. You can win this:

I will provide the winner with a random assortment of mail art goodies from these boxes. So if anyone is interested just send me an email or leave a comment on the blog with your guess of my age. ( This contest is not open to immediate friends or family).

Wait! How did this get in here? Ha! So I had a good day and I hope everyone else did. Have a good night everyone.

-Rob

* For the record I did not take a picture of crows on a dumpster. I'm intrigued that someone I know did.