Rob's Blog

There is life after work

In my retirement I'm finding myself busier than I'd expected. It was definitely an adjustment not having a place to go every day. In the beginning I was still getting up at my regular time of 6:45am. I got into the habit of going downstairs making breakfast, reading the NY Times on my iPad and then wondering what I would do at 9am! Initially I had a lot of things to organize in terms of changing emails, banking, continuation of benefits, etc. But after that high energy lift I found myself a bit out of sorts. I realized one of the things I missed about going to work everyday was interacting with the people. Without the work environment, that element was missing. I had one freelance job back in May for a healthcare management company, AVOCA, but otherwise didn't have much to do. So, I started making lunch dates and getting back to my TV roots by volunteering as a Director at Channel 34, the local Montclair Cable station. One of the shows we're doing is a music show called No Cover, featuring my friend Gail Prusslin interviewing both local and nationally known musicians talking about and playing their music. I also put together a video for a non-profit, Succeed2gether. I'm working out and even playing tennis again after about a 10-year layoff, visiting some former colleagues, one of whom is in California, and have a speaking engagement at exl Pharma in December. Also tweeting more, posting on Facebook, and I suppose I should be blogging more! I'm just worried about getting TOO busy. Life is never simple.

Hurricane Sandy

Nothing like a disaster to make you appreciate the little things in life - like electricity. It was almost unbearbable being without heat for 7 days, especially in this weather. It was exhausting. We used the fireplace a lot, but it only generated heat when you were near it, and stayed out of the house as much as possible. We saw 4 movies in 4 days: Argo, about the Iran hostage crisis and how 6 Americans still in Teheran were smuggled out, impersonating a film crew on a "scouting" assignement; The Other Son, a fantastic story about an Israeli and Palestinian who were mistakenly switched at birth and grew up in families not of their biological origins; The Sessions, about a polio victim who uses a sexual surrogate to experience love - very graphic, but tastefully done; And Smashed, with Aaron Paul (from Breaking Bad) about an alcoholic couple and the changes that occur in their relationship when one of them decides to become sober. The last was our least favorite, but still worth seeing. Thank God the power went back on Monday night, 11/5, exactly a week from when it went off. How did people ever live without heat and electricity? I guess that is why life expectancy was so much shorter. It was stressful, though I'm not sure how much worse it was due to the fact that we are used to having power. It certainly supports the theory of Global Warming, which has predicted more frequent and severe weather events. Maybe we'll finally address tha, if it's not already too late.. Anyway, the next day, 11/6 was a momentus occasion when Barak Obama was re-elected. Now the hard work begins and one can only hope that bipartisanship prevails over self interest, stubborness and animosity. 

Morry's Story

After 23 years in the news biz, Morry Alter is retiring. WCBS-TV story The inspired creator of Morry's Stories is not only a great reporter and person, but a wonderful friend as well. He, Joan and Lulu will be sorely missed by their friends and neighbors in Monclair and New York, and by Starbucks! We were lucky enough to have Morry and friends over at our house last night to celebrate his retirement and wish him and his wife Joan, the very best.

MORRY AND PETER

MORRY AND BEAUTY

MORRY AND "MARTIN" -- A new career?!

JOAN (right) AND BARBARA LEWIS, real estate agent -- who sold almost everyone at the party a house -- or two!!