Kenya is now producing Africa’s cheapest car, the Mobius. By stripping it of pretty much everything but the barest of essential parts, they are able to offer a brand new car for around $10,000, which is about the same price as a decent quality used Japanese import. Mobius have taken the Upscale Shack mantra (simplify, simplify!) and applied it to auto making. Continue reading “If Upscale Shack were a car”
Busy day here at the shack. It’s our one month anniversary, and a musical Friday, but since it’s a special day I’m treating my readers to the next installment of “For Tomorrow.” If you’re rusty on where things left off, be sure to read the first 3 chapters: A Cape Catharsis, Fish Traps, and The Just Friends Trap. As always, commentary and feedback is welcome, use the Leave a Reply box below to post a comment or post and “like” us on our sister Facebook page.
DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction. All characters are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual people, alive or dead, is purely coincidental.
Jake gathered his supplies from the lab and fed his fish before driving the three blocks to Alex’s house. He was several minutes early and he noticed that her car wasn’t parked on the street in its usual spot, so he circled around the block to kill a few minutes until she returned. When he came back and saw that her car still wasn’t there he pulled up and parked anyway, deciding to wait. He recognized her roommate Kate trying to shovel the snow from behind her car with a broom, so he took the shovel out of his truck and began clearing the driveway behind Kate’s car. Continue reading “Chapter 4: The Potato River”
Today marks the 1 month anniversary of Upscale Shack. A milestone of sorts, I started this blog on a whim, with very little thought about what I would post, or how often, but it has started to take on a life of its own in only a month’s time. Big thanks to all my followers and loyal readers, this is for you! Continue reading “Friday Music and Happy Birthday!”
Question for discussion: Is it better to read anything, no matter how bad it is, than to read nothing at all? Continue reading “Confessions of a literary snob”
Hooray, it’s time again to celebrate the man who got lost, washed ashore on a land that had already been inhabited for tens of thousands of years, claimed it for his financier, the King of Spain, enslaved its inhabitants, left behind smallpox and syphilis, never really figured out whether he was in Asia or not, and was such an inept and brutal governor that he was jailed by his King. Continue reading “You know what? F*#@ Columbus”
If a blog that is less than one month old can be so presumptuous as to claim that it has any traditions, then let musical Friday be this blog’s first tradition. Not one to let my loyal readers down, I present this week’s selections of what I’m listening to. I welcome comments and I’m open to requests or suggestions for future playlists. Continue reading “Friday’s Tunes: Flashback to the 80’s”
The next installment of the ongoing fictional saga of Jake and Wakesho (working title of the whole thing is “For Tomorrow”). This one’s a bit longer, so bear with me. See related A Cape Catharsis and Fish Traps (it would help to read them in order).
DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction. All characters are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual people, alive or dead, is purely coincidental.
Jake was sorting through his mail on a Friday evening while sitting in his favorite worn-out secondhand chair listening to the local college station which was playing obscure alternative rock. Finding nothing of interest in the mail, Jake ventured into the kitchen, grabbed a beer from the fridge and scrutinized the contents of the cabinets. Finding the cupboard bare, he pulled a frozen pizza out of the freezer and slid it into the oven. Continue reading “Chapter 3: The Just Friends Trap”
This is another installment in the saga of Jake and Wakesho, my long-running fictional tale of two people trying to figure out life. See my previous related post, “A Cape Catharsis.”
DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction. All characters are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual people, alive or dead, is purely coincidental.
Jake drummed his thumbs on the steering wheel in rhythm to the drum beat of the Congolese rhumba song playing on his stereo while impatiently eyeing the stoplight overhead. After what seemed like an eternity the light turned green and he released the clutch and began to roll into the intersection, only to slam on the brakes as he glimpsed a car speeding into the intersection out of the corner of his eye. The driver showed no sign of recognition that he was running a red light as he sped through the intersection. “Pay attention, asshole!” Jake yelled out his open window, flipping the man his middle finger at the same time. Continue reading “Chapter 2: Fish traps”
Today would have been my grandfather’s 100th birthday. Harry Allen Prettyman was born on October 4, 1914 in rural Delaware County, Oklahoma. He was born just 7 years after Oklahoma statehood in what had been the Delaware District of the Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory. The family lived along the Elk River near the small settlements of Cayuga and Turkey Ford, but they moved around a lot. Continue reading “A Century of my Grandfather”
Time for another musical interlude. Today I’ve been thinking about some of the amazingly talented ladies I’ve been listening to lately. Some of whom I’ve just recently discovered, others I’ve been a fan of for years. Here are some of my favorite female musicians. Enjoy! Continue reading “Friday Music: Ladies’ Night”
Upscale Shack 