Stormbringer's Thunder

Buon giorno. I want to tell you a story, and I want to refer to Joe Jackson's song, "Don't Wanna Be Like That". And once again, I'm bringing up a place where I used to work before I became rich, famous and successful. This story is a spiritual story. It took place around 1985 or so. I was married at the time, and we were co-resident managers of a self-storage facility. One of the many duties that the bosses surprised us with was that we were to be collections agents after a fashion. Mostly, it was telephones and letters, and not with baseball bats. But it was still hard-hearted, "When do we get our money?" Sure, every business has a right to be paid. But these guys had no compassion. This bothered me. I complained to my then-wife that I "don't wanna be like that", hard-hearted and worshiping money like the bosses. Back then, I was still in the habit of praying, and I let God know my feelings on this, too. Then it got even more interesti...

Buona sera. Yours truly had an interesting trip. Oh, you didn't know I was going away? Right, I neglected to mention it. Almost 2,000 miles by car. (And for that stronzo on US-131 between Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo, you're damn lucky I was in too much of a hurry to pull over and explain a few facts to you.) Anyway, had a safe and productive trip. OK, gang, Uncle Bob is going to reveal some personal history to you. Way back in the mid-1980s, before my activities became both confidential and occasionally underhanded, I was married and we had a young child. And we were very devout in our Christian beliefs. (I still believe, but I'm much less active today.) We were also down on our luck. After much searching, a job offer came in. We were going to be co-resident managers of a self-storage facility. Back then, we were living in the town of Ionia, Michigan (which is a situation that I do not recommend for anyone), and the job was in Grand Rapids. Or so we thought. The owner was...