Robert Miller Interview With Karen Park
Our interview became a lovely, rambling conversation over the course of a couple of hours, an extended conversation over dinner. The interview was background for introducing one of Kearney’s most interesting senior citizens. Senior Citizens may be legion, and many are active in civic and cultural affairs, but even so, Robert stands out for his many talents and the variety of his interests.
You may have met Bob Miller if you took dance lessons, attended a Martini event at the Museum of Nebraska Art-MONA, followed him on Facebook, or bought his cookbook The Clever Bastard’s Guide to Entertaining.
Bob is a nearly daily presence on Facebook, writing on many topics. When I asked Bob why he decided to become a constant presence there, he said it was his ongoing effort to write his memoirs.
Bob’s topics range from hilarious comedy to thoughtful remembrances of childhood to off-the-wall imaginary ramblings. He often rates his articles POF-pants on fire-1 to 5. You get to guess about the truth of what he’s written.
Once a year he does an inventory of what he has written as part of organizing his memoirs into a book he is writing. His wife, Dorothy, a retired English teacher and a welcome supporter of many good causes, is often his editor and muse.
Bob’s website, Dinner Parties and More, has evolved into a cookbook full of wonderful recipes, tips, and steps for hosting a great dinner party. He and Dorothy are superb hosts and excel at the art of making you feel welcome. They share a gift of hospitality.
About the dance-Bob became a dance instructor several years ago. Music and rhythm are just part of who he is. He played trumpet in college and shares that love with a grandson. At events where there is dancing, their prowess, especially in the tango, draws a lot of admiration from onlookers and other dancers.
As with many senior Nebraskans, Bob’s background includes coming from a farm that his family worked in northeast Nebraska, leaving the farm for college with no intention of going back, Army duty which gave him X-Ray training, and then on to Pharmacy School. Pharmacy took him eventually to Holdrege where he worked at the local hospital as a pharmacist for many years. There, with the help of Dr. Stuart Embury, Bob developed the first ever computerized diagnostic protocols for medication.
Now retired, Bob enjoys a life of books, writing, good food and wine, and sharing his gifts with his friends and this town that he loves. Here is a senior citizen who is not content to sit and watch the world go by.
Bob is so interesting and interested in so many things that I delight to keep up with him and so enjoyed the chance to host the Miller’s and discuss with them Bob’s life and work. Thanks to Kearney Creates for the opportunity to do this.
Interview by Karen Park
Robert Miller Biographical Comments
About The Author
I am a retired hospital pharmacist. I have followed and enjoyed many passions throughout life, which have included sailing, cooking, horseback riding, teaching Argentine tango, and writing. I have been an entertainment blogger over the last four years, and I have published three books with the titles The Clever Bastard’s Guide to Entertaining, The Musings Of A Clever Bastard, and The Clever Bastard’s Back With A Look At 2021. The title came from something someone once called me. My blog is Dinner Parties and More. Directions on how to order my books can be found there.
A Legacy Project
I think many of us have a fear of being forgotten. I want to record my mark before it is erased, and it vanishes. But by leaving something tangible, I have a better chance of being remembered. Maybe, in generations from now, someone will pick up one of my books and think of me, or at least read about me and perhaps pick up a bit of the energy that made me who I was. I’m hoping so because I want to leave something more than a gravestone or a marker. All they do is give the names and dates, and seldom more. It certainly doesn’t tell a story, and I feel my books might.
My Creed
If there was ever a time when we need humor, I think it is now. It’s not that our society is devoid of humor; there’s plenty out there. But I think much of the humor is negative, divisive, and mean spirited. We need the humor to bring us back together and a type that can be shared by all. It should be clever, relatively clean, free of offensive words, intelligent, and without reference to religion, politics, or sex. This is the tone of the content I am writing. Hopefully I will be read with this intent.
Facebook
I use Facebook to entertain my followers. Many have told me that reading my posts are a way to start their day. This is always gratifying to hear. I also use it to try to hone my craft. I learn a lot from the responses and replies I receive. It is so much fun to have conversations with them. And it is a way to archive what I have accomplished. My goal is to publish a book a year. I usually end up with about 80,000 words during a 12-month period. I will assemble about 40,000 words of what I consider the best posts, and will publish a book. I self-publish through Amazon Kimble, and that has worked out well for me.
How to use my books
I would recommend not binge-reading my books. It was designed primarily to offer short essays, anecdotes, and observations that can be read in three minutes or less and limited to around 150 words.
Reach for it when you have some time to kill. That’s why this is the perfect book anytime you find yourself in line, such as in the department of motor vehicles, waiting for your physician to come back from their coffee break, waiting for the butcher to cut up and package your meat, or you have some serious down time in the bathroom. Read a couple of my passages, and you’ll feel better. I guarantee it.
My submissions are composed primarily of humor, nonfiction, useful information, and generally entertaining stuff. There is some truth in many of the accounts, some have elements of truth, and some have none.
I also have behind me many decades of experience, so I do offer advice from time to time, so please try to put up with it. This is because I am old. And I can’t help it.
Submissions:
PLANNING TO HOST A COCKTAIL PARTY? What’s better than name tags? Well, party signs that are posted to help you stake out the room. It will give everyone an immediate strategy on what areas to hit. Examples are-
Politics-left- and Politics-right, titillating Gossip table, your latest operations corner, who died recently nook, the off-color stories bench, how you are paying for your children’s education, trips abroad hallway, the bar of no return, the dissing your ex couch, assessment of the party thus far.
This is a new concept that I think will really catch on. Try it and let me know how it went. Or, better yet, invite us.
QUIPS AND QUOTES: Things I Need to Get Off My Chest.
I’m working on becoming The Bob. After all, it worked for The Donald.
I think my Echo device is starting to show its age. Alexa responded to my request the other day saying-Maybe I’d get it right if you would stop mumbling”
Never get a tattoo when you’re drunk, hungry, horny, or at a Barry Manilow concert.
A post-coital Einstein to his lover-Maybe to you it was fast.
I went on a wine run to HyVee. I bought six bottles, so they put them in this cloth bag with six slots with the message-Check Out My 6-Pack. The next morning, after drying off after my shower, I thought I would check out my 6-pack, and it caused me to wonder-When did my 6-pack start to resemble a keg?
If you’ve dropped food on the floor, is the 3-second rule still valid, or should I throw it in the trash? I don’t want just an opinion. I want an answer backed up by scientific studies.
By getting an innocent beet pickled, isn’t that considered a crime against vegetables?
Book Recommendation:
A compilation of church music composed by females entitled Hymns and Hers.
I understand the saying-For every Jack, there’s a Jill. But I heard a saying the other day-There’s an ass for every saddle. Hmm. Could someone please explain this to me?
If I awoke some morning and I found I was president of the United States, and I needed people to fill the diplomatic corps, I would check the roster of who recently purchased an Air Stream, because here is a man who has convinced his wife to vacation and take all of her household chores-cooking, cleaning, washing and changing bedding, etc.-with her. He must indeed be a silver-tongued devil.
