Black Friday
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Nick and I will stay away...far away… from shopping malls tomorrow. (For those of you reading this, who aren’t from the U.S., tomorrow is known as Black Friday - the day most people start their Christmas gift shopping and put retail stores “in the black” for the first time all year.) It’s not that we don’t want to get a good deal, we just want to avoid scenes like this:
If we do any shopping tomorrow it will be online. Amazon.com, for example, is offering ”Black Friday Deals” - hourly deals from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. PST along with thousands of products on sale. Also, customers will get gift wrapping for $.99 per item.
Of course, since Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, maybe we should spend a little more time with loved ones, giving thanks for what we already have.
They have the best holidays
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
A very happy Roald Dahl Day to everyone! If Dahl hadn’t died in 1990, today would have been his 90th birthday, and the brilliant folks in Britain had the idea to celebrate. (How cool is that?!)
In honor of Dahl, fans are encouraged to wear yellow, his favorite color, speak in Dahl’s invented language “gobblefunk,” trade books and make up Oompa Loompa dances — a tribute to characters from ”Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”
In England, a special train ferried fans from London to Great Missenden, 35 miles west of the city, where Dahl lived for more than 30 years. And guides from the Roald Dahl Museum conducted tours of the town, stopping to read passages from stories, and pointed out landmarks that inspired scenes from Dahl’s books, including the library where Matilda reads and Sophie’s orphanage from The BFG, or The Big Friendly Giant.
Why should anyone care about this children’s author? His books, which are darkly comic and feature villainous adult enemies of the child characters, threw open children’s literature to riskier, darker works. (It’s hard to imagine a world without Harry Potter, but without Dahl’s stories, J.K. Rowling would have had a decidedly more difficult time getting her works published.)
If you haven’t read one of his books before, or want to pick up an old favorite, click on the pictures above to locate a copy on Amazon.com.
Reckless Kelly Was Here
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
I just bought a copy of Reckless Kelly’s new album ”Reckless Kelly Was Here “ and WOW! Everyone should own a copy of this boot-stomping, hip-wiggling, two-disc live recording. (Dare I admit that it had me dancing wildly in the living room?)
The band included plenty of the favorites - Sixgun, Seven Nights in Eire, Wild Western Windblown Band, etc. - and a few new ones, including the rockin’ Wiggles & Ritalin. The real treats on the album, however, were the covers of 1952 Vincent Black Lightning (Richard Thompson) and a bluesy Revolution (Beatles). Holy Guacamole! Oh yeah, that one was good one too!
If you don’t want to shell out for the whole album consider at least buying a few of the songs from iTunes. Your musical personality will improve immensely, I promise.
What’s on the nightstand?
Thursday, August 24, 2006
I picked up Bebe Moore Cambell’s book 72 Hour Hold from the library the other day. (It was one of those deliciously tantalizing books on the shelf near the check-out stand. You know...the ones you can’t resist even though you’re carrying a stack of books so heavy it makes your chiropractor see stars.)
Not knowing anyone personally with a mental illness, I was interested in any insight on brain disease the fictional story might offer. I was pleasantly surprised to find a little of this and a whole lot more about the stigma of talking openly about health issues, mother-daughter relationships, highs and lows, ex-husbands and boyfriends, our woefully inadequate health-care system, and how a “perfect” life can be completely altered by something entirely beyond our control.
The book is named for the three-day maximum period that a mentally ill adult can be legally held in a public health facility if he/she demonstrates a danger to herself or others. In it, we meet Keri Whitmore, a successful black businesswoman struggling to care for her teenage daughter Trina, who has bipolar disorder. Repeatedly frustrated by the mental-health system’s ability to treat her daughter’s illness, Keri resorts to a radical (and illegal) program that offers the promise of freedom for Trina.
It’s a well-written story - so tight and believable that I kept checking to make sure it was a work of fiction. Through Keri’s eyes it’s easy to see how disappointing the ups and downs must be, how painful it must be to watch someone you love be tormented, and how impossible it is to see your perfect baby girl as the local crazy woman.
It’s only flaws are the insistance that the only cure for mental illness is medication (is it?) and a clunky metaphor that compares mental illness to slavery. Don’t let these deter you from reading the book, though. It’s a captivating and touching story - well worth the time.
Gates of Hell
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
VeloNews has published some really interesting letters lately from Major Jason A. Bryan stationed with the 101st Sustainment Brigade in Iraq. He brought his bike with him and cycles loops around the compound to maintain sanity.
His description of how hot it is over there makes me feel a little guilty about yesterday’s whine.
Summer is officially here and it feels like someone forgot to close the door to the gates of hell. My rides start with two bottles of cold water and by the time I’m done, anything left feels like bath water.
If you’ve ever opened an oven, imagine that gust in your face all day long. Picture a tiny version of yourself pedaling over the crust of baking lasagna… that’s what the mid-day chow race feels like.
You can’t accurately associate this heat with a number. But for the record, temperatures will range between 115 and 120 degrees this week, with a perpetual 15 knot wind. I don’t know exactly what a “knot” is, but 15 of them at 120 degrees feels like that guy at the end of “Raiders of the Lost Ark"… you know, when his face melts off…
It feels like the sun is screaming at you… like having concert speakers blaring Iron Maiden in your face every time you step outside.
Abandon all hope, ye who enter.
…
As for yoga, no more “sun salutations” for me… The sun sucks.