Cancun Surprised Us…It’s Damn Nice Here
I’m liking Cancun much more than I thought. I remember running into a very suave tourism official, Emilio,while I was on a river cruise in Pittsburgh back in June. As the boat made its way up the Ohio River, all of the passengers were either journalists, PR folks or Tourism […]
The Earliest Residents of Cancun Had Iron Guts
A brilliant sunrise got us out of bed early in our hotel, the sun beaming right into our faces. It was an opportunity for Cindy to practice with her new Lumix camera, trying again and again to get that line out of the shot when she shot into the sun. […]
In January, Cancun Feels Mighty Right
We’re kicking back, a Saturday afternoon on Mexico’s Caribe. The ocean out there is turquoise, then it blends to a slightly darker shade of blue. We’re in a place that I once thought I’d never visit…Cancun! Never say never. That’s because GoNOMAD espouses the philosophy of visiting the less-visited. We […]
Leave Eric Alone–Being Shy Isn’t Self-Centered!
Today is a whirlwind and not in a good way. I feel discombobulated and of course, unprepared for my trip to Mexico tomorrow. I’ll be gone a week, and we’ll be spending time at a beachfront hotel with a stunning pool and lots of time to do…nothing. I’m not sure […]
Two Women, Two Studios, a Hallway in Between
Every so often somebody leaves a copy of the NY Times at the cafe, and today I picked it up and found an article about a unique and appealing living situation. It was headlined “To Each Her Own” and was about two women friends who live in a giant apartment […]
A Negative Example or a Boost for Hamas?
The WSJ never fails to be a treasure trove of tidbits that fascinate and entertain me. Sometimes I forget to bring it home–and then dutifully drive back to the office to fish it out of recycling. It’s just that good. I learned today about how an Israeli colonel believes that […]
We Were All Set to Watch it on the ‘Net…Not Yet
The Inauguration in all its glory is now history. I’m sure Justice John Robert’s gaffe during the oath will be replayed for decades. At the cafe, we were all psyched to watch the whole historic darn thing on our computers. I had my tech wizard Joe Obeng here late Monday […]
Shooting, Scaring, and Other Means to Keep Birds at Bay
The other day I felt priviledged to tell a guy in the cafe the whole story about the plane that landed in the Hudson. As if living under a rock, on Friday he hadn’t heard the tale yet. I found out more about how airports deal with the problem of […]
Perl Loves the Amherst Quirks that Irk Larry
On the basketball court, they called him Perl. For some reason I didn’t get that it was a shortened version of his last name, Perlmutter. Instead I thought it was an homage to Earl the Pearl, of the flashy 1960s Knicks. I read about Perl today, he took over my […]
I Did Have a Moustache…Really I Did!
Outside a new blanket of snow quiets down Mountain Road. It’s cozy as we all sit around in our bathrobes, sip coffee and wake up. Cindy has come up and last night we watched a movie. Or should I say, I watched it after the rest of the people went […]
Twitter: A Cooler Way to Blog in Little Bursts
Twitter is providing me with lots and lots of cool links and ideas. I am now officially a fan! Not only have I found articles that really provided me with great ideas (like one about the top ten ways Twitter can help a business do better on line) but I’ve […]
A Contest for the Intern Spot at GoNOMAD.com
Interns are a great help to us at GoNOMAD. As we have joined our fellow businesses in seeing the fragility of the market, and the downward trend in business, we always can use people to help us out with tasks. There are now three UMass students who want to be […]
The Warmth of the Y and Agatha’s Trip
I’ve really warmed up to my new routine at the Holyoke Y. Entering the building and seeing mothers and tots and then entering the fitness center, that’s filled with people of all ages is heartening. I used to go to a gym in Northampton where everyone was either bulging with […]
A Groovy New Toaster Speeds Up the Cafe
I’m the toastmaster general now, seeing as how we’ve upgraded to a new superdeluxe conveyor belt toaster in the cafe. This baby just keeps on rolling, taking in the bagels and spitting them out lovely brown and ready to eat. We’ve had so many problems with burned bread, pasty white […]
The Comanches Lived on the Backs of Horses
You know those books that you love, then you find get tiresome, and then, one day you just pick up a random page and it starts to be fascinating again? Well that’s what I think of American Nomads by Richard Grant. I turned to a page that told the story […]
At Almost 20 Days, Sofie Smiles by the Fire
click the photo to make her huge I got a request to show more Sofie photos. Who can resist this 19-day-old little bundle? As the icy wind blew, we made a daytime fire at 9 Mountain Road and as you can see, Sofie likes it too. January can be a […]
Oil Speculators and Panhandlers Are Both a Bummer
We always try to make it back from wherever we are to catch Sunday’s 60 minutes. It’s still one of the few shows you can say that has real ‘water cooler’ cred, many, many people I know watch it and often a segment I watched they watched too. Last night […]
Baby by the Fire
It’s a cozy Sunday morning with about 5 inches of new powdery snow and we’ve shoveled it all out. Cindy is seen here with Sofie relaxing by the fire. We’ll head up to the cafe and read the papers, and later on we’ll go to our Circulo Italiano meeting. There […]