Ships are Meant to be Sailed, Part Two
John A. Shedd was the man responsible for writing the eloquent toast that we enjoyed hearing on Saturday night in NYC. It was a book called “Salt in My Attic,” published in a 500 copy issue, in 1928. My cousin Steve, our Associate Editor, found it for me quickly. We […]
Random Questions and Dump Runs in Deerfield
Deerfield Scene One Driving to the dump has been a part of my life since I moved to South Deerfield in 1990. Every week, nearly, I’ve cobbled together all of my recyclables and trash and made that trip over through the windy cornfields of South Mill Village Road. At the […]
Crazy Cramer Wows the College Crowd
Joanna Weiss writes on Boston.com about an unlikely hero among college students, Jim Cramer. “If “Mad Money” is a business primer, it’s a crash course designed for the ADHD set. Cramer has a penchant for madcap props — he has eaten cereal drenched in soda pop and worn diapers to […]
A Ship Was Built to Sail the Seas
Rain pounds down outside and we’re back in New England after the show. One moment that I remember fondly was at a dinner we had to celebrate being together in NYC. We went to an upstairs table at Patsy’s Pizza, where they make pizzas in a coal-fired oven. Over wine […]
The Show Continues a Great Tradition in Travel
Tradeshow days and New York City nights! It is always exciting to be in the Big Apple, just walking down the street provides a jolt of energy and makes me feel lucky to be alive. Today we met hundreds of people who all share a love of travel…that’s why they […]
it’s Showtime Again in New York City
New York City–I’m just settling into the New York Midtown East Marriot hotel, on busy Third Avenue. Twenty-three floors down, the traffic honks and roars, across the street an office tower is still lit up and people, ant-like, move about their offices and check their email. I’m happy to say […]
A Mirror Into the Mystery that Is Iran
Cindy gave me a fascinating book for my birthday in October that I recently finished. It’s called Persian Mirrors: The Elusive Face of Iran, by Elaine Sciolino. The author is a Newsweek and New York Times writer who has spent more than twenty years visiting Iran and has built up […]
"Check the Computer, Mom"
Misha Cornes writes in Adotas, an interactive media newsletter, about the digital divide and the senior online set. “My mom is 64. On those rare occasions when I send her an email, with, say, my flight information, I have to call her first to let her know to “check the […]
Bill Remembers the Details of the Books We Read
Last night I enjoyed a few laughs with one of my oldest and best friends, Bill Hewitt. There is something that is so wonderful about old friends…the kind who really know you, remember stuff, and who get the joke–every time. We watched the Florida Gators trounce the Ohio State Buckeyes. […]
Separate Sleeping Zones are In for 2007
I found two items in the local newspaper that were interesting yesterday. One was a story in the Republican’s Home section about trends in bedrooms. It seems that MacMansions are going out of style…people are not asking for 5000 square foot homes anymore, the new trend is smaller, cozier, and […]
Writing a Yearly Letter to a Dear Godmother
Today was a good day to catch up with someone special. I have a tradition that every year my godmother Caro sends me a Christmas check. And in return I write her a very long, old fashioned snail mail letter, telling her everything I’ve done over the past year. It’s […]
Today Show Misses the Big Weather Point
I get emails from a guy named “Riff” called Real Media Riffs. Today’s post chastised the mainstream media for their blase attitude toward global warming. He begins with a new issue of Yankee Magazine—the cover shows a tot with snow falling around him “Snow Days where to go, why we […]
Ashley Will Never Grow Up–On Purpose
I took a break after cooking dinner (a rarity my daughter often points out) and came downstairs to read the Guardian UK on the ‘net. A story about how a family chemically caused their paralyzed 9-year old daughter to stop growing up caught my eye. “The cause of the controversy […]
Fate of Gloucester’s Fisherman Told in Film
A few nights ago I found a documentary on public television about the Gloucester fishing business. The story portrayed several of the members of the communitie’s fishing families, who have struggled in recent years as catches have declined, and the federal government has had to step in. In the late […]
Still a Thrill to See My Story in the Advocate
As the winter that didn’t yet happen moves into January, I had a chance to relive the real winter of 2004 when I traveled to Whitefish Montana for a press trip. There I skiied Big Mountain on skis and snowcycles, went dogsledding, explored Glacier National Park and and did some […]
A Smaller WSJ? We Still Won’t Read It
Today is the big day, or should I say, the small day for the Wall Street Journal. In a bid to gain ‘younger readers’ they’ve slimmed down the paper, knocking 3 1/2 inches off papers gargantuan width. Gordon Crovitz, the publisher, said that focus groups indicated that this made the […]
That’s the Smell of Cooking Memory
Memories are fickle. I found this out twice when I thought I’d just easily increase my computer’s RAM by adding two new 1 Gig sticks. Easy enough, right? Just unscrew the case and pop out the lighter ones, then put in the new ones and feel the surge of power. […]