Don’t Bother Him, He’s Having His Coffee
Jerry Seinfeld is still kinda funny. I saw him on Leno last week and while he does have this new smugness, this omnipresent knowing smile, he still can come out with some good lines that make me chuckle. He just wears really expensive suits and shoes now. He did a […]
When Whitey Needed a Fast Getaway, He Used the Tow Truck
In my continuing research into the story of Massachusett’s most notorious mobster, I picked up Brutal, a memoir written by Kevin Weeks, who for many years was the muscle behind Whitey Bulger. Week’s book is a picture of delusion….he talks abou being forced to box in his living room as […]
Web Publisher Gets Wacked by Google
Every day there is another story about the ramifications of Google’s new algorithm, designed to lower the rankings of so called “content farms’ in the search engine’s results. Google’s goal was to penalize lower quality websites, but they have hurt many legitimate sites in their quest. In today’s Wall St. […]
Lifting The Stones to Carve into a Fortress in the Ozarks
In the Arkansas Ozarks, there is a medieval fortress being built. I am going to see it in late June. It’s called the Ozarks Medieval Fortess and is being built by a team of American builders, being guided by experts in Medieval building to keep it all authentic. In fact […]
Small Town Living Brings People Closer
I stared into the screen a few hours ago, when I was faced with what to blog about on this sunny first dau day of March, 2011. Since nothing that rang out, clear and true, that made a perfect topic, I let the window close and moved on with my day. […]
Ink48 Makes Me Never Want to Leave My Room
Ahhhh it’s so much fun to visit a tradeshow instead of being a part of its inner fabric and having a booth! I got here just in time yesterday to walk up on stage and talk to a packed house about a topic that’s dear to my heart, travel writing. […]
Our Driver Fights Anyone Who Gets In Our Way
I’m on board the Megabus and so far I am a fan! It arrived on time, the driver is feisty and takes no crap from dumb automobile drivers, and he’s striving to keep us on schedule. We left Hampshire Mall at 11:30 am and all I had to do was […]
After My July Peter Pan Nightmare, Time for Megabus to NYC
Sometimes I surprise myself by being terrifically organized, and planning way, way ahead. I am like this with trips, I try hard to fill up my calendar months in advance so that everything else I have to do will work itself around the all-important chances to see the world. Back […]
Blogging from the Seat of a Megabus Coach
Downtown hotels in major cities can be a joy to discover. This weekend we will find out about Ink48, a new Kimpton hotel in Hell’s Kitchen, lower Manhattan. The website is stunning, all of this glamour and glitz, it will be fun to compare it to other hotels we’ve […]
It’s Libya’s Turn Now: Inhale the Freedom After 42 Years!
“You’ve never lived under this, you don’t know what it’s like to have freedom after 42 years,” Mohdi, a middle aged man told Anderson Cooper last night. He spoke jubilantly, unabashedly showing his face on CNN –he was so happy that Ghadafi’s statues were being torn down in Libya and […]
So You Don’t Want High Speed Rail, Florida? We’ll Take that $
As I made plans to travel to France, and shoot down to Bordeaux from Paris on the grand TGV high speed train, I read with interest about Florida’s rejection of the federal billions to build a high speed rail line from Orlando to Tampa. Governor Rick Scott, a former CEO, […]
The Glorious Groove in Lake Pleasant–and No Jacket Required
One of the nice things about a new relationship are the pockets of community you discover yourself a part of when your partner invites you to one of ‘her’ parties. She’s a dancer and a drummer and a contradancer–a spirit-filled woman. That leads to all sorts of interesting new things, […]
Put My Name on Every Masthead…See you at 7:30 am
What does it take to get canned just six months after you’ve been hired to run one of America’s most iconic magazine publishers? I wondered this when I read a story in Friday’s WSJ about Time CEO Jack Griffin, who got the ax after his boss, Time Warner CEO Jeff […]
A Winter of Surprises
There are times when I reap the benefits of living in a small New England town, and find enjoyment in the depths of winter. Take last Thursday, when I took the truck to the dump to get rid of two week’s worth of cafe recycling. I thought ahead to an […]
Tree Killer Deserves the Same Penalty as the Oak Trees Got
An Alabama man deliberately destroyed two huge oak trees at Auburn University after his team lost in the Iron Bowl. Disgusting! The trees were a gathering place, and a place of celebration. Could this guy be any sicker? It’s a consensus: everyone I’ve talked to feels that a heinous crime […]
Melbourne’s Wheel Didn’t Turn Long
For the past few days I’ve been in Melbourne, Australia’s proud and immigrant enriched second city. It’s a city of four million and right on a bay, St. Kilda is the local seashore. The last time I was here in 2008, I saw a gigantic steel wheel on the horizon, […]
Through Swamp, and Dale, the G.O.W. is a Well-made Trail
Here is the view that awaits anyone smart enough to venture down here to the very bottom of Australia’s Victoria state. Most people visit these striking limestone escarpments by car, driving down the Great Ocean Road. But others like many we met this week, wouldn’t think of driving and instead, […]