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Count Anton Wolfgang von Faber-Castell is the eighth member of his family to run the empire that makes pencils. That name–it’s gotta be familiar to anyone who has ever filled out an SAT test with a Number 2, or chewed on a yellow Mongol, invented by his brother, Eberhard. In […]
Last night we heard my old friend Peter Heller read from his new novel, The Dog Stars at the Odyssey Bookshop. There was a good turnout and we learned from Joan Grenier the owner that she had ordered 300 copies of the book. Her bookstore has a first edition club […]
So many things swirl around my head on this early morning. Good things, swirling hither and yon, things that I’m worried about but not bad things–just challenges.I would much rather face steep learning curves than battle deficits of income…so I’ll get on a conference call with my fellow webmasters today […]
When we were growing up, a big part of our family lore was that our great uncle, Frederic H. Gibbs, designed the fastest ocean liner ever built. We used to visit FH and his wife, Bess, at their summer cottage at the Weekapaug Inn on Rhode Island’s coast. Fred had […]
My mom first clued me in. Being a grandparent is beyond satisfying, it’s like getting a do-over for the mistakes you made when you raised your own kids, until they had kids. I have a few friends who are now just experiencing multiple child rearing, and having completed my stint, […]
When you’re off on a trip, you mostly think about where you’ll be staying when you get there. You plan a rough itinerary, maybe leave some wiggle room for whatever might happen along the route, but for most part the plans involve the destination. But what about your car? Where […]
I am playing around with my new website and it’s fun. I am finally able to say that we have a better mobile site than I thought we would. As a person who uses an iPhone incessantly, I can say how important the mobile look is. Now a screen tells […]
At a poker game, I told my friends how funny I thought last night’s Saturday Night Live was. Really? That’s something new, sneered one of them. It’s true. The show is rarely that funny and sometimes borders on simply awful. But on Saturday night, their opening with a dead-on impersonator […]
Last week was pretty exciting when I got an email from a television producer for the Travel Channel who asked me to audition for a new TV series. Of course, I was flattered, but then when they asked me to send my best video clips, I had to pause. I […]
Last night was a triumph for Amherst–they held a wonderful block party and it felt like the whole town took part. I was proud of this nearby town for getting something this big together and especially for blocking off traffic from Kendrick Park up the top of North Pleasant Street. […]
When I come back from a trip, there is always a highlight…or as I like to say, the elevator story. That’s because most people when they ask you “How was your trip?” will only have time to listen to that one story, or about as long as an elevator ride. […]
Today I had a whole day in front of me and I wanted to see more of Mexico City. So I ventured down into the vast metro system here and took a ride out to the end of linea numero 3 toward Tlatelolco. This system is vast, and it’s North […]