Super New York Weekend -- Day Two

Friday was even busier than Thursday! Up and out early, Judy, Billie, Mark and I started out in midtown, seeing the wintery Bryant Park, the 42nd St. Library, Rockerfeller Center (and the just arrived tree), headed uptown through Central Park, enjoying pizza, beer, chestnuts, as we wandered. Finally had to jump on the bus, try for a cab, back on the train, to get downtown just barely in time (actually quite late) to meet Barbara, Steve, Alec (Barbara's brother), Meryl (Barbara's cousin), Matthew (Meryl's son), & Melissa (Matthew's girlfriend) at Joe's Pub in the Public Theatre to end the night with good food and the fabulous Lucy Kaplansky.

Super New York Weekend - Day One

A very early morning flight to New York with Judy & Billie was followed by a good bagel breakfast at Helen's house and then a subway trip from Bklyn to the lower east side to soak in the city. First stop -- the Whole Foods on Houston.

After hours wandering the lower east side, Soho, the east village, we rested our feet, warmed our bodies, and relaxed at McSorley's.

We walked through Washington Square Park at dusk, enjoyed some performance art and the people heading home after a day's work, then a brief stop in Sheridan Square, on the way to meet Jesse, Thom, & Thom's parents (for the first time!) at a Mexican restaurant in the west village. It was a long day, and a very happy one!

Heading up to NYC!

We'll be off to NYC at the break of dawn tomorrow to start our celebration of Mark's 60th! We'll also be celebrating Helen's 81st! And meeting Thom's parents, seeing many good friends, hearing music (Lucy Kaplansky), political comedy (Bill Maher), going to museums, theater, and so so much more. Stay tuned here for the story later on, but for now, here's the NY Times review of the play we will be seeing Sunday afternoon -- Tom Stoppard's Rock 'N' Roll! And listen to this interview with Tom Stoppard on NPR.

Reading and Listening

After Lillian watched the slaughter of her family in Russia she made her way to New York City and began to make a life for herself. When a cousin finds her way to NY as well, and tells Lillian that her little daughter Sophie may have survived, Lillian is determined to find her way to Siberia where Sophie is rumored to have been taken, even if she has to walk. Amy Bloom writes unusual characters, quirky and complex. Lillian's journey, and those of the people who become a part of it, is wrenching and rewarding.
Away, by Amy Bloom.

Lorie Tonti loaned me her copy of Yell Fire! by Michael Franti & Spearhead the day before 6 cds I'd ordered arrived. I haven't listened to one of my new ones because I cannot take Yell Fire out of my car! It's different from anything I have listened to before and it is topical and danceable and wonderful. Thanks Lorie!

Social Digital Global Shift

I can't say that I was all that excited about going to the Tampa Bay Library Consortium's annual meeting next Friday, but now I am! Behold,David Lee King, keynote speaker. Hope he's planning to sing!

Such Good Questions

Here's an interesting column from one of my favorite NY Times/NPR people.

October 18, 2007
Pogue’s Imponderables
By DAVID POGUE
As a tech writer, I'm in the business of providing answers. Sometimes people ask me questions one at a time ("What camera should I buy?"), and sometimes the substance of the question is implied because I have a tech column ("What's new?").
But I've got a lot of questions, too—a lot of them that I don't have answers for. In fact, I've been keeping a little list.
Some of them are answerless because nobody knows the answer. Some may have answers, but only industry insiders know what they are. And still others are answerless because they're incendiary hot-button issues, and there's no consensus.
I thought: What better way to find the answers than to lay out my list for the reading public?
So here they are: Pogue's Imponderables.
* Why is Wi-Fi free at cheap hotels, but $14 a night at expensive ones?
* What happens to software programs when their publishers go out of business?
* Would the record companies sell more music online if it weren't copy-protected?
* Do cellphones cause brain cancer?
* What's the real reason you have to turn off your laptop for takeoff?
* Why can't a digital S.L.R. camera record video?
* Wi-Fi on airplanes. What's taking so long?
* Who are the morons who respond to junk-mail offers, thereby keeping spammers in business?
* I'm told that they could make a shirt-pocket digital camera that takes pictures like an S.L.R., but it would cost a lot. So why don't they make one for people who can afford it?
* How come there are still no viruses for Mac OS X? If it has 6 percent of the market, shouldn't it have 6 percent of the viruses?
* Do shareware programmers pay taxes on all those $20 contributions?
* How are we going to preserve all of our digital photos and videos for future generations?
* Why are there no federal rebates or tax credits for solar power?
* Why do you have to take tape camcorders out of your carry-on at airport security, but not the tapeless kind? Couldn't you hide a bomb equally well in either one? (Actually, I have about 500 more logic questions about the rules at airport security, but I have a feeling they'll remain answerless for a very long time.)
* Laptops, cameras and cellphones have improved by a thousand percent in the last ten years. Why not their batteries?
* SmartDisplay, Spot Watch, U.M.P.C., Zune… when will Microsoft realize that it's not a hardware company?
* Why don't public sinks have foot pedals?
* Why don't all hotels have check-in kiosks like airlines do?
* Five billion dollars a year spent on ringtones? What the?
* How come cellphone signal-strength bars are so often wrong?
* Do P.R. people really expect anyone to believe that the standard, stilted, second-paragraph C.E.O. quote was really uttered by a human being?
* Why aren't there recycling bins for bottles and cans where they're most obviously needed, like food courts and cafeterias?
* Why doesn't someone start a cellphone company that bills you only for what you use? That model works O.K. for the electricity, gas and water companies —and people would beat a path to its door.
* Why doesn't everyone have lights that turn off automatically when the room is empty?
* What's the deal with Palm?
* Why are so many people rude on the Internet?

The Week in Review

A lot of great stuff in the NY Times today that I can't resist sharing.

Here's a peek through a different window on what life is like in Iraq -- What Cats Know About War.

Thomas Friedman on global warming and Al Gore, if you don't have time to read the whole thing, just read this -- "In sum, Al Gore has been justly honored for highlighting -- like no one else -- the climate challenge. But we still need a vision, a strategy, an army and a commander in the White House who can inspire young and old -- not only to meet that challenge but to see in it the opportunity to make America a better, stronger and more productive nation. This is our crucible moment."

And now for something a bit lighter, and very clever, Regrets Only by Henry Alford (and a whole lot of other people).

In all seriousness though, what is becoming of us in this country? Frank Rich talks about The 'Good Germans' Among Us in his piece today. Again, don't have the patience for this, just read the end -- "Our humanity has been compromised by those who use Gestapo tactics in our war. The longer we stand idly by while they do so, the more we resemble those 'good Germans' who professed ignorance of their own Gestapo. It's up to us to wake up our somnambulant Congress to challenge administration policy every day. Let the war's last supporters fillibuster all night if they want to. There is nothing left to lose except whatever remains of our country's good name."

If you are still with me (and you can see what I've been doing all day between loads of laundry) you have gotten to the real treat. Want to be ROTFLOL? Check out who wrote Maureen Dowd's column today, in A Mock Columnist, Amok.