Living In the World, Not on It

Some weeks of People Magazine provide fodder, some don't. This week's - dated ahead for the 20th for reasons passing understanding - has fodder. Let's see what fun things there are to comment upon: In the Mailbag section, many people wrote in and denounced Arnold Schwarzenegger for his affair with the housemaid. The overwhelming majority condemned Arnold's behaviour and elevated Maria Shriver to a goddess-like stature. Realistically, marriages fail because there were issues on both sides. Women love to denounce unfaithful men, but never seem to think that the root cause may be due to the lack of sexual contact in their marriage. Men are not wired the same as we are. I tend to think that straying husbands stray because they are still sexually active but many women cease to have an interest as time marches on. Where I do feel Arnold failed was the housekeeper. Good gods above, this is the homeliest woman on the face of the earth! Couldn't he have at least picked a...

This week, we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving. Those of us who work in television will also be happy for Thursday because it will be the first day after November sweeps! For many families, Thanksgiving means a huge spread of food. In some cases, there are dishes that are only pulled out on Thanksgiving. This week’s question focuses on that kind of food, although I’m opening up the topic to any holiday: are there foods you generally only eat during holiday meals? If so, this week’s question should be easy to stomach. Sorry, I couldn’t resist! Be sure to check back this week and click on the links of bloggers who play along in the comments below! It’s a great way to find blogs you may not have visited and to keep the conversation going! Here is this week’s “ Sunday Seven ” question. Either answer in a comment here, or put the answers in an entry on your blog (with a link here), and then comment here with a link back to your blog so that every...

On Tuesday, Gabriel and I went into Manhattan to see the Wall Street Occupy protests. Signs, signs everywhere Having never been a protestor before, I walked up to one of the officers on scene and asked him what the appropriate rules were for this. He was very friendly (all the officers on scene were) and ran through the basic guidelines: signs are allowed, and signs can be attached to rolled up cardboard or paper, but not to wooden or metal pieces (which is not unreasonable). People can congregate in the park itself but not stop to loiter on the sidewalks outside of the park. People were obviously allowed to use the park to sleep in, and some had been camped there since time began - or at least since the protest began - and then when the mayor stated that the park had to be emptied to clean it, the protestors scrubbed the park out forwards and backwards and the protests are still on. Yay! So Gabriel and I got in about 15:00 and at first walked around and took a lot of ...

People play games. Children play games. Sometimes adults acting like children play games. Facebook people play games. All God's chillun play games. What kind of games do YOU play? The Games Meme 1. What was your favorite outside game as a child? Hmmm. I'm not sure. I played by myself and with others. We lived in an apartment complex and it wasn't as much fun as it would have been to play in a house. I guess I liked "Let's Pretend" games - cops and robbers, pirates, wilderness explorers, that kind of thing. 2.  What is your board game of choice? I liked Sorry! when I was a young kid. Now I like Ur: Ancient City of Sumeria. I haven't played it in a long time, though, but it is a good game. Another great board game is Othello, which is not like your standard game... it has pieces that are white on one side and black and the other, and you flip them over when you get several in a row by putting one colour on one end and then putting another on ...

When is the last time you got to spend $170,000 - of some one else's money? I used to do it every week - when I ran the payroll. And don't kid yourself, that was the best money ever spent. Any company is only as strong as its employees. Money like that is money well spent. I'm doing it again. And like the previous five years, it is the best money I will ever spend and it will save lives. Just as paying employees saves lives. I can't say this is just my effort, but I'm a big part of it and I love every minute of it. I know more about the inner and outer workings of the rigs more than I would ever imagine. There is so much to know - the payload, the electrical load, the safety for the patient, the crew and the town. The continuity for the EMTs, so that we know where everything is. The fuel consumption curve for long standbys. Meeting Triple K requirements. Having duel Whelen sirens and now (and this is the coolest thing!) the Rumbler, a low-sonic add-on...

When I saw Patrick's post, Like Me! No, Really, Like Me!, I had to write about it. And here is the answer I got on 8 September... "Like Me. No, Really, Like Me!" http://www.patrickkphillips.com/2011/09/07/like-me-no-really-like-me/ patricksplace said @Aisl íngeKelloggdeGómez I'll admit it: it IS extra work staying active (and being useful) on multiple social media networks. In terms of referrals, of the three, Twitter brings me the most traffic. Then Facebook. Then Google+. I avoided Twitter because I saw far too much of the "having eggs for breakfast" tweets that made me wonder who could possibly care. But posting links to useful information (on my blog or elsewhere) and the occasional amusing quote can help you build a following and can, as a bonus, bring people to your site. I like Facebook a lot, and have a lot of contacts there. Many of them are people from school who wouldn't have given me the time of day when we ...

Labour (or We are All Marxists) 1. In your opinion, what does Labor Day mean to you? It usually means a day off, until your labour has ended, which mine did in March. So now it means a non-mail day. The Tuesday after Labour Day now means a torrential downpour the following day. Maybe next year it won't mean that. 2. How much was the minimum wage when you got your first job? $5.25 was my hourly salary for the first year I worked at age15. It went up to $5.75 (I think) after that. My next job was about $7.00... and I think the minimum wage pretty much stayed where it was - $5.75 - for the next decade. At least. Now in New Jersey it is $7.50, but it seems that it will not change for another decade. Some states like Oklahoma and Kentucky have minimum wage still listed at $2.00 but by law are forced to pay the Federal amount as it is the higher amount. How stupid are these states? 3. What was your first job--as in real actual employee-job? My first job was working for the l...

Today is my uncle’s 80th birthday. He’s a character and acts like he did 30 years ago, with a mind still as sharp as a tack. That got me thinking about some famous people who are 80 or over. Here’s a list that you can filter by profession. Can you name seven that you’d like to spend an afternoon with? That’s the challenge for this week! As always, thanks for stopping by! Be sure to check back this week and click on the links of bloggers who play along in the comments below! It’s a great way to find blogs you may not have visited and to keep the conversation going! Here is this week’s “ Sunday Seven ” question. Either answer in a comment here, or put the answers in an entry on your blog (with a link here), and then comment here with a link back to your blog so that everyone else can visit! Permission is not granted to copy the questions to message boards for the purpose of having members answer and play along there. Enjoy! THIS WEEK’S QUESTION : Name seven notable...

Not even a hurricane will stop me from posting the Sunday Seven . But then again, there’s a good reason for that: I’ve actually been in Tampa for a few days, visiting close friends I don’t get to see as often as I’d like. I knew that the storm was going to essentially miss Charleston specifically because I was out of town at the time landfall was to have occurred; if I had been there, we’d have no doubt been in the middle of serious hurricane madness. This week’s question involves Native American totem poles and the belief that each individual is connected with nine different animals that will accompany each person through life, acting as guides . The belief also is that different such guides come in and out of our lives depending on the direction we are headed and the tasks that need to be completed along the journey. Whether you believe in such notions are not, it still may be fun to use the idea for a Sunday Seven question. Scroll down on for a list of animals and the...

Here’s a topic that I think nearly everyone can work with. Let’s say that you’re put in the Programming Director position for a classic TV cable network and you’re given an assignment: you must come up with a rundown of seven sitcoms for an all-day comedy block. I know, I know, this is really a fantasy-type scenario because no reality shows are part of the mix! But work with me here, people. Let’s dream for a moment that somehow, it could actually happen! Can you come up with seven classic sitcoms you’d love to watch over a 12-hour block or so? Don’t worry about how many hours of each there would need to be. All you have to do is come up with seven sitcoms that could be used to fill the time. As for your definition of “classic” sitcoms, they can be as old (or new) as you wish, just as long as you feel the sitcom belongs in a “classic” sitcom block. Easy enough, right? Thanks for dropping by! Be sure to check back this week and click on the links of bloggers who play alon...

There are none scheduled for tonight. Tomorrow, however... (This is my image but it is from 2002 - it is bloody hard to get these kinds of stills.) On Thursday night at 2200, I heard the long, low rumble of not-to-distant thunder... a sound that always brings joy to my heart! I live for thunderstorms - the bigger, noisier, more dramatic, the better! I look forward to summers for this more than anything else. I just delight in the windy, wily, wild weather. I tend to be a person of extremes (although I'm not wild about extremely cold weather - there I draw the line), so if it's gonna be stormy, it has to be WOW stormy. If it is gonna snow, it should be a blizzard. Yup. Extremes are much more exciting! So I listened for a few minutes - the thunder always precedes the light show. I could hear it with little silence in between rolling soft thunder. There was no lightning yet. But as the storm approached, the thunder was longer, rolling from side to side. We are only 30...

Just a quick note: I want to thank my boyfriend for helping me write some of these questions. After a crappy day, I really needed help with questions ... 1) If you were forced to live for a year in a shopping mall, a museum, or a zo o, which would you choose and why? Oh, the Hayden Planetarium in Manhattan. Without a doubt. It has everything - decent food, all those cool weight measurements for e ach planet and moon, goodies in the shops, a year there would be fun! 2) If there was a male version of Victoria's Secret, what would you think it should be called? Hmmmm. John's Open Viewing. Men probably couldn't keep sexual conquests and weird under garments a secret, ha, ha! 3) My boyfriend says he wants Weezer's song "Death and Destruction" played at our wedding. What would be a song you'd never expect to hear played at a wedding? Anything by Eminem. Not romantic... unless you're really angry. 4) If your brain worked like a cell phon...

Welcome to The Queen's Meme 7 Royal Questions on Tuesday The Random Meme is well...random. Haphazard. No synchronicity. No rhyme or reason. I'm allowed once in awhile to be random. So I looked deep into the recesses of a tired pencil brain today and wrote down the first thing that popped into my head. That's a dangerous proposition. I hope you enjoy this totally random meme. 1. What is your favorite summertime flower? One that I'm not allergic to... but I haven't found that flower yet. 2. Are you behind on your blog? Yes and no. I seem to be keeping up with some memes, but then I don't always post my usual musings. So I'm kinda sorta behind. 3. What has irritated you the most recently? My father-in-law, who lives with us, has suddenly been taking items I've put out to be picked up by the garbage men and putting them in his room. What the hell? I'm throwing out junk and he's bringing it in. It's not his garbage and if I find ...

This week, I figured I’d go for a set of questions that would apply to anyone, so I made the topic as simple as I could. It’s all about what’s near you now, as you’re reading this post. I hope you enjoy this set and thanks for stopping by! Be sure to check back this week and click on the links of bloggers who play along in the comments below! It’s a great way to find blogs you may not have visited and keep the conversation going! Here are this week’s “Saturday Six” questions. Either answer the questions in a comment here, or put the answers in an entry on your blog… But don’t forget to leave a link to your blog so that everyone else can visit! Permission is not granted to copy the questions to message boards for the purpose of having members answer and play along there. Enjoy! 1. Other than your computer or anything connected to it, what object is closest to you now? The Samsung remote for the DVR/DVD player (I have The Four Seasons on, the movie with Alan Alda and Carol...

Welcome to Saturday: 9 . What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love memes, however, and here is today's meme! Saturday 9: I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight 1. Have you ever lost a lover and spent way too much time wondering what they were doing? No. Once it is over, it is over. 2. What was your favorite vacation ever? Wow. I'd have to say the trip to Palm Springs, California in June 1999 was the most incredible trip. Of course, Montana in June 2009 was top shelf, too. It's tough to pick just one vacation... 3. Do you like surprises? If yes, what kinds? Or are you one of those people who absolutely has to know what...

This week’s set of questions focuses on one of those things we all love to hate: social media. You don’t have to be on Twitter, Facebook or any of the others to play. So get your thinking caps on and thanks for stopping by! Be sure to check back this week and click on the links of bloggers who play along in the comments below! It’s a great way to find blogs you may not have visited and keep the conversation going! Here are this week’s “Saturday Six” questions. Either answer the questions in a comment here, or put the answers in an entry on your blog… But don’t forget to leave a link to your blog so that everyone else can visit! Permission is not granted to copy the questions to message boards for the purpose of having members answer and play along there. Enjoy! 1. How many social media networks do you belong to at the moment? Oh, just one is enough. I'm on Facebook. If I joined more than that, it would just be too much work. 2. How many social media networks have you...

Luis and I determined that we really want to see Cirque du Soleil's Zarkana . So even though I was up and got very little sleep last night, we were up and out of the house by 1000 heading to Hoboken to part in one of the many Park & Ride buildings that festoon the lower road (two below and parallel to Washington Avenue) to take the Path train. To give you an idea how long it has been since I've been in NYC, I had no idea that the cost of the Path train has gone up to $1.75 for a one-way ticket. I still thought it was $1.50 - duh! But the Path trains run the same as always - every fifteen minutes on the quarter-hour mark. The trains are kept quite well and there's a telly screen with no sound that is clear made for this - it had local news, weather seven-day forecasts and little tidbits that are printed and scrambled words and such. It was not at all crowded going in (I was confident that few people had any great desire to be traipsing about the hotter-than-hot confines...