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Friday iPod Random Ten

1. Rollin' By (live) - Lyle Lovett & Robert Earl Keen
2. Copperline (live) - James Taylor
3. Another Town (live) - Steve Earl
4. Murder in the City - The Avett Brothers
5. The City - Los Lobos
6. Is That Love - Squeeze
7. Girl Downtown - Hayes Carll 
8. Radical - Catie Curtis
9. Take 'Em Away - Old Crow Medicine Show
10. Baseball - Sam Baker

Working!

I don't want to be accused of being a complainer, so I thought I'd take a moment to let you know how well some of my new electronics and appliances are working.

1. My new fridge is great. I am about 96% used to the fact that it sticks out too far into the kitchen, and I'm still praying I never need to slide it out of its cavity, but other than that: LOVE. It's big, it's cold, and it's well designed. The kids love the cold-water dispenser—and I love that it's inside the door. I'm getting used to the drawer-style freezer and trying to keep breadstuffs on the left and actual food on the right, with ice and small stuff in the upper portion.

2. My iMac is awesome. I'm so glad I decided to spring for the 27" monitor, because it rocks. I am able to see bits and pieces of all my open apps so I can just click wherever I need to; more importantly, I can have two or even three documents completely visible at the same time for work! It is also wicked fast, which all adds up to making me even more efficient when I work. Now I keep my trusty ol' MacBook Pro in the kitchen so I can refer to recipes, listen to iTunes, check email, and so on, while I cook. I did a little bit of work on it the other day and was amazed at how glacier-like it seemed!

3. My new Netgear router (and adapter for Andy's Windows machine) is working fine, and that's all a router needs to do. I don't notice it; it just does its job in the background. (Boo, hiss on Linksys, who lost a loyal customer to Netgear!)

But ... I do still like to whine a bit, so:

4. My dryer makes a noise like you can't imagine. I'm not going to call the repairman, because I'm not putting another cent into that machine. When it goes, it's gone. Same for its next-door neighbor, the washer, with its agitator that comes completely out when I remove all the laundry. The clock is ticking, my friends....

A List of Lists

I've started several blog posts in the last couple of days, but they ended up in the cybercan. I'm in a rut, what can I say? Well, when all else fails, I always just go with a list:

1. The Oy of Yiddish, Parts 1 and 2 (via Nancy)

2. 100 Movies to See Before You Die: The All-Time Greats and The Modern Classics

3. Twaggies are illustrations based on random tweets.

4. 15 Things on the Verge of Extinction in America. I can think of lots more.

5. My sister typed "laser printer stationery" into Amazon's search bar, and it shot back with, "Did you mean laser printer stationary?" Um, no, she didn't.

6. I just finished editing a collection of case studies for nursing students, and now I think I have every possible disease. Wishing I could unread the chapter on MRSA....

7. I don't want to hear any bad reviews of "Iron Man 2." I'm not listening, LALALALALALA!

8. Yes, I've been watching the Sox, but I don't have a good feel for all the new guys yet. I'm very pleased with Tek so far, though! I was never a fair-weather fan.

Back to School

Some school vacation weeks seem so long I think I'm going to do myself in before it's half over. This time it felt long, but in the good way. We had talked about going away, but that didn't happen for a number of reasons, and so we had a "staycation" that felt just right.

During which my kids:

1. Saw movies: "Diary of a Wimpy Kid," "Oceans," "Clash of the Titans," "The Lightning Thief"

2. Ate at restaurants: Chili's, The Local, Mandarin Gourmet, Peking Cuisine, Bill's Pizza, Friendly's

3. Shopped: probably everywhere at The Natick Mall Collection (by Steph and her friend), Target, Old Navy (summer clothes shopping is done!)

4. Celebrated birthdays (Pete's and mine)

5. Had playdates and sleepovers here and at their friends' houses

6. Had baseball and soccer games and practices

7. Visited the library, shot hoops on our driveway, read books, played games, and generally busied themselves

Andy and I got to partake in some of the fun too, in between working, and even got dinner out alone last night at L'Andana, which was delicious.

All that being said, it will be hard for me to disguise the spring in my step after I drop my lovelies off at school tomorrow! As Andy is fond of saying, "How can I miss them if they don't go away?"

Friday iPod Random Ten

1. Take Me To The River (live) - Talking Heads
2. Who's Gonna Be Your Man - Sam Baker
3. Goodnight Irene - The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
4. Shake Sugaree - David Bromberg
5. El Paso (live) - Grateful Dead
6. Worrisome Heart - Melody Gardot
7. Mean Flower - Joe Henry
8. Porchlight - Neko Case 
9. St. Joseph's - The Avett Brothers
10. Pump It Up - Elvis Costello

Four Dozen

Today I am 48 years old! I had such a nice day, almost identical to last year's birthday! Andy took the day off, and the kids are off from school anyhow. I was awakened with a breakfast tray bearing challah toast, a clementine, tea, and a flower. Everyone climbed onto the bed with me and presented me with cards. Then everyone vanished, and Pete came back with my MacBookPro and his DS, and we snuggled with our respective gadgets (and a cat under the covers purring and feeling sneaky).

Between all the cards, emails, tweets, Facebook messages, and phone calls, I think I had something like 70 different people wishing me a happy day. Felt very nice!

After I finally got moving, I was gifted with a box of fancy-shmancy dark chocolates from the kids (via Andy) from Beacon Hill Chocolates:

 
If you think I'm sharing, think again!

And, for those of who who have enjoyed my tales (here and on Twitter) of getting lost in Boston, I regret to inform you that Andy bought me a GPS! Now I'm one of the cool kids!

Last year DisneyNature released "Earth" in honor of my birthday Earth Day, and this year it was "Oceans." Once again, the footage was incredible and breath-taking and gorgeous. However, this one suffered from heavy-handed music and narration (Pierce Brosnan: "Anyone who knows the sea will tell you of her power!"). I also couldn't figure out the thematic organization—it seemed to be just a series of film clips spliced together. It was still luscious and worth seeing, but it wasn't as good as "Earth." We also saw a preview of my 49th birthday next year's Earth Day movie: "The African Cats." It looks great.

And, just like last year, we ended the day with dinner at The Local, and once again I had the lobster mac & cheese, which is just too good to be true.

Happy Birthday to me!

Stuff I Tweeted Recently

1. Please don't tell me if you can watch this Jon Stewart clip without cracking up—that would mean you're an alien, and I pride myself on having a blog read only by earthlings.

2. I like this alot.

3. Roger Ebert (who is so much more than a movie critic) posted this photo on Twitter the other day. It's what he wrote to a friend on the back of his class photo senior year in high school (1960). Don't you wish you had a friend like that in high school?

4. Here's a previously unreleased track from "Exile on Main Street."

5. This is funny: How to print from an iPad. Also funny was Rainn Wilson's tweet re the iPad: "I wish my iPad were smaller and made calls."

6. I can't help but be grateful I wasn't the proofreader for the cookbook that was printed with a recipe calling for "salt and freshly ground black people." Ouch!

Remember the Seventies?

Some time ago I came across this compilation of the Top 10 Singles from each year in the 1970s. There were a few titles that didn't sound familiar to me, but once I checked them out on YouTube, I found that I knew every word of every one of them. Wow, and the hair and clothing are not to be believed—you owe it to yourself to go look up a few.

So are you ready (and old enough) to take a journey down memory lane with me?

1970

1. "Bridge Over Troubled Water" - Simon and Garfunkel
2. "American Woman" - The Guess Who
3. "Get Ready" - Rare Earth
4. "Band Of Gold" - Freda Payne
5. "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" - B.J. Thomas
6. "ABC" - The Jackson 5
7. "Let It Be" - The Beatles
8. "(They Long To Be) Close To You" - Carpenters
9. "Mama Told Me Not To Come" - Three Dog Night
10. "War" - Edwin Starr

1971

1. "Joy To The World" - Three Dog Night
2. "It's Too Late" - Carole King
3. "How Do You Mend A Broken Heart" - Bee Gees
4. "Indian Reservation" - The Raiders
5. "One Bad Apple" - The Osmonds
6. "Go Away Little Girl" - Donny Osmond
7. "Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)" - The Temptations
8. "Take Me Home, Country Roads" - John Denver
9. "Maggie May" - Rod Stewart
10. "Knock Three Times" – Dawn

1972

1. "American Pie" - Don McLean
2. "Alone Again (Naturally)" - Gilbert O'Sullivan
3. "Without You" - Nilsson
4. "Brand New Key" - Melanie
5. "I Gotcha" - Joe Tex
6. "Daddy Don't You Walk So Fast" - Wayne Newton
7. "Let's Stay Together" - Al Green
8. "The First Time Ever I Saw You Face" - Roberta Flack
9. "Brandy (You're A Fine Girl)" - Looking Glass
10. "Lean On Me" - Bill Withers

1973 

1. "Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Ole Oak Tree" - Dawn featuring Tony Orlando
2. "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" - Jim Croce
3. "Crocodile Rock" - Elton John
4. "My Love" - Paul McCartney & Wings
5. "Let's Get It On" - Marvin Gaye
6. "Touch Me In The Morning" - Diana Ross
7. "Delta Dawn" - Helen Reddy
8. "Playground In My Mind" - Clint Holmes
9. "Killing Me Softly With His Song" - Roberta Flack
10. "Me And Mrs. Jones" - Billy Paul

1974 

1. "The Way We Were" - Barbra Streisand
2. "Come And Get Your Love" - Redbone
3. "Seasons In The Sun" - Terry Jacks
4. "Show And Tell" - Al Wilson
5. "Love's Theme" - The Love Unlimited Orchestra
6. "The Loco-motion" - Grand Funk
7. "Bennie And The Jets" - Elton John
8. "You Make Me Feel Brand New" - The Stylistics
9. "Sunshine On My Shoulders" - John Denver
10. "T.S.O.P. (The Sound Of Philadelphia)" - MFSB featuring The Three Degrees

1975 

1. "Love Will Keep Us Together" - Captain & Tennille
2. "Rhinestone Cowboy" - Glen Campbell
3. "Fame" - David Bowie
4. "Shining Star" - Earth, Wind and Fire
5. "My Eyes Adored You" - Frankie Valli
6. "Thank God I'm A Country Boy" - John Denver
7. "Philadelphia Freedom" - Elton John
8. "One Of These Nights" - Eagles
9. "Pick Up The Pieces" - Average White Band
10. "At Seventeen" - Janis Ian

1976 

1. "Disco Lady" - Johnnie Taylor
2. "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" - Elton John and Kiki Dee
3. "Play That Funky Music" - Wild Cherry
4. "Tonight's The Night" - Rod Stewart
5. "Kiss and Say Goodbye" - The Manhattans
6. "Silly Love Songs" - Paul McCartney and Wings
7. "A Fifth Of Beethoven" - Walter Murphy
8. "Love Machine (Part 1)" - The Miracles
9. "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover" - Paul Simon
10. "December, 1963 (Oh, What A Night)" - The Four Seasons

1977 

1. "You Light Up My Life" - Debby Boone
2. "I Just Want To Be Your Everything" - Andy Gibb
3. "Evergreen" - Barbra Streisand
4. "Undercover Angel" - Alan O'Day
5. "I Like Dreamin'" - Kenny Nolan
6. "Dancing Queen" - Abba
7. "Torn Between Two Lovers" - Mary MacGregor
8. "Higher And Higher" - Rita Coolidge
9. "Best Of My Love" - The Emotions
10. "Southern Nights" - Glen Campbell

1978 

1. "Night Fever" - Bee Gees
2. "Shadow Dancing" - Andy Gibb
3. "Stayin' Alive" - Bee Gees
4. "Kiss You All Over" - Exile
5. "Three Times A Lady" - Commodores
6. "Boogie Oogie Oogie" - A Taste of Honey
7. "Baby Come Back" - Player
8. "Emotion" - Samantha Sang
9. "You're The One That I Want" - John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John
10. "Grease" - Frankie Valli

1979 

1. "My Sharona" - The Knack
2. "Le Freak" - Chic
3. "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?" - Rod Stewart
4. "Bad Girls" - Donna Summer
5. "YMCA" - Village People
6. "Reunited" - Peaches and Herb
7. "Ring My Bell" - Anita Ward
8. "I Will Survive" - Gloria Gaynor
9. "Too Much Heaven" - Bee Gees
10. "Hot Stuff" - Donna Summer

Birthday Boy

I am now officially the mom of an 11-year-old boy! Pete and Andy were already baking his birthday cake by the time I rolled out of bed today. Here he is just after blowing out the candles:

His wish came true, because I caved and bought him an iPod nano! This thing is just unbelievably cool. First of all, it is the size of a ... what? Maybe a playing card folded in half the long way? It's tiny. I got him the red one (a portion of the proceeds of that one go to help fight AIDS in Africa) and a clear plastic case, plus an iTunes gift card. This is by far the most extravagant birthday gift he's ever gotten!

Not only will it hold a bazillion songs, but it can also hold videos and movies. It has a video camera too, and you can add cool special effects to the videos! It also has an FM radio, which is something that's been sorely missing from iPods up till now. And, even better, it has something called Live Pause. Say you're listening to a great interview on "Fresh Air" but you have to stop to answer the phone. You can hit Pause, and when you come back, you can just pick up where you left off! On radio! You can even "rewind" up to 15 minutes. Yes, on radio! I feel like I'm on "The Jetsons."

The only problem so far is that the earbuds are kind of big for Pete, so they keep falling out. You may recall that I have the same problem, which is the main reason I never ever use earbuds, so I guess he inherited his delicate doll-like ears from me. Anyone know of a brand of earbuds that are smaller than the standard fare?

For dinner, Pete chose Chili's. We'd never been there before, but he saw a commercial on TV and decided he wanted to try it. The food was better than Andy or I expected, and Pete loved it.

He also got gifts from family members, including a new Red Sox hoodie and a Target gift card, so all in all it was a great day to be Pete.

Diary of a Wimpy Mom

Today, despite the rain and wind and temperatures in the 30s, Pete's soccer game was a go. So of course I volunteered to take Steph and Julie and Julie's friend to the movies. Which meant that Andy was left to go cheer on Pete in the not-so-springy weather.

"Diary of a Wimpy Kid" was delightful. The kid who played the title role reminded me of Kevin Arnold from "The Wonder Years," and the dad reminded me of Michael J. Fox. I found myself laughing out loud on more than one occasion. I'll take this sort of thing over those awful Alvin and the Chipmunks horror shows any day. Oh, and we saw a trailer for the remake of "The Karate Kid" with Jackie Chan, and it looked swell.

Pete's team crushed their opponent, for the second week in a row. They're talking about moving them up a division in this league to make it more fair and fun.

P.S. I forgot to mention that my only real disappointment with this movie was the outdoor snow scenes. I mean soap-flake scenes. I haven't seen such fake-looking outdoor snow scenes in decades. For shame!

Friday iPod Random Ten

1. Alabama High-Test - Old Crow Medicine Show
2. Unorganized Crime - Todd Snider
3. And She Was (live) - David Byrne
4. Deep Dark Truthful Mirror (live) - Elvis Costello
5. Wade in the Water - Eva Cassidy
6. Chest Fever - The Band
7. I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free - Levon Helm
8. Don't Let Me Fall - Hayes Carll
9. January Wedding -  The Avett Brothers
10. Respect - Aretha Franklin

The Next (Sub)Urban Farmer

You know how every year I vow to start a small herb and vegetable garden in my backyard? Well, this year I'm really going to do it! (No, really!) I think the key for me is to think small. I get overwhelmed by the prospect of clearing a bunch of land and planning out a true garden. But why couldn't I have a few pots of herbs and a small patch of tomatoes? I could, couldn't I? I'm encouraged by the trend toward home farming, even in urban areas. There are little gardens on high-rise balconies and in window boxes as well as in spacious backyards. Imagine how nice it would be if everyone in the neighborhood grew a little something and we all shared? (I call basil!)

I'm inspired by the Home Farming Movement, a collaboration between the nonprofit organization Urban Farming and Triscuit. Triscuit? Yes, the yummy cracker company! Urban Farming's mission is "to create an abundance of food for people in need by planting gardens on unused land and space while increasing diversity, educating youth, adults, and seniors, and providing an environmentally sustainable system to uplift communities." (By the way, do check out those links—they are both filled with useful and interesting information about starting and maintaining your own home garden farm.)

You may have heard about the Home Farming movement on the Ellen Show, and if Ellen can do it, so can I. And so can you! To help me with my review, I received a box of Triscuits (servings per container: 1. I'm just saying.) that included a little cardboard seed thingy. I'm going to plant it (really!), and I will let you know what comes up.

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by
Mom Central on behalf of Triscuit and received the product necessary
to facilitate my candid review. In addition, I received a gift card to
thank me for taking the time to participate.

My Big Fish

So I told you how Pete is one of the "old timers" on his Little League team this year, right? Well, last night I felt like the mother of the ringer. He had such a great night! For starters, the two kids who were supposed to try pitching didn't show, so in went Pete because he was the only other one who had ever pitched before (and hadn't pitched in the last game). You might recall from reports of my blood pressure spikes that he had pitched in third grade. He was somewhat erratic, but when he was on he was really on. He didn't pitch in fourth grade, whether because he didn't want to or because there were other kids who were better or because he was doing so well as catcher or something else, I don't know. Anyhow, in he went last night, and although he was far from perfect, he did awesome. When he was in his groove, he was really firing strikes at those kids. The pressure was obvious, and he did fall apart at one point and have a bad inning, but he went back in and then struck out the side, bang bang bang, for the win. 

He also made several good fielding plays, both as the thrower and the catcher. And he had three good hits, including a double, and scored a few runs, and stole second base twice (once on a pass ball), and slid into home once. All in all, it was a great night for him, and at one point all his teammates were crowding around him chanting "MVP! MVP! MVP!" (That was right before the inning where he fell apart briefly, but no matter.)

So perhaps this big fish in a little pond thing is indeed working out.

You Want Links? I Got Links!

Here's an awesome spoof of "West Side Story" for the Internet age.

I have major girl-crushes on both Annette Bening and Julianne Moore, so I hope this movie is as good as the trailer.

What? Wesleyan is only the #2 hipster school in America? Sheesh.

If you, like me, are a freelancer, you will get a huge bang out of this "Tax Form for the Marginally Employed." It's funny because it's true.

Could my search for the perfect toaster be over? Nah, too expensive. But way cool.

How to recycle just about anything, from old backpacks to keys to plastic six-pack holders.

Look! It's the alphabet in iPhone apps!

Roll Over, Roll Over

You know that I am not one to shy away from the truly controversial issues of our time. Politics? Let me at it. Religion? Fair game. But today I've got a really hard-hitting question for you all:

Do you put your toilet paper on the holder so that it rolls
over the top or under the back?

I'm sorry if this is too upsetting for you to talk about. I will be brave and announce that we are a roll-over family, and I've just learned that Cottonelle conducted a Roll Poll and found that 72% of American households are roll-over families too. In my house, if someone puts the roll on the other way, I switch it. Life is too short to be trying to find the end under the roll. I think it looks just plain wrong the other way.

There are certain items in the house that I don't care what brand I buy, but toilet paper is not one of them. It's got to be Cottonelle. I've been buying it for years. I think it is the softest and strongest, a good value, and not scented (pee-yoo). So I was delighted when Mom Central offered to send me a sample package of the new softer, stronger Cottonelle as part of their "Roll Over" campaign.

So, fess up: Do you roll over? Roll under? Not care which?

(On an only slightly related note, twice recently I was using the bathroom at someone else's house and happened to notice in the wastebasket—no, I wasn't being nosy—a not-quite-empty roll of toilet paper. And I don't mean the last two squares that are kind of stuck to the cardboard tube, I'm talking about a good three or four layers around. What's that all about? Do people really say, "Oh, well, it's almost empty, I'll throw it out now?" It's not like a tube of toothpaste, where it's hard to use it up 100%—it's quite obvious when you're at the end of a roll of toilet paper. I was kind of shocked at the wastefulness, to tell you the truth.)

I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central
on behalf of Cottonelle and received a sample to facilitate my candid review.
Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Spring Sports

Today Pete had his first Little League game of the season, and they won. The score was something like 10-7 when the game was called on account of darkness near the end of the fourth inning. Pete had two walks and two runs.

Most of Pete's friends made the Majors this year, but he's still in AAA. I think he must have had a bad night at tryouts (I wasn't there), because although he's surely not the best player around, I know that he is better than some of the other kids who made the Majors. It's OK, though, because he's still pretty small, and it might do him some good to have another year in AAA. There he can maybe be a slightly bigger fish in a small pond. I don't think he's terribly disappointed about not making the Majors, but it is definitely more fun when you're on a team with and/or against all your buddies. Ah well, all part of growing up.

In AA he was a pitcher, and last year in AAA he was a catcher, but this year they have him as a shortstop, so who knows what will be. As long as he's having fun, that's all I care about at this point.

The conflicts with soccer are already starting. Yesterday he missed baseball practice in order to get to his soccer game; today he missed soccer practice in order to get to his baseball game. I'm trying not to let it bother me, but at the same time we are big on emphasizing to the kids that when you make a commitment, you're expected to follow through. He has another baseball game on Tuesday, right when he's supposed to be at Hebrew school....

Weekend Update

Steph went to the Bat Mitzvah of a camp friend this morning, and she's at the party now. I have to wait up till midnight to go get her! Luckily I had a few hours of Red Sox excitement to entertain me this evening—4 homers, including 2 from Tek!

Pete made the first goal of the season for his soccer team today; they won 7-0. Julie's team did not do as well in their first game, but she still had fun. Her team is Barcelona, and now I've got "My Sharona" playing on an endless loop in my brain.

And ... I kind of thought I'd just sit here and blab for a couple of hours, but I've already run out of news.

Friday iPod Random Ten

1. The Magnificent Seven - Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers
2. Motherless Children - Rosanne Cash
3. Happier Blue - Chris Smither
4. I Loved You Yesterday - Lyle Lovett
5. Cynical Girl (live) - Marshall Crenshaw
6. Say Goodbye (live) - Dave Matthews Band
7. On The Road Again (live) - Grateful Dead
8. I Can't Help It (If I'm Still In Love With You) - The Breeders
9. Graceland - Paul Simon
10. Kick Drum Heart - The Avett Brothers

Sox-Only Baseball Fan

Last week I posted a far-from-inclusive list of Things Other People Love That I Just Don't Get. One of the items was football, which prompted Lori to comment, "How you feel about football is pretty much exactly the way I feel about baseball." I replied via email, "But ... do you like football?" and Lori said, "Only Ohio State football. I couldn't care less about watching random teams play, and the pros are just too violent and mercenary for me."

So that got me thinking. I always say that I love baseball, but in truth I love baseball only when the Red Sox* are playing. I enthusiastically watch every minute of every Sox game (as long as I can stay awake, that is), but I will not willingly watch any non-Sox baseball game, not even the World Series. And I guess I don't love the Patriots, Celtics, or Bruins enough to watch those sports even when they're playing. So it seems that I need a combination of a sport I love and a team I love.

How about you? Will you watch, say, any basketball game just because you love to watch basketball? Or is it all about your team?

*or whatever Little League team Pete is on, but that's different

Longest. Movie. Ever.

It seems like at least 3 years ago that Andy and I started watching "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," but really it was sometime this past winter. Honestly, I think the movie unfolds in real time. We had to watch it over the course of about 8 nights, and even that was pushing it. And it's a shame, because Brad Pitt does a surprisingly convincing Jesse James, and Casey Affleck is just right as the troubled, baggage-laden Robert Ford. But. Oh. My. God. Did we have to witness every breath they took over the better part of a year? It was endless. And so, although the story is a good one, the cast was well chosen, and all the other stuff lined up nice and neat, I must give this a big thumbs-down because it is just too damn long. You're better off just listening to the Boss (or Woody Guthrie, or whoever) sing about it:

Jesse James was a lad that killed many a man,
He robbed the Glendale train.
He stole from the rich and he gave to the poor,
He'd a hand and a heart and a brain.

Well it was Robert Ford, that dirty little coward,
I wonder how he feels,
For he ate of Jesse's bread and he slept in Jesse's bed,
Then he laid poor Jesse in his grave.

Well Jesse had a wife to mourn for his life
Three children, now they were brave
Well that dirty little coward that shot Mr. Howard
He laid poor Jesse in his grave.

Jesse was a man, a friend to the poor,
He'd never rob a mother or a child
There never was a man with the law in his hand
That could take Jesse James alive.

It was on a Saturday night and the moon was shining bright,
They robbed the Glendale train,
And people they did say o'er many miles away
It was those outlaws, they're Frank and Jesse James

Now the people held their breath when they heard of Jesse's death,
And wondered how he ever came to fall
Robert Ford, it was a fact, he shot Jesse in the back
While Jesse hung a picture on the wall.

Now Jesse went to rest with his hand on his breast,
The devil will be upon his knee.
He was born one day in the County Clay,
And he came from a solitary race.

Stuff I Tweeted Recently

1. The Red Sox started off the season by disappointing me enough that I went to bed last night while they were losing to the Yanks 5-2; was I ever delighted to wake up this morning to the news that they'd come back to win it 9-7! Pennant fever!

2. I can't wait for "Iron Man 2"—check out this trailer and film clip. Love, love, love Robert Downey, Jr. Whereas Mickey Rourke scares the crap out of me.

3. Yesterday it occurred to me that Easter Sunday would be a good time to go to IKEA, and I was right: We had the whole place to ourselves. I'd been only once before, and Andy and the kids had never been, so it was a fun excursion. 

4. Cartoon: If cats could talk.

I'll Finish It Later

Last Thursday I was listening to "Talk of the Nation" when the topic turned to that difficult decision to stop reading a book before it's done. Why is it so hard for so many of us? Indeed, I can count on one hand the number of books I actually stopped reading without ever intending to go back and finish up. The guest, Julia Keller, wrote an article in the Chicago Tribune on this topic, and she got many dozens of impassioned replies.

Many people gave up on Moby-Dick; I was lucky enough to read it senior year in high school with a teacher who somehow magically got us all to love it (thanks, Mr. James!). Others waved the white flag over War and Peace or Ulysses (neither of which I have so far even attempted). A few mentioned Infinite Jest, which, as my regular readers know, I not only finished but finished triumphantly.

But a couple of people did cite my most painful, shameful half-finished book: One Hundred Years of Solitude. My God, but I wanted to love that book! I adored Love in the Time of Cholera—I even went so far as to name it to my all-time Top Ten list—so it's certainly not a question of my not being into magical realism. I just couldn't get through it. My main problem was that I couldn't keep track of all the characters with all their similar names. Friends told me I didn't need to keep track of them; I should just roll with it, but I don't roll that way. I'm feeling a similar pang of remorse over Angle of Repose, which you may have noticed languishing over there in the sidebar for some time now. I adored Crossing to Safety, but I found this one positively dragging. If you notice that it vanishes from the sidebar and I don't review it, just assume I gave up, and please don't mention it.

How about you? Do you force yourself to finish books you don't like? If so, have you ever abandoned any? Which ones?

Upper Falls Evening

Last night we had dinner en famille at the Biltmore, which is fast becoming our favorite hangout. The grownups get a nice dinner and a bottle of wine, and the kids get kid-friendly food in a relaxed atmosphere. There's nothing like capping off a great meal with a pile of cookies and a mason jar of milk to dunk 'em in.

Just as we were leaving, we started chatting with a man and his two kids—Andy had spotted the son's sweatpants emblazoned with the logo of his own dad's former summer camp. Afterward, we walked two doors down, because I'd wanted to check out a new store called Zape that I'd read about in the Tab. It was opened by a thirteen-year-old boy and his dad. It was full of way-cool stuff, and we made a few purchases. The two kids we'd spoken to at the Biltmore popped over for a minute too, we figured while they waited for their food to arrive.

This morning I checked that Tab article again and saw that the family we'd been talking to was in fact the family that owns Zape! Imagine that. We wish them luck!

I got this hat:

Just in time for the balmy weather we've been having!

Friday iPod Random Ten

1. Pressure Drop - Desmond Dekker
2. Slow Boat to China - John Prine
3. Dead Flowers (live) - Uncle Tupelo  
4. Human Thing - The Be Good Tanyas
5. Satisfy My Soul  - Bob Marley & The Wailers
6. You Can Never Hold Back Spring - Tom Waits
7. Morning Dew (live) - Grateful Dead
8. It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City - Bruce Springsteen
9. It's Only Rock N' Roll - The Rolling Stones
10. Louisiana 1927 - Randy Newman

Hack My Life

Do you read Lifehacker? No? You should. Every day they provide dozens of tips on everything from photography to computers to cooking, although they definitely lean heavily to the technology side. But for every article I don't care about (LINUX? cycling? dogs?), there are two that speak right to me (organizing that jungle of wires behind my desk! cool iPhone tricks! memory aids!).

Today I saw something cool that I just have to share with you. Did you know that you can send text messages via email, and vice versa? Neither did I! Here's how:

Each mobile phone user has an email address, depending on their carrier:

• Alltel: phonenumber@message.alltel.com
• AT&T: phonenumber@txt.att.net
• T-Mobile: phonenumber@tmomail.net
• Virgin Mobile: phonenumber@vmobl.com
• Sprint: phonenumber@messaging.sprintpcs.com
• Verizon: phonenumber@vtext.com
• Nextel: phonenumber@messaging.nextel.com
• US Cellular: phonenumber@mms.uscc.net

So, say your iPhone cell number is 617-555-1212. If someone wants to send you a text message but doesn't have any texts left for the month (or left their phone at home or ran out of battery or ...), they can instead send it from their computer to [email protected]

The text message arrives from a strange number (for AT&T, the number is 1010100001), like this:

Then, if you want, you can reply to it as you would any text message:

and the person will get the reply in their email! So cool!

Moral of the story: Read Lifehacker every day, and then you won't have to depend on me to share all their pearls of wisdom!