Thanksgiving, 2016
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Cleopatra author talk
I caught my first author lecture last week. Stacy Schiff, the author of Cleopatra: A Life, was speaking at Sixth and I, a nondenominational synagogue in downtown DC. It’s only about two blocks from the Gallery Place Metro (and Chinatown), so it was easy to get to without having to drive. I was very impressed with how intelligent Stacy is, and how well she speaks….
Picture in picture on your HD TV
Football season means lots of games to watch–and I like to watch more than one game at a time. That means switching back and forth between channels. Or going to a sports bar, where they have multiple games showing on different TV’s at the same time. This year, that got me to wishing I had Picture in Picture (PIP) capability, like we used to have, before satellite and cable TV came along.
Cancun 2010
We were lucky to find cheap flights out of Richmond this year, but it was a 6 am flight, so John and Megan opted to stay up all night. We had to be at the airport by 3, so that made sense. I tried to stay up too, but caught some zzzz’s in my recliner. KK got about 4 hours sleep. Of course, when we…
Syncing two computers (especially Outlook)
Dropbox.com allowed me to sync Outlook on my 2 computers, simply by dropping the pst file in a folder. Worked with Quicken, too. Magic. You just have to be careful not to have Outlook open on both computers at the same time.
G-Force outing
I took Mason and his friend Jason to this cool go-kart racing facility for Mason’s birthday. The karts are very fast, and you really get a firsthand experience of what it’s like to drive a racing car. Well, you have to use your imagination a little, but it is a great experience. It’s all indoor, so it can get pretty hot in the summer, and…
Best Served Cold, Joe Abercrombie
What a roller coaster ride. At first, I thought this book was going to be a wannabe “Pillars of the Earth,”, but I was soon proved wrong. It takes place in about the same era, circa 17th century (or somewhere along in there). Like Pillars, it has wars, castles, sword fights, betrayal, hot sex, and incredible characters. The interplay between the two main characters, Monza…
The Poet, Michael Connelly
A killer is leaving clues from stories written by Edgar Allen Poe. But the police miss the connection, and a reporter recognizes the vital link because the last person killed just happens to be his brother–and he won’t quit, like the police have. He turns up far more than he bargained for, and almost gets killed in the process. There are some great twists in…
Money to Burn, James Grippando
Ha–great timing. How often do you read a book about some arcane stock market definition, wondering if it’ll ever be useful, and then read about the very same thing in breaking news a week later? A key element of this book is about “selling short,” and, I’ll be danged if Goldman Sachs wasn’t accused of doing the very same thing as part of the mortgage…
Deeper Than the Dead, Tami Hoag
You know how oftentimes a story is told from the viewpoint of a main character? Tami Hoag manages to do it with two children that stumble across a dead body in the woods. Then from the viewpoint of one of their teachers. So yes, there’s some good character development, as well as a very good plot. Unless you figure out who the killer is early…
Lemon Pepper Chicken Wings
Last Saturday night I proved that I have mastered the art of grilling chicken wings. Oh yeah, easy as pie, you say–just slap’em on the grill and you can’t go wrong. Which is true. But, if you want something that will add a little twang. A little sizzle. A little fire to the mix, then check out this formula. Grill the wings, but for the…