Running Sucks
There is no other way to say it. Running sucks. I seriously don’t understand the concept of a runner’s high or the euphoria of the ten mile run. When friends run, they go to other places in their mind, places of peace and joy. I find joy in a bottle of wine and...
Searching for Doris Schwartz
Today I met my childhood doppelgänger. Granted, it was three decades after the fact, but it was well worth the wait. Growing up a chubby Jewish kid with frizzy hair who wanted nothing more than to sing and dance and act...there was no better role model for me than...
Another op’ning, another show…
Voted “Baltimore’s Best Bookstore” by Baltimore Magazine and Baltimore City Paper, the Ivy Bookshop epitomizes everything which is good about independent booksellers. Unlike Big Box stores, the Ivy Bookshop is run by husband and wife owners Ed and Ann Berlin, who are...
How to look younger the natural way…gain some weight and get a facial.
My face is plump. Like a doll. A porcelain doll with nary a wrinkle, blemish or spot. While Botox and Restylane are not my thing (although I have nothing against them), I personally prefer the natural way to look ten years younger.... weigh an extra two stone (that’s...
Wax On, Wax Off
Remember the Karate Kid? Not the tricked out Jaden Smith one, but the 1984 Ralph Macchio classic? At one of the film's pivotal moments, Mr. Miyagi taught Daniel-san zen basics by instructing him to "wax on, wax off". Recently, I've been trying to embrace the...
Pre pub day jitters
I just cleaned my house. And I am not a good cleaner. In fact, I'm a terrible cleaner. But, I'm a bundle of nerves and excitement and cleaning calms me down. I remember watching Monica’s neuroses on Friends when she’d clean to calm herself down. And while I thought it...
The Consequences of friends and the celebration of friends of consequence
I just read an article in one of those magazines, which suckers like me are always buying in the supermarket checkout line. You know the ones...where happy, peppy models pretending to be 'real people' promise that it is possible to lose 20 pounds in two weeks. I...
Macgyvering the Menorah
Lighting the Chanukkah candles. It's one of those time honored traditions that grounds me in my faith. And while I love both giving and receiving presents, my favorite thing is actually lighting the candles, singing the prayers and meditating on the flames as they...
It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown & how not to prepare for a fast
Sophomore year of college, I got mono. A lot of kids get mono in college and, statistically, most of them get it sophomore year. Although that may be a statistic which is primarily in my head as I tend to make statistics up. I was so sick that I lost twenty pounds...
Sophomore Slump. My second triathlon and why carbo loading with wine does not work
My first tri was amazing. I set a goal and I reached it. My naiveté fueled me, my exuberance sustained me and my training prepared me. My second tri wasn’t as successful. I can sum up the experience with the F expletive. I muttered it several times throughout the...