May 29, 2007

EXTREME SUDOKU BACKUP -- by Steve Nadis

It's already out of control. I already do the daily sudoku puzzles in the Boston Globe (7 days a week), plus the free paper Metro (5 days a week). But over the weekend I heard there was another free daily in Boston, which I'd sort of seen around. Today I picked up my first copy of Boston Now and checked out their "Games" page. Sure enough they have Sudoku--not one but three puzzles each day. If I do them all, that will be a lot to keep up with--nearly five puzzles a day (with time off for holidays and good behavior). I already cut corners on sleep; can I survive on an hour less per night?
Posted by Snake at 10:26:20 | Permanent Link | Comments (3) |

May 27, 2007

FOURFER SATURDAY -- by Steve Nadis

Yesterday I made four trips to Central Square, the seamy underbelly of Cambridge, in one hour. That might be some kind of record, and not one you'd like to top. First I got some pillow cases at a discount store for sack races for my daughter's fifth birthday party and some papers for cupcakes. But the cupcake papers had footballs on them (I wasn't paying attention), and my daughter didn't care for them. So I went back to the store to exchange the football-decorated papers for the balloon version. When I got home my wife decided we needed two more pillow cases for the sack races, so it was back to Central Square again. As soon as I returned we realized we had run out of bread, which was going to be an important part of our dinner, so that was the fourth trip--all completed in an hour. Mr. Ripley, you can believe it or not.
Posted by Snake at 18:26:56 | Permanent Link | Comments (2) |

May 23, 2007

THE LOSER'S CLUB -- by Steve Nadis

Several people have expressed shock when I mention that I still watch "Lost," as if that were so passe. (It's also surprising because I don't watch TV, but that's another matter.) My 16-year-old niece laughed at me. "It was OK in the beginning but that show is so over," she said. "It's well beyond toast." Her words and those of others were enough to shake my confidence in my own judgment. So I put the question to a friend, a local writer/editor/publisher/impressario who was, at least at one time, a "Lost" fan. (In fact, he's the guy who turned me on to the show during the summer rerun period after the first season had concluded.) Does the fact that I still like "Lost" make me a loser, I asked. "If you’re a loser, count ___ & I in as well for we feel that, if anything, the show has gotten better," he replied. The Boston Globe TV critic said today that he'll be sorry to see the season end because, in his words, the show "has been on a roll." After tonight's season finale, the show will go into hiatus until February 08. Then members of the loser's club that I belong to will become truly lost souls. Each of us will, somehow, have to muster up a life of our own--one that does not involve worrying about "the others."

Posted by Snake at 09:18:09 | Permanent Link | Comments (3) |

May 22, 2007

THE 5-SECOND RULE GETS AN UPGRADE -- by Steve Nadis

Relax! Take it easy! If your food drops on the floor, you now have more than five seconds to pick it up. New studies from Connecticut College suggest that the 5-second rule needs an ugrade. The researchers found that it takes at least 30 seconds for wet food to get contaminated by bacteria and even longer for dry food to get contaminated. So as the pace of life has gotten faster and faster, this is one area where we can afford to slow down. That tempting morsel of food sitting there on the floor is fine where it is; pick it up when you're good and ready and not a second before.

Posted by Snake at 11:30:33 | Permanent Link | Comments (2) |

May 21, 2007

BEST MOVIE TEASER NEVER USED... ----- by Steve Nadis

On Thursday, my favorite movie theater (the Brattle) is showing "The Cockfighter," a 1974 movie starring Warren Oates who plays a man who trains fighting cocks in Georgia. The movie (which I have not seen) is based on a novel (which I own, but have not read) written by Charles Willeford, a pulp novelist I am fond of. While looking up the movie online, I came across this fake tagline: "He came into town with his cock in hand, and what he did with it was illegal in 49 states." As I said before, that's gotta be the best movie teaser never used...
Posted by Snake at 00:40:13 | Permanent Link | Comments (4) |

May 19, 2007

MILK RUN -- by Steve Nadis

Since a smoking ban was imposed in Cambridge restaurants and bars in 2003, I’ve run into a friend of mine at least a dozen times in front of two local pubs, the Plough&Stars and the People’s Republik. Just about every time, I’m headed to the 7-11 to buy a gallon or two of milk, while he’s talking with some friends on the sidewalk and smoking a cigarette. My friend is a former space artist turned genetic artist about whom I’ve written frequently, and we’ve had quite a few interesting conversations during these late-night “milk runs.” If possible, I try to have the conversations on the way to the 7-11 rather than on the way back, as my arms get tired holding onto all that milk.
Posted by Snake at 00:11:15 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

May 18, 2007

DAY OF RECKONING--by Steve Nadis

Is it unfair that Wolfy (Wolfie?) was forced to resign over an impropriety that probably would not have done him in were he not one of the main architects of America's misguided war in Iraq? Put in other terms, should a man be held accountable for initiating a senseless war that has already killed untold numbers of people--probably hundreds of thousands, though we'll never know for sure. Wolfowitz is one of the most reviled men in the world--along with Bush, Cheney, and Rumself--and he has paid a price for being a member of that select group known as the four horsemen of the apocalypse.
Posted by Snake at 10:09:53 | Permanent Link | Comments (2) |

May 17, 2007

CHEWED OUT BY THE CROSSING GUARD -- by Steve Nadis

My daughter and I were late this morning getting to her bus stop, and I stepped into the street to get a view of the approaching bus to see if it was hers rather than one of the others that follow the same route. A crossing guard scolded me for setting such a bad example for the children. She continued to harangue me after we'd walked past her on the way to the bus stop.

My 7-year-old told me not to feel so bad. The same crossing guard had also insulted our friend's dog, calling him a "cur" or some such slur. My daughter also suggested that I take a different route home to avoid another interaction with the irascible guard. But I told her that would be the cowardly way out and that I'd better face the music.

Posted by Snake at 09:18:29 | Permanent Link | Comments (4) |

May 16, 2007

MODERN TIMES -- by Steve Nadis

I just filled out a survey (that I had to do, unlike most of them that get immediately tossed). The questions were of the "modern" variety and some I did not even understand. To wit: "What is your gender? Or, more specifically, what is your gender identity? Female, male, other, or none." 

 How about "none"? Does that work for you? 

 

 

Posted by Snake at 00:15:12 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

May 15, 2007

A PATH BETWEEN THE STREETS -- by Steve Nadis

I had to go to the FedEx place in Harvard Square and parked my bike near a walkway between Mt. Auburn and Brattle Streets that was recently written up by the Boston Globe architecture critic. I had been through there (44 Brattle, I think it's called) before, but it had recently been "finished," as the critic Robert Campbell described it. So I took a little excursion between the two streets, and it was fun to find some new sights in a town that, after 30 years, I'd come to know all too well.
Posted by Snake at 15:29:50 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |
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