CALL ME SNAKE http://cambridgeguy.blog.com/ "A tradition of excellence for ___ years, and a tradition of mediocrity for even longer." en-US Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:49:10 +0200 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:49:10 +0200 Blog.com http://cambridgeguy.blog.com/5188434/ MY 30 SECONDS OF FAME, Part 30 -- by Steve Nadis http://cambridgeguy.blog.com/5188434/
Not to boast but an editor I sometimes work for told me yesterday that an article I’d written about bees some years ago was going to be reprinted in a prestigious journal--the October issue of the quarterly magazine put out by a beekeepers association in northeastern England. The magazine, the editor assures us, “goes out to about 80 members.” So yours truly is now hitting the big time. Which goes to show you that sometimes good things can happen to those who wait.
 Snake Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:30:12 +0200 http://cambridgeguy.blog.com/5187791/ “A BUSY MAN” -- by Steve Nadis http://cambridgeguy.blog.com/5187791/
The interview last week for my Science Magazine article was going badly. My wife’s aunt was calling constantly and our second phone was ringing in the background. I tried to turn off the ringer but couldn’t find the switch. (It was concealed by a plastic piece attached to the phone for some odd reason.) “I assume you’re a busy man,” the guy said. (I was thinking of saying, “Not really,” but did not as I was sure that would provoke him.) “Well I’m a busy man too. I can’t work under these circumstances.” The conversation could have ended right there but instead I apologized and took the other phone off the hook. We talked for awhile more but, as B.B. King says, “the thrill was gone.”
 Snake Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:01:54 +0200 http://cambridgeguy.blog.com/5186583/ NOT MY BAG -- by Steve Nadis http://cambridgeguy.blog.com/5186583/
What’s with bags these days? I’m talking about, for instance, the large (16 ounce) rippled potato chips bags from Trader Joe’s or Nature’s Path granola (“Pumpkin Flaxplus”) I’ve been getting lately. Why does it take superhuman strength to open them without ripping them to shreds? I’m a guy who works out pretty regularly and still can’t make much headway with the new bag technology. Whatever happened to the bags that stayed closed when you wanted them to, but opened smoothly and uniformly with the gentle application of force? Why has something we took for granted for decades become so difficult to achieve in the new millennium?

SPECIAL NOTE TO READERS AND NONREADERS: Blog.com has changed its homepage and, as a result, many people--myself included--have had difficulty logging in and putting new posts online. I was shut out for a week and only got on today after trying three different browsers. If CALL ME SNAKE goes offline again, it’s probably because of those technical difficulties that have sidelined many other would-be bloggers. 
 Snake Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:01:13 +0200 http://cambridgeguy.blog.com/5185347/ BACK IN THE SADDLE, Part 216 -- by Steve Nadis http://cambridgeguy.blog.com/5185347/ I have not been able to log in, or post, for the past week, as BLOG.COM had been rejecting my password and saying my email address was not registered. Today, however, my usual way of signing in worked and I’m “back in the saddle,” as it were. So that’s the good news. The bad news is that I have absolutely nothing to say. But now, at least, I can say nothing to the whole blogosphere. That’s a tribute to today’s impressive technology. As well as to my personal “clout.” Snake Mon, 29 Jun 2009 09:45:50 +0200 http://cambridgeguy.blog.com/5179429/ CLOUT (and how to use it) -- by Steve Nadis http://cambridgeguy.blog.com/5179429/ I’ve lived in Cambridge a long time and after awhile you make some connections. After some decades in this fair city, I am now on a first-name basis with the assistant to a City Councillor (NOT an assistant City Councillor). I have not yet exploited that connection; I’m still waiting for the most opportune time. Incidentally, I just learned that the wife of a guy I’ve started chatted with at the Cambridge Y is an assistant to a different City Councillor, so I have yet another avenue to tap into down the road. But I’m going to hold onto that card until I really need it. That’s clout. Snake Mon, 22 Jun 2009 10:48:08 +0200 http://cambridgeguy.blog.com/5178475/ THE SINGLE FRIEND -- by Steve Nadis http://cambridgeguy.blog.com/5178475/ Having a friend who’s single can be a great thing. Because you know there’s always one person who’s up for a movie or up for grabbing a slice of pizza or watching some sports or whatever. Until he gets hitched up with a new girlfriend or new wife. Suddenly he has his life back, which is good for him. (Couldn’t be happier  for the guy.) But it’s bad for you.

 Snake Sun, 21 Jun 2009 11:37:14 +0200 http://cambridgeguy.blog.com/5177604/ SOUNDED AS IF HE WERE A FEW BLOCKS AWAY -- by Steve Nadis http://cambridgeguy.blog.com/5177604/ I just got a call from my collaborator who works half a mile away at Harvard. I can never get a decent line with him. There are always echoes which make it really hard for me to talk. Today when he called he came in clear as a bell. He was calling from China. Snake Sat, 20 Jun 2009 11:40:53 +0200 http://cambridgeguy.blog.com/5176641/ HAVE YOU BEEN PLAYING WITH WORMHOLES AGAIN? -- by Steve Nadis http://cambridgeguy.blog.com/5176641/ I got an email a few days ago, after our spring soccer season concluded, from the friend with whom I coached the team for the past two years. He was responding to an email I’d sent on March 30, 2009 about our first team practice of the spring, which he had just received in mid-June (MORE THAN 6 WEEKS LATER!). Steve, he chided me, have you been playing with wormholes again? Snake Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:08:28 +0200 http://cambridgeguy.blog.com/5174979/ CELEBRITY GUEST POST (SPOOKY WORLD, Jason, & the gang) -- by Steve Nadis http://cambridgeguy.blog.com/5174979/ This came in yesterday at Call Me Snake’s head office: “Hoping you can help me in regards to spookyworld archive info. I have spooky world brochure when it was in Berln MA. It's no dated but it has to be during the 90's. It is what they handed out in the park with all the info such as prices include and celebrity visitors. It is autographed by Gunnar Hansen "Leatherface" and the actor at the time who played Jason but I cannot make out the name. I searched for actors who have played Jason but none seem to match this autograph. Could you lead me in right direction or provide answer.”

Once again, Call Me Snake was unable to assist this person. I could not lead him/her “in right direction,” nor could I “provide answer.” Nevertheless, we are still glad the individual thought of asking the question here. I never have seen a Jason movie and, generally speaking, I am not big on hockey masks. But the important thing is that we’ve always intended to make Call Me Snake your number one source of news and information. And to the erstwhile Jason fan I say: Thanks for asking. Snake Thu, 18 Jun 2009 10:32:11 +0200 http://cambridgeguy.blog.com/5172639/ STILL THINKIN’ OF YOU... -- by Steve Nadis http://cambridgeguy.blog.com/5172639/ Sometimes the story doesn’t work out the way you figure. The numerous missives I’d been receiving from the NIH PR person made me feel as if I was about to be blown off. Everything told me things were headed that way. Instead, this afternoon I heard that I was supposed to interview the head of a major institute. One of our national  institutes of health. On Thursday morning, no less.  I hadn’t counted on that at all. Instead I saw this whole thing going down. Now I’ve got to figure out what in the heck we’re going to talk about.

P.S. I seem to recall that some reader recently had a problem with my use of the word "missive." Now I see it crept into the above post, so I'm going to apologize for that in advance. Snake Tue, 16 Jun 2009 23:45:05 +0200