Hurricane Diary: The Sandbagging Snarl
I thought it amusing when I saw the light-up sign offering free sandbags last night. Not so funny this morning when I learned that the sole distribution area for sandbags…
How I Spent My Earthquake
It may be a testament to my ability to roll with the punches, or proof that I clearly can’t identify with what’s all around me, but I didn’t feel the…
A Dismal Swamp Fire’s Effect on Vacation
Traffic was so bad to the Outer Banks last weekend, it took a couple days decompression at the shore to unwind from it all. Bumper to bumper for miles and…
The Working Unemployed on Vacation
One of those random polls in USA Today this week asked: Is vacation a break from work? The graphic showed that 46 percent work during vacation, 35 percent don’t work…
Among the Quakers
I’ve learned over the years there’s nothing quite so jolting as going directly from the TV Critics Association summer press tour, at a posh Beverly Hills Hotel, directly to the…
Me and the Gov, Chillin’ at Disney World
The governor of New Jersey got some heat last week when it turned out he was out of town while the great blizzard blew on the Garden State. Not that…
The Problem with the Magic Kingdom
As something of a student of Walt Disney (sad to say, I did a post-grad thesis on what it was in the design of Mickey Mouse that made him so…
Hogsmeade in the Time of Pottersville
The whole reason for coming to Florida, other than visiting grandma in her snowbird condo, was for my kids to see “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter” at Universal Studios…
Caught in Celebration – Florida
Our trip to Orlando found us spending a lot more time than we ever planned in Celebration. Not actually celebrating, but in Celebration, Florida, a themepark kind of actual city.…
Halloween Haul 2010
It was a sad Halloween; the first without kids here as a home base or trawling the neighborhood. Nora was off at a friend’s, in another neighborhood, so there was…