Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Thanksgiving Without the Family

What does one do for Thanksgiving, when one's husband is in Germany, and one's grandchildren have the flu? Spend Thanksgiving Day in Manhattan with a friend!

When I learned I would be alone for Thanksgiving, I thought of my friend, Paula, who lives in Manhattan. She, also, would likely be alone. So, why not spend the day together? Paula is a New York City tour guide, so is a very knowledgeable person with whom to wander around the city.

The weather was glorious, that day, so we decided to take a walking tour. We began by strolling up First Avenue to the United Nations Headquarters between 42nd and 48th Streets. The UN complex, comprised of the elegant Secretariat tower, domed General Assembly building, and a Conference building, is an example of a committee project that worked! The complex was designed by an architectural committee that included Le Corbusier, Oscar Niemeyer, Sir Howard Robertson, and the firm of Harrison and Abramovitz.

After appreciating the simple elegance of the UN Secretariat skyscraper, we wandered across 42nd Street to Lexington Avenue. En route, we paused to admire Kuwait's UN mission building, impatiens that were still blooming vigorously, the tops of the Tudor City apartment complex, the indoor garden of the Ford Foundation building, the Christmas windows in the Pfizer building, and the Art Deco frieze of the Daily News building. (Pictures of all these are on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/rtroth/sets/72157622886774024/).

Located at Lexington and 42nd, the Chrysler Building is quintessential Art Deco architecture, and one of the many unmistakeable images of New York City. It's graceful spire can be glimpsed from many parts of the city. Because Thanksgiving Day is an official holiday, the Chrysler Building was closed, and we could not wander around, but we were able to see the lovely lobby, with its beautifully paneled walls, inlaid elevator door designs, and painted ceiling. I usually expect New York skyscrapers to be large inside, no matter how slender they appear from the outside. However, the Chrysler Building is very compact; the steel girders and arches are able to support its weight, without the need for great width.

By this time, our feet were getting tired, so we boarded a downtown bus, and rode South to Cooper Square (Third Avenue, between 6th and 7th Streets). The red brick Great Hall of the Cooper Union was the site of one of Abraham Lincoln's earliest campaign speeches, in February 1860. This speech has been dubbed "the speech that made Lincoln President." You can read all about this landmark speech, in Harold Holzer's Lincoln Prize-winning book:

After appreciating both the old and the new Cooper Union buildings, we wandered down The Bowery, past the Village Voice, to Houston Street, then West on Houston, past the Merchant's House, the classic Crate & Barrel store, and University Plaza (with its tall Picasso sculpture), to the Angelika Cinemas. Paula shared a lot of background information about all of the buildings we admired. But the Angelika Cinemas was our primary destination: showing there was the newly released "Me and Orson Welles," with Zac Efron ("Me") and Christian McKay ("Orson Welles").

I don't get out to see movies, very often, so it's really important that the movies I choose be of interest to me and well done. This was both. Ostensibly, "Me and Orson Welles" tells the story of a high school drama student's first Broadway experience, in Welles's 1937 production of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar," at the Mercury Theater. In fact, it's a wonderful glimpse into Welles's personality and the Depression-era theater world. I thought McKay's performance was outstanding, and his resemblance to the young Orson Welles was uncanny. We both enjoyed this movie - and the popcorn!

Houston Street is at the northern edge of Chinatown, so, after the movie, we sauntered South into Chinatown, in search of sustenance. "Chinese food on Thanksgiving Day?" you protest, with a shudder. Yep, Chinese food on Thanksgiving Day. We wandered along the main streets of the area, peeking at the menus of a variety of restaurants. Many we shunned because of prices, others, because of long lines. Finally, on a side street, we discovered "our" restaurant, which promised "Authentic Sichuan Cuisine."

There were lots of yummy-sounding items on the menu. For those who are less adventurous, the menu included a section labeled "American Chinese Food"! Because I'm allergic to wheat, I always select very simple dishes, and have them prepared without soy sauce. As a result, "my" Chinese food looks a bit "anemic," to others. Egg drop soup is a safe choice, and the sauteed chicken with asparagus was delicious.

By this time, it was fairly late in the evening, so we walked over to Canal Street and The Bowery, which is right at the entrance to the Manhattan Bridge, and caught an uptown bus to Third Avenue and 34th Street. Paula had bought some pumpkin pie (See? Thanksgiving food!) and ice cream, so we had dessert and tea at her apartment - a lovely, relaxing way to end a glorious day.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Our Winter Vacation - Kaua'i, February 2009

I admit it: this post is 3 months late!

However, I just learned about a new online tool, slide.com, and decided that creating a show about our latest trip to Kaua'i, where we have a timeshare, would be the perfect test. And, it gave me something different to muse about.

So, here's the slideshow. The images are in random order:

What's so wonderful about vacationing in Paradise - apart from the fact that it's Paradise, of course? For us, it is being able to share this beautiful place with our family.

This year, our daughter, son-in-law, and two grand-daughters joined us for the week. As you can see, we had a lot of fun - the kind of fun that only youngsters aged 5 and 8 can offer.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Twitter Unites People to Support Those in Need

More and more often, we are seeing news stories about remarkable achievements of individuals on Twitter: reporting & photographing "Sully" Sullenberger's landing of US Airways flight 1549 in the Hudson River is one high-profile example.

Overnight, I experienced the privilege - and stress! - of participating in a global effort, on Twitter, to save a young, suicidal woman in Jakarta, Indonesia. Our goal was to get help for her, and that required locating her; Jakarta is a big place!

The phenomenon started (for me) at 12:59 AM, this morning, when I received the first "retweet" about her high risk for suicide, and it did not end (again, for me) until 2:30 AM, when I received the first retweet that she had reported in, and was OK. In between was one of the most intense 90-minute periods I have ever spent in my life, as I joined dozens (perhaps hundreds) of people in trying to help her.

I have identified individuals from 25 states in the US (Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin), 2 provinces in Canada (Ontario, Québec), and 12 other countries (Australia, Brazil, Denmark, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Israel, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Vietnam, and the UK), who participated in the world-wide effort. Undoubtedly, additional places were represented, because a number of those who pitched in - just like the person we were trying to help - do not specify their location in their Twitter profiles.

This graph, showing Twitter activity for the topic "suicide," clearly illustrates the intensity of discussion and effort being invested in helping our Indonesian neighbor.

Helpers included people of all ages, and from many fields of endeavor, including a retired Navy chaplain, psychologists, and people from suicide-prevention help lines.

All applied their problem-solving skills or sent prayers, music, and supportive "tweets" to this young person.

What, exactly, did they do? A variety of things, depending on their creativity and connections. Interventions included:
  • informing their Twitter followers, to extend the call for help as far as possible

  • writing supportive messages to her

  • studying her friends list, to see who might be geographically or socially close to her

  • calling Twitter customer support (who did reach out to her)

  • trying to trace her through her Internet service provider

  • searching the Internet for other sites and social media profiles that might provide more information about her

  • sending her inspiring music

  • identifying suicide-prevention centers in Indonesia

  • contacting the media and other agencies in Jakarta, who might have local means for tracing her.

Some did not try to help; they were concerned that the suicide threat might be "just a hoax." Obviously, many more believed that taking action, and risking looking foolish if the threat turned out to be a hoax, was a better alternative than doing nothing, and learning later that the threat had been real. The risk-takers mobilized to help; they could not "pass by on the other side" (Luke 10: 31-33), even though the "other side" might have been half-way around the world.

Today, I read a blog post by Buddy Stallings, Vicar of St Bartholomew's Church (St Bart's), New York. This excerpt, in particular, aptly sums up my experience of last night's event:
I think the impulse we have to feel sad (or happy or anything else) with another person is almost always good. Particularly, it seems to me the impulse to hold that person in the messy and mysterious place of our prayers, is something we should cling to with all our might. Though our prayers for others often quickly transmute into prayers for ourselves, praying in whatever way we do whether we think it is utterly impotent or magically effective always enlarges us and our world.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

My Top 12 Cheer-Me-Up Songs

Ever since I was a child, I have used music to raise my spirits. There are many songs designed to do just that. I think the theme must have become really popular during the Great Depression, but has endured.

Here are my top 12 cheer-me-up songs - in roughly chronological order - linked to Blip.fm tracks, when available, or to the lyrics.

  1. When the Red, Red Robin Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along (Al Jolson, 1926)
  2. Let a Smile Be Your Umbrella (lyrics by Irving Kahal and Francis Wheeler, 1927)
  3. Pennies from Heaven (from "Pennies from Heaven", 1936) (Frank Sinatra)
  4. Pick Yourself Up, Dust Yourself Off (YouTube video of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers; lyrics by Dorothy Fields, 1936)
  5. Put a Shine on Your Shoes This one has no lyrics on the web, but it concludes with
    So put a shine on your shoes,
    And a melody in your heart.
    What a wonderful way to start
    The day!
  6. Zip-a-Dee-Do-Dah (from "Song of the South", 1946)
  7. Pretend You're Happy When You're Blue (words & music by Lew Douglas, Cliff Parman, and Frank Lavere, 1953)
  8. Count Your Blessings (Irving Berlin, 1954) (Diana Krall)
  9. Smile When Your Heart is Aching (lyrics by John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons, 1954)
  10. Don't You Hurry Worry Me! (from "Windjammer", 1958) The lyrics are not on the web, but here is the refrain:
    Don't you hurry, worry me;
    Don't you hurry, worry me!
    Who cares what time it is,
    When the climate is
    Warm as the tropical sea?
    So don't you hurry me,
    Don't you worry me;
    Don't you hurry, worry me!
  11. The Shadow of Your Smile (from "The Sandpiper", 1965) (Barbra Streisand)
  12. Tomorrow (from "Annie", 1977)
What songs cheer you up? Please add your favorites in a Comment.

Blithe Spirit

I really like Noel Coward's 'haunting' comedy, "Blithe Spirit." I've now seen it 3 times: in Toronto eons ago, in London a couple of decades ago, and in New York tonight.

Hard to say which production I liked best. I knew many of the actors in the Toronto production. The special effects and actress who portrayed the sexy ghost of the writer's first wife were splendid in the London production. And Angela Lansbury (in the center of the picture) was zanily wonderful as the medium in the current production, running at the Shubert Theatre on 44th Street, just off Times Square.
(AP Photo/Jeffrey Richards Associates, Robert J. Saferstein)

My mother, husband, and I had a terrific evening. I was able to get dinner reservations at Sardi's, literally across the street from the Shubert. We all chose the prix fixe dinner, because the selections were varied enough to meet our various tastes, and even accommodate my allergies.

Following that delicious meal with a funny, 'old chestnut' of a play made for a perfect evening.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Easter Gifts

Tonight, I was wrapping Easter presents for our grand-daughters, and pondering that luxury. It is pure grand-parently selfishness, that we "spoil" them so.

We have such fun selecting cute and colorful items for our grand-daughters, that we take advantage of every holiday to do so.

Perhaps Easter is one of the best times to give gifts. Many of us are accustomed to gift-giving around Christmas, but isn't Easter an even more appropriate occasion? At Easter, we celebrate the greatest gift we can receive: salvation.

So, tomorrow, when I ship the package to Massachussetts, I'll be thinking not only of how much the girls will enjoy the gifts, but also what the occasion truly represents.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

April Fool's Day Virus

Today is April 1 - traditionally, April Fool's Day. I may be today's fool, but I'm not turning on my PCs. May help avoid activating "the worm."

Has anyone had trouble with this malware? Have you heard any reports?

Or, will this turn out to be, like the Italian spaghetti-growing trees of 1957 (BBC), just another April Fool's joke?

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Technological Challenges

I believe that the total rebuild of my laptop, and the selective porting of utilities from the old laptop worked. Tomorrow will tell!

Why, you ask, did I have to rebuild the laptop?

Apparently, the first time I ported utilities to the new laptop, I included one that required a specific driver: SbAlg.sys. The unavailability of this driver rendered the laptop incapable of booting up, no matter what the nice Dell technician tried. Starting over was the only remaining option.

So, I spent about 15 hours restoring the original configuration. Then, I ported over just a few utilities, hoping that I selected the "safe" ones.

Because of the threatened April 1st virus, I'm waiting 'til April 2nd to test the new configuration. Paranoid? You bet!