So Peter and I finally moved on into the 21st century and figured out how to get the foreign TV shows that don’t get into American syndication. The first of these shows happens to be the second season of Britain’s Project Runway, called Project Catwalk. Now we know the British shows have less glamor and [...]
Everyone has their own favorite Christmas movies. Peter loves A Christmas Story; I adore The Grinch Who Stole Christmas; and Neil and Kelly see A Charlie Brown Christmas every year. A a few weeks ago, at the Teeny Manolo, Glinda the Good made a list of her top ten Christmas movies, all of which I’d [...]
My usual way of getting around within a European country has been via rail. It may be a little slow, but it’s sociable and almost always, even in 2nd class, comfortable. This week, a company called Tchibo is having a sale on special “Tchibo tickets” which is two one-way tickets for train travel within Germany, [...]
I recorded the most recent episode of Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style, in the hopes I might learn something. This episode in particular, featured a 40-something woman (Karen) who still wanted to look hot, but who had ended up looking like a hooker instead. I could relate: I, too, still want to look sexy, but [...]
One of our most delightful Christmas traditions is San Jose’s Christmas in the Park downtown. It’s location, Plaza de Cesar Chavez, always has something going on, whether it’s a Vietnamese lantern festival or a free performance by the San Francisco Symphony. But Christmas in the Park is a real community extravaganza that kicks off with [...]
Although we’re avid The Next Great American Band fans, for the last month we haven’t really had a chance to put our votes in. Despite my banal lifestyle, we’ve always had something better to do on Friday night, whether that was rocking out ourselves with Rock Band, or having an actual party to go to.
For [...]
Last Saturday, Neil’s robotics team had its annual competition at nearby Gunderson High School. The theme for this year’s challenge was based on alternative energy: with their Lego robots, each team had to complete various tasks, including getting “uranium rods” back to home base, installing a solar panel on a house, and “harvesting” (ethanol-creating) corn. [...]
As marvelous as living in California is, the one thing that blows here is Christmastime. While other people enjoy frosty walks among snowy trees, merry carolers, and festive shop windows, Christmas in California is depressingly yellow. Sure, the community does the best it can to capture the Christmas spirit. San Jose’s Christmas in the Park [...]
One of the disadvantages of widespread vaccinations is that people tend to forget how really bad the diseases they’re preventing are. Increasingly, well-meaning parents are opting out of vaccinations, partly because they may have mild side-effects, and partly because of a superstition that they may cause more serious damage, like autism. Why take the risk, [...]
