New Shoes in the Rain

Wondered that for a long time.... In the interests of full disclosure, I saw a grand total of two of this year's best picture nominees, "Inception" and "Toy Story 3," the latter with my granddaughter. I didn't see the entire Academy Awards broadcast last night, but read about the award winners whose presentations I missed and saw just about the last two hours of the ceremony.  Just have a few observations.... Every few years, the producers say they're taking the telecast in a "new direction" and that means one thing--attracting younger viewers.  This year that was attempted by hiring actors James Franco and Anne Hathaway to host the proceedings.  Franco was about as he often is in public settings that I've seen....detached cool, as though he's looking for the door while grinning incessantly.  He's not problematic in that way, just a little off, if you know what I mean.  Hathaway was her usual luminous presence, and acted much ...

Back from a trip to Richmond, Virginia, where the weather was wonderfully unseasonably warm but windy.  While there I spent some time with my team member visiting clients and also interviewed a couple of candidates for a new position our company is looking to fill.  But neither of those is the subject of my entry, of course, in keeping with my company's policy of no mentions in personal blogs. So, I wish to outline some of the odd things I encountered while staying in a Marriott in downtown Richmond. My rep recommended this hotel because there are numerous restaurants and such nearby, it's a short cab ride from the airport (I needed to get myself there when I arrived Tuesday night, but she was nice enough to take me to the airport for my outbound flight yesterday--more on that below), and, I found online, they had an indoor pool. The last item is huge with me for a couple of reasons:  I don't have access to a pool at home and like to swim as a diversion from my norm...

....but here's what I think about a few things. First, during a recently completed business trip I happened to see Bill Maher's "Real Time" show on HBO.  I don't usually plug anyone's programs here, but because I'm too cheap to have HBO at home I don't see this all that often.  If you remember, Bill used to do essentially the same show for Comedy Central and then ABC, and called it "Politically Incorrect."  It was and still is largely a panel discussion with him as the moderator, and the panel might be folks from the news media, politics, sports, entertainment, or other fields.  What struck me this time was that he played a clip from 2005 in which he correctly predicted the bursting of the housing bubble, which in turn led to bank failures and the near-collapse of Wall Street and our economic system.  It was good, and I just discovered that previously aired episodes are available as podcasts on iTunes!  Go get a couple and you'll see th...

Super Bowl Sunday has come and gone for another year....I don't know about you, but for once the game itself overshadowed the commercials and the halftime show. Let's remember, I'm 50, so the Black Eyed Peas are not going to be my cup of tea. So I wasn't all that disappointed in the halftime show they and others put on at the big game. The National Anthem wasn't all that bad, despite Christina Aguilera's flub on the lyrics, but I thought Lea Michele did "America the Beautiful" better! But the real drama each year is the commercials. I suppose now we know that the American auto industry is on its way baxk, as there were multiple Chevy and Chrysler commercials (when did rapper Eminem start doing commericals? He was in TWO!). Bud Light ran several that were amusing, but I thought the best were some for Doritos and Pepsi Max. If you're among the eleven people who didn't watch, they can probably be found online. Oh, and the Green Bay Pac...

Remember a while back my breathless post about getting an iPad?  Well, it's been about two months, and I still love this device very much (more now that my company has plans to allow company e-mail to be accessible on personally owned mobile devices) and have been having a blast discovering stuff it will do. But with any technology there are what I would term "side effects," and this is no different.  By my count I have now purchased five different cases for the iPad, and am returning the fourth.  I suppose because it's a tablet that many of the iterations of protective cases are designed to allow the iPad owner to use the device while it's in each respective case.  Some have been quite attractive (one was an aged leather job with contrast stitching), while most have been serious black in color and varying qualities of silicone, faux leather or vinyl.  But there's been something kind of "off" with most of them, in my opinion. The iPad, if you...