Publishing Insider

this weekend!

Don't miss a cool Algonquin Round Table walking tour!

NY haiku

From walking home in downpour last night; with a tip of the cap to one of my heroes, Richard Hunt:

chapstick in puddle

dropped by someone in a rush

that is a damn shame

The 4th

Now begins the most conflicted and happy season for me. My heart yearns for the salt air of my youth on the North Fork of Long Island, but I just cannot bear the LIE. And to be honest, I've also grown cranky about low tide, jellyfish and rip tides. But oh the light, the pure light of Eastern Long Island. Sigh. So,instead, we head for unchic New Jersey lake country and a pond without boats or traffic or crowds. Just hawks circling up on the ridgetop. We may go 'down the shore' to see old friends this weekend, and I really really hope that Bruce comes on the radio. When he rasps: 'Sandy the aurora is risin' behind us', my heart breaks for some foolish lost youth. And I will try to keep the salt on my skin as long into cocktail hour as possible.

Achoo....help!

Ever want to rip your eyes out? I thought I'd dodged this allergy season...until yesterday. Omigod. Torture. Anyone have any magic remedies?

Blowin' in the wind

Watched the Mets game last night. Something so quaint about the silly little apple that comes up after each home run. But the announcers mentioned the wind out at Shea, and I looked out my apartment window and noted that there was nothing - nothing - in the straight line world of a city to indicate any wind whatsoever. Sigh.

Risky business

Sat. 6 PM. "Bachelor's weekend." Wife and daughter on a sort of spring break weekend to see childhood friends in Alabama. Me? Been writing all day, some essays for publication somewhere, I hope. A nap. More of the Long Tail book from Hyperion, and some excerpts from Winter '07 books. But now, just apres wine-thirty, I got up and danced to Steely Dan's Time Out of Mind. C'mon; you have a song you can't not dance to!

Stop by if you're in the neighborhood. I'm either watching The Thin Man, or, more likely, putting the Allman Brothers Live at Fillmore East up really high. Like up to the 11 notch. In Memory of Elizabeth Reed is transcendent. Maybe warm up with a little Subdudes and Little Feat first.

We all need a little solo music weekend every now and then, you know? 

Better living thru chemistry

So, I grow up in a small town and don't sniffle once. Move to NYC and been sneezing ever since. A tree blooms in Brooklyn. And Central Park. And E. 53rd. But, I have finally conquered it, thanks to Patinol eye drops. After years of Sudafed and Claritin, and then insomnia, I don't dread April anymore. I don't feel like ripping my eyes out. If you are a fellow sufferer, try and get a prescription for Patinol, and no, this is not a paid ad. I'm just so thankful.

Caravan

I drove a Dodge Caravan for 10 years until it finally gave out. For the last 5 years, it was missing a small door piece on the driver's side, its abscence revealing the white plastic pieces onto which this long, narrow panel had been clipped. Thought it was just something wrong with my van. Nope. I have now counted at least 15 other Dodge Caravans on the road these past few years with the same ailment, same mark of shame. Makes me smile every time.

Yikea

Ah, city life. Our daughter, at 14, has her first real bedroom. Oh, she's had her own room, the former L of the living/dining room of our one bedroom apartment, with a wall, door, and low bunk bed. But now, thanks to Ikea, she has a full desk and bed overhead. A far cry from my small town bedroom with heavy furniture and plenty of yard outside, but it's hers and she's a girl and a math kid and going to NYC public schools and having a cool city childhood. And her first room really all her own, with her stuff the way she wants it. As it should be.

City living

I'm eager to start a listing of little-known tips about places in America that would make life just a little easier. I'll start a separate rural escapes thread for later, but for now, it's urban living that needs that extra dose of sanity. I'll start: My NYC inside tip is that admission to MOMA (now $20) is free from Fridays from 4-7 PM! It's crowded but worth it...but arrive at 5 not 4 when the queue is too long. Tell me your Seattle or Chicago or Dallas or wherever sanity/bargain/fun tip.