Mr. Moskowitz, my seventh-grade Math teacher, was a nice enough guy, and a pretty good teacher. One thing that annoyed us, as students, were his “surprise quizzes”. The quizzes invariably came on Mondays - but not every Monday (otherwise where’s the surprise?). Mr. Moskowitz liked to challenge us. For example, he would give us a sequence of number …
Although I am a Mets fan, I routed for the Yankees on Monday night. On Tuesday, I heard the last sportscasts of how the Yankees did and it won't be until next season that I'll have to wait to hear about the Bronx Bombers before hearing the sportscasters talk about my Mets. So here we are with the wild card teams decided and the playoffs are unde …
The sign read “No Parking - Friday Midnight - Monday 6am”. She parked on Thursday evening and found a ticket on her windshield on Friday morning. The ticket was issued at 12:06 a.m. on Friday. We all know what Midnight means....or do we? That moment between one day and the next. Lawyers tend to try to avoid confusion -- opting for “11:59 p.m.” or …
I first felt it about a week ago. An evening breeze and the question of whether I should have taken a light sweater with me. A few days later, it was there in the morning. The crispness that was the bellwether of things to come. The acorns from the oak trees up the block. Plummeting cars like hail forcing neighbors to move their cars from their …
When I was a teenager, I printed business cards for myself and my best friend that said "Nachas Machers". (My father was a printer so I had access to my own little letterpress printing press.) It was important for me to give my parents “Nachas” -- that special warm pride that only a child can give to his or her parents. Parents get Nachas from t …
As I stood on the ballfield at the Gotham picnic/softball game a few weeks ago, I had a feeling that brought me back decades to the ballfields of my youth. Being in the group between the two "captains" who are picking sides. I remembered the thoughts that went through my head when I was a kid. Whose team did I want to be on? When would I be chosen? …
A few days before leaving for our annual visit to Martha’s Vineyard last week, I received a voice message from Steve and Kim. We've been visiting the Vineyard for many years. We stay at the Outermost Inn in Aquinnah and are there at the same time every year. So are Steve and Kim. We were looking forward to seeing them again this year and I was …
Yesterday morning I found myself in front of a little outdoor garden sitting area -- four benches in a small circle by the beach overlooking Vineyard Sound. Bricks, many with names and acknowledgements line the floor and the area is enclosed by beach plums. In the center there's a boulder engraved with depictions of a lighthouse, a male and fem …
There are a few bagel stores in our neighborhood. Two within walking distance, although you'd pass one on the way to the second. Several others are a short drive. I am not sure whether any of them are significantly “better” than any other; however the loyal fans of any one of them swear that others don't compare to theirs. And there are differ …
There's a local frozen yogurt place in our neighborhood. We built up a lot of loyalty points enjoying their yogurt until one day, about a year ago,when they stopped serving “Original Tart”. The owner explained that my favorite flavor was not a big seller. I was in disbelief because, for me, it was the only flavor that tasted remotely like yogur …
I've heard the expression that "getting there is half the fun". Although I anticipated writing this blog from Asheville, North Carolina, I never thought that I'd be writing about getting --or almost not -- getting here. We booked our trip some time ago. Fly to Charlotte and a scenic two-hour drive to Asheville. The Forces had other ideas. Got to …
While listening to the radio the other day, I heard the results of a study stating that it takes an average of 23 minutes to regain one’s focus if one is interrupted with an instant message while working. The study seemed to concentrate on instant messaging, but I suppose that the concept would apply to any e-interruption, although the length of re …
A recent email exchange makes me wonder about auto-correct. Commenting upon a Gothamite attending a meeting, the email stated that “We always actuate her participation.” Upon receiving the email, my intuitive ’auto correct misspell decipher’ recognized the unintended word immediately. The sender also recognized the error and emailed that “Somehow t …
I was walking up the aisle from my front row seat at intermission of “Shows for Days” at the Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center; “Ben, your shirt is open.” (Actually, I was wearing a T shirt under an open shirt.) I looked around and when I focused on Gothamite Richard Fromewick seated several rows up the aisle, I replied that I was thankful that …
In case you haven't seen this yet, someone tried to charge his cellphone on stage at a performance of “Hand to God” on Broadway. Details are unclear, but apparently a man in the audience jumped onto the stage to plug his cellphone into one of the electrical outlets on the set. The only problem was that the outlet was a prop in the scenery -- n …
