Mount (kinda) Pleasant

I spend so much time moaning and groaning about the drawbacks of living in our neighborhood (robbery, murder, car break-in's, rats, lack of parking etc.) that I often forget some of the positives.

Spiderman Rises from the Ashes

This recently resurfaced after twenty some odd years of storage. My parents made the incredibly poor decision to sell our beloved two hundred year old New York farm house and put all of my tender childhood memories in boxes on the floor of an evil storage facility. Did I mention that I was still a little bitter about this? I opened it up to find that it still has the 45 record intact. More importantly, at what point did the monster and superhero worlds cross allowing the wolfman to appear in this?

Air and Space

We just wrapped up a whirlwind three day visit with Grandpa. The kids love it when he comes to town and we try to enjoy some of Washington D.C.'s tourist attractions that we never take advantage of normally. Let me first tell you how grateful I am that nearly every place we went was free. In this crap economy it's a welcome relief to not have to shell out endless dollars to visit someplace amazing. We chose the Air and Space Museum, since our last visit took place five years ago (I know, pitiful). A great day was had by all.

See What I Mean?

These two particular clouds have blown away, but you get the basic idea.

Spring Has Spung

O.K., so the title is borrowed from a pre-school bulletin board , it's actually true. A week or so of warm soothing sunshine and cerulean blue skies have prompted us to break out the sidewalk chalk. Here are the results.

Sandy Point on a Cold Day

During a depressing cold spell last month I found myself looking for something to do. I discovered it in Sandy Point Park. If you take a drive on Route 50 east past Annapolis right before the Bay bridge you will find this sprawling sand covered beach and park with plenty of distractions for young and old. Places to sit and eat, great views and a decent playground all make for an afternoon of fun.

Imdb and Me

On days where I hit a monstrous slump, I find myself slinking closer to the laptop to get my fix. A place where you can post thought provoking questions for discussion, mindless drivel, or angry borderline slander. You can have the DeNiro in Taxi Driver vs. Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon debate one second and find yourself slinging some mud regarding the personal love life of an actor/actress the next. That's right, it's Imdb....and it's spectacular.
Provoke a troll, you get a stalker that will both warm your heart and frighten you to death in equal measure. Engage a writer, film maker or actor (yes they do read and post!) and you get thoughtful answers to most sincere questions. Best of all? It's a movie buffs dream!! Every movie ever made, every thespian to grace the large and small screen, it's all in the mix! Mega fans, mega fun. Film geeks debate everything from the Star Wars prequels to Fellini, cinematography, casting, overlooked performances, you name it..they talk about it.
I knew I was in trouble when I started checking this site instead of CNN with my early morning coffee. Most of my friends are swept up in the current facebook storm (I confess, I do love me some facebook too) but I still find myself drawn to post random observances from the latest thing I've seen at the movies or ordered on Netflix. Nothing beats it.
Go and get yourself an account and let the fun begin.
www.imdb.com

A Tisket a Tasket, I'm Going to Hit You With My Basket

Earlier today as I was penetrating the freshness seal on my grated Parmesan, I was instantly transported back in time remembering it's difficult journey from the Giant to my kitchen. Let me first preface this by telling you that Wednesday is senior day at Giant foods. "Why is this relevant?" you may ask? There are myriad reasons that I could give you but unless you've ever been food shopping with your over sixty five Nana you may have a hard time grasping exactly how fraught with danger this can be. Everyone of the surly old people comes in angry and ready for a fight. The prices are crazy, the manager is taking too long to respond to endless complaints, the cashiers give terrible customer service, the aisles are too skinny and the shelves too tall to reach. These are all valid issues and I do feel for these decrepit souls wandering around in vain trying to buy enough to last them until the next miserable trip to this Godforsaken place, however I was only there this Wednesday to get one item. Cheese. You see, my ten year old daughter loves Parmesan cheese on her pasta and won't eat a morsel without it. So now you understand why we dial it to def con 4 when there are only a few sprinkles left.
I unfairly used my youth (39 is the new 20) and agility to maneuver, shopping cart free, through the maze and used laser precision to zero in on my target. This is where I made my crucial error. I offhandedly cut in front of an elderly woman who initially appeared harmless and grabbed what looked like one of many bottles of sprinkle cheese. I now know that this was the last Parmesan. Only Romano remained. The old lady can't eat Romano, as a matter of fact she HATES it. First she shot me the same look that Chief Brody gave the mayor of Amity when he made the ill fated decision to open the beaches for the 4th of July holiday weekend with a man eating great white still on the prowl, then she started her shrill verbal assault. I backed away quickly and thought about running, but changed my mind. Old age is not a license to be an a**hole. Anarchy could rear it's ugly head if this type of behavior is left unchecked. So I used my junior psychoanalysts calm voice to shame her into silence. NO, I did not feel good about this later, buy my daughter ate her lunch for the rest of the week.