April 19
...serving up your daily dish.
Reading blogs is will be good for you. That’s the prediction of psychiatrist Dr Edward Hallowell, an expert on Attention Deficit Disorder, who has written a new book, "Crazy Busy", about the darkside of our over stretched and overbooked lives. We don't agree with one piece of advice though, limiting what he calls time “screensucking” infront of the TV and computer. From USA Today:
Blogs will become powerful problem-solving devices through the interconnection of millions of people and their collective brainpower — but overall ingenuity suffers as people have less time to devote to creative thinking.
Less time to devote to creative thinking? Obviously Doc Hallowell hasn’t read us lately. It’s our out of the box complaining, thinking that has gotten our readers a free night at the Red Cheetah, a new Parking Pay Station and spurred the debate of what really constitutes non alcoholic sangria. It's time again for your daily chat.
April 19, 2006 in The Daily Chat | Permalink
"...psychiatrist Dr Edward Hallowell, an expert on Attention Deficit Disorder, who has written a new book, "Crazy Busy", about the darkside of our over stretched and overbooked lives."
He wrote it, but he'll be damned if he can remember where he put it because Joey was running with scissors at naptime. But that is another story for another blog or something like that I think.
Posted by: Conan the Grammarian | Apr 19, 2006 4:06:04 PM
You're invited!
http://njdogrun.blogspot.com/
I hope to have a dog trainer come on Board soon, like "ask the trainer"
Posted by: JT | Apr 19, 2006 4:40:12 PM
I note that the Watercooler has a full-page ad in "May In Montclair" while B-net has only half a page.
Another indication that size doesn't matter.
I also note that the Watercooler was omitted from the publication's index. Ha! Ha! Haha!
Posted by: crank | Apr 19, 2006 4:46:47 PM
JT -
Interesting blog. Best of luck with it!
(From one of your customers, especially for Cat Attract Litter.)
Posted by: Dog Mom | Apr 19, 2006 5:57:27 PM
All the reference to "non-alcoholic sangria" does is remind me of the poster known as "Top Banana" and by so many other names. His appearance here constitutes an achievement? Not even on the slowest of slow news days.
Nor is consideration of the warmth expressed by management at Red Cheetah exactly high on my list. Barista, you really have nothing better?
So can the good doctor help me with the horror of such memories?
Posted by: cathar | Apr 19, 2006 6:30:50 PM
I discovered when going into the archives from March 31st, (Big Doings in Real Estate) that the "two cents" was censored (changed). Did the Barista cave? Could the self proclaimed "richest guy in town" be so shallow as to put pressure on this sites operator? I hope I'm wrong about this.
Any comment Barista?
face
Posted by: face | Apr 19, 2006 9:36:46 PM
I discovered when going into the archives from March 31st, (Big Doings in Real Estate), the link "real Estate", that the "two cents" was censored (changed). Did the Barista cave? Could the self proclaimed "richest guy in town" be so shallow as to put pressure on this sites operator? I hope I'm wrong about this.
Any comment Barista?
face
Posted by: face | Apr 19, 2006 9:40:40 PM
I had to make a lunch delivery to the Mountainside Hospital ER today. As I entered the waiting area and announced myself, I noticed a short blonde woman with a short haircut over by some chairs; she was supported by two nurses, apparently in some state of collapse. A nurse behind the counter immediately grabbed me and said quietly, “Please come over here to wait, we’ve just had a cardiac arrest.” I took that to mean that the short blonde woman was having a heart attack and I followed the nurse across the room to a spot where I would be out of the way.
I was behind a pillar so I couldn’t really see what was going on. It seemed unusually quiet, apart from occasional gasps, for a heart attack. Then a nurse sitting at a computer terminal asked a doctor sitting at another, “What time was the pronouncement again?” She replied “12:08.” I looked at the wall clock, it wasn’t quite 12:25, and suddenly I understood: just before I walked in, the blonde woman had been told that her husband had died.
I had to wait there for several minutes because the third nurse who’d gone in on the lunch order hadn’t paid and no one was quite sure who it was. The mundane details of life plod on alongside the most important moment of a lifetime.
I peek over at one point; a nurse, or perhaps a grief counsellor, is on her knees in front of the stunned widow, holding her hands and speaking softly.
A couple of minutes later, a daughter runs into the room, cries “Oh mo-om,” and grabs her mother. Their cries of grief are wrenching to hear. They will haunt me for a while, I know.
Eventually the third nurse’s money appears from somewhere, I’m paid and I walk out, past the grieving family. They’ve now been joined by a gawky fellow who I suspect is the son-in-law, he seems pained, and keeps touching their shoulders in consolation. I say a silent prayer for them and leave, I have another customer waiting a long way away in the next town.
After work, I do one of the few things that I know how to do pretty well; I buy my favorite sandwich (prosciutto, mozzarella, roasted sweet peppers & arugula, if you were wondering), drive over to the picnic tables in Brookdale Park, and have my lunch. I eat very slowly, trying to savor every bite and drink in every iota of spring sunlight, deep blue sky, green tree buds, yellow forsythia and pink dogwood. A few other folks are walking dogs, running or power-walking; a few mothers have brought their children to the playground across the road; someone is giving tennis lessons to a group of young teens on the courts in the distance. Life goes on as usual for most of us. I’m wondering who else has been devastated on this splendid day, and I’m hoping that there’ll be another day when they’ll all be able to stand in this glorious light and feel its warmth again.
Posted by: crank | Apr 20, 2006 7:06:42 PM
crank, you have the makings of a book in there someplace.
Posted by: Right of Center™ | Apr 20, 2006 8:26:06 PM
People keep telling me that. Hope I can figure out exactly where before senility really sets in.
Posted by: crank | Apr 20, 2006 8:40:56 PM
crank,
makes me wanna listen to 'funeral for a friend' by 'elton john'..."and loves lies bleeding in my hand.."
Posted by: Iceman | Apr 20, 2006 9:31:05 PM
on another topic.
One of the reasons everyone believes we are losing the war is that the press won't report when we are wining.
Posted by: Right of Center™ | Apr 20, 2006 9:51:54 PM
crank -I call those moments "wheelchairs"---
many moons ago I when I was young, arrogant, and ungratiful - even though my life was blessed in every way possible-I always would sorta think that not only was my life half empty but quite honestly didn't even think I had been given a glass-
--and I would chuckle in the theatres (bars) that at least a person in a wheelchair always had a place to sit---
filled with sick humor and self pity---
After a series of basically miracles and some divine intervention-
I devoted my life to one of ammends and enrolled into the profession of law enforcement.
I have a real connection with something greater then myself since those days---and my career and lifestyle gave me an opportunity to view many episodes like the one you described.
On days when I get low and lousy--I always seem to be placed in the direct line of vision of someone in a wheelchair--and today I am gratiful--for what I have-and my thinking turns back to those days of who I was and who I am now---
and I am just glad that before me I do indeed have a glass and how I choose to fill it is in direct proportion to my closeness to that higher power and the gifts I have been given.
You yourself have had that close encounter, as I too have I -and today and just for today we have the best possible day here on earth. My prayers are with yours for the blonde little lady and the family you saw for I am sure the sunshine was lost in the dim grey haze of mourning--
but your post was a "wheelchair" since I was just lamenting my mother's illness and some financial stress-and reading me snapped me right back to where it is I need to be---filled with gratitude for all the things that I do have. Thank you.
Posted by: cstarling | Apr 20, 2006 10:02:31 PM
cstarling,
me too. i've been out of work for 5 months but between the support of my GF and my faith, I know that I don't have a whole hell of a lot to complain about. From now on, I will use your example of the 'wheelchair' moments to keep my life in perspective.
Posted by: Iceman | Apr 20, 2006 10:14:33 PM
Crank and CSStarling, thanks for putting a lot of things in perspective for me tonight. It's always good to be reminded of what really matters and to remember to be grateful for all we have.
Posted by: mauigirl52 | Apr 20, 2006 10:23:55 PM
I echo that. Very moving.
As this spring flies by I keep reminding myself to look around, savor the moment, be aware of all the beauty as it all flies by, too fast.
Posted by: latebloomer | Apr 20, 2006 11:11:16 PM
http://www.burningman.com/
Has anyone here ever done this? This sounds likes awesome (according to a friend of mine from Seattle who's gone)...the thought of heat and windstorms is daunting, though.
Posted by: Miss Martta | Apr 21, 2006 9:08:12 AM
Well put, latebloomer, I've been in that frame of mind lately. This week has been the essence of Spring.
CS thanks for sharing those pieces of your life. I'm going to remember your notion of wheelchair moments.
Let's see what today brings.
Posted by: crank | Apr 21, 2006 9:11:34 AM
Yes, I first heard about it 10 years ago when an photojournalist acquaintance got an assignment to there. Then I saw a great documentary (PBS, I think). It's one of those things where I think, oh I wish I'd heard about this when I was younger and didn't care as much about being comfortable. Apparently you have to bring in all your own water, and it's in the desert and super, super dry and hot.
Oh, and "Malcolm in the Middle" did an episode on it -- the family wandered into it by mistake while vacationing, and everyone thought Hal, with his RV and grill and chef's hat, was doing performance art that satirized the quintessentail suburban dad.
Posted by: skipwith | Apr 21, 2006 9:17:27 AM
Skipwith: That Malcolm in the Middle story is hilarious...LOL!
Yes, you definitely have to haul all your supplies in and then that's it...it's not like you can go to the store for a quart of OJ. Once you leave, that's it. Sure sounds like a once in a lifetime experience, though.
Posted by: Miss Martta | Apr 21, 2006 9:20:03 AM
"http://www.burningman.com/
Has anyone here ever done this?"
Just to clarify -- haven't actually gone; in my morning blur I thought it read "heard of this?"
Posted by: skipwith | Apr 21, 2006 9:22:45 AM
"Then I saw a great documentary (PBS, I think). It's one of those things where I think, oh I wish I'd heard about this when I was younger and didn't care as much about being comfortable."
Took the words right out of my mouth! I saw that film too. It'd be a fascinating thing to do, no doubt, but I think I'd need an RV at this point.
Posted by: crank | Apr 21, 2006 9:25:36 AM
