“Do something out of your comfort zone.”  How often have you heard this advice? I think whoever said this meant something like try seeded rye instead of whole wheat, or take the express train and walk 3 blocks instead of sitting longer on the local. I, of course, took this advice far too literally and went out — I mean, way out —of my comfort zone,...

So. What’s Your Hurricane Sandy Story? Mine starts with a bolt out of the blue, literally, which looked like lightning but was the Con Ed substation exploding on 14th street, 10 blocks away. Spoiler Alert: “Con Ed” and “exploding” in the same sentence is not a good omen. Sure enough, plunged into darkness moments later, we went madly...

If what the actor Edmund Kean supposedly said on his deathbed, “Dying is easy, comedy is hard,” is true, then the writers of SNL can go to their heavenly rewards with no regrets because the iPhone5 skit last week was comedy to die for. The skit featured a panel of nerds on a mock show called Tech Talk, with SNL regulars playing guests from C-Net, Wired...

What Is My iPhone Trying to Tell Me? It’s making these plaintive little sounds, and I can’t get it to stop. Sometimes it’ll be seconds between the sound (A ring? A ping? A Bing? Don’t know how to describe it in words), then it goes silent for long periods of time and I think I’ve fixed it. I haven’t. I even stopped at the Verizon...

Facebook Without Really Trying?   I am not a Facebook kind of gal. My friend Susan says that’s a good thing, but what does she know. Besides, I have a book I should be promoting and Facebook, they tell me, is the place to do it. Okay, call me crazy, but a site where hehehehaha is considered a witty response is not exactly catnip to a person who loves...

The confession you are about to hear is true.  Only the names have been changed to protect . . . me. Who else? Bless me, Father . . . For I have shoplifted.It’s been a hundred years since my last confession, so let’s not go there. But about the shoplifting: There were two specific times I can remember and probably a few additional incidents I have...