Quite a few moments, actually. Do you have any idea how much time the “average” American spends waiting? Try 2 to 3 years. 2 to 3 Years! Hard to believe, but not really, when you factor in doctor’s offices, the lines at Costco, and the Motor Vehicle Bureau. I hate waiting as much as the next person, but, not wanting to be anything short of...

If there’s anything I hate it’s being called “Ma’am.” Ever notice how clever clerks and wily waiters call you “Miss” when they’re trying to make a sale or score a good tip. It’s a variation on the old routine savvy flower sellers once used. Remember when sidewalk vendors sold single long stem roses—or better...

Time for a quick, refreshing, lightly-edited rerun. It’s called “Life’s A Beach” and you’re seeing it again because I’m up to my eyeballs in page proofs, putting the finishing touches on my new book, I Can’t Believe I’m Not Bitter. (Summer is such a good excuse, though.) Meanwhile, read this and see if you can’t...

I wrote this a year ago but didn’t publish it  because I was afraid that it might sound . . . bitter. I didn’t mean it to be! I like my life, but Nora Ephron seemed to have The Life. She was my hero (heroine? I’m never sure about those PC things) and this was a tribute to her, although now it does seem a bit bittersweet. . . I once wrote about how important it...

This is not a crude curse, but merely a suggestion. And possibly a good one at that. Because I’ve just been to uPublishU, an all-day seminar at Book Expo America, and if I learned one thing it’s this: Jeez, has publishing changed! Once upon a time, you wrote a book, probably on a typewriter, possibly with a quill pen, then you looked for an agent and/or...

Am I High Yet? Never in the long and histrionic history of marijuana, dating from the third century BC (BC!), has such a big deal been made out of so little weed. Ten Euros worth at the first “coffee shop” I spotted in Amsterdam, two little joints in one cute little baggie. Not to worry. In this beautiful city of canals and cannabis, it’s legal,...

When you read this I may be at the Eiffel Tower going up to the sumptuous Jules Verne restaurant, or at the Café Beaubourg having a martini or whatever it is Parisians drink these days, or on the Ile de St. Louis saying au revoir to my decision to cut back on sugar with the best caramel ice cream in the universe. Or,  I may be in Amsterdam on a boat trip, or...

So? Who Would You Rather Have A Beer With? Personally, I don’t drink beer. And, of course, that’s a silly way to choose a candidate for any kind of office. But a piece in The New York Times about U.S. Presidents and their drinking habits got me thinking. About drinking. And Presidents. And stuff. In the 2004 election, a lot of people thought that...