Matthew Dicks's Blog, page 677

An idiot with a difficult name

A surprisingly large piece about me and the book appeared in the New London Day on Sunday.  There was a photo of my book on the front page of the paper and a reference to the story, which was a full page spread on the front page of the Daybreak section.

Reading an article about yourself is a little surreal.  You speak to someone for an hour or two and then wait to see what the person found interesting.  It also provides some insight into your own character, as seen through the eyes of...

No more smiles around the table

I'd like to propose an end to the around-the-table photograph.

They suck. 

You go to a restaurant for a special occasion, engage in lively and engaging conversation, enjoy good food and drink, and then someone decides that "We need a picture!"

Sure.  That's fine.  But not around the damn table. 

Of all the places that we could take a group photograph, why do we ask people to crowd around one end of the table, bending at impossible angles in order to face the camera and squeeze into the...

Cupcakes and college professors

I rounded off the week with two more book appearances following my first appearance at Barnes and Noble on pub day. 

On Wednesday night, I traveled to Suffield, CT to spend the evening with the good folks at Kent Memorial Library.  It was a sizable audience of enthusiastic readers, many of whom had already read SOMETHING MISSING and were anxious to read UNEXPECTEDLY, MILO.  The introduction that I received was second to none (citing many of the oddities from my life and confirming to me...

No girls allowed

In 1952, women were banned from minor league baseball, essentially locking them out of the possibility of ever playing professional baseball.

This ban remains in effect today.

What the hell?

Out of all the sports, women are more likely to break into professional baseball before the other more physical sports of football, basketball, and hockey (though we've had female hockey players in the past). Yet Major League Baseball has chosen to exclude the possibility of women ever playing the...

Maniac behind the wheel

I was watching the highway chase scene from The Matrix Reloaded while getting dressed yesterday.  A few minutes later I was in my car, driving down the road like the character, Morpheus, from the movie.  My blood was pumping, my adrenaline was rushing, and I was shifting through the gears like a madman, accelerating faster than necessary, looking for opportunities to weave in between slower moving traffic.

It was insane.

I literally had to pull over and calm myself down before proceeding...

Early predictor

This website will tell you the name of Billboard's #1 song on any given day and year.  Check to see the most popular song in the land on the day that you were born.

I checked mine. Not surprisingly, it was One Bad Apple, by the Osmonds.

How perfect is that?

My personal life expectancy

The Daily Beast ran a piece on fifteen indicators of life expectancy.  Being someone terrified of death and in denial of its eventuality, I was immediately intrigued by the list.  Here's how I faired: 

1. The employed outlive the laid-off.

I am a teacher, a novelist and a wedding DJ.  I work more than anyone I know, and I have been working fulltime since the age of sixteen without a break.  Based upon this indicator, I should live forever. 

2. Married people outlive singles.

All set...

Huh?

I spotted this sign in the men's room in the Red Robin adjacent to Gillette Stadium.

I don't get it. 

The toilets and urinals are using recycled water, which sounds fine, but I am to avoid drinking or coming into contact with said water?

To whom is a sign like this directed?

Who is coming into contact and drinking toilet water?

Jerry can copy but not the rest of us?

How come Tom Cruise's Jerry Maguire can steal the now-famous "You complete me" line from the deaf couple in the elevator earlier in the film and still make it sound original and romantic, but no man can ever use the line again without it sounding like pure cheese?

Not fair.

Maybe Toughskins and parachute pants will make a comeback, too

I am pleased to report that there is a new trend in town, and it goes against everything that I despise about the fashion industry. 

Scientific American reports that researchers surveying California consumers found that people who are seriously well-off are willing to pay a premium for items whose branding is more discreet. 

In short, these are people who are willing to pay more to leave the logo off the item.

Can you imagine?   

A Coach bag that isn't plastered with the letter C? ...