Sam Barry's Blog, page 10
June 28, 2010
The Daily Sam: Old and In the Way
It's scary getting old.This came home to me the other day when I was out shopping for some fruits and vegetables with my mother-in-law, Betty Kamen. Betty doesn't move too fast these days, and as we set off to cross Taraval Street in San Francisco I could see some cars in the distance. I didn't give this too much thought. California law is very clear about pedestrians—we were in a ...
June 21, 2010
The Daily Sam: The Ride of the Valkyries
This past Saturday night Kathi and I went and saw Die Walküre (The Valkyrie) at the San Francisco Opera. Produced by Stephen Spielberg and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, the cast of this all-star production of the Wagnerian classic includes Marlon Brando, Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall, Johnny Depp, Sean Penn, mezzo-soprano Zheng Cao, Bombo, Mayor Gavin Newsom, and special guest Glenn Beck as ...
June 16, 2010
The Daily Sam: Father's Day Presents for the Man Who Has Everything
"What do you get for the man who has everything?"People often ask me this. My view is, if he has everything, the best thing you can do is get him nothing. I think everyone should concentrate on giving gifts to the rest of us, since we don't have everything. And really, the man who has everything ought to share the wealth and give some of his stuff away.Father's Day originated in Vienna, ...
June 14, 2010
The Daily Sam: Let's Go "Shotgunning," If You Catch My Drift
We all like to be able to point at something we've done and say, "That's mine." As a writer, the satisfaction comes when you see your name and work in print—or, increasingly, online. For me it happened the other day when I received an alert from a well-known search engine—let's call it "Google"—that my name had appeared somewhere on the vast apparatus that is the ...
June 9, 2010
The Daily Sam: The Exotic Midwest
Last week I spent a few days staying at the lovely Pheasant Run resort in St. Charles, Illinois. I was there attending the Religious Booksellers Trade Exhibit, which was held in the resort's convention hall, which is called the Mega Center, a building that reminds me of a bowling alley, only not as sexy.Pheasant Run is a ramshackle affair. Perhaps in the past it was more attractive, but now the ...
May 31, 2010
The Daily Sam: Memorial Day
Memorial Day is a day of remembrance in the United States. Today we honor the men and women who died while serving in the American military.Many of us don't pay much attention to the formal meaning of Memorial Day. We take advantage of the long weekend to relax and gather with family and friends, or putter around the house, grateful for a respite from work and school. We look forward to a ...
May 27, 2010
The Daily Sam Confessional: I Still Use AOL
I generally keep the volume on my work computer on mute, only turning it on when my career calls for it (i.e., to view an important video announcement from my capo di tutti capi, Rupert Murdoch, or the YouTube video of the sneezing panda, etc.). However, sometimes I forget to turn the volume down again, and this has, on occasion, led to the embarrassment of "You've got mail!" being shouted ...
May 25, 2010
The Daily Sam: Fred and the Origins of Life on Earth
This past weekend my daughter Laura and I took a trip to Southern California because we needed some quality dad-daughter car time. We also visited four universities Laura is considering attending. We had trouble getting around LA because several downtown streets were closed for the Amgen Tour of California bicycle race time trials. LA is not designed for pedestrians or bicycles, and their ...
Fred and the Origins of Life on Earth
This past weekend my daughter Laura and I took a trip to Southern California because we needed some quality dad-daughter car time. We also visited four universities Laura is considering attending. We had trouble getting around LA because several downtown streets were closed for the Amgen Tour of California bicycle race time trials. LA is not designed for pedestrians or bicycles, and their ...
May 20, 2010
The Daily Sam's Book Review: I'll Mature When I'm Dead: Dave Barry's Amazing Tales of Adulthood
The Daily Sam's Book Review I'll Mature When I'm Dead: Dave Barry's Amazing Tales of Adulthood By Dave Barry (G.P. Putnam, $24.95)I know what you're going to say—how can he review his own brother's book? Isn't there a conflict of interest? Doesn't he have any standards? Couldn't he have chosen some serious literature to review, such as Sh*t My Dad Says, by Justin Halpern (available ...
