It’s true: I downloaded the steamy book dubbed “mommy porn” onto my grandmother’s unsuspecting Kindle. It, like she, were expecting another nice romance, the kind where kisses are stolen at the gate just after sunset and eyes meet briefly across the pews at Sunday Mass.

%IMAG… Read full post »

The other night my roommate walked in to admire herself in my full length mirror, something she does fairly often.

“This looks cute, right?” she said, turning back, sideways and front again.

“Sure, if you’re going for hooker-chic,” I said.

This is typically how our co… Read full post »

My first crush was in the third grade. He wasn’t just my crush; every girl was in love with baby-faced Billy with the tousled hair and crooked smile. We all longed to sit next to or in back of him, hoped to be his partner on line, and crossed our fingers… Read full post »

Buying food used to be a fairly easy process. I went to the store and just bought whatever what was on sale, whatever I had a coupon for, or whatever brand my mother bought while I was growing up.

It’s not so simple anymore. As awareness grows about the dangers… Read full post »

Stephen Murphy, a reporter I worked with many years ago, just announced on Facebook that he got banned from a corporation’s Facebook fan page.

 

I swear I’m not making this up. He said he got banned from Chipotle Mexican Grill’s page for sticking up for his friend Ryan… Read full post »

“Gym, work, then happy hour!!!!!

 

 “Work at 6. (who cares.)”

“Need a cupcake. Now." (That explains a lot!)

“Johnny got 1,327 touchdowns!!!!!! Go Big RED!!!!!!!!!!” 

“Who actually reads my rambling posts? Leave me a one word… Read full post »

Everyone’s heard of Smokin’ Joe Frazier, even those who never watched a boxing match. The Philly fighter was known for the left hook that floored the then-unbeaten Muhammad Ali at Madison Square Garden in 1971, and the unexpected right that almost took “The Greatest” out again… Read full post »

Being – or having – a housemate has been a part of my life for many years. Even when I was married with small children, I had foreign exchange students in the basement and attic.

Since being laid off in February, I found it necessary to… Read full post »

There are nine hearings today concerning the proposed toll hikes the Port Authority wants to impose on the bridge-and-tunnel crowd. They want your input – or at least want the public to have a chance to voice its opinion. (I’m skeptical about the “we want your input.”)

By now, we’ve all seen this ominous Facebook message: “OMG this is for real everyone!!!! Warning to ALL …ALL THE PHONE NUMBERS IN YOUR PHONE are now on Facebook! No joke – go to the top right of the screen, click on Account, then click on Edit Friends,… Read full post »

Oh, Google. Why can’t you admit that you’re just a search engine? OK, “just” is not justifiable. You, Google, are THE search engine. And, you have THE BEST email server.

 

 

You tried with Buzz; you gave it your all. Some people – well, just one in my…

Read full post »

A large enough bug can halt productivity in almost any situation. The appearance of a centipede? That’s enough to call it a day.

These 100 leg creatures are ugly enough to star in a horror film, speedy enough to make the Olympics. They sprint by so… Read full post »

What does it take to shoot a professional 4-7 minute comic short? A lot more than I imagined. As I was sprawled on the concrete in Tribeca, trying to absorb instructions from a stunt coordinator on the proper way to throw a fake punch, I thought: this is nuts.

… Read full post »

 The Oxford English Dictionary is always evolving; new words get added quarterly, according to its blog (yes, even the dictionary has a blog).

 New words added to Merriam-Webster in past years include staycation, flash mob, frenemy, earmarks, vlog, carbon footprint … and that&rsqu… Read full post »

Who knew? New Jersey has some of the richest counties in the United States (Morris and Bergen for example), but we’re among the poorest.

 A report released by the Poverty Research Institute of Legal Services of New Jersey, one in nine of us are living… Read full post »

^{Photo by cindy capitani}

The Buddha once said, “Thought-habits can harden into character. So watch your thoughts.”

That’s my mantra for today, as sit before my Laughing Buddha. Sometimes I think he mocks me as I meditate before him. But he’s not.

The Laughing Buddha… Read full post »

^{photo/cindy capitani}

On Friday, journalists from the Associated Press protested across the country. Their beef? Higher health care premiums and retirement benefits tossed.

 While I agree with their plight, I’m also a bit miffed.  My premiums kept going up and up when I wor… Read full post »

Ah, to spring clean, or not to spring clean. That is the question. Whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer … or just get it over with.

 I’m from a mixed message of spring cleaners. My mother? Scrubbed, scoured and tossed. Her mother? Same… Read full post »

^{photo/cindy capitani}

There’s a world famous hot dog spot in New Jersey that’s been around since the 1920s. Rutt’s Hut, Clifton. Google it; you’ll see that I’m not exaggerating when I say it’s world famous.

There’s nothing like a Rutt’s dog. Eat… Read full post »

 

Stink bugs. They came from Asia, hiding in a fruit crate. And now they’re calling America home.

 

At first they invaded only as it got colder. But I have them now. And I’m hearing that other people all over NJ and PA are invaded despite the… Read full post »

At first, it wasn’t so bad. I gave myself time to lounge. I let the laundry go; what’s the rush? I let the cleaning go; what’s the hurry? I didn’t vacuum, mop or even make my bed. I had all day … and tomorrow and the day after.

… Read full post »

A few days after losing an identity I had most of my life –- a newspaper journalist  -- I was faced with an extremely uncomfortable “who am I?”
^{Main Events: Kevin McBride (L) goes up
against IBF and WBO NABO Heavyweight
champion Tomasz Adamek on April 9 at the
Prudential Ce}… Read full post »

^{Photo: Wallyg/Flickr}

When I was 11, I had a paper route, delivering the Jersey Journal on a Huffy bicycle with a canvas bag over my shoulder. Sometimes, when it hit 100 degrees so many summers ago in Rutherford, NJ, my father drove me to deliver the newspapers I… Read full post »

“I can’t die; it would wreck my image.”

That was Jack LaLanne, when he turned 90, doing the talk show circuit to celebrate his birthday, turning down cake in his honor stating, “I never eat in between meals.”

But no one – not even the world’s first… Read full post »

I’m feeding the birds Italian cookies outside the atrium at the nursing home where my grandmother now lives.

 Grammy had tried to pass off the snacks to me – but both of us Irish, neither of us have an interest in these licorice-smelling cookie-cracker things.… Read full post »