Putting the "blah blah blah" in blog

ennienyc @ 2009-07-05T07:16:00

2009-07-05T11:21:26Z

I prepared a posting about Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson, but it's less than timely and full of insignificant memories better off unshared ("I remember watching roller skaters in Central Park go round and round to 'Rock With You'"). I was glued to TV coverage the first night, but it quickly got repetitive.

A puzzle by Patrick Blindauer was set to run in the NYT on July 1. On Monday afternoon, I got word that David Kahn had constructed an MJ tribute (Patrick's bumped to July 22). I ran down to the Times and did the necessary processing (it's a good thing I have no life and can do this). We notified everyone and it went live before the body was even buried. Except we didn't know about something called Times Digest, which ran Patrick's puzzle; still not sure who should have been cc'd on that.

June 26 was the 40th anniversary of my high school graduation. Yeesh, how did THAT happen? The reunion will be next year and has already started on Facebook.

I continue to take advantage of opportunities to see theater:

Tin Pan Alley Rag - I'm not into the music of Scott Joplin or Irving Berlin, but this play about a fictional meeting of the composers was very entertaining. I was inspired to read more about the men, and most of the story was true. Crossword blogger Brian Cimmet is "Piano 2" (unseen by the audience).

Dixie's Tupperware Party - This Tupperware lady talks about tops and bottoms, pits a gay and straight couple from the audience in a "rimming contest" and is not really a lady. Campy fun.

The Umbilical Brothers (Speedmouse) - Goofy Aussies. Charming, silly fun. My favorite was the bobsled impression.

There was a Pinkberry across the street from the Joyce Theater, so I tried it for the first time. I had a small cup of a new coconut flavor for $4.50 (ouch! it cost extra for the non-plain flavor). Tasting it on a bench in front of the store, I found no discernible coconut flavor so brought it back inside thinking they'd mistakenly given me plain. The guy behind the counter took a small taste and also noticed no coconut, so he made me another cup... which tasted the same as before. Back in again. It was definitely from the coconut dispenser, so they thought maybe it needed to be stirred some more. Oh well. Everyone couldn't have been nicer, but I don't think I'll be having this again.

The 39 Steps - When this Broadway show came up in my theater club listing for last Sunday afternoon, I booked it immediately. Then I realized that the remaining "Norman Conquest" play had a performance that day. Oh no! If it was also listed I'd be annoyed for missing out. Whew, it wasn't. I hadn't seen the Hitchock movie, but the play (which 3 of my friends saw in London - I have worldly friends) was fast-moving and fun.

Bird Machine - a visually striking fairytale with puppets about man's yearning to fly.

After getting a scary letter about the need to pay rent promptly (which it turned out was sent to everyone, but I didn't know that when I got it) I went to the office on the 1st to personally deliver my check. There's a special box on the wall for this purpose, so I might do this every month and save postage.

I had two offers to see July 4th fireworks, on both sides of the river. I ended up staying in Manhattan (less worry about returning home on a night when crazies could be out). My hosts have a fantastic high-floor apartment near Times Square, and after a Greek dinner, we watched the show from the building's large community terrace and then hung out. Fun New York evening.

Nice way to start the day

2009-06-24T16:16:50Z

This morning's e-mail included the good news that the program that creates files for the interactive Java Acrostic is working again. Just when we needed it the most, the program failed last week (apparently due to system upgrades that were incompatible with this old but functional HyperCard stack). This did not affect the 6/21 Acrostic, which was already up, but could have meant the future loss of the interactive option which is needed more than ever if there's no print Acrostic.

Big thanks to M and K... oh, let's give full credit... Mike and Keith!

(I still have to make sure this actually works throughout the production process, but am optimistic.)

ennienyc @ 2009-06-24T03:31:00

2009-06-24T07:35:04Z

If I didn't live in New York, I couldn't do most of the things I do. Recent activity:

Dinner at BBQ with hahathor and Ed (and 2 of her friends). This would normally be done in Boston, but they were visiting.

Benefit 85th birthday concert at Carnegie Hall for Theodore Bikel. Given the age of the honoree and the fact that during the first half of the concert, the performers addressed their remarks to a faraway box, I assumed Bikel was sitting in a wheelchair in a lap robe, frail, smiling weakly at the praise. He came out after intermission and I couldn't have been more wrong: the man is robust and deep-voiced, singing with his recent (third) bride at the piano. The program was packed with klezmer, '60s folk (Peter and Paul - Mary's been ill, Tom Paxton, Arlo Guthrie, David Amram), song, music, merriment, which I watched from a great 4th row seat. Alan Alda emceed. We sang along to "Puff" and "Those Were the Days." Special evening.

"The Proposal" at Lincoln Square the day before it opened, through Time Out NY. I wasn't expecting anything profound and very much enjoyed this fluffy Sandra Bullock romantic comedy (NOT the one about a crossword constructor). Bah humbug to the 48% Rotten Tomatoes score. Guest J laughed a lot, too. We continued the tour of Ollies branches begun at "Up" and went across the street for dinner afterward.

The documentary "Secrecy" at the Harvard Club, through Harvardwood, an organization for alums working in entertainment. Though my connections to both entertainment and Harvard are tenuous, they are legit, so there I was. This was my first Harvardwood event, after 3 years of membership. It was an oldish crowd; the event was was also open to regular Harvard Club members. This got me thinking about the possibility of joining (that grad degree makes me eligible), though a look at the dues made me doubt it would be worth it. Besides, I feel no connection to the school; after all, they rejected me as an undergrad. Columbia also has a club (open to Barnard grads) shared with Princeton, for similar dues, but it's probably not my kind of thing. Back to the movie - it deftly explores the question of where to draw the line between the public's need to know and national security concerns. Director Robb Moss took time out from his Father's Day to lead a discussion afterward.

I had time to kill after the movie, so caught "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past." This did even worse than "The Proposal" on Rotten Tomatoes - 28%. While there was an excess of horndog attitude and a gratuitous Barnard joke, this was engaging and often funny.

Next stop, Melvin Van Peebles' "Unmitigated Truth: Life, a Lavatory, Loves, and Ladies" (see review). I'm not sure what to make of this quirky show, held in a tiny theater, that is true to its title when the star sits in a "lavatory" singing about swirling turds. Some people left at intermission, but I stuck around, leaving with the final catchy song on replay in my head.

"Cheri" - SAG/WGA screening (thanks, neighbor J!). I liked this Belle Epoque tale of a high-class French courtesan a tad past her prime, and her relationship with the young son of her colleague. Gorgeously photographed.

From Square One

2009-06-24T05:29:40Z

I first met Dean Olsher at the 2004 ACPT, when he interviewed me for his public radio show (which I had heard), "The Next Big Thing." He was back in 2005 to compete, part of his research for a book he was writing on crosswords. We stayed in touch, and he joined my team at the Haystack Hunt and even stayed in our Puzzle Palace at Sundance, as well as attending more ACPTs. He never did make it to an NPL convention (but there's still time - Baltimore July 9-12!).

"The Next Big Thing" is unfortunately no longer around, but the book is now a reality. "From Square One" is about crosswords. And more than crosswords. But also about crosswords. It's thoughtful and it's different.

Browsing the book giveaway shelf at the Times a few months ago, I found two advance reading copies of the book. Ooh! I took both, and gave the extra to jon88. Dean was about to submit his final corrections and wanted our notes. One of Jon's ended up as a book-jacket blurb, while I procrastinated and never got around to finishing my comments.

The book release party was held last week at a Brooklyn apartment (a stop away from the Brooklyn Bridge Marriott) with a huge, wraparound terrace. It was unseasonably cold out there and I kept my raincoat on, looking like a bag lady who had mistakenly wandered in. lunchboy plays a prominent role in the book (I'm in it a teeny bit), and was one of the few people I knew at the event. I once again exhibited my complete lack of social skills, feeling too shy to talk to strangers and probably missing out on meeting some interesting and intelligent people.

Dean gave a short speech and thanked various people, among them novelist Meg Wolitzer who he said was there. Where? Francis and I rushed over and asked Dean to point her out, and we introduced ourselves. She's a puzzle/Scrabble person, I've read some of her books, and I remembered her participating in a blog discussion. In the small world department, I just found out she's a high school friend of Mrs. Tex (Denise). Then some people who'd seen "Wordplay" came over, so I was spared having to use my nonexistent social skills.

Tonight Dean gave a reading at the 82nd/Broadway B&N. Given the location, I had to get an H&H bagel (fresh out of the oven, plain) first. Jon, Dan Feyer, and jeffurrynpl also attended (Quiz was also supposed to be there. Yoo hoo! Quiz? No Quiz. That's our Quiz). A woman sitting nearby said she'd been in the NPL in the '70s, and asked if I was Mangie.

But this entry is not about me, it's about Dean. Go read his book.

Acrostophobia

2009-06-24T03:32:05Z

This is not the kind of publicity one wants:

http://recoveringjournalist.typepad.com/recovering_journalist/2009/06/a-crossed.html

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2009/06/23/why-the-sunday-new-york-times-acrostic-went-missing/

No, I knew nothing about this. No, I don't know what's going to happen in the future.

Lots of kvetching in my friends-only entries about some badly timed related systems issues.

My ego liked 43-Across

2009-06-19T22:00:20Z

My former game show co-worker David Levinson Wilk wrote today's NYT puzzle, which I did (on paper) in a slightly-fast-for-Friday 5:51.

Last time David had a Friday puzzle, it took me an even-faster-for-Friday 5:19, but some in the blogosphere found it ridiculously easy, and I ended up in a fight with Evil Doug.

Though today's puzzle was only 32 seconds slower for me, many had a hard time with it. BEQ commented on the Crossword Fiend blog: "David's a great guy. There's really not a bad bone in his body, and I'd be hard-pressed to say something bad about him. Until this puzzle. Jesus this beat me up but good."

For once, it's nice to be on the "that wasn't so bad" side instead of wondering if I'm losing it as I watch the sprinters sprint. (Though Dan Feyer took 4:35. Man oh man!)

Ghost in the machine

2009-06-13T20:16:29Z

I've had the laptop out since I'm still fiddling with the upgrade, and could have sworn I shut it down (not sleep) for the night. But the next day the light indicated it was on and asleep.

This happened twice before I thought to check the energy saver settings. Looks like it was set to turn on at 6 am every day, not what I want since I normally keep it stashed away in its case. I think I fixed this.

I hope there are no other surprises.

Fun

2009-06-13T05:00:12Z

I've been taking advantage of entertainment opportunities:

"The Marvelous Wonderettes" - Fun, light off-Broadway show set at a 1958 senior prom and subsequent 10-year reunion. I'm not wild about '50s music, but it also had '60s (including my favorite obscure Motown song, "Needle in a Haystack" originally by the Velvelettes). Cute audience participation.

"Land of the Lost" - There were funny moments, especially a running joke about "A Chorus Line," but the movie couldn't decide if it was a goofy Will Ferrell comedy or scary sci-fi.

"The Norman Conquests" (Table Manners) - The more of this trilogy I see, the more satisfying it is. I had a fantastic front-row seat next to the runway where the actors enter. It felt like I was in the dining room with them, and luckily I didn't get hit with any flying food. Neighbor J happened to be there and while talking to J and her friend afterward, who should walk by but "Norman" (the very appealing Stephen Mangan). We told him he was great, and asked if the run would be extended. He was noncommittal and said they all had family in the U.K., and his wife (darn!) and son were here now (for the Tonys, I realized later; he was nominated but didn't win).

"9.99" - intriguing, gorgeous-looking Australian-Israeli stop-motion film. Director Tatia Rosenthal spoke afterward.

"Irena's Vow" - Tovuh Feldshuh plays a Polish-Catholic nurse who becomes housekeeper for a German officer during WWII, and hides Jews in the basement. Moving, interesting evening of theater. The daughter of the real Irena (who died in 2003) spoke afterward.

"102 Minutes" by Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn - book detailing the horrific events of 9/11, based on interviews with people who were in the buildings. I kept turning to the back page which listed those who did not get out.

NPL Minicon - I got to this afternoon event at 2:30pm in the middle of the second game, but what I played was fun and a preview of the upcoming convention in Baltimore.

Komputer Kvetching

2009-06-13T01:28:22Z

When I first got a laptop in early 2005, I chose a Mac iBook so I could have the NYT programs in case I needed to work at home. Never mind that I don't have a printer so can't print the puzzles and solve on paper. In an emergency, I could make Across Lite files and go from there. I did do this a few times when I was ill, it was snowing, or whatever. Then we changed from Quark to InDesign and I got those programs, only to find the Across Lite conversion script didn't work. toonhead_npl examined the machine and concluded I needed to upgrade my OS. I had Panther, and there's since been Tiger and now Leopard. I brought the Mac in twice, but both times the person I needed was out. Last week I finally handed over the iBook to the guys at the NYT for updating (we also have some new crossword page templates, so it was time).

They kept the machine a week and I got it back Wednesday. There's some updated stuff on there, but also some pain:

1) The Internet connection to my home wireless network would not work, and timed out almost immediately. Searching the web showed this problem was common with Leopard, and upgrading the DSL modem's firmware might help. I called Verizon tech support, who successfully walked me through the firmware upgrade. Internet access for the iBook is working again. Whew!

2) Classic is no longer supported. This only affects the Crostic Setter (an old Hypercard program). Toon suggested downloading SheepSaver, but the instructions were so complicated I ran screaming. Hopefully someone else can install this for me (or a different someone else will have to make the Acrostic files if I need to work remotely).

3) Across Lite was gone. Why they thought I no longer needed it, I don't know. Anyway, it was no problem to re-download both 1.2 and 2 from the NYT site, and they seem to work OK.

4) The InDesign to Across Lite conversion ran very slowly for Sunday-size puzzles. Oh well, I won't be doing this often.

5) I tried to open the Million Word Crossword Dictionary PDF which I'd purchased from Amazon in 2005, and got connected to the Adobe Digital Editions installation page. I installed DE, and the dictionary still wouldn't open and gave an error message. Apparently, because of the OS upgrade, Adobe does not recognize that this is the same computer I originally authorized. Turns out Amazon no longer supports eBooks (so their customer service was no help), and according to the Adobe forums other users are having this same problem. From the answers, it appears we're all out of luck. Thank goodness this is my only eBook AND I have another copy on Windows, which works fine (as well as a hard copy of the book).

Blatant self-promotion department

2009-06-08T00:44:56Z

I'm guest-blogging at the New York Times Wordplay crossword blog today.

http://wordplay.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/07/msripstein/

June is blogging out all over

2009-06-01T22:25:43Z

As of last Friday, my nephew Joel is a high school graduate, headed for Muhlenberg College in the fall. I'm freaking out thinking my own graduation from Great Neck North will be 40 years ago on June 26. For those doing the math, subtract a year for skipping kindergarten.

Someone keeps sneaking in in the middle of the night and adding at-home puzzles to the "to be done" pile. Well, not really, but it seems that way. I'm still plowing through. If you're out there solving, please think of the poor grader who has to decipher your handwriting. And no, pencil and black pen do not sufficiently contrast for after-time-limit entries. Thanks!

My bathtub did one of its periodic refusals to drain. The water was emptying a little slowly, then it took 12 hours, then it just sat indefinitely. I pulled out and plunged some gunk, but the water still wouldn't go down. I called the office on a Wednesday but they couldn't come until Friday, so I had to take Thursday's shower standing in water hoping I didn't use enough to overflow.

Usually I coordinate repairs with my neighbor who shares the plumbing, but she didn't respond to my note and the situation was getting desperate so I proceeded without her. Turns out she was away for 2 weeks and missed all the fun (her tub was working just fine when she returned). Anyway, the guy came and used a machine whose name I can't think of (electric snake?) and all's well again.

A side benefit of the water sitting there so long was that it loosened the seemingly unremovable marks on the bottom of the tub, and I was able to scrape it clean. The side walls still have some soap scum, but I made progress getting that off (I recharged the Black & Decker ScumBuster and put it back into service). The tub is cleaner than it's been in years and I'm scouring it daily to keep it that way (as opposed to half-heartedly spraying the area with Lysol all-purpose cleaner). One minus is that the clean tub bottom can be slippery, so I need to be careful not to fall.

I've been lax about using my Sirius subscription, but wanted to listen to Lynn Samuels on the iBook in the kitchen. I got the error message, "The playlist format is not recognized" and the FAQ said I needed to upgrade Flip4Mac WMV. I did this and tried again, and Safari crashed even though my oldish OS was within the minimum standard. Further research suggested I should use the second-most current version of Flip4Mac, so I downloaded that, held my breath, and it worked. We'll be upgrading my OS at the Times soon to handle their new puzzle templates, so that may solve any future problems.

I saw a concert (Thursday) at Philharmonic Hall. The seat was in First Tier Box 25, which didn't seem to exist, and turned out to be a small box in the back corner with 2 movable cushioned chairs as opposed to the usual row of auditorium seats. The other lady in the box moved over to a regular seat, but I was fine (it was on the left, with the all-important view of the piano keys). I had taken Contemporary (classical) Music in college, and this program was a perfect adjunct, including Debussy's "La Mer" (still sounds like mush to me), Bartok's 2nd piano concerto (a little jarring, reminded me of "Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta" which we studied), and "The Rite of Spring" (which we also studied, but the second half didn't sound familiar. Oh well, that was in 1972). There was a post-concert lecture, but it was in another building and it was late so I headed home instead. Walked all the way, undoing the benefits of the exercise by getting an H&H (which recently had a temporary closing - oh no!) bagel which I finished by 86th St.

My credit card had a promotion for an "Up" screening last Thursday for up to 4 people, so M, L and J came along. They gave us 3-D glasses and coupons for free popcorn and beverage. Even better, it wasn't super-crowded and there were 2 empty seats in front of me so I had a great view of the spectacular 3-D effects. The story was sweet and satisfying, other than the excess of dogs and other animals. We went across the street to Ollie's afterward for dim sum, and I walked home. There's a new yogurt place in the 90s I'll have to check out.

Several books:

"Dream Babies" by James Fritzhand - Hollywood kids of the rich and famous. Didn't grab me.

"The Washingtonienne" by Jessica Cutler - If this novel is based on truth, our taxpayer dollars fund Capitol Hill workers who goof around all day on the Internet, take long lunch hours to have sex with married men, and heavily drink and drug. I may not approve of the Washingtonienne's behavior, but it sure was fun to read about.

"Truth & Beauty: A Friendship" by Ann Patchett - I heard Lucy Grealy talk about her book "Autobiography of a Face" on NPR, and later read a New York Magazine article by Ann Patchett about Lucy's descent into drugs (which killed her). This book is a much expanded version of that article, detailing the writers' long friendship dating back to college. Grealy did not have an easy life and could be irresponsible, needy, selfish and narcissistic, but Patchett was always there for her.

"The Last of Her Kind" by Sigrid Nunez - The author was a year ahead of me at Barnard and perfectly captures the mood of those times (I'd forgotten how we called the row of basement vending machines "fat alley"). Georgette and Ann are roommates, with George wanting to overcome her less-than-privileged background and Ann ashamed of her privileged one. The story moves to hippies, murder and jail, with a detour to an older-man relationship that made me go "ewww."

"Big Secrets" by William Poundstone - Various secrets are revealed, like what Roschach blots are supposed to mean, the formula for KFC, hidden song lyrics, and was Walt Disney really frozen? This 1983 book seems a bit dated.

Someone left a Kakuro magazine on the laundry room shelf, with the puzzles undone. Whee!

Wall to Wall Broadway

2009-05-17T08:51:35Z

I've been grading and sending out a steady stream of at-home puzzles, and still the pile never seems to shrink.

I took a break today to see a matinee of "The Philanthropist," a 1970 British play by Christopher Hampton. I couldn't get used to Matthew Broderick and Steven Weber with English accents, and the play got dull and overly talky during the second act. There was a small wordplay element (he anagrams!), but not enough to merit a special trip.

I should have gone to the ladies room at the theater or NYT (conveniently nearby), but figured I'd be home shortly. First, I wanted to stop off at Symphony Space for Wall to Wall Broadway, going on all day. I saw many Broadway musicals as a kid, sang along with the albums, and performed plays with our dolls using scripts from the library. As an adult, I've been less familiar with the music and performers, but thought there'd be enough here of interest.

I had been to at least one other Wall to Wall event, but the details are hazy. Pianos? Or was there singing? I remembered waiting on line outside and being admitted in shifts. This time, I arrived around 4:30, and was waved in through a side staircase. The orchestra looked packed, so I continued to the right balcony. The balconies are unusual, running along the side, 4 seats wide, with each seat a step down from its neighbor. The back row seat by the balcony railing (with a clear view to the stage) was empty and I grabbed it.

A producer was being interviewed (turned out it was Hal Prince, per AMNY's helpful live blog). After that, there was a break where I moved up to the same seat one row ahead. I still needed to go to the bathroom, but didn't want to give up the seat. I'd just have to last as long as possible.

Next was music from the Loesser family, starting with the haunting familiar music from "Hans Christian Andersen," followed by one of the highlights of the day, musicals in development. I was quite taken with Zina Goldrich and Marcy Heisler (working on an "Ever After" adaptation) who performed their own songs really well. Hear for yourself in this concert (click on Play this Performance). Another group previewed a musical based on Dan Savage's "The Kid."

Then came a parade of Broadway stars who were between their matinee and evening performances. Pretty nice. Sheldon Harnick and young Lin-Manuel Miranda of "In the Heights" exchanged raps. Then supposedly humorous songs that didn't always work.

There was a long break while a full orchestra set up for the next segment. I was going to have to go to the bathroom, or leave and go at home. It was getting so crowded the usher stopped people from entering my balcony, and the show was about to start so I asked the lady next to me to watch my stuff (coat and tote with nothing valuable), and dashed off to the ladies room, which was almost directly under us. Whew! The performance was starting so no line there.

Suitably refreshed, I could now enjoy the rest of the show. "Fiorello" was my first Broadway show, but I recognized nothing from the overture, which sounded very generic. Brian Stokes Mitchell did a phenomenal rendition of "Soliloquy" from "Carousel." "If I Loved You" made me teary (Broadway sometimes does that). "I Cain't Say No" from "Oklahoma" seemed un-PC. BD Wong did a tour-de-force playing several characters. More familiar and unfamiliar songs. I stayed to the end. It was just great, one of those only-in-New-York events. And it was free! But of course I donated something.

Now I can't get "Hola Lola" out of my head (encore on the Marcy/Zina concert link, which I also heard live).

Eyes Right

2009-05-12T06:54:21Z

Yay, had the last appointment in this series at SUNY Optometry since the floaters appeared six months ago. I scheduled it for 5:15 to insure I wouldn't still be asleep. Highlights:

Floaters and flashes are status quo
Retinas are intact
Vitreous is detached in the left eye, but not the right

I never had my regular eye exam with all this emphasis on the floaters, so the intern did some refraction and focus tests, checked my glasses, and determined any possible change of prescription was too small to bother with. He also cleaned both pairs (reading and distance), but could not remove the obvious scratch (which I've gotten used to) or some other marks. I think I can live with these until I really need a prescription change. I haven't been wild about the most recent contacts prescription, but that's another department (and would require another referral) so I'll live with that, too - unless I can't, in which case I'll get the referral and hope the insurance company realizes these other visits were NOT my normal periodic exam.

The intern commented on my Sundance tote, and got to hear more than he probably wanted about "Wordplay" and the ACPT.

I was relieved they didn't do the 3-mirror lens exam of the last few visits, which is so uncomfortable it requires anesthetic eye drops. But when the supervising doctor came to check, she wanted to see more in the right eye, so in went the mirror, a large hard contact which needs to be manually turned to view hard-to-see areas in the back. It wasn't THAT bad but I was happy it was over, and ended up not needing the lubrication drops they gave me in case it started hurting later at home.

Still dilated, I walked down to the 24-hour post office. I used the self-service machine to mail out a book, but it couldn't handle the large quantities of odd denomination stamps I needed so I had to wait on the long line anyway for: 5-cent stamps for the difference in ACPT at-home postage, stamps for the full postage of future at-homes, 1-cent stamps for other increases, and a book of Forevers. Yeah, I should have gotten out over the weekend to get cheaper Forevers.

By now it was after 8 and even though I have a refrigerator full of yesterday's Fresh Direct order, I didn't want to cook and picked up 1 white and 1 regular slice of pizza from Daniello's.

Now I need to grade all those at-homes I now have the postage for.

The week

2009-05-10T06:40:40Z

I'm behind on blogging again (it's Facebook's fault!), so you may not hear about all the household minutiae - but I must mention that the nearby Associated had Minute Maid Light Raspberry Passion, woo hoo!

I'm still facing the addictive allure of sharpened pencils and number puzzles, and am working on a 2006 Dell kakuro magazine I found. That's almost done and I need to get back to picking up crosswords when I have a spare moment. Or a regular book.

I managed to finish (started a while ago):

"Enticements" by Una-Mary Parker - glamorous rich people get photographed by a glamorous young photographer who may have caught a murderer on camera. Intrigue and dead bodies ensue, with Princess Di making a cameo. Not bad.

"My Old Man" by Amy Sohn - the author made her name as a sex columnist, which seems vaguely unsavory for a nice Jewish girl, and her previous novel "Run Catch Kiss" had lots of sex. So did this, including some creepy older man aspects (I won't give away the plot, but one particular story was ewwww). It was also humorous; the heroine quits rabbinical school after failing to help a dying 39-year-old patient whose last gasped-out words are "You are the worst...rabbi...I ever met."

Last weekend we celebrated a milestone birthday for 2 puzzlers. I could use initials but linking to this picture negates that - unless people not Facebook friends with the hostess can't see it. Anyway, it was a fun time.

I saw the garden portion of "The Norman Conquests" at Roundabout. These are 3 1973 British Alan Ayckbourn plays, all concerning the same events. The theater-in-the-round setup meant there were no bad seats, and the play was entertaining. Now I'd like to see the other parts. I had to pick up my ticket early, and killed time by getting a white slice at Famiglia Pizza, eavesdropping on the people next to me, who turned out to be sitting behind me at the play so I could continue listening in.

Last Wednesday was the long-awaited broadcast of "Dinner: Impossible" featuring the ACPT banquet ("Crossword Puzzle Crisis"). My few seconds of guessing a dish at the end made it to air (wearing the same dress I usually wear on tournament Sundays - careful viewers will think I have no clothes, which is sort of true). Besides the chef, the real star was Andrea Michaels who displayed good humor while doing unaccustomed cooking tasks. The episode was fun to watch, and I want to figure out a less fattening version of that fantastic coconut soup.

I'm on a weird sleep-during-the-day schedule which caused me to miss yet another lunch with puzzlers. Occupational hazard of the freedom of freelancing.

Puzzles this weekend

2009-05-10T04:51:59Z

The blogland consensus on Friday's NYT puzzle was that it was on the easy side, even "too easy" (you will NEVER hear me use that term). Oy, not for me. I had an average weekend-type time of 7:33 (paper; my NYT times are always on paper, AND I'm sort of proofreading - I do the more careful proofing when I solve the puzzle a second time after converting to Across Lite - so they're not really valid times).

Saturday's was thought to be much harder. Not for me: 7:10. But with a mistake at 41A/32D, so that's like adding 8 extra minutes in a tournament.

Sunday was slow: 12:43, almost twice as long as Dan Feyer's applet time. Grrr, that whippersnapper! (who is about to become my 6-blocks-away neighbor)

Friday is the new Saturday

2009-05-02T03:07:47Z

About a month ago there was a Saturday NYT puzzle by Matt Ginsberg which some blog commenters thought was insultingly easy, less challenging than a Monday Newsday, etc... and I finished it in a normal Saturday time of around 7 1/2 minutes and didn't think it was particularly easy -- or hard. Just right. (And despite the puzzle's alleged easiness, many solvers didn't entirely understand the gimmick.)

Friday's NYT by Joon Pahk got the opposite reaction. The general opinion was this was really Saturday level (to me, Friday and Saturday are interchangeably "hard") and a bear to solve. This puzzle also took me a normal weekend time of 7:24. So I seem to have reached the happy medium. Dan Feyer did it in 3:46, by the way (grrrr).

Saturday (tomorrow), on the other hand, probably broke a weekend speed record for me, just under 4. It's not really a Saturday puzzle, though, so that'll need an asterisk. I expect to see Dan and Tyler clock in under 2. :0

Sudoku, MoMA, Simpsons and Halal carts

2009-05-01T01:58:59Z

Continuing my newfound interest in sudoku, I finished the other 2 books I happen to own:

"Sudoku Easy to Hard Presented by Will Shortz, Volume 3: 100 Wordless Crossword Puzzles" - The last 5 puzzles have 12 slots instead of 9 (they use the number 13 instead of 10, for some reason). I quickly found the use of 2-digit numbers makes writing in possibilities messy and difficult, and I gave up and counted the book completed anyway. And because I can't bear to leave a puzzle unsolved, I tore out and saved those pages "just in case."

"Will Shortz's Favorite Sudoku Variations: 100 Kakuro, Killer Sudoku, and More Brain-Twisting Puzzles" - The other variations are wacky shapes, wordoku, and hyper-sudoku with 4 additional shaded grids. My favorite is Killer, which specifies totals within areas.

I also found a British magazine of Killer Sudoku (and a few kakuro and regular sudoku) which was often challenging.

While I was on a math puzzle kick, I solved the book given out at the ACPT, "Will Shortz Presents KenKen Easiest Volume 1: 100 Logic Puzzles That Make You Smarter" by Tetsuya Miyamoto. Eh. This particular volume was easy, but I have a hard time with the 6x6's in the NYT (print and Web). I'm not mastering this puzzle type at all, and not interested in doing so.

In more productive moments, I've been grading the large pile of at-home tournament puzzles. If you're waiting for results, they're coming soon! I understand why the ACPT judges have a handwriting award - clear, dark, unambiguous printing is much appreciated.

The regular puzzle work at the NYT went more smoothly this week, with the KenKen placement and Acrostic program working just fine. Will's desk was moved, and not to the place I was told. But it's right next to that, so not exactly hard to find. And the printer connections still worked, so all's well. Almost all - there was no garbage can and the chair arms were uneven and I didn't know how to adjust, so I stole - er, switched - with an unoccupied desk nearby.

McAfee sent a notice they were renewing my Parental Controls program, which seemed odd since I'm not a parent. Apparently it was originally Privacy Service. After various upgrades, I wasn't sure I still had this so tried to download and reinstall. That somehow uninstalled the rest of the Security Suite which I definitely want, so I tried to reinstall that, leading to the entire thing getting uninstalled and error messages when I tried to get it back. Time for more Fun With Customer Service. They had me run a program, which allowed me to reinstall the main security program. At that point, I wanted nothing more to do with Parental Controls and canceled the renewal.

Finally saw a movie: Russell Crowe's "State of Play" whose journalistic aspects were reminiscent of "All the President's Men" and "Absence of Malice." I enjoyed it, but the plot was a little confusing.

After seeing 30+ movies at MoMA the first year, I've been remiss about using my membership, but went and (for a change) saw the art with a visiting NPLer. I could have sworn I saw "Starry Night," Dali's "Persistence of Memory" and "The Scream" previously, but they weren't there (out on loan, it turns out). Lots of other famous pieces by famous artists were ("Oh look!" I kept saying, as "Christina's World," the Jasper Johns flag, Warhol soup cans and Marilyn Monroe, and many others came into view). We also checked out Tangled Alphabets, Martin Kippenberger, and photos of the American West including Hollywood. I will be back.

NPLers Mr. and Mrs. Tex are also MoMA members, and we keep missing each other at various screenings and exhibits. I finally saw them last week when Mike spoke at the Tribeca 92nd Street Y. This was so popular they added a second show, so I'm glad I preordered a ticket. Even though I hardly ever watch "The Simpsons," the talk was very entertaining. Here he is on another occasion. A few of us ate outside afterward at Out of the Kitchen, across from where I first had Halal street food when I worked at the game show offices on Leroy.

I was going to take the visitor to a Halal cart after MoMA, but he'd already grabbed a sandwich and had to catch a flight. I tried the new cart in my neighborhood later. The chicken/rice platter was OK, but next time I'll ask for more white sauce as it was a little dry (I don't get the spicy sauce).

Tri-BOO-ca Film Festival

2009-04-22T02:15:36Z

As mentioned, I was unsure of whether to attend the Tribeca Film Festival, as there's no Daytimer's Pass again this year, and I hate to be pinned down.

I looked at the discount ticket packages again, and not only do you have to commit to specific showings, but you must buy TWO tickets per film. Not a maximum of two, but TWO.

HELLO TRIBECA... There are single people out there who are comfortable going to movies alone. You are discriminating against these people (well, me), by making them buy nondiscounted single tickets.

So forget it! No Tribeca for me this year. Which is a shame, since I would have liked to support former coworker Michael Nigro (producer of the "Con Man" doc about Mark Kostabi) and NPLer Mr. Tex (writer of "My Life in Ruins" - though that's rush tix only). Edited to add: And "Wordplay" editor Doug Blush worked on Outrage.

Who knew a film festival would have a "singles supplement"? How very annoying.

College woes in 1969

2009-04-21T04:58:56Z

sdn asked: Please tell me a story about yourself as a child that sheds light on the person you have become.

I posted the following as a comment. I haven't told this story before, and it's one of the major traumas of my life. Thankfully, with a happy ending.
* * * *

I went to pre-kindergarten at a private school, and since I could already read my parents wanted me to skip kindergarten and go directly to first grade the next year.

We had to get this approved by the headmaster. My mother joined me in his office. He took a children's book off the shelf and asked me to read it, which I did. Then just in case I might have memorized that book, he threw the day's copy of the New York Times at me. "Read this!" And I did (too bad I couldn't do the crossword yet - that would have really wowed him). I went right to first grade.

When I entered public school in third grade, I was a year younger than my classmates and was put on probation to possibly be put back with my peers if I didn't measure up. The teacher took me off probation almost immediately, and I continued to excel academically.

Fast-forward to senior year in high school, almost exactly 40 years ago. We were limited to 4 college applications to ease the load on the guidance counselors. I was 4th in the class and trying to settle on a "safe" choice, when Yale announced it was going co-ed. So I threw caution to the winds and applied. The other schools were Harvard, Swarthmore, and Cornell Arts & Sciences six-year PhD program: talk about non-safe!

Being yet another Long Island Jewish female applicant didn't help, and although by now I did crosswords, I had no idea I'd be a future champion, so I had no real "hook." My birthday (April 15th) brought 4 rejection letters.

This was a crisis situation, and although it was spring vacation we again found ourselves in a principal's office. This principal didn't ask me to read the NY Times, but explored possible options. How could a top student not go to college? He knew officials at Kenyon and Lafayette, excellent small liberal arts colleges, but middle-of-nowhere was not what I had in mind.

Then my neighbor mentioned that the sister of my third grade teacher - the one who immediately took me off probation - was director of admissions of Barnard. We contacted them, and they agreed to see me even though acceptances of their admissions offers were running higher than usual. I truly believe if I had not been so smart in third grade, they would not have considered me at that late date.

I went for the interview, was accepted, went, loved it, and especially learned to love New York City. I am still very grateful I was given the opportunity. My sister applied early decision the following year (she beat me, and was #3 in her class) and also attended.

I went to Harvard for grad school and hated it.

ennienyc @ 2009-04-17T17:33:00

2009-04-17T21:34:23Z

During the wee hours in a spurt of productivity, I proofread the 4/26 LA Times puzzle, opened At-Home tournament mail and readied it for grading, and put away piles of financial records (after discarding unneeded 2008 quarterly reports where the company also provided a yearly summary).

I haven't decided whether to go to the Tribeca Film Festival this year. They continue not to offer the Daytimer Pass (which I loved). There are discount packages, but you have to commit to specific showings. It's still Amex preordering period (which I could do), and some items are already "rush tickets only" including the Mr. Tex-written fest closing film, "My Life in Ruins."

Speaking of Mr. Tex, he's speaking at the 92nd Street Y Tribeca next Friday http://www.92y.org/shop/event_detail.asp?productid=T-MM5FA13.

While I was procrastinating on doing taxes, I resumed solving a book I'd started a while ago, "The Sudoku Code" by Francis Heaney and Frank Longo (otherwise known as Lunch Boy and Nucky). Strangely, I got hooked and did the entire book. I haven't learned all the solving tricks, and sometimes had to back-solve from what I thought the message would be, or skip some puzzles entirely. I was still able to come up with the final answer - is it too late to get a pin?

Turns out I own a few more sudoku books, probably obtained as prizes (since other than the above, I don't think I've bought any). So I did the entire "Sudoku to Boost your Brainpower" by Will Shortz. This had answers so I could check progress and even, well, cheat when stuck. Now I'm thinking I should learn more techniques other than, "This is the only possible number that can go in this space/row/column/box." But unlike crosswords, I feel like I'm wasting time doing these puzzles. So it might be best not to feed another potential addiction.

Because of all this sudoku, I haven't finished any other reading lately. Oy.

Boyle, Toil and Trouble

2009-04-16T08:38:18Z

I finally watched the Susan Boyle video this morning - and immediately watched it again. But no time to reflect, I had to wash my hair and get out to work. Although I prefer not to work on my birthday, deadlines don't care when you were born, and the NYT puzzles had to get done.

They're moving Will's desk - again. Since I started doing this work in 1996, his desk has moved too many times to count. As a department of (officially) one who works almost entirely at home, he's easily bumped. I approached the desk with trepidation hoping it would still be intact, since it was getting late and I didn't want to spend time finding the woman who'd know where he was moving, and then the new location itself. I was relieved to see the Golden Tomato award ("Wordplay": 2006 best-reviewed documentary on Rotten Tomatoes, thank you very much) peeping up over the cubicle wall and everything still there. Whew.

After the Sunday puzzle was loaded on the Magazine server precisely at their deadline of 4pm, I called the admin contact, who led me to the new desk. It's a few aisles over from the old one, directly in the main traffic corridor by the courtyard windows, so I should be able to keep the same printer connections. The move should be in 1-2 weeks. I noticed the new desk also has that annoying "ergonomic" keyboard holder, and maybe I'll try again to get it removed.

I have to place the KenKen grids, but starting this week I receive a full template of the page, so won't have to deal with moving the puzzle itself which caused problems recently. The first time we tried working with the whole page a few weeks ago, the Across Lite conversion failed, and it failed again today. In the interim, toonhead_npl suggested a fix but his e-mail was now too old for me to access remotely. Luckily in-house computer guy R had a copy, and I tried the fix (select Crossword banner, hit Ungroup) and it worked. Whew again. But when I placed the KenKens, the fonts came out fuzzy and distorted. Unwhew. This had also happened that first week, and R did something to solve it but by now he was gone and I had no idea what to do, so had to leave it for him to handle tomorrow. We're almost there.

Then while setting up the Java acrostic, the "2 wds." tag from the last definition somehow ended up as an additional clue on its own line. Luckily I checked the HTML page and noticed this. I tried deleting the extra line in the inner workings of the Crostix Setter, got scary error messages, and it wouldn't even let me clear the puzzle out and enter it again without generating more scary error messages. The departed and already sorely missed Nicole was probably the only NYT person who had worked with this program, so I went to the source and called M, who created it in 1996. He was able to talk me through patching up the files in Text Wrangler without having to redo the data entry, and as an added bonus the program seems to work again. Crossing fingers.

There was also the puzzle which had some last-minute grid changes where one clue wasn't changed accordingly, and I wasted time trying to figure out why an answer that wasn't a word was the only thing that fit the clues. And some other minor production issues which mean I won't be recording solving times this week.

Finally out of there at 9pm. Not the most festive birthday. I had considered going to see "The Graduate" (one of my all-time favorite movies) at MoMA, but never was optimistic about getting there by 4:30. I treated myself to some frozen yogurt and diet blondies. Whee.

Back home, a few more Facebook friends posted the Susan Boyle video and I watched it again. And again. And again. As with my ACPT win, "I was just SOBBING." With happiness. What is it about this that touches such a nerve? I think I see some of myself - a middle-aged, non-glamor girl getting belated public recognition. But there's also the joy at watching the expression on the judges' faces (Simon's eyebrows shoot up, and he grows to look absolutely in love), the audience cynicism turn to enthusiasm, and the beauty and purity of the performance itself.

Happy Birthday To Me

2009-04-14T09:19:31Z

Taxes are done and e-filed.

The good news: I qualify for the new 0% capital gains tax rate and basically just pay self-employment tax. After owing both the IRS and NYS money last year, I'm getting refunds from both.

The bad news: To qualify for that 0% tax rate, your income has to be low.

Even though the 0% rate will continue next year, I can't be sure I won't have more regular or investment income, so I'll go ahead and pay estimated tax and hope I get it back.

Fun with Quicken

2009-04-13T03:31:40Z

Every year at tax time, there's some annoying financial event I don't know how to account for. Like another "fair fund" payment (a tiny $13.42, so I'll just report it) or amount "in lieu of fractional shares" (that one was only $6.14, so ditto).

It's really next year's worry, but I like to keep entries up to date... and on my March brokerage statement, something weird happened with Time Warner. They not only did a reverse stock split, but spun off into a separate company just for cable. The statement listened the cost basis for the spinoff as "unknown." If they don't know, how could I possibly know?

Stock splits go pretty smoothly in Quicken, but spinoffs can be confusing. An online forum commenter offered an incredibly complicated way to manage this, but did mention the correct cost amounts. So I tried inputting them in the spinoff form to see what would happen... and the program blew up. There were ***s in total columns and general mayhem. This is after I'd spent 3 days entering data. I thought I'd backed it up the night before, but the latest backup was a little older. Uh-oh!

Worse, I couldn't seem to retrieve the spinoff transaction I'd just entered and was desperate to delete. I finally was able to get a "report" on the new stock, zoom to the transactions (which were under the OLD TWX stock on the register), delete those, and then delete the new TWC stock. The numbers came back. Almost.

Now there was too much cash in that account. Whaa? Apparently it returned capital on the old stock, so I deleted those items. The number finally matched. The reason it blew up was probably because there was a very small fractional share of reinvested TWX dividend at one point, which must have been like dividing by zero.

I still needed to account for the new stock. Luckily, it's in a Roth IRA account which has no tax consequences, so I just did a "shares in" entry and stuck it on using the price from the first day.

That wasn't the end of the fun. I was tooling along entering investments, noticing devastating losses (30-40% in the past year. For an exact figure, I'll need 401(k) results which I'll do later since they aren't needed for taxes). I wondered how I did long-term, since I started investing in earnest around 1997.

Imagine my chagrin when I learned that apparently Quicken LOST all stock and mutual fund prices before May of 2000 and those market values were all zero. While I have paper copies of everything relevant (including some proprietary funds in the 401(k) which can't be looked up in normal online sources), I didn't relish the thought of manually re-entering price history.

Quicken e-mail help was no help, but online forum research determined that sometime around 2000, upgraded Quicken versions kept price history in a separate file as opposed to the main program. So at some point when I upgraded (they force you to upgrade every few years, if you want to download financial data), bye bye old prices. What a useful design!

The online mavens also had a solution. If you go into an investment register and hit CTRL-Z, it recalculates all the transactions. This means if a price was part of a transaction (like you reinvested a dividend of x shares at y price), it will be recorded in the price history file. I held my breath, did this for my many investment registers (I'm paranoid and have small amounts in a lot of firms), and WHEW, it worked! The only problem is the data can be spotty (if there was little activity in an account), but it's much better and at least is no longer zero-value from 1997-2000.

I may still want to re-enter at least quarterly prices off the paper statements from the missing eras (especially for the funds in the 401(k) that don't have ticker symbols), but this is OK for now.

So transactions are entered, papers are piled up, and I'll load the tax program and start the taxes themselves next. Please, no more surprises!

Are you being served?

2009-04-11T02:58:52Z

Last year, as always, I vowed to keep financial records up to date so I wouldn't have to go through torture at tax time, but did I do it? Well, in a slight improvement, I did stay current until around June. So now I'm left to enter checking, cash, and investment transactions on Quicken, so I can then do the taxes themselves on Tax Cut. I have piles and piles of papers. Ugh.

The good news is after working on this a while, I'm done with cash, almost done with checking (everything reconciles - woo hoo! - and I just have a few 2009 items to enter which aren't needed for 2008 taxes but I like to start out up-to-date), and just started going through brokerage statements. I'm always SO relieved to finish this (at that point, I don't even care if I'm getting a refund or owe money. I would gladly have the IRS take more if it meant I didn't have to do this).

As mentioned previously, I didn't go to any seders but some of the NYT testers did, so the puzzles were ready slightly late. It was best that I go in Thursday morning, so I just stayed up from the day before (had gotten up at 3:40pm Wednesday). The Sunday puzzle got done and on the Magazine server by 10am. But by the time I'd finished the dailies and the Across Lite files, I wasn't able to load them on the server. I heard rumblings around me that there were major system crashes, and confirmed it with a computer person. By now I was very tired and did not want to hang around longer than necessary. Eventually the server came back and I loaded the puzzles.

Although I really needed to sleep, it was a good time to go to the DMV Express and renew my non-driver's license (expiring on my birthday next week), and I had brought along my ID documents. I'd gotten a letter that this renewal had to be done in person (presumably they didn't want to keep the 1996 picture that got re-used in the other renewals), plus I wanted to upgrade to the enhanced ID that lets you enter Canada (I don't have a current passport).

The DMV is more high-tech than the last time I was there, with large numbers flashing on boards to indicate when and where to go. The receptionist gave me the form for the enhanced ID, I filled it out, and no sooner did I hand it in than my number flashed on the board. A clerk checked my documents (while James Brown's "Sex Machine" played on the PA; this was a swinging DMV) and gave me another number. This wait was longer, but not bad. The next clerk processed my papers, and gave me a news clipping to read while I waited (about a German paternity scandal - don't ask - but it was funny), then asked how I wanted to pay. "I don't need a new picture? That's it?" Yup, I was done. Guess they decided I still looked enough like the old photo. So I was in and out in about a half hour.

Stopped at the PO (where, strangely, they wanted ID in order to pay with a credit card. Lucky I have that non-driver's license), grocery store, and finally home. I had been up more than 24 hours by then. I conked out, only to wake up again late in the evening. So I would not have been awake at seder time.

Once awake and refreshed, I did the last step in the puzzle distribution, noting in the e-mail that with all the system problems, I hoped the files were indeed on the server. I got a reply from the night editor that he wasn't sure if some recent files were lost permanently. Oh great. I have backups, but still. At various times today's puzzle was unavailable, available but unscrambled, then scrambled, then unavailable. Parts of the archives disappeared. You may recall we just lost our main puzzle contact, who used to take charge of this sort of thing seamlessly. Crossing fingers that things don't get worse over the holiday weekend.

Passovers Past

2009-04-09T05:59:33Z

I don't have a seder to go to this year, but that's OK; if I really felt the need, I'd find one. I got some work done tonight and started entering financial records, the beginning of the long slog toward taxes - which can't last too long or I'll run into the deadline, which is also my birthday.

My family is not at all religious, and I invariably don't observe the dietary part of Passover (Oops, pasta. Oops, bagels. Oops, pizza...), but the seder is my favorite Jewish ritual.

Growing up, we glossed quickly over the ceremony and got right to the matzo ball soup, brisket and other goodies coming out of Nana's kitchen. Nana died in 2000 at age 93 without passing on her matzo ball recipe, but my great-aunt believes the secret was seltzer and fresh schmaltz.

Over tenth grade spring vacation, my sister and I went to Puerto Rico with Nana and Papa, and there I attended my first "real" seder, a large community event at the El San Juan hotel (I know, that's redundant). Who knew there was so much AFTER the meal? Although we didn't know most of the songs, the repetitive "12 Days of Christmas"-type lyrics made them easy to learn. Speaking of Christmas, that scary moment when the door is opened for Elijah seems to be the Jewish equivalent of being scared to go downstairs Christmas Eve lest you run into Santa. To this day my sister is scared of Santa, but that's another story.

I went to another community seder a few years later at my relatives' reform temple on Long Island. They used a beautiful Haggadah with sheet music and everything written out phonetically, and I got a copy of my own. Two copies, actually.

I was able to refer to this Haggadah the one time I hosted a seder in the '70s. Well, not really hosted since a co-worker from Ohio came early to cook, and led the service. We were just 3 (including his cousin), but left nothing out, and I got to keep the leftover charoseth (yum). The following year, we did it again at his cousin's, with a few more attendees.

Then there was the time a friend's somewhat religious family surprised me by doing part of the reading in fake Southern accents, and the time another friend's wannabe rabbi boyfriend prolonged things by adding extensive commentary (PLEASE, we're hungry!). And the year the host was on a very strict diet, so we not only had grape juice (which I always drink anyway) instead of wine, but no matzo!

And our own family traditions, with my great-uncle always hiding the afikoman in a picture frame, and my cousin decrying rote reading and giving her own explanation. And the realization that the uh, binding nature of matzo led to the expression, "Let my people go!"

My favorite Passover moment is one I wasn't even there for: when, as a little kid, my older nephew asked the then-very-elderly Nana if she was a slave in Egypt. Perfect logic.

Happy Pesach!