I took a train trip recently that was supposed to last twelve hours. About fourteen hours into the trip, with no sight of a conductor to tell me what was happening and no chance to jump off and rethink the whole train trip idea because we were stopped somewhere in the middle of a nameless woods, my mind started to wander. This is never a good thing. Perhaps it was something I did in the sixties. Who remembers? Whatever it was, when my mind cuts loose from its moorings in reality and starts to wander hither, thither and yon, the
You go girl!
So I’m catching up on all the Alaskan news that occurred while I was out and come across the article about Matanuska Maid Company not allowing the governor in after she showed up for a tour of the troubled company that had announced plans to shutter its doors. She handled it the way I’ve come to expect Sarah Palin to handle things. No hissy fit. No headlines. No feet stomping, childish behavior. No press releases excoriating the company and its board. She simply went home and fired the entire board and replaced them and now she can go there whenever
Continental Airlines
I hate to have to admit this, but flying on Continental Airlines was acutally not obnoxious. The attendants were nice, they actually showed up in the aisles to make sure things were ok throughout the flight and we were fed something that at least resembled food. Wow. Who knew that still existed? I thought all attendants now had that deer in the headlights look that went into total panic if approached by a passenger. But Continental seems to have people who actually still seem to enjoy their job. Good for them.
Why turn signals on cars are extinct
Ever wonder why it seems that no one uses turn signals anymore? I know the answer. Because when you are steering and turning with one hand and holding a phone to your ear with the other, you have no hand left to use the turn signal. Cell phones…they’re not just for rudeness anymore.
When a bra means formal wear
In my misspent youth, dressing up meant wearing something very fancy, very pretty and, often, very uncomfortable. Now, in my wiser old age, dressing up means wearing a bra. And REALLY dressing up means wearing my good bra.
It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad world…..
I guess I’m just too old to understand but I have to ask. What kind of a world do we live in where Scooter Libby goes free but Paris Hilton goes to jail? Is there no justice left anywhere?
Not a flattering look
The humidity of the East Coast has left me with a hairdo that most closely resembles the largest Afro ever seen since sometime in the 1970s. It is not a flattering look for an old Italian woman.
New Beginnings
I think it is probably appropriate on many levels that my column should first appear as part of the Daily News on the Fourth of July. After all, this holiday celebrates the new beginnings of our country and my appearance here celebrates my new beginnings with this paper.
Ok, I’ll grant you that’s somewhat of a stretch. But stay with me here. I’m writing this while on the East Coast, the temperature is higher than a moose’s shoulder and the humidity is something most Alaskans can only dream about. There is every chance I’m delirious and don’t know it.
There
Happy July 4
Love the country. Hate the president. In America you’re allowed to do that with no fear of consequences. Or, at least you were before Bush and Cheney took control. If you don’t hear from me again, check Guantanamo Bay.
Tomorrow
Tomorrow my first column for the Anchorage Daily News will appear in the paper. It will appear on this site the next day so as not to scoop myself. If you can’t wait till July 5 to read it, check out ADN.com tomorrow and you’ll find me on the editorial page.