Archive | February 2012
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Why Did Banks Get So Mean?
Yesterday I read a Boston Globe column by reporter Farah Stockman about the harassing phone calls she received from her bank last year. PNC Bank called Stockman repeatedly while she was reporting from war-torn Pakistan because they claimed she owed them 64 cents. The international cell phone calls were costing her $3.00 a minute but […]
Dad’s New Bride: Companion or Gold-Digger?
Angela, a middle-aged owner of a small business, heard recently that her 89-year-old father Charles was getting married to Mary, his 78-year-old girlfriend. Angela’s reaction? While genuinely happy for her dad, she also felt fear, because she was worried that her inheritance was in jeopardy. A few weeks ago I asked Sandwich Lady readers to […]
For Presidents Day, a Jubilee of Cherries
For decades, my Aunt Rita gave my dad a totally-made-from-scratch cherry pie every Washington’s birthday/Presidents Day. Her pies had that classic, homemade character, without that machine-made look you get even in a decent bakery pie. The lattice was pleasing but not precise; the thick crust around the rim bore her knuckle’s imprint; a crescent of […]
Followup: When ‘Words With Friends’ Opponents Fall in Love
My loyal followers know of my obsession with Words With Friends, the online Scrabble-like game that you play with friends. My blog about it was on “Freshly Pressed” and had more than 10,000 views over a three-day period. Many of you started following The Sandwich Lady after that blog, and I’ve gotten to know many […]
Farewell to Jeffrey Zaslow: Chronicler of ‘The Last Lecture’
Saddened to hear that Jeffrey Zaslow, the Wall Street Journal reporter who immortalized Randy Pausch’s “Last Lecture,” died yesterday. Tragically, his car went off course on a snowy street and crashed into a truck. Zaslow covered Pausch’s last lecture, bringing the Carnegie Mellon professor and his life philosophy to international renown. Pausch died of pancreatic […]
Why Laziness Can Be a Virtue
The happiest people, I’ve been told, have a sense of purpose: a mission they are passionate about, children to care for, a class to teach, a milestone to reach. They are energetic and industrious, unable or unwilling to stay still. They have things to accomplish every day, and a brightly burning drive to fill their […]
