My Six Word Memoir

Have a little faith in me

Where Have You Gone, Cynthia Heimel?

From the MIA author of 'Sex Tips For Girls', 'If You Can't Live
Without Me, Why Aren't You Dead Yet?' and 'A Girls Guide To
Chaos':

"Let people push you around. The person who says, believes, and
acts on the phrase "I ain't taking any shit from anybody" is a very
busy person indeed. This person must be ever vigilant against
news vendors who shortchange him, cabdrivers who take him the
wrong way around, waiters who serve the other guy first, florists
who are charging ten cents more per tulip than the one down the
block, pharmacists who make you wait too long, and cars that cut
you off at the light: they are a veritable miasma of righteous
indignation and never have a minute to relax and have a good time."

Gotta' love Wikipedia, where I can always dig up an old quote.
My heroine: a wise, fun girl who sure can write. So why won't she?

Me & Princess Leia

Happy 52nd birthday to me and to Carrie Fisher, four days apart this
month. I loved her best as Marie in 'When Harry Met Sally', though I
will now be referencing her fabulous one-woman show, 'Wishful Drinking' forever and ever.

Some words of wisdom from this talented trainwreck:

I don't want to be thought of as a survivor because you have to
continue getting involved in difficult situations to show off that
particular gift, and I'm not interested in doing that anymore.

True that, me too, and may the force be with us.

Streets Of Philadelphia

Sure, it was a bujillion-hot-record-breaking-degrees event.
But today's bike race was a gorgeous postcard of Philadelphia.
6ABC's Gary Papa : 'The Champs-Elysees has nothing on us!'

Bien sur.

H2O + NaCL

Refrigerator magnet for a Libra Girl:

The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears or the sea.
- Isak Dinesen

Or a frozen and rimmed margarita.

Amtrak

Only because Scott Kahn was both amused and impressed by my
delivery do I post (verbatim!) the announcement that runs through
my head:

"Ladies and gentlemen in approximately three to four minutes our
next station stop will be Philadelphia's 30th Street Station. If
Philadelphia is your final destination please take these next few
minutes to look around your seating area and the overhead
compartments to collect any personal belongings that you might have
brought onboard. Please note, there will be a gap between the train
and the station platform so please watch your step as you exit the
train. Philadelphia, Philadelphia next."

The conductors have let me do this twice (but only on train #639, the
late night Keystone). Our little secret, until now?

Scranton

Long before I fell in love with 'The Office' I did
a ridiculous but important stint at WDAU-TV, the
CBS affiliate and Channel 22 in Scranton. I made
a lot of friends, learned plenty about broadcasting
(mostly, what fails), and transitioned from NYCNY
to Baltimore.

Mayor Christopher Doherty got it right when he
described Scranton's culture and citizenry on the
eve of a visit by presidential primary candidate
Hillary Rodham Clinton:

People here, we don't live by home runs. We
live by singles.

And specifically, about HRC:

She's tough. That's a real Scranton trait.
That's an anthracite trait.

(From The New York Times, March 10, 2008)

A city built on coal. Go figure.