At the risk of sounding too saccharine, I will not try to be clever with this one. I'll just say what comes to mind (and from the heart).

I grew up in a unique "family". As I have probably too often revealed, while growing up, my "Damon Runyon" character father was never home except for the weekends, and my mother in his absence did not spare the rod. What's more, there was no pretense at appe... More >>

It is my pleasure to offer you Flo's musings on being "The Daughter".

As many of you know, my father recently passed away. He had fallen during a short walk, hitting his head. He never recovered. Dad had been caring for my mother, who has Alzheimer's Disease.
I am certain that the terrible stress of caring for a loved one with this disease was the cause of his fall, and the subsequent resu... More >>

On the occasion of the Gotham blog’s one topic “Family” week, I was lucky enough to have my daughter, Lauren, home for a few days. I asked her if she’d like to contribute a blog about Family. She gave it some thought and this is what she wrote:

What my parents taught me about family:

1) You will always love your family members, but that doesn't mean you always have to like each othe... More >>

This week, I kick off a seven blog (or should I say blogger) series on one topic. You may recall that we have done this before and adhere to two basic rules in this format. We write about the same topic and we do not consult with each other about content. Given the topic, however, this time we have added a third rule. We cannot write about Gotham as family. Sincere, but too easy. So here goes... More >>

The Friars Club Roast of Matt Lauer was the best one I have attended (others included guest of honors Chevy Chase, Donald Trump and Pat Cooper).

Chevy Chase was a bad sport, his behavior reminiscent of someone an eight-year-old would call a “cry baby”; Donald Trump received mostly hair jokes, as vulgar as you can imagine; and all of the Pat Cooper jokes covered his Italian heritage, age and... More >>

The election this year, with as much as there is at stake, requires more than dinner talk about Sarah Palin. So I have decided to volunteer on election day in the battleground of Pennsylvania as a poll watcher for one of the campaigns.

I remember the first time I ever volunteered for a campaign. It was in 1974. Something overcame me and that May I drove my green 1968 Pontiac Catalina from ... More >>

I didn't know what to expect. I've seen a Friar's roast on TV and heard about it from Norman. I figured it would be a couple of laughs and a bunch of inside jokes. I was partially right. There were a couple of inside jokes.

The evening started with the people on the dais walking in (about 45 people I think) so Diane DiResta and I played guess the celebrity. Because they were roasting Matt Laue... More >>

Did you read the book or see the great black and white movie "The Manchurian Candidate"? Did anyone in today's world read or see it? If so, am I the only one who realizes that we may have one or more "Manchurian Candidates" (people psychologically programmed long ago by the "Evil Empire" with the possibility in mind that they might some day run for President and be controlled by their mind mas... More >>

As many of you know, Jason has created and is selling an Obama action figure (www.jailbreaktoys.com). He embarked on this endeavor during the primaries before Obama was a safe bet to be the nominee. It’s a great action figure, and with Obama’s increasing popularity, Jason’s Obama is doing quite well.

Over the summer, Jason was facing a bit of a business dilemma. More and more ord... More >>

A few weeks ago, an elderly relative of ours overdosed on a combination of codeine (for pain), Ambien (for sleeplessness), and Lasix (for water retention). She was taken to the hospital in a non-responsive state. Fortunately, she survived without any lasting effects, but in a frustrating follow-up, her children had to travel with her to the doctor to list, review and revise the myriad medication... More >>

So, how do you do it?

If you read fredslist today, you know that we are preparing for our next orientation on November 12 (not coincidentally the same day as our cocktail party). At orientation, we talk to the newest members of our family about how to maximize their Gotham experience. Debbie (your executive director); Mitch (your webmaster) and I have lots of thoughts and share what we have ... More >>

Many of us find ourselves cutting back on expenses these days. We go out to dinner a little less and when we do go out, we are trying to be a little more cost conscious in regard to where we go and the wines we order with our meal. Well, there is a way to spend less and yet still step up your dining experience.

Most restaurants mark up the wines they sell by 200% to 300%. And for very good rea... More >>

Winter is coming now. I am in the Berkshires and this morning it is 40 degrees outside. Maybe 39. I can also tell winter is on its way when I am at Eve's house and it feels too cold to go outside to pick up the newspaper early in the morning barefoot.

Another tell tale sign: this time of year it takes so long for the sun to rise I barely have time to go for a morning bike ride in Central Par... More >>

A Blog By Sarah

So I've been thinking of cheap ways to decorate my apartment, and doing my own paintings is a good way to do that.

Last week my dad and I went to Joanne Klein's art show at the Huntington Library (kudos to her by the way, it was pretty awesome). And I was looking at her art and thinking of ideas for my own. I asked my dad if he thought it would be "stealing" if I borrowed so... More >>

Our premier blogger, HHDB (by now you know what that means, if not, feel free to ask for a definintion in a comment), suggested last week that we change our periodic Home Page Poll to the subject of our unprecedented roller coaster, ever volatile, economy and world wide financial system. His exact suggestion, word for word, now appears on our home page and if you have not responded we really need... More >>

While driving to the office on Tuesday, it occurred to me that, although I worked on Monday, it was a holiday. There I was in Tuesday's traffic realizing that there had been no traffic on Monday. On Tuesday, everything was back...school buses, more people.....everything was "back to normal".

In light of the last few weeks -- the hospitalization and passing of my father-in-law -- I am ... More >>

The other day I saw two women I hadn’t seen in several years. I didn’t recognize one of them until she spoke to me; there was something about her that didn’t look familiar. Although she had had excellent cosmetic work done and looked great, her face, belonging to a long term acquaintance, didn’t register with me as someone I knew. While she was nowhere near the Michael Jackson level of ... More >>

I think my brother in law, Howie, is offended. At "break fast" last week, the family was discussing my recent blog which exposed my father's predilection to toss. Those close to me have become (perhaps painfully) aware that they are fair game for my weekly blog content. Yet, according to my brother-in-law, I have never talked about him in a blog. So that he will not feel left out, this blog is... More >>

Jim, Dwight, Pam, Michael, Phyllis, Kevin, Oscar, Stanley, Meredith, Angela, Andrew Bernard, Holly, Jan, Toby, Ryan, Creed, Kelly and the guys from the warehouse.

What’s in a name? The above-group of names represents the cast of The Office. At this point, the names alone are hilarious because of whom each one of them represents. Each name evokes a clear feeling about who the individual cast... More >>

The other day I walked into the den. My daughter Allie (age 12) was sitting at the computer. She was listening to music and IM-ing (instant messaging - chatting on line in real time) with her friends. She had 4 IM boxes open on her screen where she could speak with each friend privately, and then the four and two others were in a “chat room” where they could all talk to each other. At the same... More >>

Nothing like driving a new car. Maybe it's that smell. Fine corinthian leather, or whatever the smellologists use to create that wonderful feeling.

Did you know that millions of dollars (used to be billions but you know with the value of money these days...) are spent every year to create a specific smell for each kind of car? It's true. That's why when you get into a Toyota Tercel you look ar... More >>

Did you ever cram for an exam?

If so, how much did you remember the day after? Zilch? Zilch plus?

Well how much does Sareh Palin remember today after last week's World Class cram?

We all have to be very very impressed with her ability (we have it on reliable sources that it was not Tina Fey substituting for her, no matter how plausible that may appear to you) to engage in extensiv... More >>

My father-in-law, Jack Diamond, passed away this past Sunday.

After meeting Flo and becoming a part of her family, it took me a while to get used to Jack pushing a piece of apple into my mouth...it was only after I understood how important sharing was to Jack that I got comfortable with his very firm (not to be denied) offers of a slice of apple. Over the years I grew to love this sweet and... More >>

Saturday night. Eighty five thousand screaming football fans. Most of them wearing red. If you happened to be watching ESPN, you might have seen us in the stands. It was Homecoming Weekend at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln and the scheduled game was against their top-rated rival, Missouri, known around here as Mizzou. Lauren, Jeff, David and I. Strangers in a strange land. Three New Yo... More >>

[Today's blog is taken directly from the pages of my family history book. We relived this story recently, bringing a tear to many an eye around the table -- tears of laughter. So, I thought I would share this tale with my friends.]

Growing up in Brooklyn, the basement in our house was my father's space. It wasn't pretty or fancy, or frankly finished in any way. But it was a place for stuff... More >>

Last Friday, we hosted our ninth online book discussion, this time with author Michelle Richmond. It was a terrific discussion as Michelle truly understood what a reader is yearning to know about the characters, the writing process and the effort it takes to write a book.

She was gracious and thorough and finished the day by leaving this post:

“Thank you, Julie, for giving me the chance t... More >>

It is not easy to run for vice-president, is it, Sarah? I know what it's like. I have been there.

It was 1967 and I was in seventh grade running for vice-president of the Student Council of Benjamin Franklin Junior High School in Teaneck, New Jersey. I had experience running for public office. I lost the vice presidential race for my sixth grade class the year before, though I did beat two o... More >>

I woke up this morning to a 57 degree household. It felt great. I love sleeping in the cold. However Pam doesn't care for a cold house so for the first time in a few months the heat is turned on. Since the price of oil is like gold, I'm thinking let's just bump it up a few degrees to say 62? We could wear sweaters you know. This doesn't go over well. As a matter of fact she doesn't even respond. S... More >>

I have had the good fortune of watching the recent, ill fated, Met Pennant drive with Joanne, who, inexplicably, came under the spell of the Met's late season run.

And what was her focus? Spitting.

From her female or non fan perspective, she could not ignore or countenance the incessant macho spitting. It seems the camera always catches the stream (nose picking comes in second).

To ... More >>

Until this past Tuesday, I really didn’t know why we had a shofar in the house. This shofar (the animal horn that is traditionally sounded in Jewish houses of worship during the high holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur) was not displayed in our home but was kept in a box on a closet shelf with other religious seasonal items that are taken out on the appropriate holiday. At one time, when I ... More >>

We all make mistakes. Some are reasonable, some are foolish. In one particular category, I occasionally worry that I will show up for an event or meeting on the wrong day or at the wrong time. Sometimes this anxiety is reality based.

In September of 2002, David and I took a road trip with Fred and Joanne. We were very excited to travel to Chicago, a first for all of us. We had purchased ... More >>