Mother’s Day is fast approaching, and I’ve started to have my annual case of Mother’s Day anxiety. It’s like New Year’s Eve without a date – it’s not my choice to participate in overly hyped activities, but I don’t want to be left out either. I am inspired me to do a quick Google search on the origins of the holiday.

According to Wikipedia (an easy but sometimes questionable s... More >>

Once at a Gotham meeting, our discussion topic was to tell about a teacher that had made an impact on your life. We heard lots of interesting stories. Last week, I had the privilege of watching as a science teacher had an impact on my daughter.

As background, my 6th grader recently developed a serious interest in science and a particular fascination with medical research. We are liberal art... More >>

Bounce!
Failure, Resiliency, and Confidence to Achieve Your Next Great Success
By Barry Moltz

According to the Book jacket, Bounce! is about "developing the kind of true business confidence that prepares you for both failure and success." I think the book is about much, much more: it is for everyone, not just entrepreneurs or other people in business.

I am not an entrepreneur, as far as I... More >>

Summer is closing in. That means lots of mothers worrying about their kids going away. Maybe reading this will put you at ease. Maybe not.

I went on a bicycle trip through Europe for nine weeks when I was 16. There were ten of us (5 boys, 5 girls), all 16, and our 21 year old leader, Mitch. He had long hair tied in a ponytail, a beard and wore baggy overalls. Mitch used to talk a lot abo... More >>

Friday 4:29PM
I'm on an Amtrak train traveling to Philly for two reasons. 1. Watch my road warrior compete in the 4x400 Saturday morning and 2. Get a steak and cheese from Pat's.

I've decided to take the train because the price of gas is climbing as I write this. The train is rather quite nice. I can plug my laptop in because I paid the extra $21 for business class. I even get free non-alcohol... More >>

Last weekend I was reading out loud to a family group and, as I sometimes do (I prefer to speak my thoughts from a few notes, rather than read a speech), I stumbled over a few words. And, wow, one of my sons was all over me. Calling me out and saying he thought I was perfect. When I confided in him that I do not read aloud well he was surprised to say the least.

My first thought was that I'm l... More >>

The lyrics of an old song came to mind when I learned that I had to be in Albany for a meeting this past Monday afternoon. "Do you know the way to ...Albany?" The more significant question was "How does one get to Albany from New York City?" I checked the schedule of the "Yankee Clipper" which took us to Boston two weeks ago -- but to no avail. I was on my own.
From the days when Jeremy ... More >>

Like many other New Yorkers, my grandparents were from Eastern Europe. My mother’s family, specifically, came from Bialystok, home of one of my favorite foods, the bialy. My mother’s mother Bryna was one of four siblings who lived in Bialystok with their parents Annya and Gershon Kadlubik. Eventually, Bryna married, moved to the U.S. and settled in Brooklyn where she raised her six children... More >>

On Sunday night, nearly twenty family members sat around my dining room table. This holiday had moved from my house in recent years given my largely unpredictable kitchen appliances. Raw chicken and undercooked side dishes really were not enticing to anyone. Surprising, right?

With the completion of my kitchen renovation (as my blog followers know), this holiday has returned to the Schess h... More >>

As a proponent of book clubs and reading in general, I started thinking about girls (and maybe some boys) that like to read and like to chat. Last week, my niece who is turning 14 told me that she loves school. Sometimes, she’ll even do her homework twice!

I was so excited for her: she loves the main thing in her life that she is responsible for – school and all the work that is piled o... More >>

Since Barak Obama could be President, I was thinking how unusual the name President Obama would sound; different than ancestral English names like Presidents Jackson, Johnson, Taylor, Clinton or Adams. The names of the kings of England changed drastically over the centuries. So why not have a President Obama in the USA.

We are used to English kings like George, William, Charles and James. Bu... More >>

In a conversation with a great friend on Friday, we were recanting a dinner party we both attended the weekend before. The discussion moved to the Passover holiday dinner tonight and I started to tell him who's cooking what.

Aunt Mara is making her brisket, my sister is making a turkey, her friends are making kishkas and so on. He was surprised to hear that everything wasn't being made by the ... More >>

The morning after our fabled bus trip to Boston I wrote the following to the "Magnificent 17" with whom I shared the journey: "What stays on the bus happens on the bus"! It was a once in a lifetime-never again- experience which those on this email list who could not go will never understand. We were an intrepid group of 17 Yankee Clippers who knifed through the Red Sox Nation (winning the trivia, ... More >>

When I was about twenty years old, I traveled to Israel with my parents and brother and sister. For some reason, my brother was flying on a different flight from the rest of us, so I offered to take his ticket on the flight to Israel (You could do that in those days) and fly alone. He would fly alone while I flew with my family on the return flight. The plan was that, since my parents’ flight wa... More >>

Last Wednesday I went to yoga class and got there early, as is my preference, assuring myself that I would get a comfortable spot on the floor. I need a lot of light and air with minimal claustrophobia potential. As soon as I set my mat down, someone came in and announced that I was in her spot. Because she is a nice, low maintenance person, that was the end of it. I retained the primo spot an... More >>

In my house, this is our crazy season (and if you have any sense of our other seasons you would call this one insane). Both my son and daughter play ball (baseball and softball respectively) and my husband coaches both teams. We all try to be at every game and every practice. Can you imagine the insanity? Forget about a family meal until sometime in June.

Here is the payoff. My son's first ... More >>

Every April my husband attends a business conference in San Francisco. The trip usually falls somewhere near our wedding anniversary. We decided that I would accompany him to celebrate our anniversary with a kid-free get-a-way.

We have never before left our kids for more than one night. They are 9 and 7.

Two weeks leading up to the trip, I found out that my son’s travel hockey tryouts... More >>

There is a children's Passover song that goes like this: "Frogs here, frogs there, frogs are jumping everywhere." That is how I feel about germs. Wherever you go there is always a little germ lurking, with lots of germ friends.
Everyday it is war, and I was losing with a cough and suffocating sore throat for over a month, which is what made me think about this in the first place.

Germ avoi... More >>

(The Gotham Boston Road Trip, written as it happened)
Thursday 11:45AM
I found myself driving fast and stressing just to get to a bus ride that will last six hours...one way. At least I'm going to see my daughter. Fred is angry because he wanted to leave earlier and three people have already dropped out. I didn't know two minutes meant so much. At least the bus has comfortable seats. We take off... More >>

When I ran my PB (personal best) marathon in 1982 I weighed in the low 160s (my high school weight) as I was training-running 80 miles/week. Then, I was fighting to keep my weight up (my wife did not want to sleep with me) and I could eat any and all I desired.

All my life I have had a prodigious appetite. Then the running stopped, but the appetite remained the same. Naturally, my weight did ... More >>

My father was a printer and from very early in my life, I have shared his interest and craft of how thoughts get to paper. These musings have permeated throughout my life and are, no-doubt, the basis of many of my fundamental beliefs about loftier ideas like freedom of expression -- and its arch-enemy, censorship -- and more mundane matters like pens and pencils.
I didn't become a pri... More >>

I get a thrill when I take a photograph. It’s something about the moment of capture. There is a transcendent connection flowing from my finger pushing the shutter release, through the camera, to the subject and back around again. I also love the moment of acquisition, when I know I’ve got it.

Everyone likes taking pictures. We have become a world of photo enthusiasts. (I have more tha... More >>

Last week, I received a package. It was a wonderful surprise from someone who clearly knows me. I reach that conclusion because the package contained a beautiful basket filled with sumptuous Mrs. Fields cookies in various shapes, sizes and combinations of flavors. Those who know me send dessert (although I really like flowers too. It is a dilemma).

Here is the mystery. The card was a simple "... More >>

About a month ago, sixteen friends (mostly Gothamites) got together for the first Gotham wine dinner. Most were wine novices who had expressed a great interest in wine but, like many people, were a bit intimated by a leisure pursuit that can be seen as “work” to understand and is sometimes championed by snobs (think of Fraser”s brother Nile).

I think that’s why I have always preferred ... More >>

One of the great things about living in the City is that you can always take a walk. Even if you are going nowhere, it is something to do. Sometimes when I am home at night with nothing in particular to keep me entertained, and I find myself flipping the remote to channel 850 and then starting all over again at channel 2, or re-organizing my sock drawer, or looking at a brochure for a notary pub... More >>

Something new for my road warrior. This year the coach decided he wanted Jake to run the 400 hurdles. Now the 400m is grueling enough but add jumping 10 times over a hurdle that's about 3' tall...your body goes way beyond the jelly stage. It reminded me of watching the Penn Relays last year. Every heat there was someone falling at or after the last hurdle.

Last Monday was a meet at Carle Place... More >>

Last week I blogged about the first half of my trip to Hawaii and my wife Joanne noted that it must not have been interesting as my comment count was down. Nonetheless, and as proof that I do not thirst for comments, I will live up to my promise and relate the rest of our Hawaiian adventure.

Our next Island was Kaua'i where we made the mistake of staying at the Grand Hyatt near Poipu Beach. It... More >>

We were walking down the street and Flo said “Daffodils are smiles on a stem.” I didn’t even notice the daffodils that we were walking by and, if I did, I would never have come up with a description that captures it all. I admire people who notice and appreciate the beauty that surrounds us. All too often, I don’t stop to smell the roses.
Daffodils are the real sign of Spring. Forget Ma... More >>

I have become the “mother of the bride.” During the last three days, I attended a cake and hors doeuvres tasting, accompanied the future groom to rent a tux, and finally got the wedding invitations in the mail. Being called the “mother of the bride” has me thinking about other periods of my life and the labels that were attached.

During my childhood and adolescence, I was always "the y... More >>

I love email (well, maybe that is an extreme description. I love my family – but I really, really like email.) Email is the perfect mode of communication for a quick message or something that makes sense to record. Particularly since the introduction of the blackberry, I credit email with my ability to multi task and manage the multiple balls that must stay in the air every day, both personal... More >>