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Read All About It: Priorities

I was all set to blog when this happened:


This would be my Jack, who climbed into my lap as soon as I opened my computer. (By the way, it was not easy to take the photo, upload and type this with him still on my lap!)

Clearly someone is needing some attention, so I'll catch up with you later!

Read All About It: Another Fake Memoir?

With the awesome headline "Greg Mortenson's 'Three Cups of Tea' may be two-thirds poppycock," Plain Dealer book editor Karen R. Long recounts the allegations presented in yesterday's Sixty Minutes expose on Mortenson's book.

I haven't read Three Cups of Tea, so I can't give my opinion on this particular book...yet.

I did, however, read Million Little Pieces by James Frey. Now, I realize that outrageous and hard-to-believe things do happen to people, but sorry, Oprah, I just don't see how you fell for that one. I also read Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs. The family Burroughs wrote about on the book sued him for libel. He settled.

Here's the problem with memoirs: how do you fact-check people's memories?

Well, you can't. But you can check matters of public record, and it seems that in the case of memoirs, publishing companies are not doing their homework.

The Frey debacle has made me reluctant to read other "memoirs." And when I have, I find myself continuously questioning the plausibility of the author's story. (See my review of Orange Is the New Black.)

Know what's scary, though? Three Cups of Tea is required reading for soldiers sent to Afghanistan. What if it's not true?

What are your thoughts? Have you read Three Cups of Tea? Other memoirs? Do you think most memoirs are truthful, embellished, loads of horse puckey? This blogger wants to know.

Read All About It: So Much To Read, So Little Time

I have 322 books on my Goodreads to-read list. Here's a photo of some of the books I have to read at home. (I had to get another bookshelf just for my to-read books!)


This doesn't include the scraps of paper on which I've scribbled the titles of book I want to read, the blog posts in my reader and the articles I've marked on Read It Later.

I could read every minute of every day for the rest of my life and still not read everything I'd like to read.

This Monday "Read All About It" feature has brought me to a conclusion: I need to spend more time reading. Too often, I curl up on the couch and reach for the remote instead of a book. Case in point: this weekend I watched hours of the Deadliest Catch marathon...all episodes I had seen before! Yeesh.

For someone who loves to read, sometimes I sure don't act like it.

Read All About It: All the News That's Fit To...

Print? Broadcast? Tweet? Blog?

How are you getting your news these days? How is it different from five years ago? Two years ago?

Five years ago I read the actual newspaper every day. Two years ago, my online homepage was set to a news page. Today, I get my news from Twitter. Remember when Capt. Sully landed the plane in the Hudson? I heard it first from eyewitnesses on Twitter.

If a story really interests me, I'll Google it and read the report on the first news site that comes up (as long as I consider it to be reliable).

I also have news shows on in the morning while I'm getting ready for work and (if I get home early enough) in the evening while I'm getting dinner ready. And, as I've mentioned in a previous post, I'm a big fan on Sunday Morning on CBS.

So, how are you getting your news? How do you think we'll be getting our news five years from now?

Mind Your Manners - It Just Might Pay!

You've heard about the seven co-workers in Albany, New York who won $319 million in the lottery, right? But did you hear the really interesting part of the story?

The member of the group charged with buying the ticket was just about to make the purchase when he decided he wanted a candy bar. As he was reaching over to grab one, the man behind him pushed forward to purchase his lottery ticket. Had he waited his turn, he would have purchased the winning ticket.

His rudeness cost him $319 million. Think he learned his lesson?

Spring Has Not Sprung

Read All About It: Goodreads.com

Fellow avid readers - how do you keep track of your "to read" lists? I've written lists on scraps of paper, torn pages out of magazines and scribbled in notebooks.

The best tool I've found is goodreads.com. This site allows me to keep track of the books I've read and the books I want to read. It also allows users to customize their own "shelves," so I could keep track of books I own, books I've lent, books related to movies I want to see, etc.

There's also a social aspect to Goodreads. I can share my reading list with "friends," connect with Facebook, join groups with similar interests, "fan" and read blog posts by authors.

Even better, through the First Reads feature, I can enter to win prerelease copies of books from authors and publishers. I've received several - nothing beats a free book!

I haven't even begin to explore half of what the site can do, but it's certainly met my needs for keeping track of my reading habit.

Twestival CLE

Last week, I attended Twestival CLE. What's a Twestival, you ask? According to the Twestival website, "Twestival (or Twitter Festival) uses social media for social good by connecting communities offline on a single day to highlight a great cause and have a fun event."

And that's exactly what it was! Kudos to Amanda, Kasey and Kimi for organizing a fun event at AMP 150 to benefit We Run This City Youth Marathon Program, which teaches students from the Cleveland Metropolitan School District to set and achieve goals as they prepare to run the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon.

I was especially excited for the Twestival as it would give me a chance to meet some of my fellow Twitter Twenty peeps in person and to make my first visit to AMP 150. It was great to see friends and meet new people, and AMP 150 did not disappoint.

The vibe is cool and comfortable. I would describe it as walking into the home of a friend who has the money to do some kick ass decorating and hire a wait staff. AMP 150 welcomed the Twestival with plenty of Happy Hour specials. I tried the Blood Orange Martini (delish) and the Pomegranate Poinsettia, a delightful champagne-based cocktail (pictured below.)


The menu offered great choices and I was pleasantly surprised to see a "small bites" menu. These selections would make great choices if you want to sample and share, or if you are looking for a reasonably-sized portion. I had the ricotta cavatelli (pictured below) and it was delicious - smooth, creamy, but with a bit of crunch from broccolini - and the portion was absolutely the perfect size. I felt full but not stuffed.

The Plain Dealer and cleveland.com Twitter Twenty

In January, cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer introduced “The Twitter Twenty,” a group of 20 Cleveland tweeps who spend one month discussing various topics. Conversations can be tracked using the hashtag #CLE20. A new Twitter Twenty is selected each month.

Yours truly was honored and excited to be selected as one of the Twenty for this month! Along with me (@cindilou19), the group is comprised of the following funny, insightful and intelligent folks:

• aberinthecleve
• ADHicken
• april_ingle
• bryangarvin
• BuckeyezBest
• cleshopaholic
• CrookdRiverWmn
• davemontague
• gregbellan
• Kopniske
• MaryLeeS
• MildlyRelevant
• minorCLE
• OHmommy
• PatriciaKellogg
• sos_jr
• TonyMazur
• UnitedWayCLE
• wsccenter

Follow our conversations (and join in!) on Twitter using the hashtag #CLE20. Look for Twitter Twenty comments online at cleveland.com/twitter-twenty and in Friday issues of The Plain Dealer on page A-2.

If you’d like to be considered for the Twitter Twenty, direct message @denisep (Denise Polverine) or @dawgpndgirl (Alana Munro).

Read All About It: To E-Read or Not to E-Read?

Every day, I get e-mails about deals on e-readers. I see tweets from people who love their e-readers. And I hear from fellow readers who’ve made the leap.

So, the question is: to e-read or not to e-read?

I love to browse for books. Walking into a bookstore or a library and being surrounded by all of the wonderful treasures just waiting for me to read them…there’s nothing like it. I can spend hours in a bookstore or library. First, I notice the title. Then, the cover art. If I’m still interested, I read the back cover. (Note to publishing companies: nine times out of ten, I’d rather see a well-written description of the book than glowing quotes from reviewers or other authors.) At this point, I’ve usually decided yay or nay, but sometimes I peek at the first page too. I also check for staff recommendations.

How does one browse for books if you can’t hold them in your hands?

On the other hand, e-books are generally less expensive than “real” books. That would mean I could buy more!

I’ve done some research into e-readers and I’m almost ready to make the leap. I don’t foresee that I will stop buying “real” books, but I believe the e-reader will make a good supplement. The problem is, there is not yet an e-reader on the market that has all of the features I want, which are:

- E-ink: I spend plenty of time looking at a computer screen. I want something different.

- Text-to-speech: I listen to books on CD in the car. This means I’m often listening to something in the car and reading something different in the house. What a joy it would be to be able to switch back and forth!

- Ability to borrow books from the library: Currently, only the Kindle offers e-ink and text-to-speech, but does not permit you to borrow books from the library.

These three features are must-haves for me. First company to make an e-reader meeting my needs gets my money. Until then, I’ll have to read the old-fashioned way!

Time for a Smartphone

OK, dear readers, I'm really looking for feedback on this one:

In mid-April, I'm due for a new mobile phone and I think it's time to get a smart one. So the question is...Droid or iPhone?

Aaaannnnd...go!

My First Real Job

We said goodbye to one of our interns at work today. She's starting her first real job tomorrow. (Good luck, Christina! We'll miss you.)

As I type this, Mr. Sunshine is on - a show about the manager of an arena. My first real job was in an arena - I worked for a minor league hockey team in the sponsorships department. Many people are under the impression that working for a sports team is glamorous. It's not. But I do have many fond memories of my first real job, and I certainly had experiences that many people do not get to have.

For example:
- I got to climb on top of the arena's center-hung scoreboard
- I worked two All-Star games (one for our hockey league and one for our soccer league)
- I walked past a pen of bulls when the rodeo was in town (scared the bejeezus out of me - I didn't know they were there!)
- I got to run on-ice promotions (biggest pain-in-the butt: chuck-a-puck)
- I was one of the people who blew up and deflated the giant gorilla our soccer team ran through before each game
- When we sold the naming rights to the arena, it was my job to make sure that everything with the old name on it got changed to the new name

I could go on, but you get the idea. It was a lot of fun, but it was also a lot of running (literally) around the arena on game nights, lugging boxes of promotional items around, working lots of overtime, climbing lots of ladders and using lots of spray adhesive (to hang dasherboard signs). I still work a lot of overtime, but I do a lot less running, lugging, climbing and spraying (thankfully!).

What was your first real job like?

Read All About It: The New Yorker

I want to get back on track, posting more about my love of reading, my original intention when starting this blog. So, I'm introducing a new feature: Monday will be "Read All About It" day. Hope you enjoy!

The New Yorker magazine was assigned reading for my honors Freshman English course in college. I miss having a subscription, but every so often I treat myself to an issue.

A few weeks ago, I picked up the Feb. 14 & 21 issue, and I've been savoring it article by article, each exquisitely written. Most New Yorker articles are loooong which allows the writers to delve deeply into their topics, bringing shades of grey to light in black text on white pages.

There are few articles that fail to envelope me; even articles on topics in which I've had no previous interest thrill me. In the issue I'm reading now, there are articles on the author George Eliot, scientology, college rankings and corruption in Afghanistan. Each has taught me something new, opened my eyes, made me think.

Many people love The New Yorker for its famous cartoons. They are delightful, but it's the writing I love. Every issue of The New Yorker is a showcase of writing at its best.

Maybe it's time to make time for a subscription again.

On My Mind Part III: Bullies on the Bus

Two bloggers I admire recently wrote posts that had to do with bullying and bad behavior on the school bus. On Classy Chaos, Pauline described her son’s close encounter with swearing and kids being mean to each other on the bus, as well as her own experience getting in trouble after being forced to swear by classmates. Chef’s Widow Amelia wrote about her son’s painful encounter with bullies on the bus.

It breaks my heart to read these accounts. I worry about what my godson will encounter when it’s time for him to go to school. And I remember my own hellish bus rides from junior high.

Why do kids have to be so mean? What’s up with their parents? Teasing, forming cliques…those things I can understand, but physical violence and threats cannot be tolerated.

I remember a friend of my grandparents’, a school bus driver, complaining about the fact that he had to pick each child up from his or her house. He was a large, loud man, and I believe everyone was in shock when I stood up to him and said that I wished that would be the case for me. It would have lessened the amount of time I had to spend around bullies who threw things, hit and made vile remarks.

I did well in school and didn’t get into trouble. I may as well have worn a shirt with a bullseye on it every day. To counteract my nerdiness, I even resorted to smoking at the bus stop, hoping the “cool” kids would start to see me as one of them and leave me alone. Not only was that stupid, it didn’t work either.

Eventually my mom started driving me to school and picking me up every day (bless her!), but not all parents have schedules that allow them to do that.

Here’s the real problem: the system of school bus transportation throws children together in an unsupervised environment. There are not always adults at the bus stops, and while on the bus, the driver cannot be responsible for making sure the students behave like angels. He or she must concentrate on driving safely.

Unfortunately, there will always be parents who don’t raise their children well and those children will act like jerks. My school bus experiences were so scarring that the memories still bother me today. My advice to parents: talk to your kids about what’s happening on the bus. Wait with them at the bus stop if you can, although your child probably will tolerate this only through elementary school. Even better, drive them yourself if at all possible.

Artist for a Day

I have one more "On My Mind" post to write, but I thought I'd lighten things up for today...

A week and a half ago, my boss took my colleagues and I to Artist for a Day, the "paint-it-yourself pottery experience" in North Olmsted. We got our projects back today!

It was so hard to pick from the hundreds of options available to paint. They have everything from dishes to serving ware to mugs to characters to animals to holiday decorations...I could go on. Even though it was hard to choose, painting the pieces was fun and easy. Here's what I painted:

A sleeping cat

A little heart-shaped box for my mom

A moon-shaped dish for my nightstand

I'm not crazy about the sponging technique I tried on the moon-shaped dish, but it was fun to experiment.

A trip to Artist for a Day would make a great afternoon for a group of girlfriends or moms and daughters. I'd love to go back and paint some holiday decorations and other gifts.

On My Mind Part II: Agent Orange

While my dad, a Vietnam veteran, was undergoing evaluation for the effects of Agent Orange, The Plain Dealer published a special report written by Connie Schultz on this toxic chemical used to deforest areas of Vietnam so that the North Vietnamese army would not be able to use the dense foliage for cover.

I'd heard that Agent Orange had terrible effects on the people of Vietnam. What I had not thought about was its potential effects on American soldiers who served there. And I had no idea it still poses such a problem for the people of Vietnam.

Of the 11 types of diseases recognized by the U.S. government as possibly being related to Agent Orange exposure, my dad suffers from three. And he suffers. After reading the report written by Connie Schultz, I told my dad how proud I am of him for serving our country and how sorry I am that he is suffering because of it. (Well, first I cried.) In typical Marine/dad fashion, he said, "Don't worry about it. It was my duty."

Well, it's my duty as his daughter to care about him. I could not be more grateful for the folks at the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center, the Cleveland Regional Office of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and University Hospitals for taking such good care of him.

Whether we agree with the reasons for going to war or not, I believe it's so important to take care of the men and women who serve in our armed forces. I know I'm not cut out for it, but I am grateful for those who are. It saddens me that serving has such drastic long-term effects.

On My Mind Part I: Gun Control and Mental Illness

For the past few weeks, some heavy thoughts have been weighing on my mind. Thoughts so heavy, in fact, in took me a while to decide if I wanted to write about them and then more time to decide how I wanted to write about them.

The topic of gun control and mental illness has been on my mind quite a bit since the tragic January 8 shooting in Arizona, and even more so since a few of mine forwarded an article on states' lack of compliance with the mental health gun law from MSNBC.com, posted there on February 17.

This is a very personal issue for me and I'm about to share why. To protect the privacy of the two individuals involved, individuals that I know well and love, I will refer to them only as A and B. For those reading this that do know their identities, I ask that you please respect their privacy as well.

A had been dealing with a mental illness for some time, but was refusing treatment. Despite being involuntarily committed for observation and treatment several times, A was able to purchase a gun at a retail establishment. B was not aware of this. One night, A held B at gunpoint in their home and demanded money. Quick wits enabled B to escape the house without injury.

B then went to a police station for assistance. B was turned away. B went to three more police stations before finding officers who would provide assistance. A was taken to a mental health facility. B asked the officers if they would confiscate the gun. They would not. B took the gun into a police station to surrender it. The officer B spoke with would not accept it and advised B to "throw it in a dumpster or sell it."

I have the utmost respect for police officers, but this sadly true story highlights a number of challenges that friends, family members and authorities face when dealing with someone suffering from a mental illness.

- At the time of this incident, A should have been turned away when trying to purchase the gun. Clearly a background check was not performed, or if it was, it did not show incidents that should have prevented the sale.

- I believe that police officers are inadequately trained to deal with persons with mental illnesses. I don't know what the answer is here. They have so much to deal with already.

- I really don't understand why the gun was not accepted by the officers who responded or at the police station B took it to, and I really don't understand the advice B was given.

- It is the nature of mental illnesses that those suffering from them often do not believe there is anything wrong with them. This was one of the most frustrating, painful and difficult things for me to cope with while watching A suffer.

The MSNBC article I referenced above states that the Arizona shooter "was so mentally unstable that he was kicked out of community college." I find it very hard to believe that this is the reason on record. I'm sure there would have to be specific incidents that led to his expulsion. Regardless, where was the help for this young man? Help that possibly could have prevented the tragedy in Tuscon?

The answer's not that easy. It's extremely difficult to find real help for someone suffering from a mental illness. And by real help, I mean help that enables the person to become a functioning member of society, not just a resident in a mental health facility. There have been many advances in treatment that can help individuals suffering from the illnesses to have happy, productive lives.

I'm happy to report that A is doing just fine now...enjoying a happy, productive life. It wasn't easy to get there, but the dogged persistence of friends and family members made it happen.

How can we make things better for others in similar situations? What responsibilities can we reasonably place on educators, police officers and health care providers who can identify individuals suffering from mental illnesses who might pose threats to others?

These are hard questions and the answers won't come easy. My hope is to simply start a conversation about them.

Ads of the Big Game

With 30-second spots priced at $3 million to air during the Super Bowl, it's not the time for advertisers to play it safe. Here's my take on how this year's advertisers scored (or fumbled):

Touchdown:
I'm going to award the touchdown to Volkswagon's "The Force." It's memorable, funny and resonates well with the target demo. I'm also giving an honorable mention to Coca-Cola's "The Siege" because it looked like part of a great movie, and I wanted to see more.

Field Goals:
Best Buy "Ozzy vs. Bieber" - "What's a Bieber?" Heh.
Bud Light - Especially "Dog Sitter"
Bridgestone - Especially "Carma"
Coca-Cola
Chevrolet - Most of their ads were good, especially "Eco Misunderstanding"
Doritos
E-Trade "Tailor"
Mercedes-Benz
NFL "Super Bowl Celebration"
Pepsi Max - Especially "Torpedo Cooler"
Play60

Safeties:
Audi "Release the Hounds"
Kia "One Epic Ride"

Fumbles:
BMW
CareerBuilder - Funny, but they are still not demonstrating a clear understanding of the job climate.
Chrysler - Nice try at changing your image, Chrysler, but I don't think this ad is enough to drive a younger demo to your dealers.
Go Daddy "The Contract"
Go Daddy "The New Go Daddy Girl" - I would have given this ad a field goal for the surprise twist, but it doesn't seem to be resonating with consumers.
HomeAway - They get points for trying to push the envelope, but overall, this spot was a miss.
Hyundai
Lipton Brisk
Mars/Snickers - I was prepared to throw the penalty flag on this one, but it seems to be resonating with consumers. I just don't think it's anywhere near as good as the Betty White spot.
Mini Countryman - Not a good sign that I had to look up the product name for this spot
Motorola - They're not going to gain market share on the iPad with that spot.
Salesforce "Chatter.com Launch"
Stella Artois
Teleflora "Help Me Faith" - Not edgy enough

Penalties:
Budweiser "Wild West" - Flag on the play for inappropriate use of the storied Clydesdales
Skechers Shape-Ups - Really? THAT was their Super Bowl debut?

Replay Requests:
I've been referencing the Hulu AdZone as I write this post and I see by their list that Sony Ericsson and Cadillac ran spots during the game. I don't remember seeing these spots at all and I watched the commercials faithfully, taking breaks during the game itself. I think that pretty much covers the value of those spots.

Car Crash: The auto advertisers were out in full force for the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, their creative wasn't out in full force. Although I'm not normally in favor of Super Bowl advertisers running ads that aren't "new," I was pleased to see Honda run the Odyssey commercial with the Judas Priest music bed. The Super Bowl was the perfect venue for this ad. Volkswagon is the runaway winner in this category.

Head-to-Head:
Carmax vs. Cars.com - Carmax wins with memorable emphasis on customer service.

Coke vs. Pepsi - Personally, I like the Coke ads better but I have to give the nod to Pepsi. In ads, pain always wins over peace and harmony.

Groupon vs. Living Social - Living Social takes this one. The intro of the Groupon ads doesn't keep the viewers' interest long enough to get the jokes (which aren't all that funny anyway).

Check out the Super Bowl ads on Hulu's AdZone here:


Note: I chose not to include ads for films or television shows in my assessment.

Which was your favorite Super Bowl commercial this year?

A Delightful Surprise at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History

This past Saturday, my mom and I visited the Cleveland Museum of Natural History because I discovered that they have otters there, and if you know me, you know I am obsessed with otters. I can watch them swim and play for hours.

We discovered that CMNH has a wonderful wildlife habitat in its backyard. We followed the beautifully serene wooded path and found owls, hawks, songbirds, deer, a turkey, vultures, crows, OTTERS, raccoons, foxes, rabbits and bobcats. (Eddie the groundhog was inside for Groundhog Fun Day.) Despite the cold, we enjoyed stopping to observe each animal. Here's a pic of one of the otters. I overheard one of the staff members or volunteers telling someone that this is Lucy, who likes to suck on her paw while she sleeps. Toots!



I had not been to CMNH for many years and had no idea that this gem was hiding there. I can't wait to go back in warmer weather!