No Thought Involved

Google’s Doodle for March 4, 2010, is in celebration of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. I was introduced to this work through a computer game.

Back in 1996, when SimCopter was released, my mom and I were returning from my monthly visit to the orthodontist. For some reason, we stopped off at the Staples on Hempstead Turnpike in Levittown. There on the shelf was SimCopter. My recently received Hanukah money was burning a hole in my pocket. So I purchased it.

Part of the sound track to the game was a collection of classical music. Most notably were selections from Four Seasons and Beethoven’s 8th, 14th, 21st, and 23rd sonatas.

Nearly fifteen years later, I’m still am a huge fan of it and it is the only piece of classical music that I have multiple recordings of.

I typically mail 2-5 thank you cards every month. I had previously relied on Hallmark for all of my greeting cards, most notably for holiday mailings. However, I became tired of the non-variety available in my local Hallmark stores. Luckily, I’ve stumbled across Peter Pauper Press.

They boast an impressive array of thank you cards that not only meet my demands for variety, but they’ve also raised my expectations for design and quality.

I salute you, Associated Press, for ranking your medal leader board by number of gold medals. It’s more dignified than simply ranking by number of medals overall, which is only done to make Americans feel good about themselves. :)

One of the impulse purchases that I’ve been keeping at bay for over 18 months is an e-reader. What’s been keeping me from making the leap is the backlog of real books on my bookshelf. I am distracted by several other interests at all other times, but these two spots are exclusively the domain of reading:

• Before I go to bed
• On an airplane

And to make matters worse:

• I wouldn’t call myself the quickest reader
• I too often find myself in a book store thinking: “now this looks like a great book!”

With this in mind, I’ve put a moratorium on purchasing any non-technical book until I’ve gone through my current backlog. Those non-fiction books are:

• Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East: 1776 to the Present
• The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America
• Escaping Plato’s Cave: How America’s Blindness to the Rest of the World Threatens Our Survival
• A Short History of Nearly Everything
• The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
• Blue Streak: Inside jetBlue, the Upstart that Rocked an Industry
• The United States of Walmart

And in fiction:

• The Jungle Books
• The Inferno
• The Lord of the Rings

And maybe once I’ve moved through these books, I’ll revisit the Kindle… or the next great e-reader.

The 2009 holiday mailing took part in two phases. On December 16, Hanukkah cards were postmarked in Manchester, NH. On December 29, Christmas and Winter cards were postmarked (albeit a little bit late) in Somerville.

This year saw a spike in the number of Hanukkah cards as a result of trip to Israel in May earlier in 2009. Although the same trip catapulted New York into the position of top city, Somerville, Cambridge, Boston, and the communities inside 128 continue to be a focal point for where I find my friends.

Some other fun facts about the mailing:
* Contained 133 Christmas, 70 Hanukkah and 5 Winter cards.
* States represented: 20+DC (MA, RI, NH, VT, CT, NJ, NY, PA, MD, VA, NC, GA, FL, MI, IL, LA, TX, CO, CA, OR)
* Lowest ZIP: 01060 – Northampton MA
* Highest ZIP: 97233 – Portland, OR
* Most Common ZIP: 02144 – Somerville
* Most Common Cities: New York (16)†, Boston (14)‡, Somerville (12), Worcester (10), Manchester (8)
* Sent to Massachusetts: 49.5%
* Sent to RI/NH/VT: 13.0%
* Sent to CT/NJ/NY/PA: 25.0%
* Sent to All Other States: 6.8%
* Sent abroad: 5.7%
* Countries Represented: Belgium, Scotland, Canada, Israel, United States
* Most complicated apartment number: 23B-4

Compare to 2008.
Compare to 2007.
Compare to 2006.

† – Includes New York, Staten Island, Richmond Hill
‡ – Includes Boston, Brighton, and Jamaica Plain