Tidbits from the Internet

All of these email helpful hints...I had to start a "reference folder" in case I decided I wanted to use one of them. One of the best that I've tried and it works is adding baking soda to the water you use to boil eggs. It makes peeling them a cinch. Try it! I'm not going to put a hole in the top and blow on it to have the egg peel itself as demonstrated in the video. It just doesn't seem sanitary.

Have you tried any of the honey and cinnamon cures? Anything from pimples to cancer. Honey it claims can be used without any side effects for any kind of disease. The combination is quite good, but to achieve longevity with tea made with honey and cinnamon powder, you'd have to use four spoons of honey, one spoon of cinnamon powder and three cups of water and boil to make like tea. Drink 1/4 cup, three to four times a day. It keeps the skin fresh and soft and arrests old age.
If you try it, let me know how it works out.

What about all the things you can do with Bounce? Who knew?

The other really good one is the five things you never knew your cell phone could do.
I keep it in my car. The Worldwide Emergency Number for Mobile, even if you're out of the network area, is 112. It will even work if your keypad is locked.

All for now. I have to check my email.

P. S. If your ship hasn't come in, swim out to it.

Comedy with a Flair

Rita Rudner recently recorded her first television special in over a decade. Rita Rudner, Live From Las Vegas premiered on PBS in June, 2008, in conjunction with a DVD release. I missed that one, but since I've been a huge fan for years, I decided to see her live show recently. She came out in a beautiful blue gown and delighted the audience with her low-key hilarious act for over an hour. She is so relatable! The time just flew by (you know, when you're having fun).

Rita started out as a dancer on broadway. She has maintained her great figure through the years. Her first big break as a comedienne came in 1988 when she appeared on Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show. She did two HBO shows, Born to be Mild and Rita Rudner: Married Without Children. She can no longer claim the latter as she is mom to a six-year-old daughter.

Rita is also an author: Naked Beneath My Clothes: Tales of a Revealing Nature; and the 2008 I Still Have It...I Just Can't Remember Where I Put it: Confessions of a Fiftysomething. Rudner wrote, produced, and starred in the award-winning romantic comedy Peter's Friends, featuring Kenneth Branagh and Hugh Laurie! Why hadn't I heard of this before!

Since becoming a mom, she has settled in Las Vegas, where she has been named that city's "Best Comedian" for the last five years in a row. I can see why.

Opening for Rita was a fantastic jazz vocalist, Kitty Margolis, who lives in the Bay area and has had a successful international touring career. Just so happens I had taken a vocal workshop with Kitty locally about four years ago. She is a wonderful clinician (Harvard trained) as well as an "exhilarating and imaginative jazz singer of the highest order."

I loved the way Kitty came out singing her intro...high energy, great range, and commanding stage presence. She has many award-winning cd's out. I have Heart & Soul: Live in San Francisco, and Evolution, both winners.

A lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Oktoberfest

The first Oktoberfest was held in 1810 in honor of the Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig's (later King Ludwig I) marriage to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. Oktoberfest in America is now an excuse to celebrate German culture and drink beer. I attended my first celebration a few years ago with my KSU Alum group, which coincides with Ohio's homecoming weekend. It's been a tradition of ours for the last three years. This year was no exception.

In Munich, Germany, Oktoberfest is a 16-day festival held each year during late September (moved up a few weeks for better weather). It is the world's largest fair, with some six million people attending every year.

Oktoberfestbiers are the beers that have been served at the event in Munich since 1818, and are supplied by six breweries, known as the Big Six. Originally, Oktoberfestbiers were the lagers brewed in March and allowed to ferment slowly during the summer months, but from 1872 a strong March brewed version of an amber-red became the favorite Oktoberfestbier.

Since the 1970s the type of beer served at the festival has been a pale lager. These lagers may range from pale gold to deep amber, with the darker colors more common in the USA. In addition to the 6,940,600 litres of beer consumed, visitors also eat huge quantities of food, most of it traditional hearty fare such as Hendl (chicken), Schweinsbraten (roast pork), Haxn (knuckle of pork), Steckerlfisch (grilled fish on a stick), Wurstel (sausages), along with Brezel (pretzel), Knodeln (potato or bread dumplings), Kasespatzle (cheese noodles), Reiberdatschi (potato pancakes), Sauerkraut, or Blaukraut (red cabbage), oxen, etc.

At our Oktoberfest at The Phoenix Club, we enjoyed potato pancakes, schnitzel (breaded veal), brautwurst (sausages), sauerkraut, and funnel cake (with strawberries, whipped cream, and powdered sugar), the latter accounting for my increased weight the next day, I'm sure. Well, okay, maybe the large stein of Britmeister I had might have contributed too. There was a terrific band direct from Germany, and many cute couples performing for us. But, the crowd really gets into it, getting on our feet and out on the dance floor for the "chicken," flapping our wings, etc. and sundry other fun dances where we can exercise our geekiness without standing out.

Inspector Clouseau even visited Oktoberfest in the 1976 movie, "The Pink Panther Strikes Again." This event is celebrated all over the globe

If you get a chance to attend one of these events throughout the U.S. next year, do so, even if you don't drink beer. Bring some friends, and you'll make new ones too. It's that kind of atmosphere.