<p>I once went to an elegant dinner wearing unmatching shoes.</p>
<p>I managed to only forget two needed items at the grocery store while shopping yesterday. Perhaps a personal best.</p>
<p>Oh mimk I so have you beat. I stopped by the grocery store on my way home from work this week and we had some snow on the way so I was trying to put together three dinners in my head. I only forgot one key ingredient for one of the meals! Hooray for me!!</p>
<p>I have done at least 10 minutes of aerobic exercise every day this year (I know, itās only January).</p>
<p>I bought 100 shares of Apple stock at $43 and still own it.</p>
<p>My picture was in the local newspaper when I was 8 years old for saving money on water by using a backyard cistern to fill our little wading pool. The rising cost of water was a big issue that year. That was probably the LAST picture of me that was ever taken in a swim suit.</p>
<p>S2 went on to the computer when he was two and taught himself all the tricks on MS programs by the age of 4.</p>
<p>
Well, of course. Thereās been more than one First Lady.</p>
<p>I was a Jimmy Carter delegate to the Virginia State Democratic Convention when I was 17.</p>
<p>Also, I saw Rick Ocasek on the street in New York once.</p>
<p>Hey, PackMom - Iāve never smoked a cigarette either.</p>
<p>Which is all the more amazing since weāre both from NC. I think North Carolinians are BORN with a cigarette in their mouthsā¦</p>
<p>Right after grad school I worked in a bookstore on the Upper East Side of NYC and helped Woody Allen, Faye Dunaway, Jeremy Irons, and Claus von Bulow.</p>
<p>I am the proud owner of the Bionic Pickup (āWe can rebuild it! We have the technology!ā). It is a 15-yr old Ford Ranger with manual transmission which has has ~120K & has survived 2 male teenage drivers.</p>
<ul>
<li>at one point, I was on a first-name basis with every auto body shop in our area.</li>
<li>S says āIām 99.9% sure that Bionic will not go over 100 mph. I was pacing a Mercedes with a radar detector.ā</li>
<li>Bionic Pickup finished only 4 seconds slower than a Corvette on an obstacle course following a Defensive Driving course. S ācookedā the tires down to the steel belts while cornering.</li>
<li>transported a large dog house, which airlifted out of the truck bed onto the Beltway.</li>
<li>the Bionic truck bed has never been turned into a swimming pool like PackMomās S. But if S ever hears about that, he & his friends might try it.</li>
</ul>
<p>I didnāt curse out the cable guy (10 days without internet service).</p>
<p>Iām sitting on my patio in a tee-shirt and cotton pants, drinking my morning tea and surfing the net because itās sunny, clear and 65 degrees here outside in January. I can see the snow on the mountains. I almost feel guilty when I consider the weather around the rest of the country.</p>
<p>I restrained myself from cyber-cursing at moonchild.</p>
<p>"I didnāt curse out the cable guy (10 days without internet service). "</p>
<p>That IS amazing!!!</p>
<p>Itās a beautiful 70 degrees here, but Iāll be cursing come August when itās 100 degrees in the shade!</p>
<p>Weather-wise, letās just say Iāve been taking long walks every day in the late afternoon. Can bragging be taken too far?</p>
<p>Letās see. My grandmotherās older brother was the first American Jew to win an Olympic gold medal (he won 4, plus 2 silvers, at three different Olympics ā 1900 in Paris, 1904 in St. Louis, and the intercalated 1906 Athens Olympics). What Iām bragging about, however, is not that, but the fact that since my great-uncle won his last medal in 1906, my family has a still-ongoing 104-year streak of never achieving any success whatsoever in organized athletic endeavor.</p>
<p>At the start of my debating career in 10th grade, I had a 26-debate winning streak, including defeating the formidable St. Brendanās at the time it was coached by the equally formidable John Sexton, and winning a couple of ā1st negativeā trophies in tournaments. (I always was a negative person!). Itās been all downhill for me ever since.</p>
<p>In the extremely obscure and not particularly significant achievement category, I was, to my knowledge, only the second trans attorney at a New York City law firm ever to transition on the job. (I havenāt heard of any others doing it since, but Iām not nearly as involved in the NYC trans community as I once was, so itās entirely possible that there have been more.)</p>
<p>I have several published articles (none in the legal field), and am mentioned in the acknowledgement sections of several books as well as the credits of one Academy Award-winning documentary film. However, all of that was in my former name and incarnation, so as a practical matter I could no longer associate myself with it or take credit for it even if I were so inclined and were still actively involved in communicating with other people in that particular field. </p>
<p>My father knew Eleanor Roosevelt and innumerable other famous people. When he was in the Army, he knew Joe Louis.</p>
<p>I shook hands with Bobby Kennedy, and got his autograph, twice.</p>
<p>Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward lived in my apartment building for a number of years when I was growing up, and I used to see them in the elevator.</p>
<p>Since the subject of Jeopardy has come up a lot, I have a good friend who won more than $50,000 on Jeopardy, and was a semi-finalist in the Tournament of Champions one year. </p>
<p>Iām very lucky (compared to most other descendants of 1880ās-1940ās immigrant Jewish families I know) not only to be able to trace my ancestry back as far as the 17th century in multiple branches and the 16th century in one, but to have a collection of old family photographs dating back to 1859 (with the oldest being a photo of one of my great-grandfathers as a small child, together with his parents and siblings, taken in Stolp in Pomerania) as well as a tiny handful of actual old family objects (they hardly qualify as āheirloomsā) such as a porcelain dish manufactured by the Kƶnigliche Porzellan-Manufaktur in Berlin in the 1870ās, a silver snuffbox from 1825 with the name of one of my great-great-great-grandfathers engraved on it, and an 1828 purchase contract for a plot of land in Baden (probably used as a place for keeping cows), signed by another great-great-great-grandfather.</p>
<p>I am fortunate to have as my companion the handsomest, smartest, highest-jumping, and most affectionate orange tabby cat who ever lived. (Even if he likes to sneak up and bite me sometimes as Iām getting into bed at night.)</p>
<p>Most important of all by far, my son has always had an truly unusual amount of intellectual curiosity and enthusiasm, and has always succeeded academically (now more than ever, perhaps), but now and for the last couple of years I can also honestly say something I sometimes used to wonder if Iād ever be able to say: his life isnāt perfect, nobodyās is, but heās fundamentally happy. With himself and with his life and with his friends.</p>
<p>A little late getting back to award mimk6 her runner-up āboobie prize.ā</p>
<p>I won the national grand prize in an art contest when I was 8 years old. My prize was the World Book Encyclopedia! (Which I read, cover to cover to cover to cover. . .)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That donāt mean nothinā. I took a four mile walk this morning, which woulda been a three mile walk if there werenāt so many snow piles and unshoveled sidewalks to get around. So see? *Our *weather leads to *longer *walks!</p>
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</p>
<p>Back in the 80s, I danced with a very drunk Dermot Mulroney at a frat party. Letās just say maybe I shouldnāt have been such a prude. LOL. </p>
<p>Kimberly Williams (Father of the Bride) and Jeri Ryan (Star Trek Voyager) were both sorority sisters of mine. And David Schwimmer hung around the house since he had a crush on another girl. He was just kind of a big dork. Well, that didnāt really change.</p>
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</p>
<p>Scout, I was ostracized from my group of friends for awhile in 5th grade because I refused to smoke with them behind the Red&White grocery store where they purchased the cigs out of a machine!</p>
<p>Someone here didnāt curse at the cable guy. Wellā¦I didnāt CURSE at the Bank of America ācustomer serviceā folks but I DID yell at them and Iām mighty proud of it. I guess itās worth bragging aboutā¦the customer service guy actually HUNG UP on me!</p>