When Nicky was born, 15 years ago, the Internet was not like what it is today. I know, it’s crazy to think about it, right? I used to browse ‘usenet newsgroups’ and to belong to an email group of any sort you had to send an email to a listserve to join or leave a group. There were very few websites (comparitively speaking) and not many had the internet to begin with anyway. So… it will be of little surprise when I tellRead More →
This past spring I did something I’ve been wanting to do for a LONG time. I bought the software and the plugs needed so I could transfer all my old VHS tapes and Hi-8 Tapes from my camcorder to my PC so I could make DVDs out of it. I had bought my camera back in 1992, but I had borrowed my BIL’s camera (a cameraman by trade, who even worked for several TV stations) well before then, so IRead More →
With Thanksgiving just a few hours away I’ve been pondering the words of a few relatives lately, relatives that I have a hard time speaking with because joy, thankfulness and looking for the silver lining no matter how dire the situation seems to not be part of their psyche. I would be ok to listen to their complaining if it was seldom, warranted and they took my feelings into consideration, but they never do. Their wining is constant, about smallRead More →
In late October 2010, a little over a year ago, I put my heart on a sleeve and vented. My opinions are not those of a politician I chose to believe, or handed down by a parent, since my parents never talked about American Politics and I had no idea how my dad felt about politics until recently; my parents live in Italy BTW. My opinion does not come from a TV channel, newsprogram or a newspaper I chose toRead More →
If you’ve ever watched an episode of CSI you’ve seen gruesome stuff. You would have seen the re-enactments of a murder, how a knife or a bullett entered the victim’s body, or the doctor performing biopsies. You would have seen hearts or brains being handled, throats slashed and worms devouring a cadaver. We’ve even seen a body being swallowed by a python-and then regurgitated. It’s all good and fine when it’s for entertainment purposes, but when it comes to reality, someRead More →
The last week of October marks ‘EB Awareness Week’. It is a time to increase awareness of EB, to promote the need for a cure, and to spur advocacy on behalf of families suffering with the emotional, financial and physical burden of the disease. EB might be rare, there are approximately 600 patients with the same form of EB that my son has in the United States (which is the Recessive Dystrophic form), but its rarity should not deter peopleRead More →
There are many versions of ‘Beauty and the Beast’, but the main story remains the same. A hideous beast and a beautiful girl fall in love, and when they do it turns out the beast wasn’t a beast at all, but a handsome prince. We learn that the reason the prince was turned into a beast and every single one of the prince’s servants turned into inanimate objects was because an enchantress, disguised as an old woman, came to his castle seeking shelterRead More →
In the 1994 film Forrest Gump (one of my favorite movies of all time, no less), during his inexplicable back and forth run across the United States, a bumper sticker salesman running alongside him points out to Forrest that he has just stepped in a pile of dog feces. When Forrest replies, “It happens”, the man replies, “What, shit?”, to which Forrest replies, “Sometimes”. I saw this movie in the theather in the summer of 1994, and while a whole lotRead More →