Columns
Taking Care Of A Baby Is Tough… With A Cold!
By Deborah Welky at May 17, 2013 | 12:00 am | 0 Comment
THE SONIC BOOMER I’m better now, but I had a raging cold last week. Having any cold is miserable when you’re by yourself, but when you are responsible for the daytime care of an 8-month-old, you need to be “on point.” Because from the time Skippy wakes up until the time he goes to bed, he wants to play. And forget what you see in the magazine ads — an more...
‘Gatsby’ Gets Look Right, But Not The Subtlety
By Leonard Wechsler at May 17, 2013 | 12:00 am | 0 Comment
‘I’ ON CULTURE Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby is a hodgepodge film that works very well on some levels and terribly on others. To understand it, you must realize that this is not F. Scott Fitzgerald’s version of the novel. Much of the book was written from inside the characters’ heads. This movie is all about the exteriors. It works because in many ways, the more...
Pure Thoughts Rescues Nurse Mare Foals
By Ellen Rosenberg at May 17, 2013 | 12:00 am | 0 Comment
TAILS FROM THE TRAILS Some practices are so cruel that you shake your head in bewilderment and wonder, who thinks of such things? Apparently enough people that the practice of producing nurse mare foals is fairly common. Here’s how it works. Let’s say you own an expensive, well-bred mare, either a show horse or, more commonly, a Thoroughbred race horse more...
Take Heed: Mother’s Day Is On Sunday
By Deborah Welky at May 10, 2013 | 12:00 am | 0 Comment
THE SONIC BOOMER This Sunday is Mother’s Day. I say this as a public service announcement, to give you time to buy jewelry, clothing, purses, candy, a Wet-Vac, whatever you think your mom would enjoy the most. Hopefully you’ve already sent a card and, on Sunday, will make that all-important phone call. It’s a misconception that we mothers look forward to this more...
‘Iron Man 3’ Amusing, But Needs Tighter Plot
By Leonard Wechsler at May 10, 2013 | 12:00 am | 0 Comment
‘I’ ON CULTURE Iron Man 3 is a sprawling, exciting, fun bit of a mess. It is a good film; the mob scene at the filming we attended stayed in their seats enthralled throughout. But compared with the first film and with The Avengers, it had a far weaker story. Anything I write will barely matter; the crowds are enormous, and it is the first really massive hit of the more...
Elena Oleinikova Now Offers Equine Massage
By Ellen Rosenberg at May 10, 2013 | 12:00 am | 0 Comment
TAILS FROM THE TRAILS Elena Oleinikova came a long way to live and work in Wellington. She grew up and began her riding career in Moscow. “I feel lucky,” she said. “You would think that living in Russia might be scary, but it wasn’t. They had a different system, nothing to be scared of. I always loved horses, and when I was 3 years old, the state built the more...
Los Angeles Will Now Charge For Subways
By Jules W. Rabin at May 10, 2013 | 12:00 am | 0 Comment
FOOTLOOSE AND… Only in Los Angeles, where they are accused of having strange substances in the air and water, would think that an honor system for fares on its subway system would work. It turns out that a gateless subway entrance is hardly the way the daily costs of the system’s expenses can be met. Now L.A. transit officials freely admit that millions of more...
Diane Gonzalez Has A Passion For Pets
By Ellen Rosenberg at May 3, 2013 | 12:00 am | 0 Comment
TAILS FROM THE TRAILS For some of us, our pets are not like family — they are family. So when vacations and other times arise when we have to go away and leave them, it can present a real dilemma: board them elsewhere, or leave them at home and hire a pet sitter? A variety of factors come into play, including cost, the animals’ preferences and your own peace of more...
Corporate Investment In Indonesia? You Bet!
By Jules W. Rabin at May 3, 2013 | 12:00 am | 0 Comment
FOOTLOOSE AND… There is little doubt that Indonesia is the most populous nation in southeast Asia, with some 251 million people. There is also not much doubt that the country has an ancient regulatory system, inadequately structured for conducting “big league” 21st-century business. The place is riddled by corruption. So why is much of the industrial world, more...
I’m Trying Hard To Solve My ‘Staffing Issues’
By Deborah Welky at May 3, 2013 | 12:00 am | 0 Comment
THE SONIC BOOMER I was at my store in North Florida this week for two reasons. 1) There was a family reunion at a nearby theme park, and 2) Thomas, my store manager, was out sick. My plan was to relieve my assistant manager, Jane, for a few days so she didn’t burn out before Thomas got back. The doctors figured his Bell’s palsy “face freeze” would go away in more...
