Tag: Bluetooth

The Missoula Public Library and The Book Exchange

I was literally plugging in my laptop so I can check my e-mail from a public wi-fi site (because my parents only have dial-up) when my cell phone rang.  It was Kendall asking if I’ve sent out the e-mail blast asking for donations for the troupe. Yikes I haven’t.  GUILT.  I’m a bad friend.  I am a bad company member.  I dropped the ball. Twice that I’m aware of–maybe three times if end up not making it to the Bigfork Summer Playhouse Reunion this weekend.  I’m here in Montana without a car and just today getting passwords and such so I can walk over to my brothers house in order to use my laptop outside of a coffee shop with wifi.  

Last night I really missed being able to check e-mail and facebook as part of my bedtime routine.  At the hotel in Seattle I’d go to the lobby for wifi or use The Husband’s bluetooth connection because I don’t have a crackberry of my own.

In Brooklyn before we left we made it to the good-bye party for the friends moving to Uganda but I didn’t get back to the friend running for office in Brooklyn who needed me to fax him our info because his campaign lost our donor card.  The Husband was too busy at work trying to get ready to leave town for a week.  I was cleaning and packing and trying to say good-bye to the friends who will have moved away by the time we get back to Brooklyn.  Things were dropped. Things were missed.

Now I’m at the public library where I have come with My Kid, Girl Cousin and The Grandparents.  The girls are signing up for the summer reading program (grand prizes provided by Dairy Queen) and searching the shelves for matching books to read to their dolls.

And now we’re at The Book Exchange where my father has a lot of credit and his grandaughters are sure to acquire some new books in the next few minutes.  While I try once again to go on facebook and see who I know from long ago who is in Missoula, Montana at this point in time.  Yesterday I got a call on my cell phone from an old friend and we were so excited to speak to each other that it took a while to figure out that I who live in Brooklyn am in Missoula and she who lives in Montana is in New York.

Now that I’m sitting here looking across the street at the fairgrounds where the rides and animal pens are being set up for the Western Montana Fair and My Kid is otherwise occupied I can’t remember what I wanted to say.  It’s just so weird being back in my home town, a not-young (this is a college town) mom, just visiting from my Brooklyn, New York.

And the girls are ready to go.

Women Don’t Have Time for Writers Block

At the hotel, I picked up Tracy Chevalier’s book “the Virgin Blue” (by the author of “Girl With A Pearl Earring”) and have been reading it on the train. Because I have access to Bluetooth I have access to the internet and because I have access to the internet, I googled Tracy Chevalier http://www.tchevalier.com/students.html
and found her website where she has written answers to frequently asked questions:
This is my favorite:

What do you do when you have writer’s block?

Writer’s block is for wimps – or men. I have only ever heard men complain of writer’s block. Frankly, I have so little time to write (only during my son’s school hours) that I can’t afford to be blocked. If I reach a sticky point, I do some research, read around the subject – that’s what’s so handy about writing historical novels, there’s always one more source to read.[return to questions]

I also love her open letter to students. She seems like a very nice person, helpful and patient considering her fame and creative success. Well, she is a mommy after all.

One of my New York “Dorothy, you’re not in Kansas anymore” moments took place at one of our regular playgrounds in Brooklyn few years ago. We were chatting and chasing toddlers and Jennifer Egan and Sheri Holman were comparing notes on the difficulties of doing a book tour while nursing infants.