Persia Movies

If you were a school-aged child in the early 1960s (that's a lot baby boomers), you will like the movie Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. Most of the scenes remind of the desert films we watched in theatres and on TV.

If you were an adult in the early 1960s, you were aware that Persia (the name) had already given way to Iran (the name). But Persia persisted then, and now. As the new movie suggests, Persia existed long ago (years unknown), with heroic leaders (not necessarily matching history), and with magical objects, besides. It's easier to make that happen with a long-ago name that no one can quite put a date on.

Why do I want to go out of my way to say pleasant things about this movie? Last week, after I panned Babies, I didn't hear any disagreement. But a family friend contacted me privately to let me know that Benji was, too, a great movie.

© 2010 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (http://www.marybold.com/, http://www.boldproductions.com/, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

Personal Technology: My Hairbrush

Yes, I know, there's something wrong with using the word technology with every little tool. I mean, I like to have power behind my technology. Still, I have to admit that hairbrushes have changed. Maybe they deserve the descriptor technology.

This one, purchased after a camping trip (proving once more that fresh air can create loss), is infused with a mineral. Tourmaline. New to me, too.

Or maybe I shouldn't say "too" because maybe I am the only boomer woman on the planet who was not using tourmaline-infused hair care products.

Effect on hair? There is an effect. I just can't articulate it.

© 2010 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (http://www.marybold.com/, http://www.boldproductions.com/, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

Babies: Out on a limb (me, not the babies)

It is not often that I call a movie boring. I am known for my indiscrimate taste in cinema. I once sat through Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo. Similarly, I made it through The Hangover and Hot Tub Time Machine. The recency of that last one is my proof that I don't wait for cable. No, I sit through these movies at the theatre. I can sit through anything.

Having established my credentials, I will now step out on that limb called socially unacceptable (in case I didn't accomplish that in the first paragraph) and tell you that Babies is so boring I contemplated leaving the theatre. No one would have noticed as I was the only person there.

I did have one admiring thought during the film. With virtually no dialogue (less than a Benji movie for those of you who have only imagined that you have sat through the world's most boring movies), the producers can easily and cheaply change the titles for worldwide distribution.

© 2010 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (http://www.marybold.com/, http://www.boldproductions.com/, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

Personal Technology: iPad

That image—an iPhone atop an iPad—displays what a boomer loves best about Apple's new offering: size. I probably won't bluetooth to the iPad for the sake of telephoning, but for most other functions of the iPhone I will elect to use the larger unit. What is not visible here, but just may emerge as my favorite app, is the iBooks reader. I'll give a report at a later date.

(For purchase, the Apple store's NotifyMe system worked for me. I ordered one day and received my notice of an available unit two days later. No deposit or commitment was required with the original request for a unit. To satisfy your other question: yes, I bought the cheapest iPad.)

Disclosure statement: I have no relationship with Apple and I have not received any compensation or free product for mentioning their products. (This blog's only monetary reward comes through google.adsense links, which are selected by Google, not by me.)

© 2010 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (http://www.marybold.com/, http://www.boldproductions.com/, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

Once a Month Nurturing

Sans all the pink stuff, that's a cactus. You know that your offspring knows you well when she sends you a cactus for Mother's Day.

Besides the obvious message of you can't grow anything, this cactus is a send-off gift for the intended move to Las Vegas. It requires watering once a month. At the most.

I cannot speak for all boomer women but that's a schedule of nurturing that I like.

© 2010 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (http://www.marybold.com/, http://www.boldproductions.com/, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

Robbers Cave State Park: Recommended

Although the approach to Robbers Cave State Park (Oklahoma) includes a long accessibility ramp, the terrain changes abruptly to steps like this to climb to the rock hide-out of robbers. We walked a slightly less steep path, mixing rocky trail with strategically placed stepping stones. The walk is supposedly equal to climbing 8 flights of stairs but I'd say it's more like 4. Still, the operative word is climb and I was glad it wasn't raining.

The state park offers camping and cabins. We stayed in a low-end cabin (the type allowing dogs) and, with dog fee, paid about $75/night. All cabins were sold out the weekend before (Mother's Day) and are similarly booked for the end of the month (Memorial Day). Our mid-week timing meant few visitors.

The lakes are pretty. There's a Sonic in the nearby town. And the cave hike makes Robbers Cave State Park a low-stress vacation. Well, except for the tornado warning that first night.... Distractions were the satellite flat-screen TV in the cabin and (surprise) great Internet access with our Sprint Overdrive hotspot. When the satellite TV went out for an hour (!), I tracked the tornado on radar maps on the Internet.

© 2010 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (http://www.marybold.com/, http://www.boldproductions.com/, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

Social Comparison Among Housing Markets

Measuring foot traffic in real estate is increasingly a matter of web stats usage, or page hits. That's because just about everyone previews housing on the web before house shopping commences. But sometimes the comparison between housing markets is best described the old-fashioned way: literal foot traffic.

So, our Texas foot traffic over 2 months has totaled close to two dozen groups.

And our friends in San Francisco surpassed that number on their first day of listing (a Saturday). And saw more than double that on their second day (Mother's Day Sunday).

In Texas, we didn't even consider having an open house on Mother's Day.

© 2010 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (http://www.marybold.com/, http://www.boldproductions.com/, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

Where do tea towels come from?

I don't think tea towels separate the generations. Rather, tea towels separate women who care and women who don't have a clue. I'm in that latter group.

The above tea towel has hung on our kitchen stove for almost 9 years. My sister provided it. Just like she provided the previous tea towel. And the one before that. I cannot say exactly how many and I don't recall how long each lasted. Surely not as long as the current one.

My sister has always provided because about 35 years ago I commented that I was surprised at how many of my friends have things like tea towels. My reaction was always a mild curiosity. How do people have tea towels and kitchen shears and other subtleties of home life?

With a generous spirit, my sister simply provided without pointing out that I could learn how to shop for tea towels.

It's fair for you to wonder how the heck a family maintains a single tea towel for 9 years. Very simple. If the family has someone like me in charge of home purchases, all members just understand to leave the tea towel alone. No family discussions. No instructions. Just one of those family truths that everyone knows.

I'm thinking the tea towel should be recycled in the next move. And my sister can shop once more.

© 2010 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (http://www.marybold.com/, http://www.boldproductions.com/, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

Red Hatters: A Sighting

Red Hatters have existed for only a dozen years. They already make up the largest social group of women. In the world!

I spotted these Red Hatters at a local restaurant last week. My first sighting since I learned of the Society about 5 years ago. That was when a colleague made a joke at a meeting, that I was appropriately aged for a Red Hat. I remember being surprised and mildly irritated. I had never heard of the Red Hat Society but her single sentence communicated it all. And all I could think was, how do you presume to know my age?

Oh, yeah. It would be my aging face.

More important in current day: how to explain Red Hatters to Tom Bold. If you think I don't follow much of popular culture, you cannot imagine where Tom is on that path.

© 2010 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (http://www.marybold.com/, http://www.boldproductions.com/, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.