Humor | Hole In The Donut Cultural Travel

Freezing My Butt Off In Illinois

Published December 16, 2008 | By Barbara Weibel

Brrrrrr. I repeat. Brrrrrrrrrrrrr. I’m at my Dad’s house, freezing my butt off. Overnight it dropped to 9 degrees. The cold temperatures, coupled with a stiff wind off the river, made it difficult to keep the house heated to much more than 70 degrees last night. I slept under a mountain of blankets. The high today is expected to be 21 and the low 19, but at least the wind has died down, so it’s warmer inside the house today.

Since I’m a vegetarian and Dad’s a carnivore, the only thing in his refrigerator I can eat is processed cheese food slices and white bread, thus we’re leaving momentarily to do some grocery shopping. I am less than delighted to be going out in this weather, what with my persistent sinus infection and stuffed up head, but to make it even worse snow is on the way, with an accumulation of up to three inches expected. Several days ago I drove through a snowstorm in the mountains of Kentucky and yesterday I had to deal with freezing rain during the drive between Cincinnati and Illinois. I think driving through three inches of snow would probably Continue reading →

Posted in Humor |

Tagged Cold, freezing rain, ice, Illinois, snow, tofu, Travel, Vegetarian, Weather |

4 Comments

Have I Said I HATE Cold Weather?

Published December 13, 2008 | By Barbara Weibel

So, I’m on the road again. Headed north. Which is crazy, because I hate the cold weather. But my entire family lives in Illinois and I travel back home for Christmas each year, so it is what it is. This trip, however, has presented a few challenges.

Things started to go wrong while I was still in the Tampa Bay, Florida area. On day three the temperature plummeted to 57 and the wind kicked up. The next morning I awoke with my annual sinus infection – a behind the nose raw kind of hurt that made it difficult to swallow. Usually, standing under a hot shower helps a lot, but this was the morning that I had no water in that lovely hotel in Clearwater Beach. I needed new sinuses and a shower that worked.

By the following day I had reached the home of friends in the Atlanta area, who always let me stay with them when I am traveling to Chicago because it is a very convenient midway point. Atlanta’s cold, gray weather ruled out any extended outdoor activity, however I had to wash my car, since it was covered with salt spray from the beach. Within an hour of putting the finishing touches on my now sparkling car, it began to pour rain and it didn’t stop for two days. Spending an hour at the car wash in the cold weather made my sinus infection worse and Continue reading →

Posted in Humor |

Tagged Atlanta, Chicago, Cincinnati, Clearwater Beach, cold weather, Florida, Georgia, Humor, Illinois, illness, Ohio, rain, sinus infections, snarky, snowstorms, Tampa Bay, Travel, traveling |

10 Comments

Why I Am A Travel Writer Instead Of A Real Estate Agent

Published November 24, 2008 | By Barbara Weibel

I had lunch the other day with a friend of mine here in Sarasota who is a real estate agent. I’ll call her Suzie (for reasons that will become obvious, I’ve changed her name). Midway through lunch she began to tell me the story of a situation that occurred with a new client last week. The previous Wednesday she’d contracted a bad case of the stomach flu that put her down for three days. On Friday morning, still flat on her back in her sickbed, she received a phone call from her friend, Clarice. The conversation went something like this:

“Hey, Suzie. I’ve got a new client for you. He wants to write an offer on a million dollar house.”
“Hi Clarice. Can we do it tomorrow? I’m sick in bed with the flu.”
“Nope. He insists it’s gotta be done today.”
“Well, can we at least do it late this afternoon? Maybe about 4 p.m.?
“Sure, I’ll set it up.”

Later that afternoon, Suzie dutifully dragged herself from her sickbed, gathered the necessary paperwork, and drove to the client’s house. They spent a couple of hours preparing a low-ball offer of Continue reading →

Posted in Humor |

Tagged agents, happy, Humor, money, Real Estate, realtor, Travel, Travel writing, True To Myself, writers |

8 Comments

Reverend Billy And The Church Of Stop Shopping Spreads Message About Shopocalypse

Published November 15, 2008 | By Barbara Weibel

I have long said that our values are out of whack in this country, that we covet material things to an unhealthy degree and spend needlessly in a futile attempt to feel better about ourselves. It seems I am not alone in this belief. Reverend Billy, along with his mock-religious Stop Shopping Gospel Choir, has made it his mission in life to spread the message of evil consumerism, proclaiming that “our current financial crisis is nothing short of a shopocalypse.”

Last year the good Reverend released “What Would Jesus Buy,” a documentary film that attacked our consumer culture, in which his antics get him escorted out of the Mall of America and arrested â€¦ at Disneyland. Variety Magazine called the documentary “seriously hilarious” and the Austin Chronicle said it was “as entertaining as it is jaw-dropping.” Check out the trailer for the video below:

The Reverend isn’t a real minister. He is Continue reading →

Posted in Humor |

Tagged Bill Talen, Christmas, Church of Stop Shopping, consumerism, Hour Of Power, Humor, materialism, Reverend Billy, Shopocalypse, Stop Shopping Gospel Choir, videos, What Would Jesus Buy |

2 Comments

Bizarre Travel Complaints Are Good For A Laugh

Published November 10, 2008 | By Barbara Weibel

Everyone has heard about the diner who claimed to find a fly in his food in order to get a free meal. Until now I believed that restaurateurs suffer more than most when it comes to customer complaints. Today, however, I read that travel specialists around the world have compiled a list of the most bizarre travel complaints ever received. The list, which was released by the ANI news service, featured the following examples:

One travel agent received a complaint from a tourist at a top African game lodge overlooking a waterhole, who spotted a visibly aroused elephant and complained that the sight of this rampant beast ruined his honeymoon by making him feel “inadequate.”

Another wacky complaint had a group of UFO-believers, who were Continue reading →

Posted in Humor |

Tagged ANI, bizarre, complaints, Humor, Travel, traveling, weird |

2 Comments

Funny Adult-Proof Packaging Video

Published September 25, 2008 | By Barbara Weibel

So.

I feel vindicated.

I thought it was me.

Or – perish the thought – my age.

It is true that I find it virtually impossible to open a child-proof cap these days. Fortunately, I take no medicines. As for the aspirin bottle, which I must access once in a blue moon, well I cheat; I leave the lid ajar.

But when it comes to opening those onerous, razor-edged, hard plastic packages that enclose most electronic equipment these days…..let’s just say it is an exercise in futility. I always have to resort to the scissors and even then I end up with sliced fingers. I am absolutely convinced that the packaging is designed this way so that you cannot return the item, since there is no way to open it without destroying the package.

But I digress. Back to the point of being vindicated. Continue reading →

Posted in Humor |

Tagged adult-proof packaging, childproof packaging, Humor, Macbook, plastic packaging, videos |

2 Comments