Alex Katz, painter, eater

Alex Katz on food: “American cheese on white is the ultimate. To me as a kid it represented the straight world.”

Here’s a fellow who, as they say, has made it, who could have anything he wants for a meal. And what does he want? Oatmeal for breakfast. Sardines for lunch. Day in, day out. I love it. Read more: Artist’s Cookbook: Alex Katz (Design Observer).

Dropbox referral, anyone?

From the website:

Dropbox is a free service that lets you bring all your photos, docs, and videos anywhere. This means that any file you save to your Dropbox will automatically save to all your computers, phones and even the Dropbox website.

Dropbox works with Linux, Mac, Windows, and mobile devices. It’s changed my ways of working: I no longer need to send myself attachments or carry a flash drive to have access to my stuff from a classroom or office computer. The stuff is just there.

If you’d like to try Dropbox, here is a referral link that will give you and me each an extra 500 MB of free storage.

TextExpander discount

Mac users: if you’d like to purchase the great app TextExpander, it’s on sale for $17.47 (list $34.95), through Monday. Follow this link, which SmileOnMyMac has made available to TextExpander users for the sharing.

TextExpander is a tremendously useful app, well worth its price. The app turns snippets — little bits of text — into longer items of the user’s choice. I use TextExpander for URLs, HTML, and frequently typed words and phrases. The snippet ,syic, for instance, turns into

See you in class,

Prof. Leddy

This page and this one offer more detailed explanations. And by the way, all I had to do to create those links was to type ,paste, and TextExpander wrote out the HTML and pasted in the URLs from the figurative clipboard.

Since June 2012, expanding 16,209 snippets has saved me 223,082 characters and 12.39 hours of typing time. Yes, the app keeps track.

[Nothing accrues to me for passing on this info. I’m just an enthusiast.]

Jane Kean (1923–2013)

The actress and singer Jane Kean has died at the age of ninety. She played Trixie Norton in The Jackie Gleason Show revival of The Honeymooners. The New York Times has an obituary.

One detail that the Times omits: Jane Kean was the voice of Belle in Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol. Which might not sound like much, but it means that Kean sang the Bob Merrill and Jule Styne song “Winter Was Warm.”

In 2007, Joyce Randolph, the original Trixie Norton, was the subject of a lovely Times article.

Found in my mother’s kitchen

“I got tired of trying to find the end all the time”: masking-tape hack by Louise Leddy. That’s part of a toothpick at the tape’s end. I’ve pulled the tape away to show the workings.

Thanksgiving 1913

[“No Hungry Ones on Thanksgiving Day: Turkey Served in Prisons, Missions, Hospitals, and Lowly Tenements. Zelaya Dined in Tombs. Alimony Club Feasted in Jail, but the Down-and-Outs Fared as Well.” The New York Times, November 28, 1913.]

My 2012 Thanksgiving post also dropped in at the Ludlow Street Jail. Ephemeral New York has the dope on the Alimony Club.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Previous Thanksgiving posts
A found letter : A 1917 greeting card : Competitive eating, 1911 : Sing Sing, 1908 : Sing Sing, 1907

[Zelaya? See this article.]

A Thanksgiving essay

“The worst Thanksgiving I had came two days after they sliced me open, belly to pubic line, and the surgeon, coming to see me in recovery said, ‘We got most of it’”: Joyce Wadler, writing in The New York Times about a holiday, an illness, and mortality. No expiration date, but this essay is best read today: Bad Thanksgiving.

A joke from my dad

How did Samuel Clemens do all his long-distance traveling?

I think you already know the answer.

A related post
A joke for the day

Paterfamilias repurposing

My dad too likes to repurpose household items as “supplies.” These paper-clip cups once capped shaving-cream cans.

My dad continues on the mend. Please send good vibrations his way.

Orange Crate Art repurposings
Bakeware : Box flap : Dish drainer : Doorstop : Tea tin

Progress, slow, and more of it

About yesterday’s post: my dad Jim is in the hospital. After many difficult days, he is making slow progress, and more of it every day. Please send good vibrations his way. Thanks.

My dad’s most recent Orange Crate Art appearance took the form of a seasonally-themed joke. There are many other appearances. Just search for dad or James Leddy or Jim.