Archives - Weekly Update

I first came to Crested Butte back in 1980 and fell in love with the charm of this historic town and ski resort where skiing is taken seriously. It boasts more extreme terrain within its bounds than any other ski resort in North America. As I mentioned last week, I have not skied in 19 years, but coming back here I felt like I was coming home. My husband Tom and I met here in 1982, and when people have heard this story around town this week, we’ve gotten a lot of big smiles. We were married in New Jersey three years from the day we met here in the Butte, on March 30th, and kicked off our three-week honeymoon here. There was a full-page ad in the paper that read “Finally Legal” when we got to town after the wedding. So we will celebrate our 28th/31st anniversary here tomorrow in something that is just a sheer coincidence.

I am not big on office meetings, thus when we have one, I try to make it matter. Recently I heard from a colleague who conducts staff meetings standing up, which urges swiftness to dialogue. I have not gone that far, but I insist that those who “sit at the table” bring ideas! A couple of weeks ago, we hatched one for our version of March Madness. We researched alumni and faculty from each school. From there, we culled a list of authors --- and their books --- and chose one to represent each school on our version of the “bracket.” On our lineup, you will see well-known authors and titles, and names that will be a lot less familiar. The result is “Slam Dunk: Reading Through the Madness!” Greg came up with the original concept. And I thank Eric, Nikki, Alina, Vicky, Olivia and Justin for getting on board with it. We’ll progress our bracket as the tournament continues. May the best book win!

I am Irish in name only. My husband is three-quarters German, which means my boys are something like one-eighth Irish. But on St. Patrick’s Day, everyone is Irish! Greg is planning to walk in the St. Patrick’s Day parade tomorrow with a contingent from Fordham. He was trying to convince me to join him, but the forecast is for rain and I am not walking 30 blocks in the rain, even if I get to wear a sash (a joking point around the house after I did that for his graduation). Also, during my Conde Nast years, the parade marchers used to line up outside my office. Picture four hours of bagpipe bands tuning up outside your office window. Trust me, the charm wears off really quickly.

I am a “silver linings” kind of girl. Thus, while I could bemoan the fact that this weekend I will lose an hour of reading time (some of you may complain about losing sleep, but I have my priorities right), I am instead opening up my personal “silver linings playbook” and noting that this means we will lose one hour of time spent in Mercury retrograde. The last two weeks have turned those in our office who thought this was wacky into real believers as a number of small communication snafus have occurred. Nikki, who is one of our new staffers, actually came up with this “one hour less” notation, and I immediately felt better. The 17th cannot arrive fast enough!

When we left off, I was in Kansas City, which I never knew was “The City of Fountains”, for the American Booksellers Association’s Winter Institute. It is rumored to have as many or more fountains than Rome! Of course, I was there in the dead of winter and thus the water was turned off. At least in the fountains. The snow gods were working their snow guns in full force. I slipped into the city after one storm and fled on a 6am flight (and yes, that meant I got up at 4am to make that flight) on Monday as another storm was bearing down. And I am told that this is not a city known for its snow!