Monday, February 27, 2006


Good Times

You might have missed me blogging for the past week. My excuse is a good one--I have been working our Pittsburgh photo booth in an art show at Monroeville Mall. The shows are slow, and they provide a good atmosphere to settle in with my electronic keyboard and write.

While mulling away the hours, I marvelled at how our "show business" has changed over the years. When we first set up in this mall in 1976, the mall "powers that be," skittish I suppose, of the concept of exhibitors, did not provide electricity for us. This meant we rolled in a car battery on a dolly to hook up to for our lights. It sounds so primitive now!

It was a great era for malls in general. I can remember Saturday crowds being so thick, I would rather scratch out my eyeballs then try to move from Point A to Point B. It just took too long to push through the mob.

The crowds are thin now, as the Walmart effect draws customers to other places for discounted prices. Those loyalists who are left walk past my booth with cellphones stuck to their ears, oblivious to my wares. The impulse buys that are so vital to our sales are hard to come by these days. I guess those cellphone folks are "multi-tasking." Only they have no time these days for looking and buying, only walking and talking. 

I never would have dreamed in 1976 that I would see tattoos and body-piercing either--or shaved heads. Actually, in those days, my electronic keyboard would have been an oddity, and the very idea people owned their own computers would have blown me away. 

I'm certain I won't be here in 30 more years; but if I were, I wonder what amazing things I would see...


Copyright 2005 JO Janoski 




Monday, February 20, 2006

Pittsburgh Song

I see there is a poll at the PG. Listen to five songs and vote your favorite Pittsburgh song:

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - A & E

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Nurse was 'hit with frozen fish'

Shucks! It looks like British hospitals have all the fun!

BBC NEWS | UK | England | Kent | Nurse was 'hit with frozen fish'

The following poem is a villanelle, a six stanza poem with a special rhyme scheme and repeated lines.


FOREST MELODY

Tiny soft gray bird high in a tree
issuing songs like sun rays
Ringing chirps inspiring me.

A call of nature just meant for me
to see and hear of nature's ways
Tiny soft gray bird high in a tree

Rough brown bark of trees to see
caught in the fire of sunny rays
Ringing chirps inspiring me.

Green grass carpets, lush to see
Rainbows of flowers in nature's way
Tiny soft gray bird high in a tree

Soft sweet breezes whisper to me
as leaves rustle through the day
Ringing chirps inspiring me.

A brook composes a melody
while squirrels and chipmunks play
Tiny soft gray bird high in a tree
Ringing chirps inspiring me.


Copyright 2005 JO Janoski 




Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Good Morning File

If you're a dog-lover and a "yinzer" the Morning File is a fun read this morning. I think this guy's got something!

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Local News - The Morning File with Peter Leo

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

A Poem about lingering winter...

* * * 

ISOLATION...

Winter sorrows lurk again
draping me in tight shadows.
Isolation by the fire...
drinking hot cocoa.

Ice and snow propelling me
inside where sun is denied.
Through the pane sun romances...
but I know better.

Outdoors reigns cold, while indoors
my heart is frozen in time,
stopped when summer departed...
leaving me undone.

Spring waiting to start again.
Fresh air breathed on nature's stage,
kaleidoscope of life's hues...
spinning round and round.

--
Copyright 2005 JO Janoski 




Green-glowing pigs

I know these pigs are useful for research, but I shudder to think what their ham/bacon would look like! Kind of pulls the old switcheroo on Green Eggs and Ham.

BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | Taiwan breeds green-glowing pigs

Monday, February 13, 2006

Ask Yahoo!

Today's Ask Yahoo answers the question, "Who was the 'agony of defeat' guy? What I find amazing is, because he was from behind the iron curtain, he never knew for years how popular he was in the west. Fascinating!

Ask Yahoo!

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Fugetaboutit!!!

Would you like to read a really entertaining blog? Stop by "Fugetaboutit" every now or then or better yet, get on his mailing list so you know when a new column is out. I knew I'd like this as soon as I saw the nuns toting guns...
Fugetaboutit!!!

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

What do you say?...

Does the party have to be over? Okay, the SuperBowl is won. The parade was fabulous! Ben's shaved his beard. There's even been some body-surfing...Now everything is quiet. If you listen really hard, you might hear me way off somewhere...a lone voice: Here we go, Steelers! Here we go! What do you say we sing that for another whole year?         



Thursday, February 02, 2006

Why do dogs love to stick their heads out of car windows?

Yahoo with another great answer to one of life's nagging questions:

Why do dogs love to stick their heads out of car windows?

My dog, Peepers, told me the answer is #3. It's way cooler than the other reasons.

Two Books Released in the Wild
at Ross Park Mall and Northway Mall, Pittsburgh

That may seem a strange statement if you are not familiar with BookCrossing.com. I recently registered two proof copies of my latest book, Bridges to Burn. The purpose of BookCrossings is to make the whole world a library with avid readers depositing books in public places to be found, read, and enjoyed. Whoever finds a book is requested to register their find at BookCrossing and then release the book "into the wild" when they are done with it--or perhaps give it to a friend to read and pass on as he/she would like. 

It is an exciting, whimsical process, appealing to the sense of fun and fancy in all of us--to follow the journey of a book from one hand to the next, from one locale to the next. If you've ever heard of WheresGeorge.com, it is the same premise.

So, I released my books at Ross Park Mall yesterday on a bench in front of Children's Palace, and one at Northway Mall on  a chair in the mall area by the restrooms and by the food court. If you find one of my treasures, please read it and pass it on...