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Christmas shopping season is here, which should be a joyful experience, considering the spirit of goodwill involved. But that spirit is often absent when it comes to navigating your favourite shopping mall’s parking lot! Where are you most likely to get into a car accident? Would you believe – in a mall parking lot? Parking lots are like the mosh pit of driving. People seem to do whatever they can get away with. Blatantly break the speed limit? Take up two spaces? Ignore the lane markings altogether, and blaze a trail across the empty parking lot? In fact, according to AAA, on a per-mile basis, drivers have more fender benders in parking lots than anywhere else. So, here’s how to handle the parking lot madness, and protect yourself and your car:

First, parking-design expert Marty Worden says that angled spaces along one-way aisles are the safest parking spaces. You have traffic coming at you from only one direction, and you have better sight lines when you’re backing out.

Next, take advantage of the “barrier islands.” The cement curbs between the rows that keep motorists from cutting across the empty lot. Don’t park in the end space along a barrier island unless there’s an “end cap.” Otherwise, you’re vulnerable to moving traffic from the side and from the rear.

People prefer to park near a mall’s main entrance, or the biggest stores. Which means, the faraway “fringe” parking spaces are usually empty. So, stick to the fringe, where spaces are plentiful, traffic is light, and the risk of collision is minimal.

Finally, pay attention when you get out of your car. Listen for the sound of cars starting up, and watch for the flash of backup lights so you’re not surprised when someone pulls out. Stick to the pedestrian marked paths. Just because the fastest way to get where you’re going is to cut through six aisles of parked cars, doesn’t mean it’s the safest way to go.

Ready…set…shop!

Eat your heart out, Eddie Haskell.

Tony Dow, best known as the actor who portrayed The Beav’s big brother, Wally, in the ’50s TV series “Leave It to Beaver,” will have one of his abstract sculptures on display at the Louvre. Several sculptors from the Karen Lynne Gallery — including Dow — will have their works shown at the historic art museum in Paris as part of the Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts exhibition.

“Having something shown at the Louvre is about as good as you can get,” said Dow, who lives in Los Angeles, “especially when it’s a juried show like this where there’s a panel of judges who pick the pieces to be in the exhibition. I’m a little humbled by the whole thing but grateful nonetheless.”

Dow, who has also worked as a director and visual effects producer on several TV shows, has been painting and sculpting since he was a teenager. The 63-year-old artist’s sculpture that will be shown at the Louvre from Dec. 11 to Dec. 14 is titled “Unarmed Warrior,” and is a bronze figure of a woman holding a shield.

“Of course, I’m really proud of ‘Leave It to Beaver’ and my directing career in television,” said Dow. “Those are great accomplishments. I’m really proud of them, but this is interesting because I don’t think they know anything about that at the Louvre.”

As for other TV child-stars: Opie, what did you create in art class today?

Waterloo Region has some really untamed roads…so bad that three of them have made the Canadian Automobile Association’s list of worst roads of the year.

For the second year in a row, Erb Street in Waterloo made the list, coming in at number 7.  Franklin Blvd in Cambridge and Hespeler Road also made the list.

In first place: Steeles Avenue in Toronto, for the second time in the last four years.

The annual worst roads campaign hopes to draw government attention to the need to invest more money in the repair and maintenance of our roads and bridges. Drivers submitted votes online or at CAA-approved repair shops and stores across Ontario.

The 20 worst roads in Ontario, according to voting on the Canadian Automobile Association website or at CAA approved repair shops and stores across Ontario are:

1.Steeles Ave., Toronto

2.Brock St., Kingston

3.Vermillion Lake Rd., Sudbury

4.Limebank Rd., Ottawa

5.Regent St., Sudbury

6.Anne St., Barrie

7.Erb St., Waterloo

 8.Franklin Blvd., Cambridge

9.Stone Church Rd., Hamilton

10.Carling Ave., Ottawa

11.Dufferin St., Toronto

12.Hespeler Rd., Cambridge

13.Lawrence Ave., Toronto

14.Burlington St., Hamilton

15.Mornington Ave., London

16.Ritson Rd., Oshawa

17.19th Ave., Richmond Hill

18.Johnson St., Kingston

19.Wonderland Rd., London

20.Tecumseh Rd., Windsor

 Fasten your seatbelts…it’s going to be a bumpy ride!

An attempt to reach younger donors with a breezily written letter that uses the word “blah” 137 times has some Framingham State College alumni questioning the school’s professionalism, judgment and … blah, blah, blah.

The Sept. 5 letter, signed by the president of the school’s alumni association, was sent to about 6,000 recent graduates who hadn’t donated to the school. It used standard fundraising pitches, interspersed with sentences of nothing but “blah.”

“With the recent economic downturn and loan crisis, it has become even more important for Framingham State College to receive your support. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,” one part of the letter read.

Christopher Hendry, the school’s vice president of college advancement, told the MetroWest Daily News of Framingham he approved the letter, which he said was written in a marketing style expected to appeal to younger donors.

Alumnus Ken Shifman, a 2003 graduate, said the letter “insults the intelligence” of alumni.“It just doesn’t seem like something from a legitimate university,” Shifman said.

After several complaints, Hendry sent a letter of apology a month later in which he called the first letter a “misguided and embarrassing attempt to connect with alumni in a different way.”

However, Hendry notes that after the “blah” letter was sent, the school collected about $2,000 from nearly 40 alumni who had never previously given money.

So it kind of worked. You know, sometimes you have to try something different if you blah blah blah blah…

Whoever’s doing the decision-making at American International Group (AIG) obviously has a blind-spot about a few things. Consider this story today from The Associated Press:

 CHARLOTTE, North Carolina: A handful of top executives from American International Group Inc. spent thousands of dollars during a recent English hunting trip, even as the New York-based insurer asked for an additional $37.8 billion loan from the Federal Reserve.

 “This was an annual event for customers of the AIG property casualty insurance companies in the U.K. and Europe, and planned months before the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s loan to AIG,” company spokesman Peter Tulupman said Wednesday.

AIG officials declined to say which AIG executives attended the trip, which reports have said racked up an $86,000 tab. News of the trip surfaced just days after AIG received an additional $37.8 billion loan from the Federal Reserve, on top of a previous $85 billion emergency loan granted last month.

The company said last week it would stop “all non-essential conferences, meetings and activities that do not clearly maximize value and service given the current conditions.”

Last month, and just days after the U.S. government stepped in to save AIG with a $85 billion taxpayer-funded loan, the company picked up a $440,000 tab for a week-long retreat at a posh California resort for top-performing insurance agents.

Lawmakers investigating AIG’s meltdown said they were enraged that executives of AIG’s main U.S. life insurance subsidiary spent a lavish amount on the retreat, complete with spa treatments, banquets and golf outings. Last week, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino called the event “despicable.” 

Regarding the recent hunting trip, “We regret that this event was not canceled,” Tulupman said Wednesday.

And especially regret that we found out about it!

When actor Paul Newman passed away recently, there was an outpouring of tributes from fans and the entire show-business community. He was equally praised for his film legacy and his humanitarianism. I thought you might enjoy reading this wonderful tribute from one of his most notable co-stars, Robert Redford, as it appeared in Time magazine:

I first met Paul Newman in 1968, when George Roy Hill, the director of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, introduced us in New York City. When the studio didn’t want me for the film — it wanted somebody as well known as Paul — he stood up for me. I don’t know how many people would have done that; they would have listened to their agents or the studio powers.

The friendship that grew out of the experience of making that film and The Sting four years later had its genesis in the fact that although there was an age difference, we both came from a tradition of theater and live TV. We were respectful of craft and focused on digging into the characters we were going to play. Both of us were fundamentally American actors, with the qualities and virtues that characterize American actors: irreverence, playing on the other’s flaws for fun, one-upmanship — but always with an underlying affection. Those were also at the core of our relationship off the screen.

Paul was very engaged at work. He was there. He liked a lot of rehearsal. But he was fun too. Whenever he’d make a mistake on set, he would enjoy it more than anybody. I’d look at him, and he’d look at me, and I’d say, “You’re not fooling anybody. You’re not staring at me intensely; you’ve lost your line.” And he’d roar with laughter.

We shared the belief that if you’re fortunate enough to have success, you should put something back — he with his Newman’s Own food and his Hole in the Wall camps for kids who are gravely ill, and me with Sundance and the institute and the festival. Paul and I didn’t see each other all that regularly, but sharing that brought us together. We supported each other financially and by showing up at events. And then we’d give each other a hard time. Whatever success one of us would have, the other would knock it down. If you’re in a position of being viewed iconically, you’d better have a mechanism to take yourself down to keep the balance. I think we did that for each other.

What impressed me about Paul was that he was very realistic about who he was. He knew the world of hyperbole and distortion he was in. That meant he maintained a certain amount of privacy. He was generous and a pillar of integrity. He was loyal and self-effacing. His commitment to his profession was serious, as was his commitment to social responsibility and especially to his family. He had a life that had real meaning and that will for some time.

I last saw him a few months ago. He’d been in and out of the hospital. I knew what the deal was, and he knew what the deal was, and we didn’t talk about it. We talked about what was on our minds: the election, politics, what needed to be done. Ours was a relationship that didn’t need a lot of words.

Mostly I’ll miss the fun we had. We played lots of pranks on each other. I used to race cars, and after he took this rare Porsche I owned for a drive, he began to get into racing. He had incredible reflexes, and he got really good, but he talked so much about it that I got sick of it. So I had a beaten-up Porsche shell delivered to his porch for his 50th birthday. He never said anything, but not long after, I found a crate of molten metal delivered to the living room of my (rented) house. It dented the floor. I then had it turned into a really ugly sculpture and dropped into his garden. To this day, neither one of us has ever mentioned it.

    There’s word today from Ottawa that Canadians are rushing to sign up for the Do-Not-Call List.  Demand for the new tool to block annoying calls from telemarketers has been so great that by midday on its first day the Do-Not-Call-List website was overwhelmed. Would-be registrants were advised to please try again later. Those who opted to sign up by phone were met with a busy signal.  The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, which operates the list, says the system is working fine, but that by 11 a.m. EDT it couldn’t handle the volume.  A CRTC spokeswoman says 200,000 people had registered by 9 a.m.  Her advice is to keep trying, but adds that even if you don’t get in immediately, you can register at a later date.  Once a number is on the list, telemarketers will be barred from dialing that number, or face a hefty fine of up to $15,000 if they do call. There are some exceptions, such as pollsters, researchers and government agencies…precisely the same people that prompted the idea of this Do-Not-Call list in the first place!    Register online at www.LNNTE-DNCL.gc.ca or by phone at 1-866-580-3625.

And Good Luck with that!

LeAnn Rimes finishes ahead of Elvis Presley, Kenny Rogers and Shania Twain in a new historical list that celebrates the anniversary of Billboard magazine’s 100-position pop chart. The magazine has come up with The Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Songs, and LeAnn’s version of “How Do I Live” ranks at No. 4 on the list, the top showing for a single by a country act.

She’s hardly alone. Elsewhere on the pop list are Johnny Horton’s “North To Alaska,” No. 28; Kenny’s “Lady,” No. 47; Shania’s “You’re Still The One,” No. 66; and a pair of songs by Country Music Hall of Famer Elvis Presley: “Are You Lonesome Tonight?,” No. 81; and “It’s Now Or Never,” No. 92.

Other songs with country ties abound. Debby Boone’s “You Light Up My Life,” a Top 10 country hit in 1977, occupies the No. 7 position; country newcomer Jewel’s pop single “Foolish Games”/”You Were Meant For Me” is at No. 15; Whitney Houston’s remake of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” ranks at No. 68; and Ray Charles’ cover of Don Gibson’s “I Can’t Stop Loving You” finishes at No. 98.

Charts prior to August 1958 featured fewer than 100 singles, so the Hot 100’s debut came after such earlier Elvis hits as “Heartbreak Hotel” and “Don’t Be Cruel.” Landing at No. 1: Chubby Checker and “The Twist.”

A recent computer misadventure at the office got us thinking: Who hasn’t run into computer problems at one time or another?  According to a study, when confronted with a dead computer, 19 percent of people admit to wanting to hurl it out the nearest window. Well, the next time you feel like sending your machine into orbit, perhaps this’ll help:  here is a list of things your computer specialist may not tell you, but you should know, courtesy of  Reader’s Digest.

• If you’ve got a computer problem, turn it off, then turn it back on. Nine times out of ten, rebooting your computer – and any equipment that connects to it – will solve the problem.
• Remember, public Wi-fi is public. So if you don’t have a compelling reason to check your e-mail or bank account while sipping a latte at the mall, don’t do it. While you’re on a public network – even one that’s encrypted – a nearby hacker can capture your passwords. Consider yourself warned.
• Another thing your computer specialist might not tell you: Give your computer a rest. Turning off your computer when it’s not in use saves energy and clears out the RAM – or temporary memory – which would otherwise slow your machine over time.
• They’re like Santa. In other words, they know if you’ve been bad or good. So you might as well ‘fess up to what really happened right before the system crashed. It’s going to save time – and the computer specialist is going to figure it out anyway. So if you couldn’t resist opening that e-mail titled “You’ve just won a million dollars!”, just say so.

And I found this website that provides a real blast from the past when it comes to the pioneer days of  computers:

http://oldcomputers.net/