One ought every day at least to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words. - Goethe
It used to be that I had an email address with an account conveniently located on my ISP’s server. IE automatically used Outlook Express, and email was easy. For the past couple of years my email through my new ISP has only been available through the MSN subscription that came packaged with internet access.
Now I don’t really like MSN, and I don’t like IE either. Like many other people, I’ve made the switch to Firefox and have chosen to use the google, Gmail service. Using this has been awkward at times as Firefox does not know which email client to use unless it is told how to do so. Lifehacker.com provides a quick solution for getting Firefox to work with Gmail and it works well. It’s as easy as going to their site and copying and pasting a piece of script into your Firefox address bar.
Denver would be a terrific place to be, especially with a floor pass at the Pepsi center. On Monday night Ted Kennedy addressed the convention with a rousing challenge to believe in positive change and on Tuesday night Hillary Clinton stole the show with her endorsement of Barack Obama and her plea for party unity. Check out Youtube for the videos.
Gail Renard was 16 when she heard that John Lennon was going to be staying over in Montreal. She crashed his party with a friend via a fire escape at Montreal’s Queen Elizabeth Hotel. Ringing the doorbell during a change of security, Yoko answered the door and let her in for an interview.
Gail stayed for the week of the famous bed in and the recording of “Give Peace a Chance.” Lennon is recalled as speaking with Gail’s mother on the telephone and gaining her approval; every night Gail went to her own home and bed to sleep. During the day she acted as Lennon’s liaison to the press, played with Kyoko Lennon in the nearby park, made arrangements for tambourines for the recording session, and hobnobbed with the celebs including Tommy Smothers, Timothy Leary, and Allan Ginsberg.
She felt secure in her surroundings and recalls how when an amorous member of the press attempted to kiss her, John intervened and chased him off. Among the several mementos that he gave her was the song board to Give Peace a Chance which was recently, almost 40 years later, auctioned off at Christies for almost $850,000. He’d told her, “hang on to it, it will be worth something one day.” They had originally guessed that the piece would fetch between 200 and 300,00 pounds. Renard, an award winning radio and TV writer, commented, saying, “It’s all monopoly money to me.”
