Don't becaught this weekend without a topic!
DNR: Ice conditions good, but anglers still need to use caution (MPR) Some conversation options include discovering if your friends or family have ever gone through the ice, and how they feel about the media covering people crashing through. Personal note: Whether you're on foot or on wheels, be careful on the ice, okay?
Pawnshopsdoing a brisk business (MPR) Have you ever pawned something? Purchased something from a pawn shop? Purchased a gift from a pawn shop? Learn more about the people next door by asking how they'd feel about a pawn shop in your neighborhood.
Our Cell Phones, Ourselves (NPR) National Public Radio's feature reports on a little device I call the handy-but-usually-annoying-electronic-leash:
"Researchers have found that people with cell phones are more likely to be late for appointments than people without -- a phenomenon they are just beginning to understand. If we can always call to say we're running late, then we are never actually late. We're simply renegotiating our estimated arrival time."
Oh really. How many people renegotiate a job interview time? But wait, there's more:
"Like them or not, cell phones are fast evolving from luxury to necessity. Opting out of the cell-phone universe is becoming less of a viable option. 'You're a problem for other people if you don't have a mobile phone,' says Katz."
But people with cell phones who renegotiate estimated arrival times aren't a problem for anyone else? So. Are you a problem for people who carry cell phones?
Share your own conversation-starters suitable for breaking the ice, to make small talk while waiting for a temporary loan, or to meet new people at a New Year's Eve party.
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Comments: 11
What do you think about the quality of reporting in our media? Personally, I like the smaller papers for local news, they write it themselves instead of relying on the newswires.
Are you in any good cybercommunities? I am. ;-)
Within 45 minutes of here in a higher elevation are 3 major ski areas (one owned by the state!) No snow for them means businesses close and people lose jobs. Not to mention the public vs private competition and the quagmire that causes. Snow is big money!
(Is Snow a good "Ice Breaker" topic? Not as good as your "Ice Conditions" one :)
Given that choice, I do not hesitate to spend a bitterly cold afternoon sitting on an upturned plastic bucket whacking eelpout off my line.
Yesterday to escape my domestic tranquilty I sought refuge near a small hole in the ice on a vast sterile sheet of white under a bleak white sky.
To keep my mind no less numb than my feet, I read The Road by Cormac McCarthy.
But I was to have no peace.
The lake had attracted a band of booze-sodden rednecks who ripped the silence with hyper-powered snow-sleds in post-apocalyptic frenzy. And I, a tiny spot of not-white in a white world, drew their focus, their attention, their anger, their impulse to upset and destroy.
In short, it was a typical weekend on the lake and I longed to escape into the silent world of my book.