Buy Ketchup in May and Fly at Noon

By Terri Shlichenmeyer



One quick peek at your calendar, and you know it’s time.

Time to figure out where you’re going to get your turkey - two turkeys, in fact, one for November and one for December. Time to start figuring out what gifts you’ll give (and then finding time to get them). Time to drag out the winter stuff and wistfully put away the swimsuits and flip flops for another year.

But when’s the best time to book that winter vacation? Should you be looking for a snow blower now? And what about that turkey? Hmmmm. Maybe it’s time to look for Buy Ketchup in May and Fly at Noon by Mark Di Vincenzo.

“…at about three-thirty one summer morning in 2007”, author Mark Di Vincenzo’s wife jotted down a brainstorm for a book about the best time to do things. But – bad timing – Di Vincenzo was already writing another book. Still, he couldn’t stop thinking about this idea that, he says, “couldn’t come at a better time”.

As Di Vincenzo points out, watching your pennies and using resources wisely has never been more important. That’s why you need this book: it contains hundreds of money-saving ideas and ways to live more efficiently.

When, for instance, is the best time to stock up on various groceries? Is there a better day to shop for clothes at a thrift store? What about toys, gas, or movie tickets? Would you believe there’s a sale season for major appliances?

Okay, you’re saying, but you don’t need to buy anything. You have things to do. So what’s the best time to have your picture taken? When should you sneak forty winks? Is there a time when working out is most beneficial?

Maybe you’re unsure about transplanting those flowers to another spot in the garden, or adding some fancy new shrubs. When should you do that? And what about fertilizing your yard and garden?

In this book, you’ll learn how to avoid the crowds at popular vacation sites (and when to get the camera out for magazine-perfect pictures). Learn what time is best to quit your job (or fire someone) and how to run a meeting on time. You’ll learn tips for health and marriage – and one reason why not to get married.

About this time (here we go again), you’re thinking about a gift for The Person Who Has Everything. May I suggest this book?

Buy Ketchup in May and Fly at Noon is quirky, funny, entirely useful, and not at all expensively priced. Author Mark Di Vincenzo mined articles, books, promotional material, and experts’ opinions to come up with solid information that’s helpful to anyone who’s doing almost anything.

The only thing I would’ve liked to see is an index. Lacking that, though, individual topics are grouped within broad chapters, so what you’re looking for is pretty easy to find.
If you’re punctual, always late, want to save money, or just want to read something different, grab this book. Buy Ketchup in May and Fly at Noon is great to read any time.

Buy Ketchup in May and Fly at Noon
By Mark Di Vincenzo
c.2009, Harper
192 pages, including sources, $13.99
Terri Shlichenmeyer has been reading since she was 3 years old and never goes anywhere without a book. She lives on a hill in Wisconsin with two dogs and 11,000 books.

Have A Little Faith

By Terri Shlichenmeyer



It was a lesson you learned the moment you were old enough to sass back: always respect your elders.
When Grandma spoke, you listened. If Grandpa said to do something, it was as good as done. If you valued your life, you answered Mom or Dad respectfully, and Heaven help the kid who spoke to a neighbor in a snide manner.
Always respect your elders. But what if the elder makes a difficult request? In the new book Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom, it took eight years to make good a promise.
Albert Lewis almost wasn’t a Rabbi. Having failed Divinity School, he almost gave up but was encouraged to try again. Later, when he finally got his own synagogue, the tiny congregation consisted of just a handful of families.
One of them was Mitch Albom’s.
As a child, Albom remembered the Reb as an imposing man with an inexplicable love of song and of sermon; basically, someone to avoid. Despite his parents’ anchoring and years of lessons, Albom grew up and grew out of his faith, learning that mouthed prayers, uttered mechanically, were somehow acceptable. He moved away from home and looked upon religion as quaint, invisible.
So Albom was surprised when Rabbi Lewis asked him to do his eulogy.
Because one cannot speak well about a man without knowing him, Albom agreed to the request, but told the Reb that they needed to set meetings so that questions could be answered. And it came to pass that Albom made the trek from his home in Detroit to New Jersey several times a year for eight years.
Back in Detroit, the economy was lashing at the city, jobs were lost, and so were homes. But in a sagging old cathedral near Tiger Stadium, a former drug dealer was feeding the homeless and preaching the gospel, all but abandoned by his Mother Church, trying to do good with what God was giving him.
As Albom began to examine the disparity between the congregations – the wealthy synagogue and the poverty-stricken inner-city shelter-church - he began to wonder about God, trust, and faith. And he learned a lesson you won’t soon forget.
I wasn’t crazy about this book at first. Author Mitch Albom, like one of his subjects, loves to savor an anecdote before he lets it go, and that bogs down the beginning of this book. But once you get past the stage-setting and you move a few pages in, Have a Little Faith soars.
By telling the story of two men who are similar but different, Albom forces his readers to examine their own beliefs, as well as the meaning of hope and miracles. I won’t tell you how this book ends, but suffice it to say that you’ll come away with your heart lifted to the rafters.
Fans of Albom’s first book and anyone who’s ever pondered the nature of belief will want to make room on their bookshelf for a new favorite. Have a Little Faith is a book I believe you’ll love.

Have a Little Faith
By Mitch Albom
c.2009, Hyperion
288 pages, $23.99

Terri Shlichenmeyer has been reading since she was 3 years old and never goes anywhere without a book. She lives on a hill in Wisconsin with two dogs and 11,000 books.