Sudden Adult On-Set ADD -- Part 2

Back in October I wrote part one of my Adult ADD thoughts. Here is the delayed part two. I'm not sure if the fact that I got a bit distracted in finishing this up is further proof or just good sense at leaving well enough alone. My buddy John tells me he doesn't think I have ADD as much as I just make decisions not to keep up with books, movies and TV due to a busy schedule with more important things on it. Good point.

What originally got me thinking I was beginning to become ADD was the stack of unfinished books and DVD's on my desk and night stand. Why can't I finish a movie? Perhaps John is right, there are just too many other things that need attention that way outweigh the need to see the end of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, etc. But what about my TV viewing habits? I don't watch much TV -- but when I do I seem to pick a show, become a rabid fan and then get bored with it after one season and move on. Proof:

• Trading Spaces -- I watched season two (the first season with Paige Davis as host) in 2001. I got my wife hooked the next season, but after that I lost interest.
• Biggest Loser -- Season 1 began in October of 2004. I again watched the first seasons as a big fan, made it through the second season hit and miss, skipped season 3, watched the first episode of season 4 and won't be back.
• Dog Whisperer -- Like Trading Spaces I missed season 1 which started September 2004. Watched season 2 faithfully and saw one or two shows the next season havinng moved on to...
• Food Network -- We never really settled on one particular show. Pretty much any thing that was on was fascinating.
• Heros -- It took a while, but I finally made it through the first season. Tried watching the first show or two of this season on-line but haven't made it through an entire episode and don't know that I'll make the effort.

This year I've become a fan of Gordon Ramsay. Be it Hell's Kitchen or Kitchen Nightmares, I make sure I see every episode one way or another. I have to admit I prefer the BBC America Kitchen Nightmares to the Fox version. Still, I watch. A recent episode on Fox even added another book to the stack. "Finn McCool's" (which aired November 14th) featured a local paper's food critic showing up and making her presence known. I didn't think critics made it a habit of announcing that they were there to review a restaurant, movie or whatever and maybe it wouldn't have happened without the producers of the show opting for the drama her presence brought. It got me to wondering how the big restaurant critics operate and I found a book to add to my list:



In Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl, the author says "One of the primary requisites of a good restaurant critic is the ability to be anonymous." This was quite the opposite of the critic on Kitchen Nightmares. Garlic and Sapphires is a truly wonderful read. I'm making time to read it and loving every spare moment with it that I get.

From the flap: "Garlic and Sapphires is Ruth Reichl's delicious and compulsively readable account of her experience undercover in her position as food critic for The New York Times." "Reichl knows that to be a good restaurant critic you have to be anonymous, but when she signs up to be the most important restaurant critic in the country, her picture is posted in every four-star, low-star, and no-star kitchen in town." The book reveals some of the disguises she used and how she became those characters. Great book! I'm loving it and will be finishing it up tonight.

Update on the unfinished book list from October: I finished The Art of Urban Cycling, The Virtues of War and The High and the Mighty. I gave up on Count Zero and Asphalt Nation so I'm down to 4 books which I'm currently reading -- 3 by tomorrow morning...