GGOD X

Yes, this was my 10th or Xth Annual Goose Goofs Off Day. I looked it up. I don’t know why I use Roman numerals to count them. I suppose that in my book it is the Super Bowl of holidays. Since the Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to keep track, it logically seemed to be the appropriate way to keep track of my personal GGODs.


And that acronym, GGOD? I only started using it recently, but it also seemed logical and appropriate. After all, Goose Goofs Off Days are Gifts from God. Now some might think that Christmas has the best claim to being a gift from God. But without getting too heretical, I beg to disagree. Perhaps children can view Christmas as a gift, but for grownups Christmas is a huge pile of stress and work. Most of us spend weeks decorating, baking, shopping, cleaning our houses and wrapping presents just to name a few of the tasks leading up to Christmas. Then after Christmas we go back to stores to exchange presents such as clothes that don’t fit, we do more shopping to take advantage of after-Christmas sales, and then we must take down and put away all the decorations for another year. Christmas can be nice, but it’s no GGOD, that’s for sure. The hardest thing about GGOD is figuring out how you’re going to goof off.

The Mattress Factory

This year I just kind of puttered around the house during the morning, and before I could say, “I’m taking it easy today,” it was 1:00 in the afternoon.  I did some searching on the internet and decided to take a trip to the Mattress Factory, which is a museum of modern art on Pittsburgh’s Northside.  Exhibits are housed in three separate buildings within a block of one another.  There are also some outdoor installations.  Since it was a cold day, I stuck to the inside stuff.  I especially enjoyed the installations on the 4^th floor of the main building.  They included “Damn Everything but the Circus,” by Benjamin Sota, the founder of the Zany Umbrella Circus, and “Diaspora,” by Ryder Henry.  Diaspora consists of an intricately constructed miniature futuristic city.  One could spend hours appreciating the architecture and construction of the various structures in that imaginary city. 

After spending a couple hours at the Mattress Factory, I decided to take a ride up the Allegheny River to the borough of Oakmont. Oakmont is mostly famous for the Oakmont Country Club which has hosted the U.S. Open golf tournament several times.  However, I went to Oakmont to visit the Mystery Lovers Bookshop.  Mystery Lovers is a small, independent book store.  I knew of them because they are a sponsor of a lecture series I attend called Literary Evenings.  While the lectures focus on the writing process, Mystery Lovers is there to sell books, which you can get signed by the author.  So I decided to take a GGOD trip to Oakmont to see their actual store.

It’s a far cry from Barnes & Noble, but that’s the whole idea.  In contrast to the big box stores, the owner greeted me when I walked in and offered me coffee and some dessert.  True to their name, they specialize in mystery books, but they also stock current books, especially those featured at the Literary Evenings.  I spent a fair amount of time browsing through the book shelves and finally settled on Plugged, by Eion Colfer.  Colfer is the author of the Artemis Fowl books that my youngest son enjoyed so much as a teenager.  I thought it would be interesting to see what Colfer’s books for adults are like. 

I completed my purchase, left Mystery Lovers and then drove a few blocks to a Panera Bread store.  I have a Panera Rewards card and knew I was due for a free pastry.  So I found a cozy chair and did some reading while enjoying some coffee and a bear claw.  Around 6:00 PM, I decided to head back home.  Dinner was effortless – microwaved leftovers.  Finally, a little time in the hot tub, some wine and a movie provided a perfect end to the perfect holiday.  Now I’m looking forward to taking it easy on GGOD XI!