Uncle Al's Geezer Salad: A mixed bag of reports on overlong repair projects, smart remarks from dogs, and a whole lot of one man's decline into mental cottage cheese - Softcover

Al Sicherman

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0929636805 ISBN 13: 9780929636801

Publisher: Syren Book Company, 2007

Synopsis

For close to twenty years, Al Sicherman wrote a hugely popular column in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Here he offers an assortment of those delightfully entertaining reports: The solution to the mystery of underwear in the gutter; tales of household and automotive repairs gone horribly wrong; peculiar insights into the world of finance; observations on increasing geezerification, and much more.

Uncle Al is everyman -- or everyman's uncle with unflagging overconfidence in his handyman prowess and an apparent inability to quit while he's not too far behind, but the good grace to write about it all hilariously. When he isn't making his third trip to the hardware store for what always appears at first to be a simple project, Sicherman unfailingly trips over outcroppings of the ridiculous in other areas of modern life, only some of which are his own fault:
He ponders an ask-your-doctor TV ad for a "liquid stitches" product called Dermabond that encourages people bleeding all over emergency rooms to engage hospital staffers in a lively discussion of the merits of various methods of wound closure.
He reveals the unbelievable details of the plaque that rocket scientists put on the side of the Voyager 2 spacecraft, in case it is met by an alien life-form (one highlight is a recording of Chuck Berry singing Johnny B. Goode ). And then there's the cheery tale of the day he hit each of his two vehicles once. With the other one.

About this title

From the Inside Flap

“I almost had to be carried out of the Cross River Café [in Schroeder, Minnesota], laughing maniacally, making rude, disruptive noises as I read. . . . I even read parts aloud to the assembled waitresses. We all think you’re a wonderful writer with a rare feel for the lost Dickensian plot.” —Patricia Hampl, St. Paul “Nothing was funny about Mondays until Al started writing his humor column for the Star Tribune. What a welcome collection!”—Stephanie Wendt, NPR host “You could write more about less than anyone I could imagine, and I loved reading every word.”—Mary Meland, Minneapolis “Thank you for helping me realize that my husband’s inability to start any house projects before 4 p.m. on a Saturday, or to predict what items he might actually need for such projects, is not unique to him.” —Sandra Mallon, Minneapolis

About the Author

Al Sicherman has written humorous food and recipe features for the Star Tribune since 1981, and the twice-weekly Tidbits column of food news and trivia since 1982. He has written a weekly humor column since 1988.

About this edition

• Publisher: Syren Book Company
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0929636805
• ISBN 13: 9780929636801
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288