Archive for April, 2010

Beer with meals

Peter used to say that drinking water with meals diluted the food while it was in your stomach, making it harder to digest. When I pointed out that he often drank beer with meals, he said that was different—he said that beer contains yeast and is sort of like bread in a way, so it […]

Nose adjustment

One of the semi-magic tricks Peter used to occasionally do: He’d say that his nose was out of alignment or something, and needed an adjustment, like a chiropractic adjustment. He would put his hands together palm to palm, as if praying, but with his nose between the index fingers. Then he would bend his hands […]

Pie-eyed emu

Peter once told me that when he was a kid, he left a note on a slip of paper in a library book for a future reader to find. The note said, “I’ll be a pie-eyed emu,” and added something like “If you understand this, contact me” and his address or possibly phone number. He […]

Tense yourself skinny

Peter used to say that the way he stayed thin was to “tense myself skinny”—I think it had something to do with tensing his stomach muscles. Then again, he had the pot belly that most Hartman males end up with, so I don’t know that his approach actually worked. I’m a little unclear on where […]