Friday, October 10

• 2 Expo Scents Dry-Erase markers in Grape
• Used file organizer in gray with dirt, dust bunnies and...

Oh, what’s the point? A few random objects on a file cabinet aren’t a giveaway table. They’re a dumping ground and barely worth chronicling. “Today Adele threw out one coffee cup, two gum wrappers and a 2005 issue of Gourmet.” Blah blah blah. Maybe things will pick up in a few weeks or months but for the moment it seems like the heyday of the Savvy giveaway is behind us. Good-bye, corporate swag. We hardly knew ye.

Until better days, Free2! thanks you for your support and reminds you that if it’s free it’s worth it.

ps> Attention all editors, publishers and multibillion dollar corporations looking to get in on the next big thing on the ground floor, contact Caitlin Huggins at cghuggins@yahoo.com for more information about the cultural revolution that’s about to change your life. Proposals for the War Ration Diet are available for perusal. (Sorry but I promised.)

Thursday, October 9

I only make it to the giveaway table once today and it isn’t worth the effort. Nothing is there except a yoga DVD (Fat Free Yoga with Ravi Singh). Even the books from Monday are gone. Weird. Books never disappeared en masse from the old table.

Sigh.

Wednesday, October 8

Taste-Test Wednesday!

What: Da Vinci Gourmet Irish Cream Syrup and Da Vinci Gourmet Chocolate Flavored Sauce

Huh?: A patch of sun in the wilderness, a ray of hope that the giveaway table might once again be a horn of plenty

Shoutout: “Flavor Is Our Art!”

Expectation: A nice topping for vanilla ice cream

Reality: The old bait and switch! What seem to be happy ice cream toppings are really flavorings for coffee drinks. The chocolate sort of works on ice cream because it’s thick and pours like regular chocolate sauce, although the taste isn’t as rich. But the Irish Cream syrup is too liquidy to pour on ice cream and totally turns Tasty Delight into tasteless soup.

• Slightly worn dark blue chenille blanket that says, “Winners make it happen.”

Tuesday, October 7

Giveaway table rule #8

The bottom line is it’s hard to remain enthusiastic about something you can’t see. The items that show up are so random that you need to be constantly reminded of the potential for greatness and wonder. Because it’s mostly just boring old books (see GTR #1) and trash from people’s office. I resolve to go by at least once every two hours but it’s in the middle of nowhere and requires a special trip. I can’t even follow my own second rule. I try but the new giveaway is nowhere near the kitchen or the bathroom.

also> Holy dieticians, Batman! Caitlin gets 16 responses, mostly from nutrition students at Briarcliff College but also Audra Jeremy, a Savvy contributing editor with a masters in food science. Caitlin meets with her at lunch and comes back more excited than ever. Audra thinks it’s a brilliant idea and even makes a few suggestions that Caitlin loves like including historically accurate recipes and adding an exercise component called the Victory Garden Workout—step aerobics with a shovel. Although she has a ton of work to do, Caitlin starts writing her proposal the second she sits down. She promised Audra she’d get a first draft to her by tomorrow.

Monday, October 6

Giveaway table rule #7

Although you might come to respect and even love the second giveaway table in your life, there will always be a special place in your heart for the first. This new table isn’t a complete disaster. Slowly, books are again migrating there.

• Damaged Goods? Women Living with Incurable Sexually Transmitted Diseases by Adina Nack
• Bliss to You: Trixie’s Guide to a Happy Life by Trixie Koontz (dog) as told to Dean Koontz (human)
• The Cure for Anything Is Salt Water: How I Threw My Life Overboard and Found Happiness at Sea by Mary South
• Creating Myself: How I Learned That Beauty Comes in All Shapes, Sizes and Packages, Including Myself by Mia Tyler

revelation> The cover boring. The music engrossing. Go here now, listen to Deena Rubinson and tell me she’s not the next Lucinda Williams (only with better hair). Start with “Happy’s Not My Style,” move on to “Better” and finish with “Saddleshoes and Needles.” Then listen to “Happy’s Not My Style” again. It’s okay. I’ll wait.

Friday, October 3

The giveaway table is moving!
The giveaway table is moving!
THE GIVEAWAY TABLE IS MOVING!

Deep breaths.
Air in. Air out.

Here’s what happened: The web crew hired a deputy editor, which they don’t have room for, so maintenance removed the file cabinet to make space for another cubicle. So the giveaway table is moving to a completely different area. There’s another file cabinet within eyeshot that could easily serve as the giveaway table but apparently the copy department needs it for their tracking sheet and a super-gigantic Webster’s 3 dictionary that I’ve never seen anybody actually use. It’s so unfair. Like, seriously, who needs a dictionary in this day and age? Hello, dead media. Everything’s on Merriam-Webster.com, and, anyway, can’t we all just spell-check?

The new table is miles away. Walk down the hall, turn to the right, walk past three rows of cubicles and maybe you’ll stumble across it. Maybe you won’t. I can’t say for sure because there’s nothing on it yet. Two hours into the life of Free2! Diary of Another Giveaway Table and there’s still nothing there. It’s too far off the beaten path for most of the editors to find, let alone dump their stuff. They’ll probably just throw it away or give it to their assistants.

I’m so sad I want to crawl into the bottom drawer with Betty.

Thursday, October 2

Fruit Flavor Explosion!

Talking Rain Twist Naturals Organic Juice Water in

• West Indies Lime
• Lemon
• Mandarin White Tea
• Pomegranate Blueberry

Hansen’s Natural Sparkling Sleek Soda in

• Blueberry Pomegranate
• Tangerine Green Tea
• Cranberry Grapefruit
• Pomegranate Green Tea
• Valencia Orange

FruitSense drink in

• Pomegranate Blueberry Mangosteen
• Tangerine Grapefruit
• Kiwi Dragon fruit
• Cranberry Raspberry
• Key Lime Colada
• Strawberry Peach Melon

ps> Two weeks later and the Deena Rubinson CD is still there. Poor lonely CD. It hurts me to look at it. And not only because the cover is complete cheese: Lone figure stands on hilltop and trails a long, flowing swath of silver fabric down a steep, rocky incline. Like, come on. You know they totally spent hours and hours trying to get the fabric to flutter artfully in the breeze and then just Photoshopped it in back at the studio. It’s because I can’t stop imagining the poor, hopeful indie singer-songwriter in her studio somewhere creating more songs blissfully unaware that her labor of love is lying discarded in the Manhattan Savvy offices. Obviously, she worked really hard on it. (See discussion of cover.) I make myself feel so bad about the CD, I wind up taking it myself. Sucker.

pps> Online reviews compare her to Lucinda Williams. That has potential. Sure, Lucinda has completely sold out now—she’d totally stand on a lone hilltop in silver if her record company asked—but once upon a time she used to be cool.

Wednesday, October 1

Mama mia!

• The Joy of Pregnancy: The complete, Candid, and Reassuring Companion for Parents to Be by Tori Kropp
• After Miscarriage: Medical Facts and Emotional Support for Pregnancy Loss by Krissi Danielsson
• Dirty Little Secrets from Otherwise Perfect Moms by Trisha Ashworth and Amy Nobile
• Fully Fertile: A 12-Week Plan for Optimal Fertility by Elisabeth Heller
• Designated Daughter: The Bonus Years with Mom by D.G. Fulford
• What to Expect When You’re Expecting, 4th Edition by Heidi Murkoff
• Choosing Single Motherhood: The Thinking Women’s Guide by Mikki Morissette
• Painless Childbirth: An Empowering Journey Through Pregnancy and Childbirth by Giuditta Tornetta