Hands

Larry David didn't want to shake hands. Nothing personal -- no hard feelings at work here. It was, in fact, a very pleasant, amiable lunch between the three of us -- me, and the two Larrys, the funny, neurotic, cranky, fictional star of "Curb Your Enthusiasm," and the funny, neurotic, less cranky, real-life man who created the celebrated HBO show, now a couple of episodes into its seventh season. But what made the "no-shake" stance unusual was the introductory handshake. No hesitation there.

Punching BlackBerrys, scrolling iPods and clicking video game controllers are keeping a new generation of hands busy, but it's the old hands that are more likely to experience pain. At 30, Justin Silberberg is part of the generation that spent countless hours outside of work surfing the Web, scrolling an iPod, text messaging on a BlackBerry and playing video games.

Ed Reimers, the veteran television and commercial announcer with the deep, resonant voice who for more than two decades reassured viewers that "You're in good hands with Allstate," has died. He was 96. Reimers, an early on-air personality at KTTV-Channel 11 in Los Angeles in the 1950s, died Sunday of age-related causes at his daughter Kathryn R. Manning's home in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. For 22 years, beginning in 1957, Reimers was the TV spokesman for Allstate Insurance Co., memorably cupping his hands and delivering the company's famous slogan at the end of the commercials.

Iwas at my girlfriend Nancy's home in Hancock Park. She was out with a friend, and her 15-year-old son, Oliver, and I had just finished eating our superb 10:30 p.m. dinner -- al pastor al pastor tacos from the truck on 3rd Street and Normandie. He had gone upstairs to go to bed. The next day would be the first day of school after summer vacation. I was watching a recorded episode of "Entourage" when Zeke, our golden retriever mix, got up and looked out the thick wood-and-glass front door.

I have bedroom doors to repaint by Christmas, but I keep getting interrupted by petty emergencies. One day, the wireless Internet goes kaput. The next day, the underlighting in the kitchen. It just confirms what I've long suspected. All houses are a little haunted. Those girlish screams you hear from the street, like a baby-sitter being tortured? That's me trying to fix the wireless Internet. The help message I got when the DSL line went down was complete gibberish. Tell me, do I look like a Caltech geek?