Our five-year-old grandson, Luke, and his friend Everett play a game called Cheesy-Weezy. When riding in the car, they’re on the hunt for yellow vehicles. The first person to spot one and yell ”Cheesy-Weezy” gets a point. The game continues until the destination is reached or until one of three things occurs. 1) The adult in the car becomes exasperated by the cries of “Cheesy-Weezy”, 2) intense arguing ensues over who yelled Cheesy-Weezy first, or 3) full-fledged warfare breaks out over who has accumulated the most points. If you’ve never played Cheesy-Weezy, I dare you to try it. You’ll be shocked at the number of yellow vehicles you’ll see. And once you start looking for yellow vehicles, you’ll see them… [Read More]

A former neighbor had a dog named O.C. “So,” I asked my neighbor one day, “does O.C. stand for something?” “Yes,” he replied. “It stands for ‘Out-of-Control’”. In spite of multiple doggie etiquette schools and numerous canine behavior modification classes, O.C. did what O.C. wanted to do when O.C. wanted to do it. He was, indeed, appropriately named. When you think about, there are many things in life that are out of your control. The weather, wars, the stock market, the past, government, foreign policy, gasoline prices, inflation, airline delays, traffic…the list is long. But at the top of the list of things that you and i can’t control is Other People. We’d like to; we try to, but it… [Read More]

We live in a blaming world. We want to point the finger and put the blame of others. We blame the Democrats, the Republicans, the economy, the weather, the traffic, the company, the boss, co-workers, the past, family – the list goes on and on, doesn’t it? We want to blame the circumstances and people in our lives for what we perceive to be the misfortunes that may have come our way. In the workplace, we want to blame messes, mistakes, misunderstandings, mishaps, miscalculations, and mismanagement on anyone and everyone – anyone, that is, but ourselves. If it’s your tendency to be a finger-pointer or a blamer, you also may have the tendency to take the role of a victim…. [Read More]

The late comedienne Joan Rivers was famous for her line “Can we talk?” Songwriters have composed songs with that title, and in a recent front-page article in the Dallas Morning News, it was reported that a cross-country trekker named Chris Andrews has made it his goal to break America’s phone fixation by encouraging people to talk. He’s walking across the country to inspire folks to have real, face-to-face, eyeball-to-eyeball conversations. What a concept! It’s not that Andrews is anti-technology. On the contrary, he carries a smartphone and a camera and even has a website (www.LetsTalkUSA.com). His mission is simply to get people to balance technology with human contact. As a recovering smartphone addict, Andrews believes that our devices have caused… [Read More]

It’s December – certainly one of the busiest months of the year. It’s a time when businesses are wrapping up deals, preparing year-end reports, drafting next year’s budget, and tying up the loose ends of 2016. In your personal life, it’s a time when you decorate, shop, wrap, cook, clean, travel, send holiday cards, plan and/or attend social events and school functions, and attend services at your church or synagogue. In the metropolitan area where I live, there are literally hundreds of concerts, shows, plays, recitals, special performances, parades, caroling and Christmas tree lighting events scheduled every afternoon and evening. It’s the month when we get together with family and friends to enjoy Christmas or Hanukkah and New Year’s Eve… [Read More]