As the years pass, I notice how the holidays have begun to line up like a string of Christmas lights.
The holidays have always been festive times for me, bright and happy moments so much different than the rest of life. I remember when all the cousins used to gather at my grandmother’s trailer, a trailer that smelled a bit like cinnamon and a bit like your favorite stuffed animal. The kitchen radiated heat and laughter while us kids sat on the lone couch or leaned up against it and …

Christmas starts earlier every year.
We know that. As technology improves and competition increases, businesses have pushed Christmas up. This year, for the first time that I have seen, Christmas was pushed up before Thanksgiving. I can’t remember how many stores had Christmas items for sale, and nothing promoting Thanksgiving, but I do remember it was at least half of those I visited. Maybe it was the economy. Maybe they were just trying to beat their competition to the early sales. Maybe Christmas sells better than Thanksgiving.
I find it disappointing that …

By Jason M. Ivarson
Want to know how to lose fat by running? Then take a couple of minutes to read this article. There are a few things you can implement right away to sky rocket your weight loss success with running. Here they are.
1. Bursts
This is what you do. When you run, you are probably going at about 40-60%, correct?
After you have been doing some light running, burst into a hard run (100%) for 15 seconds straight. Feel free to go longer if you feel this is too short. …

In recent years, I get terribly excited as summer ends. I love summer, the long days, the warm weather, the relaxed, vacation feel the days have. But summer is just an appetizer to the time of year that really excites me. Hunting season.
For me, hunting season starts at the beginning of September and lasts nearly to Christmas. It is four glorious months, not because I love killing things (quite the contrary – I often pass up quite a few shots because I just enjoy seeing the game and want to …

I was ten when I went to my first auction, an actual stone and mortar building that looked like a converted garage. My father and I sat down in brown metal bi-fold chairs with our number and waited to bid. It was an estate auction and the newspaper had mentioned a very large baseball card collection.
I was a huge baseball card fan at a time when baseball cards were big business. Everyone was collecting them. They had packs of fifteen cards at every checkout counter in the grocery stores, …

Ahmed A. Khan’s incredible range is apparent in this collection of fifteen stories.

It is easy to cut back on some expenses. We can cut back on how much alcohol we buy, or the clothes we buy, or our movie club memberships, but it is hard to cut back spending on food. We need food to survive and we like it. At least I do. Hey, we eat three times a day, seven days a week. We might as well enjoy it, right? But enjoying often means spending a lot of money.
College food really taught me how to cook. My first week …

Did you know having a plan can save you money? What does a plan do? If you don’t have a plan for your money, it will disappear. And it will disappear to the places you have the least discipline.
Most of us think that getting a raise will solve our problems. Unfortunately, whether we get one or not is often not up to us. We can certainly work harder and make ourselves valuable, but our bosses may not be able to give us raises. However, we can in effect give our …

By Norman A. Rubin
(When you look into a mirror you do not see your reflection – your reflection sees you. – Japanese proverb)
Something weird had happened in my life a few years back. A strange man in his elder years moved into my house. He just entered with bag and baggage without even uttering an ‘if you please’. I had no idea at first who this stranger was, where he came from, or how he entered, but I do know that he is residing in my house right now. One …

By Bus Goldberg
Travelers grow and evolve over a period of time. The desire to experience different things, new cultures and places is a very strong motivating factor for a traveler. He looks forward to his next adventure and to exploring a new destination. When a traveler stops traveling, a certain part of him dies – sometimes when we get very old it becomes physically impossible to travel; other travelers may retire prematurely when they settle down to raise a family or become absorbed in a career. In addition, some people …