“Smile!” my coworker said to me, as we passed in the hallway. I didn’t respond … out loud. In my head, however, I was thinking, “I am not smiling. I mean, I am not smiling, but why does that have to mean something bad? I am thinking, and it hurts to smile and think at
Okay, I’ll admit it. I am a fan of the reality show/singing competition, “American Idol.” I have been watching it for years, back to the days when Simon Cowell, who everyone loved to hate because he was so frank (and sometimes just plain mean), Paula Abdul (who was too gushy and nice) and Randy Jackson
I love to tell amusing stories from my travels – using the wrong words, making a silly assumption, putting my foot in my mouth or complaining about the heat, the number of steps, or the choice of hotel on a holiday. These anecdotes make readers smile, chuckle, remember a similar “fish out of water” experience
Going into the pandemic in March 2020, many investors (rightfully) questioned whether our national economy would be able to recover. As humans, we are designed with a fight or flight instinct that has preserved our species for thousands of years of recorded history. When it comes to investing, resisting this natural survival instinct is paramount
During the last week of January, the price of the GameStop Corporation stock increased from $20/share to nearly $350/share. The GameStop business model was thought to be in trouble as video game purchases moved online. According to the data collection company, Statista, about 83% of video game purchases are currently made online, compared to 20%
When it comes to snacking, I am always looking for three things: crunchy, filling and delicious. One of my favorites: roasted chickpeas. A great plant-based source of protein, they are also high in fiber, an excellent source of folate and vitamins B and C, and they contain potassium and calcium among other minerals. Whether savory
Many people have taken to the great outdoors during the pandemic to relieve boredom: walking, ice skating, snow-shoeing, sledding, building a snowman or just getting a dose of fresh air during these trying times. And while winter is not my favorite season, I like to bundle up and take a walk on a sunny but
The farther away I get from my days of traveling abroad, the more I have come to appreciate one aspect of my holidays more than any other. It’s not the beaches, though I definitely long for warm sunlight and rolling waves. It’s not the sight of palaces, carved stone and preserved marble to admire. It’s
If you are among the legions of Valentine’s Day haters, you will be happy to know that this highly-commercialized, ooey-gooey, annual celebration of hearts and flowers didn’t exactly start out as a love fest. In fact, the first Valentine’s Day was … well, it was a little awkward. Let’s put it that way. Oh, there
“Cupid, draw back your bow And let your arrow go Straight to my lover’s heart for me.” ~ Sam Cooke Cupid, the spritely and mischievous little putto, has long been the mascot of Valentine’s Day in the United States since Hallmark began producing Valentine’s Day greeting cards in 1916. Often portrayed with his mother,
Between March 2020 and January 2021, the price of a Bitcoin skyrocketed from $6,000 to $40,000. This leads to the question of whether Bitcoin is a “bubble” like the dot com stocks were in the late 1990s and the housing market was in the mid-2000s. It is hard to identify a bubble; just because an
As I write this, we are just a few days from the inauguration of President Biden and ushering forth the Biden-Harris administration. To say that the past two months have been interesting, politically, would be an understatement. I had hoped that this election would be a landslide (one way or the other) to give us
