“Wassailing or how I turned an ancient tradition into a modern excuse for a party”

Drinking beer is good for you. Scientists, always on the lookout for those nasty disease causing “radicals”, have apparently isolated a chemical compound found in hops which is used in the brewing process. That compound may help prevent some forms of cancer.

I’m getting a puppy for Christmas

I’m getting a puppy for Christmas. Her name is Molly
When I was a kid, I asked for a dog every Christmas. And every Christmas, I was sensibly informed that because I lived in a row house in Philadelphia, it wouldn’t be fair to a dog to be cooped up there with me. One year, to lessen the pain, I found a Pooch the Pup mechanical dog waiting under the tree for me on Christmas morning. Pooch looked like a dog but he sure didn’t act like a dog, even after we put in the 27 Double A batteries.

“Potential new summer workforce”

“Can I help you?”
That question may soon become one of the most frequently asked work questions for Baby Boomers, many of whom recently woke up to learn that their dreams of retirement had turned into nightmares, thanks largely to twin bogeymen: the greedy and the incompetent. Specifically, unbridled greed of investment bankers and other Wall Street predators and a government so fixated on the absolute rightness of an economic philosophy based upon that greed that it left its practitioners unregulated.

“Welcome to the real world”

The kid just finished college. She did real well too, earning highest honors in science. She waded through calculus and organic chemistry, racked her brain with microbiology and advanced physics. She also took enough coursework in the education field to start her own college.
Now to put all that hard earned knowledge to work in a classroom and get a job.
Uh huh.

Needs vs Wants this holiday season

The kid’s getting a jump on the holiday season. She asked me what I wanted this year.
Bless her heart.
Not that long ago, I used to ask her what she wanted Santa to bring her. But times are tough all over. We’ve dispensed with that Santa bit. In this era of downsizing and lay-offs, we’ve eliminated one layer of bureaucracy entirely, the North Pole. A lot of unemployed elves will be looking for a bailout after the new president is inaugurated in January.

“Economists now believe we’re in trouble”

A recent wire story attempts to horrify us with the grim news that 96% of the economists surveyed for the story now think we’re in a recession.
This is probably the best news I’ve heard on the economic front in recent weeks. Since economists have been wrong about pretty much everything else they’ve “seen” in recent years, having them predicting we’re in a recession is reason to believe that things might be turning around.

“Elections over, the Heat is on”

Elections are over so all the unseasonably warm weather attributable to the hot air of campaign rhetoric is beginning to chill. Mid-November rapidly approaches and with it comes shorter, colder days. The big question on most folks minds is not whether Sarah Palin hurt the McCain campaign. Most people are more concerned about how they’re going to pay winter heating bills.
There are a number of programs out there that offer help. But be aware, they usually have income guidelines and applicants are expected to do some paperwork so be prepared.

The good old days of tight fisted bankers”

Gettting a loan could get tougher. Imagine that. Banks aren’t just giving it away anymore.
After all the bailing out is finished, those banks that do survive will most likely have stringent new rules for any one wishing to borrow. New rules that sound suspiciously like some old rules.
If you want to borrow, you’ll have to have a clear credit record. Pretty radical stuff.
You’ll have to show that you have a steady income and, stranger still, be able to prove it.

Philly Losers Unite

I’m one of those fat, ugly losers from Philly and I’m proud of it.
According to a survey conducted by “Travel and Leisure” magazine, Philadelphians are considered one of the “least stylish, least active, least friendly, and least attractive” people in the country. This on top of a another survey from the American Obesity Association that has consistently ranked Philadelphians among the nation’s top ten cities for chubbiness.

“Will the Real Americans Really Step Up?

“…We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof… We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men. [...] We proclaim ourselves, as indeed we are, the defenders of freedom, wherever it continues to exist in the world, but we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.”