I read a great poem once that forever holds a special place in my heart. Today, as I chatted with a friend via Facebook, I knew the person on the other side of the chat window was one of my lifetime friends. No matter how much time passes between phone calls, IMs, or actual face-to-face visits, we act as though we saw each other yesterday. I honestly can't remember the last time I gave him a hug. He lives on the other side of the country, and his visits to the east coast are usually spen... Read Full Story

I'm all for changing habits and behaviors in the interest of protecting Mother Earth. I teach my kids to reduce, reuse, and recycle regularly. In fact, most days when we walk to and from school, we collect trash and recyclables along the way to properly dispose of them when we get home.Now, according to this article the US is recommending we paint flat roofs white, or another non-heat absorbing color.It could work. But I wonder if the practicality of actually implementing will ultimately ... Read Full Story

Is it just me, or is it a little ironic that on the same page the Baltimore Sun features an article about author Michael Pollan's book In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto which lists several rules for eating healthy, is an article about and a huge picture of and article about a deep-fried sandwich that has been deemed MD's ultimate burger? Read Full Story

The internet is filled with oodles of sites listing online coupon codes and "deals of the day" announcements. But few combine all of that with a focus on building a community of web-savvy shoppers willing to share the best deals around.Enter Buxr.com: a site that not only provides the coupon codes for thousands of on-line merchants, but allows its free-to-join community of members to provide details of other sales not provided by Buxr.com. Sales could be on-line or in-store, and onc... Read Full Story

I'm a recovering control freak. That means I'm learning to stop trying to control anything and anyone other than myself. The insanity of thinking I can control what anyone else does, thinks, feels, says, means... just name a verb... is as insane as thinking I can control the weather. In many recovery programs, there's this 12 step approach. Even if you only know someone who knows someone in a 12 step recovery program, you've probably heard of the approach. If you're curiou... Read Full Story

I heard this song the other day on my drive home from... somewhere. It's been a while since I could call a song my life theme. And this one is perfect. Here's the link to the video.And here are the lyrics. They speak volumes to me.Ride lyricsSongwriters: Davey, Michael; Dorff, Andrew; Robbins, Chris;YeahYou wake up from your dreamin' and you don't want to face the dayYou can't find a reason to think your world will ever changeYou can hide beneath the coversOr you can run o... Read Full Story

There's this website called Faceboook, and unless you've been living under a rock for the last 2 years, you've heard of it. You might even have your own profile up and running on the web. Chances are pretty good that if you have your own Facebook profile, you have a list of Friends with whom you like to stay connected.Friending on Facebook does not necessarily mean you have a deep, meaningful relationship. It could just mean the friend is someone you knew once and just want an eas... Read Full Story

I'm so jazzed that my husband and I scored tickets to this year's Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Baily Circus. We hadn't originally planned to go, since this year has already taken us to Disney World and on two ski trips. But then this deal landed in our laps, and we're going.The kids don't know yet. Since we love to surprise our little ones (and because the "how much longer" game is really un-fun for us) we probably won't tell them until we park at 1st Mari... Read Full Story

Let me tell you about my friend Bwana. We went to high school together and good ol' Laurel High. We were there when busing kids from one part of the PG County to another in achieve racial balance was all the rage. We were in what was called the "University High School" program (UHS). Supposedly, UHS was supposed to better prepare us all for college. Whether that's true or not, I don't know. What I do know, is that because of UHS I got to meet lots of really cool kids tha... Read Full Story

Please tell me that the article in this week's Columbia Flyer about a local couple, living in Columbia for 30 years, is fighting to keep the vinyl siding they installed 16 years ago because someone just now decided to report the violation isn't true.Really? Is this what our community has come to? Isn't there some kind of statute of limitations that could apply here? According to the article:(Susan Rose)said she and her husband just wanted to install a higher-quality, lower-mainten... Read Full Story