I’ve never understood why healthy people regularly go to the doctor to find out if they’re sick. I go to the dermatologist once a year, and only because I live in South Florida, where we get skin cancer looking out the window. My only other doctor is the gynecologist, who I see when the pile [...]
I was running low on things to worry about when The New York Times came through with a string of articles about the perils of plastic. The first informed me that the bottles, bags and jars we put into recycling bins because they’re labeled recyclable might not be recycled after all. Many end up in [...]
Hugh Grant just gave me a great idea. He made a public appeal for the return of a bag stolen from his car. That made me realize I needed to make a similar public appeal. See, I had a bag snatched from my car around the same time as Grant. But unlike the British actor, [...]
I’m dating myself here, but I remember a time when a friend was someone I’d not only met in person, but actually liked. I’d been to most friends’ homes. They’d been to mine. I’d known most for years, sometimes decades. We’d grown close mostly by talking – at work, at school, sometimes over the phone. [...]
News of The New York Times’ plan to cut half its copy-editing jobs has copy editors in a snit. I can’t imagine why. Sacked editors will be scarfed up like tickets to a Taylor Swift concert. After all, there’s nothing this country needs more than copy editors. Bad grammar is rampant. So are misspellings and [...]
I have a tough time understanding why anyone would worry about the shortage of doctors, or for that matter, the cost of health care. I’ve met countless people who enjoy nothing more than giving medical advice. Unlike folks with M.D. after their names, they’re willing to work nights, weekends and holidays, for absolutely no cost. [...]
I’ve travelled enough to know that getting around in a foreign land isn’t always easy, especially if I don’t speak the language. Still, I’ve always felt the rewards outweigh the hardships, until I visited Anaheim. I was there to explore while Bob attended a conference. I wasn’t interested in riding flying elephants or spinning teacup, [...]
The last time I went to a primary-care doctor, I left with a lollypop. It’s not just the absence of candy that kept me away all these decades since, although a Mounds bar would have made me think twice. The real reason I’ve stayed away is that I just saw no need to have a [...]