31Jan 2012 by CJ

The #1 Motivation to Lose Weight – look at old pictures

Life & Living, Youth
You can try all the dieting fads you want. But the best way to motivate yourself to lose weight is to break out the old photo albums for a trip down memory lane. At a recent family dinner, while thumbing through a few random images from the past, I got quite the reality check.  It’s been almost 11 years since my wife and I got married and I couldn’t believe what I looked like at my engagement party. Not to toot my own horn, but I looked pretty damn good. I was thin and well dressed, my hair seemed to fall perfectly into place and my skin looked, well, young! I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. If not for the evidence in my hand, I’m not so sure I’d…
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29Jan 2012 by CJ

The #1 Site for Beautiful People has nothing to do with real beauty

Information & Education, Life & Living
In July of 2009, I penned a column focusing on Ashley Madison - an online dating site geared towards those already in a committed relationship, but looking for something more. Their motto? “Life is short, have an affair.” Now there's Beautiful People. The existence of such a site surprised me at the time - as did its popularity with millions of everyday citizens paying for the ability to cheat on their significant others. And while I wanted to believe that Ashley Madison was in fact the most extreme and bizarre online dating site I’d come across, I recently stumbled upon a new, and slightly more disturbing entry to the fray. The site is BeautifulPeople.com. While the name and its slogan, “Where beautiful relationships begin,” might seem innocent at first, its…
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25Jan 2012 by CJ

Get out of your comfort zone to be what you might have been

Life & Living
I’m not a big fan of change, even though typically the end results are beneficial to some part of my life. Still, I like being wrapped in my comfort zone like a warm, familiar blanket you’ve had hanging around for years. But that resistance can oftentimes rob you of opportunities, which may exist outside the safe haven you’ve created in your own little world. Opportunities which might establish new relationships, foster new careers and open your mind to new ideas you’ve been resistant to embrace. When you think about it logically, every decision we make poses some kind of risk to our routine. An upheaval of our day-to-day practices for a greater unknown, which many times can frighten even the most courageous of individuals. One such area has always been…
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23Jan 2012 by CJ

Drivers are more plentiful than ever and the experience has changed

Life & Living, Youth
"The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above average drivers."Dave Barry, Things That It Took Me 50 Years to Learn This morning my wife and I commuted to work together, while our other car was being serviced. On the rare occasion when this happens, we usually share the driving responsibilities - her taking the morning drivers commute and me relegated to the evening shift. We're all about balance in my household. While sitting in the passenger's seat, I came to the realization that being carted around from point A to point B is not a bad way to go through life. There I sat in utter relaxation -…
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17Jan 2012 by CJ

Friendships lasting over 50 years must be doing something right

Life & Living, Love & Relationships, Youth
Every relationship evolves - riding up and down on an endless roller coaster through life. For friendships however, the bonds that once united you don't always keep you together. Elisabeth Foley once said, "The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart." Elisabeth Foley As many of us grow and mature, so do the relationships we once had. Our lives take us in different directions with new interests and discoveries - never diminishing the time we once spent together, but certainly changing the dynamics. But that doesn't happen to everyone I'm happy to say. My mother-in-law and her friend Mary have known each other since they were teenagers. It's a friendship that's lasted over 50 years, surviving times of struggle and times of joy.…
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