Why Do Great Products Disappear Without Explanation?

I’ve got a very tough beard, and I hate to shave, so I’m always looking for products to make the chore of shaving less time consuming and arduous.  Karen first bought me this product, Gillette Multiglide Shaving Gel, over a year ago, and I’ve loved it.  Not only did it make the shaving easier, it [...]

I’m Bullish on Istanbul!

I just returned from a week in Istanbul, conducting an executive education program for Coca-Cola Icecek.  While the air trip was long, and Munich is an airport to avoid, the stay itself in Istanbul was wonderful.  I was able to make a new friend in fellow Princeton alum Mehmet Ali Neyzi, who was a wonderful [...]

Don’t Drink and Drive, Unless You Drink 12-Ounce Diet Cokes and Drive a Hybrid

We’ll, we dodged a bullet by leasing rather than buying our Toyota Highlander four years ago. We just turned it in, and even though we got hit with a $1200 disposal cost (including “excessive” wear and tear), at least we don’t have to worry about $4.00+ gasoline costs now that Karen is driving a [...]

High School Juniors: Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May

In today’s Wall Street Journal is another reminder of how we are robbing our youth of their happiness while pretending to say we care about it:

Almost two-thirds of middle- and upper-middle-income high school students in the San Francisco Bay Area told researchers that they were “often or always” stressed by schoolwork, according to a series [...]

Staples Responds in Moment of Truth, Office Depot Still in Limbo

[Update: It has now been an more than a year and a half, and Office Depot still hasn't responded to my email. I continue to order from Staples with great success.]
If you’re simply looking to find your order status on Staples.com, then this is what you need to do:
www.staples.com/orderstatus
Enter in order # XXXXXXXXX [...]

Members of Congress Get Cars (and Gas) for Free

Update:
This post has been one of our most active, with hundreds of views since I wrote it.  It’s no surprise, with gas approach $4.00 in our town (Durham, NC), and with the airwaves bloated with promises by Congress and the Presidential candidates promising to “do something.”  I’d rather these elected officials stop spending our money [...]

Most Men are Not Animals Like Eliot Spitzer, or David Paterson, Either

So, the vast majority of animal species aren’t monogamous, as noted in this New York Times essay today:
It’s all been done before, every snickering bit of it, and not just by powerful “risk-taking” alpha men who may or may not be enriched for the hormone testosterone. It’s been done by many other creatures, tens of [...]

I Found My Mate as a Date in College

Although”officially” Karen and began dating the summer before I went off to college, we dated each other throughout college and she was my “steady” (a term probably unheard of on today’s college campuses. So once again, I felt like I was a Neanderthal when I read this in today’s Wall Street Journal:

College life has [...]

Trusting Realtors is a tricky business

In this wary housing market, one home buyer is going to sue her realtor for faulty information on the fair price of the house she bought. It is easy to see how market valuation is a slippery slope when your commission comes out of your recommendation.
We have had bad luck with realtors, as well, [...]

Books to Read in 2008 from 2007

Here’s my response to a Wall Street Journal forum based on Cynthia Crossen’s best books of 2007:
Of the books I read in 2007 (too few), they couldn’t be less similar on the surface: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and Epic by John Eldridge. The first is long and agnostic, and the second [...]