Avoiding Trouble Isn’t Always Painless

Our campus is invaded every summer by groups of high school students  from around the world, here as part of two 3-week programs designed to give them first-hand experience of life at a ivy league university. Great experience for them if they actually take advantage of it.  Mostly I see them walking the campus in [...]

Living in Stressful Times

I’ve been reverting to very old habits as the weeks have passed with more dreadful economic news every time we turn around.  I know it’s not healthy but there is comfort, albeit shortlived, in eating candy and salty stuff instead of making a healthy meal or taking a walk at lunch time.
We are facing budget [...]

Watching the Weather

When you travel in winter months, and especially if you live in the Northeast, you watch the weather forecast like a hawk.  Multiply that with extra stress when the travel plans are for holiday travel.  I refuse to mess with it for Thanksgiving, which is just one day plus football, crammed into a narrow window [...]

Overwhelmed, Depressed, Sad and Angry

The second presidential debate is on tonight but I don’t know yet if I will watch it.  I just don’t know how much more of this garbage I can take – the economy is tanking, my retirement money is flushing down the tubes, prices are up, homes are being foreclosed, jobs are unstable, stress levels [...]

Day in Insurance Hell

The sinking feeling started when I saw the envelope from the insurance company. It was highly unlikely that they would be writing to wish me a nice day or send money, and they didn’t. Instead, it was a Claim Summary that basically said I was going to end up owing someone $450. [...]

My Adventure Getting to New Orleans

I started this morning at the tiny airport in New Haven, a place with only one national airline and without any liquid refreshments of any variety. The first flight of the day had been canceled but ours was good to go and we all dutifully trooped through security and waited. Until it dawned on [...]