Susan Martin
- Susan Martin: Note to self: Start that to-do list
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Updated: 02/05/10 8:47 AM This time of year, I find myself wanting to make a few changes around the house without spending much money.
(Updated: 02/05/10 8:47 AM )
- Susan Martin: Toe socks can tickle your fancy
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Updated: 01/29/10 7:54 AM Toe socks are a new addition to our household. Tween parents know of what I speak. Usually knee-high, toe socks are essentially gloves for the feet.
(Updated: 01/29/10 7:54 AM )
- Furnishing those first apartments
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Updated: 01/22/10 7:07 AM Irecently read an article from the Washington Post about cost-effective ways to transform a rental into a place to call your own.
(Updated: 01/22/10 7:07 AM )
Alan Pergament
- Pergament: Times are changing for cable users, too
- NEWS TV CRITIC
Updated: 02/08/10 9:04 AM With the arrival of another unpopular rate hike and increased competition, Time Warner Cable wants to get its message out about plans that it expects will please its subscribers.
(Updated: 02/08/10 9:04 AM )
- Pergament: ‘Undercover Boss’ a covert op in the workplace
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Updated: 02/04/10 8:02 AM It is tempting to call the new CBS series “Undercover Boss” trash TV. After all, it’s a reality show and Sunday’s post-Super Bowl premiere highlights the boss of Waste Management, a company that picks up trash, recycles and cleans port-o-potties.
(Updated: 02/04/10 8:02 AM )
- Growth of bandwidth no boom for stations
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NEWS TV CRITIC
Updated: 02/01/10 4:35 PM When the so-called digital transition arrived, one of the popular theories was that the extra channels available to local stations had the potential to lead to a programming and advertising boom.
(Updated: 02/01/10 4:35 PM )
Jeff Simon
- Jeff Simon: Oprah the winner as Leno loses battle to restore his image on her program
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Updated: 01/29/10 8:11 AM The doctor was in Thursday afternoon. And it seems to me doubtful that it made any difference.
(Updated: 01/29/10 8:11 AM )
- Jeff Simon: The Oscar drama begins to build
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Updated: 02/02/10 8:21 AM The film was unappealingly titled “K- 19: The Widowmaker.” It starred Harrison Ford, but even Ford fans could be forgiven for giving the film wide berth. There weren’t many reasons to see it, frankly.
(Updated: 02/02/10 8:21 AM )
- Jeff Simon: The hip jazz local radio ignores
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Updated: 01/26/10 8:22 AM The decidedly unlikely name of the group is Mostly Other People Do the Killing.
(Updated: 01/26/10 8:22 AM )
Janice Okun
- Gourmandise
Updated: 04/05/09 7:45 AMMystery pecan pie is one of 410 recipes in “Pillsbury Best of the Bake-Off Cookbook: Recipes from Americas Favorite Cooking Contest” (Wiley, $29.95). Mary McClain was the $1,000 winner in the 16th bake-off contest in 1964. The collection of recipes includes all the $1 million grand prize recipes, as well as those that have become classics, such as the tunnel of fudge cake or French silk chocolate pie.
(Updated: 04/05/09 7:45 AM )
- Gourmandise
Updated: 03/22/09 7:49 AMJanice Okun
(Updated: 03/22/09 7:49 AM )
- Gourmandise
Updated: 03/08/09 7:07 AMJanice Okun
(Updated: 03/08/09 7:07 AM )
Jeff Miers
- Sound Check: New discs bode well for 2010
Updated: 02/05/10 8:08 AMNow that we know that, of all the music released in 2009, Taylor Swift’s album is the best of the best, we can get back to our insignificant little universe where all that glitters isn’t necessarily gold.
(Updated: 02/05/10 8:08 AM )
- Jeff Miers: Pop extravaganza fails to represent today’s music
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News Pop Music Critic
Updated: 02/01/10 7:19 PM “Music’s biggest night,” they call it. Well, it was big, all right. But size isn’t everything, apparently.
(Updated: 02/01/10 7:19 PM )
- Smithereens are among the artists who have perfected the genre
Updated: 01/29/10 1:00 PMThere’s a litmus test for power pop songs, one that decides with permanence whether said song should be filed beneath the heading “classic” or “Meh, so-so.”
(Updated: 01/29/10 1:00 PM )
Miss Manners
- Miss Manners: Polite way to turn suitor down
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Updated: 02/09/10 8:17 AM Dear Miss Manners: There is a young man I met through mutual friends at college who has been asking me out. I considered him an acquaintance— an acquaintance I had become increasingly unfond of.
(Updated: 02/09/10 8:17 AM )
- With friends like these . . .
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Updated: 02/07/10 6:38 AM Dear Miss Manners: When I was laid off after six years, it was not unexpected—there had been a change of ownership over a year ago, and it was only a matter of time until the entire “old management team” was replaced. I was actually thankful, considering how unhappy I had been, and the fact that I’m now eligible for unemployment insurance.
(Updated: 02/07/10 6:38 AM )
- Miss Manners: Rudeness escalates; what now?
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Updated: 02/04/10 8:07 AM Dear Miss Manners: I foolishly did something I should not have. I’m very embarrassed to have made such an error, and of course have rectified the situation. Honestly, it was pretty minor.
(Updated: 02/04/10 8:07 AM )
Carolyn Hax
- Don’t try makeover on grandma
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Updated: 02/07/10 6:38 AM Dear Carolyn: My wife shares my views of the extreme difficulty, on a few fronts, of her mother’s extended visits to our home. My wife is amenable to discussions with her mom, but fears we may be expecting too much from her—a 60-year-old woman whom we both agree is a very unusual combination of neutral congeniality and stone-quiet stoicism.
(Updated: 02/07/10 6:38 AM )
- Upset at daughter’s breakup
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Updated: 02/05/10 6:44 AM Dear Carolyn: My 25-year-old daughter met a guy about a year ago. He’s the perfect partner for her. She told me that he is “the one” and that she loves him so much. My whole family welcomed him as one of our own. They did everything together, even adopted a dog. They moved in together two months ago.
(Updated: 02/05/10 6:44 AM )
- Daughters need to learn tough lessons
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Updated: 01/31/10 6:12 AM Dear Carolyn: I am a mother of two teenage girls, 16 and 13. They are both bright. Both of them, however, have a habit that drives me completely out of my mind.
(Updated: 01/31/10 6:12 AM )
Dear Abby
- Dear Abby: Turning 50 is occasion to celebrate
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Updated: 02/09/10 8:17 AM Dear Abby: “49 and Holding” (Dec. 5), who doesn’t want her daughter to give her a 50th birthday party, needs to grow up and learn to celebrate life instead of hiding from the fact that she’s growing older. She is aging because she’s alive—and what a blessing that is.
(Updated: 02/09/10 8:17 AM )
- Dear Abby: Revealing past abuse causes pain
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Updated: 02/08/10 7:57 AM Dear Abby: My parents divorced when I was 6, and my father remarried when I was 8.My father got custody of my brother and me. A year later, my half-sister was born and that’s when my stepmother began physically and mentally abusing me.
(Updated: 02/08/10 7:57 AM )
- Dad misses kissing young sons
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Updated: 02/07/10 6:38 AM Dear Abby: When my three sons were small, I used to kiss them on the lips as a sign of affection. Now they are 13, 11 and 8, and it has been several years since I have done it. With the youngest, I can still get away with an occasional peck on the cheek—but not my older boys. My family roots are Scandinavian. Growing up, I used to hate that we rarely showed our emotions. As a single dad who tries hard to lead by example, how do I reintroduce this healthy demonstration of love?
(Updated: 02/07/10 6:38 AM )
Liz Smith
- John Mayer rambles on
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Updated: 02/03/10 7:01 AM “I’ve never gotten over it, it was one of the worst times of my life.” That’s rocker John Mayer on his breakup with Jennifer Aniston. Too bad for John. Miss Aniston has recovered nicely, to Gerard Butler.
(Updated: 02/03/10 7:01 AM )
- Joan Collins keeps rolling
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Updated: 01/29/10 6:43 AM “Liz, do you mind if we cut this short? See, I’m baby-sitting my 5-year-old grandchild, and we just made sugar cookies!”
(Updated: 01/29/10 6:43 AM )
- The paparazzo’s view
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Updated: 01/20/10 6:59 AM “This book is about my many confrontations— with Marlon Brando, Jackie Onassis, Richard Burton, Sean Penn, Sam Shepard and other celebs, as well as various bodyguards and other paparazzi. . . . I’ve come to expect battle scars . . . but in the end I survived!”
(Updated: 01/20/10 6:59 AM )
Other Life Columns
- Dr. Rallie McAllister: Indulge in dark chocolate
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Updated: 02/09/10 8:18 AM This Valentine’s Day, you may find yourself on the receiving end of a gift of chocolate. As long as it’s chocolate of the dark variety, feel free to indulge—it’s good for your heart.
(Updated: 02/09/10 8:18 AM )
- People’s Pharmacy: Worried about statins
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Updated: 02/09/10 8:16 AM Q. My primary-care doctor wants to put me on statins to lower my cholesterol, and that scares me to death. Several family members and friends who have been put on statins have become incapacitated at some point.
(Updated: 02/09/10 8:16 AM )
- John Rosemond: Ban cell phones in school
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Updated: 02/08/10 7:57 AM Jon Akers, director of the Kentucky Center for School Safety, has written an online essay calling on school systems to prohibit students from having cell phones in their possession during school hours ( www.kysafeschools.org ). He presents an iron-clad argument to the effect that student cell phones are not just unnecessary but contribute to bullying, underachievement, sexual harassment, disciplinary issues, including cheating, and even criminal activity. In the course of his research, Akers learned that whereas almost all school systems initially attempted to prohibit or restrict student use of cell phones, most have capitulated to pressure from parents and students. In some cases, the obvious choice has been made to ignore violations; in others, the matter has been deferred by state-level bureaucrats to individual schools or districts. That buck-passing has resulted in largely ineffectual attempts at control. Needless to say, it doesn’t take a teenager long to figure out that a rule isn’t going to be consistently enforced, much less figure out how to use a cell phone without being detected, as in texting.
(Updated: 02/08/10 7:57 AM )