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Happiness: focus on the process, not the outcome

Professor Srikumar S. Rao discusses why you already have what you need to be happy. You just have to ditch the “if..then” mental construct of happiness and focus your attention on the process itself. I think he’s on to something, though his explanation of how to re-configure this mental challenge is a bit inadequate. You … Read more

How the Arizona Hiking Shack made me a repeat customer

Local businesses can really rock sometimes. Case in point: the Arizona Hiking Shack. The Arizona Hiking Shack is what you might expect from an independent outdoor retailer jammed into an awkward, ill-conceived corner of a strip mall dedicated to antiques and other worthless items. Once inside, you’ll find the trend continues. No sexy display racks, ADA compliant pathways, … Read more

End of an era: why “The Simpsons” no longer matters

Salon recently published an interview with author John Ortved about The Simpsons entitled “Why ‘The Simpsons’ no longer matters.” It’s a short but good interview and worth the quick read. Like many people my age, I grew up on The Simpsons. I remember watching it while it was still an odd series of shorts on … Read more

Free admission days at metro Phoenix museums

If you haven’t already checked out a Culture Pass, you need to. They’re available for “check-out” from your local Phoenix-area library and will admit four adults for free to one of several museums: Arizona Historical Society Arizona Museum of Natural History Arizona Museum for Youth Arizona Science Center The Bead Museum which is now closed … Read more

Finding a Dublin Dr Pepper in Denver

I received an interesting email a couple of days ago from some guy named Jason. It read: I know this is a random question, but I have a friend in Denver that has been looking everywhere for Dublin Dr. Pepper and I found a photo on your flickr stream of a Dublin Dr. Pepper on tap … Read more

Having trouble joining cd tracks in iTunes? Try this.

For the last few months, I’ve had trouble joining cd tracks before importing a cd into iTunes. I do very little book-reading these days, so instead I listen to audiobooks. I’ve enjoyed being an audible customer, but in an effort to cut down on expenses, I have since re-discovered the public library. The Phoenix Public … Read more

RIP George Carlin

You brought much-needed social commentary into our lives and managed to make it funny, too.