What a horrible custom!  Let's stop this horror! 

Once a year most large offices where folks don't hardly know each other or know enough to resent each other participate in a  Chinese Pollyanna.

Before I blast this horrible horrible thing rightously, here are the details if you have never been a part of one of these tortourous affairs.

Here is how it works:

1. Participants contribute a gift.  Ideally you bring something anyone would enjoy. You all gather for the exchange.

2. Prepare slips of paper equal to the number of gifts with clearly written numbers.  Write out six and nine as 6 and 9 look the same on a scratch paper. 1 from 7. Everyone draws a number.

3. Whoever draws number one goes first.  They pick from the pile of wrapped gifts. Heaven forbid you really like your gift.

4. Whoever drew number two goes next. But... they also get the option of "stealing" a gift opened by any predecessor in this case, it is the only person that opened a gift.  In short... person number one.  The person whom gift had theirs stolen, now opens yet another gift in hopes that no one else will take their gift.  

5. The person who drew number three is our next victim. They pick a gift, pray they don't like it (joke) and wait for the next person to victimize them by taking their gift. . If all goes well, they avoid you and pick an opened gift someone else is in love with.

Here are the other details in case you actually want to torture yourself at Christmas.

1. This party's gift theme is X.
2. The gift theme also follows a price range.
3. The gift should be something someone would actually want or use. It should be in new or good condition. However gag ...   more »

I'd like to examine the word "shallow" today.  Why is not so important. Let's just say I get a lot of e-mail about a lot of subject matter.  Some of which I find disturbing, some of which I find great for writing material.   I'd rather just discuss the word and how shallow behavior or shallow people affect us in our daily lives.

If you look up the word shallow using sites like Wikipedia you'll find that shallow is a tough word.  It reaches beyond genders; it can exist in young or old.  Although you would expect younger people to grow out of  being shallow.  Yet if you think about it, perhaps it is the people that have been around the world that become shallow. 

You've seen me write a lot about people lacking a moral compass.  A shallow person may have that trait but what shallow ultimately is in a person that knowingly disregards the need for emotional depth and intellect.   A person that doesn't have these qualities without purposely disregarding it may be considered dim or mentally retarded.  There are other words you can use, but the point is the person ultimately is not conscious of their behavior.

In short a shallow person is not merely unconcerned what others may think of them, a shallow person aims to not care.   Again there is an element of lacking an moral foundation in that person, but it is conjoined with the lack of depth that makes a person shallow.

If you think about it a person lacking a moral compass as I've discussed in past articles is someone that really can care less what you think and is intellectually on par with you.  I suppose they don't have to be.  There are rapist and killers and thieves out there that ...   more »

OK, the question has to have crossed your mind... You are divorced.  You are a father.  How can you possibly be relevant?

Here is the lowdown...  I'm a great friend.  Good cook (and getting better), I'm handy with a hammer, I'm tech heavy and even play paintball.  I look at life through my own unique prism that for the most part is always positive.   Out on a date, shopping for groceries... with the boys (my kids) I have a habit of seeing things in a way that keeps it simple.  I poke fun at life and keep my kids and everyone around me on their toes.  You can count on me to be considerate of everyone, not just the people I'm with, but with everyone I come in contact with.  I'm even calm under pressure.  Well, I may not be exactly calm as I'm an idealist and I'd prefer that the world wasn't so tilted askew!  LOL... But I'm learning to be a compromisationalist!  When some dumb ass demands something ridiculous or I'm ignored... I look at the big picture and if I have to play along with ding-dongs... I go with the flow.   Most importantly I follow the advice of my father... "Son. Sometimes you gotta pick your battles."  And that I do. 

While I hate political correctness and can laugh at jokes about religion, status, nationality or ethnicity, I do not hold prejudices.  I simply think we should all be able to laugh at ourselves. 

While I enjoy being right quite often, I relish the moments I can learn from my mistakes and take a new path from where I may have once been wrong.  I'm always open to objectional viewpoints.

In my life I was a kid that took a lot of shit from other kids and spent a good ...   more »

If you are like me, you would never think some things could change. When you were a child did you see the world around you and really... never expect it to change?   No matter who we are we all look back and think, "I never expected the world to change." Not like it has.

I recall playing in the creek... alone.  Sometimes with friends, or just plain exploring the woods for hours behind my home. I recall walking two miles to the shopping center with friends at the age of ten.  I remember my parents leaving me and  second grade date at the movie theater to see Robin Hood.   I remember Christmas.  I remember how the family would sit at the television for Christmas Specials and that familiar saying that really sparked excitement in me... "The regularly scheduled program has been cancelled tonight so that we may bring you the following special presentation."  I recall my mother baking cookies, it seemed like an endless supply too.  In short, the world and Christmas seemed so much more innocent.

Like everything else in our world, Christmas has changed.   Sure there are movies that offer up what are supposed to be typical families in New England settings with snow on the ground and fires lit in the fire place all the time.   But even those movies are now filled with not just quirky flawed Characters but what at one time would have been thought impossible, outrageous people.  Intolerable.   Even the stories are sad.  Last year a movie about scores of children from divorced families being trapped in an airport was a comedy.  Life wasn't always this way.

As I grew up I saw Christmas change.    I recall when the biggest problem anyone had with Christmas was the message, "Remember folks, Christ is the ...   more »

Let's all give the boot to Boot Road.   If there is one road that over all my years on this planet that has been more annoying, it is Boot Road in West Chester PA.  In theory Boot Road connects West Chester to Downingtown.  But for me, it connects nothing.  You can't just get on Boot Road without having to almost immediately get off. Nor can you drive around West Chester without crossing the damn thing.  It's a stupid name for a stupid road. 

I say we ban the road.  It's useless.  Just doze it over and plant trees.  Nobody will miss it.  Google Boot Road and you can't even find out how the damn thing got its name.  The thing just meanders around but who actually needs to get on Boot Road to go anywhere?  Name one person that gets on it go drive to work or drive to the store.  It's good for this.. "OK to drive to my house you turn left here, turn left there and you cross Boot Road."  But who ever says, "Get off 202 onto Boot Road..." ? 

So please good people of West Chester, do your self a favor and ban Boot Road.  You won't miss it.  I promise.