Merry Christmas? Happy Holidays? What do you say? Say either one and you run the risk of being “offensive,” to someone. How to properly impart good wishes at holiday time is up for debate. When I was PTA president at my …

Merry Christmas? Happy Holidays? Have a Nice Day? Read more »

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Brain drain has long plagued the Rust Belt, and many metropolitan areas, such as northwest Pennsylvania, have also experienced a dramatic drop in population over the past decade. Young professionals, like Sean Fedorko, are returning to northwest Pennsylvania, though, and …

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Twice a year, in the United States and many other parts of the world, we observe a ritual of changing the clocks on our walls, microwaves, and stoves, one hour backward or forward. Thankfully, our cell phones and computers figure …

7 Bits About Daylight Saving Time Read more »

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I’ve been saying for a while I’d like to lose 25 to 30 pounds. Well, I finally did it. I lost 30 pounds, but it didn’t happen overnight. I made a lifestyle change. And because of that change, the chances …

7 Things I Did to Lose 30 Pounds (and how I’ll keep it off) Read more »

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Several months ago, our Cairn terrier rescue, Nora, went blind rather quickly. This condition came shortly after her diagnosis of Cushing’s disease. We’re not sure if there’s a correlation between the blindness and the disease, the blindness and the medication, …

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For more than a decade, I’ve traveled the same route between northwestern Pennsylvania and northeastern Ohio, first as the parent of a college prospect, and most recently, as a newbie grand-mère. I’ve often remarked that one does not need to …

7 Reasons to Sidestep the Superhighway Read more »

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  The following article appeared in the September 2015 issue of The Connector, a monthly e-magazine published by PR for People. Cathy von Birgelen, executive director of a technology-education organization in northwest Pennsylvania, started her career on the cusp of the digital …

Tech and the Art of Innovation    Read more »

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If you wear contact lenses, and you’ve traveled by air, you’ve probably made an unnecessary shopping trip looking for contact-lens solution in a bottle smaller than 3.4 ounces. At the store, you probably grew frustrated, because most small bottles of …

7 Bits About Contact-Lens Solution in Carry-Ons Read more »

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  In June of 2015, I visited the other Nashville. That is—Nashville, Indiana, also known as Little Nashville. Population: ~1,000. If I could, I would move there. Well, I can’t move there, but I definitely plan to go back, again …

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