Welcome to the new normal.

Your 401(k) has tanked, your job is hanging by a thread, and purchases you once considered routine are now major life decisions.

Many have suggested the current economic challenges are causing us to rethink our values.

That may be true, but I'm...

It's a middle-aged rite-of-passage. It's the moment you become invisible.

It's when you realize that people (people of the opposite sex, that is) are no longer looking at you; they're looking through you.

And it's even more depressing if they're gawking at your teenage daughter.

For me,...

We all know that body language can convey thoughts and emotions. But did you know that people are more likely to respond to your non-verbal messages than they are your verbal ones?

Dr. Richard Strozzi-Heckler says, "When people listen, only 7 percent is content, the other 93 percent is...

I love television. I truly love it. I wept when TiVo was invented, because it meant I could watch even more of it.

Sophisticated people claim to be "soooo busy" that they don't have time for mindless TV. Or at least that's what they're all quick to tell whenever...

Do you ever notice how some people always seem get the best tables and the most helpful sales people, and nobody ever messes up their order at the drive-through?

Is it just good karma? Or are they doing something different than the rest of us who find ourselves dealing with...

It was an unlikely marriage. He was a science writer and she was a religious studies major. He went on to win a Pulitzer Prize for a book about evolution. She became a children's book author, often writing about religious holidays.

But it was their pillow talk about Charles Darwin...

The recession is now official -- my teenager no longer shops at Abercrombie & Fitch.

Yes, it's true, teens who were once ashamed to be seen in anything but top-label, strategically distressed clothing are now ponying up to the register for $2 flip-flops and two-for-one tees at Target and...

Her name was Betty. She was the middle child of seven children, and she wanted to be a nurse. But it was the 1920's and her family didn't have much money. Her father wasn't too inclined pay for an education, at least not one for a girl, so she worked...

Yes, I am one of the grown-ups who's making Facebook uncool. Once the purvey of hip teens, Facebook is now mainstream and middle-aged.

Obama is on Facebook, as is Oprah, and they're both older than...

Forget world peace, we just need to make money.

To recycle a phrase made popular during another political season - it's the economy, stupid.

You can't open the newspaper, surf the web, or watch TV without hearing someone either suggesting a plan for fixing it or arguing why...

Many of you are criticizing certain corporations for misuse of public funds. But I'd like to call a time-out on all this whining.

We're in a crisis people, and the last thing we need is for a bunch of tax-paying Americans to start questioning the actions of corporate executives.

Did...

"I can never forgive him."

How many times have you heard that?

We all want our own mistakes to be forgiven. But how many of us truly want to forgive? Especially on the big stuff?

Every time I write about...

It's wrong. It's just plain wrong. It violates the social order of the universe.

Yes, I'm talking about The Bachelor, the horrific reality show where a group of attractive young women compete for the attention of one man.

It's just plain gross, and after seven seasons of this...

Why are we so willing to believe bad things about good people?

Have you ever noticed how easy it is to get sucked in by gossip?

Sometimes it doesn't even matter where it came from. If it's juicy enough we'll buy it.

I could be sitting in...

You can usually tell by their hands. Gnarled and rough, dry and cracked,
bearing scars from years of twisting metal, pounding concrete, ripping
lumber, stripping plastic and pushing and shoving all kinds of rough
material into awkward shapes and tight places.

I've always had a thing...

You know it's bad when you start practicing the speeches.

You know, the speeches, the little speeches you rehearse in your head for the grand and glorious moment when you finally get to tell so-and-so what you really think about them.

Your monologue gets more brilliant each day...

I don't know which is worse - losing your job or being the one who has to make the cuts. Yes, I know there are still some heartless execs out there slashing and burning while they pilfer off huge bonuses and sleep soundly surrounded by custom sheets.

But there are...

A friend of mine just got the news that another man in her neighborhood killed himself. He's the fourth in 12 months. Another man who decided that his family would be better off without him.

Another man who will never walk his daughter down the aisle or be the best...

It will be a moment, a moment when the entire world watches, as the United States of America inaugurates our first African-American president.

There will be parties. There will be cheering. There will be speeches. I suspect a lot of people will probably start to cry.

Busloads of...

Why do women begrudge men a nap?

If you want to infuriate your wife, try taking a nap on a Saturday afternoon just as she's revving up the to-do list.

Forget sex, communication, in-laws and the toilet seat wars. If you really want to stir up a hornet's nest...