Christopher Byrne

Summer Semester: Get Out and Play

Advice, Experiences, Opinions, Summer Semester / By

A lot has changed since I was a kid. You probably don’t want to know this, but we had ready access to cherry bombs, M-80s and other things that blew up. A pack of matches, the gas can out of the garage and a bucket of army men was enough to entertain us for the afternoon. Left to our own devices, we had many a wonderful day, and without ongoing parental supervision, well…let’s just say it’s a good thing we all have all our fingers and toes. But it does strike me as alarming that with all the constant mini-explosions going on in our neighborhood (53 kids under 13 spread out over two city blocks), that no adults ever seemed to be worried. “Be careful,” “Outdoors with that,” and “Not near the cat,” were the most dire warnings we got. We were turned outdoors after breakfast, expected back for lunch and had to come in after the street lights came on. It’s not like that today.

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Laugh It Off – Why Humor Matters

Advice, Experiences / By

When I would crash my bike or fall out of a tree, which happened a lot as I was a really active kid, my parents’ admonition was always, “shake it off.” (Not that I didn’t get proper medical attention when broken bones and concussions were involved.) I learned to do that, and later, coaches would admonish me to “walk it off” if I got the wind knocked out of me playing sports. It’s great advice. I learned that my spirit was stronger than any injury, and I learned how to avoid that horrible epithet—”cry baby.”

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Is the Economic Crisis Creating Happier and Smarter Shoppers?

Advice, Experiences, Gifts, Opinions / By

You Say Budget Like It’s a Bad Thing! As predicted, last weekend (the first weekend after the historic election) saw people going to the stores to make start their holiday shopping. With the uncertainty of the election season behind us, and the prospect that the economy is not going to turn around by magic over

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Strategic Shopping

Advice / By

Listening to the financial analysts we talk with, they want us to believe that it’s going to be a late holiday shopping season. It may, in fact, be just that. There are five fewer days between Thanksgiving and Christmas than last year. There are many reasons to put off shopping till the last minute, not

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