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Do bad money habits constrain your financial progress? Many people fall into the same financial behavior patterns year after year. If you sometimes succumb to these financial tendencies, the New Year is as good an occasion as any to alter your behavior.

Quilts are sometimes nearly miraculous things. The warmth they

One of my friends mentioned a magazine article about how cats communicate and he asked me what I thought. Everyone agrees that most cats try to talk to us, especially when they’re hungry and it’s dinner time. Researchers have spent huge amounts of time and money trying to get inside the minds of domestic felines. (What a great job that must be; imagine getting paid to analyze kitty-cat conversations.)

Aspen conjures up visions of a glitzy playground where the well-heeled hang out and enjoy the high life. That is an absolutely true vision.

Whether you’re a sports fan or not and regardless of who you are rooting for, you can probably learn something from the Super Bowl teams that you can apply to other endeavors – such as investing.

Here it is, in writing; my declaration that this is my last year of being the sole decorator. Here’s how it went down a couple of years ago, and I’m still emotionally scarred.

Thousands of people are expected to attend a special event at

Millard Hoyle was the publisher of the Hollister Free Lance many years ago. He was a man well known and well liked in the San Benito County community, and he had a big influence on me going into journalism. Hoyle knew that if a community newspaper like the Free Lance is going to be successful, it needs to serve the public good by informing citizens with local news and providing a forum for diverse local opinion.

Exactly one year ago, I challenged you. I hoped to either inspire you or provoke you to join me on a rugged hike to the top of Clouds Rest, one of Yosemite's iconic peaks. The first of our preparatory hikes was on New Year's morning. I have led a New Year's hike for several years, and it is usually an intimate affair. Last January, when more than one hundred of you came, I knew I had touched a nerve.