Alan’s Quest

I can silence a room merely by asking for a volunteer. I can also lose all eye contact. Yet what's likely to happen? Am I going to make someone sing, or humiliate them, or beat them? There really is no downside

My wife purchased Pekin ducks (first domesticated, by the way, over 2,000 years ago). They've been here for three years, two winters, and there are 15 of them. (I seem to remember 16 originally, but I don't want to alarm

Some people are dentists because their parents were, or they were told it was lucrative, or their friends were, or they couldn't become doctors. And some people are dentists because they love the career and the calling to help people. Which

We'll shut down the pool today and they'll come to close it tomorrow. It's always a little sad, but fall brings vibrant colors and the winter some beautiful white snow (snow turned black quickly back in New Jersey). And we

When I was young and we were poor, we could afford grapefruit on a weekend for breakfast. My mother cut two in half, separated the flesh from the rind with a knife, and the three of us would eat the

The true secret of a long and happy marriage is knowing when to keep your mouth shut. It sounds easy but is extremely difficult. I've found that it works well in coaching, also!

We went to a cavernous store called REI yesterday to buy stuff for our Safari next month. They're very nice folks, have a huge staff, and they're actually a co-op. Suddenly, we're members. The puddle jumper taking us from Johannesburg to

I ordered some har- to-find bulbs from lightbulbs.com. My designer insists on using installations created by elves in Albania. Because they're used for all the hall ceiling units, three bulbs each, I ordered five boxes of three. Three of those

As everything becomes more entwined with technology, it seems to me that there is a less and less "intuitive" aspect to it. Yet my cars' instruction manuals in hard copy are hundreds of pages thick, and not very helpful (filled