One of the things that I am good at is being a friend to those in need. I have always been able to bring enlightenment to my friends when they are going through rough times or have dark moments in their lives. I just seem to always know what people need and when they need it. I would say that this is one of the gifts that I was blessed with.

I find that sometimes what people need is a hot meal or a gift of moment of encouragement and sometimes they need someone to talk to. What I found that thy need most of all, is just someone who is there, in quiet presence, so that they do not have to be alone. I can be that person and more often than not, I am that person.

This is just who I am and I would not have it any other way. I think if there is anything I can do to make the pain more bearable for people who are hurting than that is what I was put on this earth to do.

I have been a longtime collector of promotional products advertising different companies.  It is a weird thing to collect, but I have been doing it since I was a child and I don’t think I really want to stop now.  I have thousands of pens, hundreds of pins and numerous other items in my collection.

It is kind of funny because all of my friends and family members get me promotional items from wherever they work to add to my collection.  The great thing about this is that my brother changes jobs every other month and with every job change I am excited to see what he will bring me for my collection.

I even have several nice corporate gifts that my friends and family have received for Christmas presents from their employers.  I guess they feel that it has the company name and logo on it than I really needed that more than they do.  Yes, I am weird, but I always have been and always will be.

You knew the minute you swung that it was a mistake. You don’t know a thing about punching, but there you were, furious with this punk for making that crack about your daughter, and the next thing you knew you’d decked him.

And you’re in agony now.

So here you are in a club in Anaheim being quickly escorted outside with your mortified daughter by a very gentlemanly bouncer who is praising you for nailing the kid but advising you to take a taxi before he decides to follow you and try to press charges.

You thank him gratefully, trying not to scream in agony as he pats your shoulder and hails you a cab. Your daughter is not speaking to you, your hand feels like it’s broken, and you’ve just left your rental car outside of a nightclub.. You think to yourself, “This is not what I had planned for a night out with my daughter, putting up with that little twit and enduring all this shoulder and hand pain in Orange County. We should have gone to Disneyland instead.”

I am not big on talk shows and have never been a fan of Oprah but there has been many occasions where Dr. Phil advice has come in handy and I usually take heed to what he says.  In fact, he is one of the people I look up to most as he is just really trying to make the world a better place.

I have always enjoyed reading his books on relationships as you can tell by reading his books and listening to his television program that he genuinely cares about other people and their relationships.  He is also very down to earth and very honest and has no problem telling you if he thinks you’re lying or are out of line.

I think he has hit the nail on the head when it comes to keys to a happy relationship as I have followed the advice in all of the books that he is written and I can honestly say that I have the best marriage out of anybody that I know.

My best friend’s 30th birthday is coming up and I want to do something silly and fun that won’t take more than about 3 hours. We are renting a Philadelphia limousine service and I don’t want to be out of the car too much. Since we’ll already be drinking I don’t want to go to bars either.

Our other friend suggested doing a progressive dinner, where we go to one place and order one menu item, like fries from McDonald’s, then go on to order a shake from another place, and so on.

Maybe we will combine the food with a scavenger hunt where she has to figure out where to go next using photos of the places to eat. She is silly and our friends would love to do this with her. I think it would keep us in the car longer in order to get our money’s worth and enjoy the accommodations. 

I knew that if things did not change that my marriage was going to fall apart. My husband and I were working opposite shifts at our jobs and so we barely saw each other. On the days that we did get to see each other, we spent it with the kids and so we drifted apart.

Another factor in the equation was the fact that my husband had also started his own online company and so spent a lot of his time off working on that. It was a nightmare and when we sat to discuss it, we both agreed that something was going to have to change if we were going to keep it together.

In the end, we decided that he should work from home online full-time and that only I would work outside the home. That way, he could work the same hours as me and still be home with the kids. We ended up having every evening and weekend together and, though we have had to make some financial sacrifices, our marriage is going to be just fine.

He’s almost a caricature of himself when he gets in one of his moods. I’m talking about a good friend of mine who shall remain nameless because you may recognize him otherwise. Some of you may figure it out anyway.

So I say to him, “How are the property investments going? He says, “I don’t have time to worry about them right now. I have a temperature of 98.7.”

“Normal is a range, not one number,” I tell him.

He bats at the air and mumbles, “I think I have something unintelligible-osis.”

“Not likely,” I say. “It afflicts only Eskimos living in the Aleutian Islands.”

This reminds me of a Star Trek: Voyager episode, where a young hypochondriac was cured when an alien invaded his body in order to try to communicate. When the life form left him, the hypochondria left, too. Somehow I think my friend is almost too alien for aliens to want to bother with him.

“Greetings, Earthling!” They exchange alien looks. “Uh, never mind.”

You know the kid in school that everyone avoided because of his excessive sweating? Well, it wasn’t his fault. He probably had a disorder called hyperhidrosis which affects the hands, feet, or arm pits and causes the sweat glands to not shut down when they should.

This is really an embarrassing issue for those poor people who have it. Many have tried medication and other treatments with little or no luck. However, recently, botox treatments have been found to help.

When it comes to botox hyperhidrosis is helped by the Botox binding to the nerves in the treatment area and reduces sweating for up to twelve months. So, while it not a cure, it is better than nothing at all for those who suffer from it.

From reports in spa magazines, when it comes to botox London is a real up and coming in the commodity of treatments, so if  you live there, you should have some great resources.

You get a frantic phone call in the middle of the night from a close friend who lives in Memphis. She’s almost incoherent because she’s crying so hard. Finally you piece together the truth and it makes you sick. Your best friend’s marriage is falling apart and you’re stuck 2000 miles away, unable to be there with her.

You get her to calm down and ask some tough questions. This takes some time when she lapses into hysteria. You tell her to make some chamomile tea and you’ll call back in five minutes. You do an online search for Memphis Divorce Lawyers, then Memphis Family Lawyers, and finally Memphis Child Custody Attorneys. 

You call her back exactly three  minutes later and tell her to check her email. You paste the links you found into an email to her. It’s not the same as being there, but at least it’s practical, useful help. And we all need that sometimes.

Since my kids were born I’ve had really painful acne. I’m in my mid 30s and acne was not a problem in high school so this is not only painful but somewhat embarrassing too.

My skin was beautiful and clear except for a hormonal pimple once a month or so. Now, I have acne all over my face and sometimes down onto my chest and around my hairline. It is painful too. I heard about a place called Skinovative Phoenix where they have light treatment for this kind of acne. It targets the sores and only the sores and is non invasive and painless. Actually, for acne treatment Phoenix seems to be among the top in the nation according to what I’ve been reading so I’m not surprised to see this innovative approach to a painful subject for many of us.

Another thing my kids might have brought on, or at least made worse for me, is cellulite. I remember having it a little bit just before I had my first child, but it is out of control now after 2 kids and a real lack of exercise. For fat and cellulite reduction Phoenix seems to be a big contender too with non invasive treatments that are as good as liposuction.