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The Art of Manliness
10 Wilderness Survival Lessons From Hatchet
Share The other day I was sorting through some old books and stumbled upon a childhood favorite, Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. The last time I read it was nearly 15 years ago, so I decided to read it again for old times sake. For those of you who haven’t read Hatchet,...
Once again we return to our So You Want My Job series, in which we interview men who are employed in desirable jobs and ask them about the reality of their work and for advice on how men can live their dream. Today we hear from Nate Dionne, an EMT who...
Nice Skinsuit, Buddy! Tips on Training for an Ironman
Image from merfam Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Jim Hodgson. A quick delve into the history of Ironman is enough to inspire in anyone either awe or craven nerdy-ness. This is due to the fact that perhaps the manliest endurance contest in the world shares a name with a...
Manly Slang from the 19th Century
Share While writing our first book, The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man, we decided to throw a few old-time 19th century slang words into the text just for fun. While scouring old dictionaries for some words that would fit in the book, we came across...
Share The acrimonious late-night showdown between Jay Leno and Conan was surely about a lot of things. Money, ratings, television. But it was also about a man who couldn’t get over his glory days. Who decided to step down, but then missed his old life and was desperate to return to...
Man Knowledge: An Affair of Honor-The Duel
Editor’s note: This post was co-written by Chris Hutcheson and Brett McKay.In our modern age, solving a problem by asking a dude to step outside is generally considered an immature, low class thing to do. But for many centuries, challenging another man to a duel was not only considered a pinnacle...
Blogs Are Stupid
I used to write a cutesy holiday letter every year. Living so far away from family on both sides, it seemed like a justifiable indulgence. But I stopped a couple of years ago in lieu of a favorite candid photograph from my vast library of digital photos. There are several...
Confession Of A Maternal Humbug
(Reposted from almost the exact same time last year) This season defeats me. My mother never liked Christmas, though she made a valiant effort to hide that fact. She decorated the house and she made a dazzling array of cakes and candy. But her heart wasn't in it. When I was...
This Might Be The Easiest Way To Do This.....
Click Here to Send Me a Friend Request If you don't think I'll recognize you by your Facebook name, just send me a little msg. with your username or the name under which you comment. Sorry if you already emailed me. I know I'm asking you to take an extra step....
I Can't Believe I'm Doing This, but....
If you wanna be my "friend" on Facebook....email me. I just signed on for a new writing project with a great big fancy schmancy Los Angeles marketing firm, (which scares me to death, frankly) and hopefully have another one in the works. I'm also committed to regaining my health, so...
A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Master Bathroom today.....
Oh...hello interwebs. Long time no see. S'up? Me? Oh nothing. Same ole, same ole. Oh wait, there was that thing on Saturday, where I inadvertantly seared my eyeballs with a caustic substance known to cause permanent blindness. Good Lord...wouldn't you think the Antagonist family has met their quota of crises...
I've written a couple times about the evils of Social Media. And I meant everything I said. But I find that being employed full time seriously infringes upon my freedom to waste time, as I simply have no time to waste. I find that blogging is a time suck that I just...
Geek Mom Mashup
A Quick Giveaway – Free Olympics Stuff from Coke!
Hello, dear friends! I’m so excited about the upcoming Vancouver Olympic Winter Games! I love snow, I love Vancouver (Hubby and I honeymooned there!), and my kids are becoming huge fans of snowboarder Shaun White. My boys, ages 10 (almost 11) and 8, think Shaun is awesome, love watching...
Free iTunes Holiday Album is a Pleaser!
p>Happy Holidays to you from me! I wanted to pass along a little gem of a freebie today, because it’s really a super deal! I discovered this when I checked out the iTunes music store this morning. Free music! iTunes has been giving away a free single per week for quite...
This is one of the amazing offerings by LEGO Jedi Master Nathan Sawaya: a life-size three-dimensional portrait, done entirely in LEGO bricks! Sawaya actually offered custom LEGO People through last year’s Neiman Marcus holiday catalog, for $60,000 each. But if you missed out on that great deal, you will just...
Really, CNN? That’s your top story?
This is what I saw when I checked my CNN headlines widget a few minutes ago: Did you see the headline for the Top Story? “Jessica Simpson finds a bosom buddy…” Oh. My. Goodness. I don’t know whether to be amused and relieved that there’s nothing more important than Jessica’s bosom in...
Geek Halloween Costume Idea: Facebook Profile Page!
p>If you’re familiar with Facebook (and the amount of time it can suck from your life) you might enjoy this costume idea! I resisted joining Facebook for a while, mostly because I figured it was probably like MySpace, which wasn’t that impressive to me. But once I opened my FB account,...
Netflix and PlayStation are a Perfect Match
p>Netflix and PlayStation are teaming up to allow Netflix subscribers to play streaming video on the game system! I’m so happy! I made a recent post on my love of Netflix, and how I enjoy watching the instant movies on my laptop. Now, we’ll be able to watch instant movies on...
Brody Harper
Last night Blue played his last basketball game of the season. They lost by about ten points. The other team’s coach screamed the entire time. Running up and down the court, waving his arms, pointing, kicking and stomping. Sort of a joke really, if you ask me. But his team...
In Walmart’s Across The Country
I bought all four of these yesterday. Hopefully Walmart had more in the back or something because it was the only four on the shelf. Krisitn has always been super creative and talented so when we started talking about her painting a heart for the new MercyMe record, I knew...
Here’s a few shots from our weekend away. Total we were gone about 36 hours but it was just enough for my phone battery to die and stay that way until we left. It was amazing to get the boys out in the dirt and woods and be, well, boys....
We’re getting away for the weekend. Okay, part of the weekend, but tonight and all day tomorrow, we’re going somewhere with no internet, no cell phone service and no technology really at all. And I can’t wait. It’s been a crazy few weeks (and months) and it’s time to reconnect...
Alright folks. I had lunch with a Mr. Brenton Brown the other day and coincidentally yesterday that same Mr. Brenton Brown released a new record called “Adoration”… and that’s good news for you. Because now you have some music to go buy on iTunes. See, I’ve talked to Brenton numerous times...
So, Kristin and I were talking about this whole Tiger Woods fiasco the other night and one of the things that came up that we thought was weird was the fact that society is still somehow shocked by this whole thing. And here’s what’s weird. We live in a culture...
Lyved
It’s Never Too Late to Do What You Love
This is a guest post. “I feel like my best days are behind me,” Jan said when she called to discuss her career goals. “It’s too late to do what I really want to do, so I’ll have to settle for security. Can you help me find what that is before...
I don’t have life all figured out and neither should you
Over the past 2 years I’ve shared my story and I’ve discussed the lessons I’ve learned from overcoming my failures, mistakes, and setbacks in life. I’ve received many emails and comments from people expressing how amazed they are at how I seem to have everything all figured out. I do believe...
Miscellaneous ramblings for thought
Don’t pursue perfection… pursue betterment Perfection is boring. When we’re perfect what do we have to work for? Instead of trying to be absolutely perfect, each day pursue being a little better than you were the day before. Your biggest obstacle/battle is with yourself The biggest walls that stand in the middle of...
How to help the victims of the Haiti earthquake
Haiti has been devastated by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake, the largest to hit the country in over 200 years. Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the West and has had to face many disasters and trying times before. Haitians are in need of a great deal of help...
Hi Lyved readers! I’d just like to ask you a quick question; are there any topics you would like Lyved to tackle in upcoming articles? I’d love the hear what’s on your mind. Please post a comment below if you’d like to share. Thank you very much!...
Are We Still Cool?
You’ve come a long way, baby. Now stop.
It's like I want time to stand still a little. Related posts:More from the sickbedWhat in the world would I do without baby carriers?Our favorite new game with Cool Baby: Semantics...
Our dinner with fashion queens; I’m a pauper
I'm short and my mother dresses me funny. Actually, I dress myself funny. photo: Polina Osherov Related posts:Meet some Truly Cool Parents – Ben and Polina...
I’m learning to read! (but I actually knew how before, too)
Call me a pioneer. I've discovered the long-dead practice of interpreting a sequence of words to perceive meaning. photo: Moriza Related posts:Claiming my high school destiny: I’m writing a bookBridging the divide between bloggers and non-bloggersWhen do you write?...
The dramatic and miraculous trip to IKEA
After a horrible first big trip to IKEA, surely we have the whole process down by now. Nej! Related posts:IKEA: Threatening marriages all around the worldAre strangers more concerned with Cool Baby’s welfare than we are?...
The Story of The Island: The biggest bombshell yet
It's time for the biggest moments yet in our story about survivors on an island. Related posts:The rest of our NYC story: How we got from there to here, Part 2The rest of our NYC story: How we got from there to here, Part 1Next Monday: meet your BBFF!...
Conan O’Brien preached a sermonette to me
In his last show, Conan O'Brien delivered a line that I'll remember for the rest of my life, and I didn't laugh one bit. No related posts....
The Imperfect Parent
Choking Labels on Food Wanted by AAP
I didn't think things could get much more weirder than they already are, but I am consistently and constantly proven wrong. The latest, if you haven't already heard, is the campaign to brand food with......
I'm only going to say my piece here, then leave it alone. Something is unbalanced when Tiger Woods' apology gets natural disaster/Presidential coverage in the news. I mean, did a hurricane happen?......
Birth Defects in CA Investigated-Linked to Waste Plant?
Earlier in the month, Governor Schwarzenegger ordered an investigation into what is causing an over abundance of birth defects such as facial deformations and cleft palates in Kettleman City, California. "This......
Here we are in Utah again. This time lawmakers want to help cut the state deficit by putting advertising on the sides of school buses, starting with the Jordan School District. Rep. Jim Bird, R-West Jordan,......
In an effort to save money, State Senator Chris Buttars of Utah has proposed making 12th grade optional. Your last year of high school, optional. He said eliminating 12th grade altogether would have saved......
12-Year-Old Girl Arrested For Drawing On Desk
Yeah. The 'Zero Tolerance Policy' is working just fine....so fine in fact, that a twelve year old girl got arrested (arrested!!) for writing on her desk at school in New York. What she wrote wasn't even......
Delenda Est Carthago
"Five years, that's all we got"
So I've decided to stop blogging here. I figure five years is a good run. I've just been running out of things to say, I guess. Plus I have some things in the real world that are taking up my time, so I just can't devote as...
Horrible self-indulgence, Year Five
Yes, it's the fifth anniversary of when I started this blog, and it's time once again to review the previous year. I hope you will indulge this trip down memory lane. Five years. Wow.This insane world.Man threatens to set his teacher on fire because she assigned "The...
I didn't learn anything about pro football this week other than what you can glean from the newspapers and ESPN. I barely watched any of the games because the Eagles weren't playing. I did learn that if Oregon beats one of the worst teams in Division 1-A (Washington...
Great songs, according to me (Part 39)
Yes, it's time for another ten great songs! Man, it's been a while! And because I've finally gotten around to labeling my posts, I don't have to link to previous posts. You can just click on the label to find the previous ones. I know my...
Norah recently discovered SpongeBob SquarePants, and she digs it a lot. Not to the point of obsession, but she still likes it. So I've been watching with her, mainly because I've been sitting in the same room. I know that a while back, SpongeBob was a bit...
And the 2016 Olympics will be in ...
Rio de Janeiro!Look at me, breaking the news! I just happened to have on ESPN when they made the announcement. I'm actually glad Chicago didn't get it. The Olympics have never been held in South America, and wouldn't you rather get "man-on-the-street" shots of impossibly attractive women...
iambossy.com
Bossy’s daughter is all Talk to the Hand. But Bossy thought you should know Bossy’s daughter was just cast as Dorothy in the local theater’s production of The Wizard of Oz, running later this spring....
Welcome to Bossy’s Ear Worm, which features songs currently in Bossy’s headphones. Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. The Flamingos, I Only Have Eyes For You. The first thing you should know is Bossy has no particular reverence for songs recorded in the 1950s, even if that song was written...
Welcome to Bossy’s Ear Worm, which features songs currently in Bossy’s headphones. Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. Generationals, Nobody Could Change Your Mind. Keeping with Bossy’s current hap hap happy music trend: this little number from New Orleans’ band Generationals’ latest CD Con Law, released this past summer. Bossy loves...
Ten-Word Tuesday. The Meh Edition
The truth is, the above Olympics graphic has very little to do with what Bossy is about to say. She just thought she’d include it since it took her fifteen minutes to create, what with the colored circles, and then the white circles within the colored circles — and then...
The (No) Book Tour Countdown. Day Oh Gah.
Welcome to the (No) Book Tour Countdown, where Bossy will — and this is a stretch — count down the days until she leaves on her (No) Book Tour. Bossy will use this space to detail what she’s up to as she plans, organizes, and collapses in fits. Shall we? In...
This simple truth is Bossy is allergic to cats. So when that Not stray cat, Baby David, is allowed in the house, he is restricted from many rooms and encouraged to rest away from Bossy where his fur is minimally invasive, which translates to mean Baby David sleeps on Bossy’s...
Ten Tips on How to Choose Your First DSLR Camera
The very first time that I held an SLR camera was when I was 16. It was my father’s Pentax, a very handsome film SLR camera. It was an expensive hobby, specially for a college student, so I decided to let go of photography. Years later, however, I finally received...
Post-Engagement Report and a Job Offer
So my sister, Sanaf, is now engaged to be married to Kamran. Everything went well, alhumdulillah. I flew to Karachi with Sophia, and we did what every cabin crew hates done on an aircraft: we re-arranged the seats for 5 people so that Sophia and I could sit together. A...
My sister, Sanaf, is getting engaged tonight, inshaAllah. May Allah bless her with so much happiness, love and health. ...
The World’s Largest Aquarium Leaks, and Stats Go Up
By the time you are reading this post, you must already have heard or read that the world’s largest aquarium had cracked and leaked. This Dubai Mall aquarium is home to 33 thousand sea creatures (including several sharks, whose teeth I’ve seen really up close) and contains 10 million liters...
BBQ at Mamzar Park … Abaya sleeve details … And of course, blue and silver slippers … AND, I really had to post this one … This was Yemen’s presentation for the Global Village this year. And they had ONE spectator, who seems engrossed in their performance. ...
The Lady Behind the Visa Window of the Pakistan Embassy in Dubai
My sister, Sophia, went to the Pakistan embassy exactly five days ago to apply for a visit visa. She attached the photo copy of our youngest sister’s passport and national ID card as supporting documents (because she’s a Pakistani passport holder). When the lady behind the visa window studied the...
Peterman's Eye
Inside the Politics of the Oscars—the greatest Ego show on Earth
Sometimes the Oscar back-story is more entertaining than the show itself.Continue reading this post ...
Can American TV really tell everything there is know about America? Continue reading this post ...
The oxymoron is often cited with critical acclaim.Continue reading this post ...
Sexual fantasies are now out in the open and that's a good thing.Continue reading this post ...
The Iran Nuclear conundrum is not just Israel's problem. It's the world's problem.Continue reading this post ...
Is it the singer's perfect pitch or is it Auto-Tune? Or does it really matter?Continue reading this post ...
Miss Britt
A Tragedy Worse Than The Hair Hate Crime Of 2007.
My relationship with my salon and hair stylist is sacred. You see, I love my hair. I have naturally blond curly hair, and it is, as far as I’m concerned, my saving grace. I may be short and 20 lbs overweight and have saggy, pancake boobs – but I have fanfuckingtastic hair. ...
Miss Britt And Emma Play Hookie: A Photo Essay
I received an email recently from Lauren Hoyt-Williams, PR Big Shot for SeaWorld, Busch Gardens and Discovery Cove. It went something like this: “So, um, I just wanted to follow up and see if you might actually be interested in RSVPing to the invitation I sent you for the upcoming event...
Only A Bunch Of Douches Would Call Themselves “The Orlando Mafia”.
We call ourselves The Orlando Mafia. And every time we do, one of us invariably rolls rolls our eyes and laughs, “man we are douches.” And then another one of us laughs too and agrees, “I know! I can’t imagine why anyone would ever want to hang out with us!” And...
The People, or at least @DarlaF, basically demanded it.
I used to update my blog regularly so that my mom wouldn’t freak out over whether I was dead or depressed or something. But now she just calls me most of the time if she’s worried about me and she’s pretty much too busy to read my blog now anyway. And...
On Honesty. And whole lotta talking about God.
Let me attempt to set the mood here. Because I am a sucker for futility. What you are about to read is a simple explanation of my beliefs. It’s not a defense against or an attack on any beliefs that may be different from my own. I am neither angry nor...
Twitter Has Been Robbing You People. Seriously.
Before Twitter, blogs used to be where the exhibitionists among us shared the daily events of our lives with a world of strangers on the Internet. Sure, we wrote beautiful prose about our startling insights and observations of human behavior. We dove into our own inner psyches and peeled back the...
She Just Walks Around With It
By now you're probably sick of me writing about weight loss stuff AND prom stuff, but my entire life has been overrun with these two things (which have NOTHING to do with one another, save for blogging) and so I have nothing ELSE to blog about.Pomtacular! was featured in The...
Alright. So I've been on this new weight-loss regime for three days (today will be day four).It's a huge big giant change from what my otherwise "normal" routine is, and it's very effective. It doesn't surprise me that it's effective, though. Because that's the thing about these programs: if you...
I've been watching a lot of Hoarders lately. Have you seen this show? Oh, I was horrified by the first episode I saw, but then I felt a compulsion (irony?) to watch the entire series. Every episode tells the story of two hoarders. It shows their...
Quite Possibly The Least Sexy I Have Ever Been
Yes. The least sexy I have ever been. Do you have any idea how unsexy that's got to be? I should have been escorted out of the grocery store. GROCERY STORE. The bar is LOW at the grocery store and yet still.Oh, where do I even start...
What You Need To Have For When The Baby Comes Home
When I was seven+ months pregnant, I was kind of a lot freaked out. I had no idea what I "really" needed to have at home for the baby. I consulted the internet and books, and the more I read the more freaked out I became.I thought, even if...
Even Better Than Celebrity Apprentice
Nah, who'm I kidding? Could anything be better than watching Cyndi Lauper, Sinbad, and Blago make "business" decisions for The Donald? I'm not sure that it could.But guess what I did anyway? I mean, just in case watching reality television gets boring (by which I mean you...
My Story Related
Here is my story. I am a social worker who was visiting a client when one of their siblings decided to ask me some questions about my personal life. She asked me about my children. I had one son who is 17 that live in New Jersey. Then I started...
A Celebration Dance for My Kids
Let me start with the anxiety that I felt when I checked the site for the results at least three times a day a week after I mailed the kit to the DNA lab. When I looked at the login page yesterday and saw the PDF icons, I got so...
Given up at birth in Austin TX, I was thankful to both the foster family who nurtured me and the permanent family who named and raised me. I went home to Betty Cook Drive where my new father sold life insurance while my new mom answered phones for Walter Carrington...
Growing up as a young child I had no idea just how much adoption had to do with my life. Born a child to an adoptee, I only knew that ‘Mom was adopted’. Her adoptive parents were my grandparents and I knew nothing else. It wasn’t until I entered the foster...
My life was irrevocably changed in 1968 when, lacking support, I succumbed to the pressure to surrender of my first-born child, a daughter, to adoption, becoming one of an estimated four million American mothers to surrender a newborn to adoption between 1940 to 1970; two million during the 1960s alone. Like...
When I was 6 or 7 years old my Mother told me that I was not biologically hers and that my sister and I were adopted. This was stunning news because as a child I didn’t know what “adopted” meant and why this happened to me. Being labeled adopted made...
CrazyAuntPurl
You see the hood's been good to me ever since I was a lower-case G
The city of Los Angeles is gearing up for its Super Bowl ... Oscar night! We know this because Hollywood Boulevard is closed and so the traffic is ... oh, I was going to describe it, but instead here's a......
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Oh happy day, when the rain came and washed our smog away...
Apparently it rained last night. I went to bed early as I had to be up at the armpit of a.m. and I must have slept through it. When I was driving in this morning on the freeway the air......
Me & Rachael at the Knitter's Studio March 21 (Or: "Me and Julio down at the schoolyard...")
Why is it that my brain works song lyrics into every conversation, thought or idea and yet I myself cannot carry a tune in a bucket? I was singing "Happy Birthday" in a group recently and someone turned to me......
Over the weekend I actually did a few things and even took pictures but I'll talk about them later in the week when they are thoroughly not fresh anymore... because today is March One! Time for a check in. March......
Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who came out last night to Barnes & Noble. It was fun! The best part was seeing old friends (I didn't take enough pictures, though!) like Denise: And the next best part was at......
VirtualWayfarer - A Place For Intellectual Musings
The Arizona Travel Tweetup – In Review!
Howdy all! Just got back from Tempe and the Xtreme Bean where I had the pleasure of kicking off the first Arizona Travel Tweetup. I’m thrilled to say that despite busy March schedules we had a better than expected turnout – offering the opportunity to lay the ground work for...
Tallying up the Cost: How I Afford to Travel
No matter who you are one of the biggest obstacles and considerations when planning a trip is cost. Out of all of the reasons regularly given for why people “can’t” travel, cost is the one I’ve found to be the most common and frankly, it’s with good reason. Jumping on...
Though the ATM Cave tour was the highlight of my trip to Western Belize, I enjoyed my time in San Ignacio. A small town which gently sprawls along a beautiful, slow moving river a brief 15 minute taxi ride from the Guatemalan border, the city of San Ignacio definitely harbors...
Why I Travel – The British Isles and Central America
Today’s post is short and simple. The video above showcases brief clips from my two major trips in 2009 and includes footage from Ireland, Scotland, Belize, Guatemala and Mexico. Sit back, dim the lights, and enjoy! If you enjoy it, comments and video ratings are always appreciated....
Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) – The Sacrificial Caves
**This is the 2nd part of a two-part series covering the Actun Tunichil Munkal Cave tour. Don’t miss part one [here]*** Actun Tunichil Muknal I hate to see things like that happen, but was immensely relieved – as it meant that after an incredibly rough start, the trip was finally getting...
Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) – An Adventure Begins
I’d spent the previous day exploring San Ignacio and comparing tours, tour companies, and their prices. Everyone I spoke with informed me that the Actun Tunichil Muknal or ATM tour was an absolute must. I was still hesitant. I don’t especially like organized tours, didn’t know much about ATM and...
All Your Blogs Are Belong to Us
Here we go folks. I'll be updating the template over the next couple days, so be prepared for some weirdness. But don't worry, everything should be better than new (with at least a new commenting system in place) within a few hours.Wish me luck!...
Kicking Up Dust...For Reals This Time
Real quick-likeI don't know if you remember, but a little more than a year ago I indicated that AYBABTU was going to be undergoing a major facelift/overhaul/refocusing of direction; an 'AJ 2.0' treatment, as it were.Well, I got close, but it never happened. Once 2009 got underway, I started seeing...
Sometimes ya can’t measure a ‘good time’ in 140 characters or less.This is gonna be relatively short, and I'm duping this post here on my personal site as well as my hockey blog for a couple reasons; one: I just have to make mention of it, and two: I’m simul-posting...
A Tough Act To FollowIn my mind, nothing could ever replace our dog Squirty, whose one-year death day anniversary is a little more than two weeks from now. She was our baby after our real babies had reached middle school age. She was total joy over a period of time...
Not so thankful about this...I know I've cried 'wolf' before, saying I'd post on a certain day, and then, not actually doing it until much later, or not at all. Most often when those situations occur, it's because I've bitten off more than I could chew, either from a time-management...
Nothing to see here...yetYeah I know it's been awhile since my last post, but this brief note is to address that, along with accomplishing some business with Technorati.New blog posts are coming, but life comes first. Lately I've been busy rearranging my life and doing a few freelance projects in...