Embracing Yourself in the Present: A Review of “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle

The source of suffering, according to Eckhart Tolle, is the ego. It contextualizes everything in terms of past and future. People tend to determine themselves based on their previous experiences and interactions, and define their future with those in mind. Tolle states that the key to escaping from this madness and entering enlightenment is to [...]

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How to Carve Your Halloween Pumpkin

My experience carving pumpkins is at best limited, so I was a bit skeptical when my fiancé brought home a pumpkin carving kit. For the past few years, she as been making faces out of the plump fall fruit with her mother, but now that we share the same residence it was my turn to [...]

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My Seattle Trip Recap

When I spoke of my Seattle trip, many asked whether I was traveling for business or pleasure. Although I ventured to the west coast on the company dime, the differences between work and pleasure blurred as I had more personal time than originally imagined. Seattle is indeed an exciting Pacific coast town with spectacular views, [...]

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Why New Yorkers Are So Rude

Lee Abbamonte wrote an insightful piece on the supposed rudeness-friendliness dichotomy of the New York attitude. Some people—and Lee is one of them—will argue that New Yorkers are just about the rudest people on the planet, while others will cite the countless instances of New Yorkers helping out-of-towners with directions and navigating through the Big [...]

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I’m Off to Seattle This Week

This Wednesday I’m heading off on my first (and possibly last) business trip to Seattle, Washington. For confidential purposes, I can’t disclose why or what business I’m visiting but I’m a bit nervous about my brief three-day cross-country trip. I just hope I’ll see more of the city than the airport and conference rooms.
The home [...]

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Choosing a Honeymoon Destination: What’s a Future Groom to Do?

Melissa and I are getting married next summer and the conventional entry into lifelong matrimonial bliss usually involves two things: the wedding and the honeymoon. While Melissa’s emotions have been downright giddy in planning the fine details of her dream wedding, I have been delegated the task of packaging our ideal honeymoon sojourn.
What to do? [...]

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The Good Life and the Developing World: A Review of “The End of Poverty” by Jeffrey Sachs

Here’s a fact for you: Half of the world’s population live on two dollars a day or less. Keep that in mind when you feel as though you’re life isn’t going as planned or circumstances didn’t develop the way you had hoped.
Professor Jeffrey Sachs is on a mission. Leading after a brief forward by U2’s [...]

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Two Dreams

I had two dreams last night.
In the first one, I was employed as a doctor in a nondescript emergency room. A patient was rolled in on a gurney because he was experiencing a heart attack. I moved to attend to him. As I pushed the wheeled gurney, the patient spilled out and fell face-first on [...]

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Our Last “Summer” Hike: New Jersey Hiking Trails of the Ramapo Mountains and Ringwood State Park

One of the promises Melissa and I made to ourselves is that during the summer we would go hiking more often. For those of you who are not familiar with the Garden State, New Jersey contains numerous opportunities for both the novice and experienced hiker. Unfortunately we didn’t hike as much as we liked, as [...]

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More Fall Picking: Selecting the Right Pumpkin on an October Saturday Afternoon

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about picking apples in Warwick, New York. The harvest turned out plentiful, the cider tasted refreshingly delicious, and the homemade apple pie was among the best I’ve tasted. We had so much fun, Melissa and I thought we’d try our hands at picking some pumpkins for our [...]

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