As I'm sure you've noticed by now, the Christmas decorations and music are running at full bore. You can see it at most stores and on the downtown streets; you can hear the Christmas songs playing as you peruse the aisles while shopping.

Personally, I don't mind the decorations, but hearing Christmas music in mid-November does seem a little strange. I start playing it on my radio at home...read more

Did you know this is National Medical Librarian Month?

You didn't? And you have the gall to call yourself an American?

Actually, National Medical Librarian Month is just one of the "official" observances set aside for October. Would you believe there are about 100 such observances set aside for this month alone? And that's just for the month. There are about 70 weeklong observances...read more

I've heard many news stories recently about teenagers having a tough time finding jobs because adults who have been laid off are desperate to take any employment they can find, and thus are beating out the kids for those jobs flipping burgers and mopping floors. Call it a sign of the times.

The country was in the midst of a mild recession when I graduated college — more years ago than I'm...read more

Before I begin, let me first start off with an important disclaimer. Just like everybody else, we here in the word trade dont claim to be perfect. There are time's when I come remarkably close, but even I make no claim's to perfection.

There are occation's when our publication has error's — both in print and online — and we have some loyal reader's who occationally...read more

I'm one of those people who drives down Idaho 55 every day when I go to work. And like many who use that route, I do get concerned when I hear about traffic fatalities on that road.

Granted, traffic accidents happen everywhere, and transportation officials estimate that, nationwide, about 90 percent of all traffic fatalities are the result of careless or aggressive driving and could easily be...read more

We at the Press-Tribune had to say goodbye this week a few people we have worked with — a couple for a few months, one for several years. Call them casualties of a tough economy.

It's difficult knowing how to say goodbye to people in that situation. You feel badly for them, and striking the right tone can be challenging. You don't want to seem too cheerful when you wish them well because...read more

Of all the words in the English language I love to hear, I can't think of many that are better than these two: It's fall.

OK, I realize the first day of autumn isn't technically till Sept. 22. But as far as I'm concerned, when the kiddies start going back to school, the temperatures begin to drop and Bronco Stadium starts filling up, that's close enough for me.

Fall is, quite...read more

I had the TV on the other night and decided I wanted to get a feel for how the great health care debate was moving along, so I did a little channel surfing.

First I came across Keith Olbermann, who said that a poll conducted by a "conservative-leaning group" shows that 58 percent of Americans support universal health care.

A little later, I flipped over to Sean Hannity, who said that a...read more

When I heard the news that the Kings store in Caldwell was going to close its doors, I felt a tinge of sadness.

The store has been a fixture in the downtown area since long before I moved here. But more than that for me, its closing signals another milestone on the road to the inevitable change that occurs in the business world.

The retail department stores of today are the brightly-lit, huge buildings...read more

I can't begin to tell you what a relief it is to know that I will never — ever — have to replace another lousy bicycle inner tube again! Ever!

I put a lot of miles on my non-motorized two-wheeler, and in the last year or so have found myself changing bike tubes more often than the Detroit Lions change starting quarterbacks. I'll bet I single-handedly kept the inner tube company...read more

The recent White House "beer summit" involving the Massachusetts police officer and the college professor who had gotten into, if you'll pardon the pun, the brouhaha (get it, brew-haha?) got me recalling some of my own experiences.

The issue of police doing their jobs without "going overboard" has always been a contentious one. The definition of "going overboard"...read more

There are a great many unwritten rules of the universe.

For example, Unwritten Rule No. 37,988 states: if you find yourself driving behind someone who has his or her entire arm hanging out the driver's side window, you can expect that person to drive slowly.

The subject of this post is Unwritten Rule No. 6,912 — When Hollywood makes movies, a great many of them are aimed at 15-year-old...read more

To be effective in this business, you have to notice things. In fact, you could say that we're "professional noticers." We then do our best to determine what, out of all the things we notice, are the most significant, important ones, and then pass that information along to the public.

This would not fall under the catogory of "important," but recently my noticing instincts...read more

One of the good things about this time of year is that the warm weather provides us with a wider array of opportunities to get exercise. During the cold months, my options are much more limited.

I'm not the kind of person who wants to shell out a bunch of money each year to join a gym. Besides, when you factor in the time it takes to drive there and back, your daily workout can require a time...read more

For years I had heard the stories about what traffic was like on Highway 55 between the Treasure Valley and McCall. The stories about the wrecks and near-wrecks that resulted from drivers who were obviously not thinking safety first.

But like so many things in life, you really can't fully appreciate it until you experience it yourself.

I have made the drive before, but always done so during...read more

I don't know about you, but one of my all-time favorite hobbies is waiting at red lights. Long red lights. Then, driving a block or two, stopping again and waiting at another long red light.

The scent of exhaust fumes from all the other cars, engines running, wasting gas as they pump pollution into the air. And who doesn't love watching their windows vibrate as they feel the pounding of the...read more

You never truly appreciate the miracle that is a cat's litter box until the day he or she doesn't use it.

That's something I discovered last week. I have a little area set up where I keep my feline companion's litter box and food and water dishes. I set them on a piece of leftover floor tile in the corner of his room, and put some carpet about a foot high along the walls where the...read more

OK, after reading the posts of my two colleagues (Sharon Strauss on messy desks and Mike Butts on neat freaks) about messy desks vs. neat ones, I just have to toss in my two cents.

There's something about neat freaks that creeps me out a little bit. Sure, many of them are nice people, but to see how passionate some of them get about a few pieces of paper that aren't stacked perfectly...read more

Now that summer is unofficially here and the temperatures are getting tantalizingly close to the "officially hot" range, some "old friends" are starting to show up again on my front porch.

I'm talking about ants. And not just on my front porch, but all around the concrete on the walkway leading up to the house, not to mention the concrete that makes up my back porch.

It's...read more

If you're like me and you enjoy stretching out on your recliner and relaxing with a little Major League Baseball on a weekend afternoon, you probably maintain a tight grip on your remote control.

Why? Because as soon as the next half-inning comes to a close or a pitching change is made, the commercials come on. And if you're not poised — like a well-rested cat hovering over a mouse...read more

Now that spring is here and the last of the holdout brown blades of grass have finally succumbed and turned green, it's now time to start watering regularly.

For many people, that means merely turning the switch on their automatic sprinkler systems to "on." But I'm not one of those people. Yet.

I still can't convince myself to have a sprinkler system installed. I'm one...read more

Yesterday was my ceremonial first full lawn mowing of the season.

Today I heard a report about Canyon County trying everything it can to avoid having to require mandatory vehicle emissions testing.

Today is also Earth Day.

What do these three things have in common? Well, they give me an opportunity to make a pitch for push-reel lawn mowers.

Yes, those old-school mowers that your grandfather used...read more

What's this? Criticize the Internet? The greatest creation of mankind in, like, forever and ever? How dare I engage in such heresy!

Actually, my distaste for the Internet is targeted. I realize there are good things you can do on it, like pay bills, order stuff you can't buy locally, and find information quickly and conveniently.

My main beef with the World Wide Wonderful Web is what it...read more

After months of waiting, I was finally able to roll my bike out of the garage this past weekend for my first bike ride. As Homer Simpson would so eloquently put it, "Woo Hoo!"

I have been itching to get out and ride for a long time, and always look forward to that first spring ride.

So my inaugural ride of 2009 consisted of a ride down to the bike shop, where I was going to replace the...read more

One of my little idiosyncrasies is that any time I hear a phrase that I think is kind-of unique, different, unusual or cool, I say "that would be a great name for a rock group." I have variations on this, such as "that would be a great name for a sit-com" or "that would be a great name for a book."

For example, I used to work with a man named Manny, and one day at work...read more

What's news? This is a very subjective profession. It's not like, say, hamburgers.

When you make hamburgers, there's not much room for debate. It's either a hamburger or it isn't. If it has two buns and at least one meat patty, it's a hamburger. If it doesn't have these items, it's not. Pretty cut-and-dry stuff.

News, however, is entirely another matter. There are...read more

Technology can be used for a tremendous amount of good things. It can also be used for an incredible amount of bad things.

Cell phones enable us to call for help if our vehicles break down 90 miles from the nearest town. They also can serve as a distraction when we're driving, leading to deadly traffic accidents.

On the Internet, we can buy things we could never find locally with just the click...read more

"We just won the Itty Bitty Conference Championship! We're going to the Big Dance! North Carolina is going to slaughter us by 50 points in the first round! PAR-TAY!"

For those of you who are wondering, there is no Itty Bitty Conference. But there are lots of itty bitty conferences full of schools with very small enrollments and with at least a dozen words in their titles. Schools and...read more

Things seem to happen in bunches. Have you noticed that? Long spans of time seem to go by, then wham, it all happens at once.

This seems to be one of those times for me when it comes to people I know passing kidney stones. Anyone who has ever experienced this pain can tell you how excruciating it is. I haven't — knock on wood — but a brother of mine who is an auto mechanic had to...read more

We received a Cheers and Jeers submission today that I found to be quite revealing. The writer started by cheering a local middle school basketball team for its sportsmanship, but then went on to jeer other schools which, according to the writer, had players who taunt opposing players and coaches, and coaches who yell at other teams' players.

One of the things I've always appreciated about...read more

I know what you're probably thinking when you read the headline to this posting. You're probably expecting me to start ranting about how certain people within the government are taking over, or how this or that person from this or that political party is, as we speak, swooping down in a dark-hued helicopter, ready to whisk you away to an "undisclosed location," where you will be...read more

So I'm sitting here thinking about what the topic of my posting for this week could be, and I pick up an envelope on my desk and look at the return address. Hand-written in blue ink, it identifies the sender as "A. Joe."

Immediately I was transported back in time to my college internship one summer at a radio station in New Mexico. At that time I was planning on going into broadcasting...read more

Keep those eyes up when you dribble! Move your feet! Box out!

If you have a child who's taking part in the Nampa Recreation Department's youth basketball league this winter and you hear a vociferous coach yelling those things from the bench, it's probably me. On a scale of 1 to 10 — 1 being the quietest youth basketball coach and 10 being the loudest — I would probably clock...read more