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Author: James Snyder

Air Travel for the Summer of 2023:  Pack Your Patience

Air Travel for the Summer of 2023:  Pack Your Patience

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The news reports and magazine articles are already starting about how this summer’s air travel will see record crowds, higher ticket prices, and staffing shortages (both from the airlines and the airports themselves).  All of this means that air travelers can expect more delays, more cancellations, and more frustration as they try to reach their vacation destinations. Hooray. There’s nothing I enjoy more than getting in a TSA line behind someone who acts like they’ve never been inside a lighted…

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Graduation Season:  Celebrating Success

Graduation Season:  Celebrating Success

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The month of May brings about many things.  May flowers, the Kentucky Derby, Cinco de Mayo, and this year, even a royal coronation, but it is also the month for most high school and college graduations.  All over the country, young men and women will be dressing in gowns and mortar boards, shaking hands with academic elite as they walk across stages, and awkwardly hugging that uncle or aunt they see once a year (and who is totally embarrassing them…

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Rainy Days:  Get Them While They Last

Rainy Days:  Get Them While They Last

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The local weather forecast is filled with rain for the next week, and while some folks may dislike the seemingly day after day of wet weather, I for one embrace it – for a number of reasons. First off, there’s my garden.  I plant a few raised beds every year, and the daily dose of liquid sunshine keeps me from having to manually water in my seedlings and young plants.  At this time of year, they will take all the…

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“Adulting” Is Hard

“Adulting” Is Hard

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As my daughters are quickly learning and often quoting to me these days, “adulting” is hard.  There are so many interactions to navigate, so many decisions to be made, and so many moving parts of to an adult life.  There’s transportation, work, paying bills, obtaining housing, shopping for groceries, relationships, preparing meals, washing clothes – the list goes on and on. While my daughters think that an old hand like myself makes these daily, weekly, and monthly tasks look easy,…

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Road Trip:  Deep Creek Lake, MD

Road Trip:  Deep Creek Lake, MD

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For someone who has lived in Western Maryland for most of his life, I had never been to the Deep Creek Lake area of Western Maryland – an oversight I happily corrected over the recent Easter weekend.  Located in western-most Garrett County, it is Maryland’s largest fresh-water lake (fun fact – all the lakes in Maryland are man-made), covering over 3900 acres and consisting of over 65 miles of shoreline.  As one can imagine, it has year-round outdoor opportunities –…

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The Great American Front Porch – Back in Business for Another Year

The Great American Front Porch – Back in Business for Another Year

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With the return of warmer weather, I spent this past week prepping my front porch for another season of use.  I swept off the winter dust and dirt, washed a window or two, and even cleaned off the porch posts with some soapy water to rid the area of its winter grime and wear.  Then it was off to the shed to retrieve the furniture and cushions, getting them placed just so, followed by the return of my house plants…

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Pet Peeves – The “Old Man” Rant

Pet Peeves – The “Old Man” Rant

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As I grow older, I find that more and more things tend to annoy me when I’m out and about.  I’ve always been sarcastic (which my own daughters now give back to me in spades – I guess they have been paying attention), but it seems to me as if society as a whole has become more impolite, self-centered, and “me”- centric.  Either that or I’m slowly turning into my own father (yikes!).  Here’s what I mean. Let’s start with…

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Spring is Here! (Actually, It’s Been Here for Weeks)

Spring is Here! (Actually, It’s Been Here for Weeks)

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Well, spring “officially” made its annual appearance this past week, but let’s not kid ourselves.  We’ve had a VERY mild winter this year locally, and judging by my flowering cherry trees (which have already bloomed and faded), the landscape has been in full-on regeneration mode for several weeks already.  If this keeps up, old “Punxsutawney Phil” will be greeted by crocuses and daffodils next year on Groundhog Day. I’m sure the local ski resort took a financial beating this year,…

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March Madness is Here!

March Madness is Here!

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The middle of March brings us to the annual NCAA basketball tournaments (both men’s and women’s).  Sixty-four of the nation’s Division 1 schools compete for the title of national champion.  It’s a time of emotional highs, crushing lows, and thrilling basketball action (especially if your favorite team is participating). Part of the annual tournament is the fun (and in some cases, high stakes) of trying to pick the eventual winner of the event.  You’ve probably seen these brackets floating around…

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Is the 40-Hour Onsite Work Week Becoming Extinct?

Is the 40-Hour Onsite Work Week Becoming Extinct?

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There’s been a lot of talk about the working world lately.  Mainly, there are two distinct movements going on – the availability and accessibility of “remote work” and experiments into shorter work weeks (specifically, a 32-hour work as opposed to the “traditional” 40-hour work week). First, there is the growing desire for more and more Americans to have the opportunity for “remote work”.  Don’t get me wrong, there are some jobs where remote work is not an option.  You can’t…

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