Having been trained by the Spouse, who talks to students for hours every day, to brush after every meal (even, or shall we say, especially at work, and don’t even get me started on the weird stares you get from #2-goers while you’re doing something healthy and hygenic), and be aware of your “freshness” when close-talking with your fellow man, I must sing the praises of the new Colgate 360 toothbrush, which has this sexy new gizmo on the back of the brush that actually scrapes the yucky gunk off your gums, cheeks and tongue while you’re doing your standard toothbrushing, leaving you “kissable” fresh (providing, of cours, you have a willing partner with their own Colgate 360).  All hail dental technology!

Don’t think I’m going out on a limb to here if I say there’s a lot of free-floating anxiety around here (and everywhere). You’ve got the high fuel costs (glad we got rid of the full-size SUV!), the high grocery costs (skip the capers this week), the firings and layoffs (I know several people, of varying levels of education and experience, who have been looking for work for some time, some with families and kids), the weird weather (glad Al Gore wasn’t right about that!), sudden, untimely deaths (two so far, and the year’s only half over), an unending war in Iraq, the second unsuccessful M. Knight Shamaylan film…

The best solution I’ve found for all this stress, 80-90% of which istotally out of my control, is to look for the elusive “silver lining”, which in my case includes:

• Exercise, for your body and your family and to take your mind off that stuff you have no control over
• Being grateful every day that my children, wife, family and friends are in good health and able to bug me in the ways I have become accustomed to
• Time with these same family and friends, who (hopefully) will be the ones to stick around you when things (God forbid) aren’t going so great
• Thinking about “the big picture”, which may not be good for you per se, but is better for the world, such as more realistic gas and food consumption, more involvement in your local community involvement since it’s more expensive to go farther away, energy savings to save money and the environment, increased requirements for recycling, more home gardens and local produce, etc.
• The feeling, on good days, that the rest of the American people are also getting the idea that the past eight years were a bad, bad idea and we need a significant change to get things back on track
• Always keeping your mind open and increasing your “skill set” so you’re be more valuable to the place you work for (and to keep your brain from atrophying)
• And, it can’t be stressed enough, keeping an optimistic, positive outlook, and working hard to maintain an attitude that people enjoy being around, rather than grumbling and complaining and whining all the time (not that I’ve ever met anyone like that…)

Good luck to everyone during this rough patch!