1000 Yen Chris Brady - 10/5/07 I could barely speak Japanese and certainly couldn't read it. The sign was full of Kanji and Katakana script. Next to each random jumble of foreign symbols were familiar Arabic numbers and the corresponding Yen sign, Y, the Japanese monetary measure. The first amount was 1000, which at that time corresponded to about seven dollars U.S. currency. The next was 2000, and several others followed one after another down the placard until finally 8000 at the bottom. Click here for the rest of the article...
	Stuff Chris Brady - 9/2/07 You've got it. We've got it. It seems that nearly everyone's got it. Stuff, I mean. Stuff is the stuff that we have sitting around our houses, garages, and especially basements. Some people go so far as to have stuff stored in a separate facility across town, or at an in-law's house, strewn across their front yard, or at any number of Auxiliary Stuff-Storage Locations. Rich people have stuff, and usually lots of it. Interestingly, though, even poor people seem to have lots of stuff, although stuff of a lesser quality or luster. Young people have stuff, too, but old people generally have even more stuff (out of style stuff, to be sure). Click here for the rest of the article...
	Air Travel Chris Brady - 7/30/07 Modern technology has created many conveniences for us that eliminate tedious chores and make our lives easier. Take air travel, for instance. It used to be that if you wanted to travel from say, New York to St. Louis, you had to load up the covered wagon, cram the family and everything you owned into a space the size of a phone booth, harness the Oxen (assuming you had some, and if you didn't, why not?), load the shotgun, and head west for about ten or twelve years. Along the way you could expect to encounter hostile natives with bad makeup and sharp arrows, bandits, harsh roads, foul weather, and not to forget, a serious lack of rest areas. Click here for the rest of the article...
	Cell Phones Chris Brady - 6/15/07 We are so lucky to live in the times like we live in, instead of the times that other people lived in, because our modern technology is more modern than their modern technology was in their time. This technology makes our lives much simpler and solves problems we didn't even know we had. Click here for the rest of the article...
	Contingency Offers Chris Brady - 5/17/07 Once you have selected that dream home (so called because it costs more than you ever dreamed), you need to make an offer to buy it. Akin to buying a used car, the seller's asking price means absolutely nothing. You won't actually know the price until days of passing paper back and forth have ensued. To begin this exciting process, simply sit down with your real estate professional and fill out a sheet of paper that has a million little tiny words on it and is 'legal size'. This is one reason you need a real estate professional. A real estate amateur wouldn't know this requirement, and might accidentally have you fill out a paper that is 'illegal size'. Then the same authorities that enforce mattress tag removals will come seize your assets and garnish your entrees, er, um, wages. Click here for the rest of the article...
	Truth or Japanese Chris Brady - 4/30/07 When I first began studying the Japanese language my professor made a peculiar statement about the difficulty of "Nihongo" because rarely in Japan do people say exactly what they mean. Even if one understands the meaning of each word and sentence spoken, the actual meaning is still up to interpretation. Click here for the rest of the article...
	Wealth is not happiness Chris Brady - 4/18/07 Money is a mystery in many ways, and it seems a lot of people spend significant portions of their time and energy attempting to figure out the 'money thing'. Some people make it the focus of their life. Others ignore it almost entirely. Most are in between. Click here for the rest of the article...
	Results Chris Brady - 3/10/07 The level of leadership exhibited determines the results. Over time, where there are lackluster results, there is a leadership deficiency. Where there are stellar results, there is strong leadership. John Maxwell says that "everything rises and falls on leadership." Click here for the rest of the article...
	Adults as Kids Chris Brady - 2/17/07 The other day my three year old was told he couldn't have a certain toy until he'd finished cleaning up some others. He immediately threw himself face down on the floor and started whining in a shrill, high pitch wail that had to have awoken the demons of Hell. No, I am not soliciting advice on parenting.* Instead, I am trying to entertain you, so please stop interrupting my creative flow with your self-righteous, superior parenting ability, okay? I mean, come on, can't a kid have a tantrum once in a while without the parents being condemned as inept? Do you have to lord it over us that your kids turned out perfect just because we are still in the years of toddler terrorism? We've still got time to turn this thing around, you know. Click here for the rest of the article...
	Finishing a Basement Chris Brady - 12/1/06 It started shortly after I discovered girls, which made it even worse. I think it happened somewhere in the tenth grade. Memory is a splotchy thing, but here is what's on the tape in my head: Click here for the rest of the article...