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

It seems like all sorts of food-related world records have been broken recently, leaving me with cravings and a few questions.

The latest one I heard of was the 330-foot-long California roll constructed using more than 100 pounds of rice, 67 pounds each of cucumber and avocado and 167 pounds of artificial crab at UC Berkeley, according to the North Oakland News. More than 350 volunteers helped...read more

Google continues to amaze with Google Maps and its big brother Google Earth as it adds more and more features to discover the world — and even your own backyard. As a newcomer to Idaho and the Northwest, these features have been an immense help to me in getting to know this great state and this beautiful region in the past four years. I've learned so much that I am often able to help...read more

Hey Crowder fans! For those of you who didn't see it, here's the article that appeared in Oct. 18's IPT (3 Community) about David Crowder's upcoming concert in Eagle.

David Crowder brings "Church Music" to valley Tuesday

EAGLE ― Forget the organs and choir robes. "Church Music," as defined by popular Christian worship artist David Crowder, reflects the...read more

Wow! Has everyone been taking grouchy pills?

Most callers have been ... fairly nice and understanding when we've explained to them why listings for bazaars are being handled a little differently this year at the Idaho Press-Tribune. First of all there's the reduced space of the newspaper, the economy, our efforts to treat everyone the same, and ... the economy!

But then there are those...read more

Although I enjoy bicycling on the Nampa greenbelts and mountain biking in the local mountains, I've only ridden on the Boise River Greenbelt once, and just a portion of it.

With the fall leaves rapidly loosening their grip on the trees and the sun shining brightly enough to make it almost warm, my brother Jason and I decided to tackle the greenbelt Sunday afternoon and see how far we could get...read more

A week ago, I would have considered a four-day doctor-ordered stay at home more of a break than a burden

That was before I encountered the infamous swine flu.

No, unlike my bout with kidney stones earlier this year (lucky aren't I?), I'm not going to give you a blow-by-blow recap of my symptoms. In this case that might be, for lack of a better word, gross.

After I first fell ill over...read more

As an October baby, my curiosity was piqued when I read fellow editor Phil Bridges' blog about October observances. And indeed, according to the omniscient Internet, there are not only hundreds of these "[blank] of the month" observances, but there are several daily ones, too. Photographers, vegetarians, apples and church libraries get the whole month of October to be honored, but...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

According to a study released this week, Americans without jobs are four times more likely to suffer from mental illnesses, like severe depression, than those who are employed. Workers whose hours have been rearranged or cut are twice as likely to suffer compared to people with full-time jobs.

Such results might lead one to believe that work keeps a person sane, or at least contributes to mental...read more

From my second year in college to now, two years and change after my graduation, I've lived the majority of my time in apartment complexes. In that time, I've never had a perfect living situation; there always seems to be something that nags at me incessantly or bugs me into looking for a new place the next year. For that reason, I've lived in four apartments in those short years.

Accumulated...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

I understand the commute from Boise back to Canyon County can be long, especially with all the construction, but some of what I've been seeing lately in one spot is just plain dangerous.

You might know the spot I'm talking about. For the past couple months in the construction zone, there has been a place just before the Black Cat Road overpass on westbound I-84 where the roadway drops from...read more

I was raised on a small farm, grew up hunting with my dad and grandpa, and generally consider myself a pretty outdoorsy person. But that didn't stop me from doing a double take when I saw a raccoon looking up at me from my cat's dish in the corner of my living room a couple weeks ago

I've seen the animals from time to time in the woods, on the side of roads and crawling in and out of...read more

Given the spate of headlines in recent years regarding violent crimes at universities across the country - the most recent being the Yale murder of 24-year-old graduate student Annie Le - The Daily Beast news site posted the results of its "top 25 safest colleges" survey today. Idaho State University in Pocatello ranked near the top at number five. Among other statistics factored in the...read more