I hear it all the time: "Life is hard!" In reality, life is easy. It is the relationships in life that are hard. Our lives are full of relationships in every category: intimate, work, family, friendship, etc. On some level you even have a relationship with the person who makes your Starbucks every morning. In fact, that is probably the easiest relationship you have (or at least the most rewarding). If you are married, dating, single or jaded, you interact with people every day who shape your life and how you lead it. If you are married, your spouse is likely the first person you see in the morning. Those first couple of minutes the two of you have together can shape the rest of your day.

Throwing a Fourth of July celebration? Your fellow Americans have some tips, ranging from home-grown parades and potlucks to Elvis impersonators, dunk tanks and old-school amusements. This week, a handful of Sacramentans offered ideas on how to have fun and maybe even save a little cash this holiday with celebrations as diverse as the country. Organizing your own Independence Day parade topped the list of suggestions. Processions can be as small and impromptu as a clanging pots-and-pans parade of kids and adults moseying around the block or as big as a community parade with marching bands and dozens of floats closing down streets. Jeff Dominguez, who owns Exit Realty West in Midtown, i

On Friday I had the opportunity to attend the Structures 2010 event hosted by the Sacramento Business Journal. I have come to enjoy attending the periodic varied themed events hosted by the BizJournal as they attract a generous mix of professionals. Friday’s event however was of particular interest. In recent years the event has celebrated local accomplishments in the building industry, sometimes highlighting developments in green building or public-private partnerships. This year however the BizJournal chose a more dour topic, the recession. Gone were the cavalier attitudes of “sitting out the recession” present at many business events. The panel assembled by the BizJournal was transparen

Occasionally in life you meet someone who has developed such an incredible gift it makes you want to tell everyone else about that person. That is what happened when I ventured into the Sunrise Natural Foods store in Roseville with my girlfriend and she introduced me to a friend of hers that works there. His name is Alden Okie and he is the epitome of  the kind of person people need to see and ask advice of when they enter a natural food health store. Alden, a very distinguished looking man in his 50's, is also a very humble and gentle man who probably never sees himself as a superman. But to the people who have come to know and trust his advice, he is a super man to them. I remember the

Posted by R.G. Angel Dear Officer Michelle, I like to sleep with the windows slightly open in my room to allow fresh air in when I am sleeping. However, on garbage and recycle collection nights, I have been woken by the sounds of someone going through the recycle cans and collecting the cans and glass bottles. I am wondering if there is someone I can call to report this or someway to have this issue looked into to. Thanks, ~Angel Dear R.G. Angel, This is a common problem. If you live in the city limits, you can call the Police Department’s non-emergency number at 264-5471 and request an officer be dispatched. There is an ordinance that makes it illegal to rummage through recyclables.

Sacramento may not be New York or Mexico city, but it can get crowded and the flu can spread quickly. As summer nears, H1N1, also known as swine flu or Mexican flu, is expected to die down before returning in the fall--possibly stronger than it is now. Health officials are eyeing similarities between the 1918 Spanish Flu, which killed between 20 and 100 million people, and H1N1 in order to learn more about the path H1N1 might take. Like H1N1, the Spanish flu began in the spring as a new and relatively mild flu but died out as summer arrived. When fall and flu season returned, it turned deadlier. Like H1N1, it's descendant, young adults were targeted by the disease thanks to their healthy