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Linda and I were in Romania a couple of weeks ago, and we visited a medieval castle where the vampire legend of Count Dracula was supposedly based.

Philosopher Walter Kaufmann wrote a book ironically titled, The Faith of a Heretic. After explaining our cosmic insignificance, he concluded: “What I want to do and would advise others to do is to make the most of life: put into it all you have got and live, and, if possible, die with some measure of nobility.”

A middle school student in Idaho won first prize in a project he did for his school’s science fair. He wanted to show how conditioned Americans have become to accept junk science without thinking through published studies or their conclusions. In his project, he urged people to sign a petition demanding strict control or total elimination of the chemical "dihydrogen monoxide."

“Strength is a matter of the made-up mind.” – John Beecher If you want to get anything done, you have to start with a decision to do it.

I just learned that another friend of mine is dying. Without previous warning, he began to experience what he thought were mild symptoms that gave him concern and went for a check-up. Stage four liver cancer. A follow-up CAT scan revealed tumors in both his liver and his lungs. He is still unsure what he will do, but the prognosis offers no hope.

Remember the days before digital cameras and smartphone pictures? We used to buy film and then take the pictures to a lab to develop them before we could see them.

Lena Paahlsson, of central Sweden, lost her wedding ring. Like any happily married wife, she became pretty distressed over losing it, especially since she had designed it herself and had it custom made. It was a beautiful white-gold band with seven diamond studs embedded.

Not every season is the same. Six months ago, I was enjoying my patio almost every early morning and evening. Temperatures soared into the upper 80s during the day and dropped to barely 70 degrees at night.

My only way of having money as a kid was by finding a way to make it myself. When I turned 12, I was old enough to get a paper route, which I did right away. But before that, I mowed lawns, raked leaves, and shoveled snow.

There are days, and sometimes weeks, when disappointing circumstances can seem overwhelming. You feel like you're barely keeping your emotional head above the water, and then you see a giant wave approaching.

I know that winter is hard. I know it’s long in Chicago, and there isn’t much for us to do outside when it’s cold here. I also know that seasonal depression is a real thing.

My friend Billie, director of Africans Reaching Africa, painted this picture for me: “Imagine you lived in the South at the end of the Civil War, and you were told that your Confederate currency was about to be invalidated, but you could exchange it for U.S. legal tender if you did right away, before it was canceled.”