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How do I protect my personal time at work?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:22:37 GMT

Q. This may sound weird, but I don’t know how to handle this. Now that we’re back in the office, my boss demands that I have lunch with everyone in the group. I don’t like them. I feel forced to spend time with them that should be my time. Can I tell him anything?A. This is your personal time and although you feel pressure to eat with your peers and it may even get political (if you don’t join them, it may be like, “Why isn’t so-and-so eating with us?”), the reality is, again this is your time. You may even need a break from them that could serve you well. It could actually be worse if you join them for the sake of joining them and you’re unhappy the entire time.You can politely push back and say something like, “I need to take this time to clear my head, I will try to join them when I can and I participate in the weekly team get togethers, thanks for your concern.”If there’s an underlying reason like maybe your boss ...

NFL picks: Can Pats bring the pain to Jerry World?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:22:37 GMT

NFL Lines Week 4Barry Bruce BillGame 25-18-1 21-22-1 18-25-1Atl @ Jax (UK) -3 Jax Jax AtlMia @ Buff -2.5 Buff Buff MiaDen @ Chi +3.5 Den Chi ChiBalt @ Cle -3 Balt Balt CleCin @ Tenn +2.5 Tenn Tenn TennLAR @ Ind pick ‘em Ind Ind IndTB @ NO -3 NO TB TBWas @ Phil -9 Phil Phil PhilMN @ Car +4 MN Car MNPitt @ Hou +3 Pitt Hou HouLV @ LAC -5 LAC LAC LACNE @ Dal -6.5 Dal Dal NEAZ @ SF -14 AZ AZ AZKC @ NYJ +8.5 NYJ NYJ NYJSea @ NYG +1 NYG NYG SeaLast week 10-5 7-8 9-6Season 25-18-1 21-22-1 18-25-1Bruce: A lot of bubbles are gonna burst this weekend. Like what happened with Dallas last week. Do you really trust Miami at Buffalo?The Cardinals are frauds, but I’ll take you, me and 9 other people with 14 points pretty much every time.The Jets were a Super Bowl contender with Aaron Rodgers, allegedly. Despite how bad Zach WIlson is, and we’re all tired of hearing about it, if he was that bad the Jets would sign Colin Kaepernick. They’ll cover getting 8.5 against the Chieftains.Bill: The Kansas Ci...

Belly full of favorites & new songs for new tour

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:22:37 GMT

It boggles the mind a little that a song as wonderfully offbeat as Belly’s “Feed the Tree” was a hit single. But such was life in the early-90s heyday of alternative rock. “Every time we play it I say ‘How was this a hit?,” says frontwoman Tanya Donelly. “It is the weirdest freaking song, for the subject matter alone. And there so many examples from that era. I think there was a time back then when a bunch of our friends were having the same experience of having these quote-unquote hits with very quirky songs. It felt a little like sliding under the radar, like we were getting away with something. And that was a blast.”And after all these years, she still gets people asking her what the song is about. (It roughly concerns a woman asking respect from her partner, including being there when she’s buried). “This may sound precious but I actually figure songs out years later — ‘Oh, that’s what I meant!’ So I am still figuring it out too. And I like it when people make up their own...

Column: David Ross accepts blame for the Chicago Cubs’ fade down the stretch in a failed quest for an NL wild-card spot

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:22:37 GMT

The arc of the Chicago Cubs season has been amazing to watch unfold because no other season was quite like it.The Cubs were 10 games under .500 on June 8, then got hot and played 22 games over .500 (50-28) from June 9 to Sept. 6, when they had a 92% chance of making the playoffs.But just when it looked as if they could plan their postseason rotation, they faltered down the stretch, going 6-14 from Sept. 7 through Friday’s loss, putting them on the brink of elimination with a 4.7% chance of getting in.“The odds of anything, I don’t kind of buy into that,” manager David Ross said before the game.But the Cubs’ quixotic journey ended Saturday night when the Miami Marlins earned a wild-card berth with a win in Pittsburgh, making the Cubs’ 10-6 win over the Milwaukee Brewers moot.An exhilarating ride through the summer officially crashed and burned on the eve of the final day of the season, leaving the Cubs out of the postseason for the third stra...

Thursday Murder Club back in the game in ‘The Last Devil to Die’

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:22:37 GMT

In an early chapter of Richard Osman’s “The Last Devil to Die,” retired nurse and eternal optimist Joyce Meadowcroft writes in her diary on Dec. 26, “I feel like I should drink to something, so I suppose let’s drink to ‘No murders next year.’”Oh, Joyce. You know better by now. And do mind the heroin dealers, dear.Joyce is one of the intrepid quartet of septuagenarians who make up the Thursday Murder Club, the name of Osman’s hugely bestselling mystery series, taken from the first book’s title.“The Last Devil to Die” is the fourth in the series, after “The Man Who Died Twice” and “The Bullet That Missed,” and it delivers the same kind of clever dialogue, colorful characters and corkscrew plotting that made the other books so much fun.The Murder Club members are the heart of the books: widowed, cheerful, chatty Joyce; former union leader turned passionate football fan (West Ham!) Ron Ritchie; and Ibrahim Arif, a thoughtful Egyptian psychiatrist with a tendency to overexplain things.An...

Halloweentown is back with boo-dacious fun & scares for all ages

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:22:37 GMT

Remember those old-school Halloween nights, when you’d wander the neighborhood past decorated yards for treats? These days, that feels like ancient history.But there’s good news for those who love a classic holiday experience: Halloween Town is back.On hiatus since the pandemic, Halloween Town (http://halloweentownnh.thelaurafoundation.org) in East Madison, New Hampshire, returns Oct. 21.Twelve years ago, Stevo Harding, director of Camp Tohkomeupog was looking at the empty cabins post-season. He realized that with the combination of active alumni, the connection their neighbor and owners of Purity Spring Resort had to the Laura Foundation for Autism and Epilepsy (http://thelaurafoundation.org) and the general desire for classic events, they may be just the right spot for Halloween fun.The first year they decorated a handful of cabins for trick or treating, brought in some food and added a few games and activities. About 300 folks attended. But word got out fast and just a few ...

Editorial: High Court to tackle federal bureaucracy in new term

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:22:37 GMT

As the first Monday of October nears, the U.S. Supreme Court prepares for another term. On the docket in coming months are cases touching on a variety of important subjects, including the First Amendment, the separation of powers, immigration, gun rights and the reach of the federal bureaucracy.The justices have thus far agreed to hear 21 cases, the most prominent of which is Lopez Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, which offers the court the opportunity to rein in the nation’s ubiquitous regulatory state. The case involves a rule that the National Marine Fisheries Service imposed on herring fisheries, but the issue touches on the broader question regarding the authority of federal agencies.In 1984, the high court created the “Chevron doctrine,” which holds that the courts should generally defer to regulatory agency interpretations of “ambiguous” congressional statutes. This rule greatly empowered Washington bureaucrats to create and interpret law even if the statute upon which they ac...

Dear Abby: Dad’s fired, the truth stuns family

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:22:37 GMT

Dear Abby: My dad is the breadwinner in our family. A few years ago, he got fired for looking at “inappropriate” material at work. When he told us what happened, he described it as a raunchy comedy special. So, being a good son and thinking Dad was wrongfully terminated, I started calling law firms to see if he had a case. That’s when the truth came out.Not only had he lied, but he also stabbed me in the back when I went to bat for him. His job was tailor-made to suit him. In one stupid act, he managed to get canned. He also lost his excellent health insurance, dental, vision, 401(k), profit sharing, life insurance, the respect of his family and probably his co-workers (who most likely heard through the rumor mill).Dad knows he has health problems, my mother also has several, and I have a chronic condition as well. I no longer trust him. To make matters worse, I have no education beyond a high school diploma and have had no luck finding a job, so there’s no p...

Possible DUI crash in Carl's Jr. drive-thru leaves one with major injuries

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:22:37 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A two-car collision in a drive-thru line at a Kearny Mesa Carl's Jr. on Saturday left one person hospitalized with major injuries, San Diego police said.The crash was reported to authorities around 6:40 p.m. in the 3800 block of Convoy Street. A Toyota Tacoma was traveling northbound on Kearny Mesa Road when the driver struck a curb, went airborne and landed on a Honda sedan that was stopped at one of the drive-thru windows.The driver of the Tacoma, identified as a 23-year-old man, was transported to a nearby hospital for major injuries, according to SDPD. His current condition or identity is not known at this time.The driver of the Honda, a 40-year-old woman, and two elderly passengers sustained minor injuries in the crash, police added.Officers with the SDPD traffic division are investigating the incident and remain on scene as of 9 p.m. Saturday night. At this time, officers believe that the driver of the Tacoma was driving under the influence of alcohol.As of 9:30 p...

Armenia grapples with multiple challenges after the fall of Nagorno-Karabakh

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:22:37 GMT

Tens of thousands of now-homeless people have streamed into Armenia from the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, controlled by its emboldened adversary, Azerbaijan.Swarms of protesters are filling the streets of the Armenian capital of Yerevan, demanding the prime minister’s ouster. Relations with Russia, an old ally and protector, have frayed amid mutual accusations.Armenia now finds itself facing multiple challenges after being suddenly thrust into one of the worst political crises in its decades of independence following the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.Developments unfolded with surprising speed after Azerbaijan waged a lightning military campaign in Nagorno-Karabakh, a majority ethnic Armenian region that has run its affairs for three decades without international recognition.Starved of supplies by an Azerbaijani blockade and outnumbered by a military bolstered by Turkey, the separatist forces capitulated in 24 hours and their political leaders said they would dis...