I was always fascinated with locating a new Navedo when the updated white pages arrived in my apartment building lobby. I’d ask my mother if she was familiar with a first name or address. Was it possible that I was distantly related to one of these strangers? If so, was there any chance they knew I even existed? Sometimes my last name feels like a special club when it’s not an enormous burden.

Truthfully, it didn’t really matter, because I was never going to call any one of them. Curiosity was my only motivation. I was 10 years old, using my chubby little fingers to thumb through and scan the fine pages of a New York phone bible. This was an analog Facebook without the actual faces.

Still, I’d examine those columns for names and numbers I might recognize like I was deciphering a code on an ancient scroll. For a little while, I even tried to identify patterns between phone numbers and neighborhoods. Absolutely strange, I know. This was being done by a kid who had a Sega Genesis to play when he was bored.

My objective became a little less foggy once I browsed through the last names starting with “S” in the overwhelming collection. I was going to find R.L. Stine. And I was going to call him.

Read more

One of the hardest things about losing weight and improving health, aside from finding the motivation to actually DO it, is avoiding all the tempting temptation from gimmicks designed to convince people that it’s easier than they think (looking at you, Skechers Shape-Ups).

The Nike+ FuelBand isn’t a volatile drill sergeant or an affable personal trainer — working out and becoming active is still entirely up to you — but it is a quality tool for helping you become your own motivator.

By pandering to our selfish need for feeling like accomplished adults, Nike developed a lightweight, high-tech wristband to monitor one’s activity while progressing toward self-appointed daily goals. Nike’s invented unit of measure for Fuel points gives us a score to digest, while the scientists at Swoosh let their algorithms calculate said Fuel for estimates of calories burned, steps taken, distance travelled, and total time active.

The important thing to take away here is how effective the FuelBand is in shaming you for being lazy. Read more

My father and I at the Puerto Rican Day Parade ca. 1990

My memory really shouldn’t be this foggy, but I can’t recall the exact year this picture was taken. Honestly, I should probably utilize these top-notch reporting skills I possess and simply ask my mother to confirm, but I’m winging it instead.

Besides, there’s a context clue here that I want to use so I can feel like a wily detective.

The event and location go without question. It’s definitely the Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York, so I know I’m wearing polyester in June. My gut is settling on 1990 because my father doesn’t have his ponytail. In the 1980s, the Steven Seagal ponytail was all the rage, and my father — looking like the lead singer in TKA — was in that “long hair, don’t care” phase. But when he started working for the Sanitation Department, the locks got chopped because washing it was tedious and disgusting.

So, 1990 it is.

Read more