TR: You're condoning and handsomely profiting off of extramarital affairs. How do you defend something like that?
NB: Well, AshleyMadison didn't invent infidelity; It's been around since the institution of marriage. Our view is that we're streamlining an affair that's going to happen anyway. We're just saying don't have it in the workplace, don't have it on a singles dating service, come to our service where other people feel the same way as you and you're going to find something successful. If you're not getting the sexual fulfillment you need in your relationship, you're going to get it somewhere else, that's human nature, it's in your DNA. Our service just caters to the people who say "I'm not going to be unhappy anymore."

TR: How can members be sure they're not going to get caught?

NB: Members sign in anonymously. Photos are private and you only release them when you've created a level of comfort with the person you're speaking with. The whole nature of this service is about discretion. (The site) came out of the fact that people predisposed to seek an affair would do it at the workplace or by lying about their status on a singles dating site. Both of those are fraught with the chance of real exposure and that's how people get caught.

TR: Recent stats out of Stanford University say up to sixty five percent of married men and fifty percent of married women have affairs. You run a service many of those people use...so are those statistics troubling to you?

NB: I think marriage is an institution that's undergoing a metamorphosis. It was created a long time ago, when people lived a much shorter period of life. But now, people are getting divorced more often than they're staying married, so it's changing. I think one of those changes is that the bedroom isn't the end-all-be-all anymore. People tend to forgive a cheating spouse if the other elements, economics, friendship, and kids, are there.

TR: Are you married?
NB: Me? Yes.

TR: Have you ever been cheated on? I'm trying to find out how you'd feel if your wife used your site.
NB: Well, stats would say I have been cheated on, but I haven't that I know of. I'm hoping to be one of the lucky ones that can power through and create a relationship that has that fidelity attached to it. If my wife cheated on me, I'd be devastated. But I'd also be looking in the mirror to try to understand why. I wouldn't be blaming a website. I probably wouldn't even blame the person cheating on me. I'd blame myself because I'd really want to understand how I missed the signals.

TR: Of all the sites out there that offer a service like this, you're the most present. I've seen you on Ellen, The Tyra Banks Show, Howard Stern, on and on. Knowing you have people out there that, to put it lightly, boisterously disagree with what you do, why do the press?

NB: The PR is part of making this a successful thing. We let people know that they're not alone in feeling uncertain in their relationships and current life circumstances. They don't have to be shy about coming to use our services. We need to get past this whole Scarlet Letter notion that somehow people are wrong for doing this, that they should stay unfulfilled.

Want more? Click [tab:video] to see the Ashley Madison commercial making all that noise as well as Noel's memorable appearance on The Tyra Banks Show.

Black Friday is almost here.  For those of you unfamiliar, it’s the day after Thanksgiving when all *ahem* heck breaks loose with retailers.  It requires getting up early (like getting in line at 4am in some instances) but the savings are typically worth it.

However, the ads don’t hit the paper until Thanksgiving Day.  What’s a thrifty shopper to do?  In order to take full advantage of the “Door Busters” you need to plan your shopping spree like the Normandy Invasion.  Can you do that in a day?  Thanksgiving Day no less?  You’ll be eating turkey or cooking turkey or in a turkey coma.  Or you could be watching football.  Who knows.  The point is, you have many things fighting for your attention on those days.  That’s why God gave us the interwebs.

Welcome to www.blackfridayinfo.com.  A whole site dedicated to posting Black Friday ads early.  If you’re like my wife, you got a little dizzy just reading that last sentence.

Here are some of the highlights from Walmart, always a leader in crazy deals on Black Friday (your highlights may vary):

• A 50-inch HDTV Plasma for $798.
• X-Box 360s for $199.
• $2 DVDs
• $15 Blu-Rays
• $129 Blu-Ray Players.

Other stores featured include: Bass Pro, Sears, K-Mart, JCPenney, Lowe’s, Radio Shack, Target, Walgreens, Toys R Us, Macy’s, Best Buy and many, many more.

Now do your patriotic duty and prop up this dying economy, will ya?

I know this place where, for twenty bucks, you get naked, they oil you up, rub your glistening flesh for thirty minutes, and send you out of the building smiling. Yes, I'm talking of course about the Saint Charles School of Massage Therapy, a little stress-reducing gem hidden on the west side that I've frequented for a few years. While other spas charge a small fortune for a halfway decent massage, the folks here will send you on your way with more cash in your wallet and less tension in those muscles. Why so cheap? It's like this...

To legitimately be recognized as a massage therapist, one must attend a massage therapy school accredited by the state. There is, of course, The less-legal route seen in my recent CraigsList post (can't wait to check my inbox!) However, the Saint Charles School of Massage Therapy is one of those "by the book" schools that finds it necessary to "obey the law" and blah blah blah. As you might imagine, it's a hands-on kind of education. That's where you come in... Students need people to rub, and people need students to rub them. It's uber-cheap ($20 for a half hour, $30 for an hour,) and they're good at what they do. They even have gift certificates! So, with Christmakwanzaramadanukkah coming up, you have the option of sharing the rub-love with those closest to you. Here's how to order.

Good God!  What has this world come to when a short, fat dude can’t Circus Animal Cookies.  These were the only animals you could eat without Peta kicking in your door.  How’s a guy supposed to get diabetes now?

Won’t someone think of the children?  How do you explain this to a 5-year old?

“Well Bobby, the housing bubble combined with Sub Prime mortgage abuse has caused money markets to break a buck.  And I don’t have to tell you that money markets fund commercial paper.  Once commercial paper stopped flowing, business-to-business transactions came to a screeching halt.”

See how easy that is?  Sheesh!  It’d be easier to tell a kid that Santa Claus has AIDS.  I think I’m just going to tell my kids they can’t have Circus Animal Cookies because we don’t love them anymore. 

Maybe the lazy kids should just make their own cookies.

RIP Circus Animal Cookies.  You will be missed.

He's been gone 14 months.  That's almost a decade in "dog years".  If you think the dogs won't remember him, think again.  The song selection is a little cheesy, so turn your speakers down if you need to.

Click [tab:video] to watch.  The most amazing part to me is how long it goes on for.  The dogs' reactions are way more than a welcome home after a day at work.  They obviously thought this guy was gone forever and are ecstatic to see him.

Let's see a cat do that.  We can't because they won't.  And why won't they?  Because cats clearly hate America.  There, I've said it.  I'm sure Al Qaida's YouTube equivalent is chocked full of cats welcoming home suicide bombers...oh, wait...well, um, if suicide bombers could actually come home then I'm fairly confident that there would be cats welcoming them.

Just click the tab already.  It's cute.

Looking to save money in this economic downturn?  Then start hitting the garage sales.  Tomorrow at the Family Arena in St. Charles is a huge garage sale.  Over 250 vendors will be on hand to sell their junk.  But one person’s junk is another person’s treasure.  It’s the same theory dating is based on.

The event starts at 8am.  There is an entry fee but it’s only $5 per car.  So cram your car full of people like you were a family of clowns and head on out. 

Last year I found a life-size, talking Kermit The Frog doll.  Cost: $5.  That’s money well spent, my friends.

Who knows what you might find.  But here’s what you won’t find:

• Guns – If there’s guns at garage sale, people buy a one gun and suddenly everything else is free.  Good call there.
• Contraband – Contraband is nothing but trouble.  You don’t need it anyway.
  
• Fireworks – I think the Family Arena frowns on bottle rocket fights.  They're lame like that.
  
• Food/beverage – Do you want to meet a health inspector?  Neither do they.
  
• Tires – What are the odds of finding tires that fit your car anyway?  Go to Dobbs, will ya?
  
• Automobiles – You got there already, right?  So you clearly already have a car.  Plus, they can’t sell tires remember?  What would you do with a tireless car?
  
• Animals – The Family Arena has been officially designated a “Puppy Mill Free” Zone.  They also oppose cat juggling and fish teasing.  Click [tab:video].
  

It is hard to comprehend the  time and precision it took to sculpt these magnificent gardens from scratch..and then to have them change and grow over many years. Talk about a lot of upkeep!  I hope that these Olympic landmarks stay and that I may one day experience them first hand. Time, skill, precision and the magnitude of the living sculptures speaks volumes about the reverence for nature, tranquility, and peace that can be found in a garden.

Is this China's way of "Going Green"? I hope it is a step towards more earth friendly development for the enormous city.  I also wonder how much play the gardens had in the reduction of smog for the games. Just a thought.

The images are remarkable...take a look!

If you’ve been shopping lately, then I don’t have to tell you that prices are out of control.  But it might be worse than you think or, more importantly, worse than you notice.

Our friends at Consumerist have been documenting the effects of what they call “The Grocery Shrink Ray”.  It sounds all cool and sci-fi, but I assure you, it’s neither “cool” nor “science”…and it’s certainly not “fiction”.

In effort to hide the effects of inflation, companies are shrinking their products rather than raising their prices.  So you pay the same but you get less.  Let’s take a look:

Natural Valley Trail Mix: The fact that they consider “chewy” a selling point is enough to keep me away.  But how about the fact that $8.28 used to get you 35 bars and now it gets you 30?  Hopefully they’ve increased the chewiness, that way they’ll last longer.

Tropicana Orange Juice:  Wow!  Look at the curvy new Tropicana carton.  It’s like the Catherine Zeta Jones of Orange Juice.  Hey, wait a second?  I was so busy lusting over an inanimate object; I almost didn’t notice that the container went from 96oz to 89oz.  Well played, Tropicana…well played. 

Pampers:  8 less diapers.  That’s a pretty big drop.  Being short 8 diapers is going to cause a lot of messes.  Let’s hope the shrink ray doesn’t hit napkins. Ha, ha, ha…

Bounty Napkins:  Son of a…

Bausch & Lomb Contact Solution:  It went from 4oz to 3.5oz.  I’m starting to sense a conspiracy.  If people run out of contact solution then they can’t see that the sizes are changing.  I wonder if Art Bell knows about this?

Skippy Peanut Butter:  It went from 16.3oz to 15oz.  Damn you, Skippy.  I’ll never be able to watch Family Ties the same way again.

White Rain Shampoo: Granted, I was a Mass Communications major so math isn’t exactly my strong suit, but somehow White Rain Shampoo went from 19.95fl. oz. to 18fl. oz. and still managed to be “33% more”.  Apparently they’re using a definition of “more” that I was previously unfamiliar with.

Kraft Deli Fresh Swiss Cheese:  It went from 8oz and 11 slices to 7oz and 10 slices.  I bet the holes are bigger too.  Kraft Swiss Cheese?  More like Krafty Swiss Cheese.

Cheer Detergent:  So you think you know better now, right?  “I’ll just read the labels.  I won’t let The Man get me,” you say.  Well how about this?  The package is the same size on Cheer Detergent, but the scoop is bigger.  Wrap your mind around that!

Hefty Trash Bags:  You used to get 40, now you get 34.  As I mentioned earlier, I’m no mathlete.  But if memory serves, 34 is less than 40.  Of course, maybe Hefty is doing us a favor.  After all, with everyone getting less of everything, who needs those extra 6 trash bags anyway?

I’m not an angel.  Really, who is?  We’ve all done things from time to time that we wish we could take back.  But, sweet baby snow peas, what sort of life do you have to have lived to get an obituary like this:

“Dolores had no hobbies, made no contribution to society and rarely shared a kind word or deed in her life. I speak for the majority of her family when I say her presence will not be missed by many, very few tears will be shed and there will be no lamenting over her passing.”

And that’s the good part!  The obit goes on to say:

“There will be no service, no prayers and no closure for the family she spent a lifetime tearing apart. We cannot come together in the end to see to it that her grandchildren and great-grandchildren can say their goodbyes. So I say here for all of us, GOOD BYE, MOM.”

Sure, we’ve all been to funerals where we thought it, but to actually put in the paper?  All I can say is, “Wow!”

And remember, obits aren’t free.  Someone had to pay in order for this to run. 

It makes me think wonder what I need to do in order to avoid getting this treatment when I’m dead.

Hmmmm, maybe I should start emptying the dishwasher before my wife asks.

I visit the site maybe once a week, and it's filled with great snipits of health articles written in collaboration with a team of medical and scientific experts.

I've visited the site for the first time about 6 months ago and took their test to see my "RealAge." Your RealAge is the biological age of your body, based on how well you've maintained it.

You're asked questions such as:

On a typical day, about how many hours do you sleep?

How many times per year do you typically visit your doctor or healthcare provider?

How many OVER-THE-COUNTER medicines do you take each day?

How many miles will you DRIVE and RIDE as a passenger in a car,
van or truck in the next 12 months?

Have you ever had a sunburn that caused blistering?

If you have EVER used tobacco on a regular basis for 3 or MORE MONTHS, which did/do you use?

Turns out my My RealAge was 7.3 years younger than my actual age. Not too shabby. If you end up taking the test, let me know how you fair. The thing is, there's always room for improvement and you can retake the test whenever you'd like to see how well (or poorly) you're aging.

Take the test now

This is the Magic House's first-ever Kid-lympics, where kids of all ages can act like Olympic athletes.

From www.magichouse.org:

Beginning at 8 a.m., Friday, August 8th, kids under 2 will toddle their way to the finish line in a Diaper Dash; ages 2-4 will hurry through the ribbon in a 50-yard Dash, ages 5-6 will speed to the end in a 100-yard Dash, and ages 7-9 will sprint like Olympians in a half-mile run. Each participant will be able to decorate a flag and all have the opportunity to decorate a number to place on their T-shirt, provided by The Magic House. In addition, participants will receive a gold medal and goody bag, and the winners of each race will be presented an additional prize.

The cost for this fun run is only $12 per person and includes admission to The Magic House. Space is limited and reservations are required. Visit www.magichouse.org or call (314) 822-8900 to make a reservation.

I’ve seen some viral marketing in my time but this seems more like virus marketing.  Check out this viral video.  I won’t tell you what it’s for (so as not to ruin it).  Click on [tab:video] and watch as this girl puts her money where…well, where her mouth is.  Literally.

I’m sure this isn’t the weirdest thing ever done in a hotel room.  But I bet it’s in the 98 percentile.  Try not to watch it right before lunch.

Stick with it.  It’s not going where you think it’s going…then it goes exactly where you’re afraid it’s going.

At any rate, it's new to me! And if you enjoy running, biking or walking around St. Louis, and are curious as to what mileage you cover and how many calories you've burned, you need to check out Google Pedometer.

Type in your starting point at the top of the page, zoom in if need be and click "start recording" in the upper left. Plot your points along your desired route by clicking your mouse. Google calculates your mileage and your approximate calories burned based on weight if you turn that option on. You can even save your routes, print them off or export as GPX. 

Anyone getting tired of the same old 26.2 mile marathons? Looks like a morning jog to Columbia would burn 11,311 calories or more. That said, I think I'll just stick to a 2 mile wussy jog to Castlewood Park.