The dreaded New Years Eve celebration is right around the corner. Every year about this time, I start gritting my teeth with trepidation over the ensuing revelry. My dad once nailed it when describing the annual, all-purpose celebration as "amateur night"...Because that's exactly what it is - a night...

Just back from Israel, and I’m absolutely floored by how much I love the place…the weather, the pace, the sophistication — Tel Aviv is the city for me in so many ways. Fantasies of picking up and moving outright have been swirling through my head, ebbing and flowing with the tide of Ambien and...