I do believe.: 2011

Monday, January 24, 2011

Opting out of a friendship with your ex does not mean opting out of being polite. If you meet in public, be civil, no matter what. Venting is a natural part of the breakup process. It’s unrealistic to expect both the dumper and the dumpee won’t have a few choice words to spout about their new ex, but be careful whom you vent to. If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all, or, if you’re human like the rest of us, bad-mouth him only to your own trusted friends, not to mutual friends, as tempting as it will be. It may feel reassuring to rally allies in the wake of a breakup, but it will only prolong any pain and anger.

The goal of any breakup is to survive the fallout and limit the collateral damage. Follow these guidelines, and you can know you at least acted humanely.

Don’t rush it. You’re not going to be friends the day after you break up. And you certainly aren’t going to be friends at 2 a.m. the night after you break up, which leads us to no ex sex. Even if you can have a no-strings-attached walk down memory lane, your ex might not be able to. Try to limit your first platonic interactions to public places, during daylight hours. And sex isn’t the only thing in the relationship that’s going to change: your ex is not going to be your best friend. You can’t talk every day like you used to, and you can’t lean on him for support, at least not yet. You’ll need to take a few big steps away first, both physically and emotionally.

There are three things wrong with this next story. One, that a group of young folks decided to mix binge drinking with firearms. Two, that one of the drunks, 23-year-old Benjamin Allen Sprague, thought that a .45 caliber handgun was the same thing as a BB gun when he was drunkenly "dry firing" it. And three, that someone actually brought out a BB gun out at a party that involved .45 caliber handguns.

The story comes to us from Happy Valley, Ore--a suburb in southeast Portland where the housing is cheap and the entertainment options, limited.

When Sprague was first arrested back on Dec. 13, not many details were available. The AP reported at the time:

Stephen's grandfather, Manuel Noriega, helps out by doing most of the cutting. He doesn't mind though - he says something like this would've made his experience in Vietnam a bit easier.

"What he's doing right now..the troops will feel sure real good..just receiving something, knowing that somebody here cares about 'em. We never got nothing like this." said Noriega.

As time flies by, Stephen and his "ta-ta" as he calls him, will continue their good deed all summer long and boy, it sounds like it's going to take all summer long.

So the ribbon tying, writing and cutting will go on, as will the appreciation for our soldiers who are putting their lives on the line each and every day.

PHOENIX - When it comes to homemade, thoughtful greeting cards, 10-year-old Stephen Goodman of Surprise can tell you a thing or two.

He's on a personal mission, making sure our troops know they're appreciated and he says there's no quitting until every service man and woman overseas receives one of his masterpieces. 180,000 total - talk about a tall task!

"I'm just doing it to make them feel good. Because it's not like anyone ever thanks them..maybe a couple people do..so I just wanted to change that and make it one person higher." Stephen said.

The greetings inside are simple and from the heart. Stephen understands the overseas missions and that glorious word attached to them: freedom.

"This one says you're giving us freedom, 'cause they are..otherwise without them we wouldn't have freedom right now..other ones say thank you for serving our country because that's their choice and they're not forced to do it." said Stephen.

Do make it short. The more you ramble, the more likely you are to say something you wish you hadn’t. Think about what you’re going to say before you instigate The Talk, and include only the details the dumpee needs to know (i.e., not your growing crush on the barista at your local Starbucks).

Do make it sweet (if he deserves it). If someone’s been a total jerk, no sugar-coating is required. But I learned long ago that you should always sandwich bad news with good. Let him know what you did appreciate about the relationship—but don’t go overboard, or you’ll sound patronizing.

Do break up face to face (if at all possible). It’s about respect and showing someone he’s worth the time it takes to meet in person. There are, however, some instances in which a “Dear John” letter is permissible—even merciful.

Another ex-Apple manager who left this year is quoted on how the Apple boss becomes "more fixated in finding flaws in an icon on a screen than in the program it represents": "You can go into a meeting with the most wonderful product in the world, and he will stare at the icon for the entire meeting".

"They have no predators at this point," the FT quotes McNamee.

"I think they could bring out a dishwasher and people would buy it."

Now, three decades on, he has secured his place in the foremost ranks of the West Coast tech titans who have done so much to shape the world around the turn of the millennium."

The FT notes that the iPad is an affront to Microsoft's Bill Gates who was first to champion the tablet PC format many years ago. To make matters worse the newspaper reports that "sales of cheaper Windows notebook computers are already suffering".

"Steve's the last of the great builders," Roger McNamee, a Silicon Valley financier who led a recent, failed attempt to rebuild Palm in Apple's image, told the FT.

"What makes him different is that he's creating jobs and economic activity out of thin air while just about every other CEO in America is working out ways to cut costs and lay people off."

The FT also quoted an anonymous, recently departed executive on the level of Steve Jobs' control at Apple: "You have to make one guy like what you're doing. He's the customer, and he's the marketing department too."

The FT chose the moment in January when Jobs unveiled the iPad as the point when his and Apple's "rebound was complete".

"The iPad is the culmination of an approach that he has seemingly been perfecting for his entire career," stated the newspaper's opinion writers.

"A rebuttal of F. Scott Fitzgerald's much-quoted aphorism that there are no second acts in American life does not come more decisively than this," wrote Richard Waters and Joseph Menn.

"When Steven Paul Jobs first hit the headlines, he was younger even than Mark Zuckerberg is now. Long before it was cool to be a nerd, his formative role in popularising the personal computer, and Apple's initial public offering on Wall Street made him the tech industry's first rock star."

Of course, ANY idea and insight has the ability to provide a ripple-effect throughout my life, friends and family and anyone else I might come across. Knowing this, it’s easy to understand my Amazon bills!

It’s worth sharing too, that those many lessons with all their value have been packed into “The 3 C’s of Succcess” as artfully and succinct-fully as possible. There are over 20 years of “conversation” and wisdom made available to anyone who shares a similar desire for such information. It’s my hope, of course, these thoughts and ideas will produce similar results in your life.

As Ben Franklin once proclaimed, “An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.”

Don’t dump someone in public. You may think breaking up with someone in a restaurant or coffee shop will prevent a “scene.” It a) won’t and b) will only make the person hate you.

Don’t use the classic lines, even if you mean them. “It’s not you, it’s me” was trite the first time it was uttered; now it’s about as believable as “I’m moving to Antarctica.” Find some other way to say what you mean, without falling back on the old clichés.

Don’t dump someone after a date. It’s sort of a pump fake. The last thing a dumpee wants to be left with is the knowledge that you spent your final date together thinking about how you were going to break his heart.

Don’t break up using social media. Changing your Facebook relationship status to “single,” or announcing to the Twittersphere that you’re on the market before you inform the person you’re dumping, is deplorable. Even after The Talk, announcing a breakup to the World Wide Web requires some sensitivity—and a little bit of time. A day for every month you were together, or a week for every year, seems fair. Dumpees, on the other hand, can update as soon as they slam the phone down. In the words of Bobby Brown, it’s their prerogative.

*Don’t break up with a Post-it. It might make for a funny episode of Sex and the City, but breaking up using any form of communication that limits your character count is reprehensible. This goes for texting as well, and there’s a special spot in hell for those who do it with txtspk.

Don’t dump someone on (or the day before) a birthday, holiday, or deadline. If this one isn’t self-explanatory, then you’ve got bigger issues.

So there you have it. To many academics in my opinion get stuck on the consumption of knowledge and even create an identify based upon how much they know. The challenge with that is what they know in many cases is already obsolete or will be very soon! Again, don’t take this from me, take it from Einstein. IMAGINATION is MORE important than knowledge” and that my friends, is pure WISDOM.

I find the most successful people I know are constantly in the pursuit of knowledge (the right kind) and balance this with their creative faculties. I know that whenever I can find, learn or take away even just one idea I always assume that value is priceless to me. This explains the piles of books around my house!

Often the two, wisdom and knowledge are interchanged or confused. Knowledge is not wisdom per se but can be of course. That is, if I know a football player’s statistics or the rate at which my car burns gas – that is knowledge. However, wisdom tends to provide timeless insight. There is no shortage of wisdom. In fact if you’ve been reading this blog long enough you’ve probably come to recognize I’m a big fan. Just to give you a little flavor, here are a few;

“A man begins cutting his wisdom teeth the first time he bites off more than he can chew.” ~Herb Caen

“It I had six hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first four hours sharpening the axe.” ~Abraham Lincoln

“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” ~R.W. Emerson

And to underscore the difference between the two, consider this classic Chinese proverb, “A single conversation with a wise man is better than ten years of study.”

This is where everything emanates—everything, you and I included! The automobile, the television, the computer, the iPhone were all part of nothingness—non-existence—and were purposed from imagination! Before each was invented, they would have been placed on the right side of the line. Today, each of these inventions has fallen to the left side; they’ve become history and are now knowledge.

To be truly “smart” is to rely LESS on knowledge and more upon your imagination, intuition and creative faculties. Or, to put it another way, to know how to best integrate and balance the two. Or, should I say three…

Many of us may not give this quote a second look. Some have actually laughed at it. However, when they recognize Einstein said it, at the very least it gives them pause. However, sadly, most of us really don’t take the time to truly understand its significance.

Consider for a minute: If mankind worked only from what we know today, how could society progress?

For the purposes of ingraining Einstein’s message further, draw your own time-line on a sheet of paper. Now, mark the middle of it with a small vertical line (as above), and to the left of this vertical line, write the words “past/knowledge”; to the right, please write “future/imagination.”

Indeed! The future lives here in our collective imaginations—on the right side of the line and, coincidentally, on the right side of our brains! This is the invisible realm. This is where

There’s no such thing as an easy or kind breakup. By their very definition, breakups are messy and painful, ranging from the emotional equivalent of ripping off a Band-Aid to a Mack truck running you over, backing up, and doing it again. And sometimes being the dumper is just as hard as being dumped. While there are many books out there to usher the dumpee through a breakup, the rules of dumping remain somewhat unwritten. Below, an attempt to spell them out. Feel free to forward to the jerk who dumped you via text message on your birthday.

Note that some rules (marked with an asterisk) are hard and fast. No matter how low-down and dirty your S.O. may have acted, common decency demands that you follow these guidelines

You’d be stunned if you knew just how many people are ready and willing to help you if only you’d clearly define your need and directly ask for help. Don’t ask for help like the friend who begs people to help him move but has nothing put in boxes when they show up. Ask for help like the friend who has done everything in his power to achieve and needs only that final push from a buddy to reach success. We want to be a part of your success!
Taking so many moments for granted

Time is limited my friend. Seize the moment. Try to freeze it and own it, squeeze it and hold it. (Eminem) We’ve not been promised another year. Only this moment right before our eyes, between our hands, and in the breaths of those we love.

Neglecting your mind

You’ve talked about taking a class, joining a book club, working on more challenging projects, and taking time to read more or even start a blog. You’re officially done Putting off your dreams

Look at your big dreams and identify what makes them so appealing. Is it the free time, the nice things, the great relationships, or being in the best shape of your life? Identify something you can do this year that will allow you to enjoy some of that dream without all the extras. Save up some cash and splurge on that amazing purchase or take some unpaid time off. Treasure the time you have and don’t wait Not asking for help

Most aren’t aware of just how much they beat themselves up over things. Note this: You set an example for others as to how you should be treated and appreciated. Respect and take care of yourself and most will follow your example. This is one of those wildly simple yet agonizingly difficult things to accomplish. Try to get a solid start this year!

6. Blaming anything on gender

For example: I was in an argument recently (imagine that!) and my partner in the argument forcefully uttered the remark, “typical male!” in response to something I said that was admittedly unkind (imagine that!). This created a predicament in which my subsequent apology would be not just for my comment but also for my gender. I can’t change my gender (really, not an option) so I’d be apologizing for being myself. Crazy, right? She doesn’t do that because she’s a woman. She does it because she’s an imperfect human. He doesn’t do that because he’s a man. He does it because he’s an imperfect human. Things are simpler when we approach conflict with as few stereotypes as possible.

If the person who wronged you really cares about you they’ll have beaten themselves up sufficiently before asking for your forgiveness. Don’t risk the health of your relationship by withholding forgiveness. That’s a vengeance that tastes good on the way down and breaks your heart on the way back up.

2. Using your job as an excuse

Far too often the phrase, “I’m doing this for my family!” is given as an excuse for neglect. If you are actually indispensable your employer will, perhaps begrudgingly, give you the time you need to get your relationship with family and friends back on track. You’ll be glad you did and so will your employer!

3. Eating for all the wrong reasons

Don’t eat because you’re tired, bored, thirsty, or anxious this year! You might consider those four different things to avoid but they all lead to the reason you probably resolved to hit the gym more often this year. Consider the notion of eating with purpose and see where it takes you in 2011.

In the past 30 years Americans have become more likely to live alone and less likely to join groups—ranging from PTAs to political parties to casual sports teams. Several studies hint that this type of isolation can take a toll on people’s attitudes toward others. Steve Duck of the University of Iowa has found that socially isolated, as compared with integrated, individuals evaluate others less generously after interacting with them, and Kenneth J. Rotenberg of Keele University in England has shown that lonely people are more likely to take advantage of others’ trust to cheat them in laboratory games.

A new study from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor shows that Americans' levels of empathy have dropped significantly in the last three decades.

Using a questionnaire called The Interpersonal Reactivity Index, which asks to what degree student respondents agree with statements like "I often have tender, concerned feelings for people less fortunate than me," researchers were able to ascertain that almost 75 percent of today's student have less empathy than students 30 years ago.

Scientists have long considered empathy an inherent trait, with infants barely a year old offering assistance and sharing their resources during lab tests. But a decline in empathy proves that even inborn tendencies can be profoundly impacted by social situations. The question now is what those empathy-depleting social situations are.

A situation like this is just a sign that you need to get to a new way of being, to be able to deal with this. In other words, you need to develop certain skills or attitudes. In this example, you may need to learn how to set boundaries and how to say no, then you will be able to create balance in your life. Most failure in living by your values is just a sign you need to fill in the gaps in terms of your skills and your attitudes.

This guide is so far nothing but words with a form. In the end, what matters the most is putting it into practice. The fundamental lessons I’ve learned about finding fulfillment is that action and an open mind are the most important ingredients. Put this guide into action, and you will see some very cool things happen.

Unfortunately, once you figure out what is important to you, it’s not likely that you will be able to get it at the stroke of a finger. Things like fame, success, money or independence don’t come just like that. Oddly enough, even helping others in a meaningful way usually can’t happen just like that.

You need a strategy. You need a sequence of well organized actions to go through, in order to end up aligning your life and your career with your highest values, and to keep them that way. So, gather information, think things through and develop a strategy to create the right conditions for your fulfillment.

Step 4: Fill in the gaps. Sometimes, you will find it hard, almost impossible to align your life with a certain value. You may want to have balance in your life, but you keep finding demanding bosses, which constantly require of you to work overtime, leaving you little time for anything else.

Fulfillment is a more evolved psychological state, which reflects the fact that a certain activity is meaningful for you. It doesn’t mean you like it, it means that activity is aligned with your values and as a result, your mind interprets it as meaningful. It is only then that you filled fulfilled.

Step 2: Know your values. If the feeling of fulfillment is a reflection of doing things which are aligned with your values, it makes sense that knowing your values well is a must in order to be truly able to find fulfillment. This is something I find that most people have a problem with, which is why they struggle with finding fulfillment.

As yourself this essential question: “What is important to me?” Maybe it’s balance, learning, variation, helping others, creating, being popular or any other thing. This question is one of the best ways I know to discover your values. The key is to stick to it and to focus on the most important things.

If you would ask me what is the one thing most people in our society need, I would say fulfillment. One of the most complex human emotions and in my perspective, one of the noblest things to aim for in life. It is also something many people are far from reaching, and even far from understanding.

Finding fulfillment has been a big topic in my life in the past few years, so big that it sort of overflowed and I ended up helping other people through my coaching to find fulfillment as well. There are lots of things to say on this topic. But I’ll keep it simple, in presenting my 4 steps guide to finding fulfillment.As an emotion, fulfillment is something very different from pleasure or other positive emotions. Pleasure is the basic positive emotion you can feel while you are doing a certain activity, and it’s the sign you are passionate about that activity. Seeking pleasure is all good, but it is not fulfillment.

If we start incorporating these recommendations into our daily lives at the beginning of autumn, when SAD symptoms begin appearing, we will be that much more prepared to combat the mood disorder in the coming winter months. SAD is a serious malady that affects both our physical and emotional well-beings and we should all take action to minimize its affects, particularly when such actions benefit us, like fueling our bodies with exercise and good foods and spending time with loved ones. When we start making our happiness a priority, there’s no reason to fear the winter blues.

One of the worst characteristics of SAD is the desire to isolate oneself and avoid social functions. Depression tends to inspire that in its sufferers, which only feeds the loneliness and negativity that keep people depressed. It’s a vicious cycle and one that can be avoided—or at least somewhat prevented—by making it a point to be social. Make dates with good friends, visit with family members, and keep “keeping in touch” on your list of priorities. Being around people who make you happy can be both inspirational and energizing. Ignoring calls and staying solo seems like a good solution when we’re in a funk, but what does that really do, other than keep us in that bad mood? When you’re feeling blue, call your funniest friend and share some laughs—they call it the best medicine for good reason. Think about joining a recreational sports team or a club that focuses on your favorite hobby. If you schedule social activities throughout the fall and winter months, it might help ward off SAD and its isolating nature.

A lack of sunlight isn’t the only trigger for depression—a lack of essential vitamins can affect people in ways similar to SAD. Too few B vitamins in your diet, for example, can lead to depressive thoughts, sleepiness, and anxiety. Deficiencies in minerals such as iron, zinc, and calcium can also promote exhaustion and fatigue. Vitamin D levels, which need sunlight to work properly in the body, are on the low side during fall and winter months. Too-low Vitamin D levels can result in the aforementioned deficiencies. Incorporating multivitamins or vitamin-specific supplements into your diet now is an efficient way to avoid issues that might contribute to SAD. If the idea of taking pills seems unpleasant, eat foods that are rich in vitamins. Dairy products, whole grains, spinach, and nuts are all great sources of Vitamin B and calcium. To get the recommended amount of Vitamin D, try fish, eggs, milk, and fortified cereals.

Spend Time Socializing

Experts have long touted aromatherapy as a healthy way to replenish the mind and spirit. Supporters argue that because odors travel through the nose to the limbic system, the emotion-controlling part of the brain, what we smell has a profound effect on how we feel. There are various scents that can help alleviate or prevent SAD symptoms. Since certain smells can be very nostalgic, try using essential oils or candles that are reminiscent of spring and summer days. For example, lemon and honeysuckle scents always put me in a good mood because they remind me of childhood summers, even in the dead of winter. Those feeling anxious or stressed might be soothed by the smell of lavender. To increase alertness and encourage happier moods, try citrus, jasmine, or bergamot.

People tend to put on a few pounds as the weather gets colder. It might have something to do with the rich, decadent foods that characterize the holiday season, but why are such foods so popular during dreary months? It’s possibly because of the serotonin decrease that comes with shorter days—because we’re not getting adequate serotonin production due to the lack of sunlight, our bodies look for the hormone increase through alternative sources, such as carbohydrate intake. And, if you’re feeling depressed, seeking solace in comfort food (read: carb- and calorie-rich dishes) like mashed potatoes, stuffing, and baked goods could lead to weight gain. A good rule to remember is to limit simple carbohydrates (those with white flour) and stick to whole grains. Remember to pair any carb with a good source of low-fat protein like lean meats, cottage cheese, beans, and tofu. Balancing the two promotes feelings of satiety and will eliminate the severe drop in energy (and mood) that comes after a simple sugar binge.

Recently, a study was released claiming that exercise alone does not cure depression. However, doctors have been prescribing exercise as a potential mood booster for years, and there’s no denying that most people feel a little better after a good walk or jog. When we work out, oxygen is pumped into our brains and the result is increased feelings of alertness. Exercise is a great way to wake ourselves up from the tired feelings that come when the days get shorter. When it’s cold and getting darker much earlier, many of us just want to crawl into bed. Instead of reaching for our comforters, we should try reaching for our gym bags. We’ll feel better about ourselves, focus better, get a nice endorphin lift from the adrenaline surge that comes with exercise, and stave off those SAD feelings.

This is the one of the more common treatments for those afflicted with SAD. Individuals are placed in front of boxes that emit bright, fluorescent lights (which can range from 2,500 to 10,000 lux, or level of brightness) for a scheduled amount of time each day. However, those of us trying to avoid the mood disorder rather than eradicate it can try simpler methods, such as being outdoors as much as possible during daylight hours and letting light in through windows. If your daytime hours are confined to a cubicle with no nearby windows, make it a point to spend a few minutes outside or near natural light every hour or so. If your home hosts the same problem, try using brighter light bulbs. Even small bursts of access to the light, which can be as simple as taking a ten-minute walk break, can improve one’s mood.

The onset of fall brings beautiful foliage, crisp days warmed by hot cider, and holidays celebrating the great pumpkin. Unfortunately, this season’s arrival also means shorter days and therefore fewer daylight hours, which can make everyone a little SAD.

SAD, or seasonal affective disorder, is characterized by feelings of depression or lethargy as a result of infrequent access to light. Symptoms include sadness, weight gain, an inability to focus, constant fatigue, and feeling “under the weather” without a direct cause. Though there isn’t a specific reason for why SAD strikes certain people as the seasons turn darker, there are a few possible instigators. For example, melatonin production rates (a hormone that makes us sleepy) tend to rise in the winter. Serotonin, a mood-elevating hormone, is connected to sunlight—with less sunlight comes a decrease in serotonin, which might cause drops in mood.

The apparent suicide came as Irving Picard, the court-appointed trustee seeking to recover Bernard Madoff's assets on behalf of burned investors, filed a wave of lawsuits against banks and investment firms ahead of the midnight Saturday deadline for suing entities and individuals suspected of having any role in the scam. Picard earlier filed lawsuits against the Madoff sons and other family members, seeking the return of millions of dollars in alleged improper gains. Picard has accused them of negligence and breach of their financial responsibilities.

Curious onlookers and reporters gathered outside Mark Madoff's building as news of the apparent suicide spread.

Bernard Madoff, 72, is serving a 150-year term in a North Carolina federal prison after he confessed and pleaded guilty last year. He insisted he acted alone. However, federal authorities have since filed criminal charges against several of his financial lieutenants and other longtime employees.

Police said the New York City Medical Examiner's office would conduct an autopsy to confirm Madoff's cause of death.

It was the Madoff sons who alerted authorities in December 2008, after they said their father had confided the scheme was on the verge of collapse. Although the brothers consistently have maintained they were blameless, investigators have focused on them because they worked closely with their father in the family's financial businesses.

Flumenbaum suggested the continuing investigation might have triggered the suicide, saying Mark Madoff "succumbed to two years of unrelenting pressure from false accusations and innuendo."

"We are all deeply saddened by this shocking turn of events," said Flumenbaum.

NEW YORK — The older son of infamous Ponzi scheme architect Bernard Madoff was found dead early Saturday, after he apparently hanged himself on the second anniversary of the multi-billion dollar scam that victimized thousands of celebrities, charities and average investors.
The New York City Police Department said investigators found the body of Mark Madoff, 46, in his condo in Manhattan's expensive Soho neighborhood after receiving an emergency call around 7:27 a.m.

"Mark Madoff took his own life today," said attorney Martin Flumenbaum, who has represented the apparent suicide victim and his younger brother, Andrew in the sprawling investigation of the scam. This is a terrible and unnecessary tragedy. Mark was an innocent victim of his father's monstrous crime."

he decades that followed, as Waugh produced sixteen novels and nearly a dozen nonfiction works, he continued to write short fiction. Most of his stories appeared originally in periodicals ranging from Harper's Bazaar to The Atlantic and Good Housekeeping. The stories were subsequently published in book form in Waugh's lifetime in such collections as Mr. Loveday's Little Outing and Other Sad Stories, Tactical Exercise, and Basil Seal Rides Again; an additional volume, Charles Ryder's Schooldays, was published posthumously.

The Complete Stories of Evelyn Waugh, which makes all of Waugh's short fiction available to American readers for the first time, is adapted from a scholarly edition compiled by Ann Pasternak Slater and published in Great Britain by the Everyman's Library. Following is bibliographical information regarding the initial publication of each of Evelyn Waugh s stories.

In "Compassion," a 1949 tale that belies the author's vaunted anti-Semitism, a mere glimpse of some Yugoslavian partisans leads to this superabundant sentence: "He passed ragged, swaggering partisans, all young, some scarcely more than children; girls in battle dress, bandaged, bemedalled, girdled with grenades, squat, chaste, cheerful, sexless, barely human, who had grown up in mountain bivouacs, singing patriotic songs, arm-in-arm along the pavements where a few years earlier rheumatics had crept with parasols and light, romantic novels." Nobody can accuse Waugh of squishy sentimentality--remember, romantic prose is strictly for convalescents. Still, The Complete Stories offers an accurate and stupendously entertaining vision of human folly, no less effective for being administered in smaller.

It rained heavily on the day of the wedding, and only the last-ditchers among the St. Margaret's crowd turned out to watch the melancholy succession of guests popping out of their dripping cars and plunging up the covered way into the church.... A doctor was summoned to attend the bridegroom's small nephew, who, after attracting considerable attention as a page at the ceremony by his outspoken comments, developed a high temperature and numerous disquieting symptoms of food poisoning.

Waugh's wit only sharpened throughout the succeeding decades, and the very texture of his prose thickened (although it never took on much in the way of modernist adipose tissue).

Mordant, mirthful, and unrelenting in their lampoon of aristocratic mischief, Evelyn Waugh's novels have earned him a permanent place in the literary pantheon. But this cantankerous master--the scion, by the way, of a decidedly middle-class family of publishers and writers--was no less adept when it came to the short form. Indeed, Waugh first broke into print in 1926 with "The Balance: A Yarn of the Good Old Days of Broad Trousers and High Necked Jumpers," an early story that suggests a modernized and misanthropic P.G. Wodehouse. And he continued to write short fiction throughout the rest of his career, all of which has now been collected in the delectable Complete Stories of Evelyn Waugh.

The first few entries in the collection capture a kinder, gentler author, not yet red at the verbal tooth and claw. But by 1932, when he wrote "Love in the Slump," Waugh's eye for the black-comic detail was firmly in place: