♫ Happy Birthday to Bob Smith ♫

“A joyful heart is good medicine.” King Solomon is credited with giving that little piece of good advice thousands of years ago and it still holds true today. Experts agree that laughter is good for the soul and for your physical health. It's a proven fact that people with a good sense of humor live longer. Nowhere was humor more evident than during a television commercial shoot for Advantage Toyota. Jenn Brooks and I laughed loudly through a few bloopers before getting down to business. Research finds that humor can help you cope better with pain, enhance your immune system, and reduce stress. I am told that when I was much younger my family would have no trouble finding me in a crowd. They would hear my very loud laugh and know exactly where I was. In the world we live today, it's very easy to become discouraged. The economy, healthcare, unemployment, drugs, terrorism, pollution, anxiety, depression, the list goes on and on and if we're not very careful, any of these things can drag us down. Please remember, usually, the space between our ears keeps us from living a vibrant, positive, and healthy life. Now obviously we can't laugh at everything that comes along, but we can certainly put a positive spin on most of life's circumstances.

A good sense of humor has brought me through some very trying times and it can do the same thing for you. The first thing I look for in The Herald-Dispatch every day is Brenda Lucas' column. Today's chuckle is a great way to start the day. As the old song goes, “Let a smile be your umbrella on a rainy, rainy day.” By the way, did you hear the one about....

Buying vs. Leasing

Disadvantages of Car Leasing

• You don't own the car at the end of the lease.
• Your mileage is limited to a set amount, typically 12,000-15,000 miles a year (excess miles are paid for at the lease termination).
• Lease contracts are confusing.
• Leasing is more expensive in the long run (as opposed to buying and driving until the wheels fall off).
• Wear-and-tear charges can add up (paid at lease termination).
• It's costly to terminate a lease early if your driving needs change.

Advantages of Car Buying

• Pride of ownership — you can modify your car as you please.
• Car buying is more economical in the long run unless you buy and trade-in regularly.
• No penalty for driving excess mileage
• Increased flexibility — you can easily sell the car whenever you want.

Disadvantages of Car Buying

• Higher down payment is generally required.
• Higher monthly payments
• You're responsible for maintenance costs once the warranty expires.
• Trade-in or selling hassles when you're ready to get rid of your car
• More of your ready cash is tied up in a car, which depreciates, rather than an investment that appreciates.

Look to Edmunds.com for more valuable information and analysis!

Easy Ways To Save Thousands On Your Car

Proper maintenance is key to saving hundreds or thousands of dollars on your car. There are very easy things to check once you are aware. Provided is a short list from consumerist.com which goes over the basic parts that need to be checked, how to check them, and how much it costs or could cost you if you don't. Click here to read the article: http://bit.ly/1nwb9S7

Should I get a Coupe or Sedan?

There are various things to consider when choosing between buying a coupe vs. a sedan. What factors matter most to you? Style? Space? Cost? Find out how these compare by reading this analysis by carsdirect.com. This will provide you with detailed information so you feel more informed and confident when purchasing your next vehicle: http://bit.ly/1nw5uLX

What car seat should I get for my child?

Protecting our children is a parent's number one concern. There are many types of car seats to choose from that fit many different cars in different ways. How do you know which to pick? Above is a graphic from safercar.gov depicting the recommended type of car seat by age. For more detailed information, click this link and learn about how to find the safest car seat for your child: http://1.usa.gov/1nw1cEl

Top 5 Audiobook Recommendations

The Invention of Wings: A Novel 

Written by: Sue Monk Kidd

Length: 13 hrs and 46 mins
Summary: From the celebrated author of The Secret Life of Bees comes a magnificent novel about two unforgettable American women. Sue Monk Kidd presents a masterpiece of hope, daring, the quest for freedom, and the desire to have a voice in the world. Hetty “Handful” Grimke, an urban slave in early nineteenth century Charleston, yearns for life beyond the suffocating walls that enclose her within the wealthy Grimke household. The Grimke’s daughter, Sarah, has known from an early age she is meant to do something large in the world, but she is hemmed in by the limits imposed on women.

Imperial Life in the Emerald City 

Written by: Rajiv Chandrasekaran 
Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
Summary: The Washington Post's former Baghdad bureau chief, Rajiv Chandrasekaran, takes us into the Green Zone, headquarters for the American occupation in Iraq. In this bubble separated from wartime realities, the task of reconstructing Iraq is in the hands of 20-somethings chosen for their Republican Party loyalty. They pursue irrelevant neoconservative solutions and pie-in-the-sky policies instead of rebuilding looted buildings and restoring electricity, angering the locals and fueling the insurgency.

Divergent, Book 1 

Written by: Veronica Roth

Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
Summary: In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue - Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is - she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

   

Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War 

Written by: Robert M. Gates

Length: 25 hrs and 42 mins
Summary: From the former secretary of defense, a strikingly candid, vivid account of serving Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. When Robert M. Gates received a call from the White House, he thought he'd long left Washington politics behind: After working for six presidents in both the CIA and the National Security Council, he was happily serving as president of Texas A&M University. But when he was asked to help a nation mired in two wars and to aid the troops doing the fighting, he answered what he felt was the call of duty.

Sycamore Row

Written by: John Grisham  

Length: 20 hrs and 50 mins  
Summary: Seth Hubbard is a wealthy man dying of lung cancer. He trusts no one. Before he hangs himself from a sycamore tree, Hubbard leaves a new, handwritten, will. It is an act that drags his adult children, his black maid, and Jake into a conflict as riveting and dramatic as the murder trial that made Brigance one of Ford County's most notorious citizens, just three years earlier. The second will raises far more questions than it answers. Why would Hubbard leave nearly all of his fortune to his maid? Had chemotherapy and painkillers affected his ability to think clearly?