By John Toth The Bulletin I cannot promise that I’ll resolve to exercise more, because that would give me less time in the gym to play with my phone. So, that’s out. Saving money is great. I like doing that. I have always stretched the life of my cars to extinction and beyond. Making smart financial decisions when you’re young will be rewarding in your later years. It has worked for me very well.  Remembering peoples’ names when I first meet them will be a challenge, but I’ll

By John Toth The Bulletin I drove 1,688 miles in 1979 to take a reporting job at the Bay City Tribune, not really knowing what I’d get into, only that I had a job right after graduating from college in the field that I got a degree in, which was rare at the time. I knew that it was hot in these parts of Texas, since I got here in May and made it through my first summer here in a car without air conditioning. Just wait, they said. You won’t regret coming to Texas. I never did

By John Toth The Bulletin I was born on Dec. 13, in the middle of the holiday season, and in one of the worst months to have a birthday. It would have been better to be born in a month when there is not all that much going on, like any summer month, but I had no say in this matter. Everyone knows Christmas kids are doomed from day one. The holidays are in full swing the second that Thanksgiving ends. So really, anyone celebrating a birthday in the last month of the year is in

By John Toth The Bulletin When I was a child, and December rolled around, we anxiously awaited Dec. 6, St. Nicholas Day - anxiously because there was a good and a bad side to that day, and the night before. I was born in a country where, for some reason, our ancestors decided that a good guy and a bad guy should visit the children on the same night. After all, what would a celebration of St. Nicholas be without an antagonist? St. Nicholas was a fourth-century Greek bishop of

By John Toth The Bulletin When Sharon and I owned and operated Wicks ‘N’ Sticks at Brazos Mall, we found out that connoisseurs of fragranced candles don’t deviate much from the norm. The trick was to come up with products that stayed within that bubble. But not all the time. Most food-scented candles were not a big hit. We experimented with a few, and they were not big sellers. When I tried to pitch them to customers, they came back with: “Why would I want to buy a candle tha

By John Toth The Bulletin An invoice I sent out in June just came back to me marked as “undeliverable.” Maybe it was, but why did it take...

By John Toth The Bulletin A while ago, my primary physician told me that he was retiring, and I needed to find another doctor. I chose...

By John Toth The Bulletin We have been inundated every day by calls to The Bulletin for weeks, but not in a good way. Within the good...

After 40 years, we made it back to an improved Nassau

By John Toth The Bulletin During our recent visit to Key West, Florida, one of our must-see stops was Ernest Hemingway’s home. When...

By John Toth The Bulletin The year was 1999. Ricky Martin’s “Livin’ La Vida Loca” topped the charts; “Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom...

By John Toth The Bulletin I have found the almost-perfect radio, although my search continues for true perfection - for a good price, of...

By John Toth The Bulletin It was July 25, 1969, the day I found myself glued to the television set as the Apollo 11 Astronauts prepared...

By John Toth The Bulletin Have you noticed recently that people stick their tongues out more often than we’ve seen in the past? I don’t...

By John Toth The Bulletin I had another column scheduled for this week, but then I realized that this issue marks the beginning of The...

By John Toth The Bulletin Doing stand-up comedy is a hard way to make a living in the entertainment business. It takes a special kind of...

By John Toth The Bulletin I was sitting in the dental chair the other day as  the dentist’s drill was churning relentlessly in my mouth....

By John Toth The Bulletin I was driving up to the hideaway and noticed that school buses started popping up on the streets around...

I love cruising, but it also makes me grateful to live in the U.S.

By John Toth The Bulletin When I was running around in the school yard in the third or fourth grade, I fully expected to graduate from...