E D I T O R I A L

It's a brand new year! We're adding some new editorial departments we think you'll find informative and/or amusing:

NEW THIS MONTH! Get List featuring short lists on just about every topic, some of them actually useful!

F E A T U R E S

Gail Boysen stalks our favorite cute roadkill, the elusive Armadillo.

In Scents - Revive your travel memories with taste and scent.

Confessions of a Candy-Ass - McBee not only doesn't like the cold, he has many, many reasons for you to hate it, too.

Dumb-Ass trips goes to Vancouver, British Columbia, for one unforgettable (if we could only remember) weekend of consolation lounge-crawling through Four Ritzy Lounges and a Fry House.

E A T S

Go snowshoeing, build a snow fort, enjoy the outdoors from which the crowds hide. (Don't invite McBee.) Then bring the party home for a dinner that's cheap, fun, fast and nonetheless stylish! Martha Strom brings you plans for a Soup supper! (And when you get some time, invite more people over to indulge in your dazzling Cookie Buffet.)

G E T  L I S T

Seven Packing Tips You Won't Find Anywhere Else

Five Telltale signs You're in a Bachelor's Kitchen

Five "Must Haves" for Your First Budget Trip to Paris, France

A L M A N A C

Natural and Unnatural events around the world (and beyond) for January, February & March.

E D I T O R I A L

GUIDE TO HAPPY TRAILS

The kid in the picture is me in 1959. It was the triple crown of happy days: my fifth birthday, a pony ride, and a perfect opportunity to wear my new Dale Evans outfit. Dale Evans, wife of Roy Rogers and stand-alone cowgirl icon, died early this month at 89. When movie cowboys were all boys, Dale rode onto the scene as an equal except with a girlier outfit. Dale didn't need the proximity of Cowboy Roy in order to be a cowgirl, but it was always so nice to know they belonged together like a pair of retro-style bookends.

BECOMING A MASTER AT PLAN B

On my famous Year-At-A Glance Franklin Covey insert, I block out epics and missions and giant dumb-ass schemes and conventions. Last year I did everything I marked down. This year it's harder. I scheduled a trip months ago to Ottawa for Winterlude, along with a trip to Quebec for their Winter Carnaval. Dough got tight, reality hit, the day job heated up, and I regretfully scaled down the trip to zero in two stages, something I discourage my readers against, and chide my friends about. Marcia and I spent the weekend in Vancouver instead.

My friend Jeff just phoned me from the Cafe Paradiso in Ottawa to remind me that I was a fraud and a grave disappointment, and to inform me of all the amazing things happening there without me. I should have been there. I said I would be there. Why the hell wasn't I there? Do I have any idea how lame my excuses are? Well, yes. Shut up. I have Plan B.

I told him I would check the upcoming Air Canada websaver that comes out every Wednesday midnight, Tuesday at ten my time. Next fare under $200 US from Vancouver to Ottawa, I'll be there that weekend. This is almost pocket change for a great getaway and a bargain to get disappointed friends off my case. Last-minute trips work best for me, and if you are the type to catch the flu just before that big Hawaii trip, or court ski injuries the day before the big Beekeepers' convention, check out the following: Air Canada weekend websavers and Bestfares travel club for the best in impulse travel. Another amazing tip I learned from a travel seminar at Rick Steves' Europe Through the Back Door, is that travel agents who are consolidators for certain airlines can sell you a seat (if there's a vacancy) with no advance purchase requirement for a price you never knew existed outside of Priceline. In fact, if they can find a flight and turn the transaction around to ticket it, you can parlay that suddenly unemployed status into a fine little jaunt to Venice for $200-400 and come back in time to pick up your first unemployment check. You can change the ticket, you can get miles, you can pretend you just spent thousands when you didn't. You can get to Venice and decide you want to stay the summer stomping grapes. Just check the newspaper travel sections for agencies.

FENG SHUI: BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR

I've always had a challenging time with housekeeping, but found the most amazing motivational tool in a book called Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui by Karen Kingston. The upshot is that when you clear your home of clutter, you create a void to draw in things you want for which there was previously no room. Problem is, if you approach it glibly and "enhance" your ch'i (energy) in a cluttered room, you may just be enhancing the same junk you are trying to get past. The day after I enhanced my home's somewhat grubby "career" area, the magazine got its first lawsuit threat. (Sure we want to be treated like the Big Boys, but...) Martha Jordan (seen in sidebar) enhanced the telephone in her torn-apart office with an eight-sided mirror and got numerous calls for jobs she didn't want. So it's powerful stuff, easy to write off since it resembles superstitious practises, but not to be dabbled with idly. And of course, good for an entire story, next month.

- "Chad" Strom Your Editor-in-Chief