Have you ever heard the expression 'whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right'? When I first started hearing people say it, I thought it was some kind of a trick saying, meant to confuse people and make them look foolish, so I didn't even try to figure it out. After a while, I guess I had heard it so many times that I got curious, and whenever I'm curious about something, I can usually figure it out. Well, it turned out to be a pretty useful expression, after all. The...

Wednesdays at 5:30 AM, my favorite gym class is totally insane. It's hard to believe that many people in the Portland suburbs are willing to get up at the crack of dawn to stake out a 3'x5' piece of territory in a mirrored room, but it's true. I take this same class every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at the same time, but the Wednesday instructor has a following that borders on celebrity status. By 5:15, it's literally wall to wall people, jockeying for position and laying claim to the...