Sun Tzu was a master deceiver, a manipulator of pawns. He played on his enemies' weaknesses, surprised them when they thought they couldn’t be misled, and offered them what they wanted only to snatch it away and entrap them. "Art of War" is a veritable gold mine for those, like myself, working to structure... »

BOOBS! That's all she saw, but that's my mother for you. I grip my cell phone as she gives me a choppy play-by-play of my husband's fight on TV. I'm at work and can't watch. The camera switches to a shot of the audience - one person in particular. "Who the hell is that?"... »

I held my breath more than once that morning: When I remembered there was a shark sighting just two days earlier, which cleared the Euclid Avenue beach in Allenhurst I was about to desecrate with my derring-do; when I tumbled over and over again from the boat my instructor, Rick Henrichsen, called a surf... »

The gladiators of ancient Rome were mostly two kinds of man; criminals or runaway slaves who were sentenced to entertain the public by engaging in mortal combat. They had a choice; fight or be executed. But there was a third type of man who actually chose the life of a gladiator: The free... »

Kyra Gracie is undeniably one of the most recognized female grapplers in the world. She let me in on a few little secrets about her past, present, and a future that she says includes mixed martial arts bouts, and the one thing that’s prevented her from making her MMA debut. »

"Twenty bucks to put it on and $4,000 to take it off," said Ginny Sofran about the vine-and-flower tattoo etched on her body below her collarbone. "I just did it on a whim," she said. "My mother said, 'You'll get tired of it when you get old,' and guess what?" »

"Memory is the only way home," author Terry Tempest Williams once said. But what happens when memory leaves us, and there is no one to show us the way? When former Manasquan resident Jack Sturtevant called the police to tell them there was an intruder in his house, the police rushed over. But when they... »

"I'd rather be called the reluctant Hometown Hero," Tom Johnson, 34, said. On Sept. 11, 2001, Johnson - a K-9 unit police officer with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey - lost his former partner and best friend Ken Tietjen, 31, also of Hazlet. Tietjen had commandeered a cab to respond to... »

"They call me the hurricane here," says Marianne Rosa as she spins the cake on the pedestal and jabs at it with a tube of pink icing. In seconds, a rose garden blossoms on top of the cake, complete with green leaf detail. "Happy 40th Birthday Mom" follows in pink cursive. Just beyond, a large... »

Hmm, who do I know who travels a lot and has both a family and career to balance? Oh! How about Kurt Angle, the first American Olympic gold medalist to win the 220-pound weight class in freestyle wrestling, and current wrestler for World Wrestling Entertainment. Since Angle is in a similar situation, I asked... »

No matter what your body type, you need to come up with a set list of fitness goals (e.g. I want to be the next Mr. Olympia, or I want to be able to run around the block without collapsing) and stick to them. But who better to ask about snapping a body into... »

If a co-worker's breath is so potent that your nostrils are thinking about taking a vacation from your face, hand the person a piece of gum for Pete's sake. A simple "Have some gum" will do and is subtler than passing out right in front of him. Or try talking to him about how you... »

Hurricanes are named using a six-year, rotating list of names, which, I might add, does not contain my own. Brandy. It's not like it's that strange anymore (or ever was, for that matter). I called Frank Lepore, public affairs officer at the Tropical Prediction Center-National Hurricane Center in Miami to see if he could... »

I was very excited to receive this question because it gave me the perfect excuse to interview New York Times best-selling romance author, Eloisa James. She is about to release her eighth novel, "Much Ado About You," (Harper Collins), which is the first installment of her new series about four feisty sisters. James first got... »

The Manasquan Users' Group has put a cork in New Jersey American Water Company's $50 million proposed rate hike, according to officials. The rate-increase request, which was filed July 10 with the state Board of Public Utilities, had Shorelands Water Company President Mike Walsh seeking an alliance with various municipalities in the hopes of stabilizing,... »

Bob Duerr and T.R. Deveney stare silently out at the peaking swells pumping forth onto Manasquan's Inlet Beach. It's 6:35 a.m., clear with a warm baby-soft breeze that casts the comments of the two long-time surfers into the wind as they stand, arms akimbo, judging the crashing breakers just beyond the coastline. »