| life

Susan Kuchinskas

Susan Kuchinskas

Susan worked as an exercise demonstrator, flight attendant, go-go dancer, house painter, secretary and marketing executive (in that order) before settling on journalism. She's been a staff writer for Adweek, Business 2.0, M Business and InternetNews.com; her stories on technology, business, health and culture have appeared in a wide variety of newspapers and magazines, including Scientific American, WebMD and AlterNet.

She's the author of Going Mobile: Building the Real-Time Enterprise with Mobile Applications that Work, and The Chemistry of Connection: How the Oxytocin Response Can Help You Find Trust, Intimacy and Love. She's at work on a sequel, Oxytocin Parenting, with psychologist Bryan Post of the Post Institute.

Susan is an organic gardener and backyard beekeeper. She lives in Berkeley with Mike, her partner of 13 years, a dog, a cat and a frog.

| family

Best Low-Maintenance Pets

Best Low-Maintenance Pets

June 30, 2011

Pets are intriguing, fun and can bring an extra element of joy into the household. But they can also be a source of contention — whose turn is it to walk the dog? — and guilt if they die before their time. Choosing your family pet wisely is important—let's look into the virtual pet store.

 
Low maintenance pets
Worm bins make excellent low maintenance pets
Sea monkeys make fun to watch low maintenance pets
Guppies are entertaining low maintenance pets
Blue tongued skink make interesting low maintenance pets
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Financial Gotchas in Midlife Divorce

Don't make these money mistakes

Source: Getty Images

Breaking up a marriage is always difficult, and divorce at midlife brings a whole set of financial issues on top of the emotional ones.

If you're contemplating divorce, of course, you'll speak to an attorney, but who will help with financial planning for you and your family? Certified divorce financial analysts, or CDFAs, come from a financial planning, accounting or legal background and go through an intensive training program to become skilled in analyzing and providing expertise related to the financial issues of divorce.

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7 Steps to Making Sense of Medicare

Expert advice and online help

Source: Getty Images

For the most, um, senior members of our generation, Medicare eligibility is here right now — some 2.8 million Americans turn 65 this year.

I've just let my father's coverage keep rolling over with whatever my mother set up for them years ago. I'm lucky that she was so good about taking care of things like that.

I find myself completely mystified about Medicare: What exactly does it cover, how would I get it, and what is this donut hole?

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Car Shopping: New or Used?

10 Tips for resolving the new-car dilemma

Source: Getty Images

Have you shopped for a new car lately? They now cost as much as you might have spent for the down payment on your house.

It's easy to get sidetracked by styling; after all, when we were young, we defined ourselves in part by what we drove. And auto makers today continue to play up the cool factor. Zoom, zoom, hey?

But the family car is obviously more than a style statement. Before you start car-shopping, the American Automobile Association says, create a checklist for yourself.

Here's what you should do before and during the search:

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