Got hiccups? Here’s a foolproof method I discovered to rid yourself of them:

Be sure to post a comment and let me know about your success with this technique!

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Spending time in the ‘Burgh, I’m reminded of just how unusual parking habits can be in the city. Here’s a short video I shot explaining “reverse parking” and the “Pittsburgh chair”:

UPDATE: The blog Boring Pittsburgh and The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s PG+ website have done write-ups about my video. Since the Post-Gazette’s site is subscription-only, here is an excerpt:

South Siders, Bloomfielders and Lawrencevillites and other urban scramblers may appreciate this little gem — in the vast history of parking documentaries — which was shot today on Wightman Street in Squirrel Hill and Meade Street in Point Breeze. Commercial voiceover artist Kevin Delaney highlights some of the cultural delights of Pittsburgh parking: specifically, the chair used to hold your spot, the note on said chair expounding on your reasons for putting the chair in the street and the backwards park-job.

Delaney, who has done voices for video game characters in World of Warcraft, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe and Halo, has relocated to Los Angeles from his hometown. He highlights yet another benefit of living in the Iron City vs. L.A.: no $45 tickets for leaving your vehicle parked every which way.

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Attention Mac fanatics! Here’s an easy technique I discovered to save significant money shopping at the Apple Store:

Using this method, I bought a brand-new MacBook for $70 less than the listed price. If you try it, let me know how it goes by leaving a comment below!

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Staying in an elder-care hospital facility is an experience everyone should have — preferably earlier rather than later in life. Here are some thoughts and observations from the past few days of staying with my dad in such a place:

• You have to punch a code into a box in order to exit the building.

• I asked one of the nurses for a plastic fork. She said, “We don’t have forks here. Only plastic knives and spoons.”

• I was in the rec room the other night, making use of their Internet connection. A guy in a wheelchair rolled up to me and told me that I had no right to be there, that it was a “residents only” area. I had to bite a hole through my lip to keep from saying I was sorry for violating his inner sanctum of TV viewing and jigsaw puzzles.

• If it wasn’t for old people, television would not exist.

• Some nurses and aides adopt a saccharine, patronizing tone with elderly patients. I was initially annoyed by this, but now I’m convinced it’s at least in part a psychological mechanism to help the staff cope with the depressing nature of their work.

• There is a guy in a room across the hall from my dad who shouts “HEY!!” every time someone walks past the door.

• The mainstream medical establishment rejects the idea that constipation can affect your overall health. (This was a major point of contention between me and some of the staff at my dad’s previous hospital.) People who work with geriatric patients, on the other hand, accept this viewpoint as an obvious fact.

• The song lyric “I hope I die before I get old” has taken on new meaning to me.

• Double-occupancy rooms are the devil. As I indicated in my previous post, I’m not exactly thrilled about the place where my dad is staying, but at least he’s not sharing a room. There is a second bed in his unit, which so far has stayed empty, however one of the nurses told my mom there is a strong likelihood that it could be filled. If that happens, I’m pulling Dad out of here instantly. The last thing my father needs is some old soul retching on their deathbed next to him while he’s trying to get better.

• Nurses and nurses’ aides can be a fascinating source of real-world, practical info.

• An officially-recognized side effect of one of the most-prescribed drugs for Alzheimer’s is confusion. Other possible side effects include dizziness, hallucinations, and sleepiness.

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I’ve been somewhat off the radar these past couple of weeks. Here’s a brief update on where my epochally interesting and exciting life has taken me recently:

About two and a half weeks ago, my father had two stents put into an artery near his heart. It’s a difficult procedure (though not nearly as elaborate as open heart surgery). I flew to Pittsburgh from L.A. to be with him and my mom.

My dad is 82 years old, and experiencing what the medical establishment calls the early stages of Alzheimer’s.

The procedure went well. However, due to the drugs he was given and the physical toll the process took on him, he was very out of it, very confused, and extremely weakened.

Because of his mental state and his poor short-term memory, he was unable to be alone. My mom and I worked it out so that at least one of us was with him at all times; we traded off spending nights in the hospital room with him.

He was released from the hospital a little over a week ago. We took him home, and for much of the first day he seemed to be doing better. Within a few hours he was walking with the aid of a walker, then with a cane, and by the end of the day he was getting around entirely on his own.

Later that evening, however, he became extremely weak, and practically collapsed. He wasn’t in pain — just seemingly exhausted, and possibly affected by several new medications he had been given. We decided to wait it out. When he was no better the next morning, we decided to take him back to the hospital.

We brought him to the ER, and he was re-admitted. I’ll spare you the tumultuous details of the next several days — suffice it to say, it was a long and often very frustrating ordeal, with a great deal of hassling with (and on occasion, tearfully begging) the hospital staff.

Three days ago, my dad was moved from the hospital into a rehab facility, ostensibly for physical therapy. The place is indistinguishable, however, from a geriatric nursing home.

Frankly, I’m not thrilled with the facility, and my dad might very well be moved yet again in the next day or so.

Dad is progressing physically, and has improved considerably mentally. He still suffers from dreadful confusion at times, particularly when he’s tired, and especially when he’s waking up.

Last night we tried leaving him by himself for the first time since this adventure began. This morning, we received a phone call; he was highly agitated and wanted us near him immediately.

Tonight, we decided to try again. After I drove my mom home for the night, I returned to the facility to check on him. The light was on in the room and he was awake and talking with one of the nursing staff. He was totally confused, and told me he was more frightened than he had ever been in his life.

He asked me to spend the night in the room with him. How can I say no?

The facility has no Wi-Fi, so I’m typing this on my laptop, and shortly will steal away to the rec room to make use of the only Internet connection that’s available to me here.

Actually getting sleep in this room (if you’re not the one lying in bed) is practically impossible. There is a large, uncomfortable chair — apparently the facility’s way of saying they don’t like family members staying over.

As difficult as the situation is, I’m extremely glad to be here, and I’ve learned a lot over the past couple of weeks. I’m a lot stronger that I’d thought. I’ve felt some of the toughest emotions of my life — yet I’m able to “keep it together” and remain in control, even in difficult times.

I’ll post more about what I’m experiencing soon. For now, I’m staying in Pittsburgh, and will be here for at least a few more days.

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Here’s a short video message I shot yesterday in San Francisco:

Wealthy Bohemian Insider Tip #2: A healthy money attitude is a relaxed, easygoing money attitude.

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Thanks to everyone who participated in our live webchat! If you weren’t able to join us, the archived video is now available.

Let’s face it: You’re a genius. You know this. But does anyone else?

In this webchat, I talk about what I call Idiot Work, and contrast it with the only way anyone has ever discovered to experience freedom and get maximum enjoyment out of life: tapping into (and selling) what you and you alone have to offer.

If your natural genius is going under-utilized — if you’re stuck in the mind-numbing purgatory of brain-dead “work” — you cannot afford to miss this video.

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OK, so maybe it’s a tad melodramatic. But man, as soon as I saw this, I wanted to pick up the phone and dial!

Sadly, not only is the number blocked and bleeped, it was probably disconnected years ago. Too bad — we shall never know what made those men, women and children under the age of 18 with their parent’s permission weep so compellingly.

Perhaps an automated voice came on the line and reminded the listener of how pathetic it is to be up all night watching cable TV and calling 1-900 numbers.

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In the 1960’s there was The New Math — an educational debacle that sought to replace straightforward numerical concepts with mind-numbing “progressive” gobbledygook (such as set theory and modular arithmetic). Parents and teachers were stumped. Kids didn’t learn anything.

Then in the 80’s we had New Coke, perhaps the biggest marketing blunder of all time. Executives at The Coca-Cola Company decided it was time to update the iconic product, so they fiddled with the formula and rebranded it with a nickname. The public revolted. Coca-Cola “Classic” was back on the shelves within months.

This past weekend, we have witnessed one of the most senseless, ill-conceived moves on the part of a major Internet service since — well, since the last senseless, ill-conceived move on the part of a major Internet service: New Facebook.

New Facebook is a disaster on several fronts. First, it has taken something relatively simple, and complicated it unnecessarily. All day on Sunday, October 25, Facebook users posted messages of helplessness and frustration. People desperately copied-and-pasted instructions on how to change the News Feed back (more or less) to the way it had previously been.

Three Facebook groups sprang up, created by users to vent their displeasure with the changes. The largest at this time of writing has over 1.3 million members.

But the second, much worse problem, is that Facebook is treating its users like children and morons. If you have more than 250 connections, Facebook now chooses a “selection” of contacts that you’ll receive Status Updates from, and shuts out the rest.

How does the system determine which of your friends it will show, and which it will hide from you? Not only does Facebook not tell you this (nor does it say which friends’ updates it’s preventing you from seeing), it doesn’t even tell you that it’s making this determination for you.

Granted, you can change this setting — but first you have to know about it. And this is the worst of the worst, the crème de la crème of lousy, insulting, idiotic decisions: Facebook has made these changes with no advance warning, and no explanation to its users whatsoever. Apparently, Facebook knows what’s good for you. If you can’t figure it out on your own (or with the aid of friends who despise the new system as much as you do), too bad.

This new system raises very serious problems for those of us who have used Facebook as a marketing and communications tool. Now there is a danger that some people who have chosen to follow you will not get your updates; the Facebook system might decide that you don’t make the cut, and your messages won’t show up as one of their 250.

When a website causes as much bafflement as Facebook is, some people are sure to lose interest, and might stop logging in altogether. If you have no other means of reaching a person, and he or she signs off for good, you have essentially lost them as a prospect or client.

All of this is an excellent example of why you shouldn’t rely on third-party websites (or social networking services like Twitter) as your primary means for communicating messages. As soon as the people in charge of the sites start smoking crack and change things for the worse, you’re at the mercy of their insanity.

In a previous article, I said that your email list is your most important means of staying in touch with those who want to hear from you. Among other reasons, an email newsletter is the one thing that you control completely — even your own website or blog could be interrupted due to technical problems, or shut down completely if some do-gooder employee at an ISP determines that you’re publishing “inappropriate” content.

Will the outcry over New Facebook be so great that, like the New Math and New Coke, it will eventually be dropped and forgotten? Let’s hope so. In the meantime, please join this Facebook group and make your voice heard!

Join Kevin on Facebook at http://facebook.com/KevinDelaneyVO

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In this archived webchat, I discuss a topic that’s sure to raise a few eyebrows. (So what else is new?)

Conventional society wants nothing but good things for you — and from you. If you do what you’re told, you can own a nice home, drive a nice car, work a prestigious job, bank an impressive salary.

The catch is, to experience these things often requires you to relinquish much of your unique identity. From the moment we step into the “system” (and sometimes before), we’re pummeled with the idea that suppressing your true self and adhering to the expectations of others is the key to success in life.

In this webcast, I challenge several cherished cultural norms, and suggest ways you can move beyond conventional thinking, into a life of abundant freedom.

(Note: You might want to listen to my podcast “Sacred Values of the Middle Class — and Why You Must Reject Them” before watching the video.)

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