When Consumer Insights departments sought new ways to to understand their customers (and their competitors' customers!), I provided the kind of wide-ranging, open-ended reporting I did for 14 award-winning years at the New York Daily News. Then I'd not only write up my observations, I taught the staff how to do what I'd just done: Ask the surprising, counter-intuitive questions that yield rich, sometimes even funny, feedback. I also taught them my super-fast way to write up a report that's as easy to write as it is to read. (That ALONE is a godsend to many companies!) Clients included Fortune 100 corporations, as well as advertising and public relations agencies.

Run a funny, newsy contest every week. For example, when cops realized Tide was being targeted by shoplifters, I asked readers to come up with the first Tide-heist mystery. Winners included, "Farewell My Laundry," "In Cold Suds," and "Clean Harry." Or, upon hearing that Bibi and Poldi – two Galapagos tortoises – had just broken up after 115 years of “marriage,” I asked readers: “What do you suppose was the last thing one of them said to the other?” The winners included, "Tell me the truth: Was it the pool boy?” “Call me when your butt fits in your shell again.” And, “I cheered for the hare,”

Wrote a light-hearted weekly column about everything from plastic bags to Playboy Bunnies to the death of Charmin Tissue’s “Mr. Whipple.” More serious columns dealt with policy, homelessness, etc. My "Why I Let My 9-Year-Old Ride the Subway Alone" column ignited the Free-Range Kids movement.

Enjoyed 13 great years at that paper, starting out as a features writer covering lifestyle stories, trends and, my specialty, “undiscovered” New Yorkers. These included folks like the blind gym teacher in Harlem, and the 90-something woman there who has taught ballet to four generations of children (sometimes all from the same family!). Also created and ran a weekly humor contest for seven years, “New York Stories,” asking readers questions like, “How does your pet let you know what he's thinking?" and, “What’s the dumbest way you ever hurt yourself?” (Winner: A guy who scratched an itch on his forehead while holding a power drill he forgot to turn off.) In the late ‘90s, became a food reporter and even a restaurant reviewer for a couple of years. Moved over to the op-ed page in 2000 to write a twice-a-week column, which won several awards.

Frequent All Things Considered commentator and song parody contributor until the show got too serious. Feh.

Appeared every-other week for two years on the channel’s “In Food Today” show, bringing co-hosts David Rosengarten and Donna Hanover the weirdest foods I could find, such as Flexible Flyer-sized pancakes.

Worked on weekend shows about family and work, doing stories like, “Exercising At The Office,” with goofy routines like, “file cabinet aerobics.” Also did on-air, Andy Rooney-esque essays.

Covered everything from the popularity of this new singer named “Madonna,” to the death of Andy Warhol. Also started and ran a humor contest called, “The Next Trend,” asking readers to predict everything from the name of the new non-caloric oil (“Frequent Fryer”) to the name of the next super-serious children’s book. (Winner: “Green Eggs and ‘Nam.”)