Coffee and doughnuts, they just go together. Coffee and a doughnut is daily breakfast for millions of commuters, construction crews and office workers nationwide.

What if you could get that burst of alert along with your dose of morning sweetness all in one bite? Dr. Robert Bohannon of Durham, NC, is betting that a lot of people would go for it. Dr. Bohannon is a molecular scientist who has developed a method of adding caffeine to baked goods without adding caffeine’s bitter taste. Bohannon is looking to market the product in a national coffee-and-doughnut chain.

Personally, I am one who likes her morning cup of coffee. The sound of the coffeepot burbling and grunting, the aroma that fills the house, the streams of steam that arise from that first cup of hot, morning comfort. Skipping the percolating and chewing on a doughnut or bagel sounds like a way to eat your coffee and have it too, but somehow getting the kick without the traditional delivery system seems less than satisfying to me.

So much happens on the internet these days that often we can get left behind. I am still trying to figure out what is so great about MySpace, for instance, but everyone seems to be using it. These things become the preserve of the young because people our age have not the time or inclination to keep up with all that’s happening.

Being so resistant to the new means that sometimes we miss out on really useful and interesting things, however. And YouTube is one of these - a library of videos on the net that can be viewed and added to by anyone. Naturally, the young discovered it first and there are lots of very silly and pointless videos included as a result. But, as demonstrated by a 94-year-old veteran, Les Loken, YouTube can be used for worthwhile purposes too.

Les has been recording his memories of World War II and other times, then putting the resulting video on YouTube. These are fascinating records of a time that is distant even to those of our age group. But they also point the way to another advantage of YouTube: it’s a nostalgia machine!

Think back to those glorious days of the 1960s and the music that filled our ears; and it’s probably on YouTube. There are videos of the most surprising things, bands long forgotten (or so we thought), videos of groups made before videos were invented. It is a treasure trove of memories for us.

Just to give a few examples, here are some clips of music from the sixties, arbitrarily selected as they sprang to mind:

Beach Boys

Kinks

Beatles

Give it a try - just go to YouTube, in the search bar enter the name of a group you want to hear and see what comes up!

Studies show that workers increasingly find themselves nodding off at work, or dozing during meetings and nothing will upset your boss more than to find you sleeping at your desk. Of course, it could be worse.

Passersby in Nashville Tennessee noticed something about the window washer at the Fifth Third Bank building. He was at the 20th floor, and he seemed to be asleep. Firefighters were called to the scene and after tugging on the ropes of his scaffolding were able to wake him and get him to descend from the dizzying height.

“It’s unusual to fall asleep outside while on scaffolding that high up’” said Nashville Fire Chief Henry Booker.

Researchers now believe that too little sleep contributes to various health risks, such as obesity and diabetes. Lack of sleep or sleeping at odd hours may increase your risk of developing cancer or heart disease. And the problem is becoming epidemic.

A recent poll by the National Sleep Foundation confirms that one in four Americans is missing out on sleep and 58% of respondents said they suffer from insommnia.

So in case you need them, we offer the 8 best excuses to use when caught sleeping on the job.

*They told me at the blood bank that this might happen.

*This is just a 15 minute power nap like they raved about in that time management course you sent me to.

*I was working smarter - not harder.

*This is one of the seven habits of highly effective people!

*I was doing a highly specific Yoga exercise to relieve work related stress. Do you discriminate against people who practice Yoga?

*I’m actually doing a Stress Level Elimination Exercise Plan (SLEEP). I learned at the last mandatory seminar you made me attend.

*Damn! Why did you interrupt me? I had almost figured out a solution to our biggest problem.

*I thought you were gone for the day.

I was sitting in an outdoor cafe in the center of town, sipping an iced coffee and enjoying the breeze which was cool and dry. The change of air from the stifling temperatures of the last few weeks was refreshing and energizing, and hinted that autumn was drawing closer.

It was a lovely evening for people-watching. Families stopped at the ice cream shoppe, young faces sported smiles and milky-white moustaches dotted with colored sprinkles as they skipped by, leaving a Hansel and Gretel trail from the cone melting in their hands. Older couples strolled along, holding hands as they did when they were young and first in love, now symbolic of the union of their lives. As I viewed strangers in this casual way, I realized something very important about people. The majority of people are not attractive in the way Hollywood and TV make us think we must be to be accepted. But the majority of people were comfortable in their skin.

I started to think of my family and friends, people I know and love well. I thought of all the reasons they matter to me and what I like best about them and their appearance was not in the top ten for any of them. Then I thought, if I saw them as strangers walking down the street, my assessment of them would be based solely on appearance, and I pondered how that assessment might differ greatly from the reality of the person. Here I was, coolly sizing up people based on their hairstyle and their clothing, while knowing nothing of them, not knowing what made someone out there love them.

I was very glad to have come to the conclusion that the most important thing we can wear is our confidence. It’s a gift to walk down the street and say “Here I am, accept me as I am, it’s all good”. I was very glad to decide that judging a book by its cover could be very misleading.

Because despite my casual air of cool confidence as I surveyed each stranger and summed them up, it is very possible they walked away with an odd impression of me, for I realized I had been sitting there the whole time wearing two different shoes, one white and one black. Immediately any superior thoughts I had of my image disintegrated into laughter. It’s something my friends would expect of me, and it was a good feeling to know that there are people who know me that well.

The reality is that most of us will never achieve the look that TV and films and fashion magazines tell us is the ideal. The point of Fifty-Something Women is not to tell us how to become something we are not, but how to be all that we are, how to be our best and achieve success and happiness in acknowledging that we have unique gifts that enrich the lives of those around us.

Here’s looking at you, kid!