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What puzzles Harry Gaines is that we typically plan our vacations with more care than we plan the rest of our lives, especially when it comes to health and fitness. Too often we neglect to make the investment in exercise that will pay rich dividends in well-being in our 70s, 80s, and beyond. Gaines, 74, a retired textbook-publishing executive who lives half the year in Newtown, Bucks County, and the other half in Florida, keeps a "bucket list" — goals and experiences he hopes to accomplish before he kicks the proverbial bucket.

Plavix, the brand name for the blood-thinning drug taken by millions of people with heart disease to avoid heart attacks and strokes, will soon be on pharmacy shelves in generic form. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave approval to the generic versions this week. Plavix, whose generic name is clopidogrel, was made and marketed through a partnership of Sanofi-Aventis and Bristol-Myers Squibb. It had U.S. sales of about $6.7 billion for the 12 months ending March 31, 2012, according to IMS Health.

In an annual rite known as Upfront Week, NBC, Fox, ABC, CBS, and the CW just presented their lineups for the 2012-13 TV season to advertisers in New York. The ceremonies took place in some of the city's most august concert Halls (Carnegie, Avery Fisher, Radio City Music) over four days. The broadcast companies introduced only 20 new series for the fall (down from 27 last season). NBC led the pack with six new shows. Fox and the CW had half that many. Like it or not, an awful lot of familiar faces will be returning in the fall.

Pam Chandler decided to accompany her husband, Bob, to the extraordinary auction of an Ocean City, N.J., mansion Saturday to keep him from "going overboard. " But an hour after she toured the 7,000-square-foot Victorian-style house on the Great Bay, she was the one prodding him to stay in the frenzied bidding on the breezy bayside veranda. The Chandlers, who live in Rumson, Monmouth County, with their three children, won the auction, ultimately paying $3.9 million for a property that was listed at about $6.5 million two years ago. It is assessed at $5 million.

ATLANTIC CITY — The stabbing deaths of two Canadian tourists outside a casino hotel left tourism officials stunned and dismayed Monday, casting a shadow over the formal opening on Memorial Day weekend of the newest gambling palace and tripping up a $30 million-a-year campaign to rebrand and revive the sagging resort town. The two victims, women ages 80 and 47, were stabbed and killed during a robbery Monday morning outside Bally's Atlantic City casino hotel, just steps from where a police officer was sitting in a patrol car. Police declined to provide the names of the victims, or precisely where they were from, pending notification of family.

This summer, hair weaves are taking a turn for the kinky, the curly and the wavy. Why is this news? When black women first started sewing hair onto their scalps during the 1990s en masse, the resulting shoulder-length bobs were as much about achieving a smooth texture as it was about having length. Fabulous hair was defined as long and straight. However, as more black women have come to terms with their natural curl pattern, store-bought tresses are trending toward the fuzzy rather than the flat-ironed.

OCEAN CITY, N.J. - Luxury appointments abound in the 7,000-square-foot, 12-year-old Victorian-style mansion overlooking Great Bay, such as a marble fireplace that once graced a Biddle estate mansion, a crystal chandelier that at the touch of a button lowers from the 30-foot foyer ceiling for cleaning, and boat slips big enough to berth a pair of yachts. A "smart house" system controls window treatments, lighting, heating, air-conditioning, and music. Slate-covered turrets, little secret gardens, and gingerbread-laden porches make the exterior look more like Cape May than Ocean City.

So many parents and alumni of St. Denis Catholic School in Havertown supported merging with friendly CYO rival Annunciation B.V.M., the marriage should have gone off without a hitch. Instead, parishioners hoping to embrace the past and future in a name were told the regional school would honor the late Cardinal John Foley. The decision was, in their pastor's words, "nonnegotiable. " Children voted on a mascot, only to have their choices (Cardinals, Falcons, or Phoenixes)

A scrumptious blog from a couple traveling around the world with their mouths and their minds wide open. Name: TheRoadForks.com What it does: Joins beautiful photography with first-person travel stories and advice. Akila and Patrick McConnell have created a site that is one part cooking class, one part art show, two parts tour guide, and three parts addictive. What's hot: You don't feel as if you're reading about an old trip. The vibrancy of TheRoadForks brings you right to their table whether the trip was in 2007 or last week.

Camden charters alarming to some on school board Camden Flow Claudia Vargas' blog about Camden City http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/camden_flow/ The likely influx of charter schools to the Camden School District in September has some school board members worried. At Wednesday night's budget meeting (yes, another one), a few members complained about the increase in charter schools taking away money from the district schools. The board is predicting that $56.5 million of the school's $314 million budget will go to fund the city's charter schools in 2012-13, compared with $43 million this year.

THE BACKPACK isn't just for school kids. From size to pattern to color, backpacks can express style. And whether you're a man or a woman, you can wear it for a special outing or an everyday commute, be it on bicycle or foot.     Contact Reuben Harley at BIGRUBE@streetgazing.com , follow him on twitter @BigRubeHarley or read his blog at streetgazing.com .    

Here is an excerpt from the blog "My Daughter's Kitchen. " No one can say I did not try. I spent an entire afternoon giving my children a lesson in what I would like for my Mother's Day meal. But did I get miso-marinated cod with mushroom risotto? Of course not. Since my oldest son was the only one able to make it home, my husband pitched in. And what did they make? Chicken fajitas. Well, I do love chicken fajitas. And Tim added his first blog post. Tim: My mom asked me to take over blogging duties for my sister who is heading to medical school in July (congratulations Sally!

WHETHER BECAUSE of their complexion, hair, eyes, lips, these men and women's faces captivated me, and their portraits offer a glimpse of the unique beauty you can find on the streets of Philadelphia. n Contact Reuben Harley at BIGRUBE@streetgazing.com , follow him on twitter @BigRubeHarley or read his blog at streetgazing.com .

Here is an excerpt from the blog, "My Daughter's Kitchen. " Right off the bat, I have to confess this is not a bargain recipe. Not with scallops at $16.99 a pound and chorizo at $8 a pound. But it does fill the other requirements of the blog: It's simple, quick and delicious. Once it awhile, you have to splurge and treat yourself to something special. And sometimes it is worth paying a little more for such great ingredients to produce the result: a wonderful and convenient dinner.

HAVE A QUESTION you're dying to ask singer-songwriter/progressive-rock titan Greg Lake? Well, your chance to do so is nigh. Thursday, Lake brings his one-man show, "Songs of a Lifetime," to Glenside's Keswick Theatre. Although the meat of the program is a survey of the 64-year-old Englishman's musical output, the audience will play a large role in the proceedings. The show, he explained during a recent phone call from Montreal, "is an interactive thing, not just about the material I perform.

With the third-straight morning of heavy fog burned off, the day has turned dazzling. The National Weather Service in Mount Holly had a dense fog advisory through 11 this morning, but the fog moved out much earlier. Otherwise we should temperatures in the upper 70s today, with a forecast high of 76. But, we could possibly approach the record high of 80. More patchy fog is expected again tomorrow morning. But Friday is expected to turn mostly sunny with a high of 80. Showers are forecast for Saturday, mostly in the afternoon with a high of 67. Showers are again likely for Sunday.

Inquirer popular music critic Dan DeLuca has been reporting from the SXSW music festival in Austin, Texas. See his dispatches, including photographs and videos, on his blog, "In the Mix," at .

Camden charters alarming to some on school board Camden Flow Claudia Vargas' blog about Camden City http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/camden_flow/ The likely influx of charter schools to the Camden School District in September has some school board members worried. At Wednesday night's budget meeting (yes, another one), a few members complained about the increase in charter schools taking away money from the district schools. The board is predicting that $56.5 million of the school's $314 million budget will go to fund the city's charter schools in 2012-13, compared with $43 million this year.