Kim clings to 1-shot lead with $1.5 million on the line

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Liz Weston: 5 financial tasks you should tackle by year-end

<p>As Thanksgiving nears, I&#8217;m all kinds of excited.</p><p>Excited for that extra time with family.</p><p>Excited for the assortment of food and baked goods to feast on.</p><p>And excited to embark on the holiday season.</p><p>I&#8217;m grateful for all these things, so much so that I&#8217;ve been thinking long and hard recently about what matters this year.</p><p>It comes down to this: being open.</p><p>I&#8217;m grateful for the ability to be open to new opportunities, new people and new ways of thinking. Now more than ever.</p><p>In this time in our history, we see negative headlines almost daily, watch television commentary that is less than positive and usually controversial, and are faced with divide in many relationships.</p><p>What if, this holiday season, we make a pledge to be more open to other&#8217;s points of views? Take a step back, take a breath and open the mind to truly understand why a person thinks or feels a certain way. We don&#8217;t have to agree with everyone we associate with. Sometimes, half the fun is hearing and being open to another viewpoint or thought process, even if it doesn&#8217;t mirror our own.</p><p>At the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce&#8217;s Annual Dinner on Tuesday night, there were more than 500 people in attendance.</p><p>I&#8217;ll bet they all don&#8217;t agree on everything: economics, politics, business. You name it. There are so many topics on which to differ.</p><p>They all care about one common theme, though: the future and outlook of the Greater Wilkes-Barre area.</p><p>That&#8217;s what connected those in attendance on Tuesday night at the dinner where the theme was &#8220;acceleration.&#8221; Guests watched as more than a dozen businesses and people representing that theme accepted awards, including lifetime achievement, pride of place, healthy workplace, legacy business and more.</p><p>Those businesses and people represent various industries and professions but came together under one umbrella on this night to represent something greater than themselves.</p><p>We can do the same as people this holiday season.</p><p>I saw it in Downtown Wilkes-Barre yesterday as children, business leaders, and first-time parade goers participated in the annual Christmas Parade.</p><p>It was another day when everyone&#8217;s differences and divisions took a backburner. What connected them was the holiday spirit in the place they call home.</p><p>Kudos to Patty Hughes and the city staff who make the day of festivities come alive each year.</p><p>There were Frosty the Snowman-themed activities in Barnes &amp; Noble Wilkes-King&#8217;s Bookstore, Christmas carols with Ms. Ruthy Stock, the tree lighting, and of course, the beloved parade.</p><p>This year, I&#8217;ll be working on my pledge to be more open and inclusive of people and ideas this holiday. Hopefully, I&#8217;ll be more tolerant of other&#8217;s thoughts, their ideologies and their ways of thinking &#8211; even if I don&#8217;t agree with them completely.</p><p>Won&#8217;t you join me?</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>Mike McGinley</p><p>Around Town</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Mike McGinley is the Times Leader Media Group&#8217;s major accounts executive. Reach him at mmcginley@www.timesleader.com or 570-704-3945.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Around town: Start the holidays off by being a bit more open to others