RYCKELEY

Contributing Writer

There're many step programs out there, dealing with all kinds

of problems. If you drink too much, there's Alcoholics Anonymous. Eat

too much? There's Overeaters Anonymous. Gamble too much? There's

Gamblers Anonymous. And if you smoke too much ... well, the government

has developed a step program to help you stop. They just keep raising

the taxes on cigarettes so now they cost $3.50 a pack.

But as good as those programs are, there doesn't seem to

be a step program for my affliction: being a workaholic. That is,

till now.

Step one: In the long road to recovering from workaholicism, the

first step is admitting you have a problem. Okay, so I have a problem.

I work too much. Now if you ask The Wife, she'd say I have

more than just one problem, and The Citizen doesn't have enough

paper nor ink for me to write about all of them. So for this article

we'll just focus in on how not to be a workaholic.

Step two: Ask for forgiveness. I'm sorry that the economic

recovery has stalled; it's all my fault. I should have worked

harder and longer hours so we could afford more stuff. I'm

sorry Baskin Robbins went out of business; that's my fault,

too. Guess I should've taken The Wife out for ice cream more

than just once a week. And the high fuel prices can be traced right