LESCOTT BRACED FOR `BIGGEST` EURO TIE

The Toffees have cruised into the last 16 of the UEFA Cup on the back of eight consecutive wins but know this is the time when the competition becomes fierce.

"I would say that, due to the size of the club (Fiorentina), this is our biggest game so far in the competition," said Lescott.

"But we will show the same respect as when we went to Brann Bergen (in the last round).

"I don't think we should be worried in any game - some teams just deserve more respect than others."

Everton manager David Moyes is likely to stick with his tried and trusted formation, which means striker Yakubu will play on his own up front ahead of a five-man midfield in order to combat the hosts' three-man attack.

But Lescott stressed this was not a negative ploy by the Merseysiders.


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Shiny happy people

DOES AN INFAMOUS SPOKEN-WORD ARTIST turned semi-famous New York Times best-selling author really need to make a New Year's resolution to get her life, career, marriage and family in order? Beth Lisick makes the humorous case in the side-splitting introduction to her new book Helping Me Help Myself: One Skeptic, Ten Self-Help Gurus, and a Year on the Brink of the Comfort Zone (William Morrow, $24.95). It's a 2006 morning after her (and husband Eli's) sixth annual New Year's Eve shindig, and Lisick seems to be suffering ass pain from having attempted, much earlier that morning, to perform splits for the first time since the '80s.Soreness stirs hilarious reflection, and Lisick decides to finally put aside her skepticism, pledging to grapple with the teachings of some of the most popular and most mainstream self-help salesmen around today: Richard Simmons, Suze Orman and John Gray -- just to name a few.


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Harnessing the Mind to Manage Irritable Bowel Syndrome

FRIDAY, Feb. 15 (HealthDay News) -- When drugs and dietary changes don't provide relief from the pain, bloating and other unpleasant gastrointestinal symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, patients may want to try a different approach.

Recent studies show that using one's own thoughts in a process called cognitive behavioral therapy may help ease symptoms. Likewise, using hypnosis to visualize the pain and imagine it seeping away can be a powerful treatment strategy, too.

"Research indicates that the probability of achieving benefits is excellent with either approach, even for patients who haven't improved from standard medical care," said Olafur S. Palsson, a clinical psychologist and associate professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Center for Functional GI and amp; Motility Disorders.


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DAVID LAVOIE: Gentle smiles amid the hardship

COPE: to deal successfully with something difficult (Oxford Dictionary).

THE village woman clasps her baby close, protectively. The baby is very tiny and his left foot curves in at the ankle. There is a large deformation there, a swelling, and across it is a fresh but clean scar.

Somsanith Mounphoxay touches the ankle, manipulating it gently and speaking in a low, soothing voice to the worried woman.

As we proceed on our tour, Somsanith sighs. "She was supposed to bring the baby back for follow-up a few weeks after we did the procedure to cut the tendons and straighten the ankle," she says.

"But she didn't; they often don't. Once they see some improvement, they think the problem is solved. Now, it is going to be much more difficult to help him."
We are in Vientiane, Laos, and we are visiting COPE -- the Co-operative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise -- an organisation which provides artificial limbs and rehabilitation services for people with disabilities in Laos.


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The Week Ahead

A preview of some of the community, county, school and town events and meetings coming up in this final week of February that includes Leap Year Day on Friday, the 29th, and the start of March on Saturday, when a lion or lamb will join us.

A school deadline

The last day for filing a petition to become a candidate for a local board of education occurs this week.

Elections to fill seats on local and regional school boards and to vote on their proposed tax levies in support of the new school year budgets are on April 15.

A candidate kit with complete information is available at the Web site of the N.J. School Boards Association, www.njsba.org/PI, or at local school district offices.

Monday, 4 p.m., offices of local school board secretary/business administrator.

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Guiding leaders to advance firms' tribes to higher values

In light of the intense focus these days on athletes who have used performance-enhancing chemicals, management consultants Dave Logan, John King and Halee Fischer-Wright might have chosen a better way to describe Gallup Organization chief executive officer Jim Clifton than "a Tribal Leader on steroids." Obviously, they do not mean to suggest in their book, Tribal Leadership, that Clifton uses steroids. But the hyperbolic statement could be wrenched out of context for mirthful purposes. The authors' intent is to underscore how Clifton has guided the Gallup Organization to the highest stage of corporate or organizational culture. Logan, King and Fischer-Wright designate that cultural level as "Stage 5," or the "Life is great" stage, which is a plateau beyond "We are great" (Stage 4) and even further up on the scale of cultural improvement than "I'm great" (Stage 3), "My life sucks" (Stage 2), and "Life sucks" (Stage 1).


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Zara Phillips reveals her ruthless streak

Winners need to believe that they are, beyond all shadow of a doubt, the best. You may think that being royal helps, but it doesn't. Winners also need humility - you can't improve without believing that there is room for improvement. You may think that being royal would get in the way, but it doesn't. Not with Zara Phillips, anyway. Phillips is a professional athlete, a world champion, a red-hot Olympic prospect. She has all the obsession and narrowness that any exceptional athlete in training must possess. That's how she sees herself; that's what she is.

You catch the royal stuff only at the margins: the perfectly understandable wariness of strangers with notebooks, the supremely confident ability to withhold all signs of friendliness, the freezing temperature of those blue eyes.

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