By RYAN E. SMITH, Toledo Blade

Staff Sgt. Travis Grime didn't become a Marine so he could sit at home.

"I joined because I wanted to go over and cause death and destruction," he said.

But after a seven-month tour in Iraq five years ago as a heavy equipment operations chief, that's exactly where the Maumee. Ohio man found himself: home. It wasn't easy for the rough-and-tumble guy.

For veterans or family members seeking information or counseling, here are resources that can help:

-- Afterdeployment.org (wellness resources concerning post-deployment challenges for the military community): afterdeployment.org

-- Department of Veterans Affairs Vet Centers (readjustment counseling for combat veterans and their families): www.vetcenter.va.gov

Pretty Boy Bam Bam is a professional athlete trapped in an 8-year-old's body.

The kid otherwise known as Wayne Lawrence Jr., can do 100 push-ups without stopping. He's run a mile in eight minutes. He works out two hours a day, five days a week.

You could say this was the Year of the Cartoon. Some of the biggest names ever to be animated celebrated milestone birthdays in 2009, even though they may not look their age.

Popeye is 80. Scooby-Doo is 40. The Simpsons is 20. And that's not the half of it.

Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner are 60. Rocky and Bullwinkle are 50.

Linda Morrissey's introduction to the ancient art of origami was uniquely modern: it happened because of a job she had giving technical support over the phone.

"I was looking for something to do with my hands," said the Toledo, Ohio, woman, who taught herself paper folding after checking out books from the library.

When Roger LaPointe talks about the importance of working out your whole body, he means it.
Just look around the Bowling Green, Ohio, warehouse of his business, Atomic Athletic, Inc. It's filled with dumbbells, thick climbing ropes and a poster of a man lifting a 300-pound anvil with his beard.

Prom is supposed to be a magical time, one final fling before high-school seniors head off to the real world. It's a night filled with excess and elegance, tuxes and fancy gowns, sometimes even limos.
But for some students mired in the faltering economy, it's filled with something else too: Penny pinching.

Scientists may not have figured out how to clone humans just yet, but it looks like they've got Santa Claus down cold.
How else could you explain the sight here in October: More than 70 jolly men with white beards and jiggling bellies sitting around singing "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer."

Sometimes, Dale Miller just has to have some ice cream.Two pounds of it.

That beloved archaeologist/adventurer Indiana Jones is back after a 19-year hiatus. The timing must be right: "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" has raked in more than $200 million so far at the domestic box office. It also made Harrison Ford, 65, the latest in a long line of former superstars to stage comebacks in their iconic roles after extended breaks.