Jeff Wilser is the author of “The Book of Joe: The Life, Wit, and (Sometimes Accidental) Wisdom of Joe Biden” from Three Rivers Press. He has written five previous books, including “Alexander Hamilton’s Guide to Life.” His writing has appeared in print or online in New York magazine, GQ, Condé Nast Traveler, TIME, Glamour, Cosmo, Esquire, mental_floss, Men’s Fitness, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Comstock’s, The Miami Herald, Detroit Free Press and The Huffington Post. For more, visit www.jeffwilser.com.
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![Bonney Plumbing CEO Jimmy Crabbé Bonney Plumbing CEO Jimmy Crabbé](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/0215_ft_strategy_mg_lead.jpg?1577874530)
Smooth Operator
How former UPS logistics exec Jimmy Crabbé doubled a Sacramento plumbing business in less than 24 months
Think of it as The Deodorant Problem. If you’re marketing a brand, it’s easy to sling the sex appeal of wine, cars or a hot new phone. But what if the product is a tad mundane and even a little stinky? How do you convey the emotional appeal of, say, unclogging a toilet? If you’re Jimmy Crabbé, you crack this problem with an inspired move that no one saw coming.
![](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/0115_ft_etiquette_lead_zh.png?1577874530)
Extreme Makeover: Work Edition
Does your office need an etiquette expert?
You know That Guy. He wears too much Axe body spray, he makes loud personal calls while you’re trying to work, he chews food with his mouth open. He’s a close-talker with his shirt open one button too far. He’s also really good at his job. If you’re a manager, what do you do with That Guy?
![A new comprehensive program at UC Davis Medical Center will soon provide surgical services for unborn children. A new comprehensive program at UC Davis Medical Center will soon provide surgical services for unborn children.](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/1214_ft_health_lead_ss.jpg?1577874530)
Opportunity of a Lifetime
Fetal surgeons at UC Davis are repairing birth defects in babies — before their patients are even born
Too many pregnant mothers know the feeling of horror: The ultrasound reveals something wrong. Perhaps it’s nothing. But maybe it’s life-threatening, a disease or a disability. Maybe it’s the unthinkable. For hundreds of thousands of years, the unthinkable — babies doomed to die or develop impairments before drawing their first breath — meant only tragedy and heartache. Now there is hope.
![(shutterstock) (shutterstock)](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/1114_ft_wellnesssleep_lead_ss.jpg?1577874530)
Dream On
10 tips for the sleep-deprived, one of which might ruin your life
Let me take a wild guess: You feel like you don’t get enough sleep. Too much to do, you’re stressed out and you think getting eight hours of sleep is about as realistic as keeping current on Oprah’s Book Club. Or maybe you’re annoyed that your body needs too much sleep? Think of all the workouts you could get in, books you could read and emails you could return with a few extra hours in each day. Wouldn’t we all love to train our bodies to require less sleep?
![](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/1014_management_jc.png?1577874530)
On the Cover: The World’s Fastest Man
Rome wasn't built in a day, because C.C. Myers didn't have that contract
Construction guru C.C. Myers has, for more than two decades, been California’s go-to guy when roads are ravaged by acts of God (like the ’94 Northridge earthquake) or the toll of time (Folsom’s Lake Natoma Crossing, Interstate 5 in Sacramento, Route 99 in Turlock, the Walnut Creek Interchange, and the list goes on). The New York Times once called him the “Miracle Worker Highway Man.”
![Mechanical equipment like this Ekso Bionic suit, which currently requires users to possess some degree of mobility, could potentially be paired with brain-controlled technology to serve paralyzed users.
(photo courtesy of Eskobionics) Mechanical equipment like this Ekso Bionic suit, which currently requires users to possess some degree of mobility, could potentially be paired with brain-controlled technology to serve paralyzed users.
(photo courtesy of Eskobionics)](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/0914_bionics_lead_eksobionics.jpg?1577874530)
Brain-Powered Bionics
How technology is using mind control to help people walk again
There are 6 million people in the United States who are paralyzed. Wide-spread, thought-controlled medical solutions won’t be available tomorrow or next month or even next year. But what if, some day, all of those people could walk again?
![](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/0814_food_kj.jpg?1577874530)
Scavenger Hunt
Unpicked produce can change the way food banks feed the hungry — you just have to know where to look
“Eat local.” You’ve heard the phrase a billion times. It’s the guiding principle of the farm-to-fork movement, nudging us away from the Industrial Food Complex and toward our neighborhood farms. But there’s something even more local than a ranch down the road: the orange tree in your front yard.
![Eric Richards, 35, with two-year-old son, Cole
Eric Richards, 35, with two-year-old son, Cole](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/lead.jpg?1577874531)
Daddy Issues
Why aren't more men taking paternity leave?
On opening day of the 2014 baseball season, New York Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy was noticeably absent. He wasn’t benched. He didn’t have the flu. He simply took advantage of Major League Baseball’s paternity leave policy, which grants 72 hours off, to attend the birth of his son.
And all hell broke loose.
![www.istockphoto.com www.istockphoto.com](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/iStock_000020765284Large.jpg?1577874530)
World Travel
Can Sacramento cash in on an influx of Chinese tourism dollars?
Two hundred million Chinese tourists will pack their bags and depart their homeland in 2020, bound for destinations across the globe. It’s not a mass exodus; they’re not fleeing their government. They’re tourists, and, according to CNN, they might be the greatest phenomenon to hit the global travel industry since the invention of commercial flight.
![](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/tennis_0614_V.jpg?1577874531)
Love Hurts
The pain of learning tennis is more than worth the health gains
It started with a girl. She had played tennis in college. Desperate to impress her, I challenged her to a match. Sure, I had never played, but I could hold my own.
![](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/0414_health.jpg?1577874530)
Convenient Care
How concierge medicine is changing the health care marketplace
Think of your best friend, a friend that knows all your ticks, hobbies and vices. Now imagine this friend happens to be a doctor, and she’s your doctor.
![www.istockphoto.com www.istockphoto.com](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/0414_Staying-Power.jpg?1577874530)
Brain Drain
How can Sacramento keep its millennials in the mix?
About a decade ago, as a financial analyst for Intel, I lived in the suburbs of Santa Clara and frequently traveled to Folsom. It was a good job, especially for a kid straight out of college — decent pay, strong company and the lure of glittering stock options.
So I left.
![](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/0214_Cover_hurt_so_good_yoga_II_0.jpg?1577874530)
Hurts So Good
Yoga is good for you, but be careful boys
I’ve always snickered at yoga.It just seemed ridiculous. But men are flocking to yoga the way we once, in the ’80s, took to this thing called “jogging.” We’re learning that yoga bestows a slew of health benefits — physical, mental, even sexual. But new research also points to increased health risks for men, and this muddies the decision.
![Engineers at UC Davis are using the Yamaha R-Max mini chopper to gather agricultural data and precisely fertilize crops.
(photo by Ken Giles, UC Davis) Engineers at UC Davis are using the Yamaha R-Max mini chopper to gather agricultural data and precisely fertilize crops.
(photo by Ken Giles, UC Davis)](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/0114_F_Ag_Tech_Robots_Crops_I.jpg?1577874530)
The Robots are Coming
Technologies of tomorrow are making their way onto the crop fields of today
Scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs are racing to give farmers tools to boost agricultural productivity. These five technologies — some big, some small — could change the face of farming.
![Dr. Hunter Greene, orthopedic surgeon, examines a patient at Summit Orthopedic Specialists in Carmichael. Dr. Hunter Greene, orthopedic surgeon, examines a patient at Summit Orthopedic Specialists in Carmichael.](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/1213_F_health_women_ACL_Dr_Hunter_Green.jpg?1577874530)
Avoiding the Pop
Why do so many women tear their ACL, and how can they prevent it?
In one of the crueler twists of sports, ACL tears often happen in freak accidents that you can’t really control. Seventy percent occur without contact. Even more cruelly, a woman is four times more likely than a man to tear the ligament — especially if she’s young and active.
![Chris Hay, owner and farmer, Say Hay Farms Chris Hay, owner and farmer, Say Hay Farms](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/1113_F_agriculture.jpg?1577874530)
Land of the Fee
Can micro loans dig farmers out of their financial holes?
Today’s small farmer climbs an uphill battle to find land, secure capital and overcome the hefty start-up costs. Today, farmers make up less than 1 percent of the population (compared to 15 percent in 1950), they tend to be older (the average age is 57) and about 25 percent are expected to retire in the next 20 years. “This is a new problem for human society,” writes Sharon Astyk, author of “A Nation of Farmers.”
![(istockphoto.com) (istockphoto.com)](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/0913_SS_sleep_it_off.jpg?1577874530)
Sleep It Off
Why taking a nap would be more valuable than reading this article
I have an especially stupid case of insomnia, but we as a society are rotten sleepers and I’m not alone. Since doctors recommend seven to eight hours a night, about half the population is sleep deprived. We’re a nation of walking zombies.
![(istockphoto.com) (istockphoto.com)](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/0813_SS_bone_to_pick.jpg?1577874530)
Bone to Pick
Without proper care, hip fractures can drastically increase mortality rates.
Eighty percent of women say they’d rather be dead than in a nursing home.
![](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/0713_health.jpg?1577874530)
Juiced
Bowel Formula No. 2, friend or foe?
It’s a seductive pitch: Cleanse your body. Feel healthy. Lose weight.
You only have to do one thing: starve.
![](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/0513_F_Health.jpg?1577874530)
When Good Girls Go Bald
The ugly reality of female pattern baldness
Kathy has a secret. Every morning she creeps out of bed before her husband wakes up, slips into the bathroom and meticulously conceals the balding spots on her head. “My husband doesn’t know what I’m up to,” she says, laughing.
Like roughly 30 million other women, Kathy suffers from female androgenetic alopecia, or pattern baldness.
![](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/0413_China_wine_0.jpg?1577874530)
The New Wine Country
Opportunity abounds for California varietals
Let’s say you’re in a glitzy Beijing restaurant. Your waiter uncorks a $300 bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. He pours you a glass and you sip it, savor it, let it breathe. But around the table, everyone else gulps theirs down one swallow, like a shot, yelling “Gan bei!”
Welcome to wine culture in China.
![](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/0313_F_mens_health_iffy_stiffy_0.jpg?1577874530)
Hope for the Iffy Stiffy
Miracle drug or fake science?
Low testosterone. For men, these words have the same foul odor as “impotence,” “shrinkage” or “Justin Bieber.” The topic is taboo. Throughout civilization testosterone has been prized as the lifeblood of manhood, so a deficit would imply, by definition, that we are somehow less manly.
![](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/holiday.jpg?1577874530)
The Bubble Buyer’s Handbook
Choose the right Champagne this holiday season
We live in a world of labels. And right or wrong, the labels we choose have an impact on how others perceive us — even during the holidays.
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