THE LEFT LANE
Bulging buffets

Advertiser Staff and News Services

Each of the competitors is a veteran of a previous single-food competition, but this time they'll have to compete in multi-course breakfast, lunch, appetizer, dinner and dessert challenges, bolting down pounds and gallons of food. Yeah, it's gross, but it's also supposedly the fastest-growing competitive sport in America and is somehow as compelling as a car wreck. "Battle of the Buffets" airs 3 p.m. and repeats at 6 p.m. Jan. 12 on the Travel Channel (analog channel 37, digital channel 325).

Don't stress out

Looking for a feel-good resolution you can easily keep? A study by Search Institute of Minneapolis and the YMCA found that raising children is among the biggest challenges facing adults today. So researchers came up with three resolution suggestions to ease parenting burdens of stressed-out family members and friends:

• Provide positive feedback by telling parents they're doing a good job raising their kids (67 percent of parents studied said such affirmation would be important).
• Volunteer to spend time with your friends' children, providing those children with your knowledge, skills, guidance and fun (71 percent of parents would welcome your help).
• Bring parents together in relaxed settings, providing places and occasions where they can discuss parenthood issues (77 percent of parents lacked these opportunities).

Complete survey findings for the "Building Strong Families" study: www.ymca.net or www.abundantassets.org.

Not too late for luck

You can make your hatsumode — first temple visit of the year — and quaff some free ozoni, traditional New Year's mochi-cake soup, too. The temple opened at midnight and will be celebrating the new year until 5 p.m. today.