Columns

Over the holidays it was nice connecting with Greta Stauffer, a second cousin, who is a fitness instructor at a North Carolina military base and working on her master’s degree at East Carolina University in Greenville.  With New Year resolutions of getting fit on a lot of people’s minds, I was curious to learn about some of the new trends.  Her major point was that diabetes will be a problem for many of us. Her recommendation to keep diabetes at bay is to eliminate high fructose corn syrup from our diet and to move our bodies 20 to 30 minutes a day.  We have also heard for years that our lifestyles are becoming more and more sedentary, not necessarily from being lazy, but rather the change in work. Controlling machinery via computer, where it was done by hand, for instance. Even the military is controlling aircraft from a desktop computer instead of in the cockpit. 

ALL MY LIFE I have been fascinated by trains, and from a very early age a toy train was on my wish list.

Intending to shop locally, I searched for a card in downtown White Bear Lake before attending a family gathering for my Aunt's birthday last weekend. I've heard and read that more people in our country are living longer these days but I discovered it still hasn't gotten to the point where there is a birthday card section for 100-year-olds. While perusing the selection, I thought about combining a couple of 50th birthday cards but ended up finding a festively decorated card for a 1-year-old, with a conveniently open space in the design where I was able to add two zeroes with a matching color marker.

On Saturday night we attended a party at the Bald Eagle Lake home of Mark and Evelyn Duvall, in honor of Mark's 50th birthday. Evelyn is one of our graphic designers at the Press, and we share a love of skiing, on snow and water. Many of the partygoers were sailing enthusiasts and ice boaters. I have tried ice boating in the past and was interested in the chance to learn more. Sunday was a key day to be on the lake, with more than 15 ice boats reported on Bald Eagle. According to Tim Black, the two most commonly seen ice boat types in this area are the DN and the Nite. Nites can still be purchased new from White Bear Boat Works. Because of the low friction on the ice, ice boats can exceed up to five times the wind speed and more than double it in most cases. Ice boat speeds can exceed 70 mph. Later in the evening I enjoyed meeting Art Kutchera who last year skied more than 130 days in Telluride, Colo. At the bright age of 83, he hopes to ski more than 100 days this winter. Art is a retired 3M engineer and when he is not skiing, he can be found on his sailboat. Sailing has been a big part of our community's culture for longer than a century, and many boat builders have chosen to call the area home. As sailing, ice boating, kiteboarding, golf on the ice and other activities are centered on the lake, we will continue to define our community and attract people who want to live here, work here and play to the fullest.

With the holidays comes excitement for the kids and an opportunity to entertain friends and relatives. Unfortunately, criminals are also getting ready to enjoy the holidays - they do so by ripping us off.

A NEW VIKINGS Stadium is a perfect fit for the Arden Hills site.

I blew out my appendix and spent the first part of December in a lot of pain last year. Needless to say, this unfortunate health event ruined my winter.

This week we celebrate the holiday of Thanksgiving. Take time to meditate on the meaning, acknowledge your blessings and absorb the thoughts of others regarding Thanksgiving.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, more than 22,000 Minnesota Guard members have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan for extended periods, many multiple times. When those citizen soldiers leave our local communities,the impact is great.

All living veterans deserve honor, respect and a big "Thank You" for serving our nation, protecting our freedoms and giving of their time this Veterans Day, Friday, Nov. 11.

A friend who is a police officer recently told me about the frightening, re-emerging trend among teens -  sniffing, huffing, bagging and skittling.  Sniffing, huffing or bagging is inhaling a chemical with the intent to get high. The chemicals used are common and entirely legal items found in almost every household, like air freshener sprays, paint, gasoline, markers, glue and freon from air conditioners.  It is happening more often than you think. According to the Partnership for a Drug-free America, 18 percent of all eighth graders have used inhalants to get high, but 9 out of 10 parents are unaware their children have used inhalants.

What is it about the social structure of adolescents that makes them want to minimalize — to the point of misery — people who are different from them?

As parents, we are faced daily with pressure and decisions that affect our children's health and well-being, and often the guidance we give them now will have lasting consequences. It can be hard to know when to let go or to clamp down.

While on a recent assignment, the topic of Websites came up and I was asked if our site was "eseeoh." The word sounded foreign to me and I wondered if I needed to catch up on some of the latest terminology currently being bandied about. I asked, "What?" and he repeated the word a little more slowly, "es-ee-oh." This time around the word transformed in my mind into an acronym that I had been seeing quite frequently of late, SEO (Search Engine Optimized) and yes, I was happy to report that our site was indeed SEO.

THE MESSAGE THIS week is appreciation for our subscribers, advertisers, local governments and community organizations. All enter into making a community weekly newspaper and its website viable and relevant week after week.

IN ADVANCE OF elections, there is a great deal of rhetoric by candidates promoting their positions and the many promises they are unable to fulfill. Preceding the November 2012 presidential election, there will be all kinds of messages coming at us from many different media sources.

Along McKnight Road just north of Maplewood, I met Isabelle Forliti, Abby Franta, Elaine Franta and Sophia Forliti who were operating a lemonade stand. They said they were saving up for a dog and thought it would be a fun way to raise the money. Since they lived a block off McKnight, they asked a neighbor if they could set up their stand in their yard to capitalize on the greater traffic pattern. When they ran their last lemonade stand, they raised enough money to each have a feather put in their hair by Barb's Hair Care. Before I showed up, they had already sold lemonade to the UPS man, the ice cream truck driver and numerous police officers. What salesmanship! Target, 3M and Medtronic take note - these kids just might be your future executives. I am a sucker for youth entrepreneurism. I remember the neighbors and friends who purchased knick-knacks and trinkets to help our band room purchase supplies, and the time we test-marketed the "Makin' Bacon" dish to raise money for our high school ski team. For a short time I started a business of selling candy out of my locker at Central Middle School until the school called my mom and put an end to it. Whether it be school-sanctioned fundraisers that help subsidize sports and activities, Scouts out selling cookies or popcorn, young kids taking the initiative to set up a lemonade stand, or the kids who get flyers out to their neighbors to promote a lawn care or pet-sitting service, it just strikes a chord. Even when the opportunities to support youth activities may seem excessive, remember that kids are learning the invaluable skills of creating a business plan, setting and attaining goals, learning to interact with neighbors and the public, and the concept of paying their own way.