BrandonInfo.com

How long has it been since you’ve had a good laugh? I can’t remember either, although I have a good chuckle now and then.

Do you know anyone who is a serious person and hardly ever laughs? Are you a serious person who hardly ever laughs?

As I get older, I think I’ve noticed that spontaneously funny things happen less often. I have to make more of a point of seeking out funny situations. I watch funny shows on tv. I go to funny plays (The Mighty Corson Art shows are always comedies.) I gravitate toward funnier people. Although I don’t make light of serious subjects, I do tend to try to find the comical side of things.

My friends try to get together more often in social settings. We have game nights and go for coffee and such. Sometimes we just let ourselves be silly. Younger folks nearby might think we’re going into our second childhoods. So what? I think when we’re older, we’ll remember the fun times much more than the days when we were all serious.

Your thoughts?

Are you an early bird or a night owl? Me, I’m a night owl. And no, no matter how many days and months and years I get up early will I ever get used to it.

If you are an early bird, would you get used to it if you stayed up late for a few months in a row?

Do you think people are preconditioned to being an early bird or a night owl? Are they programmed that way from birth? Can they change?

The Brandon Valley School District will spend $7,335 this year for a service that lets the school call your home to tell you if school is called off for the day or other school-related information. Do you think this is a good value?

Instead of having to listen to the radio on snowy days, you’ll just get a recorded message that school is canceled for the day. The district can use the service for other things too, like reminding parents that conferences are coming up or that standardized tests will be given on a certain day. Once you start thinking about it, thee are hundreds of things about which the school could call. (”Hello, this is the school. Tonight at 6:30 p.m., the school board will be voting on the coming year’s budget.” “Hello, this is the school. Please remember to vote at Tuesday’s bond election.)

The school can even target subgroups. (”Hello, this is the school. Please remember that all grade school students must turn in their book fees by Friday.”)

Are you excited that you will have these convenient reminders, or do you fear that the school will be calling you with all kinds of notices about which you don’t care? Or do you feel somewhere in between?

About what kinds of things would you like the school to call you? What kind of notices are important to you?

What is your source for new about how the city and school is spending your tax money? Do you read the paper? Do you watch the city council meetings on the local cable TV channel? Do you watch the school board meetings on the school district’s Web page?

Maybe you read the minutes of the meetings in the legal notices in the paper. Or maybe you attend the meetings. (Actually, I know you don’t. I go to a lot of those meetings, and I seldom see members of the public there.)

Do you read the meeting minutes online? Or maybe you go to City Hall or the school district administrative offices and ask to see the minutes.

Do you do any of these things?

Or maybe you get your news at the coffee counter, when somebody says, “I hear the city is going to … (you fill in the blank).”

I often go to meetings where someone will ask the city council or school board why they made this or that decision, and if they considered this option or that option. And often, when I hear this, I think that the answers are well documented. But I could be wrong.

If you don’t get enough city or school news now, why not? How would you like the information to be packaged so that you will not miss it in the future?

The president of the United States was a guest on the David Letterman show last night. What do you think about that? Should a president be making guest appearances on comedy shows, or any other kind of show? What next, Barack Obama as a crime victim on Law & Order?

I wonder if he got paid to do the Letterman show. If so, I wonder how much. I’m sure the president doesn’t have a Screen Actors Guild card, so he wouldn’t necessarily be paid according to union guidelines.

I suppose Leno and the others will be after the president now too. Maybe he could be a sick person on House.

What other shows would you like to see the president do, if any?

A few years ago, taxpayers voted to spend $23 million to build a new grade school, add additions onto the high school and make improvements at Valley Springs Elementary. Now all that work is done and the district had $1.5 million leftover, so they gave it back.

Do you agree with this decision? If so, why? If not, why not?
It will save the school district a bunch of money in interest that won’t need to be paid down the road. But maybe the school district could have spent the money on something else. District business manager Paul Lundberg said there are restrictions on what the money could be spent on, but there still might be something.

City Hall might move a few blocks west in the future. The city council has approved an architectural study of how to turn the Pace Manufacturing building at S. Sioux and Aspen boulevards into a new city hall, police department and community center. Certainly the property is big enough for all those uses. Do you think it is a good fit?

Pace has built a new facility in the industrial park and wants to eventually move its entire operation there. That would leave the current building empty.

If you don’t think that’s a good location for a city hall, what do you think would be a good use for the property?

If city hall does move in a few years, what do you think would be a good use for the current city hall building?

I was bummed this morning when I learned that the Brandon Valley Community Education pottery class won’t be held this fall. I was planning to play in clay each Wednesday night through October. Apparently, enough people didn’t sign up for the class. I took the pottery class last year and made Christmas ornaments for many friends and relatives. I had a great time, and it was fun to see what-all the other class members made. We all learned new techniques.
Have you ever taken one of the community education classes? There is a wide variety of opportunities, including cooking, finance, exercise, crafts and more. In addition to pottery, I signed up for the coffee cupping (tasting) class. It’s a one-night class. I’ve been to a coffee cupping before and really enjoyed learning more about the roasting process and tasting the subtle flavor differences in the various coffees.

What classes have you taken, and how did you like them? What classes would you like to see offered?

Next year’s city budget is pretty conservative, city officials say. That might make sense in these economic times.

City employees will get their standard 3 percent wage increase.
The budget also includes $260,000 to pave the portion of McHardy Road by the soccer fields.

You can read about the budget on www.brandoninfo.com and in this week’s Brandon Valley Challenger.

Does the budget look good to you, or are there things you would change?

Money is tight everywhere. How do you save a few cents here and there?

I never use glass cleaner on my mirrors. Plain old water works just fine. I get the corner of a soft cloth wet, then wipe over spots on the mirror. Then I flip to the dry side of the cloth and wipe clean. I’ve never had a problem with streaks, and I feel good knowing I haven’t paid for who knows how many bottles of glass cleaner over the last 34 years. Probably helps the environment, too.

I am gathering comments for a story about the national Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s decision to allow homosexuals who are openly in a relationship to be ordained.

Would you be willing to be included in the story? I would have to be able to use your name.

What do you think about the church making a policy like that? Do you say “it’s about time” or do you say “this is a step on the slippery slope” or do you say “doesn’t matter to me” or … something else?

Feel free to post comments here for blog discussion, or contact me by Friday afternoon at apthiele@argusleader.com if you are interested in commenting for the story, to be published in the Brandon Valley Challenger next week.
Thank you.

Alica P. Thiele

Brandon Valley Challenger reporter

My husband is home sick with some kind of flu. I doubt if it’s the H1N1 kind, but it’s making him dizzy and sick to his stomach.

The flu season is upon us. A co-worker stayed home sick last Friday. Here at the Argus Leader, we try to keep from spreading the flu bug around. Employees are encouraged to stay home if they’re sick – no sense infecting others. There are containers of antibacterial hand cleaner in every department. During past flu seasons, antibacterial wipes have been available as well. I’ve seen people use them on keyboards when they have to sit at someone else’s station.

At home when someone is sick, I spray doorknobs, handles, telephones and other surfaces with Lysol.

What precautions do you take to avoid getting the flu? What action do you take when someone is sick?

Have you had any illness in the family so far this season?