by Terry VanOrder on January 30th, 2009
1. I’ve been wondering about hickies. Maybe hickies are only a social make-out thing from my generation. Maybe no one under 50 or 40 even knows what a hickey is. Dictionary.com defines a hickey as “a reddish mark left on the skin by a passionate kiss.” In school, if we saw anybody wearing a turtleneck shirt, we knew they were hiding the evidence, and they were immediately more popular than pre-turtleneck, because if they had a hickey, they must be a real party-animal. (We never considered that the turtleneck was just what their mom picked out for them to wear.) Are hickies still alive and well in this generation or has it been discovered they cause some dread disease or social anarchy? Do you have any hickey stories you’d care to share?
2. I love my flannel sheets. I crawl into bed on these cold nights and they are like a warm little cocoon keeping me all comfy and cozy. They even look warm and welcoming with their plaids and mooses and pine trees. What do you prefer in sheets? Flannel, silk, cotton? Is thread count important?
3. We live life really fast these days and we’re always busy, rushing, doing, scurrying, planning. When you finally have time to relax and to de-fuse, what is your downtime of choice? What de-stresses you? What rejuvenates you? How do you cope to do it all over again tomorrow?
4. Simple question: Can you sew on a button? Do you have needle and thread?
5. A true “citizen of Wausau” type question. Community is a great thing. Wausau, Weston, Rothschild, etc. all make up our community, and we participate in things that work towards the bonding of that community feeling of all being in this together. That’s a great thing. But my question is, on a smaller, closer, more personal scale, do you know the names of your next door neighbors right there on your street? Do you talk to them? Are you friends or at least wave if you’re both outside at the same time? Do you interact?
6. Are you scared of peanut butter now? What’s the next food item that will be tainted? If it’s chocolate, I’m eating it anyway.
by Kristy Medo on January 29th, 2009
We are officially four weeks into the New Year and many of you are probably wondering about your progress of fulfilling that resolution of losing weight in 2009. How will that body fat really melt off? Do you have to spend more hours at the gym? Why is that nothing seems to be happening, or, if it is, why is it happening so slowly? The answer lies in the fact that “you are what you eat.”
Day after day people will tell me all of the insane amounts of exercise that they are doing but yet they are not producing results to slim their waistline or build precious metabolism increasing lean muscle mass. The most effective answer to all of these questions is simply “you are what you eat.” You can spend endless hours at the gym running like a hamster in a wheel, but if you are not eating correctly, you are essentially wasting your time at the gym. Sure, that sounds discouraging, but it’s the truth.
For every calorie burned during a workout, most of us are replenishing when we leave the gym by eating calorie-loaded foods. Take, for example, a tablespoon of peanut butter at an average whopping 110 calories of pure fat calories versus a bag of frozen broccoli that amounts to the same amount of calories with zero fat and loads of fiber which means there is zero potential for body fat to increase. Also consider the fact that if you’re going to eat peanut butter, it is not likely that you will simply have one tablespoon, it’s more like two to four tablespoons on a high glycemic food such as bread or bagels. Wheat bread, peanut butter and the like are all healthy, however from a caloric intake and blood glucose perspective, they are a body fat increasing nightmare that really works against you.
All in all I want each of you to have success in your general health and fitness goals. Do your homework, exercise your brain and find out the truth about the foods you consume. That alone will be your greatest tool for weight loss or muscle building success. Know that it’s not exercise alone that will cause physical change … it is really the fact that you are what you eat.
by John H. Fischer on January 26th, 2009
Although the Women’s Community lost its first battle against the forces of NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) in their first proposed location, last Tuesday night the Wausau Planning Commission unanimously approved the first step in the process for a different location.
For those who may be unfamiliar, the Women’s Community has outgrown its current location (which is a sad fact to begin with). They had found what they thought to be an ideal location not far from NTC. The size of the parcel worked, it was located in a residential area (as they want those people they are housing to feel “at home”), it was close to shopping and schools and it was on the bus line. It had everything they were looking for. Everything that is, except for welcoming neighbors. As a matter of fact, well over a hundred neighbors (some of them more than a half mile, or more than six city blocks away) signed a petition. It was democracy in action. Almost all of them stated they appreciated and respected what the Women’s Community does, they just want them to do it somewhere else.
Their new home is going to be on a parcel of land donated by Aspirus near the intersection of 32nd Avenue and Hilltop on the west side. Let’s compare this new site with their original one:
- Both are in the immediate vicinity of primarily single family housing
- Both are close to schools
- Both are in areas where the larger area has a mix of uses
- Both are in the City of Wausau, but just on the edge of city limits
The primary differences are that 1) this current parcel is zoned as a Unified Development District where the NTC location was zoned single family and 2) the majority of neighbors in this new location do not oppose the use.
As far as the zoning issue, in almost every case, when new vacant land is annexed into the City of Wausau, it comes in as a default zoning of Single Family Residential R-1. However, it is not unusual that if the landowner has a specific “vision” for the property, they can make their request for annexation contingent on a specific type of zoning. Otherwise, the property remains R-1 until the specific use of the property is determined and it gets rezoned at that time.
Unified Development District (UDD) zoning allows for a mix of uses on a specific parcel. In this case, the plan was for medical offices, long-term care facilities and other medically related uses (which makes sense as it was owned by Aspirus). At the time this zoning was approved, it would have had to also go through the whole public hearing process.
The public hearing this last Tuesday was to make changes to the already approved UDD plan. They were basically moving around where some of the buildings were going to be and allow the Women’s Community as one of the uses.
To some extent, NIMBY-ism does exist in this new neighborhood as well. The first resident of that neighborhood to testify opposed this, with the argument we heard all too well from the last time – we admire what they do but we want them to do it somewhere else. Concerns that were brought up by those opposing the shelter included safety concerns and emergency response times (the Wausau Manor domestic violence homicide was in this general area), general safety and traffic. I also heard one person with the argument I hear often in these hearings – that the parcel is vacant, they like it vacant and they don’t want ANYTHING built there.
However, in the end, reason prevailed. There are many more steps in the process, however the Women’s Community got past the first one.
by Cheryl Mathis on January 23rd, 2009
The Oscar nominations were announced recently. Shawn Sullivan called them a travishamockery. Since I saw very few, if any, movies this year, I didn’t pay much attention. I watch the Academy Awards just to look at the pretty dresses. Life is funny that way. I have two kids, a husband, a job, hobbies, an avid intellect, but I still have the same cheap thrills as I did when I was a little girl: a fascination with red carpet fashion and an insane devotion to Mike and Ikes. Here are some questions to kick off your weekend.
1. My husband and I often have long conversations inspired purely by bumper stickers we see while driving. The latest one, “Real Catholics Don’t Vote Pro-Abortion,” lasted two hours. Some stickers are funny, some are crude, some are hopeful, some are political. What bumper stickers are memorable for you? Do you have bumper stickers on your vehicle? Have you ever?
2. In the driving theme, I’m curious about something. What do you all do in the car on a trip of an hour or more? We listen to audiobooks. My sister and I would sing along with the radio at the top of our lungs. When I was little, I would play the license plate game (the shining glory of my collection was a plate from Hawaii). What do you do?
3. My husband and Dino have challenged each other to a Biggest Loser contest over the next six weeks. The weigh-in is on Monday. I am an unofficial participant. This morning, I had no problem getting up the energy to exercise, but I had a mighty craving for donuts afterwards. What do you find more difficult? Eating healthy or exercising on a regular basis?
4. For a segment of the population this week, patriotism has been flying high. In honor of the inauguration of a new president, here’s a political question. What do you think the American dream is today versus what it was in 1776?
by Dino Corvino on January 22nd, 2009
Hello everyone, as the new year swarms us with the possibilities and changes, we here at Citizen Wausau seek to bring new voices to the table. Recently we added a few, and you will learn about them later, but before we get there, we wanted to seek more voices from the wealth that is this fine city.
It is my hope that we can find the following:
1. A city council reporter/correspondent. While I love attending these meetings, I am sometimes unable to. I would love to be able to have a regular contributor there to give us a rundown on what they had seen and heard. The minutes of these meetings reflect the record, but there is something all together different in watching the faces and body language of the folks on the council.
2. High School sports. Last week I had the great pleasure of going to a high school basketball game. It was amazing. We would love for more high school age folks to be involved in CW, and maybe this is a start.
3. The PAF. While the PAF is a highly successful thing, we would love to spend more time talking to someone from there. We think it is a valuable resource and a shining light for the entire state. This needs to be broad enough to encompass the WCT and all the other Community Theatre projects.
4. Wausau Area Events. This might just be a summer time slot, unless we can find someone who would like to dig around like I would love to see them dig around. WAE does things every day, it seems like, over the summer months.
There will of course be more possibilities, but those four pop into mind right away. Please leave a comment if you are interested in providing us with posts on any of the above subjects. You don’t have to be a regular contributor if you don’t have the time to invest, but we’d love to read whatever you can provide. If you have ideas for other “beats” around town, leave a comment about those as well. You can also email us for further information.
by Timothy Pickett on January 21st, 2009
Some are passionate about their work, some about their play. I’ve been lucky enough to find both of these at the same place… the kitchen. As an artist paints with oils, acrylics and brushes, a musician with instruments, amplifiers and lyrics, the poet with his usage of words and emotions, I find my palette, score and paper to be constructed of flour, pancetta and artichokes. I totally live for the food experience. Guess you’d call me a hopeless but lucky foodie.
I did not attend a culinary school, though most of my colleagues have. I learned the old fashioned way, on the job. I have been in and out of the food business since I was a young boy of 15, and it is the only place where I feel both content and creative at the same time. I study more about food than I ever did in any educational facility I have ever attended; my thirst for the knowledge never wanes.
Working in a kitchen is unlike most jobs. Every time you make a dish it absolutely has to be the best dish you have ever placed in a bowl or on a plate… it must look like a work of art and taste of heaven. I demand it when I dine out (especially with the current state of finances in these trying times), and my customers deserve the best that I can possibly offer. Every single dish must be stellar, for a cook’s reputation is all he/she has in this field. One big mistake could possibly ruin you and the restaurant you love to work for. You are always being judged and there are no second chances. Sound pretty stressful to you? Trust me, it is.
In the coming months, I will visit many restaurants in the Wausau area and will do my very best to give you unbiased reviews of what I think about these businesses. I will not tell you a place is perfect or even above average when I feel it is not. If it merits a rave review, I will do my best to give their gastronomic excellence its due. You may not agree with my opinion and you can respond to my reviews with all the fervor that I put into the post myself.
I will also share some of my feelings about the daily life of a kitchen worker and what drives us. I’ll take you on a journey into my world, the good and bad and sometimes, the ugly.
by Kristy Medo on January 19th, 2009
Seeing as it is that time of year where every person under the sun comes out to fulfill their desire to lose weight and get in shape, I’d like to point out some observations that I’ve made this year and years prior. As I go about point these things out, you’ll have to forgive me if I sound anything but positive because I truly do respect all human beings regardless if they are devoted fitness participants or not.
At this time of year everyone feels a sense of being able to clean off the old slate and set new goals. It is truly motivating to see people working diligently toward a goal of improving their physical aspects which ironically enough tie into their most inward sense of well being. It is through the power of our minds that our bodies cooperate. If our mindset is in the right place, anything within that spectrum of thoughts will be possible. If we don’t “think” it’s possible than it surely won’t be. That’s why this time of year can be an amazing beginning if we could only stick to what we set out to do.
On the humorous side of things, I have made four primary observation in the past week about the New Year’s Resolution Gym madness that I think everyone can relate to. As time goes by I will have more to comment but for now I want all of you to know that you’re not alone if you have felt the effects of any of these things.
Observation number one: the problem of “gym” parking.
I find it very funny when a member bursts through the door frustrated that they had to walk so far to get into the gym considering the excess amount of cars in the parking lot due to what I call the “new year resolutioner’s rush.” Didn’t anyone tell these people that walking is part of fitness and so they should be glad they had to walk the extra distance because now half their workout is done before they even get to the front door?
Observation number two: the problem of implied ownership.
Many people who attend a gym year round get annoyed with the abundance of “new” members joining “their gym” in January. It’s like they’re walking around saying, “Who is the new guy and doesn’t he know that’s MY treadmill at 5:30 pm every day?” We all need to remember that it’s a good thing to have new people around. That means financial survival of the place that we love to call our gym home!
Observation number three: the grunt wars.
Like a dog marks territory you better believe you will have the guy next to you trying to make himself the new and improved mark on the gym floor. This forceful marking comes in the form of “the grunt.: No it’s not rut during deer hunting season, but pretty close. The new guy grunts louder than the guy who’s been there forever which sends him into a frenzy of making sure he is still known as the dude nobody is going to mess with in this gym. It’s OK in the end though, somehow nature has its way of establishing a subconscious ranking among the gym goers. Eventually mutual respect is met and all is well and normal.
Observation number four: what is this thing and how do I use it?
As a personal trainer I really feel for the newbies that join because learning how to use equipment at a new gym can really be uncomfortable and intimidating. It’s hard enough to get motivated to walk through the gym door for some, and it’s even harder to add the “I don’t have a clue what I’m doing” face to the whole thing. I admire that leap of faith to use a piece of equipment that has no clear instructions. Many will use it properly, and nobody can tell how “green” they are at using it. Then again some will use it clearly improperly and everyone will know “that’s the new guy.” Before I became a “fitness professional” I was so afraid of the image thing that I would go to the gym at 4:30 am just to exercise with the older cats that way I wouldn’t care if they looked at me funny for not knowing what I was doing. Even as I progressed I still had to hire a trainer to workout with so I knew exactly what I was doing. Not to mention I needed somebody to keep me accountable for showing up every day. It took me 18 months of personal training before I was ready to go off on my own. At that point I then went to get official education about exercise technique and the principals of bio-mechanics.
To end all of this on a very positive note I can promise all of you that there will be some amazing life changing transformations that will occur out of all this. I see it year after year. Some people really do find success and change their lives for good. I know because I too am one of those people who stuck to it, and to this day I enjoy the fruits of my hard work by simple means of good health, ease in movement, and a relaxed state of being. Secondly, I’ve made this new found joy my line of work, and so I’m able to share this wonderful thing called “fitness” with all of you!
Best of luck to you all!
Kristy Medo
by Terry VanOrder on January 16th, 2009
1. The subject of the first question is tattoos, and I’m curious about them. I’m of the older generation where most of the tattoos are on guys who served in the military and got a tattoo as a rite of passage. But there are many other people, from all generations and walks of life, who had a specific reason for choosing to have permanent signage on their body. Personally, I’m intrigued by tattoos; the choice of design and the meaningfulness of such, the location of the tattoo (hidden or in plain sight), and the psychology of the desire to mark the body with a specific graphic. So, what do you think? Do you have one? If so, what is it, and what does it mean to you? And if you don’t have one, is it still in your future perhaps, or would you never, ever get one?
2. My husband and I go out to eat a lot, but we’re stuck in a rut. We go to the same places over and over again, creatures of habit. I’m not very experimental when it comes to food. I’m just a simple girl who grew up on meat and mashed potatoes, and in my childhood home, gravy was considered an entire food group. As grown-ups, we try to eat relatively healthy (gravy is now evil), but we’re getting bored. So what’s out there? Do you have any recommendations that we should try? Where is your favorite dining out place in the Wausau area?
3. I collect quotes. When I find one that speaks to me, I ingest it and use it as a guide as I conduct my everyday life. One of my favorites is “I am a part of all that I have met” by Alfred Lord Tennyson. I firmly believe in those words. I also like humorous quotes to remind me not to take life too seriously. So, do you have a favorite quote that means something to you? If you do, what does it mean to you?
4. As I’ve said somewhere back in a previous post, I don’t do New Year’s resolutions, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to change anything. Resolutions usually have to do with changing something about yourself … lose weight, quit smoking, do more reading, etc. But one thing I want to do in 2009 is effect a change in the world around me: give to someone who needs something I can give. Save an animal from the shelter? Feed someone who is hungry? Teach someone to read? Go greener? Plant a tree? Smile at strangers? Introduce someone to a new hobby? If you could do something to change the world around you this year, what would that be?
5. I don’t like my name. My given first and middle name (Terry Louise) means “battle maiden” in the name-your-baby books. Ugh. I’m partial to the name Laura, and I also like Lucy. Do you like your name and does it fit your perception of yourself? If you had to re-name yourself, what would it be?
by John H. Fischer on January 15th, 2009
[The name might not be familiar, but the writing will be. This is our own Dr Rent, Wausau's answer to any question dealing with landlord-tenant issues. John is also a wellspring of knowledge regarding many aspects of civic life, and we look forward to many more posts from him in the future with an aim to enlighten us of the behind-the-scenes decisions and machinations of the city.]
A few blog posts ago, I had talked about the potential development of “affordable,” multi-family housing on the Wausau river front. The Wausau City Council decided to provide nearly a half-million dollars in development incentives. I disagreed with this action by the City because this development, if it proceeds, will already be getting a great deal of federal and state monies. I found it hard to believe that this development would not go through if the City didn’t throw in a big chunk of funds as well.
One thing that did bother me though, was that some of the council members were voting against this development for reasons that made very little sense to me.
I had made the statement at the City Council meeting that right now, the market for multi-family housing units was saturated. A couple of council members stated that there were also a large number of “affordable” housing units available. Based on my knowledge of “affordable” housing availabilities in Wausau, that is simply not the case.
When the term “Affordable Housing” is used, what it really means is subsidized housing, or housing where the amount of rent paid directly by the tenant is a set percentage of income. One form of subsidized housing, Section 8, has a waiting list of nearly two years. Other subsidized housing units also have a healthy waiting list. The vast majority of this housing in the Wausau area is actually owned and operated by the City of Wausau, through the Housing Authority. (The City of Wausau is Wausau’s largest residential landlord.)
Another statement that was made a number of times was the concern about the crime that will be brought in by having these low-income renters in this area. Really? A six-million-dollar housing development will generate more crime than a blighted riverfront that is a haven for god knows what?
People probably have images in their mind of rundown housing projects in large cities that they have seen on the news or in episodes of COPS. However, these type of “projects” are mostly things of the past. New affordable housing developments tend to be mixed housing. These are not luxury units, but are decent, mid-range market units. Some of the housing units have market rents with normal income tenants, and some of the housing units are subsidized. But the units all are of the same quality. So you mix low income with moderate income. You treat low income people like real people giving them decent quality housing. You treat them like real people, not second class citizens, and in return, you tend to get real people, people who take pride in their housing, their neighborhood, their community.
The final thing that council members were pointing out was how this was not the best use of this parcel of land, and they would prefer to wait for some type of commercial development. In my opinion, commercial development for the immediate downtown area makes sense. But the farther you get from downtown, the less sense commercial development makes. It is not easy to navigate those streets, which is a primary issue for commercial development. Plus, parking ratios will kill you. Commercial properties require much more parking, which means you either need more parking garages, or a large amount of this nice riverfront land gets turned into a parking lot. I have always thought that area was a great place for multi-family housing. (I thought it would be more of a condo development because I didn’t think you would be able to get multi-family to cash flow.)
Whether or not City funds should be thrown at this development I think is something worth a good, informed discussion. However, claims that there is plenty of subsidized housing available for those who need it is wrong. Accusations that apartments will bring in more crime simply because of the income level of the tenants is simply an insult. Crime related to multi-family housing has more to do with property ownership/management than the income level of the tenants. Finally, once you get away from “downtown,” residential development makes a great deal of sense on the river, and the higher the density, the better the potential tax base.
by Kristy Medo on January 14th, 2009
Lacey Meinel, a young figure skater and superior athlete of her age group, will be sadly missed by many. If you have not already laid eyes on the many local headlines, she was a victim of a drunk driving accident on Saturday, January 10, 2009. To the best of my understanding she was on her way home from a figure skating competition when she and her mother we hit by a drunk driver driving in the wrong lane.
As a health and fitness professional I see many kinds of talent within athletes each and every day. Some individuals don’t even realize their own human potential and capabilities in the athletic realm. I find it is usually in the children that I see the most fire and desire to develop their natural born skills and abilities. That was surely the case in what I had experienced while being near Lacey on the ice.
While I had participated as a US Figure Skating Basic Skills Instructor for small children with Wausau’s very own 6.0 FSC International School of Skating, I had the pleasure to share ice time with Lacey at Greenheck Field House in Weston. During that time I would watch her in amazement of her power, grace and art that she applied to her figure skating. As an adult I know there is a certain element within me that wants every child to begin to explore their own individual greatness through physical expression. Lacey did just that everyday she would come onto the ice. With devotion to her sport, as a young girl she would be on the ice around 6 am prior to her normal school day. This is the typical regimen of most figure skaters as ice times are very limited for their practice. Many of these children and teens learn true discipline and sacrifice through their sports while most of us never learn that deep dedication, even as adults.
Lacey will always be remembered by those who surrounded her both on and off the ice. I know as the Badger State Games are right around the corner there will be a lot of tears and emotions that will be expressed through her fellow friends and “ice-mates” as they skate in the very same places that she had once skated. Our thoughts and prayers will be with her family now and always.
Kristy Medo
www.exercisewausau.com
