‘YOU’LL SHOOT YOUR EYE OUT’
Who doesn’t like Christmas? Those of us in Northeast Ohio get to celebrate it year-round with “A Christmas Story” house and museum. The movie arrived in theaters in 1983. Shots that included Cleveland locales were the outside of Ralphie’s house (3159 W. 11th St.), Public Square and Higbee’s department store on Prospect Avenue. The restored house and adjoining gift shop are open year-round. For details, visit achristmasstoryhouse.com.
FILE SAVER
When computer users save something in a Word file, they click on a tiny image of a floppy disk. Those of us old enough to remember early computer technology treated those black disks with care. Now mostly obsolete, the 3 1/2 inch floppy disk became a standard size in 1983. It continued to be the main, external storage device for everyday computer users who wanted to keep and transfer files back in the network-free age.
BABY, THESE NAMES SOUND FAMILIAR
Most Popular Baby Names Rank
1 Michael – Jennifer
2 Christopher – Jessica
3 Matthew – Amanda
4 David – Ashley
5 Joshua – Sarah
A FUTURE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE AND HIS CLEVELAND SPEECH
The Rev. Jesse Jackson spoke at an annual Labor Day event in 1983 at Luke Easter Park at Kinsman Road and East 116th streets. Louis Stokes established the 21st Congressional District Caucus Parade and Picnic at the park. The following year, Jackson organized the Rainbow Coalition and ran for president of the United States.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History
TORN SWEATSHIRTS AND LEG WARMERS
Admit it: you took a perfectly good sweatshirt, tore it and wore it off your shoulder. And you weren’t even a dancer or a welder. Heck, you didn’t even live in Pittsburgh. The music was frenetic, the story predictable. But the fashion — oh — fashion — was irresistible.
...QUESTION: “I have osteoarthritis in my knee. Does this mean that I eventually will need a knee replacement?”
ANSWER: Osteoarthritis is essentially the breakdown of the cartilage of your joints over time. This can occur through normal wear and tear of the joint as we age, but can be accelerated by other causes.
Factors such as obesity, injuries, surgeries and genetics can increase the speed at which the joint breaks down. Think of your cartilage like the tread on a tire. Over many miles, the tread wears down based on the load placed on the wheels, the alignment of the vehicle, daily impact and the type of use. When that tread wears down too much, it’s time to get a new tire. As the cartilage breaks down, eventually the bone and nerve endings are exposed and can be painful.
NOW WHAT?
The first line of treatment with osteoarthritis is to manage the pain starting with over-the-counter or prescription medications. Physical therapy can be helpful to strengthen the weakened joint and improve range of motion. Many patients find short-term relief with cortisone shots for pain and/or gel injections that lubricate and increase the shock absorption of the joint.
If these conservative measures are no longer helpful, surgical intervention through a joint replacement may seem like your only option. However, advancements in regenerative therapies are providing a new hope for many patients struggling with arthritis pain and can delay or possibly even prevent the need for a joint replacement. These newer treatments use biologic elements such as your own adult stem cells and platelets to ease the pain. In many cases, they might regenerate lost cartilage.
As a form of regenerative medicine, stem cell procedures activate your body’s own stem cells to encourage healing and speed repair for bone, muscle, joint, soft tissue and nerve injuries.
...Are you as old as you feel? Does your chronological age match your biological age? We’ve all met people who seem much younger than their age and have boundless energy. We’ve also known people who look and act much older than their age.
As we age, our metabolism slows, making it tougher to lose weight. After 40, our biological age starts to speed up, and we age faster than our chronological age. It doesn’t need to be this way. You have more control over the aging process than you think. You have the power to slow aging and prolong your youth.
TRY STRENGTH TRAINING
When we add strength training to an exercise routine, we can stimulate our muscles to unleash a powerful flood of muscle-strengthening, fat-burning and anti-aging hormones to reverse the aging process and greatly slow down both biological and chronological aging.
Stimulating and exhausting all of our muscle fibers is the key that will cause the other metabolic processes and organs of the body to respond better.
In order for a strength-training workout to produce results, sufficient rest and recovery time are necessary to allow growth. If we provide a sufficient stimulus to the body and allow for rest and recovery, the body will respond in a positive way with the desired physical and metabolic changes.
GET WITH THE (STRENGTH) PROGRAM
When you incorporate strength training into your exercise routine, you will:
• Re-ignite your metabolism, reprogramming your body to start burning body fat.
• Reboot the endocrine system, creating a resurgence of youth-enhancing hormones so you can get infinitely more energy and replace flab with lean, strong muscle.
• Fortify your body by regaining bone density and building a solid foundation.
• Boost your brainpower, enhance memory and improve cognitive function.
• Improve functional ability, making daily activities easier and more enjoyable.
...Many places call themselves a shelter. Get to know the facility before getting a pet from it. Here are are a few recommendations:
• Visit the shelter during normal visiting hours.
• Staff and volunteers should present themselves professionally.
• The shelter should be clean, free of clutter and have minimal pet waste odors.
• Pets should be clean, free of mats in their fur and be healthy.
• Pets should be spayed or neutered to reduce the number of unwanted puppies or kittens.
• Dogs for adoption should be leash trained and be able to obey simple commands.
• Cats for adoption should want to be near people.
Adopting a shelter pet can be a wonderful experience. Finding a good shelter will have positive repercussions for both you and your new pet.
Dr. Anna M. van Heeckeren, MS, DVM, is founder, president
...Remarriages are on the rise. Four of every 10 marriages are now remarriages, and half of previously married seniors have remarried again, according to a Pew Research Center study.
Let’s say partners each have children from a first marriage, and they are getting married. What issues do they need to think about? In addition to all of the family dynamics, there are many economic and personal issues they need to consider, such as:
• Income taxes
• Prenuptial agreements
• Pension, 401k and Social Security benefits
• Cost-sharing
• Estate planning documents
DOUBLE-CHECK DOCUMENTS
Consider the following real-life example. A couple remarried in their 50s. They each had children from a first marriage. The husband died 20 years later. He wanted to provide for his second wife. His will stated all of his assets went to his wife, with the understanding that on his wife’s death those assets would go back to his children.
However, what actually happened is when the husband died, the surviving wife — who lived a long time after that — simply combined their assets. On her death, the money went to her children. The husband’s children got nothing. They did not believe their father meant to do that with his assets. He didn’t, but he didn’t plan properly.
So, what should he have done? He should have set up what is commonly called a marital trust. The trust would have held the assets for his second wife when he died, but upon the wife’s passing the assets would go to his children. The trust document prohibits the widow from transferring the assets to her children.
LIFE CHANGES REQUIRE UPDATES
As for other important documents, everyone should have a durable financial power of attorney, durable health care power of attorney and a living will declaration. When you divorce or get married, update documents to reflect your new situation.
...
Adults returning to or beginning college late life is a growing trend throughout the country. Juggling work, family and other commitments while attending college part time — often, one class at a time — requires dogged perseverance. They might get tired. They might get frustrated. They don’t quit.
Judi Kostos and Nick Pykus are two such people. So-called “nontraditional students,” they are among a select group of committed adults who are earning college degrees decades after graduating high school. Here are their stories:
MATH HOMEWORK AND A COLLEGE DEGREE
Seven years ago, Judi Kostos’ grandson, Robert, needed help with his fourth grade math homework. Kostos was stumped. She couldn’t do it. The increasingly complicated problems and “new” techniques for solving them were just too tough.
Kostos helps take care of her five grandchildren after school. A full-time stay-at-home mom and grandmother of five, she was frustrated she couldn’t help with math homework. Kostos knew this was only the first of many math challenges, so she enrolled at Cuyahoga Community College’s Western Campus in Parma.
Kostos was 50 when she started at Tri-C seven years ago. The Brook Park native’s first class was in medical technology because she wanted to better understand her aging parents’ medical treatments.
“The scariest part was taking the entrance test because it had been so long since I’d been in school,” Kostos admits. “I was nervous the first day, but the staff was so friendly. The students didn’t make me feel old. I made a lot of friends.”
BUSY LIVES, BIG COMMITMENT
Kostos, like most older college students, had a lot of responsibilities outside the classroom. She makes dinner for her mom, Ruth Marzec, every night. She continues to help care for her grandchildren — now six months to 15 years old — and she’s been married for 39 years to her husband, Kent.
...Cleveland’s own “Skinny Little Boy” Alex Bevan and collaborator David J. Young recently unveiled an album and a book about youth, aging and Boomer-hood. The following are lyrics to their song, “Marietta at Midnight,” an homage to an innocent time.
MARIETTA AT MIDNIGHT
Marietta at midnight
dark current and a drink of desire
steamboats plow upstream
smoke … sparks … fire …
Marietta at midnight
Wear what’s good for you
What flows like wind through willows
That you’re not afraid to lose …
down on the banks of the sacred river
down the banks we’ll go
down, down, down
to the Ohio
See Marietta by midnight
From shore near the Lafayette
Waves kiss rocks with searching tongues
Where the trees are silhouettes
down on the banks of the sacred river
down the banks we’ll go
down, down, down
to the Ohio
12 of 52
Stars bear witness … how I love you so
Shadow and pale moonshine
The drone and dim nocturnal hymns
Sing till our hearts combine
So meet me
Meet me, meet me
Marietta at midnight
Wear what’s good for you
Something that loves the water
You’re not afraid to lose …
down on the banks of the sacred river
down the banks we’ll go
down, down, down
to the Ohio
...
