Also, remember that one of the best heat and thirst quenchers of all is fresh fruit. Blueberries, peaches and/or strawberries. Enjoy right out of the freezer.

For a special treat, freeze green or red grapes, melon balls!

Blinds provide the greatest flexibility since they can be opened wide on dark days or closed tightly when the sun shines brightly. By adjusting the angle of the blinds, you can provide a little or a lot of screening.

Glare screens that attach to the computer are also available, although they are a palliative rather than a solution since they make it harder to see the screen.

If the glare is coming from an overhead fixture or a skylight, a hood available in computer supply outlets can minimize the problem. If nothing else works, be prepared to change a fixture or to not use the overhead light when the computer is on. You can purchase a task light to illuminate the writing surface of the desk.

Testing the chair — Is it easy to adjust the seat so that everyone’s feet touch the floor? (You may need a footstool for shorter family members.) Can you alter the height of the back and arms? Does the chair tilt? If the chair has arms, do they allow you to get close to your work surface? Does the pedestal base have five prongs for maximum stability? Do casters glide in all directions?

The computer desk — Choose one with an adequate work surface. A normal working surface is as wide as your fully outstretched arms. If you need more space, buy an L-shaped desk or a second computer table. Remember that the keyboard should sit about 3 inches below standard desk height. If you want files handy, choose a desk with an attached file cabinet or a rolling file pedestal. A hutch top is handy for storing paper and other supplies like computer manuals and diskettes. A separate printer stand with space for paper and other supplies frees desk space.

For flexibility — Conserve desktop space by adding wall-mounted accessories such as pencil cups, diskette holders and a bulletin board. Consider purchasing modular storage furniture so that you can add to it in the future.

Let there be light — Make sure the desktop for reading and writing is well-lit.

Stretching
Get up, move around and stretch every 20 to 30 minutes to keep stiffness at bay. Change positions often. Sitting in the same position for long periods causes muscles to tighten and shorten. This can increase stress on joints, making them stiff and painful. Once stiff, joints have a limited range of motion, which limits your ability to perform even simple tasks.

If you perform assembly work, stretch your hand flat for about a minute several times during the task. If you write frequently, stop and stretch your fingers.

Regular stretching throughout the day

Keeps joints well lubricated.
Prevents shortening of muscle fibers.
Reduces pain.
Eases tension and stress.
Energizes.
Make Your Computer Friendly
They make our lives easier, but computers can be a literal pain for users with arthritis.

For minimal stress on your neck, shoulders and hands, sit as upright as possible while only slightly bending your neck.
Make sure your lower back is against your chair’s backrest or use a lumbar support or seat wedge.

Move closer to the keyboard (3-6 inches from your lap). Position it and the monitor straight in front of you.

Your wrists should be straight, yet loose, when your fingers are on the keyboard. Your forearms should be parallel to the floor. If not, use a padded wrist-rest and adjust your chair height.

Devices that make the keyboard smaller or change its layout help people with limited range of motion.
Switch to a mouse or joystick to enter commands.
For vision problems, use devices that make the screen easier to read.

After active acne has been treated effectively, patients may want to think about pursuing scar revision. Their options have improved in recent years. Acne scars can never be entirely removed, but minimizing their appearance may be a realistic goal.

Deep pitted scars, sometimes known as “ice pick scars,” may be removed with an instrument called a punch, which acts like a miniature cookie cutter. Once the scar is “punched out,” the skin is either sewn up or replaced with a tiny skin graft. Shallow acne scars may be sanded using dermabrasion or laser resurfacing.

After local or general anesthesia is administered, the skin is superficially abraded with an spinning wheel in a treatment called dermabrasion, or a pulsed laser. Like a piece of wood that has been lightly sanded, the skin does not show as many irregularities after it has healed. Risks of resurfacing include worsening of scarring, persistent redness or persistent pigmentary changes. Patients who have previously taken isotretinoin, however, should wait one to two years before pursuing any scar revision because of the risk of worsening the scars.

Deeper knotted scars may be surgically removed, leaving behind a flatter and less obvious scar. However, individuals with oily skin-which is common in those with acne resulting in scars-often do not heal as well as those with non-oily skin.

Therefore, there’s a risk that the scarring may not be reduced. Doctors are also refining implant techniques. Depressions in the skin can be lifted with various collagen preparations or even fat removed from other parts of the patient’s body in a procedure known as liposuction.

Artificial Gore-Tex implants also are a consideration. Most scar revision procedures are considered cosmetic surgery, which usually means insurance will not cover payment. The best scar treatment of all is prevention. By promptly treating teenage and adult acne, you and your doctor can work together to improve acne lesions before they worsen and cause scarring.

Tell each doctor you see about all the medications you are taking — both prescription and over-the-counter drugs.
Mention any vitamin and nutritional supplements, and whether you drink alcohol or smoke tobacco.

If you’re taking a number of medications, bring the containers with you to show the doctor; have them recorded in your file.

Be sure you thoroughly understand all of your doctor’s directions about a drug, and always read the label and follow the instructions exactly.

Never start or stop taking any medications without talking to your doctor first.

It’s smart to keep a list of your medications with you at all times, along with information about the dose and frequency.

The agreement is part of a partnership between SGMA, SGMA members and the State Department’s Coordinator for International Athletics. The goals of the partnership are to support international sports development and build a community outreach program in developing countries to encourage sports participation, healthy lifestyles, and a commitment to peace and fair play.

Communities in Yerevan, Armenia, and Tashket, Uzbekitstan, have made the first requests for various sporting goods merchandise.

Five SGMA members have already made donations worth close to $7,000: Worth Inc., Tullahoma, Tenn.; American Soccer Company, Wilmington, Calif.; Diamond Sports, Cypress, Calif.; Sportcraft, Mt. Olive, N.J.; and Sprint Aquatics, San Luis Obispo, Calif.

Sporting goods companies who wish to make donations need to ship their donations to Panalpina Company, 22750 Glenn Drive, Sterling, VA 20164.

Donations must be received by June 15, 2011.

Playgroups are fun for both parents and kids. The parents get to swap stories about the joys and challenges of raising children and the kids get to check out the toy collections of every family in the neighborhood!

Here are some tips on getting a playgroup up and running on your block:
Decide in advance on the age range of children you hope to attract to the playgroup. Is the playgroup intended for toddlers only or are preschoolers and babies welcome to participate as well?

Choose a place and a time. If you can restrict the number of families to eight or fewer, you’ll be able to meet in one another’s homes. If your group grows beyond that size, you’ll need to find a suitable meeting space in a church basement or community center.

Clearly define the duties of the host family so that everyone who joins the playgroup will know what to expect. You’ll need to decide, for example, whether the host family is expected to provide a drink and a snack for the children or just a pot of coffee for the parents.

Spread the word about your playgroup by inviting interested families to come to an organizational meeting.

At the meeting, you’ll want to discuss such issues as how often the playgroup should meet, whether or not a small membership fee should be charged, and what discipline policies should be in place.

Keep things fun and interesting for the children by planning special themed events. Have a Valentine’s Day party in the winter, a May Day celebration in the spring, a water fun day in the summer, and a Halloween party in the fall.

I agree that it is a concern when we hear children playing in aggressive ways. The recent violence in schools has focused attention on adolescence, but early-childhood educators believe it is necessary to start much sooner to teach children skills for playing without violence.

Here are some strategies educators are taught that can be used at home as well.

Before play begins, talk about what kinds of activities are acceptable and state in clear terms what kind of play will not be tolerated. For example, you can say, “I do not want any play with guns and shooting. Killing people is not a game that I will allow.”

Engage a discussion with the children so that they have an opportunity to think and talk about the rules for play. Encourage them to ask questions.

Monitor play times closely for a while, and when there are signs of problems, ask the children to sit down for a brief discussion. Remind them of the rules you have established.

Make suggestions to redirect the play. If possible, borrow their ideas, only with a positive twist. For example, if the children are pretending to be super heroes, suggest that they could be super heroes that help people.

Much has been made about violence on TV and in movies, but children may be witnessing aggressive behavior from you. If your child hears you yell at an umpire at a ball game or tell a joke about wanting to “kill” someone, you are sending confusing messages. This negates your efforts to help your child learn to play in cooperative ways.

Way, way back in February 1995, Utah became the first state to pass a law deeming digital signatures as valid, legally, as ye olde John Hancock. Although most states have since followed suit — the tally is up to 44 — Utah’s prescience has given the state a cottage industry in electronic transactions. The state’s payoff for the 1995 law is that some of the nation’s certificate authorities are based here — the USERTRUST Network, Arcanvs, and Digital Signature Trust. And the next generation is being sowed, as application developers such as iLumin build commerce tools that will help digital signatures take off.

But digital signatures are just for encryption geeks, right? Wrong. They are a key missing link for a seamless electronic marketplace. Secure medical records, digital cash systems, protection against identity theft, electronic voting — these near-future scenarios require reliable and digital proof that you are who you say you are. Says Tom Smedinghoff, chair of the American Bar Association’s section of science and technology, “Ultimately it’s going to permeate everything that we do.”

But Utah? OK, the Beehive State seems an unlikely contender. But three quarters of the state’s 2.1 million citizens live in a swath along the Wasatch Front that’s roughly the size of the state of Delaware. This nexus encourages partnerships and networking, and more than half of Utahans are connected to the Internet. Under Gov. Mike Leavitt, an outspoken technology evangelist, the state has been trying to parlay the 1995 law into “citizen portals” through which citizens can interact with state and local governments. The goal of these portals is succinctly expressed by Robert Stewart, Utah’s digital signature administrator: “No one wants to go to the DMV.”

Leavitt has pushed ambitious legislation that calls for all state agencies to be Net-accessible by July 2002. According to Ric Brown, network manager of state-sponsored e-Utah, the state is building Web-based interfaces that will allow Utah citizens to renew motor vehicle and professional business licenses, file business registration paperwork, buy fishing and hunting permits, and other simple consumer and business services.

That’s a start, but the real payoff is going to come in the form of commerce tools and applications. Look no further than iLumin, 40 minutes south of Salt Lake City in Orem. iLumin was co-founded in 1996 by Brent Israelsen, who left Jurisoft and moved to Utah to build a system for filing court documents electronically. The court project is now operational (the first fully digital deed was filed in the Utah County Recorder’s Office using iLumin’s XML application framework, and digital signatures provided by Digital Signatures Trust last September), and the company is talking with the financial and real estate industries, as well as with corporations such as Intel and AT&T, about commercial applications for its technology. Within a few months company officials expect to close the nation’s first fully paperless house sale.

“We couldn’t have done it in California, we couldn’t have done it in New York,” says Israelsen. “It’s a small enough community, we’ve got strong enough leadership that’s technology savvy, and the right mix of people. We couldn’t have done it anywhere else.”

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