Lisa Miller
- Lisa Miller
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- Saturday, January 2, 2010
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Technology changes meaning of connections
Ten years ago, we were breathing a sigh of relief after the Y2K doomsday scenarios did not come to pass. Many schools, businesses and agencies did invest in technology to avoid costly and inconvenient computer meltdowns, but, by and large, the new millennium arrived without incident.
- Saturday, December 12, 2009
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Experiment produces much food for thought
It's no secret that junk food is cheaper than health food, but I didn't realize how much cheaper until I read about a study on the American food dollar.
- Saturday, November 21, 2009
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Loving and living with a 6-year-old
I was scraping the last, sticky remnants of a teddy bear wallpaper border off my daughter's bedroom wall and remembering the day we put it up.
- Monday, October 12, 2009
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Happiness cannot be overrated
In the Oct. 5 edition of Newsweek, columnist Julia Baird bemoans America's "obsession with smiley-faced happiness" and poses the question, "Is this endless pursuit of happiness just making us all miserable?" Baird says studies show that Americans are no happier today than they were 30 years ago, despite steady economic growth and an increasing focus on positive thinking seen everywhere from best-selling self-help books to coffee mugs to corporate trainings.
- Saturday, September 19, 2009
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Soccer hall could use an assist
Like many who cheered from the sidelines as Oneonta embarked on its quest to become Soccertown, USA, I was surprised and disappointed by the closure of the National Soccer Hall of Fame earlier this month.
- Saturday, August 29, 2009
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Bored kids content with board games
We've shopped for sneakers and backpacks and stockpiled 15-cent notebooks and glue sticks. Now, as we count down to earlier bedtimes and new routines, my kids are getting a little stir-crazy, and I'm running out of creative responses to my 5-year-old's perpetual question: "What can I doooo?" If not for board games, we'd be climbing the walls.
- Saturday, August 8, 2009
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Obama, take time to get reform right
President Obama's commitment to health care reform was one reason he got my vote.
- Tuesday, July 21, 2009
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Exploration of space more vital than ever
Forty years after the world watched Neil Armstrong take those historic first steps on the moon, space exploration has never been more important.
- Sunday, June 21, 2009
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Daughters share one special year
We were in the Greater Plains sixthgrade wing after school, and my 5-year-old daughter, Allie, was begging for a glimpse of her older sister’s classroom. “Please, can I see it?” she asked, tugging on my hand. “I just want to see the castle.”
- Saturday, May 9, 2009
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A daughter takes her first steps away
A 60-plus-year-old tradition continues this weekend, when more than 300 area sixth-graders _ including my oldest daughter, Abby _ travel to Washington, D.C., Arlington, Va., and Philadelphia for a four-day sightseeing tour.
- Sunday, April 19, 2009
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Make most of Earth Day opportunities
There's a lot to be optimistic about this Earth Day. A new study by the National Center for Atmospheric Research predicts it's not too late to avoid many of the catastrophic effects of global warming _ if the world comes together now to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 70 percent.
- Saturday, March 7, 2009
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Line blurry on privacy, safety of kids
Parents today have more ways than ever to keep tabs on their children. With the right gadgets, it only takes a few clicks for tech-savvy parents to find out exactly where their teen driver is, how fast he is driving and whether he's wearing a seat belt. Parents have the technology to monitor where their children go on the Internet, who they e-mail, text and talk to; and even whether they bought ice cream or chips with their school lunch.
- Saturday, February 14, 2009
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A sweet lesson from a 5-year-old
The kitchen table was covered with pink and red construction paper, white doilies, markers, crayons, glue sticks, scissors, stickers and an assortment of stars and hearts from the closet where I stash scrapbooking supplies and abandoned craft projects.
- Saturday, December 13, 2008
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It's go time for the Big 3
I’m a long way off from buying a new vehicle, but I already have a vision of my dream car. It’s reliable, safe and green as can be _ powered by batteries, hydrogen, solar energy or some yet-undeveloped renewable fuel.
- Saturday, November 22, 2008
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A reminder of paint, its possibilities
They painted with brushes and bubbles and string. They blew paint through a straw and squirted it from plastic bottles. They painted to music and by themselves and with a friend.
- Saturday, October 11, 2008
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Filtering facts critical in TMI age
It's more than three weeks until Election Day, and my internal hard drive is already just about maxed out. In this Too-Much-Information Age, we have 24/7 access to news _ and opinion _ on every step (and misstep) the presidential candidates take, every questionable association they ever had, every exaggeration, every innuendo, every fact taken out of context.
- Saturday, September 20, 2008
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Garden surpasses expectation
The sunflower was a surprise. It grew up tall and fast in the perennial patch in our front yard; too confident to be a weed, so I let it grow even though I had no idea how it got there or what it would become.
- Saturday, August 30, 2008
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The case for a longer school year
Ah, summer vacation. Trips to the pool and the park and the lake, leisurely dinners and late bedtimes, barbecues and ice cream cones, camping trips, amusement park rides and days at the beach.
- Saturday, August 9, 2008
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'Staycation' was all we ever wanted
This summer, my family traded waves for water slides and lobster for casserole cooked in foil over a campfire. And, like many other families who decided to "staycation" this year, we gained more than just a little extra cash.
- Saturday, July 19, 2008
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Lisa Miller: 'Green' is more than just a fad
Green is definitely in. Turn on the TV news or open the local paper and you'll see stories on the latest climate-change issues, letters to the editor debating the merits of wind power, and ads for fuel-efficient cars.
