Alvarado Star (Alvarado, Tex.), Vol. 16, No. 16, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 29, 2011 Page: 4 of 10
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Page 4 ★ Alvarado Star ★ Thursday, December 29, 2011
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CONSIDER THIS
Time to get serious about fitness
I am not one to make New
Year's resolutions. Mainly
because I don't like setting
myself up
for the
inevitable
frustra-
tion of not
following
through.
How-
ever, a
birth-
Candy day and
McMichen recent
-encoun-
Com m en ta ry ter with
a cardiac
care staff in a local emergen-
cy room has motivated me
to change some questionable
habits I've been enjoying
far too long —no matter the
time of year.
I was lying on a gurney
in a crowded emergency
room hallway. A crush-
ing pain in the center of
my chest had brought me
face-to-face with my tired
old body.
A one-time jock, I have
always been pretty confident
about my health as all indi-
cators have been strong, but,
flat on my back, I couldn’t
help but wonder if I’d been
kidding myself for years.
An EKG ruled out the
heart attack I was certain
I wasn't having, but the
nitroglycerin tablet I was
administered sent my blood
pressure into the cellar.
The pain and pressure
remained. Morphine in the
IV drip didn't help, either, it
just made me not care there
was an elephant sitting on
my chest.
Blood clot in a lung? A
CAT scan and chest x-ray
negated that one. Besides, I
was breathing just fine.
Seven hours, 18 sticky
electrodes and three sets of
blood work later, the physi-
cian on duty told me he had
no clue what was wrong with
me. He suggested I go home
and rest and, if the pain
worsened, come back.
I couldn't believe my
hours-long respite had been
an exercise in futility.
Feeling a wee bit fool-
ish, I went home blessed
I was in good health but
frustrated without an an-
swer for my distress.
My family was relieved
and scolded me for work-
ing too many hours without
enough rest. "You're not 18
anymore," is a line I've heard
all-too-often the past months.
"Stress," was the diagno-
sis of my doctor-husband,
"you need to find a way to
handle it better." I think I
was glowering at him.
I love my job and part
of the reason is because a
newsroom is a busy place —
sometimes a pressure cooker
as we work within the pa-
rameters of time and space.
My ADD self thrives on
changing gears without a
blink and coming right back to
where it all began without ado.
Juggling is an art which
editors unintentionally per-
fect. Now I must juggle my-
self into a more fit existence.
I am rearranging my sched-
ule, both personal and profes-
sional. A morning person, I will
be concentrating on a cardio
workout at the fitness center
each morning before heading to
the newspaper offices.
"Why tune-up the instru-
ment after the concert?" I
asked the trainer. With my
ever-changing schedule, it
makes more sense to address
my fitness issues in the quiet
morning hours before the
world gets moving.
I realize many of us have
these same concerns and hope
to be sharing my progress as
my workouts continue. Mean
time, when you see me out
and about, please feel free to
ask how the non-New Year
resolution fitness routine is
going. I promise I won't take
a swing at you. I probably
couldn't connect anyway, I'm
not 18 anymore you know.
Candy McMichen is the ed-
itor of the Alvarado Star and
m ay be reached at alvarado-
star @ the star group, com.
FRESH FROM THE BREWER
Looking back at the journey of 2011
At the beginning of 2011,
I was hopeful and excited.
I looked at this year like I
do the
beginning
of every
year: full
of opti-
mism and
plans of
doing big
things. At
the end
of 2011, it
feels like I
am about
to get off
of a train
after a very long, difficult
and danger-filled trip. It was
a successful trip, but one that
wore me out.
About a month ago, I
actually took the train down
to San Antonio and my mind
has been full of metaphors
ever since. We got on board
in Cleburne and went as
far south as you can go on
Amtrak, which is the historic
Sunset Station, just north of
the Alamodome.
So here you and I are, at
the end of another long year,
and we have gone as far as
we can go. Train 2011 is pull-
ing into sunset, and this is
where we get off.
2011 was a year of
extremes. Tsunamis, earth
quakes, tornados, royal wed-
dings, Charlie Sheen and the
final space shuttle flight. We
celebrated the death of the
Osama Bin Laden and cried
when we heard about Steve
Jobs and Amy Winehouse.
Christina Aguilera
screwed up the lyrics to
the national anthem at the
Super Bowl, the “Gover-
nater” got caught with his
house cleaner and Ashton
and Demi said adios to their
marriage.
The Egyptian president
was thrown out of Cairo and
Alec Baldwin was thrown
off an airplane. Muammar
Gaddafi was brutally killed
in Libya and his 42-year dic-
tatorship ended in the hands
of an angry Muslim mob.
The North Korean dictator
stepped into eternity and left
his nation in the hands of his
Troy
Brew er
Comm entary
AlvaradodcStar
Volume 16, Number 16
10 Pages in 1 Section
(USPS016678)
Periodicals Postage Paid at
Burleson Post Office, 232 S.W.
Johnson, Burleson, Texas 76028
www.alvaradostar.net
817-295-0486
Texas Press 4 ^
Association^^
ArordyWinwer
The Alvarado Star is an independent newspaper
published once a week on Thursday in the interest of
Alvarado and adjacent areas by Graham Newspapers,
Inc., 319 N. Burleson Blvd., Burleson, Texas 76028. Any
erroneous reflection on any individual or firm will be
corrected if brought to the attention of the editor.
Address all correspondence to the Editor, Alvarado
Star, P.0. Drawer 909, Burleson, Texas, 76097-0909.
The contents of each issue are protected under the
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any issue is prohibited without prior written consent.
Subscription Price $23.99
Per Year In Johnson & Tarrant Counties
Senior Citizens $16.99
Other Areas of Texas $30.99
Outside Texas $36.99
Robb Krecklow........................Publisher
Advertising
Amy Lovelace........Advertising Director
Sharon Cregg........Classified Supervisor
Shelley Blain..................Real Estate Rep.
News Staff
Candy McMichen...........................Editor
Ricky Moore..................................Sports
Composing Staff
Eric Allenson...............Creative Director
Duane Boyd...........................Pagination
Cole Justice.....................Special Sections
Coleman Driver.......................Classifieds
Front Office
Allyne Middleton...................Manager
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POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Alvarado Star, P.O. Box 909, Borleson, Texas, 76097-0909.
COPYRIGHT© 2011 Graham Newspapers. Inc.
son and the clutches of com-
munism.
A nuclear crisis was trig-
gered by a massive 30-foot-
tall wall of black water that
moved across Japan. It did
$235 billion worth of dam-
age, left more than 300,000
people homeless and killed
nearly 16,000 people.
The royal wedding generat-
ed 237 tweets per second. The
9/ 11 memorial was opened 10
years after the event. Protes-
tors of America, people with
money and the general system
altogether occupied Wall
Street and lots of other places.
Yes, all that happened this year
and lots more.
Rick Perry forgot the
third thing, Kim Kardashian
forgot her vows after 72
days and America’s baby
boy, Justin Bieber, found
out he didn’t have a baby
boy himself, after all.
Odds are, the 20 11 train
took you through some
places you didn’t want to
go but there isn’t anything
you or I have been through
where the Lord Himself
wasn’t there with us. I want
to encourage you to set your
priority dials in the right
places as we gear up for
20 12. It’s a good year for
you because of at least two
very specific reasons.
No. 1, God isn’t subject to
the Mayan calender, and No. 2,
He’s with you at the beginning
and the end of everything. In
fact, He is the beginning and
the end of everything.
...And lo, lam with you
always, even unto the end of
the world.
—Matthew 28:20 (KJV)
Troy Brewer is senior
pastor of Open Door Church
and can be reached atwww.
op end oorexp erience. com.
PASTOR'S CORNER
Resolutions give us
something to aim at
Every year, I make New
Years resolutions. I know
a lot of people don't. But I
like to
do it. It
gives me
something
to shoot
for during
the year
ahead.
I don't
always
Rick make it
Hope but I try.
-This
Com m en ta ry year, I
resolve to
remember to stop and enjoy
people at times. So often, I
become a schedule person.
Everyone and everything be-
comes something to do on my
list. I get in a hurry. Some-
times I just need to stop and
visit, listen to people, pray
with them, take time to hear
what's on their heart. That's
the way ministry is done.
I resolve to take better
care of my body. I've joined a
gym and I'm actually eat-
ing right. I want to walk my
daughters down the aisle
at their weddings one day
and at the rate I was going,
there was no chance of that
happening. My body is the
temple of God and I must
take better care of it.
I resolve to continue put-
ting my wife and children
at the top of my list, second
only to God. They are God's
gifts to me and must be
treated as such.
And I resolve to continue
striving to be my best as
God's servant —I may fall
short but I will always try.
God bless all of you in 2012.
Rick Hope is pastor of the
First Baptist Church Lillian
and may be reached by email
at chalfrm.hrt2@aol.com..
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McMichen, Candy. Alvarado Star (Alvarado, Tex.), Vol. 16, No. 16, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 29, 2011, newspaper, December 29, 2011; Burleson, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth804017/m1/4/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Burleson Public Library.