Walking in socks leads to 75-pound
weight loss
December 28, 2004
By Bill Wundram
We all should be glad that Joe Soletski has met his
goal. He has walked 201.837 miles in his basement in
his stocking feet.
Joe, a chipper fellow who plays Polish polka music
while he walks in the basement of his DeWitt home, made
a promise to himself that — to lose
weight — he would walk at least 200 miles
in his basement in the good year of 2004.
Well, it takes all kinds in the land of the Quad-Cities.
Each day, many times a day, Joe walked 76 feet in laps
around the furnace of his ranch style home basement.
He walked in his stockings because it was easier on
his feet. “By Dec. 14, I had walked 1,060,240
feet, which equaled to 200.894 miles. As of Dec. 18,
I wore out most of my socks by walking 201.837 miles.
That’s when I quit.”
Since walking, he has lost about 75 pounds. “Some
days, I walked only 35 laps of 76 feet, or 2,660 feet.
When I was in the mood, I would go around my basement
walking course 120 times.”
He has announced no plans for 2005. Should we send
him some more socks?
The week when we wrap it up — with buzzwords
This is it, the week between Christmas and the New
Year. While all the year has a rhythm, this is the slow-down
when the December page of the calendar has only a few
days left before we tear it off. A new calendar is waiting,
with 12 leaves. A new calendar gives us something orderly.
This is “finis,” or what Porky Pig would
say, “That’s all, folks.” This is
the week when we wrap up the year, all its laughter
and laments. This is the week of people rushing in the
cold in parking lots along Sellmore — shopping
carts looking as packed with goods being returned, as
they were of goods being purchased just a few days ago.
Sellmore — A new place, a new time for shoppers.
BUT STEEPED IN NOSTALGIA, I stroll along old 3rd Street
in Davenport, remembering the glittery gowns once in
the window of Mundy’s, a place that is now empty.
What would Bill Mundy and John Hammer say? I peer into
the windows of old Shannon’s, now an Oriental
restaurant, remembering the 39-cent meat pies, the chicken
a la king and the 50-cent French dip. What would Roy
and Wayne Shannon say?
Whatever is happening, there’s no doubt that
it’s Davenport. Something of the downtown persists,
but there are big changes ahead for the new year, and
Mayor Charlie Brooke is looking through his spectacles
toward even better days, while the city council tries
to make up its mind.
WE’RE SAVING the best from the past, and each
new year and season grows from the leftovers of the
past, and that means leftover terms. How many of them
will we hear in the year ahead? The year 2004 is leaving
us with plenty of buzzwords. We were submerged with
phrases like “Camp Cupcake” (Martha Stewart’s
lockup) and endless political-isms, like “flip-flop,”
“red-blue states,” “swift boat.”
Arnold’s tagline of “girlie men” will
stick around for awhile. So will “Support Our
Troops” and “Hillbilly Armor” that
is being corrected at our Rock Island Arsenal. After
all the deliberating, remember “The Passion”?
And the fol-de-rol over the Superbowl’s “Wardrobe
Malfunction”? No year stands by itself. What about
next year’s buzzwords?
If in Japan, why not here?
“I just returned from Tokyo, and every time my
husband I went into a restaurant, I thought of you,”
says Mary Ann Wicks, Davenport. “On each table
was a picture of a cell phone with a red circle and
a slash through the phone. ‘No Cell Phones Allowed’
was a familiar sign in the restaurants. Maybe we could
try it here.”
Lights! Camera! Pleasant Valley
Hollywood came to Pleasant Valley yesterday. Actor
Joe Marinelli, who has LeClaire connections, visited
Housman’s little antique shop. He is starring
with Sean Penn in “The Assassination of Richard
Nixon.” “He’s visited our shop several
times,” says Richard Housman. “He bought
some books by John Steinbeck. We first met when he was
on the soap opera, ‘General Hospital.’ Between
acting jobs, he teaches English in California public
schools. Next time he visits, I must tell him the story
of the Pleasant Valley onion fields.”
Source:www.qctimes.com
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