By Bob Simmons, CEO, Simmons Multimedia I had my annual physical this week. Weight 181.6, BP 118/70, Cholesterol 180, HDL 51, LDL 94. My numbers actually surprised me, as I haven’t been running since late summer, although I do hit the weight room about five days a week. I’m certainly not getting the cardio I would normally. So what happened?

As I pen this week’s column, President Biden has just issued a full pardon for his son, Hunter, stating that the war of politics infected the case against him. For those of you wondering if President Trump can undo the pardon when he assumes office in January - no, he cannot. The Constitution allows for these pardons to stick. In retrospect, presidential historians point to Gerald Ford’s pardoning of Richard Nixon as the last pardon that was as controversial.

I hope you all had a great, relaxing, fun-filled and joyful Thanksgiving. Ours looked like it would be all those things, except relaxing. The weekend prior to Thanksgiving was a crazy, busy, stressful and exciting four days of state volleyball in Fargo followed immediately by state drama in Jamestown and then an unexpected trip to the orthodontist in Grand Forks to fix a broken bracket and wire. I was going to be home for exactly one full day – Thanksgiving – and then was leaving Friday morning for a weekend hockey tournament in Grand Forks. I didn’t think about Thanksgiving until Monday morning while sitting in the Jamestown College auditorium watching the one-act play preliminary rounds and realized that Turkey Day was looming…and fast. Panic set in quickly, and I started trying to figure out how and when I was going to do some grocery shopping and meal prepping. The Hubby had also casually mentioned making lefse and had already gathered the necessary supplies. The potato ricer was somehow MIA after last year, but I knew I could find a replacement. Peeling and ricing potatoes for lefse was the least of my concerns.

I’ve had such an eventful week that I’m not even sure where to start with today’s writing! Perhaps I will start with my rock climbing adventure. Usually, if I’m talking about rocks, I’m talking about rockhounding, which is essentially just staring at the ground along lakes and bodies of water to find cool and interesting looking rocks and mineral deposits.

Well, hi there, December! Aren’t you pretty! Let’s just bump up the temperature by a few degrees and all will be well. A funny thing happened.

The flakes are flying as I sit in my office to write on Tuesday. I spent earlier this morning in Cavalier’s county commission meeting watching them pour down, and I have to admit, they are pretty.

The schedule has officially kicked into high gear! We had our first hockey game of the season in Grand Forks, the volleyball team won the regional championship and is headed to state, the drama club team also won their regional contest and is headed to state, and we’ve had our first high school choir and band concert.

By Bob Simmons, CEO, Simmons Multimedia Last week I left you high above the prairie at 3,000 feet. My flight instructor, Karen (not her real name, but it fits), has grown exasperated with my desire to be able to look out the front window. The pilot’s seat or move very much forward/back. Karen assures me there is nothing to see ahead but clear blue sky and that there were no other planes nearby to crash head on into, so I tried to relax. I still wanted to see what was ahead of us and found myself repeatedly trying to pull myself up in the seat to get a look over the top of the dashboard. On this day the sun was shining brightly, no clouds and perfect visibility. It was also about 90 degrees. You would think this would be wonderful flying weather, but not so fast. The heat creates thermals and when mixed with winds aloft you get turbulence which creates a very, VERY bumpy ride. For a student pilot, this can be a bit nerve wracking. I didn’t need a barf bag, but I’m sure many would. As the PA-38 Tomahawk encountered air pockets and dropped several feet in altitude bouncing us around, Karen continued to calmly explain to me the various controls and functions like carburetor heat, flaps, trim tab, etc. and then she said pay attention, I will now put the plane into a stall. At this point I’ll mention many pilots jokingly refer to the Piper Tomahawk as the Trauma Hawk. I was about to find out why. Stalling in an airplane isn’t like having the engine stall in your car or pick up. A stall occurs when a plane loses lift during flight due to a breakdown of smooth airflow over the wing.

I’m writing this at 9:30 Tuesday morning. Winter was supposed to arrive at noon, however, it has al-ready begun.

I’m going to ask you to do something a little different. I want you to go into your kitchen and find a snack. It can be something from your refrigerator or your pantry or the secret stash in your freezer. Once you find your snack, sit down at your table and eat it. The final instruction is that this must all be done with your eyes closed. Better yet, find something to tie around your eyes like a blindfold or eye mask that completely blocks out your vision. From start to finish of this task, from walking into your kitchen to throwing away any trash, do this all blindfolded or with your eyes tightly shut. When you are done, open your eyes and keep reading.