My wife and I had a debate earlier today. How old do your kids need to be before they can go off sledding by themselves? We have a community hill about 1/4 mile away. It's kind of a big hill as well. My kids are 9 and 7 and I say go and have a good time. My wife made me go with them. Who's right?

I guess I'm one of the lucky ones. I have a snow blower. With great power comes great responsibility. I was out this morning and noticed my single mother neighbor trying to shovel the heavy snow. I headed out to at least get the end of the driveway for her so she could get to work. Then the young couple across the street decided to gun their 4 wheeler down the driveway and crash through the piled up snow at the end of their driveway. I remember being young and naive thinking I could make it as well. As he got stuck I couldn't help but laugh. I laughed a little too loud as they gave me a pretty dirty look. Feeling bad, but not that bad, I helped the husband push through. I wonder how he plans to get the vehicle up his driveway once he comes home to find it even higher from the plows. I think I know what I'm doing on this Friday evening once I get home. Who knows, maybe I'll get a beer out of it.

I am a big fan of Syracuse basketball, especially this year as they are playing so well. This Saturday is supposed to be a big game against Villanova, but I could care less if they win or lose. The goal of any sport's regular season is to get to the post season. After that it is to win the championship. Whether Syracuse wins or loses, they still get to the post season. If they lose to a currently ranked top 10 team then they won't drop that much. Conversely if they win they won't move up that much. Does it really matter if they are a number 1 seed or a three? Either way they will need to face some tough competion to win it all. The same goes for the Big East Championship. Play a couple of games to stay in the flow but then lose so the team doesn't get worn out. A few years from now nobady will remember if they won the Big East regular season or the tournament. The NCAA tournament is what really matters.

Did I say I "LOVE" big storms? After driving in this morning and planning to drive home this afternoon, I must recant my last statement. I really like big storms!

I love big storms! I'm the happiest when Mother Nature is at her worst. There's an excitement about it all. The anticipation, the getting prepared, the havoc it creates. There's a fellow employee, Marcia, who shares my enthusiasm for storms. We discuss how bad it could get and are disappointed when it turns out to be nothing. We'll watch the radar and hope that huge dark red cell comes right over us. It usually passes by and misses us all together though. I guess my life is pretty boring if stuff like this gets me going.

Whether you are for, or against, the $59 million dollar school renovations, please voice your opinion. On Thursday (Feb. 25th) a vote will be held to let the School Board know how you feel. These kinds of voting opportunities directly effect your lives and should be taken advantage of. While the national elections get more hype, the local ones more directly show up in your pocket book. Please go out and vote!!!

We have had this discussion in our newsroom before. Would you rather have your obituary picture from when you were young and in your prime, or when you are much closer to your date in the paper? Me, personally, I'm a young and prime type of guy. But I think I am in the minority. What do you think?

The new laws went in effect today but I don't think they will be the "protectors" that they were intended to be. The credit card companies need to keep their revenues where they were so they will invent new ways of adding on fees, interest and penalties. You can lock the front door but they will get through an open window. Please watch your statements closely and don't put anything on your credit card that you can't pay off the next month.

I remember the day very clearly. I was a youngster and had a neighbor who was a little older and a big hockey fanatic. When USA won we grabbed an American flag and drove around town waving it out the window. People were honking and cheering and I remember being very proud...and then very cold because we were driving with the windows rolled down in February.

I took the kids skiing today and it turned out to be a momentous day. We all lived to see another day! No, just kidding. My 7 yr old daughter went down the black diamond trail for the first time. She was pretty scared, like her father was watching her, but she did ok. No broken bones, bruises or lacerations. Actually, she didn't even fall. Olympics, here we come!!!

Years ago, when I was first with my wife, I started to do laundry. My buddies told me that if I put a red sock in with a load of whites, the laundry would turn pink and I'd never have to do laundry again. That was the big secret on getting out of a chore nobody wanted to do. I never took their advice and now I'm stuck with laundry duty for a family of four. Motto of the story...listen to your friends, they know what their talking about.

This morning I took a long run outdoors. I usually like to go outside to run rather than the dreaded treadmill. I hate that thing! Running for an hour and going nowhere. If the weather is bad, however, it is better than not running at all. The weekends give me the ability to run outside no matter the weather. The traffic is lighter, it's later in the morning so I can see better and I don't have any time constraints. I layer myself thick and head on out. It's tough, though. The icy, snowy conditions make you have to concentrate more on every step and help you realize how tired you are. I would much rather have clear conditions, forget my troubles and run to my music not thinking about anything.

I thought this was funny but my wife didn't really get a kick out of it(pun intended). I showed the kids the classic trick of putting the "kick me" sign on some one's back. We used a sticky note and pretended to hug my wife while patting her on the back and getting the sign to stick. The kids then kept kicking her (not hard) and were laughing hysterically. Once Mom realized the sign, she was not amused. Now the kids try to stick one on me every night. "Dad, I just want a hug" is a dead giveaway!

I'd rather have the huge snow storm or nothing at all. This inch a day stuff drives me nuts. It's tough to run in the morning, drive on slick roads or do any activity outside. Skiing stinks in this weather!! I believe Sunday is supposed to be clearer so my driveway will be cleaned that day

We are having some technical difficulty getting the website updated. We hope to have this corrected some time today.

I was having lunch at Subway this afternoon in Glenwood Plaza and noticed some work being done at the store next to Subway. So, working for a newspaper, I had to ask what was going on. Another pizza place is what I was told. My jaw dropped and I wondered how many pizzas can one city eat? I started counting off the top of my head how many pizza places we already have and stopped when I hit 15. That's a lot of pizza!

We are now on Facebook! We have entered the 21st century and hope you come along. Click on the icon on our front page to become a fan.

I said I wouldn't watch the olympics again, but there I was last night watching. I'm glad I did because while there were still a lot of commercials, there wasn't as many as the night before. I also got to see many of the big name stars win gold. I am now paying the price for staying up so late!

I got harassed at work because I wasn't watching the Olympics. Well, I watched them last night and was disgusted at all the commercials. My family started keeping track. 4 minutes of Olympics, 6 minutes of commercials. This went on through the night. I'm done with the watching them! That being said, I did enjoy the Downhill Snow Cross event.

I didn't know Matt very well and when the story originally broke I was very surprised. I wish the best for his wife and children.

Good luck to the company in Ohio who decided to build a new fire truck and doesn't know how it will be paid for. A grant has been proposed but not accepted. What if it gets denied?

Really, the Parks & Rec dept has to get permission to seek a grant? Why can't he just do it? I would understand if there was a cost to it or if the city needs to do something to make it happen, but anyone should be able to try to get a grant. I wonder how much time is needed to get council approval before anyone can start the grant process.

Last Sunday one of our employees had a terrible fire at his house and lost everything. Luckily everyone was ok, but all possessions were lost. More importantly was the loss of their two dogs who perished in the fire. We here at Oneida Publications wish Bruce the best in getting his life back in order.

I thought today was going to go smoothly as it is a holiday and all. Wow, was I wrong! The kids were going to a day camp and were terrified. Work has been one fire after another with no end in sight. I now see why everyone dreads Monday's

I run, lift weights and sometimes do karate, but sledding is the toughest workout around. I'm soaked through my shirt, exhausted and the kids can keep going the the Energizer Bunny. I don't know how they do it

I used to really look forward to weekends when I was younger. Now, I seem to work harder with the family than sometimes I do at work.

Friday - Soccer practice

Saturday - Soccer game, grocery shopping, laundry, sleeping over at the MOST with cub scouts

Sunday - Exhausted from sleeping over at the most with cub scouts, birthday party, honey do list

Weekends are just no fun anymore

My wife woke up with pink eye today. When "Mom' is sick the whole house is sick. On the way into work I have errands, my lunch hour I have errands and on the way home I have errands...Such is the balance of work and home

This is a tough time of year. No sports of any importance going on until March Madness. I think I will miss Tiger Woods

How do you balance all the things life has to send your way. You have to be at work all day and you have to do the right things for your family at night. many times they collide and in the end what is left for yourself?