Swimming around Des Moines 2009

Lookin’ for a place to swim? You have lots of choices: indoors; outdoors; chlorinated and not. If you have never heard The Swimming Song, check out this YouTube video with Loudon Wainwright III (who wrote the music and lyrics). My favorite version is the somewhat quicker version by Kate McGarrigle.

Here’s a pretty good list of municipal pools, or in the words of The Swimming Song,

salt my wounds, chlorined my eyes
I’m a self-destructive fool, a self-destructive fool

• Altoona
• Ankeny
• Carlisle
• Clive
• Des Moines (Ashworth Pool, Birdland Pool, Nahas Aquatic Center, Northwest Aquatic Center, Teachout Aquatic Center)
• Indianola
• Urbandale
• Waukee YMCA
• West Des Moines Holiday Park Aquatic Center
• West Des Moines Valley View Aquatic Center and
• White Water University in Pleasant Hill

Maybe you would rather be in some of the natural waters. There are several. You can check the water quality (bacteria) in some through Iowa DNR but not Saylorville. Water quality seems to be better this summer than last.

• Big Creek State Park
• Lake Ahquabi just outside Indianola
• Saylorville Lake

photos by flickr by Northfield.org and peasap

Des Moines and San Francisco: a subjective view

Last month I visited family in the Bay Area of California – plenty of time to see some differences between Polk County in Central Iowa and San Mateo County just south of San Francisco. In the earlier post, more objective, quantifiable data were compared.

While some of the differences can be easily compared, it is harder to quantify other differences, such as

• food, gardening
• travel, commuting
• baseball, activities
• stress

Grocery shopping? California may have a big edge here.

• CA has New Leaf, Whole Foods, and Andronico’s, natural food stores where you can get everything you need; while the prices are a little higher on some items (especially the meat), the produce is ripe and fresh – likely because it doesn’t travel far.
• The only places like that in IA are the farmers’ markets: Des Moines Farmer’s Market, and other local markets; Iowa City’s New Pioneer Food Coop; Ames’ Wheatsfield Grocery. In contrast to CA, Des Moines-based New City Market and Campbell’s Nutrition are quite small by comparison.
• When it comes to the commercial chains (except for the produce) IA’s Hy-Vee and Dahl’s compare favorably with Safeway in CA.

Home gardening? This will get your attention! There is a wait of 4 to 7 years to get a 100 sq ft garden plot in the Fort Mason Community Garden. That is a plot about the size of a very small bedroom. We’ve had picnics at Fort Mason more than once, and it is a beautiful spot as you can see on the right; but it’s easier to find a spot to garden in Iowa.

Food, in general? My impression is that

• Iowa wins on beef and pork
• California wins on fruits and vegetables

Driving? I find it easier to drive in the Bay Area, but enough said about that.

Cars? This is a strange experience. I drove my sister’s hot rod Lincoln for 4 weeks, and you wouldn’t believe what I have seen and have not seen.

• I saw only ten 2009 Chevrolet Impalas in 20 days
• instead? Toyota, Mercedes, Lexus, Hyundai, BMW, Acura, Honda, Volvo and a few Ford cars and Chevy trucks

Public Transit? The Purple Wren and I stayed in a coastal California community about the size of Grinnell, Iowa and took lots of public transit too.

• twice to San Francisco and back (SamTrans bus and CalTrain)
• once to Oakland and part way back (walked a block to SamTrans buses then BART right to the Coliseum)
• around San Francisco (Muni)

Baseball? Definitely a lot of winners here! Whether you live in the Bay Area or Des Moines, you can see good professional baseball: San Francisco Giants; Oakland A’s; Iowa Cubs. I saw the A’s and the Tigers and my favorite Tiger Curtis Granderson (shown left), but the best part was spending the afternoon with my nephew John who rode BART from Berkeley. We had great seats, but you know, it’s hard to beat an afternoon in Principal Park right here in Des Moines!

Activities? There is more to do in both places than I can ever get to.

Stress? I am not sure that stress is the right word – intensity might be better. The pace is faster, and the crowd is larger in CA. It is a line-up kind of place, and longer lines – at the movies, banks, grocery stores, restaurants, traffic, bus/CalTrain/BART stops. It’s all exciting and intense, but it creates a little more stress. When the Purple Wren and I moved back after a year in CA 10 years ago, I said, “I could live in CA, but I wouldn’t live as long.” I’ll stand by that.

Well, you win some, you lose some, and sometimes you tie. I’m happy to be here; I was happy to be there.

Free yoga at Gray’s Lake

What could be better?

• yoga
• free
• Gray’s Lake (north side, park by the beach)
• Saturday mornings from 9 am to 10 am
• 17 weeks beginning June 6 and running through September 26
• a variety of instructors

Sponsored by Des Moines Parks and Recreation the sessions are said to be beginner’s classes (lucky for me). If you want to try it, wear loose fitting clothes and bring a mat, rug, or towel along with some water. You’ll stand; you’ll sit; you’ll stretch and bend. It is not a competitive sport so you won’t have to do anything and you don’t have to do it perfectly (very lucky for me).

You don’t have to sign up, and you don’t have to stay so try it once; you might like it.

One of the better sites for medical information is WebMD and they list many benefits of yoga including

• flexibility
• posture
• stress reduction
• breathing

I remember my first yoga class. I went only to humor the Purple Wren while we were living in California 10 years ago. Much to my surprise I liked it and it made me feel better – more flexible, more relaxed, and breathing better. I’ve been to classes quite a few times since, always like it, always feel better, but I never go on a regular basis. (How smart is that?)

There are many styles of yoga and many studios in Des Moines. But don’t be intimidated; I’m sure that the summer program at Gray’s Lake will keep it simple.

Here is the June/July schedule. I’ll update it later. If it rains, it’s canceled.

• June 6 with Lily Hou of Green Yoga House
• June 13 with Brette Scott and Paula De Matties of Shakti Yoga
• June 20 with Jen Kees of Kees Camp
  June 27 with Roxianne Classen of Firehouse Yoga
• July 4 with Roxianne Classen of Firehouse Yoga
• July 11 with of Robin Bourjaily of Liz Taylor Yoga
• July 18 with of Robin Bourjaily of Liz Taylor Yoga
• July 25 with Jen Kees of Kees Camp

Try it once.

photos by flickr by DonnaGrayson and A-Wix

Neighborhood cleanup days 2009 (SCRUB)

Has anyone ever told you, “Clean up after yourself?” or “Get that thing out of here!”? Lately?

Want to get rid of it free? I have just the information you have been waiting for!

SCRUB Days are times and places that you can drop off stuff that you (or your loved one) want to be gone. It could be

• old furniture
• trash containers
• tires (off the rims)
• TVs, computers
• even old appliances like refrigerators, air-conditioners, stoves, microwaves, furnaces, freezers, water heaters, etc.
• check out the list of what you can and can’t drop off

The eagerly awaited SCRUB days calendar has arrived. The City of Des Moines posted it as of April 3, 2009! I’ve been waiting, and I know you’ve been waiting too so here are the days and locations by neighborhood:

April 18, 2009, 7 am until noon

• Drake University parking lot (24th and Forest – Carpenter and Kirkwood Glen neighborhoods)
• Bell Avenue Business Center (1901 Bell Avenue – Southwestern Hills and downtown neighborhoods)

May 16, 2009, 7 am until noon

• Central Presbyterian Church parking lot (39th & Grand – North of Grand, Arbor Peaks, Greenwood Historic, Sherman Hill, and Woodland Heights neighborhoods)
• Capitol View Elementary parking lot (320 E. 16th – Capitol East and East Village neighborhoods)

June 20, 2009, 7 am until noon

• State Fair parking lot (E. 34th and Dean – Laurel Hill and Valley High Manor neighborhoods)
• Hoover High parking lot (4800 Aurora – Meredith and Merle Hay neighborhoods)

July 18, 2009, 7 am until noon

• Southridge Mall parking lot (1111 E. Army Post – Somerset, Magnolia Park, South Park, Watrous South, Hillsboro, Ewing Woods-Evergreen, and Easter Lake neighborhoods)

August 15, 2009, 7 am until noon

• Prospect Park parking lot (Prospect Road north of Hickman – Mondamin Presidential, Chautauqua Park, Drake Park, and King-Irving neighborhoods)

September 19, 2009, 7 am until noon

• Hy-Vee lot, 3221 SE 14th, east of the building (Indianola Hills, McKinley School-Columbus Park, and Pioneer Park).

October 17, 2009, 7 am until noon

• Polk County Office Building at Oliver Plaza (2339 Euclid – Lower Beaver and Beaverdale neighborhoods)
• north parking lots at Roosevelt High School on Chamberlain St. (Waterbury, Ingersoll Park, Linden Heights, Salisbury Oaks, Waveland Woods, Waveland Park, and Westwood neighborhoods).

Where else and when can you get rid of these nonhazardous materials other than the SCRUB day sites?

You have to haul it to a different site, and it is only open and free to you on those Saturdays listed above from 7 am until 1 pm.

• MWA Transfer Station at 4198 Delaware Avenue

What about yard waste?

Some of you may remember the time when you could drop off yard waste. Well, you can still do that free too but not at the SCRUB days sites. You have to haul it to a different site, and it is only open and free to you on those Saturdays listed above from 7 am until 1 pm.

• MWA Compost Center, 1601 Harriett St (near SE 15th and Harriett)

What about toxic and hazardous materials? I have just the right information for you! Check it out.

• MWA Regional Collection Center. Read about this in Around Des Moines.

There were SCRUB days last year too. You might remember the 2008 post.

photo by flickr by epcrossing and bisonbison

Massage

Doesn’t everyone love a massage?

The Mayo Clinic supports massage for relief of stress and pain as well as for promotion of the healing of various medical conditions. You may find a host of massage therapists locally using the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA) website including therapists in Ankeny, Des Moines, Urbandale, Waukee, West Des Moines, or many other communities across the country., or you can find many more in the Yellow Pages.

Jennifer Main (owner of Massage Heights in Ankeny, a franchise headquartered in San Antonio, Texas) would prefer that you visit Massage Heights. She passed along the following comments about the benefits of massage.

For many, thoughts of having a massage conjure up images of getting a relaxing rubdown in a lavish beachside resort.

While massages may have been more of a luxury item in the past, today more and more American’s are getting massages because of their health related benefits.

According to the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA), 36 percent of adult Americans who received a massage in the past 5 years did so for medical purposes, such as for muscle soreness and spasm, injury recovery and rehabilitation, and pain relief.

Besides helping to relieve pains associated with things like muscle soreness and back pain, there are also several other not as commonly known health benefits of a massage.

Other benefits include boosting the body’s immune system, easing post-operative pain, reducing headache frequency, easing alcohol withdrawal symptoms and decreasing the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome. Massages have even been shown to decrease pain and anxiety in hospitalized cancer patients.

With all of these benefits, healthcare professionals are more frequently promoting the benefits of massage therapy to their patients.  Last year, the AMTA reported that 13 percent of adult Americans discussed massage therapy with their doctors, with more than half of those doctors strongly recommending it.

So when thinking of a way to reduce stress and relieve some of those aches and pains at the same consider visiting your local massage therapist.

photos by flickr by zen118

DOA in Iowa

In the State of Iowa the Department of Elder Affairs is changing its name to Department on Aging. Local politicos think that the acronym DOA is too much of an in-your-face reminder. They are falling all over themselves trying not to use it.

The change from elder affairs to aging was made in order to conform with the names of federal agencies dealing with the elderly. Reuters reports that Iowa’s elder affairs chief John McCalley will not use the DOA acronym; he favors DA. That’s very sensitive of him. It’s bad enough to be feeling a little arthritic. We surely don’t want to be heading through a door that says DOA !

On the other hand DOA has a nice ring to it.

• It is a medical term, dead on arrival, meaning that a person was already dead upon the arrival of medical personnel. Oops. Sorry. That’s the reminder we’re trying to avoid here, isn’t it?
• D.O.A. was a 1950 movie, and if you remember it, you have business with the Department of Elder Affairs.
• It was also a 1988 movie and If you only saw the D.O.A. remake with Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid, try the DONQOTH BC, Department of Not Quite Over the Hill, But Close.
• If you think DOA stands for Dogbert Outplacement Agency (Dilbert), you probably have a sense of humor that allows you to think Iowa’s DOA flap is funny.
• If you think that DOA stands for the band Disciples of Annihilation with hits like Ya Mutha and Pound Down on Your Brain, I’m sure you’re not reading this blog.

In the meantime, don’t take yourself too seriously.

photo by flickr by Mike Licht

Climb Iowa 2009

Climb Iowa at 801 Grand is coming up! Good choice of words, eh? It’s also called 801 Grand Power Climb if you are a little more macho. In either case it is your big chance to

• climb the 41 floors/85 flights/nearly 1000 steps of Des Moines’ tallest building – 801 Grand
• Sunday, February 22, 2009 but you must
• register by Monday February 16, 2009.

It’s a fundraiser for the American Lung Association. You can be part of one of many teams or participate as an individual. There are other ways to take part than climbing the stairs. Check the links.

photo by flickr by mdrewe

Hoops 4 Hope, the Des Moines connection

Lately, we’re seeing a lot about Hoops 4 Hope, a loose consortium of activities raising money for cancer prevention, detection, and cure. Depending on who’s sponsoring it, each Hoops for Hope activity has a slightly different spin. The original Hoops 4 Hope game was in 2006 at North Carolina State University as a tribute to legendary women’s basketball coach Kay Yow while she was still alive. Kay Yow died on January 24, 2009 after a 21 year fight with breast cancer.

And here is the Des Moines connection:

Kay’s sister is Susan Yow, Drake women’s basketball coach from 1986-90. Susan Yow was NC State’s first All-American while playing for her older sister. Susan Yow is currently head coach at Belmont Abbey College in NC and coached her team on the day of her big sister’s death. The coach of her opponent that day was a Kay Yow protégé. If you knew Susan at Drake, you will recognize her in the photo at Kay’s funeral in Cary, NC.

One of Susan Yow’s players at Drake was All-American Jan Jensen, now associate head coach at the University of Iowa.

Beneficiaries of Hoops for Hope games have been:

• The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation
• Kay Yow/WBCA with lots of names you will recognize
• American Cancer Society
• and many other organizations

Speaking of cancer prevention, I read an interesting print article on cancer in Wired last week. You can read it too. It’s available on-line – seven, informative pages. Their primary point is that as a society we should focus on early detection. Cure rates of cancers are high when they are detected early (They say 90%); in contrast, cure rates are abyssmal when they are detected late (They say 10%.). The Drake women’s Hoops 4 Hope game on 2/14/2009 included a half-time speaker (a physician) who echoed the need for regular testing for early detection, especially prostate tests for men and breast exams for women. Whatever reason you might have for not following up, your reason is not good enough. Do it. I’m up-to-date. Why am I up-to-date, you ask? The Purple Wren harasses me when I’m not.

photo by flickr by ncsunewsdept

Senior Health Fair 2

The Senior Health Fair was time well spent today at Des Moines University! I expected as much. I walked away from the Fair with a message that I knew, but it was a message that I have been conveniently choosing to ignore for about a year – more on that in a minute.

DMU had a host of golf carts greeting and carrying visitors to their Student Education Center. Once inside there was a welcome area and 40 stations set up throughout the building. The set up was roomy, efficient, and welcoming. I even had the chance to say hi to DMU’s President, former Iowa Governor Terry E. Branstad. I found

• “vendors” of which half were promoting free services such as Aging Resources of Central Iowa, Alzheimer’s Association, SHIIP, Senior Services of Polk County, and DART who provided free transportation to the Health Fair

• health oriented information on cholesterol, infectious disease, Alzheimer’s, heart health, several cancer types, alternative health care, and coal burning effects

• lots of medical screening and testing of blood glucose, cholesterol and lipid levels, body-mass index, blood pressure, bone density, depression, vision, skin cancer reviews, vascular disease, balance, strength, flexibility, and review of medicines.

• the very popular Booth 33 offered demonstrations of osteopathic manipulative medicine

• and finally perhaps most valuable, the check out station (if you wanted).

At the check out station each person had the opportunity to assemble all of the testing information. While there were plenty of opportunities to talk with DMU medical students and budding practitioners backed up by faculty at each of the earlier stations, I for one didn’t need an ear trumpet to hear the final message.

Being a typical American when I hear the words health care, I think about doctors, problems, and disease. In the U. S. we have come to rely on a medical system that will “fix it” for us: an active medical system, a passive us.

In an article on the Center for Disease Control website we can read that chronic, not infectious disease will be the main contributor to a shortening of life. One of the CDC conclusions (1): prevention of chronic disease requires personal responsibility. That means more responsible eating and exercise. OK. OK. I got the message. From what I could see, the DMU Senior Health Fair was full of pretty healthy people looking for feedback, accepting personal responsibility, and getting a message. Messages are pretty individual and each participant got their own.

My message: health care starts with self care.

No one would have gotten any message except for the service of the dedicated medical students and their faculty. Des Moines University is a great resource and provided a great service through their annual Senior Health Fair.

photo by James G. Lindberg

footnote (1) Other conclusions in the article from CDC were also noteworthy. Are healthy, affordable foods available? Are safe, affordable exercise options available? Does the community address social determinants of health such as education, housing, job opportunity, and racism. But that is another story altogether so I’ll skip it.

Senior health fair

If you’re 50 or older, grab your ear trumpet, and listen up!

Des Moines University is holding a Senior Health Fair for those 50 and older. It’s

• Free
• Saturday, November 1
• 8 am until noon
• Student Education Center (Building 4 on the map)
• 3300 Grand Avenue

Des Moines University is a great medical resource that finds many ways in which to serve our city. Founded in 1898 Des Moines University is led by former Governor Terry E. Branstad. DMU has programs in osteopathic medicine, podiatric medicine, physical therapy, physician assistant studies, health care administration, public health, and more. Hundreds of their graduates practice in the Des Moines area.

It is not often that you will hear the words philanthropy and medicine in the same sentence, but make no mistake; DMU’s Senior Health Fair is a philanthropic contribution from the institution and the people that make up its community. I will attest. The DMU Senior Health Fair is a rare and valuable opportunity. You will have a chance to sit with current DMU students, their teachers, and other health professionals for

• free screenings of blood pressure, blood glucose, and bone density
• free review of your current medicines
• free osteopathic manipulation
• free foot and ankle screening
• flu shots (free if you can’t afford it, otherwise for a suggested donation)

The people you will meet and talk with are knowledgeable, kind, and generous with their time. I have gone several times, and I’ve always learned something that helps me stay healthier. I’ll be there. Look for me.

photo by flickr by fozzman

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