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Iread Jennifer Ormston‘s "Lessons Learned" about promoting online shopping. _ _ She shops online because of her "nightmarish trips to the mall." As an alternative to both, 1 sugâ€" gest Jennifer try shopping at some of the lovely retail establishments along King, Regina and Erb streets and Willis Way. The majority of these places are ownerâ€"operated and independently owned. There is parking for more than 600 vehicles in a short walk to any of these shops. And by supporting your local, independentlyâ€"owned businesses, you are supporting the local econoâ€" my and helping to keep your hardâ€" earned shopping dollars in our own community. Shopping online gives all your money to a community far afield from Waterloo. So, Jennifer, please support your local businesses. That is one of the things that will keep Waterloo wonâ€" derful and vibrant. _ Forget about online shopping and their drivers. I would not want to be a snowplow driver. It is a thankless job. You would never be able to do it fast enough or well enough for some people. â€" And that doesn‘t take into account the people who complain about plows who come by and fill in their driveway. â€" id I‘ve heard that complaint for years, and I understand it. Believe me, it drives me around the bend when I just finish shovelling and along comes the plow. But really, think about it. There would be no point in clearing the streets if the plows had to lift their blade for every driveway. And beyond that, where would you like them to put the snow, into the middle of the road? Unfortunately we live in a winter climate, and sometimes the snow piles up and it‘s got to go someâ€" where. I feel bad for those people who can‘t physically handle the demands of those big chunks, but I just can‘t come up with a solution. That‘s where we, as neighbours, come in I guess. Speaking of snowplows, and believe _ [____ me I do understand the difficult job thase people have when the snow flies, I do wonder about something. Is it not possible in the first 12 hours of a storm to make one pass down some of the major residential arteries. I‘m not talking about the side streets, but streets that run right through major subdivisions. We watched numerous people try to get out of our neighbourhood on the weekend just to get stuck because of the pile of snow at the end of the street. Even a pass just a couple of hours into the snowâ€" fall would have helped out. I understand the priority has to be the major streets, but a pass down those streets would be handy. That being said, perhaps there‘s simply too many streets and not enough plows and too much snow sometimes. I get it. However, on the other hand, 1 don‘t think there‘s a winterâ€"hardened Canadian anyâ€" where who doesn‘t have some concerns about snow plowing. It‘s one of those issues of which we are acutely aware. Keep up the good work people. Try not to get snowed under ith the big dump of snow over the weekend, I have already received a variety of notes from people complaining about snowplows And I am sure our locallyâ€"owned businesses will welcome you with open arms. Rrg:krding the noise in Waterloo West, if you wish to write an editorial on this subject ever again, and if you wish to base it on facts and not invective, give me a call. 1 can provide you with the names of a number of people who would be pleased to provide you with truthful information. Regarding crumbling infrastrucâ€" ture, it seems to me that if the Romans could build roads, bridges and sewers out of stone of 2,000 years ago that are still in use today then we now should be going back Another side to park‘s noise issue Time to do like the Romans did COMMENT Who needs that? We may have reached the point in our society where all the really good, useful stuff has been invented. I come to this conclusion after rolling around town the past few days doing some Christmas shopâ€" ping. â€" w L spotted at one store a gadget that definitely makes your life easier. It‘s a laser light that mounts nmmmmae . on the garage wall or ceiling and shines down to a spot that will let you park EOE | your car in the perfect spot in your KE garage. AN This is the last column before RKE Christmas, which in our house has always been a big deal. These days we are coping with the hollowness of an empty nest. It‘s not the same since the kids don‘t live at home anymore, and it‘s even worse since one of them is living out of the province. We‘ve gone through that before, and even though we could still get together over the Internet it‘s not quite the same. We‘re slowly being weaned off that since the girls will be back for Christmas day. That‘s the important thing, I guess, that they are close by and for at least that one day we will be able to get together. _ _ We hEpe your loved ones are connected to you aver the holiday season. That always makes every other issue seem pretty minor. ____________ _ From me, Diana, Allison, Niki, Heather, Billy the wonder dog and the two reluctant cats, all the best. Brian Bourke, a member of the 105.3 KOOL FM morning crew, can be reached by email at bbourke@koolfm.com. Jack Brown Waterloo Waterloo Do we really need this? If you can‘t park your car in the garage without ramming it through the kitchen, I can pretty much guarantee I don‘t want you driving anywhere near me or anyâ€" one that I care about. Or for that matâ€" ter, anyone I don‘t care about. My rule of thumb for parking in the garage is to stop before I hit anything. So far it‘s worked nicely. Rebar in concrete is a failure guaranteed to happen within the lifetime of the builder and it‘s a type of planned obsolescence. to stone construction 1, the taxpayer and financier of these structures, would rather pay two or three times the cost of conâ€" crete construction and get 10 to 50 times the lifespan out of the infraâ€" structure. If stone had been used right from the getâ€"go we would not have this problem now. Cheaper is not better. _ So I say start building all those things which can be built of stone with stone now. It may take 20â€"50 years to catch up but the problem and the expense will be gone, practically speaking, forever. And even then you can reuse the stone. The construction industry will go nuts, but if concrete workers are retrained as stone masons everyâ€" thing and everybody will come out even or ahead â€" especially the taxâ€" payers. CHI Steve Slute Waterloo s Santa real? I believe he is, and for the third year in a row I‘ll Ibe tracking him on Christmas Eve thanks to www.noradsanâ€" ta.org. NORAD, the U.S.â€"Canadian military organization responsiâ€" bie for the aerospace defense of the United States and Canada, has been tracking a peculiar bogey in its airspace every Decemâ€" ber for the past halfâ€"century. Radar, satellites, jet figl1fers and sophisticated Santaâ€"cam technology track the jolly old fat man‘s whereabouts and post the information live to the NORAD Santa Tracking website. The Santa survillance purportedly began in 1955, apparentâ€" ly due to a typo. A phone number listed in a department store advertisement was supposed to be for a Santa hotline but, because of the typo, was instead for a military commander‘s hotline. After receiving many calls about Santa from children, the commander told his staff to check the radar for evidence of Santa. Sure enough, the story goes, the radar spotted ol‘ St. Nick flying away from the North Pole, and the surveillance has hapâ€" pened every December since. Last year, starting at 4 a.m. ET on Dec. 24, the NORAD Santa tracking site provided Santa believers of all ages with upâ€"toâ€"theâ€"minute reports and streaming videos of Santa‘s legendary sleigh filled with presents and toys. From the moment he crossed a bitter cold section of Canada on his way to the eastern part of the world, our famiâ€" ly would check in regularly on Santa‘s trip. This year, our curious fiveâ€"yearâ€"old daughter has many questions about the wonders of Santa. How Santa manâ€" ages to visit so many homes in just one night is a tricky one to answer. With over six billion people in the world, the NORAD Santa tracking site provides this explanation: "Santa has had to adapt over the years to having less and less time to deliver his toys. If one were to assume he works in the realm of standard time, as we know it, clearly he would have perhaps two to three tenâ€"thousands of a second to deliver his tays to each child‘s home he visits. "The fact that Santa Claus is more than 15 centuries old and does not appear to age is our biggest clue that he does not work within time, as we know it. His Christmas Eve trip may seem to take around 24 hours, but to Santa it could be that it lasts days, weeks or months in his standard time. Santa would not want to rush the important job of bringing Christmas happiness to a child, so the only logical conclusion is that Santa somehow functions on a different time and space continuum." Just as NORAD‘s Santa Tracking system has evolved over the years, so has NORAD‘s mission to meet the aerospace defense needs of the United States and Canada, especially since the events of Sept. 11, 2001. The site states that because of that day, NORAD now closely coâ€"ordinates with the Federal Aviation Administration (FFA), constantly monitoring the skies to keep our countries safe. According to the NORAD Santa Tracking site, the same satelâ€" lites used to provide warning of possible missile launches aimed at North America are the ones used to track Santa and his famous herd of eight flying reindeer â€"led by Rudolph: "These satellites are located in a geoâ€"synchronous orbit (that‘s a cool phrase meaning that the satellite is always fixed over the same spot on Earth) at 22,300 miles above the Earth. The satellites have infrared sensors, meaning they can detect heat. When a rocket or missile is launched, a tremendous amount of heat is produced â€" enough for satellites to detect. "Rudolph‘s nose gives off an infrared signature similar to a missile launch. The satellites can detect Rudolph‘s bright red nose with practically no problem. With so many years of experiâ€" ence, NORAD has become good at tracking aircraft entering North America, detecting worldwide missile launches and tracking the progress of Santa, thanks to Rudolph." And thanks to NORAD, Santa Claus is not only real, but alive and well in the hearts of kids, and big kids like me, throughout the world. Marshall Ward is a visual artist and independent filmmaker, teaching continuing education courses at Conestoga College. Email is welcome at marshall_ward@hotmail.com. Tracking Santa just got easier WATERLOOU CHRONICLE + Wednesday, December 19, 2 MARSHALL 2007 + 9