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Welcome to Thinking Out Loud, a blog that contains postings from The Tampa Tribune’s Editorial Board and from various Tribune Community Columnists. Unlike the unsigned editorials that represent the newspaper’s institutional voice, the blog postings offer personal perspectives on the issues, personalities and events of Tampa Bay. We invite you to participate by posting your comments. We’ll do our best to respond.

Contributors:

Joe Guidry

Joe Guidry is the deputy editorial page editor of The Tampa Tribune. He is a Tampa native and a graduate of the University of South Florida. He is married and has an adult son.

Jeff Stidham

Jeff Stidham grew up and lives in Bartow. He has been with the Tribune for nearly 22 years, the last 10 on the editorial board.

William Yelverton

William Yelverton is a Tribune editorial writer who has worked for the paper nearly 22 years. He lives in the Dade City area.

Jim Beamguard

Jim Beamguard is a Tribune editorial writer. He is a native of North Carolina and a graduate of Davidson College. He and his family live in Brandon.

Jackie Papandrew:

Jackie Papandrew is a freelance writer and editor. Her syndicated humor column appears in publications in the United States, Canada and India. She lives in Largo with her husband and children. Visit her website at www.jackiepapandrew.com.

Camille Beredjick

Camille Beredjick is a senior at Chamberlain High School, an avid musician and a scribbler with a quirky sense of humor. In the fall, she will be attending Northwestern University to study journalism, political science and music, and she plans to pursue a career in journalism.

Jim Harnish

Jim Harnish is in his 17th year as Senior Pastor at Hyde Park United Methodist Church in Tampa. He and his wife, Marsha, have two daughters and two grandchildren. He is a graduate of Asbury Theological Seminary and received the honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Bethune-Cookman University. He is the author of six books and numerous articles and studies. He enjoys playing with his grandchildren and cheering for the Florida Gators.

Angela Hunt

Angela Hunt is a novelist living in Pinellas County with her husband and two 220-pound mastiffs.

Sheryl Young

Sheryl Young was a Tampa Tribune Community Columnist in 2005-2006. A freelance writer since 1997, including the Tampa Bay Business Journal, Tampa Style Magazines, St. Pete Times and nationally in Better Nutrition, Today’s Christian Woman and more. She’s received a First Place Amy Foundation national "Roaring Lambs" Writing Award, and has lived in Tampa Bay with her family for over 20 years.

Christie Gold

Christie Gold teaches English and journalism at Freedom High School in Tampa where she advises Revolution, the school newspaper. She has been both the Hillsborough County Teacher of the Year and Florida Journalism Teacher of the Year. She lives on a small farm in Wesley Chapel where she trains as a competitive equestrian.

Natalie D. Preston

Natalie D. Preston is a karaoke singing, only-child pouting, Seminole Tomahawk waving, newlywed bride blushing, 50-state traveling, girlie girl who loves to shop, read, run and jump up and down on her soapbox.

Fernando Figueroa

Fernando Figueroa is a researcher, educator and lives in Riverview.

Gary Beemer

Interests include humor, politics, economics, community and world affairs, finance, people, religion, music, sports, current events, the arts and education.

Nicole Yunger Halpern

Nicole Yunger Halpern is an undergraduate at Dartmouth College, where she studies everything she can get her nerdy little hands on. Desired major: life. No, not necessarily biology. Life.

Kris DiGiovanni

Kris DiGiovanni is a Tribune Community Columnist, Huffington Post contributor, Daily Kos diarist, and teacher, who recently moved from NW Hillsborough to another planet - a small beach community in Pinellas County. She also blogs at www.sandscript.wordpress.com

H. David Braswell Jr.

H. David Braswell Jr. is an Information Systems Professional. He is a native New Yorker and a lifelong NY Giants fan. He attended college in California (Cal State Northridge) and moved to Tampa in 1998.

Sean Marcus

Sean Marcus teaches creative writing, journalism and reading at Chamberlain High School. He has one son and is expecting a daughter in early March. He can be reached at wuizabug@gmail.com

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Stroke Your Mate… Or Interesting Dates for Married Couples over 50

Posted Jun 18, 2010 by Gary Beemer

Updated Jun 18, 2010 at 09:37 AM

Magazines on grocery store checkout stands are full of ideas to keep romantic relationships going. They show scantily clad perfect bodies and regularly claim to have 280 new ways to rev up your love life.

After 30 plus years of marriage it’s hard to come up with new and exciting dates that are guaranteed to titillate your mate. You’ve traveled, seen lots of movies, eaten at every restaurant within a 50 mile radius, and have done everything else that has come and gone over the last three decades.

Recently I was reading the 4YOU insert in the Tribune and stumbled upon something that presented a great date idea. The price was unbelievable at $25 per person. It involved a trip to Tampa on a Saturday, would put us in front of lots of interesting people, and hopefully lead to an even more robust physical relationship.

I called and made the reservation, but waited to spring it on my wife until the end of the week. One evening after dinner I happily announced that I had signed us up for a Stroke Awareness and PVD Screening at the UCH Pepin Heart Hospital!

Her response was not what I expected, even after I explained the exciting itinerary of an EKG for the evaluation of Atrial Fibrillation, a Liver Function Test, Blood Sugar, Lipid Profile including Total Cholesterol, HDL, LDL, VLDL & Ratio, Ankle Brachial Index, Homocysteine level and C-Reactive Protein tests. Even the icing on the cake – a Carotid Ultrasound – wasn’t sweet enough to change the stunned look of disbelief on my wife’s face.

After the shock subsided she agreed to go. We signed in, took a brief stroke awareness test and then were escorted to a barrage of professionals ready to poke and prod us. We jumped in bed for an EKG – alone of course – then off to get our fingers pricked for the Cholesterol screening. The next stop was a blood draw and then to bed again for a Carotid Ultrasound. Can my heart take this I remember thinking…?

After the quick tests (about 15 minutes), we sat down with an MD who went over our findings and gave us some recommendations. Luckily our results looked good, so we were encouraged to exercise more, lose some weight, eat good food in moderation and have regular checkups.

Now we meet at the YMCA for cardio and strength training. Maybe we’ll add some Yoga or Zumba to really heat things up. By the way, after I stroked my wife at Pepin I treated her to lemon ricotta pancakes at one of our favorite restaurants. Now that felt good.

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