Quadsville

I told her what had happened and prepared her for the possibility that her trip might be cancelled (it was). Then I started to lecture her that if the trip WAS still on, she was to stay in the shallow end with the dump buckets and splash grounds and there would be plenty to do and--

"Mom," she cut me off. "I was only going to be in the shallow part anyway, 'cause I can't swim yet. And my friend Ashlynn is really short even though she's 7, and I told her I would stay with her in the shallow end, because no one else would want to stay and play there."

Well, I can tell you my heart just about burst with pride. Not only does she know her own limits, she's a good friend.

My neighbors used this tragedy to start a conversation with their kids, too. They reminded their boy that swimming is fun, but there's always a risk.

Friend and co-worker Stephanie DePasquale (a former life guard), reminded my daughter that it's always good to use the buddy system at the pool and quizzed her on what to do if your buddy is in trouble.

"That's right," Stephanie said. "Never try to rescue them yourself."

I feel horrible for the family of little Grace Vah, and for her friends and teachers who are struggling with her death. It's just heartbreaking to think about, especially as a parent.

A lot of my fellow parents have said that they are "scared to death" to let their kids go on a swimming outing now. But really, the risk level has not changed. It's always dangerous to get in the water. You never know what can happen. Even super swimmers can hit their heads or get a cramp. We can do our best to follow all the rules and safety guidelines, just like we do when we get in our cars every day, but accidents happen.

I'm not worried about sending my daughter to swim camp this summer. I'm actually thrilled that she's excited about spending a week working on her swimming skills so that she can fend for herself better in the water. And I wouldn't have been worried to send her on the school outing on Monday if it hadn't been cancelled. I think you have to prepare your kids to know what is and isn't safe behavior, make sure all safety procedures and chaperone ratios are being followed and then let them go. It's potentially scary every time we let our kids walk out the door. But we can't prevent life from happening.

What do you think?

Anyone else seeing black backgrounds on wedding pages and personal profiles?

Remember, when reporting a bug, it's helpful to us if you tell us what browser you are using (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, etc.) and if you are using a Mac or PC. Thanks!

What do you think of the latest info that ties U.S. Sen. Roland Burris to Rod Blagojevich's pay-to-play auctioning of the very senate seat he holds? Did you suspect it all along? Should Burris be allowed to keep his seat? While we're at it, how about the $8 billion in earmarks Burris has already requested? All of you Iowans are getting a good laugh out of this, aren't you?

Housekeeping

Don't forget about our live chat this evening with the folks behind "The Music of Led Zeppelin" concert the QC Symphony will be performing this weekend. David Burke will be chatting with singer Randy Jackson and guest conductor Brent Havens at 8 p.m., so join in and ask your questions.

We'll be chatting again Thursday afternoon with Sam DeYoung and a vet from Rock Island County Animal Care and Control and pet health. From vaccinations to heart worm treatments to spay/neuter programs, you can ask all of your questions about your furry friend's health at 2 p.m.

Got a pretty good discussion going about what it means to be a good neighbor. Thanks to everyone who has shared a story. If you have been on the giving or receiving end of any particularly neighborly gestures, please tell me about them.

Quadsvillagers wrote some thought-provoking Memorial Day posts worth reading if you are just getting back online after a weekend off the grid.

Cruiser relates the story of "Taps." Anne-Marie Hislop shares the stories of the relatives she remembers on Memorial Day.

Alan was focused on life, rather than death. Read his post about getting people registered for CPR training.

This week in Quadsville

We've got a new round going in the photo contest. This week's theme is "Mellow Yellow." Get your photos in by noon Wednesday.

At 8 p.m. Wednesday, we've got a live chat with the folks behind the Quad-City Symphony Orchestra's "The Music of Led Zeppelin" concert. On Thursday at 2 p.m., we'll be chatting about pet health with folks from the Rock Island Animal Care & Control. Hope you can join us!

If you can't join us live, leave your question for Kirby in the comments below and we'll ask it for you.

Have you seen Mr. Howard?

Today we are celebrating our own celebrity at the Quad-City Times. Bill Wundram has been with the paper for 65 years. There's a special section in today's paper that pays tribute to Bill's time at the Times. We're also having an open house from 3-6 p.m. today. You are all invited to stop by and say hello to Bill, have some refreshments and listen to some music. Looks to be a beautiful day for it.

Only a few more hours until the photo contest closes. Not many submissions so far in the "I Had the Time of My Life" round. Enter yours by noon and spread the word!

And don't forget about our live chat at 3 p.m. Thursday with Kirby Winn of the Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center.

Quad City Images has posted another "Where in the Q-C is This?" puzzler. It doesn't look at all familiar to me. But some of you might be able to name the location.

I weighed in on Anonymous76's post about runners getting honked at or cat called. Does anyone find this flattering? Does it happen to guys as well as gals? I'm interested to hear your take on this.

We've got a new photo contest going. This week, the theme is "I Had the Time of My Life." Maybe I should dig out one of  my prom photos to get the ball rolling. Haha. Let's see some entries!

Some of you have asked about a Quadsville meet-up this month. I think we are going to take this month off and resume in June. May is just chock full of graduation parties and end-of-the-school-year events. I know my schedule is packed, and I imagine many of you are super busy, too. We may try a lunchtime meet-up in June. Kay Luna would like to meet some of the other Quadsville moms. Stephanie De Pasquale is also working on a meet-up for Quadsville Pet Owners and their furry children.

Don't forget about our live chats this week. Tuesday at 2 p.m. we're talking to  Paddy Blackman about her adventure climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. Thursday at 3 p.m. we're talking about the Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center's operation with Kirby Winn.

The first round's theme is "I Had the Time of My Life." I hope I get some good prom photos, past or present (past would be more entertaining, don't you think?). But this theme could be interpreted many ways, as can all the others.

I hope you have fun with this. I had a good time coming up with the song titles (hat tip to Francie Williamson for her pop culture expertise). We'll have the link on the community change updated in a few days. But for now, just access the contest through the link above, or from the link under "What's New" on qctimes.com.

Quadsvillagers’ Choice: We had a tie this week for the most online votes in our photo contest. Here's one...

Carla's photo "Tulip Time" also won Quadsvillagers' Choice. Carla wrote: When our eldest son, born with a rare genetic syndrome causing developmental delays, announced he wanted to be a farmer when he grew up, we began looking for ways to help him achieve his goal. Here he is watering the tulips outside his greenhouse which doubles as a classroom where he can learn at his own pace the magic of the botany world.

On the slate for next week are Paddy Blackman and Kirby Winn. Blackman climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and will be at the Putnam Museum/IMAX Theatre Thursday evening for Martinis to the Max and a showing of "Kilimanjaro: To the Roof of Africa." But first, she'll be chatting with us Tuesday afternoon in Quadsville.

Winn is with the Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center and will answer any questions you have about donating blood or platelets, how all of that stuff gets processed and where it ends up. I took a tour of the center about a month ago. It's a pretty impressive operation (if you're not the squeamish type). ;-)

I'll get back to you with exact times for the chats. In the meantime, you can vote in the photo contest until noon Friday. Then we are starting a new 8-week contest. I think the first round will be "Prom." Photos can be as recent or ancient as you want. Would love to see some baby blue tuxes and polyester in there.

BIG NEWS

I have a bit of horn tooting to do. We received word Thursday afternoon that Quadsville was named Best Social Media Initiative in the annual Suburban Newspaper Association Local Community Web Site Contest. That's out of all community and suburban newspapers with a circulation of 40,000 or above in North America. 

Can I get a "WOOHOO!!!!!"?

You should all pat yourselves on the back for this win, too. If you all weren't here, it wouldn't be much of a site. You've built Quadsville with your sometimes funny, sometimes poignant, almost always wonderful discussions, comments, photos and videos. I'm so lucky to be the mayor of such a vibrant online community. Thanks, everyone.

LOL Friday

If you missed it last weekend, take some time to watch our president at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner. Good to know Obama can always fall back on a stand-up career (he's got some zingers in here - MAN!). Also, a nice little tribute to journalism at the end that makes me all gooey. Have a laugh or let me know if you think this roast crosses a line. It definitely sticks a toe pretty close to the line a few times.

This morning, an emergency closure of the eastbound I-80 span sent more traffic than usual over to I-74, which was already hampered by roadwork, as was River Drive and some other alternate routes to work. Coworkers told me River Drive in Iowa was backed up from the I-74 bridge to Alcoa. Traffic on I-74 reportedly didn't budge for about 15 minutes during the morning rush.

Just a few weeks ago, Government Bridge traffic was restricted after a train damaged the viaduct. That took that bridge out of service on weekends and evenings, routing more traffic over Centennial.

For a community with five bridges - I-80, I-74, Government, Centennial and I-280 - it sure seems to cause chaos when one of them closes, let alone two. We've dealt with it before. The summers of 2000 and 2003 saw construction on the majority of the bridges, leaving commuters to sweat it out in their cars as they waited to get on the on-ramps.

Many of us came up with alternate routes to get around those traffic snarls. What are your best bets for avoiding the rush hour choke points caused by bridge closures and other construction projects in the Q-C?

Photo contest

Time to vote for your favorite May flowers. You have until noon Friday to cast your vote for the Quadsvillagers' Choice Award.

Live Chats

Tonight: Stephanie De Pasquale hosts an open discussion during the "Lost" season finale at 7 p.m.

Thursday: Paul Rumler, executive director of the Quad-Cities Passenger Rail Coalition answers your questions on train travel in the Q-C at 1 p.m.

My job as a "decider" is to ask some questions of the special guest and then comment on the topic's relevance. I'd like to bring some of your questions to the show, so please leave them in the comments section below.

If you can't join us Tuesday at 2 p.m., leave your questions in the comments below and we'll be sure to ask them for you!

I was also happy to open up Quadsville this morning and see some updates from our bike commuters. This is Alternative Transportation Week, so keep an eye out for bikes on the road and for more ATW posts in Quadsville.

You can join us for a live chat tomorrow afternoon, too, and share your ATW experiences or ask our panelists about how to get started living a little more outside the car.

I'm stuck car commuting today and tomorrow with carpool duties, etc. But come Wednesday, I plan to walk to work. It should only take about 20 minutes. That's an easy way to fit in a short workout and get one more vehicle off the road.

While you're biking or hiking to work, snap some photos for our May Flowers photo contest. We already have several brilliant entries. Add yours before noon Wednesday. Then come back to vote for your favorite.

Marilyn Buel has been working on her vegetable garden. But she's discovered the Ultimate Growing System doesn't quite live up to the superlative in its name.

Teenager just had her senior prom. She shares that experience, along with her family's trip to England and her plans for this fall in a post in verse. She's a creative one.

Don't forget to vote in the photo contest today. Several different takes on the "farewell" theme, from heart-wrenching to silly.

Keep an eye on the Bicycling in the Quad-Cities group. We'll have several folks blogging about their car-free commutes - rain or shine - next week. Hopefully, you will all keep blogging about your bike treks year-round.

Next week, I'll also be starting regular live chats. We'll have two a week on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. To go with the alt-trans theme, next Tuesday we'll be chatting at 2 p.m. with a bike commuter and Becky Passman, Iowa Transit Coordinator for Bi-State Regional Commission. They will answer your questions about how to get around the Q-C without a vehicle, what routes are best to take and what options are available.

On Thursday at 1 p.m., you can ask Paul Rumler with the Quad-City Passenger Rail Coalition all your questions about when the trains will start running from here to Chicago or Iowa City, how much it's going to cost and where the funding is coming from.

I have lots of chats planned for the next few months, including some on gardening and composting, home remodeling, buying a house for the first time, getting in shape for swim suit season, etc. What chats would you like to have in Quadsville? Hit it in the comments below.

The 2nd annual Singing for Life Blood Drive is this weekend, and Quadsvillager quartetmandh invites everyone to come out and hear the Chordbusters and donate a pint.

I could probably work up the nerve, but my low iron levels have resulted in me being turned away the times I have tried to donate. But all you of heartier stock should check it out. It's quite an operation they have there at the Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center.

Photo contest

The photo contest is off to a good start this week. Submit your farewell-themed pictures before noon on Wednesday for a chance to win a fabulous prize (ok, ok, it's a coffee mug) and have your photo printed in the Sunday Quad-City Times.

KEVIN'S PICK: Of Bonnie Roller’s photo, Times Photo Editor Kevin Schmidt writes: “This is simply the perfect moment. You could never describe all the details involved in this image well enough to get what this photograph captured.”

QUADSVILLAGERS' CHOICE: Peggy Sue of Aledo, Ill., received the most votes online for her image, “Duck, Duck, Duck, Goose.”