The new millennium began at the beginning of the year 2000, right? Presumably then the decade also began at that time.

So now it is five full years since the beginning of 2000 and the decade is half over at the end of 2004. I thought decades lasted for 10 years.

I still think the millennium began in 2001. If we count beginning at zero, then I'm a year older than I thought, too.

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Have you ever wondered what the initials of the freight service DHL stood for? I've seen their little yellow trucks running around, but no one seemed to know what it meant.

The other day I was out for a walk and saw one of the trucks parked, so went up to the driver and asked her if it meant "Damaged, Hidden or Lost" like I had seen on the Internet when I researched the name.

She hadn't heard that one, but she mentioned, "Duey, Huey and Louie." Not bad, I said. Then she told me "DHL" were the first initials of the last names of the German guys who owned the company, which I had also found on the Internet.

Seems as though they were already an international shipping company but wanted a presence in the U.S. so they bought out Airborne Express and renamed it DHL.

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Here is the best way I know to buy a book using the Internet.

Several people have told meI should read John Grisham's new book, "The Last Juror," which is about a newspaper guy in a small town in Mississippi.

So I found the book and its ISBN number and called Brenda at Thee Bookstore and asked her to get for me. A couple days later it arrived just as if I would have ordered it from the Internet. But then the difference begins.

First, there is no shipping when you get it locally. What I would have paid for in shipping goes to local sales tax and profit instead, which stays here. The real difference in my out-of-pocket is virtually nothing.

The significant difference is that the local business might now have some money to support local causes. I don't know of any national booksellers buying fruit or magazines from the Hillsboro school kids. Take the local purchase vs. the Internet purchase thousands of times and you are talking serious money that can help our businesses.

Help make our local economy come alive in 2005!

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When we moved to Kansas in 1955, our ice skates didn't get much use. The ponds just didn't stay frozen long enough around here to skate safely.

But there would be a way to provide a way for kids to have this kind of fun for many winter days.

All it would take is a little dirt berm around the tennis courts and a nightly flooding of the area. An inch or two of ice is all that is needed. And the danger is removed when the rink is set up this way.