One of my resolutions for the New Year is to spend less time napping and more time on the move. I have noticed that Parks and Rec is sponsoring a free family skating party at Dickinson Park Pavilion on February 9, from 6:30 to 9:30 pm. Local Music Man DJ Kevin Koshel is going to provide music to skate by and Parks and Rec plans to serve hot chocolate or coffee. Sounds like a fun way to meet up with friends, spend time with my family, and wear off some of those holiday pounds. Parks and Rec wants to keep count, I guess, so I’m going to register online at newtown-ct.gov.

The amount of junk mail has reached its peak this season, I hope. To make sure that fewer trees die next year to inform me about all kinds of things that do not interest me in the least, I am going to register at dmachoice.org/MPS to get off a number of mailing lists. There is a one time registration fee of $1 at Direct Marketing Association, and once registered, I understand that it is possible to update and make changes to the mailing lists selected. It can take 30 to 90 days for the request to be honored, but should cut down considerably on the amount of excess promotions, catalogs, and other unsolicited mail that end up in the mailbox. I suspect my mail carrier will be pleased, as well, to have to lug around less junk. DMA is approved by the United States Postal Service, too.

Here’s another tree saver: one of The Bee staffers got a tree-free greeting card last week from an environmentally minded friend. The card is printed on paper made of kenaf, from a company called Vison Paper. Vision Paper manufactures pulp and paper, without using any chlorine compounds, from a plant called kenaf, which is in the hibiscus family. The company makes high quality printing paper and envelopes that offer a “pollution solution.” For more information about this innovative company, visit visionpaper.com. The trees will thank you.

Did any of you see Lisa Peterson on the Today show on last week? She appeared on December 20 in her role as a media person for the American Kennel Club and she shared tips for keeping pets safe during the holidays. (No popcorn or cranberries on the Christmas trees!) and she did the whole segment with a dachshund sitting on her lap. I guess NBC wouldn’t let her present her tips with a Norwegian Elkhound on her lap, which would have been Lisa’s preference.

Newtown Youth & Family Services Finance Director Joan Bird was in New York City this week, and she wasn’t in there to fight with the post-holiday crowds still streaming in to catch the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular or even to play hooky and see Cirque du Soleil (like some people were, right Nancy Crevier and family?). Nope, Joan was in the Big Apple to ring the NASDAQ closing bell on Thursday, December 27, to celebrate the merger that reformed the organization on July 1.

“The closing bell ceremony is a very important celebration of the merger of Family Counseling Center of Newtown and Newtown Youth Services,” said Chris Gardner, chairman of the board for NYFS. “In addition to being a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, the event will give our board and staff the opportunity celebrate our future serving the town of Newtown.” The bell-ringing ceremony was scheduled to be broadcast on national business television Thursday afternoon at 4, and photos were to be posted on the NASDAQ site shortly after that. Visit nasdaq.com/reference/MarketSite_events and search for Newtown Youth & Family Services for photos of the big event.

Speaking of ringing your bells (or tooting your own horn), Comedy Central has chosen our hometown comedian Andrew Kennedy to compete in the Comedy Central Showdown Showcase. What this means is that they have opened voting for one month to the public to choose the top 20 comedians. The top 20 comedians chosen will have their half-hour special aired on January 27, giving Andrew lots of bragging rights, rightly so.

You can vote as many times as you want (limited to once each day) and every day the top 20 comics for that day will be posted. I’m going to support Andrew every time I get up from a nap; other comedians in this popularity contest have an extensive fan base and have time to be on the computer all day campaigning while Andrew is home giving good loving to his family and feeding the dog. To vote for Andrew go to comedycentral.com/events/SUSD/index.jhtml and choose the section marked H-K. Go Andrew!

I’ve done my patriotic duty and voted for the day I’m off to take another nap. Don’t forget to… read me again.