For what seems to be a minor health problem, swimmer’s ear results in nearly 2.4 million doctor visits annually and costs our health care system $500 million a year.

Hello everyone, my name is Olivia Doherty. I am a Scotts Valley middle-schooler who has opinions just like you. I want to share with you my observations about what a middle-schooler thinks on a daily basis.

Submit Datebook items to pbeditor@pressbanner.com, or drop off press releases or photos at 5215 Scotts Valley Drive, Ste. F, Scotts Valley 95066. Deadline is 5 p.m. Tuesday. Entries are subject to editing, and publication is not guaranteed.

There is often opportunity amid gloom. And, wow, do we have a lot of gloom in the real estate market:

I am a contract worker, and recently I may have put my job in jeopardy. I found that I am not a very “green employee.”

About three weeks ago, my wife asked me a rather unusual question: Could I marry her best friend from high school? Coupled with the recent marriage of Press-Banner’s hallowed leader, Peter Burke, and his columns as he approached wedded bliss, it seemed only natural that I should write about my first and likely only, experience performing the nuptials.

Submit Datebook items to pbeditor@pressbanner.com, or drop off press releases or photos at 5215 Scotts Valley Drive, Ste. F, Scotts Valley 95066. Deadline is 5 p.m. Tuesday. Entries are subject to editing, and publication is not guaranteed.

Meru Garuda Besummer was born to Vanessa Kari and Brian Adam Besummer of Boulder Creek at 9:26 a.m. May 11, 2011. He was born at home in Boulder Creek and weighed 9 pounds.