It’s that time of year: College applications have been filed, last-chance SAT subject tests are coming up, and the dreaded FAFSA financial aid applications will be tackled soon. High school seniors and their parents are completing preparations for the beginning of college careers, but they might not be ready for one extra-curricular activity common on most college campuses.

It finally caught up with me. After 40-plus years of climbing ladders (mostly to get onto my roof), I recently fell off of one and injured myself.

• Joseph Luke Kerns was born to Alexandra Jude and Abraham Kenneth Job Kerns of Felton at 8:38 p.m. Dec. 2, 2009. He weighed 7 pounds, 8 ounces at Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz.

Except for a hot shower two or three times a month, I think water is probably at its best when frozen into small cubes and dropped into a glass or blender when making one’s adult beverage of choice.

A reporter once asked Warren Buffett, the world’s greatest investor, this question: “Mr. Buffett, you are the richest man in the world, worth billions. Why do you wear cheap suits?” Buffett replied: “I don’t wear cheap suits. I wear expensive suits. They just look cheap on me.”

It’s difficult to grasp how difficult wine tasting can be until you begin to practice it.

Like a horror show picture, giant squid seem to be invading the coast. From Fort Bragg to Monterey, giant Humboldt squid have shown up in massive numbers.

As we prepare to leave the old year behind and greet the New Year, I would like to propose the following health-related resolutions:

Here is a Christmas carol medley written especially for readers here in the Santa Cruz Mountains.