As an occasional meal replacement or a nourishing snack, “smoothies” win first prize in the healthy drink line-up. Although nutrient content varies with ingredients used, most smoothies are packed with vitamins A, C or both, and many are loaded with calcium, protein and energy-yielding carbohydrates.

They also provide an excellent way to “sneak” some fruits or veggies into the diets of unsuspecting children trying to cool off on a hot summer day.

Looking for some extra nutritional “punch”? Add a scoop or two of soy protein powder to round out a frosty summertime treat which will burst with flavor!

Try these invigorating smoothie recipes for an icy health drink that is guaranteed to please even the most fickle of taste buds!

On this particular day, more people were waiting on line to purchase a newly-released, limited-edition pin than there were checking out the kiosks. In case you don’t know, pin trading is a huge phenomenon at Disney World (but that’s another story). So we were able to interact with the kiosks as much as we wanted without a long queue forming behind us.

You go up to the kiosk, choose an area of interest and learn about the dreams and events that inspired Disney history through the years. You also answer questions that test your knowledge. It’s fun and a definite learning experience – for kids and adults. Although it seemed to me that kids enjoy playing with the kiosk buttons more than listening to the information or taking the quiz.

In my mind, the most important and not-to-be missed attraction of this celebration is “Walt Disney: One Man’s Dream.” More of an exhibit than a ride or attraction, maps describe it as a “multisensory entertainment experience.”

Visitors walk through several different areas of a large theater building, moving from the days of black-and-white animation to color and into today. Visitors have a unique opportunity to see amazing memorabilia and models – including items like a full-size model of Walt’s office. The attraction ends with a short film about Walt’s life and work.

For those of us who remember the early days of Disney – the Mickey Mouse Club, Zorro, and the Wonderful World of Color – this attraction is a real treat. I could spend hours just looking at the items on display and thinking back to when I first saw them. This attraction also offers translator units in several languages (for example Spanish, Japanese, French and others) in order that everyone can enjoy the presentations.

If you’re someone who thinks Disney World’s attractions are merely intended for children, you’ll be very pleasantly surprised. Yes, kids can have fun – and maybe learn something – but adults can surely appreciate all that’s offered.

As for the party, in addition to the party hats, guests witnessed the assembly of a huge cake featuring a likeness of Walt himself. The cake was assembled in an amusing ceremony beneath the Sorcerer’s hat.

Chef Jacqueline, along with Mickey, watched various other characters escorted colorfully-clad chefs – each carrying one single rectangular cake – up to the stage, where the cakes – 100 in all – were assembled into the final display.

It was fun. But, I must admit, that my friends and opted to pass on the birthday cake and celebrate with “Mickey Bars” instead. For those who’ve never tried them, a “Mickey Bar” is a rich vanilla ice cream, covered in delectable chocolate, on a stick in – what else – the shape of Mickey’s head! Definitely a more fitting tribute to Mr. Disney than a plain old cake!

One of the most exciting aspects of my recent trip to Walt Disney World was knowing I’d be there on Walt Disney’s birthday. What better place to be to honor the man that made my dreams, and those of so many others, become reality? I grew up with the Mickey Mouse Club and Disney movies… dreaming of having my own Blue Fairy or Tinker Bell. So we made our reservations and planned, exactly one year before, to be at Disney World during this special time.

Of course by now, most everyone knows that this year Disney World is celebrating the “100 Years of Magic” in honor of Walt’s birthday. There are new parades, new attractions and, as a centerpiece, a huge Sorcerer Mickey’s hat at Disney-MGM Studios. And this was the day it was all about!

What’s a party without party hats? So on entering Disney-MGM Studios on December 5th, everyone was given their party hat – a blue sorcerer’s hat with spiraling Mickey ears! Put the tab into the other side of the hat, shaping the cone, place it on your head and slip the elastic band under your chin and you were ready to go!

And, for my husband and I, this was our first time seeing the enormous party centerpiece. It was more grand and amazing than I’d imagined – towering over me, shining in the sun.

I saw Sorcerer Mickey in “Fantasia” at a big-screen theater when I was a child. And I can still remember how enormous everything looked on that screen. Well, looking up at the hat at the end of Hollywood Boulevard brought back those old memories. It was like being very small again and looking up at the magical sorcerer’s hat as apprentice Mickey put it onto his head.

Background:
This is a creative exercise designed to encourage self-expression. Ask family members (grown-ups, too) to each design a special flower that reflects some aspect of themselves (interests, personality, desires, talents, goals). With younger participants, try saying, “If you were a flower, what kind of flower would you like to be? What would you look like?”

What to do:
Think about what you’d like to use to decorate your own one-of-a-kind flower. You can use markers, glitter glue, buttons, cutouts from magazines — whatever you can think of.

Take a plain paper plate and decorate it any way you’d like. You might want to have more than one paper plate handy in case you aren’t happy with your first attempt or, better yet, want to make more.

With kids, the less direction the better (unless they need help using craft materials). Encourage them to use colors they like, and just have fun. There is no right or wrong way to make your flower; it will be beautiful and very special if it comes from your own imagination.

Once your flowers are completed, you can attach them with tape to sticks or dowels and arrange them together in a vase. Or you can hang them on the wall, or put them on a bulletin board together. Now isn’t that a lovely garden?

The wireless industry is full of companies that were built on such wireless information technologies. But despite this, or perhaps because of it, the vision of ubiquitous wireless information never really happened. We now realize we will need to use a different approach. One fundamental challenge in realizing a wirelessly networked world is the infrastructure. We need to make sure that we have the infrastructure in place for reliable and wireless Internet connections-every time, from everywhere. Otherwise, three, four, five years from now, we’ll still only be talking to ourselves. Building infrastructure requires massive resources. Such an effort is the domain of large companies. Small companies simply cannot afford to do this.

However, while big companies are building this infrastructure, entrepreneurial companies do play a key role in the overall vision. They will be building something that large companies are not particularly good at-innovating how end users will use that new infrastructure. The two efforts are intertwined: infrastructure enables new solutions, new solutions drive demand for more infrastructure.

Before I discuss the role of entrepreneurial companies, I’d like to set the stage. Today’s Internet is what I like to call the Dilbert Internet. The knowledge worker generates most of the traffic. However, much of this traffic is not generated in the pursuit of higher productivity. Think about it. How many people in a megacorporation with more than 100,000 employees do something really useful every hour of every working day of the week?

Many are stuck in cubicles with a computer and an Internet connection, bored with their jobs and trying to find some way to pass the time. That’s where my Dilbert theory comes in.

Here’s something to ponder. When are the stock markets open? During business hours. Therefore, when is it that people are conducting the millions of online stock trades? During business hours!

I was recently driving from my home in Northern California to a speaking engagement about an hour away. On the way I was talking on my cell phone, working on a transaction with the CEO of a large company. We were cut off four times during our conversation. While this experience was not a new one, it was certainly ironic, as the conference I was headed for focused on extending the vision of wireless well beyond voice-to wireless information.

The irony continued once I arrived at the Wireless Data Forum conference facilities on the outskirts of Carmel, a quaint, but by no means remote, town near the famous Pebble Beach resorts. Suddenly, my cellular phone no longer had service. When I got onstage I asked the audience, “Who’s got coverage on their phone right now?” No one raised a hand. The response from this audience was embarrassed laughter. None of us had a wireless connection. We were all out of range. Next I asked this group of technically savvy, device-laden professionals a seemingly simple question in this age of the Internet. “Who can get me a stock quote for Excite, right now?” Again, no one volunteered an answer and, again, there were a few self-conscious laughs. There was no way for any of us to connect to the Internet in that space via wireless or wireline connections.

I made these points because I wanted us to take an honest look at what it will take to realize the vision of wireless information. The vision is to enable people-mobile knowledge workers-to go about their work from their offices, their homes, or even the beach. But in reality we still have a lot of work to do. If simple requests still pose a challenge to people who are part of the industry, how is it supposed to work for real customers?

Today, you can connect to the Internet to collect your email by plugging into the standard RJ-11 phone jack available in most offices, houses, and hotel rooms. But try finding a publicly accessible RJ-11 jack in an airport, train station, or on a city street. You can make a phone call while walking down the beach in Miami. But try doing the same thing while moving through a New York subway maze.

If we want people to be able to get information or make transactions on the Internet from anywhere, anytime, then we had better make sure that we provide the infrastructure to reliably deliver Internet access anywhere, anytime. In the real world, if someone bidding on a rare Pez candy dispenser on eBay misses notice of a higher bid on their pager because they traveled out of range, they will lose out on the opportunity and be pretty upset. While this reaction may seem overly dramatic to anyone other than an avid collector, the failure is nonetheless important to this customer. The explanation that the customer was out of range is simply not good enough.

Reliability and worldwide reach are two key factors that have driven the popularity of the Net. If we still connected as we did in 1993-an expedition that may have involved getting access to a Macintosh, downloading the NCSA (National Center for Supercomputer Applications) software, and then plugging it in and hoping-then Amazon, Yahoo!, and E*Trade would certainly not be household names. They might not even exist.

“Service learning” is generally a very good idea. Students in service volunteer in local organizations and agencies. These programs offer them opportunities to practice skills and knowledge while doing useful jobs in the community. For example, students may help build Habitat for Humanity houses, help out in a community day-care center, help organize a local tutoring program or create community gardens.

It’s true that while students do not usually earn money in service learning, it does allow them to learn more about the potential careers available to them. It also helps them make connections and network with neighborhood leaders who may assist with future jobs or recommendations for college. Service learning experience looks very good on job and college applications. Some college entrance requirements consider community work experience as important as test scores.

Service learning is not a free labor program for organizations. In fact, the organizations that participate have a number of costs involved. They must provide the mentors and supervisors to help the students on the job. They also must spend time coordinating their efforts with the school to ensure that students are learning and practicing new skills.

Overall, your children are fortunate to attend a school that has a service learning requirement as part of their coursework. Their participation gives your children an advantage for their next choices in life — for higher education and for careers. Encourage them to take advantage of the program, choose interesting service projects and add the experience to their rasums.

On Nickelodeon’s annual revenue: Reportedly more than $355 million in advertising revenue, monthly subscriber fees, and licensing and merchandising.

The basic story on Nickelodeon: TV exec who cares about her audience. Joined Nickelodeon in 1980 as a program manager, received eight promotions in the next 13 years. Pioneered the idea of using kids in developing kids’ TV. Set in place team that invented the station’s signature programming: critically acclaimed kids’ shows such as “Clarissa Explains It All,” plus the prime-time classic reruns for parents know as “Nick at Nite.” Disney’s Michael Eisner calls her a visionary, while Disney’s other Richard, said she is “capable of taking our cable business into the next millennium.”

Claim to fame: “I built a team of people and we got into the hearts and minds of kids in a very short time.”

A typical day at Nickelodeon: “The great thing about my job is there’s no typical day. I kind of make it that way. Every time we get something moving smoothly, I have to create something new.”

Strength: “I’m really interested in people. I tend to be very nurturing.”

Weakness: “I may be too nurturing, nurturing for too long.”

On her achievements: “In a lot of ways, we created the first brand on television. We’re almost like a lifestyle. Nickelodeon has a personality. If you stopped any kid on the street and asked about us (he or she) could describe us as a food or as a person. As just about anything.”

On her childhood: “I had one of the most serious childhoods ever. I used to like to write away for different countries’ travel brochures and file them alphabetically. It wasn’t until I met my husband and had kids that I started having a childhood. That’s the secret to why I did Nickelodeon.”

On computers: “Our biggest competition going forward is not television, it’s the computer. I see two-year-olds playing with them.”

On her computer skills: “I’m not that good, I’m better than some Luddites.”

What she would say to Samy Dole: “What I think is happening right now is that the networks are moving away from family friendly programming at the eight o’clock site. Central Park West has no violence but it has sex. It’s a real opportunity for our Nick at Nite programming. Our ratings keep going up.”

How life might be different if she were male: “I was allowed to do things my own way much more than I would have been if I was a man. I couldn’t possibly conform. I wasn’t like them. All I could be was me.”

On avoiding burnout: “By changing things. By trying new things. I have a really great family, I have my work, I have my friends.”

On her unusual longevity: “My people built this thing. This is our dream. There’s a lot of personal passion to it. It’s pretty compelling. It’s pretty hard not to get infected.”

While Nasdaq today actually benefits from fees paid to route and report trades through Nasdaq’s turf, Nasdaq could lose trades in the future if  gain stock exchange status from the Securities and Exchange Commission, and already, Island and Archipelago have filed for such approval. And Tradepoint has already evolved into a certified exchange, although in the United States it is not authorized to trade U.S. companies.

The success and the efficiencies of exchanges also throw into question the future role of online brokers, as exchanges permit links that are more direct and less costly. Like the New Economy flourishing in symbiosis with these exchanges, the one certain item is change. But no one knows for certain who the winners will be, and that has led market participants into a flurry of maneuvers.

“There is confusion amongst all the market participants, including the investment bankers,” says Garry. Al Berkeley, president of Nasdaq, agrees; all the market participants are “groping in the dark.”

Many factors will determine the eventual outcome of this new competitive warfare spawned by the Net, but none will be more influential than the behavior of the largest investment banks. As never before, investment banks are helping keep stock exchanges liquid by underwriting new listings, providing research to attract other investors, brokering the sale and purchase of equities and filling voids by “making markets” — buying stocks when there are no buyers. Notes Easdaq’s Pedder: “Do you think European banks will support organizations that answer to the SEC? The SEC is not known for limiting its jurisdiction. The banks control the market.”

Thus far, major investment banks are hedging their bets — making a constantly evolving round-robin of investments. Merrill Lynch, which backs Trade point, also invested in Archipelago, automated open outcry system.

Howard Barton, perhaps the most heralded of all Internet stock underwriters, also has stakes in Easdaq, Instinet, and Tradepoint. Who is head of equity syndicate, would not dismiss the prospect of investing in an ECN, but for now, the firm is focusing on acquiring a stake in Neuer Markt’s parent stock exchange, the Deutsche Borse, which is opening its ownership and which itself is zealously striving to establish a pan-European presence.

Likewise, German investment bank Deutsche Genossenschaftsbank (DG Bank), which has been an avid underwriter of Neuer Markt companies, is angling for shares of Deutsche Borse. With so many cards flying around the table of international finance these days, it’s hardly a surprise that the banks are keeping mum. Executives at Morgan Stanley would not discuss their plans. A spokesperson in London explains: “We’re playing our cards close to our chest when it comes to the future of exchanges. We have our own views, but for competitive reasons we have not aired them.”

How can I tell if she has a special talent in the area of art? And, how can I encourage her to develop her artistic talents? I don’t have any desire to push her or to try to label her “gifted.” I just want an honest opinion from an expert.

It’s quite possible that your daughter is gifted/talented. If you investigate your school thoroughly, you may find that they have programs for gifted and talented children. If you feel this may “label” her, you can try to nurture her talent in other ways.

Start by exploring the possibilities of 4H, YMCA, community college art classes for children or summer classes for talented children. Try not to schedule too many activities for her, but keep the flame of interest going throughout the year.

Create a portfolio of her work. This can be a fun project the two of you do together. Be sure the portfolio is sturdy and that it looks nice. Date every piece of work.

Finally, I strongly encourage you to make an appointment and talk to her teacher, showing her or him the portfolio. Brainstorm together for ways she can continue to develop this talent; perhaps she can help decorate the classroom or make cards for absent friends. She could even be rewarded for her other work in the classroom with time to draw what she chooses.

Continue to do what you are doing – praise her work and let her have enjoy her creations.