Baker's heartbeat

  Steve, Kirstin and chubby me, before the North Scott High School Homecoming event in October, 2007.      This week marks an important anniversary: It was 15 years ago when I decided -- during one of the biggest weeks of my life -- that I would work out five days a week, without fail, and eat right.     We are talking about a frustrated, chubby almost-50 year-old newspaper journalist who had just been assigned the Health beat. If I were going to be a health journalist, I thought, I better get in shape.     I made my way to the Scott Family Y in Davenport, and joined up. I was at about 165 pounds -- 25 pounds overweight. The goal was to drop 25 pounds and try to weigh something between 130 and 140 pounds.     It took a while, and several strategies (such as portion control), but I did eventually reach the goal weight.     In the meantime, husband Steve, who had retired in 2007, was busy walking about 2-3 miles most days of...

     Steve and I at the Iowa State/Baylor game, Sept. 24 in Ames .      Folks who meet me know rather quickly that I'm a big Iowa State University fan.           That's been the case ever since I chose to go to college in Ames, back in 1975.     That first year I bought student Iowa State football tickets. That practice continued for several years as I went to games in Ames with my dad, Emery Cox Jr.     It's evolved rather recently that many college football games are televised.     Take the Big 10 Conference as a prime example:  I actually once believed that conference was silly to launch the Big 10 Network.     That was wrong and short-sighted.       The Big Ten Network works in partnership with the Fox Networks, as explained online , and has been picked up all over the country. It's relatively easy to find Big 10 games of interest.     That...