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Originally published in the Calgary Herald, Business section, page B1, July 7, 2011.

When Gary Watson volunteered to allow Southern Alberta Institute of Technology students to scan his abdomen as part of a lab for the school's medical sonography program last year, little did he know they would uncover a ticking time bomb.

"I was absolutely floored," said Watson.

"Last time I was in the hospital, other than the occasional minor injury, was 60 years ago, when I was seven years old.

Confident in their new skills while venturing into an uncertain labour market, more than 400 Bow Valley College students celebrated graduation Monday.

The school awarded professional diplomas and certificates to recipients in its Business, Health and Community Care and Academic Foundations programs.

"I feel ready and I feel confident," said Health & Community Care valedictorian Danielle Janice Bravo.

Originally published in Calgary Herald, City & Region section, page B9, June 23, 2011.

Eyesight, for many, is something taken for granted until it is lost.

In North America, the majority of blindness is caused naturally by old age. However, the situation in Africa is quite a different story.

"In Africa, we have eight million people who are blind, and maybe three times that many who are severely visually impaired," said Dr. Daniel Etya'ale, executive director of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness.

Amateur and professional hockey players alike are taking to the streets today, as CBC Hockey Night In Canada's Play On! 4-on-4 street hockey tournament runs all weekend in the Deerfoot Outlet Mall's parking lot.

"This is kind of like their Super Bowl, all those guys who enjoy street hockey but don't have any place to play it," said Calgary event director Vern Gerhardt. "The purpose of the tournament is to give street hockey a major league seal."

CALGARY — A pothole brought a new headache to commuters heading northbound on Deerfoot Trail this morning.

The pothole, in the left-hand lane on Deerfoot near where construction has begun on the Ogden Road overpass, brought traffic to a near halt.

Crews later closed the left-hand lane as they applied a temporary fix to the hole. While a permanent repair is expected to close the lane for four hours starting at 11 p.m. tonight, crews are also shutting it down intermittently this afternoon as they monitor the temporary solution.

When University of Calgary geoscience professor Dr. Leslie Reid started teaching a decade ago, little did she know what the future had in store for her.

The Tamaratt teaching professor and Project Engage team lead has spent the past five years helping other professors improve their courses and engage with students -things that have contributed to her being awarded a 3M National Teaching Fellowship today in Saskatoon.

"I actually feel very humbled by the whole process. . . . I kind of have this mindset that it's never good enough," said Reid.

Book lovers will get their first chance to dig through pile after pile of interesting novels, reference books, anthologies and other written words as the Calgary Herald's ninth annual Calgary Book Drive and Sale starts Friday.

"We're starting to set up for the sale. It's going pretty well, we've got a lot of volunteers," said book drive and sale co-ordinator Andria Brumwell.

"I don't know yet (how many books were collected in total), but it's more than last year."