(To read “Warm Resolutions: New year means new weather” with the pictures and the cutlines I wrote with information from photographer David Massey, click here. The News-Journal takes down articles after two weeks, so I’m posting this here for posterity LOL)

After weathering the coldest December since 1935, walkers with possible cases of cabin fever took to area beaches and enjoyed the warmer weather that lingered in the 70s for most of New Year’s Day.

Foot traffic increased from Flagler Beach to Daytona Beach. Family pictures were taken. Others even braved the 57-degree water.

Expect the change to continue, according to AccuWeather.com. Lows will be in the mid-50s while the high will also be in the mid-70s.

For more information on today’s weather conditions, see our Weather Page

It’s nothing big, but I like having time to do something different!

An e-mail I got as an explanation of the event didn’t answer some questions I had, so I called a teacher, who had brought together a group of students to paint a needy person’s house. I found Dan Lucas, who organized the event, to be inspiring. (Check out his quote at the end.) So I wanted to give it more than just a cutline, which is an explanation under the picture. I think I surprised him as well when I said it wouldn’t be in our regional edition Neighbors, it would be in the Local section.

An article grew from our conversation, although I hope what I wrote doesn’t look like I did it in 30 minutes!

Since the article wasn’t “budgeted” and we forgot to tell the online person I had written an article to go along with it, that’s why it didn’t show up online. But I’d like to share it here. (FYI, hopefully, my new contract allows it. If not, I might have to delete it.)

TRYING TO PAINT A BETTER FUTURE

Fifty students sponsored by the Future Grad Club of Campbell Middle School painted a home during the third annual Paint Party Project on Saturday.

Exceptional education teacher Dan Lucas said homeowner Celena Stephens had been devastated by last year’s floods. The project, which had additional support from principal Vickie Presley and donations of paint and landscaping from Wal-Mart, has meant that Stephens is “almost ready to sleep in her bed again.”

The students worked from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on South Alamanda Street in Daytona Beach.

“No matter what circumstances, no matter what you have or don’t have, the simplest thing you can give is time,” Lucas said. “The Paint Party Project teaches students the importance of giving back.”

He said the students already want to do it again.

A co-worker designing the April 19 MyWeek, the travel and arts section of the newspaper, mentioned that it would have an article on Couch Surfing, and she thought it would be great if I could create a sidebar about my experiences.

I wrote something on the fly, unsure whether it would be used, because the editor had the weekend off and I was going on vacation the next day and would be unable to speak to him. I left him an e-mail but didn’t hear anything the following week.

Happily, though, they used my sidebar. It’s nothing fancy, but it does accurately convey my experiences with the Web site.

Update: If you use Google News to find an article on CouchSurfing, my article is the first one to come up (at least today). Score!

Update 01/05/11: The News-Journal takes down its articles after two weeks, so here is the original article. Sorry, Twitter followers! I know now to check my links!

I hesitated when my best friend Jessica, a recent college graduate, mentioned CouchSurfing.com as a way to cut expenses during our month-long trip to visit Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England. It didn’t help when people in the newsroom thought I would be showing up on the news soon — and not in a good way.

I didn’t need to worry because the Web site is all about fostering community and mutual respect. In Dublin, Ireland, nearly 20 people turned out for a random pub meet-up.

In Cork, Jessica and I met up with two American backpackers and an Irish journalist — whose friend on the phone turned out to be someone we had met in Dublin — for what turned out to be a spirited conversation with locals in a pub.

CouchSurfing.com turned out to be a fantastic way of meeting people, getting recommendations for places and easing convenience, particularly in Stratford-upon-Avon, where the hostel was miles away from the city center. We brought our host coincidentally her favorite sweets from a local shop and slept on a comfy pull-out couch. (I also managed to get actor David Tennant’s autograph from my host’s suggestion.)

Surfing doesn’t even have to be done during a trip. I made friends with an Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University exchange student through the Web site. She turned out to live in the same apartment complex as me.

The important thing is not to be stupid about it. In meeting someone in York, England, we gave out the person’s name and phone number to the desk attendant “just in case.” Though the meeting started off OK with him picking us up from our farflung hostel, introducing us to people and conversing, he later became so drunk we had to walk back in the rain.

On the whole, however, couch surfing made our trip that much more memorable, and we now laugh about the cold walk we had in York.