It's called a "Wellness Challenge".

Basically, it's a way to help break the winter doldrums. Groups of folks within the community enroll as teams, and compete for donated prizes over the span of the coldest, darkest months after the holidays.

The competitions all being things that are either good for you, or good for the community.

Like so many points for a daily exercise of at least 20 minutes. Or one point each day you take something to the recycling center (wife and youngest son milked that for all is was worth, each taking one bag or box of recyclables to the center each and every day it was open).

And fun things, too. Why do you think we started bowling again? Or weekly movies.

Mind you, I am not on the team. Never have been. Nor has the husband of the "Hammer", the team's organizer. Kinda the whole point is to get out and do things with new people, so we're not allowed. (Not that it's a "ladies' night" thing... there are men on their team, one nearing his 90s. Just not us. Hammer's husband is considering joining a rival team next year, and wants to pull me along.)

Mind you, he and I get drug along for almost all these movie-bowling-potluck nights, which is fun, but our participation doesn't count.

One of the challenges was to "create an avatar" for yourself. Primarily geared for the seniors who didn't even know what an "avatar" is. But for one evening, after a potluck with delicious homemade tira misu (the son's) and ravioli (not the son's), the team and we two extras retired to the Hammer's business offices and they began making avatars.

We weren't allowed time on the machines.

But it was fun watching the novices trying to figure out the different software. And the glares of the Hammer as tons of her precious printer ink was used to create full-page, color photos of everyone's avatar made me glad I could not incur her wrath.

And it was fun when the system just refused to give her avatar a shirt.

But you know what I had to do when we got home...