Since the winter of 2005-2006, the City of St. Paul's Public Works department has been using an automated system to telephone city residents when a Snow Emergency was declared. Code Red, a voice messaging notification system, had the capacity to telephone every household in the city, plus cell phones and other numbers registered with the system, in less than two hours.

Code Red costs the city of St. Paul around $50,000 a year. And despite being such an efficient system, no link could be found between calls made and a reduction the number of cars towed. Even though the cost to the owner of having a car towed during a snow emergency is around $250, the city says that it looses money every time a car has to be towed, and the plug on Code Red is going to be pulled.

Most St. Paul residents who park their cars on city streets are aware of the Snow Emergency rules, and heavy snowfalls are hard to miss, so many of the cars that are towed belong to people who can't move them for some reason, regardless of whether they received a Code Red call. Still, I liked to receive the calls last winter, an extra reminder to trudge out in the freezing cold to move my car almost a quarter-mile to the nearest day plow route street. Living in downtown St. Paul has drawbacks.

St. Paul drivers can still get Snow Emergency alerts by email, and can check if there is a snow emergency at the City of St. Paul's website, and from news media outlets, local television, radio and internet news sites.

The greatest number of cars are towed on the first Snow Emergency of the winter. Don't be one of them: sign up for email alerts, and remind yourself of the Snow Emergency parking rules for your city.

PostSecret, one of the most enduring sites on the internet, has an exhibition at Minneapolis Central Library. The PostSecret project began in 2004 with Frank Warren distributing 3,000 blank postcards with the invitation to decorate the card with a secret, and mail it back to him anonymously. The secret could be anything, but it must be true, and never before revealed. The cards are scanned and displayed on the PostSecret website.

The project has received thousands upon thousands of illustrated postcards, with secret wishes, embarrassing tales, admissions of criminal acts, confessions of desire, and poignant hopes and dreams.

A traveling exhibition of 400 PostSecret cards are on display at the Cargill Gallery in Minneapolis Central Library, during library hours, until November 30.

PostSecret Exhibition at Minneapolis Central Library

After spending the summer cycling, running, and taking a couple of trips out of the Metro area to go rock climbing, I'm getting twitchy and feeling very unfit now the weather is too cold to cycle. "Too cold" is of course debatable, since many Minnesotans commute to work by bike year-round, and there are still plenty of bundled-up runners on Summit Avenue and on the trails around Lake Calhoun. On reflection, perhaps I'm a bit wimpy?

Minneapolis and St. Paul consistently rank highly in lists of Americas' healthiest and fittest cities. While there are plenty of opportunities for outdoor sports and recreation here, there's also many ways for us to stay fit and active indoors and out of the snow in the Twin Cities. My favorite? Vertical Endeavors, an indoor rock climbing gym in St. Paul.

• Ideas for Indoor Sports and Recreation in Minneapolis and St. Paul
• More Resources for Surviving Winter in the Twin Cities

We can spot newcomers here. Especially ones from warm, snow-free places like Arizona or Florida. It's not because they admit they've never tried walleye or Surly Bender. They are the ones driving cars with little portholes cleared in the snow on the windows.

The snow is falling, and if you have to clear it off your car for the first time ever tomorrow morning (and if not, you will have to soon) clear all the snow off the roof, windows, all the windows, and the hood. If you omit to remove snow from the hood and roof, it will blow on the windshield as you drive and fall over the windshield when you brake.

This might be the most crystal clear concept to you, the Minnesota native or alumni of previous winters. But it continues to escape the many new motorists peering through the little holes on their car that are driving around after every snowfall. Perhaps you can be excused the first time (as long as you don't cause an accident) but please be safe and get all that nasty cold white stuff off your car before you drive off this winter. Minnesota's other road users thank you.

Macy's in downtown Minneapolis continues their almost half-century-old Christmas tradition with the opening this week of the 46th Annual Animated Holiday Show at Macy's SantaLand.

This year's theme is "A Day in the Life of an Elf" and tells the story of Santa's elves at the North Pole preparing for Christmas. What does a day in the life of an elf involve? Getting Santa's mail and making toys, of course, and then there's teaching the reindeer how to fly, and they have to fit in time to go to school too.

Preparations for the elaborate animated display have in the works since last year's beautiful Nutcracker show opened. Construction of the actual display began back in September. When around half a million people come to visit every year, it's understandable that Macy's takes that much time to make it as magical as possible.

Macy's SantaLand, Macy's eighth-floor auditorium,
700 Nicollet Mall,
Minneapolis, MN 55402
Telephone 612-375-5020

Open now through December 31 during store hours, with earlier opening hours after Thanksgiving.

Three months on from the Republican National Convention, Minnesota Wild fans have replaced security fences, armed police and protesters at the Xcel Energy Center, but neither the police nor the protesters have forgotten.

St. Paul police have been scrutinizing thousands of hours of security camera footage taken during the convention, looking for illegal activities. So far, they have come up with a protester who jumps on the hood of a car, possibly denting it, on Shepard Road. And a photograph of a man discovered on the internet (pictured) who appears to being kicked by a protester. Police are appealing for anyone who knows the identities of people involved - victims or perpetrators - to contact them with the intention that justice can be done. No police report was filed in either incident, so would it not be unreasonable to assume that there may be crimes where the victims are more concerned about justice, that St. Paul police could spend their time better investigating? St. Paul police request that anyone with information about either incident contact them at 651-266-5471.

The anti-RNC camp continues to maintain that the police themselves should be under investigation, accusing police of brutality and over-zealous use of force and pepper spray on mostly innocent people. Over 30 journalists from local and national media outlets were arrested, many prominently displaying media credentials at the time of their arrest, giving the critics vocal allies. A collective of independent journalists and cameramen have produced a feature-length movie documenting interaction between the police and demonstrators during the Convention. Terrorizing Dissent can be watched online, or viewed at a free screening at various Twin Cities and nationwide locations. The video has strong language throughout. I was caught up in the final day of protests and nearly got a face full of pepper spray, and I'm practically a hockey mom. Even though I wasn't there to antagonize the police or cause trouble, I narrowly escaped being arrested with a herd of protesters and bystanders, and it appeared to me that the police seemed to be treating everyone in downtown St. Paul as a troublemaker.

A commission is investigating the policing during the RNC, looking for problems with training and supervision of police officers. The public is invited to submit their experiences during the Convention to lucie.passus@stpaul.gov by November 14. The commission isn't investigating individual incidents or allegations of misconduct, and is focused solely on events outside the Xcel Energy Center, but it will be interesting to hear the commission's report, due sometime after December.

_{Photo credit: Max Whittaker/GettyImages}

Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, the first Minnesotan woman in space, is set to fly her second mission to the International Space Station. On November 14, the St. Paul native will form part of the crew of Endeavor heading to the ISS on the 15-day STS-126 mission.

The mission's aim is to expand the International Space Station's living quarters and double the number of crew members, and involves several space walks. Stefanyshyn-Piper is the second most experienced NASA female space walker, and is scheduled to perform three further spacewalks to install and repair components.

Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper was born and graduated from Derham Hall High School, St. Paul, and her mom still lives here in the Twin Cities. She remembers St. Paul and her school fondly in her pre-flight interview, and like a true Minnesotan, talks at length about the weather and the Minnesotan winter.

• NASA's STS-126 Mission Information page

Despite the credit crunch, we still want to buy gifts for friends and family. Instead of shopping at chain stores, check out these upcoming art and craft sales and fairs. It's better for the environment: you'll save air-miles by buying locally. You'll get a better gift: you'll never find something as unique and affordable at the Mall. And it's better for the local economy: your money will go directly to a person, local business, or student in the Twin Cities, instead of to a national big-box retailer.

Here's some upcoming art, craft and gift sales in the Twin Cities.

• Do It Green! Annual Green Gift Sale November 15, Midtown Global Market. The sale will have all kinds of green gifts from local retailers and individual artists and crafters. The sale will also have fair trade goods supporting communities around the world.

• Minneapolis College of Art and Design Art Sale, November 21 and 22, MCAD's Main Building. Support an up-and-coming artist while you shop for art, sculpture, clothing, jewelry, prints, and photographs by current students and recent alumni. The MCAD art sale is reputed to be the best place to buy affordable artwork from leading-edge artists. Tickets are required for Friday, admission is free on Saturday.

• No Coast Craft-o-rama December 5 and 6, at Midtown Global Market. This popular sale features local crafters selling fashions, jewelry, homewares, baby goods, ceramics, prints and art. Items for sale include cutting edge fashions, kitsch housewares and more avant-garde items, as well as more traditional crafted goods.
• Collge of Visual Arts Holiday Art Sale December 6. CVA in St. Paul holds a sale and silent auction featuring art by current students, alumni, faculty, and selected works from the CVA art archives. The sale benefits the CVA Scholarship Fund.

If you haven't registered to vote, it's not too late. Minnesota has same-day voter registration. Take ID with proof of residency, such as a Minnesota drivers licence to your polling place on Tuesday, and you can register to vote right there.

Where do you vote? The Minnesota Secretary of State can find your polling place, based on your zip code.

And who are you voting for? Get a list of the candidates in local and statewide races from the Pioneer Press voter's guide.

And after you vote, Starbucks are offering free coffee if you turn in your "I Voted" sticker, and local independent coffee shop Wilde Roast Cafe in Northeast Minneapolis has a free cookie for anyone who comes in with their "I Voted" sticker. Wilde Roast Cafe coffee is much better than Starbucks.

And you don't need to vote to take advantage of this offer. Could you imagine how much your kids would complain otherwise? Ben and Jerry's are giving away free ice cream to everyone from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. on Election Day at participating stores.

The weather is forecast to be mostly sunny and mild, perfect for zombies to creep about, ghouls to rattle their chains, and Sarah Palin look-a-likes to take to the streets to trick-or-treat and celebrate All Hallows Eve.

Have a happy and safe Halloween!

• Last minute Halloween resources: costumes, children's events, haunted houses, parties and events in Minneapolis and St. Paul

_{Photo Getty Images}