Hello everyone, and Happy New Year! Here are my reviews of the
November winning sites at Top Alzheimer's/Caregiving Sites:

Thru His Eyes
by Tim Brennan
Webmaster: Nancy Walker
http://www.nhisgarden.com/his_eyes/entrance.html
1st Place - November 2000
Tim Brennan is 57, and he has Alzheimer's disease. He formerly
designed, installed and resolved problems with computers, information
processing, telephone networks, and video conferencing, and worked
for a major bank for 25 years. When he had a heart attack in 1992,
and through medical examinations following that, it was discovered
that he had some type of dementia, and then in 1993, he was diagnosed
with Alzheimer's. Since his diagnosis, he has written a column for
The St. Petersburg Times (Florida), and articles for Duke University,
The University of California (San Diego), and some Alzheimer's
Association chapters, as well as speaking, and with his wife,
beginning a local support group for early stage Alzheimer's patients.
Webmaster Nancy Walker of Caregiver's Haven, has designed a
beautiful site, and Tim's articles offer practical suggestions about
living positively as someone with Alzheimer's, and his beautiful
poetry gives us all clearer insight into the life of an Alzheimer's
patient.

My Journey
by Chip Gerber
Webmaster: Marsha Penington
http://www.zarcrom.com/users/alzheimers/chip.html
2nd Place - November 2000
Chip is 55, and he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 1997. He worked
for over 25 years as a licensed social worker. His daily journal is
online, accented by the always beautiful designs of Webmaster Marsha
Penington of Alzheimer's Outreach. Chip's journal is unique in that
it is not just an account of what he does every day, but it is a
collection of his thoughts, feelings, and reflections on his journey
with Alzheimer's. He expresses his appreciation of and delight in
ordinary things, including his senses of smell, sight, and touch as
he cherishes nature and the changing seasons. Chip gives us a
beautiful way to look at life, in spite of our losses, as Alzheimer's
patients, caregivers, or anyone-- as each of us eventually will
suffer some losses in life. Beautifully written, Chip's "My Journey"
is a wonderful site to visit in this holiday season, helping us
realize and count our blessings and to be thankful for all we have.

Passage into Paradise
by Dorothy Womack
http://www.geocities.com/womack47/passage.html
3rd Place - November 2000
Dorothy's book, Passage into Paradise, is her caregiving journal kept
during her time as caregiver for her mother. It is a huge book--
around 200 pages printed out, presented as 25 pages online-- but it
is one that the reader will "not want to put down" until finished.
Dorothy has given us not only her mother's journey with Alzheimer's,
but also the thoughts, feelings, doubts, and pain of a caregiver--
even one who is a woman of great faith. Dorothy's moving poetry and
beautiful photos of her mother are also included, and soft nature and
angel backgrounds help make the book a pleasure to read. Passage into
Paradise has been awarded the Alzheimer's Site of the Week at
About.com and a Suite101 Featured Online Book. Dorothy is a writer
for Today's Caregiver (Caregiver.com), Empowering Caregivers, and her
poems and articles are featured at several other Web sites, including
Alzheimer's Outreach, A Year to Remember, and Poetry.com.

Caregiver.com
Gary Barg, Editor-in-Chief
http://www.caregiver.com
4th Place - November 2000
This is the Web site of Today's Caregiver Magazine, where you can
read stories, essays, and poems by the caregivers you've met online
as well as informative articles by experts on Alzheimer's, other
diseases, and caregiving. Hot topics include Alzheimer's disease,
incontinence, nutrition, depression, and legal issues. At this
searchable site, you can subscribe online to Today's Caregiver, sign
up for the Caregiver.com newsletter, read featured articles and
poetry, post on the discussion forum, and talk to someone in the chat
room. Scheduled chats include one hosted by Senior Editor, Kate
Murphy (of Kate's Place at http://home.att.net/~katesdrm/)each
Wednesday evening. Caregiver.com is a very deserving winner in the
2000 National Mature Media Awards, and it is a wonderful source of
information and support to so many. Thank you so much, Gary, Kate,
and everyone at Caregiver.com!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My apologies because this is late as usual-- even with days off work
for the holidays, I haven't managed to catch up. I must admit I've
been kind of lazy and have done a lot of sleeping since coming home
from our Christmas trip to be with my family.

And now, I will put on another pot of that wonderful coffee my niece
gave me for Christmas, and I will fight off the temptation to take
another nap. I have awards to present tonight!!!

Not only will there be four winners for December, but I will also
catch up on entering monthly votes into Microsoft Excel, and I will
be ready to award winners for the year 2000 as well! I will total
the montly votes for each site and then divide by the number of
months that site has been participating. I plan to give first
through fourth place awards, and also a top ten award to each site in
positions one through ten.

This will be an exciting night! Again, I want to wish you all a very
Happy New Year, and to thank you for your participation, for your
friendship, and for all you do for caregivers and Alzheimer's
patients.