Merlin’s easy and affordable maintenance program, The DRIVE FOR 200,000, takes vehicles thousands of miles beyond the usual manufacturer’s maintenance schedule. Merlin shops offer most automotive services, except heavy engine work, transmission repair, body repair, and car washes.

Premium brakes and mufflers have a 200,000 Mile Transferable Warranty and most other parts and service have a 24,000 Mile Transferable Warranty. Every service includes Merlin’s famous 20 point vehicle inspection. Merlin sells national brand tires which have a 200,000 Mile Warranty.

Founded in 1975, Merlin is headquartered in Geneva, Illinois, and operates shops in four states. For more information, please visit www.merlins.com.

Your LOCAL Merlin 200,000 Miles
1812 Sycamore Road
(next to Dairy Queen)
DeKalb, Illinois
815-748-5411

Hours :
Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Saturday, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Current Promotions and Specials
March 1-31, 2011: Get a FREE Flip HD Video Camera with a qualifying purchase of Four (4) Continental Tires. Contact shop for full details.
April 1-May 31, 2011: Purchase Four (4) qualifying Monroe Shocks or Struts and receive a mail-in rebate for the cost of one unit.

Here are few of the upcoming classes and events at our hospital and other facilities — look for more of these listed in the coming months over on the Upcoming Events part of this blog, or visit www.KishHospital.org for a comprehensive list.

Resources for Women
Kish Hospital has developed a new website that brings together many of the health topics important to women all in one place. The website also includes action steps and tips to start on the path towards a healthier life; visit www.kishforthegirls.org.

Free Blood Pressure Clinics
A Kishwaukee Hospital community wellness nurse educator will monitor your blood pressure weekly. You receive blood pressure information and a tracking card.
No appointment is necessary.

• Every Monday, 10am-1pm at Kishwaukee Hospital in DeKalb
• Every Wednesday, 9-11am at KishHealth Family & Specialty Care in Genoa (599 Pearson Drive)
• Every Thursday, 9-11am at KishHealth Family & Specialty Care in Waterman (10003 US Route 30)

Manage Pain with Healthy Habits
Does persistent pain affect your life? Join Karen Rouse, Director of Outpatient Clinics along with a registered dietitian and a licensed physical therapist as they discuss how diet changes, coping skills and simple exercises can positively affect daily activities and help you manage chronic pain. This free class will be held April 5, 6:30 – 8 pm at the Kish Hospital Roberts Conference Center. Call 815-748-8962 to register.

Step Into Summer with Healthy Feet
Is toenail fungus, athlete’s foot, and dry cracked skin forcing you to keep your flip flops in the closet? Surgical podiatrists Jennifer and Douglas Pacaccio, DPM share tips and tricks to get your feet ready to show off this summer. They will also discuss skin care and signs of skin cancer. This free discussion will be held April 12, 6:30 – 8 pm at the Kish Hospital Roberts Conference Center. Call 815-748-8962 to register.

Weight No More
Are you looking for a way to lose weight and improve your health? Join us for an 8-week nutrition and exercise program with weekly wellness classes at Kish Hospital, fitness classes at the YMCA as well as a pass to the YMCA for the duration of the program. By joining, you become part of a small group led by a team of experts who helps you stay on track. Winners receive various YMCA memberships. Sign up today, space is limited! Call 815-756-9577 for information and to register. The cost is $25, YMCA members, $75 non-YMCA members. The program runs March 28 – May 16, Mondays, 5:30 – 6:30 pm.

Safe Sitter
This 2-day internationally recognized babysitting program teaches 11-13 year olds the skills to provide children in their care a safe, nurturing environment. Includes Safe Sitter backpack, manual, supplies and light refreshments. Classes are offered monthly at Kish Hospital, call 815-748-8962 to register. Cost is $40.

Meet the Experts: Women and Heart Disease with Dr. Nguyen, Dr. Patel and Dr. Salwan
Heart disease has symptoms and risks unique to women. Cardiologist Paul Nguyen, MD, MS encourages women to join him for this informative discussion with cardiologist Jagdish Patel, MD, FACC and internist Manav Salwan, MD as they discuss why women of all ages should take heart disease seriously. Heart healthy meal provided. This free class will be held April 28, 6:30 – 8 pm at Kish Hospital.

From the start, Craig was drawn to the restaurant business. During college, he worked summers at the Farm Kitchen, where he met his future wife, Lea Weiss. After graduating from UW-Oshkosh in 1973, Craig worked for four years at McDonald’s, gaining many insights that he yearned to apply to his own business.

That dream came true on July 18, 1984, when Craig, Lea, George and Ruth converted a former A&W root beer stand and christened it “Culver’s Frozen Custard and ButterBurgers.” Then, as now, the Culver’s chose to use only the freshest ingredients, prepared each meal exactly to a guest’s order and delivered it to their table with a welcoming smile.

It didn’t take long after that before visitors to Wisconsin began asking when we were going to open a Culver’s in their home states. That got the ball rolling, and since then, other families have joined with the Culver’s family to bring the hometown values of hard work and the best food around to guests in 19 states.

The goal is always the same: that every time you step into a Culver’s, you’ll always enjoy a fresh, handcrafted meal served with a smile and genuine pride. Welcome to delicious.

At Culver’s, we put our heart and soul into the food we prepare for our guests. From Midwest-raised beef to dairy produced in Wisconsin, we use only the finest, most wholesome ingredients. Cooked to order and served with a smile, just like you would if it had come out of your kitchen. Just like we have since our first guest nearly 30 years ago when we opened our first restaurant in Sauk City, Wisconsin.

We’re family owned and family first. Our commitment to hometown values of working hard and welcoming our guests with genuine hospitality and fresh, made only after you order meals have helped us bring our signature ButterBurgers and fresh Frozen Custard to over 427 restaurants across the country.

The Culver’s of Sycamore is located at 1200 DeKalb Avenue. Click here to learn our frozen custard flavor of the day! Also, on Tuesday’s, from 5 to 8 pm, we have Magic Matt in our restaurant to thrill families with his feats of magic. Stop in!

At ServiceNOW of DeKalb, we offer a complete line of residential and commercial electrical services and products to serve your residential or commercial needs. We specialize in remodeling, rewiring and updating homes and businesses all over the northern Illinois area. We are a full-service company serving the DeKalb area with quality electrical, plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning services.

We have access to the complete product lines of quality electrical equipment and lighting product manufacturers. This range of equipment and products allows us to meet all of your needs for commercial and light industrial electrical projects. Every customer receives personal attention and prompt service regardless of the size of the project.
We offer free estimates, as well as complete design and build services for any home, business, church or institution.

Call ServiceNOW today at (815) 756-8484 to schedule a free consultation or visit us online at www.ServiceNowDeKalb.com.

That means that any taxpayer who claimed the maximum $7,500 credit in 2008 will have to add $500 to their income tax liability for the next 15 years. If the house gets sold before the 15 years are up, the remaining repayment balance is due the year the house is sold.

The 2008 credit should not be confused with nearly identical credits that were available in 2009 and 2010 and did not require the credit to be paid back unless the house ceased to be a main home within the 36 months following the purchase.

The news may come as a bit of an unwelcome surprise to some taxpayers who may have forgotten the terms of the 2008 credit which, in reality, was more like a non-interest 15-year loan from the IRS. The IRS will be sending out reminders to those taxpayers impacted by the 2008 Home Tax Credit.

If you’ve purchased a home in the past few years and are unsure if you need to repay your Homebuyer Credit, please speak with your Jackson Hewitt tax preparer. Your local Jackson Hewitt office opened on January, 2003 with one office at our present location at 2022 Sycamore Road in Dekalb.

John Saponari runs the offices and day to day operations, Sharon Saponari handles HR issues and Greg W. Davis is the CPA on staff. We now have 7 offices in Dekalb, Sycamore, Rochelle, and Belvidere. For more information, call us at 815-756-8299 or visit www.JacksonHewitt.com.

On September 4, 1991 he opened Pizza Pro’s at 110 East Hillcrest in DeKalb, providing carry-out and delivery service to the local area. Although the name tells you that you will get a great pizza, it didn’t prepare customers for the variety of sandwiches, pasta and their special “Cheese Nuggets.”

The carry-out and delivery business was a great hit with the college campus at Northern Illinois University. As the business grew additional space was needed. When the opportunity arose to move next to one of the busiest college bars in town, “Amenesia,” they moved to 928 West Lincoln Highway.

The business was expanded to provide dine in to the bar next door. This situation worked great for both businesses.

In 2007 the business was moved to its present location at 1205 West Lincoln Highway. With this move the business was expanded to include inside dining as well as a full service bar and private banquet room with a full catering menu.

Pizza Pro’s friendly staff, daily food and drink specials as well as the varied menu make it a popular venue for both the local residents and students at NIU and Kishwaukee Colleges.

Stop by or visit our web site at www.PizzaProsDeKalb.com for more information. Or scan the QR code in our ad in the printed version of New Values Magazine!

All tanning upgrades are FREE!  Tan unlimited in any bed, 20 minute lay down to 10 minute high power stand up, for one monthly price. Stop in for more information, call us at 815-756-1188 or visit our web site at www.FizWorkz.com.

Le Print Express provides full color printing, copy services,  graphic design, binding, laminating and many more services and products. Invitations, award plaques, special promotional items and other products are all available through Le Print Express, a division of which produces New Values Magazine!

Come on into our new store and say “hi” to Nancy, Jim, Diane, David and Chris!

But how do iZon High Definition Lenses differ from other types of lenses? What’s the process which makes these lenses better than traditional ones? What will you experience with this new technology?

First, let’s talk about your eyes. Here are some facts you might find interesting, if almost unbelievable:

• Your eyes deliver 36,000 bits of information per hour to your brain
• They have more than 2 million working parts
• They process over 24 million images over the course of a typical lifetime
• Your vision accounts for up to 85% of the knowledge you will ever learn

Your eyes are like fingerprints — no two are alike — and even your two eyes differ from each other. They have tiny microscopic irregularities. These imperfections can affect things like depth perception, crispness, contrast, color perception and even nighttime vision.

Older measurement technology gave prescriptions that were alike for potentially thousands of people. Using iZon® eye exam technology, your eye’s unique ocular fingerprint — or iPrint™ — is created delivering a diagnosis with a level of data never available before.

Using the unique iPrint of each of your eyes, custom-created iZon High Definition Lenses are produced. Since these lenses take into consideration both traditional measurements and the unique aberrations of your eyes, your vision is truly optimized.

iZon High Resolution Lenses provide solutions for nearsightedness (myopia), farsightedness (hyperopia), mild astigmatism and prebyopia (the inability to focus on objects at all ranges of vision — near, intermediate and distant — that many people over the age of 40 suffer from).

These High Definition Lenses not only address acuity of vision (which line you can read on an eye chart), they also improve the quality of your vision. In fact, they are clinically proven to address the following common vision challenges:

• daytime glare (driving on wet pavement towards the rising or setting sun)
• nighttime glare (driving at night where glare, halos and starbursts may be a problem)
• low light (seeing dark objects such as a deer at dusk)
• low contrast (seeing a white golf ball against a light sky)
• medium contrast (reading a street sign in a shadow)
• varying distance (reading directional signage while walking through an airport)
• varying print sizes (reading type of varying sizes, colors and fonts on sign)
• nighttime driving difficulties (safety while driving at night)

Most eyeglasses are made for looking. iZon lenses are made for seeing.

Here are some common questions and answers about iZon High Definition Lenses, the examination procedure and other concerns about this new technology:

Q. Will I have to adjust to iZon Lenses and seeing things in high-definition?
A. Objects will appear clearer, sharper and with greater depth and dimension than before. As with other types of lenses, some patients may require a short adaption period.

Q. Are iZon High Definition Lenses available for contact lenses?
A. Currently, iZon Lenses are available for single vision spectacle lenses for the correction of myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness) and mild astigmatism, and in progressive addition spectacle lenses (multi-focal, such as bi- and tri-focal prescriptions).

Q. Do iZon High Definition Lenses look different than regular eyeglass lenses? Are they thicker?
A. No, iZon Lenses are thin and lightweight, just like other top selling brands. You won’t be able to tell the difference between iZon High Definition Lenses and traditional lenses just by looking at them. They are also UV-blocking and include premium scratch-resistant, anti-reflective and super-hydrophobic coatings.

Q. I have had LASIK or PRK surgery in the past, and I notice that my vision is not as sharp or as clear as I would like. Can iZon Lenses help me?
A. iZon Lenses do improve the overall quality of vision because wearers will see objects more clearly, sharper and with greater depth and dimension.

Q. Does the examination for customizes iZon Lenses take longer?
A. No, the exam only takes about one minute. Using the special, Z-View® Aberrometer, we use the latest wavefront technology to measure the microscopic irregularities in your eyes. The process is fully automated and a highly precise measurement — your eyes’ iPrint — is completed in approximately one minute.

Q. What is wavefront technology?
A. Wavefront technology was originally utilized in the field of astronomy to aid in reducing aberrations or imperfections in the multiple lenses of telescopes, including the Hubble Telescope. The Z-View Aberrometer provides an accurate assessment of the optical imperfections found in the entire eye’s optical system.

Q. How does the Z-View Aberrometer map my eye? Will I feel anything during the exam?
A. The procedure sends a safe, painless, invisible, low-power light into the retina of your eye. The beam is reflected back out of the eye and is analyzed. Your custom iPrint is created from this analysis, showing the unique aberrations of the eye that can have an impact on the quality of your vision.

Still have questions about iZon High Definition Lenses or being able to see better than you have ever been able to before? Call Spex Expressions at 815-758-1039 or visit our web site at www.SpexExpressions.com. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter, where we share eye care news, discuss new technologies and our patients even share their experiences. We hope to see you soon.

Once through our doorway, you will surely never be bored by the surroundings! Inside, guests are always greeted with a warming welcome, a rustic potbelly stove and an on-site train that adds to our guest’s delight. Also, if you are seated in some parts of the dining area, you can see the guys at work over the cook fires!

There has been an awareness of nutritional health and concern in recent years and a growing market of people who now eat our culinary style of cooking regularly. Our responsibilities include the effect of our products on the health and well being of our customers, and inspiration for concepts come from within and also from trends we read about and see while traveling.

The menu is moderated sized, offering a collection of many of your favorites and a great celebration of American items with a common theme–healthy (low-fat, natural ingredients), flavorful, and familiar. Our goal is to create satisfying and still nutritious food. Fresh vegetables, choice cut meats and dairy products are used to create home cooked meals from scratch.

In our 40+ years of professional experience serving in the food industry, during which we coined the phrase “Make the Junction Eating Place Your Meeting Place”, we have proudly compiled a reputation and home for DeKalb County and its most popular family restaurant. Major attention has been devoted to decor and culinary aspects, with an ever-changing menu featuring dishes made with regional foods!

Excellent breakfast, great lunches, and pleasant dinners are available to diners, and we hope the output reflects our commitment to you!

For more information and to view our menus, go to www.JunctionEatingPlace.com or stop by for your next meal. We’re located at 816 W. Lincoln Highway in DeKalb.

Change the transmission fluid and filter every 15,000 to 18,000 miles. This will protect precision-crafted components of the transmission and transaxle.

Inspect the suspension system regularly. This will extend the life of the vehicle’s tires.

The cooling system should be completely flushed and refilled about every 24 months. The level, condition and concentration of coolant should be checked. A 50/50 mix of anti-freeze and water is usually recommended (refer to your owner’s manual).

Never remove the radiator cap until the engine has thoroughly cooled. The tightness and condition of drive belts, clamps and hoses should be checked by a pro.

Change your oil and oil filter as specified in your manual more often (every 3,000 miles) if you make frequent, short jaunts, extended trips with lots of luggage or tow a trailer.

Replace other filters (air, fuel, PCV, etc.) as recommended more often in dusty conditions. Get engine drivability problems (hard stops, rough idling, stalling, diminished power, etc.) corrected at a good shop.

A dirty windshield causes eye fatigue and can pose a safety hazard. Replace worn blades and get plenty of windshield washer solvent.

Have your tires rotated about every 5,000 miles. Check the tire pressure once a month, but let tires cool down first. Don’t forget your spare and be sure your jack is in good condition.

Check your owner’s manual to find out what fuel octane rating your car’s engine needs, then buy that during your fill-ups.

Keep your tires inflated to the proper levels. Under-inflated tires make it harder for your car to move down the road, which means your engine uses more fuel to maintain speed.

Lighten the load. Heavier vehicles use more fuel, so clean out unnecessary weight in the passenger compartment or trunk before you hit the road.

Bill White’s C.A.R. Hospital has provided motorists in the DeKalb area with comprehensive auto repair services for over 20 years. For more vehicle care tips, visit our web site at www.CarHospital.net or call us at 815-758-7425.

* Due to Federal regulations, this offer may not apply to Medicare/Medicaid or Federal Insurances.

Your health is a sliding scale — every second of every day we are either getting healthier or sicker. Your health is dependent on certain essential elements being present in the correct amount.

Local DeKalb chiropractor, Dr. Y.B. Evan Barrat of Barrat Chiropractic, offers these top five tips to improve and maintain your overall health:

1. Water
Dehydration makes everything more difficult and uncomfortable, from the noticeable (aches and pains) to the unnoticeable, but still very important (a rise in your blood pressure). Keeping hydrated is critical to your body’s health, no matter what time of day, week or year it is, and it helps to keep your body’s systems in balance. A good rule of thumb is that for every pound of body weight, drink a half ounce of water every day (i.e. a 200 pound person should drink 100 ounces of water). A gallon of water is 128 ounces.

2. Diet and supplements
What and how much you eat can maintain your overall health, but by making poor choice, your body is likely to spiral into disease. A planned, nutritious and well-balanced diet that consists of properly-portioned amounts is key to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. A diet high in grains and processed foods is pro-inflammatory. Inflammation is the precursor to all of the major disease states plaguing society today, so emphasize a diet containing lean, grass fed-meats, plenty of fresh fruits and vegetable, and use little to no flour or sugar.

Almost all Americans should consider supplements as a way to replenish that which even the best of diets are deficient in. Those that are proving to be invaluable are: A good multi vitamin, magnesium (400 mg a day), Omega 3 (1-3 grams a day) and vitamin D (1000-4000 IU a day).

3. Exercise
Regular exercise is an excellent way to maintain your body weight and also increase the anti-inflammatory processes in your body. It will also increase the natural “feel good” chemicals in your body, reinforcing the good decision you’ve made to exercise!

For most people, a half hour walk daily is sufficient, though others may need more than this to maintain a healthy weight. If you sit for long periods of time, for instance on a chair or couch at home or in your chair at your office, any physical straining should be preceded by a two minute walk to equalize the pressure on your intervertebral disc.

4. Sleep
Six to eight hours of good sleep is crucial to good health and to give your body adequate time to rest and repair. Your nervous system uses this time period to repair from the stresses of the day and to set you up to meet the challenges of tomorrow.

5. Chiropractic
You’ve heard the expression, “if you don’t use it you will lose it,” and nowhere is it proven more true than in the joints of the skeleton. Your spine protects your nervous system and makes it so you can do all the activities that bring you joy (playing with family and friends) as well as those that we just have to do (work and go to school).

When you’re body is not moving as it should, you’ll experience a lack of stamina, pain, sore or spastic muscles, numbness tingling and other symptoms. A chiropractor is uniquely trained to find, identify and correct these misalignments.

These five things, when done one at a time, will keep you alive. Done properly all together, however, they will get you living again. Your body has an incredible capacity to repair itself given the opportunity. Whether it is changing your diet, helping you find the right exerecise plan or providing diagnostics and corrective manipulation, Barrat Chiropractic’s goal is to improve the health of our overall community.

Start the habits to a healthier, happier life: Give Barrat Chiropractic a call today at 815-748-3900 or visit us online at www.BarratChiropractic.com.

These are guidelines for maintaining and improving health. However, there are conditions and situations that may need to be considered before altering lifestyle. If you have questions or concerns, contact your primary care physician.

*NOTE: Our advertisement in the March 2011 edition of New Values Magazine made reference to a free spinal screening. We mistakenly omitted that, due to Federal regulations, this offer may not apply to Medicare/Medicaid or Federal Insurances.

When the weather begins to warm up it is common for people to want to clean out the winter blues, to start fresh with the promise of new beginnings. Merry Maids can help!

Our web site, www.merrymaids.com, has many helpful cleaning tips for do-it-yourselfers out there who want to take on their own cleaning jobs.  Maybe it’s that pesky grout you want to look white again (Just use a grout brush with a 1:5 solution of chlorine bleach:water and scrub. When you’ve finished cleaning, rinse the area well to remove all traces of bleach.).

Maybe it’s the soap scum on tubs and showers (Simply use a degreasing agent and lots of elbow grease. Get a good alkaline soap scum remover. Cover the affected area completely and soak for at least 15 minutes. Do it right after a shower when the walls will be wet. After soaking, use a stiff scrub brush or a white, nylon-backed scrub sponge to clean the walls. You may need to soak and scrub a couple of times to get rid of all the build-up. Then rinse well with clear water.).

Or maybe it’s a whole house cleaning done at one time, by someone other than you.  Let Merry Maids help you start this spring off right with a clean home.  Call 815-895-2211 for our Spring Special and to set up your FREE in-home estimate.

Happy Spring!

Our specials change every month from chicken and waffles to Chicken Cordon Bleu to deep fried bacon and many other unique dishes. Flippin Eggs specializes in breakfast, but they do it all, and while we’re are only open until 3 pm everyday, during Lent we’re open for dinner and do an all-you-can-eat fish fry.

For dessert, you must try our Chocolate Lava Cake — it is absolutely to-die for!

But wait, it gets better. The promotions we do are out of this world and nothing like anyone does in this county! We do scratch off cards, interactive football promotions, trivia, and right now we are giving away a laptop computer and 2 season passes to Six Flags Great America with our Easter Egg Promotion.

Oh, did I mention when you visit us with a party of five or more you get a FREE order of our hot and fresh home made doughnuts? They are made when you order them.

Visit www.FlippinEggs.com for more information on how to experience dining at it’s best or just stop by 831 South 4th Street in DeKalb.

What a wonderful day — the first issue of the New Values Magazine is being mailed and distributed today, we’re officially launching the printed magazine’s online counterpart, NewValuesMagazine.com and you, as a local, DeKalb-area consumer, have the chance to be a part of a new publishing and promotional effort that is the first in the country!

Keep an eye out in your mailbox for the March issue of New Values Magazine. If you remember the “old” Values Magazine, we’ve got a few new surprises for you! Yes, you’ll still get advertisements and promotions from our valued partnering advertisers. But, there’s so much more now, including puzzles and even contests.

You’ll see posts on our site now from select advertisers. When you get your magazine, you’ll note how the ads and the posts here tend to work “together.” Advertisers use our web site to educate and inform you indepth — something they can’t do with the limited space of an advertisement.

So enjoy you’re new issue and be sure to check out the posts as they come online over the next few days (and get updated throughout the month!). You will want to sign-up on our e-list to receive our monthly e-newsletter, receive valuable coupons and much more. Sign-up is over to the right. —>

What is this? It's a QR code!

It’s called a QR code and you’ll see it all over New Values Magazine, both on the cover and throughout the magazine — especially in some advertiser’s ads.

Although initially used for tracking parts in vehicle manufacturing, QR codes are now used in a much broader context, including both commercial tracking and convenience-oriented applications aimed at mobile phone users. They come to us from Japan, where they are very common.

A QR code is a matrix or two-dimensional barcode readable by mobile phones and smartphones with cameras. The code consists of block-like graphics arranged in a square pattern on white background.

Once the image is captured in your cell phone — with the assistance of any free, downloadable barcode reader app — it may direct you to a company web site, a coupon or special offer, show a movie trailer or video or something totally different.

Our advertisers use QR codes in their ads to bring you to their section of this web site, where their posts will grown into a library of expertise, information and promotions. Over time, you can return to these to learn more about them and the products and services they offer.

In each issue of New Values Magazine, you might also find QR codes used as clues in our puzzles and even to convey secret information only for readers who have a phone or smartphone that can scan and read the codes. They’ll be our little secret!

In the mean time, enjoy this new piece of technology and know that we’re one of the first magazine to ever incorporate QR codes on such a wide scale and with such a great amount of uses. See, now you’re part of the “in” crowd too!