I love television. All kinds. News. Cop dramas. Reality. Game shows. Soaps. I know the well-worn buttons of my TV remote by heart and can switch between shows like a master channel flipper. It’s actually one of my most admired talents (so I'm told). So it seemed natural that I do something television related for this segment. I’m almost as comfortable around TV cables as I am TV remotes. In fact, I was the kid who used to take apart the Betamax as a kid, just for fun. (I can’t believe I just admitted that). But as it happens, cable installation is much more than just fiddling with cables. It’…

Times are tough, the economy is struggling and many west metro locals are looking for ways to cut back—myself included.  As I shelled out almost $30 for a simple kid’s trim at one of those sports-themed children’s hair boutiques recently, it occurred to me: trimming my budget could be as simple as trimming my own family’s hair. (And by family I mean everyone except me.) I quickly calculated that this snipping scheme could save the Metz clan more than $500 every year!  So off to the Internet I went, in search of the answers to my do-it-yourself hairdo questions. Unfortunately the World Wide …

Editor's Note: ‘Fish Out of Water’ features Minnetonka Patch Local Editor Katelynn Metz (me) trying my hand at a new job somewhere in the west metro. New editions of Fish Out of Water will appear every Monday. In this third segment, I try my hand as a forestry worker with the St. Louis Park Parks & Rec Department. It’s not even dawn, yet my alarm is blaring, demanding that I get up—quite obnoxiously in fact. Goody. It’s hovering around freezing and a wind advisory has been issued, yet I’m gearing up to spend hours outdoors. Double goody.  Hat? Check. Gloves? Check. Subzero parka? Check. Steel…

Editor's Note:  ‘Fish Out of Water’ features Minnetonka Patch Local Editor Katelynn Metz trying her hand at a new job somewhere in the west metro. New editions of Fish Out of Water will appear every Monday. In this second segment, she tries her hand as a group fitness instructor at The Marsh in Minnetonka.  I’m just going to get it out there: Exercise, fitness, working out—whatever you want to call it—it’s not exactly my forté. So much so, that when I told my mom that for this week’s “Fish out of Water” segment I would be learning to teach a group fitness class called "BodyJam," her first …

Editor's Note: Today, Patch is debuting the first of four new video series. The first, ‘Fish Out of Water’ features Minnetonka Patch Local Editor Katelynn Metz trying her hand at a new job somewhere in the west metro. New editions of Fish Out of Water will appear every Monday. In this first segment, she tries being a barista at Minnetonka’s neighborhood Caribou Coffee located on Highway 101, south of Minnetonka Boulevard.  Not to brag, but I seem to take to most new jobs pretty well. And in my three-plus decades I’ve done many jobs besides being a journalist, including waitressing, ice-cream …