St. Charles North grad helps unearth app to explore nature

When Nate Pauer graduated from St. Charles North High School in 2011, he knew where his passion would take him: computer technology and application development.

As a senior at Elmhurst College, Pauer and his "soccer" friend John Reglin of Michigan operate their own company, Upper Ech LLC.

They've used their interest in nature to develop an app called Wilderbliss, which highlights the beautiful and sometimes hidden treasures of nature that users share.

A person visiting a beautiful location anywhere in the world that they would want to share simply uploads a photo of the location, gives it a description and then "tags" it to identify the main activity at the spot - hiking, relaxation, swimming, for example.

Other users can explore those new spots using the app's geolocation technology. It is especially handy for someone planning a vacation in a certain state.

"The idea came about last summer when we were just spending a lot of time outside and we came upon some really cool spots that we wanted to share," Pauer said. "The coolest spots are those that are far from being on anyone's radar, and our app helps connect with them."

Pauer handles much of the coding technology associated with developing an app, while Reglin is more of the marketing mind behind it.

"It's more than just sitting around and coding all of the time," Pauer said. "There is a lot of time spent knocking ideas around, because every move we make has an effect on the direction of the company and the success of the app."

Wilderbliss is a free app and will remain that way forever, Pauer said. But there may be revenue-generating facets in the future if stores want to advertise a product that fits in with the location being highlighted.

"You might get a store promoting yoga pants or hiking shoes, those types of things," Pauer said.

Ultimately, Wilderbliss has a fairly simple mission. "We offer a cool way to share outdoor locations that have not been accessible for many reasons," Pauer said. "It's a great way to connect with others wanting to explore the Earth we live on.

"These are top-notch excursions that give you a reason to explore that you cannot turn down."

A ducky watch

A mother duck decided to nest and lay her eggs under a gas meter along the new pedestrian walkway at the Geneva History Center, so the city was asking any folks cutting through to go to the Patten House restaurant or other locations to not disturb the setting.

An area was marked off last week with cones to steer people clear of the nesting spot until the eggs hatch. The city said it wanted to be sure this "special visitor" could concentrate on the task at hand.

Closing this book

Nancy Bell has been a familiar face at the Geneva Library since 1987, serving as a library technical assistant. That basically means she helps patrons figure out how to use the library's resources.

But she's also been a big player in planning the children's programs and various other special programs and displays at the library.

She retired last Friday, triggering appreciation from her friends and library patrons who enjoyed her service to the community for so many years.

So what does a longtime library employee have planned for retirement? Reading, of course.

"It will be good to read adult-level books for a change, after years of reading children's books," said Bell, referring to her role in the children's department.

In addition, Bell said it was simply time to step down and pass the torch to younger employees.

"My husband, Patrick, retired a year ago, and he loves it and would recommend it to anyone," Bell said. With that kind of encouragement, she's looking forward to spending more time with family and enjoying the Fox Valley region.

Ides go unplugged

Fans of rocker Jim Peterik and his Ides of March are in for a rare session at 2 p.m. Sunday at Kiss the Sky in Batavia.

Peterik and some of his mates will perform an acoustic session at the local record shop.

If I can get there, maybe Peterik will sign my copy of his "Through the Eye of the Tiger" book. It was a great trip down memory lane for those of us who lived through the exciting and extremely fun 1960s music scene in Chicago and its suburbs.

City dining here

We've known for a long time that ZaZa Trattoria in downtown St. Charles is one of the finest restaurants in the region.

But celebrating our 31st anniversary there last week reminded my wife and me that it also means you do not have to travel into downtown Chicago to find yourself in a terrific restaurant.

Having grown up with a large Italian family on my mother's side, a soft spot remains for dining in a noisy place featuring great Italian food.

This type of "noisy" comes as an expression of happiness from people who love to eat and have top-notch selections in front of them. It is not the "noisy" often apparent at chain family restaurants, that being the chaos from little kids who don't want to be there.

Recycle those shoes

Students at Geneva High School are collecting used shoes for the Association for Individual Development, which has an ongoing program to recycle shoes.

AID serves people with physical or developmental challenges, and its clients organize and sort the shoes in the sheltered workshops in Aurora and Elgin.

The shoes are sent out for global distribution for re-use or re-manufacturing.

Those completing spring cleaning tasks and looking to get rid of old shoes can drop them off in the high school main office through May.

Students, who have a goal of collecting 1,000 pairs of shoes, ask that you do not drop off shoes with heels of more than two inches, slippers, roller skates, ice skates, winter or rubber boots or single shoes.

dheun@sbcglobal.net