City Lights News Press Clippings

	Article from the Prince Albert Daily Herald Monday, August 9, 1999 Article by Ginette Benoit
	Serenelli needs to push his body, expand mind

"You'll never see me on a chair on a beach sleeping all day. I need to be busy." And even if Stephen Serenelli happened to be at a beach, chances are he would be typing away on his miniature laptop computer. Holiday is an unused word in his vocabulary, and the desktop publisher is the first to admit his connection to his laptop is like an umbilical cord.     For the 41-year-old, who was born in London, England, but spent most of his life in Milan, Italy, keeping busy has neve been a problem.     Living in Prince Albert since 1992, he operates Serenelli Desktop Publishing which involves updating the 900 pages created on the Internet as well as monitoring and responding to the more than 40,000 visits to the sites every month.     Blending his knowledge of the hospitality industry, computers, photography and a creative mind, the computer work he does from his home includes operating Zeta International - the Canadian branch of a tourist and hotel booking service for travellers to Milan - and operating the City Lights website, a digital version of a Prince Albert news and events publication he put out for five years with his wife Cora, who died last November.    Serenelli and his wife, originally from Prince Albert, left Milan to settle in her hometown in search of a smaller community and to be able to work more independently.     Serenelli's life in Prince Albert remains a secret from some of his international clients he deals with on the Internet.     These clients often drop thank-you cards for the Prince Albert man at the front desks of Milan hotels while others try to make a rendez-vous to meet him in the lobby.     "They are very surprised when they discover I'm in Canada," he said.     "No one knows where I am, which is kind of nice."     Being self-employed suits Serenelli just fine because it allows sets his own pace.

STEPHEN SERENELLI     "I have a different perspective than other people," he said.     "They are going somewhere but I am more relaxed. There's not anyone breathing down my neck, I breathe down my neck myself"     Describing himself as "very curious as a person" with a stubborn streak that sees him achieve his goals, Serenelli said his work is a continual learning process and he refuses to sit back and admire past accomplishments.     "I cannot accept to feel arrived, I cannot accept that something is finished. Feeding your brain - not everyone needs it, but I do."     To counter-balance the hours spent at his computer, Serenelli throws himself into other projects, one of these the extensive renovation of his home.     Physical well-being is also very important for Serenelli. Cycling has always been his mode of transportation and a lifestyle choice, even in Prince Albert's harsh winter weather. He bought a vehicle for the first time in his life only this year.     It's been difficult for him to resume cycling without his wife, and since December, Serenelli has clocked many miles running every day.     "It's a heart healer," he said.     "Going back to pushing my body has given a sense to my life and my day."

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