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The title of my post may speak for itself today. I love my husband dearly. I am his biggest fan. If I didn't know and trust that the Lord hung the moon, I would think my husband did. After 7 1/2 years of marriage, I am still completely crazy about him. Get the idea?
With that being said, I will admit that things do become somewhat mundane over the years. Not our actual love, but the ways we express it. Every "I love you" on the phone isn't quite as AMAZING as it was in those first few months of hearing it back in 2001. Each kiss goodbye at the door or in the kitchen isn't quite as breathtaking as it was at 11pm...okay maybe 1am... back when we were dating.
Fast forward a few years...
When we became parents in 2006, we knew it was time for some life insurance in case, heaven forbid, something ever happened to one of us. We did our medical exams, got some good coverage and moved forward. We have half heartedly discussed what we would do if either one of us was ever to have to raise our children alone. But thats about as far as its ever gotten.
Things became a little less "out of the ordinary" when B enlisted in the Army and then deployed for the first time. He wasn't going to a combat zone, but he was going to a very different part of the world where things were not nearly as safe as they are here in the US. Plus he is one good-looking white guy. He stood out like a sore thumb.
Saying good-bye to him that day was really tough. I trusted that he'd come home to me, but really in my heart, I could only pray for him. I didn't know without a shadow of a doubt that he would return. This was also true for the second deployment to the same part of the world. It always worried me when he'd go to countries and not be allowed to be identified as a member of the US military. I didn't like that he had to conceal who he was with. It always made me nervous.
I say all that to tell you that lately, everything seems to have changed between us. I can't tell him enough that I love him. I can't help but hold on to his kiss for one second longer and squeeze him just a bit tighter. I can't help but glance at him through the front window as he walks out to his car and pray that he will come home to me that evening. "Please, Lord, don't let this be the last time." I relish in the chance to tell him, just one more time, "I love you."
Without ever discussing this issue with me, he has done the same thing. He is 100% certain to kiss me and each one of our children before heading out the door to work everyday. He will always tell me he loves me just one more time as he pulls the front door closed behind him. He is hugging me more. Showing his affection more often and verbalizing his love considerably more.
We can both feel it. We are both aware of it.
What? Have you figured it out yet?
The preciousness of life. The fact that our days are numbered and each day could be our last. This became shockingly real to me on New Years Day when I got word of a fellow MOPS mom, army wife, and sister in Christ from NC who lost her husband in an instant. He wasn't deployed. He wasn't even working. But the Lord called him home that morning. He left behind a beautiful wife and 2 very young children.
I am 100% sure that when he headed out the door that morning, my fellow sister did not realize she was telling him "good bye" for the last time. She probably expected him home in an hour or so. Her life and everything she had planned changed in an unplanned instant.
From their tragedy, my husband and I have gotten closer. Life seems more precious. I find myself praying more often for him. I find myself kissing him and whispering to him when I come to bed an hour after he's been asleep. I find myself telling my daughter how much I love her and how she is such a good girl. Preschoolers can get in trouble quite a bit, so to counter act this, I feel the desire to express my love and pure joy when I look at her. I love tucking her in at night. I love her early morning snuggles. I love how she melts into my ever growing torso when I hold her.
I pray that I live until I'm 100. I pray that my husband does the same. But if the Lord should call either one of us home before we expect it, I pray that he knows how much I love him.
For now, I'll say it just one more time.
I love you, B. With all my heart. With everything I have in me. In every way possible.


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Deutche Press-Agentur is citing a "U.S. military statement" as stating that two soldiers from the U.S. led coalition in Afghanistan were killed in a vehicle roll-over in the Kajaki district of the western province of Herat on Friday, August 24th. Two other soldiers were injured in the accident. For the time being, we are assuming these soldiers to be Americans.
Security incidents:
#1: A car bomb exploded in northern Baghdad on Saturday, killing seven passers-by and wounding dozens of others in an apparent sectarian attack near the capital's most important Shiite shrine. Just after noon, a bomb hidden in a parked car exploded in busy Oruba Square about 500 yards from the shrine of Imam Musa Kadhim, another revered Shiite figure. A medic at the local hospital said seven people were killed in the explosion and 30 others were wounded.
#2: Gunmen attacked an Iraqi army patrol, killing one soldier and wounding two others in Mansour district in western Baghdad on Friday, police said.
#3: Police found nine bodies in different districts in Baghdad on Friday, police said.
#4: A U.S. helicopter-backed force raided a neighborhood in Sadr City, eastern Baghdad, during the early hours of Saturday and arrested four members of a family after killing a civilian in clashes, local residents said. "U.S. choppers hovered in the air for three hours after clashes broke out between the raiding force and gunmen," an eyewitness told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq
#1: Gunmen killed a man in a drive-by shooting in Najaf, 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad, on Friday, police said.
#1: "Gunmen belonging to Mahdi Army foiled an operation to have U.S. soldiers landed in the area of al-Tameem during the late hours of Friday," local residents from al-Jihad neighborhood, southwestern Kut, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). "Four U.S. soldiers were landed by a helicopter in al-Jihad but took them back after coming under thick ground fire by some Mahdi Army fighters," an eyewitness said, adding the chopper "fired back at the gunmen, killing two civilians." No comment was made by the U.S. army or the Multi-National Force (MNF) on the incidents so far.
#1: Unidentified gunmen opened fire at a soldier in the Iraqi army's 6th Brigade in al-Aaskari neighborhood, Huweija district, 70 km southwestern Kirkuk, wounding him, the source said, adding the injured soldier was rushed to a nearby hospital.
#1: Gunmen killed a man in a drive-by shooting in southern Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, on Friday, police said.
#2: another armed group kidnapped a soldier from the Oil Facilities Protection Force in the area of 1 Azar, southern Kirkuk, the same source said. Kirkuk lies 250 km northeast of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.
#1: An explosive charge went off near an Iraqi police patrol in al-Masarif area, northern Mosul, wounding three policemen and damaging two vehicles," the source told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) on condition of anonymity.
#2: A second explosive charge, which went a short while after the first, was detonated near a U.S. patrol in the neighborhood of al-Baath, eastern Mosul, wounding one man and destroying a civilian vehicle parked nearby," the same source said.
#3: A third one (explosion) in al-Maarid area, also in eastern Mosul, capital of Ninewa province, wounded another civilian, he added.
#1: Turkish artillery anew shelled areas inside Iraqi territories with no reports of casualties, an official source from the Kurdistan Democratic Party said on Saturday. "Nearly 25 artillery shells fell near villages of Kashan, Afiyliyah, and Ghali Basaqa of Zakho district and villages of Karah, Spindar and Baloka of al-Imadiyah district on Friday evening," the source, who declined to be named, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq
#1: Pro-Taliban militants kidnapped an army officer, two guards and a government official near an army base in northwestern Pakistan, officials said Saturday. The four men were seized late Friday in Ladha, a town in the troubled South Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan, where Pakistani forces have carried out scores of operations against foreign and local militants in recent years.
#2: A roadside bomb killed two Afghans guarding a convoy carrying supplies for NATO-led forces. Insurgents attacked the logistics convoy in southern Kandahar province, a former Taliban stronghold, with a remote controlled bomb, said provincial police chief Sayed Aqa Saqib. Two guards were killed instantly, while three others were wounded, he said.
#3: Afghan soldiers in neighboring Helmand province shot and killed two suspected Taliban fighters as they attempted to plant a roadside bomb, said police officer Ghulam Wali. The bomb was later defused, he said.
#4: A rocket landed inside a hospital compound in the Afghan capital Kabul, but caused no casualties or damage, hospital officials said on Saturday.
#5: A suicide car bomber attacked a convoy carrying foreigners near the Afghan capital Kabul on Saturday, a police officer said. There were no immediate reports of casualties. The attack occurred on the main road out of Kabul leading to the city of Jalalabad, said Ali Shah Paktaiwal, chief of criminal investigations in the city.
Casualty Reports:
(1) The DoD has identified a soldier who died "near Baghdad" of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his unit on Tuesday, August 21st: Staff Sergeant Sandy R. Britt, 30, of Apopka, Florida. CENTCOM has not released a notice for a death like this on the 21st. However, they have released nearly identical notices (here and here) for single deaths "west of Baghdad" on August 22nd. Britt's unit, the 1st Battalion of the 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment (82nd Airborne Division out of Fort Bragg, NC), has been operating in the western Baghdad district of Hurriyah with its command headquarters based at Camp Taji northwest of Baghdad. At this point, we believe that CENTCOM may have misdated one of their news releases. Thus, we are currently assuming that Britt was one of these two deaths, but died on Tuesday, August 21st per the DoD release. An article has been published on Britt in the Orlando (Florida) Sentinel. Britt had graduated from high school in 1994 and had gone on to serve four years in the Navy with an underwater-demolition unit that was sent to Afghanistan and other places around the world on special missions. After his Navy stint, he joined the Army, and was currently an infantry paratrooper. He returned home for a short leave last June. After the blast, Britt was able to leave one last message with a fellow soldier who was also injured in the explosion: "Tell my wife and son, Taylor, and mom I love them." The wounded soldier's wife was able to personally relay Britt's last words to his wife on August 23rd.
(2) The DoD has also released the identity of a soldier who died in Baghdad when an improvised explosive device detonated near his unit on Wednesday, August 22nd: Private 1st Class Omar E. Torres, 20, of Chicago, Illinois. His unit, the 2nd Battalion of the 5th Cavalry Regiment (1st Cavalry Division out of Fort Hood, Texas) was known to be operating in the area of Abu Ghraib just to the west of Baghdad. Two articles have appeared in the media about Torres, one from the Associated Press and one from Chicago station WLS-TV. The son of a Chicago firefighter, Torres had dreams of going into politics and "changing the world". After graduation from De La Salle High School, he received a full scholarship to Ohio State University. Last December, after a year in college, he enlisted in the Army and was sent to Iraq in May.
(3) The Wilmington (North Carolina) Star News has published a feature on Chief Warrant Officer Paul "Josh" Flynn, 28, from Gibsonville, North Carolina, who died in the Blackhawk chopper crash near Kirkuk on August 22nd. Flynn, who had been in the Army for 10 years, had completed his aviator training in 2003 and was one of the two pilots flying the helicopter at the time it experienced mechanical problems and crashed. According to his father, this was his first tour of duty in Iraq. Flynn has a 6-year-old son who lives in Clarksville, Tennessee.
(4) The Fond du Lac (Wisconsin) Reporter has an article out on Captain Derek A. Dobogai, 26, of Fond du Lac, who died in the August 22nd crash of a Blackhawk chopper. He was a passenger on the flight along with 9 other soldiers from his unit. Dobogai attended high school at the Winnebago Lutheran Academy where he not only excelled as a student, but also was captain of the cross-country team and a track runner. In fact, he continued to participate in running events and triathlons in recent years. He was a member of the Reserve Officers Training Corps while studying at the Western Illinois University, and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army in December of 2003. Dobogai was promoted to captain's rank earlier this year.
(5) The Fayetteville (Arkansas) Northwest Arkansas Times has a lengthy piece out on Army Specialist Tyler R. Seideman, 20, of Lincoln, Arkansas, who died August 22nd in the crash of a Blackhawk helicopter near Kirkuk in Iraq. His friends describe him as a very outgoing, charming and popular young man who played Daddy Warbucks in his high school's presentation of the play "Annie". Seideman was also described as a good student who excelled as an athlete as well, playing football and basketball. And he enjoyed anything that had to do with the outdoors, especially fishing, hunting and camping. After high school graduation in 2004, he went on to attend the University of Arkansas for a time before deciding to enlist in the Army. Seideman was a sniper who had been in Iraq for the past year and who was slated to finish his deployment in October.
(6) Canada's Globe and Mail has now published more details on the two Canadian soldiers who died in a roadside bomb blast in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, on Wednesday, August 22nd. Master Warrant Officer Mario Mercier, 43, was a veteran of 19 years with the Royal 22nd Regiment, and had planned to retire after his current deployment to Afghanistan was complete. A fitness buff, he would run the 12 kilometers to the Valcartier base from his home outside of Quebec City. Master Corporal Christian Duchesne, 34, who was also a career soldier, began his enlistment in artillery, then switched to the medical services where he specialized in treating front line wounded. Both men were originally from Quebec. And both had done two tours of duty in the former Yugoslavia. In addition, Mercier had seen duty in Haiti. Between them, they left six children behind. Mercier's children are now teenaged ... Duchesne's three daughters are aged 3, 5 and 9.
(7) An article published by San Diego (California) station KNSD, and also a longer piece in the San Diego Union-Tribune, are devoted to Army Staff Sergeant Jason Paton, 25, of Poway, California, who died aboard the Blackhawk chopper that crashed west of Kirkuk on August 22nd. Both stories describe Paton as someone who never let war, including a tour of Afghanistan and two tours of Iraq, get in the way of his dreams ... rebuilding an old Mustang, surfing ... and getting married. He had graduated from Poway High School in 2000 and shortly afterward decided to enlist in the Army, a decision that seemed to suit him well. A hard worker, he graduated from Airborne School and Ranger training and quickly made rank. His fiance was a catcher last season for the Univeristy of California San Diego softball team ... and in typical fashion, Paton proposed to her at a game one night over the PA system. They had planned to marry this November. Paton would have returned home last month except that his current deployment had been extended to support the "surge".
Saturday, August 25, 2007
War News for Saturday, August 25, 2007
Deutche Press-Agentur is citing a "U.S. military statement" as stating that two soldiers from the U.S. led coalition in Afghanistan were killed in a vehicle roll-over in the Kajaki district of the western province of Herat on Friday, August 24th. Two other soldiers were injured in the accident. For the time being, we are assuming these soldiers to be Americans.
Posted by whisker at 6:36 AM

subset: commoncrawl


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After hosting SNL this past weekend, Blake heads out for a night on the town.
Not sure I'm too crazy about her eye liner, however. Too much of the cat eye, and the lipstick looks a little bit clownish with the eyes, but whatevs, I'd still take looking like her anyday.
Two of my favs in one place rocking this seasons hottest lip color.
Photo credit: People.com


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Apple led the headlines this week with its acquisition announcement of Dr Dre's Beats Electronics.
The iPhone maker is paying $3 billion for the company and will keep Dr Dre and fellow co-founder Jimmy Lovine.
Elsewhere, Spotify had a security scare after hackers managed to access data of one user, although password and financial details were supposedly excluded.
Finally, Google unveiled the latest prototype of its driverless car this week, which is able to reach a top speed of 25mph.
Browse through all of the week's biggest tech stories in our gallery and click the links for the full story:


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Purex has launched the Like Purex and Win More Time for Mom Sweepstakes. You can sign up everyday to win a shopping spree or weekly prizes.
Sign up here to try and win some amazing prizes!
Disclosure: I am posting this as part of the Purex Insider group. All opinions are my own. No compensation was received!


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Balboa Park boasts 1,200 acres of gardens and green space plus 17 museums and a variety of other attractions including a large zoo. We're planning on exploring as much as possible. Our first stop was at the small automotive museum which has an assortment of cars without any unifying theme.
The most interesting display is Louie Mattar's 1947 Cadillac. Louie, a gregarious and inventive man, owned a garage in San Diego. After working for four years and a spending a ton of money he had converted the Cadillac into a rolling apartment complete with an electric stove, a refrigerator, a washing machine, a chemical toilet, a shower, an ironing board, a medicine cabinet, a kitchen sink mobile telephone, a tape recorder, a bar, and a public address system. In 1952 he and two partners drove the car 6,320 miles across country and back without stopping. Fueling, oil changes, even tire replacements were done as the car was in motion. It's an amazing piece of equipment!
The museum is accessible.
The parking lot near the museum may fill but the large lot on the east side of Park Blvd. is a good spot for RV parking. The sidewalks and curb cuts are in fairly good condition.


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- Friday, March 11th, 2011: two disasters arrive simultaneously on American screens, one real (on the small screens of televisions and computers), one imagined (on the big screens of multiplex movie theaters), and, as always, the real one is conformed to a fictional narrative (specifically, the narrative of disaster movies, complete with nuclear powerplant cliffhanger) while the fictional one seeks—bluntly, shoddily, thuddingly—to give itself an iota of credibility by stealing from reality.
- Battle: Los Angeles is a bad film, and, as bad films tend to do, it not only reveals its flaws but the flaws of the audience it was made for.
- Serge Daney once said that only imperialist countries made disaster films—or, really, what he said was "it's only imperialist countries that can afford disaster films," but ultimately one does what one can afford. Even more accurately, there are two factors: 1) only imperialist countries have the resources to make disaster films, and 2) only imperialist countries have audiences that want to see disaster films.
- The proliferation of alien invasion / disaster films in the US since the 1990s—of "national survival" narratives, masochistic wish-fulfillments for audiences that want to be told that they, as a society, will do the right thing when the time comes—has a fascinating contrast in the fact that the greatest disaster to befall the modern United States, Hurricane Katrina, was more of a moral and social failure than a natural calamity.
- "Invasion literature" dominated British popular culture from about the 1870s to World War I and, like many American disaster and invasion films, it was often produced with the help of military advisors. Sometimes the writers were military men themselves: George Tomkyns Chesney was a lieutenant colonel at the time he wrote The Battle of Dorking and was eventually promoted to general towards the end of his life.
- Saying that Battle: Los Angeles is an advertisement for the Marines (and it is in a certain way) or that it resembles a recruitment ad (which it does) overlooks the fact that it serves as an advertisement for numerous other products as well: Vaio computers, Pepsi Max (whose billboard stands proudly amongst the ruins of Los Angeles), even Yellowtail wine.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
7 comments:
BATTLE L.A. is a bad movie, but I don't believe that genres it partakes of--the war film (specifically the grunt-level subgenre), the sci-fi invasion movie and the disaster movie--are inherently meretricious.
The disaster narrative done right is about all sorts of things--community, leadership, who and how to trust in an emergency, self-sacrifice, human ingenuity and surviving against impossible odds--that are worth telling stories about.
In disaster films, spectacle almost always trumps story, but here are a few where it doesn't: THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE, ALIVE (based on a true story), WINGS OF HOPE (Herzog's doc). I had hoped for something similar from 127 HOURS--ideal material for the most minimal survival story ever told--but alas got a Mountain Dew commercial instead.
- March 24, 2011 at 12:03 PM
Forgot to add this. [Spoilers!] There's an amazing scene in the middle of Kathryn Bigelow's otherwise uneven K-19: THE WIDOWMAKER where a submarine's nuclear reactor requires emergency repairs which a few brave men must undertake immediately. The most harrowing moment isn't given to the men first in, but to the ones who are waiting their turn. After the first crew stumbles out, already overexposed and suffering from radiation sickness, it is these waiting men who must chose to act selflessly and decisively or to cower in fear.
Whenever I hear about the workers in Fukushima and try to understand their heroism, I can't stop thinking of this scene.
This is why we tell ourselves these stories, so that we can grope toward imagining the unimaginable. If only other disaster films had this kind of moral seriousness and integrity.
- March 24, 2011 at 12:22 PM
- Ignatiy Vishnevetsky said...
1. I don't think the genres are without merit, even when it's more spectacle than anything else -- for one, I happen to quite like Roland Emmerich's big Pop Art disasters.
2. I'd disagree that K-19 is uneven -- it is, in fact, my favorite Bigelow movie (I've written about it here before), and perhaps if someone gives her the money, she'll produce a disaster movie with the same level of "seriousness and integrity."
- March 26, 2011 at 7:55 PM
- Jon Hastings said...
I like Emmerich's apocalypses, too. My favorites, though, are the original Godzilla and Fukasaku's Virus, so, maybe to extend Daney's generalization, it takes someone from a defeated imperialist society to make good disaster movies. (A good genre for Griffith?)
re: Battle: LA - these kinds of "invasion inversion" movies (i.e. ones where American audiences get to feel like they're on the receiving end of the kind of destruction their country is in the habit of dishing out) are pretty queasy-making. Even when, as with Spielberg/Koepp's War of the Worlds, they're meant as a metaphor for American imperialism, they never work that way because the spectacle, which works on our lizard brains, overwhelms any simplistic metaphor.
- April 1, 2011 at 7:49 AM
- Matthew Flanagan said...
"it not only reveals its flaws but the flaws of the audience it was made for."
This strikes me as bullshit. As Daney also said after the imperialist quote: "it is the parties who write history." Blaming the public here is a fool's game -- "one does what one can afford" indeed.
- April 12, 2011 at 4:16 PM
- dave said...
Matthew - I think you're right in your locus of critique, but one might argue that the problem is equally, or at least partially, that the party histories stick -- that those parties have memberships, and that workers choose to join these organizational forms knowing full well what compromises that entails.
- April 13, 2011 at 12:44 AM
- Matthew Flanagan said...
This analogy could run and run, Dave. :) I don't disagree, but am extremely wary of shifting the onus so baldly from the commercial culture industry to the public (especially as IV is referring, rightly, to western imperialism in the same breath!)...
- April 13, 2011 at 5:19 PM


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Much like the US Goverment bailing out AIG in these credit crunching times, Car Company Scion A/V is doing it's bit for the music industry by commissioning (and paying!) some exciting producers to remix a slew of musicians.
The Scion spotlight this time is thrown on the Dirty South sound that booms out of the Atlanta area with former Goodie Mob alumni Big Gipp getting the uptempo twistage from the much vaunted Treasure Fingers, Klever and Rob Wonder.
Rob Wonder's version wins out here, head in the direction of Big Stereo for the Treasure Fingers version though


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Piety and scholarship under Lupulos.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Dry Hopped Aspis Hoplon in bottles
Got 10 16oz+ bottles filled. Had a taste of the good stuff. Nice hop aroma, huge roasted malt flavor. Was a bit sweet because I tasted after adding the sugar. Yum! Eager to try it after a week or two in the bottle.
Labels: Dry Hopped Aspis Hoplon
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


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BlackBerry DevCon Europe is about to kick off on February 7-8 in Amsterdam so its nice to see RIM has their session guide up. For this conference they have selected The Active Network to develop the app. Nothing really special that you have not seen in previous conference apps but it gives you access to conference sessions and more from both your PlayBook and your smartphone. It syncs your session calendar if you ahve one setup through RIM's My Scheduler tool on the DevCon website.
If you are attending DevCon Europe check out the Mobile Conference Guide here


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No don't look that surprised ! Yes, I've updated my blog :P after a century, yes but still i have :) Thing is I'm in the typical lazy blogger phase.. i keep blogging all the time in my head but I'm too lazy to type it out :(( Fine, sue me! :P
And my sincere apologies to all my blog pals who have been after my life coz I've stopped commenting on their blogs.. guys, the truth is, I've stopped Reading them too *ducks while everybody loads their guns* I'm so sorry *ahem* i shall make amends soon.. er.. hopefully *uses her drafting board to bar the gun shots*
Lately, there have been a series of circumstances that have lead me to question the whole existence of Right and Wrong. What exactly is the 'right' thing to do? The thing that we want to do or the thing that we should do? Where does one draw the line? What should be the priority? Does Service ALWAYS come before Self? Cant we, for once, not try to be perfect? Is it normal to break rules and not feel guilty..at all?
People all around are always trying to deceive. It is okay to know whats happening and not do anything about it? Sometimes its really difficult to pretend everything is fine when its absolutely not.. so should one react? If someone treats us badly, should he get that back from us? isn't that how it should be? But its not.
I may be completely wrong in my perception of these things.. Then again the question of Right and Wrong will always stand between us..
By the way, there have been some really intriguing events which one might call as wonderful coincidences. But i don't belive in words like 'coincidence' and 'by chance'. Nothing happens by chance, there is always a reason for everything. I really do belive it and also in the sayin that 'A blind God is not destiny's Architect'. Maybe not today, but someday we'll definitely find out the reason behind the occurence of everything. Its just a game, to wait and watch.
Hmmm...and on a completely different note, i would like to give some people a piece of my mind. I wish to tell them : Kindly refrain yourselves from calling me words like 'dear','sweetheart' etc in public or private whatever. This restriction however does not hold good if you happen to be my boyfriend. But since I'm happily single as of now, this applies to everybody.. aaargghh.. i don't understand it.. why why whyy do u want to creep me out??? ok occasionally use of such words (in rare situations) i can understand that but scrapping me ''hello sweetheart?'' I'm sorry I'm so NOT your darling or any body's sweetheart for that matter.. so beat it, ok? Gawd what impression are you trying to make? Its not appreciated. Really. Its not normal. And I have a name, by the way. I would prefer if u would use it, thank you very much.


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If someone sees what's coming they imagine where it ends.
The words cannot sing without lifting their little wings.
The air floating the body is filled usually with music.
Aging birds die by leaving a claw on the wire as they fly.
Only at the beginning and the end of flight is this so.
If the music lies between the arms of the wind, it soars.
What's coming is what's gone and has no need to live again.
If only the gods would release their children they could die.
Aphrodite sees herself in the reflection of sea foam.
Her body welling up in ecstasy is what she knew.
Dionysus preens on the mountain before dancing down.
Women in thrall follow him everywhere he leads them.
But they are the singers of nothing but flesh and blood.
Dionysus would wait until Aphrodite came to him.
She has no reason to love him unless she's addicted.
Love then would be nakedness, orgasm, childbirth, tragedy.
Orpheus begins with tragedy and never leaves there.
It is so tempting to believe a song must have its music.
He loved the one who pricked her finger with a poisoned thorn.
He could call her by any name he was brave enough to know.
She lived half the year below the earth, half the year up here.
It is when she goes down there she knows what is coming next.
He who pays the rent in such hell uses her for money.
A woman who grows corn mothers her the rest of the year.
There were cults springing up everywhere but sequestered.
No one but initiates could enter the abandoned cave.
Her mother kept her safe under the sky and warm in her arms.
Of course Orpheus found her there and she fell in love with him.
It was a long fall all the distance from here to hell's pillows.
You cannot imagine what she knew by feeling her pulse.
Does anyone need to declare there is no harvest above?
All the blood pools up here and the flesh is scattered below.
The tenant of hell with all his women can spare one.
If you do not know the story from here remember the climb.
Ice at first, then shale, sound of water, song from meadows.
Aphrodite heard Dionysus singing and there they were.
The sea became part of the mountain and is wearing it down.
The mother of Eurydice does not know Orpheus.
He turns around to ask his beloved, Who is your father?
The clouds are too low to get out of the way of lightning.
When a flock of birds fly up they still mean death is here.
When a god sings without her he knows his music will die.
(19 March 2011)
copyright 2011 by Floyce Alexander


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For Making Stuff: (TIL MIX)
1. Til (SESAME SEEDS) - 1/4th cup
2. Jaggery (Gud) - 1/2cup (Crushed or mashed)
3. Besan - 5tsp
4. Cashew nuts - 3tsp (Powder)
5. Khowa - 4tsp grated
6. Cardamom Powder - 1/4th tsp
7. Ghee - 1tsp
1. Roast til (sesame seeds) on low flame stirring continuosly to avoid it from spluttering out of the pan (until light golden in colour)
2. Grind rice till fine grains are left (Make a rough powder) and keep aside.
3. Heat a KADHAI. Add BESAN (gram flour) and roast on slow flame, stirring continuously (until the flour turns golden colour)
4. Add 1tsp ghee and fry it for 2minutes on low flame and remove it from flame and keep aside.
5. Mix roasted and grind til, roasted besan with ghee, gud, cardamom powder, kaju powder, khowa and keep aside.
Making Kachodi Layer:
1. Maida - 2cups
2. Ghee - 3tsp (Melted and hot)
3. Cardamom powder - 1/4th tsp
4. Sugar - 1tsp
5. Milk - 1/2th cup Boiled (approximate for creating soft dough)
1. Make a soft dough with Maida, Ghee, sugar, cardamom powder .
2. Shape into a ball and roll into a round shape.
3. Place a portion of the TIL mix stuff mixture (approx 2tsp) in the middle, enfold the filling and pinch off the excess dough. Then roll out the round kachodi.
4. Deep fry in oil on both sides until fluffy and light golden brown.
5. Serve Hot Or Cold (As u Like)


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I've lived in the Bay Area for so long now, that I'm not even sure if babysitting co-ops are a normal thing or if I need to explain what they are. I'll assume the later.
A babysitting co-op functions where sometimes someone else watches your kid and sometimes you watch someone else's kids. There are a variety of different models of this; 2 of which I know first hand about.
When Star was born in 2010, I decided it was a priority that we join some sort of co-op. The co-op that we were initially invited to join worked as an even exchange. If I needed a "sitter", I would email the group, or some subset of the group requesting a sitter. Assuming I found someone available, once they watched my kid for 3 hours, I would "pay" them 3 tickets. This co-op also had a monthly gathering where we were all supposed to get to know each other so that when we were watching other people's kids or having them watch ours, we were all more comfortable with the people involved.
We were in this group long enough for (1) one family to watch our daughter for a few hours; (2) reciprocating for that family; and (3) feeling guilty for a number of months about not attending the suggested monthly social gathering. This group didn't work for us for a variety of reasons. First, the geography was really spread out. Also, the monthly suggested meeting did not work for our family. (Honestly, I don't have enough time to spend with my actual friends let alone with people who I'm trying to make be my friends.) We quit this group.
Around that same time, I somehow found out about a babysitting co-op based in our neighborhood. This co-op operates differently. My husband, Scott, explains it best. Every Friday and Saturday night, there is a party for kids that our daughter can go to. Each family hosts a "party" about 3 times per year. Then, you get to send your kids to a party as often as you have cards. We calculated that for every time we host a party, Star can go to a party about 5 times.
Back in 2010 when i found the group, I spoke with the current President, and they didn't have an opening for us, but they said that they would put us on the waiting list.
Fast forward to now. About a month ago, the new President of the group contacted us. A family had recently left the group and they wanted to invite us to join. We were stoked.
The following weekend, we signed Star up for her first "party". It was at a house about a block away. The hosting family was super great, and Star had a fabulous time. When we dropped her off, they plopped her in front of the TV so she could "settle in". When I picked her up, she had eaten box macaroni and cheese for dinner, she was still in front of the TV and she was now eating ice cream.
Let me explain. We don't have a TV, and we don't eat sweets. We steer clear of processed carbohydrates and other fake foods. My theory has been that she'll get sweets, TV and processed foods in enough areas of her life; she doesn't also need to get it at home. Star sees television when she's with her grandparents, and eats sweets and processed foods at birthday parties, but that's pretty much it.
Is joining this co-op putting her on the path to childhood obesity and compulsive shopping? That's my fear, but maybe I'm being too paranoid? It's such an odd thing to live our lives with certain values and then have those values thrown out the window monthly so Scott and I can get a free night off.
We have reservations, but we're going to try it a few more times. We are set to host our first party in a few weeks, so that will bring up an entirely new set of challenges and frustrations. In the end, this babysitting coop may, ironically, not be Berkeley enough for us. We need to find some media-free whole food eating households to swap childcare responsibilities with.


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Table of Contents
A Soviet Symposium on Pacific-Asian Issues
Vol. 24 No. 11, Nov., 1984
Vol. 24 No. 11, Nov., 1984
Errata: In the September/October 2016 issue (volume 56 number 5, pages 836 and 849), there was a technical printing error in Figures 1b and 2 of the article by Ajay Raina that resulted in a loss of data on the graphs. This online article contains the restored figures in their original, correct state. The error is regretted.


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Local artist and teacher Robin Howe often works with area students, especially during the summer, when she runs a workshop-camp on getting into college.
One day, the kids were looking around, scratching their heads, in a lost kind of way. We need to do some community service, they said. But where?
So they asked Howe: could we mow your lawn?
No, she said. But my neighbor is a widow. Mow hers.
The kids pounced. At least three different teenagers started mowing this one yard. That summer, Howe's widow-neighbor had the shortest grass on the block.
But was it really service?
There was nothing transformative about it. No front porch discussions on life, death and loving between widows and teenagers while sipping sweet tea. (They didn't even meet the widow.) That summer, the only thing the kids encountered was the lawnmower.
"How absurd," Howe said, looking back.
So she did something about it.
After winning a grant from Causeway, Howe created a website that connects teenagers with volunteer opportunities. Not in flighty or fluffy ways, but real-world opportunities that create real encounters and real change.
It's called communitymatchchatt.com.
If you're a guidance counselor, youth group leader, parent, or teenager -- especially teenagers -- this is the website for you.
Howe created the webpage as a storehouse of community service opportunities geared specifically for teenagers after realizing such a repository didn't exist.
"That's what made me want to do this," Howe said. "When I was working with students, watching them try to find community service opportunities, I'd spend two hours with two kids looking for two opportunities."
On her website, you can find 50 jobs in five minutes.
Kids on the Block needs teenage volunteers to help as marshals during the St. Chatty's Day parade on March 14.
Outdoor Chattanooga needs teens to help other kids learn how to ride bicycles.
Life Care Center of Hixson needs teens to help run the ice cream parlor or to play bingo with residents.
(It's more than just vanilla ice cream and bingo, you know. There is a real, felt transaction that can occur when kids sit with elders. Stories are told. Perspectives gained. Generational gaps are glued back together.)
"Bridging age groups is so key," said Howe.
Amani Chattanooga needs teens to model fair trade clothing for photo shoots, and help tag and shelf inventory.
Fast Break Athletics needs teens to help run aid stations during trail races.
Family Promise needs teens to help tutor and play games with kids staying in their shelter.
Younger and Wiser needs older teens to help mentor younger teens.
The Humane Society of Greater Chattanooga needs cat-cuddlers and dog-walkers.
"There is something for everyone," Howe said.
It's the Golden Rule meets Facebook. You can search by theme -- from social awareness to animals to cooking -- and by age and date.
Howe has emailed the link to every guidance counselor in the county. On the landing page, Howe included the Anne Frank quote: How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.
I see the website as a form of spiritual and social investment.
"Studies have shown that students who get involved in community service for a decent amount of time continue to serve when they are adults," Howe said.
Service is also healing. Done with intention and humility, service is a two-way street, blessing both giver and receiver.
"Anytime people give, I think they grow," said Howe. "They develop a greater appreciation. They gain respect. There is a sense of awe."
Visit communitymatchchatt.com for more information.
Or better yet, encourage your teenager to visit.
Contact David Cook at firstname.lastname@example.com or 423-757-6329. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter at DavidCookTFP.


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For years I've wanted to sort the Bible into chronological order. Not just by book, but by verse.
Some of it's obvious – Genesis comes first, Revelation comes last – that's easy.
Then there are the four gospels, which would obviously require quite a bit of cutting and pasting. As for where it appears to contradict itself, well, that's where the fun would surely lie.
And then you get books like Jeremiah, which, frankly, reads like the Biblical equivalent of a Chris Nolan movie.
Somewhere in the middle (around about the 30s) we get the invasion of Judah by the Babylonians, and most of it is in reverse order.
Frankly, this is a quite brilliant means of telling a story from a prophet's point of view.
Jeremiah is in the courtyard of the guard. Then he's not. Then he's sent there. The Babylonians are invading the city, then they're breaking in, then they're approaching and people are asking Jeremiah to prophesy what will happen. To me, these chapters honestly read as though Jeremiah had simply placed each new prophesy on top of all his previous ones, and his secretary had copied (redacted – whatever) them all out in the order in which he'd left them there, starting with the most recent one on the top, of course.
I was waiting for a chapter to open with his words "Now, where was I? Oh, we're invading these guys. No... they're invading us."
But I'm wrong. The account of his writing his prophesies down is actually in here. And just to further stir the narrative, it's in here TWICE!
So Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch son of Neriah, and as Jeremiah dictated, Baruch wrote on it all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them.
- Jeremiah 36:32 (NIV)
I guess those 'similar words' must have included the verse above…
But hey, what kind of straightforward timeline can you expect from a book of prophesies that, in its fourth verse, is already coming out with:
The word of the LORD came to me, saying,
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew [Or chose] you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."
"Ah, Sovereign LORD," I said, "I do not know how to speak; I am only a child."
- Jeremiah 1:4-6 (NIV)
The Good News translators even moved some of chapter 38 into chapter 39...
If this is the order in which events transpired for Jeremiah, then no wonder God picked him to be a prophet.
Labels: bible


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Apparently some Joburg residents were disappointed that it didn't snow yesterday ( rain, hail and sleet fell) but I think they're just nuts. Our homes are not equipped for such extreme weather. Add to the fact that when you work from home, you don't have a company paying for air-conditioned room and using the heater means a higher electricity bill. Old Man Winter has really outstayed his welcome.
The weekend was great. A friend came over to stay for a couple of days. Puttered in my garden and am now ready for Spring rains and flowers to start blooming. Joined our local renovation team to make over a nieghbour TV room. Most of the participants sewed, something that I've tried and have never achieved a level of competency. They made curtains, an ottoman and scatter cushions. Nautical theme. Another friend and I painted the room, and we both agreed we got the better end of the deal.
Monday I met with the co-author on one of the titles I'm publishing for the client. She's focussed, friendly, not precious about processes and willing to follow instruction. I can see why she came so highly recommended.
So today I'm sitting in my office, wrapped in a big thick blanket while I work. A large proportion of the work I'm doing is mostly admin - working on these non-fiction book plans seems to be taking forever as I liaise with authors, review, send to professional reviewer, get reports and author and I redo again until we're all satisfied. Then there are the constantly updated schedules/spreadsheets so I know where everything should be at any given time and can intervene if there are problems. Bottom line? Overseeing the publishing process is not for sissies.
For some fun, I've been trying out some recipes. Tried to make Chai tea, but didn't have clover, so I ended up with vey nice spicy tea (using cinnamon and ginger, no milk). This has now become my drink of choice. Also baked banana bread using too soft bananas I had. It came out well and I'm keeping the recipe.
Creative writing is also going extremely well. I've written over 7000 words since Friday, most of it adding better structure to the Nameless WIP. Thank you Pam for your tips on plotting a novel. They really helped.
So what are you doing this week?
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
I'm so over this winter!
Posted by Damaria Senne at 12:17 PM
Labels: The Writing Life
1 comment:
- Lori said...
We're a bit over summer here, Damaria. Temps in the triple digits, no rain for nearly two months (dead grass), and now inches of rain per hour. It's been one tempermental year here in the states.
But you'll be getting the flowers and the sun soon, and we'll be seeing lovely leaves and fall colors. Each season gives so much beauty. It's when the suck money ouf of our wallets that it gets ugly. LOL
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the water cascades down a rock-strewn river bed passing trees and rocky ground on its way
the trees were lush greens
it's a fun technique
branches indicated by wiggles and squiggles on the wet or damp 140 lb. watercolour paper
some golden browns and siennas indicate rocks, boulders, and the earth
We had company arrive, so the painting was tucked away in the sunroom cupboard..........
finishing the earth on the hill and the rocky ground appeals to me
the big challenge will be to capture the frothy, rushing water in both the distance and the foreground
guess I'm going to have to drag the painting out of its hiding place
Hope you're enjoying the day.
Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz


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If the truth got in the way of a good story I would explain apologetically that I got married, ditched the band and fell foul of an aged curse, without the fame. We'd had a great time putting Deadbeat together but I fucked it. I truly fucked it. I thought if I earned some money I could put it into funding an expansion of Deadbeat build a label, but in truth, it meant I was too busy working and I fucked it. I as Vinny Bee will now hand over to my alter ego Fat Al to complete the story...The last 7 issues were great fun but 'real' work got in the way. We were getting older and losing the wisdom of youth. We had been putting the fanzine out every three weeks in the first 2 years and it slowed to a trickle. 1985 &1986 produced more apologies than fanzines.
Highlights included the interview with New Order's Gillian Gilbert after the Barrowlands gig, when Barney and Peter offered fat Al (or skinny Vinny B his alter ego) a seat in a chair with no bottom. Boom Boom the Barrowlands shook as he crashed through it to the floor. How they laughed, how he did too! I was on holiday in Arran listening to a tape of some old band playing some old tosh and suddenly the music stopped and the interview came on. Oh how we laughed. The questions I asked were terrible, but Gillian was superb. She could've been patronising or just taken the piss, but she was superb another example of the kind of person you're glad to have met. Rock'n'roll is full of James Hunts just as motor racing is, but in Rock'n'roll there's some superb people and we met loads of them, I've mentioned Roddy Frame, Annie Lennox, Charlie Higson, Malcolm Ross, even Morrissey before but Gillian's another to add to that list to remind us all how many good people inhabit our world.
Issue 29 has been scanned in full thanks to GG from www.retrodundee.blogspot.com and is below the pics of the covers. Scroll down as I update as Lloyd Cole is now a great show to attend and RATTLESNAKES is still in the top 10 all time album chart.....seriously it is above the banana album....I cant believe it is ....but it is.... I'll add in more shortly once I get home. Issue 29 was printed in my Granny's old kitchen in Marchhall Road. Not many of you know my Granny, largely because she died in 1976 which is why here kiutchen was housing my AB Dick print machine, the one that KB still bears scars on his head as we dropped it taking it out of the van. KB didn't really hang about gymnasiums and when we said are you ok? Can you take the weight, his answer should've been 'no its too heavy'. Instead he uttered, 'yeah, I think so' just before he dropped it. I should've known as it was KB who suggested we stop carrying 100 copies to Virgin and just make it 50 at a time each. I digress though from my Granny's kitchen. Many of you trainspotters will know that my Granny had a very famous Dad, particularly famous if you are of Irish descent for he was the man who got Hibernian into the Scottish League and was responsible for our Cup triumph in 1887. He also did a great job of setting up satellite teams in the west and in Dundee, where United still flourish from his early seedlings. His greatest stupidity was in thinking that he was in charge of this great benevolent mother ship and when he went through to play a great game and raise money for the poor of the east end of Glasgow, he came back with only half a team and you've guessed it Glasgow Celtic were formed that year.
The Hibs team of 1887 that won the Scottish Cup were very charitable and a great money making machine as they raised money for the poor irish throughout Scotland and if only my Granny had told me about her Dad I could've asked her a few questions, alas she didnt. So I didnt get to say things like, 'Do you have any programmes?' 'Did you go to the 1902 cup final?', 'Tell me more about John G McFadden, did he buy you good Christmas presents?'. Instead I have to listen to others tell me about this guy who set up a temperance movement in Edinburgh while running the Catholic bookshop in the cowgate. My Dad told me they stayed in Drummond and by the time of the war my Granny had moved to Roseneath and was running Crawfords by day and a boarding house by night. I figure thats why she didnt have any 1902 memorabilia. A busy old life as her Dad died when she was about 12 and by 20 she was manager of the bakers. I know where I get my eating from, but this temperance was causing me issues. John G McFadden then slipped off this mortal coil after 1902, so he got to see Hibs win the Scottish Cup twice. Most people I know never got to see them winning it at all, although they did see us win the diddy cup. There's a theme running through my folk's families and it involves the early deaths of Dad's. My Dad's dad died when he was only 14 and my Mum's old man too. I guess they were quite old when they married. Certainly John G McFadden sounds like he'd been around the block before he got married to Granny's mum. He was born before Lincoln was shot, but I guess famine and wars were raging and not everyone got married at 16, so if you marry at 40 and you die in your 50's your kids arent going to be that old and Granny was only 12.
So my Granny's kitchen was used to print Deadbeat and that is the link back to February 1985. The price is still 10p as I had it in my head if I supplied the labour to print it then we could save cash, but actually, no, it was a disaster. It was the end of the road. Like 1902 and Hibs, Deadbeat was never the same. I chose darker covers which were a nghtmare to print as you had to go slowly or the ink would dry on the page above and thus most copies you couldn't read hiccups. Out of every disaster there is tragedy and opportunity, and of course, not being able to read hiccups meant I could write any shite I liked, which as you all know is what I did very easily. This particular issue took me a week to print. I would come home from work and be too pissed, or I would come home half cut and print some pages while splattering ink around Granny's kitchen walls. Picasso would not have been happy, my Mum certainly wasnt!
It was still a great social experience being a blogger in 1985 was writing a fanzine. No rules and we set none. Well actually, we did set some. The ink for example. We started to get more savvy about how the fanzine pages were structured so we didnt have ink problems. I absolutely chuckle at why certain bands are on page 7 and others on page 14. It had nothing to do with whether we thought they'd be popular and everything to do with how much ink. Lloyd Cole taught me this and the sting in Rattlesnakes was no more dark covers!
Issues 30 and 31 are hysterical with this hindsight......see below as both Paul King and the guy from Taysiders Crucial Xylophones are given highlights in their hair. A masterstroke from our own Picasso Hilary, who ensured that if we werent going to print as many we could still print them quickly. Alas we just couldn't publish them as quickly. Work got increasingly in the way and every social outing started to need an interview. As I mentioned at the beginning we had lost the wisdom of youth. We started to think too much. Deadbeat was a lovely throwaway 20 minute read on the bus. It was populated with nonsense and occasionally a really good bit. It was a laugh, a breather from the excesses of Thatcherism. A pimple on the bum of the young ones that got scratched. When we appeared on John Peels review we loved it and it was great craic. It fired us on to do another 27 issues, but like the great Marathon bar we decided a makeover was required and we changed the banner with our new letraset. Boys and their toys eh? We ditched it after two issues but we were on fire and not in a good way. Deadbeat was burning and paper and 1980's ink is a highly flamable combo. Good name a band HFC, in fact a football team too! I was working for my Mum in the Picnic Basket opposite the pear tree in Edinburgh, just around the corner from the mosque and I would put ads in and sell Deadbeat in the shop. I think thats when this paralysis set in. I thought loads about what we could do with Deadbeat and as that wisom of youth become a stifled adult, Deadbeat died. It served me really well later in life as I realised acting immediately was fundamental and that certain people have good instincts. Follow your intuition, if a tiger is running towards you run sideaways and away, you can check if there was a carcass behind you while your running. So many times in life you question your intuition and for what reason, to double check what you already knew. Decision making is simple when you stop seeing decisions. Decisive people are rarely conscious that they've made a deicison as its just crossing a road to them. Do it when the road is empty and then you dont have to wait at the green man. That's worthy of another line. Why would you ever walk to a green man just to push a button if the point is to cross the road, just cross it. Mind you that's almost suggesting pointless action is bad so I better rephrase that. If the point is to get exercise then that's ok because that's like me writing this. My daughter might read this when I've gone but will anyone else. So while I'm engaged in this pointless action I would just like to point out that its me that's typing and not you, so its good to type. Typing is excellent for the fingers and there is a certain pride to be taken in spelling things correctly which makes me smile. So issue 30, Gillian and New Order.
My mate Stu saw them in London recently and so I put the picture up 31 years on. Who would've thought it!
The Dancing Bears - so many memories - all of them good! Rhythm System too. If I get this gig in
September 2011 sorted I hope they'll be there
25 years on we'll be full of energy again and by the time the party comes along in 2012 to celebrate 30 years we can all have 50th birthday parties too. Olympics, 50th and a Deadbeat 30th - I better get that milk thistle into me now.
Issue 31


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Professional ASP.NET 1.0 Special Edition- P9
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Professional ASP.NET 1.0 Special Edition- P9
Professional ASP.NET 1.0 Special Edition- P9:Those of us who are Microsoft developers can't help but notice that .NET has received a fair amount of visibility over the last year or so. This is quite surprising considering that for most of this period, .NET has been in its early infancy and beta versions. I can't remember any unreleased product that has caused this much interest among developers. And that's really an important point, because ignoring all the hype and press, .NET really is a product for developers, providing a great foundation for building all types of applications....
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Nội dung Text: Professional ASP.NET 1.0 Special Edition- P9
- HorizontalAlign, Rows TableRow Cells, HorizontalAlign, VerticalAlign - none - TableCell ColumnSpan, HorizontalAlign, RowSpan, Text, VerticalAlign, Wrap - none - Literal Text - none - PlaceHolder - none - - none - It should be obvious from the names what most of the properties are for, however, we will examine each control in the following sections, and indicate some of the things to look out for when we use them. The sample application, which we have already seen in Chapter 5, contains pages for most of the ASP.NET Web Form controls, and we will be using these pages to demonstrate the properties of each control: You can get the sample files for this chapter, which contain this application, from http://www.wrox.com/Books/Book_Details.asp?isbn=1861007035. The application is in the folder named server-controls. You can also run many of the examples online at http:/www.daveandal.com/profaspnet/. Using the Web Form Controls When we want to add an ASP.NET Web Form server control to our page, we define it just like an ordinary HTML element, by adding the appropriate 'attributes' for the properties we want to set. For example, we can add an ASP:TextBox control to the page to output an HTML textbox element using:
- runat="server" /> Notice that the Web Form controls all have the ASP namespace prefix (uppercase or lowercase, it doesn't matter which) to denote that they are from the System.Web.UI.WebControls namespace. One thing that makes working with the HTML server controls we used in the previous chapter easy is that all the properties are simple String values. For example, we specify the string value right for the Align property of an HtmlImage control to align the image to the right of any following page content. As you will see in this section, however, it is not always as straightforward with the ASP.NET Web Form controls. Many of the properties for the ASP Web Form controls use values from an enumeration, or a reference to an object. Setting Property Values from Enumerations For example, to align an image to the right of any following content when using an ASP.NET Image server control, we set the ImageAlign property to the integer value that is defined for the enumeration member ImageAlign.Right. In this example the enumeration is named ImageAlign, and the member is named Right. Of course, this isn't a problem when we explicitly define the properties declaratively (in other words by setting the 'attributes' of a server control in the source of the page). The control knows from the property name which enumeration to use: This produces the following HTML output (notice that, in the Image control, border="0" is the default if not specified otherwise): However, if we need to assign a value to the property within the executable code of the page we have to use the following: objMyImage.ImageAlign = ImageAlign.Right Creating Enumeration Values Dynamically Even this is no good if we want to assign property values dynamically at run-time, such as when they are selected from a list (as in our demonstration pages). We have to use the numeric value of the appropriate enumeration member. In the case of ImageAlign.Right this value is 2.
- If we use a list control for the values, we can set the Text of each to the name in the enumeration, and set the Value to the integer that this equates to. The following code shows a list containing the complete ImageAlign enumeration: ImageAlign.NotSet ImageAlign.Left ImageAlign.Right ImageAlign.Baseline ImageAlign.Top ImageAlign.Middle ImageAlign.Bottom ImageAlign.AbsBottom ImageAlign.AbsMiddle ImageAlign.TextTop Then, to set the ImageAlign property, we can just assign the value from the list directly to it: objMyImage.ImageAlign = selAlign.Value Or we can be more specific and use the SelectedIndex property of the list:
- objMyImage.ImageAlign = selAlign.Items(selAlign.SelectedIndex).Value Finding Enumeration Values Of course, the next obvious question is how do we go about finding out the values to use for an enumeration? In fact there are a few options here. Most enumerations provide a type converter that we can use to get the value given the enumeration member as a string. In Visual Basic, we can use: TypeDescriptor.GetConverter(GetType(enumeration)).ConvertFromString("member") To be able to create a TypeDescriptor object and use its methods in our code, we must import the System.ComponentModel namespace that contains the definition of the TypeDescriptor class: For example, to get the value of HorizontalAlign.Left we can use: TypeDescriptor.GetConverter(GetType(HorizontalAlign)).ConvertFromString("Left") Alternatively, for enumerations that don't provide a type converter, we can usually cast the enumeration member directly to an Integer variable: Dim intValue = CType(HorizontalAlign.Left, Integer) Another technique is to use the excellent WinCV utility that is included with the frameworks. Simply type in all or part of the name of the enumeration, select it in the left-hand pane, and then the values are displayed in the right-hand pane. You can even click the Option button in the top right of the window to copy them to the clipboard ready to paste into your code (but note that the values are hexadecimal).
- WinCV is installed in the Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio.NET\FrameworkSDK\Bin folder if you have Visual Studio .NET, or the ProgramFiles\Microsoft.NET\[version]\FrameworkSDK\Bin folder if you just installed the .NET Framework. Setting Properties that are Objects The second area where working with the ASP Web Form controls can be a little tricky is when we want to set (or retrieve) property values that are actually references to other objects. A typical example of something that should be simple, but actually isn't when you first try it, is setting the value of a 'color' property. It's not that Microsoft's developers were trying to make life awkward - it's done on purpose to provide extra features within the controls and the framework as a whole. It also allows strong type checking to be achieved by the compiler and better support in a designer tool such as Visual Studio, which would not be possible if they were string values. As an example, the ASP Web Form controls have several properties (BackColor, ForeColor, BorderColor) that reference a Color object rather than a simple string value. When we explicitly define the colors for the controls in our sourcecode, we can use the color names directly: However, if we want to assign colors at run-time, we have to create a Color object first and then assign this object to the appropriate property. For this, we use the shared properties and methods that the Color class exposes. The System.Drawing.Color Class The Color class defines shared properties for all of the standard HTML color names, such as AliceBlue, AntiqueWhite, and so on. It also exposes three shared methods that create a Color object: Method Description
- Creates a Color object from its 32-bit component values that define the alpha, red, green, and FromArgb blue elements. Creates a Color object from a specified HTML standard 'known color' name, for example AliceBlue FromKnownColor or Gainsboro. Creates a Color object using the specified name, which can be a 'known color' name, a 32-bit value FromName or a hexadecimal HTML-style color value such as #ff0000 (red). Each Color object also has properties that return the individual components of the current color. For example, the properties A, B, G, and R return the alpha, blue, green, and red components respectively. To get the name of the color if it is one of the 'known colors', we can query the Name property of the Color object. To be able to create a Color object and use its shared properties and methods in our code, we must import the System.Drawing namespace that contains the definition of the Color class: In our demonstration pages, we include textboxes where you can enter the colors you want for various properties of the control. For example, to set the BackColor property of a control, we call the FromName method (passing it the value that was entered), and then assign the object that this method creates to the BackColor property of the control: MyControl.BackColor = Color.FromName(txtBackColor.Value) To retrieve the color from the BackColor property, we just have to extract the Name of the Color object that the property references: txtForeColor.Value = MyControl.ForeColor.Name The System.Web.UI.WebControls.Unit Class Several properties of the ASP Web Form controls are references to a Unit object, for example the Width and Height of an Image control and the BorderWidth of a Table control. As with the Color properties, we don't have to concern ourselves with this when we explicitly define the values in our sourcecode:
- However, to assign values at run-time, we have to use the properties and methods exposed by the Unit object. The class that defines the Unit object is part of the same namespace as the ASP.NET Web Form controls, and so it is imported by default into our ASP pages. It exposes two properties: Property Description The type of unit that the value is measured in. One of the members of the UnitType enumeration (Cm, Mm, Em, Type Ex, Inch, Percentage, Pica, Pixel, or Point). Value The actual number of the units (as defined in the Type property) that make up the value. The Unit class also provides three shared methods that we can use to create a Unit object with a specific Type property value: Method Description Percentage Creates a Unit object of type Percentage using the specified 32-bit signed integer. Pixel Creates a Unit object of type Pixel using the specified 32-bit signed integer. Point Creates a Unit object of type Point using the specified 32-bit signed integer. So, if we have an Integer variable named intTheHeight that contains the value in pixels we want to set for the Height property of a control named MyControl, we can use: MyControl.Height = Unit.Pixel(intTheHeight) If the value comes from a textbox with the id of txtHeight, we can use: MyControl.Height = Unit.Pixel(txtHeight.Value) If we want the value to be set as a percentage (say we wanted the control to be 50 percent of the width of the page or its container), we would use: MyControl.Height = Unit.Percentage(50) To retrieve the value of the Height property from the control, we query the Unit object's Value property. The following code returns 100 for the Image control we used earlier in this section: txtHeight.Value = MyControl.Height.Value If we want to know the type of unit, we can query the Type property of the Unit object, but this returns the integer equivalent of the UnitType enumeration. For a unit in pixels, for example, this property returns 1. However (in a similar way to the example with the HorizontalAlign enumeration), we can use a type converter to get the text name. This
- time we use the ConvertToString method rather than the ConvertFromString method: TypeDescriptor.GetConverter(GetType(UnitType)).ConvertToString _ (MyControl.Height.Type) Finally, the easiest way to get the complete value in human-readable form (including the unit type) is to use the ToString method. For the same control, the following code returns 100px: txtHeight.Value = MyControl.Height.Value.ToString() Using the AutoPostBack Feature When we build an interactive form using previous versions of ASP, a common technique is to use some client-side script with certain controls (such as a list box or checkbox) to automatically submit the they reside on to the server for processing when the user selects a value. This allows the server to update the page in response to changes the user makes in the form. In ASP.NET, this is now part of the feature set you get for free with the framework. Certain Web Form server controls (the TextBox, CheckBox, RadioButton), and all the list controls we will look at later in the chapter, provide a property named AutoPostBack. By default this property is False. If we set it to True for a control, that control will automatically post its value, and the values of the rest of the controls on the same form, back to the server when the user selects a value. This also raises an event on the server that we can handle and use to update the contents of the page. You can experiment with AutoPostBack in the samples we provide, and we will look at how we can handle the events on the server later in this section of the chapter. How Does AutoPostBack Work? The mechanism to implement automatic postback is simple. It uses exactly the same techniques as we would use if we were programming it ourselves in a page. When the AutoPostBack property is True, the server control adds a client-side event to the control - for a buttontype control it is the onclick event, and for textboxes and list controls it is the onchange event:
- This causes a client-side function named __doPostBack to run when the control is clicked, when the selection is changed in a list, or when the user edits the content of a textbox and moves to another control. The ID of the control is passed to this function as well. At the same time, the on which the control resides has two extra hidden-type controls added to it. These are used to pass back to the server the ID of the control that was clicked or changed, and any value for the second parameter that the __doPostBack function receives: And, of course, the client-side __doPostBack function is added to the page as well. It just collects the control name and any arguments, puts them into the hidden controls, and submits the form to the server: Examples of the ASP Web Form Controls
- In this section, we will briefly look at each of the basic ASP.NET Web Form controls to give you a flavor for what they do and how they can be used. We will bring out any particularly important points about each control as we go. The ASP:CheckBox and ASP:RadioButton Controls We start with the controls that create individual checkboxes and radio buttons (later we'll see two controls that can create lists of checkboxes or radio buttons automatically). One extremely useful feature of the CheckBox and RadioButton controls is that they automatically create a label for the control using the value of the Text property, and you can place this label to the left or right of the control using the TextAlign property: The sourcecode we used to create the server control in this page is: You can also use this page to experiment with the effects of the AutoPostBack property we discussed earlier. Also notice the AccessKey and ToolTip that make it seem like a real Visual Basic style control. These are, of course, client-side features (ToolTip sets the title attribute of the element), but they are part of the HTML 4.0 standards. Adding Styles to Web Form Controls
- The formatting features that apply to all the ASP Web Form controls are demonstrated in the next screenshot of the CheckBox control. You can see how they add a set of CSS-style properties (or selectors) to the element: Setting the Group Name for a RadioButton Control The RadioButton control is almost identical to the CheckBox control, except (of course) that it creates an ; element instead of an ; element. However, there is one more fundamental difference. The RadioButton control exposes an extra property called GroupName, which sets the name attribute of the control. You can see this in the next screenshot:
- The sourcecode we used to create the server control in this page is: This feature is required for two reasons. One is the obvious reason that you must use the same name attribute for all radio buttons that you want to be part of the same mutually exclusive group. The second reason is that all the controls on a page must have a unique ID property, and this is automatically used as the name attribute as well (as you can see if you refer back to the screenshot of the CheckBox control). Unlike the HTML radio button control, there is no Name property for the ASP.NET Web Form RadioButton control, so the GroupName is the only way to set the name attribute. The ASP:HyperLink Control This control provides an easy way to create hyperlink ; elements. As well as the usual formatting, AccessKey, and ToolTip properties, it provides specific properties for the NavigateUrl (which sets the href attribute) and the Target property (which sets the target attribute). One other great feature is that we can set the text that appears as the hyperlink (the content of the resulting ; element) using the Text property:
- The sourcecode we used to create the server control in this page is: Notice that there is again, no Name property. This seems to indicate that we can't use the control to create an anchor in a page that another hyperlink can target. An HTML anchor element requires the name attribute to be set: Paragraph One Then, we target this location in the page using an HTML element such as: Go To Paragraph One However, we can add a name attribute to a Hyperlink control either declaratively or programmatically. We do it declaratively by specifying it within the element in the source of the page:
- Using the Attributes Property with Server Controls One other solution at run-time is to use the Attributes property to add the attribute programmatically. This property gives us access to a collection of all the HTML attributes on a server control. So, we can access the name attribute using: strNameAttr = MyAnchor.Attributes("name") And we can set or change the name attribute using: MyAnchor.Attributes("name") = strNewName So, we can still achieve what we want without a Name property. This useful technique can be applied to any of the server controls, including the HTML server controls we looked at in the previous chapter. It may be useful in other cases where you want to add non-standard attributes to an element for your own purposes. Using an Image as a Hyperlink We often use images as hyperlinks in our pages, and the Hyperlink control makes this much easier than coding by hand. If we specify the path to an image file as the ImageUrl property, that image is used in place of the Text property as the content of the ; element. We have provided a few images for you to try out:
- The ASP:LinkButton Control The LinkButton control demonstrates an interesting extension to the use of an HTML ; element. By default it uses the AutoPostBack feature we described earlier, specifying the client-side JavaScript function named __doPostBack as the href attribute of an ; element. This means that whenever the link is clicked, the form will be posted back to the server where a Click event will be raised: The sourcecode we used to create the server control in this page is:
- We specify the clickable text using the Text property in the same way as with a Hyperlink control, but in this control there is no option to use an image instead of text. For that, we have to use an ImageButton control (described shortly) instead. The ASP:Image Control When we want to display an image in our page, and be able to access the control in our serverside code, we can use the ASP.NET Image server control. There are properties available that specify all the usual attributes for an ; element, including the size, an AccessKey, the ToolTip, the alignment in relation to surrounding content, the border style, and the border and background colors: The sourcecode we used to create the server control in this page is: Again, we have provided a few images for you to experiment with. Notice also how we can specify the values for the Color properties (BorderColor in the screenshot above) using a standard HTML-style hexadecimal color value. The ASP:Panel Control
- While it might sound like an exotic new feature to use in your pages, the Panel control is actually just a way of creating a formatted HTML ; element. We can specify the size and style of the element, and add a background image (though you should realize that, as with all the server controls, some browsers may not support all the style properties we apply): The sourcecode we used to create the server control in this page is: Some text inside the Panel control A useful feature is the ability to set the width of the control, and then turn text wrapping on and off using the Wrap property. Remember that we can also add our own extra style properties to any server control using the Style collection: MyControl.Style("selector-name") = "value" So we could specify that the should be absolutely positioned on the page, add scroll bars to it, change the font, and so on, just by adding the appropriate CSS selector values.
- The ASP:Label Control The Panel control we have just seen creates an HTML element, and this is not always ideal. For example, it automatically wraps to the next line and causes other content to be wrapped below it. To place content inline with other elements and text, we need an HTML element instead. This is just what the ASP.NET Label control provides. This control has the usual set of properties that define the appearance: ToolTip, AccessKey, and so on. It also has the Text property that we use to specify the content of the ; element: The sourcecode we used to create the server control in this page is: The ASP:Button Control The ASP.NET Button control is used to create a standard HTML button that we can access in our server-side code. Again, the properties are the usual set we have seen in all the other controls. Notice that the type of ; element it creates is a submit button. Clicking the button will automatically submit the form on which it resides to our server, where we can handle the Click event it raises in our server-side code:
- The sourcecode we used to create the server control in this page is: The ASP:ImageButton Control Instead of using a normal textcaptioned button to raise a Click event on the server, we can use a clickable image instead. The ImageButton control creates an ; element that submits the form it resides on to the server when clicked. Also, as you can see from the following screenshot, we can control the size and appearance of the image to get the effect we want:
- The sourcecode we used to create the server control in this page is: The ASP:TextBox Control One of the most complex of the basic Web Form input controls is the TextBox control. We can use this to create several different types of HTML element, including a normal single-line textbox, a multi-line textbox (where it actually creates an HTML element), and a password input box that displays asterisks instead of text. In its simplest form, to create a normal ; element, we don't have to change any of the default property values. However, in the following screenshot you can see that we have set the MaxLength, ReadOnly, and ToolTip properties. We also set the Columns property, which equates to the size attribute for an ; element:
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text:
Log in with uID
Lately I haven't been feeling like myself
When I look into the mirror, I see emptiness inside
I hardly recognize the world that I have built
Only strangers standing by my side.
I keep loosing everything that matters in my life.
No power, nor there's a will to protect my kingdom on the hill.
Time keeps slipping underneath my eyes.
Only broken seconds get left behind.
I take cover every time I hear fireworks outside
Never knowing if it's death knocking on the door
No safe haven for the broken like myself
What comfort may I get?
When everyone I have ever loved I have pushed away
No hearts to take the bullets for my life
Only fading memories of long forgotten dreams are still around
I am alone, I am the one who got left behind.


text:
On August 19, 2012, I felt there was something different with the GRS. It seemed normal, except for the white 'halo' around it. I also noticed the increased activity in the Southern Equatorial Band. The were several whitestructures there.
On October ,2012 utc, and again the following day, the Red Spot definitely seemed to be changing.


text:
Yesterday, I had a moment to remember why it is that I work 12-hour shifts full of physically and mentally (and sometimes emotionally) strenuous work and strange, smelly substances that the "rest of you" don't even know about.
In our ICU, we had a patient who was extremely ill and remained that way from around Halloween to around Valentine's day. Mr. G was unstable and uncomfortable and distressed for much of that period of time. He had had more surgeries than I can even count, but I personally remember sending him to surgery 3 days in a row at one point. He was difficult to take care of physically due to his high number of drains and IV's and frequent need for linen changes. We transferred him to a longer-term hospital in the early Spring, and everyone felt sad to see him and his wife leave our unit. All the nurses on the staff had cared for him at some point, I'm certain. He had a new grandchild, and I remember that I was caring for him the day after the baby was born, and I remember thinking "He'll likely never know this baby..." We decorated his room with Holiday Decorations at Christmas because we did not want "his last Christmas" to go un-recognized.
So yesterday, in walks a woman and her healthy-appearing, upright-walking, smiling husband. No one recognized him. When he introduced himself, there was a generalized hubbub and happiness among the staff. Mr. G is now back at work, and playing with his Grandchild, and was thanking us for helping to "make this the greatest Christmas ever."
I am grateful to Mr. G and his wife for sharing themselves (and their cookies...which he baked himself!) with us. Seeing this couple validated for us all exactly the purpose of what we are doing here...and that all our hard work is not in vain. I feel motivated to stick with Nursing, throughout it's trials and difficulties, because at least once last year, God used my hands to heal someone and return him back to his family and his life.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Why I Am a Nurse (Thanks for the Reminder)
Posted by Christy D. at 9:17 AM
Labels: Nursing
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text:
I smell a n00b on the Internets.
April 4, 2007 at 12:33 am 12 comments
No srsly, that is the wrong way to handle a troll.
Cali, Cali, Cali, why is it that you take the bait of a troll? You may be named after the Saber's sword of promised victory, but you ain't using it's promised-victory hax powers to pwn that troll.
Which is what I'm gonna teach you all today: How not to fall into the troll trap.
1. Do not rise to the bait.
Remember, people, a troll thrives on baiting people. They do all they can to anger us, inciting a thread of negative emotions, and then we mention something regrettable. Something the troll can use against us, and further deepen this furrow of anger.
But how do we stop ourselves from rising to the bait, tempting as it seems? Well first of all, a little analysis of a typical troll comment will reveal nuggets of information to the uninitiated:
Did I get that right? A cheap bastard was complaining about something he stole off the internet! Not to mention stealing it with free value-added services. You should die.
Notice that the typical troll comment usually starts with something that will rile you up. He calls you names and insults your morals, epenis, your mother, etc. This is all done to make sure you get angry.
"But I've seen some encoders work magic even with a bad quality raws to make the video output look much better."
Again, he insults you, but this time, he uses part of your post to get at you.
"No excuses, either get a better raw or up its quality."
Kleptomaniacs complaining about the tampons they stole say the same thing.
I have got to admit, this is something a troll of a higher level would use. Something seemingly unrelated to the issue at hand, but it all relates back. He's indirectly insulting you there.
In short, a troll insults you. Your tastes, your morals, your penis size, your mother, etc. It is all done to make you angry and post something that makes you look like an idiot. Realization is half the battle won.
Now that you've avoided his bait, what's the most effective way to counter a troll. Remember kids, fight fire with water, unless it's a huge fire and you don't have OVER9000 decalitres of water at hand to put it out.
How do we go about defusing the troll's argument? Well, there are many ways, like making fun of him, but these two ways have seen better and more consistent results than typical ways.
2A. Be Nice.
Now this is a course of action you could use, and is generally recommended. Being nice (or at least being sarcastic) about the argument makes the troll really mad, as he already has failed in his primary objective. Who knows, maybe you might see him explode in anger and mutter incoherently. That's always a sight to behold. Also, you may sally forth a few subtle insults about his style, his penis size, and whatnot. It's all about turning the tables, really. But in a nice, if not sarcastic, manner. Remember, never ever turn to swear words and outright insults. It makes you look childish. And n00bish.
(The LOL statement also works.)
The other course of action, really, applies mostly to myself, but eh, for the sake of completeness, I'll throw it in.
2B. Go crazy.
This is an excellent method of ensuring trolls never get the better of you. It involves spouting retarded memes, spamming your own blog with said memes, throwing out the gay jokes, and slipping in a few *I want you inside me*-type lines. This usually freaks out most trolls, and makes you look like some hopped-on-LSD-high druggie and a nutcase. Not really applicable to most bloggers, I'm afraid. You have to have a certain mindset in order to usethis. However, if you really want to use this, well, have fun unlocking your inner nutcase. It's a fun and rather mindscarring process, which is unique to each individual, but I assure you, you'll have a different outlook on life after it's over. Or at least think Overman King Gainer is pure awesome. And you'll be able to beat back a 4chan invasion.
With that said, if you managed to reach here, well, congratulations. You now know how to deal with trolls. Harness that newfound knowledge and lay the smackdown on some trolls.
Oh, and Cali, some sagely advice from Bradcher: D00d, learn how to HAX.
12 Comments Add your own
Trolling is bond to upset most people until they've been using the 'net for a while and learn how to ignore them. These days, I've found myself warning other people off, to the tune of "ignore this one, he/she is a troll…" or similar. Trolls are like kids: ignore them for long enough, they won't get the attention they crave.
Thought for the day for those caught up in flame wars and other troll-related incidents:
Arguing on the Internet is like running for US president: even if you win, you're still an idiot.
Great post btw Orz. 🙂
I really gotta ask WTF is up with this. A person had something to say, and said person is called a troll. The trolls who go around insulting everyone; they obviously have nothing better to do.
I, myself, don't get insulted by said trolls anymore since they don't really create anime or run the industry. Why Jerry Chu (former marketting manager of Bandai) didn't create his own anime-distributing company when he left while the going is good, I do not know.
The entire post above is done to conceal something else.
That's why I try to put in something informational whenever I post into my LJ.
On that note: Do you know that Rie Tanaka makes a better lesbian psycho (ala Mai-ZHime's Tomoe) than a stale enslaved maid (ala Hanaukyo Maid's Mariel)?
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text:
117. Preservation Hall by Scott Spencer (1976)
Length: 308 pages
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Started: 3 December 2014
Finished: 5 December 2014
Where did it come from? From Paperback Swap
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 12 August 2013
Why do I have it? I like contemporary fiction and have read and enjoyed A Ship Made of Paper: A Novel by the same author in the past.
Meet Virgil Morgan, a young man in his late twenties who, to the world at large, seems to have all the earmarks of success: a luxurious apartment, a consultant job that pays extremely well and takes surprisingly little energy, and an idyllic marriage to a beautiful and creative woman named Tracy.
Meet Virgil's father Earl Morgan, a one-time high school music teacher who has always dreamed of greatness even as he hurtles towards oblivion. A hapless man who watches his wife pack a suitcase and leave him for good, who refuses to give up his beret and goatee. Yes, Virgil has always had a precarious relationship with his father; seeing Earl as an embarrassment - forever a source of gut-wrenching failure for Virgil, a man who wallows in his myriad personal failings too often and too well.
Virgil has done his best to stay away from Earl, and for most of his life that has worked quite well for him. When he and Tracy purchase their dream house in Maine, a cozy cottage they christen 'Preservation Hall', it looks as if he'll succeed - until a long-awaited romantic interlude is invaded by an unwanted visitor, and a sudden blizzard sets the stage for a terrifying week; forcing Virgil to confront the long-repressed ghosts from his past.
I must say that I absolutely loved this book. This is actually the second book that I've read by Scott Spencer and in my opinion, this story was fast-paced and very exciting. The characters were well-developed and sympathetically drawn, and the ones that were meant to be likable I liked very much. I give this book an A+!
Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight
"Finishing a good book is like leaving a good friend." - William A. Feather, American publisher and author (August 25, 1889-January 7, 1981)
Friday, December 5, 2014
Scott Spencer - Preservation Hall
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Hello and welcome to my blog. I'm a newbie as far as book blogging goes, having been blogging at my daughter's blog for only about two and a half years. Now it's time for me to get my feet wet on my own. Please be gentle with this blogger. Love to hear from you all. Have a great day! :)
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text:
Once again, RoseRed and I participated in a sock swap that means you contribute yarn of your own and two of your friends knit a sock each out of it. The result is new socks on which you didn't knit a single stitch.
This time, participants were me, RoseRed, Donni, Nora and Kristie. Months ago now, I handed over a skein of Knittery yarn and a week or two ago, got these socks in the mail, knit by Nora and RoseRed.
I'm thrilled to bits with them. They fit beautifully, are a very fine gauge and they have shown me that a pattern I've overlooked continually is actually stunning.
The pattern is from Interweave's Favourite Socks. Merino Lace Socks. To me, the photo of the socks in the book is fairly nondescript. I've never considered the pattern.
Clearly they are well worth making. Thanks Nora and RoseRed. Your work is stunning and my feet are happy.
As an amusing aside, I have a story to tell.
This morning as we were getting ready to leave for work, I said to Sean that I would do something I've not done for a long time. I said I planned to not take any knitting out with me today. This was because I was driving and so wouldn't have time to do any.
Sean's response was, 'But what about if you need some emergency knitting?'
He paused and said, 'I can't believe I now use phrases like 'emergency knitting' in every day speech.'
Neither can I.
And yes, I took the knitting. You just never know when you'll need it.


text:
A look at the weekly turn of events, the rights and the ruses on the political scene
So after almost a year in keeping everybody in waiting, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis finally expanded his state cabinet last week. From the day the Fadnavis cabinet took the oath of office in October 2014, almost all his cabinet colleagues were juggling more than one ministry at a time. In the case of former Revenue minister Eknath Khadse, he was handling almost 10 major ministries like Agriculture, Revenue, Minority Affairs and others. It was affecting governance, controversies and allegations were swirling around like a storm. To wriggle out of that situation, cabinet expansion was the best solution. But in the end has he given into his allies more than what he had bargained for?
At a later stage of the expansion it all became too evidently agonizing with even the allies hitting out at will.
Two of the biggest "setbacks" of this cabinet expansion exercise for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Fadnavis have been that to keep the estranged Shiv Sena in good humour they had to be given one of the Ministers of State for Home portfolios and also increase the decision making and administrative powers of its junior ranking ministers. The biggest headache is the last minute elevation of Rashtriya Samaj Paksha (RSP) leader and MLC from BJP's own quota Mahadev Jankar to cabinet rank minister and demotion of its own senior MLA Madan Yerawar to minister of state rank.
The capitulation was evident from the fact that BJP president Raosaheb Danve had to ink a deal with senior Sena leader and minister Subhash Desai allocating one MoS Home and increasing powers of their MoS. Secondly, the BJP had to give in to the stubborn stance of Jankar who insisted on a cabinet rank ministry and got away with it. Besides that the series of allegations against his own ministers (including new ones) and a resurgent opposition Congress thanks to the entry of former chief minister Narayan Rane into the upper house.
At such a time more than anything else Fadnavis needs support and it did come from party president Amit Shah's trusted aide and Minister for Cooperation, Chandrakant Patil, who also happens to be member of the upper house. In doing so the party has overlooked Minister for School Education Vinod Tawde who earlier was a member of the upper house. Fadnavis needs Patil's support to keep Rane in check. Though, Rane may prove handy in tackling the Sena as r both BJP and Rane would love to settle scores with the Sena as 2017 BMC elections approach.
Besides that the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and its leader of opposition in legislative council Dhananjay Munde will have to deal with a leader of the stature of Rane. Like the BJP has kept the Sena guessing on whether it will give the post of Deputy Speaker in the legislative assembly to it.
The NCP too is keeping the Congress guessing on whether it will really give the post of Deputy Chairman in the legislative council to it. Remember the NCP with the tacit support of the BJP had ousted senior Congress MLC Shivajirao Deshmukh from the post.
If cabinet expansion was one worry, the other was reallocating the portfolios to keep everybody happy.
The fact that the list of reallocated ministries did not come in the evening of July 8 itself suggested that it was not a smooth affair and that it was hard to meet the ever growing demands of everyone. The expansion and reshuffle did not have the clear imprint of the BMC elections on it. Though the reappointment of Senas most hated rival Ashish Shelar as Mumbai BJP president is clear indication that its war of supremacy with the Sena has not died down. Though Fadnavis has tried to fine balance everyone and everything through the cabinet expansion and reshuffle, the worries have just begun to expand.


text: I had 2 best friends growing up: Anna Powell & Jenny Holden. We did EVERYTHING together and had a BLAST doing it all! Well Jenny is getting married and Anna and I have the privledge of throwing her church family bridal shower. It is a LARGE gathering (we're anticipating approximately 80 guests) so we have to keep things relatively simple. I created the invitation suite and they went out in the mail yesterday. Hopefully no one will see it here before it arrives at her house (who am I kidding - no one reads this blog - except maybe Anna - and she's already seen it SEVERAL times!)


text:
Tomato Flower
This is the first time I've tried to use stakes instead of wire baskets. Because my plants are potted, the baskets seem too tall. Plus, they got knocked over by my dogs quite easily a few times last year because they were so awkwardly tall and their leashes caught on the wiring. This way they have a lot less of a chance of knocking them down.
Tomato Bud