text:
You may think it is not important to secure your digital legacy. Well, think again.
Digital legacy assets increase every day.
The more that we use the internet to run our lives, the more we need to protect those assets. Being safe online and taking wise, practical steps to secure our accounts is critical.
Today, Internet fraud and account hacking are increasing. How do you safely give your family, friends, or partner, access to key accounts? What if something should happen to you?
When we bank online, shop online and bet online, financial assets are held safely by the characters of our password. Photos, videos, and Pinterest boards contain valuable, sentimental assets that are priceless. A couple of keystrokes protect these from access by our loved ones for generations to come. Not knowing those passwords can be a financial and emotional catastrophe should you die. How can you secure these assets against loss? How can you ensure that they are available to your loved ones should something happen to you?
LastPass could be the simple answer to these questions. It could help you secure your digital legacy for now and tomorrow.
Disclaimer - I am not sponsored by LastPass. I am recommending the product because I use it. I believe that it can provide a simple, and secure way to manage your digital assets. It can help you manage your digital legacy needs.
What Is LastPass?
LastPass is a password manager and so much more. It has a suite of tools that can make using the internet secure. If this tool is used correctly; it can be an easy way to manage your digital legacy assets. It becomes simple to provide access to your online accounts should you die. You can do this without giving your passwords to anyone.
Here Are 5 Reasons Why LastPass Can Secure Your Digital Legacy Now
1 - Emergency Access facility
The most useful digital legacy planning aspect of LastPass is the Emergency Access facility. The Emergency Access feature gives trusted family and friends access to your LastPass account in the event of an emergency or if you die. Your designated Emergency Access contact(s) can request access to your account. They securely receive the passwords and notes without knowing your Master Password. You decide how much time should pass before giving access. If they request it, you can decline access if unnecessary. If you were to die this facility alone could save so many problems for your loved ones.
2 - Unique PassWord Generator
LastPass has tools to help you follow the best security practices recommended by experts. You can create a unique, secure password for every account. The built-in password generator creates long, randomised passwords. These passwords will protect you from hackers. Do you use the same password or a simple password for all accounts? Three of the most used passwords of 2015 were "123456", "qwerty" and even "password!" You can even find the top 1000 passwords online.
We choose the same or simple passwords because we cannot remember the many different passwords we need. However, this is not safe or secure with the valuable digital assets we hold. With LastPass, you do not need to remember many passwords, just one.
3 - Secure Password Vault
LastPass stores your passwords in a secure vault. Your passwords and secure notes are stored safely. It is easy to use, searchable, and organised any way that you want. The autofill option allows access to your online accounts with a simple click.
4 - Secure Notes Facility
One of the key features for planning your digital legacy is the secure notes facility. Think of this as a password-protected, digital notepad. You can access this from anywhere, at any time. You can upload documents, photos, and notes and lock them down with a secure password. The secure notes area is an excellent place to store a copy of your Digital Preferences Register. (You can download a free template here.) Examples of data you might save include bank account numbers or social security numbers of your family. Even passport numbers, or combinations to safes.
5 - Works Across All Devices
We have many devices we use. The computer at work, our smartphone on the go, and the tablet or computer back at home. LastPass operates across all devices. Your LastPass vault is backed up syncing wherever and whenever you need it.This convenient facility means whatever device you are using access is simple.
Using LastPass can secure your digital legacy today and tomorrow. Take steps today to make sure your loved ones have access to your digital assets financial and emotional. These 5 reasons may convince you why I have chosen and recommend others to use LastPass as a tool to secure your digital legacy. The basic version is free, but other options become available by adding Premium or Enterprise levels.
Protecting your online accounts makes perfect sense today. Preparing for the unexpected and ensuring your loved ones do not get locked out of important accounts, like paying bills or the mortgage tomorrow is responsible and wise. These 5 reasons to use LastPass make sense when finding ways to secure your digital legacy.
Related Posts:


text:
My friend L has already reviewed her quilts of 2013 and set her goals for 2014 and she's 8 1/2 months pregnant. She's amazing and my hero!
I am not by nature super organized and I'm okay with that (if I got super organized I'd never have anything to set as a theme for the year). Here's my review of 2013 and goals for 2014 all in one big post.
2013 Review:
Dear Jane - I seem to sew and sew and sew and it never feels like I get much done. Two women in the class are actually finished all 169 square blocks. I'm not there - yet.
I finished 33 blocks this year (doesn't sound too great), which equals 743 pieces (sounds better).
I made some really cute baby shoes - some for gifts and some I sold.
I finished this quilt top for my niece
2014 Goals:
Dear Jane
I have 48 square blocks and 44 triangles left to go - that equals 7.6 blocks per month in 2014. So, I'll aim for 8 blocks per month.
Quilt my niece's quilt - before the end of Feb so I can show it at the guild meeting on Feb 27th.
Make the drapes for my family room before the end of January. I've figured out the math I think
Make a baby quilt for someone at work - before March 2nd cause that's the baby shower date. I'm thinking low volume and have a simple pattern picked out.
Make a crosses quilt for a 1 year old - during March break.
Be more chatty on my blog. I'm not chatty by nature and I think I'm too vague on my blog and that my personality doesn't come through as much as I'd like it to.
Finish a red and white hunter's star - by June 15th - in case the recipient comes home for a family gathering.
Those are all the sewing goals I'm setting for this year. Life will create more as I go through the year. Everything else that gets finished beyond this will be a bonus.
My personal theme for the year is health and wellness and meeting those goals will also take some time.
Wish me luck!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
You'll love award-winning Shutterfly photo books. Start your own today.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Ezra's heart
As we were eating breakfast this morning Ezra made a comment that was so precious that I had to share it. Out of the blue, in the middle of a bowl of cereal, Ezra says, "Do you know how I feel about kids whose parents have died? I want us to take care of them 'cause they will be sad if we don't take care of them." Thank you, God, for giving my boy a tender heart and a desire to care for orphans! I am so thankful that God is growing our whole family as we follow his call on our lives.
Friday, May 25, 2012
Good Shepherd's Fold Group Photo
Here is a group photo from Good Shepherd's Fold from 2011. This was taken before we visited, but I thought it might be helpful for you all to see the many lives impacted through this ministry.
Mercy and Compassion
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Confirmation of Calling
After many months of uncertainty regarding God's leading, we have accepted an invitation to join the team at Good Shepherd's Fold in Uganda. This seems like such a pivotal point in our lives that I can't help but recount some of the events and emotions that have led up to this point. So please bear with me. This has been a winding path that has included excitement, fear, joy, frustration and, at times, a strong sense of God's peace. In some ways this process began about six months ago with a conversation that Lisa and I had while driving. God had been causing me to reexamine where He was calling us to serve long-term. The next question in my mind was, "If not this, then what?" Over the next few weeks God created a desire within me to minister to missionaries by helping them educate their children. This seemed like a great fit for Lisa and me because God has given us a breadth of experience that could be quite useful to Him in the mission field. So, I mentioned this idea to Lisa during that car-ride conversation. It caught her off-guard, to say the least. However, within the span of a week she moved from shock, to curiosity, to excitement. It was during this week that Lisa reminded me of a comment that I had made nearly a year prior. Faith Presbyterian was having its annual missions conference and after hearing one of the speakers I said to Lisa, "I could see myself doing something like that." The missionary that was speaking was involved in helping the missionaries do their work. It was the first time that I had realized the need for missionary support staff.
As I look back on the process that God has brought us through, I realize that in many ways the path does not go back six months, or even six years. It seems to me now that God has been preparing us for this ministry opportunity for all of our nearly fifteen years of marriage and even prior to that. This preparation has included our education at Covenant College as well as our professional development in teaching. Because we have been teaching at small Christian schools, we have been asked to teach a wide range of subjects over the years. This was usually a source of frustration for me because of the increased demands on my time, but I can now see how this was helpful in preparing me to teach in a one-room school house scenario. Lisa's breadth of experience in teaching math to kids of nearly all ages in addition to other subjects is another example of God's preparatory work in our lives.
The will of God for our lives unfolds day by day and this is requiring more trust and patience than I am used to having. I am finding that much of my sense of confidence and security were not founded on the goodness and sovereignty of God, but on my own plans and sense of self-sufficiency. God has been stretching us in the area of security and confidence and this has been somewhat painful. It has been very encouraging, however, to see Him give us the grace to stretch as far as He has asked.
As we began the process of determining where God might be calling us to serve it became clear that there is a great need for teachers of missionary kids. We were told by many missionaries that this is a major issue for families. As we explored various opportunities, none seemed to be the right fit for our family. It was at this point that we were put into contact with a friend of a friend who was preparing to go to Good Shepherd's Fold in Uganda. Following a very encouraging phone conversation, Lisa and I each visited the GSF website and independently felt very interested in the work being done there. We began praying for Uganda and for the nearly three million orphans that live there. The need for workers to meet the physical and spiritual needs of these orphans is so obvious and we both began to feel a desire to be a part of that ministry. This couple that was preparing to join the team at GSF mentioned that having teachers for their children was essential for them to be able to serve long-term at GSF.
After corresponding some with the team in Uganda, we decided to go on a "vision trip" in order to meet the team and see the work and the place. It is hard to describe the experience. The physical needs are immense in a country with so much poverty and so many orphans. In many ways it was heart-breaking, but it was also so exciting and beautiful to see the work that God is doing through GSF. We had the privilege of meeting a young man who grew up at GSF and was back at GSF to teach and help lead worship. He was just one example of how God is using GSF to not only meet the physical needs of the orphans, but also to make disciples who are in turn discipling others (II Tim 2:2).
While we were in Uganda, God gave us both a sense of calling through the sermon which was preached about Matthew 19:16-30. Since we have been home, it seems like every sermon we hear is about God calling us to serve in Uganda. Every Sunday, we have both had a strong sense of confirmation of this calling either through the sermon, the worship songs, or the prayer time. Our individual times of prayer and worship have also led us to believe that this is where God is calling us. We believe that God primarily speaks to his people through his Word. It has been the preaching and reading of the Word that has been so clear in confirming this calling. In addition, in Scripture God frequently commands His people to care for the orphans or fatherless, and to make disciples. "True religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this, to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." (James 1:17) This is only one of many passages in which God reminds us of the grace He has shown to us and tells us to extend that grace to those in need. Jesus' last words during His earthly ministry were a command to His disciples to "Go and make disciples of all nations…" The ministry of Good Shepherd's Fold is accomplishing both by discipling the fatherless. So we are planning to go. While our primary role will not be directly serving the children at GSF, our ministry of educating the missionaries' children will free them to do the work of GSF. We will also have some opportunities to directly love and disciple the orphans there.
We plan to go through a week of training in early June, with the hopes of raising full support by the following summer (2013). Soon we will begin the process of sharing this calling with others and asking for prayer and financial support. We do not currently know the total cost of this endeavor, but our week of training should be very informative in that way. They do not currently have a house on campus for our family, so we will also be raising support to build a home. We will probably be living in a temporary housing situation until a home is built on campus. This entire process has taught us that we need to trust God with everything. We do not know what tomorrow holds. Matthew 6:32-33 reminds us not to worry even about our basic needs, of what we should eat or drink or wear, because our Heavenly Father knows that we need these things. "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you as well." Please pray for us as we follow God and seek to be a part of the kingdom work He is doing at Good Shepherd's Fold in Uganda.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Global Outreach Training in June!
Well, we still do not have a final answer about whether we will be heading to Uganda for long-term service in the summer of 2013, but we are one step closer. (Actually, we never know what tomorrow will hold, but it is nice to have plans.) We have been invited to attend the Missionary Orientation and Training (MOT) for Global Outreach on June 3-8. Global Outreach is the sending agency that we would go with if we serve at Good Shepherd's Fold. The team at GSF is continuing to pray about inviting our family to join them. Please pray for us and our children during this week, as we will be apart again. The training will be in Mississippi. If you are interested in helping with the cost of this week of training, you can find information about that in the "How Can I Help" tab. Also, please pray for the GSF team to have wisdom and unity as they consider adding another family and the changes that would bring.
The Toddler house at GSF
David spent some time pushing all the kids on the swings.Those who could talk kept calling, "Uncle Fish." The others would just come over and pull on his shirt to get him to play. It was a fun time with the toddler boys.
This is Danny. On the first day we arrived he came right to me to be held. After that, any time he spotted us he came over and got one of us to pick him up. He is a very sweet boy who loves attention. Since we were missing our children so much, it was fun to have a little boy to hold. I miss Danny.
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)


text:
We work with the contractor to ensure that the project is completed before closeout. We will generate a "punch list" of items the contractor needs to complete before closeout and follow up to be sure each item has been adequately addressed. We will issue a final letter of compliance per RCW 64.55
We have expertise in a wide variety of projects
Siding repair and replacement
Windows replacement
Roofing repair and replacement
Deck refurbishment
Plumbing replacement
Asphalt repairs or replacement
Fire damage restoration
For a free project management bid, we initially need to know specific details about your project which are best communicated verbally. Please contact us at 206.523.3248.


text:
Norris Family Chiropractic was founded by Allison Norris, D.C. on January 5, 2004 at its original location. In April 2011 we relocated to our current location of 14520 Detroit Ave. in downtown Lakewood, across from Lakewood hospital.
NFC is a state of the art facility equipped with diagnostic, therapeutic, and rehabilitative equipment. We have the ability to treat patients with problems ranging from minor musculoskeletal problems to severe post-injury ailments to debilitating disease processes. NFC also has 2 full-time and 1 part-time Massage Therapist on site available for 30, 60, and 90 minute table massages, Thai Yoga Massage, Reiki, Chakra work, ear candling, essential oils, and a variety of other specialties. NFC also specializes in nutritional support for all. Most recently NFC has an acupuncturist working out of the office to further meet our patients' needs. Call to inquire about all available at our office.
Your first visit with Dr. Norris will be like going to any doctor's office. Your history, blood pressure, pulse, height, and weight will be taken by the doctor. Then the doctor will do an examination of your major body systems including the nervous and skeletal system. Depending on the situation you may or may not receive your first chiropractic adjustment on your first visit. Dr. Norris takes every precaution to give her patients the best care available and certain situations warrant further diagnostic testing before chiropractic care can begin. This may include an x-ray of your bones, blood work, or even a urine culture.
Following your first visit at NFC a second visit, called your report of findings visit, will be scheduled. At this time a treatment plan will be initiated between you and the doctor. It is important to follow the treatment plan but also to express to the doctor any concerns you may have with the treatment plan. It is our duty at NFC to recommend the care to get you to a healthier you; but there are many factors to health and one of those factors is having an active role in your health care. We want you to participate actively in the plan provided for you which may include exercises at home, drinking more water, referral to other practitioners, and visiting our office for more chiropractic care.
NFC accepts many forms of payment including cash, check, Visa, Mastercard, and third party insurance carriers. Please call to see if we are participating in your health insurance plan. We also offer full-time student discounts, family plans, and cash visit packages. Please ask about these when scheduling your first visit.
Our Massage Therapists all work independently from Dr. Norris but in collaboration for your health needs. Each of our therapists have a slightly different approach to massage formulate from their knowledge base and passions for healing. Some of the techniques/certifications they hold include: Thai yoga Massage, Reiki, CranioSacral, Deep Tissue, Fertility Massage, Abdominal Massage, Chakra Energy Work, and Ear Candling. Lisa Zito, L.M.T. is also a Young Living Distributor. She has been a massage therapist for over 10 years and has worked in collaboration with Dr. Norris for the past 7 years to help many patients have the full body care approach they desire. Jackie Sliva holds over 200 hours of Thai bodywork training, a Bachelor's degree in Anthropology, and is currently working on her Master's of Science in Complementary Alternative Medicine. She is a certified Personal Trainer, Yoga teacher, advanced Thai Yoga and relaxation massage practitioner. Jackie utilizes Ayurveda, culture, evolution, experience, and research to help her clients achieve their wellness goals. Her experience ranges from the public health sector, corporate events, outdoor festivals, to individual clients.
*Energy Work
Stacey Pickering
Stacey loves to help people feel their inherent balance and wellness. Some of the ways in which she does this are: making & teaching how to make magically delicious, nutritious foods; practicing the energetic healing therapies of Reiki, Polarity, and Elemental Reflexology; teaching yoga classes that are inclusive of all levels of experience; lifestyle coaching; and singing and playing musical instruments, including crystal singing bowls. She also loves to dance and spend as much time as possible exploring outside in nature. She is always open to discovering new ways to create, share & grow.
Certifications in Elemental Reflexology, Polarity Therapy & Detox/Nutrition/Lifestyle Coaching from Great Lakes School of Integrative Medicine. Member of American Polarity Therapy Association.
What is Polarity Therapy?
Polarity Therapy is a system of holistic healing based on the ancient Indian principles of Ayurveda. It combines bodywork, exercises and dietary/lifestyle suggestions to offer clients a way of reconnecting with their own inherent state of wellness. The bodywork uses various techniques such as palpating, rocking, and applying pressure to specific points (polarities) to signal one's energy to release blockages and reset back into its natural patterns of balance. The exercise & dietary recommendations are intended to encourage the continued flow of energy along a path of wellbeing. Clients often experience relaxation and rejuvenation during and following Polarity sessions, and many undergo lasting positive shifts in many facets of their lives.
What is Elemental Reflexology?
Elemental Reflexology looks at the ways in which our overall health is reflected in our feet, and vice versa. Oftentimes, our physical & emotional patterns of energetic balance or imbalance make their way to our feet via gravity, and can be detected and redirected applying Reflexology techniques. Conversely, the ways we stand and walk often manifest in blockages or imbalances in the rest of the body. Clients are often amazed by the profound beneficial effects on the body, mind & spirit that can be achieved through working with the feet! Most Polarity sessions include at least some Reflexology, and the feet can also be the focus of an entire hour-long session (if requested by client and/or in cases of acute pain or injury in other areas of the body).
What does Elemental mean?
Ayurveda is a 5,000-year old system of health that looks at the ways in which the elements of Earth, Water, Fire, and Air are represented in both our external and internal environments. In an ideal state, these energies are all in perfect harmony within us and we are functioning at our optimal potential. However, due to a number of factors, one or more of them are often out of balance, and Polarity & Reflexology Therapies work to bring them back into their fullest expressions of wellbeing.
What about Reiki?
Reiki is another healing modality that works with the client's energy systems to find the natural state of calm and wellness. It can be performed as a gentle hands-on modality, or working with the 'energetic body' surrounding the physical body.
Fern Milacci is a Licensed Acupuncturist and a Diplomat of Oriental Medicine, indicating certification by the NCCAOM in Acupuncture, Biomedicine, and Chinese Medical Theory. Fern earned her Master's Degree in Chinese Medicine from the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine. Additionally, she is a certified member of National Acupuncture Detoxification Association (NADA). She received her bachelors of science from Rider University in New Jersey.
Fern became interested in acupuncture after she was in a car accident and was recommended to have acupuncture for pain management as part of her rehabilitation plan. The acupuncture made such a difference in her pain levels, that she became a believer and decided to pursue a career in Chinese medicine. She is passionate about helping others on a path to healing.
Fern specializes in general women's health, anxiety and depression issues, chronic pain, digestive disorders, immune support and wellness care. She utilizes an array of Eastern healing modalities including acupuncture, cupping, electro-acupuncture, guasha, moxa & diet and lifestyle modifications to improve patient outcomes and quality of life.
In addition, she has treated individuals undergoing acute drug and alcohol detoxification and patients undergoing chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer using NADA's Five Needle Protocol (5NP) and scalp acupuncture.
She is also a practitioner of Zen Shiatsu, a gentle, yet powerful form of Japanese massage that accesses the acupuncture meridians via pressure therapy.
About your first visit with Fern
Initial visits are 90-minutes and consist of an in-depth health history intake from both a Chinese medicine and conventional medicine perspective. Tongue and pulse diagnosis are also assessed and followed by an acupuncture treatment. Other modalities such as cupping, shiatsu massage, electro-acupuncture, guasha, and moxa may also be used as needed during treatment. During the first visit we determine which systems are out of balance and with this information we can then take into account your main goals and concerns and design an appropriate treatment plan.
Return visits are about 50 to 60 minutes and incorporate a 10 to 20 minute reevaluation followed by a treatment. As with the initial visit, modalities such as cupping, tuina or shiatsu massage, electro-acupuncture, guasha, and moxa may also be used as needed during treatment. This is a great time to discuss your progress and to reevaluate your treatment plan. Please bring up any feelings or ideas you may have, as collaboration is the best way to achieve your healthcare goals.
What is Acupuncture?
Acupuncture is one of the oldest, most commonly used medical procedures in the world. Chinese medicine originated in China more than 3,000 years ago. The term acupuncture describes procedures involving stimulation of anatomical points on the body by a variety of techniques. American practices of acupuncture incorporate medical traditions from China, Japan, Korea, and other countries. The technique most commonly involves penetrating the skin with hair thin, solid, stainless steal, one time use needles that are manipulated by the hands or by electrical stimulation.
Does Acupuncture hurt? Is it safe?
People experience acupuncture differently, but most feel no or minimal pain as the needles are inserted. Some people are energized by treatment, while others feel relaxed. Most commonly, people feel a sensation of heaviness or an achy sensation at points. Some people even feel sensations along exact acupuncture meridians. Relatively few complications from the use of acupuncture have been reported to the FDA in light of the millions of people treated each year and the number of acupuncture needles used. It is a very safe practice when practiced by a Licensed Acupuncturist.


text:
Precision Garage Door of San Francisco
Has Received 1 Review in:
San Lorenzo
Average Rating: 5.00
Garage Door Opener Install
San Lorenzo, CA
The motor died in our overhead garage door opener and we had to manually open the overhead door. Lucky for us Precision Overhead Garage Door Service was out to my home quickly and gave us several options. Ricky left 1 and 1/2 hours later and we had a new garage door opener. They even cleaned up after themselves and made sure all of our remotes and wireless openers worked properly before leaving. Nice going guys.
Mike Roche
Thank you for your review and your business.
The Precision Team
Service Provided:
Garage Door Opener Install
Belt Drive Garage Door Opener
With 59886 Reviews
- 5 Star (95.7%)
- 4 Star (2%)
- 3 Star (0.7%)
- 2 Star (0.5%)
- 1 Star (1.1%)
For this location's local site visit:
This location is owned and operated by:
Pat Prendergast
Precision Door Service of San FranciscoLicense: #993539


text:
Blog post
If You Lived In This Inner-Ring Suburb, You'd Be Home By Now
This week, a few stories circulated around our office that generated some discussion. One was a piece in The New Yorker by Nick Paumgarten on commuting in America entitled "There and Back Again". The tease at the beginning sums up the entire piece: "People may endure miserable commutes out of an inability to weigh their general well-being against quantifiable material gains."
In this story, the writer accompanies commuters in Manhattan and Atlanta while attempting to understand the life of an "extreme commuter."
This week, a few stories circulated around our office that generated some discussion. One was a piece in The New Yorker by Nick Paumgarten on commuting in America entitled "There and Back Again". The tease at the beginning sums up the entire piece: "People may endure miserable commutes out of an inability to weigh their general well-being against quantifiable material gains."
In this story, the writer accompanies commuters in Manhattan and Atlanta while attempting to understand the life of an "extreme commuter." While massive state and national subsidies for road-building and new construction at the fringes of our metropolitan areas have no doubt enabled the growth that has sprawled out from our major cities, one also cannot look past our desire for the "good life". But are we really grasping hold of the "good life" when parents have to leave their homes at 6 a.m. and return after dark, just for their slice of the American Dream? Is the societal cost of that lifestyle part of the dream? As our staff wrote in this week's Smart Growth America newsletter, this illustrates the "psychological sleight-of-hand we perform on ourselves in accepting a life in automotive purgatory in exchange for the material signifiers of 'the good life'".
One story provided in the New Yorker piece is a man who commutes from Sharpsburg to Dunwoody, which you can see on the map below. (Sharpsburg is so far away it's not even on Google's high-resolution Atlanta-area map!) His wife laments the effect on their family. "He works eight to five but is gone from six-thirty to seven. I can't rely on the fact that he'll even be here."
More than 3.5 million people (growing every day, according to the Census Bureau) endure commutes of 90 minutes or more each way, but there is a flip side to the growing phenomena of "extreme commuters" that has become quite familiar to us. Many cities in America, including Atlanta, are experiencing rebirth as people are returning to forgotten and neglected city centers.
People are now realizing the social impact of spending 3 hours in the car each day for extra square footage and are looking for places to live where working, shopping, walking, or biking in their immediate area is an option. So "stripes" of wealth are emerging as these city cores experience new population growth and urban living becomes a luxury good in some places. While some cities continue to add population-often wealthy and upwardly-mobile-the poor who inhabited the forgotten city neighborhoods are being pushed out into older first-ring suburbs, leading to a pattern of wealth in the city-and in the far suburbs and exurbs-with the poor often trapped in between.
The Brookings Institution publicized this massive shift in the demographic makeup of our metro areas, announcing a milestone finding in the history of our country last year: For the first time, more impoverished Americans reside in the suburbs than in all of our cities combined. Unlike the cities they surround, many of these older suburbs don't have access to adequate public transportation, lying just out of reach of bus lines or rail lines. Many are in dire need of infrastructure upgrades to replace crumbling school buildings, roads, or even basic amenities like sidewalks or crosswalks.
The common phrase is "drive 'til you qualify", but in Atlanta, along with other similar cities, there certainly is a surplus of houses and land in the inner-ring suburbs, though conventional wisdom is that they are old, or out of date, inhabited by "different" people, and in failing school districts. This perception may be accurate in some places, but 55-mile commutes across Atlanta, however, are hardly required to find adequate housing.
I often wonder why it is that we don't hear more criticism of the effects of sprawl from supporters of "family values." There is unquestionably a massive impact on the family when a commute reduces a parent's time with family to a few minutes in the morning or evening and weekends. At the same time, policies that incentivize far-flung sprawl while passing over existing inner suburbs seems neither conservative nor supportive of families.
While it is easy to speak of the flaws of the exurbs, it's much more exciting to think about the massive potential for success in these older neighborhoods. Reinvesting in our older historic suburbs will be one of the greatest challenges of the next 30 years as we try to address mounting poverty while also providing urban living options near our cities-becoming ever more urgent as mobility in the outer suburbs becomes more difficult and more people awaken to the staggering financial and societal costs of "extreme commuting".
Those of us who care about smart growth must care first about maximizing our current investments. These investments extend beyond our city cores and must include the remaking of our historic, older suburbs into wonderful, livable places with access to jobs, basic needs, transit - and opportunities.


text: BEST-IN-CLASS PERFORMANCE IN WHEAT, CORN, SOYBEANS AND RICE, AT AN UNBEATABLE PRICE The new TC5.30 benefits from New Holland's long history of harvesting excellence, which dates back to the launch of the first European self-propelled combine harvester in 1952. This new model has been designed to deliver impressive performance in a variety of crops and conditions and to meet specific needs of customers across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. It offers arable farmers and contractors in these markets the ideal combination of the lowest cost of ownership and the highest productivity in its segment. Read More


text:
Delphiniums are one of my favorite flowers. Mom and Dad always grew them at the farm.
These hostas grow along the north side of Mom's house, and they're already huge!
Mom has always grown roses...I think they are one of her favorites.
I may still add a few more photos as the summer and fall goes on.
To see last year's post go to The Garden Of Ede.


text:
Media Contacts
Matt Owen
Corporate Director of PR
Phone: 843-573-2062
Mobile: 843-991-0213
Fax: 843-573-4618
Salamander Hotels & Resorts Appoints John R. Harrison as Director of Regional Sales
John Harrison Headshot
John Harrison is Director of Regional Sales for Salamander Hotels & Resorts.
MIDDLEBURG, VA – Salamander Hotels & Resorts, the luxury hotel management company founded by Sheila C. Johnson, has appointed John R. Harrison as Director of Regional Sales.
A hospitality sales professional and Certified Meeting Planner (CMP) with two decades of experience, Harrison joins Salamander's expanding national sales team in this newly created position from Pyramid Hotel Group, where he served for 14 years as Director of National Accounts for Hotel Viking in Newport, Rhode Island.
Harrison, who is based in New England, is responsible for selling Salamander's growing portfolio, specifically the luxurious Salamander Resort & Spa in Middleburg, VA, and the renowned golf resorts: Innisbrook Resort in Tampa Bay, and Hammock Beach Resort in Palm Coast, FL. He is also charged with developing the Northeast market for Salamander.
Salamander's portfolio also includes Reunion Resort in Orlando, and a fourth Florida resort, Henderson Beach Resort in Destin, which is scheduled to open in summer 2016. There are also several new hotel and resort projects in the pipeline which will be announced soon.
"The addition of someone of John's stature in this new role is yet another example of the expansion of Salamander's sales efforts," said Salamander's Chief Sales & Marketing Officer Eric Gavin. "In addition to his selling skills, John will substantially raise the profile of Salamander Hotels and Resorts within the Northeast meetings community.
A graduate of the University of Rhode Island in Kingston, RI, Harrison has previously held senior sales leadership positions with Four Seasons in Chicago, Las Vegas, Boston and San Diego. He was born and raised in Narragansett, RI.
For more information about Salamander Hotels & Resorts, visit www.SalamanderHotels.com or call (540) 687-3710.
To reach John Harrison, e-mail firstname.lastname@example.com or call (401) 284-0031.
About Salamander Hotels & Resorts
Salamander Hotels & Resorts is a privately owned and operated company based in Middleburg, VA, just outside Washington, D.C. Founded by entrepreneur Sheila C. Johnson in 2005, the company has a portfolio that features a collection of three stellar golf resorts including Innisbrook Resort near Tampa, Reunion Resort in Orlando and Hammock Beach Resort in Palm Coast; the luxurious Salamander Resort & Spa in Middleburg, a 340-acre equestrian-inspired property near Washington, D.C.; and the finest resort built in a generation on Florida's Gulf Coast, Henderson Beach Resort in in Destin, opening summer 2016. For additional information, call (540) 687-3710 or visit www.salamanderhotels.com.


text:
The only photo printer from the imaging giant, the Kodak Personal Picture Maker 200, is proof that this company should stick to its strengths: cameras. Ridiculous performance and unexceptional quality hold back this unit.
Based on a Lexmark design, the 200 has photo-printer features akin to the newer printers in our roundup, such as CompactFlash and SmartMedia slots and an LCD. The screen pivots up, but not far enough to be visible on your desktop.
This printer's performance was absurd when compared with the others here. The mean time for all the other printers to output the graphics file was 12.5 minutes; the Kodak Personal Picture Maker 200 required 1 hour 9 minutes.
As with all the printers in this story, image quality on the Kodak was good. Colors were vibrant (when they were correct), but we encountered serious color-matching problems when working with Photoshop. We tracked down the needed ICC profile on the Web, but we still couldn't solve the problem.


text:
The Northern Travel Gear team is combosed of driven and passionate travelers. All with the same opinion of how important durable travel gear is. Our experience and expertise in how good travel product shall be, reflects the products we have made. Waterproof, durable, enough space, and convenient.
We at Northern Travel Gear have always been comitted to quality. The process of bringing new products to the marked is diligent and detailed. The importance of selecting the roughest and most durable material is huge. We want to make products that the user can have for a long time.
The feeling when you have made a purchase you are satisfied with is good. We have many happy customers. Not just because they are pleased with our products, but because they feel safe when buying from us. We offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee to our buyers. In this way have you as a customer nothing to lose.
Thank you
Northern Travel Gear team
Our product is characterized by these three words - buy it now.


text:
Excellence Technology provides professional Primavera training in Chandigarh/Mohali. This course helps participants understand and execute a complete project, from planning to implementation. The Primavera Course by Excellence Technology aims at equipping project managers who want to utilize project management software to improve performance levels.
Primavera Course Objectives:
- Learn to plan, develop and execute complex projects
- Learn to plan, develop, and implement complicated projects.
- Managing projects within the time and time constraints while ensuring maximum return on capital.
- Visualizing and monitoring project outcome and performance.
- Understanding the basic functions and features of project management processes.
- Learn to create, schedule and control a project to achieve the desired results.
If you are interested in learning Primavera, then contact Excellence Technology today to schedule an appointment.


text:
Cast Iron, My Love
If you are looking for early holiday gifts before the mad rush begins, let me make the best suggestion of all suggestions there ever were… the one true pan, the one true cookware in the world!
CAST IRON, my friends.
I'm obsessed, as you know.
Here are some good deals on cast iron so you can make…
I don't know what I'd do without a cast-iron skillet. I cook and bake practically everything in one. My favorite thing to make in this is my "skillet stuffing" because you cook everything in one pan that looks great served on the table too.
But the best part has to be the clean up…because there is no clean up required. You just wipe the skillet with some paper towels and you're done. No need to wash. In fact if you wash it like you do normal cookware, you'll damage that wonderful "seasoned" effect you get over time.
Have I ever mentioned how much I love cast iron? It always gets super hot and gives your foods that yummy and crispy brown exterior. Plus, it's something that gets better with age. The more you cook on it, the more seasoned and non-stick it becomes. You can't really say that about any other kind of cookware.
Now even if you already have a cast-iron skillet (something passed down from your grandma perhaps?) I thought I'd show you something you definitely don't have, but definitely need. It's cast-iron cookware and serveware in one. The great thing about it is you've got 3 different sections so you can cook 3 different things at once. Just make sure to time it right, but I've done cornbread, stuffing and Brussels sprouts at the same time and they all took about 30 minutes. When you're done cooking, you can pretty much take the whole thing and set it on the table. It looks great as is and gives your table that inviting and from-grandma's-kitchen kind of feeling.
If you're in love with your cast-iron skillet as much as I am, then you've got to have this. It's got the best of cast iron plus a ton of versatility.
If you've had cornbread made out of a cast-iron skillet, you know it's the best thing ever. The heat gives you that slightly crunchy exterior and it tastes way better than anything you can make in the oven.
So I thought I'd up the fun factor with a cast-iron mold shaped like corn on the cob! Don't tell me that's not a clever way to do cornbread. You'll be a hit at the Thanksgiving table.
As much as I love my charcoal grill, it's not coming with me when I'm camping; well lest I have a friend who doesn't mind lugging an extra 50 pounds worth of steel and charcoal. What I really need is a cool steel grill like this.
The legs fold out so it's really a small and flat piece of equipment to pack with you. And it sits pretty low so you don't need a roaring fire for the heat to touch your food. It's super sturdy so I usually grill my foods directly on top, but you can also bring a lightweight (leave the cast-iron at home!) pan and put that on top. Trust me, your campground BBQ just got a little easier…on your back especially.
Do you use cast iron? What's your favorite shape and size?


text:
What happened before
We do the right amount of recon, and discover that homeless are disappearing and being killed from their old haunts beneath the city. We spend some time in a old magically inclined pub and find out that the Conclave is very much out of resources. Nonetheless, we hit the morgue and find that in all likelihood ghouls are coming out of the tunnels to eat and kill.
We prepare for an armed incursion. We have the right background on ghouls, try and optimize our loadouts accordingly (cut, burn, holy water, not guns). It's time. We're goin' on a dungeon crawl in the sewer tunnels. Let's get it on.
Dramatis Personae
Kamali Blackshear (18): Kamali is a young boy in his early teens. He is healthy and is of mixed ethnicity of Caucasian South African and native South African. He is a determined youth who believes in a justice of his own, likening himself to the knight of the round whom he has read deeply into. Just as they stood against the darkness of their age so too does Kamali seek to do the same. For his sister, for his friends, and for the world.
Tag: "A knight without a sword carrying a faith nobody believes."
Lorenzo DeModouco (18): A handsome and charismatic musician. The loss of his parents didn't dampen his spirits and he soldiered on after their death. He's the cheery one always trying to make others happy and sometimes spontaneously breaks into song. Perceptive of others and their feelings, Lorenzo is the one who knows what people are thinking by the looks on their face. He's also a boy scout and is quite comfortable in the wild.
TAG: "He's a Jukebox Hero. He's got stars in his eyes. A Jukebox Hero – he'll make sure you survive."
Amos M. Humiston (19) – This boy is far from where he started out at the orphanage. His comfortable existence already gone and instead has gotten used to his new life. Not like his brothers, his talents lay more in mental pursuits and has already started towards getting a double Masters degree at a local college aiming for his goal of becoming a research librarian. Following in his family's footsteps almost unknowingly, he exhibits certain talents towards more occult pursuits such as druidism and alchemy, mixing up herbal supplements and elixers for the team. And while he's still somewhat still slipping along behind the group, he has become a lot more outgoing with the rest of the Orphans and have started making friends with folks outside his adopted brothers. Always showing concern for them and trying to make sure they know everything that they need to when it comes to the dangers they face.
Tag: "True alchemists do not change lead into gold; they change the world into words."
Gabriel MacAlister (18) – Built like the natural athlete he is, he has grown taller, stronger, and more solidly good-looking. A quiet and hard-working lad, always ready to lend a hand with any work, which he will do without complaint or obligating the other person to respond. He is an expert martial arts teacher, and has been following in the footsteps of a carpenter for some time now. Emphatically not a pushover or weak personality, but also not one to purposefully show off. Has been in many horrible places and seen many horrible things; he's a bit of a compulsive planner as a result, as well as always feeling that most folks don't really know how lucky they are. He lost a leg fighting zombies; he got an artificial replacement and kept on fighting the good fight.
Tag: "To serve others is the highest calling; to protect the meek the noblest endeavor, and our works are judged by the effort that went into them"
Timothy I Mitchell (19): Timothy possess an honest if forgettable face. He tends towards comfortable, though inexpensive clothing and durable running shoes, rounding off his typical attire is a deep pocketed jacket and a backpack slung over one shoulder. Timothy appears to be a poster-boy for bad kids, often finding himself in trouble with any and all forms of authority. A victim of neglect, driven to never become a victim again he often acts seemingly on impulse, taking any dare or challenge in his stride. Timothy doesn't have friends, not in any real sense. Too few of the people who enter his orbit can deal with him in anything more than bite sized pieces, a fact which only further frustrates the young teenager.
Tag: "Darkness is within all of us, it's how you use that darkness that matters"
Thing One and Thing Two
Gabe is in a quandary. Spear, mace, axe, shield, AR15 . . . he settles on his white-hilted sword, two-handed spear, mail, breastplate, greaves, and his .45ACP. No shield, axe, or mace. He'll go for the spear to keep folks at a distance, and the sword in two hands in close, in a defensive grip for +1 to defenses. It's not as good as the +2 DB to all, but it's better than naught. Amos goes wild with charms and sorcery, setting up in case we need them. Some buffs, some healing. We decide holy water would be a viable distraction, but not necessarily a fatal thing. Finally, we agree that when we get jumped, we'll all target the legs first, then do fighting withdrawals to a good defensive grouping. Lorenzo and Gabe have spears; Timothy and Kamali are Reach 1 with guns or thrown weapons. Amos has magic and a slingshot. Karl is our berserker.
Using my rules for Cautious Advance, and stay in rough formation to ensure mutual support. Each five seconds, we can cover our move. We pause, and sense that we can cover the entryway, at least. We move through. We come up to a very old door, with recently disturbed dirt in front of us. We decide that we'll have spear support on both sides, next to Kamali, who will be opening the door and stepping back out of the way. An appropriate degree of paranoia, we hope. (We decide Carl is going to Leeroy Jenkins the whole thing)
Naturally, that means only Timothy sees the ghoul run up along the walls and try and lunge on top of Gabe. Timothy moves to intercept, working his silver-coated fae knives for 8 damage each. Nice work, to the torso. It just dies. Perhaps it has a vulnerability to silver?
We open the door . . . and hear a crying child. We recall that Kamali has Danger Sense, and also that if the ghouls eat stuff, they can transform to look at them. The baby is barely alive; it can hardly even cry. We give the baby some holy water. If it's a disguised ghoul, well, we'll find out. If not, it needs hydration anyway. Gabe heads directly to the child. It smells like hobo in here. A few strewn corpses, dessicated or half-eaten. The baby is wearing a onesie that says Thing 2. Sigh. That means there's a Thing 1 somewhere here. I pick up the kid, loaded diaper and all. Gabe starts to unload his backpack, but Carl stops him. He can carry the child and stay back with Amos.
Amos, on the other hand, suggests we ward the room, turning it into a fairly safe space. Carl will stay with the baby as its guardian, as we clear the rest. We're worried that if we leave, so will the ghouls, since we killed one, and more innocents will die. This seems a decent way to split the difference, though our best outcome would have been to call the conclave and have them take the baby to the hospital, they were not available to us when we tried.
Amos crushes the pastille, and we can feel the border of the new threshold at the doorway.
We take a bit and study the body of the dead ghoul. It looks like the knife cut through the hide-like skin, the arms have a long reach (1 instead of C), and we look for weak points – only their eyes. Gabe leads the group in giving the ghoul Last Rites (Final Rest power; prevents undead from rising and lets the soul find home).
We push forward – we move to the next room and there's a body, still breathing, in the middle of the room. We hit it with a holy water paintball just to be sure. No issues. I use a inverse Judo Throw to pick the guy up during a roll. But a ghoul surges after him out of the grate, and his claws scrape off the DR 10 plate-over-mail; a success by 12 means I definitely grapple the guy and get him on my back.
Amos pops the ghoul with a holy water painball pellet, and it lets out a scream like we've never heard before – and we've heard some serious stuff. Lorenzo cripples it by hitting it with his spear in the leg. Gabe goes All-Out Defense, and takes his half-move backwards out of the way. Kamali and Timothy are on station, keeping the hallway clear from surprises. "You guys might want to shut it the hell up, before its friends show up," prophesied Timothy.
Lorenzo tries to draw his hatchet to finish the thing; Gabe dashes for the safe room. We're going to have to do some interesting relay races if we keep finding survivors. Timothy breaks off and shadows Gabe, on overwatch. Lorenzo goes telegraphic to the neck with his hatchet, but hits the chest instead, which does it for them anyway. Black, ichorous blood coats him.
We coat the hole and dump holy water down it as a prophylactic. We cover the north entrance, and prepare to move in.
"We're wasting far too much time. I'm going to show you how it's done," says Leeroy "Timothy" Jenkins. He walks towards the North, muttering "we've got two down of twenty. This is ballocks." (Christopher invoked one of Richard's character's Foibles: Adrenaline Junkie)
He naturally gets charged by someone with an axe…and Timothy invokes his Wait (Cautious advance, remember), and crits at least once, and hits twice. To the vitals. 6 and 5 to the vitals . . . and the blood that seeps onto his hands from the person's heart is red, not black. The madness in the guy's eyes fades to death, and Timothy is covered in his arterial blood. (Timothy did 51 points of damage after crits and hit location). Gabe rushes in to try First Aid in desperation, but the heart has been completely shredded. He gasps . . . "my baby" as he fade into death.
Timothy cleans his blades off on his clothes. He is giddy inside at having killed an actual human.
"Timothy. You've got to slow down, my man. These things happen in combat, but this guy's death was not necessary."
"What, you're asking me to not fucking defend myself against the guy with an axe? Is that what you're saying? Fuck you."
"Yes, absolutely. With the entire team here, we could have subdued him, we might have had options."
"You're unbelievable." Timothy walks off . . . and a ghoul drops from the ceiling. Timothy, still hyped up on adrenaline, sees him fall in nearly slow-motion. His bloodlust is up: he All-Out Attacks with Mighty Blow. With the exact same attack pattern to the vitals he just did on the guy with the axe, as if to say "oh, yeah. Here I go, doing it again" to Gabe and the universe. He kills it.
Note: these ghouls are rather less fragile than I expected. Yeah, we're doing very well with tactics and rolls, but still . . . Gabe starts to wonder if we're actually dealing with ghouls.
Another ghoul drops behind Timothy, but misses. He spins and tries to kill him, but the ghoul dodges twice. The team moves to intercept the fight, and another ghoul drops from the ceiling. "Ceilings, people! Ceilings!" (He crits a Vision roll; made it by 12). Lorenzo intercepts the falling ghoul with his spear tip (Stop Thrust), and it impales itself fatally. Gabe steps and spears the thing menacing Timothy through the chest; killing it . . .
We huddle up; these ghouls are dying too fast. We check their blood and try and figure out why they're dying so easy, and it looks like we have faulty intel. Amos decides something has mystically sapped their strength. We have another living human body, Gabe says "let's check her out before Timothy kills her too."
But they he hears a baby cry, and takes off running.
Kamali shouts out "Will you people stop running off! This is just like how The Commander felt when Zephyr kept running off in that comic book!" as he chases after Gabe.
Something surges up from underneath Lorenzo, and grapples him. Timothy steps up and cuisinarts him. A ghoul attacks Gabe, who Stop Hits with his spear, then Fast-Draws his sword and hacks at it for 12 cutting damage, it screams horribly. The GM burns a card and has the ghoul take the sword away from me, no rolls.
I object to this; this should have been a contest, or a grapple and disarm, or something other than plot fiat. Having registered my objection, we move on.
It's clarified that the ghoul uses the fact that the sword is embedded in his chest to pull it from my two-handed grip. Kamali steps up with a broadsword to the neck, and the head goes flying.
We're out of combat time . . . I retrieve and recover my sword and the baby predictably wearing a Thing 1 onesie, and then my spear. When I pull my sword out of the ghoul, the blade and hilt turns red; I see odd-looking scratch-marks along the ricasso. They look like lines to me.
"Guys, there are more dead bodies here . . . " says Amos.
So we take the baby back to the safe zone.
We try and work out the next sortie. As we do, ghouls start popping out of the floor and dropping from the ceiling. Kamali starts to call the plan . . . Timothy goes adrenaline junkie and bursts into the center of them. He goes full ginsu again, and burns a metagame card to halve rapid strike penalties, burns another (his last, I think) to make a hit a miss, and then rolls for Disappear (a Free Action when bought to the level he does) to vanish among the rocks and shadows. Three damage rolls later, two are just dead, impaled in the head, and one is bleeding out from another gaping head wound.
Lorenzo throws his spear at the remaining ghoul, impaling it and severely injuring it. Gabe runs up and decapitates it: the last of the four. The black, ichorous blood from the body is absorbed readily by the blade. I get the impression that it's a thirsty, thirsty blade.
Amos gets jumped, but manages to defend himself. Kamali finishes that one off. Gabriel hears a woman's scream – it sounds like Desiree Cartee. He runs after the voice, and then mroe screams, and a demonic-sounding voice that shivers our bones. I hear a language similar to Arabic, but it's not Arabic (Gabe speaks Arabic). Farther and farther he goes, into a giant cave complex. We come face to face with a djinn – a spirit of ghostly fire. Ghouls or some sort of creature start to pop up all over the place. Kamali takes the precaution of smashing a holy water balloon over himself. Hell, it might help.
Nightmares of Djinni
Timothy decides to tackle a ghoul. Amos also kills a ghoul . . . which bursts into flame, and the flame rushes back into the Efrit, which burns even more brightly. Gabe runs up to the Ifrit, swings with the White-hilted sword (now red) with Ghost Weapon as a Divine power; hit, 17 cut to the torso…and it screams. And I take 1d6 burning damage, but vs DR 5 large area injury. Not sure how much damage I did in reality, but it did scream, so we shall see.
A ghoul rips out its own heart, and the fire rushes to the djinn. Wounds start healing. OK, here we go. This happens periodically as the Ifrit needs more dakka.
Kamali gets clawed in his abdomen; it skitches off his tactical armor, but he drops his sword.
Amos drops an alchemical ward on a pointy rock. It goes off, warding the area around him for 10 yds. Every ghoul within the circle explodes . . . the fire circles around the ward like it can't get to the Ifrit. The border of this warding is . . . odd. Almost tangible. Very ghoul-unfriendly. A bit sparky for humans.
The Ifrit moves back, shrieking.
Gabe runs around, putting himself between Desiree and the Ifrit, and invokes "Power Reveal," a metagame card which lets me use Fireproof (Divine Favor) temporarily – he's praying and invoking Jesus and God as warding against the fell being. Where the aura meets the fire, it's a harsh clash of power . . . and fireproof is winning. The Ifrit backs up, but feels trapped
"Dear Lord, Hear us in our need. We stand between the helpless and harm. Bless our bodies, so that we may resist the creature. Bless our weapons, so that we may defeat it in your name. Let us bring glory to your name, and stand as light in the darkness, so that the weak may be inspired, and the wicked cast down. Make us your instruments; in your hands we will be mighty."
A pillar of fire descends from the heavens, and I hear The Voice from the Whirlwind. THAT voice (The Book of Job) – which of course sounds like Alan Rickman – speaks. And the Ifrit takes 20d6 damage, and is screaming.
Well, well. I was hoping to extend fireproof to my friends and give their mostly-mundane weapons more staying or striking power against the Ifrit, under a "God helps those who help themselves" principle. I suspect that some angelic forces were watching the battle and just waiting to be asked for help, thus the more direct intervention.
Kamali, armed with a Holy Water balloon, steps up. "Turtles fight with honor!" as he casts Holy Water at it. Um. The water flashes to steam before it gets to him. Gabe steps up and slices it in half with the white-hilted sword. Kamali claims "he loosened it."
Timothy checks on Amos; Kamali starts to move to Desiree, but Gabe moves to intercept. "I kinda literally walked through fire for this young lady, I think I get to do the comforting here."
Kamali says "Yo, your girlfriend's still alive! But she might be a demon, so let's hit her with a water balloon!"
We hit her with a healing charm, but she's got a few burns on her. We need to get her and the two infants to the hospital. We also need to hit Final Rest on the ghouls. The only thing left is a single golden ring, dropped by the Ifrit, which Timothy snatches up. Amos gathers up the Ifrit's ashes, which provide him 10 legendary ingredients for spells involving fire or summoning demons.
Note: The GM tells us out of character that we just destroyed a Lord of the Brass City. This was a major victory.
We ask how she got down here. She had cast a spell to weaken them; it clearly worked, which I tell her gratefully. We then notice there's a kneeling guy there too – Kamali does what he does and hits him with a water balloon. He collapses, but is still breathing.
Really? Water balloon. On the prisoner. ("The Rock")
- We conscrate or burn corpses
- Get folks to the hospital
- Get a better story to explain the bodies and survivors ("We were going urban explorers, and found the kids abandoned down there."
- Tell Myriam everything that happened, so she can intercede on the two new orphans Tim made when *he killed their dad* (In fairness, he attacked Timothy first, though Mr Hot-head didn't have to go full stabbity)
We had a good time. There were a few rough spots, and Desiree casting her spell was a real break with respect to the ghouls, who were pretty much mooks. We did fairly well with tactics and sticking together, and RP'd the hell out of our foibles with or without GM help.
Timothy got way too close – probably over the edge – with his love of murder, but since he did legitimately get attacked by a crazy guy with an axe, Gabriel is not going all righteous on him; this is the kind of thing that happens in War, and his father told him stories of such things. Technically I think any jury or board of inquiry would have called it a righteous shoot – he was attacked with an axe.
It was a good conclusion to a good prior session. The pattern of investigate/action works well for our group.
Christopher Commentary
I really didn't want to end this arc *this* fast because I originally did want to draw out the ghoul investigation more. But after I missed a game in late July I had to rejuggle stuff. Overall, I'm happy with how everything turned out and if you've been following a long there is a LOT to unpack here:
- The sword Gabe has been carrying around since the first game session did some weird stuff. I'm not saying that it's nature was activated or anything…but it's nature was activated. Unfortunately for Gabe he wielded the sword and now that means he owns it. Remember the sidhe who warned him that it was cursed and he'd regret having it? Yeah, turns out he spoke the truth. Gabe wants to get other weapons to use, but we'll see how that turns out… I will say that it is one of the nine fairy swords created by Wayland the Smith for the High King and his courts. (This is something Amos discovered in game – but more research will be required). (Note: This is some mythology I'm twisted around for the game rather than something straight from folklore.)
- Timothy is in deep crap. More on this later.
- What's the deal with Amos's amulet you ask? The one he got from crate when the PCs went up to Canada? Stay tuned.
- Kamali and Lorenzo didn't have anything super huge or revealing happen to them – but they did move right along and acted in character. So all was good there.
- Who summoned a freaking lord of the City of Brass? Who has that kind of POWER? Stay tuned because it's connected to what's coming up.
I'm very pleased with how B-Team's Season 0 went and I REALLY wish I'd just done something similar with C-Team. Oh well. This marks the end of the Season for B-Team and a 3-4 week hiatus while I go to GenCon, recover from GenCon, and then work up the bits needed for Season 1 for A-, B-, and C-Teams. Then I need to put my nose down and get busy on a project.
B-Team will return in September for more monster-hunting awesomeness and badassery.
Session Soundtrack
"Crazy Train" by Ozzy Osbourne (opening song)
"In The Air Tonight" by Phil Collins (Timothy kills an innocent man and Gabe
sees it)
"I'm on Fire" by Johnny Cash (Ifrit combat scene)
"Calling All Angels" by Train
"Three Hits" by Indigo Girls (closing song)


text:
NASCAR & Auto Racing
Carl Edwards docked points, crew chief fined
Carl Edwards dropped from third to sixth in the Chase for the Nextel Cup standings Tuesday.
NASCAR penalized Edwards 25 driver points because his car was too low in inspection after his victory in Sunday's Dodge Dealers 400 at Dover International Speedway.
Bob Osborne, Edwards' crew chief, was fined $25,000 and placed on probation until Dec. 31 and car owner Jack Roush was fined 25 owner points.
Roush Fenway Racing president Geoff Smith called the points penalty unfair and said the team will appeal.
"We have the misfortune of violating a rule which makes no sense," Smith said. "I say misfortune because we are being penalized for a violation that actually impaired the car's performance."
Smith said the rule the No. 99 Ford team violated was written for restrictor-plate races, where teams try to make the rear of the car as low as legal to reduce aerodynamic drag.
Conversely, on tracks where teams look for more downforce, the objective would be to raise the rear end.
Smith also said a 25-point penalty against a driver in the Chase is particularly harsh -- 250 percent greater, he said -- than a similar penalty against a non-Chase driver.
"Chase drivers are competing for a total of 1,950 points," Smith said. A driver can earn a maximum of 195 points in each of the 10 Chase races. "All drivers competed for 5,070 points in the first 26 races. Do the math. The net effect is that a 25-point penalty falls unfairly hard on a Chase contender. That's simply not right."
Before the penalty, Edwards had 5,337 points -- three fewer than leader Jeff Gordon, one fewer than Tony Stewart and one more than Jimmie Johnson. A loss of 25 points puts Edwards 28 points behind Gordon


text:
Running a business can be challenging, scary, but exciting at the same time. You start to grow and opportunities arise that really can elevate your work, and brand. I'm excited to take a step toward working with an amazing group of people at CANTEEN. A premiere video food table top production company working with brands like Burger King and Bonefish Grill. Their current roster of talent is amazing and it's really an honor to be there with them. Can't wait to see what comes down the pipeline. This is a reminder to work hard, dream big, and keep an open mind!
dream big


text:
Contact: Jennifer Becker
BKR Media Consultants
(786) 972-4857
MIAMI, Fla. (July 16, 2015)— The New World School of the Arts Alumni Foundation has awarded the organization's first Inspiration Grant to alumnus Christopher Rudd of New York City.
Mr. Rudd is a 1998 graduate of the High School Dance Division of New World School of the Arts in Miami. In addition to his studies at New World, he also received training under scholarship by The Thomas Armour Youth Ballet in Miami which led to training at The Dance Theater of Harlem.
Having performed in numerous principal and soloist roles in companies from North Carolina to New York and Montreal, Mr. Rudd has started the dance company, RudduR Dance, and is focusing a portion of his efforts to the creation of his own original piece entitled Witness. This contemporary ballet has been inspired by the murders of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner & Freddie Gray and subsequent social unrest stemming from the failure to convict their killers.
In Mr. Rudd's own words, "Witness is an original composition that explores and portrays a people's exasperation. In this artistic cry for change, I want to create a work that makes the audience aware that they are indeed members of the outraged community. The objective is to leave the audience wondering, 'What can I do to effect change?' In addition, this piece will also provide options for action and galvanize the audience towards productive avenues."
This forty minute work from the point of view of the bystanders will depict a community's frustration and outrage. Witness will be presented in New York City with the hopes of finding more venues to exhibit this work.
"We are honored to assist with funding to create this important and timely piece," said Elizabeth Gainer, who chaired the selection committee that chose Witness for the Inspiration Grant." She added, "There were numerous applications from alumni spanning many years of graduating classes from New World School of the Arts High School and College. This was not an easy decision based on the level of talent in each of the worthy applicants. Christopher's piece is very current, and the committee members agreed that this is a very special project."
The New World School of the Art Alumni Foundation, a non-profit corporation founded in 2012, is planning to announce its second Inspiration Grant in the coming weeks. The Grant is the centerpiece of the Foundation's mission to provide support to alumni creative projects and artistic endeavors while also connecting New World School of the Arts alumni for collaboration across the years and around the globe.
About New World School of the Arts Alumni Foundation
Founded in 2012, this 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation exists to provide support to the thousands of graduates from Miami's New World School of the Arts High School and College.
About New World School of the Arts
NWSA is a joint venture between Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Miami Dade College and University of Florida. This nearly 30 year old magnet high school and college conservatory offers professional level training in Dance, Music, Theater and the Visual Arts.