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Bootea makes a point of using only the best natural ingredients for your body. The natural health and weight loss ingredients we use are specifically and finitely selected to maximise the detoxification process.
Daytime tea works to increase your metabolism, by doing so this helps your body convert food into energy to burn fat and calories whilst also supressing your appetite.
Bedtime cleanse tea bag (to be taken at night time) works on cleaning out your digestive system, helping to prevent excess calories from being absorbed and stored as fat.
All ingredients are pure, natural & preservative free!
14 Daytime supply of loose leaf tea (all loose leaf tea comes in teabags for your convenience).
7 Bedtime cleanse tea bags supply (one for every other night).
Suggested Use
Our teatox packages contain two types of tea. Day Time Tea (morning) & Bedtime Tea (evening). Here is how you use them:
Daytime Detox (Morning tea): This fantastic blend contains caffeine as well as a bunch of other natural stimulants which will leave you feeling motivated to reach your fitness goals.
When you should take it: Every morning upon rising. It's no biggie if you forget, just drink this tea when you get a chance.
Directions: Pour a cup of near boiling water over one Daytime tea bag and leave it to infuse for 3-5 minutes before drinking. The pyramid tea bags we use make for the best infusion, allowing all the nutrients & flavours in the blend to come through. Not to mention, you don't have a bunch of leaves lying around in your cup getting stuck in your teeth, nobody wants that!
Bedtime Tea Bags (Evening tea): The Bedtime Tea contains a blend of ingredients to support digestive health, such as peppermint, psyillium and burdock, while hawthorn supports relaxation and sleep. Bedtime tea bags DO NOT contain caffeine so you don't need to worry about staying up all night.
When you should take it: Every second night before bed (starting day 1) for the duration of the teatox.
Directions: Pour a cup of near boiling water over one Bedtime tea bag and let it infuse for 3-5 minutes - Drink!
Quick Tip
Most customers think our tea tastes great! However, if youve not had green tea before it may taste a bit strange for you. You can always add natural sweeteners or other flavour enhancing substances (such as lemon, honey, maple syrup, a natural sweetener or soy milk) to either of the teas to enhance the taste.
Daytime Detox: Chinese Oolong tea, Lemongrass, Maté leaves, Ginger root, Fennel seeds, Dandelion leaf, Ginseng root, Gotu Kola leaves, Nettle leaves.
Bedtime Cleanse: Senna leaves, Peppermint leaves, Fenugreek seeds, Liquorice root, Burdock root, Hawthorn leaves, Valerian root, Psyllium seed
Suitable for: Vegetarians, Vegans, Halal, Kosher.


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There is so much to experience and so little time. So many places in the world left for me to step foot on and breath in. I realize that I won't get to see it all since there are about 194 countries in the world (depending on if you count Taiwan as one..if not than it would be 193 [click here for details on China-Taiwan conflict] ). So unless I go to 2-5 countries a year, I'll never make it. O well, I guess I'll have to settle for half 😉
I love traveling and going abroad (but then again, I'm sure most people do). It's always a bit uneasy but at the same time, I love every minute of it. The people, the FOOD, the culture, the buildings (the photo on the right is in Hong Kong, and the one below is in Venice), etc. Everything is different and for me, I feel like I never have enough time to grasp it all.
I would love to study abroad and I have high hopes to. Another thing that goes through my mind about after college is the thought of just living in Asia and finding a career. It would be amazing, but is it realistic for someone like me? Not just realistic in the aspect of "is it possible?" but also "am I willing to?" I WANT to but wanting and doing are of course two different things. My life is here, am I willing to resettle?
I'm nearing 21. I have about 2 more years of college (hopefully). I am in the Jackson School of International Studies. I feel like I should be closing in on my future career path.
Well… for now, I better just study and work hard. For a short-term goal, I REALLY want to go to Japan and/or S. Korea next year with a bunch of friends. Start saving money and let's make this happen folks.

subset: commoncrawl


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Islamist supporters of ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi have called new protests against the army in a test of their ability to mobilise support seven weeks after his overthrow.
In recent days, dozens of senior and mid-level members of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood have been arrested, disrupting the organisation's structure, and raising questions about its remaining strength.
The call for demonstrations by loyalists of Morsi, who remains in custody at a secret location, came a day after his predecessor Hosni Mubarak was released from jail to house arrest at a military hospital.
The release stirred little interest in Egypt, which has been rocked by political unrest since Morsi's July 3 ouster by the military after massive protests against him.
Nearly 1000 people were killed in a week of violence between Morsi loyalists and security forces, sparking international concern and condemnation.
Friday was set to be a test of the remaining strength and commitment of the Islamists, who called for "Friday of martyrs" protests after the main weekly Muslim prayers.
In recent days, dwindling numbers of demonstrators have showed up to rallies, their ranks thinned by a fierce crackdown.
Communication by telephone has stopped altogether, and many Brotherhood members are in hiding, avoiding their homes, a mid-level member of the group told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"We no longer receive directives and we don't really know what we should do anymore. Most of our direct leaders are detained," the member from the Nile Delta said.
Among those detained is the group's supreme guide Mohamed Badie – the first time a Brotherhood chief has been arrested since 1981.
Morsi himself is being held at a secret location and faces charges related to his 2011 escape from prison and of inciting the death and torture of protesters.
His continued detention even as Mubarak is released to house arrest has stirred comment, particularly as Mubarak also faces charges of complicity in the deaths of protesters.
But in the face of the deadly unrest that has rocked Egypt in recent days, there was no indication that activists would take to the streets, as they have done before, to protest Mubarak's transfer.
"A year ago, it would have been difficult to imagine his release without popular protests against it," said Barah Mikail, a Middle East specialist at the FRIDE think-tank.
"Today, everything else that is happening has moderated the effect".
Mubarak is still on trial and faces his next court session on Sunday, when Badie and several other Brotherhood leaders will also appear before a court.
Washington on Thursday sidestepped questions about Mubarak's release from jail, but called for Morsi to be freed.
"With respect to the Mubarak trial and decisions made, this is an internal Egyptian legal matter," said State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki.
"Our position on Mr Morsi remains the same. We believe there should be a process for his release," Psaki said
But there has been no sign that a crackdown against the Brotherhood will slow.
The latest arrest was that of Ahmed Aref, one of the few remaining spokesmen for the group who had not been detained.
At the same time, attacks against Christian institutions, which have been blamed on Islamists, have continued.
Dozens of Christian churches, schools, businesses and homes – mostly in the rural south – have been attacked, allegedly by Islamists angry at the Coptic Church leadership's endorsement of Morsi's ouster.
On Thursday, Human Rights Watch condemned the government for failing to protect churches, and the Brotherhood for failing to halt incitement against Christians.
Violence has also continued to target police and soldiers, including three who were killed in a drive-by shooting near the Suez Canal town of Ismailia on Thursday.
The unrest has prompted international criticism of the authorities, but the United States has stopped short of halting its $US1.3 billion ($A1.45 billion) a year in mainly military aid.


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Project Details for Power Lyons Property Marketing
Jeff has sales and service as well as a technical background. Prior to real estate Jeff previously owned and operated a sole proprietorship as well as worked in the chemical engineering field for 13 years. Jeff's strengths are his easy going communication style, attention to detail, and marketing abilities. Passion, Dedication, and Committment to Excellence are his keys to success.
- Website Design
- Website Development
- Custom WordPress Admin


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Featuring 96 tri-colour SMD LEDs, this PRO DJ Booth starcloth comes supplied with an advanced DMX controller. The controller features solid colour selection coupled with pattern and speed control, allowing the DJ to match the starcloth colour to any other room lighting. Additionally you can create a white starcloth effect when overlaying the optional white lycra and this black starcloth.
Power supply: 100~240V, 50/60HzFuse: T1A 250VDimensions: 55 x 205 x 145mm


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About WXN.
Women's Executive Network (WXN), a member-based organization, exists for the advancement, development and recognition of professional women in Canada. Creating social impact and positive change are what drives us. Women professionals, and the businesses they are committed to, are who we support. We deliver this advancement through training, events, mentoring, networking, and award and recognition programs for our valued members and partners. We believe equity, inclusion and the advancement of professional women make industry stronger and society better. Our passion is 100% centered on empowering women and creating positive social change.
Join WXN.
Learn more about WXN memberships and how to grow professionally and personally.
There's a sense of pride that comes from providing opportunities for people and society to grow.
Join our dynamic team.


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Full control of page URLs
Hi there! Real interesting CMS and may be the one I've been looking for a long time. But, let me know please if it is extensible and it supports custom urls (meaning full control of page URLs). Basically I want to create many paged site with beautiful slugs for each page and no extensions or slashes, and even if user by mistake print an extension at the end (like *.htm or *.php) script can fix it and redirect to right (no extension) page. Something like www.about.me site. Thanks
Keyboard shortcuts
|Show this help
|Blurs the current field
Comment Form
|Focus the comment reply box
|^ + ↩
|Submit the comment
You can use
Command ⌘ instead of
Control ^ on Mac


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By Noel Sheppard | January 12, 2012 9:18 AM EST
According to one of Iran's most acclaimed directors, anti-American schlockumentarian Michael Moore is the most famous filmmaker in that Middle Eastern nation that so happens to be a sworn enemy of the United States.
As the New York Post reported Thursday:
At a screening of Asghar Farhadi's critically lauded "A Separation" at Sony's screening room, the Iranian director spotted the "Fahrenheit 9/11" filmmaker in the audience. Farhadi quipped, "Michael Moore is the most famous director in Iran," and said everyone knows his movies because they're shown on national TV there.
Although Moore didn't respond to requests for comment, one quite imagines he wears this like a badge of honor.
(H/T Fox Nation)


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Small Business School: A Year In Review 2017
Pei Sim
Happy 2018!
Even as we are making our way through the third week of the year, I feel that it's really important to always take time to reflect back on the previous year. I wrote a 2016 review last year and from all the positive feedback, I am so excited to share how 2017 looked for us.
Since our post last year, we've gained a lot of new readers, customers, followers and friends :) So I'll just share a short intro!
I'm Pei — the owner + founder of The Paper + Craft Pantry. As a stationery fiend and D.I.Y.er, The Paper Craft Pantry has allowed me to share two things I love the most and create a thriving small business right here in Austin.
If I'm being completely transparent, I've had this post drafted for weeks now but had been finding it hard to hit publish because I'm not certain what I've shared below is what people want to hear. But in the spirit of honesty, I think we should all be vulnerable and open up about what struggles we run into and how we grow from all of it. So here goes nothing!
Here are the top 5 things I've learned this year as a small business owner:
1. Time management + being intentional with how I choose to spend my time as it relates to business has been crucial.
One of the things that hasn't changed from year to year, is the amount of emails I get asking me why I got started, how I got started, how I managed to take on a small business financially, how I acquire clients and customers, how to turn those customers into loyal fans, how I grew my community etc.
Although I do my very best to respond to everyone, and at the very least direct them to one of the posts on our blog that may help guide them, it truly is impossible to carve out precious time of the work day. I know that may seem a little harsh, but every 3-5 minutes dedicated to responding to every email adds up and that takes time away from me actually focusing on growing my business. Don't get me wrong, I'm always supportive of the community and am happy to lend knowledge to fellow business owners. But I will prioritize folks I have built a relationship with, a relationship that gives and takes — not just takes if you know what I mean.
It's so much more meaningful and powerful for me to invest time into quality business relationships and support them thoroughly vs. randomly answering business questions for dozens of business owners. I learned how to politely decline or direct someone to someone else who may be better able to support them - and to offer monthly business mentoring, one small business at a time.
2. Predicting the future is impossible.
From workshops to stationery we stock on our shelves, there's no shortage of amazing class content or paper goods we can offer to our community. But boy is it hard trying to guess what people will want or be interested in.
Choosing our workshop instructors happens fairly organically and that's the best part! I pay attention to what our community is asking for and saying to know what kind of class content they are interested in, and I'll sift through instructor submissions to see if someone is the right fit or if there is a current instructor who would be wonderful to host a workshop with! It helps that one of our parameters is that our instructors have to own their own business so it makes the selection process a lot easier!
With product, it's easy to get sucked into seasons and trends but trying to stay true to high quality and timeless designs has turned our shop into the destination for unique stationery. If you're curious on how we decide what stationers to work with, you can read more here.
There's no telling what we just can't keep in stock because they keep flying off the shelves, or what workshops will sell out in mere hours. So instead of trying to predict, I've been working on listening to my gut about workshop + stationery decisions because they always turn out to be what's best for the business.
3. Slow and steady wins the race.
It just takes time y'all. There's no secret sauce or recipe (at least no one told me about it) to success. When The Paper + Craft Pantry first opened, we had a huge opening weekend with a media night, grand opening party in addition to several workshops over that weekend. Our first official day open, was a miserably cold and wet November day - and not a single person came into the shop. My first thought (besides that it was freezing cold) was "oh s$%t, what have I gotten myself into...".
Even though I felt like I had done the work in the many months leading up to opening, the work wasn't done. It takes time for folks to learn about what we were, where we were and who we were. And I'm proud to say that we're putting down really solid roots here in Austin as we've grown!
As for our events and workshops, we started out by hosting 1 workshop or event a week. And slowly built our community and generated buzz about each event. As we grew our community, we listened to what they asked for and were able to slowly add in more workshops and events we knew folks were interested in.
I've played around with timing of workshops, certain dates and days, pricing, class content, ads, giveaway collaborations, you name it, I've done it. Because at the end of the day, this studio is here to serve each of you and that will always be top of mind when deciding what workshops or events to put on our calendar.
4. Running a business has many facets and taking time to look inward to see how I can grow the business has allowed me to evaluate what my business needs. And how to truly grow my audience.
Social media is definitely a hot topic between small business owners. It's so easy to get sucked into the numbers game, battling algorithms, feeling the need to have an Ad Spend budget for all forms of social media, and walking the line on sending out the right amount of newsletters, just to name a few — comes up in conversations between small business owners all the time.
Yes, there's Instagram and their ever evolving algorithm. For me personally, I had to take a step back and realize that followers didn't translate to $. And each like didn't necessarily translate to $ either. I've chosen to use Instagram to connect with our community of followers, inform them of what's happening, and hopefully, to inspire in some small way.
The thing I've been working really hard on is to grow our newsletter list and to create simple yet powerful emails that go out to our subscribers weekly. I love that they chose to give us a way to connect back with them so it's special to be able to offer our subscribers insider tips + deals!
5. Doing it all doesn't exist.
I get asked all the time, even praised, on how I'm able to do it all. Have a personal life, a family, regular work outs, vacation time etc. all while running a business.
Fact: I don't do it all.
There are some days I feel like I'm nailing this whole small business things and there are other days I feel completely overwhelmed! There are days I feel like I'm a better friend and business owner while letting my workouts fall to the side. And there are days I'm focused on other aspects more than others - and that's okay. To me, balance ebbs and flows.
6. Sometimes, things don't work out the way you think or would like. And it stinks. But it's okay.
There have definitely been some hard days (even weeks), and I think just giving myself some time to feel down, feel a little defeated is an important part of this whole process. Learning to dust myself off, and audibly telling myself "You can do this" helps me refocus and get back to work, as silly as it may sounds.
Having a great support system and community is also another huge factor, there's nothing more reassuring when you share with a fellow small business owner some of your struggles and them exclaiming that they're feeling the same way or are going through the same thing!
Okay, real reality, I've also learned to be a little more cautious about business related relationships. There have been several instances I felt "burned" by things that had transpired from a place of community over competition. They are few and far between, but they do happen and when they do, it really stinks! But everything is a lesson to be learned, and trust me when I say I've learned from these situations!
I truly hope this incredibly honest post resonates with you. Even if it helps you realize you're not alone!
If you have any additional questions feel free to leave them in the comments, below. I'd love to hear from you!
Cheers to another amazing year,


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MartinPacker 11000094DH Comments (2) Visits (6222)
As a performance consultant I used to think it was only me that needed to glean configuration information from performance data - because I didn't want to ask foolish questions of the customer.
But gradually (it seems to me) customers have ended up in the same boat as me:
The utter complexity of machine configurations and settings - whether z/OS, or DB2, or CICS, or Websphere, or MQ, or ... - means that it's increasingly difficult to check that things are as we thought they were.
I'm not asking anyone to declare themselves
Because that's an argument I'm increasingly using with Development groups.
Most such groups do a good job, whether it's DB2 providing its dynamic settings in a Statistics Trace record, or the wealth of configuration information in RMF. There are however some untidinesses that I'm working to see fixed.


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The Utility Billing Department calculates water and sewer fees based on usage recorded by meters, and bills monthly. For more information or to find out about a recent bill, contact the Utility Billing Clerk at (517) 627-2149 or via email@example.com.
Forms and utility bills may be mailed to or dropped off at City Hall, 310 Greenwood St., Grand Ledge, MI 48837.
A drop box is located on at the N. Clinton St. City Hall entrance for after-hours payments of form dropoff. Please do not put cash in the drop box.
Self-report your service line for a chance to win movie tickets!
View Usage History
Sign up for Paperless E-billing
Billing Information
Lookup Your Account No.
Pay Your Bill Online
Sign up for Auto Pay
Grand Ledge NON-DETECT for PFAS
PFAS Information & FAQ's
For more detail, view the full Frequently Asked Questions PDF.
Occasionally, tiny air bubbles in tap water cause a cloudy appearance. Air dissolves into water when pressurized which occurs in the groundwater basin and in the water pipes that deliver water to your tap.
The bubbles are harmless and pose no health risk. The air bubbles will dissipate if you let the water sit in a glass for a few minutes.
The City's drinking water comes from a vast underground aquifer. The wells that pump the water from the aquifer into the delivery system are designed to filter out naturally occurring sediments. These particles typically settle in large water pipes and tanks, but sometimes make it through the faucet.
When your water tastes or smells funny, the problem may be in the water or it may not. Odors might actually be coming from your sink drain where bacteria grow on hair, soap, food, and other things that get trapped. Gases in the drain that smell get stirred up when water pours into the pipe. Odor can also come from bacteria growing in devices such as water heaters.
Several types of minerals can be found in tap water. Minerals containing calcium and magnesium are common in local groundwater supplies and are responsible for the white spots observed when tap water is allowed to dry on household surfaces. While these spots may be unwelcome, these naturally occurring minerals in your tap water provide a protective internal coating deemed optimum for controlling corrosion of your home's water pipes and plumbing fixtures. The most common mineral deposits are lime, rust, and calcium. Mineral deposits that are allowed to accumulate over time on household surfaces can become more problematic to remove. Routine household maintenance such as wiping water droplets from surfaces before evaporation occurs can help prevent mineral deposits.
The level of hardness in tap water is determined by the amount of calcium and magnesium in the water, both of which are common minerals found in the City's groundwater supply. Most City water customers receive water with moderate hardness. The City of Grand Ledge tests water 16 times each month to ensure the water is safe to drink. (While hard water can require additional cleaning steps, these naturally occurring minerals in your tap water provide protective internal coating deemed optimum for controlling corrosion of your home's water pipes and plumbing fixtures.)
Lead has not been detected in the City's source water. While lead has not been detected in the City's source water, there have been instances where lead was detected through testing individual customer taps. The City has been testing an average of 20 sites at the highest risk for lead, as determined by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), every one to three years since 1992. In all instances, these tests have been found in compliance with water quality standards, including lead levels that have not reached above the Federal Action Level of 15 parts per billion (ppb).
The City's water system pulls ground water from four different wells that are 250-feet below ground. The water is tested before it travels into the public water towers and water main. For sampling data and additional information on the City's water quality view the most recent Water Quality Report or stop by City Hall, open Monday – Friday from 8:00am to 5:00pm, for a printed copy.
As a public water provider, the City of Grand Ledge can only charge customers for the costs associated with providing water service, which means it cannot earn a profit. The City provides water and wastewater collection for more than 3,610 customers across approximately 4 square miles.
The City of Grand Ledge is dedicated to setting water and wastewater rates that treat customers fairly and reflect the true cost of service while protecting the City's financial stability. Recent water and wastewater rate increases reflect the necessary adjustments needed to ensure the City provides the operation and maintenance required for the water and wastewater systems. Adequate funding levels are critical to the delivery of a safe and reliable supply of water.
For every $1.00 paid toward property taxes, the City of Grand Ledge receives approximately $0.25 if the taxpayer lives in the City or approximately $0.18 if the taxpayer owns property in the City. The balance of taxes paid are appropriated to other entities. The tax allocation could not support a user based utility such as the City's water and wastewater that has operational costs and user fees dependent on use. The vast majority of municipalities charge customers fixed and variable rate water/wastewater fees to cover costs associated with adequately operating water and wastewater utilities.
It is important for water customers to understand how their water meter works. The graphics below indicate a few features of typical water meters, both current and new, that are utilized in the City. If you feel your meter is not operating as it should, please contact the Utilities Billing Department at 517-627-2149. Inspections can be scheduled for a $50 charge.
Fixed rates are designed to recover unchanging costs associated with the operation and maintenance water and wastewater utilities. Variable rate calculations are based on the amount of water and wastewater used.
The various charts and infographics below will help you decipher and understand how your bill is calculated.
Some people believe that bottled water is safer and more pure than tap water. Water purity is determined by the amount of elements found in the water and by the level of treatment performed. Both bottled and tap water are considered safe when drinking water standards are met. When the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets a new standard for tap water, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is required to establish the same new standard for bottled water.
Some brands of bottled water use tap water from other areas and are a much more expensive option than your own tap water. Water that is bottled and sold can cost up to a thousand times more per gallon than tap water. On average, a City water customer receives more than 3,200 glasses of tap water (or 200+gallons) for approximately $1.00.
Drinking water provided by the City meets all federal and state quality standards. Water filters may change the taste of tap water, but they are not necessary to ensure water safety.
While the drinking water provided by the City meets all federal and state quality standards, it is hard water. For customers who are looking to utilize "softer" water, a home water softener can be a viable option. Water softeners do require regular maintenance and have added installation costs and regular fees associated with their use. It is recommended that property owners check with a local water conditioning expert or the Water Quality Association, www.wqa.org, to find the best product for their needs.


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As of 2015, the best tablet for reading e-books is the Amazon Kindle Voyager, according to CNET. It has an 8.6 out of 10 rating on CNET, where reviewer David Carnoy describes it as potentially the "best e-reader ever."
The Amazon Kindle Voyager features benefits such as a lightweight body, high resolution and effective contrast for reading without eye strain. It also features dedicated page-turn buttons, built-in lighting and a sturdy case made from magnesium with a flush glass front. Other highly-rated tablets for reading e-books include the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite, the Barnes & Noble Nook GlowLight and the Kobo Glo, according to CNET.


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I spend a good amount of time at my job researching vacant and distressed properties in Des Moines for acquisition and rehabilitation. The internets are a great tool. Some of the key web sites I use are:
- Polk County Assessor
- Iowa Courts Trial Search
- Polk County Treasurer
- Iowa Secretary of State - business filings search
And, of course:Continue reading...


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Making Indoor Kitchens Jealous, since 2004.
Here in the Sunshine State there's no reason not to cook outside all year long and a Pratt Guys kitchen is the perfect place to prepare your next family meal or backyard BBQ. Why waste your time inside over the stove making a mess when you could be outside, soaking up the Florida sun and appreciating the company of friends and family?
Fully Functional
A Pratt Guys Outdoor Kitchen takes all the modern convenience of your indoor kitchen outside. More than just a grill on a cart, we can make your new outdoor kitchen capable of everything you can do inside. From gas ranges to refrigeration to kegerators and dry storage, we've got everything you need to prepare and cook your meals outside you can #EnjoyEarth longer. Don't be surprised if you start cooking every meal in your backyard!
Premium Appliances
There are all kinds of options out there when it comes to outdoor kitchen appliances but Pratt Guys chooses only the best to install in our projects. All our grills, fridges, sinks and more are Pratt Guys Approved and most are made right here in America. We've done the research to find and select brands with stellar reviews and solid customer service that meets or exceeds our own. We establish a personal relationship with all our vendors so that we may be confident in backing their products the way we back our work. If you ever have a problem, there's no need to contact the manufacturer. Just let us know and our service team will take care of everything!
We Got Grills
The grill is the workhorse of the outdoor kitchen and a reflection of the outdoor cook who wields it. As such, we approach pairing you with the right one with the same gravity and intent as a knight choosing his sword. Be you novice, enthusiast or award-winning grillmaster; whether your fuel of choice be gas, charcoal, wood pellet, or smoke; we've got the perfect grill for you. We don't just use anything off the shelf, only premium grills like Delta Heat and The Big Green Egg that come with easily replaceable parts and meet or exceed our Pratt Guys Approved criteria. Most of the grills we carry are made in America and built to last for 20-30 years or more.
Built to Last
Once we've outfitted your Dream Backyard with an outdoor kitchen, you'll find yourself looking for any excuse to invite your friends and family over for dinner. With a Pratt Guys outdoor kitchen, you can count on it to last for years. Most "custom" outdoor kitchens are no more than galvanized steel frames covered with facades made of stucco, tile, or other finishes. Ours, however are custom cut from Stonegate™ blocks so they're solid as a rock literally! Every outdoor kitchen we build is backed by the Pratt Guys Promise so you can rest assured it will last a lifetime.


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Thank you for your visit and thank you for your time. It is important to me to create a connection with a client. Each painting has a story. And I am happy to share it with you. Communication is a big part of the process.
Contact me if you are interested in purchasing any of my Available Work. I am also currently taking commission orders. Feel free to give me a call or I am happy to chat through email.


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INFRAPOWER manufactures and distributes infrared panels working at highest efficiencies. Guided by the belief that infrapower is the most efficient and therefore, energy and resource saving way of heating, INFRAPOWER seeks to provide "the engine" for all possible infrared applications.
We control the entire value chain from the management and operations of raw materials on long term contracts. Like this we ensure our production uses hightest material standards. With three production units and some 800 people we manufacture several thousands of infrared base panels per months.
INFRAPOWER was established in 1994 and since then grows significantly and is still expanding. This is achieved by the means of acquisitions but even more important by investments in research and development and therefore, increased demand for our high efficient and energy saving infrared panel systems. INFRAPOWER is committed to long-term investments and will continue to pursue its ambitious growth targets. With a growth rate of some 25-30% every single year since the establishment and the intention to continue the growth by higher capacity utilisation, increased output from existing units and most important by further development of our patented carbon fiber and reflector technology we believe to be able to power all possible infrared panel applications with our infrared technology.
INFRAPOWER is truly driven by its vision of achieving excellence in using our tight resources in the most efficient way. Heating should use as less resources as possible. We are focused on a continuous improvement in order to maintain our competitive advantage and technological edge, develop further our logistics and we are committed to strict environmental requirements and guiding principles. INFRAPOWER achieves this goals by its pepole, organisation and their expertise as well as whole-hearted commitment.
Consultation and sales by Celine Power Spain, Costa Blanca
Celine Power , Plaza Sierra Castilla 33,03177 San Fulgencio, Spain


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Activities: EJSApp
Virtual and Remote Laboratories
It is commonly accepted that digital media (such as simulations, videos, interactive screen experiments or web labs) can positively impact student knowledge, skills and attitudes. Consequently, tools such as Moodle and web-based labs have become widespread in distance education in the last decade. Moodle supports the administration, documentation, tracking, and reporting of training programs, classroom and online events. Web-based labs make possible to illustrate scientific phenomena that require costly or difficult-to-assemble equipment.
There are two complementary approaches for web-based labs:
- Virtual Labs or Experiments provide computer based simulations which offer similar views and ways of work to their traditional counterparts. Nowadays, simulations have evolved into interactive graphical user interfaces where students can manipulate the experiment parameters and explore its evolution.
- Remote Labs or Experiments use real plants and physical devices which are teleoperated in real time.
Easy Java(script) Simulations (EJS, http://www.um.es/fem/EjsWiki/pmwiki.php) is a tool designed for the creation of discrete computer simulations. During the last few years, EJS has grown for helping to create web-accessible labs in education of scientific and technical disciplines. With this objective in mind, recent releases of EJS support connections with external applications, such as LabView and Matlab/Simulink. Hence, EJS not only is useful to create virtual labs, but also the GUIs of their remote counterparts.
A rich repository of EJS simulations is freely available at: http://www.compadre.org/
EJSApp: bridging together Moodle and EJS
To support the one-click deployment of virtual and remote labs into Moodle, we have developed the EJSApp plugin, which has the following features:
- Deployment of labs written in EJS.
- Control user access to the deployed labs and distinguish between virtual labs (or simulations) and remote labs.
- Allow several resizing options for displaying the embedded applets.
- Backup and restore. EJSApp provides maintenance facilities for labs, packaging them into Moodle course backups.
To get the feel of EJSApp, visit UNILabs, which is a moodle site that hosts a rich network of virtual and remote labs for students of the Spanish Open University (UNED) and other Spanish Universities, such as the Huelva, Complutense and Almeria Universities. All labs in UNILabs have been developed using the EJSApp and its extensions (EJSApp "private files" browser, EJSApp Booking System, EJSApp Collab Session and the Open Source Physics repository plugin).
The code repository of this plugin can be found at https://github.com/UNEDLabs/moodle-mod_ejsapp
- Luis de la Torre, Maria Guinaldo, Ruben Heradio, Sebastian Dormido. The Ball and Beam System: A Case Study of Virtual and Remote Lab Enhancement With Moodle. IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, 11(4): 934-945, 2015.
- Luis de la Torre, Ruben Heradio, Carlos A. Jara, Jose Sanchez, Sebastian Dormido, Fernando Torres, Francisco A. Candelas. Providing Collaborative Support to Virtual and Remote Laboratories. IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies, 6(4): 312-323, 2013.
- Luis de la Torre, Juan P. Sanchez, Ruben Heradio, Carmen Carreras, Manuel Yuste, Jose Sanchez, Sebastian Dormido. Creating web experimentation portals. International Conference on Interactive Computer aided Blended Learning, 2013, Florianópolis, Brasil.
- Ruben Heradio, Luis de la Torre, Jose Sanchez, Sebastian Dormido and Hector Vargas. An architecture for virtual and remote laboratories to support distance learning. In Research in Engineering Education Symposium, pages 579-587, Madrid, Spain, October 2011.
Tutorial Videos
Overview of EJSApp
Guide to install and use EJSApp and EJSApp File Browser
Overview of Open Source Physics, a free repository with more than 400 freely available EJS simulations
Overview of UNEDLabs, a network of virtual and remote laboratories developed with EJSApp
If you like this plugin, please support its development: https://www.paypal.me/ejsapp
Useful links
- Tue, Mar 24, 2015, 6:20 AMVersion 2.0 is out.
It allows using alias to your virtual and remote laboratories .jar (Java) or .zip (Javascript) files compiled with EjsS.
Also, it enhances the personalization of variables in virtual laboratories by allowing teachers to download the values generated for the variables of the lab that are being personalized.
Finally, it has a cleaner and more optimized code in many aspects.
- Mon, May 29, 2017, 1:57 AMDoes not work in firefox 53 because javaplugin is not supported. How can I use this moodle-plugin? Any hints?
- Mon, May 29, 2017, 7:10 PMDear Andreas,
The latest versions of EJSApp offer a solution for this problem by:
1. Deploying the Java applet through the Java Network Launch Protocol (JNLP) as a desktop application instead as a web browser-embedded applet.
2. Allowing to embed Javascript simulations created with EJS.
- Sun, Jun 4, 2017, 12:02 AMI forgot to mention, Andreas, that even if you deploy the applet through JNLP (as EJSApp does now), you need to sign your applet with a valid trust certificate. Otherwise, the applet won't be load by the JRE.
- Thu, Jul 6, 2017, 9:00 PMA new version of EJSApp has been released. This one includes support for blockly and chart.js.
On the one hand, blockly enables a complete new way of interacting with the simulations, virtual labs and remote labs. Combining visual programming with interactive applications is extremelly interesting and powerful.
On the other hand, users can now define and plot their own graphs on demand thanks to the use of the javascript Chart.js library.
- Mon, Sep 11, 2017, 11:40 PMEJSapp 3.0 (Build: 2017062603)
Moodle 3.3.1
When I click on a lab, I get only a download window to download the jnlp file.
Any suggestions to fix this?
- Tue, Sep 12, 2017, 1:56 AMHi, David,
I'm afraid you can't fix that. Embedded Java applets are no longer supported by any web browser, so we decided to deploy the Java applets through the Java Netjork Launch Protocol (JNLP), as desktop applications. This allows us to launch the applets with certain parameter that may be needed for the applications to run with all their features, but you can no longer have them embedded in you browser.
- Sat, Sep 16, 2017, 9:40 PMThank you, Luis, for your helpful response. I will follow up with our instructors.
- Fri, Oct 6, 2017, 8:41 AMReporting back: The instructor says that he has tried the JavaScript solution, but only a blank page loads.
- Sun, Jan 14, 2018, 8:48 PMIs it 3.4 compatible?
- Sun, Jan 14, 2018, 9:09 PMHi Dinis,
Yes it is. I forgot to change the info here (I will do right now), but it works perfectly fine with Moodle 3.4
David, unfortunately, your I didn't read your message. I'm afraid I can't be of much help with your description of the problem. If you are still interested in fixing it, maybe we could have a skype meeting.
- Sun, Apr 29, 2018, 4:05 PMHi, I tried using EJSApp on my website. When i click on the installed application in moodle, the application downloads a jnlp file and i need it to open in the browser itself. I also tried installing EJS private files browser, but it is still not working. any help is appreciated
- Fri, May 4, 2018, 3:41 PMDear Rathankar,
Embedded Java applets are no longer supported by any web browser, so I decided to deploy the Java applets through the Java Netjork Launch Protocol (JNLP), as desktop applications. You don't open jnlp files in the browser, the Operating System opens them. What is exactly your problem when opening a jnlp file? If you give me more details, maybe I could help you.
The EJSApp private files browser serves for different purposes (saving and loading files related to EJSApp lab activities).
- Wed, Jan 2, 2019, 8:27 PMHi I have installed ejsapp and ejsapp_file_browser plugins as shown in the Guide to install and use EJSApp and EJSApp File Browser video. I am getting error when I am trying to create a lesson in a course :
The address wasn't understood
Firefox doesn't know how to open this address, because one of the following protocols (jnlp) isn't associated with any program or is not allowed in this context.
You might need to install other software to open this address.
Please help me on this error, thanks in advance.
- Tue, Jan 8, 2019, 6:29 PMHi Nagesh,
Firefox is trying to open a Java file. Since Java applets can't be embedded into web browsers since a couple of years ago, EJSApp tries to open it through the JNLP protocol, which downloads and then runs the Java applet as a desktop application. However, for this to work, you need the Java Virtual Machine to be installed in your computer.
Anyway, I recommend you to use EJS Javascript applications instead of Java ones.


text:
Gibrievida Version 0.3.2
Gibrievida Version 0.3.2
Gibrievida (old high german for record, list, directory) is an activity tracker for Jolla Sailfish OS. It supports categories and template like activities that can be used, to create new records about your sportive progresses or whatever you want to record in your life. Watch your history of activities and sort them by different specifications like duration, distance, repetitions, etc. All data is still editable after recording, so that you can still change the data. Use proximity sensor or accelerometer to increase repetitions of your activity (like sport exercises), or use the GPS/GLONASS to measure your running/walking distance.
More data analysis views will come in later versions.
Gibrievida is available in the Jolla store on your Sailfish OS Device as well as on openRepos.net.
Developed with westphalian stubbornness in Munich.
Features Screenshots Videos Guide Translations Changelog Technologies Licenses
- organize activities by category
- create as many categories, activities and records you want
- edit categories, activities and records
- sort records by different criteria
- increase repetitions by using proximity sensor or acceleromter
- finish recordings by cover the proximity sensor
- measure your running/walking distances via GPS/GLONASS
- translated into Dutch, German, Italian and Swedish
Gibrievida wants to help you to record your sportive or daily activities (or whatever you want to use it for). It is based on categories, activities and records. Categories group activities by topic, like sport. An activity is like a template for a record. The record itself is a set of data composed of an activity together with starting and end time, duration and optional repetitions, distance or notes.
At first you need a category. In that category you can add your first activity. After you have your first activity you can start recording. For example, create a category Sport and an activity Push-Ups. In the activity you set a minimum and maximum repetitions count greater than zero to activate repetitions count. Now you are ready to record your daily Push-Ups.
If you track an activity that has neither repetitions nor distance measurement, you can close the application completely while doing your stuff. The started activity will be stored to the database and will be loaded when you start the application again.
When deleting categories or activities, all connected data will be deleted, too.
By default, GPS/GLONASS is used to track your distance (since version 0.3.0) if you record an activity with distance measurement activated. The recording will only start if the application can find a valid initial position.
If you want help to translate Gibrievida, have a look a the Transifex project page. Percent values of translation progress are related to the last released version.
- German: 100% (Buschmann)
- Dutch: 100% (Nathan Follens)
- French: 98% (Jean Clovis)
- Italian: 100% (Francesco Vaccaro and Stefano)
- Swedish: 100% (Åke Engelbrektson)
2016-09-22 Version 0.3.2
- new: French translation by Jean Clovis
- improved: translation updates
2016-09-01 Version 0.3.1
- new: Italian translation by ghostofasmile and palikao
- improved: translation updates
2016-08-26 Version 0.3.0
- new: implement distance measurement via GPS/GLONASS
- new: Swedish translation by Åke Engelbrektson
- improved: translation updates
2016-08-24 Version 0.2.1
- fixed: subsequent entries are not deleted when deleting categories or activities
2016-08-24 Version 0.2.0
- new: simple database backup by copying SQLite file to backup file
- new: optional finishing sound if app is not visible to user
- new: optional finish your recording by using the proximity sensor
- new: use the acceloremeter to add new repetitions
- new: start a new recording directly from the activities list
- new: use the proximity sensor to add new repetitions
- new: dutch translation by Nathan Follens
- fixed: update activities list on finishing a recording
2016-08-22 Version 0.1.0
- first released version
Gibrievida is based on the following technologies. It is written in Qt/C++, using QML for the user interface and SQLite for storing the data.
Qt is a cross-platform application and UI framework for developers using C++ or QML, a CSS & JavaScript like language. Qt Creator is the supporting Qt IDE. Qt, Qt Quick and the supporting tools are developed as an open source project governed by an inclusive meritocratic model. Qt can be used under open source (LGPL v2.1) or commercial terms.
SQLite is an in-process library that implements a self-contained, serverless, zero-configuration, transactional SQL database engine. The code for SQLite is in the public domain and is thus free for use for any purpose, commercial or private. SQLite is currently found in more applications than we can count, including several high-profile projects.
- Gibrievida by Buschtrommel
- Licensed under GNU General Public License 3.0
- Qt by Qt Project
- Licensed under GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL), Version 2.1 or at own wish under commercial terms.
- SQLite by SQLite-Team
- Public domain


text:
Mr. Glennert Riedel is a Technical Affairs Officer for the Bureau Telecommunicatie & Post (BT&P) in Curaçao. BT&P is the local regulator for the telecommunications, postal and energy sectors and airport tariffs. Mr. Riedel has a bachelor degree in electronics from the Hogeschool Eindhoven in the Netherlands. Two of his main responsibilities at BT&P are frequency management and spectrum monitoring. Electromagnetic waves have captivated Mr. Riedel's interest since childhood by their ability to carry information and transcend great distances. This fascination is reflected in the jobs Mr. Riedel has held over the years in various telecom related sectors varying from telecom equipment repair, installation and sales, network operations centre management, right up to his current position at the BT&P.
1) How did you find out about the GSMA's online courses?
I saw the courses online, and I subscribed after my colleague recommended the Spectrum Management course.
2) What made you want to take your first course?
I wanted to have more information about the mobile side of spectrum management, and the course was exactly what I was looking for, as we needed to plan spectrum allocations. The course is useful for my daily work and I can put the learnings into use.
3) What did you like most about the experience?
I was pushed to get involved and be active in the course; for some courses, all you do is listen, but we have to be proactive with Capacity Building courses. The dedication of the GSMA team pushed the course forward. I also liked having context and in-depth answers to the topic at hand.
4) Were there any challenged you experienced to take this course online?
I had to get used to the accents! The course is also intensive, so I had to manage my time between work and the course.
5) What do you enjoy the most about the courses?
The courses are very interesting, I find myself doing the course late at night sometimes.
6) Can you give an example of how what you learned related to a current issue in the mobile telecommunications sector in your country/region?
I use the knowledge to help prepare for conferences (I used my knowledge at a conference in Cuba, for example) and other aspects of my work, including planning spectrum allocations. The 5G perspective was interesting to learn about, such as fixed satellite services and spectrum demand for 5G. The demands are put into perspective for balanced choices.
7) What would you say to a regulator or policymaker that was thinking about taking a course with us?
Definitely take the course, it is time well spent. You learn more about the context, meet more people in the field, and understand the challenges other countries are facing. Thank you to the GSMA team for delivering these courses as it is an effective way to learn, especially for smaller countries who do not have the same access to industry knowledge.


text:
When driving a State of Texas registered vehicle, insurance is required at all times.
Texas minimum car insurance requirements are:
- Auto Insurance policy with limits of at least 30/60/25 – meaning:
- Liability coverage
- $30,000 of bodily injury to another person
- $60,000 of bodily injuries to all other persons
- $25,000 of injury to or destruction of property of others in any one accident
Personal Injury Protection and Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Insurance are recommended but not required. One in five Texas drivers is uninsured, and the only way to protect against the damage uninsured drivers cause is through specified insurance.
Alternative Options to Insurance:
Self Insurance Certificates are available in Texas if the following requirements are met:
- You or your company must have at least 26 registered vehicles
- You must qualify by application through the Department of Motor Vehicles
In Texas, you also have the option to use a liability bond or cash deposit instead of insurance if the following requirements are met:
Transportation Code 121 and Transportation Code 122
- Cash deposit of at least $55,000 with the state comptroller
- Cash or cashier's check deposit of $55,000 with your county judge
- Liability bond for at least the amount covered by a standard liability policy
Required Proof of Insurance in Texas
Insurance Card provided by insurance company including all of the following:
- Name of Insurance Company
- Insurance Policy Number
- Effective Date/Expiration Date of policy
- Name and address of Insured Driver
- Description of all vehicles insured by the policy
Self Insurance certificates are issued by the state and must include the following:
- Certificate Number issued by Department of Licensing
- Effective Date of Certificate
- Accurate description of year, make/model of registered vehicle
- Name of driver covered by certificate
- Certificate of Deposit
- Certificate number issued by Comptroller or County Judge
- Name of driver covered by certificate of deposit
- Liability Bond
- Name of company issuing bond
- Bond number
- Name of driver covered by bond
Texas Department of Insurance
Texas Department of Insurance
333 Guadalupe
Austin, TX 78701
(512) 463-6169 in Austin
1(800) 578-4677 statewide
Obtaining a Driver's License
Texas adopted a Graduated Driver License program in 2002 to ease young drivers into more responsibility as they get accustomed to controlling a motor vehicle. The program is for drivers 15 through 18 years old. The program has two phases.
Here are the requirements to obtain your Phase One license if you are under 18:
- Be at least 15 years old
- Hold and maintain a valid learner or hardship license for at least six months. If a learner license is suspended or revoked, the six month period must be completed when the suspension has ended.
- Be accompanied by a person who is at least 21 years old.
- Enroll in a driver education program.
To move on to Phase Two, drivers must:
- Be at least 16 years old
- Complete the classroom and driving skills portion of a driver education course
- Hold a valid Phase One license for at least six months
Under a Phase Two or provisional license, drivers have a few restrictions for the first year after the license is issued:
- Drivers may not drive with more than one unrelated passenger under 21.
- Drivers may not drive between midnight and 5 a.m. unless in sight of their parent or guardian or unless driving in an emergency situation or a school- or employment-related activity.
- Drivers may not talk on a cellular phone, text, or otherwise use a wireless communication device unless experiencing an emergency.
All first-time applicants 18-24 who do not have a current license from another state must provide proof of an Adult Driver Education course. This can either be a full driver education course or a state-approved six-hour safety course.
Once you meet the requirements, visit your local DMV and apply for a driver license. Bring the following:
- Documents that can verify your identity, such as a current passport, or a birth certificate and both a social security card and school ID card or report card. For a complete list of acceptable documents, go to State of Texas
- Documents that prove U.S. citizenship or lawful residence.
- If under 18, a verification of enrollment and attendance (VOE) from your school.
- If under 18, parental authorization.
- If applying for a Phase Two or full license, proof of completion of a state-approved driver education course.
- Proof of social security number.
- Proof of Texas vehicle registration and insurance on all vehicles you own.
- A completed application, available for download here application
- A fee in cash, money order, or check.
- A fully-registered and insured vehicle with which to pass the driving exam.
At the DMV, you must:
- Consent to be photographed and fingerprinted, and you must provide your signature.
- Pass the written, driving and vision examinations.
Completing Driver Education
When a child reaches the age of 15, they may enroll in a state-approved driver education program. Learning the basics of driving safely early on can establish good driving habits, which in turn can enable drivers to qualify for some of the best car insurance rates in Texas. All drivers under 18 must enroll in a course that offers both classroom and behind-the-wheel training. Parents may choose to use the Parent-Taught Driver Education program offered by the Department of Motor Vehicles. A checklist demonstrating differences between parent-taught and classroom-based education is available on the DMV's website.
Adults 18-25 applying for first-time licenses must complete either a full driver education course or a six-hour state-approved course.
To complete a program a student must meet the following:
- Complete a minimum of 32 hours of classroom time in no fewer than 16 days.
- Seven hours of behind-the-wheel driving time with an instructor, seven hours of driving observation with an instructor, and 20 hours of additional driving time, with 10 of those hours being at night, as observed by a parent or guardian.
You can also check if your student's school offers any driver training programs. These programs meet the state requirements and have licensed instructors.
Knowing the Rules of the Road (use, disregard, or change information as needed)
Texas provides their rules of the road online. Carefully obey these rules to avoid tickets and accidents, and to quality for the lowest auto insurance rates in Texas.
- Alcoholic beverages in motor vehicles: Penal Code 49.031
- Cell phone use in school zones: 545.425
- Child passenger restraints and penalties: 545.412
- DWI – Driving While Intoxicated: Penal Code 49.04
- Minimum speed: 545.363
- Mopeds, EPAMDs, and motorized scooters- operation on roadway: 551.103
- Motorcycles 545.416
- Reckless driving: 545.401
- Riding in the back of a truck or trailer: 545.414
- Seat belt requirements: 545.413
- Speeding and maximum speed limits: 545.351
- Unattended motor vehicle: 545.404
Residents of Texas typically will be categorized as a certain kind of driver based on their driving history. Drivers with a history of accidents and tickets will be labeled high-risk, which means they'll have to pay more than the average cost of car insurance in Texas for coverage, while drivers with no history of accidents or tickets are less expensive to insure and are part of the standard market. These drivers will enjoy the best auto insurance rates in Texas.
Know Your Rates
Texas law places certain requirements on insurance companies, but they come up with their own rates and submit them for review to the Texas Department of Insurance. Companies do not seek approval from the TDI before setting rates, but if the TDI finds rates too high, they can order a company to issue refunds. Companies base rates on several factors and look at all the drivers in a household to determine what insurance premiums will be:
- Age. Male drivers under 25 and female drivers under 21 will pay the highest rates because studies have shown that younger drivers tend to be involved in more collisions.
- Driving record and claims history. If you have had multiple accidents, tickets, and insurance claims, you are considered a riskier driver to insure, and your rates will go up. In some cases, a good driving record can lead to discounts.
- Make, model, and year of the vehicle. Rates are highest for luxury, high-performance and sports cars, and for those that damage easily or are expensive to repair.
- What your vehicle is used for. Rates for cars that are driven only for a driver's pleasure are lower than rates for cars that are used to drive regularly, such as for driving to and from work.
- Credit history. While insurance companies cannot refuse to insure drivers solely for a poor credit score, your credit history can be a factor in determining rates. This means that the better your credit score, the higher your chance will be of getting low cost car insurance in Texas.
- Whether you drove previously without insurance. If you drove uninsured in Texas for more than 30 days in the year prior to applying for insurance, companies may charge you more.
Lower Your Rates
Some of the factors that determine your insurance rate are out of your control, but there are some things you can do to get and keep your rate as low as you can. The Texas Department of Insurance offers a few tips to consumers as they shop around and compare auto insurance rates in Texas.
First, before you make calls to insurance companies, decide ahead of time what coverage you need. Before you decide on a policy, get quotes from several companies. Be truthful about your information and circumstances. Don't necessarily go with the company that offers you the lowest rate- consider other factors, such as a company's financial rating, complaint history, and license status. If you need help finding this information, call TDI's consumer help line at 1(800) 252-3439 or visit www.tdi.state.tx.us.
Rates are made up of both monthly premiums and deductibles that are paid only when an incident occurs. Consider increasing your deductible, or the amount you'll pay out of pocket when you file a claim, to lower your monthly rates.
Ask your insurance agent or broker about discounts you may qualify for. Companies often offer discounts for:
- Taking a defensive driving course, or a driver education course for young drives
- Students with good grades
- Families with students who are living elsewhere without a vehicle
- Multiple vehicles on a policy
- A package policy that also includes homeowner insurance
- Car safety features, such as airbags, automatic seatbelts, automatic daytime lights, antilock brakes and anti-theft devices.
Picking an Insurance Agent/Broker
Insurance agents who work for insurance companies aim to sell policies for commission. Insurance brokers, on the other hand, do not represent a company. They work with individual clients, assessing their clients' needs and finding different insurance policies that fit them best. Brokers also receive a commission for the sales they make from different insurance companies. Both types of experts can help you find the best car insurance in Texas to suit your needs.
Whether you use an agent or broker, make sure that they are licensed to sell insurance in Texas. You can look up a company or agent's license on the Texas Department of Insurance's website. In addition, you can request information from the TDI about how many complaints have been filed against a particular agent or broker. They can also tell you about a company's financial standing and tell you how many times they have faced disciplinary actions.
The TDI also provides consumers with an online resource page, which allows insurance shoppers all the information they need to make an informed decision.
After an Accident
Accidents aren't fun for anyone, but there are steps you can take to make them easier on everyone involved. The Texas Department of Insurance has a list of recommendations to drivers who get in an accident on Texas roads.
First, state law requires drivers who are able to move their vehicles to move them off the roadway to avoid blocking traffic and protect them from additional damage. Call local law enforcement, the county sheriff or state troopers if someone was injured or killed, the cars can't be cleared off the roadways, or to later file an accident report.
Exchange and share key information with all drivers involved in the accident, even if they have no car insurance in Texas. You'll need to get their name, address, telephone number, license plate number, drivers license number, complete name of their insurance company, and full insurance policy number. If there are any witnesses to the accident, get their name, address and phone number.
Call your insurance company as soon as you can, even if you weren't at fault. Most companies have a 24-hour number that can be dialed. Your agent will explain your policy and claims process to you and can help you through the repair process. They will need a copy of any accident report filed. By law, companies must respond to your claim within 15 days of when it was filed. If they accept your claim, they must send a check or draft within five business days of accepting your claim. If they reject your claim, they must explain the rejection in writing.
Insurance for High-Risk Drivers
Some drivers who are deemed more likely to cause an accident than others may have a difficult time obtaining insurance from the traditional market. Drivers with a history of accidents or tickets for moving violations may be deemed high-risk, as will those who have been convicted of involuntary manslaughter, driving under the influence, criminally negligent driving or driving without a license or with a suspended license.
If two insurance companies have turned you down for coverage, you can qualify for liability coverage through the Texas Automobile Insurance Plan Association, or TAIPA. TAIPA also offers drivers personal injury protection insurance and uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage, which must be turned down in writing if you choose not to get them. To get TAIPA, apply with a licensed insurance agent.
Additional Help
The Texas Department of Insurance provides aid to consumers as they shop for insurance. They can answer general insurance questions and provide you with information about how to file a complaint against your company or agent, though they ask you try to settle disputes with the company directly if at all possible. A consumer help line is available to Texans from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday by calling 1(800) 252-3439. On the department's auto insurance homepage, there are several resources available to help Texas drivers, including a Personal Automobile Insurance Consumer Bill of Rights.
Online resources include:
Are you looking for free insurance quotes?
Your one-stop online Car Insurance guide. Get a Free Quote Now!


text:
Gemini Screenprint LLC is the leading provider of screen printed apparel, custom embroidery, banners, labels/stickers, yard signs, business cards, stationary, promotional items galore, pamphlets and Logo & Graphic Design services. We are one-stop shopping! Come on in and visit us!
We love our customers, so feel free to visit during normal business hours.
149 Emerald St, Suite N Keene, NH 03431
Open today
Copyright © 2019 Gemini Screenprint LLC - All Rights Reserved.


text:
Taking the Fifth with Daniel Libman
An interview series where writers lay it all out for Fifth Wednesday Journal
Stephen Dixon Takes the Fifth
Photo (above) by Daniel Libman
Walt Whitman may have contained multitudes, but a Stephen Dixon character has a capacity for the infinite. Dixon's people misremember, fantasize, re-remember, and perseverate to the point where accuracy is not only out of the question, it's beside the point. The author of twenty-eight published works of fiction, he has also amassed a shelf-full of awards and accolades including a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and two National Book Award nominations. Dixon may be that very rare artist: uniquely gifted, utterly original, uncompromising in his vision, and revered among people for whom literature still matters.
On a recent September afternoon I sat with him in his Baltimore-area home, talking about his quixotic literary career, the recent death of his wife Anne Frydman, and his current project, an enormous novel called His Wife Leaves Him. We sat at his dining room table drinking coffee, beside a short stack of copies of his latest book, What Is All This? Uncollected Stories from Fantagraphics Books.
FWJ: I know you spent some of your pre-writerly days as a broadcast journalist, and you interviewed some pretty impressive names. Do you have any tips for me on how to conduct this interview?
Stephen Dixon: I was brash. I got my interview with Richard Nixon walking down the hallways of Congress when he was totally resistant to being interviewed other than at press conferences. But I got it, and I got my interview with Khrushchev by running up the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, which would get you shot today. I did this by being brash, by going under the separating barrier and just rushing up. Same thing with Nixon. I saw him walking in the halls of Congress, and I ran up to him and asked if he'd give me an interview. He thought I was cute — I was all of twenty-three years old, and he gave me an interview. I did the same thing with Lyndon Johnson when he was Majority Leader. He was very skeptical of reporters, but he gave a rare radio interview because I just put a microphone in front of his mouth.
FWJ: So you couldn't go back and neurotically test the equipment over and over like I just did.
SD: Oh, no. But I should have at the Democratic convention. I had a feeling that Adlai Stevenson was going to be ushered through the convention and there was going to be a big uproar. So I got very close to him with my Wollensack, which was a big reel-to-reel recorder that weighed about forty pounds, and I was squeezed. I got the interview but it didn't come out because the crowd had squeezed me so much the tapes had jarred loose from the spindle.
FWJ: Who were you working for?
SD: I was working for a company called News Associates and Radio Press. They were a news services for radio and TV stations and newspapers.
FWJ: I want to start by asking about your writing habits — Paris Review-type questions. You showed me your writing desk earlier, which is a long table in your bedroom covered with books and loose-leaf papers. In the center is your typewriter under a dust cover. Not a computer. Tell me about the typewriter.
SD: The typewriter is a Hermes, a Hermes Standard, so it's between a portable and a table model. And it's the most reliable typewriter I've ever had. It's never been broken; it's never been repaired. I've just had to get it cleaned. All the other typewriters I've ever had, mostly Royals, would break apart eventually.
FWJ: How did you come upon the Hermes?
SD: There was a guy who used to sell me equipment in New York and he said this was a great typewriter and he was the sole representative of it in the United States. I bought one and I liked it so much I bought two, and then I bought a third, which was a table model, which was too big.
FWJ: How much time a day do you devote to writing?
SD: Three to four hours. If not more.
FWJ: Always the same time of day?
SD: No, it's whenever I get a break. For instance, I probably normally would be at the typewriter now. After I read the newspapers and have my morning coffee — I usually write between nine and twelve or ten to one. Then I go to the gym and then get back to the writing. But because you were coming over I went to the gym early today, and then after the interview I'll start my typing.
FWJ: You're not one of those people hung up on the morning hours.
SD: If I have ten minutes free — and this has happened to me a thousand times — in other words I only get ten minutes to write, I'll go to the typewriter and work on a sentence or two for ten minutes, five minutes. I can say, "Well, I got something done today."
FWJ: Do you write from longhand notes that you've written out ahead of time?
SD: I just write — the part I'm on now [of His Wife Leaves Him], which is called "Outtakes" and has about forty different scenes that haven't been dealt with in the novel heretofore, I write out the first line by hand ahead of time. I say, what's the next segment I'm going to write? Because they're usually two to five pages, a line comes to my head and I write it down, and then I take it to the typewriter and the scene usually follows. So I know that I'm going to be writing for the rest of my life because I have this way of starting that enables me to just sort of set off on something that leads to a piece of fiction. My joke was that the only "writer's block" I knew was the one on Seventy-Fifth where I lived. I would walk down the street in the summer and there were three or four writers — one of them was Harold Brodkey — and I would hear them typing away. I've never had a writer's block in my life and I've been writing now more than fifty years.
FWJ: Do you listen to music when you write?
SD: No, I don't. I listen to music, but only before or after I write. I would find it very distracting. Other writers can be very surprised to hear that I don't listen to jazz when I write, but to me that's a distraction. If a guy's outside with a leaf blower, that's a distraction.
FWJ: As we're talking now I can hear children playing in the schoolyard across the street.
SD: That doesn't distract me. Kid voices are beautiful. Leaf blowers are ugly. And he does it for thirty minutes. If it goes on I'll just move the typewriter to another room, which is the advantage of having a portable or a moveable typewriter. I can come out here [to the dining room table] to type, which is where I wrote for years while Anne was sick so I could be nearer to her. And I wait for the leaf blowing to stop and then move back to my desk. Jarring sounds are distracting. Writers are very sensitive to noise — to grating voices, to machines that make sort of horrible clashing sounds.
FWJ: You said you often start out with a line you've written out ahead of time . . .
SD: I always start with a line I've written out ahead of time. And that line will lead to that completed first draft of that particular section of the novel. In other words, from that line I go to another line and then another line and then another line and eventually I have a completed first draft and then I start refining that section.
FWJ: Are the first lines usually description or dialogue or something else?
SD: No, they can be anything. This novel has everything. I've been working on His Wife Leaves Him for four years and four months, but for instance the one I wrote yesterday, a first draft, begins: "He never told her this." That's all I needed. "He never told her this," because I knew what I wanted to write about, which was how he almost killed their cat by leaving it outside and a fox grabbed it and maimed it and the cat almost died. But he never told her this. I wrote it down and then I went to the typewriter and typed the line, and then I wrote the next line down, which was: "Because he knew she would be very angry with him." And then it proceeds to being a finished section about what the experience was. The line is a catalyst.
FWJ: You aren't superstitious about talking about what you're currently working on?
SD: No, no. I don't mind. It's eight hundred pages now. These are manuscript pages. And I always have twenty-four lines to a page, and ten to twelve words to a line, so you can figure out how many words there are to this novel. It's in five sections, and it's all predicated on the narrator saying in the kitchen while his wife is in the bedroom — and his wife has had two strokes already — "I wish you would die already." He's so fed up at that particular moment of taking care of her. And he goes, "Oh God, I hope she didn't hear that." And he goes in to see her and she had heard. And she does die that night of a stroke. And so the whole novel is really to go back in their life. It's a novel about a marriage. That didn't happen, by the way.
FWJ: Do you worry about that? Because so much of your writing is based on or begins in your actual situation. People in your books don't always behave in the way we wish we would behave. Do you worry people will think badly of you?
SD: The novel is very close to me, certainly many of the sections are. But no, I'm not worried about it. Some things are pretty close to the bone and other things are made up. The section I'm working on now is the last few hundred pages of the book, where he's just lying in bed after the memorial for his wife and recapitulating different scenes in their life: how they met, when they first went to bed together, when she broke up with him, how they got married. But not sequentially. The novel is in third person and totally unsequential, unchronological. Then the last part is to fill in the blanks that are in the first four parts. That's my phone.
FWJ: Do you need to get that?
SD: Ah, no. To hell with it. They can leave a message if they really need to.
FWJ: I know you have a book called Phone Rings, where a phone call sets off the actions of the story. What do you actually do if the phone rings when you're writing?
SD: I answer it. It never stops me. In fact I often get new ideas after I leave my typewriter to answer the phone. It helps, it hurts. It adds up to be even. So the last section, "Outtakes," comprises forty to fifty small sections of stuff that I hadn't written about yet and a couple of them he has written — not written, but thought about. He thinks, haven't I thought about this before? Because it's also an examination of a human mind and how it operates. And then it goes right back to the beginning of the novel, a very short passage which I've already written, about the knock on his classroom door telling him that someone is on the phone. And it's about the first stroke. And then he gets out of bed after four hundred pages of thinking and makes himself a cup of coffee.
FWJ: What's a good day of writing versus a bad one?
SD: I don't have any bad ones. I usually get a page or two at least. Since three months after Anne died at least a page day, because I took a hiatus from writing when she died. A good day is two pages, but that doesn't happen frequently because I rewrite the page so often that I'm exhausted by the time I finish rewriting the page. The system is I write that first section and then I refine it page by page. But the first segment is written in twenty minutes, an hour, two hours … and I never go right back to it. I usually start the refinement the day after so I can think about the sections I just wrote and read it and see what I'm doing and how I can improve it as I'm refining it.
FWJ: When you're refining, are you making macro changes in the plot as well?
SD: It could be. I could be changing something that is illogical, like he might be in the car when he says something and I might need to take him out of the car when he says it because she wouldn't have heard him when he was in the car. In other words, I might change things around. And usually if the "Outtakes" section is two pages it'll end up being five pages. I always expand. I never condense in my refinement process. My work usually doubles from the initial draft.
FWJ: Have you ever gotten hung up on a single sentence?
SD: Oh, sure! I could spend an hour or two on a single sentence. I don't want any sentence to go by until it's as perfectly written as I can write it. And it has to be absolutely clear. This is the clearest novel I've ever written. I rewrite it and I say, what's another way of writing it, and I write that and then finally I get it and I add that line to the section. I like a fast pace and simplicity.
FWJ: Which do you prefer: banging through those first drafts, or the slower work of refining the original?
SD: I like the revising better. The first draft has a lot of anxiety built into it because I don't know if I'm going to get it right. The refinement is sometimes a little taxing, but it's easier because I already have the skeleton, the first draft, I'm going to turn into the finished draft of that section. But the first draft also has that ecstasy at the end where you get to say: I got it. Hey, look what I got. I didn't know it was there, and it's there now. After I finish the section, either right afterwards I go to the next one because I know what the next one's going to be, or else I wait until the next day and start the first draft of the next section. In which case, I guess I get the rest of the day off.
FWJ: So it seems, then, you must have a pretty good sense conceptually of the size and shape of each novel even before you start.
SD: Yes. That's right. But no, not length. This novel I thought would only be three hundred pages. But that's the wonderful thing about a novel: it grows and grows. It leads to places that you didn't know existed.
FWJ: I was going to ask you how the computer has changed the way you write but it seems now that it really hasn't.
SD: No. I communicate with editors more through e-mail, but that's about it. I don't think my writing habits have changed at all in the last twenty years.
FWJ: How often does an editor make major changes in your work?
SD: They don't edit my work. I remember with Henry Holt, Alan Peacock was the editor and he said, "Are you the type of writer who wants hands off or hands on?" I said hands off. Of course if there's something that doesn't make any sense then they should tell me. Otherwise, I've worked very hard on these manuscripts and I don't want them interfered with.
FWJ: Over the years you've worked with quite a large number of publishers.
SD: I've had fourteen publishers for twenty-eight books. I was with Holt for four books and then they republished Frog, so really for five books. And then when I sent them Old Friends, they said no more from you, you haven't made us any money. Same thing with Melville. They said they didn't want to publish What Is All This? because they said I had lost them a lot of money with the three books they did publish. I would love to have a relationship with a publisher similar to John Updike's where one publisher, Knopf, publishes all your books. Editors might change but usually you get a good one. But it didn't happen that way. I published two with Harper and Row and I gave them my novel Garbage and they rejected it and said no more books. I don't leave publishers. They leave me.
FWJ: Do you feel bad when a publisher passes on your next work?
SD: No. I feel a little bad because there is safety and it means I have to look for a publisher again. But that's OK too, because I've always been able to find a publisher for my work. And lately I've been having help. For instance, with British American Publishing there's a writer who knew the reader and thought the reader might like my work, and they published Love and Will and then Frog. And with McSweeney's I had a student — an undergrad but an older undergrad, twenty-three years old — who had a beer with Dave Eggers in California after a reading. He said, "My teacher is Stephen Dixon, do you know his work?" And Dave said, "Oh, yeah." And he said, "Well, he was just telling us in class that he has a new novel he can't get published." Dave said, "Tell him to send it to me." That was I., and then they published End of I. after that. Then there's this guy in D.C., Paul, who I met because he sent me some books to sign. In other words, he's a fan, but he's a sweetheart. And when McSweeney's rejected the second of three books that were all related, he said, "There's a new publisher, Melville House, and I think they would like your work. Let me contact them." So he called them and they said, "Yeah, tell him to send the manuscript," and they took it in a week. That was Old Friends. And then they took two more. Then when they kicked me out because my books didn't make enough money for them, which is OK, I understand, that doesn't bother me, I understand the consideration. But then Paul said, "There's a house called Fantagraphics Books in Seattle, which I'm familiar with, let me check with them to see if they're interested."
FWJ: Publishing your work has become sort of a grassroots movement.
SD: I don't ask them to go to bat for me, but they do it on their own.
FWJ: It must feel gratifying but also sort of strange to be suddenly "discovered" by a whole new generation of readers. Now that Daniel Clowes has done a cover for you and you've got that Jonathan Lethem blurb on your books, it seems as though the cool kids have finally taken notice. Do you hang out with Lethem?
SD: No, but we've e-mailed, and of course his name is on all my books now. And apparently he didn't give either publisher permission to use that quote, but he doesn't care. And I knew that we shared some similar habitats. I sent him a copy of Frog thanking him for his endorsement. As for the younger people … I am relatively unknown, so it could mean young readers are attracted to my fiction because I haven't been discovered for them by older readers. They discover me themselves.
FWJ: Do you think had that sort of adulation been constant or had come earlier it might have changed your work in some way? I'm thinking of your story "The Victor," which I assume is about the National Book Award you didn't win. In the story you have two versions of the awards ceremony, "Way It Happened," where the protagonist loses the prize, and then "Way It Didn't Happen," where he wins.
SD: Yes, that was about the first NBA nomination. It would have changed me a little. I certainly would have been more solvent than I was, and it would have been a real pleasure to go on a half-teaching load, which I would have done. I would have had almost the same salary for a half load as I would for a full one because I would have won the National Book Award. But it was good because it sort of roused in me — not in anger — but a sort of fighting spirit that I always have. Sort of an "I'll show them." Listen, I was lucky to be nominated and we had a great time in New York. The judges read Frog in manuscript form. And not from page one to page seven hundred and sixty-three, whatever it was. They read page one to fifty, then page three hundred to three hundred and sixty-five. That's how the editor sent the novel, in complete sections, but they were out of order. And I still almost won according to two judges. But I like the idea of a story like that ["The Victor"], a "what if" story. Whatever happened to the guy who actually did win? I think he wrote one book after that. Maybe he's working on a two-thousand-page novel or something. It took him a long time to get the first book out, although that was a pretty good book.
FWJ: Your second NBA nomination was for Interstate.
SD: That one I had to face Phillip Roth. There were three other candidates but apparently the judges voted two-two. I spoke to Elena Howe, Irving Howe's wife, and she said, "Who are you running against?" And I mentioned the other four but when I said Philip Roth she said, "You lost. He's too well connected, he's too famous."
FWJ: Do you feel like you're part of a literary scene?
SD: No, no. I belong to no group, no movement, and no organization. Truthfully, I don't think anyone is writing like I write, so I'm all by myself. And I like it that way.
FWJ: Do you ever tour with the books?
SD: I really hated it when I was having to do readings. I've only done tours twice, and both times were for Henry Holt when they sent me with The Stories of Stephen Dixon to a couple of places out of town, and for Interstate they sent me twice, all the way to the west coast to Seattle and Colorado. Two week tours, separated by a week. It was tough on Anne, too, leaving her home. I never liked it, and not many people ever showed up, and that's embarrassing. It's really embarrassing when only two or three people show up. I have been to Washington, D.C., for the Melville House books, and that's about it.
FWJ: The first story you ever published was "The Chess House" in The Paris Review.
SD: Issue 29, 1963, Spring. I was working at CBS as an editor for a news program called In Person, and Ron Cochran who preceded Walter Cronkite as the host of the show was the main guy. The guy who was the writer for the show was Hughes Rudd. Hughes had stories in The Paris Review and was a friend of George Plimpton. Instead of going to lunch I would go into a room with a typewriter and work on my fiction. Hughes said, "Why don't you show me your work? I know George Plimpton." I gave him ten stories and he took two of them, "The Chocolate Sampler" and "The Chess House." George chose "The Chess House." But the story goes on. Hughes says, "You know George is taking one of your stories. Your first story is going to be in The Paris Review, but he wants you to call him." So I called him and he said, "I want to get this in the next issue. Could you come to my apartment right away?" So I go to his apartment during my lunch break at CBS, and it's very swanky, and he's very dashing and dapper and pleasant and bright, but he doesn't like many of the things I did in this five- or six-page story. He said, "You know nothing about chess," and I said, "I know something about chess," and he says, "You made a couple of mistakes here, and I want you to correct them." And he went through the story, just sort of tore it apart, and he says, "Go home, rewrite it, send it to me express within the week." So I go home and rewrite under his specifications. But I don't send it express because he lives right across town and regular mail will get to him. And I don't hear from him in six months, so obviously I've missed that issue. Then I got the story back from him and he says, "You didn't do anything I said. You didn't do this, this, and this." He gave me a whole new set of corrections, so I work on them and I send back the story. And I wait another — must have been three months. And he sends it back and says, "You didn't do a thing I said. If you did, then you didn't do enough. Rewrite the story again." So I just thought, screw this. And I got the original manuscript the way I had originally sent it to him and sent that again and I didn't hear back, and that's what he published. It sounds like fiction, but it's not. And from then on, even though they published three more stories of mine, and gave me the John Train Humor Prize, which was OK because it was a thousand bucks, from then on it was a love-hate relationship between George and myself. Someone doing a profile on me for the City Paper here in Baltimore asked George what he thought of me, and George said, "Stephen Dixon thinks I ought to change the name of my magazine to The Dixon Review." But I liked George — and he did a great service to literature too.
FWJ: A lot of the stories and novels are about memory, and the struggle to remember things as they were, and thinking about how things might have been if this hadn't happened or if that did happen. Some of what is remembered in Frog contradicts scenes that the reader has already experienced, events presented as facts. Other chapters are things that couldn't possibly have happened, such as Howard and his family on a transport car headed into Auschwitz. All of this is presented as the reality of that moment.
SD: That's right. For me, fiction is about memory. So much of my fiction is about my life. There could almost be two kinds of writers: the inventor and the memoirist. One deals with memory and one who invents. I invent too, but I'm more on the memory side than on the invention side. I invent when the memory doesn't satisfy the fiction, the aims of the fiction. So then I invent things around the memory.
FWJ: I don't know that there exists such a complete portrayal of one individual in fiction. By the time the reader finishes you know Howard's every impulse, his ugly thoughts and his good moments and his cowardices as well as the occasional triumph. I've told people that to me Frog is like Moby Dick in terms of its encyclopedic nature. Not to overstate it.
SD: I wanted to get everything in. And in the subsequent books I go deeper and deeper. For instance, my novels after Frog deal with some of the same material, but I go deeper and deeper in.
FWJ: Do you see your novels all as one continuous work? Like Kerouac, for example, who wanted to go back and give all the characters in all his novels the same names?
SD: No, I don't. There are similarities in the main narrators probably in all of my fiction because I take my fiction out of myself.
FWJ: Are the unusual structures part of what moves you in the creation?
SD: I like an unusual structure. I like to structure my books in ways that no one ever has before. I've already written books that are chronological, where they begin with a certain point in one's life and end at a later point. Now I like to mix it all around for the reader to sort of have the mix, but be able to put the mix together to make a whole.
FWJ: So you must then have a sense of that structure even before you start.
SD: No, it develops as I go. The only sense I have is this book is not going to be structured like any of my other books, or like anyone else's other book. I don't know what I'm going to do yet, but I know it's going to be different and interesting to the reader because he or she hasn't seen this kind of structure before.
FWJ: And the words, too, are like a deluge.
SD: Yes. I love that flow of words. And now my sentences are much more concise. I don't think there is even one flowing sentence in the entire book I'm working on. Stream of consciousness sentences have been pretty well worked on at this point. But in some of my work I've had sentences that go on for ten, twenty, forty, fifty pages. But I've intentionally written them like that, with the intention that the reader would not know there was no real punctuation break, no periods. And then maybe the reader will be impressed with himself that he has read something so long without a period. In His Wife Leaves Him all the sections are single paragraph. And I've been writing that single-paragraph way for almost twenty years. I just don't know when to stop except when it's at the end of what I'm writing about.
FWJ: How important is a title to you?
SD: Very important. It's supposed to mean something else, in addition to what it means. I like titles with multiple meanings: a comment on the work as a whole or an additional reflection.
FWJ: Where does it usually come in the process?
SD: After the first draft or during the writing of the first draft I sort of know what the title will be.
FWJ: Something like Interstate is pretty straightforward, but the title Frog really changes the entire texture of the work in a lot of ways. It seems to not have any bearing until the very end when it turns out there's a pet turtle with that name.
SD: Exactly. That's my private little joke at the end. The last story I wrote two years before finishing the book, which took me five years. I remember we were on our way to Maine and Anne was beside me and the kids were in the back, so it had to be around 1989 or '90. And I said, "Wait, I just got an idea for a story about why it's called Frog." And so I said, "Sophia, write it down for me. I'm going to dictate what the first few lines are." So she wrote it down, and when we got to Maine I wrote the story, and then I wrote the rest of the novel that got to the final story. But to me the multiple meaning of Frog is that he's a turtle. And what is a turtle? A turtle hides. Everything that a turtle is I thought Howard Tetch was. He has a shell, he's amphibious.
FWJ: You had the title Frog before the idea of what it meant?
SD: Oh, yes, because the first seventeen stories are Frog does this, "Frog Made Free," all this stuff. "Frog Remembers." "Frog in Prague." That's where the novel started, in Prague.
FWJ: Was it actually in Kafka's cemetery?
SD: Yes, which I never got to. I was on a tour. I was going to Prague and Germany with Anne and Sophia, who was then two, two-and-a-half years old. And Poland. The first stop was Munich and then we went to Prague. And we took a couple of books with us, and Sophia had the Frog and Toad books, which you must have read to your kids too.
FWJ: Oh, yes!
SD: So we took Frog and Toad and when we got to Prague, Sophia said, "Frog in Prague." And then later I went to find Kafka's grave, and what happened to Howard happened to me. The tour guy was giving me the runaround. He just wanted his shekels, or whatever they got. His money. He finally said, "If you want Kafka you have to go to some other cemetery."
FWJ: What do you read for pleasure?
SD: Whatever I can find. Recently someone turned me on to a Finnish writer born in 1942 named Albo Passilinna. He only has two books published in America, and I really liked both of them. And yesterday I finished another book, so now today I started Walter Benjamin's chronicles of the 1900s, about his boyhood days. It has to be serious books I read. I don't read pulp, nothing that's been on the bestseller list. I recently found a book on my daughter's bookshelf by Junichiro Tanizaki, and I had read his work before. The Key is a terrific novel. But this was called Some Prefer Nettles, so I started that and I like it. I always find something worthwhile to read. Thomas Bernhard, if he has a new one coming out.
FWJ: Did I miss anything?
SD: You're the interviewer.
FWJ: Is there something a more brash interviewer would have asked that I haven't?
SD: The interviewee never supplies the questions.
FWJ: No? Never?
SD: This one doesn't.
Daniel Libman served as past fiction editor for Fifth Wednesday Journal. He is currently the book reviews editor for FWJ. His story collection Married But Looking is forthcoming from Livingston Press. Read Dan's article about his writing life on the Writer's Rainbow blog.
This interview appeared in the Spring 2011 Issue 8 of Fifth Wednesday Journal. To purchase a copy, please visit our Store.


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