text:
So far, my family has not suffered from the flu or a bad cold. Knock on wood. Unfortunately, the "ick" is all around us... The Hub's co-workers come to work with the stomach flu, other parents send their boogery kids to school, or we simply stand in the check out line at the grocery store with someone who is dangerously close to coughing up a lung. People don't stop when they are ill anymore. It's not like the good ol' days of The Brady Bunch, when Jan sneezed twice and Carol Brady called the doctor. No, life is too busy for a cold. We push on and infect anyone who gets in our way.
|"Mike, Cindy has the sniffles.
I think it's time to quarantine the children and burn down the house.
It's a cesspool of disease in here."
The Disney channel runs a PSA to remind kids to wash their hands and to avoid touching their eyes, nose, and mouth during cold/flu season. I believe that it is a pretty simple and effective way to avoid the common cold. My kids, however, struggle to grasp the concept. For the last few weeks, my daughter, S, was on a mission to pull a loose baby tooth. It was her 5th one and she wanted to get her dollar from the Tooth Fairy. I would constantly catch her with her fingers in her mouth, wiggling that little tooth. She would get off the school bus, wiggling her tooth. She would walk through the grocery store and help me place items in the cart, wiggling her tooth. She would play outside or with other kids and wiggle her tooth. No matter how many times I told her to stop, question the cleanliness of her fingers, or remind her of the millions of germs dancing on her hands, she wiggled that tooth. I am so glad it finally came out last night.
My daughter, B, always has something in her mouth. When she was a baby, just learning to crawl, B would roll over on her tummy and pick at the living room carpet, looking for loose carpet fibers. As soon as she found one, she would put it in her mouth. Earlier this year, I spent a whole day in a panic, trying to figure out if she swallowed a penny. She recently gave up her binkie. The Hub and I were tired of searching for misplaced pacifiers and when she lost her last one, we told her she was out of luck. After a week, she stopped asking about it. But, now she likes to chew on pencils and pencil erasers. Hands touch pencils... um, yuck. If I got a nickel for every time I told her to stop putting stuff in her mouth, I could pay someone else to tell her for me.
Lately, we've had the heat on in the house. I've noticed my contacts have been dry and irritating my eyes. I have a pair of eyeglasses. I don't like to wear them. They're wire frames circa 1994. The lenses are too thick for the frames which makes it look like I'm wearing coke bottle glasses. They also don't fit my face correctly. The nose piece highlights the bump on my nose from when I broke it during a softball game over 20 years ago. I don't get dolled up to go to the store, but I refuse to wear my glasses out in public. I should get new glasses. I wish I still had my pink plastic frames from the 80's... I hear they're back in style.
|I had glasses like these, except they were pink.
Back then, I looked like a dork. Now, they would call me a hipster.
Getting back to the contacts...
While at the grocery store yesterday, my eyes were really itchy and dry. So what do I do? I reached up and rubbed my eyes. I stopped mid-rub. Holy hell, my hands are dirty from touching the shopping cart handle! Visions of Staphylococcus aureus, Haemophilus influenzae, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa danced in my head. I swore I could feel my eye getting pinker by the minute. As soon as I got home, I took out my contacts, flushed my eye with saline solution, and wore my ugly glasses the rest of the night. Right before I went to bed, my eye was sore and kind of goopy. I think I might be okay now, since I woke up without a crusty seal of mucus around my eye and the white of my eye is still... well... white.
Why am I so worried about pink eye, you ask? I used to work with a real jackass. One day, he overheard an emergency phone conversation I was having with S's daycare teacher. S woke up from her nap and her eye was very pink and I needed to remove her from the daycare immediately. My co-worker said in a very loud voice so the rest of the office could hear, "Pink eye comes from touching your own poop and then rubbing your eyes! Your kid messes with her own poop like a monkey! That's disgusting." See? Told you he was a real jackass. Now, I know that was not the case and my daughter is not a poop-throwing monkey. But, I was mortified that someone would say that (even in jest) about my kid. Now, every time I hear that someone has pink eye, I think of poop-throwing monkeys. Which makes me wonder how many other people think the same thing?
I call my kids "monkeys" ONLY because they like to climb on things...
Moral of the story? Don't be a poop-throwing monkey! Wash your hands and don't touch your eyes, nose, or mouth. I wish you and yours a very happy and healthy winter season!


text:
Training for canine explosive teams is a highly specialized endeavor that requires some of the highest standards and handler dedication of any form of canine training. This is not a modified drug detection class taught by drug detection trainers. This is a specialized class offering comprehensive training and practical skills designed to prepare EDC teams for today's current threat atmosphere.
Course will include and is not limited to:
- Understanding the terrorist assault structure
- Effective application of the EDC as a counter terrorist tool
- Lessons learned from the Middle East
- Explosives; familiarity and safe handling procedures
- Knowledge of basic IED and booby trap concept and design
- Construction of training aids
- Efficient search procedures, prioritizing, safety considerations
- Maintenance/enhancement procedures
- Scene evaluation and deployment procedures
- Threat assessment; comprehending the totality of the picture, credible versus non credible, packages, etc.
- Understanding and applying operant conditioning methodology
- Explosives odor recognition, development of generalization capabilities
- Conditioned response to target odors; focused indication, stare at source
- Handler independent alert
- Search patterns; vehicles, buildings, open air, etc.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Daniel Sturridge has hailed Liverpool as the biggest club in the Premier League.
The striker joined the Reds from Chelsea last week in a £12m deal, after spending much of this season on the bench at Stamford Bridge.
Despite the club having failed to finish in the top four since the 2008/09 season, Sturridge believes that he has signed for the biggest team in England:
"It is the biggest club I have ever played for. In the Premier League, there is no bigger club than Liverpool." He told the Liverpool Echo.
After impressing at the start of last season for Chelsea, Sturridge had fallen out of favour in West London, with both Roberto Di Matteo and Rafael Benitez overlooking him.
The 23-year-old believes that this may be his final opportunity to play for a top side and extended his gratitude to manager Brendan Rodgers for having the confidence to sign him:
"I thank the boss for giving me an opportunity to play for a club like this and I thank God for making it possible.
"It's amazing for the manager to put such faith in me. The only way I can repay him is by doing a job on the football field.
"For him to pay money for me and to have faith in me and show everybody around the world that he is prepared to take a chance on me, I don't think I'll ever be able to repay him for that."
Sturridge spent three-and-a-half years with Chelsea, making over 50 first-team appearances following a move from Manchester City.
Initially he struggled to break into the first-team, but, following a successful loan spell with Bolton, he became a key fixture under Andre Villas-Boas.
[cat_link cat="liverpool" type="grid"]


text:
Friday, June 30, 2006
DUST JACKETS: The Medici Dagger
About two years before Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code hit it big, another thriller inspired by the genius of Leonardo da Vinci arrived in bookstores. The book is Cameron West's The Medici Dagger.
The premise of this book is that in 1491 da Vinci crafted a weapon called the Medici Dagger, made from a revolutionary metal, indestructible and incredibly light. In modern times, the race is on to find the dagger. The bad guys want to unlock the secrets of the dagger to make a fortune in the illegal arms market. The hero for this action adventure is stuntman Reb Barnett whose father's mysterious death in a fire when Reb was a child ties into the search for this ancient weapon.
For anyone who hated The Da Vinci Code, because of the quality of the writing, please never ever try to read The Medici Dagger. Not only is the writing very poor, but this story reads like a bad James Bond adventure, complete with pointless action sequences and the obligatory sexy female romantic interest who can't quite be trusted. The most memorable moment for me in reading this book is when the main character, having gone quite long without any sleep, runs his car off the road and spins out of control. The point of this scene? Beyond proving what a really cool stunt driver the main character is (he keeps the car from crashing)… not much. I borrowed this book from the Barnes & Noble where I was working at the time because the premise was promising, but all I could think was, "Thank God I didn't spend money on this." It's not often I'll bash a book this harshly, but I'm afraid The Medici Dagger earns it. That said, for anyone just after a quick read with enough testosterone to choke a T-rex, this book is for you.
One positive thing I can say about this book is that you can tell West enjoyed writing it. He doesn't try to do anything but be himself. Perhaps the most humorous thing about this book is that the main character is clearly West in disguise. West offers some fun insights into the movie biz, but you can't help but think this sneak peak is a bit skewed to make the main character look really good. In real life, West has worked as a stunt double for actor Tom Cruise in numerous films, and there's clearly a character in the early part of the book meant to represent Cruise. Even funnier, in light of the meltdown of the Cruise-Nicole Kidman marriage, is when we're treated to a scene with the actor and his wife praising Reb for his excellent stunt work. Hard to read this and not chuckle as we're treated to a look at the "happy couple."
In my recent "Dust Jackets" entry for The Da Vinci Code, I mentioned how one literary agent suggested part of that book's success might be owed to how it makes the reader feel smart. Anyone reading The Medici Dagger will not suffer from this side effect or anything similar to it.
Posted by Bill, the Wildcat at 9:28 AM 0 comments Links to this post
Thursday, June 29, 2006
HIGHT NOTES: Clear & Present Danger
One of the chief complaints issued about James Horner's score for "Patriot Games" was that it was too brooding and dull. I don't think anyone could have issued that same complaint with "Clear & Present Danger." This score kicks off with a blast of brass instruments that about knocks you out of your chair if you make the mistake of turning your volume up too high.
Even though "Clear & Present Danger" saw James Horner return as composer, the scores didn't really deliver any returning themes. The CD packs in most of the best tracks into the first half. "Operation Reciprocity" opens up very strong, the first half being very boisterous and fun. After that, we get the longest track on the CD, "Ambush," which coincides with an attack on a motorcade. Where as the previous track comes out of the gates strong, "Ambush" gives us a slow buildup, which explodes about five-and-a-half minutes later into some heavy drums and dissonant flutes and strings.
With such strong music early on, the music tails off and never really regains the same level of excitement. That's not to say the score is without some good music. "Deleting the Evidence" offers a similar buildup to "Ambush," but on a smaller scale. "Greer's Funeral/Betrayal" while a strong piece doesn't really capture the same power it has within the film, because the film employs "Taps" within this same section. I've always wished that had been added into this track.
The CD provides ten tracks for fifty-three minutes of music, but I think it could have used a little more. The movie wasn't without some powerful pieces near the end, but they get left out.
"Clear & Present Danger" offers a greater variety of music than "Patriot Games," and while that makes for a more enjoyable listening experience, I don't always feel as if the music ties together well. "Laser-Guided Missile" feels the most out of place, bearing little resemble to the rest of the score. We're also treated to "Looking for Clues" which employs one of Horner's most overused themes. For my part, I hear this music and think I'm supposed to be watching "Aliens" in which this theme made quite a few appearances.
One thing that might have helped this score would be a different arrangement of the tracks. I typically prefer a chronological score, meaning the music is put in the same order as it was used in the film, and you'll find most scores are arranged in this manner. For the most part, "Clear & Present Danger" is chronological until near the end. The tracks "Escobedo's New Friend" and "Second Hand Copter" are out of order. This was a good choice, but neither really gives the score a good punch to end things. Even the closing credits leave something to be desired. If the score wasn't going to be chronological, then I think the music should have been completely rearranged.
Other Scores by James Horner:
Despite my knit picking, I enjoy the music to this film a great deal. I also think this score offered a better variety of Horner's music even providing some themes that haven't been overdone within his other films, a trait for which Horner has become quite notorious.
Posted by Bill, the Wildcat at 8:29 AM 0 comments Links to this post
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Flash Fiction (WW? #21)
While "flash fiction" isn't anything technically new, it's getting a little bit more notice in my personal pocket universe thanks to a couple of people in the so-called blogosphere. The most recent tip of the hat to flash fiction comes from Jess in her Writer's Weekly Question.
Writer's Weekly Question #21:
Have you ever written a piece of flash fiction? Do you think that flash fiction is an evolutionary step in American fiction, or is it just a "flash in the pan?" Is writing in this genre easier or more difficult? Why?
For anyone who's read Jess' post for this question, you already know I've written some "flash fiction." My first publishing credit comes from a piece called "Unstuffed" which appears in the most recent issue of"Spinetingler Magazine." Coming in at just under two-hundred-twenty-five words, my story about Ted E. Bear investigating the unfortunate demise of a stuffed doll named Andy was included in the magazine as an example of a genre called "Cozy Noir." By the by, the magazine is holding a contest for the best example of "Cozy Noir." The contest runs until September 5, 2006, so get writing!
Anyway, back to the question.
I've not dealt much with short fiction. Frankly, short stories scare the devil out of me. I'd rather tackle writing a book. That said, I doubt I'd have had the courage to write "Unstuffed" in this format if not for a post by the lovely H.E. Eigler of "Phantom Keyboard." She recently posted two entries devoted to flash fiction. The first entry included links to websites where you can find tons of examples of flash fiction. The second included a flash fiction story of her own entitled "The Cowboy."
Short short stories like "The Cowboy" and my "Unstuffed" aren't all that new, per se. I can recall quite a few magazines listed in the almighty Writer's Market that specifically wanted stories of this length when I last looked for places to submit my work. I remember being startled by this and wondering how anyone could write a decent story with such a minimal word count. Flash fiction does seem to be gaining a stronger interest thanks to the Internet, though. There's something unintimidating about it as a reader, and it's ideal for the impatient surfers of the world wide web.
Is writing flash fiction easier or harder than other genres? To do it well, I think it's a lot harder. A bit of advice I took from a writing class in college was, "In a novel, ever paragraph counts. In a short story, every sentence counts. In a poem, it's every word." Flash fiction falls somewhere between a short story and a poem in what it demands of a writer. Still, "Unstuffed" just fell out of me with little or no trouble—a rare thing for me.
What's the future of flash fiction? The one weakness is that no one's going to get rich off of writing this stuff. Magazines just aren't going to pay that much for a story incapable of filling an entire page. I don't think it's a "flash in the pan," because we've really had it a long time. We're just going through a period where it's getting more interest. I suspect we'll see it fall out of favor again and then make a comeback quite a few times, but perhaps the Internet will give it a stronger presence than it's traditionally had.
Posted by Bill, the Wildcat at 12:24 PM 4 comments Links to this post
Saturday, June 24, 2006
DUST JACKETS: The Da Vinci Code, Continued
In Thursday's "Dust Jacket" entry, I discussed the writing merits of The Da Vinci Code. This closing entry to my review focuses on what makes this book stand out above all those other religious conspiracy thrillers, in other words, what made it a blockbuster.
Perhaps one of the most important elements comes before even a single sentence of the story. In big bold letters just before the prologue, we're given a page entitled "FACT." On this page, we're given three important details about the story to follow. The first relates to the "Priory of Sion." Brown proclaims this organization, one more than nine-hundred-years-old, actually exists and that its ranks have included some of the most brilliant scientists and artisans in history. Unfortunately, as the many "Da Vinci Code" documentaries have well established (Hasn't every cable channel done one?), this is wrong. As Wikipedia so ably states, the Priory "has been shown to be a hoax created in 1956 by Pierre Plantard, a pretender to the French throne."
The second fact we're given is an organization that does actually exist, Opus Dei. This Catholic sect is portrayed as shadowy, wealthy and ruthless. It's the idea of this group planted on American soil in the heart of our most powerful city, New York, that makes it tough to ignore this fact as a reader.
Then there's the most important of the three facts. "All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate." Oh, now there is a cleverly crafted sentence. "Accurate" offers so much leeway. Many people have hammered Brown for this statement, trying to corner him for fudging details. His website offers up an equally well-crafted reply which basically says that these items all exist, but that doesn't mean Brown is calling every theory surrounding these items as fact. The point is that Brown is intentionally giving the reader just that impression, though.
If you look at all three of these elements, they're basically designed to make the reader buy into the story that follows. The Priory is said to exist and is given legitimacy by the list of impressive names attached to it... a humorous detail considering that's exactly the con that Plantard was playing when he picked out these names. The shadowy organization of the Opus Dei... real and attached to great power... basically fits the bill as your standard group of conspirators for any conspiracy novel. Then there's that bit about the documents all being real. You could look at all this and say Brown is trying to con the reader into believing all this, and he probably is. After all, the point of a good story is to make the reader believe in it. So should Brown be "held accountable" for this? Not really. He's just trying to suck in his readers as any writer would. I think that big honking "FACT" planted at the top of the page is a bit iffy, though.
This "factual" build-up has a lot to do with why The Da Vinci Code is so successful, I think. It's part of the sales pitch. Some of you will probably dispute me on this, but if these factual details did not matter, then why have there been so many documentaries on this? The "Fact" page within The Da Vinci Code is designed to make the reader ask one thing and one thing only, "Could this be true?"
Now, there are other factors that go into why The Da Vinci Code was such a success. Perhaps more important than even that "Fact" page is the almighty word-of-mouth. Random House deserves a lot of credit for successfully marketing this book before it was even on the bookshelves at your local bookstore. Reps from the publisher made the rounds, speaking to booksellers and telling them what an amazing book this was. They got the booksellers talking who in turn got the customers talking. In the end, it wouldn't have worked though if the book itself wasn't such a good page-turner.
Thursday, I defended Brown's writing, and I'll reiterate that today. If it was such a horribly written book, then I don't think it could have done as well as it did, even with the "Fact" page or Random House's marketing strategy. I'm not suggesting this is "Shakespeare" or that it will stand the test of time, but it's not the careless work of some hack either. Earlier this year in London, the writers of the non-fiction work Holy Blood, Holy Grail (a book Brown used in his research for The Da Vinci Code) sued Random House saying the ideas in their book were stolen. Brown had to write a sixty-nine page witness statement about how he does his research and what went into writing his blockbuster novel as well as his previous works. I read this statement, curious what Brown would have to say, and I was struck by the sincere passion he demonstrated for the art of the written word. Reading over that statement made me respect Brown as a writer.
Other Books by Dan Brown:
Brown's next book, The Solomon Key, will supposedly focus on the Masons, a frequent player in conspiracy thrillers. That book was originally scheduled for release this year. The idea was obviously to cash in on the joint success of the movie adaptation to The Da Vinci Code. That book's release has been delayed until next year. Could it possibly hope to match The Da Vinci Code's success? I don't think so. Everyone knows about the Catholic Church and recognizes its power. The Masons don't carry that same kind of clout, but that doesn't mean Brown's next book won't be a fun thriller and that's about as much as readers should probably expect.
Posted by Bill, the Wildcat at 8:29 AM 5 comments Links to this post
Thursday, June 22, 2006
DUST JACKETS: The Da Vinci Code
Just what the hell makes The Da Vinci Code such a successful book? Ever since Dan Brown's religious conspiracy thriller was released in 2003, people have been asking this question. More importantly, publishers, agents and writers have been asking themselves the same… every one of them eager to duplicate this book's success.
Perhaps one of the book's most irresistible qualities is how it resembles the granddaddy of all scavenger hunts. Each clue leads to the next, starting with the mysterious summons of religious symbology expert Robert Langdon to the scene of a murder at the Louvre in Paris.
Months before this book's release, my wife got her hands on an ARC (Advanced Readers Copy) of The Da Vinci Code. A representative from Random House had visited the Barnes & Noble where my wife was working at the time, and proclaimed this book was going to be huge. Even with the success that did follow, I have to wonder if she really had a clue just how true her proclamation would be or if she was simply spouting a prepared load of promotional smoke up the arse of these booksellers. Nonetheless, my wife brought the ARC home, started reading and was instantly hooked. I recall working on the computer with my wife on the sofa next to me. Every few minutes, she would say something to the effect of, "Oh my God! You have got to read this book!" She would promptly follow this statement with the most irritating qualifier, "But you can't yet, because I have to let someone else at the bookstore borrow it next." That I didn't smack my wife for this repeated offense of literary teasing still amazes me.
Months later, the book hit the bookstores for real, and I got my chance to read The Da Vinci Code. Despite being a slow reader, the story hooked me and damned hard, too. The writing style reminds me of James Patterson's mysteries. We're hit with mostly short chapters, ending in one twist after another, forcing the reader into the same conclusion with each scene's cliffhanger, "I'll just read one more chapter to see what happens next." The result is a book quickly read. The pace doesn't allow for much analysis of the writing, at least not on the first read.
At a writer's conference, shortly after the release of this book, The Da Vinci Code found its way into discussion more than once. Many demanded of the speakers how a book that wasn't all that well-written had successfully taken over the publishing world. Perhaps the answer that rang most true for me was by agent Miriam Goderich with the literary agency Dystel & Goderich. She said several of the staff members read the book and then sat down to discuss what they felt made this book work. All involved agreed that it wasn't a well-written book. They also agreed that reading the book made the reader feel "smarter." Certainly, the book cleverly inserts a vast amount of historical "secrets" that open up some great talking points for serious discussion.
I will come to Brown's defense on the criticism of his writing. I don't think the book is as poorly written as many tend to proclaim it. His writing is formulaic, though. That's indicative of his chosen genre. Thrillers are meant to keep you turning the page from one cliffhanger to the next with descriptions typically drawn on more modern references as opposed to descriptions with a more timeless quality. Why? Because such references are quicker and easier for a reader to grasp. Brown can hardly be faulted for doing what so many others have proven works. He just makes an easy target because of his success.
The Da Vinci Code isn't the first book to come along with some conspiracy theory related to religion. Thousands of other such books have come and gone with far less fanfare, so what is it about The Da Vinci Code that makes it stand out above the rest? I'll discuss that in Saturday's entry. Yes, this will be a first for my blog, a two-part "Dust Jacket."
Posted by Bill, the Wildcat at 3:35 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
HIGH NOTES: Patriot Games
The second film in the "Jack Ryan" series saw a lot of changes. About the only cast member to return from "The Hunt for Red October" was James Earl Jones. Even the original Jack Ryan actor Alec Baldwin was replaced with the more seasoned Harrison Ford. The changes for this film included a new composer for the score. James Horner was signed on for the music, and while this certainly isn't one of his more popular scores, I've always rather enjoyed this one.
The film involves a radical faction of the IRA (Irish Republican Army) targeting Great Britain's royal family, so it's not surprising that Horner decided to use a bit of local inspiration for the score. I think you can point to reasons this was a good and bad thing. On the plus side, it gave this score a very tense and moody sound. The bad? Well, there's nothing to really tie it to the music from "The Hunt for Red October." In fact, when Horner scored the third film in the series "Clear & Present Danger," there's very little to tie it to either of the previous Jack Ryan films. From a listening standpoint, the scores play as if from totally unrelated films.
As an individual score, there's plenty to like about "Patriot Games." The "Main Title" opens up with some haunting vocals provided by Maggie Boyle. A lot of the best music within this score contains her voice. The best piece with her in it is "Highland's Execution."
Another great vocal piece within this score wasn't a composition by Hornerbut rather a piece by the Irish group Clannad. At the time of the film's release, the song "Harry's Game" was rather recognizable, because it was used in a popular Volkswagen commercial. I'm not sure how many would recognize it all these years later, though.
The score contains two long tracks, neither of which contains any of Boyle's vocals. The first of these two long pieces is "The Hit," which accompanies the terrorist attempt on Jack Ryan's family in the U.S. I really like this piece, because it's a nice slow build of intensity that manages to fit well with the rest of this mostly moody score. The other lengthy piece is "Assault on Ryan's House" which I think does a less successful job in building the tension. It's basically eleven minutes of suspensful music and little else. The tension level never really changes and makes for a dull experience after a while.
A lot of the serious movie score critics gave Horner a harsh thrashing for his work on this film. I will confess that while I enjoy this score, I can understand a lot of the criticism. The lack of a theme for Jack Ryan and his family and the recycling of themes from Horner's previous films does hurt the final product.
Other Scores by James Horner:
One thing that I think proves "Patriot Games" was a better score than the criticism, though, was Horner's score to another IRA-related Harrison Ford film entitled "The Devil's Own" which came out a few years later. There are some notable similarities, but it's clear that "Patriot Games" was by far the superior score of the two.
Posted by Bill, the Wildcat at 6:49 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Secret Identities (WW? #20)
This week's Writer's Weekly Question gives me a chance to revisit my childhood.
Writer's Weekly Question # 20:
Have you ever created a character based on someone you know? Was it because you liked the person, or disliked the person? How was the character different or like the person you based him or her on?
My answer to this one is a definite "Yes." In fact, some of the earliest characters I ever created were based on people I knew in middle school. I've made mention in a previous WW? that I used to create superhero characters and that I originally wanted to be a comic book writer. One of the oldest groups I created were called "The Demon Riders." I had this thing plotted out for more than a hundred issues, not that I ever wrote one, but I also created drawings and profiles of the characters.
In the early days, I used the actual names of the people. Upping the challenge, I'd even go so far as to mimic the hairstyle of these people based on yearbook pictures. What's humorous is to realize that I never borrowed someone to create a villain. When I did use someone's name and persona, I meant it as a compliment, that I thought they had something within them that could be heroic. Most of them never knew I did this. A few did, most of whom were among my closest friends. Far as I know, only one person ever found out after the fact, and blessedly, she didn't think I was some kind of stalker freak (I'd previously asked her out, got the "just friends" turndown, awkward teen angst followed... Years later, we ended up getting married to different people a week apart... Weiiiiiiiird).
These drawings come from my last crop of superhero drawings back in high school. The names have been blurred out, because there's no way for me to know how these people would respond should they recognize themselves, no matter how unlikely it is they'll see this blog entry. That said, I can name at least one of them. My best friend growing up, and the best man when I got married is Stephen Long. He lived on the street behind me back in middle school. Stephen's inspired quite a few characters. We made up all sorts of superhero adventures as kids, and I can credit him with making me into a huge "X-Men" comic book fan.
Stephen has inspired more than one character of mine. The first was a character, codenamed "Hawk" at his request. Years later, I drew on a lot of my old characters from my "Demon Rider" days to create some of the characters within the book my wife and I are writing, The Last VanDaryn. This was the first time where the character really took on a life of its own. For a long time, the name of that character was Stephen Hawkke. Only recently did that change. The last name of Hawkke survived, but the first name was changed to something that sounds more in keeping with the fictional society of Iridia.
Ironically, I'm still using a lot of these characters, and as happened with Hawkke, they've grown into characters quite independent of their original inspiration. In most cases, the last names have been changed. They're no longer superheroes, either, but rather agents within the CIA. They're all characters within what I hope will be one of the biggest epics I ever write. That has a working title of The Dark Hours and is something of a reverse on your typical alien conspiracy theory. Only a handful of the original characters have carried over, though, and I doubt any others will. Stephen's character is the only one who sports the name of his original inspiration, Stephen Long. For a long time, the character had even retained his nickname of "Hawk," but with a "Hawkke" in The Last VanDaryn, I decided it was one Hawk too many. Agent Long would simply have to make a name for himself with his real name. Even more humorous, Stephen might find life as a third character within yet another book, but plans for that one are rather sketchy.
The Dark Hours unfortunately lingers in limbo. When will I get back to that story? Most likely, I'll return to it after I've finished with The Last VanDaryn and The Cold Shoulder. The good news for me is that I've already written more than 50,000 words for The Dark Hours, and odds favor that a new draft will let me copy and paste much of my work from that previous draft. A few important changes are needed, but even my wife has said some of my best work was in there.
On a humorous note, my kids came into the room as I was digging out these old drawings and all the rest that were packed up with them. My six-year-old daughter, who is quite the budding artist, was mightily impressed. "Did you draw these when you were a little boy, Daddy?" I told her I did, and she was excited when she recognized "Hawk" in more than one drawing.
Posted by Bill, the Wildcat at 6:11 AM 3 comments Links to this post
Saturday, June 17, 2006
DUST JACKETS: End of Days
One of my favorite local writers is Dennis Danvers. I'm not a big fan of science fiction, but I love the stuff that Dennis writes. As is the case with a lot of science fiction, Dennis often draws on some universal religious themes for his writing. Religion plays an important part in what makes his book End of Days work.
First off, let me make it clear that his book is in no way related to the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie of the same name. In fact, the only thing these two stories have in common is the title.
End of Days is set in an alternate future where the majority of humanity has abandoned life in the real world for an existence without death inside "the Bin," a massive virtual reality program. People's souls are transferred into the Bin and their bodies destroyed. Some resist the idea of life within the Bin, some more violently than others.
End of Days was Dennis' second novel set within this world. I had previously read and enjoyed the first book Circuit of Heaven, and I was startled to discover very few of the characters from that book return for this sequel. They didn't need to, and it's best they didn't. The most important character did return: the world itself.
For this second book, we're given a man within the Bin who's had enough of "eternal life" and wants to find a way to die. Then there's Walter Tillman, one of the Bin's creators, trapped alone within a prototype of the Bin.
In the real world, what's left of it, Washington, D.C.'s ruins have fallen under the control of a religious zealot and terrorist named Gabriel. One of his young soldiers Sam has become disillusioned and finds himself at odds with the religious army he's part of after stumbling upon the mini-Bin containing Tillman. Sam teams up with a female construct (a clone/servant race Tillman helped design) named Laura to rescue Tillman, but there's much more at stake.
Gabriel has learned the Bin, which he thought he'd destroyed, still exists. He's intent on finishing the job. Having found his own method for eternal life outside the Bin, Gabriel has time on his side, as well as an army. Even as his plans draw to a close, those within the Bin are facing the ultimate challenge to "life without end": is there purpose to a life without death?
This was a special book for me, because it was given as a gift from Dennis himself at one of the James River Writers Conferences. I had mentioned to him that I'd enjoyed Circuit of Heaven and that I hoped I'd be able to find End of Days in hardback. That was on the first day of the conference. The next day, he handed me an autographed copy of End of Days in hardback. That also made me a little nervous about reading it. Knowing the writer of a book always creates this fear as a reader that if you don't like the book, how will you ever look that writer in the face again? I've felt that fear almost every time I've read Dennis' books, and I don't know why, because his books never disappoint.
One of the most interesting things about this book is how it ends. One could argue that Dennis cheated himself out of a trilogy, because the last few chapters cover a period of several years. Yet, I'm not sure this book would have been as satisfying without those chapters, nor am I so certain the subplots within those chapters could be expanded into an entire book. I can definitely say that things do not work out the way you'd expect. The story contains a lot of great twists with some of the best within this section.
What makes Dennis' writing so great is how he can take the fantastic and make it seem so ordinary… and in doing so, make it even more fascinating. He doesn't try to predict the future within his books. Rather, he gives us a different view of the world in which we already live. That's what the best science fiction strives to accomplish, and his books deserve a place among them.
Other Books by Dennis Danvers:
Oh, and a small note on the "Other Books" section above. You'll notice the book entitled The Bright Spot is written by a "Robert Sydney." For the long, long, long time readers of the Lair, you might recall this is a pen name of Dennis' for his most recent book. I might add that The Bright Spot is possibly my favorite book by Dennis.
Posted by Bill, the Wildcat at 9:38 AM 2 comments Links to this post
Thursday, June 15, 2006
How to Write with a Spouse (and Not Kill Each Other)
For many years, my wife Sheri and I both wanted to write. Most of our writing ambition involved characters that would never meet, but after a few years of marriage (and six years of dating before that), something unexpected happened. We had created characters from the same "world," and we both had stories we wanted to tell about them.
This created a real problem for us. I had finished the first draft of a story entitled The Knight of Death, a story that involved many of these shared characters and our shared reality. This led us to an interesting question: What would happen if my book got published? Would Sheri automatically be screwed and unable to use these characters and settings within books of her own for whatever copyright or other legal reasons there might be?
We posed this question to one of the literary agents speaking at the first James River Writers Conference. The lady in question was Jody Rein who runs a rather successful literary agency out of Colorado. When we asked her our aforementioned question, her reply was a rather honest, "I don't know." Jody did offer this bit of advice, though: since we both created it, why not just put both of our names on it? She also pointed out what a great marketing angle it would be to sell ourselves as a husband and wife team.
My wife and I took Jody's advice to heart. After the conference, we decided to do the editing for The Knight of Death together. That way, the book would truly be a joint effort. Now prior to this point, Sheri had read the rough draft I'd done, and she hadn't found any major problems with it. Well, once we started editing, she started finding a whole host of things that she thought didn't make sense, a fact that left me irritably wondering where such insights were weeks before when it was just my book. Twenty pages into our "editing," after yet another of my wife's "brilliant ideas," I rather angrily pointed out through grit teeth, "We aren't editing anymore. We're rewriting." This was not a pretty moment in our marriage, one full of yelling, tears and even a moment where my wife went for a car ride just to get out of the house and pull herself together in private. No, I most certainly did not win the award for "Husband of the Year" in 2003.
Both of us licking our wounds, we continued our effort to rewrite The Knight of Death. I think the scene that confirmed for us how to write together involved a conversation between Knight Mikhael Bek and his sister, by way of adoption, Isabeau VanDaryn. Within this scene, Isabeau calls on Mikhael during the day as he's asleep to confront him about his conduct which included an assault upon one of his fellow knights. Now, we had already discussed working on this scene together, the thought being I would write Mikhael's side of the conversation and Sheri would handle Isabeau's. Nonetheless, I was impatient and took a stab at it. All proud with my finished product, I let Sheri read it. Here is a summation of her reaction, "Isabeau wouldn't say that…wouldn't do that…none of it's right." I don't think the "Hello" I had coming out of Isabeau's mouth even survived. My lesson was learned. I couldn't write the voice for this character my wife had created. That was the key to figuring things out, though.
The Knight of Death, in its finished form from that first joint effort, will never see the light of day. The experience was not a wasted one, however. We used that book to find our way to work together. When we approach a book, we essentially divide up the characters. Some of them are like Mikhael, who is basically a character only I can properly write... not merely in terms of his dialogue but his point-of-view. Likewise, Sheri has certain characters only she can write, like Isabeau. So when we write a scene in our book, the person doing the majority of the writing depends on which character's point-of-view is best for the scene. Sometimes, it's obvious. If none of Sheri's characters are in the scene, then I write it. We've never made up a formal list. We just know who owns which character. There are a few shared characters, mind you. Although, we've had a few "shared characters" turn into "assigned characters" after it's become clear one of us just can't get the character right.
Once I've written a scene, I try to let Sheri get ahold of it as soon as possible. The main reason is to avoid "attachment issues." What are attachment issues? The longer something I've written sits around, the more "attached" I become to that piece in its current form. The longer I have to get attached to it, the more resistant I get to any suggestions by my wife to change it. This works the other way, too. I get ahold of her work as soon as possible to touch it up where I think it's needed.
Would that writing together was this simple, but there's a lot of other work that goes into writing these books... work that takes place long before the first page is even written. We don't always see these characters or settings the same. One of the principle locations in our book is VanDaryn Castle. Would you believe that my wife and I wasted the longest time debating the color of the brick? Nothing else, mind you, just the color of the brick. I saw it grey; she saw it off-white. I finally caved on this point, even though in my mind, I still see that castle in grey. One thing we agreed on was to make the castle round. Then we researched castles and realized what a logistical headache such a design would be. We kept it round, but the design of that castle nearly tested the limits of our patience.
The point is that for almost every setting, every character and every country... there's a blue print, a profile or a map. Organizations such as the knighthood and priesthood need a detailed hierarchy. We had to build a history for this country that was once an empire, figure out how it became an empire and how that empire crumbled. We had to design our villain, figure out where he came from. When you write as a team, you can still let the story take you where it leads, but you can't let the world be a whim. Before we ever wrote the first page, we had to profile each character, creating an origin and a basic description that included height, weight, eye color, hair color/length, scars, etc.
Even once we started writing, we found new things that need a little research or a file or a design. In one draft of a book, my wife decided to have a character given a fresh set of Iridian armor. The armor isn't your typical medieval outfit. I'd never intended it that way. I had a drawing (which you see here) that offered the basic design. There's a small problem with this armor. There's no way it would ever work. More than halfway through our first draft of The Last VanDaryn, we had to completely redesign the armor for our knights. We checked armor books, searched websites that sold recreations of all sorts of armor throughout the ages. As we work our way through our second draft of TLV, we won't need that scene, but all that research has made it easier to reference the knights' uniforms and define their actions and movements for the simple act of sitting down to relax.
Then there's the most daunting thing of all: veto power. A scene isn't done until we both agree it's done. I had a chapter where Sheri decided it just didn't work. The castle (one other than VanDaryn Castle) needed more description. There were details about the castle in the first draft that I'd left out. The conversation didn't work. I went through this scene about five times. I changed a character, replacing him with an entirely new one. I even wrote up a profile for the jerk, and in the end, Sheri felt he didn't work at all and had me change him back to the original character. She had me freaking furious, and I let her know it, too. The most frustrating thing of all was that she was right and she couldn't do anything to help. Every character in the scene belonged to me. She simply couldn't write this scene.
Ironically, we recently worked on a chapter where the shoe was on the other foot... an interrogation scene. After three vetoes, I had her ready to run me through with a sword. She finally demanded I try writing it, and I did. To do it, I still relied on the dialogue she'd already given her designated character. I just reordered it and completely reworked the wording of the interrogator (my skills as a 911 operator served me well, too). Even then, I could only take the scene so far. The scene was from her character's point-of-view, and only Sheri could finish it. Our writers group recently critiqued this scene, and I can't tell you how relieved we were when it fared well.
You might think after reading all this, "What the hell is the benefit of writing as a team with all that extra work?" The greatest benefit is that I can never lower my guard as a writer. My first editor is right there waiting to grab me by the scruff of my "wildcat" neck and throw me back to the keyboard to start over if I screw up. Working with Sheri pushes me to do better every time I write. I can't tell you how excited I get when I write something I not only know in my heart is good but manages to surprise Sheri with something she wasn't expecting. There's also the benefit of brainstorming. Every time we finish a scene, the next question is always the same: So what's next? Sometimes the answer is an easy one, but other times, it's not so simple. We bat ideas back and forth, and in the end, we sometimes come up with a real gem. We did that just this week. We had hit a point in the book where I just didn't know what to do next that wouldn't make the plot lag, and the solution we found left me dancing around the office like an idiot. There are other benefits. Small a thing as it is, my description of clothing sucks. Sheri's much better at it. When I hit such a point in a scene, I'll often leave a comment in parenthesis such as "(cool dress to be described by my oh-so-lovely-wife)." My worst fear is to accidentally leave that in a rough draft we send to an agent or publisher.
There's one benefit I haven't mentioned that doesn't affect the book. This reality we've created is a child of our marriage. Over the years, I've seen people who've been married less time than we have who have nothing to talk about with each other. Yes, we have our children and our jobs, but our writing gives us a unique reason to talk almost constantly. Our creative spirit keeps us close and with something new always to be found. It's not just a devotion to our story, but a commitment to each other.
I know some of the Lair's readers have long wondered about how my wife and I write together. I hope this answers most of their questions. You might be interested to know just how curious I am to learn how other writing teams manage this. Do they do it as we do, or have they found some other system? What would they think of our method? I've not yet had the pleasure of meeting another writing team to find out, but I can't tell you how much I hope to one day.
Posted by Bill, the Wildcat at 4:58 AM 8 comments Links to this post
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On Ensemble Techniques for AIXI Approximation (Veness et. al.)
Added by Deon Garrett about 7 years ago
One of the key challenges in AIXI approximation is model class approximation - i.e. how to meaningfully approximate Solomono Induction without requiring an infeasible amount of computation? This paper advocates a bottom-up approach to this problem, by describing a number of principled ensemble techniques for approximate AIXI agents. Each technique works by efficiently combining a set of existing environment models into a single, more powerful model. These techniques have the potential to play an important role in future AIXI approximations.
paper_23.pdf (391.9 kB)
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RE: On Ensemble Techniques for AIXI Approximation (Veness et. al.) - Added by Sebastian Mark about 1 year ago
Key challenges always tough for you because you did not aware of it. The https://www.australian-writings.org/ share motivational and educational videos which you can watch and do your hard work.


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I am plotting what to do for Halloween. I figure a big fat guy in a mask running at a kid with a weed wacker or something will scare the crap out of the little rugrats. We'll see. The front yard is a graveyard again (literally). It isn't so bad except for when Google Maps did their "Street View," we have a graveyard in our front yard.
Check it out!
So anyway, some confusion.
Also, on a side note, some folks have asked THE WIFE why there is no link to her blog anymore. She has decided not to blog anymore because she doesn't care for everyone in the universe peeking in on her thoughts. Unfortunately I don't generate much traffic outside friends and family but I do get the occasional WACKO who does a drive by. So if you wish to know what is up with THE WIFE, you will have to contact her directly.


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Excerpts from articles about the great Easy Jet
EASY JET, si 100, by Jet Deck, out of Lena's Bar (by Three Bars TB), is one of the most influential speed sires of Quarter Horses. Perhaps no other racing American Quarter Horse has had a greater or more controversial racing career than Easy Jet.
During his 2-year-old campaign, he was loaded into the gates 26 times, a feat that some think would have crippled most juveniles. Despite the criticism, he won 22 races that year, including the All American, Kansas, Sunland Fall, Columbus Triple Crown and the All-American Quarter Horse Congress Futurities. He was named World Champion Quarter Running Horse, Champion Stallion and Champion 2-Year-Old Colt. He hit the track again as a 3-year-old and was just as successful, attaining the titles of World Champion Racing American Quarter Horse and Champion Quarter Running 3-Year-Old Colt. He retired with 38 career starts that included 27 firsts, seven seconds and two thirds.
As a sire, Easy Jet was equally impressive. By the end of 1993, his direct offspring had earned more than $25 million on the track. Additionally, he had sired more than 1,500 horses who had gained their Registers of Merit.
Easy Jet: The Next Generation — The Quarter Racing Record, January 15, 1987
IT'S GETTING TO THE POINT where Easy Jet's coveted position as the all-time leading sire of money earners is just one of the stallion's smaller distinctions.
Sure, it takes an extraordinary horse to remain on top of the heap for so long, but what's beginning to look even more remarkable is the fact that Easy Jet's sons and daughters are carrying on the tradition without missing a beat.
Based on a painstaking analysis of official AQHA records obtained on December 24, 1986, Easy Jet appears in the first or second generation of Quarter Horses that have run out more than $72.7 million. The old guy himself joins forces with his sons and daughters to take credit for 6,180 Register of Merit runners, 455 stakes winners and 520 stakes-placed horses.
These are records not easily broken. Yet Easy Jet and his offspring will continue to add to those totals for years to come. □
How They Ran—Easy Jet: Without Limitations —
The Quarter Racing Record, January, 1988
January 5, 1969: A chestnut colt shot out of the ten hole at Blue Ribbon Downs in Sallisaw, spent :17.64 seconds on 330 yards to qualify for the Blue Ribbon Futurity. A week later he collected his first stakes win in the finals at a reduced cost of :16.92.
Volatile chapters of the legend were written in 1969 during one of the hardest hauls ever imposed on a two-year-old colt. The intensity of it caused more than a few in the running horse set to wonder whether Easy Jet's breeder, owner and trainer, Walter Merrick, was out to prove the colt or kill him. Walt's opinion of those opinions is typically Merrick: "They didn't know him or his kinfolks like I did."
Among the "kinfolks" are four individuals now sojourning in Valhalla that, over a period of three decades, had turned Walter Merrick into a legend himself before Easy Jet was foaled in 1967.
Midnight Jr, the sire of Belle Of Midnight, second dam of Easy Jet's sire, Jet Deck, won sixteen consecutive races for Walt in days when stall and motel accommodations were on the low side of nothing. They camped by straightaways more than once. "Junior" was one of the first horses Walt registered in AQHA, and with the kind assistance of some Joe Hancock mares, "the little horse" laid the foundation of the Merrick stud.
Jet Deck's dam, Miss Night Bar, was by Barred by Three Bars, the Thoroughbred that. in defiance of an anti-Thoroughbred association, Walt leased and stood to Quarter mares in the early 1950s.
Walt bred, raised, trained and winningly raced Easy Jet's Thoroughbred dam, Lena's Bar by Three Bars. Her habit was to trounce Quarter Horses at their own distances. Lena's Bar was out of the sprinting mare Lena Valenti, which Walt had purchased off the track and continued racing successfully until adding her to his broodmare band.
After cleaning up at Blue Ribbon Downs, Easy Jet, Walt and jockey Elbert Minchey went to Columbus in mid-March. They won their Columbus Triple-Crown Futurity trial heat and picked up a second stakes win in the finals.
Moving on to La Bahia Downs in Goliad, the trio won in the Texas Futurity trials on March 30, but suffered their first defeat in the finals April 6 when Easy Jet ran second to the Top Moon gelding Mighty Moon.
May 11: Easy Jet led by five lengths in the Lubbock Downs Futurity trials and picked up another stakes in in the finals a week later.
During a short stay at Ruidoso Downs in early June, Minchey and Easy Jet presented the coveted Kansas Futurity win to Walt. Easy Jet's only challenger in the finals was the Three Chicks daughter, Miss Three Wars.
June 27: Easy Jet won in Oklahoma Futurity trials at La Mesa Park in Raton but was relegated to second in the July 6 finals. The victor by three-quarters length was a Jet Deck daughter that was appropriately named. They called her Hell's To Betsy.
Along about that time Elbert Minchey, who still rides for Walt today [article written in 1988], got tired and went home.
July 25: Easy Jet left the gates without Minchey for the first time and went the distance of 400 yards for the first time to qualify for the Raton Futurity in :19.83. Ray Spencer was in the irons.
August 1: A week after Easy Jet secured a berth in the Raton Futurity, Willie Lovell rode him to a win in the Rainbow Futurity trials at Ruidoso Downs. Two days later, August 3, Easy Jet returned to La Mesa Park, and with Spencer aboard, was second in the Raton Futurity, a scan nose behind Jet Deep.
A week later, Easy Jet and Willie Lovell were reunited in Ruidoso for the running of the Rainbow Futurity, which turned into Heartbreak lane for Easy Jet. He was fifth under the wire, running out of the money for the first time. Ahead of him, in order of their finish were the filly that chased him in the Kansas, Miss Three Wars and Go Together who was destined to become Easy Jet's nemesis in 1970.
Walt's comment on the Rainbow was, again, typically Merrick: "I may have been hauling him a little bit too hard."
Revenge was Easy Jet's on Labor Day with an All American Futurity neck win over Miss Three Wars.
Securing a win in the All American is often a cut-off point for two-year-olds that have been raced hard in preceding months. But by Labor Day of 1969, the pattern Walt had set was clear to all.
There would be no stopping.
September 28 through November 30: Easy Jet and Lovell left starting gates eight times without a loss. Four outs were in stakes races: The Laddie and Rocky Mountain Futurity in Colorado; the All American Congress Futurity in Ohio; and the Sunland Park Fall Futurity. Walt believes the Sunland trials and finals were Easy Jet's finest efforts.
"He just flew."
In the trials Easy Jet won by a length and a half over Go Together, going 400 yards in :19.76 on a fast track. In the finals, on a sloppy track, his time was :20.26, which put two lengths between him and Our Mott.
In 1969 Easy Jet became the fourth two-year-old in AQHA history to be named World Champion. Only Go Man Go, Laico Bird and Kaweah Bar preceded him. He bankrolled $409,155, a record for a single year. From 26 starts, racing at distances of 300, 350 and 400 yards, Easy Jet scored nine major stakes wins, 13 additional wins, and three stakes placed seconds.
After standing to a full book of mares in 1970, Easy Jet returned to the straightaway wars, and Walt's first objective was to give him another chance to capture the Rainbow.
In the Rainbow Derby trials, three noses were only inches apart at the wire. The winner was the filly, Royal Doulton. Second by a nose was Velox Bar. Easy Jet ran third.
July 6: Easy Jet was at even odds when Lovell rode him into the three hole for the Rainbow Derby finals where Lady Luck, in a lethal mood, waited. Easy Jet's hind foot landed behind the bracing bar. The track vet looked at that, thought about that, then gave the foot a nudge.
Startled, Easy Jet broke too soon, hit his head on the cute and damaged several teeth. Lovell would have taken him to the barn then and there, but the gates clanged open, Easy Jet - still dazed and with a bleeding mouth - was off to chase the rainbow.
Easy Jet crossed last under the wire that day. With the exception of one horse he had not before, he had headed every individual preceding him to the wire, most of them more than once. The winner by a neck was Go Together.
Walt's pony horse ride from gate to wire after the Rainbow felt like the longest he had ever made, and he rode with his head down.
"What I hated is that the people in the stands didn't know what happened in the gate. A lot of them thought Easy Jet was through as a race horse. I knew he wasn't."
From 12 starts June 27 through November 15, 1970, Easy Jet gathered five wins, four seconds and two thirds. He took stakes wins in the Raton Derby, the Rocky Mountain Derby and the Wonderland Stakes, was second in the Sunland Fall Derby and third in the World's Championship Classic.
Harriet Peckham's filly, Go Together, haunted Easy Jet throughout 1970. After her Rainbow Derby win, she headed him in the 440-yard Championship Classic trials at Ruidoso, then blistered dirt to the wire in the finals in 0:19.70. Cinder Leo, only a nose ahead of Easy Jet, was breathing hard on her neck.
Go Together ran third to Easy Jet in the Raton Derby, a neck behind Reller.
Easy Jet and Go Together met again November 6 and turned their quarter-mile Sunland Fall Derby trial into an outfront duel a length and a half ahead of the nearest challenger, Red Chigger Man. Go Together, a nose ahead of Easy Jet, scooted under the wire in :21.69.
Easy Jet said goodbye to straightaways in the Sunland Derby on November 15, and it was a riproaring farewell in which the colt was trailed by three familiar fillies: Go Together, Royal Doulton, and Miss Three Wars. But another individual was out to win that day. Go Moon took the derby in :21.64, a neck ahead of Easy Jet.
The Champion Stallion and Champion Three-Year-Old Colt titles went to Easy Jet in 1970. His wages, $35,566, upped his bank account to $445,721, making him the leading Quarter Horse money earner of all time.
The legend of Easy Jet has not been written without bruises. In the early 1980s, his $30 million syndication fell apart. A stack of legal paper growing taller usually requires keeping a horse where he is until the mess is settled, but Walt was not happy with the situation.
"He didn't deserve having his reputation hurt that way. We went to Buena Suerte and got him. We didn't have any trouble. If we had, he'd have come home anyway."
The only circumstance that could ever separate Easy Jet from the Merrick family occurred last September [1987]. Shen in times of financial trouble you know on every door and get no answer, you sell the best you have, or fold.
Today the ongoing legend of Easy Jet continues under the ownership of Roi Young and the management of Jerry Young at Gateway Farms, in Hemet, California. The legend of Easy Jet will never end, but -- eventually -- his tour of stud duty will. When the time comes, Roi Young would willingly retire him to the proverbial clover with generous orders of bran mash on the side. But sale terms and conditions locked in arrangements for the horse's sunset year.
When Easy Jet retires, he will go home. □
From Quarter Horse TRACK, May, 1992,
by Mark Herron:
The Quarter Horse racing industry lost one of its brightest stars when Easy Jet was humanely put down on May 8, at the Lazy E Ranch in Guthrie, Oklahoma.
The 25-year-old World Champion, who won 22 races as a two-year-old and went on to sire the earners of $25 million, had suffered from chronic laminitis (founder), which originated years ago. He was taken to Sayre, Oklahoma, and buried in a tree-lined paddock on Walter Merrick's 14 Ranch, where the horse had spent much of his storied life.
....At the time of his death, Easy Jet was owned by Mark Allen, Inc. Marty Powers [manager of Lazy E] said Allen and two veterinarians made the mutual decision to relieve the stallion from the pain the laminitis caused.
"We did the best that we could do for him. he just reached the point of no return," Powers said. "But his heart was so big and strong. he had the personality of the great horse that he was. His heart rate showed that he was in excessive pain, but he never showed it outwardly. To me he was the greatest. I'm just deeply grateful to Mark Allen for allowing the horse to come here." □


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Here you will find a list of revision sites that you wull find useful to help you prepare for SATs.
An informative and fun day at the mill where children learned more about the blitz and Thwaite Mills involvement in the war, and where the children got to handle artefacts and to experience preparation for an air raid.
Class 6 had a very interesting day at Skelton Grange where we took part in a variety of hands on activities involving the classification of plants and animals.
Have a look at these: a lovely trip to Marrick in North Yorkshire with lots of activities and a grueller of a walk across the moors.


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The Aotea Square Ice Rink is open ahead of schedule.
The rink has been especially imported and will be run by Auckland family business Paradice Ice Skating, who also run ice rinks in Botany and Avondale. General Manager Chris Blong says that the response to the Ice Rink announcement has been huge.
"We've been thrilled with the response to the announcement that we're putting a rink in Aotea Square," he said. "We've been getting a lot of calls, as well as seeing a lot of interest on social media channels like Facebook and Twitter."
"We've worked really hard to get the rink built and the ice ready for opening and we're delighted that we can open early to give Aucklanders an extra few days to get on the ice."
Auckland Mayor Len Brown says it's really great to see local businesses like Paradice Ice Skating creating exciting opportunities for Aucklanders and visitors to enjoy.
"The ice rink is a great way to make Aotea Square a vibrant space this winter and I hope to look out my office window and see many people enjoying it over the next six weeks."
The ice rink is the focal point of THE EDGE's Winter Showtime programme of family-friendly events, providing a great range of entertainment opportunities for families.


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Why Keith still has the edge on other writers
PUBLISHED: 09:16 07 December 2012
Archant 2012
This is your chance to win a copy of the new book by the one and only Keith Skipper. A collection of some of his finest articles over the years.
The people of Norfolk are the stars of a festive offering by our very own dumpling, the squire of squit himself - Keith Skipper.
If you love our county, our way of life and our unique sense of fun - then you will love this collection of highly entertaining, and at times quite passionate, tales which have appeared in the Eastern Daily Press over the years.
It's called Chronicles from The Edge and Keith has been on edge about our beloved Norfolk ever since it became obvious dark forces were at work - to make it look, sound and feel like everywhere else.
His deep concerns are equalled by warm salutes to Norfolk's most durable qualities - including a sense of humour as dry as a bone.
The former Evening News scribbler, turned broadcaster, author and now a local celebrity has always had a sharp pen as this selection of stories proves.
"Over three decades of full-time endeavour with local newspapers and radio left me tantalisingly short of that enclosure reserved for the media's top movers and shakers.
"Failure to grasp the basics of shorthand plus a lifelong fear of anything with knobs, switches and wires may have counted against me, along with a lack of a driving licence, occasional lapses in deferential behaviour and a blunt refusal to pretend to be earnest about things that don't really matter," he says.
While he has camped on the fringes of show business over the years Skip is still a class act with his pen and, thank goodness, still has a deep unease about some of the things happening in Norfolk.
The articles from his EDP despatch box since the mid-1980s include a fair amount of evidence to reinforce a reputation of someone who welcomes progress - as long as it doesn't change anything.
But they also celebrate some of Norfolk's gloriously durable qualities displayed by colourful and life-enhancing characters Keith has met over the years.
There are Duncan Forbes, Ken Brown, and John Bond of Canary fame plus locals like
the Rev Colin Riches, marshman Eric Edwards, Ian Emmerson and so many more.
Characters from all walks of life who make Norfolk what it is - special.
<t>Chronicles from The Edge by Keith Skipper is published by Mousehold Press at £9.99 and is in the shops now. Click on www.mousehold-press.co.uk
<t> I have five copies of the book to give away.
Answer this question.
Keith pays tribute in his book to a much-loved Norfolk comedian who is appearing in the Christmas Seaside Special at Cromer this year.
What's his name:
<1> Norman Knight.
<2> Christopher Crab
<3> Olly Day.
<t> Send your answers to me, Derek James, Prospect House, Rouen Road, Norwich, NR1 1RE, or email them to email@example.com
They must arrive by Thursday December 13 and the first five names out of the hat which the correct answer get a book. Usual Archant rules apply.


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Monday, September 30, 2019
Sunday, September 29, 2019
Saturday, September 28, 2019
Friday, September 27, 2019
Thursday, September 26, 2019
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Sivuston laatija pidättää oikeuden olla ottamatta vastuuta annettujen tietojen ajankohtaisuudesta, oikeudesta, täydellisyydestä tai laadusta.
The views expressed here are solely the author's. The material and information provided on this blog are for general information only. All content on this blog is just our opinion. No warranties or other guarantees will be offered as to the quality of the information or anything else offered here.
The site author is not liable for the website links or references to the content. The site author is not responsible for their pages in the discussion pages, guest book or mailing lists from published post offices or mail.


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Each year around my anniversary since I started blogging, I have written something here about our marriage and what God has been doing in our lives the past year. I almost skipped this year.
It's been the hardest year (our 11th) I can remember, but God is taking what seemed to be crumbling in our hands and is creating something so very good.
I'll tell you a little about "what God has done for my soul" in hopes it will encourage you.
You see, last October, we broke down, he and I.
I with
+ my anxiety
+ fatigue and overwhelm with parenting and homeschool
+ my idols of who he should be to me
+ his own blend of weaknesses and pain points
A gap opened between us that we didn't know how to cross.
Fear and sadness spiraled into panic. The one person I wanted to be closest to in the world felt out of reach.
And as hard as I spun mental webs around the problem, I couldn't fix it.
We were caught in a nasty, crazy-making cycle familiar to many couples:
A woman expresses her need for connection, affection, attention, romance. The disconnect she feels makes her anxious, so she protests. Her anxiety sounds like criticism. Her man hears, "You're not enough. Despite all your faithfulness and your hard work, you're not enough for me."
His raw spot gets rubbed. He's trying, but he can't measure up. He withdraws, fights back, criticizes, or sinks into a depression to protect himself and the marriage that feels so fragile.
This to her is rejection and screams, "You're not important." She feels even more alone now that her cry for connection has backfired, more desperate and anxious.
So they try not to need each other, even though their isolation is oppressive. They try to stuff their emotions, but emotions just don't play that way. Emotions are like a three-year-old awake at 6:00 on a Saturday morning. You can ignore him, but eventually he'll jump on your face, ask for a bowl of cereal for the 13th time (or even worse attempt to pour himself a bowl), or call from the potty to be wiped. He must be dealt with or you'll have a mess to clean up.
Emotions are like that.
Brokenness spins the couple into a dizzying cycle of distrust. They are loving as themselves, not as God.
Jackie Hill Perry, in her new book Gay Girl, Good God,** recounts a poem her now-husband Preston wrote as he was pursuing her heart (while she was still wrestling with same-sex attraction). Preston recounts how God told him, "I'm calling you to love her not like you but like Me."
My husband and I were stuck in loving each other the best way we knew how. God was calling us to love like Him.
I count us blessed and privileged, because we got help. We saw multiple counselors, as individuals and as a couple. We didn't hide our weaknesses, because the Gospel told us that our sins were already outed at the cross, and that our weaknesses could bring Him glory. We were surrounded by a supportive church who walked with us, praying for us faithfully.
For a season, we've stepped away from every church ministry we were involved in so we could focus on restoration and healing.
Funny thing about a season--you're not sure that it actually is just a season when you're in the middle of it. Who can tell you that it will get better? And will you believe them?
"I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living! Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!" (Psalm 27:13-14 ESV)
"Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." (Isaiah 43:19 ESV)
"Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God." (2Cor. 7:1 ESV)
"Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk; I took them up by their arms, but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love, and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them." (Hos 11:3-4 ESV)He is not done yet, with us, with me, with you.
You can save the free phone screensaver by clicking on the image below*.
*I'm so happy for you to enjoy my coloring pages and printables for your personal (not commercial) use! Use for Bible studies, church groups or events, and Sunday school classes are all fine! If you're in doubt, I'm happy to answer any questions. All artwork and photos are copyright Marydean Draws. If you share this, you're awesome (!), and as a courtesy, please link back to this post and not the PDF file. Thank you!!
**affiliate link. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.


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Tuesday, July 19, 2011
The ask_geo gem: find the time zone for a given latitude and longitude
The Google Maps API has all kinds of great services like geocoding and reverse geocoding, but it lacks an API to determine a timezone from a latitude and longitude. This kind of service would come in handy, for example, when you are picking a point on Earth and scheduling an event there in the point's local time. It could also be useful for automatically determining a website visitor's current local time based on the geolocation obtained from their browser or IP address.
There is a service called GeoNames, which comes close to serving this need. However, its look-ups are based on "closest point of interest", which means that you can get errors when you are near borders, and some locations may not return any results at all.
There is another service called EarthTools which doesn't have this problem, but it only returns the current offset from UTC at that point. That is great if you only care about the current local time, but leaves you stranded if you need to account for Daylight Savings Time on some future or past date.
After a bit of searching, I came across a great free service called AskGeo. AskGeo provides a very simple JSON-over-HTTP API (or XML if you prefer to party like it's 1999). AskGeo uses a real time zone map, so every point on earth returns a result, and returns real Olson IDs for time zones, so you can look up DST transitions, leap seconds, etc.
I gave AskGeo a try and it works great...and it's fast! Since there was no ready-made Ruby gem that provided a client API, I decided to create one.
Introducing the ask_geo gem: https://github.com/scottwb/ask_geo
It can be installed as a ruby gem. See the github page for installation and usage instructions.
Posted by scottwb at 21:18 3 comments
Labels: geolocation, ruby, rubygems, timezone
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Custom RSpec be_square matcher for CarrierWave
It seems to me that when using CarrierWave for image uploads, particularly user avatars, it would be a pretty common thing to generate at least one square-cropped version of the image. CarrierWave ships with some nice custom matchers to test exact dimensions and such, but I found I wanted a way to just test that an image was square.
I did this using by building a custom matcher on top of the ones CarrierWave provides. If you have the conventional spec_helper.rb that requires support/**/*.rb, then you can just drop this somewhere like support/matchers/carrierwave_matchers.rb:
Then, you can use this like:
Posted by scottwb at 18:10 1 comments
Labels: carrierwave, CI testing, rspec, ruby
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"There's no place like home"
Good Shepherd Senior Care offers an individualized approach
to keep seniors safe and sound at home.
Like most of you, as we age we want to stay at home as long as we are able. We started Good Shepherd Senior Care to provide seniors the opportunity to remain at home in the comfort of their own surroundings with the help of quality, cost-effective one-on-one caregivers.
Whether you are looking for part-time assistance with daily living activities or a full-time caregiver, Good Shepherd Senior Care is dedicated to keeping your loved ones safe and happy at home.
Calls Answered 24/7
A Testimony From Don & Flo
A Personal Story From Caroyln Long, Fayetteville
There are some decisions in life that are more than just "important." They are crucially important. Right up there at the top of the list is who will care for my loved one when the time comes.
I have known the owners of Good Shepherd Senior Care, Chip and Lory Brown, for nearly 20 years. I can assure you that their integrity and business leadership can be trusted. Their agency provides more than excellent service. While many people say they care, the Browns are people who genuinely care.
The hundreds of families who have been served through Good Shepherd Senior Care can attest to the compassion, quality and efficiency of their staff. Before my mother died, I scoured for caregivers that I could trust and would love her the way I did. Good Shepherd's skilled and compassionate caregivers provide the reassurance and support that families like mine need.
If you are looking for a care-giving agency, Good Shepherd Senior Care is the right choice.
A Testimony From Bill & Jan
- 50% of seniors age 80+ fall each year
- 40% do no return to independent living
- 25% die within a year
- Seniors are 4 times more likely to die of falls in facilities
- Patient/Staff ratio in facilities averages 15:1 vs 1:1 with home care
In NW Arkansas in-home care is also the most affordable option, averaging just $3,100/mo, while assisted living averages $4,500/mo, and Nursing Homes average $4,800/mo.


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The Bible speaks of putting away childish things. Luckily, Discovery Center of Idaho doesn't believe in that sort of nonsense. DCI stages monthly adult nights, in which the kids get the boot and adults can cruise around the center, beer in hand, learning why things explode. 131 Myrtle St., Boise, 208-343-9895, scidaho.org
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Every Thursday morning before the sun rises at 7am a special group of guys meet in the student center to read and memorize God's Word. It is a committed group of male student-athletes who want to change cultural stereotypes about manhood. These athletes wake up early to invest in each other's lives and ultimately build their faith. This group, known as the "Sunrise Slayers," is dedicated to growing in the Lord's promises and holding each other accountable before their days are filled with class, practice, weights, studying and the fast moving hustle of a college campus.
Sunrise Slayers is happening on our campus, as well as Messiah College in Pennsylvania. Led by Aroma Director Aaron Faro, the sunrise slayers at Messiah has led the way for Lipscomb male student-athletes to also participate. Being able to read the Bible freely, have meaningful conversation, and truly care about the souls of the men around you is what makes slayers so special. It gives a greater meaning and purpose to waking up early and diving into God's Word. It is an environment filled with love and the guys truly enjoy seeing each other, so they continue making slayers a priority and look forward to building deep and lasting relationships.
The time is centered on memorizing Scripture. Each passage is studied for approximately 3 weeks. In that time, the passage of Scripture is researched, discussed, studied and memorized. Upon completion of the 3 week cycle, the verse is written on an index card from memory and then laminated and put on a ring, which is then displayed on the zipper of the guys backpacks. This is a fun symbol and a unique way to show growth in the knowledge of Scripture, and to remind the slayers they are armed with the Word of God at all times.
Each slayer has a different reason as to why they keep coming back, and why they enjoy coming early in the morning to study the Bible.
Freshman golfer Isaac Noh, said this about being a sunrise slayer;
"It has emphasized the importance of not only just memorizing scripture, but knowing what it means and how to apply it to your own life. And what greater motive is there to have the word of God written on your heart."
Junior track and cross-country runner Ryan Speer said this about his experience,
"Slayers means an opportunity for me to start my Thursday's off well. The community and fellowship is always welcoming and I love being able to spend time in the word with a great group of men. College is definitely a time of growth and change. I think the biggest thing God is teaching me is to trust him more and reminding me that his plan is sufficient for me. Having a stable group of guys to be open and honest with has definitely been the most beneficial part of slayers to my spiritual life."
Junior Robert Rupp on the men's cross-country and track team said,
"Slayers has been a crucial part of me developing my understanding of what scripture is, as well that it is the word of God, and that we can know him through deep intimate study of it. The Word of God when studied in a group allows for the community to see God and understand God through each other which is always exciting."
This Bible study every Thursday is another way for Lipscomb student-athletes to get involved in something other than what their team is already doing. It gives them a chance to branch out and meet other athletes on different teams and also gives them a chance to share their faith together and build a unified brotherhood.
The beauty of slayers is the fact that there are college-aged young men willing and dedicated to waking up early to read the word of God and grow in fellowship with other men. It isn't mandatory, yet these guys keep showing up. It is not a common time to meet but to be a slayer all you need to do is show up and be ready to learn from Jesus.


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Hey friends,
Thank you to everyone who took the time to vote on the book title and comment on the sneak peek. Your enthusiasm has made me so pumped to release book three.
And the winning title is…OUTBREAK!
Isn't the cover awesome? You can thank my brilliant designer, Slobodan Cedic.
For those of you who have been anxiously awaiting the launch, I can officially say that Outbreak will be available for digital download on Amazon Tuesday, July 14. (The print version should be available in early August.)
I'll be running a two-day sale where the book is 99 cents to reward those of you who will buy the book right away. Let's see if we can blow up the Amazon charts!
Recon will also be FREE July 13-15, so if you haven't started the series yet — or you have a friend who needs to read it — now is the time!
Did you miss the sneak peek? You can read it here.


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How should a company respond to Grand Jury Subpoena?
My small company just received a grand jury subpoena for documents and it seems to call for us to produce every piece of paper we ever created whether it is in hardcopy or whether it is contained on a computer, zip drive, DVD or thumb drive. What should we do?Read More


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Internet of Things
We are the best IOT consulting firms.
It is essential for a system to inter relate computer devices, digital machines and to have abilities to transfer data towards a network. We are the best IOT consulting firms which provide best facilities to quickly build better products which help you in connecting your sensor and devices.
What Services We Provide
Better Hardware Integration
With the very useful equipment board with a Wi-Fi or GSM chip and rearranged APIs, you can interface our service with your item with negligible exertion through UART, GPIO, SPI and whatever other basic correspondence convention.
Secure Communications
We offer you secure and powerful correspondence between your item and cloud utilizing well known IOTs correspondence norms like MQTT. We understand that making your communication can provide better chances of success.
Better Data Visualization and Best Artificial Intelligence Services
You get better experiences from your information through helpful elements like information perception utilizing different charts, examination and AI to anticipate the distant future information. You can hire internet of things service to make your business production better and on vast scale level.
Better Communication Security
Our offer information and correspondence security between your item and the cloud and we guarantee that no outsider or individual can access to any client/information data without earlier authorizations.
Better Access of Management
You get concede approved staff access to utilize the administration, control what they can and can't see and do, track and oversee information from numerous records. We provide better management access to ensure your communication safety.
How can we Support You
Best strategies
We support our clients through our best strategies and readiness assessments. We can transform your planning through digital processes and provide security and vulnerability to the assessments you make in your online business distribution.
Best business partners
We make sure you get best business partners, so you can identify business cases of IOT which can reduce your business costs and increase efficiency.
Best IOT consulting firms
You can consult with our Best IOT consulting firms which will guide and help you in building better IOT strategies for the business. We will provide you our best IOT solutions to your business enterprise through our partner companies.


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The Gossamer Foundation is dedicated to networking as a global community. Below is a list and links of our sponsors, supporters and affiliates. Contact us if you are interested in networking for global sustainability and local foods.
Good Earth Publications, Inc.
20 GreenWay Place
Buena Vista, Virginia 24416, USA
(540) 261-8775
ChiknEGG Productions, LLC
Lisa Dearden
3330 Cedar Plains Road
Sandy Hook, VA 23153
Visit ChiknEGG's Website!
New Country Organic Products
Countryside Natural Products
801 2nd Street
Waynesboro VA 22980, USA
(888) 699-7088
Yeti Solar— solar lights for coops
PO Box 774
Lebanon, NH 03766 USA
The Chicken Fountain
Clean water by design
New Earth Farm
2280 London Bridge Road
Virginia Beach, VA, 23456
Murray McMurray Hatchery Chick Donor for a Chicken Stimulus Package
"The World's Rare Breed Poultry Headquarters"
Randal Burkery Company Chick Donor for a Chicken Stimulus Package


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If you enjoy Verizon's network coverage but have a thing for non-contracted prepaid wireless plans, than you may be interested to know that VZW is changing things up in their prepaid plan department. These new Allset plans offer affordable flexibility and give customers a range of options with varied amounts of data. There are two base price points for the money conscious consumer to choose from, and the amounts can go up from there depending on how much data you might need or want. For $35 you can get started on an Allset plan if you use a regular feature phone device, and if you use a smartphone you can hook up to one of these new Allset plans starting as low as $45.
To start customers off, Verizon is giving those who sign up for a no annual contract Allset plan unlimited talk and unlimited messaging, and a starting base of 500MB of data per month. If 500 MB isn't enough for you then you can choose to tack on extra data for extra charges. The minutes and messaging are always going to be unlimited with the Allset plans, but you can pick as much data as you need, with options that include the regular 500MB base amount, and from there you can either bump up to 1GB or 3GB of data. Much like T-Mobile and their prepaid wireless plan dollar amounts, VZW's 500MB of data will expire after 30 days if not used up. Both the 1GB and 3GB data package options have a much longer shelf life before expiring, set at 90 days, but unused data travels from cycle to cycle until that expire date comes up much like At&t did with rollover minutes. To break down the plans costs, Verizon will let you sign up for the Allset plan for $30 or $40(depending on the feature phone or smartphone use), and additional costs come from the data which is $5 for the 500MB, $10 for the 1GB, and $20 for the 3Gb. So your plan could cost as low as $35, or it could cost as much as $60 if you use a smartphone and need the additional 3GB of data.
For those that may be sending text messages outside the country, if those messages are going to either Mexico, Canada, or Puerto Rico, your messages will be included with the unlimited allotment you're given with the plan. Furthermore, you can also call Canada and Mexico with a bucket of 1,000 international minutes if you sign up for the $45 plan(were assuming this goes for all Bridge data options) for a limited time. Verizon doesn't mention how long their limited offers last, so if this sounds like a good deal to you, you might want to get in their quick. Phone options are a little more limiting if you're going to grab a handset from Verizon's prepaid lineup, but just to throw out a few options you can pick up a Moto G for $99, or go with something from Samsung or LG like the Galaxy Legend, Samsung illusion or LG Optimus Zone.


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What you Never Want To Hear
Sitting across from your Doctor and hearing a grim diagnosis is shocking. Through the haze, you hear treatment plan options and must immediately begin making decisions, deal with countless appointments and focus on getting well. Those are the basics. This doesn't even take into account the personal trauma that will be experienced by you and your family. Or the worry that comes from wondering how you will continue paying your bills or managing your business if you are unable to work.
If you have a Critical Illness plan in place, you are at least afforded some financial comfort. Nothing pleases us more than when we are able to deliver a cheque for $10,000, $50,000, $75,000 or more, depending on the plan that was purchased, to a family in crisis. Those funds, which are yours to use, can at least take the pressure off paying bills while waiting for any long term disability plans to take effect. They can also provide additional comforts, care options or just be used to make wonderful memories of family time spent together.
On the other hand, we are always deeply saddened when someone who has had that option, declines it, then learns they have become un-insurable due to a health issue, or worst, receive a diagnosis without the financial comfort that a critical illness plan can provide.
Our wish is that everyone we deal with will make a commitment to looking at a Critical Illness plan for themselves, their significant others and, if they manage a business, look at adding a Critical Illness component to their Employee Benefit Plan. How wonderful to know that in a time of crisis, much needed help can be delivered.
Think about it. Call us. Let's talk about how you can protect yourself and the ones you care about.
Barb Holland