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When someone tells me there are executing a project or executing someone's strategy, my mind wanders to Ned Stark's shocking demise in HBO's Game of Thrones.
If someone says a project is in execution this usually means the project is safely under the control of a project manager and the teams are getting work done. However, lurking just over the wall are evil forces working to undo that team.
Recently, I spent some time with past clients who were climbing the ladder from what they term basic project management practice to a more standardized approach. They were seeking answers as to what their focus areas should be in the coming year. This is actually quite a difficult question to answer because information is needed, so I ask questions like this:
- What went right?
- What went wrong?
- Has the political landscape changed?
- Is there a willingness to change or is it just you fighting this battle?
In Game of Thrones, Kings, Queens, and hopefuls all battle for the Throne of Westeros. For fun, let's call these war games a project. As one faction faces off with another, one prevails as victorious. In project management, we are influencing people to make time for the project, and smacking down issues because there is a problem. Fortunately, no blood is shed in this process, even though it may sometimes feel that way.
As it turns out, most projects do not fail because they don't have the right protection from their leaders. These leaders are paying for the project after all and they want to see their due returns. Projects usually don't fail because of poor project management, lack of tools, or poor team dynamics. For sure, this happens, but people usually catch these issues and fix them.
Winter is coming seems to carry many meanings in Game of Thrones, but to you and I, it means the white walkers are building their army of the undead. Wait, aren't those just the delusional writings of our ancestors?
Just because we aren't sure something will happen we never pretend it won't happen. The white walkers in projects are what we call risks. Risks must be tracked, managed, planned for, and budgeted. I cannot tell you how many times I see a risk log in a scope statement that says lack of training will mean the project fails, then the project team devotes 2 days for documentation and a week for training "because people are too busy" to do more.
Here is a trap the white walkers set: They simply hide in the distance, covered in the white of the snow until you realize you are surrounded. In projects, this happens when communications do not occur, or are not sufficient enough. If your project is big enough. people start to worry how it will affect their jobs, if the project will cause people to do more work with less resources, and so on.
(Spoiler alert) In season 5 of Game of Thrones, Jon Snow, who is the Leader of the Watch knows the white walkers are real and he wants to get ahead of this risk. He brings the Wildlings across the wall because he knows there will be a great battle to protect the land.
Sometimes, bringing your biggest detractors into the fray is quite helpful because they can shed light on issues the project team never thought of. Other times, you may find widely communicating the project's current state and openly addressing concerns can have excellent positive impact.
My suggestion to my clients, and to you is this: Walk up to that throne and take your rightful seat when the project is complete. Until then, double-down on risk, change, and communication management on your projects.


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This is in no way a rating, just seven splendid places to visit next time you find yourself in Durban. Most of these venues mentioned host live music and are adding to the contemporary urban culture within KwaZulu-Natal. From jazzy lounges, dingy rock 'n roll bars, craft breweries, record stores and sports bars Durban really does have great nightlife and areas to explore after hours.
Thinking of visiting the Zululand? Have a look at our car hire Durban page to explore our affordable vehicle rental options.
The Rainbow Restaurant, Pinetown
Photo was taken from – http://www.mahala.co.za/art/last-sunday-117/
This could very well be one of Durban's most famous venues and in many ways, it's become a part of the heritage to the city. It first opened its doors in 1981 and has been hosting regular jazz and indigenous music since 1981. Sundays at The Rainbow are legendary with cheap food and drinks an eclectic mix of people and world-class entertainment. Visit their website for more information.
The Chairman
Image was taken from – http://wandahennig.com/2015/05/the-chairman-part-2-ndabo-langa-in-conversation/
This is probably one of the swankiest nighttime hangouts the sleepy city has seen in recent years. Situated in the point area precinct the beautifully furnished lounge-type venue prides itself in quality Jazz and contemporary African music, the venue does – however, have a dress code so leave your flops and shorts at home. Visit their website for more information.
The Winston
Photo was taken from – http://durbanisyours.co.za/2014/02/surprise-comeback-kid-are-playing-the-winston-tomorrow/
This institution has a long-standing history in the alternative music culture in Durban. No venue in KwaZulu-Natal has stood the test of time when it comes to punk, metal, hardcore and hip-hop quite like The Winston. With regular parties and events, it's reached legendary status and is both respected and feared depending on who you speak to. It's also one of the few bars in the city open after 2 am. Visit their Facebook page for more information.
Jack Rabbits, Morningside
Image was taken from – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZC_D15lUUgM
For many years Jack Rabbits has been a firm favourite for people wishing to grab a tasty pub meal, whilst watching a game of sport. However, since the introduction of an open mic night during the week, live music has flourished with regular events and parties at least once a week. The music on offer usually caters for an older audience but every now and then they hafve some DJ's for a younger clientele as well. Visit their Facebook page for more information.
Khaya Records
Photo was taken from – http://www.myza.co.za/for-the-record-featured-durban-blog/
One of the few places in the city dedicated to the sale of both used and new vinyl. Situated in trendy Florida Road the venue also has regular acoustic music events and occasionally a DJ set. There are also nice places to eat and drink nearby making Khaya Records one of the best-kept secrets Durban has. Visit their Facebook for more information. Does Durban have anything going on besides for the beach? Durban might be a sleepy city, but because of its great all year whether it's also a leading events city for both music, culture and sport.

subset: commoncrawl


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A revamped Warwickshire County Council website has been praised by councillors but they also warned that there were some residents who still needed to access information over the phone.
A report to this week's [WED] resources overview and scrutiny committee at Shire Hall highlighted how a redesign of the site following feedback from 1,200 customers had resulted in an increase in visitor numbers.
Content was removed if it was out of date, did not directly meet a customer demand or duplicated content on other websites. It was also re-written to make it easier to understand.
The report added that the content was now written by a central team with expertise in designing online services.
Councillors praised the new-look site but also had a few words of warning.
Cllr Peter Gilbert (Con Bedworth West) explained: "I like the new website, the design is great. However, we believe we live in a completely computer literate age - and we will probably in the next 20 years - but there are people who aren't.
"We talk a lot about vulnerability in various committees and I think this is one area where we could have a shortfall because often the most vulnerable people trying to access services aren't computer literate or don't have credit on their phones to access things. Sometimes it is those people we can miss.
"And I think access to a telephone number is still important for people in the community. It is still an important part at least for the time being."
Cllr Sarah Boad (Lib Dem Leamington North) added: "Some people want to speak to a human being but it is very hard to find a phone number of the name of a person. Having clear lines of accountability is really, really important."


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(Place one order for folded posters/flat items such as lobby cards and a separate order for Rolled Posters)
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"American Anthem"
Set of 8 Original Lobby Cards / Colour Front Of House StillsYEAR : 1986 Director : Albert Magnoli
Cast Info:Mitch Gaylord, Janet Jones, Michelle Phillips, R. J. Williams, Michael Pataki, Patice Donnelly
CONDITION :Excellent! Never Displayed!
Description :Set of 8 Original Lobby Cards / Colour Front Of House Stills (F.O.H. Stills) **Properly categorised as colour front of house stills as opposed to lobby cards.**
Size :8 x 10 Inches / 20.4 x 25.4cm approx.
Printers Mark : Litho in U.S.A. 860059Price: £10.00
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Hey, guess where was I last weekend? That's right! One of my favorite places in the entire world. WDW!! It had been basically a year and a half since I had been to the World with Jana so we decided to remedy that with a trip. Even better was the fact we were going for three full days, rather than just for the weekend.
But let's back up, shall we? All the way back to the airport where I was standing in a ridiculously long security line. And I was in the elite access line. But there I was standing in a line that really wasn't moving. Good thing I had gotten to the airport early!! While I was in line for over 40 minutes, I chatted with a 3 year old who was wearing a Tinker Bell shirt. She and her mom were on their way to visit Grandpa. I told her I was on my way to visit Tinker Bell and Mickey. She gets to go visit Mickey when she turns 4. Finally, finally, finally I got up to the x-ray machine. And guess what? The belt stalls on my bag. Figures. I am escorted off to the side and the agent starts going through my purse. Out comes my romance novel, my pink wallet, my Mickey wallet, and the culprit. At the last second I had thrown in a Minnie pin to attempt #31 on my 34 Things list. Apparently in the x-ray machine it looked like a throwing star. Oh snap! What can you do but laugh? Oh!! And the agent called me miss, not ma'am. Star for him!! And star for me too. (Pun intended.)
I picked Jana up in Houston and then we were finally in Orlando!! We had good luggage magic and good bus magic and were at the hotel pretty quick! It was late by this time so we grabbed some chicken nuggets for dinner and went to bed.
We woke up a little on the late side and headed for Epcot. I love coming to Epcot during the Flower & Garden festival to see the topiaries and the new designs. We got to the park and the rain started. Which I really didn't mind, especially at Epcot where it can get ridiculously hot. Until I realized what it was doing to my hair. Yup, I was having a fabulous hair day (read sarcasm). But I'm at Epcot – who cares if my bangs are curling all funny. We had lunch at Via Napoli. Yummy!! We hit most of our highlights (Mexico, Soarin', Nemo) and looked at the various topiaries. And then it was decision time – do we hang out at Epcot for Extra Magic? Or do we head over to Hollywood and catch Fantasmic? Fantasmic won out and we took the boat from Epcot over to Hollywood. I had never taken the boat from Epcot to Hollywood. We arrived at Hollywood and found the fast passes were all gone for both Rockin' Rollercoaster and Toy Story and the lines were 70 minutes long. Bummer!! After dinner of chicken nuggets we did a little shopping and then heard that the early Fantasmic show was standing room only. Boo. Okay then. What was the line for Toy Story? It was 60 minutes – we broke our own line rule and got in line. It actually moved pretty quickly and then we got put into super fast line (I think because we were two people and easy to plug in when there are bigger groups). Woohoo!! When it was all said and done, it took us 40 minutes start to finish. Good choice to stand in line! And then it was time to watch Fantasmic!!
The next morning followed a similar pattern – woke up late and headed to Animal Kingdom. It was a very different day for us at Animal Kingdom – we were a bit late for breakfast so we didn't go to Pizzafari, which is our normal breakfast place at AK. And then we didn't go to Restaurantasaurus for lunch! Say what?! Instead we went to the Yak & Yeti, my first time there and I do have to say it was quite good. After lunch it was out on safari where we saw lots of elephants! The rest of the day was spent with the Yeti, Dinosaur(s), and at Rafiki's Planet Watch. We finished up the day at the Lion King Festival. We were slightly late for the Festival and so were escorted into the secret entrance and sat in the giraffe section. I've now sat in all four sections.
Once again decision time – do we go and use our fast pass for the Yeti (a second time)? Or do we head over to Epcot for dinner? Dinner won out. The line for the Epcot bus was super long to instead we hopped on the bus for the Beach Club hotel and walked over to Epcot. It might have been a short cut that turned into a long cut but we finally got to Epcot where we had dinner in Japan and visited Spaceship Earth before walking back over to the Beach Club to catch the bus to Downtown Disney to get our shop on and make a stop at Ghiradelli for some ice cream. Have I mentioned how much I adore ice cream?
If this were a normal weekend away, we would be leaving Sunday. But we had managed to squeeze in another day! Hooray! Off to the Magic Kingdom we went on Sunday to spend the whole day there! Wow – they have done some work on the new Fantasyland!! I can't wait until it is finished! So remember back to my Minnie Throwing Star? Well now I couldn't trade that pin! So I bought another pin and finally, finally made a trade! Yippee!! My first trade. I was so nervous to trade the pin! Something as simple as that, yet my introverted, shy side exerts itself. It was hard for me to go up to a cast member and say can I look at your pins? But I did it!! And then I re-traded the pin I traded for. I probably won't get into trading pins, but I will keep collecting them. At least now I can cross #31 off my list! Woohoo!!
Ever since I read somewhere that most people only do 9 attractions in a day, it has become somewhat of an obsession to me to do at least 9 attractions. And today? We did 20!! Boo yah! We managed to get on Dumbo right when we expected the fireworks to go off, but we were an hour off. Fireworks were at 10 today, not 9. Oh well. We ended up on Big Thunder when the fireworks went off. While not quite the same as watching the fireworks from Dumbo, it was still fun. Especially with the fireworks exploding over the top of the ridge as we went careening around the track.
When we had originally planned this trip we thought for sure we'd get extra magic hours on Sunday. But it wasn't to be – extra magic was on Monday. Boo. We definitely had magic at the end of the night. Instead it was back to the hotel.


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Shader Specification
Leadwerks shaders have specific rules[1] that apply to them. These rules are loosely documented through forum posts, so this page serves the purpose of bringing all of that information together.
- cameradrawmode
- draw mode of the camera
- cameraprojectionmode
- projection mode of the camera
- currenttime
- the current time in seconds
- isbackbuffer
- evaluates to true if currently backbuffer
- tessstrength
- the tessellation strength of the world
- camerazoom
- the zoom level of the camera
- buffersize
- the size of the buffer in pixels. x is the number of pixels horizontally, and y is the number of pixels vertically
- camerarange
- the range of the camera. x is the near clip plane distance, and y is the far clip plane distance.
- cameraposition
- position of the camera
- drawcolor
- graphics drivers current color
- ambientlight
- the color of the ambient light
- lighting_ambient
- ambient light (not sure what this does)
- cameranormalmatrix
- the camera normal matrix
- camerainversenormalmatrix
- the inverse of the camera normal matrix
- drawmatrix
- matrix used for drawing post-processing effects primarily
- projectioncameramatrix
- active camera projection matrix
- cameramatrix
- matrix of the active camera
- prevprojectioncameramatrix
- the previous camera project matrix
- camerainversematrix
- the inverse of the camera matrix
The G-buffer is the buffer that stores various fragments in order to later (deferred) apply lighting to those fragments. This is a feature of a deferred renderer, so all fragment shaders should write to various buffers (fragDataN).
Diffuse buffer
Normal buffer. The alpha channel stores material flags.
Specular buffer
Post Processing Textures
Most post processing effects use one or more textures.
Depth texture
Diffuse texture
Normal texture


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The look, voice and personality of your business should reflect in all elements of your brand. Let's collaborate to take your vision from concept to reality with a personalized brand.
We work with our clients to develop unique designs for print and digital materials, and facilitate the printing process to ensure an effortless and quality outcome for your brand.
Grounded in years of experience, we have a deep understanding of responsive design, allowing us to offer the most complete web design and development solutions.


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My name is JJ, and I will be assisting Brian moving forward on the Mariners Latest blog. I've spent the last few months covering the Mariners for Bleacher Report, and have now decided to expand my Mariner related talents to other outlets. So allow me to extend my thanks to Brian and the rest of the readers when I say thanks for having me. Feel free to follow me on Twitter as well here, where you will also get to see me rant about the Mariners, for better or for worse.
|Hisashi Iwakuma : The Streak Stopper
Kendrys Morales continued his hot streak, including a game-tying home run in the sixth inning, and the double that set the table for Jason Bay's walk-off single. Raul Ibanez continued his clutch hitting, rescuing the Mariners from another extra innings loss by hitting a game-tying solo shot in the 11th inning.
Unfortunately, that's about where the good news stops. The reality is the Mariners are currently sitting at 21-29 and are still closer to the basement than they are to the top of the division. The Mariners have have a laundry list of problems, many of which from the offense.
Michael Saunders continues to struggle at the plate, as he has watched his batting average from .300 on May 4th to .216 after today's game. Saunders is batting .211 for the month of May with only five extra base hits (three of which came against Toronto on May 4th).
|This Looks Very Familiar...
Toronto. Since then, Ackley has proceeded to go 6-49 and watched his batting average plummet. In fact, Ackley now sports a lower batting average AND on-base percentage than the much maligned Brendan Ryan. Ackley looks like a lost puppy at the plate, with no signs of improvement on the horizon. At this point, Ackley maybe better served to get the Jesus Montero treatment (I'll get to that later), and take a trip to Tacoma.
Justin Smoak has shown some improvement, and actually sports a very respectable .352 OBP, but is still batting .242, and still has a lower slugging percentage than on-base percentage. Needless to say, that is not what you're looking for from your starting first baseman.
Finally, we get to Jesus Montero.
The Jesus Montero experiment has finally come to an end with his demotion to Tacoma, but his poor execution behind the plate may have done just as much damage offensively as well. Once heralded as a can't miss offensive prospect, Montero was batting .208 with only five extra base hits at the time of his demotion. Montero will see the majority of his time at first base while in Tacoma, as he spends time trying to find his swing again. In all reality, I would not be the least bit surprised to not see Montero again until September, and even then, if the organization is truly devoted to making Montero into a full-time DH slash part-time first baseman, we may not see Montero again until 2014 barring any injuries to the big league club.
As I said earlier, I personally believe Montero isn't the only one who deserved a ticket to Tacoma. Dustin Ackley has under-performed vastly, and was just as responsible for being a black hole in the offense as Montero was. If Ackley gets sent down, it would lead to the inevitable call-up of Nick Franklin, which will lead to much rejoicing amongst Mariner nation. But let me make myself clear, Franklin's call-up should only come in the event of Ackley being sent down, or in September when rosters expand.
First of all, Nick Franklin will not be the difference between the Mariners making the playoffs or not this season. Secondly, Brendan Ryan is still the best defensive short stop in baseball. Those same runs that Ryan saves would be equivalent to what Nick Franklin theoretically would score. At this point, the Mariners are better set leaving Ryan at short, and waiting until 2014 to unveil a potential Franklin-Miller up the middle combo.
Now that we've covered the majority of the offensive issues (trust me, there are others) we can dive into the pitching issues too.
The "Joe Saunders is a carbon-copy of Jason Vargas" theory has been proven wildly incorrect, as "Safeco Joe" was finally shelled just as badly at home as he has been on the road. Saunders has given up more than four or more runs in six of his ten starts this season, and has only managed to pitch seven or more innings twice.
Brandon Maurer continues to show he was not ready to make the jump to the big leagues, but not all of the blame can be put on him for that one. If it wasn't for an injury to Erasmo Ramirez, I still believe Maurer would have started the 2013 season in Tacoma.
Then there is the fifth spot in the rotation which I won't even try to discuss. When it comes down to it, the worst part about the fifth spot in the rotation is that the Mariners don't have any options to make it better. The Mariners are essentially in limbo until Danny Hultzen and Erasmo Ramirez can get healthy enough to make their ways on to the roster.
|Even Aaron Harang Misses Jon Garland
I never thought I would be saying this back in March, but I would do anything right now to have Jon Garland at the end of the Mariners rotation, and that is saying something seeing as how he sports a 5.05 ERA in Colorado this season. Believe me when I say, there is no way Aaron Harang will be a member of the Mariners roster by the end of the season.
So sure, the Mariners finally ended the losing streak on Sunday. Sure they finally got to experience the euphoria of a walk-off win, instead of watching the opposition jump up and down in joy. But that was the only thing the Mariners ended on Sunday.
Unfortunately, the questions for the Mariners are just beginning.


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Celebrate National Coffee Day With The Pie Hole!
- Posted by admin
- On September 28, 2016
- 0 Comments
- national coffee day
National Coffee Day September 29, 2016
The Pie Hole Blend: One Blend To Rule Them All–By Bianca Molina, Director of Coffee
In a coffee world obsessed with single origins, we developed a blend that is so versatile, so delicious, and so amazingly complex that we use it for absolutely everything, sometimes even pie! What's this glorious coffee we speak of? Well, it's the Pie Hole Blend. This specialty blend can be found at every location being served as an espresso, batch brewed coffee, cold brew, and even as a nitro coffee. The best part? It's offered all year round. With notes of citrus, chocolate, almonds and sweet spices, this coffee highlights different flavor profiles through its various forms of extraction. This fair trade and organic blend is always fresh because we believe in roasting locally, which might I add, is a key component to our coffee philosophy.
Before we get into the specifics of flavor notes and such, let's talk a little about the origin of this complex blend.
Sourced from Family Run and Co Op Farms, such as Café Femenino, The Pie Hole Blend is a new take on an old classic.
We wanted to create the comfort of diner coffee and make it so special, that it not only compliments the pies, it makes the union of pie and coffee so memorable that you simply cannot have one without the other. The revival of this American classic duo is made possible through specialty coffees from Latin America and Indonesia. The coffees from Guatemala and Peru fill the blend with flavors of citrus and chocolate. While the Brazilian and Sumatran beans provide hints of almond, cinnamon, and leave you with a subtle smoky yet sweet aftertaste. Complex, right? Complex, and oh – so – good!
When you have a Pie Hole espresso, you get the perfect balance of acidity, bitterness, sweetness and spice all in just one sip. What me to get a little more specific with flavors? I'd love to! When you take your first sip, you'll get a splash of grapefruit in the front of your mouth, followed by a hint of dark chocolate in the back of your tongue, ending with notes of cinnamon and almond blanketing your tongue. Leaving you with a sweet and smoky aftertaste. Sounds amazing, right?
Pair it with milk (yes- we also offer milk alternatives) and the espresso amplifies its natural sweetness. If you're more of a classic Cup 'o' Joe type of person, try our brewed coffee, a classic cup with subtle notes of dried cherry, chocolate, and clementine.
Cold Brew and Nitro Cold Brew bring out all the chocolate you can imagine. With a smooth mouth-feel, you get rich notes of chocolate, a hint of almond and subtle citrus notes. Also, if you've never had nitro coffee, you must give it a try soon.
When nitrogen and coffee interact, a smoother, aerated coffee with a terrific creaminess is created. Acidity is diminished, there is a much more complex aroma, and through the micro-bubbles a flavorful palette is dispersed. The nitrogen keeps the coffee cold longer and ensures the best tasting and smoothest coffee you have ever tasted.
Do yourself a favor. Visit a Pie Hole, and treat yourself to a slice of pie and a cup of the Pie Hole Blend. Oh, did I mention, in honor of National Coffee Day, we'll be giving out a free cup of coffee with any purchase, because you deserve it. See you on National Coffee Day!
Bianca Molina is The Pie Hole's director of coffee and a licensed Q Grader. When not obsessing about coffee she is studying art and enjoys dogs riding in cars.


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23 December (Part 3) - Tina Brooks v The Parking Adjudicator
Bexley council was hauled before the Parking Adjudicator again this morning,
same old story about lack of certification and failure to observe the code of
practice. It could well mean the same old result; bad news for Bexley council.
The adjudicator has gone away to ponder the issues but the Notomob
representative was not unhappy with developments. The Adjudicator was mildly
amused to read that Tina Brooks, Bexley's Parking Manager, believes he
needs to be educated.
There is a nice bit of news just arrived for announcement tomorrow morning, then it really will be Christmas.


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Greg Dening's Performances (University of Chicago Press 1996) is largely a collection of previously published essays. They are a mix, with some being essentially history/anthropology articles on specific topics, such as Captain Cook, the 1814 Battle of Valparaiso, and the first Native-European contact on Tahiti, and others being more theoretical essays on approaches to the practice of history. While the former are great, it is really for the latter that I am adding this book to my short list of things to strongly considering assigning to my own students in future, and something I will very much hold onto, and look back at, to help inform my own approach, in my research.
Perhaps one of the greatest things about Performances is that it serves as a guide to the postmodernist approach – in a nutshell, the idea that there is no singular, knowable Truth, that everything is relative – but in a way which feels genuine, like truly engaging with the lived experience of the people of the past, and not like abstract hand-wavey capital-T Theorizing. Dening writes:
All my academic life I taught history by first requiring my students to transcribe some event or ritual or drama in their lives into narrative. I called this ethnography. They soon discovered how difficult that was to do. They soon learned that there was nothing that they observed but was the subject of some reflective discourse by somebody else. Knowing what that discourse was, what questions shaped it and in what way their own ethnography added to it was to be the cultural persons they needed to be to write history. (30)
And, in discussing whether the Hawaiians saw Captain Cook as a god:
Of course the Hawaiians did not call the Euro-American strangers "gods." They called them akua. Tahitians and Marquesans called them atua. I should have written "Hawaiians," "Tahitians," "Marquesans," of course. In the years of the first encounters, these islanders knew themselves as something else – kānaka, maohi, enata. That is the problem of cross-cultural history. Both sides experience one another in translation. I, for one, believe that cross-cultural history should be written in such a way that the reader is always reminded of strangeness by leaving key words untranslated, and by attempting to describe more discursively what is the cultural experience behind the word. (76)
In emphasizing the use of terms from that culture, and a description and analysis based on the cultural understandings of that culture, rather than the terminology and interpretive structures of Western Theory, Dening advocates an approach which is far more respectful of other cultures, and respectful of the validity of their perspectives and worldviews. This is also an approach which produces, frankly, better history, insofar as it comes closer to the "truth," such as it is, of what actually happened, or at least of how it was actually understood by the people who were there at the time. Western Theory purports to be universal, but it is a product of the modern or post-modern West, of a particular cultural perspective, and while we can never wholly escape our cultural and chronological biases, we can at least try, by avoiding the skewing impacts of Marxist, Foucaultian, or Weberian approaches. Luke Roberts' Performing the Great Peace seems to follow in Dening's advocated approach in this respect, carefully examining how different terms were used in early modern Japanese interactions, in differing contexts, and how this informs our understanding, of their understanding, of their own time.
It is extremely rare, I think, that I feel this way about a book I read, but with Greg Dening's Performances, I really feel that I wish I could speak with him, take a course with him, rather than get his wisdom only through this limited and mediated form, the monograph. Dening seems like he would have been a marvelous professor for a seminar in Historiography (or Theory and Methodology), and every time he speaks in the book of metaphors, or of his own personal ways of understanding things, I wish I could ask him to explain further just what he means – and it's not because he's being obscurantist, like all too many Theorists do; rather, it is only because these are his own personal metaphors, which he has so internalized, and which I am sure one could come to understand better if one were to take a course with him, or to have him as an advisor. The notion of history as performance, for one, and of history as "cargo," for another.1 I can gather my own imagined understanding of what I think he means when he says these things, but like a primary source history text itself, all I have is the book, and cannot ask the person.
The past is everything that has happened – every heartbeat, every sound, every molecular movement. This totality is both objectively specific (it happened in a particular way) and infinitely discrete (the happenings are not connected). … Yet we have a common-sense confidence that the 'real' past, like the 'real' present, is much more connected and ordered. We have a confidence that the past is ordered in itself in such a way that we can make a narrative of it. It is text-able. We are confident that our selection is an exegesis of an order already there. It is the same common-sense confidence we have in the cultural systems of our present. … This mythic confidence in a text-able past is the ambience in which histories are made. The past itself is evanescent: it has existence only in histories. Histories are the texted past. (41)
I may be reading into it my own desires, but I think it is valid to say that Dening's history (or ethnohistory – incorporating at its core an ethnography of past peoples/cultures) exults in the vibrancy of historical cultural life in a way that really emphasizes those aspects of History that attracted me to the discipline to begin with, and then to Art History when I found History surprisingly lacking. For a great many scholars, it is all about types, structures, and forms, and about determining how societies, in general, function. For them, all societies have political leaders – they differ only in type. And all societies have goods that they produce, goods that they buy, and goods that they sell – the only difference is in what precisely those goods are. For these scholars, it is structures and systems that are important, and the moving parts that are the most important are political, economic, or social in nature. All cultures have sacred objects, ritual practices, and art, and we can categorize that into playing some political, economic, or social role, in a system. The differences are unimportant. But, to me, it is precisely those differences which are the most important. It is those differences which make history vibrant and exciting, and which allow history to be a vehicle for celebrating the glorious diversity of our world. And I sense that Dening feels similarly. As he writes on p23, quoting Herbert Marcuse,
"All reification (all essentializing, I would add) is a process of forgetting. Art fights reification by making the petrified world speak, sing, perhaps dance."
It is this singing, dancing, world that so intrigues me. A living world, made up of people living complex, colorful lives, filled with historical architecture and fashion, sounds and smells and sights.
Dening writes of the difference between "reality" and "actuality." In our analytical interpretations, we seek to discover what "really" happened – what was X event "really" about? We place all sorts of analytical structures on it, comparing it to social science constructions of abstract models and types, in order to categorize it. But in doing so, we miss what "actually" happened. As he writes:
Imagine we go to the theatre to see Death of a Salesman, a part of life and life's relationships and structure, set out, like life itself, in a series of conversations. We hear the sentences of the conversation on the stage – about baseball, about dingy hotel rooms, about careless children and too careful wives … We know the sentences in their unity to be concerned with coping or not coping with the emptiness of public presentations of self. … Let us say we go to the theatre. The curtains are pulled back. There is Arthur Miller sitting on the stage. 'Death of a Salesman,' he says, 'is about Everyman, Willie Loman, in an entrepreneurial society, and Everyman's inability to cope with the emptiness of the public presentation of self. That will be $10 please.' We would not know it at all. … The medium of most of our living is conversation, of texted narrative. The clothing of our structures is the trivialities of everyday existence. (47)
Captain Samuel Wallis of HMS Dolphin being received by the Queen of Otaheite, July 1767. Image from a 1773 book illustration plate, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
Dening's "Possessing Tahiti," which I discussed in a previous blog post, is lively with ethnographic and/or historical narrative. We can picture the people, the events – the costumes, the flag waving in the breeze. We can picture the perfect blue sky, white clouds, gorgeous blue waters, and green swaying trees of Tahiti. And quite central to Dening's narrative are the culturally diverse ways in which British, French, Spanish, and Tahitian peoples claim "possession" of one another – in the case of the Europeans, claiming Tahitian land, and in the case of the Tahitians, taking down the flag and incorporating it into their chief's malo ura skirt, thus "possessing" the mana, the spirit-force, of the British captain. We can see the flag, the malo ura, the cross erected by the Spanish and then defaced by the British, and the glass bottle buried by the French. And, as Dening discusses how the Tahitians might have viewed the British – as "gods" or not – it is of course a conceptual argument, in the sense that it deals with perceptions, conceptions, and imagined or metaphorical realities. But it is not conceptual in the sense of being capital-T Theoretical in an analytical sense. These people are not pawns in a Structuralist or Post-Structuralist system, nor merely a case study in some [insert Theorist here]-ian articulation of the functioning of societies. They are real people, with lively, vibrant cultures, engaged in historic interactions. And that is what I wish to be able to reproduce in my discussion of the Ryukyuan missions to Edo. I want my reader to be able to envision the road, the lodgings, the costumes and banners, the music, the local officials formally welcoming the envoys, and the local people come to witness the spectacle – I want my reader to envision these things, and to find it interesting, exciting, captivating even if I can manage it, and most of all, I want my reader to be caught up in the narrative, the ethnohistory, just enough to not say "so what?", and to not wonder what my argument is. The Ryukyuan envoys are not pawns in my analytical game; they are not merely case studies in the service of my argument. They were real, living people of the past, who like the Tahitians and the British possessed lively, vibrant cultures; and personal interests, attitudes, and desires; and who engaged in historic cultural interactions that should be interesting, and valuable, for their novelty if nothing else.
Ryukyuan officials welcoming a Chinese investiture embassy at Naha harbor, as depicted in an 1788 painting by Japanese artist Yamaguchi Suiô. University of Hawaii Library, Sakamaki-Hawley Collection.
At the end of the day, my analysis and my argument are tools in the service of allowing me to tell this narrative, to share this story. It is not the other way around. I feel quite strongly about that – Dening warns against dehumanizing our subjects, and I feel quite sensitively about that. Early modern Japan, and early modern Ryukyu, were entire worlds unto themselves, filled with real people living real lives. And while I may be guilty of romanticizing them, of over-emphasizing the vibrancy of their cultural environment, I refuse to be guilty of stripping them of their cultural and historical specificity, to make them merely examples of people (any people) in a society (any society) that functions according to X, Y, and Z features, in service of an argument. Just because something is not important to my argument does not mean that it is unimportant for producing a lively and compelling picture of the topic as a whole. This does not mean that I have any desire to run it into the ground by going overboard with detail. I have no desire to put my reader to sleep. No one needs to see extensive lists of precisely which goods they carried and precisely how many of each, or of precisely where in the audience hall each figure sat, down to the precise number of tatami mats north and west of the entrance. But, if describing the appearance of the audience hall, and the impressive impact it may have had on foreign guests, can help bring the event, the experience, to life for my readers, to help present it as a living event and not as a systematic structural procedure, then I want to include that regardless of whether it contributes to an analytical argument.
The "Performances" of the title references both the idea that all of life, both today and in the historical periods & events we study, is performance, and that the writing of history is, likewise, a performance. Dening advocates recognizing, acknowledging, and reviving the vibrant, lively reality of the past, as I have already discussed.
Participles … soften the essentializing quality of nouns with the being and acting quality of the verb: not life, but living, not gender, but gendering; not culture, but culturing; not science but sciencing; not change, but changing. The way we represent the world is hindsighted, past participled, stilled like frames on a film. The way we experience the world is processual, unfinished. We see the real; we experience the actual. (119)
But he also speaks of the writing of history as intimately intertwined with acts of memory, and storytelling, and as a very human thing to do, something that all peoples, of all cultures, in all times do. We all tell stories. We all remember our own histories, in one form or another. I personally have found much post-modern theory to be quite frightening, and stultifying, as it asks us to believe there is no Truth, and then just leaving us out in the deep. For someone who got into history precisely because there were facts to be learned, facts which come together, bricolage-style, to form an ever-more-complete, if never truly completable, picture of a particular time & place, post-modern Theory is deeply troubling. How are we to be able to say anything at all about history, when post-modern theory tells us the Truth is unattainable, and that everything we think we know is inevitably wrong? What are we even doing, as historians, if the only things we can ever say are half-truths, and mistaken guesses? It's like the rug has been pulled out from under us; no, worse, it's like the entire floor has dropped out. When I asked one of my more Theory-minded professors what to do, how we can possibly move forward in such a situation, she said that exploring History is like being in a wilderness, and you just have to pitch a tent, and stake your claim. This was quite encouraging in the moment, but I think I may need a re-explanation.
Dening comes to the rescue, however. Whereas most Theory seems to lend itself towards total abstraction, breaking down any Truth you might have ever believed existed, Dening's "historical ethnography" focuses on the telling of history as storytelling, as contributing to an ongoing discourse of meaning-making. I suppose, in a sense, it's really not so different from the post-modern critique. Not really so different at all. And, perhaps, depending on how one feels on a given day, or how one thinks about it, maybe this isn't any more freeing or encouraging; or, maybe the post-modern theorists are, for some of you, plenty freeing and encouraging. For me, the idea of trying to produce academically rigorous analysis amidst a chaotic wilderness of unattainable Truth is terrifying, and paralyzing. But, the idea of being a storyteller, telling and re-telling stories in order to bring them alive again, in order to re-enter them into the collective memory – that is, the idea of the writing of history as a performance, as a performance of that story, is quite freeing in a way. We are, after all, only continuing the same activity all cultures do – telling stories, constructing memory. And so, accepting that it is not about finding real Truth, that it can never be about that, but that it is really about trying to understand others, to see different perspectives, interpretations, and worldviews, and to bring those alive again for others, by re-telling the stories, that, I can do. Or at least I can try. I can do my best. And that's a start.
Telescoping seeing, whether into the past or into the heavens, is likely to foster a certain delusion of apartness in the observer, a sense of separateness from nature, and in that a sense of 'objectivity.' It is microscoping seeing that destroys the notion of passive observation. … Quantium physics … obliges us to take seriously what has been a more purely philosophical consideration: that we do not see things in themselves, but only aspects of things. What we see is an electron path in a bubble chamber, not an electron, and what we see in the skies are not stars, any more than a recording of Caruso's voice is Caruso. By revealing that the observer plays a role in the observed, quantum physics did for physics what Darwin had done for the life sciences: it tore down walls, reuniting the world with the universe. (220)
Everyone who would represent the past must 'go native' in some way or be condemned always only to represent the present. Even the 'native' must 'go native' in finding a past. We might think we are privileged in some way towards a past by being black or white, male or female, poor or powerful, but that privilege is only towards all the others of our living present. The past to which we each 'go native' is a lot farther off and no one gets there but by giving a little. … Few of us can find a voice which is neither white nor black, male nor female, young nor old. Few of us can deny the hegemonic mode in our translations of other linguistic forms into our own. 'Going native' … is actually a very difficult thing to do. That is why I used to take comfort from a headstone in the cemetery outside the Hawaiian Mission Archives … 'Sister Kate,' the epitaph reads, 'She Did What She Could.' (124)
(1) Reading his discussion of this on page 46, I think he might be imagining standing on a beach, and having things wash up on shore which came from another island. Unable to go to that other island, we are unable to know what it is really like. But we can make some educated guesses, do our best, based on what has washed up. Documents and artifacts are all that remain of the past; we cannot visit the past, we can only know it from what few things have survived.


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Tackling Middle School English Homework With Ease
English seems to be not a very difficult subject in comparison to mathematics, for example. However, many middle school students have problems with it nevertheless. Some grammar and spelling rules aren't so easy to understand from the first glance. Fortunately, if you know the basics of how to organize your homework properly, you'll deal with all the assignments with ease. Look at the list below to learn helpful tips.
- Search for extra textbooks.
- Decide when to do your homework.
- Don't get distracted.
- Make preparations.
- Use help.
- Your parents.
- Your classmates.
- The Internet.
Some English textbooks that are used in middle schools are written in such a way so that it's difficult for students to understand all the rules clearly. If you have problems of such kind, you should look for textbooks written by other authors. Consult your teacher on this issue to know the names of the authors and titles of the books.
Many students make a lot of mistakes when dealing with their home tasks because they select the wrong time for work. Find a time when you're full of energy to do your assignments. For the majority of students this time is afternoon, so try to start dealing with your tasks after you've come from school and had a little bit of rest.
Another big problem of middle school students is that they often get distracted from doing their home assignments. You'll need a good concentration to complete your English homework without making mistakes, so make sure to get rid of factors that might interrupt your focus. Tell your parents to leave you alone and switch off electronic distracting gadgets and devices.
Before you start working, it's necessary to organize your workplace and concentrate on your tasks. It's advisable to always put your things in one place in order not to search for them each time. To boost your concentration, you may switch on some music if this method helps you. Classical music usually is the best in this situation.
If you've faced an assignment that is too difficult for you, it's advisable to consult somebody:
They should know English well, so their help might be rather effective. However, there is no guarantee that your parents will be able to explain you everything in an understandable way.
Call the classmates who often get excellent grades in this subject. They're likely to give you some helpful advice.
Look for educational articles and videos online. You'll probably find some very good explanations there.
Professional assignment help from experts.


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- 1 - Our Lily's Peace Cake
"The wonderful part of sending a gift from Manhattan Fruitier is the delicious joy it brings." [more reviews]
Lily's Peace Cake is named for Lily, our sweet French Bulldog, and "peace" because the olive branch is a symbol of peace. The Peace Cake is made with olive oil instead of butter and also contains almonds and hints of orange and lemon. Each cake comes with an olive leaf stencil, powered sugar and a sifter -- simply cut out the stencil with scissors, sprinkle powdered sugar over the top and voila! You will have a beautifully decorated cake!
A welcome treat for breakfast, snack or dessert. Serves 8.


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Easy Animal Home » Latest News » Guide dog attacks rise significantly
Guide dog attacks rise significantly
Posted by: Tim Berrisford Date: 13/06/2013 Category: Latest News
The Guide Dogs Association have voiced their concern over the protection guide dogs have after an increased number of dogs have been attacked by other pet dogs. The figures have rose on average by seven dogs a month in the last five years meaning now ten guide dogs are attacked by other dogs each month in the UK.
Hayley Johnson who is blind and has had her dog for almost seven years explained the injures her guide dog received from other pet dog, "the dog bit her in three places on her leg, all the way down to the bone." Unfortunately this is just one of the incidents reported and attacks that this are happening regularly on innocent guide dogs.
Guide dogs are not taught to be aggressive or fight so when attacked they often can't fight back or protect themselves leaving them with devastating injuries or for their blind owners to get involved which is equally as dangerous. The guide dog association will now look into ways of providing dogs and their owners with more protection from other dogs


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Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, who in 2011 campaigned on education issues, on Wednesday announced five goals for the city to help Denver's kids, including cutting the obesity rate and improving third-grade reading scores.
"My vision for kids has been about giving them the best resources to be healthy, safe and successful," he said, calling the initiative The Denver Promise.
Specifically, the goals call for:
• Increasing the number of children in early-childhood education programs. Now, at least 34,500 children need care, and there are only enough licensed child-care slots for 47 percent of them.
• Reducing the number of students who aren't in school or working to 8 percent over five years from the current 11 percent.
• Reducing the number of overweight or obese children by 5 percentage points in five years from the current 32 percent.
• Improving reading scores of third-graders. Now, 59 percent of third-graders in Denver Public Schools are proficient.
• Increasing the number of first-generation students who complete a postsecondary pathway program and obtain employment.
"There is not one kid who should be left behind," he said. "We ought to do everything we can to capture and make sure kids have the tools to lead a productive and successful lives and be contributing citizens to our community."
On Wednesday, the goals were discussed in a roundtable meeting of the Denver Children's Cabinet — a group created by Hancock with an executive order that includes members of city agencies that are working together to develop strategies.
"We recognize we must align all of our resources to make the impact and bring to the reality those goals," he said.
Lindsay Neil, the director of the Office of Children's Affairs, is leading the mayor's effort.
Hancock has long spoken out about education issues. As mayor, he has the bully pulpit but no direct influence over the school district.
The city, however, can help with support programs before and after school and during the summer. It can create initiatives around proper eating and exercise, stabilize funding for child care and increase access and participation in programs for disconnected youths.
Jeremy P. Meyer: 303-954-1367, firstname.lastname@example.com or twitter.com/jpmeyerdpost


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During the period of Alliances,
uprisings and power struggles between the forces of evil
and all others, leaving death and destruction in its wake.
An evil group that had forsaken their guilds, named the Eternal Army, ruled
the lands by combining rigorous physical and magical training with a strong
central leadership that drew from the combined powers of all its members.
As their wrath raged across Serin, they pillaged and destroyed anything in
their path that would be unable to stop them, spreading pain and suffering
to all, and reaped in the gains from the world as it weakened.
Annihilated by the arrival of the paladins,
they were forced into retreat.
Hunted down wherever they hid, the Eternal Army was broken up, only the
most wily and powerful soldiers of its organisation managing to survive.
With their central command destroyed, the army was finished, but the legacy
of its knowledge remained. In retreat, the last general swore an oath with
Kallomar, that he may give his soul for strength beyond measure, and a new
army that would match any force in Serin. As their numbers grew once more,
a new guildhall was created, the guild of the dark-knights. Resembling
the army of the olden days, but with tactics more adapted to the threat of
the paladins, a new, even deadlier era of intimidation had arisen.
Dark-knights are the embodiments of evil. Harbingers of death, they seek
to torture and destroy all, and seize wealth for their own. They devote
their lives to the study of both dark magic and physical combat, giving
them the versatility to match many enemies. Their contempt for the Light
is especially powerful. Learning a vast array of plagues, the ability to
hurl deadly balls of ice and fire, and retaining the warrior's capability
of controlling the flow of combat with stunning blows, the dark-knight is
a formidable foe to all.
Selecting a race is a fun way to flavor a character, and further define its strengths and weaknesses. Hover over a race link to view a brief summary of how the race interacts the class, or click it to visit the race's page for detailed information about that race.
Human dark-knight has a compounded experience cost of 300.
Drow dark-knight has a compounded experience cost of 800.
Avian dark-knight has a compounded experience cost of 650.
Jotun dark-knight has a compounded experience cost of 650.


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I've finally gotten my bookmarks freed from Chrome and put online. I like how it turned the folders into tags.
Here's an example, my links on standby power:
Overall root is here:
I've finally gotten my bookmarks freed from Chrome and put online. I like how it turned the folders into tags.
Here's an example, my links on standby power:
Overall root is here:
Over the last few months , the TSYS leadership team has come into their own. I've been very pleased with how everything has come together.
I've realized that it is one of the key aspects the BoD has been helping me with. They've been invaluable in providing perspective , context , stories of high and low performing teams / organizations , feedback on how I'm managing managers etc.
One key thing in delegation is you have to delegate both authority and responsibility. With the orbiter demo , I laid out a clear list of high level objectives (developed in concert with the engineering team, the BoD, outside advisors) , handed it over to the team and let go. Many organizations have the project management roll up to the top level. This is a recipe for disaster. It's a big adjustment for the dev team to actually have static deliverables. Most of the time , devs don't really get underway on something cause they'll get yanked around by shifting priorities.
I have removed myself from visibility into the project boards and I muted the team category in discourse. I'm only an @ mention away if I'm really needed , and my CTO and COO have a great relationship , so my COO can handle any day to day (procurement , site work like rebooting something etc).
I have learned quite a bit about management , and building effective teams over the last 7 years. I've made numerous mistakes , I've learned from them. Key is to truly delegate , be prepared for loss/mistakes/failure and to incorporate results from that into the next sprint. Deadlines are fraught with conflict. Rough guidelines and blocks of time and clear objectives are key.
This post (and most of my posts actually) is an outgrowth of a conversation with someone I am advising (a fellow CEO).
Over the last few years , TSYS has experimented with a number of management structures. Specifically with reporting structures and day to day operational management.
One key take away , is that startup (in particular) CEOs shouldn't manage capacity ( execution , amount of work and output etc) . That should be delegated one layer down. For too long I tried to manage capacity and it was ineffective, as I was also trying to manage capability and product etc. Basically I brought in a CTO much later than I needed to. Once I stopped managing capacity and I focused on closing capability gaps , we've been able to move forward much faster and with way less energy. Of course a company still needs fantastic talent , and that's where my exclusive focus has been . Identifying , recruiting for , closing key material capability gaps. That's also a critical pre requisite for outside funding (which also I'm finally raising , much later than I should have). Self funding a startup the first few years is a trade off. However it's allowed us to establish a very strong culture , be incredibly frugal and have our internal systems setup right (no "we will do this thing later , just focus on product). We also have achieved some revenue. So team/revenue being on a good trajectory puts us in control with fundraising.
I've got various sources for more specialized material (ranging from capital and entity formation to regulatory expertise).
Remember most law is highly uniform , scales across situations etc. You very often do not actually need a lawyer , you always need todo your research though. Apply critical thinking, use the various ABA etc resources that are on the Net.
Oh Docracy.com has a great collection of material as well.
I've been the CEO of an emerging LLC business for three years now. I want to share some of my journey and write a job description , this will be what I ask my board to evaluate me against.
Key deliverables for an early stage CEO:
1) formation issues. Deep thinking on entity structuring, balancing overhead , risk and execution.
2) building the initial board for submission to the LLC members for approval, growing it as needed over time and milestone achievement , changing the composition as warranted. Effectively utilize the board.
3) Putting the team together. Technology , ops, sales/marketing. In roughly that order .
4) Until you've achieved step 3, do those roles effectively. Found with no less than three people (one in each role), no more than five.
5) Fund the business. Be incredibly frugal , spend judiciously but invest where needed.
6) Set the culture, tone , character , tolerable behaviors etc.
The last three years saw us go from three untitled founders and a rough idea to :
1) Three solid lines of business
2) Four independent directors
4) Director of r&d, director of swdev, director of hwdev, director of marketing (who also serves as the gm of a revenue generating line of business), director of business development
We've had four separations over that time period. Team members have changed roles , changed commitment levels etc. Change is constant , embrace it quickly and ride the wave.
We are now raising capital. Self funding and early revenue is a fantastic approach , however it has limitations. None of us draw a salary , we maintain primary income sources ("dayjob") at various levels.
I have come to properly value and manage my time. I deploy it where it will generate the most return. I've delegated very heavily (essentially to the point of abdication ala buffet) and focus my energy on filling in final recruitment gaps , partner relationship building / vendor sourcing and capital raising.
I recently invested into the TSYS Electronics Lab. It's now quite nicely out fitted. Here's a list of the items in the lab as of 12/9/2018
Here's a few pictures of the lab:
So you've decided to start a for profit, cash flow positive, self funded, jump started business in the great state of TX. You've done your research and found that you want to start a series LLC to provide maximum flexibility and asset protection.
This is the exact route I took with Turn Net Systems. We were formed in the last days of 2015. Three years later (almost to the day) I have learned quite a bit about forming, administering, governing, operating an LLC. Yes those are four distinct functions.
Some presumptions:
Here's what I used to get started , with all the above in mind (80% of that was in place day 1, 20% evolved over 3 years)
Buy his book: https://www.lonestarlandlaw.com/book-info.html
Buy the Nolo books
Use Quickbooks Online, neat.com, get TurboTax . Your taxes won't be that complicated the first few years as you are starting up. Keep good records, scan them to neat. Integrate neat to QBO.
Here's a collection of links I used when forming the LLC/drafting operating agreement etc.
Entity Formation
http://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/181957.pdf << a great article on what exactly is liability from a legal perspective. capital calls are given extensive treatment.
http://www.lexisnexis.com/legalnewsroom/tax-law/b/federaltaxation/archive/2012/06/11/substantial-economic-effect.aspx << here be dragons. You don't want to be subject to a "substantial economic test" it's where laywers and IRS act like cats playing with mice before killing them.
http://www.swlaw.com/assets/pdf/news/2010/02/18/Series%20LLCs%20(BXS)_BaharSchippel.pdf << the professionals are nervous about series llc, but that is their job no?
http://apps.americanbar.org/buslaw/committees/CL690000pub/newsletter/200807/kean.pdf << lots of good tax info in here
http://thestartuptoolkit.com/blog/2013/02/equity-basics-vesting-cliffs-acceleration-and-exits/ << vesting basics
http://www.mosaichub.com/answers/question/how-to-create-a-vesting-schedule-for-a-company << vesting llc practical
http://www.brightjourney.com/q/actually-setup-vesting-agreement-co-founders-w-breaking-budget << more llc vesting stuff
http://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/181957.pdf << withdrawl/expulsion of members. ties into vesting.
http://foundrs.com/ << equity calculator
https://www.clerky.com/yc-stock-plan-forms << equity vesting for yc companies
Here is a good collection of curated links on accounting:
Most of the links were sourced from:
I have a very simple pen/paper system for organization , maintaining notes and keeping on track.
It's three notebooks :
The legal pad is used for note taking at meetings. I also use it for sketching out things with people. I've got a dedicated sketchbook and I bring that if I expect to do lots of sketching. I transcribe my notes to wiki page or email and I scan the intentional sketches . Then I shred the old pages.
The rite in the rain notebook is used for my daily/weekly focus sheet. It serves as a professional diary of sorts. It's got one word entries , the actual details and work is stored in trello / OpenProject.
The little black notebook is used for quick notes (measurements, personal todos of administrative nature), scheduling reminders while on phone , grocery lists etc. it's not for any permanent record or transcription .
I like this approach. Right tool for the right job , and mixing paper / digital works really well.
I had a wonderful one on one last night with the CEO of a non profit that I serve on its board.
We talked about a number of key development issues for the organization. The one that really stood out and I want to discuss is recruitment .
1) build pipeline. Recruiting is just another form of sales. Just like fundraising and getting paying customers.
2) utilize a CRM. We've settled on suite CRM at TSYS. We use this across the brands.
3) once you've built your pipeline , start reaching out via email. Ask to have a 30 to 90 minute conversation. Or ask for referrals if they aren't interested. The mail should be very short , a few paragraphs.
4) the goal of the conversation should be to quickly assess interest , fit, discuss the role.
5) have a small list of options. Three is the magic number I've found. Offer s range of commitment levels. Especially early in a startups life , people may want to try before buying.
6) be open with participation and auditing opportunities. Offer people the chance to join build sessions , meet the team, have dinner and drinks etc. team fit matters above all else.
7) offer real value. Discuss cultural fit , what kind of management style the person wants , ask what's horrible about current position (as applicable). Have deep conversations and provide opportunity for true impactfulness and autonomy. Otherwise why bring someone in if you are just going to continue to (micro) manage.
Here's what I've been keeping in mind and skimming / re reading / thinking on over last few weeks
I'm rapidly handing off the full product and operations aspects of TSYS to my highly trusted lieutenants. This lets me focus on capital raising . This requires incredibly deep strategic thought. Time to play chess at epoch a bunch I think ….


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Listen, we're all about body positivity. We love it when people are secure with their size and how they look and we definitely think that people who rock their curves are something to aspire to, but there's a fine line between body positivity and being reckless with your health. The fact of the matter is that fat can kill and it's even more detrimental to your health if the fat is located around your stomach.
Want to know the truth about belly fat? We're taking you through some of the gritty things that people may not be telling you and how to combat this sneaky but devastating kind of fat.
It's the Worst Kind of Fat to Have
When it comes to affecting your health, it doesn't get any worse than belly fat. Sure, belly fat doesn't make the best of beach pictures and it's responsible for the dreaded muffin top, but it does much more damage to your health than it ever will to your physical appearance.
Deep fat in the belly, or visceral fat, is responsible for producing hormones and proteins that can really turn a bad situation into a terrible one. For example, it increases the bad cholesterol in your body (LDL), it can spike your blood pressure and blood sugar, and it will throw your triglycerides count through the roof. Belly fat also increases your body's resistance to insulin and can make any existing inflammation even worse than it already is.
Sitting Can Make Matter Worse
We all know that exercise and movement is an important part of getting fit and healthy, but did you know that staying sedentary doesn't just increase your chances for weight gain, it actually makes you more prone to putting belly fat on?
Belly fat builds the more you sit, so if you want to make sure that you stop putting on more fat around your waist and start burning it off, it's important for you get up and get moving. Even just 3 hours of aerobic exercise in a week can help you keep the belly fat off. However, it's always best to get as much movement into your day.
Whether you choose to start taking the stairs when you're going up one or two floors or you get up to pace around every 20 minutes, it really doesn't matter. What's important is that you move regularly and that you don't give your belly fat a chance to start increasing.
It's Not About How Many Crunches You Can Do
Sure, crunches are great for toning up your muscles under the fat and they're also really great at developing a solid core strength. We also agree that doing so is incredibly important for reasons like endurance. However, crunches aren't going to do much for you if you're trying to burn belly fat.
This is disappointing news to many, but that doesn't make it any less true. If you want or need to burn belly fat, the best way to do it is by eating a low carbohydrate diet and getting consistent aerobic exercise in. Walking is a great aerobic exercise that people tend to overlook, but so is swimming, hopping on the elliptical and boxing. If you really want to eviscerate your belly fat, one of the best ways to do so is by incorporating intervals into your aerobic work outs.
Trying to double up on your aerobic work outs and adjusting your diet if you feel like you're not losing as much belly fat as you should be. You can also try high intensity interval training if you're looking for a real challenge.
Stress is A Sneaky Culprit
There are likely tons of reasons people are putting on belly fat, but one of the sneakiest and most devastating one of them all is really stress. We're not over exaggerating this one folks. Science and a ton of research will back us up on this: there is a direct connection between people who deal with a lot of stress and people with larger waist lines.
What makes stress a breeding ground for deep belly fat is a hormone called cortisol. Stress produces this hormone in high amounts and, unfortunately for many of us, cortisol induces cravings for high-calorie snacks. It goes without saying that this triggers a brutal cycle of storing even more fat in your belly, which just means more cortisol and more hard-to-beat cravings. Many life coaches and health experts will tell you that it's crucial to find an effective way to deal with stress especially if you work in a demanding job and are trying to zap your abdominal fat away.
Our recommendation? Try a high-intensity sport like boxing or, if you're more of the quiet type, try a relaxing hour of yoga. They're both great at helping you relieve stress and, as an added bonus, they'll give you a great aerobic workout. Killing two birds with one stone? Excellent.
Ditch the Scale, Grab the Tape Measure
In terms of measuring success, you are really going to want to ditch the scale and switch it up with a tape measure. Fat is lighter than muscle, so if you're coupling your aerobic workouts with strength training (as you should), you might not be seeing a good measure of how effective your efforts are.
Also, you could be losing weight in other places but are barely making a dent in the belly fat. For this reason, it's best to track your progress in inches. You'll get a better idea of how much fat you're actually losing and you won't be bogged down if you don't see the number you're expecting on the scale.
Tracking progress with a tape measure is actually preferred method by many weight loss experts because weight can fluctuate easily due to reasons like water retention or even how big of a lunch you've had. Besides, there's nothing more satisfying than seeing the inch count grow and your waist line physically shrinking at the same time.


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Approved by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) in 2009 as an approved training establishment, Fulton's team of fully qualified BRC approved training providers (ATP) deliver BRC certified training programs under both the Global Standard for Food Safety and the Global Standard for Storage and Distribution.
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I chose the title of this point tongue in cheek, because I have a great friend in the military and his signature is FINAO – Failure is not an option. In the military, when every decision is life and death, that mantra is correct. In innovation, however, failure must always be an option.
I've been scanning Twitter posts and other blog sites and I see that many commentators believe that acceptance of failure and "failing forward faster" is imperative to innovation, and for the most part I agree. What's missing is a deeper investigation into the issues surrounding "failure". How does an organization "accept" some failure when FINAO in most cases? You know a subject is getting some attention when the cartoonists have something to say about it.
The problem with failure – either accepting it or rejecting it – is in defining it. Today, in most firms, failure can be defined in using these criteria:
- No one wants to fail because it reflects badly on them and their careers
- Failure is a one time deal – it's cataclysmic and ends badly
- Failure is an end point – a terminal destination
- Failure is ridiculed, mocked and reviled. We tell cautionary stories about previous failures
- The culture rewards success and ridicules failure
- Failure is costly
- Failure is unpredictable
In these instances, only success is viewed as a reasonable outcome. Status quo is accepted with some grumbling and toleration, and any other outcome is means for dismissal. And that's what potential innovators face in many organizations. If we can't guarantee success, go back and try again, or worse, do something to cut costs or increase efficiency.
When you hear people talking about the importance of failure, or when you read people writing about the importance of failure, they are correct but incomplete. We all understand that failure is important to innovation, but we need to understand how to create the conditions in which failure is acceptable. Clearly, if failure is considered a worthless, terminal condition then it can never be acceptable. However, if we can establish some of the characteristics I've listed below for failure in an organization, then we may be able to create meaningful failure:
- Failure is contained and inexpensive
- Failure is considered a likely outcome
- Failure is not an end point and isn't terminal to the effort
- Failure is considered part of the process of learning and developing
- Failure is predictable – in fact we assert the likelihood of failure
- Because it involves learning, advancement and was predicted, failure is accepted or celebrated
Think about the shift in mindsets revealed by the different thinking and reactions to failure. The cultural bias toward catastrophic failure can be tempered by a smaller, contained failure that is part of the learning process and ultimately leads to new insights, knowledge or a new product. Rather than one big, risky, unplanned failure, we create experiments with lots of small, contained and somewhat predictable failures that lead to greater success.
Strangely, the situation I've described is what we'd expect in an R&D lab, but don't plan for or tolerate anywhere else in most organizations. Controlled experiments that advance our knowledge and prepare the first to make better decisions leading to better products – that's valuable. Perhaps we just need to reframe our language. Rather than "failing forward faster" we need "rapid, controlled experimentation".
No matter how many times innovation experts tell you that failure is important and must be part of the process, that doesn't really matter until someone tells you how to make failure more acceptable in your organization, so that you can be allowed to fail occasionally. What managers hate more than failure is uncertainty, unexpected costs and risks. If you can demonstrate that your experiments remove uncertainty, reduce costs and risks, controlled failure will be tolerated or even accepted. Heck, you may even win an award for it.
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Jeffrey Phillips is a senior leader at OVO Innovation. OVO works with large distributed organizations to build innovation teams, processes and capabilities. Jeffrey is the author of "Make us more Innovative", and innovateonpurpose.blogspot.com.


text: Math Hacks That Teachers Never Taught Us >> More DIY Ideas << Math is one of the most useful subjects in our life, yet many of us don't master even the basics of math. One of the reasons is that we didn't learn it the right way. Here Diply has put together a list of seven math hacks that will change your lives. Check them out and make sure our next generations are on top of math. Here goes the hacks: Diply – 7 math hacks >> More DIY Ideas << >> Low Cost Craft Supplies << Get New Posts Right To Your Inbox!Get captivating new Tutorials, just like this one, delivered right to your inbox each day. Just sign up and we will send you the best new tutorials as they come in. Your email address will NEVER been spammed, sold, or shared. You are welcome to unsubscribe at any time with the link in the email. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *Comment Name * Email * Website © 2020 How To Instructions.org Tweet Buffer Share on Tumblr


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Donating a Car
If you have a car that you know longer use you should consider donating it to a good cause. Many people are unaware that it is even possible to donate cars. In turn they simply end up taking their car to the junkyard instead. Why give your car to the junkyard for pennies, when you can donate it to help people that are in need?
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Honolulu, HI (PRWEB) March 10, 2014
Aston offers special military discounts of up to 10 percent off the best daily rate for all active duty or retired military personnel and their eligible dependents.
For Hawaii based military, guests can take a mini-staycation with Aston by booking at least two consecutive nights and you'll receive the Kamaaina K-Class Pass. Enjoy perks like complimentary parking, 2 p.m. late check-out, upgrade to the next available view category, and the Aston Aloha Book, which offers over $2,500 in savings on dining, shopping, activities in Hawaii. Plus, receive HawaiianMiles with every Aston booking.
Visit http://www.AstonHotels.com or call (866) 774-2924 to book your vacation. Prices are based on availability, subject to change, and do not include taxes and fees. Guest must present valid military identification upon check-in. Other restrictions may apply.
About Aston Hotels & Resorts
Aston Hotels & Resorts operates a diverse range of condominium resorts and hotels with accommodations from hotel rooms and condominium suites, to villas and cottages that suit any lifestyle, taste or budget. Based in Honolulu, the company manages over 4,100 units in 27 properties on the four major Hawaiian Islands, South Lake Tahoe, California, Lake Las Vegas, Nevada, and Orlando, Florida. For more information, visit http://www.AstonHotels.com or call toll free 866-774-2924.


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After much weeping and gnashing of teeth by armchair GM's across the city, the Chicago Blackhawks recalled forward Jimmy Hayes from the Rockford IceHogs on Tuesday. In addition, the Hawks assigned defenseman Steve Montador to their minor league club for what is assumed to be a conditioning stint.
Hayes is tied for the IceHogs' team lead in goals this season for the IceHogs, tallying 22 of them in addition to 17 assists. He has also been very disciplined this year, with only 23 penalty minutes to his credit through 58 games.
The reason so many Chicago fans were clamoring for Hayes to be recalled when Patrick Sharp went down with a shoulder injury was because of not only his offensive prowess, but also because of his size. At 6'5" and 210 pounds, Hayes is the type of guy that head coach Joel Quenneville can plant in front of the net to create screens, as well as to wreak havoc physically on the second or third line. This physicality is something that the Hawks don't necessarily emphasize with their playing style, but judging by how Quenneville has longed for Bryan Bickell to assume that role of tough guy with scoring touch, it wouldn't be surprising for him to ask Hayes to do the same thing.
This also isn't Hayes' first rodeo with the Hawks. He made his NHL debut last season in a late December tilt with the Detroit Red Wings, and scored his first career goal just three days later against the Edmonton Oilers.
For more info on Hayes, here is a video that the team released last year, featuring an interview with Hayes (on the right) and another forward worth keeping an eye on for a call-up this season, Ben Smith.


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Orthopedic Surgery Services
for The Legal and Regulatory Communities
Orthopedic Expert Witness
Too often the term "expert witness" has been associated with professionals who exclusively trade in the provision of legal testimony. While some are qualified and honest individuals, many are simply an "opinion for hire." As an orthopedic expert witness, Dr. Marc Rosen offers experience as an actively practicing orthopedic surgeon, an experienced speaker, an authoritarian voice on many aspects of his specialty, and a leader on the local and national level in the field of orthopedic surgery.
Orthopedic surgeons are often on the front line of litigation as a significant number of workman's compensation, personal injury, and medical liability cases involve musculoskeletal complaints. An aging and increasingly more active population has magnified the prevalence of orthopedic conditions. Primary care physicians are often not trained or willing to accept responsibility for these complex maladies.
The courtroom is a foreign and forbidding territory to physicians. Practicing medicine and provision of legal services are divergent tasks; skills that combine the ability to bridge this gap are learned over time and not taught in medical school, internship or residency. Dr. Rosen has over thirty years' experience in his field during which he has concentrated on developing this area of expertise.
The Orthopedic Expert Witness
As an orthopedic expert witness Dr. Rosen has appeared in trial for plaintiff and defense but always with a keen sense that peer reviewed medical literature and a sound knowledge of standards of care must always be the foundation for opinions. A departure from rigorous adherence to this principal violates the standards of professionalism to which members of the numerous professional societies to which he belongs demand. In providing his expertise to the legal profession and to institutions it is his policy to thoroughly review the issues surrounding the provision of his services before accepting any position. No undertaking will be assumed without confidence that no prejudice or conflict of interest will intervene and that his opinions can be supported with reliability. This principal applies not only to a court of law but also to independent medical examinations, evaluation of hospital orthopedic services, rehabilitation and nursing standards and orthopedic products and services. As a public speaker he is aware that not only must his discourse be grounded in scientific fact but also tailored to the audience so as to be clear, concise and, understood by all.
Orthopedic Expert Witness Services
Having been in the active practice of orthopedic surgery in Arizona for three decades Dr. Rosen has not only provided orthopedic expert witness services but also a wide variety of administrative and clinical expertise to individuals and to institutions. Having chaired hospital committees, professional organizations, and scientific endeavors he has a broad experience base and is able to provide a number of related services.
The foundation of much of this work revolves around medical record review. In undertaking a review he has a careful and meticulous approach that seeks to encompass all aspects of a patient's care from physician progress notes to medication records, nursing notes and rehabilitation records often overlooked by some reviewers.
Orthopedic expert witness testimony encompasses not only medical liability but also workers' compensation and personal injury cases. The merits of each case and legal theory are always considered before a case is accepted. He is familiar with review of the legal pleadings and documents that have been filed, the process of discovery and deposition testimony.
Dr. Rosen performs independent medical examinations and in doing so considers each case with thoroughness and avoidance of the use of prefabricated templates. There is no need to simply repeat a volume of test results or records in the course of an examination and that effort is better devoted to a thorough and complete physical examination from which a truly "independent" conclusion can be drawn. At no time will an examinee be accepted for medical care nor will treatment or further diagnostic testing be offered.
Having extensive hospital committee and leadership experience has shown that outside peer review and quality assurance is critical to the hospital industry. In light of current healthcare policy and that envisioned to be unfolding in the current political environment this service will become increasingly important. Dr. Rosen brings a wealth of knowledge to this environment. He is also skilled in evaluating cost efficiency and market environments for individual hospital's orthopedic product line. The orthopedic service area will by nature of current and projected demographics be a major driver of hospital productivity and profitability.
Public speaking on topics of musculoskeletal conditions, arthritis care, surgical and non-surgical treatment has always been linked to Dr. Rosen's practice. As a leader in his community and on the national stage he has had the opportunity to address audiences of all sizes both on a professional basis and to the public at large.
Orthopedic Expert Witness Services Areas
- Orthopedic Expert Witness
- Medical Record Review
- Independent Medical Examination
- Quality Assurance & Institutional Peer Review
- Evaluation of Hospital Orthopedic Product Line
- Public Speaking on Healthcare Topics
Orthopedic Expert Witness Expertise
Orthopedic expert witness expertise is only one area of Dr. Rosen's wide base of training. Throughout his career he has maintained an extensive academic program of continuing education, and has pursued avenues of professional endeavor that include not only his subspecialty of adult reconstructive surgery (hip and knee replacement surgery) but also trauma and fracture care, venous thrombosis prevention and treatment, nursing, rehabilitation, as well as orthopedic implant design and instrumentation.
He has had the opportunity to work with the orthopedic implant industry, and has aided in bringing new operating room products to market. As a speaker for many pharmaceutical companies and having a keen interest in blood conservation during surgery and prevention of DVT he has helped improve patient care and developed protocols that meet government and professional standards. He has worked with nursing staff and rehabilitation professionals to enhance orthopedic care and improve patient outcomes.
This orthopedic expert experience and dedication to his profession have earned Dr. Rosen accolades in professional circles and in lay publications. He has been recognized in the press, by peer organizations, and by colleagues on a local and national level. While dedication to the practice of orthopedic surgery remains undiminished his activities as an orthopedic expert witness provide new challenges and manner of expression to which he devotes equal energies.
Orthopedic Expert Witness Expertise
- Adult Hip and Knee Replacement Surgery
- Orthopedic Trauma and Fractures
- Venous Thrombosis (DVT)
- Orthopedic Nursing and Rehabilitation Standards
- Orthopedic Implants, Design and Application, Surgical Devices
Visit the orthopedic expert witness page
Orthopedic Medical Associations & Memberships
Below is a list of the professional medical associations and memberships in which Dr. Rosen is active.
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, The organization that represents the scientific community of orthopedic surgeons in the United States. Membership is restricted to those who have completed the proscribed curriculum, are recommended by their peers, and hold certification by the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery. I have been a fellow of the Academy since 1985 and serve on the Board of Councilors of the Academy since 2007 my term continuing till 2013.
The American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons is the political and social action organization representing the interests of the fellowship of orthopedic surgeons in the United States. My participation in this organization includes the National Orthopedic Leadership Conference where annually I go to Washington, D.C. and lobby on behalf of my patients' continued access to specialty care in the halls of congress.
AOA - American Orthopaedic Associationis an honorary society of the leaders in the field of orthopedic surgery. Membership is limited to those who have demonstrated leadership in their community and on a national level. Membership is considered an honor granted only to those recommended by their peers and reviewed whose credentials meet the criteria of academic and community leadership. I have been elected to the class of 2010.
Arizona Orthopaedic Society Orthopedic Surgeons who practice in Arizona and are recommended by their peers for membership. I have for many years been a member, I currently sit on the board of directors and I am the past president of the organization.
Western Orthopedic Association A fellowship of orthopedic surgeons who are members of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons and practice in the Western states. I have been a member for more than 10 years and in 2010 was elected to serve on the board of directors.
The American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons represents experts in the area of hip and knee replacement surgery. Membership is limited to those who devote the majority of their practice to adult reconstructive surgery, hip and knee replacement surgery. Members must submit cases for review and are recommended by other members familiar with their contributions and quality of practice within their respective communities. I have been a member for many years.
Maricopa County Medical Society Represents the physicians practicing in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area and Maricopa County Arizona. I have been a member for over 20 years serving on the board of directors and as the society's president in 2005.
Arizona Medical Association Represents the physicians of the State of Arizona. I have served as a member of the board of directors and have held membership in this vital organization for more than two decades.
American Board of Orthopedic Surgery is the body that provides for "board certification" of orthopedic surgeons who hold the degree, Doctor of Medicine and have completed the stringent training, educational, and examination requirements in order to be considered "board certified."


text: On June 21, 2015, after admitting to an extra-marital sexual relationship, Rev. Tullian Tchividjian announced his resignation as senior pastor of Coral Ridge PCA in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. This was devastating news for me. Over a number of years, Tullian's teaching, along with Paul Tripp, Ray Cortese, John Frame, J.D. Greear, Matt Chandler, Joe Novenson, Tim Keller, John Piper, Scotty Smith, Nancy Guthrie, and Elyse Fitzpatrick, have all been refreshing gospel voices for my soul. Continue reading


text: Give the gift even your Mother-in-law will love! Custom calendars are awesome gifts and fun to give yourself! You can enjoy photos and memories all year long as each month you turn to a new page! They are also fun to keep after the year ends, as your own mini scrapbook! Everything you need to create your calendar is included in this workshop! Watch the video to get the full details! REGISTER TODAY


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Department of Energy lab starts up solar plant in New York
As solar panels have steadily grown more cost effective, the technology has expanded well past the areas traditionally associated with solar power. Now the Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory has started generating power at its major new solar installation on Long Island in New York.
The new Long Island Solar Farm includes more than 164,000 solar panels spread across nearly 200 acres near the lab's facilities in Upton, New York. All told the system is capable of putting out as much as 32 megawatts of power and is expected to produce nearly 50 gigawatt-hours of electricity every year, making it easily the biggest solar installation to date in New York.
"In addition to providing thousands of Long Island homes and businesses with clean, renewable electricity, this impressive solar array also offers Brookhaven Lab scientists a unique opportunity to study the challenges of deploying large-scale solar power installations in the northeastern U.S," Doon Gibbs, Brookhaven Lab's deputy director for science & technology, said in a statement.
The solar system is expected to provide clean, renewable electricity for as many as 4,500 New York residents, offsetting more than 30,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions.


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So there I was, on hold with the cable company…go figure. "All representatives are still assisting other callers" the robot chimed in-between the scratchy, overly loud hold music. Little did I know when they said that my wait would be over 15 minutes that what they meant was my wait would be roughly 42 minutes, but who's counting? I began annoyed, but it didn't take too long for me to catch the self-talk and quickly think of alternatives. I thought about all of the other people that are likely dealing with recording errors, blue/black screens, slow connection speeds, and a slew of other #FirstWorldProblems and that started phase one of my chilling the f out. This was in no way the end of the world.
This phone call was an #Action step to proactively meet one of my wife's unstated but hinted at needs. The DVR wasn't working correctly, and just did 1 second recordings that said "recording error" and wouldn't play back. We had plenty of space and it could make space if needed. We were only recording kids shows to create background noise and distraction anyway, again not the end of the world. I figured I had a few minutes during breakfast routine, I'd make the call. I never thought I'd remember some #Zen teachings during a tech call.
It was probably the third time the robot chimed in that I realized my mindset made all the difference. I was "waiting", like in the "Waiting Place" if you are familiar with Dr Seuss. This is "negative waiting" as Tim Ferriss describes because you are playing the victim role and big bad reality is not letting you do your will. Check out his 21 day No Complaints Experiment…I'll start this one today with you. In any case, the switch flipped in my mind and I realized that "Life is what happens while you are waiting for your goals to happen." All that dead space between "things" is life…you can recapture those moments and live then too…or you can keep waiting. The choice, whether you accept it or not, is yours.


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