text:
The Faculty of Science Centennial Centre for Interdisciplinary Science (CCIS)—a vibrant environment for learning and discovery.
Undergraduate and graduate programs, degrees, and admission information.
Field workers should be aware that besides the 'macrobiological' risks associated with working in a field setting (e.g. bears, dogs and wasps), there are also microbiological hazards that could be significant. Workers should consider the animals they deal with and the organisms that may be associated with these animals in evaluating the risk that certain situations may present. Most animals likely contain some disease and some of these can be contracted by humans. The routes of entry into a person include:
1. orally (ingestion): many organisms enter this way. Wear protection; wash your hands before eating, drinking or smoking.
2. skin breaks (cuts, abrasions, animal bites): e.g. tetanus, rabies
3. respiratory route via inhalation (also mucosal membranes): Hantavirus, rabies,
1. orally (ingestion): many organisms enter this way. Wear protection; wash your hands before eating, drinking or smoking.
2. skin breaks (cuts, abrasions, animal bites): e.g. tetanus, rabies
3. respiratory route via inhalation (also mucosal membranes): Hantavirus, rabies,
Knowing how the organisms enter allows you to use protective clothing (gloves, eye protection, filter masks) and adopt prudent practices: wash your hands before eating/drinking/smoking; wear insect repellent and wear clothing to minimize exposed skin; and not petting skunks or raccoons.
A list of some microbial agents that include: bacteria, viruses, protozoans and worms and some characteristics of the infection appears below. More detailed technical information may be found in a binder located in the MSDS filing cabinet near CW468 in the Biological Sciences Building. Current information on a wide variety of microbial pathogens can be found at Health Canada web site: Population and Public Health Branch (PPHB) of Health Canada (formerly Laboratory Centre for Disease Control).
Highly Recommended Reading for all Fieldworkers:
Wildlife as Sources of Zoonotic Agents (PDF, 229kb)
Kruse H, Kirkemo A-M, Handeland K. Wildlife as source of zoonotic infections. Emerging Infectious Diseases [serial on the Internet]. 2004 Dec
[downloaded Feb 07, 2005]. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol10no12/04-0707.htm
This is an exellent article that outlines the variety of agents that one might encounter while hiking and camping out of doors and should be required reading for those actually capturing or handling animals in their research. It mentions a theory that Alexander the Great, who died in 323BC, may have succumbed to a West Nile virus infection (they did not have DEET back then).
Threat of Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome to Field Biologists working with Small Mammals
Douglas A. Kelt, Dirk H. Van Vuren, Mark S. Hafner, Brent J. Danielson, and Marcella J. Kelly
Emerging Infectious Diseases • www.cdc.gov/eid • Vol. 13, No. 9, September 2007
tetanus, lockjaw
West Nile Virus
Lyme disease
Tapeworm and Roundworm parasites
Prevention Summary
1. field researcher death (2004)
2. CDC_Hanta_Prevention
3. CDC_Hanta_transmission
4. CDC_Lab_Guidelines
5. AHS_Hanta_Information
further information is available from Health Canada:
Biosafety Advisory - West Nile Virus
West Nile Virus Surveillance Information
and the Government of Alberta:
West Nile Virus and Workers
bubonic plaque: fever, chills
septacemic plague: above + bleeding into skin, other organs
pneumonic plague: above + difficulty breathing, rapid shock and death
Tests confirm Grand Canyon biologist died of plague" - LA Times
(accessed November 4, 2019)
further infrormation on plague at the CDC website:
The following information kindly provided by Dr. Allen Shostak
April 30, 1999
Anyone doing fieldwork with animals should be aware of some parasitic worms that may infect them. It is important to remember that their are many parasites of wildlife that do not normally infect humans but that are perfectly capable of doing so given the opportunity. Most of the infections occur via the fecal-oral route (i.e. eggs from animal feces being transferred into your mouth) so wearing rubber gloves, washing your hands/finger nails thoroughly after contact, possibly wearing protective clothing, avoiding any instances of hand-mouth contact (no smoking, chewing gum, nail biting). The most common source is in handling animal scat and because the eggs are often long-lived, old scat can be just as dangerous as fresh material. Infective eggs may also be present on animal fur although in lesser number than in the scat.
Some possible tapeworm parasites are:
Echinococcus granulosus, Echinococcus multilocularis: adults in carnivores like wolves and coyotes but cysts may occur in Microtines such as voles. Eggs ingested from carnivore scats (and possibly pieces of cysts from mice introduced via a cut) can cause hydatid cysts to form. These are difficult or impossible to treat and can be lethal depending on where they develop in your body.
Some roundworm parasites include:
Toxocara cati, Toxocara canis: carried by many carnivores. Ingested eggs release larvae that migrate aberrantly in the human body.
Trichinella spiralis: can infect most mammals. Serious infections typically arise from consuming under-cooked meat, but handling raw meat might leave enough larvae on your hands to cause an infection by ingestion.
There are certainly many other possible tapeworm and roundworm parasites that field workers handling animals/scats might be exposed to. Infection would most typically be from ingestion of eggs or larvae and less typically via a cut in the skin
Consider the route of entry
1. Oral route: (many of these diseases)
a). contamination on hands from soil or animal contact:
wear protection (gloves); overalls, eye protection, particle mask.
no eating/drinking/smoking/gum chewing/nail biting until get cleaned up.
Wash your hands with soap/water.
b). eating/drinking contaminated food/water:
cook food well, wash vegetables
don't drink water from streams unless filtered or chemically treated
a). contamination on hands from soil or animal contact:
b). eating/drinking contaminated food/water:
2. Respiratory Route: (includes mucous membranes): (Hantavirus, rabies, rabbit fever)
avoid dusts that may be contaminated
wear filter mask (HEPA)
disinfect area if must work there (find out what you need: chemical/concentration/time).
3. Skin cut/animal bite: (rabies, rabbit fever, tetanus)
Consider getting immunized for things like tetanus or other diseases if are engaged in activity that puts you at greater risk.


text:
Posted on July 12, 2012, Ross Lincoln Valve Introduces 'Steam Badges' For Doing Non-Game Stuff
Lost in the crush of Steam's annual summer sale, or their rap beef with EA, is the surreptitious unveiling this week of a brand new, and strangely interesting Steam feature, Steam Badges. Steam Badges are kind of like achievements, the difference being that you earn them by completing tasks within Steam, not within your games. The photo above (courtesy of CVG) shows a few of them, earned by participating in Steam events; as CVG notes, there are retroactive badges for tasks already completed. Essentially, this turns using Steam itself into a game.
So have at it, Game Fronters. Let us know in comments what you've earned.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
When faced with overdue accounts it is important to recover your money as quickly and as cost effective as possible.
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Being a collection agent is not an easy job. You certainly have to be thick skinned and be ready to deal with every excuse and delay tactic under the sun. It also helps if you are a people person to skillfully deal with every type of debtor. One day you may get someone screaming at you and shouting profanities and the following day you get someone crying down the phone giving you their life...
Debt Management and Debt Planning
It feels like the media are announcing the loss of a UK big name brand every week. Both small and big business are being affected by these loses as they are left out of pocket. Even those companies many of us used to consider to be 'untouchable' businesses are equally having extreme financial worries.
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Dig your way out of debt the right way!
With a recent story involving a digger hitting headline news we thought we would tell you how to successfully deal with late payers!


text:
Recently , I've invested a bit of my time in organising my reading, research, and writing work-flows and digital tools. I am acutely aware that I need to get these habits and practices bedded down soon to avoid breakdowns, flare-ups, and run-arounds later on in the doctoral journey.
Here's a quick run-down of the main elements of my toolbox.
Zotero for reference management
I've used Endnote and tested several others (Endnote, Mendeley, Paperpile, Citavi, Docear), but I've settled on Zotero for a couple of reasons.
- It's free, open-source, and developed by the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, an organisation that has education, access to information, and democracy at the core of its mission. As opposed to, let's say, Elsevier, who owns Mendeley and is known for its rapaciousness.
- I have set it up, with an add-on called Zotfile to download citations, along with the full-article .pdf, from academic databases, store the files in Dropbox, and rename the file and the Dropbox folder according to my set style, all in one click of the mouse.
- I have also set it up so that I can open the .pdf, annotate and highlight it, save it, and then extract those notes and highlighted sections as plain-text files to be stored in the Dropbox folder as the .pdf and attached to the citation record in Zotero (see image below).
- It just does citation management, .pdf wrangling, and light .pdf annotations. Other tools include deeper .pdf annotation and note taking, social sharing, mind-mapping, writing, and all sorts. But I kind of prefer to take a one-tool for one-job approach.
- Zotero works well with the plain text approach that I'll speak more about. I can export my library as Bibtex and any annotations are plain text. This means that I am not beholden to any one system: plain text can be read by pretty much anything.
- I dislike the things I dislike about Zotero less than I dislike the things I dislike about the other reference managers that I use.
Drawboard for Reading and annotating .pdfs
When I bought a Microsoft Surface recently, a demo copy of Drawboard came pre-installed. I usually consider this bloatware and will uninstall it immediately, but I bought the surface specifically for reading .pdfs, so thought I'd give it a spin. I agree with the good reviews it gets: it's an easy to use, simple, and effective .pdf reader. It's designed especially for use in tablet mode, with a stylus.
Writemonkey for note-taking and early drafts
For a while there I was trying to use Scrivener, the preferred tool of many academic writers, for my writing, but I just couldn't get past the overwhelming interface and array of options. I'm a minimalist in many areas of my life, and I've decided to go with a plain text editor, Writemonkey.
Plain text has many benefits over many more complex writing software tools. Most importantly, it is open and ubiquitous: it works on all operating systems and can be opened in any number of apps. The simplicity of plain text, free of all but the most basic formatting, makes it perfect for note-taking, generative writing and early drafts. Plain-text editors are microscopic in comparison to more developed (one might say bloated) software. This makes them lightning fast and portable.
Writemonkey works for me for a couple of reasons:
- It's fully portable: the whole program lives in Dropbox or on a USB stick. This means I can run it on any windows computer without needing to install it or otherwise impact that computer.
- It is as simple or complex as you want it to be. If you choose to, you can get into Markdown , use Regex for navigation and filtering, or even use the Writemonkey API to develop plug-ins.
- Some writing software that I have used is extremely obtuse about where your work lives on your computer. As with everything else, I like my stuff to be in Dropbox, and Writemonkey doesn't fight me on that.
- Built in Pomodoro timer to encourage and track productivity, white noise generator to help focus, and clicky-clacky typewriter sound effects, which I thought were a gimmick but are actually kind of motivating to hear, indicating lots of precious words being written.
- Writemonkey is owned and developed by one person. It's nice to use something that isn't the product of some vast corporation, but rather the fruits of one person's vision and labour. I know I'm straying toward hipster artisan territory with that.
Microsoft word for final drafts
There's no getting around it. At some point you'll have to send a .docx file to someone. In my case, I can use plain text up until the point I need to send a draft to my supervisor, share anything with my colleagues, submit an article to a journal or an abstract to a conference, apply for a scholarship, or… any number of other things. Luckily, plain text makes this as simple as select all, CTRL+C, and CTRL+P.
Todo lists and light project management
Plain text again. I've lost count of how many productivity apps I've tried and abandoned. Some proved very tricky indeed in extracting my data from in any usable form. I've also found that the more feature-rich the app, the more likely I am to spend my time fiddling with it (I prefer to say "optimising it") than actually doing the stuff I'm listing in it.
So my todo list is just one text file living in Dropbox. If I open it in a plain old text editor, it looks like this:
Which is a perfectly functional, if tricky to read and use, todo list. But if I open it in an app that recognises the todo.txt formatting rules, such as the tiny, portable, and lightning-fast Todo.text.net, it looks like this:
The trick is that by appending + for projects, @ for contexts, or (A) through (Z) for priority, I can filter or sort in a million useful ways.
Keeping it simple
A clear theme of these tool choices is my desire to keep things simple. I prefer one tool for one task. Plain text and Dropbox go a long way to keeping the integration of these parts simple. In the past I've searched for the one comprehensive tool to rule them all, but all tools that claim to do that either suck badly or require their own PhD to learn how to use them.
I'm sure this set-up will evolve somewhat, but I hope by not too much. I no longer have the time to mess around tinkering with my system, I've got a PhD to write.


text:
Click and drag the magnifying glass for a closer look at your area.[/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width="1/2″]
Horizon Home Care, an American Health Management Company, has the following full time and flexible part time positions available in all regions of Kentucky:
SRNA Attendant Care Associate
Job duties will include providing in home care services consisting of light housekeeping, meal preparation and personal care.
Travel within county and surrounding area is required; mileage will be paid according to company policy. Competitive salary and excellent benefit package including medical, dental, vision, 401K and more for full time positions. Part time employees are eligible for 401 K and will have flexible scheduling, as well as the opportunity to move into a full time position if one becomes available.
Successful applicant will be an SRNA, have clean driving record, background check, and drug screen as verified with appropriate checks/screens. They will also have reliable transportation. American Health Management is an Equal Opportunity Employer, minorities are encouraged to apply.[/vc_column][vc_column width="1/2″]


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1967 Lincoln: This car was completely rebuilt. New engine overhaul , new transmission, added disk brakes all around, installed air suspension. Complete red leather interior with a killer touch screen GPS and stereo system. Then we completely refinished the exterior in satin and gloss black rounded off with 20 inch wire wheel knock offs. This is a big car for a big football player customer.
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Effortless and elegant, the George pants perfectly embody Dondup's duality. This iconic five-pocket style is characterized by a skinny fit with a low-rise and a slightly higher yoke on the back. They are crafted in medium indigo stretch cotton denim with a used wash. A button fly and metal logo on the back add a finishing touch.
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text: Despite rapid growth and professional success, for too long Indian Americans have been underrepresented in elected office from state capitols to the U.S. Congress. As a result, our needs, concerns, and priorities often go unheard in the halls of power. At a time when our community and our values are under attack by xenophobic rhetoric and regressive policies, it is more critical than ever that Indian Americans build and wield political power to fight back.


text:
1 of 1
It was nearly 5 pm, almost the entire Saturday wasted. I was stuck in another Bi-annual Company Meeting, and it had gone on the same way the others always did: Lots of talk from Management, accompanied by badly drawn PowerPoint slides; "morale boosting" team building exercises; greasy pizza for lunch – cold, by the time it was served, and invariably not enough to go around. Luckily, I'd learned my lesson and had packed a sandwich "just in case".
I'd seen Alexis over on the other side of the auditorium, but hadn't been able to get close enough to talk. Alexis was my twice-a-month lunch buddy - tall, dark hair and steely blue eyes – the heartthrob of the Company. He worked in the Legal Department while I worked in Human Resources, so except for our regularly scheduled lunches, we didn't see much of each other.
We wouldn't have gotten together at all if it hadn't been for that one Friday. I'd ended up working through my normal lunch hour, he'd been stuck in a meeting, and we had both gotten to the Staff Cafeteria just in time to grab the last sandwich . . . well, he'd grabbed it and when he heard my sigh he'd asked me "Oh, did you want this?"
"I was hoping." I admitted. "It's so late, they've already shut down the main line. I can make do with soup, however."
He'd shaken his head. "It's not fair to you, I've had their soup and I'd rather drink rainwater. You take the sandwich. I'll have the soup."
"If it's not fair to me to have the soup" I'd replied, "It's certainly not fair to you either!"
"Please. I've been accused of being a gentleman before, and I'd like to live up to my reputation." He'd smiled, and I'd felt myself soften.
"All right then, let's compromise. We can split the sandwich and I'll get the soup and an extra bowl. That way we only need to suffer a little bit."
He'd chuckled, agreed, and we'd sat together. After the initial "getting to know you" banter, we'd had a very nice "gripe about the Company's latest employee policy" session. He had turned out to be that dreaded thing: "a nice guy", and as we bussed the table and got ready to leave he had blurted out "I enjoyed this. Maybe we can do it again? It's a nice change from sitting with the guys in my department."
I'd been pleased. "I'd like that, too. Most of the time I just eat at my desk. I'm not interested in what passes for conversation when I eat with the usual lot -- I don't care about the latest episode of whatever show is currently the rage, I get bored when they want to discuss the latest celebrity scandal -- I'd rather just read a book."
"I know exactly how you feel! If the guys aren't trying to out macho-posture each other, they're rehashing the latest game – and I really don't "get" sports. To be honest, I'd rather see an opera."
"Really? That's interesting. We definitely need to do this again. It'll be nice to have someone to talk to who not only has a brain, but knows how to use it." I caught myself, embarrassed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that. I sometimes have a hard time knowing when to shut up."
His face had lightened into a grin. "I'll let it pass. Tell you what, why don't we plan to do this again say, a week from today?"
I'd hesitated. "I'm sorry. I'll be in a lunch meeting next week. Maybe the week after that? My lunch starts at 1:00."
"Mine usually is for 12:30, but I can adjust. Half the time I end up going late, anyway."
"Then it's settled. Two weeks from today, 1:00 pm. Here?"
"Agreed" he'd said, glancing at his watch. "And now I really do need to get back. It was nice meeting you."
"Ditto" and we'd headed out our separate ways.
That had been a few months ago, and since then we managed to get together twice a month to talk about the subjects most people found boring – Art, Culture, Music, Drama, Philosophy - and over time we had also begun sharing more of our personal stories.
I learned he was a second generation American-Ukrainian, that his grandparents had come to the US during WWII while fleeing the Nazis. His parents had both grown up in the same neighborhood, but when they'd married they'd moved into the suburbs. Alexis had been a typical American kid but had adored his grandparents' old world ways. He still had a strong interest in Ukrainian culture but admitted he was more American than otherwise.
He'd started at the Company working in the mail room one summer, had gotten interested in corporate law and then studied at a prestigious Eastern college. While he was studying to pass the Bar, he'd been hired by the Company as a paralegal, and once he was officially a lawyer they'd taken him on in the Legal Department.
As for his personal life, he had not married – yet – but was living with his long-time girlfriend. They'd met at college. She'd begun a mildly successful modeling career under the name "Donna Bell" (her real name was Donna Belinski) and was starting to make a name for herself. I'd met her a couple times, once on the way to the office Christmas Party when we three had shared an elevator. She had been one of the most beautiful women I'd ever seen – long honey-colored hair, deep brown eyes, skin like creamy satin – but after watching her with Alexis I'd begun to suspect her beauty was only skin deep. She had a voice like a harpy, and at first she spent the ride berating and belittling him, but when she noticed me, she began cooing and fussing over him instead. I suspected she knew who I was and wanted to prove that he was HERS; while I just wanted to say "Look, lady, you don't have to worry. I like your guy but he's made it very clear that he is only interested in YOU."
However, ever since I'd gotten back from my most unusual weekend, he'd become . . . distant. He'd cancelled out on our usual lunch, then cancelled out again on the next one – so I'd been hoping I'd have a chance at the bi-annual meeting to find out what was up.
No luck, however. The meeting ended, everyone streamed out of the auditorium, glad to be given their freedom, and he'd disappeared into the crowd. Rather than leave during the rush, I had decided to try to catch up on some of the work I had yet to complete – I just needed to run a few statistics and set up the New Hire paperwork for the upcoming week. It only took half an hour. Soon, I was ready to go.
As I gathered my purse and jacket, I looked over at the clock and groaned. I'd been looking forward to catching the Season Finale of "The Poppies of Flanders", the surprise hit series about England in WWI. Tonight, we were going to find out if Jimmy was going to make it home in time to propose to Helen. They'd had quite a correspondence while he was overseas, and he had spent this latest season recuperating from his wounds – he'd been shot during the Marne Offensive, the last big battle before Armistice - and then facing one setback after another in his quest to return home. Helen, meanwhile, had become a hospital nurse and was in the process of falling for one of the patients. There had been hints that this patient might propose as well, and the question remained – would she chose him, or our hero?
I headed into the parking garage, which appeared deserted. My car was the only one left. I started up and headed down the ramp, but as I turned onto the next lower level I heard the sound of another car's engine laboring – turning over but not catching. I slowed down, and there it was – an expensive black sedan, the only other car I'd seen in the parking garage. I pulled alongside, opened the passenger window and called "Need any help?"
To my surprise, it was Alexis who looked over at me to me and said grimly "Are you a mechanic?"
"No" I replied "But I do have brothers who were into cars. Maybe I can take a look?"
"Go ahead. I've been fighting this thing for the last 15 minutes. And before you ask, yes, I've got plenty of gas."
He'd popped the hood for me. I leaned over and said "Try again."
The engine labored again, nearly catching a couple times, but it was clear that this was not going to be an easy fix. Plus, I could hear the engine was beginning to crank a little slower now.
"Sorry. I think you're better off calling a tow, I don't think this is something I could help with. And it sounds like your battery is running low as well."
I overheard a string of expletives. Alexis punched the steering wheel twice, then leaned back and groaned. "I'll call Triple-A, but I doubt there's any place open now. Weekends are the worst!"
"Tell you what, you call Triple-A, I'll wait here with you in case you need a ride home."
He shook his head. "No, I'll be ok. I'll just call a taxi."
"No, you won't. You probably would be stuck there for at least an hour – it IS the weekend after all and you know how hard it is to get a taxi on a Saturday evening. Look, let me see if you need the ride, and if you do, I'll make you a deal. I was planning to watch the finale of Poppies . . .".
"That's tonight?"
"Yes. I want to see what happens with Jimmy and Helen. Have you been watching, too?"
He sighed. "I catch it once in a while. Donna doesn't like it much, says it's boring."
"Well, anyway," I replied "If you DO need a ride, could you let me watch the finale at your place? I'll leave as soon as it's over, I promise." After a pause, I added "Unless Donna would object, that is."
"She's on a shoot. She won't be home."
"So, would it be ok?"
He gave a sigh. "I suppose."
The tow truck arrived not long after, and I followed it and Alexis to the repair place. After a cursory inspection, the mechanic said the car would take at least a couple days to fix – something about the alternator – and Alexis could pick it up on Monday. By then it was getting dark, and Alexis readily agreed to letting me drive him home.
Other than giving directions to his place, Alexis was silent during the ride. When we got to his building I found a place to park, and followed him into his apartment.
We passed through his foyer into the main room – a combination living room, dining room, kitchen area. He plopped down into an overstuffed chair and motioned me to turn on the TV.
We'd only missed the first few minutes and were quickly caught up. The hour passed swiftly, leading up to the ending we'd waited for. Jimmy had just made it home and had run to Helen's house, eagerly anticipating seeing her face again. Her parents greeted him at the door, telling him she was at hospital. Before they could say anything more, he'd thanked them and started running down the road.
The next scene opened in the hospital ward, rows of beds filled with men and women, some bandaged, some just ill. At the far end was a bed surrounded by screens. Jimmy burst into the room, and nearly was run down by two orderlies carrying a stretcher with a sheet-covered body – someone had just died. The room was filled with the noise of coughing, gasps, and a faint sound of retching. Jimmy stopped, looked about the room, and asked a passing nurse "Where is Helen Shaw? I've come to find Helen". The nurse pointed toward the screened bed, and he ran the length of the room, burst 'round the corner, and . . .
The bed was empty, neatly made. No sign of Helen anywhere. He was about to turn away when he saw a letter on the floor next to the bed. He picked it up – and the audience recognized the handwriting right away. It was Jimmy's writing, it was the letter he had sent Helen saying he was on his way home at last.
Jimmy rushed back to the hallway and accosted a doctor. "Where is Helen Shaw?" he asked. "I was told she was here. I found this. . .".
Although the doctor's face was stoic, his expression spoke volumes. Jimmy collapsed against the wall and began to wail "No! Oh, dear God, NO!!" Everyone watching began wailing as well. It was a stunning blow – they'd killed off Helen!
"It was flu," the doctor told him, "that Spanish Flu that's going around. She insisted on staying late and treating the worst cases until she caught it herself. She was so worn down she didn't have a chance."
The last shot was of Jimmy slumping to the floor, sobbing, his tears streaking the ink on the letter.
I'd succumbed to the emotional ending as well. My face was wet and I snuffled, trying desperately not to sob out loud. "I can't believe they DID that!!" I blurted, voice shaking. "WHY would they do that?"
Alexis said nothing. The room had grown dark, and the only light was that of the TV.
I grabbed a Kleenex from my purse, blew my nose, and wiped my face. "I really wasn't expecting that." I said. "I don't usually get emotional from a TV show, but this one, well . . . "
Alexis stayed silent. After a moment, he muttered "It's getting late. You should be going."
I had to agree. I picked up my purse and said as I turned to go "Thank you for letting me watch this last episode. I'm sorry, I didn't realize how late it was."
He didn't reply. In fact, he was unusually quiet. He seemed "off", somehow, which made me uneasy. But I didn't say anything.
Then, in the foyer, I stopped. Something CLEARLY wasn't right, and I didn't think it was the ending of "Poppies". I waited for my Talent to manifest. Should I stay, or go?
Nothing. No compulsion, no "feeling", nothing. Just the niggling suspicion that *something* was not quite as it should be.
I took a deep breath. If I wasn't going to be shown what to do, I would just have to trust that I'd figure it out on my own.
I went back into the main room. "No." I said.
He looked up, startled. "What?"
"No. Alexis, I have a feeling something isn't right. You've been avoiding me for the last least three weeks, and I'm thinking now that you would have been happier taking the taxi if I hadn't pressed the point. What's going on? Is it something to do with me, and if so, what can I do to fix it?"
He sighed. "It isn't you. I've been dealing with – stuff – lately. I really don't want to talk about it. I'll be fine. Just, please go."
I stood my ground. "No. I don't feel right about leaving you like this. I'll just sit here on the couch and I won't say a word. I won't disturb you at all. But, please, don't send me away just yet, because I can't ignore this feeling that there's something wrong. I'll be right here if you want to talk."
No reply.
I sat down and pulled my book out of my purse. I turned on the table lamp beside me and began to read. Alexis simply stared into the dark.
This went on for almost an hour. Finally, he stood and said "I need to get some water. And it IS getting late. You really should be going now. I'll be fine."
He left the room. As I stood to go, I knocked my purse to the floor, spilling its contents everywhere but mostly under the sofa. In the near dark, it was hard to see what I was missing, but I felt my way around and grabbed everything I could. As I was re-depositing everything back in my purse, I noticed I was holding a crumpled note – and it wasn't mine.
Before I could say anything, Alexis came back into the room and saw me with the note in my hand. "Where did you find that?!?" he exclaimed.
"It was under the sofa. I spilled my purse and grabbed it by mistake."
"Give it here. I meant to throw it away." He reached out for it, the look on his face oddly tense.
"Is something wrong?" I asked.
"It's just a note. It doesn't mean anything. Please, just give it to me."
He wouldn't look me in the eye. I definitely had a feeling now, that he was lying to me. Something about the note WAS bothering him.
"Alexis, why are you so upset? What is it about this note?"
He threw up his hands in exasperation and shouted "Fine! You want to know what's bothering me? Go ahead, read it. Read it!"
I uncrumpled the note and began to read.
"Lexi" it began. "I'm gone. I can't take any more. When we first met, you and I couldn't wait to be together – it was like Wow! Pow! every night! But since we've been living together it's been different and frankly, I'm bored. Bored, Bored, BORED – so bored I could scream! You never want to go out, you never want to do anything I want to! It's the same old-same old, same dull routine stuff. Sex with you is just, well – nothing ever changes, there's no excitement, no spark. It's like living with an old man."
I grimaced, and read on. "You've been saying I seem distant lately – well, you're right. The truth is that I've been getting together with Marcus – you know, the photographer? The one from Belize? The first time we met I got that shivery feeling I first got with you, but with him it was tons stronger. When he suggested we get together, I turned him down – I couldn't do that to you, I thought. But he wouldn't take NO for an answer, and finally I gave in. He wore me down, I guess. But, WOW!!! Sex with him . . . I'd forgotten how it was, what it's like to feel like that. I liked it then –I LOVE it now! It's so intense with him – nothing like it is with you! Anyway, Marcus has asked me to join him – he's going to do a motorcycle and photo tour of the US and he wants me to go along and pose for him. We're going to just ride until we want to stop, take some pics, and then we'll do it again until we've seen everything there is to see. No routines, nothing to get in our way; it's exactly what I've been needing for a long, LONG time!"
There was one more paragraph. "So, I'm going. I can't take one more day of this endless boredom! Being with you isn't vanilla, it's tap water – there's just nothing there anymore. I can't stand to look at your face, I can't stand these four walls, I can't stand my life as it is. I need adventure, I need danger, I need Marcus!" At the bottom, she'd scribbled "So, this is it. Goodbye, Lexi. Wish me luck!"
I looked up at him. He turned away, nearly whispering. "I got back from work that day, and the place was gutted. Everything that was hers was gone – her clothes, her shoes, the bathroom clutter, everything. She'd made sure she wouldn't have to come back. For a while now I'd sensed something was – off - between us, but I had no clue she felt like this! I walked in to find the place so . . . bare . . . the only thing she'd left behind was the note."
As he spoke I'd been struggling with myself and I finally couldn't hold back. "That . . . that . . . BITCH!! That sneaking, conniving, vicious, horrible BITCH!!! I'm sorry, but I confess, I've never liked her! The way she was always picking at you and nagging you, it made me so MAD . . .!"
"STOP IT! JUST STOP IT!!" Alexis was shaking. "You don't know what she's like. You don't have any idea what she's like! She wouldn't have done this if she hadn't been pushed into it!"
"That doesn't excuse her behavior!" I snapped back. "She just up and left without talking to you, she didn't even give you a chance to try to fix things. That is just so . . . SELFISH! Why you put up with that is beyond me!"
"Because I LOVE HER! I LOVE HER! AND I STILL LOVE HER! And she won't talk to me . . ." He gasped, swallowed hard, and began to cry. "I've tried to get in touch, but she's blocked me on every website, she won't take my calls, she won't explain . . . Oh, God!" He began sobbing convulsively. "Please, just go away."
There was a long silence. Finally, "I can't." I told him. "I can't stand to see you in pain. And I'm sorry about what I said, it just makes me so – furious! – that someone could treat someone I care about that way." He paused and I heard a catch in his breath. "Yes, I said "someone I care about". Alexis, you're my friend, and I'd like to think I'm your friend, too. I wish you had let me know what had happened. I might not have been able to do anything about it, but at least you wouldn't have had to go through this alone."
I moved over and put my arm around his shoulder. He leaned into me, weeping even harder as he buried his face in my neck. I pulled him into an embrace, holding him and letting him cry as he shook against me, his tears wetting my shoulder.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!" he kept murmuring brokenly. "I didn't plan for you to find out . . .".
I didn't say anything. I could only let him cry. Finally, he pulled away and began wiping his eyes. I handed him another Kleenex from my purse and said "Will you be ok now?"
He couldn't talk; he just nodded.
"It IS getting late, and I really should be going soon." I told him.
He reached out for my arm. "Don't go just yet. Ever since Donna left it's been so quiet, I don't know what to do with myself! I can't sleep, I don't eat, I can barely function. . . just having you here is helping."
I hesitated, but the plea in his eyes made the decision an easy one. "All right, I'll stay a little longer. What would you like me to do? I'm willing to talk, or I can just sit and read – whatever is best for you."
He blinked, and one last stray tear tracked down his face. "Just stay. Please. I don't know what else I need, at least, yet."
"Maybe a cup of tea? Or a sandwich? I don't think either of us has eaten since the meeting today."
He'd reluctantly cracked a smile. "I think tea and a sandwich would be a good idea." I started to get up but he shook his head. "Let me get it." He walked over to the kitchen area, saying "I'm afraid I don't have much on hand. Is turkey on whole wheat ok with you? And do you want sugar in your tea?"
"Whatever you have is fine, and I don't need sugar, I always have a supply of my favorite sweetener on hand."
"It'll be just a moment," he hesitated, then added, "And, thank you." Without another word, he started the kettle boiling as he started on the sandwiches. "Mustard or mayo?" he called out. "And is herbal tea ok? It's chamomile, if that's all right."
"Chamomile is great! And just a smear of mustard, please."
A little bit later, when we'd finished eating, I stood and said "Now I REALLY have to go. It's after 11:00, and it's getting very late."
He stood as well, and put his hand on my arm. "I'm . . . reluctant . . .to ask this, but . . . could you stay the night?"
I could feel my eyes widen in surprise as he added "No! I don't mean it like that! It's just that, I really would feel better if there was someone else here. We have a guest room – I've been sleeping in there since Donna left. I just couldn't - can't - face our bedroom alone. I won't disturb you, I promise. You can even lock the door if you feel safer that way, but I don't want to be alone in this apartment, again, not after what's happened. Not tonight."
I thought it over. Alexis WAS a gentleman, and I trusted him. "I guess I can stay, but I'm hardly prepared for a sleepover. I don't have a toothbrush on me, for starters."
"I've got an extra. I always keep a couple around for guests. And I think I have something you can wear to bed, if you don't mind, that is . . .". He blushed. "I'd been planning a romantic getaway for Donna for our anniversary, and I bought her something."
He left the room, heading into the bedroom. I could hear him rummaging through the closet and followed him into the room, just in time to see him pluck a box off the top shelf. "I think this should fit you," he said.
"You have a lot of faith, then." I murmured. "Donna is, well, obviously a much smaller size than me, for one, and we're not exactly built the same either. Plus, are you so sure you want me to wear something you picked out for her?"
"Trust me." He handed me the box. I opened it, and inside was a gorgeous white satin nightgown, like something out of a Jane Austen novel. It was long and full, with a high lace collar, lace yoke, and long sleeves with ruffles at the wrists. It was, in a word, gorgeous – the kind of nightgown I'd have bought for myself if I'd ever had a reason to wear it – or someone to wear it for.
"I know it wasn't exactly her style – she preferred the usual Victoria's Secret kind of thing, but I hoped she might make an exception for this. Sometimes she could dress a bit . . . "
I hesitated before saying "Trampy?"
He winced. "Not the word I would have chosen, but the description fits." He heaved a heavy sigh. "Maybe she was right. Maybe I am boring! I've always favored women who were ladylike, like in the old days."
"Meek and mild?"
"Not like that, just . . . who understood about manners, who knew how to be feminine and strong at the same time. Women who know how to be Ladies, I guess."
I smiled. "You really ARE a gentleman, then. Only a Gentleman can truly appreciate a Lady."
He insisted on having me sleep in the bedroom. He'd found a brand-new toothbrush, still in the wrapper, and showed me to the Master Bath. It didn't take me long to get ready for bed – brush teeth, brush hair, wash hands and face – then I undressed, folded my clothes and put on the nightgown. Alexis had been right – it fit me perfectly. When I peered into the mirror, I looked like a heroine in a Bronte novel, and I felt like a princess.
I climbed into bed and prepared to read a bit when I heard Alexis from outside the door. "Would you mind if I shower in the Master Bath? All my stuff is in there, but if it bothers you, it's ok."
"You won't bother me. Just keep the bathroom door closed, please." I replied with a chuckle.
He'd quickly darted through the room, a "thanks!" trailing after him. I heard the lock click into place, then the water came on.
I hadn't read more than a couple pages when I nearly split my face in half with a yawn. I was more tired than I realized! I turned off the light, rolled to one side, and closed my eyes.
The pillow had a faint scent of something woodsy and spicy – I recognized it as Alexis' scent, and it made me feel strange, oddly intimate but in a nice way. I inhaled deeply once, and within seconds I was nodding off. I don't know how much time had passed but I was at the brink of sleep, the moment when the last bit of consciousness is loosening its hold, when I felt something warm press against my cheek.
I rolled over and opened my eyes. Moonlight streamed through the window, just enough to illuminate the look of horrified surprise on Alexis' face. "I'm sorry! I thought you were asleep! I didn't mean to wake you, I just saw you there and . . . ."
"And what?" I asked, just as I realized what had happened. I sat up, blurting out "Did you just kiss me??"
He hung his head. "I'm sorry! It's just that you looked so peaceful, and I wanted to thank you for everything you've done for me today, and I couldn't find the words, and I didn't want to wake you but I felt so grateful, and I just, well . . . "
"You kissed me."
He couldn't look at me. "I'm truly sorry. I hope you aren't angry with me."
"I'm not angry – a little surprised, maybe, but not angry. I just wish I'd been awake so I could have appreciated it."
Despite the darkness of the room, I could see him blush. He stood and turned to leave, saying "I'll just see myself out now."
I heard the reluctance in his voice. "You don't have to go just yet. If you would like to talk a bit, I won't mind."
He sat down heavily, staring at his hands as he muttered "I really don't know WHAT I want to do. I can't sleep, my mind keeps circling through everything over and over and over – I can't get it to stop long enough for me to get to sleep. I just keep going over it all, trying to figure out what I did that was so wrong. . . !"
"I don't think you did anything wrong. You didn't even know there was a problem! Donna is the one who had the problem here." I sat up straighter. "I still can't believe she didn't even give you a chance to fix things between you!"
"She hated confrontation." he muttered. "She just expected everything to go the way she wanted it to go. In the beginning, I wouldn't give in to her, and that just made everything awkward, awful. As long as I made sure she was happy, we both were happy. After a while it became second nature to let her call the shots." He sighed. "Maybe I was too much of a pushover."
"You mean, too much of a Gentleman." I chided kindly. "It sounds like she might have favored bad boys who are strong, controlling, dominant types. And you could never be exactly like that. Thank heavens!" I added.
"She wasn't always like that." He said. "In the beginning, everything was fine. Maybe we shouldn't have moved in together."
"How long had you been living together?" I asked.
"Nearly nine years – it would have been nine years next month. That was the anniversary I mentioned." He sighed again. "I had it all planned – we go to a B&B in the mountains and spend the day skiing, sit by the fire, have a wonderful dinner – I'd even planned to have the nightgown laid out on the bed. I thought she'd appreciate it after a day in the cold." His eyes began to shimmer. "And I was going to have a fire in the fireplace, some champagne and strawberries, her favorite music – everything for a romantic weekend."
He had turned away from me. "She would have hated it. I see that now. She really wasn't the type to appreciate romantic gestures. I kept hoping someday she'd understand how much it meant to me to make her happy, but I guess . . ." his voice broke ". . . I guess I was wrong."
I heard a soft sniff. I pulled myself closer, and sat beside him. He looked over at me, and I saw the trace of tears on his face. "What did I do wrong?" he wondered.
"You didn't do anything wrong."
He clenched his jaw. "Then why does it hurt so damn much?!?"
I couldn't answer. I just put my arm around his shoulder. He stared at his hands and in the moonlight, I saw the occasional tear fall.
"It wasn't your fault. In the end, maybe you just weren't suited to each other." I squeezed his shoulder. "Alexis, there are tons of women who would be thrilled to be the Lady of a Gentleman like you. Give yourself some time to process this, and then go out there and find someone who is worthy of YOU, exactly as you are."
He leaned in to me, resting his head against my shoulder. "I wish I could believe you."
"You just wait and see. The right woman is out there, and you'll find each other. Trust me."
"I'll try." He pulled me into a tight hug and I hugged him back. After a minute or so I noticed his eyes were drooping and his breathing was slowing. I broke away, saying "Do you think you can sleep now?"
"I think so," He replied.
"Then I'll say goodnight for now, and I'll see you in the morning."
He nodded, and left the room, softly closing the door behind him.
Now I was too wound up to sleep. There was something about this whole situation – I felt such empathy for him, such understanding, such . . . I didn't know what.
Maybe this was what my Talent had intended me for. Alexis had kept everything bottled inside until, somehow, I got him to open up. I remembered Gram's words "You don't MAKE them cry, you help them cry." I thought back to earlier in the evening, when Alexis had finally broken down. It had pained me to see him so unhappy, but it had felt good to be there to help him through the hurt.
I couldn't make heads nor tails of it all. There were too many feelings to process. But I was left with one question: How, exactly, did I feel about what happened?
I'd finally fallen asleep and was having a strange dream. I was wandering a dark hallway, hearing a sound like a child crying, and desperately trying to find where the child was hiding. The hallway stretched on endlessly, there were doors everywhere but none of them would open, and the child sounded so lost . . .! I could feel myself getting tired, but I couldn't give up . . .
Then I woke up, and realized I was still hearing the crying. I got up and went into the main room, and saw the door to what I realized was the guest room was cracked open. I went to the doorway, and opened it further.
Alexis was curled on the bed, crying helplessly. "Are you all right?" I asked, but there was no reply. I took a couple of steps into the room and asked again "Are you ok?"
Nothing. No response at all, just the weeping.
I walked over to the bed and gently shook Alexis shoulder. "Alexis, wake up. You're having a nightmare."
He gasped, rolled over toward me and sat up quickly. "What happened? What are you doing here?"
I explained. "I heard you crying. I was just coming to check on you. Are you all right?"
He shook his head to clear it, then reached up and wiped his face. "I guess I was having that dream again."
"Which dream?"
"The one I've had ever since Donna left. I'm a child, in our old house, it's dark and I'm all alone. I know the family has moved away but I don't know where they've gone and I've been left behind, and nobody is coming back for me, they've forgotten me and I'm alone and scared and there's no one around, and . . ."
He was trembling. "I HATE that dream! Lately it seems like it's all I ever dream about, being abandoned . . ."
"And no wonder!" I replied. "After what happened, I would be surprised if it didn't stir up some unpleasant thoughts." Then I asked "Did anything like that happen to you when you were younger? Where you were left alone at home while you were sleeping?"
"Not really. Well, there was the one time when my father had to go to the hospital unexpectedly – he'd had minor surgery earlier that day and the stitches had burst. Mom had to drive him to the hospital to get re-stitched, but she didn't leave me alone. There was a neighbor who was looking after me." He paused. "Well, the neighbor had gone back to their place to get something but they came right back. But I woke up in the dark and . . . "
"And there was nobody there. You got scared. Right?"
He nodded. "But the neighbor came in the door right then, so I wasn't alone for more than a minute or two."
"But your parents weren't there."
"No, but the neighbor told me what had happened, and said that Papa would be all right but he needed the doctor to sew him up again, so Mama took him to be fixed." His eyes lit up. "I just remembered! When our neighbor said he needed to be sewn up, I thought he'd been ripped like my teddy bear, that his insides were coming out! Luckily, our neighbor cleared up that misconception. I'd known about Papa's surgery, I just hadn't put two and two together."
"Wow!" I cringed. "That must have been VERY scary. How old were you?"
He pondered a moment. "I think I was about four or five – I don't really remember."
"Obviously, you must have remembered some of it. I've read that childhood traumas can often surface when we least expect them to. And having Donna walk out must have brought back feelings of that night when you thought you'd been abandoned. It might have seemed minor then, but clearly that experience when you were a kid made a big impression on you."
"It must have done." He agreed.
"Well, hopefully now that you've made the connection, you can put the trauma behind you and, maybe, get some sleep now?"
He agreed. But as I started to get up, he put his hand on my arm. "I know this is going to sound really childish, but. . . could you stay with me awhile?"
I could see the frightened little boy in his expression, and I relented. "Ok, I'll stay with you, but this is strictly platonic, and this stays just between us as friends. Got it?"
"Of course, I wasn't thinking about anything else. I just . . . I just don't feel . . . safe . . . being alone."
I was about to speak, but yawned instead, and he added "Oh, you must be exhausted! You've spent so much time looking after me already, and you need your sleep, too. No, go ahead and go back to your room. I'll be ok."
I was watching him closely, and even though I could see he was sincere, he was also shaken by the dream. I didn't feel right leaving him alone. But how could we share the same room – same bed – and be sure nothing untoward would happen?
Then I had an idea. "Tell you what. I'll stay the rest of the night with you here, BUT" I added firmly "You are sleeping under the blanket and the sheet. I will sleep under the blanket but on top of the sheet." I paused. "That's how my youngest older brother and I would share a bed on family vacations. With my three older brothers and me, my parents decided it just made sense to rent a double and a single room for the night, and have all four of us kids share two beds, rather than pay extra for a rollaway just for me."
"You were kids! Why make you sleep on top of the sheet? It shouldn't have been a problem."
"You don't have siblings, do you?"
He shook his head. "I was an only child, I never had to deal with anything like that."
"Well, it's very different with siblings. In our case, Kenny insisted he was allergic to "girl cooties" and that I was horribly infected with them. If I got girl cooties on him, he'd die. He'd DIE!! Poor Dad finally had had enough of Kenny and his histrionics and proclaimed that girl cooties couldn't transfer through motel sheets, so if Kenny slept under the sheet and I slept on top of it, Kenny would be safe. And it worked, at least until I hit puberty – and by then, motel vacations were not happening anymore. Dad and the boys preferred camping by then, and Mom and I just had to tag along."
Alexis mouth twitched, curling into a half-smile. "I'm not worried about girl cooties, but if you feel safer sleeping that way . . .. Of course, you can still go back to your room."
"I could, but I suspect I wouldn't get much sleep. Mind you," I added sternly, "This is JUST for the rest of tonight. I have to get home tomorrow and get ready for the usual Sunday Family Dinner. And, frankly, I don't want to have a lot of explaining to do if I'm late."
He laid back down. "OK then. I'll see you in the morning."
I smoothed the sheet on my side of the bed, then laid on top of it and pulled the blanket over me, turning my back to him. "See you in the morning," I sleepily replied as he turned out the light.
Later that morning I woke with a start. I was disoriented for a moment – the room was unfamiliar, and I wasn't used to feeling my mattress sag under someone else's weight. I rolled over and saw Alexis reach toward me. His eyes met mine and he quickly reversed the motion. "You're awake!" he blurted out.
"Uh huh." I sat up, and asked "What, exactly, were you doing just now?"
If anything, this blush was even deeper than the one the night before. "I wasn't thinking. Honestly! I wasn't even awake, really. I just rolled over and saw you and I wanted to, well . . . I wasn't even conscious of thinking anything. And then I saw you were awake, and I realized what was happening, and . . . ."
I'd already slid out of the bed and was standing nearby. "Well, at least we both got some sleep." There was an awkward silence, and I added "This has all been, um, "interesting", but I really do think we need to get back to our normal lives."
"Easy for you to say." he'd muttered under his breath, and I winced.
"Well, I didn't mean it quite like that! But you understand, right?"
He saw up and nodded. "I think I do. But it's going to be hard, getting back to "normal" again. Just having you in the same bed made me realize that I haven't lived alone before. I'm not sure I know how."
"Look, I know the last few weeks haven't been easy for you, but I think you'll do ok. Besides," I added, "I have someone at home who will be wondering where I've been, and he won't be happy that I'm neglecting him."
"You're living with someone?!" he burst out.
I grinned. "Not in the way you think. His name is Bartleby and he's a big gray American Shorthair felis domesticus."
Alexis grinned. "So, you're not living with a man. You're a crazy cat lady?"
I grinned back. "Cat lady, yes. Crazy is in the eye of the beholder." He chucked, and I went on. "As long as I'm home before noon he'll be ok."
"But you didn't go home last night! Doesn't he need to be fed? I thought all cats needed to be fed daily."
"Actually, he has a dry food auto-feeder and a kitty fountain. Bartleby could go all weekend without me being there. The main thing is taking care of his litterbox, and I'll do that as soon as I get home. Barty will probably give me the cold shoulder for an hour or so, but I guarantee by the end of the day, once I'm home from Sunday Dinner, he'll be curled on my lap."
Alexis had grown quiet. "I never had a pet growing up. Mom was allergic, and I never saw the allure of goldfish or birds. I'd always wanted a puppy, but it was never meant to be."
"I grew up with dogs." I told him. "Samson was a German Shepherd, Aloysius was a terrier of some sort, but my personal favorite was Buster. He was pure-bred mutt – not hyper, but energetic. I was in college when he died and I was broken up about it for weeks. When I graduated, I moved here and lived with a couple of college friends for a few months. When they moved out I kept the place and got Barty for company instead. I thought about getting a dog, but it didn't seem fair since I'm at work all day for him to be alone for so long."
"So, you got a kitten?"
"Barty was already grown when I adopted him – "pre-owned" you might say. Evidently, his previous owner died. He's an excellent roommate. He doesn't leave dirty dishes in the sink, won't show up with unannounced overnight guests, or forget to pay his share of the rent." I shrugged. "Actually, having him around has been wonderful. I know how lonely it can be, coming home to an empty house, and with Barty around, I have someone to talk to."
"That's an interesting name, Bartleby. Is it from the Herman Melville story?"
I laughed. "You caught that! It IS from the story. Barty's original name at the shelter was "Thomas", but he didn't behave like a Thomas at all. He's always been stubborn – nearly as stubborn as I am – and about a week after he became my fur-roommate I was reading the story and realized the name fit him. It was the catch phrase "I would prefer not to" that did it. That describes Barty's philosophy perfectly. He'll do what HE wants. If it's something I want him to do, well then . . . ."
"He prefers not to." Alexis laughed.
"That's right." I stole a glance at the bedside clock and gasped. "And I really need to get ready and get home soon. If I'm late for Sunday Dinner, I'll never hear the end of it." I paused. "Alexis, would you like to come to dinner with me? I can take you there and bring you back here since your car's in the shop."
He thought about it for a while, then said "I'm not sure I'm ready for a family dinner just yet. I think I need to spend a bit more time getting used to being alone. But can I take a rain check? I would love to experience a genuine family Sunday Dinner sometime, just not today."
"No problem. Just let me know when you're ready, and I'll let Gram know to set an extra place. But now, I really, REALLY have to get ready to go."
I dressed, grabbed my purse, and was headed out the door when Alexis stopped me. "Right. First, before you go, let me get you some coffee. You take it with milk, right?"
"Right. And I've got my sweetener, so no sugar."
"And second – which shelter did you go to for Bartleby?"
I blinked in surprise. "You're getting a pet?"
"I don't know yet. But you've given me the idea and I thought I'd do some research. You're right, it might be nice to have a warm body to share my bed – and get fur all over it."
He handed me a travel mug. "Coffee to go – I'll get the mug from you at work." And then he threw his arms around me and hugged me tightly. "Thank you for everything" he choked out, and I saw his eyes were beginning to brim again. "I don't know why you've been so good about this, but thank you."
Without thinking or hesitating, I leaned forward and quickly kissed him on the cheek. "I did it because you needed the help." I said, adding as I walked out the door "And because . . . you're worth it."
Last edited by caircair (April 8, 2017 8:30 am)
This is a really beautiful story!!! I find myself hoping she opens up to him more, and maybe falls in love with him. She's obviously hesitant because of her dacryphilia, but it's so real and so honest! I can already picture these characters as real people. You're a really good writer. Can't wait for more!
I've written others - I was thinking of making it a series, this was the fourth one. If you search on the word "Solace" you'll find them. I started the series writing about a woman who had a unique ability, thinking of something along "superhero" lines, but it didn't turn out quite that way.
Thanks for the heads up! I did see them, and I'll check them out. Take care!!!
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text: I love mount making - it's an amazing way to really understand a costume and wonderful to see it come to life on a mannequin. I learned most of my mount making skills on the job and thought I would share some of the links and tips I have found on the way! BOOKS Even… Continue reading Mastering Mount Making


text:
With only a couple of days left in the year, Q4 is definitely a time to evaluate, reflect and plan for the first quarter of the new year.
If you were successful in 2016, it most likely didn't happen on accident. You were intentional about your success this past year.
1. You Accepted That You're Not Perfect
I am a confessed perfectionist. I'll admit it and raise my hand up high. Simple. Everything has to be perfect.
When things do not go the way as I planned, frustration tends to build up.
"Where Perfectionism exists, shame is always lurking." -Brene Brown
This past year, I accepted that I am not perfect. No one is for that matter. And I am okay with that.
The quicker you stop trying to do everything perfectly, you'll start embracing new challenges and facing fear straight on.
2. You Stopped Comparing Yourself
You stopped playing the comparison game.
It's easier said than done, I know.
"Don't compare yourself with anyone in this world... if you do so, you are insulting yourself." -Bill Gates
When you see everyone else winning and your competition thriving, it's extremely difficult to not get into a slump.
If you saw success this past year, you told the negative committee in your head to be quiet. You are enough.
3. You Became Laser Focused On One Thing
Many entrepreneurs have the misconception that doing multiple things at once is the way to go.
"Find your one thing and do that one thing better than anyone else." -Jason Goldberg
If you were successful this year, you gave your blood, sweat and tears to one major task and delegated the rest.
4. You Set Boundaries
One of the biggest factors that sets the successful apart, is that they know how to say "No."
Many will give priority to movie nights, concerts or time with friends.
"You must be willing to do the things today others don't in order to have the things tomorrow others won't have." -Les Brown
There is power in turning these things down for a period in your life, so you can enjoy them at a different level later.
5. You Monitored Your Energy Well
Energy. Energy. Energy.
Successful people know how to monitor their energy and how to boost it!
"The higher your energy level, the more efficient your body. The more efficient your body, the better you feel and the more you will use your talent to produce outstanding results."-Anthony Robbins
I am guilty of skipping a meal and being up late at night to meet certain deadlines.
If you were successful in 2016, you realized that you must nurture and take care of your body before you burn out.
6. You Expanded Your Library
Business Insider reports that close to 90% of the wealthy read for at least 30 minutes a day. Forbes also reported that nearly a third of American adults didn't read one complete book in an entire year.
"Successful people have libraries. The rest have big screen TVs." -Jim Rohn
If you were successful in 2016, you're looking forward to the different books you will read in the upcoming year to further your growth.
7. You Became People Oriented
In 2016, you may have realized that in order to build trust, you must put other people's interests first.
"Law of Influence: Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people's interests first." - The Go-Giver
When you genuinely become interested in adding value to your clients,you'll go from a sales approach to a giving approach.
8. You Were Consistent
The only way to build momentum is through consistency.
In 2016, you most likely made it your mission to complete daily actions that brought you closer to your goal.
"The accomplishment of any goal is the progressive accumulation, or compound effect, of small steps taken consistently over time. -Darren Hardy
Your daily efforts have compounded to your success this year.
9. You Worked Even When You Didn't Feel Like It
In 2016, there were probably many times that you did not want to get back up. There were probably times where you did not want to keep going. There were probably times where you didn't feel like missing out on another family event. There were probably times where you just wanted to stay in bed.
"I never took a day off in my twenties. Not one." -Bill Gates
This year, you most likely developed emotional intelligence and did the work anyways.
10. You Started Waking Up Early
Many successful people make it a habit to wake up early. Right around 6 am, successful people are already awake ready to take on the day.
"Work like there is someone working twenty-four hours a day to take it all away from you." -Mark Cuban
In 2016, you realized that everyone has the same 24 hours in a day, but it's what you make of those 24 hours that separates you from the rest.
11. You Limit Checking Emails and Social Media
Constantly checking your emails or your personal social media pages throughout the day can be draining and distracting.
In 2016, you limited checking your emails to about twice a day.
"Distractions destroy Action. If it is not moving you towards your purpose, leave it alone." -Jermaine Riley
For social media, you've personally decided that it takes away too much time from important tasks you have to accomplish.
Check in to your personal pages periodically.
12. Your Started Speaking To Yourself
When you begin speaking life into yourself, you take a huge weight off of your shoulders.
Many call these affirmations, Tony Robbins takes it a step further and calls them incantations.
"Negative things you tell yourself are inCANTations, turn them into inCANtations. -Anthony Robbins
When you tell yourself you can, your mind works in many ways to help you achieve your goals.
13. Accept The Grind, Accept Your Journey
Instead of moping and complaining about how difficult your journey is, embrace it.
In 2016, you realized that timing is everything.
"I am learning to trust the journey even when I do not understand it." -Mila Bron
You've given yourself the grace to grow knowing that if you're consistent, everything will fall into place at the right time.
14. You Realized You're Going To Make An Impact
No matter what field you are in, successful people know that their business makes a difference.
In 2016, you found a higher purpose than just making more money and being your own boss.
"Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago." -Warren Buffett
If you were successful this year, you realized that you're paving the way for others.
15. You Became A Great Listener
Building trust with clients can be difficult.
"If you want to be a good conversationalist, be a good listener. To be interesting, be interested." -Dale Carnegie
In 2016, you made it a point to listen to others wants, needs and desires.
16. You Rewarded Yourself
This year,you found ways to motivate yourself towards small goals.
Entrepreneurs work extremely hard and are extremely laser focused that they forget to treat themselves here and there.
"Don't wait until you've reached your goal to be proud of yourself. Be proud of every step you take toward reaching that goal." -Anonymous
Re-energize your spirits through incentives.
That's our take on it. How do you determine if you've had a succesful year in business or your personal life?


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Duette Honeycomb Shades
The original energy-efficient window covering solution, Duette® honeycomb shades are custom-made in a wealth of stunning colors, textures, and fabrics. These cellular shades from Hunter Douglas feature single- or double-honeycomb designs that trap air in distinct pockets to increase insulation, temperature control, and energy savings – perfect for keeping your home cool in the hot Houston summer and warm in the winter.
Available in a variety of light-control fabrics ranging from sheer to blackout and in several pleat sizes, Duette shades are as versatile and functional as they are beautiful. For additional privacy and light control, the optional top-down bottom-up feature allows you to raise and lower the shade from the top or bottom of your window to achieve the perfect view outdoors. Cellular shades can be operated with either a standard cordlock, continuous cord loop, retractable cord, completely cordless touch-to-lift system, or with the ease of motorization.


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The Looking Glass: New Perspectives on Children's Literature. An electronic journal about children's literature. The journal was launched April 2, 1997 — International Children's Book Day. As our name suggests, we combine an interest in the traditional with an eye to the modern. Articles are published in a range of formats and styles, from the formally academic (peer-reviewed), through more general analysis and commentary, to light and quirky observations. Learn about The Looking Glass here.
Ariel: Review of International English Literature. A quarterly journal (published in January, April, July, and October) devoted to the critical and scholarly study of the new and the established literatures in English around the world in its various manifestations as International English Literature, Postcolonial Literatures, Commonwealth Literature, New Literatures in English, and World Writing in English.
Studies in Social Justice. Studies in Social Justice publishes articles on issues dealing with the social, cultural, economic, political, and philosophical problems associated with the struggle for social justice. This interdisciplinary journal aims to publish work that links theory to social change and the analysis of substantive issues covering nationalism, social and public policy, globalization, culture, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, welfare, poverty, war, and other social phenomena.
Open J-Gate. Open J-Gate is an electronic gateway to global journal literature in open access domain. Open J-Gate provides seamless access to millions of journal articles available online. Open J-Gate is also a database of journal literature, indexed from 8480 open access journals, with links to full text at Publisher sites. Learn about Open J-Gate here.
Academic Journals. The Academic Journals publishes research articles in all areas of human study without financial restriction to readers using the open access model of publication. It covers research articles on medical sciences, social sciences, biological sciences, physical sciences, arts and education, legal sciences and other studies like peace and development studies. Learn about Academic Journals here.


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The latest Home Theater Review has their take on one of the new SVS 4000 Series subwoofers. Read the review, and then make plans to come hear this and other awesome new SVS subs at our Denver showroom on January 23, when we'll be hosting an exciting 4000 Series Launch Event. Enter to win an SVS/Denon Home Theater System valued at over $2,000!
SVS PB-4000 Subwoofer Reviewed
"If there's one conclusion to be drawn from my experience with the SVS PB-4000 subwoofer, it's that this isn't a product for the faint of heart. It's a 'go big or go home' bass-bringing beast that's designed for mid-sized and larger rooms and for larger speaker systems. What's perhaps most surprising to me is its capacity for subtlety and nuance. Should I be surprised by this, given my past experience with SVS subs? Certainly not. Still, there's some level of incongruity involved in seeing and experiencing a sub with this much brute force that also performs so nimbly and even gently when the source material calls for it.
"SVS has another undeniable winner on its hands here–one that outperforms its predecessor while delivering improved aesthetics at a cheaper sticker price. Assuming it suits your needs in terms of output, extension, and overall design, I could not give it a heartier recommendation."


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ConsultingCulture change and enterprise design is a long term process. I serve as partner, facilitator and co-designer of a collaborative, inventive and customer-centric process that your team defines and owns. This happens in 3 phases: Assess and Envision; Implement and Grow.
Speaking & WritingI apply my background in anthropology (user-centered, context-driven, applied research), fashion (the ability to merge creativity, trends and strategy) and service design to speak and write about audacious ideas.
Natalie is consistently one of my graduate class's most well-received guest lecturers. More a facilitated studio lab than a 'lecture', her time with our students pushes their thinking in ways that are both rigorous and practical. Her sessions serve as an effective bridge between modules.
Katherina Rosqueta, Founding Executive Director at the Center for High Impact Philanthropy, University of Pennsylvania
The framework that Natalie and the design thinking process helped us create has now been embraced across our entire organization.
By the end of the session ALL participants grew from it; indicating it was the best session in which they had participated in a very long time. Natalie elevated my team's ability to understand and solve for growth in a more creative and innovative way. She astutely guided a cross-functional senior team to think about the inputs to a challenge in a more iterative manner – and to embrace the 'process' of discovering new opportunities & solving for effective solutions.
It was the best investment made in pushing us forward so that we are collectively future-ready to deliver solutions grounded in creativity; ones that drive growth and add value in numerous ways.
Esther Franklin, EVP, Managing Director of Strategy & Cultural Fluency Spark Foundry | Publicis
Natalie is a wonderful scholar-practitioner; she is able to connect the dots between theory and practice. Her remarkable, diverse background allows her to be a unique contributor to the new global, interdisciplinary world that is rapidly emerging.
Rosalyn McPherson, PRESIDENT, THE ROZ GROUP
Natalie is a superb facilitator! She is a great listener and helps your group to land on new insights at the end of a workshop.
Grace Killelea, President, Half the Sky
We are always looking for a rockstar keynote speaker to inspire and inform…Dr. Natalie Nixon had us all on the edge of our seats for her entire presentation! …My attendees absolutely loved her work across a multidisciplinary set of insights and anecdotes…punctuated with references to both her research and to hyper-relevant themes.
It was inspiring, but not cliche.
It was fun, but not trite.
It was academic, but not condescending.
It was informative, but not a lecture.
Nigel Prentice, Program Director, IBM Design
BIF 2016: Drawing Creativity Out of the Senses"Light bends differently underwater. The speed of sound moves faster than in the air. When the body is submerged, the eyes lose their focus — hearing becomes muffled and spatial awareness alters. Natalie Nixon floats in this medium to expand her perceptions. She swims to gain stamina." Read the full story of Natalie's talk entitled […]Read More »
National Retail Federation
European Innovation AcademyCheck out Natalie Nixon's talks at the European Innovation Academy: Fashion Thinking Fast Paper Prototyping Leading with Design ThinkingRead More »
TEDx George SchoolJune 2015 "The Nudge Imperative-Why it is Critical to Follow your Heart"An independently hosted TedX talk at George School.Read More »
Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design"What We can Learn from the Dance Choreographer"Read More »
The Mayo Clinic's Transform 2015 ConferenceIn October 2015 , at the Mayo Clinic's Transform conference, Natalie spoke to an audience of physicians, public policy makers, health administrators and citizens about the role of creativity in reshaping our healthcare delivery system. Her talk, "What We Should Stop Doing. Right. Now" can be viewed on YouTube . Illustrator MK Czerwiek did a wonderful […]Read More »


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Guy Fieri
He was an especially degenerate piece of filth.
Born January 22nd, 1968
The Condesce - Employer
Live(s) in
Formerly Ohio; Washington, D.C.
Guy Fieri is a television personality working for Food Network, or rather, he was before he became a member of the U.S. Supreme Court; unfortunately he was soon to be the only member of said court. He was a supporter of the Condesce, and his rise to power began shortly before she revealed herself to humanity.
He helped the Condesce rewrite the constitution to form an incomprehensible patchwork of fascism, theocratic mandates, recipes, and bad rap lyrics, and eventually weaseled his way up the ranks to become the High Chaplain of Interstellar War.
He was also a key architect of the Hilarocaust, a genocidal program devised by the Insane Clown Posse, the Dual-Presidents of the United States, to purge all those deemed insufficiently mirthful. Fieri was the head of the death camps and personally oversaw the deaths of five billion people. Because of this, he came to be regarded as the third and final Antichrist.
He met his end at the hands of Mom, who rode him down the "bloody falls" like the fat barrel he was.
Real LifeEdit
Guy Fieri is an author and television host, and has (as far as we can tell) no genocidal tendencies. It should be noted that he has a relatively obvious marketing contract with Betty Crocker; some of his own brands cooking tools are sold on the Betty Crocker store, and several of his recipes feature Betty Crocker ingredients. He also has two restaurants, located in Santa Rosa, California - Tex Wasabi's and Johnny Garlic's. Most years, he has a booth at the Sonoma County Fair (also the Harvest Festival), and can sometimes be spotted walking around the carnival.
- In the first Openbound game, Dave unknowingly makes a parallel between Guy Fieri and Crocker. He comments on Meenah being the dancestor to some dead girl he never met, namely Feferi. However, he misinterprets her name as Fieri or something.
- The "bloody falls" in which he was killed is a photoshopped image of Niagara Falls.


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NSSEA is partnering with the Kids In Need Foundation (KINF) for the 2010 School Equipment Show next month in Phoenix, AZ. The Kids in Need Foundation supports a national network of 25 Resource Centers that benefit needy students by allowing teachers from low-income schools to "shop" for school supplies free of charge. Resource Center merchandise is provided by monetary and in-kind donations from generous businesses and individuals.
This year, the School Equipment Show donation will benefit Treasures 4 Teachers, located in Tempe, AZ. In July of 2010, a storm hit Tempe, AZ and left the center without a building or the supplies needed to continue its mission.
To participate, complete a Donation Form and email or fax it to Lesley Walton at 937.296.1215 by Friday, November 12.


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Treat others how you'd like to be treated – I'm sure many of us would lose count of how many times we were reminded of this as children.
Yet many adults seem to throw this saying out the window, in the name of urgency and efficiency, in the frantic pace of modern life.
Thanks to Eastern philosophies – and common sense – we know that being kind and showing compassion is absolutely essential to humanity, but what effect does it actually have an our health?
Researchers from Stanford University have found that as little as two weeks of practising compassion with intention has a positive physiological effect on the body. It can lower blood pressure, boost your immune response and increase your calmness. Essentially, if it was a pill we'd take it.
Not only does it have physiological effects, people who are actively practising compassion are happier and live a better life. It also has a significant effect on others, motivating them to be kinder, thus creating the ripple effect I'm obsessed with.
Encouraging people to sit quietly for 20 minutes a day and contemplate kindness, or write in a gratitude journal may enhance production of the hormone oxytocin. Oxytocin is typically released at times of nurturing and eases anxiety and stress-related symptoms. It is also thought to increase our generosity.
But how do you practise compassion for the person who cut you off on the road this morning, your colleague who thinks blunt and abrupt is the only way to communicate, or your partner who still hasn't figured out that socks and underwear don't actually magically fly to the washing machine?
- Find common ground. Look for similarities, rather than differences when it comes to challenging relationships. This automatically calms your nervous system and assists with feelings of contentment.
- Listen. Often when we are listening to someone speak we are formulating a response, waiting for our opportunity to offer some advice. Instead just listen. Suspend your judgment and let them express themselves freely – respond to the sentiment not just the words, as many people have trouble communicating their thoughts clearly.
- Drop the judgment. Remember that everyone is on a journey in life, just as you are on your own. Instead of judging other people's decisions or opinions learn from them.
- Look inward. Question areas of your life where you lack compassion, trust, forgiveness or acceptance. Explore why this is the case, be patient and kind with yourself, but actively work on these areas.
- Random acts of kindness. Pick some flowers for a colleague, pay for a friend's lunch, send someone a thank-you card just for being them, or compliment a stranger. You never know how far this simple gesture will reach in that person's day. It might just mean they don't throw to anger, they think about how they can positively impact someone else's day, or that they simply walk away from your interaction with a smile on their face and warmth in their soul.
I leave you with this wonderful quote from the Dalai Lama.
"If you want others to be happy, practise compassion. If you want to be happy, practise compassion."


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Children and adults can increase or improve intelligence and science supports the fact that there are no factors imposed by biology or birth that constrains intelligence gains over ones life. Psychologists at NUIM University have shown with published research that IQ can be raised (see Cassidy, Roche & Hayes, 2011) and that the IQ increases have a permanent effect (Roche, Cassidy &Stewart, 2013). Memory is also an essential part of the brains intellectual functioning and that this too can be improved (see Jaeggi et al., 2008). These studies and others into intelligence show that IQ scores can be improved and that an IQ test is merely a good starting point for kids or adults to commence a journey towards increasing intellectual skills for meaningful gains in all walks of life. So what does it take to increase intelligence and raise IQ? Well advice from Doctor Sarah Cassidy, an educational psychologist and a co-founder at RaiseYourIQ includes
Improve "relational skills"
Psychologists have discovered that there is a strong correlation between a person's relational skills and IQ scores (O'Hora, Pelaez & Barnes-Holmes; 2005, O'Toole & Barnes-Holmes;2009, Cassidy, Roche & Hayes; 2011, Roche, Cassidy & Stewart; 2013). Crucially we now know that relational skills can be taught to any person. So improving your relational skills will in turn increase your IQ score. So what are Relational skills?, they are the understanding of a handful of mathematical relationships between concepts or objects such as things are the same as other things, more or less than other things, opposite to other things, and so on. They also include relationships like before and after or that one thing is contained by another. Moreover, having a strong handle on the relationships between and among other things has been shown to enhance thinking and problem solving skills. In fact, these relational skills are now being called the building blocks of intelligence by psychologists in the field of Relational Frame Theory.
Language helps with cognitive tasks
A language rich environment will increase a person's intellectual acumen. In fact for anyone who does not come from a language or word rich environment, they can read widely to increase vocabulary and make up for that "learning deficit" in their natural environment. Research into brain health indicates that having a strong understanding of language and words will help with cognitive tasks and everyday life. Increasing vocabulary by reading will increase the understanding of language in a more general sense. Also, people should keep a dictionary. When coming across words that not familiar, look them up!
Eat healthy and exercise regularly
Some of life's facts always hold true, like exercise and eating right is good for body and mind. This is not an old wife's tale; this advice is supported by scientific research. There is an ever growing body of evidence suggesting that people who have healthy diets and those that engage in regular vigorous exercise have higher IQ scores and better memories. Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine have recently published that physical activity is highly beneficial for brain health and cognition (2013). There are also many specific foods that play a role in having a healthy diet and will in turn raise IQ. For example, scientists know that vegetables, such as broccoli, spinach, tomatoes, some berries and the omega 3 oils found in oily fish improve memory and overall brain functioning (Roche, 2014) as do green teas and protein in general. Protein contains high levels of amino acids, such as tyrosine, which in turn causes neurons to produce the very important neurotransmitters norepinephrine and dopamine, which are associated with mental alertness. (See, Roche, 2014 for more). Diet and exercise are not just important for the health of your body. They are also vital for the health of your brain.
Learn from experts
When we need to find the answers to questions and deeper understanding of topics, take the time to ask the experts whether this is online, in school, in forums or face to face. Always check that the experts you are asking are actually qualified, informed and knowledgeable sources. There is a great deal of information out there that is simply incorrect, so always look for scientific evidence backing up any "facts".
Have a learning mind-set
It is a relatively recent discovery that a person's mind-set matters not just on an emotional level, but also on a physiological level. We should believe that bye learning more knowledge will enhance our performance in any intellectual setting. Persisting with tasks and learning even when they are difficult will help anyone get to the finish line.
Do brain training
These are not the gimmicky brain games from pseudo-scientists and gaming companies, there are Brain Training programs online that have been shown in published scientific research to improve working memory (e.g., the n-back procedure) and to raise intelligence/IQ (e.g., relational skills training).
Learn new things
Research shows that people can increase the brain's functioning by pushing to learn new things that are outside of their current skill set. Why not learn to play music, to dance or try out a new language. The important thing here is that people will be exercising their brains in a new way and thus expanding the brain's neural networks. Keeping the brain fit and active is equally important for a child or adult as it is for someone entering their senior years.
Views: 144


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Sep 16, 2014
Labels: accessories, clothing, Fashion, jewelry, Shoes, shopaholic, Shopping
9 comments:
LOVE those boots! The bows are too cute :)ReplyDelete
The leather shorts and oversized sweater--- love!ReplyDelete
LOVE that grey sweater! So perfect! And those leather shorts... yes please!ReplyDelete
<3, Pamela
Bad influence! I want it all!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousSeptember 16, 2014 at 9:25 AM
Such cute boots! I just saw on F21 they have similar earrings - for like $5 haha. Can't beat that!ReplyDelete
I love all of these picks! I want everything. You have great style! XOReplyDelete
Loving those boots and those sweaters!! Everything looks so cozy!ReplyDelete
Oh, that scarf! And those boots! Yes to everything!ReplyDelete
I do love those Joules boots too for something different than Hunters. That bow in the back is so cute!!ReplyDelete
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What We Treat at Our Chiropractor in Normandy Park
When you notice pain in your back, neck or body, you want to work with a chiropractor in Normandy Park to find the right solution to address the discomfort. Depending on your situation and the severity of your injuries, we can develop a treatment plan to help your body heal and recovery.
Back Pain Treatment
Back pain treatment from our Normandy Park chiropractor depends on the underlying cause of your pain. Since back pain may stem from muscle injuries, poor posture or an injury to your back, we use up-to-date diagnostic tools to determine the type of pain. After understanding the reasons for your back pain, we develop a personalized treatment plan to help your body heal.
Shoulder and Neck Pain Treatment
Shoulder and neck pain treatment differs from other treatments because your pain may stem from injuries and require careful management. A chiropractor in Normandy Park evaluates the situation and offers solutions like alignments and spinal manipulation to help with neck or shoulder pain. We focus on the cause of the pain, so each individual have a personalized plan of action for treatment.
Sciatica is a type of nerve pain in the lower back. It causes tingling, numbness or pain that radiates down your lower back and thighs. When you notice the symptoms, consider treatment at our clinic. At the Optimal Health Spine and Wellness Clinic, we offer solutions to help with sciatica and related nerve discomfort. Since the pressure on the nerve may contribute to the pain, we may recommend decompression therapy or spinal manipulation. We focus on alleviating the pain after determining the cause of the pinched nerve.
Herniated Disc
A herniated disc occurs when the cushion between vertebrae in your spine pushes outward. It may cause back pain, a pinched nerve or general discomfort. By using chiropractic care, we help reduce the pressure on the nerves surrounding the herniated disc while your body heals. We also encourage better spinal alignment and teach proper posture to help address the underlying problem and prevent future herniated discs in your spine.
Migraines and Headaches
Migraines and headaches impact many individuals and may stem from a variety of factors. In some cases, the discomfort stems from tension in your neck and shoulders due to stress or lifestyle factors. For example, driving long distances or spending hours sitting in a similar position at your work may cause tension in your neck and shoulders. Injuries to your neck and spine may also contribute to headaches or migraines. In other situations, the underlying cause is difficult to identify because you may not know all of the triggers for a migraine. At our clinic, we use massage therapy and spinal manipulation to improve the function of your spine while reducing tension in your muscles to help with headaches and pain relief.
Injuries from a Car Accident
A car accident impacts your life in many different ways. It may cause serious injuries to your body and sometimes you will not notice the signs of an injury until a few hours or even days after the accident. Whiplash, injuries to your back and other supposedly minor injuries may need professional treatment to prevent it from getting worse in the future. At our clinic, we evaluate the severity of your injuries and recommend a treatment plan based on your situation. Since we focus on pain management and encouraging your body to heal, we take a holistic approach to the process.
Contact Optimal Health Spine + Wellness Clinic Today
Experiencing pain in your body does not mean putting up with the discomfort or taking harsh measures to address the situation. At our clinic, we offer natural treatments to encourage your body's healing processes. For more details about our pain management treatments or to set up an appointment with a chiropractor in Normandy Park, contact us today.


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Stories from the Highlands and Islands will be given primacy.
The site will also welcome stories and pictures from contributors and there will also be regularly updated weather reports from areas across Scotland.
This is the first time that entire news stories will be published online on a daily basis in the Gaelic language.
BBC Alba hope that both native speakers and learners of Gaelic will use and contribute to the section.
'Excellent resource'
The BBC Gaelic team has worked with BBC Scotland News online in Glasgow and the BBC World Service in London to deliver the new service.
BBC Alba's assistant news editor, Maggie MacKinnon, said: "We're very pleased to be able to extend our news website and I am sure that our pages will make an excellent resource for the Gaelic audience and those with an interest in Gaelic language and culture.
"This site will feature stories that are not available on any other website in the world, and will reflect the changes and developments in those stories as they happen."
What are these?
Most Popular Now | 56,514 people are reading stories on the site right now.";