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Gregg Rosenthal watches Game Rewind every week. Then he tries to explain what he's seen.
Wild Card Weekend features four great matchups, with three games looking like virtual toss-ups.
The only team that could truly shock this weekend is the same team that made me look even dumber than usual over the final months of the regular season. Could Christian Ponder and the Minnesota Vikings really beat the Green Bay Packers on the road?
Ponder playing his best
It's been a humbling season for Ponder. After a solid start to the season, the second-year pro had a series of games that ranked among the worst in the NFL by any quarterback this season. He had six games of 131 yards or less, with three under 100. This wasn't just about playing conservative; Ponder was wildly inefficient on a per-throw basis.
Despite facing eight defenders "in the box" on most plays, Ponder finished 31st in yards per attempt out of 32 eligible quarterbacks. Only Blaine Gabbert trailed him. Ponder often was indecisive and inaccurate. He fell deep down a quarterback hole.
Ponder has picked up his play dramatically in the last two weeks, especially on third down. He has converted eight third-and-long plays over that span, and 13 first downs from Ponder overall. He has completed 71 percent of passes and run for 57 yards on four carries. Those conversions have led to 47 points.
This is the type of football Minnesota dreams about from Ponder. He doesn't need to make huge plays all game, but the Vikings become a very difficult offense if he can make throws on third-and-long. Watching Game Rewind from his two matchups against the Packers, I still noticed some discouraging traits.
It is very rare to see Ponder complete a pass to his second read. He gets locked into a receiver. If that receiver isn't open, the play usually is done. Ponder often has to see the player open before throwing instead of anticipating. This was true even during this excellent stretch of play. Those Vikings receivers have just been open the last two weeks.
Wright and Simpson are keys
Ponder needs to see separation to make throws. That has happened the last two weeks because Jairus Wright and Jerome Simpson have done a nice job getting open.
This was especially true last week against a struggling Packers secondary. Tramon Williams had an absolutely awful game in coverage and defending the run. Cornerback Sam Shields sometimes was caught out of position.
Wright has some juice, and the Vikings have started to use him more like Percy Harvin. He's a huge key Saturday night because the Vikings need playmakers.
Peterson makes blocking look better
The craziest part of Peterson's 199-yard performance against the Packers: Green Bay's defensive line wasn't that bad. They won plenty at the line of scrimmage, especially B.J. Raji. Practically all of Peterson's yards came after contact.
The problems with the Packers' defense really came from the linebackers and secondary. Green Bay's cornerbacks, especially Williams, wanted no part of Peterson. Other than Clay Matthews, the linebackers remain pedestrian. (Even Matthews got caught on a few plays.) Packers defensive coordinator Dom Capers needs to get his house in order.
Then again, the Vikings need to keep scoring because ...
Green Bay's wide receivers are in great shape
Aaron Rodgers is playing at an extremely high level. Greg Jennings is finally back to his pre-injury form. Jennings makes such a big difference for this offense, helping turn last week's game around with a few terrific plays after the catch. He looks 100 percent.
The Packers' offense is at its best when its receivers are running free. Randall Cobb is expected back for this game. Jordy Nelson might be at less than 100 percent, but he caught a huge deep pass last week. James Jones is playing so well that he was named a team captain for the playoffs. Jermichael Finley had a few nice grabs and made a devastating block last week. No one can match the number of receivers the Packers throws at defenses. Especially Minnesota.
Antoine Winfield needs to stay on the field
The leader of the Vikings' secondary left last week's game early because of the pain he felt while trying to jam Packers receivers while playing with a broken hand. Winfield is going to tough it out and play Saturday night, but there's no telling how long he will last. Rodgers mercilessly picked on Marcus Sherels after Winfield left the game. Cornerback A.J. Jefferson wasn't much better. The Vikings' defense really had no answer for the Packers' offense once Winfield was out of the game.
The one big Minnesota advantage
The Vikings' pass rush can be pretty dangerous with Jared Allen, Brian Robison, Kevin Williams and Everson Griffen all on the same field at the same time. Rodgers really was afforded fine protection last week with one glaring exception: Right tackle Don Barclay struggled badly.
Griffen is extremely versatile. He can play inside, outside and even at linebacker. With all due respect to Allen, Griffen is the most dangerous player the Vikings' defense has right now. Packers left tackle Marshall Newhouse actually did a nice job against Allen. If Allen and Griffen could turn up the heat at the same time, the Vikings have a chance.
The X-factor
Opponents practically take it for granted at this point that the Packers can't run. The only problem with that theory: They have run pretty well late in the season. At least for them. They had a streak of five games with at least 100 rushing yards end last week. But they might have found an answer to their weekly running back question in unknown second-year pro DeJuan Harris.
Maybe I'm crazy, but Harris could pull off a playoff run like James Starks did in 2010. I'm not sure Harris knows the offense like a veteran, but the guy runs very, very hard. He showed great vision and runs downhill. Harris isn't going to make defenders miss, but that's not the point. A rugged running back is exactly what this offense needs. That will be especially true in January conditions.
The great equalizer
Minnesota should hope for snow, wind, cold and anything else that can stymie a high-powered, timing passing attack. The Packers are better off in more pristine conditions because the Vikings' defense is not likely to slow them down without some help from Mother Nature.
The Vikings have proved me wrong before, but I haven't learned: Green Bay 34, Minnesota 17. This Packers team still has the ingredients to make another Super Bowl appearance.
Follow Gregg Rosenthal on Twitter @greggrosenthal.


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ACSA 100th Annual Meeting
March 1-4, 2012 in Boston, MA
Host School: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Co-chairs: Mark Goulthorpe, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Amy Murphy, University of Southern California
This Annual Meeting culminates the events associated with ACSA 100. The Boston conference will mark the centennial year that educators from diverse institutions have gathered to share ideas with the goal of advancing architectural education. It will be hosted by the first school of architecture in America, MIT, whose department of architecture was founded in 1865. To mark such an occasion, the conference will critically examine the ground covered by the discipline since its inception, as well as speculate on its future trajectory, the central theme of the conference being the profound impact of digital technologies' computational and communication capacities on architecture.
The ability to process and share massive amounts of information has clearly opened entirely new opportunities for research and praxis that radically exceed empirical methods and previously held notions of space and time. But, as history has taught us, a change in technological paradigm is rarely absorbed efficiently, or in an undisputed manner, even if its effects are profound or beneficial. The Phonetic alphabet, devised by Phoenician merchants to be able to trade between all language groups, was seen as a corruption to the integrity of different languages, yet it proved enduring as it offered effective communication. Writing itself was frequently castigated as a compromise to living memory and intellect, yet it proved itself to be a remarkable and enduring mnemonic and communication medium. Print technology similarly caused concern amongst the literary elite for the threat to culture of broadening and massively extending the potential for writing, but it gave birth to new genres of communication and literature, and a liberalization of social exchange. Such prior technological changes caused broad cultural adaptation that was often difficult to appreciate during their absorptive period. Digital technologies seem to have inaugurated similar fundamental changes, particularly in those disciplines that are both technical and cultural, such as architecture.
While prescient scholarship from the past can still assist us in anticipating the broad effects of technological change (as exemplified by a seminal text such as Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction by Walter Benjamin), our specifically digital future must still be imagined and our digital present critically assessed—for the terms of progress are always in flux and their relationship to our current 'global village' quite relative.
The conference's keynote addresses, various panel sessions, and papers are to pose searching questions as to the pedagogical formation and professional status of the architect in this period of radical technological change—each one examining the distinct (or indistinct)_ impact of digital technologies on architecture. Given the increasingly ubiquitous presence of computation today, the conference hopes to address all areas of architectural discipline—the historical, theoretical, technical, environmental, professional, cultural...
This ACSA Annual Meeting will serve as a forum for reflection and discussion that relates to the meeting theme through research, scholarship, and design explorations. Faculty members have the opportunity both to propose session topics and to submit papers related to the topics.
© 2019 Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture. All rights reserved.
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Phone: 202.785.2324 |
Fax: 202.628.0448
Web site design and development by Matrix Group International, Inc.

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Dog runs with attached kennels are becoming a popular option for the times it is necessary to confine your dog. They are a good alternative to chaining a dog up, because the dog can move freely in the run without the risk of getting tangled up in a chain. In this plan, the run is detachable from the kennel.
This kennel and run is designed for up to two smaller dogs or one medium-sized dog. Think carefully about the needs of your dog(s), and feel free to adjust the measurements.
We recommend you have access to the following tools:
*Dressed timber is usually 5mm smaller than stated dimensions because the surface is removed to give a smooth finish. For example, 50mm by 25mm timber is usually 45mm by 20mm once dressed. The measurements in our plan take this difference into account.


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History of Italian Renaissance art: painting, sculpture, architecture
Pearson Prentice Hall, Apr 13, 2006 - Art - 736 pages
This book focuses on works of art, their creators, and the circumstances affecting their creation. This revision is designed to provide readers with a more streamlined approach to understanding Italian Renaissance art without losing the enthusiasm and appreciation that Hartt demonstrated for this area and which earlier editions of this book conveyed so successfully.Italy and Italian Art; Duecento Art in Tuscany and Rome; Florentine Art of the Early Trecento; Sienese Art of the Early Trecento; Later Gothic Art in Tuscany and Northern Italy; The Beginnings of Renaissance Architecture; Gothic and Renaissance in Tuscan Sculpture; Gothic and Renaissance in Florentine Painting; The Heritage of Masaccio and the Second Renaissance Style; The Second Renaissance Style in Architecture and Sculpture; Absolute and Perfect Painting: The Second Renaissance Style; Crisis and Crosscurrents; Science, Poetry, and Prose; The Renaissance in Central Italy; Gothic and Renaissance in Venice and Northern Italy; The High Renaissance in Florence; The High Renaissance in Rome; High Renaissance and Mannerism; High and Late Renaissance in Venice and on the Mainland; Michelangelo and the Maniera.
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A text book for my Art History class.Excellent with lot of color images. Great for anyone student or the hobby art history student. Read full review
The Guilds and the Status of the Artist
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The Real Field of Dreams
Field of Dreams is generally considered not only as an iconic baseball film, but an iconic Iowa film.
But a new movie may knock Field of Dreams off that second pedestal.
The Final Season is based on the true story of the Norway, Iowa high school baseball team that won the state baseball title in the final year of the school's existence. The film was shot entirely in Iowa, including the actual school and field in Norway.
Co-starring as a location in the film is Veterans Memorial Stadium, the Cedar Rapids Kernels' home ballpark. The events of the film occur in 1990-91, when the "Old Vet" still existed. The championship games are played at the "New Vet," which opened in 2002. Scenes are shot in the Vet's dugout and clubhouse.
I can't speak for the people who actually live in Iowa, but as an occasional visitor who's driven through those small rural Iowa towns, it was extremely authentic for me.
Click Here to visit the movie web site.
Click Here to visit the Norway Baseball web site.
I found the movie with a companion documentary DVD for $20 at Sam's Club.


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When 4-year-old Catalena DiBattista learned her autism therapist would not return, her lips began to quiver and her eyes welled with tears.
"She was very sad" before the service was temporarily restored, said her mother, Pamela. "She loves Miss Alana."
She and other parents of autistic children have been on a roller-coaster ride since the state began transitioning to Medi-Cal some 860,000 children who received low-cost health, dental and vision care through its soon-to-be-defunct Healthy Families program. The shift is expected to save California nearly $64 million this year.
While the number of families affected is small, their plight underscores the huge changes on the horizon for health care consumers as they navigate ongoing state and federal health care reforms.
Parents say they were promised the move would not disrupt services for autistic children.
But many now say they feel betrayed after weeks of conflicting or unclear answers about whether their children can continue a popular and effective therapy, applied behavioral analysis, that can cost $20,000 to $50,000 a year.
Catalena's therapy has been discontinued and restarted twice — and is now scheduled to end again Tuesday.
"It's been a nightmare," said Karen Fessel, executive director of the Lafayette-based Autism Health Insurance Project, which helps families obtain coverage. "Nobody's been able to give them straight answers."
A coalition of children's advocacy groups has asked the state to suspend the transition, planned in phases throughout the year, until this issue is resolved. "The parents that we've talked to are just beside themselves — this is a matter of their child being able to function in the world," said Kelly Hardy, director of health policy for Children Now, an Oakland-based national advocacy group.
The behavioral therapy methods vary but typically involve intensive one-on-one sessions to teach social and behavioral skills using rewards and, often, play therapy. Many children make great progress, particularly when young, but that window can close as they age, experts say. That is why disruption in services so upsets parents.
"You can miss the window of opportunity entirely," said Kristin Jacobson, co-founder and president of Autism Deserves Equal Coverage, based in Burlingame.
It's difficult to estimate how many children could be affected. Advocates say 200 statewide were told they will no longer be eligible for the therapy, and about 400 children receive it through Healthy Families. A state agency spokesman said it was trying to determine the number affected.
All told, about 10,000 children with an autism spectrum disorder are in the Healthy Families program and many may seek behavioral therapy at some point, Jacobson estimated.
On April 22, Health Care Services director Toby Douglas told a legislative committee that although the therapy is not covered in Medi-Cal managed care plans, parents can reapply for it through the 21 regional centers that the state contracts with to coordinate services for people with developmental disabilities.
Because of stricter regional center criteria, however, Jacobson estimates that as many as three-fourths of autistic children will not be eligible for behavioral therapy. That leaves parents with few or no options because most cannot afford the costly therapy.
Tony Cava of the California Department of Health Care Services said the state is working to ensure children get the care they need.
Catalena improved significantly since beginning therapy in July, her mother said. Her speech blossomed and she is learning better ways to deal with what can be three-hour tantrums.
In a moment DiBattista will never forget, about a month ago Catalena called her "Mommy" for the first time without prompting.
"She wanted to show me her art project that she was very proud of," her mother said. "I was in tears. I dropped the broom and hurdled over a chair."
Shortly before she turned 3, Catalena was diagnosed with a milder form of autism known as "pervasive developmental disorder — not otherwise specified." Regional centers typically don't provide behavioral therapy for children with this diagnosis, Jacobson noted.
With the recent disruptions in her therapy, DiBattista said she is seeing signs that Catalena is regressing. "She's started with the screaming and screeching again, and she's kind of stopped using her words."
Fourteen-year-old Owen Carlson of Livermore also has been diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorder. His mother, Alice Mayall, started pushing for behavioral therapy in July after hearing about a new state law requiring private insurers to cover it.
Owen was authorized to receive the therapy in mid-March, but Medi-Cal will not cover it and neither will the Regional Center of the East Bay.
Mayall said that on Jan. 1, a letter from the state told her: "Your child will continue to have all of the same services during this move. Your child's coverage will not be interrupted."
Added Mayall: "Someone was either knowingly dishonest or negligently dishonest."
Sandy Kleffman covers health. Contact her at 510-293-2478. Follow her at Twitter.com/skleffman.


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Published Aug 28, 2013
Whether you take a Bloody Mary or coffee with your eggs benedict, we know you have a favorite brunch spot!
These restaurants take old ideas and melt them into tasty new ones. Who... see the Top 5 →
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Tell us who puts the meatball on top of your spaghetti! see the Top 5 →
The 2013 Denver A-List awards are based on more than 146,000 votes from local Denver-area experts.


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Naomi Phillips
"I have had hours of personal enjoyment working with Topaz Adjust, Simplify and Clean and combinations of all of them with my photos. It has opened a whole new facet of creativity with my photography and people are amazed at the results --- Thank you!" - Naomi PhillipsRead More
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Q&A: Tools aside, Yelich just plays
Marlins top prospect overcomes injuries in stellar season
By Robert Emrich / Special to MLB.com | January 17, 2013 5:23 PM
If you expected Christian Yelich to take a step back in 2012, you were sorely disappointed.
After a strong debut season in which he won a MiLBY for a postseason walk-off homer, Yelich got off to an inauspicious start in 2012, landing on the disabled list after being struck by a bat in Spring Training.
The injury, and another trip to the disabled list following a concussion, merely slowed the 21-year-old outfielder. Yelich batted .329 with 46 extra-base hits and 20 stolen bases, winning Florida State League Player of the Year and Marlins' Minor League Player of the Year honors.
Getting ready to make his Double-A debut, Miami's top prospect talked with MiLB.com about his successful sophomore season and what's in store for 2013.
MiLB.com: How would you sum up your season?
Christian Yelich: I'd say it was interesting. It kind of started off a little rough by getting hurt with a day left in Spring Training. I got hit in the elbow with a thrown bat, so I started the season on the two-week disabled list. I was able to come back from that, get a strong start to the year, and I got a concussion from sliding into second base. After that, I was able to stay healthy and our team was able to get to the Championship Series, where we came up a little short in Game 5.
MiLB.com: Were you worried to start the year on such a down note?
Yelich: I wasn't worried. Obviously, it's disappointing; you never want to be hurt, especially to start the year, but it's one of those freak accidents that you can't do anything about.
MiLB.com: You were the Topps Florida State League Player of the Year and the Marlins' Minor League Player of the Year. How honored were you by those awards?
Yelich: It's a pretty big honor, especially coming from the Florida State League, which notoriously isn't a hitter-friendly league.
MiLB.com: You're heading to Double-A this year. What do you think you need to do to continue your success?
Yelich: Just continuing to get better, whether that's defensively in center field or left field -- wherever I end up -- and continue to get my repetitions in a professional environment.
MiLB.com: How do you think the transition to the outfield has gone?
Yelich: I think it's gone really well. I think it's a tribute to the player development staff we have with the Marlins. I live close to Tarrik Brock -- he's our outfield coordinator -- I work with him three or four times a week in the offseason. That's the work that goes unnoticed to most people, but he's had a huge part of my smooth transition to the outfield. I definitely wouldn't have done as well as I have without him and all that work he's put in with me.
MiLB.com: You've reached the playoffs each of your two seasons as a pro. What's that experience like?
Yelich: That's a great experience. We won one of the Game 5's, and we lost one of the Game 5's. ... That's an experience that is pretty cool and I've been fortunate to be able to do it the first two years of professional baseball.
MiLB.com: You've played with a lot of the same teammates the first two seasons. Who are some of the ones you room with or hang around with?
Yelich: I've lived with J.T. Realmuto ever since Rookie ball in the Gulf Coast League -- we've hung out together. I think we came into the Marlins organization two or three days apart. We became friends there and we've been fortunate enough to move up to all the levels together.
MiLB.com: As I understand it, he was the one whose bat hit you. That must have been an interesting situation.
Yelich: That was him. It made for a little bit of an awkward night. I guess it wasn't funny at the time, but we still laugh about it now.
MiLB.com: What have you been doing in the offseason?
Yelich: I had to go to the [Arizona] Fall League for a little while. After that, I came back and you have to get right into working out and doing all that stuff. I had a short offseason, kinda just hanging out, resting up a little bit.
MiLB.com: What do you do when you're not getting ready?
Yelich: Hanging out with friends I haven't seen in a while, gone off to college and are back for winter break. Go to the movies, go to the beach. It's still pretty nice out here [in California].
MiLB.com: Do you ever wonder what it would have been like to go to college?
Yelich: A little bit. At the same time, I feel like I made the right decision to not go to college. ... I still go visit my friends in college and get the experience that way. I wonder about it every now and then, but I'm definitely happy with the decision I made.
MiLB.com: If you weren't playing baseball what would you be doing?
Yelich: I was going to go to college undeclared; I really didn't know. If I wasn't playing baseball -- you're going to think this is crazy -- I actually wanted to be a U.S. Navy SEAL, and that was before they got all that hype for all the stuff they've been doing in the news. ... Being a part of the best of the best would have been something that was pretty cool.
MiLB.com: You mentioned movies. We're in the middle of Oscar season -- with the Awards coming up, any thoughts on that?
Yelich: I actually just saw Zero Dark Thirty and I liked it, and I wouldn't be surprised if that won some awards.
MiLB.com: Given the season you had and your standing as the Marlins' top prospect, how do you deal with the pressure and hype?
Yelich: It kind of just comes with the territory. You just learn to deal with it. It's something that's never gotten to me. I think it's because I have higher expectations of myself than others put on me. I think it goes back to my personality. My attitude is kind of laid-back: obviously, you want to succeed, you just don't let it get it to you.
MiLB.com: What's one aspect of your game you'd like to improve?
Yelich: I'd like to keep getting better defensively, but you always want to get better at all aspects of your game. If I had to choose one, I'd say defensively. I've worked a lot on my arm. I've been able to make the transition to center.
MiLB.com: You've got the high average, high on-base percentage, the home runs, the stolen bases. Do you consider yourself a five-tool player?
Yelich: That word's thrown around a lot. Everyone likes to categorize people as five-tool players, four-tool players or whatever. I just like to try and be a complete player and go out every night and give my team a chance to win. Whether you steal a bag, get on base or whatever, I think by the time a 140-game season is over, you look up my numbers and they are what they are.
MiLB.com: What is your gameday routine like?
Yelich: I always get to the field pretty early -- I always eat lunch at the field, get something and bring it there. I work in the cages, whether it's tee or flips. Get your batting practice, come in, eat your pregame meal, which normally for me is a peanut butter sandwich. I'm not real superstitious; I don't have any pregame routines.
MiLB.com: You have a peanut butter sandwich before every game?
Yeah. Minor Leagues, not much to choose from -- most of the time it's a peanut butter sandwich or turkey or whatever you can find.
MiLB.com: A sophomore slump is not uncommon. How did you avoid it?
Yelich: I didn't go out there, thinking, "I got to do this like the year before." I think you start going out there worrying about that stuff, worrying about everything outside of baseball, it's going to affect you in a negative way. I kind of went into it, "Hey, I'm going to approach every at-bat the same way," and if you do it that way, by the time you look up, by the time you've played a full season, your talent will shine through.
MiLB.com: How fun was it to play in the Futures Game?
Yelich: That was an unbelievable experience. I loved every second of it. I think it was sold-out crowds, playing with all the best prospects in the game on your team and against them. It was a really cool game and something I was really glad I was able to be a part of.
Robert Emrich is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs.View More


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Nowadays online business is really selling off like a hot cake. It can be either homely appliances or other things like web design. Footer Webpage design has great significance in online business. Web page is the most important thing in the parties, the seller and the consumer. Some web page is so badly design that it is failed to make any business. So if you are really feeling the necessity of some attractive web page, have a look on the features that you need to have in your web page.
Some web page consists of wonderful layout. These look very neat and clean and can have a great amount of content here. A very good layout and nice resource can really help you to attract people. A wonderful design is the result of the combination of nice layout, patterns and textures. One of most important thing to make the page more and more attractive is adding some good footer. Footer is the part of a web page which appears at the bottom of the page. Some designers ignore it as it at the bottom of a web page. But as the designers are designing the whole page and when people will scroll the page it will definitely be noticed by the viewers so it should be designed very well.
Making a good footer also needs some good color contrast. The contrasting color in footer section adds a special effect to the page. If the footer is vivacious in color, it can draw the attention. The contact number or the affiliated programs can be displayed here. Some special footer is used for personal blog and social website and thus is able to get respect. Some footer possesses some description about the author and history. The most interesting thing is it has some moving effect when the cursor is moved.
Some pages have designing vibrant floral decoration at the bottom. There is some footer with parallel horizontal design which is very smart looking. There is some footer for portfolio showcase. You may also have some design with brush effect at the footer. This is a very unique design with compact look by combining all the info and gives it a very attractive look. There are some pages having footer of some old page look. This adds special effects to the page. Footers which has colorful words on dark footer is really has a demand presently. Creativity along with integrity can make wonder. The features above are very necessary for web designing. So keep the ideas in mind while thinking of a new page designing or purchasing.
Examples of Footers in Web Design
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Stand & Ea
Groovy Web Design
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|Previous College:
|University of Virginia, '82
|Head Coach
Click here to view or purchase Jeff Jones photos
Jeff Jones has enjoyed over a decade of success as the head coach of the American University men's basketball program and turned the Eagles into the most consistent team in the Patriot League over that time. The transformation of the men's program culminated in the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons as the Eagles made back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Division I Tournament, including the school's first ever trip to the 'Big Dance.' In 2009-10, Jones eclipsed the 300 win plateau, adding one more milestone to an already storied career.
Jones led the Eagles to their fourth 20-win season in the last five years during the 2011-12 season, with a 20-12 overall record. American recorded one of the best home records in program history, posting a 12-game win streak in Bender that matched one set during the 2008-09 season, and finished the year with a 13-2 mark in Bender Arena. The Eagles concluded the season by hosting Buffalo in the first round of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament. Senior Charles Hinkle finished his career with All-Patriot League First Team and NABC Second Team All-District honors.
American finished its 2010-11 season with a 22-9 record, marking
the program's third 20-win season in four years. The Eagles
also set program records with 12 wins away from Bender Arena and 11
non-conference victories, while advancing to the Patriot League
Semifinals for a conference-best 10th straight season. In the
team's final game of the year, Vlad Moldoveanu became just
the 28th player in program history to eclipse the 1,000 point
plateau and fifth under Coach Jones, and finished his career at
American as a two-time All-Patriot League First Team honoree.
The 2008-09 Eagles enjoyed one of the best seasons in school history and capped the year off with a remarkable performance in the NCAA Tournament. American, led by its seven seniors, pushed Final Four participant Villanova to its limits, taking a 10-point lead into halftime and leading by as many as 14 points in the second half. Villanova eventually came back to win the game but not before the Eagles caught the attention of the nation.
American capped the 2008-09 season with a 24-8 overall record, matching the program record for wins, and a 13-1 mark against the Patriot League. The Eagles led the nation in road wins with 11 and their 59.1 points per game allowed ranked 11th in the NCAA. For his efforts, Jones was acknowledged as the Patriot League Coach of the Year and the National Association of Basketball Coaches District 13 Coach of the Year. Jones passed American coaching great Stafford Cassell along the way as the program's all-time winningest coach and finished the season with 149 wins at American.
The highlight of an outstanding 2007-08 season was again a great performance in the NCAA Tournament. In the first round matchup in Birmingham, Ala., American played a tightly contested game against Tennessee, trailing by only one point, 50-49, with six minutes to play before the Volunteers pulled away. The Eagles appearance in the NCAA Tournament was the first in program history and was earned with a 52-46 win over Colgate in the Patriot League Championship Game. American went 21-12 on the year, marking the team's first 20-win season since the 1989-90 season, and won its third Patriot League Regular Season Championship. Along the way American picked up a milestone victory, defeating regional foe and national basketball powerhouse Maryland in College Park, 67-59.
Jones has set the standard for coaching excellence at American and is the program's all-time leader in wins with a record of 202-162. Jones has also guided American to four regular-season championships and five appearances in the Patriot League Tournament Championship Game. He has developed 21 players who have been named All-Patriot League, 23 players who have gone on to play professionally, two players who received the Patriot League Rookie of the Year award, Andre Ingram (2004) and Derrick Mercer (2006), and two players, Patrick Doctor (2002) and Derrick Mercer (2009), who earned the Patriot League Player of the Year award.
Such success reflects his impeccable basketball pedigree: A star
point guard who held the record for assists at the University of
Virginia, the Owensboro, Ky., native is a member of the Apollo High
School Hall of Fame. He is still the only person to win National
Invitation Tournament (NIT) Championships as both a player and
coach. It's not an exaggeration to say that basketball is in
his blood: his father, Bob, coached Kentucky Wesleyan University,
leading the team to the 1973 NCAA Division II title.
One of the most respected teachers in the collegiate ranks, Jones left the University of Rhode Island, where he served as an assistant on Jerry DeGregorio's staff during the 1999-2000 season, to take the helm of American basketball in April 2000, becoming the 17th coach in the school's history. In just his second season at American, Jones led the Eagles to the second-best turnaround in NCAA Division I history, finishing with an 18-12 overall record. The 11-game improvement from 2000-01 was second only to Bob Knight's Texas Tech squad that had a 14-game turnaround. The 18 victories were the highest win total for the program since 1989-90 (a performance the team would repeat in 2003-04), and its first winning campaign since 1990-91.
During the 2001-02 season the Eagles captured the Patriot League regular-season title, fashioning a 10-4 conference record in the process. The top seed in the league tournament, the Eagles advanced to the championship game only to fall to Holy Cross, 55-52, before then the largest championship crowd in league history and just the second sellout in the history of American's Bender Arena. The game was also played in front of a national audience on ESPN. Earlier that same season American gained national recognition with a 77-72 win at Florida State, becoming the first Patriot League school to ever defeat a member of the renowned Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).
During the 2002-03 season, Jones led the Eagles to a victory over cross-town rival George Washington and a regular season win over Holy Cross. The Eagles finished second in the regular season and reached the Patriot League Championship Game for a second time.
In 2003-04 Jones guided the Eagles to their second Patriot League regular season title in three years and led American to the Patriot League Championship Game for the third straight year. American finished with its third-consecutive winning season for the first time in 13 years and had a six-game winning streak for the first time in 14 years. The Eagles earned an invitation to the Rainbow Classic, where they went 2-1, including a win over NCAA tourney team East Tennessee State.
The Eagle Has Landed
Jones also led the Eagles to a winning season in 2004-05, as American finished with a 16-12 record and an 8-6 mark in the Patriot League, good for third place. With the winning record, Jones had guided American to above-.500 marks in four straight seasons--the first time that had happened since the 1974-75 season, when American completed a string of five straight winning seasons. Jones's reputation helped the Eagles get invited to the 2004-05 Preseason NIT.
In 2006-07 a resurgent American team achieved a 16-14 record.
The winning record marked a period of nearly unprecedented success
at American, as five of the previous six teams had winning seasons,
a record accomplished only four times before in the team's
Other notable 2006-07 achievements:
• The Eagles got off to their best start in 17 years with a 7-2 opening mark.
• Jones had a personal highlight with his 100th win at American when the Eagles knocked off Colgate in a thrilling overtime game.
• American went on to the Patriot League semifinals, where eventual league champ Holy Cross won on a last-second basket.
• Jones joined the exclusive 250-win club.
Other Career Highlights:
• When he became the University of Virginia's eighth head coach at age 29, Jones was the youngest coach in the history of the Atlantic Coast Conference. In eight years at the helm, he compiled a record of 146-104 for a .584 winning percentage. He led Virginia to six postseason appearances (five NCAA, one NIT), one regular-season ACC championship, and four 20-win campaigns. Virginia's win over Virginia Tech during the 1994-95 regular season gave Jones his 100th career victory, making him the second-fastest coach in school history and fifth-fastest in ACC history to accomplish the feat. He also directed the Cavaliers to five of their top six seasons for field-goal percentage defense.
• Virginia made its fifth NCAA Tournament appearance in seven seasons under Jones in 1996-97. Finishing that season with an overall mark of 18-13, the Cavaliers fell to Iowa in a West Region first-round game.
• The 1994-95 season saw Jones lead Virginia to a final
mark of 25-9. The program advanced to the NCAA Tournament's
Elite Eight and earned a share of its first ACC regular-season
crown since 1983. Virginia finished that season ranked eighth in
the final CNN/USA Today poll, and 13th in the final Associated
Press media poll. Those were the highest final national rankings by
a Virginia team since 1983.
• In 1992-93 Jones became the only coach in conference history to win at least 20 games in each of his first three seasons. He led Virginia to a 21-10 record (9-7 ACC) and a trip to the 1993 East Region semifinals in the NCAA Tournament.
• In 1991-92, Jones's Cavaliers posted a 20-13 record and went on to win the NIT championship. As a result, Jones became the first person to win an NIT title as both a player and a coach; he is still the only person to accomplish the feat.
• In his first season as head coach at Virginia, Jones led the 1990-91 squad to a 21-12 overall record. He was the only rookie coach in the nation that year to have his team in the NCAA Tournament.
Before his eight-year run as head coach, Jones was a full-time assistant on Terry Holland's staff at UVa, from 1986 to 1990, a part-time assistant for three seasons, and a graduate assistant for one. During his eight seasons as an assistant, Jones was a part of the Cavaliers' overall record of 162-95 (.630), participating in six NCAA Tournaments while advancing to the Final Four in 1984 and the Elite Eight in 1989. Virginia also competed in one NIT during his tenure.
A Big-Time Player
Before his coaching career, Jones made his mark on the national college basketball scene as a player. After starring at Apollo High School in Owensboro, Kentucky, he went on to become point guard for the University of Virginia from 1978-82. As a four-year starter for the Cavaliers, Jones was known as a leader and prolific passer. With Jones directing a potent offense, UVa compiled an overall record of 102-28 (.785) while he led the Cavaliers to two NCAA Tournaments and two NITs. Virginia captured the 1980 NIT title and advanced to the NCAA Final Four in 1981. He graduated from Virginia in 1982 with a bachelor of science degree in psychology.
Jones finished his career as Virginia's all-time assist leader (598) while also setting the single-season record with 200 assists during the 1979-80 season. Later, as head coach, he saw both of those records eclipsed by his own player, John Crotty. Jones served as team captain as a senior during the 1981-82 season and played in 129 games during his career. During that time he averaged 6.6 points and 4.6 assists per game while shooting 52.2 percent from the field and 74.3 percent from the free-throw line.
Jones was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches 2007 Silver Anniversary All-America Team along with Dan Calandrillo (Seton Hall), Eric "Sleepy" Floyd (Georgetown), Pete Metzelaars (Wabash) and Ricky Pierce (Rice). The award is given to former collegiate stars who have gone on to distinguish themselves after their college careers.
Jones and his wife, Danielle, live in Arlington, Va. He is the father of three children, Meghann, Madison Perry, and Jeffrey Robert.
Year-by-Year Coaching Record
Year School Record Postseason
1990-01 Virginia 21-12 NCAA First Round
1991-92 Virginia 20-13 NIT Champions
1992-93 Virginia 21-10 NCAA Sweet 16
1993-94 Virginia 18-13 NCAA Second Round
1994-95 Virginia 25-9 NCAA Elite 8
1995-96 Virginia 12-15 --
1996-97 Virginia 18-13 NCAA First Round
1997-98 Virginia 11-19 --
2000-01 American 7-20 --
2001-02 American 18-12 --
2002-03 American 16-14 --
2003-04 American 18-13 --
2004-05 American 17-11 --
2005-06 American 12-17 --
2006-07 American 16-14 --
2007-08 American 21-12 NCAA First Round
2008-09 American 24-8 NCAA First Round
2009-10 American 11-20 --
2010-11 American 22-9 --
2011-12 American 20-12 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament
Record at AU 202-162 (.555) Three postseason apps.
Overall Record 348-266 (.567) Nine postseason apps.


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TPConnects SaaS-based solution addresses the current problem of 99% of the travel agents lacking their own digital assets...
2 May 2019
Last summer, the aviation industry set a new record, with over 200,000 aircraft taking to the skies every day. In a competitive marketplace, airlines are looking for the right technology that enables them to deliver memorable experiences for their customers...
26 Apr 2019
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Baltimore: A Hub for Ideas, Inspiration, and Innovation
Baltimore abounds with incredible assets at every turn. Some you may have heard about already, like the beautiful Inner Harbor and awe-inspiring National Aquarium, or picturesque Fell's Point and the world-class medical community of Johns Hopkins. And while those are undoubtedly special, there's still so much more to discover in Charm City.


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After a bloated Super Bowl in Dallas, it's time to rein in big game
Tuesday, February 8, 2011; 12:06 AM
It's a rough morning-after for the NFL. The Dallas Super Bowl was a bender, but now that the confetti has fallen, it looks like litter. The hangover has hit, a splitting headache and a sour stomach from the $19 margaritas and the $12 wine and the $10 beers and the rest of the fiscal insanity. Is this really what the NFL wants to become? A divorced-from-reality debauch?
I don't know about you, but I don't want to live in Jerry World. In Jerry World, a $1.15 billion stadium looks like the Taj Mahal on the outside, but inside some of the seats violate the fire code. In Jerry World, the state of Texas spends $31 million to host the Super Bowl, even as deficits force public school cuts. In Jerry World, it can cost $900 just to park. In Jerry World, fans pay hundreds of dollars to stand outside the stadium.
Buried somewhere in all of the superbull, the booze, bad concerts and relentless commercial squeeze, there was a good football game between the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers. But to be honest, it was an ancillary event. The NFL may want to rethink that strategy. It may also want to rethink its tendency to look like the Marie Antoinette of the sports world.
Everything you need to know about the future of the NFL could be seen in the gloriously decadent stadium that hosted this Super Bowl. As NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell pointed out, "Quite frankly, that's our stage." It was the cleanest, safest, nicest stadium anyone has ever visited. It was also the most extravagant and economically stratified. It cost double what Jerry Jones said it would, and taxpayers financed about a quarter of it, yet its innermost marble interiors are totally inaccessible to the average fan.
A tipping point was reached with this Super Bowl, for me. It was the screwed-over anger of those 1,250 people without seats that did it. Those travel-weary, cash-whipped fans paid small fortunes to go to the game, only to discover their stubs were no good, because fire marshals declared some sections unsafe. All of a sudden the whole thing seemed offensive. It was just too much.
For absurdity, how about those four Navy F-18s flying over the stadium - with its retractable roof closed? Everybody inside could only see the planes on the stadium's video screens. It was strictly a two-second beauty shot. Know what it cost taxpayers? I'll tell you: $450,000. (The Navy justifies the expense by saying it's good for recruiting.)
It's not clear what the pain threshold of the average NFL fan is: Thirty-two owners digging relentlessly in our pockets haven't found the bottom yet. But the NFL would be advised to recognize that it's getting close. Those folks who found themselves without seats? Many were among the league's most loyal paying customers, season ticket holders. Yet they were treated like afterthoughts, awarded half-built, jerry-rigged seats, folding chairs on auxiliary platforms. Which begs the question of what the "NFL fan experience" really means anymore. A day later the league did its best to make it up to them with offers of tickets to Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis and Goodell called it "obviously a failure on our part."
This Super Bowl was the future, and it set some lousy precedents. Every owner in the league wants a stadium like this one, and they will be pitching - maybe even extorting - their communities to help them build one. They want ever-larger luxury suites and bigger restaurants, and giant scoreboards and TVs, so they can replicate this Super Bowl, and sell standing room space in plazas and blocked views of a big screen for $200.
"Of the 100,000 and change tickets they sold, how many of those people actually had seats, and how many could actually see the field?" asks Neil deMause, a stadium-financing watchdog who co-authored the book, "Field of Schemes." He adds: "That's revolutionary if you can sell tickets to not actually watch the game. That's a whole new ballgame. So obviously everybody is saying, 'Hey, we want to get one of those.' "
It's the shiny new toy in the league. New stadiums are such a priority for owners that it's a critical piece of the labor negotiations taking place with the players' union. A major reason owners resent the 60 percent cut of revenue that goes to players is because it's not easy to finance stadium projects. They want a restructured agreement so "we can make the kinds of investments that grow this game," Goodell says, bemoaning the fact that no new construction has started since 2006.
But how much growth does the league need? It already generates an estimated $8 billion, and owners get the first $1 billion off the top. If you really love the NFL - and I do - you have to wonder if the billionizing of the league is really good for it. The average cost of attending a game for a family of four is $412.64. At Cowboys Stadium, it's a staggering $758.58. That's what the league calls growth.
Don't get me wrong: The Super Bowl can be electrifying for a community, and can be priceless in civic pride. Disclosure: I'm from Fort Worth, and I spent the week down there rooting for it to be a success. Cowboys Stadium is a gorgeous structure with some grand qualities, and Roger Staubach, who lobbied for the game, is a lovely guy.
But in the end, this Super Bowl taught me a lesson: Luxury can actually be debasing. The last great building binge in the NFL was from 1995 through 2003, when 21 stadiums were built or refurbished in order to create more luxury boxes, at cost of $6.4 billion. Know how much of that the public paid for? $4.4 billion. Why are we giving 32 rich guys that kind of money, just to prey on us at the box office and concessions? The Dallas deal should be the last of its kind.
When an owner grows tired of a facility and leaves, guess who picks up the tab? New Jersey still owes $110 million on the old Meadowlands home of the New York Giants and Jets, and when both teams moved to their new $1.6 billion, privately financed stadium, they got a huge tax break. According to the Wall Street Journal under their old agreement they paid $20 million a year in tax revenues; now they will pay only about $6 million a year. Know what New Jersey's deficit is? I'll tell you: $36 billion.
At its best the NFL is a deeply embedded piece of American culture, with an indissoluble bond with fans. But it's grown far removed from the grass-roots recreation it started as, the competitive emblem of mill towns, and their enormous civic resilience. As fans, we share blame for being willing to pay anything for it. We've allowed league owners to cash in on American pride, and hunger for entertainment. We should insist they share American economic problems.


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MONOPOLY, Waddington's, Parker Bros., Tonka and Hasbro and are Registered Trade Marks with Hasbro, 1935 2013,
HASBRO, PARKER BROTHERS, Tonka, Waddington's, the MONOPOLY name and logo, the distinctive design of the game board, the four corner squares, the MR. MONOPOLY name and character, as well as each of the distinctive elements of the board and playing pieces are trademarks of Hasbro for its property trading game and game equipment. © 1935, 2013 Hasbro. The Winning Moves logo is the registered trademark of Winning Moves and the USAopoly logo is the registered trademark of USAopoly. All Rights Reserved. Used with Permission.
webdesign by Kuertu 2013


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SPOKANE, Wash. -- Avista Corp. is offering more than 900 non-union workers a buyout in an effort to help the utility cut its 2013 budget by about $14 million.
Avista spokesman Dan Kolbet says 919 of the utility's 1,550 employees will have until Dec. 14 to decide, and will learn by Dec. 21 if they've been chosen for the buyout.
Kolbet says Avista hasn't set a target number of people it would like to take the buyouts, which are not being offered to workers with skills that are not easily replaced.
Employees are being offered two weeks of severance pay per year worked for the company, a 12-week departure incentive and other benefits.
Avista provides power to 600,000 business and residential customers in Washington, Oregon and Idaho.


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So nice!
One of the first things you may notice in the title is that the "B" is missing from VTMB, this is not an accident. The Final Nights is an expansion to an otherwise flawless video game built upon the success of the Camarilla Edition series of mods. The "B" has been removed because this expansion can no longer bare the name Bloodlines as it is so far removed from the original game as to warrant the name change. The idea behind this expansion is, and always will be the notion of a completely new experience unlike we've seen so far. With 7 completely brand new clans, 5 new disciplines, extra quests, new NPCs, new game mechanics and new music, the features seem endless. All of this is being built upon the Camarilla Edition series incorporating such things as the blood timer system, pedestrian blood dolls, and the new combat system. Combined we feel the name Bloodlines must be removed from this game, and thus we now simply have "The Final Nights".
Only registered members can share their thoughts. So come on! Join the community today (totally free - or sign in with your social account on the right) and join in the conversation.
Here are a few pictures of the new Assamite Female Skin set that will be featured in TFN 1.3.


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Paul Nassif, a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon, is seeking joint custody of their three kids
Adrienne Maloof's hopes of saving her marriage have taken a drastic turn for the worse.
Husband Paul Nassif, a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon who had sought legal separation from the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star last month, now wants a divorce.
Citing irreconcilable differences, Nassif, 50, has requested joint legal and physical custody of their kids, Gavin, 9, and twins Christian and Collin, 6, according to documents filed Tuesday in L.A. Superior Court.
Married in 2002, Maloof, 50, recently told PEOPLE of the marriage: "We're at that point where it's that bump in the road, [but] we're trying to work things out. I always like to keep a positive attitude and hope that we can resolve our differences."


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In the age of the iPad, has the home library become a quaint relic of the past, more often encountered in a novel than in real life?
Not according to a number of architects interviewed for this article. Although their clients read e-books on Kindles and Nooks and iPads, they still own substantial numbers of books. When they can afford it, a special place in the house for a bona fide library is not an unusual request. If the budget does not stretch that far, homeowners still want bookcases incorporated into their living spaces.
Indeed, the finest homes almost universally have libraries, indicating that the library is an amenity that sells on the real estate market. The desirability of a library, however, is an age-based phenomenon. Most of the architects' clients were in their 40s or older, a group that still attaches great value to books. Their younger clients, especially those under 30, are readers but not bibliophiles. In the digital age, how is it that anyone, young or old, still owns so many books? The architects said that some people collect first editions or acquire books related to a particular interest. Some have books related to their extensive art collections and others have inherited libraries maintained by their families for generations. Some homeowners are simply voracious readers.
Like all book lovers, however, these clients don't simply own a lot of books. Most express a strong emotional connection to them. Houston architect David Bucek said many of his clients have likened their books to "having an old friend around the house." Madison, Conn., architect Duo Dickinson said that for many people, books serve as a "repository of memories," each one reminding them of where and when they got this or that volume, the person who gave it as a present, a course they took in college or a favorite teacher.
Though many people, including home builders and the merchandisers who furnish their model homes, tend to use the terms "library" and "home office" interchangeably, the architects said their clients regard the two as quite distinct. A home office is a place for serious work; it may have extensive shelving for books, but these will be related to the task at hand. A library, on the other hand, is couched in more romantic terms — it's seen as a refuge from the everyday and "a place of leisure," as Washington, D.C., architect Simon Jacobsen put it. For this reason, most home libraries tend to be located away from the main living areas and are sometimes housed in a separate building altogether.
When it comes to looks, Bethesda, Md., architect Greg Wiedemann said that his libraries tend towards the "traditional and nostalgic" with paneled walls, coffered ceilings and places to display collections related to a homeowner's other interests that might include model trains, signed baseballs, old metal coin banks or mementoes from foreign travels. Other embellishments have included hidden, secret access doors that make a book-loving owner feel that once he's alone with his books, "he's transported back in space and time and sealed off from the rest of the world." Wiedemann also has added secret storage compartments within bookcases for hiding "little tiny things," a detail, Wiedemann said, that is reminiscent of the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew mysteries that many of his clients read as kids.
Jacobsen said that for residential projects, his firm favors a spare, modernist-style house, and his libraries always feature the minimalist "egg crate"-styled bookcases that have been a signature of his firm for more than 40 years. The bookcases were originally designed by his father, Hugh Newell Jacobsen.
The egg crate is a matrix of floor to ceiling cubicles, each one 12 inches wide and 9 to 15 inches tall, small enough so that the structure of the bookshelf is barely visible when it's filled with books. The result delivers a bonus rarely associated with a home library: a wall of color. This style of bookcase is most often installed against a flat wall, but it also can be used in spaces that are round, Jacobsen added.
Owners with unusually large home libraries tend to focus on the practical. Los Angeles architect John Kaliski and his wife have, between them, about 8,000 books, and they use metal, industrial-type shelving because "it's incredibly sturdy, easy to assemble and disassemble and they can hold a massive amount of weight," he said.
Even with much smaller home libraries, the weight of the books can be an issue. Bucek's partner Bill Stern said that their firm has occasionally consulted a structural engineer when designing bookcases.
When clients do not opt for a home library, they incorporate built-in bookcases into other rooms. A favored spot for many is the dining room, a space that Wiedemann said is frequently regarded as a "multi-purpose room," mostly used for other activities and occasionally for special holiday meals. Other homeowners have incorporated books into their dining room because they like to entertain around books, Bucek said. One reason for this, he speculated, is that when books are added to any room, they make the space feel more intimate. In a dining room, this can induce guests to let their guard down and relax, the perfect way to begin a dinner party. Jacobsen said he's found that bookcases in dining rooms have acoustic benefits as well. In a large dining room with a high ceiling, a bank of bookcases "will kill ambient echoing," he said.
The one room in the house where digital reading has affected clients of every age is the kitchen. Most clients want shelving for cookbooks, but increasingly these are being kept for sentimental reasons, not for regular use. They may have belonged to a mother or a grandmother or were regularly consulted in earlier eras in the owner's own life. But today's "serious foodies," Dickinson said, now access recipes online and want a monitor that's convenient to the food prep area and easy to read while stirring sauces or mixing ingredients.
The one universal among homeowners of all ages, book owner or not, the architects said, is a comfortable spot or two to read, one that Jacobsen characterized as "a place that's quiet with good light, good air and where no one will bother them."
Katherine Salant can be contacted at firstname.lastname@example.com or katherinesalant.com.
Even in Nook and iPad age, home libraries still in demand
In the age of the iPad, has the home library become a quaint relic of the past, more often encountered in a novel than in real life?


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Recently I was treated to a fabulous day at Scentsy headquarters. I have used and enjoyed Scentsy products, but I really didn't know much about the company. I walked away with a new respect for Scentsy! This day had quite an impression on me and I will use the things I learned to run my own business.
This now wildly successful company started from humble beginnings in an old shipping crate because they didn't even have enough money for office space! You can learn about their inspiring story here .
When I arrived I was welcomed to a beautiful hotel room with goodies and the room smelled amazing! We learned about every aspect of the company. Great care is taken in crafting the warmers, it can be seen in the rock to warmers video where we were shown the entire process. They have the most unique warmers, each one is touched by human hands in their creation!
Loving these design boards!
We learned about the science behind the scents in a Fragrance 101 class. I will never look at scents the same again.
We enjoyed a fun Scentsy party.
I met the inspiring Heidi and Orville Thompson, who started Scentsy and I got to hang out with so many great friends!
Top row: Tenielle Feisty, Frugal and Fabulous, Kari Ucreate, Heidi and Orville Thompson (Owners of Scentsy), Juliet Juicy Stuff, Shelley House of Smiths, and me.
Bottom Row: Brooke All Things Thrifty, Kami No Biggie, Shelley How does She, Heather Whipperberry, and me Skip to my Lou.
I Loved my time at Scentsy!
EVERY single person that worked there, beamed as said that THEY had the best job at Scentsy. This can only happen with a unique company culture! Heidi and Orville dared to dream big and guide their company with authenticity, generosity and simplicity. This was not an empty motto! It was easy to see it hand been carefully injected into every aspect of their business.
Great care has been taken into growing this amazing business. Orville Thompson's guiding principle is that in every task and interaction with others, "You give more than you take." I love this! Can you imagine if this was everybody's guiding principal?
Next time you see a Scentsy warmer you will know that this is a wonderful company that cares about the people that work for them and the products they sell!
If you've never been to a Scentsy party , consider hosting one and sharing a fun experience with your friends! If you don't know anyone near you that sells Scentsy and you want to check it out, a great way to find a consultant is to use the Find A Consultant link on the Scentsy website. If you've been looking for a way to make money from home consider signing up as a Scentsy consultant . You would be working for an amazing company.
I totally stole this picture but I just can't help but share this group, doing what we all do best! Thank you to Scentsy for a wonderful day with wonderful friends … truly inspiring!
Do you want to try Scentsy?
There is no way I could spend all that time enjoying their products without offering something to YOU! Thanks to the wonderful, and I do mean {wonderful}, folks at Scentsy they were more than happy to offer you a…
Exclusive Reader {Giveaway}
Scentsy is giving away 5 plug in warmers and 5 bars. That means five readers will each win a plug in and a bar of their choice!
If your new to Scentsy let me tell you what it is :
How it Works: Fragrant wax is heated in a decorative ceramic warmer using a low-watt light bulb. The wax slowly melts, infusing a room with fragrance.
Scentsy Wickless Candles are the simplest and safest way to bring memory-filled fragrances into a home. With no wick and no flame, there's no worry or mess. And, the wickless candle warmers add color and style to holiday décor. These are the only thing I would use in my house. No smoke = No fire danger.
Aren't these cute plug in warmers? Available now through the exclusive holiday collection.
Scentsy is Sold through more than 130,000 Independent Consultants.
To find out more and locate your very own Scentsy consultant visit www.scentsy.net .
All you have to do is go to Scentsy and pick your favorite scent and plug in warmer and leave me a comment!
For extra entries: Please make sure to come back and leave a separate comment for each entry. Four entries max.
2. Tweet about the contest! Feel free to use this sample tweet,
Free plug in Scentsy Warmer and bar from @cindyhopper @scentsy. Comment to enter! https://bit.ly/uCuS7V Pls RT
or just click this button to Tweet Tweet
3. Like Skip to my Lou on facebook.
4. Like Scentsy on facebook.


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Things looking up down on A's farm
Top draftee Russell, Oakland-bound Straily, Doolittle shine
By Andrew Pentis / Special to MLB.com | September 19, 2012 1:56 PM
The A's affiliates enjoyed varying degrees of success in 2012. Triple-A Sacramento won a Pacific Coast League-high 86 games but made a first-round exit in the postseason; Class A Burlington was jettisoned from the semis in the Midwest; and the Rookie-level Arizona League A's made it to -- but lost in -- the league's one-game Final.
Oakland's other affiliates paled in comparison. Double-A Midland, Class A Advanced Stockton and short-season Vermont all finished 10 or more games below .500, with the Ports among the year's bigger surprises. The Cal League club went 56-84 just one season removed from a 75-65 record and a Championship Series appearance.
But at least one player from each of Oakland's farm teams (discounting the Dominican Summer League squad) is represented on our list.
Athletics Organization All-Stars
Catcher -- Max Stassi, Stockton (84 games): In his four seasons as a pro, Stassi has eclipsed 100 games just once, but when he is healthy, he sure is productive. One year removed from shoulder surgery, Oakland's 12th-ranked prospect hit a career-high 15 home runs while slightly shrinking his strikeout total.
"He's had so many injuries the last two years and was injured for a time but overcame it this year," said Keith Lieppman, the A's player development director. "He's improved his catching years. [Offensively], his pitch recognition is one of higher issues he wants to continue to improve on. Occasionally, he chases pitches out of the zone."
First base -- Anthony Aliotti, Midland (123 games): For a fourth straight year, Aliotti, a 15th-round draftee in 2009, conquered a different Minor League level. This season at Double-A, the southpaw swinger posted career bests in average (.292) and extra-base hits (40), including 10 longballs.
"It was a breakthrough summer for him," Lieppman said. "He's somebody like Mark Teahen, who we had a few years ago, an opposite-field hitter who was learning to pull the ball. It's especially [important] playing a corner position -- he's always been a great defender -- and we're starting to see power."
Second base -- Josh Horton, Midland (121 games), Sacramento (three games): Somewhat stalled in the organization since Oakland made him its second-round pick in 2007, Horton produced offensively (.280 average and nine homers) while also making improvements defensively. On the latter front: He began '12 playing third base and shortstop (his collegiate position) before starting 29 of his final 33 games for the RockHounds at second, where he made just five fielding miscues.
"He's real versatile, fits a great utility role like [Major Leaguers Adam] Rosales and [Eric] Sogard and [Cliff] Pennington, guys that play numerous positions and are solid defenders," Lieppman said. "We're still waiting on his bat to continue to play through."
Third base -- Miles Head, Stockton (67 games), Midland (57 games): Acquired in an offseason trade, this right-handed slugger produced right away, leading his new organization in hits (160), total bases (277), doubles (32), home runs (23) and RBIs (84). The campaign bumped him up to No. 8 among A's prospects.
"To start in Stockton the way he did," Lieppman said, "he was probably the best player in the [Cal] League as a 20-year-old. By the end of the season, he had made adjustments and had good sense of a new level."
Head, who injured his shoulder during Arizona Fall League action last month, also impressed on defense. The Red Sox organization had employed him at first base.
Was Oakland's brass surprised by Head's immediate impact coming over from Boston's organization?
"Everybody liked [his] bat," Lieppman said. "We didn't have any idea how good he was going to be. We knew he was an instinctual hitter. That was the talk around the office -- that we found a guy who could really hit, [had] good hands, could profile at third base. He is part of the excitement of that trade because [Boston] gave up on him."
Shortstop -- Addison Russell, Arizona League (26 games), Vermont (13 games), Burlington (16 games): Speaking of immediate impact, Russell proved why the A's drafted him 11th overall in June. Across three levels, he posted .369/.432/.594 marks while stealing 16 bases in 18 attempts.
"Of the 18-year-olds in our system, he is the best in [terms of] athleticism and aggressiveness and not missing a beat at any [new] level," said Lieppman, the same week in October that he saw his third-ranked prospect hit a 407-plus-foot homer in the instructional league. "Typically as guys move up, they hit seventh, eighth or ninth in the lineup to get used to it. By the third or fourth day [with a new club], he was in the third hole, right in a lead hitting spot, so you know he's pretty good. You watch him play and you don't want to hold him back. We'll keep pushing him."
Michael Taylor, Sacramento (120 games), Oakland (six games): What did Taylor prove in 2012? That it is actually possible for a 6-foot-5, 255-pound man to fly under the radar. Taylor, the A's trade bounty in 2009, posted an .846 OPS and stole 18 bags in 21 attempts in his third straight season playing full time for the River Cats. He is still the organization's No. 14 prospect.
"It's too bad because he had an awesome year, just got lost in the shuffle as [Brandon] Moss had a big year, [Yoenis] Cespedes, the way [Josh] Reddick played. There just wasn't an opportunity for him," Lieppman said. "He got blocked, but this kid should be in the big leagues. He's a victim of circumstance."
Chad Oberacker, Burlington (16 games), Stockton (107 games): Leading the A's Minor League system in steals isn't as difficult as doing so in other organizations (like the Reds, for example), but Oberacker's 30 swipes in 2012 was nothing to sneeze at. Add that to his 53 extra-base hits, including 15 homers, and you have an intriguing prospect -- even if he was a 25th-round draftee in 2011.
"He got it going right away with his combo of speed and power," Lieppman said. "We haven't had that for a while. He's sort of Reddick-like -- a slim guy that can run and is able to hit for power."
B.J. Boyd, Arizona League (39 games): Like Russell, Boyd went from high school ballplayer to June signee to quick study in the pros. Boyd, a talented prep football player in Northern California, posted a .301/.401/.434 slash line in his first pro experience while also collecting 16 thefts in 20 attempts on the basepaths. He turned 19 in July and is years from realizing his potential.
"He's a tools-oriented player with speed and still learning," Lieppman said. "He's raw at this point."
Utility man -- Grant Green, Sacramento (125 games): Once a full-time shortstop, Green played 10-plus games at five different positions this season -- second base (19), third base (11), shortstop (19), left field (49), center field (30). Why has Oakland moved its 2009 first-round draftee around so much? They're trying to find a spot for his bat: In his first Triple-A try, Green batted .296, hit 15 homers and collected 75 RBIs.
The fifth-ranked prospect did more damage in the Arizona Fall League, where he mainly played second base.
"With the void at that position, even though Pennington kind of took over that slot [in the playoffs], we thought that may present the best opportunity for Grant to win that position next year," Lieppman said. "His bat carries him -- he's one of those natural, instinctual hitters. And now that he can play second, short, third and the outfield -- with his bat -- he has a ticket to the big leagues."
Right-handed starting pitcher -- Dan Straily, Midland (14 games), Sacramento (11 games), Oakland (seven games): Straily recorded his first sub-3.00 ERA in the Minors (2.78), struck out a Minor League-leading 190 batters in 152 innings and held Triple-A batters to an astonishingly low .172 batting average. Oh, and he was a 24th-round draftee in 2009 who had never pitched above Class A Advanced Stockton entering '12.
"It was a little bit of a surprise," Lieppman said of Straily, who earned two MiLBY nominations with his breakout campaign. "But there are things about his game we liked -- we had a lot of interest in him [from other clubs] in the offseason -- and it was just a matter of his mental game and understanding things. He's the real deal."
Right-handed starting pitcher* -- Drew Granier, Burlington (28 games): Sure, A.J. Griffin was, as his ancestors might have said, grand on the mound, but he spent much of his season in the Majors. Granier, meanwhile, toiled in the Minors and was just as impressive. His 11-10 record doesn't scream success, but his 3.21 ERA and 167-53 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 162 2/3 innings do. Win-loss records are tricky, as evidenced by his final 10 starts of the season: The 32nd-round pick in 2011 fashioned a 2.89 ERA over that span, but went just 1-5.
"He has an outstanding breaking ball, and he's a big competitor," Lieppman said. "By a lot of people, he's underrated. We felt he should have been named to Midwest League All-Star team."
*It was a down year for left-handed starting pitchers in the A's system, so MiLB.com picked a second righty.
Relief pitcher -- Sean Doolittle, Stockton (six games), Midland (eight games), Sacramento (two games), Oakland (44 games): There were many A's farmhands who made more relief appearances than Doolittle. In fact, most of them did. But none of them were as inexperienced. This hitter-turned-hurler just needed 25 Minor League innings before leaving for the Majors. His 0.72 ERA, .096 opponents' batting average and 48-to-7 strikeout-to-walk ratio explain that clearly enough.
"A year ago, he was in instructional league, learning how to hold runners on. His velocity had gone up and down. We didn't know what we were going to have. Then all of sudden, he's closing games against the Yankees," Lieppman said. "He was able to do something that nobody could have ever imagined. It's unthinkable. We had hoped he could learn a secondary pitch and with another year [of development] might be ready for the big leagues."
Andrew Pentis is a contributor to MLB.com and writes the Prospective Blog. Follow him on Twitter at AndrewMiLB. This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs.View More