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May 13, 2010
FAIRFIELD, CT - The Sacred Heart University rowing and men's volleyball teams have been recognized by the NCAA as a part of the 2010 NCAA Division I Academic Performance Program. Both teams are ranked among the top 10 percent nationally in its sport.
Each year the NCAA honors selected Division I sports team by publicly recognizing their latest multiyear APR. This announcement comes as part of the overall Division I academic reform effort and is intended to highlight teams who demonstrate a commitment to academic progress and retention of student-athletes by achieving the top APRs within their respective sports.
The APR provides a real-time look at a team's academic success each semester by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete on scholarship. The APR accounts for eligibility, retention, and graduation and provides a measure of each team's academic performance.
The Pioneers rowing team finished sixth in the MAAC this spring and placed five team members on the MAAC All-Academic Team. Senior Mary Beth Reusche and Meredith Penta, along with junior Nicole Settembrino and sophomore Danielle French and Caroline Holland, were all a part of the All-Academic Team.
The SHU men's volleyball team placed three student-athletes on the EIVA All-Academic Team. Senior Kalani Efstathiou and juniors Craig Harvey and Tim Sadowski represented the Pioneers on the All-Academic Team.
The complete release from the NCAA can be found HERE.


text:
Customer Reviews
All reviews are from people who have redeemed deals with this merchant.
What You'll Get
Choose Between Two Options
- $15 for $30 worth of personalized books for kids
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The Fine Print
Promotional value expires 90 days after purchase. Amount paid never expires. May purchase multiple. Limit 1 per order. Valid only for option purchased. Online only. Must use promotional value in 1 order. $6.99 shipping fee not included. Merchant is solely responsible to purchasers for the care and quality of the advertised goods and services.
About Put Me in the Story
Put Me in the Story, which was recently raved about in the Chicago Tribune, connects parents and kids during bedtime reading rituals with one-of-a-kind storybooks personalized with kids' names and photos. After choosing a best-selling kids' book as a template, customers submit their child's name and upload a photograph and special message for their boy or girl. With more than 150 books to choose from including books featuring Disney, Star Wars, and Marvel characters, you're sure to find the perfect gift each time. Within two weeks, parents and grandparents can snuggle with babies and toddlers, flipping through books filled with the child's own name and picture.
In addition to promoting literacy and family bonding through its selection of kids' books, Put Me in the Story creates heartwarming gifts with personalized children's books that celebrate the link between fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, and grandparents.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
It took 14 years after the start of manned space exploration for an American and a Soviet spaceship to hook up, and this was the Soyuz rocket which delivered the Soviet half of the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project in 1974.
Cosmonauts Alexei Leonov and Valeri Kubasov met astronauts Tom Stafford, Vance Brand and Deke Slayton in low Earth orbit—the latter making his first and only spaceflight after being selected for Project Mercury in 1959 then grounded after being diagnosed with idiopathic atrial fibrillation, a heart condition.
Apollo equipment is ancient history now, but Soyuz rockets are still kicking, so much so that they have a new home in South America. The first rocket from the new Soyuz launch pad at Guiana Space Center was launched on October 21. With its alien floral looks when sideways for transport, it must have looked fabulous in French Guiana's equatorial wilderness.
H/T to Scanzen


text:
With the rapid expansion of broadband wireless, end-users increasingly rely upon handheld devices for almost all daily living activities. Fourth generation (4G) cellular LTE in particular represents a unique opportunity/challenge as device attacks are growing at a rapid rate, exposing vulnerabilities that must be addressed. Our research indicates that Android malware in particular will grow rapidly and will be considered most vulnerable OS for LTE.
To Read The Complete Report with TOC Kindly Visit: http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/analysis/158045
This research is most reading for anyone involved in LTE network planning, device procurement, and/or application development and management. This report includes extensive LTE Security Market forecasting for the period 2013 - 2018. The report complements Mind Commerce research in LTE device, subscriptions, and application market analysis as well as security threats for specific applications such as mobile games.
For All Latest Reports Kindly Visit: http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/latest
Companies in Report:
Apple, Samsung Asus, Motorola, Kaspersky, AVG, McAffee, F-secure, Trojon, Verizon Wireless ,NTT DocoMo, AT & T Mobility USA ,Metro PCS ,Vodafone D2 EMOBILE NTT DOCOMO SoftBank Mobile,KDDIVodafone,3(Hutchison),O2(Telefonica)Everything Everywhere, Zain,Nawras, Omantel, Mobily, Saudi Telecom Company (STC),Zain, du Etisalat, Movicel, Orange Mauritius, MTC Namibia, Vodacom, China Mobile Hong Kong,CSL, PCCW, Smartone, Aircel, Airtel, Augere, Qualcomm, Tikona, Megafon, MTS, Yota
To Browse All Reports Kindly visit: http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/
Target Audience:
- LTE device manufacturers
- Mobile network operators
- LTE infrastructure providers
- Cellular application developers
- Managed communications providers


text: View from the summit of Gibson Peak (elev. 8,400') in the Trinity Alps near Weaverville, California. Views of the White Trinities (higher peaks) & Red Trinities w/ partial views of the Green Trinities to the west. The area is comprised of red peridotite and bright white granite. Distant views of the Central Valley, Mt. Shasta, Lassen Peak, Brokeoff Mountain, & other higher peaks of the Klamath Mountains.


text:
LEICESTER — Vermont State Police are looking for the driver of a vehicle who allegedly struck a girl while she was walking along Lake Dunmore Road in Leicester on Tuesday, Sept. 4. The juvenile victim reported being hit by the side mirror of the blue mini van as it passed by. The girl was evaluated for possible injuries following the incident, according to state police. The mini van, which has a spare tire mounted on top, was last seen heading west on Fern Lake Road, toward Route 7. Anyone with information is asked to contact the state police in New Haven at 388-4919.
Originally published 8/16/12 | Updated 8/17/12
BRISTOL — A New Hampshire man was listed in "guarded" condition with second-degree burns at Massachusetts General Hospital on Thursday afternoon after driving his tractor-trailer truck off Route 116 in Bristol, resulting in a fiery crash and a massive response from multiple fire departments, rescue organizations and at least one heroic witness.
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text:
- Competitive
- Berlin, Germany
- Permanent, Full time
- Goodman Masson
- 2019-02-19
Investment/Asset Manager, Real Estate
Location: Berlin, Germany
Salary: Competitive
A leading Family Office is looking for an experienced Asset Manager to join their team in Berlin.
In this position you would work directly with the MD who sits in Berlin on all projects ranging from Investments through to Asset Management.
The expectation is that you come from an Asset Management background, but would be interested in getting involved on the Acquisitions piece as well.
This role would mainly focused on large ticket Commercial Assets outside of Berlin.


text:
Aruna Aghora is a Porn Star from Russia. She was born in Tyumen on October 30, 1991. She is listed on FreeOnes since 2014 and is currently ranked 1636th place. She currently has 134 gallery links and 17 videos in her own FreeOnes section.
Our records show that Aruna Aghora is currently active which means she is still making movies, doing live shows and/or doing photo shoots.


text:
This is an unusual recipe. Potatoes are a staple of the Scandinavian diet and this caramelized version of new potatoes accompanies roast goose on the Christmas table. The potatoes also pair well with ham and pork. If you like yams or sweet potatoes, you'll like this novel dish. While the potatoes are traditionally peeled, I prefer to keep the skins on. This is simple and inexpensive to make and it's a great addition to a special meal.
Caramelized Potatoes - Brunede Kartofler
2 pounds small Yukon Gold potatoes, washed and unpeeled
1/2 cup granulated sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick) melted unsalted butter
Coarse salt
1) Put the potatoes in a pan and cover with heavily salted water. Bring to a boil and cook until just fork tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Drain.
2) Melt sugar in a heavy skillet over low heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until the sugar turns light brown. Stir in melted butter. Add one layer of potatoes to pan; shake skillet to roll potatoes and coat all sides with caramel. Move potatoes to a heated platter and repeat procedure until all potatoes are coated. Sprinkle with coarse salt. Garnish with parsley. Yield: 8 servings.


text:
Disorder clinically and histologically similar to ichthyosis vulgaris which may develop in patients of any age with certain forms of malignant disease and infectious diseases, in dietary and vitamin deficiencies (Vitamin A deficiency, pellagra), as a side-effect of cholesterol-lowering drugs, in dialysis patients, hypothyroidism or without apparent cause. It has most frequently been reported in association with Hodgkin's disease, but it also occurs in association with mycosis fungoides, other malignant lymphomas, Kaposi's sarcoma and visceral carcinomas. Ichthyosis acquisita may occur in patients suffering from leprosy, tuberculosis, AIDS and typhoid fever.
Ichthyosis Acquisita


text:
The site of former steelworks, Belval is currently being transformed into a museum and scientific and cultural centre and is currently very much under construction. The site is often visited by amateur photographers like me, the person I bumped into yesterday recommended also a visit to Völklingen Ironworks near nearby Saarbrücken for those who are interested in photo walks of industrial brownfields.
Europe is generally agreed to be the birthplace of western culture, including such legendary innovations as the democratic nation-state, football and tomato sauce.The word Europe comes from the Greek goddess Europa, who was kidnapped by Zeus and plunked down on the island of Crete. Europa gradually changed from referring to mainland Greece until it extended finally to include Norway and Russia.Don't be confused that Europe is called a continent without looking like an island, the way the other continents do. It's okay. The Ural mountains have steadily been there to divide Europe from Asia for the last 250 million years. Russia technically inhabits "Eurasia".Europe is presently uniting into one political and economic zone with a common currency called the Euro. The European Union originated in 1993 and is now composed of 27 member states. Its headquarters is in Brussels, Belgium.Do not confuse the EU with the Council of Europe, which has 47 member states and dates to 1949. These two bodies share the same flag, national anthem, and mission of integrating Europe. The headquarters of the Council are located in Strasbourg, France, and it is most famous for its European Court of Human Rights. In spite of these two bodies, there is still no single Constitution or set of laws applying to all the countries of Europe. Debate rages over the role of the EU in regards to national sovereignty. As of January 2009, the Lisbon Treaty is the closest thing to a European Constitution, yet it has not been approved by all the EU states. Text by Steve Smith.


text: WordPress for Android has received a major update. If Android phones and WordPress blogs are your thing, this is a must-have app. The app now features a fully refreshed UI, a new post editor with a formatting toolbar, support for Android-powered tablets, background posting, and improved stats! If you aren't an Android user, never fear! There are plenty of WordPress mobile apps to choose from.[Continue Reading...]


text: The X-Rap is all about the action! It's the perfect size and 3-D shape of a minnow. Prominent scales and the lateral line on the side capture and flash light like a beacon. It's a lure that is designed for aggressive fishing. The angler provides the action and defines the cadence for maximum effectiveness. Slash one near your neighborhood brute. Dance the Teaser Tail in front of his nose and hang on tight!


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My oldest daughter, Natalie Whipple of Between Fact & Fiction has signed a book deal for her debut Novel entitled, "TRANSPARENT" with Editor, Erica Sussman of Harper Teen!
Thursday, July 7, 2011
OH Happy Day!!!
My oldest daughter, Natalie Whipple of Between Fact & Fiction has signed a book deal for her debut Novel entitled, "TRANSPARENT" with Editor, Erica Sussman of Harper Teen!
24 comments:
- wackywoman said...
What exciting news. How proud you must be! Congratulations to your lovely daughter.
- July 7, 2011 at 10:48 AM
Congratulations and of course you are proud.
- July 7, 2011 at 10:59 AM
- Candice said...
How awesome!!! CONGRATS!!
- July 7, 2011 at 11:01 AM
- Linda said...
How wonderful! Congratulations! What a beautiful young woman and obviously talented. I know you're proud of her and her accomplishments. I'll be watching for her book!
- July 7, 2011 at 11:13 AM
- Diane said...
People say to me all the time: you read so much, you should write a book. Ha! It's much, much harder to write than read. I choose to be the audience for all the great writers out there. After all, where would they be without their readers?
Let us know when the book is available.
- July 7, 2011 at 11:13 AM
- Jenibelle said...
Kim, I know this a dream come true for your girl and for you!! So happy for Natalie, can't wait to buy it and I better get an autograph!!!
- July 7, 2011 at 11:20 AM
- Lynn B said...
Congratulations to your daughter and to you on receiving such wonderful news! She is very talented and pretty too!
- July 7, 2011 at 11:58 AM
- Melody said...
Way to go!!! How very exciting!
- July 7, 2011 at 12:46 PM
- Nicole said...
That is fantastic! Let us know when it will be released so we can all read it!
- July 7, 2011 at 1:35 PM
- Happy Cottage Quilter said...
Congratulations to Natalie for not giving up. I know you have shared about her writing adventures before. This is a BIG day for her and your family. You ALL deserve congrats. I hope the book does well.
- July 7, 2011 at 3:59 PM
- Deb said...
Congratulations to Natalie! What a wonderful accomplishment. Both of you must be absolutely beaming!
- July 7, 2011 at 4:26 PM
- Rosa said...
How wonderful,congratulations!!
- July 7, 2011 at 4:30 PM
- sandra said...
Congratulations to your daughter for her all of her hard work and success.
- July 7, 2011 at 4:53 PM
- Thimbleanna said...
WooHOO!!! Congratulations to YOU and Natalie -- that's super exciting news!!!
- July 7, 2011 at 9:05 PM
- Annie of Blue Gables said...
congratulations! My daughter is also a Whipple and she is writing a book too! How cool is that? Does it come with the married name?
- July 7, 2011 at 10:40 PM
- Sherri said...
Congrats to your daughter, Kim! And to the whole family--as you all have given her much support, I'm sure!
- July 7, 2011 at 10:57 PM
- Patty said...
Congratulations to your daughter, and to all of of you, very exciting indeed.
- July 8, 2011 at 7:00 AM
- Lori Holt said...
That's just fantastic Kim!!!
Congrats to your daughter....I know she has worked really hard for this.
- July 8, 2011 at 7:35 AM
Congratulations to your daughter. She is living every writer's dream. I love hearing about other writers succeeding like this.
- July 8, 2011 at 8:24 AM
- Material Girls said...
Congratulations to your daughter!! That is awesome!
- July 10, 2011 at 5:55 PM
- Liz said...
That's great!
- July 11, 2011 at 6:33 AM
- lifeinredshoes said...
Hey Natalie, keep rockin those red shoes!
- July 12, 2011 at 6:03 PM
- Jeanne said...
You must be so proud! Congratulations to her and best wishes in her future endeavors.
- July 16, 2011 at 1:36 PM
- Mari, Tenerife (España) said...
Hello Natalie, I´m your new follower, I love your blog. Congratulations to your daughter and to all of you. You must be very proud. I invite you to my blog. See you soon...
- July 20, 2011 at 12:53 PM


text:
Dental Market
Packaging solutions for surgical instruments and periodontal tools, orthodontic aids, hand pieces and precision heads, work aids and accessories for dental technicians …
BlockPack opens as it turns. Patented packaging concept with TwistLock closure technique and ratchet-length adjustment.
Boxing clever...
Round telescopic protective packaging tube with "twistlock" length adjustment
Multiple packaging system with individual detachable units
FivePack with "cradles" to support smaller diameter shanks
Round protective packaging tube with fixed length and screw closure
Clear outside, secure inside...
Packaging Boxes for Carbide Inserts
High quality single packaging for micro tools, delicate milling cutters and drills
Packaging for 10 micro tools or circuit board tools
High quality packaging box; ideal for circuit board tools with shank 3.175 mm (1/8")
High-quality individual packaging for delicate solid carbide micro tools and premium shank tools
Packaging for Micro Drills
Round fixed length packaging tube with plug-closure
Square telescopic protective packaging tube with ratchet length adjustment
Elegant designed case with universal applications
Functionality combined with sales boosting design
Technologically perfect plastic case - exclusive design and product protection!
Multiple packaging system with individual detachable units
Multiple packaging system with individual detachable units
Round telescopic packaging tube with ratchet length adjustment
Classic range
TopPack FoldBack - the PLUS in Protection!
Perfectly centered
The moulded grip on the corners of the plugs make for easy opening and closure of the pack
Extended range...
TopPack XLine, for extra long shank tools!
The new generation of plugs with patented shankholding system!
Square protective packaging box with hinged lid.
Rectangular protective packaging box with hinged lid.
Protective packaging box of "double skin" construction


text:
Screenshot © Copyright Peter Carey
Cropping has been around since the dawn of photography. It used to be a bit of a backroom art accomplished with a straight edge and an X-acto knife, and you only had one chance to get it right. But now, the proliferation of digital photography software has allowed anyone a chance to crop their photos easily, and with few negative consequences. You can simply work on a backup photo, or don't save your changes if you don't like the resulting image.
Oftentimes, cropping can be used to strengthen the composition of an otherwise lackluster photograph. And of course, in order to crop well, one must understand the rules of photographic composition.
This interesting article from Peter Carey on the Digital Photography School looks specifically at how to crop photos.
Peter advises readers to use the Rule of Thirds as a guideline for improving their compositions, even when cropping. Digital photography software, such as Adobe Lightroom which Peter uses in his examples, often comes with preset crop ratios that match the size of paper you will most likely be printing to, such as 4×6, 5×7, and 8×10. Picnik, our favorite, free, easy-to-use online photo editing software, also has preset crop ratios.
In addition, Peter shows how to create panorama prints, set a custom 1:3 ratio, and adjust the selection box to highlight what you want to keep in the photo. You can also create a free-form crop box if you want to go after a specific detail in the frame.
Cropping can really improve some photographs; however, keep in mind if your original photos were taken with a low megapixel camera, the resolution of your image may suffer greatly once cropped. You may see distortion or "jaggies" in your printed photos. Peter advises readers to check with their printer for guidelines on the minimum number of pixels required for a good photo and to be sure to not crop below this number.


text:
"How many carbs can I eat in a day?" or "What ratio of fat to carbs to protein should I eat?".
I think that is the wrong way to approach the subject for us as individual type 2 diabetics. Very few of us will actually sit down and work out the calories and fat:carbohydrates:protein ratios we are eating on a daily basis, nor does a daily limit for carbs work very well when our response to those carbs may be quite different at different times of day.
I do not deliberately plan to consume any particular proportion of daily fats, protein and carbs, nor any set daily carbohydrates level or limit. Instead, when I slowly developed my present way of eating I followed a simple process to work out what suited me.
My logic is fairly basic. I need to get all the appropriate nutrients for good health, but I need to get them in a way that does not jeopardise any of my various afflictions, including diabetes. I learned very soon after diagnosis that eating excessive carbohydrates caused blood glucose spikes, so I used this technique to adjust my carbohydrate levels until that did not happen: Test, Review, Adjust.
But other people, including my doctor, were then concerned that I may be missing out on vital nutrients. So I used a diet analyser to check what I actually ate to see if that was true. This is the most recent analyser I have found for that purpose: CRON-o-meter; there are others on the web if you do some searching. I also have regular blood tests; those can also show if I am deficient in various vitamins and minerals. If analysis or blood tests showed that I was missing something I then used the USDA nutrients guide to see what foods I could use to include those missing nutrients without increasing blood glucose levels.
In general terms, I found that eating a variety of proteins such as meat, fish and eggs in normal serve sizes, and replacing most of my starchy carbs, such as breads, potatoes, corn, pasta and similar with a wide range of colourful vegetables, such as cabbage, spinach, celery, onions, peppers, cauliflower, egg-plant and similar meant that there were very few nutrients I missed out on. In fact the increased variety of foods, especially vegetables, in my diet improved my nutrient intake in several areas.
If, and only if, I could not obtain a nutrient by adding a food to the menu I then added a supplement. At the moment my only supplements are vit D3, fish oil and magnesium.
When I do take the trouble to work out my fat:carbohydrates:protein ratios I find they are usually surprisingly close to those suggested in these interesting papers by researchers Mary C Gannon and Frank Q Nuttal:
Effect of a High-Protein, Low-Carbohydrate Diet on Blood Glucose Control in People With Type 2 Diabetes
Control of blood glucose in type 2 diabetes without weight loss by modification of diet composition
I did not use those as a guide, but it is reassuring to see that there is some science supporting my present way of eating.
Cheers, Alan
Everything in Moderation - Except laughter


text:
Found 3 jobs posted by Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs.
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Is your CV getting you interviews? Get a FREE CV review now!
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Email: firstname.lastname@example.com or Tel: 0203 151 4024


text:
Monday, January 2, 2012
The 3rd Annual No-Kiss Blogfest (and a teaser from The Last Echo!)
"What took you so long? I've been here for half an hour. I'd've gone in without you, but I have no idea what I'm looking for." Rafe scowled as she joined him outside The Mecca, his arms crossed impatiently.
The cloudless sky overhead gave the impression that the day should've been brighter, sunnier, but instead it just felt cold and empty. Like a vast gray wasteland.
Violet felt a twinge of satisfaction. She liked that she knew something he didn't. "Sorry," she tried, but didn't sound nearly as repentant as she should have. "I ran into some friends."
He looked at his watch. "Some of us still value other people's time."
She rolled her eyes, suddenly feeling like she had some idea why he wasn't winning any charm contests. "Whatever. Don't be such a baby. Besides, it's not like you had anyplace better to be, or you wouldn't have jumped at the chance to meet me in the first place."
"Or," Rafe said as he reached out to get the door for her, holding it so she could go in ahead of him, "I want to catch this sicko."
Violet faltered. Of course that was it, she chided herself, embarrassed for thinking otherwise. Why else would he be wasting his Saturday with her?
She felt unsettled as she stepped inside and surveyed the art wall and the congested tables and chalk menu. That artsy appeal Violet had felt just a day earlier was lost on her now, tainted with what she thought she knew, what she hoped to confirm by being here today.
"So? This is it, huh?" Rafe asked, but his eyes were on Violet, not on the café.
"Why?" Violet stepped closer to him. "Do you sense something?"
He shot her an amused look. "Do I sense something? Really, that's the best you can do? Do you want me to check for evil spirits while I'm at it?" He smirked. "I was only asking because you said this was the place."
"Whatever. You don't have to be such an ass," Violet told him, her cheeks burning. "I was just thinking that maybe . . . you could," she stammered. "Maybe you might feel something?"
Rafe tipped his head closer, until it was right next to hers, and suddenly she was far too aware of him. Of his lips and the blazing blue of his eyes. He quirked an eyebrow at her, just one. "I have to actually touch something to feel something. Just FYI."
"Oh?" Violet said, nodding.
"Yeah. That's pretty much how it works."
"Do you want to?" she breathed. "I mean touch something?" Her heart was racing, slamming so violently it felt like a sledgehammer, and she worried it might actually crack a rib.
He inched the tiniest bit closer, his breath mingling with hers. "I do," he said softly, his voice barely a whisper as his daring blue eyes held hers . . . longer than they should have.
I won't tell you what happens next, but I will say poor Violet gets put through the wringer in this book!
21 comments:
- Britta said...
Oh! Good teaser! I can't wait to read The Last Echo! I gotta say though, I wish there was some Jay... Never was much of a Rafe person. (haha)
- January 2, 2012 at 8:18 AM
- Kimberly Derting said...
Britta- There's plenty-o-Jay in The Last Echo. Trust me ;)
- January 2, 2012 at 8:21 AM
- Reverie said...
SO GOOD!!!! CANNOT WAIT TO READ IT! *flails*
- January 2, 2012 at 8:24 AM
- Beth D. Carter said...
I've already preordered and can't wait for April!
- January 2, 2012 at 8:56 AM
- Kimberly Derting said...
YAY, Beth, I hope you love it!!!
- January 2, 2012 at 9:05 AM
- Aydrea said...
Ack this makes me nervous because I love Jay (no offense to Rafe, but I am a Jay girl)! Can't wait to read The Last Echo!
- January 2, 2012 at 10:51 AM
- Christine Danek said...
Oh what a tease. I can't wait to read more!! Thanks for sharing. I love it. :)
- January 2, 2012 at 11:10 AM
- Tricia J. O'Brien said...
'I have to actually touch something"!!! Oh, this sizzles. Poor Violet.
thx for sharing such a great teaser.
- January 2, 2012 at 11:37 AM
- AJ said...
*swoon* rafe gets hotter by the moment ;D i m team jay but i still love violet and rafe hot moments <3 hope there r more in TLE
- January 2, 2012 at 12:29 PM
- Amalia T. said...
ahhhh. what a tease! I hope he wants to touch what I think he wants to touch because yum.
- January 2, 2012 at 1:57 PM
- Frankie Diane Mallis said...
Whoa whoa whao hotness at the end, although I'm freaking out right now over Jay! EEEH! Can't wait to read The Last Echo! Thanks for participating, Kim!!! XOXO
- January 2, 2012 at 4:21 PM
- Larissa said...
Ha! Love it! Thanks for sharing! :)
- January 2, 2012 at 4:29 PM
- Julie said...
Can't wait for it!! I would definitely be torn between Jay and Rafe...love this, thanks for sharing!
- January 2, 2012 at 9:35 PM
Great teaser. I want to reads this book even more now!
- January 3, 2012 at 4:28 PM
- Olivia J. Herrell said...
Very good teaser. I like it!
that rebel, Olivia
- January 3, 2012 at 8:26 PM
- WritingNut said...
Ahhhh.. I need to know what happens!! Awesome teaser :)
- January 4, 2012 at 10:34 AM
- Kimberly Derting said...
Glad you guys feel officially "teased". I'm getting excited for April :)
- January 4, 2012 at 10:40 AM
- Miss Page-Turner said...
- January 4, 2012 at 1:33 PM
- Alba said...
I seriously think you're trying to kill me!!!
you're such a teaser!!! and
the punch line is...
I LOVE EVERY SINGLE BIT...teaser cruel or other kind O_o
my heart, body, soul, and eyes ARE READY FOR THE LAST ECHO!!! BRING IT!
- January 4, 2012 at 6:39 PM
- 1000th.monkey said...
Ha! 'touch something indeed... :D
- January 5, 2012 at 9:47 AM
I think I need to catch my breath. I love the innuendo at the end. HOT.
- January 6, 2012 at 3:11 PM


text:
In Lansing School District 158, the payroll looks a little like a family tree.
At least 14 relatives of school board members — from spouses to kids to grandkids — have landed jobs, with taxpayers paying the tab of some $550,000 in the last five years, records show.
"It's immoral. You know it's wrong,'' said new board member Anthony Arens, who campaigned against family hiring in the south Cook district. "There is so much nepotism and cronyism, my stomach is in knots."
Across the Chicago region, school boards are spending millions of public dollars employing board members' relatives, a practice exacerbated by weak laws, little oversight and limited disclosure about who gets jobs, a Tribune investigation has found.
Unlike some states, Illinois doesn't ban boards from hiring family, and relatives have been employed as teachers, aides, subs, custodians, cafeteria workers and more — even as the economy tanked, unemployment rose and a teacher glut made competition stiff. Typically, boards must approve the hiring of teachers and noncertified staff.
The Tribune found nearly 100 board relatives on school payrolls through data searches, interviews and public records from 32 districts representing a cross-section of the six-county area.
The identified relatives likely just scratch the surface — only about 10 percent of the region's nearly 300 districts were investigated and usually only employees with the same last names as board members were examined.
"You can't get a job unless you know a board member,'' a Bellwood School District 88 employee complained during a public board meeting in January.
At the same meeting, the west Cook board voted to give a $16,618 retroactive pay raise to board member Marilyn Thurman's nephew Charles McGee, a maintenance worker who wasn't even working — he was on paid leave. He had been arrested on charges of stealing and using a district teacher's debit card in November, court records show.
Thurman said the pay increase stemmed from a grievance about her nephew's salary, now $48,859.
The pay for relatives can add up, salary records show, with taxpayers footing the bill:
•Oak Lawn's Community High School District 218 has paid $711,568 since 2006-07 to at least seven board relatives. Board member Johnny Holmes, who also is police chief in Robbins, has had a son, grandson and wife on the payroll. His wife retired but still works as a $25-an-hour part-time tutor. She's earned $41,000 since 2009. Holmes could not be reached for comment.
•Will County's Union School District 81 has paid $558,000 over the decade employing board President John LaRocca's wife, three daughters and two sons, who have worked in custodial to cafeteria jobs. Two other board members also have relatives working.
The Tribune reported last March that LaRocca had family on the payroll, and he said it wasn't against district policy. After local media publicity about his wife's pay — $58,950 as a kitchen supervisor and bus driver — the board recently cut her salary to $48,223.
•West Cook's Proviso Township High School District 209 has paid about $942,000 over nine years to four relatives of board President Emanuel "Chris" Welch, including a brother with a criminal past who earns $56,760 as a night custodian.
Welch said he has "absolutely no role" in the hiring process. He also has an aunt and two cousins in the district, in teaching, custodial and security jobs. Lawyers advised that he could vote on the hires, Welch said, so he didn't abstain.
•DuPage's Lake Park High School District 108 and Benjamin School District 25 each have three board members with relatives on the payroll, at salaries totaling almost $500,000 in the last five years. Of the six, only two Benjamin board members with relatives disclosed the relationships on state-required forms in 2011.
'Insider stuff'
The Tribune reviewed hundreds of the ethics filings, finding few board members reporting relatives employed. Board members say the form's questions are confusing and unclear.
"If you look at the form, it is filled with legalese … and if you stand there and ask people for help, they look at you and say you need to see a lawyer," said Dennis Peterson, a veteran board member in Benjamin, who reported on the form that his wife teaches in the district.
She worked her way up from aide to teacher and earned a master's degree, he said. "She did the whole thing herself. I didn't do anything," Peterson said. He added that if relative hiring "looks bad, maybe we ought not do that. It does look like insider sort of stuff."
States such as New Jersey and Texas bar hiring of school board relatives, with limited exceptions, and New Jersey school districts can lose state aid if they violate nepotism policies. In Illinois, school boards can — but aren't required to — adopt their own anti-nepotism policies. Board members can — but don't have to — abstain from voting on matters related to relatives.
Conflict-of-interest criminal violations can occur if, for example, "a board member actively promotes the financial interests of his or her spouse," according to the Illinois Council of School Attorneys. The law is apparently untested in other areas, such as whether it's a conflict if a minor child living with a school board member is given a district job, said Melinda Selbee, an attorney at the Illinois Association of School Boards.
"The money they (minor kids) are making is so insignificant that I don't think a state's attorney is interested,'' Selbee added.
The Tribune was unable to determine whether relatives were the most qualified applicants because many districts were unable to provide the credentials of other applicants.
DuPage's School District 89 in Glen Ellyn provided records showing board member Frank Zak's wife was hired as a $10-an-hour special education aide in 2008, though she had no aide experience and two other applicants did. Zak's wife submitted her resignation, effective March 9, after the Tribune requested her hiring records.
Superintendent John Perdue said she had found another job and her resignation did not relate to the Tribune's inquiry. She met all qualifications, and her husband abstained on matters related to her, Perdue said.
But some board members in the region want tougher laws.
Robert Rossi, a board member in Bloom Township High School District 206, said he supports Chicago Heights' recent adoption of an anti-nepotism policy, and he'd like his board to ban hiring relatives. "What you're doing is … you are protecting your district from nepotism," he said. Rossi's mom once had a part-time cafeteria job, but no longer works in the district, he said.
Last spring, friction arose when Bloom board President Henry Drake's wife was hired as an accounts payable clerk.
Drake became president May 2, 2011. On May 3, the district posted a notice for an "anticipated or known opening" for an accounts payable clerk. Applicants had to express interest by May 5. On May 17, the board voted 4-3 to hire Drake's wife, with Rossi voting no.
Drake said his attorney advised that he could vote on his wife's employment. His wife had accounts payable experience in the Ford Heights district where he previously served on the board. She makes about $45,000.
Drake said if Bloom 206 wants to pursue an anti-nepotism policy, "I don't have a problem with that, I'd vote for it."
Qualified candidates
The Tribune focused on suburban districts where board members are elected and directly accountable to the public, unlike in Chicago, where the mayor appoints the school board. Suburban board members serve without pay, but they wield power over how tax dollars are spent.
The Tribune found that most relatives got jobs after their family members took office. Some employees already on the payroll got promotions and pay raises after relatives were elected, records show.
Universally, board members said they didn't help family members get jobs.
West Aurora School District 129 board President Neal Ormond said he talked to the principal considering his daughter's application for a paraprofessional job, saying to her: "I want to be very sure you understand that I am not going to suggest you hire her because of whose daughter she is. I am saying please don't hire her for those reasons." He abstained from voting on the hire.
His daughter had other opportunities, Ormond said, but she wanted to give back to her community by working in the district where she was schooled.
That sentiment was echoed on other boards.
In Lansing 158, longtime board member Jerome Kern's wife, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren have all been employed in the district.
"I have enough confidence in my own ethics and my own morality that I would never do anything unethical — I would never do anything to advance the cause of a relative,'' Kern said.
Records show his wife was hired as a teacher aide in 1979, during a one-year break in Kern's nearly 40 years on the board. She retired in 2005 and gets a $1,088 monthly pension while working part-time in the district.
Kern said his daughter-in-law was hired before she became a Kern. Records show Karen Hanssen became an aide Oct. 11, 1988. She married Kern's son on July 1, 1989. She became a teacher on Aug. 27, 1990, with Jerome Kern, as school board president, signing the contract.
Karen Kern recently spoke before the school board, stressing her credentials and emphasizing that neither she nor her son, a district custodian, ever received special treatment.
In Oak Lawn, Community High School District 218 board Vice President Marco Corsi said he's not aware of board members exerting influence to get relatives hired. His son teaches and his daughter-in-law works in security. At least five more board relatives have been employed.
Corsi's daughter-in-law wasn't hired the first time she applied for a job, he said, because she didn't meet the qualifications, including speaking Spanish. "They (school officials) said we'll hire her if I think we should. I couldn't respond positively or negatively. I said she'd probably be better for something else," Corsi said. She later got a security job.
Local bans
Some districts, such as Hinsdale Township High School District 86, have a policy that bars hiring family of board members, with limited exceptions. "We continue to hire excellent certified teachers, and other personnel — it does not limit us at this time," said Superintendent Nicholas Wahl.
Proviso District 209 instituted a nepotism policy in 2010; board President Welch's relatives were employed prior to that.
His brother was hired in 2005, two years after being charged in a cocaine case in Cook County that was dropped, according to court records. Welch said his brother has been arrested but not convicted. However, DuPage court records show Billy Welch pleaded guilty to felony retail theft in 1996. Welch said he was in law school then and was "not aware of everything that happened to my brother during that time as I was not living at home."
An arrest or conviction does not automatically bar school employment, with some exceptions. The theft case in which Billy Welch pleaded guilty to stealing baby shoes on Christmas Eve would not bar him from working in schools, state officials said. He got a 60-day work-release sentence and two years of probation.
On a Proviso job application in 2005, he left blank a question about whether he's been convicted of a violation of law other than a minor traffic violation. Billy Welch could not be reached for comment.
In Lansing, board member Arens said he's taking heat for his stance against family hiring.
The board held a closed-door meeting Wednesday at the request of Superintendent Cecilia Heiberger, who complained of Arens' "hostile behavior" in a number of areas, records show. The assistant superintendent accused Arens of trying to get a neighbor hired — which Arens denied.
"All they did was exaggerate half-truths to make me look bad … all they tried to do was intimidate me," Arens said.
School board President Joseph LaBella Jr. declined to comment about the closed meeting. His wife, two daughters and a son have been on the district payroll. "I have nothing do with who gets hired," LaBella earlier told the Tribune. Heiberger's nephew works as a district custodian. She said she didn't even know he applied.
"When I ran for school board," Arens said, "I didn't know I was joining a secret society that was an employment office for families."
Tribune reporter Joe Mahr contributed.


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Supercar Roundup: A New Lamborghini, Audi Snubs the U.S. and Jag Pulls Plug on C-X75
Every so often, automakers do something with their high-horsepower supercars so cool that we have to check out. While chances are slim that most of us will ever get into these six- and seven-figure devices of visceral speed, they're notable for what they bring to the market—or in the case of two of these vehicles, what they don't.Audi Makes Awesome RS 6 Station Wagon. No, You Can't Have One If ever you should want a station wagon, this is one of the ones you should pine over. Today, Audi released footage of its 2013 RS 6 Avant, a 560-horsepower, ground-pounding super wagon. Compared to the previous generation, this RS 6 uses a twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V-8 borrowed from the Audi S8 and Bentley Continental GT instead of a 5.0-liter V-10 from Lamborghini. It's down 20 horsepower from the last model, but it's also shed 220 pounds, helping it scoot to 60 mph in 3.9 seconds—0.7 second quicker than the outgoing model. Power is channeled to all four wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox. This is the sort of vehicle your family ought to dream about.Jaguar Pulls Plug on C-X75 Hybrid Supercar...And You May Be Able to Get One Without a doubt, we would have loved to see Jaguar's $1 million supercar based on the C-X75 concept go into production. Using a 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine with the help of both superchargers and turbochargers, it would have been able to rev to a motorcycle-like 10,000 rpm, generating as much as 550 horsepower. If that weren't enough, two electric motors were set to power the front wheels, allowing the C-X75 to achieve staggering performance numbers: 0 to 60 mph in under 3 seconds, a more than 200 mph top speed, and a Prius-like 99 grams of CO2 per kilometer emitted.Alas, it's not to be. Jaguar is discontinuing its supercar program in the midst of Europe's financial meltdown. Where it had expected to build 200 to 250 copies of the car, it will now complete development of its five prototypes. Three will be kept by the automaker, with their technology eventually trickling into new products. Two will go up for auction. Happy bidding!Lamborghini Promises New Supercar Next Year for 50th Anniversary. You Can Have One, Pending Your Check Doesn't Bounce For its 50th anniversary next year, Automobili Lamborghini has big plans. During the week of the Los Angeles Auto Show, it showed off its Aventador Roadster at a separate event. Yesterday, the automaker said 2013 would be the last year for the Gallardo after a decade run. Long lifespans are typical for Lamborghini models. But for the 50th year of the storied exotic car maker, a new model will bow. Despite Europe and Asia facing some tumult, the Middle East and North America are strong markets for six-figure supercars. Lamborghini is going "full-speed ahead" with its new product plans, unlike Jag with the C-X75. Sources: Audi, Car Magazine, Automotive News (Subscription required)
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Indianapolis Bakery Refuses To Make Cake For Same-Sex Couple
Jesus' love in fundamental Christian owners continues to spread.
Finding themselves in hot water, the family behind 111 Cakery in Indianapolis, Indiana released a statement on Friday explaining its decision to discriminate against gays in their public business practice.
It reads [sic]:
We have made it our commitment to treat every person that walks through the door with Respect & Kindness. It is important to know that we have never refused to do business with any person based on who they are or what they believe. As Christians we have a sincere love for people.
As artist we must find the inspiration to create something special for our clients. When asked to do a cake for an occasion or with a theme (alcohol explicit in nature) that is in opposition to our faith, that inspiration is not found. We feel that it is important for a paying customer to know when this is the case. Why would you want a cake that is less then inspired for your special event. That is why this week we told a man that requested a cake for a same sex ceremony that it was against our policy but we would be happy to help him with anything else. It was not that we wanted to deny them a cake it's just tough to create something that goes against your beliefs. Was this the right thing to say? Maybe not but this phone call caused us to do a lot of soul searching because we want to be right with our God as well as respect others. We have not heard from this man but would welcome a chance to meet with him. We sincerely wish them the best.
Please know that there is zero hate here. We are not judging the lives of our clients. We are not trying to make a political statement or change someone's mind. We respect the fact that everyone has different values and believes. Everyone is entitled to their opinion we would encourage you to share those in a respectful way. We have happily done cakes for gay people, as well as people with different believes. We are just a small family business trying to bring happiness with cake. You may criticize this response but realize it is sincere and from the heart not a letter drafted by an attorney. We thank our friends, customers and others in the community for your support.
The McGath Family
Indianapolis only prohibits discrimination in employment based on sexual orientation.
Messages have been filling up 111's Facebook page since Wednesday, most of which seem to oppose the bakery's decision to refuse to serve a gay couple. We reached out to 111 on Thursday for comment on the story and did not hear back by press time.
If they claim to be that sincere, they ought to put up a sign in the window that reads, "We do not accommodate gay wedding cakes", in the spirit if being honest and all. Then see how much business they get. Who cares about this store anyway? Why not give our gay dollars to another store? That should be the new trend: Bakeries that have signs that read, "We love and respect ALL our customers; we will be happy to make everybody's wedding special!" That is who needs to profit from our ceremonies not small minded bakers.
I hesitate to even call them bigots because they seem to be victims of a brain washing religion. As the saying goes, Good people do good things and bad people do bad things, but for good people to do bad things, that takes religion.
They do make one valid point though: do you want your wedding cake executed by anyone not interested in your welfare. Our wedding cake was created by a friend, and not only was it beautiful, it was delicious.
If they want to stand behind a smoke screen of the alcohol themed cake (for a wedding? really?) being something they didn't want to do, then it makes them feel better.
But, if I were shopping around for a wedding cake baker and they didn't seem like they were interested or invested in my wedding, I would move on regardless of why they weren't interested. Straight couples probably do the same thing.
As a small business owner, it's my job to make money to keep my company alive. I don't discriminate. Period. My job is to leav my personal prejudice, religious beliefs, and personal crap at the door and do what I advertise. If you job is to make cakes, I don't give 2 cents if you like me, as long as I get what I paid for and what I want. It's really as simple as that.
The bus driver might have said something similar as he ordered Rosa Parks to the back. And the lunch counter manager at Woolworths. And the police who loosed their dogs on Selma marchers. And they would have been lying too. A bakery is a licensed business, NOT a church. Bake cakes and keep your effing "values" to yourselves.
As usual atrocious grammar abounds in this heartfelt if sickening little missive. Reminds me of the leaders of the Hypochristian Youth Group I belonged to as a teenager, who told me, after I came out, that they "weren't judging me, but it was wrong," & then kicked me out (no surprises there, either - any questions as to why I told them?). Gee, and wasn't Indianapolis voted "America's Gayest City" just a few years back by the Advocate? Now, of course I know that we have plenty of bigots here in the SF Bay Area too, but still . . .


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Drake Takes Chris Brown's Ex "Rihanna? Shouts Out Rihanna Live On Stage While Performing Every Girl "Shout Out To Rihanna. I Love You Baby"
Drake So Far Gone Tour (Toronto May 13th 2009. Go around the 2: 10 Mark
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You did all you could for nearly 53 years to make us feel ashamed of our language, and yet we defied all your attempts. We refused to purify our language according to your tastes. We refused to concede our language is a shame.
Sometimes I don't even understand why you like Hyderabad. It has its own cosmopolitan culture into which you don't fit into at all. You are fairly homogenous group and have absolutely no cosmopolitan character. All cosmopolitan cities inherit influences from various regions, various religions, and various languages, whereas you try to keep your language and culture pure protecting it from all outside influences. How does that make it cosmopolitan?


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Transfer news: Bayern Munich's Dante denies Manchester United agreement
Brazilian defender Dante has denied that he has agreed a deal with Manchester United.
By Paulo Freitas
Last Updated: 22/01/14 3:36pm
The 30-year-old Bayern Munich central defender has been linked with a January switch to Old Trafford and some reports had even claimed a deal was done.
But Dante has been quick to play down any such notion that he has agreed to leave Bayern and it is understood he is in talks over a new deal, with two years left to run on his current contract.
"What I can say is that my agents are the ones who handle deals and talks," he told Fox Sports Brasil.
"I am happy at Bayern and the most important is to keep working, I am happy with Man Utd's interest, let's see what happens in the future."
"I follow the Premier League and although Man Utd are in a bad moment, I appreciate the interest."
He concluded: "We have to wait until 31 January, a lot can happen in the future."
No deal
His agent Marcus Marin was also quick to rule out a deal with United.
"There is no agreement with Manchester United," he is quoted by the Independent.
"We are currently in negotiations with Bayern over a new deal and his first option is to play there.
"He is very happy in Germany at the moment but if nothing can be arranged in the next few weeks then of course he would have to explore his options elsewhere.
"Dante is at a crucial stage of his career so he needs to think about one last big contract. He has had a brilliant year and won several medals so we know how important the next few months will be.
"We are hoping that something can be resolved before the World Cup."
Marin revealed that United had previously been wanted by United, ahead of his move to Bayern.
"Manchester United followed him two years ago," Marin said. "We were in talks with them, but then he ended up at Bayern.
"They are a very good club - and a very big club - so it would be interesting if they were interested in Dante, although I stress we have not spoken to anyone."


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The Ringmaker
In his three decades as owner of the Lakers, Jerry Buss has built a nine-championship empire by going all-in on the players (Magic and Kobe) and coaches (Riley and Jackson) capable of fronting L.A.'s favorite franchise. Now, the 77-year-old who introduced the league to cheerleaders, luxury seats, and "Showtime" (basically everything that makes the NBA the NBA these days) is looking for number ten
One night last December, the best owner in sports arrived at his Staples Center suite late in the first quarter. He'd been playing poker in Las Vegas and, somehow, night had turned into afternoon. His tattersall shirt hung over a paunch and wrinkled jeans, not in an Ashton Kutcher way but like one of those old men you see shuffling down Third Street in Santa Monica in the early morning. As his Los Angeles Lakers took a three-point lead over Utah, a team they would dispatch with alacrity in the second round of the NBA playoffs, Jerry Buss eased himself down to the front row—at 77, both knees are shot from a lifetime of dancing—and settled in beside his girlfriend, who looked like she might have just graduated from Hollywood High. She wore a rose-colored body sweater, thigh-high boots, fist-sized hoop earrings, and a sailor's cap. She was sipping something pink.
In the rear of the suite, a double-wide perched above center court, a chef sautéed shrimp. Plates of sushi had been set out along one wall, beside a full bar. Minor celebrities milled around, as they do only in L.A., looking familiar in a nondescript, nonspecific way. Buss benignly ignored them. Each time he was introduced to someone, he'd lower his head and smile shyly, benevolently, and mumble politely in a distinctive high-pitched voice that sounded like someone imitating Jerry Buss for a Saturday morning cartoon, and then move on. Which is pretty much the way he acts all the time.
Still, like the pretty girls who adorn his box during every game, the famous and semi-famous names are there because he wants them there. "Last night I was sitting next to Vince Young," he'd tell me a few weeks later at a poker game. Another night it was Sylvester Stallone. "They're celebrities and they're fun to talk to. I feel fortunate that I can meet them. But if I never met another one, it wouldn't bother me."
Over his three decades as an NBA owner, Buss has done no focus groups, taken no surveys, hired no consultants. A season-ticket holder before buying the Lakers from Jack Kent Cooke in 1979, he makes decisions as if he were still a paying customer. "When I first got to the NBA, it seemed like it was kind of an archaic organization," he says. He started working on that almost immediately. He added a corps of big-chested Laker dancers. He signed Magic Johnson, his star player, to a 25-year contract. He roped off a section of the old Fabulous Forum and created Senate Seats, then sent in waitresses to take drink orders. Other owners yelped that he was ruining the sport. "In each case," admits NBA commissioner David Stern, who himself wasn't always so sure about Buss, "he turned out not to be crazy, but in fact prescient."
His approach has proven wildly popular with notoriously fickle L.A. fans, who leave USC and Dodger games early but linger at Laker games to sing "I Love L.A" after the final buzzer. "Jerry is the guy on the street," says Gavin Maloof, whose family owns the NBA's Sacramento Kings. "He likes to go to strip bars and eat hamburgers. And when you do that, you have an advantage over someone in the boardroom who doesn't understand the common man."
Of course, the guy on the street doesn't own a sports team that has reached the NBA finals 15 times in 30 years—with a 16th visit hanging in the balance of the Lakers' series against the Phoenix Suns, now tied 2-2. Buss's Lakers have won nine titles and nearly 70 percent of their games. During that time, too, the Lakers have appreciated in value from $20 million to almost $600 million. "He's the real McCoy, what Mark Cuban would like to be," says one NBA owner.
Long before Cuban, the Dallas Mavericks' iconoclastic owner, showed up wearing t-shirts to games and set up residence with his girlfriend in an empty mansion, Buss was living his life in a hedonistic, borderline licentious manner, and he didn't care who knew it. A heavy drinker and smoker until recently, he has fathered six children, all of whom have names that begin with the letter J. He has gambled as much as $120,000 on a blackjack hand. At one point in the 1980s, Buss owned and lived in Pickfair, the 42-room mansion built by Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford. There, he'd entertain Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Jackson, Muhammad Ali and Milton Berle, the Reagans and Tommy Lasorda. Then he'd head off to the clubs to dance, usually accompanied by something young and lovely. He has played in pro poker events, was caught driving drunk down the wrong side of the street with a 23-year-old in the passenger seat, and reportedly throws birthday parties for his son at a prostitution ranch in Nevada.
It's arguable that conducting himself in such freewheeling fashion, in direct opposition to the buttoned-up, overtly political CEOs who own most pro teams, has contributed to Buss's success. Or maybe his lifestyle is just a particularly colorful manifestation of the same free thinking that led to it. Either way, it certainly hasn't hurt him. "He's like Hugh Hefner in that he does exactly what he wants," his daughter Jeanie, 48, says. "Except that he owns a sports team that wins championships, and he plays poker all night. Every guy wants to be him."
He's also no hypocrite. When Jeanie, who serves as the Lakers' ecutive vice president and dates head coach Phil Jackson, told Buss in 1995 that she'd be posing for Playboy, his response was nothing if not courtly. "It's the only issue of the magazine," he quipped, "that I'll never read."
When the Lakers started to reach the finals almost annually in the 1980s, it was tempting to credit anyone but Buss. He didn't look like anyone's vision of a titan of industry. He'd inherited one superstar, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and lucked into Magic. Pat Riley slicked back his hair and turned out to have been born to be head coach. Then Abdul-Jabbar retired and Riley left for New York. When the Lakers retrofitted with Kobe and Shaq and won again, general manager Jerry West was lauded as a genius. But West moved on, Shaq was purged, Jackson departed and returned. By the time the Lakers won Buss's ninth title last June, the pattern was clear: the constant was Buss. "Good fortune follows some people around," says West now with a shake of the head. "He's one of them."
Buss grew up poor in Wyoming. He earned a chemistry doctorate at Southern Cal, fell into an aerospace career, then started teaching on the side. On weekends, he turned to real estate. In Los Angeles in the 1960s, it was a sleepy business on the cusp of a boom. "It was run by old people," says Johnny Buss, 53. "My dad was young and smart. He said, 'Gosh, I could beat a lot of people at this just by using a little more intelligence and insight into what young people want."
Buss formed an investment group. He wrote a single check for $1,000, then solicited contributions. At the start, all he sought was enough money to leave aerospace and teach full-time, maybe a bit more for Lakers and USC tickets. But he'd grown up with nothing and had no sense of what was enough. "Sometimes you run so fast and hard, you don't realize where you are," he says. He's telling the story on the phone, his disembodied voice reduced almost to a whisper. "You could have stopped a long time ago and said 'I did it. I'm out of poverty,'" he says. "But you don't."
By that time, Buss was losing more than just Saturdays to work. He'd had four children with his wife, JoAnn, but barely knew them. Instead of a financially struggling family man, he looked up one day to find himself divorced and fabulously wealthy. Los Angeles was full of attractive women who admired the combination, and Buss was indefatigable. If they liked him, he liked them. "That's still exactly what I go by," he says.
He'd always followed sports, so he bought a Team Tennis franchise. A journalist wrote a glowing profile; Cooke saw it, then asked Buss in as a limited partner. Soon after, Cooke's own pending divorce forced him to liquidate. On the surface, the Lakers, hockey's L.A. Kings, and the Forum seemed like terrible investments: Cooke had been a relentless promoter, yet they remained perennially in the red. But Buss knew that Laker floor seats cost $15 and were invariably full, while tickets in the rafters were $7.50 and usually empty. This was Los Angeles, where a small but significant number of people not only had more money than they knew what to do with, but would do almost anything to get on camera. "He said, 'My God, these people would pay hundreds—even thousands—of dollars to sit there," Johnny says. "He made all the calculations, and realized what could be."
To afford the $67.5 million deal, Buss had to sell nearly all of his properties. And after preaching the sturdy reliability of real estate, he now had to convince his loyal investors that these undervalued sports teams were an even better opportunity. He'd gather them together and make his case, did it so convincingly that almost nobody cashed out. "He used a chalkboard, explaining it down to the dollar," Johnny says. "And the confidence he was able to give people was beautiful. That's how I grew up, understanding that being able to instill confidence in people was the key."
Fortuitously, that also applied to running a basketball team. Over the years, Buss has shown an uncanny knack for not only identifying talent, but coaxing it to success. "Jerry handles people better than anyone I've ever met," Magic Johnson says. "He can see things in people that they can't even see in themselves." His techniques are not those found in the standard business-school texts. When Riley was doubting his coaching abilities after two difficult losses early in his career, he opened his office door to find Buss waiting with a tray of drinks. "I liked rum and Coke, he liked rum and Coke," says Riley, who would win five championships in nine seasons with the Lakers. "And we sat there and drank and talked. It was less about basketball than 'Be who you are.' And 'Let's have another toast to your success.' It gave me a tremendous sense of confidence. We just downed those rum and Cokes, one after another, until five in the morning."
In 2000, not long after he replaced West with Mitch Kupchak, Buss called his new general manager suggesting lunch. Conservative and cautious, Kupchak is the ultimate company man. He joined the Laker front office in 1986 after retiring as a player and never left. Buss picked him up in a limo and brought him to a strip bar. "At the end of the lunch, we had a single piece of business," Kupchak says. "It took about 30 seconds. Then he said 'We're done.'" Kupchak scoffs at the notion that Buss might have done it as a power play, or even as a way to loosen him up. As intelligent as Buss is, he seems incapable of such guile. "It's just what he considers a good time," Kupchak says. "I took it as a complement. That was him bringing me into his world."
One recent evening, Buss and five other men sit at a poker table in a shabby enclave of Los Angeles. The table is set apart from the rest of a casino by velvet ropes. The six of them have been at it for more than five hours already, swallowing up a sunny Southern California afternoon by pushing chips back and forth, watching the architecture of the stacks in front of them evolve with each hand. "Thirty-six hour games," Buss leans over and tells me, "are not uncommon."
Four of these men are poker professionals, including Barry Greenstein, who once played out a $919,000 hand on national television, and Ali Eslami, who in 2007 defeated a poker-playing computer with partner Phil Laak. Buss sits between Greenstein and Eslami, his stack dwindling. He seems unconcerned, even as he replenishes by writing another $10,000 draft. "Most negotiations with players round off to the nearest million," he says. "If I played this forever, I couldn't lose a million."
The group meets periodically on Buss's terms, which means no play during Laker games. It also means that the game ends when Buss wants it to. "Jerry is one of the most competitive people I know, and I know a lot of competitive people," says Yosh Nakano, the founder of poker's IPPA Tour, who helps coordinate the sessions. "If he's losing, he wants to keep going." Until recently, the games took place at night. Now that Buss no longer drinks, he prefers to start at noon.
A steady stream of food arrives. Buss nibbles on a well-done burger with cottage cheese, old-man fare that contrasts starkly to the heaping plates of meat and starch that the others—everyone else is at least 20 years younger—are scarfing up around the table. The subject of the Lakers comes up, as it invariably does when Buss is around. In his squeaky mumble, he relates the story of how he invented the expanded NBA playoffs. "They used to give the best teams a bye," he says. "I said, 'That's crazy. That's like booking Frank Sinatra, telling him he can sing on Monday and Tuesday, and then take the weekend off.'" Buss proposed adding more teams. "Everybody objected. They said, 'We'll be playing until June.' I said, 'Why is that bad? Let's play until July!'"
The phone rings. It's Buss's youngest son, Jesse, 22, one of two he has with former girlfriend Karen Demel. Jesse's in Las Vegas scouting players for the upcoming draft, and Buss leans in to get a report. He seems excited mostly because Jesse is excited, an empathetic quality that makes him almost instantly likeable even if you're someone, like Los Angeles Clippers' owner Donald Sterling, who has a vested interest in seeing him fail. "What is he, a freshman? A sophomore?" Buss chirps while sliding chips from his pile out onto the felt. "Gee, that's great, Jesse. Hey, come home, already. I miss you!" It seems like he isn't even paying attention to the poker, but as he ends the call, he rakes in a pot of some $8,000. If he didn't insist on playing with top professionals, limited himself instead to the Hollywood rec room games with agents and movie stars he gets invited to all the time and always declines, he'd clean up night after night. But what would be the point in that? "I've always wanted to see how I would do against the best poker players in the world on a regular basis," he says.
In a sense, Buss's three decades as Lakers' owner have been one long high-stakes poker game. With each gamble—West, Riley, Magic, Kobe, the dancing girls—he has figured out the probabilities, measured the upside and downside, then acted without a moment's anguish. "It's a recurring theme when I meet with him," says Kupchak. "Don't be afraid to roll the dice." Not all the decisions have worked out, as any fan who remembers the Randy Pfund Era will attest, but the overall track record is unassailable.
And because he's in Los Angeles, when Buss wins, he wins big. "He's smart enough to understand what the people here want from their sports teams, which is a combination of on-court success and packaging," says veteran Laker Derek Fisher. "You play to win, but you also have to look good." The Showtime phenomenon that has come to define the Lakers wouldn't work in Memphis or Milwaukee, and there would be scant upside to paying Jackson $12 million annually in some market where the three Fortune 500 corporations already had luxury suites. In Hollywood, though, there's always another highest-grossing movie, always a next generation of Grammy winners and entrepreneurs. "There's a huge upside to this market," says Mike Dunleavy, who followed Riley as Laker coach, and served as coach and general manager of the Clippers until getting fired earlier this year. "You can put a lot of money into it and get it back and much more, but your decisions have to be right. If you make a bad financial decision, it can bury you for a long time. So you make a calculation based on risk and reward. Nobody in sports is better at that than Dr. Buss."
Los Angeles offers Buss something else, too: the opportunity to live the life he wanted without being judged harshly. The gambling and womanizing might not have gone down so well in middle America, but in Hollywood peccadillos such as the children out of wedlock or the DUI are seen as the price of celebrity. "There's only a few cities that would accept my flamboyance," Buss says. "I'm aware of that." It helps that his lifestyle seems rooted not in insecurity but the opposite, a self-acceptance so complete as to render even his character flaws charming. "He lives absolutely the way he wants to, which very few people do," says Riley. "You have to admire that."
Back at the table, Buss is on a roll. His demeanor is no different; the change in fortune is evident only because the turrets of chips in front of him are growing rather than receding. Buss is mostly quiet, his usual contented expression on his face. He's doing what he wants to be doing, like nearly every day of his life. Every so often he exchanges friendly chatter, mostly with Eslami, who wears a studded black t-shirt, appears to be in his mid-20s, and would seem to have little in common with Buss. Eslami grew up as a computer nerd, with little interest in sports or girls, and Buss is giving him what he calls an "all-American education." Every so often, he accompanies him to various iconic sports events: high-school football, minor-league baseball. "And that pretty girl, Sherry, has a lot of pretty friends," Buss tells him now. "She's placed in the Top 10 in lots of beauty pageants."
Darkness has fallen. Buss has a dinner to attend, and he stands up from the table, a signal that the game is ending. Eslami and a few others make plans to continue later in the evening. A morose Greenstein allows that he has lost $30,000. Buss is also down, or maybe he's up. As he pulls on a satin Lakers jacket and heads for the entrance, where a Rolls-Royce with a driver stands waiting, it's impossible to know. He's his same benevolent self, mumbling shyly, leaving everyone with a smile, knowing that what matters is that his calculations have been correct—for if they are, he knows, the outcome is bound to eventually end up in his favor.
"Jerry won't let competition become emotional and lose his ability to make rational decisions," Jackson says. "He doesn't try to exact an eye for an eye. He's not going to hold a resentment about something that maybe happened." If that weren't the case, Jackson probably wouldn't have the Lakers one win from the finals right now. In his 2004 book, "The Last Season: A Team in Search of its Soul," Jackson tagged Bryant as "narcissistic" and "not mature." That same summer, as talk swirled that he might be traded, Bryant called Buss "an idiot." The empire seemed on the verge of crumbling.
Aware that having Bryant playing for Jackson was still likely to yield the best possible result, Buss stayed cool and slowly brought the moving pieces back together. Far from punishing Bryant for his disloyalty, he studiously ignored it. The following spring, Bryant carried the team through the playoffs to the 2008 NBA finals. Last season, they won a championship. As he did, the bad feelings around the franchise dissipated like a morning fog. "He believed in me," Bryant says now. "The trust factor feels good. We won a championship. And now I'm going to run through the fucking wall to bring him another."


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There's the usual scurry round, the divesting of work accoutrements and snippets of talk about what the day has brought.
The morning's coffee cups sit on the drainer as the evening meal is started. All in all another regular evening at home.
The difference here is that Matthew and Rose don't walk to theirs via a pavement, but a towpath ending in a gangplank.
They live on a boat.
"The housing market was such a nightmare last year we didn't want to get involved - the length of time it takes to get anything done, the cost and the way it ties you down. So we went for a boat," says Matt.
They call it "Tigger".
Licence to cruiseThe average house price is £207,000, according to the Department for Communities and Local Government, putting conventional property ownership out of the reach of millions.
A residential boat is a far cheaper outlay.
The average price of a canal boat - the most common form of floating home - is anything between £60,000-£100,000, according to the National Association of Boat Owners (NABO).
But there are, of course, other costs involved.
You need a boat safety certificate - think of it as an MoT. You also need a licence to be on the waterways - think of this as Road Tax.
Also, like a car, insurance is necessary.
And you need the right to "park" - a mooring permit - and that can be a hefty cost.
Read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/10320666.stm
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Ketones are substances produced in the liver when fat cells break down in the blood. A serum ketone test is a measurement of how many ketones are in the blood.
Alternative Names
Acetone bodies; Ketones – serum; Nitroprusside test; Ketone bodies – serum; Ketones – blood
How the test is performed
Blood is most often drawn from a vein. The vein usually used is on the inside of the elbow or the back of the hand.
Theprocedure is done in the following way:
- The site is cleaned with germ-killing medicine (antiseptic).
- The health care provider wraps an elastic band around the upper arm to apply pressureto the area and make the vein swell with blood.
- The health care provider gently inserts a needle into the vein.
- The blood collects into an airtight vial or tube attached to the needle.
- The elastic band is removed from your arm.
- The needle is removed.
- The puncture site is covered to stop any bleeding.
In infants or young children, a sharp tool called a lancet may be used to puncture the skin and make it bleed. The blood collects into a small glass tube called a pipette, or onto a slide or test strip. Afterward, a bandage may be placed over the area if there is any bleeding.
How to prepare for the test
No preparation is needed.
How the test will feel
When the needle is inserted to draw blood, you may feel slight pain or only a prick or stinging. Afterward, there may be some throbbing.
Why the test is performed
This test is used to diagnose
Normal Values
A normal test result would be negative, meaning there are no ketones in the blood.
Normal value ranges may vary slightly among different laboratories. Talk to your health care provider about the meaning of your specific test results.
What abnormal results mean
A test result is positive if ketones are found in the blood. This may indicate:
Alcoholic ketoacidosis Diabetic ketoacidosis
- Starvation
- Uncontrolled blood glucose in diabetics
What the risks are
Veins and arteries vary in size from one patient to another and from one side of the body to the other. Drawing blood from some people may be more difficult than from others.
Other risks associated with having blood drawn are slight but may include:
- Excessive bleeding
- Fainting or feeling light-headed
- Hematoma (blood accumulating under the skin)
- Infection (a slight risk any time the skin is broken)
Special considerations
A diet low in


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NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Energy stocks succumbed to losses on Monday after spending much of the day in positive territory, as oil major Chevron Corp. weighed on the sector.
Red ink built up after data showed an unexpected downturn in U.S. manufacturing and as haggling over the fiscal cliff continued in Washington.
Chevron Corp. CVX, +1.01% dropped 1%, becoming the fourth-worst performer among the 30 stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +1.74%
Fellow DJIA component Exxon Mobil Corp. XOM, +1.89% fell 0.6%.
Utility stocks, which have been hit by jitters over increases in dividend tax rates, also fell.
Exelon Corp. EXC, +0.84% dropped 3% as one of the worst performers in the S&P 500 Index.
Edison International EIX, -0.03% dipped 0.8% after Bernstein downgraded the company to market perform from outperform.
Also moving lower, Xcel Energy Inc. XEL, +0.36% fell 0.4% and Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. PEG, +0.70% dipped 0.8%.
Among the major benchmarks in the energy sector, the NYSE Arca Oil Index XOI, +1.55% fell 0.6% and the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index XNG, +2.41% moved down fractionally. The Philadelphia Oil Service Index OSX, +2.61% dipped 0.7%.
The Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund XLE, +1.61% which tracks energy stocks in the S&P 500, fell 0.6%.
Among stocks in the spotlight, McMoRan Exploration Co. US:MMR rose 2.2%. The company said flow to its Davy Jones well in the shallow water of the Gulf of Mexico was believed to be restricted by skin or formation damage. It has seen limited success from its efforts to fix the problem.
On the deal radar, Noble Energy Inc. NBL, +2.86% inked a new pact with Australia's Woodside Petroleum Ltd. WPL, +1.49% to develop liquid-natural-gas (LNG) production from the Leviathan field in the Mediterranean Sea.
Woodside will initially pay $696 million to Noble Energy and its partners for a 30% stake in two petroleum licenses, plus additional payments of about $550 million. Woodside could also make revenue-sharing payments of up to $1 billion a year, depending on the price levels of the LNG.
Shares of Noble Energy dropped 1.5%.
PBF Energy to raise $429 million in IPO
PBF Energy Inc. on Monday set an estimated price range of $25 to $27 a share in the upcoming initial public offering from the Parsippany, N.J., refinery operator.
With 16.5 million shares in the IPO, PBF Energy will raise $429 million in the deal, based on the midpoint of its projected price range.
PBF Energy plans to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol PBF. The company is owned in part by affiliates of private-equity firms Blackstone Group L.P. BX, +0.45% and First Reserve Management L.P. The underwriting team on the IPO includes Citigroup Inc. C, +2.96% and Morgan Stanley MS, +3.12%
PBF Energy was formed in 2008 to acquire crude-oil refineries and downstream assets in North America. The company now owns three domestic oil refineries.
Providing critical information for the U.S. trading day. Subscribe to MarketWatch's free Need to Know newsletter. Sign up here.


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There are a handful of NFL quarterbacks that seem to have all the physical tools to get the job done, but for some reason have never put it all together. They look like a duck, walk like a duck, even quack like a duck – but they just can't swim. More often than not they sink straight to the bottom, and in most cases they've cost their coach and his coaching staff their jobs while they get to keep their's.
QBs that quickly come to mind are Matthew Stafford, Matt Ryan, Ryan Tannehill, and Jay Cutler. They're in a league of their own. There is a second tier of QBs that includes Andy Dalton, Tony Romo, and Sam Bradford. RGIII may eventually get in to this second tier, but then again he is attempting to jump start his career at the Factory of Sadness known as the Cleveland Browns. I don't know if any QB could be successful in that awful organization.
Let's take a little closer look at all of the aforementioned QBs. Matthew Stafford has been through numerous head coaches. He's been handed several #1 overall draft pick wide receivers, decent offensive lines, and a plethora of other offensive weapons. Heck, even Megatron – Calvin Johnson – had enough and decided to walk away from the game during this past off-season. Blessed with a gun for an arm, there are times that he can't hit water falling out of a boat. I've never been able to put my finger on it, but there's definitely something wrong with this guy.
Matt Ryan is another one. Fortunately for Joe Flacco, the comparisons between the two stopped right after Big Joe won a Super Bowl. Just look at the weapons he's had – Tony Gonzales, Julio Jones, Roddy White – just to name a few. If not for an ill-advised time out by the Seahawk's Pete Carroll, Matty Melting Ice would still be looking for his first playoff win. The clock is ticking on Ryan's career, and he is running out of time to prove his growing critics wrong.
Jay Cutler has a habit of throwing the ball to defensive backs and oftentimes in bunches. Jumping Jay has also been surrounded with weapons, who all – to a man – have lots of uncomplimentary things to say about him once they've escaped Chicago. If I was coaching Da Bears, I'd put this cat on a pitch count, and never have him throw more than 20 times a game. In fact, I'd bring back Ted Marchibroda's offense from the 80's – run, run, pass, punt. You laugh, but it's superior to pass, pass, pick, play defense.
Ryan Tannehill is a coach killer in training. He is still young on the job curve, but I've seen nothing from him to indicate that he'll ever develop into a an NFL QB worthy of his draft position and his huge new contract. Selfishly I really like him, because as long as he is under center, we'll all be able to easily obtain discounted tickets to Dolphins home games. It's always a great trip to Miami in the winter, and Ravens fans do a great job of taking over the stadium (cue the Ravens Seven Nation Army chant).
Which brings us to Dalton, Bradford and Romo. The first two have won exactly the same number of NFL playoff games as you and I, and the last one has a knack for throwing an interception at the absolute worst possible time. There are throwers and there are field generals, and all 3 of these gentlemen most definitely fit in the former category.
By the virtue of his dismal playoff record, Dalton used to have a monkey on his back. Now that monkey has grown into an 800-pound gorilla, one that he cannot shake off until he gets that elusive first playoff win. It is inexplicable – and at the same time defies logic – that he has a future Hall of Fame receiver like AJ Green and can't hit him when it counts. Coach Marvin Lewis is extremely lucky he gets to work for one of the cheapest owners in the NFL, or he would have been gone a long time ago.
Bradford's career has been marred by injuries, but even when healthy he has not shown that he is anywhere in the elite category. Somehow Jeff Fisher (6 playoff wins in 22 years – but that's going to require an entire separate article dedicated to his record) survived Bradford's tenure with the Rams, and hopefully his Eagles' coach Doug Pederson can do the same. Pederson was smart enough to draft an insurance policy in the form of Carson Wentz.
Tony Romo "led" the Cowboys to a 12-4 record two years ago. The Pokes saved Romo from himself by running DeMarco Murray into the ground, 400 plus times. By drafting Ezekiel Elliott and signing free agent running back Alfred Morris, they're hoping the same formula works as well as it did in the past. Of course that will cause Dez Bryant to squawk, but then again if he didn't then they would be the Dallas Cowboys. 'Merica's Team.


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Saturday, 27 December 2014 07:10
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Incorporated in 2013, Spaces Facility Management is a pioneer in its field offering a bouquet of Facility Management Services. With a vision to emerge as a niche player in the market, we have partnered with the most experienced people in the facility management industry. We are capable of working with dynamic organizations providing our clients with fully integrated facility management solutions and assisting them in attaining their target objectives.Website: www.spacesfm.co.in


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September 23, 2010
Thrifty Threads
5 comments:
- Catherine @ The Vegan Good Life said...
Kudos Amber! You look amazing.
There's a show on TLC, Say Yes to the Dress, all about brides shopping in an upscale salon in New York City who have 'budget' of $2,000 plus (often far more). It's amazing the premium women pay to have the 'experience' of dress shopping, and that so many brides blissfully spend their family's money without wincing. Amber shows how beautiful you can look in second-hand, and isn't the experience of the wedding day the most important of all?
- September 23, 2010
- Angela said...
Yes, I can't imagine how much that dress would cost new, with all that beautiful detailed lacework.
Those fairy tales don't work as well with wedding dresses, where you really can get a used one that's only been worn once. Who would rather have a $2000 new dress than a $125 used one- maybe a girl whose parents are paying and she's been convinced she "deserves" it. Sort of like making people feel they're supposed to spend two months salary on an engagement ring- who decided that? DeBeers of course, the company that sells diamonds.
- September 23, 2010
i can't believe she found a dress that nice at a consignment store! all the wedding gowns i've seen around my area are from 1970 something. gorgeous!
- September 24, 2010
- Janette said...
I've thought about donating my wedding dress- back in style- to a store. I thought I might pin a note that says worn 30 years ago- still married:>)
My daughter found her dress in a small boutique. The woman said her friend had purchased it and then decided on something else. She sold it for $100 with a $2500 tag still on it! It fit like it was made for my daughter ---but was 10 inches too long-lol. It was an easy fix.
- September 25, 2010
- Angela said...
withduckandgoose- some of those 1970s dresses might be back in style!
Janette- I absolutely love both of those stories! From $2500 to $100, I think that's similar to Amber's discount, because the details on that dress put it in a semi pricey category. I think you should do the donation- the right person would absolutely treasure that!
Thanks for your comments!
- September 29, 2010


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The 14 best NBA lottery picks
Since 1985, the NBA has used a lottery to hype the league's draft. Starting with seven teams, and since expanding to 14, the lottery has both made and ruined teams. Here are the 14 best NBA lottery selections in draft history.
14. Vince Carter
5th pick, 1998, Golden State Warriors
"Air Canada" has never won an NBA championship. He never really even came close until he was dealt to Orlando. Carter admitted to hot-dogging it in Toronto, and often looked as though he cared more about showcasing his talent than winning games. However, his dunk over Frederic Weis in the Olympics, his high-flying acrobatics during NBA game action, and his 2000 Slam Dunk title made him a playground hero. Young basketballers wanted to be like Vince, and for being as exciting to watch as VC was during his heyday, he deserves a spot on the list.
13. Dwyane Wade
5th pick, 2003, Miami Heat
Teamed with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade picked up title No. 2 in the 2011-12 season. While he's no longer the alpha dog in Miami, and his best days may be behind him, Wade was the premier shooting guard in the NBA during his prime. And should his legs hold up, Wade should have several more years as an impact player in him . . . which could mean several more championships in Miami.
12. Paul Pierce
10th pick, 1998, Boston Celtics
Surrounded by mediocre talent and seemingly complete apathy when it came to remaining competitive, Pierce had to stomach a career filled with losing before finally being paired with Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen in 2007. Boston is again a basketball hot spot, and Pierce remains the face of the franchise. His play during both the 2008 and 2010 postseasons proved he is still among the league's elite, even as a wily veteran.
11. Jason Kidd
2nd pick, 1994, Dallas Mavericks
The modern nightly triple-double threat, Kidd managed to improve his game, in one way or another, every year of his career. First improving his rebounding to elite status among guards, then becoming a winner in New Jersey, and now developing an outside jumper, Kidd has quarterbacked each team he has played for exceptionally, and won an NBA title with Dallas.
10. Allen Iverson
1st pick, 1996, Philadelphia 76ers
Fans thought he was a punk, coaches were run out of town, and the media called him a chucker and a ball hog. Still, barely 6 feet tall, Iverson spearheaded the Sixers' run to relevance, bringing them to the NBA Finals in 2001. Though he never earned a title, his innate scoring abilities rank him among the best slashing point guards in league history.
9. Gary Payton
2nd pick, 1990, Seattle Supersonics
"The Glove" terrorized everyone from Michael Jordan to John Stockton with his tenacious defense. The first point guard on the list, his ability to dish the rock was terrific, too, working with Shawn Kemp to engineer a perennial power out West. Payton couldn't net a title in his prime thanks to Jordan, and saw his career dwindle during its twilight, but still managed an NBA championship with Wade and Shaq in Miami in 2006.
8. Kevin Garnett
5th pick, 1995, Minnesota Timberwolves
Garnett has had an interesting career track, going from explosive, possessed scorer in Minnesota to determined, veteran role player in Boston. In Minnesota, he somehow made basketball relevant, leading a competitive team in the West. In Boston, he joined Ray Allen and Paul Pierce, and showed he still has a killer instinct in winning his first title.
7. Patrick Ewing
1st pick, 1985, Knicks
The original draft prize, Ewing was the first pick of the NBA's first attempt at a lottery. Back then, seven teams each had an equal shot at the first pick. In a conspiracy-filled selection, the Knicks got that first pick. Ewing was supposed to deliver titles to NYC. Instead, he delivered a series of near-misses. Still, he became the face of basketball in the mecca of the sport.
6. David Robinson
1st pick, 1987, San Antonio Spurs
As gifted off-the-court as he was on, Robinson formed one of the best big man-big man tandems in NBA history with fellow lottery pick Tim Duncan. Robinson actually served two years in the Navy following his selection by the Spurs, but clearly didn't miss a beat, leading San Antonio to what at the time was the greatest single-season turnaround in league history in his rookie year. In his final game, "The Admiral" scored 13 points and ripped 17 boards, leading San Antonio to an NBA Finals win over the New Jersey Nets in 2003.
5. LeBron James
1st pick, 2003, Cleveland Cavaliers
James has become the face of the league, lived up to the high school hype, brought excitement back to the NBA and has helped the basketball resurgence across the country. Add in his three titles, and there's no longer any reason to exclude James from conversation about the league's all-time greatest. At this point, James is head-and-shoulders more talented than anyone else in the league.
4. Scottie Pippen
5th pick, 1987, Seattle Supersonics
Here's some trivia to stump your friends: Pippen was drafted by Seattle then dealt to Chicago for Olden Polynice. The move worked out pretty well for Chicago, as Pippen teamed up with MJ as the greatest duo in modern NBA history and won six NBA titles. The selection's ingenuity gets points here, as the players selected right after Pippen included Kenny Smith, Derrick McKey and Polynice - not exactly NBA 50 Greatest Player fodder.
3. Tim Duncan
1st pick, 1997, San Antonio Spurs
Duncan's selection in 1997 showed that championships in the NBA can be built by drafting a core and developing youth. His addition to David Robinson turned San Antonio into a mini-dynasty, with the Spurs making the playoffs out of the Western Conference year after year after year. Duncan has four NBA titles.
2. Shaquille O'Neal
1st pick, 1992, Orlando Magic
Shaq could easily be No. 1 on this list - simply an editorial decision here. O'Neal has served as the dominant center in the league since he was drafted. He transformed from an athletic big man to a bruiser underneath as his career progressed, and was always a match-up nightmare. His pairings with Bryant, then Dwyane Wade, were instrumental in each guard's championship runs.
1. Kobe Bryant
13th pick, 1996, Charlotte Hornets
Bryant never got on the court for the Hornets. Instead, he was dealt to the Lakers for Vlade Divac in a controversial deal. He blossomed into one of the all-time greats. Barely a lottery selection, Kobe first-teamed with Shaquille O'Neal as the most lethal duo since MJ and Pippen, then overcame an ugly split with Shaq to lead the Lakers once again to the promised land. He has 5 NBA titles.
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