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With the bullpen in need of repair, one would think the Mets would be all over this. They are not.
Agent Paul Kinzer called the interest in Capps as "enormous." Capps has said he'd like to pitch for the Cubs, but the field includes the Yankees, Orioles, Nationals, Marlins and Rangers. The reported asking price is at least $3 million a season. He has closer experience and would be ideal for the Mets' set-up role.


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Michael Sawyer necesitaba un nuevo diseño de otro y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
2 ganadores han sido elegidos entre 155 diseños de 28 diseñadores freelance.
Amphora Wine Group, One Tree Plain
I am the winemaker for Amphora Wine Group, young energetic and enthusiastic. We are a relatively small company and i handle developing and sales on the international market. I am trying to achieve a number of new modern label designs to hit the middle price point for wine that will stand out to the upcoming wine drinkers of the world with a little bit of a classical wine label design in it. The fish on fire design on the opening page for 99 designs is a great example to me as an image you could incorporate a colourful label into. I have developed a number of wines from the vineyard all the way through and the packaging is something that will need to stand out and look great and also be able to adapt different colours for different variety wines, ie shiraz red, cabernet blue
We are targeting Malaysia, Asia and the US for this wine label and it will be targeted at up and coming trendy wine bars and clubs for the 25-40 age bracket.
I am happy to give you a long leash on this one, we have ip registered the name and depending on the label will be the story that we can come up with. My initial thoughts with the name is one of the wines is from a vineyard which has been developed over ten years ago. Before that it was a paddock full of trees and they were all demolished except for 1, hence the name 'One Tree Plain', as it stood out by itself on this plain for 1 year before the vienyards have been developed all around this great 150 year old gum tree, amazing sunsets and sunrise's through the shadow of the tree.

subset: commoncrawl


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The frustration with representatives pushing products on members who did not really need or want them was behind SAC Federal Credit Union's decision to rethink the positioning of its investment services program.
Just as important was having a representative who could work within the culture at the $455 million SACFCU in Bellevue, Neb., said Gail DeBoer, president/CEO.
"We had gone through several reps. They just didn't have a good fit," DeBoer recalled. "For us, the key with financial planning partners is having the right personality. That's the only way the relationship works."
Looking for that connection, in 2003, SACFCU reached out to Securities America Inc., a La Vista, Neb.-based investment advisory firm with more than 1,900 financial advisers and $53 billion in client assets under supervision. DeBoer said the credit union found what it was looking for in Tom McDonald, who is now the investment specialist with SAC Financial Services.
Securities America serves more than 120 financial institutions, and half of them are credit unions, said Gregg Johnson, senior vice president of branch development, training and support. To help build even more relationships, the broker-dealer brought in Nathan Bergeland, president of USAdvisors Network, a firm that had been helping credit unions create investment programs since 1992. While Securities America serves credit unions of all sizes, over the last four months, the firm has received requests for proposals from mainly mid-sized ones in the $150 million range. Johnson said the timing could not be better.
"Because of mergers and acquisitions over the last two to four years, we're finding that credit unions and banks are seeing a tremendous amount of opportunities to look at alternatives," Johnson said.
Through its previous relationship with another broker-dealer, SACFCU had a limited product line, McDonald said. The offerings were also proprietary putting more restraints on what was available to members. Securities America's open platform helped to meet a wider variety of needs. Even so, SACFCU members tended to lean on the conservative side, especially with the current market flux, he added.
"I've been in the business for 20 years, the last 10 in the investment markets. I've come to realize that some members may need the safety of a CD or a money market account. More times than not, the credit union's overall feeling is to be more conservative than most places," McDonald noticed.
Indeed, DeBoer said it was important to have someone meet members where they were in their lives.
"We didn't want someone with hard core sales. We wanted someone to look at our members' needs and take care of them. Tom will put someone in a certificate with the credit union. I like that because he's not out trying to make a dollar."
McDonald said between $25 million and $50 million is managed through SAC Financial Services. In 2007, DeBoer started a cultural development training program for staff to be aware of opportunities to refer members for investment services. That launch, coupled with the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008 and the demise of banks like Washington Mutual, brought in an influx of funds and a substantial increase in referrals, McDonald said. On Nov. 10, SACFCU held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on its 19th branch.
Most of SACFCU's members using investment services are age 50 and older, McDonald said. The group is a mixture of empty nesters, those who are five or six years away from retirement and senior citizens with strong investment experience looking for more conservative choices. To come are workshops on topics such as estate planning, when to take Social Security payments and insurance need and analysis.
"We've had steady growth, it hasn't been overnight," said DeBoer about the credit union's investment program. "Tom has steadily built the relationships with members. We've never had a bad comment from one of them. That's remarkable."
Both Johnson and McDonald agree that member penetration with investment services continues to be a challenge. Securities America has increased awareness measures providing management and business development tools to help advisers develop their expertise as well as making available marketing materials for credit unions to tap. McDonald reiterated that the education process begins with staff, specifically, at the teller line: from employees setting up checking and savings account to those taking mortgage applications.
While McDonald is proud of the strides SACFCU's investment program has made over the past seven years, he acknowledged that it took a little time for him to alter his thinking on how to serve members. A blunt meeting with top brass at Securities America helped to shake things up.
"They said 'what you're doing, it's not working,'" McDonald said. "These were guys who had more than 25 years of experience. I had to shift from how I worked from being independent to working with financial institutions."
For DeBoer, having an alliance with a firm that consistently nurtures client relationships is steeped in SACFCU's core values.
"They didn't come in, sell us their plan and leave," she said of Securities America. "They've been there all along."


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BERLIN (Reuters) - The governing bodies of baseball and softball have merged in a bid to win back their spot on the Olympic program, the heads of the federations said on Sunday.
The newly named World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) will campaign for a return to the Olympic program at the 2020 Games as a single sport. The International Olympic Committee will pick one sport to be included in the 2020 program at its meeting in September.
Seven other sports - wushu, squash, karate, wakeboarding, sports climbing, roller sports and wrestling - are also vying for Olympic inclusion.
The IOC's executive board voted to drop wrestling from the list of core sports for the 2020 Games, forcing it to join seven other candidate sports seeking one spot in a revamped program.
"This is an historic day," said Riccardo Fraccari, the president of the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and co-president of the new WBSC.
"We have brought a new level of worldwide unity and determination to our quest to return to the Games.
"The 65 million currently playing baseball and softball around the world now have a single federation to rally behind," he added after a new joint constitution was ratified.
Baseball and softball were dropped from the program in 2005 and their last Olympic appearance came in Beijing three years later.
By joining into one global confederation they are now bidding as one unified sport rather than two, hoping to increase their chances of a return.
Olympic inclusion guarantees a sport millions of euros in funding from the IOC, sponsors and broadcasters, while being cut from the program severely limits a sport's global appeal and reach.
"This is in the best interests of the athletes and putting the welfare of the athletes and the future of sport first, and inspiring young athletes to stand on the highest podium that an athlete can aspire to - the Olympic Games," Fraccari said.
The IOC will pick one sport to be included in the 2020 Olympics at its meeting in September but baseball and softball will first have to make it onto a May shortlist.
The IOC executive board will meet in St Petersburg in May to determine which of the seven sport will be put to the vote at the session in Buenos Aires, where the host city for the 2020 Games will also be chosen.
"Baseball-softball is a game that anyone, anywhere can play," said International Softball Federation chief and WBSC co-president Don Porter.
"There are no barriers to participation. If you've got a bat and ball you can play, regardless of age, gender, social, cultural or economic stature."
Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Peter Rutherford


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Nishka - Show me a Purpose [ A&O meets Kris Naphtali ]
This tune started as a remix project I did for John a couple years ago, he expressed a interest in releasing it... So we put this vision into action!
Available now on 7" colored vinyl... Run and get your copy at your local, as they are already selling off fast!
Also be sure to get the original version on Partial Records coming soon...


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Saint Valentine's Day
Observed on February 14th, St. Valentine's Day, often abbreviated as simply Valentine's Day, is a holiday characterized by showing one's love for someone. The holiday has become increasingly commercialized in recent years, which is somewhat ironic given the origin of the holiday.
Roman Emperor Claudius II defended the Empire against invading Goths in the 3rd century. He forbade marriage for his troops because he thought that single men were tougher soldiers.
Valentine was a Christian bishop in Italy who secretly married young couples. When caught, he was sentenced to be beaten to death with clubs and beheaded on February 14, A.D. 269
But as he awaited his execution, this Christian prayed for the jailers' sick daughter and wrote her a note. He signed it "from your Valentine." She miraculously recovered and in A.D. 469, Pope Gelasius designated February 14th as "Saint Valentine's Day."


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Concert to celebrate light in this season of the solstice
The winter solstice may be a few days away, but that is no reason to delay shedding a bit of light on the subject.
Illumination will come in the form of an eclectic program of music as presented by the Turtle Island Quartet, a San Francisco Bay Area-based group that will be making a stop at the Silvermine Arts Center for a concert on Friday, Dec. 14.
This chamber group will highlight the music that marks Festival of Lights celebrations in the Jewish (Hanukkah) and Hindu (Diwali) cultures, as well as old English carols and other tunes. Listeners also will recognize strains of Vince Guaraldi's holiday classics featured in "A Charlie Brown Christmas."
For more than 25 years, the group has entertained audiences with its unique blend of jazz and classical traditions. A two-time Grammy winner, the group has performed throughout the world while showcasing its innovative playing and techniques.
"Jazz is our center, but that is not all we do," said cellist Mark Summer, who founded the group with violinist David Balakrishnan. "Our mission is to be ... the hippest, contemporary string quartet we can be."
With Mateusz Smoczynki on violin and Benjamin von Gutzeit on viola (they took over for Mads Tolling and Jeremy Kittel earlier this year), the group employs techniques that have led others to call it ground-breaking and able to bridge genres and time, picking up such elements as improvisation and unusual arrangements last practiced centuries ago.
The group also employs percussive techniques that allow members to serve as a rhythm section, as well as a group of soloists. Summer utilizes his cello more as a bass, supplying the rhythmic lines to propel the quartet forward and to provide a steady groove.
"We are very creative at what we do," Summer said.
During the course of the group's career, it has dug deep into multiple musical roots, exploring rock, funk, folk, Latin, swing and others. With their solid backgrounds in classical training, the members are given the freedom and flexibility to explore unique arrangements and bring an improvisational feel to the performances.
Since first sitting down to a piano as a child, Summer has traveled an interesting musical path. As a young musician, he would play by ear or make up tunes at the family piano in his Los Angeles home.
By 9, he was studying cello, later attending the Cleveland Institute of Music and spending several seasons with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.
But even as a child, he found himself straying from classical training to picking up the guitar and drums. As a teen, he started a rock band with one of his oldest friends and listened to plenty of rock on AM radio.
"I became a huge Beatles fan and I still am to this day," he said.
Summer hopes audience members who emerge from the dark to hear sounds celebrating the light feel as if they are part of a unique experience.
"It is something different and that's the idea," Summer said. "It's really dealing with how each one of us celebrates the solstice."
firstname.lastname@example.com; 203-964-2241; http://twitter.com/xtinahennessy
Silvermine Arts Center, 1037 Silvermine Road, New Canaan. Friday, Dec. 14, 7 p.m. $20 nonmembers, $15 members. Advance reservations are suggested. 203-966-9700, ext. 22; www.silvermineart.org.


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Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges (SOC)
University of Phoenix is a member of the Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges (SOC) Consortium and the SOC Degree Network System.
SOC Consortium Servicemembers Opportunity
Colleges Consortium (SOC), established in 1972, is a consortium of national higher education associations with more than 1,700 institutional members. SOC Consortium institutional members subscribe to principles and criteria ensuring that quality academic programs are available to military students, their family members, civilian employees of the Department of Defense (DoD) and Coast Guard, as well as veterans. A list of current SOC Consortium member institutions can be found on the SOC website at soc.aascu.org.
SOC Degree Network System
The SOC Degree Network System (DNS) consists of a selection of SOC Consortium member institutions chosen by the military services to deliver specific associate's and bachelor's degree programs to servicemembers and their families. Institutional members of the SOC DNS agree to requirements and obligations providing military students, their spouses and college-age children with opportunities to complete college degrees without suffering loss of academic credit due to changes of duty station.
SOC operates the 2- and 4-year Degree Network System for the Army (SOCAD), Navy (SOCNAV), Marine Corps (SOCMAR), and Coast Guard (SOCCOAST). Refer to the SOC Degree Network System-2 and -4 Handbooks to view Associate and Bachelor's degree programs, location offerings, and college information. An electronic version of the handbook is posted on the SOC website, soc.aascu.org, on the SOCAD, SOCNAV, SOCMAR, and SOCCOAST home pages.


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HAGART wrote:"You're in a desert walking along in the sand when you look down and see a tortoise. You reach down and flip it over.The tortoise lays on it's back, belly baking in the hot sun, beating its legs, trying to turn itself over, but it can't. Not without your help...............but you're not helping....."
Sorry what's the actual question?


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Happy Monday!
Sometimes Mondays are just DULL. Right? Well today, you can do something to spice things up. What's that, you ask? Go shopping!
My cousin's family is working through the process of adopting a child from China. As you probably know, this is an extremely pricey process. So much money has been provided thus far, and this is the home stretch. Help them meet that goal in the following ways:
1. make a purchase from this Etsy shop. If you do that today, Monday, October 18, you can know that 5$ of each necklace purchased is going to the fund to bring home SarahJoy this Winter. Take a look: the necklaces are cheap (mostly 10$ or less), and you can get one for yourself, or one for a little friend. Just do it!
2. Another great way to help the Sanzone family is to shop Hip Mom Jewelry and enter code Sanzone1010 at checkout. The family will get 30% of all purchases. This site has cool jewelry for moms, but also some really beautiful other things, including stuff for athletes and other folks! So take a look, there are some lovely things, and you know some of your money is going to bring a little girl home to her family.
Enjoy the shopping, and remember the Etsy deal is TODAY only so go check that out for sure!
Monday, October 18, 2010
How You Can Help!
Happy Monday!
Posted by Claire at 7:25 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
First Month Down.
Today marks the end of August, and with that, the end of my first month of doing Crossfit.
So far, I've loved the crap out of it. I can tell I'm strong, and I think my body is loving the challenge of a different workout every day. My weight is down a bit, though that may be due to a whole lot of cereal and not a lot of real meals these past three days.
The challenge now is that gym where I was working out is no longer officially in business. I can still go other every few days, but I won't have the direct help of a trainer anymore. I'm feeling a bit daunted by this, but at the same time I know this month of going consistently three days on, one day off, has given me a good knowledge base.
Also, I have lots of friends who are smarty pants when it comes to Crossfit, so I'll have some resources. I'm nervous about being consistent, especially now that school is back in session and at least one day a week is shot (Tuesdays I'm busy from 7:30am to 8:00pm... probably not realistic to get in a workout if I plan to include a shower and decent clothing in there somewhere). I'm such a weirdo when it comes to routines and consistency. I'm glad that school has now started so I can figure out how to create a new routine, and especially figure out how to work in Crossfit. I may have to change up the three on, one off schedule (which I have LOVED by the way... wasn't sure I would because I've always been a five days on, rest on weekends person), but I can figure it out.
Most people I know who have been consistent with cf say that the three month mark is when you wake up and say "holy crap, look at me!" If that's the case, then I'm a third of the way there. I'm pretty psyched.
One thing I've really enjoyed is keeping track of what I lift and do. I know how much I can back squat now, and as I continue to workout and get stronger, I'll be able to measure my improvement. That works for my brain SO well. I like the competition with myself, and being inspired by the ridiculously fit other cfers.
If you're looking to spice up your workout, think about Crossfit. It's So challenging and very intimidating to START, but I'm loving it so far!
Posted by Claire at 12:57 PM 3 comments
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Crossfit, Week 2.
My latest exercise endeavor is Crossfit. If you're not familiar with Crossfit, it's basically hellacious. With that said, after the work out is over, it is amazing. After just under two weeks, I definitely feel strong, and empowered.
The idea is that you are fit and ready to do anything you want—any athletic activity or challenge you face should be doable. I LOVE that idea.
I have been thinking about starting Crossfit for several months since many of the most fit people I know do it. It is intimidating at first because the WOD or Workout of the Day can often seem like it is written in code. I've been able to workout at a Crossfit gym and that has helped me learn the correct form, and the girls there have been great about pushing me.
Check out crossfit.com to see the WODs posted. They post the workouts at 8pm every night for the coming day, that way you can watch videos and figure out the moves you aren't familiar with.
So far, I'm really loving it. The gym I go to is in a garage without AC, so it does get REALLY hot, especially lately when the heat index has been above 100 degrees. With that said, it won't always be that hot!
I'd like to start posting about this, and the food I eat. With that said, my food this past week has been TOTALLY uninspired (try chicken for the past 3 lunches and four dinners...blech). You'll hear from me about Crossfit. If you're doing CF, chime in! What is your favorite workout? What do you hate? If you're doing something else, tell us about it... how do you like to burn calories?
Posted by Claire at 6:20 PM 1 comments
Another Plug for Swagbucks.
For the next two days you can sign up for Swagbucks and if you use the code BackToSchool and you'll get 70 points just for signing up!
Basically, you'll use Swagbucks like you do Google. You'll accumulate points, and get to buy stuff with them. I go for the 5$ Amazon gift card which is a measly peasley 450 points. I can usually accumulate that in about a week.
If you sign up through the link I posted below, I get the credit for your referral too, so that is pretty sweet!
Here is a link to some great ways to earn with Swagbucks, or you can check out my previous posts on it.
Click here to sign up! Check it out!
Questions? Send 'em my way.
Posted by Claire at 5:22 PM 0 comments
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Product Review: Collapsible Salad Spinner of Wonder!
So I really like kitchen gadgets, as you may know. I haven't had a salad spinner in years, but since I don't go through all that much salad while Matthew is around, I haven't really needed one.
When I started doing the CSA Box this summer, I realized I'd need something to help me dry all those beautiful greens I was getting. So... I purchased a salad spinner at the PX. The one I got happens to be a Martha Stewart, but my clever friend Laura found the same model sans MS brand on amazon (and guess what.... she bought that baby with gift cards she earned on... you guessed it! Swagbucks!).
I wanted to review this product here because it is pretty much amazing, and it appeals to me on several levels. If you've thought about a salad spinner (as I know so many of us are often pondering the ways of salad spinners), you should consider this one!
Things I love about it:
1- It is collapsible! The inside bowls both collapse in so it is about 2 inches thick- hello storage friendly!
2- It contains a colander, a bowl, and the lid that lets you spin. This is a spinner, but also a colander, and a bowl you can serve the salad out of. The colorful accents (and the ring around the outside is the part that collapses) makes this fairly aesthetically pleasing, particularly for such a pragmatic tool.
3- To spin, you pull a little string! It is WONDERFUL! The wretched spinner of my childhood was a sometimes-broken gizmo that often pinched fingers and frequently incited infantile rage at my duties of salad spinning (though, to be fair, also sometimes ignited wonder at the sheer genius of spinning things in tupperware cupboards)
4- There's a break! Press the button, the spinning stops, pull out your clean greens with minimal sheen, and be on your way to stuffing your gullet with crisp, vitamin packed leaves.
5- The part that folds in to make this so compact is really pretty smooth, and after using it a few times, the collapsing process has become easier. I was wary at first, but it's easy to clean, and I love that it stores so compactly.
Essentially, for 20$ you're getting three things in one, and you're getting glorious, non-watered-down lettuces and whatnots. Enjoy!
Go buy it! Hey look, I even put a link up! (If you are inclined to buy, you should buy it via this link- I'll get a little pat on the back via the Amazon Associates program. Also, if you're at Ft. Campbell, they do have this in the Martha Stewart version which is usually $24.95, but fancy that, the military price is the same as it is here on Amazon.)
Posted by Claire at 8:36 AM 5 comments
Another Thing.
So I don't want to harp on ol' swagbucks TOO much, but I wanted to mention something.
I get the 5$ Amazon gift cards because they seem to be the "best deal" in terms of how many swagbucks you need to purchase them. You can use as many as you need on a given purchase, so it works out.
As of today, I've made $25 worth of Amazon cards! Woot! Thanks to you guys who signed up and are searching and winning for helping me-- a great way to earn more is to refer your friends.
Another way, once you've been doing it for at least 7 days, is to fill out the Trusted Surveys profiles... you'll get points for each one you fill out, and then you can start doing surveys too, which, when you qualify for them, usually yield over 100 points.
Anyway, keep at it! I try to make 25 points per day- usually 4 points from the freebies you get by clicking through the special offers, accessing the surveys, taking the daily poll, and earning the point for using the tool bar. Then I go for 2-3 searches that yield a win, and that's it! It works well, and so far I'm investing little time for free money money money.
If you haven't tried Swagbucks, I recommend it. There are a lot of other things you can do to get bucks, but those are the quick, easy ways! Search away! Go HERE to sign up!
Posted by Claire at 8:24 AM 0 comments
Thursday, July 15, 2010
How to Win Swagbucks.
I'm so excited to see some of you have signed up for swagbucks! Here are the basic ways you can win:
1- take the daily poll
2- click through the special offers- you don't have to accept any (I never do), but when you do, you are awarded 1 sb
3- download the tool bar, and open it once a day- you'll get 1 sb
4- once you've been a member for 7 days, go to the Trusted Surveys... you don't even have to take the survey to get a point! Then you can do different things in that tab to earn major sb's.
5- Finally, the main one is search! When I first started I wasn't sure I got the concept. The concept is this: search! you don't have to click any links to win. When you win, make sure you click the confirmation so it sends you an e-mail... this ensures you're not a robot, and will put the sb's into your account.
There are other ways to win them-- you can do shopping through their site, etc. I haven't done that, but I bet it works!
I usually do the four things listed above every day, and then I try to search once in the morning, once around lunch, and once in the evening to win. Often, I just go for once a day and try to win something. While you don't often win much, they add up, slowly but surely!
Also, if you have twitter and fb, they post special codes and other ways to win through those outlets.
Anyway! Enjoy! If you haven't signed up yet and want to, GO FOR IT!
Posted by Claire at 7:15 AM 0 comments
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
I've invited some of you to use Swagbucks through e-mails, but I wanted to put a plug for it here. Swagbucks is a search engine that rewards you for searching with points. Those points add up, and you can"buy" things with them through the swagstore. So far, after using the site for about a month, I've won $15 in Amazon gift cards! I spend a total of about 5-10 minutes a day searching on it, and I've benefited already!
It's not something for people who won't put in a little time, but if you have a few minutes a day, or you normally search things on google, just go ahead and search through Swagbucks!
The nice thing is, if you sign up through my link, I get all the points you win TOO. So you get them, AND I get them, and we all get free stuff! I have lots of books to buy for Matthew, so getting them for FREE is pretty sweet!
Anyway, if you're interested, click the link and give it a whirl. If you're not, no big deal. If you want more info, please feel free to e-mail me or comment and I'll respond! (I found this via one of the coupon sites I use, and my fancy frugal friend Laura invited me, so she's getting all my points!) Click the links I've embedded here and that will let me get the credit for your referral. Thank you!
Posted by Claire at 7:05 AM 0 comments
Saturday, June 19, 2010
What I've Been Eating.
Here are a few things I've been eating (from the first two weeks or so of the deployment):
So, that's the summary of the first two weeks or so. I've been doing the South Beach diet lately, so some of these things are off the list for now. I tell you, I keep thinking about the Margherita pizza. It would be a great appetizer too. The steak dish was awesome too... I was happy with all of these! Let me know if you try any of them! I'll have another round of pictures in a while.
Posted by Claire at 7:13 PM 4 comments


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- Inside Athletics
- Tickets
- Fan Zone
- Media Zone
- Social
- Shop
- Donate Now
The three points gives the Bucs 13 on the season as ETSU will be the 3rd seed in the Atlantic Sun tournament. The Bucs will host Lipscomb who defeated USC Upstate 2-1 on Sunday in the first round of the tournament next weekend.
"This is a great achievement for our program and the players," said head coach Scott Calabrese. "To be able to qualify for the conference tournament, and to host as a three seed is a big achievement for a program that is just taking shape.
The Bucs (5-8-3, 4-4-1 A-Sun) and Bruins (3-13-1, 2-7-0 A-Sun) each took 12 shots in the match as ETSU had a 3-1 advantage in corners. Scott Rosman (
"I am very proud of the effort that they players have put in," Calabrese said. "Over the past month we have really improved as we have been getting good results. Having the opportunity to host really gives us an advantage, and gives us the chance to play in front of our fans on our field. Hopefully we can advance and continue on to an A-Sun championship."
Tony Nunes (
ETSU extended its lead in the 25th minute as Hoek intercepted the goal kick from Lou Manning and beat Manning one-on-one knocking the ball just over the Belmont keeper into the goal to give the Bucs a 2-0 lead. The Bucs outshot the Bruins 8-5 in the half as they took a 2-0 lead into the break.
Hoek picked up his second goal of the game in the 58th minute as he rocketed a free kick from just outside of the 18 yard box into the back of the net to make the score 3-0 ETSU.
"Sean played today like a man possessed," Calabrese said. "His contribution was great, and his second goal was pretty much unstoppable. Sean has really come on these last couple games and given us a lift. Playing as a left-sided midfield player he is able to find space and come inside and create chances. He is a player we are going to count on to lift us in the postseason."
For more information on Buccaneer men's soccer and all other Buccaneer athletic news, please visit www.ETSUBucs.com.


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This means we are looking for a new member for the team.
If you would like to apply please make a card using any cute image and post it on your blog announcing our dt call, then leave a message/link here and mention that you are applying for the position.
As a member of the team you will receive all downloads as they are released and will be expected to make a piece of work for each challenge.
The competition will stay open for two weeks and we will announce the winner on 13th April.
All entrants to our challenge will be entered into a draw to win a download of their choice from the Cute Daisy May collection.
The winner of last week's download is:
Could you please contact Linnie to claim your prize.
This week we are joined by guest designer Lora who has made this using the downloads:
Here are this week's samples from our design team:
Please check out the design team's blogs for details of how they made these cards.
To join in the fun please post your card/project on your blog with a link to our challenge and leave us a comment with a link to your work.
We don't mind if you enter your creations for multiple challenges - just have fun!


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Search for program courses by using the Course Schedule Search utility.
Go to the Course Schedule Search Web page, then follow these steps:
*A course prefix is a three-letter designator for a major division of an academic discipline (for example, ACG for Accounting , BSC for Biological Science, ENC for English Composition). See the Degree Requirements page for a list of courses (with prefix and number) that can be used to fulfill degree requirements.
**A course attribute identifies specific characteristics of courses that can be used in a Degree Evaluation to satisfy a degree requirement. (Course attribute examples are Humanities courses - GEHM and Social Science courses - GESO.)


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On "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner"
John Crowe Ransom (1967)
How fast it sticks in the reader's memory, if he will read it twice. This poem is quite worth any half dozen of the many others which Randall wrote about the Air Force in World War II; Randall had served there, heroically, as an instructor, intent first upon the quality of his teaching, then upon the heroism and luck of his fighters. The poem is nearly perfect. (I wish line 3 had been cast in the same rhythm as lines 1, 2, and 4; but as for the grand end-line, stet!)
From The Southern Review (1967)
Helen Vendler (1969)
The secret of his war poems is that in the soldiers he found children; what is the ball turret gunner but a baby who has lost his mother? The luckier baby who has a mother, as Jarrell tells us in "bats," "clings to her long fur / by his thumbs and toes and teeth / Her baby hangs on underneath / All the bright day, as the mother sleeps, / She folds her wings about her sleeping child." So much for Jarrells dream of maternity, but the ball turret gunner has a different fate: "From my mothers sleep I fell into the State / And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze."
For all his wish to be a writer of dramatic monologues, Jarrell could only speak in his own alternately frightened and consolatory voice, as he alternately placed mother and child. It has been charged that Jarrells poetry of the war shows no friends, only, in James Dickeys words, "killable puppets" but Jarrells soldiers are of course not his friends because they are his babies, his lambs to the slaughter he broods over them.
From Helen Vendler, New York Times Book Review 29 February 1969, p. 5, 42.
Richard Fein (1961)
In the poems amalgamation of contrasting experiences, in the combination of death and consciousness, is the awakening and final recognition on the part of the gunner that he exists only to be a victim. The gunner wakes only to know that he exists only to be a victim. The compressed demarcation of stages of existence in the poem transforms the life of the ball turret gunner into an assembly line product. From the beginning he is moulded for only one purpose, and all that happens to him is for this public usefulness. His consumption by the war is a fate familiar in Jarrells poetry where individuals are inevitably destroyed in the public maw.
Things happen to this hapless warrior, as the verbs indicate: he falls into the State; he is loosed from his dreams; he is awakened. Throughout the poem forces operate on him. The voice of the poem advances the speaker as a helpless victim. He mumbles like a child. His sentences are short, his syntax simple. The sentences are strung together in an unsophisticated manner which reminds us of a childs speech. The speech increases our sense of the speaker as helpless before his experience. In addition, the gunner "hunched till my wet fur froze" is shaped in a dependent situation; he crouches in his fear like a frightened,d efenseless animal.
"The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" in itself summarizes and utilizes the major concerns and motifs of Jarrells war poetry. But here awareness is not superimposed on the mind of the speaker, is not forced upon his consciousness. In some ultimately stupid way the gunner babbles out the nature of his narrow fate, his destiny as victim. And the reaching of this understanding is his attainment of the nature of his doom, which in Jarrells world is the ironically farthest reach of self-awareness. People in Jarrells poetry awake to the dark knowledge of their death, their awareness of being caught in the grip of great forces. Though in some poems the entrapment is expressed in terms of an air base that cannot be returned to, the essence of the experience as frustration is also symbolized in the separation of mother from child, or in the role of mother as purveyor of death to the child. It is also expressed in the identification of the mother with the State
The very haze of the scene and the very shroud of the mind of the gunner sitting in the turret convince us of his helplessness without the need for the poets admonishment to the gunner. The scene and the speakers tone affirm the gunners victimized state. "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" is at the center of Jarrells concerns and art.
From Richard Fein, "Randall Jarrells World of War," (originally in Analects 1:2 [Spring 1961]), rep. in Suzanne Ferguson, ed. Critical Essays on Randall Jarrell (Boston: Hall, 1983), 157-158.
Leven M. Dawson
The theme of Randall Jarrell's "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" is that institutionalized violence, or war, creates moral paradox, a condition in which acts repugnant to human nature become appropriate. The "they" of the last line of the poem are not insensitive nor are they intended by the author to be unsympathetic; their "unnatural" action, given their abnormal situation, is the only appropriate one. "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" works generally through paradox, for consistently in it reversals of conventional conditions or attitudes become correct as a result of the overall unnatural or paradoxical condition created by war.
The basic figurative pattern of the poem is a paradoxical one of death being represented in terms of birth. The "belly" of the "State"which is the name of the B-17 or B-24, but also represents the personas "state" (condition or country)has replaced the secure womb of the "mother's sleep" (the full sleep of complete battle fatigue dreaming of home or the general security of peacetime existence), and the Gunner undergoes the birth trauma; he falls "from [his] mother's sleep (the womb) and is awakened to the "nightmare" unnaturalness of institutionalized "life." (This birth may be seen as the rebirth of initiation into a mature vision of reality and evil.) But the birth of the Ball Turret Gunner is reversed in purpose, for "Six miles from earth" he is "loosed from its dream of life"; the birth in his "'state" is death.
The paradoxical structure as well as the imagery of "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" originates in Shelley's elegy for John Keats, "Adonais," stanza XXXIX:
Peace, peace! be is not dead, be doth not sleep
He hath awakened from the dream of life
'Tis we, who lost in stormy visions, keep
With phantoms an unprofitable strife. . . .
The Ball Turret Gunner also awakens from the "'dream of life." As, paradoxically for Shelley, the death of Keats was birth, birth in the Gunner's new "state" is death; in his condition life is an unnatural, insecure "dream" from which one awakens to "stormy visions" of "strife" with "phantoms" ("black flak and the nightmare fighters") and then dies. Ascension into the heavens is to find death, not apotheosis; and the "Six miles from earth," the ascent of the Gunner where he finds death, must suggest the reverse direction, the conventional six feet under earth of burial. Water, which is conventionally associated with rebirth and the womb, in the Gunner's condition is either cold or is used to eject, rather than secure, the individual in his protective container. The umbilical "hose" is reversed in function also, being used indifferently to eject the dead body of the gunner.
The most effective phrase in economically expressing the unnatural condition of war is the image of the Gunner's "wet fur" freezing while he "hunched" in the "belly" of the "State." This "fur," of course, is merely the pile of his flight jacket soaked in the early morning mist of takeoff, freezing in the temperature change of high altitude (suggesting the constant fatigue and general discomfort of the Gunner's occupation); but it must also turn the reader's mind to the fact that man in his natural state does not have fur, is not naturally equipped for the environment in which the Gunner finds himself, and to the fact that the human fetus does, however, go through an "unnatural" regressive "state" in which it is completely covered in down or "wet fur."
Everything in war, the state of institutionalized violence, is reversed: up is down, one ascends to die, life is merely a dream of earth, awakening or realization is "nightmare," for truth is horrible, birth becomes death, and death is the only reality and release. But more importantly man becomes part of the paradox, because he enters into abnormal states where he must dress unnaturally and regressively and where insensitivity becomes a sustaining virtue. Without "Peace" he is truly "lost in stormy visions" and "keeps / With phantoms an unprofitable strife." In the moral paradox of war, where everything is reversed, moral intention and virtue have no meaning and the release of death is a blessed event or, at least, indifferent, even to the living. Jarrell writes "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" in the first person because so inherent is the paradox of institutionalized violence that it is only after this release that one can even see the pervasive reversal; Jarrell is saying that this vision is the only apotheosis available to those trapped in the belly of the state engaged in dehumanizing violence.
from The Explicator 31.4 (December 1972), Item #29.
Frances C. Ferguson (1974)
The poem so thoroughly manifests the lack of a middle between the gunners birth and his death in the life and in the brevity of the poetry that the time between birth and death is lost. Because the poem presents a man who seems to have lived in order to die, we forget the fiction that he must have lived.
In this poem, Jarrell pays his shocked tribute to the indeterminate forces that produce mere circumstance, which in turn become a kind of grisly determinism as it overtakes the speaker, along with his counterparts, the nameless and faceless soldiers who died along with him.
from Frances C. Ferguson, "Randall Jarrell and the Flotations of Voice" (originally in Georgia Review 28 [Fall 1974]), rep. in Suzanne Ferguson, ed. Critical Essays on Randall Jarrell (Boston: Hall, 1983), 169.
Patrick J. Horner
Most commentators on Randall Jarrells "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" have identified the poems theme as a condemnation of the insensitive dehumanizing power of the "State," exhibited most graphically by the violence of war. Most have also agreed that the poems effectiveness is due in large measure to its telescoping of time (only three moments in the gunners existencehis physical birth, his awakening years later in the plane, and the aftermath of his deathare presented) and the paradoxical use of birth imagery, especially of the womb and the foetus, to describe death. In commenting on the poems final line, however, critics have usually stressed the ironic use of water, with its traditional associations of rebirth, in these mechanized burial rites and praised the emotional power of the understated, matter-of-fact tone, while overlooking the continuing impact of the telescoping of time and the birth imagery.
The lapse of time between the last two lines produces two important effects. (1) Between the gunner's physical birth and his awakening in the plane's belly a number of years pass (the exact figure would depend on the age of eligibility for the draft). During that period the gunner exists simply as a part of the State's "dream of life." On the other hand, between his awakening and his burial (his only period of conscious life) perhaps minutes or, at most, hours elapse. (2) The telescoping of time also omits the actual moment of the gunner's death. Just as the moment of physical birth became merely an anticlimactic transferral of the foetus from the mother's womb to the State's, so the finality of death is reduced to one more stage in the cycle of filling, emptying, and refilling the turret. The manipulation of time reveals the stunning brevity of the gunner's waking life and the State's total disregard for that phenomenon.
The birth imagery also emphasizes the State's uncaring efficiency. For example, using a hose (a steam hose; according to Jarrell's note) to remove the corpse indicates the body's badly mutilated condition. But since metaphorically the gunner is a foetus in a womb, the washing out of his remains by introducing a fluid under pressure clearly suggests one of the common procedures for ejecting a foetus after abortion. By implication then, the gunner, like an aborted foetus, was never allowed to achieve independent human life. Because of the telescoping of time and the imagery of birth the gunner's understated account of his life and death resonates with powerful feeling.
from The Explicator 36.4 (Summer 1978), pp. 9-10.
Charlotte H. Beck (1983)
Perhaps because of its length and many complicated changes, "Losses" seems to hang tenuously balanced between success and failure, an appropriate contrast in every respect to the poem which has always been--for better or worse--Jarrell's most famous war poem, "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner." So frequently anthologized has this five-line poem been that Jarrell grew to fear that his fame might rest on it alone. It is, however, not typical of Jarrell; and one might guess that it is his one offering to the metaphysical school so closely identified with his Fugitive schoolmasters.
The entire action of the poem encompasses but a single moment, the one in which a gunner is robbed of his life, his innocence, and his identity. In that one moment of consciousness, the gunner exchanges the warmth of the womb ("my mother's sleep") for the wet and cold of that impersonal environment called "the State." This birth into a nightmare occurs "six miles from earth" in the turret of a bomber, so ironically like the womb he has just been expelled from. The metaphysical conceit is held throughout the poem, even to the ending, which in effect describes an abortion. After the gunner' s remains have been impersonally hosed out and disposed of, the war machine is ready for its next occupant. The hardware has survived; the soft flesh has been crushed. Jarrell drives his short poem to its close in a manner both unpleasant and impossible to forget, its images embodying the poet's utter antipathy for mechanized warfare as none other could. There may be something slightly ludicrous about the speaker's tone; it is so matter-of-fact as to imply both his utter helplessness and the mechanical cleverness and precision of the machine in which he dies. Behind both stands the puppeteer poet, pulling the strings and obviously proud of his own cleverness. But because of its wit the poem caught the imagination of many readers who might not otherwise know of Randall Jarrell, although it is far from his best poem.
From Worlds and Lives: The Poetry of Randall Jarrell. Copyright � 1983 by Associated Faculty Press, Inc.
Thomas Travisano
[...] Jarrell implies that "placing sorrow" in postmodern war or rendering its griefs into the pastoral or chivalric frameworks of the past is now impossible.
Jarrell's war elegies break radically and finally with the traditional pastoral elegies: they increase rather than shed complexity; they displace rather than "place" sorrow. Jarrell implies the difficulty of achieving mature recognition of one's condition amidst the accelerating cycles of postmodern life. The ball turret gunner has not had a living instant to achieve the self-recognition celebrated by Aries or Yeats's Major Gregory. A glimmering of conscious awareness comes to him, if at all, only after the moment of death.
"The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" is one of the earliest of post-modern elegies of a type that might well be termed "peculiar monodies." Traditionally, a monody is an elegy uttered by a single voice, whereas a threnody is choral. The poems under discussion in this chapter are peculiar monodies partly because of the peculiar placement of the poem's speaker and because of the peculiar relation of that speaker to the figure being mourned. The peculiarity of Jarrell's monody derives in large measure from the fact that the monodist is already dead: he is both the subject of the elegy and his own sole mourner. And "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" was published five years before Billy Wilder popularized the technique of narration-after-death in the 1950 film noir Sunset Boulevard.
Another peculiarity of this new form of monody involves its uncanny inquiry into the rites of mourning. In Jarrell's "Death of the Ball Turret Gunner," this rite of passage"When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose"is so lacking in dignity, that it functions not to express nor to relieve but to suppress grief. G. W. Pigman, in his sensitive study of Grief and English Renaissance Elegy asserts, "The essential concept for understanding the process of mourning is denial. Mourning, in the words of Martha Wolfenstein, is a 'painful and protracted struggle to acknowledge the reality of the loss.' The stages of mourning represent the development of this acknowledgment at the expense of the desire to deny the loss. Unresolved mourning represent the triumph of denial; the bereaved clings to the dead to avoid conflicts of guilt and self-reproach or suppresses grief as if no loss had taken place." In Jarrell's poem, mourning seems impossible and grief is suppressed in the face of a death so shocking and so quickly dismissed that it remains impossible to process emotionally. The gunner remains the only sentient being left to witness or acknowledge the reality of a death that the rest of the world has simply washed away. He lingers still, a disembodied survivor whose voice hovers tentatively while his existence and his death have equally been denied.
from Midcentury Quartet: Bishop, Lowell, Jarrell, Berryman and the Makeup of a Postmodern Aesthetic. UP of Virginia, 1999. Copyright � 1999 by UP of Virginia.
Ellen McWhorter
In his essays on the "uncanny," Freud offers two particularly vivid moments of heimlich/unheimlich (uncanny recognition) around which he defines the concept itself. First, one experiences the uncanny when one perceives her/his "double"; second, when one is unsure about whether or not something is alive or dead. The central principle in both instances is a simultaneity of familiarity and unfamiliarity, that is, of ordinariness and extraordinariness all at once. According to Freud, a sense of the uncanny is built into our collective human psychology in the same way that the Oedipal (or Electra) drive is, and has similar roots in the initial separation from the mother.
My reason for the above exegesis started with the observation that Randall Jarrell's war poetry--especially "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner"--packs quite a sickening punch in its concision. While the first four lines of this poem are admittedly descriptive, they also possess an abstract, almost cryptic quality that detracts from their more straightforward factuality. At bottom, a reader must at least puzzle through the connections between "mother's sleep," "the State," and the "dream of life." The poem's final line, however, leaves no questions to be asked. "When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose." The line is breathtakingly concise and, given the aforementioned cryptic quality of the preceding lines, comes out of nowhere to be quite shocking. In "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner," "Losses," and "Protocols," Jarrell's speaker writes from the grave, and this seriously complicates some theoretical analyses (specifically psychoanalytic analyses) of his poems. Without an identifiable relationship between poet and a first person speaker worked out, it becomes difficult to interpret using words like "Symbolic," and "mirror stage." Placing a third variable-death-into a pre/post Symbolic model is tough enough, let alone placing a dead, speaking subject, and then trying to determine how exactly one is to conceptualize the poet ventriloquizing this subject. Freud's uncanny, it strikes me, is a place to start an attempt to talk about dead-speaker/subject/reader relations in Jarrell's poetry, and in particular the relations in "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner."
On the most superficial level, one senses the uncanny of a dead speaking "I" describing the moment of being "washed out of the turret." Before arriving at the final line, a reader can assume that the speaker is alive, because, as I suggested above, the poem's previous references to death are couched in somewhat cryptic language. And so, alongside experiencing the shock of a gruesome image, the reader of the final lines experiences the shock of conversing with a ghost. According to Freud's model of the uncanny, this shock is doubly powerful because it blurs the distinction between the states of being alive and dead and, at least tangentially, confuses our conception of "whole" identities; the latter confusion, while not precisely conforming to Freud's idea of the "double," does touch upon the horror of perceiving a literally fragmented or dual identity (i.e., the speaker and the speaker's body that is washed from the turret). Formally speaking, the positioning of (what I'm calling) the poem's uncanny in the final line ensures that any overall shock proves lasting.
Finally, on a more personal note, part of my own trouble with analyzing Jarrell's poetry stemmed from the fact that I had no idea what to do with the relationship between a dead speaker and the poet per se. Normally, I'm not at all inclined to draw the "writer" into the interpretation, but in order to talk about the mother figure and its relation to consciousness in Jarrell's poetry (my initial topic of analysis), I realized that I would have to talk about psychoanalysis. But psychoanalytic models don't provide for a dead speaking subject, which led me to wonder what model Jarrell himself was constructing between a live speaker/poet behind the dead (whose words could be psychoanalyzed) and his dead speaker (whose words really cannot). Somehow along the way, I determined that this whole line of thinking rather missed the mark. To the best of my knowledge, only Freud's concept of the uncanny offers truly helpful psychoanalytic fodder for talking about the relationship between poet and speaker. In a poem that lends itself so easily to the interpretation provided in the previous paragraph, perhaps Jarrell means to reinforce the alive/dead confusion and, further, to signal his own deceased poetic double.
copyright � 2001 by Ellen McWhorter
Return to Randall Jarrell


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Kountze Trade Days offers variety of unique merchandise, fun for entire family
Kountze Trade Days has been a fixture of the "The Big Light in The Big Thicket" since 2010, offering a wide array of unique vendors and some of the best festival-style food Southeast Texas has to offer.
The event, which is operated and overseen by the city of Kountze, has grown to more than 100 vendors including around 10 food vendors offering everything from Tex Mex to country-style cookin'. Held the fourth weekend of the month, Kountze Trade Days will be bustling with event-goers on Friday, June 27, Saturday, June 28, and Sunday, June 29. Event hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday-Sunday.
Saturday there will be raffle drawing for a chance to win a fully-rigged Blazer Bay 2020 boat, motor and trailer. Funds from raffle tickets will be sold to raise money for the Children's Miracle Network.
"This is a nice time to get out and be with family," said Donna McGilberry, event coordinator for the city of Kountze. "This is a very friendly and family-oriented event. We have live music on Saturdays and the best food around from barbecue, funnel cakes, Mexican food and the best pork chops in Hardin County. You have to try the fajita nachos and a special hamburger called a Shack Attack. We have delicious snow cones in all kinds of flavors, and so much more."
Admission is free, but there is a $2 parking fee on Saturday and Sunday. RV sites are available for $25 for the whole weekend. McGilberry said visitors could expect to find a myriad of quality merchandise both new and old.
"We have arts and crafts and antiques," she said. "Some vintage stuff. We have several boutiques. We have one gentleman, Louis McNeeley — he can tell you anything about the history of Kountze."
McNeeley's shop, which he aptly named the Old Nona Trading Post after his Kountze neighborhood, offers board games, books, vintage Coca-Cola products, cowboy collectables and other memorabilia. McNeeley, 75, is most proud, however, of different nutcrackers and nut shellers he's collected over the years.
"I've probably got the largest collection of pecan crackers of anybody in the state of Texas. This one was developed in 1946 by a sheet metal worker out in San Angelo," McNeeley said, pointing to a Texan "York" Nut Sheller, invented by R.D. "Shorty" York.
McNeeley also sells a dog-shaped pecan sheller made from solid brass and developed in Beaumont.
"The thing that makes this one unique is that it was made at A One Pattern Works," he said. "That company was last listed in 1949, so I know without a doubt that this is an antique."
McNeeley said Kountze Trade Days was founded in 2010.
"A bunch of the workers for the city, on their own time, came up with the idea and they came over here and started getting this place ready. The Kountze Economic Development Corporation came in and put some money behind it. One of the railroad companies gave the rock."
Kountze Trade Days' variety of vendors encapsulates the spirit of Kountze. Big L's Resale offers a variety of tools, and hunting and fishing supplies, while One of a Kind sells custom scroll saw designs, furniture and jewelry boxes. Neco Tackle Co. sells custom-made lures and tackle, and Ronnie Bingham from Korner Collectables makes art objects from cypress knees. One of the main attractions of Trade Days is Frankie's Wildlife Metal Art, works made with real wood found on Big Thicket riverbanks and shaped into a wide variety of critters including fish, deer, ducks, eagles and horses. Sixty-year-old Kountze resident Frankie Joines, who also works at Allied Fence Company, builds decorative bird-shaped hanging baskets from old golf cart tires.
"This is something I just started," he said. "I built 12 and brought them to Trade Days just to see how they'd sell. I brought them out and I sold them all."
Joines, who has been working with metal since he was a young boy, said his metal art started as a hobby but grew into something he never imagined.
"I started building metal art and it got big," said Jones, who added he was recently named as a guest on Bob Phillips'Texas Country Reporter TV show. "People started buying it and said, 'Man you need to go to Trade Days.' I started Trade Days about three years ago."
Joines art, made from cypress knees found at the bottom of local creeks, riverbeds and marshes, personifies the Big Thicket lifestyle every hunter, angler and outdoor lover enjoys.
"I fished and hunted all my life," said Joines, who added that the many trips he's taken into the Big Thicket have offered him many opportunities to find wood just right for the pickin'. "Some of this wood has been under (water) … for 80 or 90 years. Some of it is nearly petrified. My wood means as much to me as my metal."
Joines said he boils the wood for four hours prior to peeling the bark and applying polyurethane. He then prepares the metal by grinding, welding, cutting and shaping it before attaching it to the wooden base and adding those special touches of scenic flair.
While the opportunity to view and purchase Joines' unique art is reason enough to visit Kountze Trade Days, McGilberry said you never know what you'll find at the event.
"There's just a variety of stuff," McGilberry said, mentioning barbecue sauce, peach butter, jam and preserves. "That's what makes it so fun to come out here — you never know what kind of treasures you'll find."
Kountze Trade Days is at 960 N. Pine Street. For more information and directions, visit www.tradedayskountze.com or call (409) 880-5667.


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White Birds by Mazhar Kaleem - February 2012 - Part 1Tuesday, March 6, 2012 by: Admin
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A growing culture of challenge and second guessing, including the fear of lawsuits, is undermining classroom order, hindering learning and driving teachers out of the classroom.
New York City - Discipline and behavior problems in America's public schools are serious, pervasive and are compromising student learning. They are also driving a substantial number of teachers out of the profession. These are some key findings from a new national study of teachers and parents which found that while only a handful of trouble makers cause most disciplinary problems, the tyranny of the few leads to a distracting and disrespectful atmosphere. Teachers in particular complain about the growing willingness of some students and parents to challenge teacher judgment and threaten legal action.
According to a new report by the nonpartisan, nonprofit opinion research organization Public Agenda, teachers too often must operate in a culture of challenge and second guessing that is affecting their ability to teach and maintain order.
The study, Teaching Interrupted: Do Discipline Policies in Today's Public Schools Foster the Common Good?, was prepared for Common Good, a bipartisan legal reform coalition dedicated to restoring common sense to American law.
Proposed solutions selected by teachers and parents include stricter enforcement of existing rules of conduct, alternative schools to help chronically disruptive students and limiting parents ability to sue schools over disciplinary decisions.
Rowdiness, disrespect, bullying, talking out, lateness and loutishness - these misbehaviors are poisoning the learning atmosphere of our public schools, said Public Agenda President Ruth A. Wooden. At a time when the achievement stakes for students have never been higher, the fact is that in school after school, a minority of students who routinely challenge legitimate school rules and authority are preventing the majority of students from learning and teachers from teaching.
The present legal environment undermines order in schools by enabling students and parents to threaten a lawsuit over virtually anything, said Philip K. Howard, Chair of Common Good. The legal system must strike a better balance between the claimed rights of individuals and the legitimate interests of society as a whole.
Teachers Think of Leaving
Virtually all teachers (97%) said good discipline and behavior are prerequisite for a successful school. And virtually all (93%) said it is the public schools' job to teach kids to follow the rules so they are ready to join society. Yet nearly 8 in 10 teachers said their school has students who should be removed and sent to alternative schools. In what the report terms a perhaps the harshest testimonial to the problem, 52% of the teachers surveyed reported their school has an armed police officer on school grounds.
More than 1 in 3 teachers said colleagues in their school had left because student discipline was such a challenge, and the same number personally considered leaving. Many complained about being more in the crowd control business than in teaching. The gum chewing the yawning aloud or putting their feet up on the desklike they didn't know that was inappropriate, said one New Jersey teacher.
More than half of teachers said that behavior problems often stem from teachers who are soft on discipline because they can't count on parents or their schools to support them. And 85% believe new teachers are particularly unprepared to deal with behavior problems.
Taking Parents to Task
Parents, too, agreed (78%) that schools need good discipline and behavior. But 82% of teachers and 74% of parents surveyed felt that parents' failure to teach their children discipline ranked as one of the biggest causes of school behavior problems. But parents are worried too, with 20% of parents reporting that they have considered moving their child to another school or have done so already because discipline and behavior was such a problem.
Restoring Order From Alternative Schools to Limits on Litigation
Discipline in Special Education
The vast majority of teachers (94%) believe that treating special education students just like other students, unless their misbehavior is related to their disability, would be an effective solution: 65% of teachers say this would be a very effective solution, while another 29% consider it somewhat effective. But teachers said this is not happening now: 76% of teachers agree that special education students who misbehave are often treated too lightly, even when their misbehavior has nothing to do with their disability.
Dont Forget Common Sense
While acknowledging the need to deal with persistent trouble makers, based on this survey, teachers were very concerned that these children be retrieved, not forgotten. Nor, the report said, did teachers want gum chewing to be treated as the equivalent of a capital offense Both teachers and parents acknowledged that schools are doing a good job on the most serious offenses, such as those involving guns or drugs.
Still, according to Teaching Interrupted, Even as the pressure to raise standards and improve student performance mounts, it is apparent that much time and opportunity to learn is being lost. Finally, the fact that so many of the nations middle and high schools feel they need an armed police officer on their grounds is a sobering reality whose cost may be more than can be measured in dollars.
According to Public Agenda President Ruth A. Wooden, Time and again, Public Agenda research has shown that a safe, orderly school environment is a fundamental concern of parents and teachers. Yet this issue has been given short shrift by policy makers and by the very schools of education that send new teachers out unprepared for the realities of today's classrooms. It's way past time to focus on solutions to this impediment to educating all our children.
The findings in Teaching Interrupted are based on two national random surveys; a mail survey of 725 public middle and high school teachers and a telephone survey with 600 parents of public school students in grades 5 through 12. The surveys were preceded by six focus groups. The margin of error for both surveys is plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Common Good is a bi-partisan legal reform coalition dedicated to restoring common sense to American law. Its board is composed of leaders in a wide range of fields: former government officials, including Griffin Bell, Newt Gingrich, Eric Holder, George McGovern, Diane Ravitch, Alan Simpson, and Richard Thornburgh; current and former university presidents, including Tom Kean, George Rupp, and John Silber, and numerous other leaders in education, healthcare, law, business and public policy. The Chair of Common Good is Philip K. Howard, a lawyer and author of The Death of Common Sense and The Collapse of the Common Good.
Public Agenda is a nonprofit organization dedicated to nonpartisan public policy research. Founded in 1975 by former U.S. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance and Daniel Yankelovich, the social scientist and author, Public Agenda is well respected for its influential public opinion surveys and balanced citizen education materials. Its mission is to inject the public's voice into crucial policy debates. Public Agenda seeks to inform leaders about the public's views and to engage citizens in discussing complex policy issues.


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February is chocolate month, so as promised another chocolate recipe. Oreo Cheesecake Bites are so simple to throw together when you need something quick. They are also a great single serve item so its easy not to give yourself too much. At least if you can restrain yourself from not having more than one.
This recipe is only for two, but you can double, triple or make as much as you want.
2 oz. cream cheese, softened, 1 TB sugar, 1 square semi sweet baking chocolate, melted, 1/2 C cool whip and 2 Oreo cookies(mint is really tasty too).
Beat cream cheese, sugar and melted chocolate in a medium bowl with a whisk until blended and smooth.
Add whipping topping and mix well.
Place one cookie in the bottom of a paper muffin cup. Scoop or pipe cream cheese mixture over the cookie.
Serve right away or refrigerate for later.


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The theme for my Sepia Saturday is legs, because it is those appendages which first caught my eye in the inspiration image. Be sure to visit Alan and Kat's blog to see how the image of the boy and the birds has inspired others, and perhaps you will be inspired too.
|Legs kitted out in military garb.
|The upper half of the 'legs' photo.


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The following is the 2014-2015 financial aid cost of attendance for undergraduate students enrolled full-time in one of the full-time divisions (Newcomb-Tulane College, School of Architecture, A.B. Freeman School of Business, School of Science and Engineering, School of Liberal Arts, School of Public Health):
|Fall-Spring 2014-2015
|Freshman Resident
|Upperclass Resident
|Tuition and Fees
|$ 814
|$63,110 + transportation
|$63,656 + transportation
Budget Components
Tuition and Fees:
Tuition - $44,425
Academic Support Fee - $2,700 - The University fee entitles a student to use the supplementary services of the university library and the language and science laboratories. It also covers certain computer services and data and voice hookups, the Educational Resources and Counseling Center and other academic support services.
Student Health Fee - $640 - The Student Health fee provides all students on all Tulane campuses with primary care at the Student Health Center. It also contributes to health education programs, drug and alcohol counseling and the Tulane Emergency Service.
Student Activity and Reily Recreation Fees - $540 - The student body at Tulane assesses itself a Student Activity fee to support its activities. The Student Activity fee entitles students to participate in or attend supported activities, readership of a weekly student newspaper, and admission to many intercollegiate athletic contests, movies and lectures. Students are also assessed for membership to the Reily Recreation Center.
Room: The estimated room cost for resident students (not living with parents or other relatives) is based on the average cost of a double-occupancy room in a traditional residence hall on campus. For example, the average cost of a double-occupancy room for freshmen students is $7,206. Certain students can choose either on-campus housing options or choose to live off-campus. However, their room budget will not be increased to cover charges above these levels. For students living at home with their parents, or with other relatives, room costs are estimated at $1,680.
Board: The estimated board cost is based on the average board plan offered to freshman through Tulane Dining Services. Upperclass students can choose between a variety of board programs through Tulane Dining Services, and the cost reflects this variety average at a frugal level. The estimated board costs ($1,366) for commuter students DOES NOT REFLECT the cost of any Tulane Dining Services board plan, but rather represents an estimate of what a commuter student might incur for meals eaten away from home.
Books*: The estimated cost for books and supplies is $1,200 for all undergraduates in a full-time division, with the exception of Architecture students. The estimated cost for books and supplies is $1,400 for Architecture students.
Transportation: For students whose permanent address is outside the New Orleans area, transportation budgets vary from $700 to $2,200. The budget is set by the student's permanent home address state and is based upon the average advanced reservation airfare for two round trips to the home state per year. The estimated transportation costs for commuter students are estimated at $814.
Computers: Please click here for Tulane University's policy concerning the inclusion of a computer purchase in an Undergraduate Cost of Attendance.
Part-Time Undergraduate Students in Full-Time Division
The 2014-2015 cost of attendance for a part-time full-time division undergraduate student (enrolled in Tulane-Newcomb College for fewer than 12 credits) is based on a pro-ration of the aforementioned budgeted costs.
School of Continuing Studies Part-Time Undergraduate Students
The 2014-2015 cost of attendance for School of Continuing Studies (SCS) students is based on the prevailing SCS tuition and fee schedule and appropriate 2014-2015 resident and commuter cost of attendance allowances.
Full-Time Division Undergraduate Students Receiving Special Tuition Rates
Any undergraduate students in full-time divisions who are charged tuition at a non-standard rate (that is,a rate that varies from the standard rate published for Tulane full-time division undergraduate students) will have a cost of attendance based on the same comparable full-time division undergraduate cost of attendance, and assumed aid from the home School (representing the hourly discount rate from standard full-time division undergraduate tuition hourly rate) will be included in the financial aid package so that the net of standard full-time division tuition and the assumed home School aid equals actual tuition charges for the students.
Page last modified on August 5, 2015.
University Financial Aid, New Orleans, LA 70118 504-865-5723 email@example.com


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February 17, 2008
CANTON, Ohio – Wabash swimmers would have made a Rhodes Scholar proud here Saturday night. They certainly had their coach beaming. The Little Giants claimed third place in the NCAC Swimming and Diving Championships with 1,066 points.
The swim team has worked for a return to prominence in the meet, featuring powerhouses Denison and perennial national champion Kenyon. The team has sought to score 1,000 points. See photos from Saturday's final: Photo Album No. 1 & Photo Album No. 2.
In 2000, the Little Giants scored their highest total since joining the NCAC in 1999 with 1,103.5. But after that year the totals dropped until last year's 998 and this year's 1,066.
The 1,103 now makes a great goal for next year.
"I think we were all pretty sure we were going to make it to 1,000 points tonight," John Kasey '08 said. "The guys started off pretty well. They pushed themselves pretty hard. It was good to see that 1,000 points finally go up. Last year we were at 998 which was pretty tough. So this year it's a really good feeling."
During the course of the evening Little Giant coaches figured the team could end with 1,066. The Wabash men quickly came up with a moniker which would make Professor of History Steve Morillo, a Rhodes Scholar and Hastings authority, very proud.
"Our boys are calling it the Battle of Hastings," Coach John Weitz said of the Saturday night performance. "Wabash men understand their history and they pointed out to me that 1066 was the Battle of Hastings. That makes me realize why I'm at Wabash. These men are students first, athletes second and it's an absolute pleasure to be involved with them."
It wasn't easy though. Weitz said nearly a third of the team was suffering from the flu. Standout freshman Evan Rhinesmith, the team's best breaststroker, went home early and didn't compete Saturday night.
"We had guys swimming grueling events and getting sick in between and getting sick before it," Weitz said. "Rhinesmith had a really high fever and wasn't able to swim tonight. If we had him here we might have scored the highest amount of points we've ever scored at this meet."
There were plenty of standouts Saturday night. Elijah Sanders '10 started things with a bang for Wabash with his second school record of the meet. His 16:32.35 in the 1,650 freestyle smashed Michael Belanger's 16:36.60 set in 2005.
Sanders claimed the 500 free record Thursday night taking nearly four seconds off that mark.
The Little Giant butterfly swimmers had a huge impact piling up points. Adam Petro qualified with a B cut for the national championships with a third-place finish. Freshman David Birrer claimed sixth. Freshman Adam Current was 15th and sophomore Robert Fozkos took 17th. The butterfly performance put Wabash over the 1,000 point mark which was posted on the scoreboard shortly after the event.
Perennial national champion Kenyon College won the meet with 1,633 points. Denison led much of the meet until Saturday and finished second with 1598. The Little Giants were followed by Wittenberg (768), Wooster (740), Allegheny (477), Hiram (432), Ohio Wesleyan (405), and Oberlin (327). The Kenyon women also edged Denison. Full meet results can bee seen here.
The conference honors every team's seniors on the final night. John Kasey, Kyle O'Keefe, and Aaron Spolarich participated in the Senior Walk.
Kasey was proud of his team's effort, and admitted his final swim meet was a tad bittersweet. "I've been doing this for 16 years," Kasey said. "It's been the best thing I've done at Wabash by far. I met the best guys, the best coaches and I'll put it up against any classroom. These guys are not just super in the pool. It's part of being involved in sports in general; it's just a great part of life."
In photos: Top left, Craig Vetor is fired up for his leg of the final event, the 400 free relay. He gets encouragement from Jordan Blackwell. At center right, Petro swims to a third in the butterfly. Lower left, Seniors Spolarich, O'Keefe, and Kasey are honored before the meet.


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A week from today it will be over and we'll know who is to be president of the USA come January. For many it won't matter one way or the other. Some will pop champagne and party like it's 1999 in celebration of their candidate's victory. Others will slam Jim Beam to drown their sorrows. Everyone will be glad the campaign television ads and robo calls will finally, mercifully, cease.
The truth is many Americans find our political process too tedious to bother with. It's a high-dollar game played by big corporations, unions, special interests, political action committees and entrenched party bosses. The issues are complicated, the bills unreadable and indecipherable, and the spin upon it all makes the game almost impossible to figure out. Millions of people will forego the trip to the polls next Tuesday. Millions more will vote with entirely incorrect understandings of what and who they're voting for. Some will go to support their presidential favorite, then punch buttons for other state and local candidates and referendums they have no knowledge of. Next week a lot of people will read a newspaper for the first time in a very long time, or surf the Web in an attempt to catch up on what's happening before they cast their ballot. Some will feel pressured to vote, and will do so simply to placate neighbors and co-workers that might otherwise think they are 'un-American.'
Our Founding Fathers wrestled with the question of who should be allowed to vote. One camp adamantly opposed anyone other than the educated - and there were few who were educated. The intricate trappings of government were far and above the grasp of the masses and better left to the superior intellect of the elite. Another popular argument was for only land owners to have a vote - the thinking being that the opinion of those who didn't have 'skin in the game' was mute. In the end the wise understood that 'two heads are better than one' and a large contingent would somehow arrive at a more proper conclusion than a restricted electorate.
So we all get to vote.
And we need to take that seriously. Because we have been at war for 12 years now and hundreds of thousands of our brothers and sisters in uniform continue to face very real military threats. Because Syria is killing tens of thousands of their own countrymen. Because Iran threatens Israel and marches toward a nuclear weapon. Because Europe is in great financial difficulty and may well see their currency collapse. Because of misguided monetary policy, our own currency could face real jeopardy in the near future. Because 23 million Americans are out of work or under-employed. Because our businesses are frozen under a mountain of government regulations and uncertainty as to what the future holds. Because we need to weigh the impact of all these things, but it's just so difficult.
Do we strengthen our military or let 'sequestration' decimate our capacity to defend our interests? Do we bolster the free market and let businesses flourish or continue to distrust and disparage corporations? Do we believe in ourselves and our institutions or do we continue to apologize for our transgressions? Do we stay on the same path or do we opt for a course correction? Same policies or new vision?
Whether you are dialed in or just tuning in, it's your choice. Make it count.
Columnist Michael Raymond can be reached at email@example.com.


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Featured News - Current News - Archived News - News Categories
Assisted living facility will have $2m payroll, 50 employees
County lawmakers hailed news that the former Mount View Nursing Home will return to the tax rolls as a 150-bed assisted living community next year - and generate a $2 million payroll and 50 jobs - pending the expected sale of the site.
If all goes according to plan, the adult care facility will begin operating on Feb. 14, 2014.
The vacant county facility is set to be sold for $196,000 at the Niagara County Legislature's Aug. 6 meeting. County Manager Jeffrey M. Glatz finalized that deal this week with developer David M. Tosetto of Youngstown, and the Legislature's administration committee voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the sale.
Tosetto will then begin remediation of the site, abating asbestos, updating rooms and facilities, installing a new roof, upgrading HVAC facilities, and installing a new fire sprinkler system.
The planned assisted living facility will boast 150 beds - as well as features designed to appeal to residents. In addition to 24-hour nursing, there will be a common dining room, a beauty parlor, organized activity space, and some unique facilities: private bedrooms, a 1950s-themed diner that will be open to residents and guests, a movie theater, and a workout room.
Niagara County Legislature Majority Leader Rick Updegrove, R-Lockport, called the deal a "positive development."
"We are pleased to remove a potentially costly, unused facility from the county's obligations and see it returning to the active tax rolls," he said. "More importantly, though, we are gratified that this move includes the creation of some 50 new good-paying private sector jobs, which has the potential to expand our overall tax base."
Updegrove's fellow Lockport lawmaker, Legislator Tony Nemi, R-Lockport, who chairs the Legislature's administration committee, concurred.
"This new assisted living facility will be welcome in our community, not only because of the services it will provide for our aging population, but because it is creating jobs," he said. "We thank Mr. Tosetto for his vision, and look forward to seeing it become reality."
Nemi noted that the sale of the facility also benefited county taxpayers.
"This facility, while it sat vacant, placed costs on the taxpayers without returning any benefits, as well as the potential liabilities that come with owning any property. Now, the taxpayers are no longer liable for the Mount View site, and at the same time it will be an active part of the tax base. That's a big win," Nemi said.
Updegrove said he expected the sale to move through the Legislature at next week's meeting.
"The county manager did a good job negotiating this, and it makes sense for the taxpayers to return this property to the tax rolls," he said.


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*1/2 (out of four)
Disney would never make a movie on its theme park grounds that chronicles the stress some parents feel attending the supposed happiest place on Earth. So first-time writer-director Randy Moore took it upon himself to make a guerrilla-style thriller set and filmed at Disney World—without, obviously, permission from the Mouse.
The stunt gets old and creepy quickly. Most of "Escape From Tomorrow" observes as Jim (Roy Abramsohn), a sexually frustrated father of two who looks like Tom Cruise doing Ed Helms, grows fixated on two French girls while roaming the Orlando vacation spot with his family. A sleazy jerk and lousy husband who tries to suppress anxiety over losing his job, Jim risks his kids' safety to keep his eyes on the mystery women—one of whom can't be older than 15.
On one level, "Escape From Tomorrow" daringly enters the highly protected brand of children'$ dream$ and questions what might happen if an adult man let his imagination run wild. That didn't have to involve underage ogling, however, considering the film hardly counts as a critique of the way corporations can sexualize children. The film also shouldn't have revolved around an unhappy marriage that, rather than the crowded demands of Disney World, earns the blame for this family's bad time.
It's true that vacations aren't necessarily fantasy land, and getting older means it's not always about you. (Duh). Why "Escape From Tomorrow"—which at times incorporates very noticeable green screen—tries to become something like a lost sci-fi flick from the '50s is beyond me. What should go without saying is that making a good movie at Disney earns 10 times more cool points than a sneak attack that isn't worth the effort.
Watch Matt on "You & Me This Morning," Friday at 6:55 a.m. on WCIU, the U
Want more? Discuss this article and others on RedEye's Facebook page.


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Texas Legislature opens; Straus re-elected speaker
AUSTIN — Texas legislators opened their 140-day session Tuesday poised to debate how to pay for public schools, decide whether to drug test unemployment recipients and possibly confront a mounting water crisis under the strain of a rapidly growing population.
Hot-button issues over abortion access and gun laws also were expected to generate widespread attention during the 83rd legislative session, which featured a unique political backdrop due to the high number of newcomers.
The Texas House elected San Antonio Republican Joe Straus as Speaker by acclamation after the only challenger, David Simpson of Longview, dropped out of the race. The election took place in the opening hours of the 83rd Legislature on Tuesday.
The speakership is one of the most politically powerful offices in Texas.
With 43 freshmen in the 150-member House — the most in four decades — it will be one of the most inexperienced Legislatures in recent history. Still, Gov. Rick Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst are out to reassert their power following failed runs for bigger offices last year.
As they have for a decade, Republicans run the show in Austin with commanding majorities in the House and Senate. Democrats were able to snag the handful of seats needed in November to break up the GOP supermajority in the House, but the pink hues of the state Capitol remain dominated by the underlying red-state nature of the politics inside the building.
Republicans still rule Texas, and the leadership intends to push the state even further to the right. Dewhurst has said he wants Texas to be "the most fiscally and socially conservative state in the country."
Perry said Tuesday that a booming Texas economy and rosier state revenue picture should not lead to greater spending. Addressing the state Senate, Perry said lawmakers should continue limiting the size of government and "take a look at tax relief."
Perry already is trying to lay out a conservative agenda for state lawmakers, calling on them to continue to place tight controls on state spending, even after historic cuts in 2011. He also said they should back measures that would ban abortion after 20 weeks of gestation and drug testing for welfare and unemployment recipients.
Many lawmakers expect a particularly conservative session since Perry has said he is considering running for re-election in 2014 and seeking the presidency again in 2016.
Ellis County Republican Party secretary Tommie Worthy said this was the sixth time she has made the two and a half hour drive from her home in Avalon to Austin for the Legislature's opening day, and she hopes the tea party won't spark too much infighting.
"They have some good ideas but they don't know how to put them to work," Worthy said. "They don't have any structure. They don't know how to conduct themselves in public, and they don't listen to facts. They don't really have any idea how to govern."
Jane Vineyard, who made the trip with Worthy from nearby Waxahacie, said "unity is what you hope for so that we can all work toward the common goals of our state. But we may not get it."
Rains moved an interfaith service from the steps of the state Capitol to a fourth floor chapel where about 50 people gathered to hear prayers from different faiths in English and Spanish.
"In this 83rd legislative session, may the halls of this house of justice resound with programs that help the widow and the orphan, that help everyone find their footing and maintain themselves as each of us strive to lift up every voice," said Neil Blumofe, a senior rabi at Agudas Achim in Austin.
Rep. Donna Howard, an Austin Democrat, told those assembled that what lawmakers "do reflects our values, who we are."
"Whether we say God or Yahweh or Allah or whatever name we use to describe that higher power that which is beyond ourselves, we invite that in and ask that to help us do the best that we can," Howard said. "To give us the guidance, the support, the knowledge to sometimes step out of the way in terms of our ego and do what is best for the citizens of our state."
The two-year state budget is the only bill lawmakers are required to pass and will be the focal point of the session as Democrats fight to restore money cut from public education in 2011 and try to push back against any further cuts in health care programs for the poor, disabled and elderly.
The comptroller has set $101.4 billion in available spending for the next two-year budget cycle — which Democrats say is a healthy enough forecast to reverse the slashed spending of two years ago — but Republicans are already signaling they want to hold the line on spending.
Other top issues for 2013 include public education, water conservation, gun rights and cancer research.
Associated Press writers Will Weissert and Chris Tomlinson contributed to this report.


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Florida Farm necesitaba un nuevo diseño de página web y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 17 diseños de 5 diseñadores freelance.
We are a Florida Citrus Broker and are expanding company to include a directory of all Florida farms and farms services. There will be a tiered level of marketing opportunities available throughout site articles, photo galleries, pdf files and videos. Some of our farm services include Bee Keepers, Seafood, Dairy, Deer, Vegetables, Fish, Farmers Markets, Horses, Restaurants, Livestock etc. We do not want to see citrus related items (oranges, grapefruit, etc.) in the design.
Florida residents looking for any number of approximately 37 types of farms, farm services, organic restaurants, etc. We are also targeting those businesses who can provide these services to get listed on our site.
Plain, Simple, Minimalist. Please see our logo. Looking for colors that match our logo Keywords: vegetables, seafood, horses, livestock, dirt, seedlings, wheat and corn (for color). No oranges or cartoons please . Please go to http://www.floridafarms.com to see bare bones view.
1. We will need our category list on the page
2. please use attached home.psd file as a guide
3. two search boxes are key features and need to be at the top of the page
Additional requirements include "layered RGB file" in Photoshop PSD and a JPEG version.
Please view this lightbox for inspiration: