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I was lucky enough to be able to attend the Hearts at Home national conference this year. This was by far my favorite workshop, given by Jill Savage herself. Over a small series of posts, I'm going to share the tips that impacted me the most. You can catch part one here. I mean, I didn't need these or anything--I'm just sharing in case any of you have those kind of days. M'kay?
3. Learn to say NO.
Doesn't that just conjure up an image of Nancy Reagan?
This is a concept I really, really struggle with. But I am learning that not being able to say NO to things leads to a Mommy who is spread much too thin--and that is good for no one.
Several weeks ago, we had a crazier-than-usual week: ball practice on Monday and Tuesday, church Wednesday, a church to clean on Thursday night (we have recently taken over our church's janitorial duties), a church activity on Saturday (which I attended with the children by myself because Shane was out of town working the entire weekend), church itself on Sunday morning and Sunday night. (It really sounds like I am singling out church activities, but I promise--I mean all activities across the board!)
It was a lot of activity.
That same week, Colin had been invited to a Sunday afternoon birthday skating party. It was important to him, and I said YES to letting him go.
One of Jill's main points about learning to say NO was to "carefully consider the brain space {and the physical stamina!} that this YES will require." We should "step away from the peer pressure, evaluate, and then answer."
I failed to do that. Big time.
In reality, agreeing to simply 'let Colin go to a party' was actually agreeing to
1. load up everyone by myself
2. head to the skating rink straight after church
3. stay there from 1-4 p.m. and attempt to help three very unsteady boys skate while corralling their just-walking sister
4. fly home to grab some food for the kids and myself, and then fly back to church by 5 p.m. for choir practice and our evening service
all while already physically and emotionally drained by the events of the week, and all while being by. my. self.
I bet it would come as no surprise that I collapsed in a heap of tears that Sunday evening. I was stressed out and exhausted. Correction--I had allowed myself to become stressed out and exhausted.
And, I vowed right then to never say YES again on the spot. To never say YES because of peer pressure. To never say YES simply for fear of disappointing someone.
Jill said: "When you say NO, don't think you have to give a long list of excuses."
But don't we all do that?
"I can't .... I have to .... and we are going to be .... and I've got to do ..... fill in the blank."
We give excuses because we fear what people will think of us when we say NO. I think a great answer, when you need to say NO, is to simply and kindly state the facts: "Thank you for thinking of me, but I can't at this time."
We have to remember that saying NO allows others an opportunity to say YES! There are people everywhere who are doing things--serving in schools and churches and many other places--because there was someone before them who couldn't, and they stepped up to the plate.
Jill pointed out something I'd never thought of before: that we may be 'capable', but we may not be 'called'.
I know that that is exactly my problem. I see a need somewhere; I know that I could do a pretty good job of filling that need; and then I jump in without weighing the ramifications on myself and my family. But just because I can do something doesn't mean I should.
Isn't it better to do a few things really well than to do too many things poorly, simply because you are spread too thin from trying to do too much?
Learn to say "NO". How are you at this? What tips can you give on how you handle saying "NO" in your life?


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In the middle of a large and fertile plain marking the boundary between the regions of Rhodope and Xanthi, lies Lake Vistonida, one of the most beautiful wetlands in Greece. It is the fourth largest lake in the country, covering an area of 45 km2, a dreamy location where the green hues of the forests meet the azure of the sea.
The lake is situated in the middle of a group of wetlands which cover the area from the Nestos River Delta up to and including Lake Ismarida (Mitrikou). Within a short distance lie the lagoons Lafri, Lafrouda and Porto Lagos in Xanthi District, as well as the lagoons Daliani, Xirolimni, Karatza, Alyki, Ptelea and Elos in Rhodope. The above wetlands constitute the National Park of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace as they are very important water reserves.
The lake is located 25 km SE of Xanthi, 23 km SW of Komotini and 225 km E of Thessaloniki.
Vistonida was named after the Vistones, a Thracian tribe who once dwelt in the area. Their legendary king Diomedes was famous for his man-eating horses. The beasts were captured by Hercules who took them to Mycenae, following the order of king Eurystheas. Out of Hercules' Twelve Labours, this was feat number eight!
Lake Vistonida is separated from the sea by a narrow strait created from silt depositions and is connected to it through canals. On the east there is a natural canal with two mouths on the lake, which connects it with the sea via Porto Lagos lagoon; on the west, there is an artificial canal built during the 1950s, which allows direct access to the sea. The result of the above connections is a phenomenon occurring nowhere else in the country: the north part of the lake contains fresh water as a result of the rivers flowing in, whereas the south part contains saline or brackish water depending on the volume of seawater entering the lake.
It was created approximately five million years ago, as a result of an abrupt subsidence of the land allowing seawaters to fill in the present lake area, through the wearing action of tidal currents which eventually formed a closed lagoon. At the same time, adverse currents led to the creation of the isthmus which separates the sea from the lake.
There are over 300 species and subspecies living in the area. These form the basis of plant and animal life in the lake which offers accommodation, protection and food to many more. Along the lakeshore and in the shallow parts of the lake, reeds form a wall that is impenetrable and therefore provides the ideal shelter for nesting to many bird and fish species. In river mouth areas there are willow and aspen trees, manna ash, elm, alder and plane trees. Their trunks are covered by climbers such as hops, viburnums and clematis. There are also single trees and bushes lying scattered around the lake, such as oak trees, vitex, elms, kermes oak etc.
The species that live in or visit the wetland are many and rare. The local fish community counts 37 species, 21 of which live in the lake and 16 come from the sea. The common carp, the common rudd, and the alosa vistonica are to be found in the fresh water area, whereas the eel, the european seabass, the flathead mullet, the gilt-head bream, the sole, the sand steenbras, among other species, are to found in the saline water area.
There are also 20 mammal, 19 reptile and 11 amphibian species enriching the biodiversity of the local fauna. The European otter finds shelter in the lake's waters and the river currents. The shrub growths by the lakeshore and by the Kosynthos and Kompsatos river deltas are the preferred habitat for the wild cat, the badger, the jackal and other animals.
The flying bird populations you will meet in the area are impressive with regard to their numbers as well as to diversity of species. Out of 260 recorded species, nine are rare or endangered in a worldwide scale. For more information click here.
Visitgreece.gr is the official tourism web site for Greece, run by the Greek National Tourism Organisation, where you'll find information on the main tourist destinations, such as cities, beaches, as well as activities, events and much more!
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subset: commoncrawl


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First Lady Michelle Obama was in Chicago Thursday, appearing as a guest on Steve Harvey's new daytime TV show in advance of two area fundraisers.
The show's producers said the program, recorded before an audience at Chicago's NBC Tower, will air on Oct. 3.
"I think she's great. The president is great. Everybody should vote for him. What can I say?" Liz Marren told NBC Chicago as she waited in the audience queue at NBC Tower.
Harvey, a 55-year-old veteran comic, debuted his show earlier this month. Harvey said it was honor to have Mrs. Obama as a guest.
"She's real. She's absolutely approachable," said Ruth Novak. "She's just everybody. She's your friend. You could sit and have coffee or a cocktail and you would feel absolutely at ease with her. She's great. She's great."
The first lady's appearance on Harvey's program was her latest on the daytime talk-show circuit as the presidential election enters its final weeks. Earlier this week, Mrs. Obama joined her husband, President Barack Obama, for a pre-taped, joint interview on ABC's "The View."
After her appearance on the program, the first lady headed to Oprah Winfrey's old Chicago studios for a fundraiser.
"Barack has been fighting for us ... Slowly but surely we have been pulling ourselves out of that hole that we started in. For three-and-a-half years we've been moving forward and making progress and we're beginning to see that change we all can believe in," the first lady said.
A second fundraiser was held at the private north side home of Fred Eychaner, the owner of Newsweb.
"It is important to have a president who doesn't just tell you what we want to hear but who tells you the truth," she told supporters in the lavish Lincoln Park home.
"Yes! Yes! Yes!" one supporter yelled back.
Tickets for the events ranged between $100 and $3,500 and benefited the Obama Victory Fund.
Michelle Obama Heads to "The Steve Harvey Show"
Episode to air next week
First Lady Michelle Obama was in Chicago Thursday, appearing as a guest on Steve Harvey's new daytime TV show in advance of two area fundraisers.


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Warriors take postgame focus on postseason chase
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After Friday's come-from-ahead loss to Cleveland, the Warriors took especially long to open their locker room to the media - using the extra time to clear the air before the regular season's stretch run.
"With 15 games left in the season, we wanted to make sure everybody was still on the same page with how we're going to win games going forward," Warriors point guard Stephen Curry said. "Nobody in here should be fooled. Defensively is how we've changed things around. We can't rely on our offense to win us every single game. That just needed to be said with where we are in the playoff race."
The sixth-place Warriors stand 2 1/2 games behind fifth-place Portland and 1 1/2 games ahead of Dallas and Memphis, who are tied for seventh. Phoenix is 1 1/2 games outside the playoff picture. Those five teams are vying for the Western Conference's final four postseason berths.
The Warriors most likely will finish fifth or sixth and play either the Clippers or the Rockets in the first round. Golden State could drop as low as seventh or eighth - meaning it probably would have to open against San Antonio or Oklahoma City - or could completely fall out of the playoff picture.
The remaining schedule sets up nicely for the Warriors. Among the teams currently ranked Nos. 5-9 in the West, the Warriors have more home games (nine) left than any team but Dallas and will face the second-easiest slate. The Warriors' remaining opponents have a combined .485 winning percentage - just behind Portland's scheduled opponents at .479.
"When you have a fairly young team, you don't really have the experience to know what it takes to win it all," said Warriors backup big man Jermaine O'Neal, who is playing his 18th season. "You think that you have tomorrow to get better. When you see the calendar year dwindling down and you see yourself bouncing back from sixth to eighth and maybe eighth to ninth, it tends to send a message about what reality is."
The Warriors got another reality check Friday, when they allowed 26-win Cleveland to erase an 18-point deficit and build a 16-point advantage. The Warriors have a tendency to play down to their competition, something that needs to be fixed over the final month of the regular season as they play nine teams on the outside of the playoff picture.
"We've got no choice," Warriors center Andrew Bogut said. "The West is getting tighter and tighter by the minute."
A tight race for last 5 playoff spots
Warriors power forward David Lee was watching the Suns play the Clippers on Monday night, when he realized he was cheering for the Clippers for the first time in his life.
The Spurs, Thunder and Clippers appear to have the upper hand on the Western Conference's top three playoff berths, but with a month remaining in the regular season, the Warriors and Suns are among the next six teams vying for five postseason spots.
"It's wide open," Warriors head coach Mark Jackson said. "People may say we're (stuck) where we are, but we have a chance to continue to climb. The teams at seven, eight and nine, I don't think anybody is out of the picture. The shifting from top to bottom, it's going to be interesting."
- Rusty Simmons
Sunday's game
Who: Warriors (41-26) at Trail Blazers (43-23)
Where: Portland, Ore.
When: 6 p.m.
TV/Radio: CSNBA/680
Of note: The Warriors, who have lost two straight for the first time since late January, haven't lost three consecutive games since Nov. 20-23. ... Portland has lost four of its past five games and will be playing without All-Star power forward LaMarcus Aldridge, who has a lower back contusion. ... Oakland point guard Damian Lillard has averaged 27.2 points and led the Blazers to a 5-1 record without Aldridge in the lineup. ... Portland has used only two different starting lineups this season, including opening the season with the same five-man unit for 53 games. ... Former Stanford center Robin Lopez has 11 career games with at least 14 rebounds, with 10 having come this season with the Blazers. ... Portland also will be without reserve guard Mo Williams, who has a right hip strain.
- Rusty Simmons
Rusty Simmons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: email@example.com Twitter: @Rusty_SFChron


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The Big Heat
Film noir is a style, genre, atmosphere, whatever, often synonymous with a dizzying amount of plot twists, shadowy visuals, and double and triple crosses interwoven into spider web of a plot. But in some of the most memorable examples of film noir certain filmmakers took a more, well, direct approach. The Big Heat is a lean, stripped down revenge story without the murky lighting and wafting smoke of rotten glamour that permeates many a classic film noir. The visual style is flat, the plot is relatively straightforward, but make no mistake, it's a film that pulsates with paranoid intensity. Lang would return over and over to the trio of themes best spelled out in the title song of his weird western, Rancho Notorious: "murder, hatred and revenge." He liked to chronicle the way that an obsessive need for revenge can turn men into that which they despise.
Before Dirty Harry there was The Big Heat's Sgt. Bannion, an honest cop in a nameless city in the stranglehold of corruption at every level. Bannion doesn't mince words and takes relish in stepping on the toes of every person he's not supposed to mess with. A police captain dies under mysterious circumstances. His mistress meets Bannion for a drink and tells him she thinks he was murdered. This sparks Bannion's investigation into a conspiracy that ensnares almost everyone in power surrounding him. When the mob retaliates in the most horrifically personal way imaginable Bannion's crusade takes on a deranged quality. He'll stop at nothing until he takes down Italian dandy crime boss Mike Lagana any way he can. When a ditzy girlfriend of one of Lagana's thugs decides to help Bannion she becomes just one in a line of many victims whose personal sacrifice for Bannion's crusade means almost nothing to him.Continue Reading


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- Alumni
- Campus Life
- Students Activities
- Admission
- Intranet
- Social initiatives
- Facilities
- IoE
- Anti Sexual Harassment Policy
Map and location
IIT Delhi is situated at Hauz Khas in South Delhi, which is a landmark place in the colourful and chequered history of Delhi. Bounded by the Sri Aurobindo Marg on the east, the Jawaharlal Nehru University Complex on the west, the National Council of Educational Research and Training on the south, and the New Ring Road on the north, the Institute campus is flanked by Qutub Minar and the Hauz Khas monuments. Well connected to the major city centres by open and wide roads, the Institute campus is about 19 Km. away from the Delhi Main Railway Station, 14 Km. from the New Delhi Railway Station, 21 Km. from the Inter-State Bus Terminal and 10 Km. from Delhi Airport.
The campus of the Institute extends to an area of 320 acres. With many topographical features, imaginatively laid out with picturesque landscape, numerous buildings of various nature and stature, and clean and wide roads, the campus presents a spectacle of harmony in architecture and natural beauty. The campus area has been divided into four functional zones : (i) Residential zone for students; (ii) Residential zone for the faculty and staff; (iii) Academic zone for academic buildings and workshops; and (iv) Cultural-cum-social and recreational zone for students. The site being longitudinal in shape, the last two zones have been located mid-way between the two residential zones in order to reduce walking distance.
The main academic building accommodates various teaching and research activities. Though each department is a separate entity with a courtyard around, all the departments constitute an integrated complex. Heavy engineering laboratories are placed on the ground floor, light laboratories on the first floor while the tutorial rooms, classrooms and project rooms are located on the second floor. Separate offices have been provided to every member of the teaching staff next to his laboratory. Large lecture theatres with modern amenities and equipment for sound and projection are located in the courtyards between departments for common use. The campus also offers amenities like staff club, hospital, shopping centre, bank, post office, telecom centre, community centre, stadium, playing fields, etc.
The Students Activities Centre provides all facilities for students' extra-curricular and physical development. The central double-storeyed recreation block with a swimming pool and a gymnasium hall offers amenities such as squash courts, hobbies workshops, seminar rooms, music rooms and other multipurpose rooms for reading and indoor games. The amphitheatre constructed in modern style is an added amenity to the centre.