text:
Davy Jones's locker Edict pop Cum Twice?
Davy Jones's locker Edict pop Cum Twice? 7:59 _
compilation out
ride sister
of advantage
dredd and
brunette big cock
xxx stepmom
jav censored japanese
babe pov
shonan around
xxx with
homemade real
chudai model
xxx love
scene xxx
midget xxx
blonde voluptuous
fucked stepmom
indian of
take brothers
she is
creampie anal
sam xxx
old year
xxx tivianne
xxx started
dude porn
bhabhi savi
hot xxx
stepsisters desi
woman muslim
friend boyfriend
xxx caught
boobs big
bhabhi annu
jerk schoolgirl
by breeding
sexy milf
fucks stepson
girl school
share to
moaning girl
fetish brunette
the stop
flashed student
xxx subs
shows milf
solo female hd
school 18
station sh
morning the
:: sakuragi
babe college
indian life
xxx stepsister
sex innocent
watch husband
bathroom public
virgin fucking
wants stepsister
students the
Eightteen yo age porno models video
Nineteen yo age porno models video
3d and stereo, virtual reality video
threesome female-male-male or two cocks for one pussy video
69 sex position video
Abused and spanking and punishment video
adored worshipped delightful charming video
Afro black and ebony video
superannuated and old-aged advanced in years video
homemade homeporn homevideo private and other video
surprisingly amazingly remarkably video
usa and north america porn video
ass penetrated analsex video
Beauty and young pure models video
asssex anal fucked backdoor video
oriental chinese japanese thai korea and other east porn video
backdoor fucked and analsex video
pure nice hot and beautiful girls video
Home young nannies fucked video
backstage, backroom, underhanded, backdoor, underhand, offstage video
pillion and outdoor video
male bushes custicules video
gangbang, two and more cocks for one girl video
outdoor drink and sex video
not safe sex video
barely, hardly, scarcely, just, slightly, faintly video
toilet, bathroom, lavatory, restroom, toilette, loo video
plump fattie and fat video
domination and abuse fetish hard sex video
outdoor on beach and sea sex video
hairy men porn video
beauty fine, glorious, lovely, beauteous video
bedroom, dormitory, bedchamber, dorm, roost video
doogystyle, backside fucking video
huge monster great video
sexy swimming suit video
men or girl who like any partner bisex video
whore and prostitute slut video
strange, weird, odd, fancy, curious, queer video
ebony and african video
bulldoze strike model porn video
tow-head light hair models video
sucking and blowjob video
any blue color porn video
nice bodies and fitness slims video
bdsm and fetish , punish video
big tits and breast girls video
foot fetish shoes, high shoe video
production, prey, mining, extraction, spoil, booty video
host, owner, master, boss, proprietor, manager video
bottle, vial, flask, flacon video
young men porno video
brassiere, brasserie, uplift video
Brazil latina south america latino models video
nice hot tits models and tittie fucking video
newlywed wedding fiancee, fiancée, girl video
england scotland and ireland porno video
dar hair, black brown hair models video
hardsex forced extreme video
extreme hard dirty video
east europe porn from Bulgary video
sweet like rabbit video
sex in public transport video
boss and secretary, master, workplace sex and casting video
big breast and big tits video
nice ass fucked, hot backside video
outdoor fucking and fake taxi video
toon anime and hentai video
sex for money video
porn casting , first time porn movie video
Caucasian hot models video
taken in the toils video
famous celebs and popular models porn video
uncensored not censored porn video
exchange sex partners video
Chat sextalks and webcam models porn video
fraud, swindle,cheat wifes and husbands video
student and college models video
sluts and whores video
china asia model porno video
fattie and plumpers video
stocky, thickset, stumpy, squat, dumpy video
public sex in movie theatre video
vintage and retro adult movies from 70-80-90 video
maid, housemaid, chambermaid, parlourmaid, parlormaid, stewardess video
pussy clit masturbated orgasm video
near, closely, nearly, nearby, nigh video
night club and discobar video
nice dick and penis video
student and college sex video
neck ruff tucker dog-collar video
student sex coed girls video
few sexscenes from different movies video
safesex video
policeman uniform video
belt corselet, stay, foundation garment, video
Cosplay suit sex games video
sofa, couch, divan, settee, lounge, ottoman video
sexy glamour aged ladies video
country land porn video
just classic two partners fucking video
relative, first-cousin, kinsman, relation, cognate video
american shepherdess girls video
extreme mad sex video
cumming inside pussy or ass video
wear clothing typical of the opposite sex video
old men still have strong dicks video
sperm finish and cumshots video
sperm ejaculation sex finished video
pussy, cunt, quim, fanny, sissy, vagina video
pure nice and hot pretty girls video
Czech models video
dance and streaptease sexy erotic video
Dating sex contacts video
deeply, profoundly, in depth, inly video
hard cock deep sucking throat fucked video
strong penis nice cock video
sextoys vibrators and big dildos video
Dirty sex games video
Hospital suit sex, wear fetish video
Backside sex video
SexDoll and tools video
femdom forced extreme video
dormitory, bedchamber, dorm, roost video
two dick or two girl for one video
Sweet Sex Dream came real video
Woman Light Beaty Wear video
bore, pick cut video
alco drunked models fucked video
netherlands porn redlight streets video
black afro african porn video
Emostyle emotional video
softcore erotica notporn only video
premium models porn video
Euro models porn video
forced public nudity, flasher video
strange, weird, odd, bizarre, curious, queer video
experience, experiment, practice, test, attempt, trial video
Exploited video
extreme, extremity, excess, extremeness, extravagance, emergency video
Eyes video
Face cumming, beauty video
sperm and cumming on face video
forgery, counterfeit, falsification, fraud, imitation video
Farm, cowgirls, outside video
plumpers bbw fattie big models video
loved, beloved, darling, dear video
trotters, pins, landing gear, locomotives, trilbies video
female domination video
sex fetishes video
female male male group sex video
Wank penetrated by finger and masturbating video
full arm in pussie or anal penetrated video
sporty models video
supple versatile elastic video
Floor fucking video
fucked and masturbated by foot video
4 sex partners orgie video
caprice, whim, fancy, whimsy, vagary video
european models from france video
just simple sex and hardfuck any kind of sex video
ridiculous, ludicrous, comical, laughable, amusing video
cock choke, gag, dick gulp down, tuck in video
sexgames and fuck plays video
double penetrated models video
big whore holes video
men male homosexual video
porn deutch models from germany video
slum gutter video
big huge great video
model woman video
Girlfriend video
compliance, pliability, acquiescence, flexibility video
charm, fascination, glamor, enchantment, allure, loveliness video
Glasses video
hole stranger fucking video
Golden rain and pissing video
great, sumptuous, gorgeous, magnificent, excellent, splendi video
Gothic video
Grandmother video
Grandfather video
Grannies and oldage models video
Groupsex orgies ffm mmf sex parties video
fitness and sporty slim model video
haired, hirsute, shaggy, crinite video
Hand masturbated and jerking video
simple couple hard fucking video
high quality high definition video
high heels video
japanese toons animated porn video
Hiddencam and spycam latent, covert, occult, ulterior, implicit video
tall, lofty, big, elevated, soaring video
private amateur homevideo video
prostitute, hooker, whore, harlot, streetwalker, doxy video
rude, rough, gross, coarse, crude video
awesome super best top video
inside indoor video
big large great video
fucked and fucking video
family men video
oriental model from india video
models from Indonesia video
introduction, insertion, injection, establishment, institution, initiation video
indoor house video
interior, inner, domestic, inside video
different racial sex video
fake casting, sex interview video
models from italy video
asian models from japan video
Jeanswear model fucked video
wank, masturbation and jerkoff ejaculation video
sperm cum video
sweet juicy porngirl video
perverted, perverse, warped video
oral job video
cook room video
boobs, tits, hooters video
porn models from korea video
Lactating video
girls, womans video
shemale tranny video
cum swill video
Nylonlatex sex wear cosplay video
south america porn models video
fire sex games video
foot fetishes video
lesbo girls pinky ladies video
oral petting video
girls underwear and night sex clothes. video
nice blow and oral petting video
Live video
full time long time films video
sex mechanical toys video
housemaid, chambermaid, parlourmaid, parlormaid, stewardess video
Male domination video
married, marital, conjugal, spousal, matrimonial, wedded video
strange sex partner with closed face video
jizz massagerooms and oil massage jerking video
jerking and handjob video
milf aged womans, wifes and cougars video
doctor and hospital sex games video
super awesome great video
disorderly, random, erratic, indiscriminate, irregular video
model from mexico video
dwarf, midget, gnome, pygmy, manikin video
mature aged womans, hot wifes video
Army wear cosplay video
lactate video
traditional sex position video
madam male domination video
two men for one girl video
mother, mommy video
prostitute, slut, whore, excort, sex for cash video
big, great, huge, large video
wakeup sex video
cum in mouth, full of sperm, oral sex video
fitness sporty muscular video
contrary, disgusting, repugnant, obnoxious, yucky video
outdoor kind, grain video
mischievous, naughty, wicked, sly, gamine, prankish video
neighboring, neighbor, adjacent, nearby, next, adjoining video
teat, tit, dug, pap video
naked, bare, nude, bald, crude, unclad video
naturist exgibionist video
sister, conventual, votaress, cloistress, vestal video
nanny, nurse, nursemaid, childminder, baby tender, nurserymaid video
a tough, lightweight, elastic syntheti video
young girl pretty video
boss secretary, partner, soworker sex video
Oil sex massage, lubricate video
Aged model porn video
blowjob sucking, lips petting video
squirt jizz ejaculation video
group sex orgies and sex parties video
Outside public voyeur video
hard bdsm, bondage video
models from pakistan video
shorts and underwear pantyhose video
shorts and underwear Pantyhose video
shorts and underwear pantie panty video
outside nature public video
travesty, spoof, skit, mockery, burlesque video
sex orgy group video
pissing, piss, golden rain video
cock dick video
ideal, nice, cool, awesome, super video
strange freak distort, skew, warp, sophisticate video
small, little, puny, diminutive, wee video
models from Philippins video
PhoneSex video
chance acquaintance video
Pierced and tatoos video
tail, queue video
peeing golden rains video
fat bbw fatties video
fattie plump bbw video
swiming pool sex video
Pornstar models video
Prego womans video
comely, dolly, pin-up charming, lovely video
Princess video
amateur homemade homevideo video
hooker, slut, whore, street girl video
outdoor outside video
pomp, glitter, pageantry video
droped video
Punk video
vagina, pussie video
real, actuality, realness, substantiality, tangibility video
Red color video
Red hair models video
vintage classic films video
sex vengeance for cheater video
Rich video
upstream riding girls video
cosplay sex games, homevideo games video
brutal, rape imitation, forced sex video
models from russia video
pendulous, flabby, flaccid video
bathroom and pool video
young pretty girls video
flashy, crying, glaring, showy, garish video
office, boss fucked, secretary fucked video
tempt, seduce, lure, entice, allure, court video
Selfie, masturbation, jerking video
Sensual video
Shake video
hairless video
trannie and ladyboy video
Short video
underwear panty panties video
Shower and bathroom video
timid, shy, fearful, sheepish, gingerly, bashful video
Hairless shaved nohair video
wear worn by women and girls. video
bondman, thrall, serf, bondservant, bondslave video
slender, shapely, svelte, rangy, gracile video
harlot, prostitute, tart video
little video
Smoke video
couch, divan, settee, lounge, ottoman video
erotica and solo video
softcore erotica video
models from spain video
thrashing, threshing, walloping, warming video
cum, jizz video
propagation, spread, distribution, dissemination, proliferation video
follow, track, watch, trace, look, attend video
jet, flow, stream, current, squirt, spout video
stepparent mom video
hose video
real sex stories video
heterosexual, straight, hetero video
men fucked by girl with dildo video
public sex, outdoor, whores sluts hookers redlight video
Striptease and dancing, gogo bars video
students college coeds, schoolgirls young video
Studies college coeds, schoolgirl video
oraljob, suck, sperm swap, blow job video
Summer video
surprise, wonder, astonishment, amazement, wonderment, amaze video
cum sip, drink, gulp, mouthful, swallow, draft video
partner swapping, swingers video
models from sweden video
sugary, honey video
Swap, swapping, sex partner exchange video
Sybian video
ban, prohibition, forbide, interdict, forbidden, video
high, tall, lofty, big, elevated, soaring video
sunburnt, suntanned, brown skin video
Tattoo and pierced video
sexteacher and young old sex video
tease, badger, pick on, vex, rib, dangle video
young, virgin, pretty, schoolgirls, student, coed video
shemale, tranny ladyboy video
models from thailand video
girl underwear bikini video
3some ffm mmf fff mmm sex group orgie video
blow suck oral lips video
bound, related, tied, associated, linked video
tightly, densely, thick, snug, hermetically video
young teen, pretty, virgin video
breast, boobs video
waterclosed video
Tongue and lips sucking, blow video
animated cartoon and asian anime toons video
up naked, without bra video
torment, torture, excruciate, tantalize, rack, fret video
fingering, petting video
dildos, sextoys, vibrators vibes video
SexTrain video
tgirl, shemale, trans, trannie video
tgirl, shemale, trans, trannie video
Trib video
cut, clipped video
triple, ternary, threefold, treble, triplex, triplicate video
model from turkey video
young gay models video
same faces, sisters video
monstrous, grotty, haggish, frightful video
models from ukraine video
Uncle, family, stepfather video
voyeur, panty spy video
pussy, cunt, vulva, axilla, axil, front passage video
sexmachine, sextoys, dildos video
old classic porn, retro films video
violate, break, disturb, infringe, breach, transgress rules video
shrew, vixen, virago, termagant, tartar, hellcat video
spying, hidden, eavesdropper, peeper, keek, spier video
masturbation, onanism, wank, solitary sex, automanipulation, self-abuse video
spying, hiddencam, voyeur. video
online stream adult channels video
marriage, nuptials, bridal, nuptial, espousal, first time, young wife video
humid, damp, moist, dewy, dank video
White skin models video
slut, streetgirl video
Wife video
savage, feral, natural, ferocious, barbarous video
training, coaching sex, exercise, practice, drill video
adore, idolize, idol video
xxx rosa terzan all fuking video80
70 yers old aunty hinde pron
filming young girlfriend3
18 19 girls ass sex vedio
free for download video xxx london sex on road
filme movie
xxx salad
angela white and dredd
coming home horny for anal
film x mere et fille ou fils langue française
filme porno gina blonde
xxx saki
مدبلج بلعربي
18 her bards garnpa xxx
73896 blonde cougar phyllisha anne loves hard anal sex
horny pornstar gives bj in pov style xxx mommy control com
18 eyars girls sex mp4
all vintage porn
18 grrls
film besai
film fifty shades
film bokep abg smu
xnx periods
xxxfilm.bond 2023


text:
Top News Memes Of 2011: Pepper Spray Cop, Bin Laden, Steve Jobs
Don Caldwell on what memes mean
Video of a police officer dousing Occupy protesters with pepper spray was one of the top three news-related memes of 2011, according to the analysts who follow this sort of thing at Know Your Meme.
Also in the group: a photo of President Obama and his top advisers awaiting word of Osama bin Laden's death and the news that Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs had died.
They fit perfectly into the somewhat loose definition of a meme.
All three started as one thing — in the case of "pepper spray cop" it was video of a University of California, Davis, officer casually walking down a line of seated protesters as he shot the stinging spray into their faces — and became something else entirely as people used digital tools to add their own interpretations and comments.
The officer's image was digitally transferred into works of art to make political statements (in one, he was spraying the Declaration of Independence). Obama and his advisers were joined in the Situation Room by superheroes, cats and the little girl who looked so grumpy on the balcony of Buckingham Palace. Jobs was both memorialized and criticized by people around the world.
Memes "show us a lot about what's going on in culture, what's going on with the zeitgeist" and in the news, says Know Your Meme senior reporter Don Caldwell. And though there's no way to precisely calculate the relative strength of memes, when they looked at the number of YouTube videos, webpage views and other indicators, Caldwell says, Know Your Meme's staff concluded the top 3 had to be the officer, the Obama team and Jobs. They've announced their "findings" this morning.
Don Caldwell on what memes mean
Putting the UC Davis police officer into different situations was sometimes humorous, Caldwell says, "but people weren't making fun of it as much as ... trying to spread it around that it happened."
Don Caldwell on the 'pepper spray cop' meme
On Jobs, a lot of what was done was meant "to give respect [to him] as somebody who inspired them."
Don Caldwell on the Steve Jobs meme
The Situation Room scene was simply "huge ... it was remixed and photoshopped" countless times.
Don Caldwell on 'The Situation Room' meme
Of course, memes don't have to be about serious stuff. Caldwell says that among the most memed subjects in 2011 were cartoons — My Little Pony, '60s Spider-Man and Nyan Cat were particularly popular subjects. And then there's the "Nope, Chuck Testa" meme that took what may be one of the funniest set of TV commercials about taxidermy ever and made them Web stars.
And who could forget Rebecca Black's Friday, planking or some of the other memorable memes of the year? Know Your Meme has a video report on its findings here.
The range of memes definitely shows "what the Internet has to offer ... a lot of different types of things from the very serious to the very weird and bizarre," Caldwell says.
Don Caldwell on the Internet
Also this week, Facebook looked at the top memes of 2011 among its members. No. 1: bin Laden's death. No. 2: the Green Bay Packers' Super Bowl win. No. 3: Casey Anthony being found not guilty.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Omega-3 fatty acids began making headlines in the 1970s when researchers studying the Greenland Inuit Tribe found that they were not as prone to cardiovascular disease as much as the general population. They attributed their heart health to the consumption of large amounts of fat from fish. Some initial studies found benefit from eating fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Based on this information, organizations such as the American Heart Association (AHA) began encouraging individuals to consume omega-3 fatty acids from fish in order to boost heart health.
With the positive information coming out about fish oil, people began looking for other alternative ways to get the benefits of fatty fish without actually having to eat the fish. Fish oil supplements began gaining popularity. But do fish oil supplements really provide those heart protection benefits that we had originally thought? The answer is not as clear as one would hope.
The Skinny on Fish Fat
Certain fish bulk up on omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids by consuming plankton and other plants. These fatty acids and their health benefits are then passed on to people who eat fish regularly. Omega-3 fatty acids, particularly EPA and DHA, are thought be beneficial to health by:
- Lowering triglyceride levels—a type of fat in the blood
- Decreasing the risk of abnormal heartbeat
- Slowing the growth rate of plaque in the arteries
- Slightly lowering blood pressure
- Reducing inflammation
But do these potential health benefits translate into longer lives or fewer heart attacks and strokes?
Evidence for Omega-3 Fatty Acids Supplements
Evidence supporting the benefit of omega-3 fatty acids on heart health has been inconsistent. In 2006, researchers published a systematic review of studies that determined omega-3 fats do not have a clear effect on total mortality, combined cardiovascular events, or cancer. A 2008 study in the same journal looked at the literature regarding the effects of fish oil and determined that fish oil supplements do result in a small but significant reduction in deaths from cardiac causes, but had no effect on all-cause mortality.
A study done in 2009 found evidence that omega-3 fatty acids benefit people with heart failure. The large study, looked at patients with chronic heart failure. It found that patients taking omega-3 fatty acids had fewer hospitalizations for cardiovascular reasons, fewer heart-related deaths, and lower overall death rates than those taking a placebo pill.
In 2009, a systematic review concluded that supplements with EPA and DHA reduce the risk of cardiovascular events, cardiac death, and death from all causes in patients who already have heart disease.
In contrast, in 2012, 2 papers concluded that omega-3 supplements were not as beneficial as previously thought. Researchers who published the results of a randomized trial found that a prescribed drug containing EPA and DHA did not reduce mortality or the risk of cardiovascular events in people with diabetes or prediabetes who were at high risk for a cardiovascular events. In a systematic review of studies, researchers found that omega-3 supplements did not appear to decrease the risk of future cardiovascular events (such as heart attack, heart failure, stroke, or death) in patients who already have cardiovascular disease.
Based on these conflicting results, there is no clear answer as to the benefits of taking omega-3 fatty acid supplements to prevent heart attacks, strokes, and early death in all people.
What About the Source Rather Than the Supplement?
Eating fish, while not nearly as well studied as the supplements, has had more consistently positive results in observational studies. However, in the few randomized trials that have been done on the potential benefits of eating fatty fish in patients with heart disease, the results have been inconsistent. So even going to the source, whether it be salmon, tuna, mackerel, or some other oily fish, has not clearly lived up to the promises of good heart health.
How This Affects You
Despite the inconsistent evidence, the AHA still recommends eating omega-3 fatty acids to promote heart health. According to the AHA, people should aim to eat 2 servings (8 ounces) of oily fish per week. These recommendations are not only based on the potential benefits of fish fat, but also on the idea that eating this type of fat will replace less healthy saturated fats found in other meats or in dairy products.
In addition, for people who have coronary artery disease, the AHA recommends about 1 gram of EPA and DHA per day. While it's best to get this from eating oily fish, the AHA encourages people to talk with their doctors about taking supplements. And those with high triglyceride levels may need an even higher amount of omega-3s.
Fish still probably has benefits for your overall health, so don't throw out your fishing pole! However, it is best to talk to your doctor before starting a supplement to be sure it is the right choice for you.
American Heart Association http://www.heart.org
Eat Right—Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics http://www.eatright.org
Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada http://www.heartandstroke.com
Health Canada http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca
Dietary interventions for cardiovascular disease prevention. EBSCO DynaMed website. Available at: http://www.ebscohost.com/dynamed. Updated May 3, 2016. Accessed May 17, 2016.
Dietary supplements fact Sheet: omega-3 fatty acids and health. Office of Dietary Supplements website. Available at: http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Omega3FattyAcidsandHealth-HealthProfessional/. Updated October 28, 2005. Accessed May 17, 2016.
Dyerberg J, Bang HO, et al. Fatty acid composition of the plasma lipids in Greenland Eskimos. Am J Clin Nutr. 1975;28(9):958-966.
Fish oil. EBSCO Natural & Alternative Treatments website. Available at: http://www.ebscohost.com/biomedical-libraries/natural-alternative-treatments. Updated August 2013. Accessed May 17, 2016.
Fish and omega-3 fatty acids. American Heart Association website. Available at: http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/NutritionCenter/HealthyDietGoals/Fish-and-Omega-3-Fatty-Acids%5FUCM%5F303248%5FArticle.jsp. Updated June 15, 2015. Accessed May 17, 2016.
Hooper L, Thompson RL, Harrison RA, et al. Omega 3 fatty acids for prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2004;(4):CD003177.
Hooper L, Thompson RL, et al. Risks and benefits of omega 3 fats for mortality, cardiovascular disease, and cancer: systematic review. BMJ. 2006;332(7544):752-760.
Leon H, Shibata MC, et al. Effect of fish oil on arrhythmias and mortality: systematic review. BMJ. 2008;337:a2931.
Marik PE, Varon J. Omega-3 dietary supplements and the risk of cardiovascular events: a systematic review. Clin Cardiol. 2009;32(7):365-372.
Omega-3 acid ethyl esters. EBSCO DynaMed website. Available at: http://www.ebscohost.com/dynamed. Updated May 6, 2016. Accessed May 17, 2016.
The ORIGIN Trial Investigators. N-3 fatty acids and cardiovascular outcomes in patients with dysglycemia. N Engl J Med. 2012;367:309-318.
Sang Mi Kwak, Seung-Kwon M, et al. Efficacy of omega-3 fatty acid supplements (eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid) in the secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease. Arch Intern Med. 2012;172(9):686-694.
Tavazzi L, Maggioni AP, Marchioli R, et al. Effect of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in patients with chronic heart failure (the GISSI-HF trial): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Lancet. 2008;372(9645):1223-1230.


text:
Mileage: 11 and 42.2
January mileage: 686.7
Temperature upon departure: 16 and 15
Frost had started to form on my sweat-soaked hair as I heaved my bike over a four-foot cliff and stepped gingerly onto ice-coated roots to climb up beside it. I gasped and grunted and pushed the bike's rear wheel forward while I clawed at petrified snow with my bare fingers. I stopped to catch my breath and look up at the trail - a continuing series of steep "steps" just like it. As a hike, the lower portion of the Mount Jumbo trail is a relaxing jaunt through the woods to gain 500 feet in a half mile. Throw in a big, awkward bike, and it becomes quite the grind.
But I knew it was all worth it because at the top of that small climb lay the Mount Jumbo muskeg - a fairly large area of stunted trees and open space that was, for now, covered in the most ideal kind of concrete snow. The kind of snow that's so smooth and icy hard that you don't even need a packed trail to ride your bike. You can go wherever your heart takes you. You can weave through trees, circle up a hill and back down, lock up your brakes and spin donuts. You can do anything you want. The world is your trail.
As I crested the last pitch, I set my bike down at the edge of the muskeg and wavered a second. I took a deep breath. I thought of Ken Kifer. Ken Kifer was a prolific Internet author and career bicycle tourist who was tragically killed by a drunk driver in September 2003. Back in 2002, when I was barely a skilled enough cyclist to keep two tires on the road but aspired to become a long-distance bicycle tourist, I considered Ken Kifer my mentor. I read his extensive site from start to end and e-mailed him for advice, which he was always kind enough to give. One anecdote that particularly resonated with me was an exchange — of which I'm sure he had dozens like it — with a person who questioned how a 50-something-year-old man could afford to devote so much time to traveling by bicycle.
"I've never had much money," Ken replied, "so I've never had much need for it."
The doubter scoffed. "Well, I wish I could ride my bicycle all the time."
To which Ken replied, "Why don't you?"
Ken's words struck deep as I moved to make major changes in my life in 2003 - quit my job, explore Alaska, ride my $300 Ibex bicycle across the country. I wanted to live my life like Ken. I wanted to earn miles, not dollars. I wanted to to accumulate experiences, not stuff. Not because miles and experiences are necessarily superior to dollars and stuff, or even mutually exclusive. But I was enamored with miles and experiences. I did not care about dollars and stuff.
This simple truth creeps back in as Geoff and I discuss our future. We have, for a while now, been formulating our exit strategy to leave Juneau. We wanted to move back to Southcentral Alaska, a more centralized, less-isolated region from which to conduct future adventures. There are, of course, many pros and cons to shifting from Juneau to Anchorage. But it was easy to think about back in September, when the rain never stopped coming and the promise of endless opportunity loomed large around the big city. Then the economy landed in the toilet, the newspaper industry settled even lower, and Geoff and I started to talk about not only leaving Juneau, but going away, for six months or so .... Out ... to briefly let go of our grip on dollars and stuff in the pursuit of miles and experiences.
The more we talked about it, the easier and more appealing it sounded. The terrible economy actually pushed our drive. "I've never had much money," I pictured myself saying to concerned family members, "so I guess I don't have much need for it." I gave notice to my employer some months ago. I thought a long resignation notice would give them the time they needed to make the transition as smooth as possible, and possibly give me a bridge back if I needed it, once my dollars and stuff dry out. Instead, the long notice has given them ample time to try to prevent the exit altogether. My new boss, a driven reformer whose workaholism I respect because I believe work is what he truly loves, told me, "I'll give you an offer you can't refuse." I was offered a raise, which I refused. I was offered a better raise, which I refused. Then my boss came back recently with a promotion - a big one - and a raise - a startling one. I would have to work 60 hours a week under my current salary to earn it. "I'll even give you a month of unpaid leave for your race," he said.
The promotion would be salary pay instead of hourly pay. I strongly suspect my 40-hour workweek would eventually increase, possibly significantly. I would be working days, which wouldn't just put a dent in my current cycling adventure habits. It would put them in a shredder. Except for the brightest months of summer, I would either have to ride a lot in the dark, a lot indoors, or quite a bit less than a lot. Much in my life would change, but many parts, maybe not the best parts, would stay the same.
And yet, I have temptations. I have doubts.
In many ways, I feel like I have been pushing my bike up the Mount Jumbo Trail for several years now. Sweat is frozen to my hair and I'm gasping for air, but through the last row of thick forest I can see that frozen muskeg, smooth and inviting and glistening in the noon sun. Only now I face a choice. I can set out onto the frozen muskeg, ride wherever I want to ride, go wherever I want to go, on seemingly endless but actually finite trails of my own making. Or, I can continue on the same steep forest trail, pushing my bike further up the mountain, with the hope that there is something even better up higher.
I'm fearful because I don't know where I should go.
I'm even more fearful because I think maybe I do.
64 comments:
- AnonymousJanuary 26, 2009 at 5:40 AM
My husband got laid off once again - high tech in Ottawa sucks at the moment. We have two kids in college, two dogs, two cats and a horse. I would sell the horse, but its actually my daughter's and would put a cramp in her competition hopes. To make a long story short, our responsibilities require us to have money, but that is the path we chose. I discovered cycling about 10 years ago and fell in love with every aspect of it. Choose your path wisely. I am caught up in the corporate world and it is so unsatisfying. Show me a hill to bike up, I get to the top and feel that I have a accomplished more at that moment than I have my whole week at work. You are an author. A good one. Don't give up on your dreams.
ReplyDelete - AnonymousJanuary 26, 2009 at 5:49 AM
I faced that same decision 25 years ago. I have very few regrets. What did I do? What I thought I had to at the time. Now 25 years later and spending time dead on an operating table I still do what I need to based on my family and myself. Somedays that includes an all-day ride sometimes not, either way I have been trying to cherish ALL of life.
Don't Look Back, otherwise you'll run into something hard and immovable. - AnonymousJanuary 26, 2009 at 6:29 AM
Mike in WI says,
Take the Job offer...it will not kill you to stick around awhile longer. Save and invest the extra cash...you will need that mad money for future travels without having money worries in the decision process.
Just my .02 cents worth. - AnonymousJanuary 26, 2009 at 6:37 AM
careers and adventures are not mutually exclusive.
you may not be able to ride your bike all day long... but are you planning on doing the iditarod every year? you may not need to train all day in the future.
do you enjoy working at the newspaper? maybe that is your next life adventure. i'm sure you have professional writing goals that you would like to achieve and that are just as important to you as endurance cycling.
life's adventures don't always have to be extreme sports in the outdoors. it's about setting personal goals in activities that you enjoy and then striving to acheive them. - AnonymousJanuary 26, 2009 at 6:52 AM
What you really enjoy is writing; enroll in the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Iowa City isn't a bad place and there are lots of adventures to be had in the midwest.
ReplyDelete - AnonymousJanuary 26, 2009 at 6:56 AM
GO. (though I'll miss the blog posts!)
There is no telling if the new newspaper position will also be part of the lay off string later on....usually the higher salaries get cut faster. I actually had the same epiphany this past month - I dont have much money now....maybe I dont need a lot of money in the first place...Happiness is not spelled with dollar signs. I always think of my grandmother when in these situations, the end of her life was beautiful regardless of the hardships she had faced in younger years. I'm sitting in my own cubicle in Boston while i write this. (half my company got laid off 2wks ago). So, I'm also planning a back packing trip in the white mountains....
Go. If there's one thing that my life has taught me, it's that you never ever know what's going to happen tomorrow or even today.
You have good health and the capability to go on long adventures now. If that's what you want to do now, I think you should take the leap.
A decision made now doesn't bind you for the rest of your life. There may be a point later when you want to combine adventures and writing, or some other undertaking. When the time's right, you'll figure out a path toward your goal.
Carpe diem.- AnonymousJanuary 26, 2009 at 8:04 AM
Maybe a different door to adventures opens with the new job? It's really not all about the bike ya know! And in your part of the world, there is lots more to do than just ride a bike (not that there's anything wrong with that). And remember, if the new job ends up not being a good thing, quit. I mean, what were you going to do with your current job?
Andy This is probably terrible advice, especially in a bad economic time, but I'd go with plan A. If you are in a place where it's easy to pack your stuff and hit the road, DO IT. Go for adventure while you're still unencumbered by a mortgage, by family, by other responsibilities. Those are all things you can do later, but being free to just go with Geoff and have some adventures? If that's something you can do now, DO IT.
ReplyDelete- AnonymousJanuary 26, 2009 at 8:25 AM
More high drama.
You know, you're actually lucky that you have a boss that would try and get you to stay at your current job, even though your biking seems more important to you than your work. I think your location and the scarcity of people to take over your position might play a big part of it. Anywhere else you might go to in the 48 states you might have a dozen or more people that would be more than willing to take over your position. A manager at a job interview anywhere else might see the "I want to take some time off to ride my bike" as a person who isn't dedicated to their career, or serious about their job.
In the end it doesn't really matter what you do. You can stay at your present job, work more hours, and cut back on your bicycling, and it won't really matter because you're not a professional cyclist, you're not getting paid to ride, and how well you place in your races really doesn't matter if you're only doing it as a hobby.
It also doesn't matter which path you choose because either way you don't have much to lose. If you stay at your job and wind up working more hours the worst thing that could happen is you wind up like pretty much every other adult in America who has to work for a living. If you choose to quit your job, go off on some cycling adventure, or spend your time training for amateur races, the worst thing that could happen to you is that you run out of money and have to live with your family again until you find another job. So, your two choices really DON'T have any big dire consequences like they would if you had a house to pay for, children, and lots of bills coming in each month.
You and Geoff have similar personalities, so I think you two are a good match for each other. Neither one of you wants to be tied down with alot of responsibilities, or what other people might consider adult concerns. You both actually seem to deliberately run from things that might tie you down. You both also derive more personal satisfaction in life from your running and biking than you do from work.
Anyways, just to restate the main point, whichever path you choose it's really not that big of a deal because you don't have that much to lose either way. You're just making mountains out of molehills. Even if for some reason down the road you'd lose your current job it wouldn't be the end of the world, or that big of a loss, because you don't have alot of personal responsibilities to worry about. Gee Jill, I can't wait to read the exciting stories of your working 60+ hour weeks at a paper that may fold or downsize anyway! Oh wait, maybe they can get somebody else to do that. But nobody else could've written "Ghost Trails." I think you already know what to do. I look forward to seeing you on the trail.
BTW, you've already raised a ton of $ for Team Fatty, so I wouldn't worry about bailing on doing that actual ride in Seattle. The timing of it conflicts with something slightly longer that you were born to do.- AnonymousJanuary 26, 2009 at 8:41 AM
I love my job, I love to bike.
I was just talking to my wife about a very similar situation I find myself in.
I chose the great job—and I love it. I make way more than I did three years ago. but with that, I have far more obligations, far less time, and far fewer experiences.
I do find time to bike, but only a handful of hours a week. Seven, in fact, according to my current training schedule. I have plans to do a 50 mile trail ride this summer, and maybe a century ride in a year or two, but that's about it.
I wish I had more time to ride, however, with the extra income, I'm able to do more than bike, have more skills in case of a layoff, and enjoy insurance in case of catastrophe.
I don't have an answer for you, but good luck as you look for one! The only real question is, do you want to procreate? If so, you'll have to gain some stability sometime and give to that little someone else. If not, It's all about you and what makes you happy. Sounds like, in the absence of children, it's clear you'd like to bike and write and there'd be little reason to doubt that path. So, it's not really molehills. It's the big question. Do you ever want to start a family and if so, when?
Getting way too personal, sorry.- AnonymousJanuary 26, 2009 at 8:50 AM
If I knew the answer to this, I would tell my own self what it was, and then do it.
For me money means not defaulting on staggering student loans, which is important to me. I can't walk away from that debt obligation, so I chose the "real" job that pays "real" money over my passion (acting, just as non-money-generating as cycling!)
It's a tough call. Money buys you bicycles, and bicycle gear. And as you can see from the Fat Cyclist (where I linked from), a day job does not prevent avid cyclists from pursuing their sport. But the bulk of your life and energy couldn't be devoted to that anymore - it would have to go to work. It's hard and takes a lot of discipline (which you clearly have!) not to come home after a 9/10 hour day and flop on the couch. Especially if you are surrounded by a bunch of people who do just that every day.
You will make a choice. I think the most important thing to remember is that you are not locked in to the choice you make now. Honestly, you could probably be happy in either life, you will have regrets regardless which way you decide, but if the choice you make leads to bitter unhappiness, you can always chuck it and go for the other, down the line. Good luck.
And I love reading this blog.
- Gillian - AnonymousJanuary 26, 2009 at 10:17 AM
I love reading your blog, I live vicariously through your adventures while I am between my own. I am 29, work full-time, proud weekend warrior. I truly enjoy my career as part of my life and participating in society and my community. Plus with my time more crunched I feel more motivated--I don't have time to sit around! My choice was like yours, about 5 years ago. I had about 1.5 years of wild fun beforehand, but worried... So I did get it out of my system. But this is me... Just wanted to share. Either way you are going to be living life to its fullest, no doubt! :)
ReplyDelete Take the job.
Take the money.
You can always quit later.
People are losing jobs left and right. In this economy, you'd be nuts not to take the job.
You are a writer. You clearly love that as much as you love biking (more??). Somebody is paying you to do it.
This opinion comes from someone who left a 10 year career as a lawyer to move to Bozeman, Montana to snowboard and become a ... wait for it ...financial advisor.
Besides, money is good for stuff like buying new tires and plane tickets to Hawaii.- AnonymousJanuary 26, 2009 at 12:15 PM
Jill, that is one hell of a job offer, but you need to get some kind of insurance that you will have time to ride.
I had a great job that I quit a year and a half ago. Sure, the pay was great and the job stability for my career is unbelievable, but I didn't have a life. I didn't have the time or the freedom to leave my town and go build trails an hour away (I was on call a lot). I fought with my boss for days off for races and I was tired of being made to feel guilty.
I quit and my last day was a week before my favorite race. I camped in a friend's yard for over a week and I felt so rejuvenated. Living quite simply in a tent made me happier than making a lot of money.
I think taking the job for a year may be a great idea, but absolutely do not let yourself live up to your income. Keep is super simple so you won't miss the money when it quits coming in.
Good luck. :-) - AnonymousJanuary 26, 2009 at 12:17 PM
Decisions are tough and only you can make it. If it were me I'd take the job. You can always quit the job if it gets out of control. Sounds like the job offer will only be there right now. Pray about it. He'll help you make your decision and won't lead you astray.
Mike I always wanted to be a dirtbag climbing bum. I married and let them push me away from my dreams (some of them actually told me that it was money and not dreams that was important) - they're rich, i wasn't (now i am - with their money ha ha ha suckers -- eat it!). anyway i regret being pushed into working my ass off basically so that i would please them and be the right person for their beautiful little girl.
anyway, not that i'm at all a bitter old man with baggage...
my one point is that you shouldn't let go of career entirely - because i look at the dirtbag climbers when they are 40 and it's not pretty and nobody cares anymore that they climbed hard, and now what. so you have to maintain a livelyhood and invest in work that you will continue to find interesting as you get older.
did somebody say happy medium? i think they did!! my solution was to work on increasing my hourly wage while decreasing my hours worked, and to be able to work from home since i can't stand to look at their sorry faces at work all day, sad bastards. it sort of works but now i have a kid and another on the way and frankly i don't care about climbing quite as much. and i;m about to take the spring off to climb before new baby. i go to the desert and eat flowers.- AnonymousJanuary 26, 2009 at 12:58 PM
Wow, it's stunning how many presume to know your best option. I've no idea what you, or anyone else, should do but I wish you all the best regardless.
With sincere thanks for your blog. Wow did you spark some opinions!
Looks pretty clear to me
You have no dependants, relativly young, advanced rider who needs to make the choice between living day to day for the remainder of your years or starting a career. up until now it sounds like you have had a job. Big difference, is this what you love, are you willing to halve your saddle time? Or are you ready to go pro on the bike? Have you ever thought about road racing? My guess is you would shock a lot of people out there.
Hey look on the bright side, if you choose career, I might be able to match milage. No I still will get whooped!
If you hit the road, love to have you and Jeff visit the GSMNPHey, I know I already commented on this post but I came across these lines in this book I'm reading and I think it might apply to your situation. I'm going slowly through this book, I'm going to be reviewing it, but it's really good and I'm rationing it out like a bunch of peanut butter cups in the back country. Anyhow, the author, who is this awesome woman biker up in Alaska, writes:
"Life was good again on the bike — simple and self-sufficient.
As the sun shock and fatigue wore off, I remembered the bike's appeal, the
exhilaration that drove me out there in the first place. Life on a bicycle was a life that moves in moments. Everyday life always seemed to march with a more tyranical version of time. But on a bicycle, time became distilled. Instead of seconds, I had pedal strokes. Instead of minutes, miles. Time was freer when I only owned what I can carry, and clearer when pedaling and surviving were my only jobs. A
clearing in the forest, a sandy wash in the shadow of sandstone cliffs, a weathered picnic table in a city park — these places were my homes as surely as any apartment I had ever rented. And where Geoff and I moved, life moved with us, with the moment."
Anyhow, this woman seems pretty smart to me. I'm sure she'll be successful whatever trail she chooses.- AnonymousJanuary 26, 2009 at 4:11 PM
Looks like everybody's making this so-called tough decision to be more than what it really is in reality, what with this talk of being true to yourself, living the simple life, living your dreams, and personal freedom.
Let's keep things in perspective. You have two choices:
1. Get paid more to do the same job you're doing now, and get a month's unpaid vacation off, and the only drawback is you'll work a few more hours each week, and maybe ride your bike a bit less.
2. Quit your job, go on some adventure somewhere, do it until you run out of money, and then go back to working again wherever you have decided to move to.
Those aren't tough choices. A tough choice would be if you were an inner city single mom with children and you didn't make enough money and had to decide whether to to pay the electricity bill, or put food on the table for your kids. In comparison, your so-called tough choice is about the equivilent of deciding whether you should have chocolate cake or caviar for dinner. It's NOT that big of a deal when you step back and look at your life from an outsider's perspective. - AnonymousJanuary 26, 2009 at 5:52 PM
I stumbled into cycling to stay in shape for my real passion which happens to be surfing. When I was about your age I was at a similar crossroads, continue the corporate climb or apply for a passport and liquidate unnecessary belongings. Fiji was awesome, but Australia is what really did it for me. The corporate world isn't going anywhere, it will always be there as an option. I'd rank the year I spent vagabonding in the top 5 best experiences of my life.
my nickels worth .. dig your blog! - AnonymousJanuary 26, 2009 at 6:18 PM
I think that thinking of work and a job as your livelihood gives it the proper amount of dignity it deserves. I don't think of work as "making money" or I will end up in a place that only will allow me to reject it. Nothing wrong with having a livelihood, and nothing wrong with giving yourself financial security, or, at this point, rejecting security and livelihood in exchange for more fun. Isn't it about fun? It's okay to have it...but also responsible to provide for your livelihood, too. Ah, there's the rub.........good luck! As long as you can actually support yourself, you can do it anyway you please. Besides, does one really exclude the other? Great post, Jill. You are thinking overtime, here.
ReplyDelete You're young, if you want to time some time off to explore the world in all it's craziness, do it now. I've got parents who have never really see Europe, and want to - but traveling kinda sucks with arthritis.... Might as well get some good life experiences in now, then write a book about it. I'll read it, and I bet a lot of other people will too.
ReplyDelete- AnonymousJanuary 26, 2009 at 7:57 PM
I think NIKE offers the best advice ever.....Just Do It!
There are so many of us who read blogs like your's and live out our missed adventures from those like you who are really doing it!
And if you don't..... you will find yourself sitting in front of your computer reading somebody's blog asking that question ......What if?
Good Luck - AnonymousJanuary 26, 2009 at 9:04 PM
I've been there. Pretty much in exactly the same position. The thing about choices though, is that they provoke anxiety, until you realize that you should never have regrets, and the worst thing that could happen is that you decide its not right for you, and change your mind. Some of the comments have been talking about children and responsibilites, yeah, it is freeing to be out on your own, living your experiences- I wouldn't take mine back. There is always that fear that comes from being around people that are grounded in a different way than you when you're grounded, that you've missed out, missed out on some sort of natural growth to want the "normal" things that you've been missing. Going out "on the open road" can leave you both fulfilled, and sometimes...feeling empty. I say you live once- do what makes you happy now, and when you want something else, a day, a week, 10 years from now, do that. you're lucky that you have geoff, not that you need a man, but the support you guys have for each other is great, and your journey doesn't seem like the rug will be pulled out from you, mid travel. Go for it- whatever it is- or you'll just wish you had.
I heart you guys - n - AnonymousJanuary 26, 2009 at 9:57 PM
For the last 14 years I've pushed farther up the mountain. There wasn't anything better up there. The longest I was between jobs was when I was still single and went to the Grand Canyon for a week but I knew a better paying job was waiting for me when I returned.
The first month after I got laid off, I was stressed I didn't have a job. Now it's been over 2 months and I'm not sure I want to go back to the grind. Maybe like you, we can learn to live on a lot less. I'm sure there would be a lot more fun. I'm some random guy on the Internet, so take my opinion for what it's worth...
I think one decision still allows for the other, but whereas one excludes the other. Like others have said, if you take the job and find that it sucks, you can always quit later and still go on your cycling adventure. If, however, you take off on the bike and find later that you need the $$/insurance/security that the job provided, you probably won't find it just waiting for you to come back. So I say give the job a fair chance, and if it doesn't work out, so what? Then you just take off...
Of course, all this assumes just your role in the decision. The other question is, which you didn't really raise here, is what are Geoff's feelings on the potential postponement of this adventure, and how much do his feelings affect your decision? If you take the job, will he still say, "Well, I gotta go."?- AnonymousJanuary 27, 2009 at 5:41 AM
What Fonk said about Geoff brings up an interesting point. Why worry about what Geoff thinks at all ?. Last summer or fall he took off on his own little adventure from Alaska with no real plans on returning. Sounds to me like Geoff is more concerned about his own needs and wants, and constantly running off on his little adventures, than anything else. Who's to say he won't do it again ?.
There's tons of outdoor and sports oriented guys in the world. With the way Jill is she could have another boyfriend in 30 seconds if she wanted to. However, there aren't many girls in the world that would put up with Geoff's choice of lifestyle. So, the way I look at it, Jill is in the better position job wise and relationship wise. Maybe that's why Geoff decided to do this little return to Alaska thing, because he needs Jill more than she needs him ?. Maybe Jill thinks she needs him in her life, and that's why she has this adventure trip idea ?. The way I look at it is that Geoff doesn't want to be tied down, doesn't want any long term goals or commitments, and doesn't want any outside expectations or pressure put on him. Congratulations on making yourself so valuable at work that your boss is offering you scary pay raises to keep you in these tough times! It seems to me that the two options you are considering are both good ones. And as has been pointed out, the work option does not necessarily exclude the full time adventure option, just delays it until the time is ripe and the savings account is plumper.
Several years after getting married I dreamed one night that I was back working in Grand Teton National Park. When I shared the dream with my wife she said let's do it. So we jumped off our budding career paths, sold our house and her car and moved to Wyoming for a couple of years and worked for peanuts. For us it was a major setback in our careers and we are still lagging behind our peers on that front but it was worth it. For you, it would parlay into your next career phase nicely I bet. Hell with your books and blogs and potential sponsors you may be able to stay in the black while you travel to Patagonia and back.
If you decide to make some beans for a bit first then my suggestion would be to push the envelope on your salary and benefit negotiations. What have you got to loose?
Btw, I really appreciate how you stick with your primary themes on this blog. All these things have been going on in your personal life but you don't drag us through it day by day. Rather, you slip it in an excellent post months after the fact. I think that's why your readership comes out of the wood work to weigh in when you do give us a glimpse of your personal quandaries. You inspire us and we care about you. Us long-time readers know that "Up in Alaska" is only a little slice of Jill Homer's life so in that sense, who are we to give advice? On the other hand, it is a blog and you did kind of ask for it and we are the peanut gallery after all.- AnonymousJanuary 27, 2009 at 9:50 AM
Whatever you decide, isn't life supposed to be about living it and enjoying it while it's happening? Planning for the future is really great, but don't miss out on what today has to offer by getting too invested in tomorrow (whatever that might mean for you personally).
I find the majority of people aren't living the life they dreamed they would be years before. That's because life is always changing and throwing us curve balls. It's impossible to know what the future holds. Live it and enjoy it every moment and try to make decisions that enhance what is happening today.
The basic point I'm trying to make is, it really isn't selfish to make decisions based on what will make us happiest. And that should be the biggest question you need to answer. - AnonymousJanuary 27, 2009 at 11:43 AM
this is too funny and relevant to not share. Please just appreciate the humor :)
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2009/01/11/120-taking-a-year-off/ - AnonymousJanuary 27, 2009 at 3:13 PM
I went through a similar transition in 2005. I am glad I quit my job and followed my hearts desire. Speaking from someone that was in a similar position at that time as you are now, I would like to suggest that you follow your heats desire. Remember you have your HEALTH now! You can count on your health NOW. When I was in Europe I saw retirees traveling and they were miserable. They didn't have the health and vitality that your age has. I embraced my hearts desire and my life is magnificent in ways I never even had concepts for. If you are blessed you will be around this planet for another 60 years or so. Plenty of time for a desk job, eventually. You may not be in top health all of those 60 years, but you are now. When your body slows down and wants a desk job, get it then. Know that, even though I am encouraging to "do it now", I fully support you in which ever decision you make.
Joy to you and yours,
DC - AnonymousJanuary 27, 2009 at 10:40 PM
I just sat and read all these posts and as I was reading I new what I wanted to say and Anon above stole it from me.
This is exactly what I was going to say, alot of people have given you alot of really good advise...my .02 worth is to just forget. Forget about all the advise, Forget about the iditarod, Forget about training, Forget about how many miles you want or need to put on, Just go take a really long ride and think about nothing, Nothing but where you are at that moment and take in all that is around you, all the beauty. When you come back your head will be cleared and you will follow the path that you choose. Just keep in mind that all paths eventually intertwine...You can always choose another at whatever crossroad comes along. Just remember to have fun!! Well, you've had plenty of advice on the job. I was just going to say that I've never thought of riding on the muskeg, but your post made me think of a recent walk on the frozen muskeg in Sitka. Bikes would kill our muddy trails most of the year, but you've finally made me want studded tires again - to ride in the woods and through the muskegs!
I don't think this is a decision that can be reasoned out. Don't try and solve this conundrum you face by applying logic.
I think you've told your boss (and us) where your emotions are and what your heart is saying. I say follow your heart.
In the blink of an eye you may be old, and unable to get so physical as you do now.
My credentials. I'm 54 and didn't follow my heart when I was younger. I took the path which said be sensible, accept your responsibilities and build for the future. As someone else said, as you age it's the things you didn't do that you most regret. At 54 my body shows signs of failure and now make the active, outdoor choice so much harder to follow. Sometimes now I just have to stop.
go 4 it!Jill...in your situation...either choice is a winner. What is in your heart?
That is what truly matters. You have your whole life ahead of you to worry about $$ and stuff. I have $ (not a lot), I have stuff, but I also have regrets. Things I wanted to do but didn't because of responsibilities and the want for $$ and stuff.
Whatever you decide to do will work out.
Best to you!- AnonymousJanuary 29, 2009 at 4:03 PM
I discovered Ken Kifer back in 2004, though I didn't find out he was deceased already, until a year later. Like you he inspired me, even at 54, and awakened dreams in me that I hope to fulfill. Good luck with your contemplations, about your futures.
ReplyDelete - AnonymousFebruary 8, 2009 at 6:08 PM
I respect your work very much. Well worded talent goes far in the journalism career. Keep up the good work, so far I've clearly understood and followed up with your writings and I just want to throw some kudos at you, very good to hear people putting their mind to words the clear way :)
Anyways, until the next time I run across your page, c ya' ciao!


text:
CFPB Examines Consumer Experience with Major Credit Reporting Agencies
A new report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau shows that credit card history dominates the information in credit reports and that debt collection items generate the highest rate of disputes.
The CFPB released its report on the consumer experience with the three largest nationwide credit reporting companies: Equifax Information Services, LLC; Experian Information Solutions Inc.; and TransUnion LLC.
[See Also: Q&A With the CFPB's CIO]
Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion each have more than 200 million files on consumers, and in a typical month, they receive updates from approximately 10,000 information "furnishers," which are the entities that supply data on consumers, the CFPB said. The furnishers do this on more than 1.3 billion "trade lines," which are individual information sources on a consumer report such as a consumer's accounts for a car loan, mortgage loan, or credit card.
"Today's study is another step toward bringing more clarity to the confusing world of credit reports. It will help educate regulators and consumers about how this important industry works," said CFPB Director Richard Cordray in a statement. "If consumers know how these companies handle their credit histories, they can make better decisions on how to handle their financial lives."
Among the findings of the report are:
- More than half of the trade lines in the credit bureau databases are supplied by the credit card industry
- More than a third of disputes have to do with collections
- Fewer than one in five people obtain copies of their credit report each year
The CFPB also found that most information contained in credit reports comes from a few large companies. The top 10 data furnishers provide 57 percent of the trade lines coming into the credit reporting companies, while the top 50 furnishers provide 72 percent, and the top 100 furnishers provide 76 percent, the report found.
The federal agency also said that the credit reporting companies resolve an average of 15 percent of consumer's disputed items internally, without getting the data furnishers involved, while the remaining 85 percent are passed on to the furnishers.
Bryan Yurcan is associate editor for Bank Systems and Technology. He has worked in various editorial capacities for newspapers and magazines for the past 8 years. After beginning his career as a municipal and courts reporter for daily newspapers in upstate New York, Bryan has ... View Full Bio


text:
- One 8-foot 1x2 lumber strip, cut into four equal 2-foot lengths
- One 1/2" dowel cut into two 16" lengths.
- One 1/2" dowel cut into two 14.5" *lengths
- Eight screws for the dowels
- Two 2" bolts, two nuts and six washers.
Next, assemble one rectangular section of the frame, using the 16" dowels. Repeat for the second rectangular section of the frame, using the 14.5"* dowels.
Nest the smaller rectangle (with the 14.5"* dowels) within the larger one (with the 16" dowels) and secure them through their midpoints using the bolts, nuts and washers.
*Note: This is only an estimate. Depending on the exact thickness of the wood for the X-arms (mine was about 3/4"), you might have to adjust the 14.5" value so the inner rectangle nests just right within the bigger one.
First, attach the base to the button-able sides. remembering to insert the straps in both base seams as shown:
Obviously you can use webbing, or ribbon or whatever you like for straps - I used the fabric itself and made straps.
This is the thing flipped over, to show you how the stitches changed direction smoothly.
And this is the fabric (the one that was the bottom layer previously) peeled back to show that snip we made.
Once the bag is sewn up, finish the edges of the opening with bias tape.


text:
His city's best fishing days are long past it, but lifelong Gloucester resident Ron Gilson still sees what once was when he drives past what remains.
There's the waterfront lot, littered with discarded fishing nets and lobster pots, where vessels in the famed fishing fleet once docked. The clatter and grit of a top maritime machine shop downtown has been replaced by a banquet hall. On the state fish pier, where Gilson briefly parks, the sounds of year-round work have given way to the quiet whirr of his idling Prius.
To the 79-year-old, the decline of the industry has stolen jobs, community spirit and opportunity. And it's not over, Gilson said.
"This is the lowest point," he declared on a February day. "Tomorrow will be lower."
In May, New England's fishermen will again see a cut to the number of fish they can catch, this time so deeply that the historic industry's existence is threatened from Rhode Island to Maine. But as hard as the cuts are likely to hit fishing communities, local seafood eaters may not notice at all. In the region's markets, grocery stores and restaurants, imported fish dominate, and the cuts make that less likely to change.
The cuts will shrink the catch limit 77 percent for cod in the Gulf of Maine and 61 percent for cod in Georges Bank, off southeastern Massachusetts. That's the worst of a series of reductions to the catch of bottom-dwelling groundfish, such as haddock and flounder, that many fear could be fatal to the industry.
"They're going to wipe it out!" said Gilson. "The only thing that's going to be the same is the ocean you're looking at."
For fish consumers, a sharp drop in the local groundfish catch may jar a select group of diners who seek fish caught that day. But the cut's effects may not ripple further than that.
Just 9 percent of the seafood eaten in the United States is domestically caught, the federal government estimates. In New England, locally caught cod was just a slightly larger fraction of all cod eaten, 12 percent, according to fisheries economist Jenny Sun of the Portland, Maine-based Gulf of Maine Research Institute. And she estimates that could drop to 4 percent after the coming cuts.
Much of the imported cod is caught and frozen in Norway and cut in China, and there's plenty of it, Sun said. If the local cod catch dips to near nothing, fish processors "could easily fill in with imports," Sun said.
In fact, the biggest issue for one Maine seafood processing executive has been the perception that the New England industry's troubles mean he won't have fish.
But prices will likely change little after the cuts because substitutes are plentiful, said Chris Fream, senior sales executive at North Atlantic Inc., a processor in Portland, Maine.
"The sky certainly isn't falling because a) we knew it was coming and b) we've prepared for it and there's other species that are around," he said.
The remaining fishermen have limited options. The Northeast's groundfish fleet had 420 boats in 2011, a drop of 150 in just two years, and many of those who continue to fish do so because they have no choice.
Scituate fisherman Frank Mirarchi noted wryly that, at 69, he has few employment options. The fishermen he cooperates with, pooling quota and resources, have discussed taking even more boats out of the water and trying to hang in with whatever they can catch.
"This is not a long-term strategy," Mirarchi said. "Something needs to happen before 2014 or we all go down the tubes."
The crew on Gloucester fisherman Richard Burgess's two boats is family, and he said he hasn't considered selling out of the business.
"I put them out on the street, where are they going to get a goddamn job?" he said. "And these are men who have devoted their lives to feeding the country fresh fish. And now the country is stabbing us in the heart."
Groundfish accounts for 50 percent of the business for Richie Canastra, co-owner at the Whaling City Seafood Display Auction in New Bedford. He can still depend on the port's robust scallop catch, but he said he's already laid off four of 30 workers and anticipates another 10 layoffs when the cuts kick in in May.
There's talk of government aid for fishermen, after the fishery was declared an economic disaster last year. But the best hope for many in the industry seems to be a correction in the science that fishermen view as deeply flawed. There's also a belief that natural fluctuations have made fish scarce this year, and those same fluctuations can bring them back.
Canastra recalls the story about a 1928 Massachusetts license plate that featured a symbol of codfish that appears to be swimming away from the plate's abbreviation for the state. The cod catch suddenly dropped that year, prompting superstitious fishermen to demand the plate be changed to show the fish swimming toward the state name.
It was, and the cod came back to Massachusetts. It can again, Canastra said.
"My point is, there are cycles," he said.


text:
Crew Finder Bulletin Board Bass River Yacht Club Opti Invitational : Bass River Yacht Club July 07, 2015 |
Registration Problems or Questions? Visit our Support Desk | View Our Privacy Policy
Powered by Regatta Network® | Online Sailing Event Registration and Management Services. © 2024 Regatta Network, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Regatta Network is a registered Trademark of Regatta Network Inc. |


text:
EDPS Account
EDP Sciences offers all scientists (subscribers or non-subscribers) the opportunity to open a personal 'EDPS Account'.
This is free and without commitment.
This registration service:
- Allows access to our e-mail alert services,
- Gives access to the Pay per View service,
- Allows non-subscribers to view the full online edition of the latest articles of some journals (Latest Articles Free service).
Please note that your 'EDP Sciences Account' login/password does not give access to the online version of the journal, for journals only available to subscribers. For further information regarding journals' subscription, please contact us.
Already registered users
Create an account
EDP Sciences
17, avenue du Hoggar - B.P. 112
P.A. Courtaboeuf - F-91944 Les Ulis CEDEX A (France)
Phone: +33 (0)1 69 18 75 75 - Fax: +33 (0)1 69 28 04 61
We are here to help, please fill in the following form


text:
38 images Created 4 Jan 2010
Through my eyes and with my camera I am able to see the world we live in, and try to bring things into focus. Photography preserves my vision of what "I see" at a specific time and place- a moment. Creating a bond between me and my subject and capturing and emotion for eternity. Having lived and worked in New York City for over 15 years when 911 happened. I had to go and "see" with my camera what lower Manhattan was like after this horrific attack on our Nation. The World Trade Center owned the skyline in lower Manhattan making it feel more like a canyon. After the Twin Towers fell, and I saw with my own eyes and camera the destruction, I realized what little land they actually sat on. The Twin Towers may not have occupied a large plot of land but they now touched everyones life. Photo©SuziAltman


text:
Hormone replacement therapy can be either estrogen alone (called estrogen replacement therapy, or ERT), or estrogen and progesterone combined. This combination is referred to as hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Progesterone is usually given in the form of progestins, which are synthetic forms of the naturally occurring hormone progesterone. While once widely used, HRT now has a more limited role because of concerns about its safety.
Estrogen is most commonly given in these forms:
- Pill or tablet
- Vaginal cream
- Vaginal ring insert
- Patch
- Skin gel
Progestin is available in these forms:
- Pill (can be combined with estrogen)
- Intrauterine device (IUD)
- Vaginal capsule
- Injection
- Implant
- Skin gel
What This Medication Is Prescribed For
To Ease Menopausal Symptoms
- Hot flashes
- Vaginal dryness
To Reduce the Risk of Osteoporosis and Related Fractures
Estrogen is important for bone health. When the natural supply of estrogen drops off with menopause, HRT can help protect bones by replacing estrogen.
How This Medication Works
The hormones provided with HRT are meant to replace the natural hormones that a woman's body no longer produces after menopause. Estrogen is involved in many functions in the body, and therefore, HRT is believed to provide the following benefits:
- Reduce the symptoms of menopause
- Helps to slow or prevent the bone loss that occurs with aging and increases after menopause, in order to help delay osteoporosis
- Helps to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer
Precautions While Using This Medication
Long-term use of HRT (estrogen plus progestin) may significantly increase women's risks of endometrial cancer,breast cancer, strokes, heart attacks, and blood clots. ERT may also increase the risk of ovarian cancer. HRT has been associated with an increased risk of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).
For many women the risks of HRT—especially when used long-term—may outweigh the benefits, so the decision to use HRT should be carefully considered and discussed with your doctor.
Women with the following conditions are usually advised not to take HRT:
- Unexplained vaginal bleeding
- Liver disease
- Kidney disease
- High levels of triglycerides—a type of fat in the blood
- History of blood clots in the veins
- History of breast or uterine cancer
- History of cardiovascular disease
- History of stroke
- Other conditions—ask your doctor if any of your medical conditions increase the risks of taking HRT
Proper Usage and Missed Dose
You and your doctor will determine the dosing schedule that is best for you. You should have an appointment every 3-6 months while taking HRT to discuss the effects and review your decision. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends that women who decide to use HRT for menopausal symptoms use the lowest possible dose for the shortest time needed.
There are two general schedules for taking HRT in pill form:
- Cyclic or sequential—Pills are taken every day for a set number of days. A higher dose (than that used in continuous doses) of progestin is given for 10-14 days. One or both hormones are stopped for a specified period of time. This pattern is repeated every month, and it causes regular monthly bleeding like a light menstrual period.
- Continuous—Low-dose estrogen and progestin are taken together every day of the month without any break. Vaginal bleeding often occurs, sometimes for up to a year when this schedule is first started, and can vary from light spotting to irregular menstrual-type bleeding.
Take estrogen at the same time every day to minimize side effects. If you are using an estrogen skin patch, be sure to read the application directions carefully before using.
Missed Dose
- Pill form—If you miss a dose, take it as soon as possible. However, if it is almost time for your next dose, skip the missed dose and go back to your regular dosing schedule. Do not double doses.
- Skin patch—If you forget to apply a new patch when you are supposed to, apply it as soon as possible. Then go back to replacing the patch on the same day of the week as before. Do not apply more than one patch at a time.
Possible Side Effects
The following side effects may disappear over time as your body adjusts to taking HRT. Also, your doctor may be able to change the amount of hormone you receive, the way it is taken, or the timing of the dose, in order to help minimize these effects:
- Bloating
- Breast tenderness
- Cramping
- Irritability
- Depression
- Return of monthly periods
- Swelling of feet and lower legs
- Rapid weight gain
HRT can also cause some very serious side effects. You should discuss your specific health status and risks with your doctor when deciding whether or not to use HRT. These serious side effects include the following:
Endometrial Cancer
For a woman who has not had her uterus removed (via a hysterectomy), taking estrogen alone (ERT) can lead to cancer of the endometrium (the lining of the uterus). However, this risk can be avoided by taking both estrogen and progestin in the form of HRT. A woman who has had her uterus removed cannot develop endometrial cancer so she can take ERT without this risk.
Breast Cancer
Some studies have suggested that women who take HRT and ERT are at greater risk for developing breast cancer. A major study on HRT, the Women's Health Initiative, found that invasive breast cancer was more common among women on long-term HRT.
Blood Clots
Both HRT and ERT slightly increase the risk of developing blood clots in veins. In the Women's Health Initiative study, women who were long-term users of HRT had twice the number of blood clots as the women who were not taking HRT.
Cardiovascular Disease
Although HRT was previously believed to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, it appears that long-term use of HRT may actually increase this risk. In the Women's Health Initiative study on HRT, women on long-term HRT had increased risk of heart disease and strokes. However, in another study, the risk of heart attacks and death in recently postmenopausal women was the same as women not taking HRT. Debate continues wether or not HRT increases your risk for heart attacks, but it does increase your risk for strokes. Also, it is well established currently that it does not protect you from heart attacks.
Ovarian Cancer
Women on ERT may be at higher risk of ovarian cancer.
Other Uses for This Medication
To treat the following:
- Osteoporosis caused by lack of estrogen before menopause
- Turner's syndrome—a genetic disease
With every medication, there are important precautions to consider. These include allergies, interactions with other drugs and medical conditions, and safety in certain age groups.
Healthy Women—National Women's Health Resource Center, Inc. http://www.healthywomen.org
The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists http://www.acog.org
Canadian Women's Health Network http://www.cwhn.ca
Women's Health Matters http://www.womenshealthmatters.ca
Furie KL, Kasner SE, Adams RJ, et al. Guidelines for the prevention of stroke in patients with stroke or transient ischemic attack: a guideline for healthcare professionals from the american heart association/american stroke association. Stroke. 2010;42(1):227-276.
Hormonal replacement therapy (HRT). EBSCO DynaMed Plus website. Available at: http://www.dynamed.com/topics/dmp~AN~T113927/Hormonal-replacement-therapy-HRT . Updated June 8, 2015. Accessed January 27, 2017.
Menopause. EBSCO DynaMed Plus website. Available at: http://www.dynamed.com/topics/dmp~AN~T114698/Menopause . Updated July 22, 2016. Accessed January 27, 2017
Menopause. Office on Women's Health website. Available at: https://www.womenshealth.gov/menopause/symptom-relief-treatment/menopausal-hormone-therapy.html. Updated September 22, 2010. Accessed January 27, 2017.
Menopause and hormones. US Food and Drug Aministration website. Available at: http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ByAudience/ForWomen/ucm118624.htm. Updated September 28, 2015. Accessed January 27, 2017.
Menopause: Treatment for symptoms. National Institute on Aging website. Available at: https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/publication/menopause-0. Updated October 2016. Accessed January 27, 2017.
Turner syndrome. EBSCO DynaMed Plus website. Available at: http://www.dynamed.com/topics/dmp~AN~T116917/Turner-syndrome . Updated April 7, 2015. Accessed January 27, 2017.
Schierbeck LL, Rejnmark L, Tofteng CL, et al. Effect of hormone replacement therapy on cardiovascular events in recently postmenopausal women: randomised trial. BMJ. 2012;345:e6409.
9/30/2008 DynaMed's Systematic Literature Surveillance http://www.dynamed.com/topics/dmp~AN~T113927/Hormonal-replacement-therapy-HRT : Jacobson BC, Moy B, Colditz GA, Fuchs CS. Postmenopausal hormone use and symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux. Arch Intern Med. 2008;168(16):1798-1804.


text:
by Victor Davis Hanson
Tribune Media Services
As a senator and presidential candidate, Barack Obama said that he detested budget deficits. In 2006, when the aggregate national debt was almost $8 trillion less than today, he blasted George W. Bush's chronic borrowing and refused to vote for upping the debt ceiling: "Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that 'the buck stops here.'"
In 2008, Obama further blasted Bush's continued Keynesian borrowing: "The problem is, is that the way Bush has done it over the last eight years is to take out a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of our children . . . so that we now have over $9 trillion of debt that we are going to have to pay back — $30,000 for every man, woman and child. That's irresponsible. It's unpatriotic."
Strong words. But so worried was Obama about the debt that just two weeks after he took office, he promised still more: "And that's why today I'm pledging to cut the deficit we inherited by half by the end of my first term in office. … I refuse to leave our children with a debt that they cannot repay."
In his first term, Obama has added more than $5 trillion to the national debt, borrowing more in four years than the "irresponsible" and "unpatriotic" Bush did in eight. In fact, Obama is on schedule to add more total debt by the end of his two terms than all prior presidents combined. What happened to worries about leaving our children with a "debt they cannot repay"? And where did all borrowed money go, given that the war in Iraq has been over for more than a year, and we are winding down in Afghanistan?
The recession that ended in 2009 cut revenues, and the population continues to get older and draw more on federal entitlements. But all that said, we have spent record trillions of dollars during the last four years expanding the size of government. A vast 2009 stimulus plan; new Obamacare; new federal employees; vast new expansions in food stamps, disability and unemployment insurance; and spiraling Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security payments all increased government spending in each year of the Obama presidency to a higher percentage of the gross domestic product than at any time since 1946.
Obama, for all his overblown rhetoric in 2006, was once right about the deficits. But the antidote for the profligacy of the Bush administration was not to increase the borrowing even more.
What, then, explains the vast gulf between the prior Obama rhetoric and his current record on deficits?
Either one of two things occurred.
The first possibility is that Obama and his advisors really believed that record deficit spending, near-zero interest rates and expansions in federal entitlements would jump-start the economy into prosperity. In fact, the opposite occurred. Economic growth continued to hover around or below 2 percent of GDP. Unemployment has never dipped below 7.8 percent during Obama's entire presidency. The massive borrowing made things worse, not better.
A second explanation for Obama's "irresponsible" and "unpatriotic" behavior is that, at some point, he began to see political advantages to massive borrowing when combined with near-zero interest rates. The growth of entitlements is popular with many voters, especially given that 47 percent pay no federal income taxes. Politically, it proved wiser to provide free birth control pills than to be demagogued as wanting to throw granny over a cliff. Who wants to run on giving fewer things to voters and making everyone pay more for what they receive?
Perhaps the Reagan-era notion of lower taxation could only be ended through a sense of impending calamity. As former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel once put it, "You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that, it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before."
Reagan once advocated a "starve the beast" philosophy — lower taxes resulted in less money for out-of-control government. Obama flipped that sequence to a "gorge the beast" paradigm of an out-of-control government demanding far more in taxes.
Higher taxes, weighted heavily toward the affluent, spread the wealth and correct the inequities of market-based compensation. They punish the culpable 1 percent. And they remind some that they did not build their businesses on their own. Deficits force income redistribution through changes in the tax code that in any other political climate would have proven impossible.
But beware of what you wish for. Obama has already gotten his dream of a vastly increased government, federalized healthcare, near-zero interest rates and record debt to force higher taxes. The problem now is that there are not enough millionaires and billionaires to make up for the shortfall. And if interest rates rise just a bit, the debt will bury us all — fat cats and thin cats alike.
©2013 Tribune Media Services


text:
Download BitTorrent For Windows
11 May 2014
Add Comment
BitTorrent is a torrent client for
sharing data via the BitTorrent protocol. The software enables users to
share, search, download and upload application, music, video, document,
picture and other files. BitTorrent supports download of multiple files
in parallel from different peers. For every download or upload the
interface shows download and upload speed, file size, file name,
progress, seeds, peers etc. Overall usage can be monitored in tabular
and graphical views. New torrent or magnet files (compatible with
Azureus) can be added through torrent sites or from within BitTorrent.
Some of its advanced features include:
Some of its advanced features include:
- Bandwidth limiter
- Data transfer quota limiter
- Download scheduler
- IP Blocklist
- Magnet URI
- Data transfer quota limiter
- Proxy support
- Web Interface
- Multiple languages
BitTorrent Stable (7.9.1 build 30769)
For Windows (1.57 MB)English (US) - April 9, 2014
Terima Kasih Telah Berkunjung, Semoga Bermanfaat dan Jangan Lupa Komentar ya.....!!!!


text:
Y'know your local mall? The one you drive to whenever, or just as easily drive past? What would happen if you didn't have a choice — if you couldn't avoid going there? Would you walk right through without stopping and shopping? Or, a darker question: What if you could never get out?
Welcome to my Olympic nightmare.
The behemoth mall known as Westfield Stratford City looms — not sits, but looms — on the edge of Olympic Park. It's the gateway to the London Games. According to The Guardian, 70 percent of the 10 million expected visitors heading to the Olympics' big events — swimming, track & field, basketball — will pass through it.
So, too, will many of the 20,000 journalists covering the games. Stratford City is also a transportation hub. There, you catch the tube, the bullet train, the regular train, or buses that lead to all points Olympics 2012.
As so it was, on one of the first days of my Olympic assignment, that I headed to the London Underground. Via the mall.
Now, there are two types of mall-goers. There are those who feel bliss at being in a comfortable, temperature-controlled environment, with the ability to buy a smoothie, have a massage, or build-a-bear all within the same general area.
In Westfield Stratford City's case, that area is some 1.9 million square feet. Or, as The Guardian also says, five times the floor area of Tate Modern; 20 times that of St. Paul's Cathedral.
I am the other type of mall-goer: One who generally doesn't like to go to malls.
In malls, I feel a vague sense of claustrophobia – and at WSC, vague became well-defined. Portions of WSC are open-air. Still, I couldn't escape the feeling that long fingers were starting to emerge from the likes of Hugo Boss, Nike, H&M, Marmot, poised to envelop me and not let me go. Ditto for Victoria's Secret. But interestingly, I didn't feel the same creepiness.
Long story short: After my tube ride, I returned to the mall. And I couldn't leave.
That doesn't mean, "I just can't go until I find the right plaid shorts to go with this fluorescent pink tank top." No – I couldn't get out.
There's a specific exit that leads to the media buses that take us back to where we work. And I simply couldn't find that exit. I did more U-turns than a Brazilian taxi driver trying to fleece an out-of-towner (I'm not anti-Brazil; I actually had that experience).
Around and around I went, weaving in and out of masses of people, many seeming to be in a state of credit card-fueled Olympic euphoria. (A tip for WSC-goers: don't try to play walking-chicken with these folks. They will not change direction, and they will curse you in any number of languages, the Olympics being a global event.)
Suddenly I saw an opening: a flight of stairs leading down to a security station, and then leading OUT. But, it was a false summit. The guard informed me the only people who could pass through are those who work at the mall.
I flashed my reporter's credential at him, the credential that gets me access everywhere and free transportation around London. But no-go. It was worthless. I looked at the guard. I looked back up the steps at the mall. I thought about applying to get a job there, and thus gain the right to leave.
But, no. I sadly trudged back up the stairs and went back in, living out the headline that accompanied a story about WSC's opening last September: "Uplifting....or a vision of Hell?"
I ultimately found the right exit and made it back to work. Once there, I fielded a call from BBC Scotland, asking me to be a guest on their radio show... in their studio... in the Westfield Mall.
Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


text:
Please note that the kind and gentle Mildred who submitted these photos did not caption them. Although we know the work of many artists, we don't know them all, and therefore there will be work uncaptioned. We suggest that if you like a piece and are curious to know the artists name, check Space gallery's website for more info.
Via PR: The exhibition, New Beginnings, is a special showcase that highlights the rebirth of Space Gallery through the eyes of our favorite artists. Although the gallery has been showing work for many years, Space Gallery has recently changed its direction to incorporate a focused environment for artists to thrive and show their amazing talents. We welcome you to the opening reception to help us celebrate the hard work of the artists while bringing new life and personality to Space Gallery. Please join us Saturday, March 12th, from 7pm-12am and show some love!
Featured Artists: Adam Caldwell, Brandie Grogan, Bunnie Reiss , Ezra Li, Fanee, Isabel Samaras, Llewellyn Bryan Dawson, Mike Cuffe, Mike Shine, Megan Wolfe, Nathan C. Warner, NOA, Peter Adamyan, and Skott Cowgill