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Summer 2019 Printed Dresses for Women V-neck Single-breasted Skirt
Source Category: Spot
Skirt type: pendulum type
Whether the main fabrics are imported or not: No
Foreign Trade: Yes
Colour: Coffee, Rose
Is it liquid:N
Content of main fabric ingredients: 71% - 80%.
Inventory: No
Garment flaps: single-breasted
Waist type: middle-waisted
Is it a cross-border source of goods?
Size: M, L, XL, XXL
Main Map Source: Other Sources
Content of Main Fabric Component 2: 10%-29%
Style Type: Street Trendsetters
Main Fabric Composition 2: Viscose Fiber
Combination form: single piece
Skirt length: mid-skirt
Neck type: V-neck
Popular Elements: Printing
Style: Basic style
Fabric Name: Chemical Fiber Blend
Sleeve type: conventional sleeve
Main Fabric Composition: Viscose Fiber
Fashion Style: Europe and America
Have authorized private brands:
Applicable age: adults
Year/Season of Listing: Summer 2019
Sleeve Length: Five-minute Sleeve/Middle Sleeve
Skirt Category: Dresses
Style: Street
Process: Printing/Dyeing
Returns & Exchange Service
You can request a return or exchange service for all products purchased on Elledress within the first 14 days after receiving the package. Please select the service according to the issue you encountered.
You'll need to contact our customer service department to initiate a return/exchange procedure. Our customer service specialists will guide you through the process. Proof of purchase and product condition will be required along the process, including invoice, transaction record, photos, etc.
Returns for product dissatisfaction: If you're not totally satisfied with your Elledress purchase, you can return it within 14 days after receiving the package. Please keep in mind that for returns for dissatisfaction, you'll be required to pay the return shipping fee.
Returns for quality issues: If the product has a manufacturing defect, you can request a total refund or item exchange. Any cost of the commission will be assumed by Elledress.
Returns & Exchange Process
- Contact our customer service team by email (firstname.lastname@example.com), indicating the item(s) you would like to return and the reason, along with the proof of purchase and product condition, including invoice, transaction record and photos. We will get back to you within 24 hours with detailed instructions and shipping address. Your patience will be highly appreciated.
- After receiving return instructions from us, please package up the item(s) to be returned with the original packing.
- Drop off your package at the local post office.
- Most returns are processed within 5 business days after we receive your package. We'll issue the refund to your payment account. Once your refund has been issued, you will receive a confirmation email.
Return Conditions
- You have 5 days to decide if an item is right for you.
- The following items cannot be returned or exchanged: lingerie & sleepwear, swimwear, jewelry, and accessories.
- Items returned must be in their unused condition with the original packing. We do not accept a returned item that's worn, damaged, washed or altered in any way.
- We do not accept returned items that were sent back by you directly without checking with us first.
- We do not offer Freight to Collect (FTC) service for the packages returned to us. The returns will be made at your own cost.
Note: The original shipping fee is non-refundable.
Return Address
The shipping address for your return items will be sent to you by our customer service specialist
Note: Please do not send your return items to the address on your package. That is not our return address and will affect the processing of your return.
Our goal is to offer you the best shipping options, no matter where you live. We deliver to hundreds of customers across the world every day, and we strive to provide you with services of the highest level.
The time frame of order delivery is divided into two parts:
• Processing time: in 48 hours
• Shipping time: in 20-35 days
Customers will only be charged once for shipping costs (this includes returns); No-restocking to be charged to the consumers for the return of the product.
b. In the event ships for free, the customer will be informed of the return shipment cost (estimates may be given based on our own costs in shipping to customers).
These Terms of Service and any separate agreements whereby we provide you Services shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of UK.


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No creatives found in last month for this app
Hours Keeper is a well designed application that you can use to easily track your hours worked and calculate your earnings. Hours Keeper allows to record your daily working hours for each client, including your overtime and break time. After earnings been calculated, your can generate PDF invoices to sent to your clients and track all the billings and the payments. "Easy to use and simple. It's very useful and is definitely worth every penny. Great customer service from developers!" "Very well executed app, nice clean interface with tones of useful features." "A great app for those of us that do business on the go. It is packed full of great features that really help out. Great job." Our Hours Keeper is one of the best tools to track down all the hours you have worked. Once you use the app you will want nothing else to make your hours and earnings tracking easier. KEY FEATURES - Well designed, easy to use, intuitive interface. - Realtime hours/earning tracking for multiple clients. - Weekly and monthly timesheet. - PDF invoices to send to customers. - Earnings reports. - Calendar to map your daily earning for each month. - Billing and payment tracking. - Configurable overtime and break time for time tracking. - Export data as CSV. - Sync data between all your devices. - Passcode protection. Please write to us before leaving negative reviews, as we can often help with your problem or help you better use the app. If you have any problems or suggestions please send a mail to [email protected] , and you will get the response with solutions in a short time.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Women Shooting IDPA Competitions In Schenectady, NY
One of the fastest growing shooting sports in Schenectady, NY that women are competing in is IDPA – International Defense Pistol Association. This is one of, if not the most practical shooting sport for concealed carry and self-defense. In the sport the shooter uses duty or daily carry ammunition in various simulated "real world" self-defense scenarios with your daily carry pistol and holster. The different shooting situations change to meet circumstances you may face on the street, in your car, home, or just out in public.
The competitions in Schenectady, NY allow you to compete with your peers at your skill level and you progress on your own terms and speed. The shooting courses have unlimited possibilities and it is what makes the sport so much fun to participate in. If you are interested in learning skills that could save your life in real self-defense situations by solving different and challenging defensive shooting problems then this is truly the sport for you!
A great sport that does not require any special equipment in Schenectady, NY, just your everyday carry gun, holster, and ammo. Shoot for fun, shoot for competition, shoot for training and for your self-defense.
Women and Handgun Shooting In Schenectady, NY
The history of women and Handguns has its roots dating back to the 1800's and Annie Oakley, that is a yes she was a real person, and was one of the best trick shot artist of all time! Jump forward to the mid to late 1980's when the first publications dedicated to Women handgun shooters first appeared.
It these early years in Schenectady, NY and everywhere in the U.S. there were a lot of misconceptions within the shooting industry about not only Women in general but also about the number of Women interested in the shooting sports. There was even talk within the shooting industry about not advertising to women as women would not understand the mechanics of firearms nor the nomenclature. One famous quote we found from the period: "Female gun owners are being cast as potential saviors of the pro-gun movement. Think carefully, ladies. Our combined influence can work to reshape American society. What do we want to accomplish and where do we want to start?"
In Schenectady, NY or anywhere in the U.S. there were no firearms manufactured in the U.S. specifically for women until Smith & Wesson produced the Lady Smith in 1989. The Lady Smith inspired other manufacturers to produce other firearms which were primarily handguns, but eventually an assortment of long guns that were designed specifically for women. You can now find holsters of all types in Schenectady, NY that are specifically designed by and for women. Every major holster maker now makes products for women, their body types and for their accessory apparel.
In Schenectady, NY and all across the country there are now women shooting clubs staring up, there are several websites dedicated to women only, there are classes taught by women that are NRA certified instructors, and women are now ranked as some of the best shooters in U.S. and in international shooting competitions. Several women have won Gold Medals in the Olympics shooting for the U.S.
In Schenectady, NY when looking for information on Women shooting events, firearms, and concealed carry accessories your single best resource is US Precision Defense. We have information and products specific for women.
The Evolution In Schenectady, NY of Women Handgun Shooting
Women and Handgun Shooting has been on the rise since the mid to late 1980's. Although Hollywood has been charged with glorifying guns in a negative light they did produce movies that actually had a positive effect on the Firearms manufacturers and the general public which showed women could use firearms competently. Believe it or not movies such as "Thelma & Louise," and who can forget the fictional character Sara Connor in "Terminator 2" had positive influences on industry and public thinking alike.
In Schenectady, NY and in other states it is interesting how society and industry think and act and can then reverse their way of thinking when the Truth about a subject such as Women and Handgun shooting is debated and the issue becomes truly understood. It was not easy on the Industry side as it was thought that women were too soft to want to shoot, and then anti-gunners started the only line of attack they could think of when it came to women; they wrongly thought that the manufacturers and pro-gunners are "scaring" women into gun ownership. Amazing how with education and the truth the times have thankfully changed! US Precision Defense will help sort out the Truth about Women and Handgun Shooting.
Women and Guns In Schenectady, NY
Why it is that Handgun ownership is the one area in which women are never quite given full faith and credit for their knowledge and capabilities. Women are allowed to make every other important decision in life without anyone questioning their ability, yet when it comes to Self-Defense and protection politicians and the liberal media balk, I would like them to explain this to us all, what is their antiquated logic and ignorant thinking process?
In Schenectady, NY as in cities all across the county women are assuring their safety by being proactive in learning Handgun shooting, getting their concealed carry permits and even becoming certified NRA firearms instructors who are now teaching other women shooting skills and can talk to woman as no man can. it's clear that women have become a major force in firearms. Women have great political power, the concealed carry laws in a number of states in the last 10 years would not have come to pass without the hard work and political power of women.
In Schenectady, NY or wherever you live Woman and Handgun Shooting is here to stay and flourish regardless of the liberal politicians and media. US Precision Defense is and will always be dedicated to supporting Woman shooters.
Self-Defense Legal Protection For Both CCW Permit Holders And Constitutional Carry
If you are going to pack a concealed firearm for defend, you need a protection plan for concealed carry.
In today's litigious society, any resident in the Schenectady, NY area that has a CCL, carries a piece constitutionally, carries openly or uses any type of hidden firearm or baton in defend, is at great risk that they will face suit, possibly even criminal prosecution if they use a piece or any piece for defend. Even if the use of deadly force was justified in your mind and possibly even legally justified, court costs are a true reality one must be prepared to endure.
In protecting oneself during suit, whether it be in the civil courts such as a wrongful death lawsuit or a criminal case where you are accused of the use of excessive force or even homicide, court costs in all reality will more than likely be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more, even if found innocent and not guilty! Can you afford $500,000 in legal fees?
If you carry openly or pack a concealed firearm you must have a plan, and with all the various organizations selling different types of protection plans for concealed carry and protection plans for concealed carry, you must do due diligence in your research. Did you know there's a major difference between protection plans for concealed carry and protection plans for concealed carry? Several of the organizations that sell true protection plans for concealed carry cannot offer their services in all 50 states because of the different goverment policies concerning protection plans for concealed carry whereas organizations that sell protection plans for concealed carry are allowed to sell their programs in every state, this would be exceptionally helpful if you are traveling with a CCL under reciprocity with a neighboring state and then were involved in a defend shooting dispute.
If you're struggling for your life in the criminal justice system in Schenectady, NY, there are going to be out of pocket expenses that can equal or even exceed attorney fees. There will be things such as bail, hiring investigators to help with your case, various experts, pre-trial discovery, just to mention a few of the areas that you need to make sure are covered by the organization that you choose to provide your comprehensive protection plan for concealed carry.
Another major item you must take into consideration when choosing the organization you want to work with is what are their limits of their defense in both personnel assigned to your case and monetary limits. There are actually some organizations that are very limited and others that have no limits, so doing your homework and due diligence in researching the best organization for your needs is of paramount importance.
One organization that we have found with some of, if not the best and most comprehensive coverage in Schenectady, NY, is the organization "CCW Safe".


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Swivelling tool carrier for up to two milling spindles with 6,000 rpm, 14kW and 46 Nm (40% DC)
- Additional Capto C5 mount for multiple tool with up to four cutting edges
- Optional: mini turret with 8 tool stations (not available with Capto C5 recording)
- Swivel range of the swing arm + 105 / -45 °
Liquid cooled main spindles for maximum temperature stability
- Powerful machining with 6.000 rpm, 21 kW and 225 Nm
- Highest stability thanks to the use of the largest spindle bearings in their class: Ø 100 of the front bearing
- Highest accuracy with <4 μm angular error (coaxiality and cylindricality)
CELOS by DMG MORI with 21.5" ERGOline and SIEMENS 840D sl and ShopTurn 3G
- Consistent management, documentation and visualization of order, process and machine data
- Compatible with PPS and ERP systems. Can be networked with CAD / CAM products.
- Holistic analysis and control of the machine due to the excklusive apps Condition Analyser and Performance Monitor


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EPJ D Highlight - Water window imaging opportunity
- Details
- Published on 31 July 2014
A new theoretical study elucidates mechanisms that could help in producing coherent radiations, and could ultimately help to achieve high-contrast images of biological samples
Ever heard of the water window? It consists of radiations in the 3.3 to 4.4 nanometre range, which are not absorbed by the water in biological tissues. New theoretical findings predict a novel way of achieving coherent radiations within the water window. These could be the basis of an optimal technique to obtain a high-contrast image of the biological samples or to be used in high-precision spectroscopy. Now, a new theoretical study identifies the physical mechanism needed to efficiently generate the harmonic radiations - which are multiples of an incoming laser's frequency - at high laser intensities that occur beyond the saturation threshold of atoms and molecules. These findings, aimed at improving conventional methods of coherent radiation production to reach the water window, were recently published in the EPJ D by José Pérez-Hernández from the Centre for Pulsated Laser, CLPU, in Salamanca, Spain, and colleagues.
When an intense and short laser pulse interacts with an atom or molecule, one of the resultant physical processes is the High-order Harmonic Generation (HHG) process, which is capable of changing the driving laser pulse into new harmonic frequencies. HHG also provides a direct way to synthesise atto-second pulses (10-18s range) and produce coherent radiation in the extreme UV range, dubbed XUV and EUV.
In previous similar work, studies focused on hydrogen as the atomic target. In the present work, the authors extend the study to argon atoms - a gas typically providing a high enough frequency conversion efficiency to detect the HHG. The authors use the same formalism as hydrogen studies, consisting in mathematical equations combined with a quantum mechanical approach using numerical computation and providing a quantitative description of the HHG spectrum. The experimental confirmation of the reported prediction, however, still remains a challenge.
J. A. Pérez-Hernández, M. F. Ciappina, M. Lewenstein, A. Zaïr, and L. Roso (2014), High-order harmonic generation at high laser intensities beyond the tunnel regime, European Physical Journal D 68: 195, DOI: 10.1140/epjd/e2014-50086-6


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Q I am extremely concerned with the HUGE hump on northbound Highway 85 after merging from northbound Highway 101 in South San Jose. Whenever I ride my motorcycle, I tend to slow down and switch lanes to the far right to go over this incredible hump. I have to warn my wife in advance, yet she usually gets airborne and flies off her seat approximately six inches, which is a disaster waiting to happen. I drive all over the state on my Harley, and this is the worst road experience ever! I am more concerned with any motorcyclists passing by from out of town that aren't aware of this serious safety hazard.
This even happens to us in the car, and I have to warn my wife and kids every time to hold on because here comes the bump AGAIN! This is horrendous and should be repaired before someone loses control and kills themselves.
Jerry Gutierrez
San Jose
A Memo to Bernie-the-Caltrans-Man: We have to come to the rescue of Mrs. Gutierrez and the kids.
Bernie: I'm on it.
Q I frequent all the DMVs in the area, and I have to admit that all DMV offices in the South Bay have bathroom problems. Frequently there is no soap to wash your hands, graffiti on the walls (probably why they never bother to paint them), messy, dirty and abused by customers who simply don't care.
If there is a mirror, it surely is near worthless, with gang tags carved into the glass. The cause of this abuse? The bathrooms are only built to serve one person at a time. Someone can lock the door, be alone and trash the place without being interrupted. When the DMV remodels bathrooms, they need to make them so the door can't be locked and they serve more than one person at a time.
When I walked into the Santa Clara DMV recently, I thought they were suffering a power outage because it was so dark. It was like walking into a cave.
Jim Wissick
San Jose
A Let there be light — and more. There are no plans to keep the door unlocked, but the Santa Clara DMV restroom will be getting an upgrade within the next six months that will included fresh paint, improved flooring and replacement of the fixtures, dispensers, mirrors and dividers between toilets. The DMV also will improve the lighting in the office within the next month.
The restrooms at the Hayward DMV office will get a cleaning in April.
In addition, in the past few months restrooms at the Oakland Coliseum, Fremont, San Francisco, Pleasanton, El Cerrito and Los Gatos sites have been cleaned and refurbished.
Q I have a question regarding the approaches to the northbound Benicia Bridge. Why are big rigs allowed in the No. 1 and No. 2 lanes of Interstate 680 well before the highway expands at the Highway 4/680 interchange and at Pacheco Boulevard at the toll plaza to the bridge? I thought trucks with three or more axles were limited to 55 mph and restricted to the two right lanes. The CHP doesn't seem to enforce this restriction with any frequency. Do big rigs have an exemption on this section of I-680?
Tom Baer
A Yes, they do. They are permitted to use other lanes when there are safety and operational concerns for a short period at a specific location.
For northbound I-680 approaching Highway 242, there are six lanes of traffic, with the three left lanes designated for I-680 and the three right lanes for 242. In that case, Caltrans says it is reasonable to allow trucks to travel in the so-called middle lanes to continue north on I-680.
Similarly, at the approach to Highway 4, the right lane is for Highway 4 only and trucks can move out of the two right lanes to continue on northbound 680. Near the toll plaza, the two left lanes are for FasTrak, but the majority of trucks use the wide lanes on the right of the plaza.
Another example is westbound I-580 in Pleasanton at the approach to I-680, where the right lanes generally are congested. Signs are posted to allow trucks at that location to drive in the left lanes, but they have to move to the right after the interchange.
Q My wife and I are new to Oakland and faithfully read your newspaper column. We've learned about traffic patterns and what areas to avoid during our explorations. We're adjusting to legal U-turns and pedestrian right-of-ways.
But the signal light at Grand Avenue and Brush Street in Oakland has not been operating since we moved here in July. Brush is a frequently used route to the freeway and, without the signal light, is impossible to cross at Grand. If the light is not to be operable, could four-way stop signs be installed?
Robert and Elizabeth Ridener
A Your wish will be granted — and soon. Crews will be out next week and could have a new signal working by the end of the week.
Q I've heard there will be more parking at the BART Hillcrest Park and Ride lot in Antioch. Is that true?
Steve L.
A Yes. It will be expanded this weekend to add 94 spaces. This lot often fills up.
Q Traffic has been not so sweet on west Interstate 580 at the truck scales in Livermore near Greenville Road. What is going on?
Mary Le
A Caltrans has closed the truck scales along westbound I-580 near Greenville Road to replace slabs along the ramps leading to the truck scales.
Q I don't know who to thank, so I'll send this to you. With all the construction to improve Buskirk Avenue near Monument Boulevard in the Concord/Pleasant Hill area, walking to and from the nearby shopping center has been tricky, to say the least. Then workers set up a very nice pedestrian walkway from Buskirk at Hookston Road into the shopping center. It is very nice that they have thought about us walkers, and I just wanted them to know it is appreciated.
Brooke Taylor
A So noted.
Look for Gary Richards at Facebook.com/mr.roadshow, follow him at Twitter.com/mrroadshow or contact him at firstname.lastname@example.com or 408-920-5335.


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Faced with the challenge of keeping a historic mansion warm for elderly residents while reining in costs, the nonprofit organization that operates the 18th-century Chase-Lloyd House in Annapolis is turning to 21st-century techniques to save the day.
Chase Home Inc., an organization that runs the historic building as both housing for elderly women and a tourist attraction, recently contracted for an energy audit to determine if technology can help offset some of the high costs of operation.
"We want to see if there's a way that we can reduce our footprint and our expenses, and be better stewards of the environment and not hurt the fabric of our building," said Molly Smith, vice president of the house's board of trustees and the chief executive officer.
The long-term goal, she said, would be for the Chase-Lloyd House to become a local example of how Colonial-era buildings can be retrofitted with efficient technologies that don't wreck the historic nature of the structures. Annapolis has a well-known historic district, and the city and Anne Arundel County boast dozens of historic buildings. The Chase-Lloyd House is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The recommendations are expected to include a mix of geothermal heating and air conditioning, insulation and maybe specialized pop-in storm windows. The existing gas-fired boilers are expected to become less of a factor.
"You have elderly ladies there, and you want them to be comfortable," said Tom Boyer, owner of Infrared Tools Energy Services in Crofton, who is working on the audit.
Depending on the options chosen, costs could range from $60,000 to more than double that, before rebates and other incentives, he said. Operating expenses, however, would drop sharply.
Smith said energy costs average a few thousand dollars a month. The organization operates on an endowment. Although it accepts donations, it has not been actively raising funds.
"It would be nice if we had a windfall in the stock market. Or maybe a fairy godmother will appear," Smith said.
The 11,200-square-foot Georgian-style house, which Smith describes as a living landmark, features a main floor that's open in warm weather for the public to view the elaborate ceiling and moldings, the grand hall and Palladian windows, and the carved marble mantels.
The upper floors are private. Women who can live independently pay what they can afford for the rooms on the second and third floors, where each of the eight bedrooms has a bathroom and spectacular view of Annapolis. Rent, which includes meals, doesn't cover operating expenses, Smith said, and the energy audit is an initial step toward trimming the bills. Any changes to the property must meet strict historic regulations.
The Chase-Lloyd House has a storied past, according to its operators. Construction of the private home began in 1769 when the site was owned by Samuel Chase, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Cash-strapped, he sold the unfinished building in 1771 to Edward Lloyd IV, who owned an Eastern Shore tobacco plantation and whose son became a Maryland governor.
The mansion returned to the Chase family in 1846, and eventually Hester Ann Chase Ridout owned it. Her 1886 will directed that the house be turned into a residence for elderly women, to be managed by trustees. An endowment was created through the sale of other assets, Smith said.
Modernized over the years, the house has storm windows, a 20th-century kitchen and an elevator. But the attic has to be heated to keep sprinkler pipes from freezing, and it has little insulation. Insulating the roof would help, but it must be done in a way that won't allow moisture to collect and rot the wood.
The idea for the audit came from Annapolis Green, a nonprofit network.
Boyer has some experience trying to make old buildings energy-efficient. Last year he took a look at the Charles Carroll House, a nearby historic site that has offices but no residents.
Eileen Leahy, chair of the Carroll House's board of trustees, said Boyer's survey was a starting point, advising where indoor air was escaping from the house, but didn't extend to a cost and savings analysis. That led to a seminar last September that focused on energy conservation at historic properties, run by Four Rivers: The Heritage Area of Annapolis, London Town & South County. The Chase-Lloyd House then sought and received a $2,500 matching grant from Four Rivers toward its audit.
The Chase-Lloyd House's board will study Boyer's report in coming months. The board itself is unusual, Smith said: Ridout's will mandated that it include at least four women — unheard of in Ridout's time.
"She was forward-thinking," Smith said. "That's what we want to do: be forward-thinking."


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Menus for each school can be viewed and printed using Adobe Reader by clicking on the links below.
1. Select Month
Learn about this month's Harvest of the Month Fruit, Vegetable and Spice
Nectarine Jalapeno Cilantro
The Food Court is made up of six food stations where students can purchase entrees which are considered a complete "lunch". The food court caters to a majority of students' tastes by offering a variety of popular food choices each day. Some of our students prefer to choose similar foods each day, while others opt to select from the various stations depending on the daily offerings. Throughout the school year, we constantly evaluate menus and implement changes based on student input. We welcome suggestions and requests for new menu ideas and will try to honor them.
Click here to see the food court stations that are featured.


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This year's Mountain Auction to benefit Mt. Irenaeus will feature travel packages, sports memorabilia and gourmet dinners, among other offerings of local products and services.
Reservations for the annual auction are now being accepted by contacting Michelle Marcellin at 716-375-2096.
The 2013 Mountain Auction will be held Saturday, Nov. 2, in Doyle Hall on the St. Bonaventure University campus and supports the work of Mt. Irenaeus and the Franciscan friars who welcome people from all faith traditions.
The event begins with a 5 p.m. Mass in the University Chapel, Doyle Hall, followed by the auction at 6 p.m.
The auction features an evening with more than 200 gifts, most offered by silent auction and a select few in the exciting, fast-moving verbal auction. Dan Carter will be the auctioneer for the verbal portion of the auction.
Among the travel packages are a stay at the historic Glen Iris Inn (Letchworth State Park) and tickets and accommodations for an Orlando Magic vs. Cleveland Cavaliers game.
Silent auction gifts range from small appliances, holiday décor and passes to regional zoos and parks, to Cutco products, electronics, golf passes and gift baskets.
For those driven to bid by their stomach, edible gifts include a gourmet dinner prepared by local chief Sheila Darrow at the Mountain and a pie-of-the-month offering from Sr. Regina Aman, O.S.F., of St. Mary of the Angels Church in Olean.
Back by popular demand will be a Mt. Irenaeus hike with Br. Joe Kotula, O.F.M.
Reservations will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis and will be accepted until the auction is sold out. The cost is $50 per person and includes cocktails, buffet, passed hors d'oeuvres and desserts. Auction proceeds aid the Mountain's endowment and support the general operating fund. For more information about Mt. Irenaeus, visit www.mounti.com.
Application forms, procedures and additional information
There are many ways to experience
St. Bonaventure for yourself
Learn more about the programs that interest you


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Mike Davis
Senior Member
- Joined
- May 2, 2011
- Messages
- 1,521
- Reaction score
- 0
I am profiling out a bunch of blades today, and thought of doing a 12" scimitar to use for this summer's BBQ festivities. I want to do a wa handle, but will this look weird? I am not a huge fan of western handles, but i will make it that way if need be(i have the perfect scales/bolster combo)So i have to make myself at least one western handled knife. What are your guy's thoughts on this?


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Have you ever been to a live supercross and watched guys battle hard for seventh in the LCQ and wondered why? Perhaps you went to a National and saw two riders give it everything they have, lap after lap, in a battle for thirty-sixth place. Why are these guys fighting so hard over a non-qualifying spot, or for a finish that doesn't pay any points? If you've never raced a motorcycle, none of this makes any sense to you. But if you have experienced two-wheeled competition, it makes all the sense in the world. It's the racing mentality, and it's not something that's easily turned off.
A couple years ago I raced the Virginia City Grand Prix in Nevada, which, from the old west style town that has bars with names like, The Comstock Bandito and, Bucket of Blood Saloon, to the foul-mouthed, Southern Comfort-guzzling race announcer that constantly addressed the crowd as sunuvahbitches (I'm not making this up), was quite the experience. I was there on assignment and was racing the promoter's XR650, which, to say the least, is not the ideal machine for the course's extremely rocky terrain. Roughly halfway through my first 25-mile lap, I sustained a flat front tire. Shortly after that, I laid it down and snapped the front brake lever. Needless to say, I slowed up and started nursing it until I could get back into the pits and make repairs.
With the first lap winding down, however, I experienced an abrupt attitude change. Just as I was entering a straight paved section that was roughly a quarter of a mile long, a 250-mounted rider came out of nowhere and went by me on the inside. With the end of the first lap just a few minutes away, there was just no way I could allow this rider to finish the first lap ahead of me. Wasn't going to happen. Flat tire be damned, and who needs front brakes? Without hesitation, I snapped every single one of those 650cc's to rigid attention, tucked and motored right back past my newest rival. Throttle wide, wrist straining, I came barreling toward the rapidly approaching ninety-degree right hander at close to 75 mph. Miraculously, I made the corner and beat Mr. 250 to the line a few minutes later. It could have been for 287th instead of 288th, I really don't know, and since I had to pit to make repairs anyway, it truly didn't matter. But I didn't care. I had beaten him to the line, and it felt good.
Whether its a battle for first in professional supercross or 20th at a local race, a racers mentality is a racers mentality.
Simon Cudby photo
That's the racing mentality, and anyone who has raced a motorcycle has it to some degree. It's one of the few things that novice racers share with the sport's best athletes. When you're out there giving it your all, tired, barely able to hang on, feeling like you're on the edge, the feeling is the same no matter the speed, the position or the stakes. It's the reason racers train and test relentlessly, why mechanics spin wrenches all night, why Weston Peick wins so many mid-pack battles for 11th on a given Saturday night. It's not a battle for a top ten, and the prize money differential between the 11th and 12th is tiny. But he's not racing the numbers, he's racing the guy in front of him, and a racer never wants to lose to a guy who is rightthere in front of him.
It's the double-edged sword that results in season-ending injuries for some, and championship glory for others. It's why we all love participating in a sport that is so difficult to do. It's the driving force of our competitive nature and in roughly a month, we're going to see it on display in full force. But even then you might not see it. Even in a stadium packed with 50,000 fans, few might notice the battle for 16th when the focus is on the leaders. But for the riders in that battle, it doesn't matter who is watching. They're only focused on each other, anyway, and that's what makes it so good.
Here's to the racing mentality, the key ingredient to what should be one heck of a season to come.


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Mike Hibler authored
Needed when boss is the tip server (i.e., for IPMI consoles). Somehow this vaguely feels like a potential flaw. Prior to this, a misconfigured sshtb command that specified boss would fail. Now it will succeed and run in the one place it can cause the most damage. Also, fix a couple of nits in the console code.f4d4dd0e


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No Greater Love Than A Mother's
We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service (revised 3/17/2016) for information on our posting policy. Thanks to the Courtesy of :


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Man arrested in botched robbery attempt, shooting
Baltimore City police said they have arrested a man in connection with a botched robbery that left one man shot.
Officers were called to the 900 block of Jack Street for a reported shooting at 12:55 a.m. Sunday.
Police said a 49-year-old man, who was sitting on the front steps of the home, was suffering from a gunshot wound to his left hand.
The victim told police he was asleep in an upstairs bedroom when a black man came into his room and threatened him with a knife while demanding valuables.
The victim told police he began to fight with the robber, who pulled out a handgun and shot him in the hand.
The robber fled the scene, and the victim called the police. The victim was taken to an area hospital for treatment.
On Tuesday, police said they arrested 28-year-old Earl Solomon in connection with the incident. Solomon faces multiple charges, including handgun and assault charges.


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"Art is an immortal statement of the mortal" says Ron Elstad. That sounds lovely but I don't really agree with it, but then, I have searched every pot hole on my street, from the shallow to the deep, and not once have I found even a single gram of marijuana in them. A tragic misnomer.
My blog is a fragile record of my art work in a fragile virtual world and as such I will today, a day after my 7th year as Bryn Oh in Second Life, begin cataloging my new work The Singularity of Kumiko and relate how it connects to Imogen and the Pigeons, my previous work shown on my virtual land named Immersiva. There are several posts starting with that link which explain who Imogen was and act as a walk through of the previous story from which The Singularity of Kumiko is a prequel. My focus or goal in using virtual worlds for my art has always been to create an artwork which is defined by the experience of being immersed. As an oil painter I have always been accustomed to working on a 2D surface that reflects a moment in time, a snapshot that we stand back from and observe at a distance of five feet or so. We contemplate the painting within the confines of a gallery or museum fully aware that we are not in the artwork itself, but rather looking at an artwork on a wall with one eye, while always being aware of the environment shared with that artwork. The people milling around, the choice of shoes they have made or perhaps we are distracted by something so benign as the annoying pitch of a persons voice nearby. In these spaces we share our focus with a variety of other distracting things beyond the smiling Mona Lisa. And at no point do we expect to turn and see who Mona is speaking to nor would we contemplate walking up the hill that stretches behind her. There is a barrier to immersion which we accept and expect.
Perhaps later we go to a cinema to see a movie. The screen is massive taking up almost all our view with just the exit sign in our peripheral vision. The lights go dark and we are expected to be silent. Distractions have been greatly eliminated, we don't see people around us in the darkness outside the narrative, the excessively loud volume prevents us from hearing sounds that don't belong in the narrative around us. It is no longer a static image but rather a work with duration. A great story with great actors can create a deep level of immersion under these circumstances. But there is still a flaw, in my opinion anyway, and that is we are passive observers being told a story. We are still separate. If we come to the same movie tomorrow it will be exactly the same story with the same camera movement which we are unable to break free from. If we see a mossy stone off to the side of the narrative we can not wrestle free from the scripted nature of the camera movement and observe the stone more closely. We can not turn the rock over and watch the centipedes scurry for cover. We are observers but not active participants to the artwork. My goals have always been about trying to create that next stage to immersion within a multi-user environment. I want to create an artwork which immerses the viewer, yet allows you to make decisions within an open ended environment. The next few posts will take you through the two stories
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Saturday, March 8, 2014
Dasha Hara machinima for BAK
I have been pretty busy lately and strangely have forgotten to mention that I was commissioned to create a music video for a band named BAK which I completed a few months ago. I enjoyed working with the band as they were pretty hands off for the most part, letting me interpret their music as a narrative.
My story is based around a girl who drops her scissors onto the grass when startled during a lightning storm. The scissors land in the soil, one blade piercing it, creating an almost religious symbol or icon which draws forth an Emperor Moth to perch upon it. From there other insects are slowly drawn to the mysterious artifact and soon begin to worship the symbol and its moth. Soon they begin to fight amongst themselves. The girl looks down upon the tiny world at her feet and is dismayed to see what her scissors have caused. A seemingly innocent tool taken and then distorted into something quite different. After seeing how they have changed, she ponders for a while, then eradicates them. A simple girl transformed into a Goddess for a little world of insects who come to embrace her soul. Or ... rather... her sole.
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Wrangler Jeans For Men
You're good at your job, but you still put your pants on one leg at a time, just like everybody else. What is different about you though, is that those pants are jeans, and those jeans are Wranglers. You know the difference in quality. They're perfect for real work -- on the farm, the ranch, the construction site, or the factory. They are tough, th...ey are rugged, and they are comfortable. No frills, no fuss, just good honest jeans for a good honest day's work. And after work, too. They still look good enough to take your lady out in afterward. And they're still comfortable enough to wear when you're taking it easy -- just watching the game or taking a drive. There's just something right about a man wearing Wrangler jeans. The best part, aside from the fit and the comfort, is that there's just so darn many types to choose from. You've got your classic fit, the tried and true original which is still the most popular. Even though you can fix pretty much anything Mr. Handyman, probably best not to fix it if it isn't broken, right? But with so many other styles to choose from as well -- from carpenter jeans, cargo style, utility style, straight leg, boot cut, western style, heavyweight denim, cowboy cut and so many more -- you can grab whatever type of Wrangler jeans work best for you. If you want great fitting jeans, comfortable jeans, and durable jeans, you can't beat Wrangler. It's what they're known for.(Learn More About wrangler jeans for men)(See less)


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So I finally got my hair done did…it's only been 10 months. 10 months of outgrown, frizzy and limp hair.
I went in not knowing what I really wanted, but then decided to go a bit shorter than expected, though not as short as the result. I also decided on highlights, but I think it's too much. It's a caramel shade on top of my dark dark brown hair.
I'm going back in tonight to get it darkened even though everyone says it's fine. It could be just too much for me…I'm not used to highlights anymore…Plus, the cut didn't turn out like the picture. So, maybe I'll just ask her to give me an angled bob and shorten it up a bit in the back. Having a flat head and thinning hair = oodles of volume problems! lol I also need to get used to bangs. I've just been sweeping them to side or clipping them back…Thus totally negating the whole "bangs can cover my huge forehead" ordeal. Ahh…hair woes.
Still, I couldn't resist having a little fun 🙂


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A senior military official tells NBC News that Duncan Boothby, a civilian on Gen. McChrystal's public relations staff who was apparently responsible for setting up the Rolling Stone interview, has resigned.
The official adds, however, that it appears Boothby was "asked to resign."
In addition, NBC spoke to Michael Hastings, the author of the Rolling Stone profile on McChrystal. He's in Afghanistan on an embed with the U.S. military now, and he's just learning the details about the impact his article is having.
Hastings says he stumbled onto unprecedented access with McChrystal. After McChrystal's press advisers accepted a request for the profile, Hastings joined McChrystal and his team in Paris. It was supposed to be a two-day visit, followed up with more time in Afghanistan.
The volcano in Iceland, however, changed those plans. As the ash disrupted air travel, Hastings ended up being "stuck" with McChrystal and his team for 10 days in Paris and Berlin. McChrystal had to get to Berlin by bus. Hastings says McChrystal and his aides were drinking on the road trip "the whole way."
"They let loose," he said. "I don't blame them; they have a hard job."
Hastings then traveled with McChrystal in Afghanistan for more time. What was supposed to be a two-day visit, turned into a month, in part due to disruptions of the volcano.
Hastings says McChrystal was very "candid" with him and knew their conversations were for reporting purposes. "Most of the time I had a tape recorder in his face or a notebook in my hand," he said.
Hastings says most of the critical comments, which are now causing a stir, were said in the first 24 hours or so. "It wasn't a case of charming him into anything," Hastings said.


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A very cool shot of our company at 13.
I first heard of Red Gate back in 2001 and they were our first advertising customer at SQLServerCentral.
A few years ago they bought the company and I now work for them. It's a great company, and a fun one. Things like this are very cool, and while a little corny, are a nice way to celebrate a minor milestone.
I wish I was closer to the office for things like this.


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Though it's likely Sporting Director and Head Coach Gregg Berhalter has learned one thing or another from each of the coaches he played under during his 16-year career, the former defender has taken more from Bruce Arena due to the success the National Soccer Hall of Fame coach has seen in Major League Soccer's history, including four MLS Cup wins and three Coach of the Year awards ... "I take a lot from [Arena]," Berhalter admitted ... "It's not just one thing. Something that stands out, however, is how he gets his teams to compete. He doesn't accept anything less than 100 percent. He makes that known." ... "It will be fun," Berhalter said ... "Obviously, I look up to him and he's had a big influence on my career both on the playing field and off. It'll be a good day."
Since scoring a beautiful goal off of a free kick in New England on July 26, Federico Higuain has been on a scoring tear ... the club's Designated Player has tallied in three straight games after finding a goal on August 2 and again last weekend against Toronto ... Higuain leads the Crew this year in goals (nine) and assists (five).
Federico Higuain has now scored 11 of his 25 career goals for the Crew in attempts from the penalty spot ... with his spot kick last weekend against Toronto FC, he is now tied for second with Brian McBride for second all-time in penalty kick goals, with 11 ... Guillermo Barros Schelotto leads the Crew with 13 penalty kick goals.
With his game-tying assist in Chicago to open the month, Ethan Finlay has recorded a goal or an assist in eight of the last 12 League matches he's played in dating back to May 17 at Portland ... Finlay scored his first career tally in Oregon before returning home for a second goal against Chicago on May 24 ... on May 31 in Toronto, Finlay added an assist on Justin Meram's tally to open the scoring before scoring on June 4 ... the Crew was held scoreless in the 0-0 draw on June 7 and Finlay missed action on June 29 after recovering from an appendectomy ... he returned with the team's lone goal in the 1-1 draw at Colorado on July 4 ... Finlay also assisted Adam Bedell's goal in the July 12 match at New York and added the game-winning goal on July 26 at New England.


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Spicy shrimp and garlic
Stories this photo appears in:
Fueling up again
Talking SCHOP!
In 2008, I put Pizzeria 123 on my "Best of Harlem" list for their medium plain pizza—well done, of course. It satisfied my need for crunchy thin crust and gooey cheese in one fell swoop. I was sad to see the business compromised by the neighboring construction and then its ultimate closure. Thank you for servicing our community!


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|January, 2019
Message from Fr Gary
Touched by Christ
I experienced an amazing awakening during our pilgrimage. Several things touched my heart, and you know me, I will spill these details, little by little, within my Sunday Liturgy sermons. Standing on the grounds where Christ walked and being at the sites where our Savior performed His miracles was most profound.
We entered the city of Nain. Our tour guide, Fr. Leondios (an Archimandrite of Greek descent), stumped me when he asked, "Who knows what happened here in Nain?" because he pronounced it "Nah-een." When I realized where we were, I was provoked by the notion that this was where Christ raised the son of the widow from the dead. As He led His crowd into the city, He encountered the funeral procession and said to the grieving widow, "Don't cry." Two large groups, with two very different functions, collide at the city gates.
There is a lot to learn as we look at this collision. The first is a procession of death. It is the funeral of a young man that is the only son of his widowed mother. The second is comprised of Chris's disciples and followers. One a procession of life and the other a procession of death.
The procession of death is exasperated by...


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The beginning of the admission period for ObamaCare is a legitimate cause for celebration for anyone who has not been able to afford health care coverage until now, and for those who are seeking ways to reduce the cost of their insurance.
But there is a dangerous byproduct of the structure of this plan, which threatens to undo much of the good that can be done with a reform of this nature.
As many people line up to join the health insurance system, the door is slamming shut for many providers of health care in New Hampshire and around the country. This is already having dramatic impact on the relationship between doctors and patients here in this state.
It is critical to remember one reality about this reform: ObamaCare means roughly ten million people will now be enrolled in health care programs around the country. But there is NO plan to expand the number of doctors or health care providers to handle the sudden surge of new patients in the system.
In fact, the opposite is happening in New Hampshire because of the limits written into the law. Health insurance companies, like Anthem, are empowered to pick winners and losers among hospitals like ours. They draw up the insurance coverage options for you to consider and Anthem then enters into partnerships with hospitals of their choosing. The insurance companies are the authors of the plans, from which they will make a profit. And the insurance companies choose which facilities will take their customers.
Insurance companies hold too much power in this plan.
In New Hampshire, Frisbie Memorial Hospital, Alice Peck Day Memorial, Cottage, Monadnock Community Hospital, Parkland Medical Center, Portsmouth Regional Hospital, Upper Connecticut Valley, Valley Regional Hospital are all excluded from this program. The door is closed on us. That has a tremendous and crippling impact on the way health care will be provided in our state.
For Frisbie Memorial staff and doctors, there are 80 health care providers who care for nearly 7,000 patients who don't have insurance and will be eligible for coverage through ObamaCare. However, those people will have to go to Dover for care. That is the sudden and unexpected split in doctor/patient relationships that have been in place for many years. That is a loss of choice for patients, a crippling loss of business for providers, and it jeopardizes the future of how we provide health care in our own community.
The goals of this program are admirable, but the road map for accomplishing those goals is a dead end for many hospitals in New Hampshire. When you have a proposal that will essentially bring thousands of new patients into the system, but you severely limit the access to care by excluding so many of us from the provider network, you threaten the efficiency and quality of the system.
What will be the result? Patients will need to build new relationships with new doctors outside of their communities. More people bottlenecked into fewer facilities will increase wait times for everything from regular doctor visits to receiving test results to being scheduled for various procedures all around New Hampshire. Lines get longer, doctors in the network deal with a much heavier load, and many providers like the doctors and nurses and specialists at Frisbie Memorial will watch from the sidelines.
That makes no sense.
This reform is like building a new home without the proper foundation. This has fundamental weaknesses that need to be addressed now before the damage becomes too expensive and irreparable.
There is an answer.
Anthem can open the door to the hospitals that have been excluded. They can take proper steps to protect existing doctor-patient relationships that are now being ripped apart. They can do the appropriate thing to ensure access to care is the priority, not profits.
State leaders need to take action. They need to ensure more balance in the decision process around this program. If one side has too much power, the balance between access, affordability and quality is threatened. That's happening right now. The goals of ObamaCare are noble. But this plan will forever change the face of health care in New Hampshire, and it won't be an improvement.


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Sean Devlin is one sneaky man, making it deep into the heart of enemy territory for Gamescom in Germany and then sneaking out again with only these screenshots as evidence that he was ever there.
That shot of Sean in his race car is probably the most color I've seen in any one screenshot for Pandemic's The Saboteur. It sort of gives you an idea of what you're fighting for in the game, restoring color and life to Paris by liberating it from Nazi occupation during World War II. Sure, it's still just a next-gen de Blob, but there isn't anything wrong with that.
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text: I have watched with amusement the reaction to Whole Foods CEO John Mackey's recent denunciation of Obamacare as fascist. Here's the comment he made during a recent NPR interview when asked by Steve Inskeep whether Obamacare was socialist in nature: Technically speaking, it's more like fascism. Socialism is where the government owns the means of… Read More… Read More


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Don't throw those boring New Years cards away!
As promised two posts ago, we're now going to explain the prizes attached to New Years cards. We pointed out in that article that the custom of sending nengajo (New Years greetings) or nenga-hagaki (New Years postcards) has been declining in recent years, a development that concerns JP because it's always derived a good part of its revenue from the custom. Last year, JP sold 3.27 billion cards, which sounds like a lot, but represents a 20 percent drop since sales peaked in 1999.
Many years ago they started a lottery contest. Each card has a number printed on it, and sometime in the middle of January, JP conducts a drawing for winning numbers. However, the people who buy the cards and send them are not the same people who receive them and thus have the chance to win prizes, so the lottery incentive for buying cards escapes us, unless you assume that the more cards you send the more you are likely to receive, but that sort of cause-and-effect logic wouldn't actually kick in until the following year, right?
According to NHK, the idea of combining nengajo with a lottery started in 1949, when the price of a postcard was ¥2 yen. In the years right after the war, the exchange of nenga-hagaki took on special meaning, since it was a good way to inform friends and relatives that you were still alive and where you were. The lottery, which is called otoshidama, the term for New Years gifts of cash given to children, made it even more appealing, because so many people had nothing at the time, so the prizes were for the most part practical: sewing machines, skeins of wool, bolts of fabric. As Japanese society became more affluent, the prizes became more aspirational: TV sets and other high-end home appliances, or coupons for international or domestic travel.
In the Jan. 6, 2010 issue of the weekly magazine Bunshun there is an article about the prizes. That year the grand prize was a 32-inch high-definition flat screen TV. The article goes on to explain the keihin hyoji-ho, or "incentive indication law," which states that a company which offers prizes as an incentive to boost sales cannot offer prizes whose value is more than 20 times the price of the merchandise or service that is sold, so, theoretically, if a postcard costs ¥50, then the most you could win is something worth ¥1,000. But, in fact, JP got a special dispensation, since a different law was passed specifically for nengajo, and that law says you can offer prices worth up to 5,000 times the price of the lottery ticket.
Another condition of the special law is that if the card is received by a company rather than an individual, and that card is a winner, the person who claims the prize must present proof that he or she is an employee of the company. Another condition is that the prizes must be claimed within six months of the drawing (it's up to one year for conventional Takarakuji lotteries, which are sold as lottery tickets so the incentive law doesn't apply).
However, there's another difference between Takarakuji and nengajo lotteries that's more fundamental to this discussion. Takarakuji publicizes the rate of winning numbers that are claimed, but JP doesn't. Bunshun interviewed an expert who conjectures that Takarakuji prizes are cash, while JP prizes are goods. If all the cash available for prizes isn't won in a given year, Takarakuji just keeps the money and adds it to next year's jackpot, but what can JP do with unclaimed goods? People aren't going to be interested in last year's model TV, and the lesser prizes, like travel coupons, usually come with a time period in which they have to be redeemed. Another prize is sheets of stamps, which are deemed legal tender, but for some reason they are destroyed if not won in the lottery.
The impression one gets from the article is that a fair number of nengajo prizes are not claimed every year, mainly because people don't really care, and one reason they don't care is that it's inconvenient. In order to check the numbers, the receiver has to read the right newspaper on the right day or go to the nearest post office, and most people can't be bothered. Now, of course, JP publicizes the winning numbers on the Internet, but even that may not be enough, so this year instead of prizes, JP is offering cash, thus making it more like otoshidama.
It's not a lot of cash, though. The top prize is only ¥10,000. The incentive is that the odds are more in the public's favor. In the past, when the top prize was an expensive appliance, the odds of winning were one in a million. But this year there are 33,936 first prize winning cards, which means the odds of getting one is one in 100,000. There are also 339,365 furusato prizes ("home town" prizes, meaning products associated with specific regions in Japan), so the odds of winning one of those is one in 10,000. And the other prize is, again, sheets of stamps. The odds of winning those is one in fifty.
JP will announce the winning numbers on Jan. 19.


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July 17, 2014
Indoor Air Quality Basics
Posted in Living by Tara Sharp
Luckily, there are many ways to reduce indoor air pollution. We all know that buying organic and natural home materials and cleaning supplies can improve the air quality in our homes, but there are several other measures you can take as well.
Read More >
July 09, 2014
Announcing the Winner of the Community Service Day Facebook Challenge!
Posted in Community by Tara Sharp
On June 20, Windermere offices in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Hawaii, Alaska, and Utah all took a day off from selling homes to help make a difference in their local communities. Our offices were challenged to share photos and videos from their community service day event on the Windermere Real Estate Facebook page.
Read More >
July 03, 2014
Summer Entertaining Guide
Posted in Living by Tara Sharp
Summer is officially here, and the season is ripe with opportunities for parties, barbeques, and outdoor entertaining with friends and family. To set the stage for fun gatherings, we have collected some ideas for outdoor decorating, fun party themes, and more on the "Summer Entertaining" Pinterest board.
Read More >


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Posts Tagged 'best vpn service for torrenting'
Protect Yourself With IPVanish The Best VPN For Fire Stick and Fire TV
In a perfect world, all of your internet communications would be completely private. Unfortunately, this is not the case. While you are surfing (or streaming, for that matter) your internet service provider, marketers, hackers and the government have full access to your online activity. Unfortunately, many people are beginning to find this out the hard…Read More


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Want to Repeal ObamaCare? Stay On Message
Yesterday, I reluctantly dinged House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) and House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) for veering off‐message after bravely introducing and winning House passage of badly needed Medicare reforms. Each said ill‐advised things to the media that undermined the long‐term goal of Medicare reform. I even emailed some colleagues, "Why can't they stay on‐message, as they have with ObamaCare?"
As if on cue, it appears that House Ways & Means Committee chairman David Camp (R-MI) may have outdone both Cantor and Ryan. Huffington Post reports that Camp used the word "dead" to describe the effort to repeal ObamaCare.
I know, I know, he probably only meant that repeal is dead in this Congress. Yes, yes, he was backed into it by a reporter. Yeah, he will probably push for repeal in the next Congress, just as he did in this Congress. Is Huffington Post seizing on the word dead and painting an inaccurate picture of just how much Camp really, really wants to get rid of this intolerable law? No doubt all of this is true. None of it matters one bit.
Camp is the chairman of a powerful congressional committee. He should know that's exactly what reporters are trying to do. And he should know how to stick to the script. Rather than use his comments to signal once again how committed he is to ensuring that ObamaCare never takes full effect in 2014, he gave us a news cycle — hopefully no more than one — where the words ObamaCare, repeal, and dead appear in the same sentence.


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Conclusion 04By Gary Bolles
Outsourcing 2002: How CIOs Reach Outsourcing Deals
Many CIOs say they're eager to save money by outsourcingno surprise in these tough economic times. However, our second annual survey on outsourcing finds there's no stampede going on. Cost is now the number-one reason for outsourcing, cited by the 396 top IT execs we polled, but the share of the IT budget going to outsourcing services is expected to decline slightly in 2002 compared with 2001. Outsourcing projects have been cut back, and "business process outsourcing"supposedly the next hot outsourcing trendstill hasn't caught on. But despite the pressure they face to reduce costs, most CIOs aren't pushing to negotiate better terms when contracts come up for renewal.
One study also found that while cost is important, several rationales for outsourcinglack of internal expertise, desire to focus on core competencies and lack of internal staffare also of great importance.
A growing number of outsourcing contracts went to large computer companies and Big 5 accounting firms in 2001, though whether this will continue in a post-Enron world is anybody's guess.
CIOs are leaving money on the table, and not watching costs as closely as they could. Not only are few CIOs seeking better terms for contracts, but most aren't consistently tracking outsourcing's hidden costs, such as the cost of vendor searching and contracting, contract management and post-outsourcing reintegration.
It was not one of the better days of David Reid's professional life. He was then the CIO of a fast-food restaurant company that had outsourced its help-desk function before his arrival, and Reid was trying to manage the constant friction between the two firms. His company wanted excellent service, the outsourcer wanted to control costs.
And then on this particular day, it happenedone restaurant's point-of-sale system went down, and stayed down for 24 hours. The restaurant was in turmoil. Employees trained to enter orders on an electronic screen scrambled to write them down on slips of paper. Mistakes were made, and customers stalked out angry. "There are very few places where IT interfaces directly with the customer, and this is one," Reid recalls with a sigh.
Behind the scenes, the point-of-sale data was no longer feeding a database that the store manager used to track inventory, analyze customer traffic, estimate raw material orders and project staffing needs.
Phones rang "all the way to the top of the food chain," as Reid puts it, meaning the CEO of the small companyand the message came back down to him: "(Expletive deleted) put someone in a car and drive to the store and fix it if you have to." After this problem happened several times, Reid brought the help desk inside.
Today, Reid is CIO at The Krystal Co., in Chattanooga, Tenn., which has 415 fast-food restaurants around the Southeast. He's outsourced the installation of its POS systems because it makes sense for a geographically dispersed firm. But otherwise, he keeps support for his POS systems inside, unless an unusual problem arises that requires outside help to fix. For what does go out, he's older and wiser about service-level agreements and other controls.
Reid's story illustrates several key results in our survey. CIOs are focused on the customer and are more likely this year to do their own customer relationship management in-house. They distinguish between strategic and commodity functions when making outsourcing decisions. And they recognize the value of SLAs and other controls.
John Hill, CIO of Praxair, Inc., a Danbury, Conn.-based supplier of industrial gases, decided to keep CRM inside. "CRM is a critical corporate asset, and the impact of not doing that well has such a big liability," Hill says. "You're better off having that done by people who are really part of the company." At the peak of the hype about CRM, CIOs were challenged by management to implement it quickly, and outsourcing was the only way to do that. "But CRM has become demystified, dehyped," he says, "and companies are becoming a little more rational."
Hill did decide, however, that he could get a higher level of quality and service by turning some of his South American data center operations over to outsourcers. "Our strategy is selective outsourcing," he says. "We look at the project, what we're good at, and where we can take advantage of improved skills, as well as scale and efficiencies, from the outsource provider. Very rarely do we do outsourcing deals just to save money. At the end of the day, the fundamental measure is the quality of service and the speed of delivery."
Stephen Lane, research director of IT services at the Aberdeen Group Inc. in Boston, points out that CRM is an opportunity to increase revenue, and therefore becomes strategic. "Those types of applications are business-critical, and they're not going to get outsourced in any economic environment," he says. "Things that are commoditieshuman resources, accounting, payrollaren't core to the business."
The largest jump in the use of application outsourcing among our respondents, in fact, was for human resources information systems. "Employees are demanding self-service, and nobody knows how to do it in-house," says Beth Ellyn Rosenthal, editor of the Outsourcing Journal. "Everybody wants to go to an intranet and look up their 401k and how many vacation days they have left. HR doesn't want to do it. Everybody wants it yesterday, and outsourcing is a lot faster than doing it yourself."
Also down is the outsourcing of Web site development and Web hosting. Lane and others see this as a return to more normal levels after a spike of outsourced Web activity during the dot-com boom. "Just about everybody has a Web site now," Lane says, "so the need to go out and have someone develop one and host it has fallen off."
Cost cutting, the traditional raison d'être of outsourcing, was at the top of our participants' list of motivations. They say, however, that finding the right skills is also a big part of the decision. What they are looking for is the flexibility to pick the best, and cheapest, solution. The calculation includes both outsourcing and contract workers.
"I start out with flexibility and drive to cost," says Jerry Hale, CIO of the Eastman Chemical Co. in Kingsport, Tenn. "If I have a large portfolio of projects with a high rate of return, I want to be able to turn up the staffing level. But if my workload should go down or the economy be down as it is now, I want to be able to cut back and still have stable employment in my company."
Our survey data suggests CIOs have become more cautious in making decisions about outsourcing. For one thing, CIOs are giving more business to the big computer companies and Big 5 accounting firms. "You had an awful lot of outsourcing delivery models emerge during the dot-com bubble," Lane says, and a number of the outsourcers born then have gone away. "I think people have just retrenched and are saying, 'If I'm going to outsource, it's going to be with someone I know will be around for the next few years,'" he says.
And the use of service-level agreements is up sharply. "There's always an element of risk when you outsource," says Carrie Lewis, an analyst in technology management strategies with The Yankee Group in Boston. "Even with the best service-level metrics, you can run into problems. The vendor may not understand what the end-user is asking them to do; the end-user may not understand what the outsourcer can do. We don't hear about some of the disaster stories, but they can literally bring a company to its knees."
Rosenthal puts it this way: "If you enter into an outsourcing agreement without an SLA, shame on you. You don't get what you expect, you get what you inspect."
In the end, our survey detected a rather half-hearted satisfaction with outsourcing, and Reid offered an explanation. "Human nature being what it is, the people you're outsourcing to are trying hard but don't understand your business as you do," he says. "They have their agendas, and you have yours. I've learned to deal with the inefficiencies, such as project managers leaving and the like. It's the nature of the business. The general consensus is that it's not going to get any better. That's why most people continue to outsource but are lukewarm about it."Terry A. Kirkpatrick
Research analysis by Gary A. Bolles
Research Results
Research Results
The results are available in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. To download the free Adobe Acrobat Reader plug-in, click here.
Conclusion 01
Conclusion 01: Budgets & Contracts
Some might think that tough times would lead to a shift toward outsourcing. But with outsourcing budgets slightly lower and contracts on hold or scaled back, it's clear CIOs don't consider it a cost-cutting panacea; outsourcing contracts seem as vulnerable to cuts as other expenses. And the increased use of service-level agreements indicates firms are better at managing outsourcers.
IT outsourcing budgets have remained stable, dropping very slightly from a mean of 24% of IT budgets in 2001 to a projected 23% for 2002.
In the past six months, 59% of IT execs have delayed, canceled or scaled back outsourcing projects. Eighty percent say those projects are still on hold or resumed at a reduced activity level. Still, 84% say they're starting new outsourcing projects.
When outsourcing contracts expire in 2002, a mean of 38% of those contracts will be renewed, while just 25% will be renegotiated for a better deal, seemingly leaving money on the table at a time when the recession should give buyers greater leverage with sellers.
The use of service-level agreements rose from 66% in 2001 to 81% in 2002, with 86% saying they intend to use SLAs in the future. Uptime level guarantees also rose, from 49% to 65%.
Outsourcing's hidden costs still go unmeasured. Only 27% consistently watch the financial impact of activities like vendor searches, contracting management and post-outsourcing reintegration. Forty percent do so inconsistently, and 32% say they don't do it at all.
Conclusion 02
Conclusion 02: IT Functions
The market for outsourcing IT functions has been unpredictable during the recession. But the projected trend for 2002 is to cut back on outsourcing the functions that have been outsourced most frequentlymost notably the development and hosting of applications and Web sites, due perhaps to the availability of dot-com veterans and laid-off IT staff.
Application development outsourcing was used by 62% last year and only 54% this year, still enough for first place. As for application hosting, 2001 saw more activity than anticipatedit was projected by 29% of respondents last year but done by 39%but only 34% of companies expect to outsource this function in the next 12 months.
Demand for web site development outsourcing services is projected to drop from 42% last year to 30% this year, while demand for Web hosting should decline from 44% to 33%.
It's not clear the extent to which CIOs' interest in application integration outsourcing is translating into actual outsourcing activity. Forty-four percent expected to use this kind of service in 2001, but only 27% actually did. In 2002, 34% say they willthe largest projected increase of any IT function. Enterprise application integration services are expected to rise to 27% in the next 12 months.
Web site hosting was employed far more by smaller than larger companies, 58% to 38%, respectively, but help desk and end-user support services were used more by larger than smaller companies, 33% to 17%, respectively, probably due to the numbers of customers and users large companies need to support, which made outsourcing an especially economical approach.
Conclusion 03
Conclusion 03: Applications & Processes
Despite the hype, application and business process outsourcing has remained steady for the past few years, and is projected to remain so. Most application areas have seen 2 percent to 5 percent increases in outsourcing, hardly the groundswell expected in tough times. Business process outsourcing is still a fledgling trend: Processes with real bottom-line impact like customer service, logistics and purchasing are rarely being outsourced.
The largest jump in the use of application outsourcing from 2000 to 2001 was in human resources information systems (HRIS). Projected to rise from 14% in 2000 to 20% in 2001, outsourced HRIS usage actually grew to 30% from March 2001 to Feb. 2002, the 12-month period covered.
Tomer relationship management, which has received much outsourcing hype, was projected to be used by 30% of companies, but was actually employed by only 20%.
Projected differences between 2001 and 2002 are small, with the largest change found in business process/business re-engineering, used 30% last year but projected at only 21% in 2002.
Business ocess outsourcing isn't the growth area many are claiming; companies are planning to outsource processes at or slightly above the same low rates as last year. Customer service support was only outsourced by 12% of respondents in 2001, and other areas were even lower: 9% for logistics management, 8% for transaction processing and 6% for purchasing.
Probably due their complexity, larger companies were more inclined than their smaller counterparts to be-lieve they'd need to outsource business process and business re-engineering applications, 24% to 13%, respectively, and content management, 21% to 9%, respectively. Smaller companies more typically outsource payroll, 55% to 37%.
Conclusion 04
Conclusion 04: Drivers
While the recession has loosened the tight IT labor market, IT execs still feel compelled to outsource because they lack staff or skills. That makes outsourcing a necessity, not a choicehence IT execs probably feel they lack the leverage to bargain for better deals when they renew outsourcing contracts.
When asked for their top reason for outsourcing, 25% gave cost savings as their leading reason, up from 4% in 2001. But when asked for their top three reasons, a lack of internal expertise (49%), focusing on core competencies (49%) and lack of internal staff (43%) rated higher.
Larger companies are more likely to outsource to develop applications and capabilities quickly, 26% to 17%. Smaller companies, however, more often outsource so they can focus on core competencies, 54% to 47%, respectivelyone of the most frequently discussed rationales for outsourcing.
Twenty-two percent of CIOs said they wouldn't use the same outsourcing company again. Reasons included a strong preference to build internal staff (62%), the function being too core or sensitive to outsource (42%) and not enough value for the money (40%).
Conclusion 05
Conclusion 05: Satisfaction
Satisfaction with outsourcing is good but not great, clearly leaving room for improvement. IT execs were most satisfied with the work of vertical market outsourcing specialists, but these are also the group with the smallest increase in usage in the past year.
All firms earned satisfaction ratings in the same modest range, from a mean of 6 for Big 5 firms to 7.5 for "other," within a 1-to-10 scale. Oddly, vertical market outsourcers received the highest satisfaction rating (6.9), but the smallest increase in usage (1%), while seeing spending drop from 22% to 13%, perhaps signaling that generalist firms are getting better at vertical services and picking up business.
As might be expected in a challenging economic period, more CIOs reported in 2002 than 2001 that they had outsourced to a company that went out of business, from 30% to 42%.
Outsourcing remains an important tool for CIOs, consuming a full quarter of IT budgets, but they could be smarter about negotiating contracts. For example, it seems counterintuitive that CIOs aren't using the tough economic climate to cut better outsourcing deals. Though some may be locked in by long-term agreements, CIOs would do well to review current contracts to make sure they're getting the best terms possible. CIOs can also make headway on costs by consistently watching the hidden costs of outsourcing, such as vendor searches and contract management. IT executives with opportunities for handing off IT or business functions can also consider some targeted pilots to see if outsourcing can help them scale up, and down, their IT capabilities during an economic downturnsomething few seem to be considering now.
How the survey was done: CIO Insight designed the Outsourcing survey together with Advantage Business Research Inc., a Lake Success, N.Y.-based supplier of custom research services. CIOs, chief technology officers, and vice presidents of information technology and services gathered from a number of sources, including third-party lists and other Ziff Davis Media publications, were invited to participate in the study by e-mail. The questions were posted on a password-protected Web site, and 396 qualified respondents replied from Feb. 27 to March 4.


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The Lenbachhaus gallery in Munich houses paintings and sculptures from classical modernism and the present day.
The original house was built in the 19th century for the 'painter prince' Franz von Lenbach. The gallery's collection of works by the Blue Rider artist group of Wassily Kandinsky, Gabriele Münter, Franz Marc, August Macke and Paul Klee is famed around the world. Masterpieces of 19th century painting and an extensive collection of international contemporary art are on display in the converted artist house and the new extension.
Opening times:
winter: Tuesday-Sunday 10am-6pm, Monday closed; summer: Tuesday-Sunday 10am-8pm, Monday closed
Két hasznos billentyűkombináció a böngészőn belüli zoomoláshoz:
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További segítséget az alábbi ikonra kattintva kaphat: