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Hi, I'm Jaden, a professional recipe developer, food columnist and food photographer specializing in fast, fresh and easy recipes for the home cook. Most of my recipes are modern Asian! About meFast, fresh & easy recipes for the home cook.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Earlier this year, I wanted to change up SteamyKitchen.com's site design and structure. The current design has served me quite well, but I wanted more features, and let's face it, given the choice of "same" or "more bling" you know which I'd rear end in a heartbeat.
But the only technical thing I'm good at is the three-finger-salute, Ctrl-Alt-Del. The move is used so often that it's implanted in my autonomic nervous system, etching a fat path with sparkly pink synapses. Just this past weekend at the grocery store, I had an altercation with an old, crinkly bastard who apparently forgot to pluck his golf club out of his ass before he stepped off the green and yelled at me for my grocery cart that came within 2 millimeters from his precious blue Volvo convertible. After walking away and cussing under my breath, my fingers automatically went into position and from a distance, I held my hands up and Ctrl-Alt-Deleted his 2-inch forehead. It's a powerful gesture, one that stops Windows dead in its tracks and also gives me the satisfaction of cursing him from afar. So what if I look dumb, I don't care.
For the site, customizing fonts and colors were a piece of cake, but changing column widths was like trying to move the Statue of Liberty with a salad fork and cheese grater.
Do you know what HTML stands for? Hyperactive Total Mental Leakage. Oh yeah. And cascading style sheets, or CSS? That's the sound of my precious brain cells seeping out of my head during moments of spontaneous HTML.
This is worse than learning a new language! At least if I'm flubbing in Spanish, I can supplement with hand gestures. In code-speak, if you're missing one little tiny ":" the site just shrugs its shoulders, says,
DOES NOT COMPUTE, and heads back to the server for a nap.
Finally, last Friday, after countless hours of coding, testing, tweaking and head banging, I was ready to launch. I announced aloud to my friends that I was going to click this little button, chimes will sound and magically, all the electronic impulses in the universe would align and "poof!" Steamy Kitchen would unveil its new facelift. I held my breath, shut one eye and clicked.
"Dammit! I thought you loved me. Say something! Tell me what you want. Our relationship is so much stronger than a colon." But still, no response. I should have included a line item for "therapist" in my design budget.
I was so sick of the computer, that for dinner options, I reached for a cookbook instead of searching through my bookmarks. This recipe for Roasted Garlic Killer Shrimp is one that I adapted from a cookbook called,
Crab cookbook co-authored by my friend, Jennifer Jeffrey. The other author, you ask? None other than the famous Andrea Froncillo, exec chef of The Stinking Rose, a garlic restaurant in San Francisco and Beverly Hills. I modified the recipe by using shrimp instead of crab because I live in a far, far away place that even though surrounded three sides by really deep water, I have absolutely no access to fresh, live crab. Sigh.
This is a "soft" launch of the new site design. What does "soft" mean? It means It means I'm still tweaking the site design and structure. So if you happen to come along knocking on my blog and see me in my underwear painting, hammering and leaking brain cells, you'll understand. It also means if I f' up, leave a ":" out of the code and break the site, you'll also understand, right?!
I can broked new dezign…
Garlic Roasted Killer Crab Shrimp
Ingredients:1 lb shell-on shrimp
½ cup white wine
½ stick of butter
3 tbl minced shallots
2 tbl fresh rosemary
1 tsp fresh thyme
4 garlic cloves, minced
3 tbl olive oil
1 tbl sea salt
crushed red pepper
chopped parsley
loaf of crusty french bread
Preheat oven to 375F.
If you are using extra large shrimp, you can butterfly them, keeping them in the shell, like I did in the photo. Otherwise, leave them whole in the shell. Wash and carefully cut through shell to devein the shrimp while leaving the shell on. The easiest way to do this is with sharp, pointy kitchen shears. Just cut through the back. Heat olive oil and butter in large oven-proof skillet over medium-high heat. When hot but not smoking, add the shallots, garlic, rosemary, red pepper and thyme. Fry until fragrant. Add wine, salt, pepper. When boiling, turn heat off and toss in the shrimp. Send it off to the oven for 7-10 minutes, or until shrimp is cooked through. Timing will depend on the size of shrimp, check after 7 minutes. Garnish with sea salt, chopped parsley. Serve with bread to soak up the juices.
Jennifer and Andrea have generously given me 5 signed cookbooks to give away! To enter, just comment below and mention your favorite way to have crab. That's it! So simple. I'll draw 5 names on Tuesday December 18th at 11pm.
Good luck!
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There's a place in town here that has wonderful cajun food so I would have to say that cajun style is my favorite for crab.
Soft shell crabs, baby… YUM!
I am fortunate enough to live in Sonoma county and drive out to Bodega Bay and buy Dungeness crab direct from the boats. My favorite way to have crab is:
With 5 or 6 good friends and lots of napkins.
Crab cakes on hoagie rolls, not too bloody much breadcrumb filler and LOTS of lemon. Oh, and good iced tea!
Makes you think spring in the midst of all this snow and yuck, doesn't it?
Singaporean chili crab or the Vietnamese garlic butter crab, paired up with their garlic noodle. To die for!
Lunch time is definitely not the right time to read your blog…..my lunch is looking more miserable by the minute =P
My favorite kind of crab is the one my mom makes with tamarind, oyster sauce, and garlic. You are one funny gal Jaden. I love reading your posts.
My grandmother used to boil 'em and then stir-fry em with a 3 onion, black bean sauce…mmm mmm mmm.
steamed the crabs, lay them out on newpapers and grab some nutcrackers and let's go. oh, don't forget the soy & garlic dipping sauce. reminds me of home.
Oh my my my….that killer shrimp looks killer
I have to add that to my repertoire.
Mmmmm…. crab is my favorite meal. My favorite way to have it is the way this little restaurant in Hawaii makes it. They cover the crab in this roasted garlic butter and it's soooooooo yummy! You end up with butter and garlic all over your face and hands but it's worth it!
crabcakes, crabcakes, crabcakes with homemade mayonnaise!!!
Oh man! The post itself was good enough but all of the other ideas here in the comments…I am hungry!
My favorite way of having crab is the way they make it here at the beach, baked in shells and prepared with coconut milk, palm oil, tomatoes, Parmesan cheese, and bread crumbs.
My absolute favorite way to eat crab – are crab cakes! They are fabulous with a little lemon juice or a remoulade. I could eat them every day.
My favorite way to have crab……hmmm…..
Crab cakes
Crab Eggs Benedict
Crab Soup (at Ray's the Steaks, YUM!)
I could go on and on and on…….
Firt, greetings from Bonn / Germany!
My favorite way to have crab is the swedish way (like in in the IKEA-advertisement). Cook them in boiling water and enjoy them on a long table with family and friends in the summertimes under an apple tree.
Oh how I love crab…. snow or king crab legs, steamed / boiled in water with old bay seasoning, then just drowned in melted butter. OR… crabmeat stuffed portabella mushrooms. third: Crabcakes!!!! And can't forget crab-dip slathered on crackers!
Now I'm hungry!!!!!
crab rules. i love them hot and spicy in some coconut milk with pumpkin and snake beans. yum.
Masala crab or as we say, curried crab.
I love your site and your shrimp look delish. I love crab served cold that has been marinated in a tangy, spicy sauce….yummy!
I'm with you Jaden, I'm not very technical too and my computer has made me weep plenty of times – isn't this another one of those 'Love-Hate' relationships? HA!HA! The shrimps look fantastic by the way. How I like crabs done? with chilli of course!
Wishing you, Scott, Andrew and Nathan a wonderful and safe Christmas! xoxoxoxo Carol
I love crab rangoons! I make them annually, and am always tweaking to get the right balance of sweet, salty, and green onion.
I also like to make it chipotle-cheesy, and stuff it into peppers, with spanish rice. Yum!
I like mine done the cajun way – like crawfish boil , but use crab instead of crawfish . yummy .
Jaden, my wife loves your site. She sent me a text message the other night that said "I think you need pictures like steamy kitchen." How's that for deflating my fledgling-site ego?
She's right, though. I had been using a little dinky point and shoot, because it's so quick and easy (let's face it, getting out the nice SLR and actually having to work is not as quick and easy as *POINT*CLICK*).
So, the point… I tried it out tonight, using our *nice* camera (you can probably see the ones I took using the PnS, too). Do you have any thoughts or suggestions?
A-way up here in Oregon we go for the big sweet Dungeness Crabs.
My favorite way of cooking them is to take the cooked crab, break up the shell into legs, body and claws and saute all the parts together with butter, Old Bay seasoning and a bit of pepper. We all sit at the table and make a big ol' mess sucking crab from the shells. Yum.
Jaden, I've loved seeing your blog grow over the past months. It's great to read an authentic voice talking about great food. Hope to see you over in this corner of the world one of these days.
I have read this post almost 5 times now and laughing away to glory! I could give you an oscar for your way with word Jan dear.
I love steamed crab with egg white. Chopped some spring onion as garnish and enjoy the sauce from the crab.
I am a regular here, simply love your writing style. Just wanted to say your site is a real gem. Keep the good work going! Happy Holidays!
This shrimp dish looks delicious! I eat shrimp more often than crab, but just because it is more available. And try living in Utah – any fresh seafood is pretty rare!! I once had some stuffed mushrooms that had crab in them, and they were pretty awesome!
This are some wild and crazy whole shrimp! What long "arms" they have. "Better to keep me out of the pan" says the shrimp.
My favorite way to eat crab is either in a crab cake or right out of the shell, like with Jonah crab claws. Mmm…Jonah crab claws with spicy cocktail sauce. Sweet, spicy and delicious!
Mmmm. thanks for this recipe! I miss having easy access to fresh dungeness crab, but I would love a good recipe book.
Nothing beats steamed king crab legs with a little butter.
That picture is just beautiful!
The shrimp looks so tasty! Makes me want to go to the market, buy some shrimp and cook up a nice meal.
Alaskan King Crab is always tasty as is…but fresh dungeness crab is sooo good…very meaty and the "gooey insides" is creamy.
Absolutely love your blog and your kids are such cuties. Looking at your pics always makes me hungry.
Favor Crab…ways
1. Short on time to eat- Dungeness Crab cut into 1/4's saute over high heat with black beans, garlic, ginger, scallions, touch of thin soy sauce, oyster sauce, and of course the tamale.
2. Hours to worship the sweet crab-Blue crabs cut into 1/4's saute over high heat with tons of ginger, scallions and again a must is the tamale.
Yummy, yummy so tasty. I am going to have to make crab this week end be damned the cost.
Love crab, hate the trouble. So my favorite way is in a restaurant, where they bring the little sucker over, you say "ok." they bring it back to wherever and bring out THREE different versions of king crab. My favorite-the steamed, garlic king crab, all cut up and practically falling out of the shell. SOOOO good!
Love your blog! Referred my fireman brother here cuz he's got to cook for many hungry, hefty men.
I love crab in the simplest crab cake possible. No butter, no sauce, just sweet delicious crab meat.
Sorry to hear about the computer problems. That's never fun. At least you can drown your sorrows with that great shrimp dish (but hey, they're big enough to call prawns). Hope to see the new site soon! Don't give up!
My favorite is Malaysian style sweet & sour crab like this http://kookyculinary.com/2007/07/03/crabs-more-crabs/
I hadn't ever eaten crab until I met my boyfriend, now fiance, and he introduced me to his favorite food: crab legs. It was the only "fancy" thing he knew how to cook, and we had a lovely, romantic candlelit dinner at home.
I haven't had a chance to experiment with different ways of making crab, but I am eager to try; a little worried about messing with their perfect taste though. We just steam them and rip them open and eat them plain or dipped in melted butter…. Makes my mouth water just thinking about it.
Soft shell crab sandwich while sitting on the dock, having a couple of beers with my pals in Wrightsville, NC.
I'll have shrimp or crab! Just the thought of garlic-rosted has my stomach gurgling.
Oooh, living most of my life in Hawaii, my favorite crab dish is definitely sushi. Often they use imitation crab, but I found a great place that uses fresh crab. Yum!
I grew up on an intercoastal waterway in north Florida and every other Sunday afternoon my dad would empty the crab trap for dinner. Usually just blue crabs but the occasional stone crab would wander in. Our family's trick to fabulous , sweet crabmeat was to split the blue crabs down the center (yes, while they are still alive) and rinse them under running water before steaming. Then all of the crabs would be dumped onto the dining room table, which had been covered in several layers of the sunday paper. We used skinny butter knives to get the crabmeat out, dipped the pieces in warm butter and then dredged them through some Old Bay. Yum.
Besides eating a Crab Louie at Scoma's in S.F., my second favourite way to eat crab is at a local crab feed, with piles of marinated crab surrounding me, with friends and family digging in with the bare hands and eating until we are so full it's hard to move!
I "borrowed" this last night for some clients. Awesome dish, lots of levels of flavor. I chose to mount a little (considerable amount) of butter at the end to seal the deal.
Oh.. crabs, my favorite. But your prawn version looks so good. I like your photography style.
My favorite way to have crab is with a cold beer Preferably cold stone crab with spicy mustard sauce and an Abita Purple Haze.
My favorite way to enjoy crab is stir fried with a black bean sauce rich with garlic.
Even though I always fry my prawns, I love trying out new techniques and this time it's roasting them. Can't wait to taste the difference.
my favorite way to have crab is black bean sauce with garlic and eggs mixed in. Yummy…add a drink and a friend and i can sit there all day eating and chatting!


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"My husband has a lot of trust in my ability to recognize the makings of a tasty sandwich, but he admitted that he worried I was about to adulterate a perfectly good BLT. After finishing his first sandwich, then going back for a second, he claims Giada's Smoked Salmon BLT may have ruined regular BLTs for him forever. The smoked salmon flavor blend..."
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"This made a wonderful fall Sunday morning breakfast, paired with some bacon. The combo of sweet and salty was so good. I was concerned about the amount of sugar called for, so reduced it to 4 tablespoons. The sweetness was more to my liking, but still was enough to create the wonderful caramelization that made the apples scrumptious. I think the ..."
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The Zwilling JA Henckels Four Star 7 piece knife block set has a variety of useful, very sharp knives. This lovely 7-piece set also includes a cookbook CD. You'll use these high quality knives almost every day. Count on a lifetime warranty from JA Henckels for these German made, high quality, durable knives.
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I wanted to highlight this milk deal going on right now at CVS! I find that I can often get the best deals on milk at CVS when they have this ECB deal. You should know that CVS carries T.G. Lee milk regionally so not all of you will find this brand at your store. If you do, right now, you can purchase one gallon of T.G. Lee Milk for $3.79 and you will then receive $1.00 in ECBs. See the scenario below to score an awesome deal on milk!
If you are going to purchase two gallons of milk, do it in two transactions and spend a total of $6.58 (making each gallon $3.29) AND you will have $1 ECB to spend another time:
$1 ECB wyb 1 T.G. Lee Gallon Milk, $3.49, Limit 2
Transaction One
Buy 1 T.G. Lee gallon milk, $3.79 (will receive $1ECB)
Total Due: $3.79, Receive $1 ECB
Transaction Two
Buy 1 T.G. Lee gallon milk, $3.79 (will receive $1ECB)
Minus $1.00 ECB earned in Transaction One
Total Due: $2.79, Receive $1 ECB
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Subscribe to daily email updates and be entered for a chance to win $50 cash!
This post may contain a link to an affiliate. See my disclosure policy for more information.


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EDIT!! You can watch it here! It was officially uploaded by B.P.Records.
Kuina's own cover of EGOIST
Kuina made a cover of his own part in EGOIST because he hopes that now more people will cover his part and not only Kazuki's ^^
I've recorded and uploaded his own video to youtube for everyone who doesn't have an account at nico.
If you want to comment on this video and have an account at nico PLEASE comment on the original video and not on this youtube-upload! I think it's way better to let Kuina read your comments (even if it's in English!) than to see your comments disappear in the vastnesses of youtube. I didn't tag this video on youtube exactly because of this reason.
EDIT: Sorry for the black flashes…… I don't know how it could happen. I do have it without flashes but in the end the video is already all over tumblr, so it doesn't really matter if I replace it now or not.


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Looking for a safe place to spend the Apocalypse? A former Soviet bunker may be just the place to mark either the end of the world or a new beginning.
MOSCOW – A Cold War-era bunker designed to save Soviet leaders from a nuclear attack will host a 24-hour party for Russians willing to pay $1,000 for a ticket to escape the apocalypse, which, according to New Age prophesies, could come on Friday.
Bunker No. 42, now a tourist attraction full of red alarm lights, is located 56 meters (184 feet) underground in central Moscow, near the Kremlin. The bunker can accommodate up to 300 people.
"Many people would feel much calmer if they could spend this critical day enjoying maximum comfort and safety," said Alexei Pavlovsky, a tour guide at the bunker, adding there was strong interest in the party which will start at midnight on December 20.
Pavlovsky said the idea of holding a party at the bunker, which has served as a museum since 2006, came from visitors keen to mark the end of an era in the Maya Long Count calendar due at sunrise on December 21, an event interpreted by some groups as the end of days.
"We don't have control over things such as the end of the world. But we are ready for pretty much everything," he said. "There'll be a children's room with cartoons, for adults there'll be movies, talks dedicated to the end of the world and tours of the museum. There'll be live broadcasts from other bunkers in other countries."
Upon entering the bunker, built in 1956, visitors will be whisked 18 floors down in an elevator to a warren of rooms where loudspeakers blast out the old Cold war warning: "Attention! Attention! The enemy has carried out a nuclear attack!"
"The bunker is rather big, but everything here is arranged in a way that makes people feel safe. This is a comfortable, cozy place to spend not just a day, but a whole war and even the end of the world," said Anna, a student visiting the bunker on Wednesday.
Other resorts across the world are offering refuge for those fearing the doomsday predictions.
A hotel on the slopes of Mount Rtanj in Serbia is selling itself as the best place to survive the apocalypse, basing its promise on the mystical powers that locals say have flooded the area since the mountain swallowed a castle belonging to a well-to-do sorcerer, trapping him inside.
(Additonal reporting by Gabriela Baczynska)
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If you are looking for a full-service hotel, this is not the place. However, if you are looking for a place that is well-located but also tucked away, with breakfast, this could be your place. Like other guests, we also experienced hot water problems. However, we were upgraded to a larger room which did have functioning hot water, and were... More
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The Fetal and Neonatal Medicine Center at Rush University Medical Center was developed to bring together physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses with advanced training, genetic counselors, social workers and other staff to deliver the best in prenatal diagnostics while providing support and comfort to parents.
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There can't be two kings. And this season it is from oil country that the WHL Kings hail, and tonight was another display of that supremacy. The Oil Kings added to their Eastern Conference lead with a 6-2 pounding of the Wheat Kings. The Brandon crew came out strong for the first half of the first period, but once Edmonton regained control they never let it go. Everything is going right for the Oil Kings lately, and the stats are showing it. The Oil Kings already set a new club record for wins this season, and continue to add to that total. Michael St. Croix broke the modern-day franchise record for points in a season with a goal and an assist tonight, bringing him up to 79 points on the season.
The best thing about watching the CHL is that we are seeing the future of the NHL. So whenever I cover WHL games I am more focused on individuals than when watching an NHL game. There were a few standouts in this game. First was Mark Stone of the Wheat Kings who was team Canada's leading scorer in the World Juniors. Stone is a Ottawa Senators draft pick and with his size and ability will be playing in the NHL sooner rather than Later. Stone showed goo puck handling and patience the few times that Brandon was able to establish itself in the offensive zone, he is great on the cycle. But, tonight we was shutdown quite a bit and that leads to our next standout. Not only did Martin Gernat get two assists from the blue line for Edmonton, but he also helped handle the big Wheat Kings' captain as you can see in the photo below.
Another player having a record-breaking season for Edmonton is T.J. Foster. T.J. Is in his fourth season with the Oil Kings and has passed his season points total from last year with a number of games still to go. This season Foster is averaging over a point a game and is really being trusted in all situations from special teams to late game situations. He is one of the calmest-under-fire players that I've noticed in a while at the junior level. He really has a nose for the puck and for where his teammates are as evidenced by his two assists against Brandon.
And of course we can't talk standouts without mentioning Griffin Reinhart. There's no way to forget the 6'3″, 200-pound Reinhart. The big defenseman played a really solid physical game as he always does. There is no mystery to Griffin and scouts and opponents all know what to expect, and to expect it every time out. It is this consistency along with his physical size and talent that have him projected to 6th overall in this year's draft according to TSN's latest listing.
Other notables were Henrik Samuelsson, who was the beneficiary of those two Foster assists, and goalie Laurent Brossoit who made 25 stops and looked great doing it. Overall it was another really solid performance by the Oil Kings in what is probably their best season to date. I will be covering next Friday's game against the Red Deer Rebels and their young defenseman Matt Dumba who, some insiders are whispering, might end up being the top prize in the 2012 entry draft. Stay tuned for that.


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If you have want to improve the Flathead's forests, you may have the chance.
Proposals for federal funds are due to the Flathead National Forest Resource Committee (RAC) August 30.
About half of the available funding is allotted for road, watershed, and trail projects. In the past, money has been awarded to endeavors related to forest thinning, noxious weed removal, and road improvements.
Title II of the Secure Rural Schools (SRS) program makes possible the grant dollars, contingent upon securing the budget renewal for 2013.
The application can be found here, any questions should be directed at Louise Larimore at (406) 758.5251.


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Sign up for Yardbarker's daily Top 10 newsletter, the Morning Bark! Customize to get news on your favorite sports and teams.
Found February 09, 2013 on Patriots Life:
PLAYERS: Chandler Jones, Rob Ninkovich, Osi Umenyiora, Mike Vrabel, Dwight Freeney, Justin Tuck, Jason Pierre-Paul
TEAMS: New England Patriots, New York Giants, Kansas City Chiefs, Indianapolis Colts
TEAMS: New England Patriots, New York Giants, Kansas City Chiefs, Indianapolis Colts
I get into a bad mood every time I hear this guy's name. However, if you can not beat them, join them. Or pay them enough to join you. The Patriots obviously have struggled on defense to get pressure on the quarterback and keep good coverage on the opposing wide receivers, thus they make quarterbacks like Mark Sanchez look like superstars. Chandler Jones provided a small spark, but more so at the beginning of the year. Rob Ninkovich was also a playmaker, but these are too few and too far in between. That means one thing, we need a pass rusher, and a good, consistent one. Hence, I believe the Patriots should look into signing Osi Umenyiora. Let's take a look at the Pros and Cons: PROS: He gets to the quarterback. The last time the New England Patriots had a player get OVER 10.0 sacks was in 2007 when Mike Vrabel got 12.5. We are in a passing league, and the more the opposing quarterback can settle in the pocket and throw passes like he is in practice, the more successful he...
Original Story: http://www.nepatriotslife.com/2013/02...
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Strahan fires back at Warren Sapp
Michael Strahan has responded to Warren Sapp's comments about his shock that he made it into the Hall of Fame while the more media friendly Strahan did not.
New York Giants continue player purge
Strahan to Sapp: Don't take a shot at me
New York Giants Re-Sign Defensive Tackle Shaun Rogers
New York Giants bring back DT Shaun Rogers for a one-year deal
Updated: Michael Strahan and Warren Sapp trade jabs over Hall of Fame
Pro Football Hall of Fame 2013: Michael Strahan Snub is Shocking
Giants cut Michael Boley
Martellus Bennett An Option For The Buccaneers?
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A Promise Renewed
Yesterday, UNICEF announced that the world is steadily moving forward on improving child survival. Their latest progress report confirms that the estimated annual number of under-five deaths has decreased by ...read more »
September 17
Get a Shot. Give a Shot. ®
Did you know getting your seasonal flu shot can help save lives? Thanks to a partnership between Walgreens and the United Nations Foundation's Shot@Life campaign, getting your flu shot means ...read more »
September 09
BLOGUST: Speaking Up on "First" Journeys
Thanks to your participation throughout the month of August, Blogust has over 71,118 actions and counting, reaching its goal of providing 60,000 life-saving vaccines for children around the world who ...read more »
August 30
#Blogust: Protect. Nurture. Love
As I read the blogs that precede mine during Blogust 2014, I can identify with all of the emotions expressed by parents of little ones who are currently experiencing all ...read more »
August 26
#Blogust: Comment or Share and Help Give Children a Shot@Life
Our Shot@Life Champions represent our strongest supporters across the nation--individuals who are dedicating their voice, time, and support to stand up for childhood around the world ...read more »
August 24
#Blogust: Reaching Firsts and Making a Difference
We all remember the firsts: those monumental moments that shape your life and those around you. The moments that take your breath away. The first word. The first step. The ...read more »
August 23
Week 2: Blogust Wrap-Up
I think for a lot of independent bloggers, we start out with a small idea we're not sure anyone else will care about and through the generous nature of humanity ...read more »
August 16
Week 1: Blogust Wrap-Up
Shot@Life Champion Nicole Morgan give a wrap-up of Blogust Week 1. ...read more »
August 09
#Blogust 14: One Universal Truth--We Want the Very Best for Our Children
I'm sure parents remember that overwhelming feeling, that wave of trepidation of sending their child off on the school bus for the first time. ...read more »
August 07
First Memories
Every Saturday in August, Our Shot@Life Champions are helping us wrap up a Blogust filled week by sharing their stories and highlighting the week's posts. ...read more »
August 02
Sophie Blackall and Olive draw their week in India
by Measles Initiative
- http://www.youtube.com/embed/bSb-CYKJQ_4\ Shot@Life in Ghana May 3, 2012 GAVI Alliance
- http://www.youtube.com/embed/RtvrYvd38HQ CBS Atlanta News: Shot@Life Launch May 2, 2012 CBS Atlanta News
- http://www.youtube.com/embed/jyt81H3AyVU Mothers, Milestones, & Believing in Childhood May 1, 2012 Shot@Life Campaign
- http://www.youtube.com/embed/KVm9kwCaVx4 Your Voice is Powerful - Use it! Give a Child a Shot@Life February 13, 2012 Shot@Life Campaign
- http://www.youtube.com/embed/mSvQLCo4zWo Shot@Life: Mocha Moms Reflections February 1, 2012 Shot@Life Campaign
- http://www.youtube.com/embed/G6qNCB4AduA Shot@Life Champion Summit: Day 1 Reflections January 30, 2012 shotatlifecampaign
- http://www.youtube.com/embed/AqI9qiJj_i8 UN Foundation/ CDC Dinner Highlights with Dr. Tom Frieden on Shot@Life November 22, 2011 shotatlifecampaign
- http://www.youtube.com/embed/FImZy4qfc1c The Value of Vaccines November 11, 2011 shotatlifecampaign
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Victimology is an important area of study in criminology as an academic subject, but is also taken seriously by governments and agencies in their assessment of criminal behaviour and their policies on crime. Victimology
addresses questions such as:
This reader brings together some of the classic readings in criminology, dating back to the origins of victimology as a subject during the 1940s. It also includes more recent articles which examine newer issues in victimology
such as corporate crime, state crime and religious effects and implications on the subject. The book also explores the ongoing development of policy and theories of victimology.
Victims and Victimisation: A Reader brings together, for the first time, these classic and contemporary readings in criminology. It also includes an editorial introduction to the volume and an introduction to each thematic section. It provides key reading for students of criminology, law and sociology.
About the writers
Publisher's acknowledgements
Dedication and introduction
Series editor's introduction


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Small yellow strawberries are very tasty and unique looking. A favorite in Europe, many actually prefer the taste of this yellow-fruited type to the more common red strawberry.
Each packet contains approximately 75 seeds.
Planting Instructions:
Start seed indoors 4 to 8 weeks prior to the last frost of spring. Seeds are covered only slightly to allow light which sometimes assists germination. Do not allow the soil to dry out — keep moist!


text: my fiancee was violated and on violation papers he said its ok for offender to return to hostess sight today he went in front of the board and was cleared to come home now the agent has denied the sight......This agent has given problems in the past and is being unfair!!!!!! Is there anything i can do???is this even ok for him to deny after he said it was ok???


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Explore NileGuide.com
Articles Tagged 'st. stupid's day parade'
Silliness on Full Display: the Annual St. Stupid's Day ParadeApril 1, 2010 | San Francisco | Read More
While the French are trying to discreetly pin paper fish onto each other's backs and children in Belgium are busy locking teachers out of classrooms, many San Franciscans will be engaging in an April Fool's tradition of their own: the 32nd Annual St. Stupid's Day Parade. Since 1979,...


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Bank Owned Assets and Real Estate for Sale
The information provided on this website with regard to properties listed for sale by Mountain West Bank is for informational purposes only, and Mountain West Bank makes no claim as to the accuracy of the information provided herein. Mountain West Bank does not warrant that it has clear title to the properties listed for sale on this website. Mountain West Bank makes no warranties of any kind with regard to the listed properties. In no event will the information provided on this website give rise to any liability, of any kind, on the part of Mountain West Bank.
The Summit Club
Enjoy life to the fullest with our travel and social club for ages 50+.More Details


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Available Colors/Styles
Detail Pics
Stuck in the flats - or just in skate-season denial? Fear not.
Feeling deprived now that your precious skatepark is buried under a few feet of ice and snow? Grab the Lib Tech 43in BTX Snowskate to ease the pain. Lib scaled-down their Banana Tech rocker and Magne-Traction edges to ensure a fun, controllable ride so you can practice your nollie-heels even in the dead of winter.
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Christian DeHaas
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Just skate shoes, but they make winter skate shoes.


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Judicial selection in Washington
|Judicial selection in Washington
|Washington Supreme Court
|Non-partisan election of judges
|6 years
|Washington Court of Appeals
|Non-partisan election of judges
|6 years
|Washington Superior Court
|Non-partisan election of judges
|4 years
|Washington District Courts
|Non-partisan election of judges
|4 years
Judicial selection in Washington consists primarily of non-partisan elections. Candidates participate in the primary election, and if no candidate wins over 50% of the vote, the two candidates with the most votes advance to the general election.
Supreme Court
Justices of the Washington Supreme Court are elected in non-partisan elections every six years.
If there is a vacancy on the court, the governor appoints a replacement. That justice runs in the next election, then fills the remainder of the unexpired term.
The Chief Justice is elected to a four-year term by the other members of the court.
In order to join the court, one must meet these qualifications:
- be licensed to practice law in the state; and
- be under 75 years of age.[1]
Court of Appeals
Judges of the Washington Court of Appeals run in non-partisan elections every six years. They are elected by residents of the district they represent. The court is separated into nine districts.
Vacancies are filled by gubernatorial appointment. The new judge must run in the next general election and then holds office for the remainder of the unexpired term.[1]
The chief judge of the court is elected by the other judges and serves a one-year term.
To sit on the court, these qualifications must be met:
- practice law in Washington for at least five years; and
- be a resident of the district for at least one year.[1]
Superior Courts
The judges of the Washington Superior Court serve four-year terms and run in non-partisan elections. There are 186 Superior Court judges in the state and they are elected in the county in which the court sits. [1]
Vacancies are filled by gubernatorial appointment. The new judge must run in the next general election and then holds office for the remainder of the unexpired term.[1]
The chief judges are elected by the other judges on a court. The term varies by court, but must be at least one year.
The qualifications for office are the same as on the Washington Supreme Court.[1]
District and Municipal Courts
Judges of the District and Municipal courts serve four-year terms.[2]
See also
- Campaign finance requirements for Washington judicial elections
- State Supreme Court elections
- Washington judicial elections
- Courts in Washington
External links
- Judicial selection in Washington
- American Judicature Society, History of Reform Efforts: Washington
- Yakima Herald, "Confused about election ballot? You're not alone," August 15, 2010
- Seattle Times "Electing Judges: For and Against," January 10, 2010


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Moving evidence to policy for health, well-being and equity
The Institute for Health and Social Policy occupies a central role at McGill University as a multidisciplinary centre for research, training and knowledge mobilization on issues of health and social policy. The IHSP conducts and supports world-class research on how social conditions impact the health, well-being and resilience of people and communities, and leads programs designed to translate research findings into policies and programs on local, provincial, national and global scales. The Institute is committed to building collaborations with policymakers, communities and researchers to effectively move evidence to policy.
Leticia Morales, Daniel Weinstock and Jurgen de Wispelaere are on the panel "Governing Controversies in Health: Should Judges Decide?" at the International Political Science Association's 23rd World Congress in Montreal, from July 19- 24.Published: 21 Jul 2014
José Mendoza will represent the Maternal and Child Health Equity team at the 12th Annual European Network for Social Policy Analysis conference in Norway, from September 4-6.Published: 21 Jul 2014
Mohammad Hajizadeh presented a paper entitled "Social inequalities in the utilization of maternal care in Bangladesh: Have they widened or narrowed in recent years?" at the 48th Annual Conference of the Canadian Economic Association.Published: 19 Jun 2014
Video from BIEN CONGRESS 2014 now available
Anna Reid, past president of the Canadian Medical Association, lectures on the Health Case for a Basic Income Guarantee
Political Neutrality: A Re-evaluation
Daniel Weinstock and Roberto Merrill have brought together a collection of ten essays on the idea of liberal neutrality.
London: Palgrave MacMillan. Published Aug 2014.
Pollutant Emissions and Energy Efficiency of Chinese Gasifier Cooking Stoves and Implications for Future Intervention Studies
Childhood Obesity: Ethical and Policy Issues
For a list of 2014 IHPS seminars, click here.
To keep up to date with all IHSP events, join our mailing list!
Next Seminar


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The piece may not be posted here because it's good - but it is that. I like it. Good form & pacing. Works for me.
by Steve Himmer
Ansett flight 125 sets down outside Alice Springs at 2:00 PM, give or take a few seconds. Right on schedule. Thomas Maxwell closes his laptop and collects the sheaf of papers spread over his tray table and the one next to it, and slides them into a leather courier bag. He returns both tables to their upright and locked positions, and turns to his sleeping wife. "Elaine... Elaine...," he whispers, forcefully, while nudging her shoulder, "wake up, we're landing." She stirs, mumbles, and the two of them take down a conspicuous number of carry-on bags before moving forward with the rest of First Class.
Tuesday afternoon, the air-conditioned shuttles from the airport to the hotels are forced to contend with ten, maybe twenty, private cars on the streets of Alice. The rest are identical tour buses, taxis, hire cars, and shiny new Land Cruisers piloted inexpertly through the always flat streets of the desert city by clean-faced men in safari suits and Akubra hats. Elaine, still groggy from her ritual in-flight Valium and two cocktails, slides down the seat and comes to rest against the window in a rustle of nylon track suit, trying hard to stay awake. Her husband, Akubra-crowned, leans, almost climbs, over her trying hard to take in everything outside. His head turns, eyes caught by a group of black men drinking beer outside an off-license. Now we're in the real Australia... the Outback," he says to no one in particular, except maybe his wife whom he knows has nodded off again.
Tom rubs his hands together, settles back in his reclining coach seat, and draws out a thick guidebook from the shoulder bag that matches his briefcase. He reads that Alice Springs is, or was, the Soviet Union's second highest priority target in a nuclear war. He considers the addresses of all the galleries full of Aboriginal art that await him. Also, and this most of all, Thomas Maxwell dreams of Uluru—even though he doesn't know that name. His guidebook has a photograph, "Ayer's Rock at sunset", which he's book marked and often returned too. He's imagined the view from atop the great Australian monolith, high above thousands of miles of unspoiled desert, under a cloudless sky as the sun comes up pink and young. He and Elaine have two seats booked on what they've been reliably told is the best Ayer's Rock tour, leaving on Thursday, which gives them plenty of time for art hunting. A Kangaroo Dreaming would be just the thing for his library wall back in Boulder.
Tuesday morning, the sun begins to creep over the top of the five ramshackle buildings of William Creek, South Australia long before 6:00, but well after all five sleeping bags stretched out on a canvas ground sheet are moving. Bluey, the red-headed one, gets a fire going under the pot, and throws in dried oats and apple chunks and raisins. Attempts are made at rinsing the dust from bowls but any effort at drying them—with shirts, towels, or still air—just puts back twice as much. But no matter, dust is the secret to Bluey's porridge anyway.
Breakfast devoured, buckets of sand shaken from sleeping bags, the nylon and goose-down settlement piled back into the trailer, a game of footy is gotten up in the street. One of the world's few streets where football can be played without a single traffic disturbance.
By the time the dust from the football game has been rinsed off in the swimming pool, the sun is getting high and the air is already thick with flies. Only the flies have numbers to challenge the armada of dust specks.
After completing all preparations for leaving, the quintet heads into the William Creek hotel for one final beer. This town, the population of which they have temporarily doubled, boasts the world's most remote pub, over 250 miles from anything at all. Surrounded by the desert, which may as well be an ocean for its habit of devouring trespassers and strewing them on its edges broken and unrecognizable, William Creek is an island. But, as of a couple of years ago, it is an island with a solar powered, satellite linked telephone booth.
In the bar's back room this morning, Graeme is busy trouncing Patrick at a last game of pool, although Patrick insists that once they get to Alice, where he'll be able to play without bumping his cue into the wall,he'll kick Graeme's limey ass. "Still," he adds, "this'll do," and pulls deeply from his schooner of Cooper's Stout.
Next door, Bluey and Petra sip Victoria Bitters, talking with Jim the owner/bartender, his wife, and the local bush-pilot about the Simpsons, who visited Australia in last night's episode, although nowhere near the Simpson Desert which looms outside. Roellie, still outside practicing with the hotel's bull-whip, can be heard occasionally shouting and less often cracking the whip.
Last night, she had been admiring the ten foot long kangaroo leather whip (a raffle prize with all proceeds to benefit the South Australia Flying Doctors), and longing to give it a try, so the entire drunken clientele had followed her outside, some more steadily than others.
Right away, Roellie had swung the whip over her head, slashing madly, maybe at the moon, but she had only managed to knock off Patrick's cap. Jim, with typical Oz diplomacy, had shut off the outside lights to avoid further embarrassing Roellie and terrifying everyone else. There had been no other light, save the moon. With the first sound of the whip moving through the thick darkness, bystanders had run, unsuccessfully, in all directions and ended the night a pile of laughing, dust covered bodies in the middle of the street.
Glasses empty, and two or three extra cases tucked away for the long drive ahead, everyone climbs into the oft-bruised but still unbroken Land Cruiser, an '83. Wearing a minimal amount of clothing just slightly filthier than yesterday, and already sweating in the unmoving 115 degree air, they rumble back into the desert trailing plumes of dust mile after mile. All that marks their brief stay in William Creek are five fresh contributions to the years of autographs on the hotel walls, and one grey sock, Patrick's.
Alice Springs, like Boulder, gives the illusion of water. Thomas Maxwell can't shake the sensation that at the end of some given street he's going to see the ocean. On this hundred degree plus day, the waves of heat rising from the tarmac in the centre of town almost look like ripples on distant water.
Tom steps out from the hotel courtyard, passes the Kentucky Fried Chicken across the street, and heads into town. Really just the one main shopping drag and a few interesting side streets. Not much of a city, Alice Springs. Sydney they both had enjoyed, with plenty of museums and historic sites and tours. Elaine had been pleasantly surprised that there was such a cosmopolitan feel downtown, fashion boutiques and all. And it all felt safe, like New York or Los Angeles without the danger, and far, far friendlier. Of course, they hadn't really ventured much farther afield than the Rocks and Darling Harbour, but the harbor cruises had revealed a fair bit of the environs. Sydney, Tom thought, was the finest harbour city he'd seen. More relaxed than frantic Hong Kong, and with a better climate than San Francisco. Still, the real Australia was out here, and Alice Springs was the gateway to beyond the black stump.
He strolls past the post office and to the end of the tourist strip, and realizes for the first time just how many Aborigines are around. For the whole trip he's been surprised at never seeing any blacks in Sydney, or Melbourne, or anywhere, but here they are, in the back of beyond. Sitting under a wattle tree on the edge of town with a case of West End. Lazing about outside the Safeway or the shops. Occasionally, the odd well-dressed local has a darker face, but over all, despite the numbers, the blacks are all but invisible. Having expected Alice Springs, and all of Australia's centre at that, to be largely populated by Native Australians,·Tom is a bit let down to find himself still staring at so many white faces.
Having taken awhile to rest back at the hotel, Tom finds that the galleries are already closing and he's going to have to wait until morning before shopping for a painting. He finds, at the end of a stone-paved walkway leading off of the main pedestrian mall, a quite charming Mexican restaurant and decides to suggest it to Elaine for dinner. Knowing, however, that she'll probably feel up to nothing but room service tonight, he checks to see if the restaurant seems to encourage solo diners. Mostly large tables, but he notes a couple of smaller ones in the back. Pink threads are beginning to show through the sky, and already the sun is starting to melt into a purple band on the horizon. Tom returns to the main street and heads back to the hotel, stopping only to admire the wares in a few gallery windows.
Patrick and Graeme run a race across the grainy white floor of Lake Eyre, feet kicking up sprays of ancient salt. A sea, hundreds of miles inland and extinct for thousands of years, now with tracks trailing out behind the foreign bodies pounding across its face. The Land Cruiser rests on the edge of the sea, doors left open, buzzer ignored, and a gang of semi-clad revelers fans out from its centre, like circles spreading on any other sea.
Their trails cross once, and again, before Graeme loses his footing and collides with Patrick, bringing them both down hard. They slide across abrasive salt, skin protected by layers of sand and dust and dirt caked on thick and nearly as dark as the beards growing on their faces. As soon as they stop moving for a moment, the flies rush in to crowd on their eyes, noses, mouths. Graeme has a bloody knee from his spill and industrious flies pick the wound dry, leave it bloodless.
Sandwiches, heavy on the sand, are made and devoured. The trailer is repacked after lunch, and Bluey takes a photo of Roellie standing on the strip of sand which has served as a road, thumb out, hitch hiking to and from nowhere. Afterwards, when Roellie isn't looking, Bluey and Patrick take self portraits with her camera, a surprise for some later date.
The truck roars back to life, and begins to move north once again, fanning a copper wake behind it as it glides across the surface of the desert. Soon, nothing is visible except a cloud of dust slipping quickly off the horizon and a set of tracks leading to its edge. High up, a wedge-tailed eagle circles, scanning the sea for scraps of forgotten lunch. Perhaps he sought to avoid filling his afternoon with the hunt, desired instead to find a gum tree and nap in its arms, well fed on a free lunch.
"So this, these concentric circles here, that's where Kangaroo Dreaming begins? That's where Kangaroo Spirit came out of the ground and began his walking?" asks Tom, brow furrowed, eyes tightly focused on the six-by-five-foot painting propped before him. Oranges, browns, yellows... lines, dots, circles... what is almost a recognizable kangaroo fills the upper right hand corner, the only respite from abstraction. It is like pointillism viewed too closely, so that loosely constructed form melts into a jumble of unrelated dots.
"Um... yeah, that's about it, you've got it," replies the gallery salesman.
"Hey, Elaine, look at this... it's a Kangaroo Dreaming of the Pitjantjatjara people, this is Kangaroo's story. The water holes he visited, fights he was in... and here's Ayer's Rock where he ended up. It's a map of his path through the desert when the world was first forming."
"Umhum," Elaine mumbles, examining a teatowel with a print of Ayer's Rock.
"I'll take the painting then, and... Elaine, the teatowel there?" She hands it to him by way of reply. "Right, and the towel."
"That's $719 sir, how will you be paying?"
"Is American Express alright?" A nod. "Good, American Express then. Oh, and what was it you said Ayer's Rock was called, in the painting and all?"
"Right, Uluru..."
"I'll just need your address for shipping then."
"Has anybody seen my sunglasses?" Patrick calls from the back of the Landy where he's rummaging through mounds of detritus and discarded clothing.
"Did you pick them up from the table this morning, at the oasis? They were sitting there while we broke camp and packed up."
Uh... shit, no... ah well, I'll just go blind."
They head down a path into a stand of eucalyptus, ghost gums mostly, and emerge on the other side the trees in a rocky gorge. "Hey, I've found some paintings," Bluey calls, "over in this cave." Five bodies crowd into a narrow opening, trying not to block the light. "Look, here's the story...Kangaroo left his humpy..."
"When a spirit makes a camp is it called a humpy, or is that just humans?"
"I don't really know for sure, Roellie. Anyhow, Kangaroo Spirit left his camp, this semi-circle here, and began to walk. Here, he ran into Tiger Snake, who chased him all the way through the desert, to this water hole, and finally to Uluru, here at these circles."
"Hey, Petra, check this out."
"What's that Graeme?"
"Look at these paintings." On the wall of the cave are three hands, outlined in copper-hued red ochre. "Do you know how these are made? Some Aborigine, maybe 30,000 years ago, ground some ochre, mixed it with water in his mouth, and spit it against the wall where he was holding his hand." At the same time, both Graeme and Petra fit their own hands into the ghosts of the ones on the wall.
"Think of it Elaine," Tom says, "all that desert down there, thousands and thousands of miles of sand! I'd love to cross it."
"Why? All that driving? You'd get sick. Besides, it would all start to look the same very quickly. I get bored just looking at it from above... thank God this is only a forty-five minute flight."
"Really, I don't know why you agreed to come along. You've been miserable for days."
"Well, I wasn't going to stay in Sydney alone, was I? And I know how much seeing all this means to you, seeing the desert... it's just so empty, so... not quite dead, more like it never existed, was never alive at all. Like a dream maybe. I just don't see the attraction."
Tom doesn't answer, turns his face to the window and watches the shadow of the plane slide over the surface of the desert, dreaming of a long drive. The plane has dropped low enough for Tom to notice the kangaroo, a big red, hopping beside the edge of the shadow as if afraid of its touch but drawn close all the same.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we are approaching the Ayer's Rock airport..."
"What if none of this is real? I mean, what if the world's ended and we just don't know? Or what if... what if we're all just somebody dreaming? "
"Yeah, Patrick Dreaming, an old Aboriginal legend about an American who spends too long in the desert and loses his mind. What the hell are you on about anyway?" laughs Bluey.
"Just that all of this is so surreal, like nothing else in the world except dream landscapes. What if we're all just someone else's self-aware dream fragments?"
"You're thinking too damn hard, mate," Bluey heckles, "you're on holiday after all! Act like it!"
"I think I see what you mean Patrick," offers Petra, "I've been thinking lately that this isn't real life, the real world... more like a negative image of life, the exact opposite of something so close to us, maybe right behind us, that we can't ever turn fast enough to see it."
"All of this, listening to you guys," comments Graeme, "puts me in mind of that sculptress, Sharon Whiteread is it? She does plaster casting of space, like the space under a mattress and the inside of a townhouse. All of it has been there all along, right in front of us, but we never manage to notice it, or care enough to. Maybe that's what we're talking about when we say we can see the desert in people who have been out here a long time, like Talc Alf, that guy down near Maree. They've become mirrors, or photographs, of the space behind everyday life."
Nobody speaks for a long moment, until Bluey draws the collective attention to a big red, at least two metres tall. He stands nearby, silhouetted against the sky up on a copper dune ablaze with sunset watching the humans as closely as they watch him. This lasts for what may as well be hours, neither party shifting its focus, before the kangaroo hops off into the desert, in apparent pursuit of a descending aircraft.
"This is ridiculous," says Tom suddenly.
"What's that dear?"
"All of this, us, this resort. The desert is right outside that wall. Aboriginal lands, animals, Mad Max... it's all so close but still I'm sitting here next to a swimming pool drinking a cocktail. Surrounded by stucco, protected from the desert."
"I thought you were enjoying yourself."
"Oh, I am, I am, it's just... it's just that something feels wrong, like there's something missing or there's too much in the way and I'm missing it."
"In the way of what? What are you missing?"
"I don't know... this resort is in the way of the desert, anyway."
Some silent moments pass.
"I don't know what's gotten into me lately," says Tom, rising from his chair and heading for the pool. "The more I move, the more restless I become."
"You'll need a vacation after your vacation."
Tom sits on the edge of the pool, legs dangling under the surface of the water, heels rubbing the smooth tile side.
"At least tomorrow we'll get to go climb Ayer's Rock."
"I don't see why the bus has to leave so ridiculously early. I'll have to be up by 4:00."
"They say the Rock looks the best at sunrise."
"How are you going to see what it looks like if you're standing on top of it?"
"Feel like invading the lap of luxury?"
"How's that work, Bluey?"
"There's the Ayer's Rock Resort nearby. We could sneak in and use the showers in their changing rooms and have a swim in the pool."
"Well, it has been two and a half weeks since my last shower..."
"We know Patrick, we can smell," teases Petra.
"After that we can go to the supermarket and the bank and the off-license before going to set up camp. By the way, I thought we might camp within a decent view of Uluru so we can see it at sunrise. I'm told that it just glows with all kinds of colours."
A few minutes later, a battered, mud-caked Land Cruiser pulls up outside the pink stucco walls of the Ayer's Rock Resort. The rear door opens, unleashing a cascade of unpaired shoes, beer cans, the shredded remains of Petra's straw hat, balled up socks, and unclaimed underwear.
Keeping an eye out for over-ambitious bell boys and ignoring inquiring, perhaps offended, looks from the guests, they stroll through the gates of the resort as if they belong there. Conspicuous in their filth, and suddenly aware, if only from the looks on the faces of strangers, just how terrible they smell, they quickly seek the changing rooms.
Inside, in the showers, which are all in a row with a drainage trench sloping through them, Bluey, Graeme, and Patrick watch as two and a half weeks of dirt rinses off and washes past their feet.
Tom watches three young men, darkly tanned and sporting a few weeks of rough beard, step out of the changing room and head toward the pool. Two of them, the red-haired one and the one in glasses, stop to put some clothes into a locker, and when the third speaks to them Tom is almost positive that he is an American.
The pool is conspicuously empty for this time of day, with just one middle-aged man dipping his legs at the side. Patrick walks to a chaise lounge by the water's edge, and tosses down his towel. He steps to the rim of the pool and, toes curled over the lip of the coping, hovers there for a moment before dropping full length into the water on his stomach.
Ripples fan out quickly from the centre of the pool, tinted slightly copper from the last traces of stubborn dirt still clinging to Patrick after his shower. They slide, one after another, across the surface of the water before crashing against the sides of the pool. Slight rings of dirt are left, like miniature deposits of the desert, on whatever surfaces the waves touch.
Thomas Maxwell, dozing off on the edge of the pool, is roused by the lapping water from a dream. He had shed his clothes, leaving them in a heap at the gates of the Ayer's Rock Resort, and walked into the desert towards Uluru. Suddenly awoken, he feels a bit awkward at his dreamt nudity, and draws his legs out of the water to his chest, unaware of the thin, faint bands of copper sand on each shin.
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This is an early story found in my hard drive (the earliest, in fact, circa 1995), shared as part of the January 2012 "Origin Stories" project at Necessary Fiction. In other words, it isn't here because it's good but because it's old, and because I didn't want to ask NF's contributors to something I wasn't willing to do.
The piece may not be posted here because it's good - but it is that. I like it. Good form & pacing. Works for me.
If this is a sample of your 'not good' work, I'd love to see the good stuff. I enjoyed this start to finish.
"I've been thinking lately that this isn't real life, the real world... more like a negative image of life, the exact opposite of something so close to us, maybe right behind us, that we can't ever turn fast enough to see it."
Wonderful stuff and a great journey. Thanks for taking me along.
The story has its own dreaming. Great detail. Thanks fro the ride.


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John Syrett making the first ascent of Problem Rib, Earl Crag, Yorkshire, c. June 1970?
© Gordon Stainforth
Route: Problem Rib
Camera used: Leica M3


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Network with alumni
4 p.m. - 6 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 15, 2007
Suffolk University Law School
Main Function Room
120 Tremont St., Boston
More than 50 Suffolk graduates representing more than 20 practice areas will be waiting to talk to you about their careers and provide advice about your job search. No resume exchange will be allowed.
A list of participants will be available Nov. 9 in the Career Development Office, Suite 120
Business casual attire strongly suggested and refreshments will be served. Contact Kate Matson for more information.Back to Events Listing »


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