text:
Total $0.00
Craig Greenberg Named CEO of 21c Museum Hotels
September 12, 2017 12:22pm
Founder and Chairman Steve Wilson will continue to guide vision, brand development
Louisville, Ky. (September 12, 2017) –21c Museum Hotels today announced that Craig Greenberg will succeed Steve Wilson as CEO of the growing hospitality company, headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky. Greenberg, who has served as President of 21c Museum Hotels since 2012, will now serve as President and CEO.
Wilson, who founded the company with his wife Laura Lee Brown in 2006, will continue to serve as Chairman of the Board, responsible for guiding the vision and development of the brand and growing the contemporary art collection.
What began as a community revitalization project in downtown Louisville has transformed into a new museum model, hospitality brand, management and development company, which operates seven boutique hotels, eight chef-driven restaurants, and employs more than 1,000 teammates. With multiple projects under development, 21c Museum Hotels' growth continues at a healthy pace.
"Laura Lee and I had a vision for a redevelopment effort that could also provide greater access to contemporary art in our hometown. Since those early days, the company has experienced rapid growth, always maintaining contemporary art and genuine hospitality at its core," said Wilson. "Craig has played a vital role in 21c's development since the beginning, and we know the company is poised for continued success under his leadership."
As President and CEO, Greenberg will oversee all aspects of the company's portfolio of museum hotels and restaurants and is responsible for guiding the company's overall direction and strategic objectives.
"I feel privileged to have been a part of 21c since its inception, and I'm humbled to take on this new role," shared Greenberg. "Laura Lee and Steve's vision, courage, and commitment have certainly benefitted so many of us – locals and travelers alike, artists, and 21c teammates. I look forward to carrying their vision forward into this next phase of the company's growth and continuing to work with them in this new capacity."
Greenberg leads the organization together with partners Chett Abramson, Chief Operations Officer; Sarah Robbins, Chief Hospitality Officer; Phillip Allen, Chief Development Officer; Alice Gray Stites, Chief Curator and Museum Director; Molly Swyers, Chief Brand Officer.
During Greenberg's tenure as President of 21c Museum Hotels, the company has expanded from its flagship in Louisville to include properties in six additional markets, hired more than 1,000 teammates, overseen real estate developments in excess of $380 million, and organized more than 100 exhibitions in over 75,000 square feet of exhibition space. Prior to 21c, Greenberg was an attorney with Frost Brown Todd in Louisville, Kentucky. He graduated from Harvard Law School and the University of Michigan and serves on the Board of Directors for Republic Bancorp and ISCO Industries.
21c Museum Hotels operates in Louisville, Lexington, Cincinnati, Bentonville, Durham, Oklahoma City, and Nashville and has been recognized over the years by notable industry groups and respected publications - listed among the top hotels in the world according to Condé Nast Traveler Readers' Choice, Travel + Leisure World's Best, USA Today 10Best, U.S. News & World Report and many others. The company has also been recognized for growth, named to the Fast 5000, Inc. magazine's annual ranking of America's fastest growing companies.
Tags: craig greenberg,
steve wilson,
21c museum hotels
Much more than just a place to spend the night, each 21c Museum Hotel is an inventive union of genuine hospitality, thoughtful design and culinary creativity — all anchored by a multi-venue contemporary art museum with rotating, curated exhibitions, interactive site-specific art installations and a full roster of cultural programming. Conceived by founders Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson as a place where the art of today provokes thought, engages conversation and inspires action, 21c Museum Hotels, founded in 2007, has grown from a single community revitalization project in Louisville, Kentucky, into a hospitality brand, management and group operating seven hotels and eight restaurants in six states with others under development. Now with more than 75,000 square feet of exhibition space, the multi-venue 21c Museum is North America's only collecting museum dedicated solely to the art of the 21st century. Follow on social for the latest updates on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. For a full roster of hotels, restaurants and current exhibitions, visit 21cMuseumHotels.com.
Contact: Amanda Schinder
email@example.com /
212 202 6506
Accor Welcomes 21c Museum Hotels into MGallery Hotel Collection
21c Museum Hotels Selected as Brand and Management of Restored Historic YMCA Building in Downtown St. Louis
21c Museum Hotels Appoints Sarah Robbins as Chief Operating Officer
AccorHotels Signs Agreement to Acquire 85% Stake of 21c Museum Hotels for $51 Million
21c Museum Hotels Unveils Nashville Hotel Located in the Rehabilitated Gray & Dudley Building
HELM Miami Partners with 21c Museum Hotels for New 135-room Hotel in Miami's Design District
21c Museum Hotels Appoints Philip Forte General Manager and Ian Wilson Director of Sales & Marketing of Upcoming Nashville Property
21c Museum Hotels to Accelerate Expansion Following Formation of Joint Venture; Infusion of $250 Million Allows for Future Developments
21c Museum Hotels Appoints Michael Dunbar General Manager of Cincinnati Property
21c Museum Hotels Appoints Matt Cowden as General Manager of 21c Museum Hotel Oklahoma City in OK
21c Museum Hotels Appoints Sarka Takovich General Manager of Lexington Property Opening Early 2016
21c Museum Hotels Appoints Phil Forte General Manager of Louisville Property
Completed Restoration of Historic Hill Building in Durham, SC Unveiled as 21c Durham Opens
Gerry Link Named as General Manager for 125-key 21c Museum Hotel Durham, Opening in NC in Q1 2015
Please login or register to post a comment.


text:
Squirrel most popular hd and wide desktop background photos gallery download. New wallpapers in high quality for laptops, mobile and computer resolutions. Most famous best cute squirrel images. Free super latest squirrel pictures in 720p and 1080p resolution. Amazing colorful squirrel pics. hdfinewallpapers.com provide total: 20 glorious superb Squirrel Wallpapers.
Page 1 of 2
Visit Facebook Page
Visit Google+ Page

subset: commoncrawl


text:
1 tablespoon olive oil
12 ounces skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into thin bite-size strips
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 medium red sweet pepper, cut into thin strips
1 medium yellow sweet pepper, cut into thin strips
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon bottled hot pepper sauce
1 loaf Italian bread, split horizontally
1/4 cup purchased basil pesto
4 ounces sliced provolone cheese
Fried Basil Leaves (optional)
- In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add chicken; sprinkle with salt and black pepper. Cook and stir about 5 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Using a slotted spoon, remove from skillet.
- Add sweet peppers, onion, and garlic to skillet. Cook and stir for 5 to 6 minutes or until tender. Stir in chicken and hot pepper sauce. Remove from heat.
- Spread cut sides of Italian bread with pesto. Place chicken mixture and cheese on the bottom of loaf. Add the top of loaf and gently press together. Cut sandwich diagonally into four portions.
- Preheat an electric sandwich press, a covered indoor grill, a large grill pan, or a large skillet. Place sandwich portions in the sandwich press or indoor grill; close lid. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until bread is toasted and cheese is melted. (If using a grill pan or skillet, place sandwich portions in grill pan or skillet. Weight down with a heavy skillet. Cook over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes or until bread is toasted. Turn sandwich portions over, weight down, and cook for 3 to 4 minutes more or until bread is toasted and cheese is melted.)
- Cut each sandwich portion diagonally into four slices; secure with toothpicks, if necessary. If desired, garnish with Fried Basil Leaves. Makes 16 appetizer servings.
From the Test Kitchen
Rinse 16 fresh basil leaves; pat dry with paper towels. In a small skillet, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat. Add basil leaves, a few at a time, to hot oil; cook until crisp, turning once. Drain on paper towels.
Nutrition Facts (Philly Chicken Cheese Sandwiches)
Per serving: 192 kcal , 8 g fat (2 g sat. fat , 1 g polyunsaturated fat , 2 g monounsaturated fat ), 18 mg chol. , 313 mg sodium , 21 g carb. , 1 g fiber , 3 g sugar , 10 g pro.


text:
Detailed plot synopsis reviews of The Firemen's Ball
Script Analysis of The Firemen's Ball
Click on a plot link to find similar books!
Plot & ThemesTime/era of movie: - 1960's-1970's Ethnic/Regional/Gender story? - Yes Ethnic/region/relig - European
Main CharacterIdentity: - Male Age: - 60's-90's Ethnicity/Nationality - Eastern European
SettingEurope - Yes European country: - Eastern Europe Small town? - Yes Small town people: - ignorant small town people
Writing StyleAccounts of torture and death? - no torture/death If lots of song/dance... - lot of dancing
Movies with storylines, themes & endings like The Firemen's Ball
|Four Friends starring Craig Wasson, Jodi Thelen, Michael Huddleston, Jim Metzler, Reed Birney, Lois Smith
|Blind Chance starring Boguslaw Linda, Tadeusz Lomnicki
|Loves of a Blonde starring Hana Brejchova, Vladimir Pucholt, Vladimir Mensik, Ivan Kheil
|The Soft Skin starring Fran�oise Dorl�ac, Jean Desailly, Nelly Benedetti, Daniel Ceccaldi, Laurence Badie, Philippe Dumat
|The Killing of Sister George starring Beryl Reid, Susannah York, Coral Browne, Ronald Fraser, Patricia Medina, Hugh Paddick


text:
Weight benches for home should be selected after checking all the pros and cons. If you are thinking of investing in a weight bench you must first of all ascertain, whether it can provide the comfort and quality that you are looking for or not. Because spending money on something that doesn't deliver what it is supposed to, means your money going down the drain.
Anyways, weight benches are a key component of any home gym. Today I'll like to throw light on some of the best weight benches that are appropriate for home workouts. As you read my article, you'll learn many things about various kinds of weight benches for a home gym.
Weight benches nowadays come in a slew of different styles. Some of the variants are flat, a few have multiple adjustments, whereas some are portable with wheels which allow easy movement around the gym floor, and include even bars for dumbbell and bar bell lifting.
Check out some top weight bench variants that are very popular today.
Ironmaster Super Bench
This is one of the highly recommended weight benches around! If you are serious about weight lifting then I recommend you should buy this one – plus it's also a budget-friendly brand so won't hurt your financially. Fully adjustable they allow you to do dips and pull-ups.
They are very sturdy weight benches and very adaptable. The add-on attachments (dip handles and pull-up bar) are stand apart features that you won't find in any other weight benches in the market.
Body Solid FID 225
This weight bench variant closes easily therefore provides easy, convenient storage. It is fitted with wheels thus allow easy mobility and portability. You can easily move it all over the gym floor.
Body Solid FID 225 is great for doing dumbbell exercises as you can adjust it to 7 different incline positions. It has a solid ladder-style back support which is ideal for serious weight lifters. And to top it up the Body Solid FID225 is quite affordable.
Bayou Dumbbell Bench
If you want a small, inexpensive but a handy bench for dumbbell exercise, then just pick this one. It has a compact size, thick padding, optional dumbbell stands and a heavy duty vinyl that you will really adore.
Features like build quality, durability, and most importantly, ergonomics make all the above mentioned weight lifting benches a class apart. The above listed models are top-sellers and come at a price band that is affordable for most people. To cut the story short they are a good value for your money


text:
MyTheresa.com makes Instagram shoppable
Instashop til you drop
Mytheresa.com takes its motto 'See it, love it, shop it!' to a whole new level with its latest Instashop, offering its customers an exciting and innovative shopping experience via Instagram. Fusing together the convenience of online shopping with the accessibility of social media, the new platform enables customers to shop any of their favourite designer pieces marked with #buytheresa directly from the @mytheresaprgirl Instagram feed at instashop-mytheresa.com.
In addition to this, mytheresa.com also unveils its latest styling tool—the 'myt stylist', which allows users to style their ideal looks, share them on their Instagram account and then purchase them, all without having to leave the app. By simply following @myt_stylist on Instagram, customers can enjoy this unique styling and shopping experience at any time and any place in the world.
To indulge in this innovative experience, follow @mytheresaprgirl and @myt_stylist.


text:
Signing in! I do believe I'm #1!!
I can't believe that there's not already 10 people commented.
May I email my address and not post it here for all the public to see?
My niece (who isn't a Christian) loves your books! If I win a copy, I'd like it autographed to her.
Send me your addresses to firstname.lastname@example.com and I'll get them out. : ) Kristin
Just finished A Girl's Best Friend. Looking forward to reading Poppy's story!
Yipee skippee! Do I really get a copy?!
Yahoo! It's like winning something! I've never won anything!
Oh, I'll take one! I can't wait to read Poppy's story.
I would be thrilled to get a signed copy of your latest book.
I'd love a signed copy! Thanks! :)
IT took a while to get the comment page to load properly...you must have created a MAJOR traffic jam with this one!
I look forward to getting my hands on a copy soon....whether I win one or not!
Since Kristin commented am I #10?
I'd love a copy! Did I make the cut?
Well, drat! Knew there was some reason why I should've gotten online to do my morning check of blogs instead of sewing the grief causing costume I just finished!
Can't wait to read it. . . stalking the Bible bookstore until it arrives!
I think I missed the first ten, but you know, Bloglines is slow today.
I will still look forward to reading the book! It's on my amazon wish list and my birthday is next month...
sad... i didn't know this was on here today! :-( I went to Barnes and Noble today to get it, and they don't have it yet.... it bummed out my day! Oh well... it's beautiful outside... that might perk me up!!
I registered just for this, but didn't make it :-(
Hello. I'd love a copy as i'm a coordinator of a MOPS group and our moms need and love to laugh:) God bless you! Thanks so much. With much faith hope and love,
claudine from NY
Kristin ... I'm taking extra vitamins today just becuase I missed this ... Vitamin B for anxiety. Chewing tablets. *sob*
:) Congrats on your new book, I am really happy it's out regardless of being unbelievably late to log in today! :)
Kristin--Huge congrats on your new book hitting the shelves. May it be a major bestseller for you and ...whoever. :)
Jaime--If it's Vit B-12, let those puppies dissove under your tongue. Much better delivery system (I'm sure Poppy would agree...), resulting in more satisfactory resolution of the anxiety of Not Being In The Top Ten. I'm off to take a dropper full of B-12 myself. Sigh..... ;)
Katy McKenna www.fallible.com
nuts! I missed it again!
Oh well...hopefully my library will get it soon!
#22!!!??? Oh, man! Okay, so I'll go out and buy the book. That's what I get for turning my obsessiveness over to FEEDBlitz to let me know when stuff is posted instead of checking every 5 minutes. I laid down control and look what it got me--#22!
Congrats Kristin--can't wait to read about Poppy.
Abundant blessings,
Jenny Cary
Aw man! I'm always the caboose. :( Well, I know it's a brilliant book and I'll read it anyway. :D
Congrats on your new release - so exciting, and I'm sure it's wonderful! Here's to big sales and many printings :)
Okay, I know I'm not even close to the top ten. ARGH! I must have checked this blog before you posted yesterday. *sigh* That'll teach me to check back more frequently during the day. :-) But congratulations to those of you who won. Enjoy!!
Blessings y'all,
Well, dadnapit, I'm not one of the first 10, but since I'm your FAVORITE! (lol, private joke for all you others reading who might get offended) I should get a copy anyway! LOL
aw man! I was at Robin's house for a week so I haven't checked blogs til this morning! So she's your favorite one, eh? LOL I can't believe I missed a free book from you!


text:
Speaking to the UK's Airports Commission, Matthews claimed that failing to develop Heathrow would lead to both Paris and Frankfurt overtaking it as Europe's leading international hub within a decade.
And he argued that this should not be allowed to happen as London is still in a prime position for global aviation, has strong local demand from a large and global city and is home to "one of the world's most important network airlines and alliances in the shape of BA and oneworld".
Indeed, with additional capacity, Matthews claimed that Heathrow could provide regular direct connections to 40 more long-haul destinations by 2030, particularly to long-haul emerging market destinations that are important for economic growth.
He added that any move away from the current hub airport model was extremely unlikely, dismissing suggestions that point-to-point and hub models could be integrated, or that low cost carriers could move into long haul markets.
Matthews told the Commission: "These straightened economic times have triggered a global economic race, with both companies and countries competing fiercely.
"If the UK does not want to be left behind by its foreign rivals, it must have the connectivity to compete and trade on the world stage.
"That connectivity can only come from a single hub airport in the right place for taxpayers, passengers and business. Only Heathrow can meet all these demands."


text:
3 Way Test Kit For Pools And SpasReviewing: Aqua Chem 3 Way Test Kit | Rating:
I bought this Aqua Chem 3-way test kit for our pool this year. In years past we had always used the test strips, but I have heard they are not as accurate as the liquid test kits, so I decided to switch. The kit tests for Free Chlorine, Combined Chlorine, PH and Bromine. The testing vials and two testing solutions come in a handy plastic snap close box, with easy to read instructions.
To test the water all I have to do is fill the two test tubes with pool water from 18" below the surface, place 5 drops of the yellow testing solution for the chlorine and bromine test and 5 drops of red solution in the other tube for the ph test. The bottles hold ½ oz. each and should last a full season. After placing the tops on the test tubes, I just tilt the tubes upside down a couple of times to mix the solution evenly with the water sample. Adjacent to the tubes are color markings to make it easy to match the color of the treated water and determine the numerical reading.
I really prefer this type of testing over the strips and feel like I am getting an accurate reading. The kit recommends replacing the solutions once a year, however, the expiration date on the bottles is 2013. So I assume after you open the bottle, the chemicals deteriorate over time.


text:
I have just bought a Razer NOSTROMO keypad designed for games but I am mapping the keys for use with my texturing and modelling software.
I think that it is amazing. The mapping software is very good and updates by clicking a button. It is going to be hard work thinking how to change all my shortcuts to it but I think it is worth it.
Here are some screens of the finished TDRS


text:
SGE's High Five – GC Column Range.
• The complete polysilphenylene and polycarborane GC column range
• BP5MS optimized silphenylene column
• Five selectivities to suit a range of analyses
Each of the SGE High Five columns has subtly different selectivity giving you the ability to modify your method without significant changes to established conditions, elution order or run times, to achieve resolution of co-eluting peaks.
Click on the links below for information on any of the individual phases, or click here for more information on the complete High Five range.
For more information on choosing a GC column click here, or contact us by e-mailing email@example.com
For a complete listing of all our GC column range, from which you can select the dimensions required click here.


text:
A User's Guide: How To Join Two Pieces Of Wood Side By Side
Last Updated on
Some pieces of furniture awe us in how they are joined, and some are evident in their joinery. You may also decide to be a carpenter in your DIY project. It's therefore mandatory that you understand and master some techniques in joining pieces of wood that like side by side. Below are methods of joining wood.
Corner Joints
A corner joint is one that connects two pieces of wood at the ends, therefore, forming a corner. The following are ways joints by which you can join pieces of lumber at a corner:
Butt Joint
The construction of butt joints is easy as your ABC's. All you need to do is attach the pieces of wood at their ends using screws. Despite its simplicity, it poses one major drawback: it leaves the fastened screws uncovered. Therefore, to avert a joint failure that may result from this, apply putty or countersink the screws.
Similarly, this joint has been described as being the weakest one as it depends on glue to provide its strength. Besides this, gluing of the end grain to the long grain renders the joint further weak. It's not surprising that a fifth-grade student can break such a joint using his hands.
Mortise and Tenon Joint
This joint is considered as being one of the strongest joints. Simplicity is key: this joint pays homage to this simple fact. It maintains a simple approach yet strong. It's been used over the decades to join wood at a right angle.
To achieve this joint, you need to insert one end of a piece of wood into a hole on the adjacent wood. The end of the former piece of wood is called the Tenon while the hole on the latter wood is the mortise. To make this joint, you use glue. Alternatively, you may lock the joint in position by either pinning or wedging it. A standard joint of this caliber should give a perfect registration of the two adjacent planks of wood. This is emphasized when making heirloom pieces.
To distinguish a mortise from a tenon, it's vital we define each. A tenon is a projection on one end of a piece of wood while the mortise is a cavity on the other piece of wood where the tenon is inserted. In most cases, the tenon is taller compared to its width. The mortise and tenon size is in direct relation to the thickness of the pieces of wood used. However, it's standard practice that you make the tenon approximately 1/3'' of the lumber's thickness.
Dowel Joint
The making of a dowel joint is similar to a butt joint. What is distinct from the butt joint is the use of dowels instead of screws. You need to line up the wood and then using drill make a hole from one to the other piece. Drive the dowels through the hole after which you should glue them into position.
For aesthetics, you can hide the dowels by drilling the interior section of the pieces of wood and subsequently inserting dowels through the holes. However, always bear in mind that they are less secure than complete dowels.
End Lap Joint
To build such a joint, saw each end of a piece of wood. Ensure that you saw them half- way in such a manner that this end assumes the shape of a step pyramid. Turn the cut edge of one wood to the other such that it fills the cut end of the other piece of wood. Align the pieces of lumber and use screws to secure them in position. Moreover, apply putty on the screws or countersink them.
Joining The Top Section Of Wood To The Side Of Another Piece
Similar to the corner joint, these joints' cuts attach the side of a plank to the top of another plank. Such joints include:
Lock Miter Joint
This technique uses the approach of the mentioned joint above. You need to carve a nook from each plank so that they rest against each other. However, they are distinctly distinguishable. For this joint, the nook is carved at the top of one piece and the side of another plank. Moreover, it requires some carpentry skill. If properly executed, you don't need to use any adhesive to secure the joint.
Rabbet Joint
This is a close relative of the open mortise and tension joint however you can make this joint using simple tools. Despite it being reliant on adhesive to hold the joint in position, the manner in which the planks are positioned hides the wood grain.
Finger Joint
This joint is unique, and its edges look like a character from a cartoon animation. It has grooves cut from the plank forming a series of 'hills and valleys' that interlock with the grooves on the other piece of wood. When precisely done, they two planks can hold the joint in position due to a simple principle: friction. It is mainly used in the construction making frames for drawers and dressers.
Joining A Piece Of Wood To The Center Of Another Plank
Butt Joint Variation
This version mimics the regular butt joint. This joint however forms a T- shape at the center of the two planks where they intersect at 90 degrees.
Stopped Dado Joint
This joint similarly can be identified with the butt joint variation. However, the center of one of the piece is cut in such a way it assumes the shape of a wrench's open mouth. The groove doesn't span the plank's entire width, and the other piece is placed into this groove.
These, however, are not the only ways to join adjacent pieces of wood. You can consider the following joints:
• Tongue and Groove Joint: This is an edge to edge joint.
• Pocket hole joint: It's simply a butt joint secured with screws.
• Lap wood joint: Frequently used in making workshop storing items.
• Finger joint: It's used to join pieces of wood that are at right angles.
There are various ways for you to join your pieces of wood that are adjacent to each other. You should, therefore, select the most appropriate joint to meet your desired strength. Additionally, if you are involved in a DIY project, you should consult a professional such as a carpenter on what joint to use. Similarly, select a technique that is easy for you. Best of luck as you keep those planks in place!


text:
[wpaudio url="/audio/september12/Boone.mp3″ text="listen to this story" dl="0″]
The news on his car radio isn't good. In Louisiana, state officials have announced that Butte La Rose, a small town of around 800 homes situated on a river basin, will be intentionally flooded at noon by opening a spillway to divert water from the already overflowing Mississippi. The measure will, these same officials contend, steer the oncoming deluge away from the more populous cities of Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
"The residents have been forewarned," the governor announces, "and every effort is being made to move them to safer locales." He adds, "Unfortunately, the state will not be able to compensate them for any losses, but FEMA is already on the ground giving whatever aid they can."
Fifteen hundred miles away, as he pulls into the faculty parking lot, Albert Vance pictures the scene. Impoverished people, living on crawfish and welfare, thrown out of their homes without so much as a fair warning. They'll leave without much complaint, just as the powerless always do, grateful for anything the government might dole in their direction. They'll wind up, the lot of them, in some high school gymnasium among a universe of folding cots, the food line stretching outside the cafeteria and down the hallway as if it were leading to a Ferris wheel at a county fair. There will be men in overalls and waders, women with babies riding their hips, additional children standing a hand's distance away.
In fact, though, Vance has no idea. He's never been in Louisiana, let alone Baton
Rouge, but he's seen enough of life in forty-eight years to make what he considers valid generalizations. It's what we call inductive reasoning, he might tell his Argument and Persuasion 111 class. Making a judgment call based on repeated observation.
Like when his wife left, claiming there was nobody else in the picture. Claiming that Vance needed help with his drinking and his lying and his broken promises. He knew there was somebody else—there's always somebody else—but he forced himself to hope. He went to A.A. and got sober, and at the same time started seeing a therapist. Six months later he drove two hundred and fifty miles, knocked on his mother-in-law's door, and asked to talk to his wife. To Marie. She finally came down from upstairs and they had lunch at T.G.I. Friday's. Vance told her he was seriously trying to work things out. Marie told him that she was happy he was progressing so nicely, but that there was somebody else.
There's always somebody else. Inductive reasoning.
Vance first considered suicide shortly after the T.G.I. Friday's lunch. It was mid-August, his summer vacation was winding to a finish, his wife was most definitely gone, his uncommunicative daughter was married and living in Toronto, and the job he despised was waiting like a bully crouched behind a parked car.
Ironically, he'd pursued his profession since he himself had been a college student. Vance remembered getting out of the Navy, enrolling in community college on the GI Bill, and falling into the world of academia like Alice had fallen through the rabbit hole. He'd started off in General Studies, moved on to a bachelor's degree in American Lit, then a master's in English, and a Ph.D. in Rhetoric & Composition. He attended colleges in New York, Colorado, Vermont, and Utah. There were dinners at professors' houses, foreign film festivals, discussions of art and sex and life that stretched far into the morning.
Somehow, though, things had changed. The students where he taught—Our Lady of Mercy College in suburban Connecticut—were stupid and apathetic. Where as he and some classmates had stayed up all night one St. Patrick's Day in his junior year reading aloud the work of William Butler Yeats, the undergraduates at Our Lady of Mercy had, just last March, held a Frosted Lucky Charms eating marathon. His peers weren't much better. Tenured professors had become lazy and, worse, predictable. And adjuncts worried about their crappy paying part-time jobs like farm pigs feared not getting their share of slop.
Vance had, some years back, purchased a 12-gauge shotgun. It wasn't some heroin crazed home invader he feared, it was students he had failed. Not so long ago they'd have gone to work painting houses or working for the phone company. Now, through their parents' ability to write a check, they were expected to graduate. More than a few, faced with the D or the F, became surly, even threatening. Vance's car was "keyed," his computer virused, his office door swastikaed in red Magic Marker despite the fact that he wasn't Jewish.
It would be so easy, he though after Marie brushed him off like sand on a beach blanket, to take this gun I've never even shot, load it, walk into the woods behind the house and pull a Hemingway.
But he hadn't. That form of death would be too messy. What if he was discovered by some poor kid taking an innocent Saturday morning hike? Or worse. What if he survived, the top of his head blown off, destined to walk through life like a freak in search of a circus.
In his office, Vance diagnoses his symptoms for the umpteenth time. The periods of high-pitched breathing, the neck pain, the sore throat and cough that won't go away. He factors in a quarter century of cigarettes and scotch. "Throat cancer," the Mayo Clinic site tells him, "has a 90% cure rate if detected early. But if the disease has advanced to the surrounding tissues, that rate drops to 50%."
The last thing Vance wants is to die while standing in front of a room full of students. It happened two semesters ago to a colleague, a middle-aged guy named Ray Fashetti, who had a heart attack in the middle of his Academic Writing class. From a PowerPoint lecture on "Analogy," to a crumpled heap on the floor. His class, all first-year students, sat silent and motionless for ten minutes until one of them finally broke classroom policy, turned on her cell phone, and called campus security.
At home, Vance watches television while eating a Hungry Man Meatloaf Dinner. It's Good To Be Full the box had declared, right under a picture of what resembled two flattened, gravy-covered turds backed up by corn, mashed potatoes, and a brownie. The back of the box was a bit more intriguing, identifying the meal as a 680 calorie, 55 percent saturated fat, 41 percent sodium feast. Like a saltlick covered in grease, Vance had thought while his meal microwaved, but who cares.
The flood-ravaged state of Louisiana is in the second slot on Six News Six, right after the story of a slutty-looking rock singer who shoplifted a ruby and sapphire ring from Kay Jewelers, but claims she'd simply forgotten to take it off and return it. "I do have other balls in the air," she reminds her audience.
In Butte La Rose, a husband and wife who look to be in their fifties, watch as water fills their backyard like a bathtub. Behind them, in the driveway, is a packed station wagon with an upsidedown rowboat bungee-corded on top. The woman, who wears a t-shirt that reads THIS IS MY CLONE, is telling a reporter that in her "not-so-humble opinion," the intentional flooding was not as much to save Baton Rouge and New Orleans as it was to save the oil refineries down river. Following the report, an anchor woman, dressed as if she's on her way to divorcees' night at the Ramada, smiles and says to the weather guy next to her, "Honestly, Paul. If I live forever I'll never tire of hearing those drawling dialects the folks down there use."
Vance switches channels and watches as other families, carrying all they can, crowd highways in a slow motion stampede. They take laptop computers and photo albums. They transport the elderly, some on mattresses, across the back seats of their cars. They leave behind furniture and bicycles and pets. Some lock their doors, some turn off their lights.
Vance finds the entire thing extremely depressing and wishes he could do something to help. But he knows better. He can't drive down there; he'd never even get close to the place. If he sends money to a relief fund, it'll wind up in the pocket of some fat bureaucrat who'll spend it on male prostitutes and cocaine. It's hopeless, all of it. It is, in the words of some actor from one of those old Billy Jack movies, "just one big shit-brick."
Vance watches Classic Fight Nite on ESPN, grades a few papers, smokes the e-cigarette his daughter sent him—without any written correspondence—for Father's Day. He has a coughing spasm and for the first time notices blood on the tissue. He envisions himself six months, a year from now, in some hospital bed. He'll weigh under a hundred pounds and have to be fed through a clear plastic tube. He'll shit into a bag. People from the college will come to visit, not because they want to, but because it's protocol. They'll bring him dumb books like, If Cats Could Talk, and stay as briefly as possible. In the parking lot they'll congregate and discuss what bar is closest and the quickest way to get there. When he dies, an email will circulate throughout the college. Subject line: Condolences. It will be sandwiched between Change in Library Hours and Document Shredding Service.
Vance thinks again about suicide. Maybe hanging. A cafeteria worker at Our Lady of Mercy, finding out she was pregnant while her husband waited two years for her in Mexico, had gone that way. She was discovered by her landlord after the rent was a couple of weeks past due.
But Vance worries the method might not be thorough enough, and the last thing he wants is to be swinging there, totally conscious, his neck broken, his TV—which he neglected to turn off—playing endless reruns of That '70s Show.
In the middle of the night, after zero sleep, Vance figures it out. It's been raining for hours and the roads are slick. An accident, some might say, waiting to happen. At
9 AM, as he does every Thursday morning, he'll get into his car and drive toward his 9:30 class at OLMC. At the entrance to I-95, where the north-bound traffic is relatively light, he'll pull onto the Interstate, swing a U-turn, avoid oncoming traffic until he spots an 18-wheel tractor-trailer, close his eyes and floor the accelerator. At eighty miles an hour, his car—a Ford Focus—will fold like a Wal-Mart lawn chair. The driver of the 40-ton truck will be annoyed, but otherwise uninjured. He must have lost control of his vehicle, people will say. A man (some will even say "young man") with so much to live for.
Vance pictures the scenario over and over. It excites him. He thinks about what he should wear. If he needs to get gas. Whether or not he should finish grading his papers. He decides not to alter his usual routine; this should look like an accident. He doesn't sleep. He knows if there was a drop of alcohol anywhere in this apartment, it would be gone.
But what he doesn't figure on is actuality. Hours later, when he yields on the entrance to I-95, he sees that traffic is barely moving. He spots flashing emergency lights in the distance, an accident that has surpassed his own. He edges onto the Interstate, creeps along for two miles, passes the car which has flipped onto its side, and finally gets off at the Park Avenue exit south of the college.
Butte La Rose, the morning news guy on WXW-FM informs him, is a ghost town. Flood waters have, in some places, reached fourteen feet. The last evacuated resident is identified as an eighty-two year old man who decided to leave at the last possible minute. "I don't want to go down with the ship," the man is quoted as saying. "Not when there are other ships."
Vance stops at a red light, considers turning around, calling in sick. The rain has intensified, the wind has picked up, the sky has turned the color of Guinness Stout. It'll have to be the shotgun, Vance thinks to himself. Mess or no mess.
Except then he sees it. It's nothing particularly noteworthy, nothing that would attract much attention under other circumstances. It's simply a girl—she's maybe twelve at most—rushing up the granite steps in front of the middle school. Perhaps she's just been dropped here by a parent who, late for work, has already taken off. The girl wears a hooded red vinyl raincoat. Flip-flops on her already wet feet. She shoulders a backpack the color of a traffic cone. Under one arm, a manila portfolio which the girl, hunched, tries to protect. She's a few steps from the school's entrance when the portfolio falls—perhaps it's dislodged by the wind—from her grasp. Papers fall from it—color printouts, maps perhaps—a school project due today. She quickly collects a few, stomps on others. Vance, even from a distance, can see colored ink on what appears to be a pie chart blending into some nondescript shade of brown. But the kid doesn't give up. She losses a flip-flop, expertly regains it, collects each smeared and soaking sheet of paper, returns the whole sodden mess to the portfolio, hurries up the rest of the steps and disappears.
Damn, Vance thinks.
Behind him, a car horn shrieks.
Vance parks in the faculty lot, but stays in his car. His hands are shaking the way they used to when he first stopped drinking. He considers calling the middle school, asking about the girl, maybe telling the principal the entire story and pitching a plea for the poor kid to be allowed to redo her project. But he knows how creepy this will sound, a grown man leering from an unmoving car. Beside, this child seems capable. Able to stand her ground, as the old saying goes.
He decides instead to call his doctor.


text:
Academic Advocacy
Ensuring that all students are treated with the respect and dignity, and appropriate policies are adhered to, is part of the UWSA's effective?representation and advocacy.
The UWSA is here to advocate for you.?We can help you through the following processes:
- Academic misconduct
- Non-academic misconduct
- Coursework grade appeals and final grade appeals
- Eviction from university residence
- Academic suspension, probation, or involuntary withdrawal from a program
- Concerns about an instructor
Have a question and don't know who to ask? Reach out to us and we can look into next steps.?Your Vice-President Student Affairs, Jade DeFehr, can assist in guiding you through the process and ensuring you're provided with the information you need. You can reach her at vpsa@เกมออนไลน์ www.issuesanswered.com or 204-786-9780.
Relevant University Documents:
Academic Misconduct Policy and Procedures
Respectful Working and Learning Environment Policy and Procedures
University Policies
Student Guide to Appeals Procedures


text:
LeBron on Olympics: 'I wish I was out there' | Rose stands by 'super team' talk | Ginobili bids adieu to Argentinian team
No. 1: LeBron on Olympics: 'I wish I was out there' — Shortly after his Cleveland Cavaliers wrapped up the 2016 NBA championship, star forward LeBron James let USA Basketball know he wouldn't be suiting up for the 2016 Olympics. Although he already has two gold medals to his name, James revealed in an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America" that he wishes he were a part of this year's squad and hasn't closed the door on participating in the 2020 Olympics:
The Cleveland Cavaliers superstar, who decided to skip his fourth Olympics after leading the Cavs to an NBA title in June, said in an interview with ESPN's Rachel Nichols that he is keeping an eye on his teammates at the Rio Games.
"Every time I watch 'em, I wish I was out there," James said in the interview, portions of which will debut Thursday on ABC's "Good Morning America" and air subsequently during editions of ESPN's SportsCenter. "I did not retire from Team USA. I just did not play this summer. So I still left the door open."
The full interview with James will air Sunday on ESPN.
James joined USA Basketball for the 2004 Games in Athens, where the Americans lost their opener to Puerto Rico, dropped two more games and settled for bronze. He returned on the 2008 Redeem Team and won gold in Beijing and captured another gold medal four years ago in London.
After leading the Cavs to a historic comeback against the Golden State Warriors in June, James said he needed rest and would not play in Brazil. If he decides to return to the national team, he would be 35 at the 2020 Tokyo Games.
James also addressed the call for social change he delivered at last month's ESPYS with Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony.
"We wanted to start off the show with something that meant something, you know, that really was true to our hearts, and let our fellow athletes know where we stand," he said.
He also talked about his work with the LeBron James Family Foundation and why building something in the Akron, Ohio, community where he grew up is so important to him.
"I'm similar to these kids in every way, every way, shape or fashion," he said. "I walk the same roads as these kids. I breathe the same air as these kids. You know, I understand what they're going through, growing up in an inner city and having people just — basically forget them. Like, there's no way they're gonna make it. I had days where I just felt like it was just me and Mom, you know, and no one cared, and there's no way that we're gonna be able to make it outta this.
"I definitely could've been a statistic. I mean, I grew up in a single-parent household. My mother was 16 when she had me. I grew up in the inner city, where there's a lot of violence."
No. 2: Rose stands by 'super team' comments — When New York Knicks guard Derrick Rose told our Lang Whitaker a month or so ago he considers his squad to be a "super team", many in NBA circles laughed the comment off. The Knicks have no doubt remodeled their squad by acquiring Rose via a trade and signing veterans such as Joakim Noah, Courtney Lee, Brandon Jennings and others. Rose had a chance to walk back his comments in a recent interview, but as ESPN.com's Ian Bagley notes, Rose wasn't about to reverse field on his "super team" talk:
In an interview published earlier this week from Seoul, South Korea, Rose expanded on those comments and explained that they stemmed from confidence in himself and his team.
"I still believe that," Rose said. "Like I said, with that Super Team term, you have to be very careful, I guess, if you're in the United States. But I feel like if you're in any team in the NBA — it don't have to be the NBA, it could be the college level, high school level — you should believe in yourself and have the confidence in yourself that you're playing on a super team anywhere. So I have a lot of confidence, and I'm not taking that back."
Rose also addressed a number of basketball topics during two interviews on his trip to South Korea to promote his new sneakers.
In comments that might ease the fears of Knicks fans who worry that Kristaps Porzingis won't get enough touches with Rose around, the point guard said he plans to "share the ball more" in 2016-17, as he did last season.
"We have more options on this team. With the Bulls, we had more options too but the offense really went through me and Jimmy [Butler]," Rose said. "With the Knicks, we have [Kristaps Porzingis], we have [Carmelo Anthony], we have [Joakim Noah] rolling to the rim. We've got Courtney [Lee]."
Anthony said in a recent interview with NBA TV that he wants Rose to "have fun" playing again, and he suggested that the former Bulls star could benefit from a change of scenery.
"I just want him to get back to playing basketball and being the Derrick Rose that everyone fell in love with," Anthony said.
Rose, a free agent in 2017, says he and the other Knicks will be properly motivated heading into the season.
"We have to go in, and we have to prove something," he said. "All of us want to prove something. Bringing a group like that together can be very dangerous if we all come together the right way."
No. 3: Ginobili bids emotional farwell to Argentinian national team — San Antonio Spurs swingman Manu Ginobili has built a Hall of Fame career for himself thanks to his NBA accolades and his role on the Spurs' championship teams. But his legacy is even greater as a member of Argentina's national team, which he led to stunning upset of Team USA in the 2004 Olympics en route to a gold medal finish. Ginobili, Luis Scola and Andres Nocioni took on USA one last time yesterday on the Olympic stage, but Argentina ultimately fell 105-78 in the semifinals and were eliminated. The loss marks the likely end of Ginobili on the national team, which was an emotional moment for him, writes Marc Stein of ESPN.com: :
Brazil might not seem like a storybook setting for a couple of Argentines to walk away from the sport they changed, but you fell for these two all over again in Argentina's 105-78 quarterfinal defeat to the United States. Even on enemy soil.
If not your heart, Ginobili and Scola and their countrymen always won your respect with how hard they played, how together they were, how proud they will forever be to have worn their country's colors. The nation responsible for plunging USA Basketball into the deepest of self-examinations, resulting in a total overhaul of the program and, yes, the hiring of Mike Krzyzewski as coach, is irresistible to a hoops lifer.
"First of all, we beat an outstanding … not just a team," Krzyzewski said. "They're what I call a program. An amazing culture.
"Congratulations to Argentina and the magnificence they've shown the world for the last almost two decades."
This was a night to pay tribute to Ginobili, Scola, Andres Nocioni and Carlos Delfino.
The last four holdovers from the seminal 2004 Argentina squad that, after failing to qualify for Sydney in 2000, stunned Team USA in the semifinals and somehow won the gold medal in their first try together.
"Truly amazing," said Kryzewski, who will never forget the achievement because he otherwise might never have had this job.
So both Krzyzewski and Team USA veteran Carmelo Anthony, who was just a 20-year-old on the roster in 2004, made sure not to leave the floor without letting Ginobili, now 39, know how honored they were to scrap with the Argentines for all these years.
"I'm not going to say the exact words [they told me]," Ginobili said. "They were just very cool and important displays of affection and respect."
It all added up to some scene inside the Carioca Arena 1, just two hours after Ginobili's dear friend Tony Parker played the last game of his international career in a heavy loss to Spain and wound up being applauded by the world's press on his way out of the interview room after pouring his heart out at the podium.
So there was Ginobili, after a 27-point defeat in the one country where he's typically unwelcome, shuffling off the floor with the game ball tucked under his arm and tears in his eyes.
Scola, for his part, didn't outright say it was the end as Manu had, but joked when someone asked about the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo: "I'll be 40. I'll be happy if I can walk."
"It was emotional," Ginobili conceded. "I didn't want it to be. I was hoping just to sneak out and go to the locker room and do what I had to do there, but everybody conspired against it."
Even in the land of green and gold, there was no alternative but a celebration. With their flex cuts, their toughness, their brotherhood, Manu & Co. won the only gold medal in men's basketball to elude the United States in the six Olympiads in which NBA players have been allowed to participate.
It has been a frequent lament in this cyberspace that there appears to be little in the pipeline to continue Argentina's success in the new millennium, but Scola refuses to see that as a tragedy.
"The [truth] is, in 70 years of basketball history in our country, for 60 years — or 55 years — we were between 10 to 20 [in the world]," Scola said. "That was our range.
"And now all this happened and we happened to be top three for 10 years, 12 years, 13 years. You know reality says there's a strong chance we come back to where we were before. Just because, along our history, that's what we've been.
"We happened to have this generation of very good players and we jumped to top five. … Do we see Ginobilis and Nocionis in our [young] guys? No. But [did] people [think] in '99 or '98 that we're gonna be winning a gold medal in 2004? No. Nobody. People would laugh [at that].
"Our goal in '99 … the whole goal for our whole careers was just to make it to the Olympics once. Not winning, not make it to the quarterfinals, not make it to the semifinals, not making a medal. Just be there. One time. That's all we wanted. And that was '99, not '81. That was five years before we won the gold medal."
"Today I go home with a bag full of emotions," Ginobili said.
But …
"We left, I think, a footprint in FIBA basketball. Proud of it."
"For a moment we thought we could compete with them," Scola said, hearkening back to an early 19-9 lead Wednesday night that quickly became a 47-27 deficit after a tidy U.S. run of 38-8.
"But this is a fair game. They're just better than us now. We know that. They got more athleticism, more talent, bigger. We're OK with it, because it's just the way it goes. There was a time where we could compete with these guys. And actually there was a couple times we beat them. We're not there now."
SOME RANDOM HEADLINES: For the record, Oklahoma City Thunder big man Steven Adams appreciates your concern … Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James says his 'dream' is to one day own an NBA team … The Miami Heat have re-signed backup guard Beno Udrih … The Los Angeles Lakers plan to hire former player Coby Karl as coach of their NBA D-League team, the Los Angeles D-Fenders …


text:
Regularly having your HVAC system cleaned and tuned up could elevate its performance and help reduce your costs because an HVAC system that's well-maintained can use much less energy than one that is not. But what else could you do? Here are more simple steps you can take to increase your Reeds Spring home's energy efficiency.
Seal the leaks around your windows and doors. Apply caulk or weatherstripping in the spots you find leaks.
Insulate your walls and attic. You might equate insulation with keeping your house warm throughout the winter, but it also provides benefits in the summer. When it's hot outside, heat is continually seeking cooler places—like your home. Make sure you have enough insulation to keep the heat from flowing through your attic and walls and decreasing your home comfort.
Have your ducts cleaned. Clean ducts make it easier for air to flow through your home, which makes your air conditioner's job smoother.
While you're at it, confirm your ducts are properly sealed to avoid air leaks and insulate them if needed. If the ducts are leaking, you are losing valuable heated or cooled air. Properly sealing and insulating ducts is even more important if they are placed in the attic, a vented crawlspace or any other unconditioned area.
Set your thermostat as high as comfortably possible during the summer. To help possibly keep your cooling bill cut down, keep the difference between the indoor and outdoor temperatures as small as possible. According to the Department of Energy, you can save up to 10% a year on heating and cooling by easily turning your thermostat back 7° to 10°F from its typical setting for 8 hours a day. If you turn on a ceiling fan in conjunction with your air conditioner, you can raise your thermostat setting by about 4°F without negatively disturbing your comfort.
Install a programmable thermostat. Sure, thermostats can be adjusted manually, but programmable thermostats make managing your home comfort and efficiency so easy. You can automatically regulate your temperature when you're away from home or when you're sleeping while avoiding discomfort because your home's temperature will return to normal before you get home or wake up.
If you choose not to use a programmable thermostat, avoid setting your thermostat at a colder-than-usual setting when you turn on your air conditioner. Your house won't cool down any faster and will only cost you additional money in energy.
Don't place lamps, TV sets or other heat-generating appliances close to your thermostat. This practice can force your air conditioner to run longer than needed because your thermostat senses heat from these appliances and thinks your home needs cooled.
[Use|Utilize|Take advantage of]54] your windows. If it's cooler at night, turn off your AC and open the windows. Shut the windows and your curtains or blinds in the morning to trap the cooler air and to avoid heat gain through the windows.
Invest in new, energy-efficient equipment. If your HVAC equipment is more than 10 years old or not keeping up with your home-comfort needs, call All Seasons Comfort Systems Inc for an evaluation. It may be time to replace it with ENERGY STAR®-qualified equipment that can lower your annual energy bill by more than $115, according to energystar.gov.
If you've got additional questions about how to increase your home's energy efficiency, think it may be time for more energy-efficient equipment or simply want to arrange a regular maintenance appointment, call All Seasons Comfort Systems Inc at 417-739-4606 and our experts can help. If it's easier, schedule your appointment online using our online scheduler.


text:
After losing two straight games in an upset against Tulsa and a 17-point collapse against Memphis, Houston's season looked to be headed for a dark place. The Cougars rebounded, easing the minds of their fans, with a 28-24 upset of No. 17 USF on the road Saturday.
After two opening drives resulted in four total yards, Houston's inconsistent offense found itself being led by its third quarterback of the season when sophomore D'Eriq King stepped in to replace Kyle Postma.
Wet conditions stifled both offenses early, and USF led 7-0 Bulls at the half. Houston flipped the script of its recent games and was the stronger team in the second half. Just two minutes into the third quarter, King hit receiver Courtney Lark in stride for a 39-yard touchdown pass.
"He did a great job of making plays with his feet but also making his throws," Head coach Major Applewhite said. "I just want to see consistency from that position for overall offensive success."
The teams would exchange short rushing touchdowns in the third quarter with the Bulls quarterback Quinton Flowers taking his in from three yards out and Houston's Mulbah Car responding with another just five minutes later.
King would score his second touchdown of the day on a 3-yard run with just over six minutes remaining to tie the game at 21. USF kicked a field goal with 1:46 left in the game to go up 24-21 setting up the sophomore quarterback to drive his team downfield running the two-minute drill.
After being sacked on third down with just over a minute left, the Cougars loss looked like a lock as they were forced to pass it on 4th-and-24. King rolled out of the pocket escaping from pressure and hit Lark for 30 yards and a first down.
A 6-yard run and subsequent pass put the Cougars at the Bulls' 21-yard line. With On 3rd-and-nine just a few plays later and with 11 seconds remaining in the game, King broke off a 20-yard touchdown for the go-ahead touchdown.
Despite rushing for two touchdowns, the Houston defense prevented Flowers from passing any touchdowns and finished the game with four sacks and 12 tackles for a loss.
"It was great to see a great second half from them," Applewhite said. "Belief is a powerful thing and it was good to see them play the full game against a really good offense so to finish the game like they did I think brings a lot of confidence in."
On the offensive side of the ball, King finished the game going 12-for-21 for 137 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 83 yards and 2 more scores. Car finished the game with 18 carries for 137 yards and a touchdown.
Applewhite said King will start the Cougars next game against East Carolina on Saturday.
The win kept Houston's hopes of winning the division with three games left in the season. Their game against the Pirates kicks of at 11 a.m. at TCDEU Stadium.


text:
What to know about fertility supplements
Infertility can be challenging to treat. Modern medical techniques are sometimes effective, but they can be costly, and success rates can vary. Some people who are dealing with infertility look for alternatives to medical intervention to help them become pregnant. They may try using supplements that claim to boost fertility in males, females, or both.… Read More »


text:
Gord Hotchkiss, chair of search marketing association SEMPO, is bullish about the industry's prospects, saying 2007 will be a "watershed year" for localised advertising and that various other revenue channels will drive growth.
But in an exclusive interview, he also points to challenges facing the sector, including the lack of transparency over click fraud and an upcoming "showdown" between consumers and advertisers over search data.
In a nutshell, what are your thoughts on the growth prospects for paid search?
There's tremendous growth left, but it depends on how you define paid search. If you define it as any monetisation done by the search engines, we haven't even scratched the surface.
Local search, mobile search, contextual search and behaviourally targeted search will all drive huge revenues over the next decade and beyond.
Looking further, we're talking about the complete flipping of the marketing paradigm, with consumer initiated marketing gaining the lion's share of budgets. Search will be the foundation of that.
Also, we have to accept the fact that search still hasn't taken hold in the pragmatist main market. The search activity we have seen to date has been totally driven by early adopters. We haven't seen anything yet!
What do you think has driven keyword prices downwards over the last year – increased recognition of click fraud, or a wider focus on ROI from advertisers?
Click fraud has been a factor, but it's a symptom of a more pervasive cause. Search is caught at the cusp of the chasm.
Early adopters have become very savvy about how to use search, and bid prices in these categories have reached their natural limits. Search is still trying to make inroads in many verticals, and with many traditional advertisers.
To date, we haven't seen an influx in new revenue from these sources, but it's coming. My feeling is that 2006 was the year of maturation of the early adopters, so a flattening and even a decrease of bid prices was predictable.
I think we're on a plateau before another big up-tick, but the up-tick will also be driven by new revenue channels, in addition to paid search as we know it.
How much further do you see the deflation continuing?
I don't see a lot more deflation. I think in the most aggressive verticals, bid prices have found their natural level.
The wild card will be the discounting that might happen as the scope of click fraud is determined. There may be a little more downward pressure in the more aggressive verticals, but this will be more than offset by new revenue coming into emerging verticals.
Are the major search engines on top of the click fraud problem?
No. But they're working hard. There's a lot more happening internally than we see from the outside.
We have to realise that this is the single biggest point of vulnerability for the engines right now, so they have to be very tight-lipped about it. But we're far beyond the 'ignore it and it will go away' phase.
Engines are very aware of the click fraud issue and are working to eradicate it, while at the same time trying to avoid any hard numbers that would negatively impact their revenue stream or set off a wave of legal challenges.
What else would you like to see them, and the wider industry, doing?
I think this has to be an industry initiative, with a trusted third party as an objective source to determine scope.
Engines cannot be completely transparent about click fraud findings. There are too many factors aligned against this stance. And even if they were, advertisers wouldn't believe them.
This is not a 'clean your own house' issue. So it has to move outside the engines with a third party with enough respect to act as the objective arbitrator.
You recently asked the industry to get involved in a study on click fraud. Why do you think this will help?
For exactly the reasons stated above. Fair Isaac has the reputation and credibility to be the respected third party arbitrator.
The fact that they're undertaking the study is great news. Fair Isaac has built tremendous credibility in the financial fraud sector.
The immediate benefit of the study, however, is to determine the scope of click fraud. There have been no estimates based on an actual analysis of aggregated on-site activity. The numbers being quoted are just averages from a number of advertisers who were asked which percentage of their paid search activity they believe to be fraudulent. There's a built in bias in the approach.
The other advantage of the Fair Isaac study is to determine the variability of click fraud from one vertical to the next. It's not an across the board issue, but there have been no attempts to quantify the scope across various categories.
What's your take on the click fraud court cases that have been springing up against the major portals?
This is a predictable development. When you have a 'my word against yours' situation as is the case with click fraud, legal recourse is usually the next step.
It's actually regrettable that we didn't have a trusted arbitrator in place before it got to that. Now that click fraud is in the courts, it substantially increases the obstacles in place for a quick and mutually agreeable settlement.
Following the huge interest from marketers in the AOL search data incident, do you think that's highlighted a genuine need for more research into users' search habits, with controls?
There's always a need for more research into users' search habits, because they truly are indicative of online behaviour. But using historical click data as the source for this research raises a thorny issue.
If it's released in aggregate, that's fine, but when a leak, or more accurately, a flood happens as in the AOL case, that's a breach of trust and we're going to become increasingly sensitive to privacy issues.
This click stream data that resides with the engines (and they all have it) is a big testing ground for privacy issues, and the AOL incident just heightened the public's awareness that these portals know an amazing amount about your online habits.
We tend to forget that there is always someone watching where you go when you're online.
Do you feel more data should be available to the industry, not just the search engines?
That's a loaded question. Obviously this data is tremendously valuable to marketers, but as I've said, most consumers aren't aware the depth of data that's being collected on them.
As the engines and other media properties build platforms that allow for increased targeting, whether behavioural or demographic, there will be a backlash against this previously benign practice of gathering data in return for an app or toolbar.
Up to now, the use of this data has been limited, but everyone is gearing up to provide more access to advertisers.
There's a showdown coming between advertisers and consumers, and it will revolve around this data. To be honest, I'm not sure which side is right.
What opportunities are out there now for marketers in the area of social search?
Social search is still defining itself and hasn't become a big enough slice of the search market to gain a lot of attention from marketers as of yet.
Marketers, as a rule, follow critical mass, and social search is still an interesting premise, not a viable marketing opportunity. More to the point, there are a lot of interesting premises to follow, and marketers just don't have the time to follow them all. The premise has to reach the tipping point, gain critical mass and then marketers tend to follow en masse.
To show you how far away on the horizon social search is, mainstream marketers have yet to discover plain old search. It will be an interesting experiment for the bleeding edge marketers for the next few years, but that will be the extent.
What's your take on how successful local search will be?
This is an example at the other end of the spectrum from social search. Local search is ready to take off.
There's a convergence of effort and functionality right now around local that will start to gain critical mass quickly. The biggest stumbling block is the lack of quality online presence with local search advertisers.
Right now, it's the national chains that are dipping their toes in local search. But we're close to the tipping point. Local search makes far too much sense for the consumer for it to remain as a marginal marketing strategy for long. Look for 2007 to be a watershed year for local.
What's your take on the challenges and opportunities of the mobile space for search marketers?
This is another emerging premise that has great potential. Mobile will be the future of connectivity, as access, input, output and processing power all take leaps forward over the next few years.
What Moore's law did for the desktop through the 90's, it will do for mobile through the rest of this decade and into the next. It ties into local, but goes far beyond it. For me, this is the most exciting technology on the horizon right now, and offers the opportunity to bridge the gap between online and offline shopping in an extremely compelling way.
Integrate ubiquitous high-speed access, GPS functionality and more functional input/output and you have a huge opportunity. We could do an entire interview just on the potential of mobile!


text:
Clubs and Organizations in Science
Main Content
Science Student Government and Alumni Relations
- Eberly College of Science Student Council
- Network for Excellence in Undergraduate Science (NEXUS)
- Science LionPride Ambassadors
Science-Specific Organizations
- American Society for Microbiology, Penn State Chapter
- American Solar Energy Society, Penn State Student Chapter
- Applied Physics
- Astronomy Club
- Biochemistry Society
- Biology Club
- Forensic Science Club
- International Scientists and Engineers Association (ISEA)
- Math Club
- Nittany Chemical Society
- Physics and Astronomy for Women (PAW)
- Science Lions
- Society of Physics Students, Penn State Chapter
- Undergraduate Research Society
Health-Related Organizations
- Alpha Epsilon Delta National Health Preprofessional Honor Society, PA Beta chapter
- Global Brigades
- Pre-Optometry Society
- Student National Medical Association (Minority Association of Pre-Medical Students), Penn State Chapter
Graduate Organizations
- Graduate Women in Science
- Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Biosciences Graduate Student Association (MCIBS GSA)
- Statistics Graduate Student Organization (SCSA)
Looking for an organization not listed here?
Visit Penn State's Student Organization Directory to learn about more than 1,000 student organizations at University Park.
Related Clubs and Organizations
Some clubs with advisers outside of the Eberly College of Science focus on math and science:
- Actuarial Science Club
- Biomedical Sciences Club
- Foundation for International Medical Relief of Children (FIMRC), Penn State Chapter
- Out in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (oSTEM)
- Pre-Dental Society
- Pre-Medical Society
- Pre-Physical Therapy Club
- Pre-Physician Assistant Club
- Pre-Vet Club
- Statistics Club
Diversity-Related Organizations
- African Students Association
- Black Caucus
- Coalition of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Ally Graduate Students
- Latino Caucus
- LGBTA Student Coalition
- Minorities in Agricultural and Natural Resources Association, Penn State Chapter
- N.A.A.C.P., Penn State Chapter
- National Society of Black Engineers, Penn State Chapter
- Out in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (oSTEM)
- Puerto Rican Student Association
- Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers
- Society of Women Engineers


text:
Learn to Cut Costs Without Compromising Employee Relations
By: John Rossheim, Monster Senior Contributing Writer
For business owners, especially those who know the names of many of their workers, there's a town meeting agenda that's almost as repugnant as a layoff announcement: Why it has become necessary to reduce costs by trimming employee benefits.
Indeed, like cutting off someone's livelihood, reducing or eliminating healthcare coverage, retirement contributions or other vital benefits threatens the business-critical relationship between a small- to midsized employer and its employees.
"If you start taking away core benefits that the best employees expect, then you're putting the whole business in jeopardy," says Vince Ashton, CEO of HealthPass, a New York nonprofit agency that gives small businesses access to an array of health plans.
So what's the best approach if you are forced by financial circumstances to reduce benefits outlays? You'll be wise to take the same approach you may have asked of your employees in these hard times: To undertake an unsparing reexamination of your benefits program and squeeze more value out of each dollar spent.
Healthcare Benefits: Reconsider Carriers
Especially at small and midsized companies, healthcare benefits have been under pressure for years, costing employers ever more while simultaneously placing a greater burden on employees.
But many smaller employers are approaching a crossroads.
"More companies are having trouble paying their premiums, but most are maintaining health coverage," says Ashton. "Health insurance is seen as a part of compensation; it's a difficult thing for employers to take away."
Dropping financial support for health coverage can cost your business in at least two ways: lost employee loyalty and declining employee health, which can lead to lower productivity and higher absenteeism.
If your workers are like many others at American businesses, they might rather forgo some pay than venture into the chaotic marketplace for individual health coverage, which can run into five figures for a family policy. "Some businesses are reducing employee hours but maintaining health coverage as the anchor benefit," says Jim Walsh, publisher of Silver Lake Books.
Suppose you've decided to maintain a health insurance benefit. Is there anything you can do to control costs other than jacking up your workers' copays and premium contributions? If you're like most small-business executives, you don't know all the answers.
"Business owners often feel there's not a lot they can do about out-of-control healthcare costs," says Earnest Youngblood, CEO of NavigatorMD, which makes health-plan design software. "But a broker-consultant can go to the market to try to find carriers that can save you money."
A health insurance broker can put your company's coverage out to bid, revealing opportunities for savings for you and your workers. "This stuff is hard for an HR person to handle adequately," says Ashton. "I'm a big broker advocate, but you need somebody who's knowledgeable and well-trained." Ashton recommends getting a referral from a local business owner whose business is similar in size to your own and find out how they regard their broker. "Absent that," says Ashton, "the trade association that brokers, benefits professionals, and agents join is the National Association of Health Underwriters.
But finding a fiscally sustainable health plan is about more than just seeing which carrier comes in with the low bid. "You have to look at plan design," says Youngblood. "You have to motivate people to be more responsible for their health. Maybe higher copays and deductibles have been keeping people from getting treatment for chronic disease, or from seeking preventative care." A good broker-consultant or independent consultant work hard to find the best option for your workforce.
Many insurers have resources dedicated to helping members live healthier lifestyles, including value-added programs (discounts for weight loss centers, for example), smoking cessation programs, while others may have specific financial incentives (reimbursement toward gym memberships.) "Many will have materials to use," says Ashton. "Often there is no associated fee. Employers should contact their insurer to find out what is available."
If you are successful in reducing costs while maintaining crucial health benefits, be sure to clearly communicate this management victory to your employees.
Retirement Benefits: Are Lower Fees Available?
Retirement benefits, though many employees consider them a more distant concern than healthcare, have also been at the forefront of cost-cutting measures in the depths of this recession.
Some observers believe that in times of crisis, employees will forgive you for trimming benefits in order to remain solvent. "People aren't leaving jobs now because the benefits 'over there' are better," says Christine Soscia, vice president and plan consultant at InVest, which advises businesses on financial products. But the best of your employees will continue to expect that you'll do your best for them.
Is there any way to maintain your 401(k) contributions, or at least minimize any reduction in them? Take a look at your 401(k) plan fees, says Soscia: "We've gone to plan providers and asked them, 'What can you do here?' Sometimes they'll make adjustments and sometimes they can't because they'd be losing money." One rule of thumb from Soscia: "Plans that are five years old or older tend to be high."
If you find a way to reduce 401(k) fees, reap your loyalty dividend by telling your employees about it.
Voluntary Benefits: Eliminate Little-Used Perks
Voluntary benefits — those paid for by employees – have also been on the table as employers sought out savings.
Some employers are shifting employee benefits from employer-paid to voluntary, to shift the cost of premiums. Others are eliminating little-used voluntary benefits – such as legal advice programs or long-term care insurance – to cut administrative costs and the drain on HR management resources.
How can you know which benefits are most important to your employees? Ask them. Develop and field a simple survey to determine which benefits are most important to your workers. Then incorporate the survey results into your cost-control program, communicating to your employees how their preferences made a difference.


text:
Product News
We now have 3 Atom Flashcut Dieless Gasket Cutting Tables. This allows us to create nearly any gasket out of a huge variety of materials and thicknesses. If you need to have a custom gasket made please contact us and we will get you a quote.
Bargain Basement
Visit our bargain basement to find clearance items at discounted prices. The bargain basement includes discontinued, obsolete and slow moving inventory. There are limited quantities and we will not be replacing the inventory once it is sold. Find what you need before it is gone! Visit Bargain Basement


text:
What was interesting is they were pissed that I called their beloved quarterback out on being unsportsmanlike. While yes it's only my opinion, his behavior on the field more than backs it up.
After a game in any sport usually athletes shake hands and loser at least tries to congratulate other team. But after losing Brady has been known to just run off the field without shaking hands which in sports is known as very unsportsmanlike.
After the Eagles Super Bowl win he did exactly that, ran off the field without making an effort to find the Eagles quarterback Foles and shake his hand. After countless playoff wins, five Super Bowl wins you think Brady could show more couth.
It's not only that, if you watch Brady during the season, he has thrown temper tantrums on the sidelines, and what looks like yelling at the coaches. That to fans of football who are watching comes across not only unsportsmanlike but rather divaish behavior.
It's not just Tom Brady, other athletes have been known to do it here and there as well. But today it just happened to be able Brady.
Of course his fans took to quickly defending his behavior saying it was a huge lost he had the right to act that way. No sorry he doesn't, and why does our society always try to excuse poor behavior away?
Here is a image shot of exactly the comment I made to Tom Brady.
Felt my comments were right on target. Brady has been in the league a lot longer than Foles or Wentz. But Foles and Wentz have a maturity, sportsmanlike, respect, quiet character that is not only reflected in their game play but off the field as well. They aren't the types to disrespect a coach by yelling at them on the sideline or avoiding a handshake because they lost a game. Both would tell you failure is part of life and playing sports it's what makes them better people. But Brady with all his years of experience has had plenty of time to adjust to losing football games yet he continually handles it poorly. And so I do think he might learn something from spending a little time with both Foles and Wentz. Shaking their hands would be a great start. :)
They say true character is actually revealed during tough times. What's even better is his fans showed their true character and unsportsmanlike behavior by lashing out with bullying behavior and name calling in response to my comment.
Charliecoes called me "naive" went on a rant about how many super bowls Brady has won, not getting the point that it's not about that at all; bryan_a.spam_ told me Brady was too upset over losing and to "f**k off scrub"; blanchedevereaux07 called me a "dummy and then said "stfu". I responded back to all three with kind words, copied Brady in as well to point out how not so nice his fans are and went about my day. What I liked to remind all three was it was opinion which I'm free to express, never once did I resort to name calling or swearing and that they all showed their true unsportsmanlike side by how they choose to respond as well.
We live in a our society that needs to learn the art of sportsmanlike actions and behaviors as they are not only important in sports but in life as well. Sportsmanlike is defined as the following....
Fair, respectful, and polite toward other players when participating in a sport.
But isn't that how we should treat all people, everyday? It shouldn't matter if we agree or disagree with people, whether we win or lose, etc.. It's a matter of having character and the those things that define sportsmanlike are essential to building character.
Again just an opinion but something to think about.....


text:
At DiGabriele, McNulty, Campanella & Co., LLC our forensic accountants and business advisors will help you in understanding your financial outlook, so you can make wise decisions in both personal and business financial matters. Our 20 years of experience and insight makes us a leading reference for public accounting and business solutions.
Forensic Accounting Consultations
To schedule a consultation or for more information about our forensic accounting, CPA services and business consulting, contact DiGabriele, McNulty, Campanella & Co., LLC today at (973) 243-2600 or complete and submit the request form below.


text:
Sun Jun 17 2018
All Day
The Montana Association of Weavers and Spinners Conference, MAWS 2018, will be hosted by the Bozeman Weavers Guild
The MAWS 2018 Pre-conference offers three, two, and on-day workshops. Costs include instruction, and breakfast and lunch on the days of instruction. Dinner is on your own at Big Sky Resort restaurants.
Three-day workshop (June 12-14): $244
Two-day workshop (June 13-14): $168
One-day workshop (June 14): $82Main Conference (Instruction June 15-16): $335
**costs include 2 full days of instruction (June 15-16), all meals from dinner Thursday evening till breakfast Sunday morning, all special conference events including:
Big Sky Barbecue – Meet the Instructors
Living Treasures Ceremony
Vendor Grand Opening
Open Show and Guild Booths
Instructor Show
Business Over Breakfast with Jane Patrick
Keynote Speaker: Doris Florig on "Weaving an Adventure"
Special dessert and book-signing
Top Ten Fiber Tips with Collingwood, Hartshorn, and Patrick
Awards Dinner
Fashion Show
Spin In**Pre-conference costs include instruction, breakfast, and lunch each dayMain Conference Costs:
The main conference will begin:
Thursday night, June 14 with the Big Sky BBQ
and end:
Sunday morning, June 17.
Location: Yellowstone Conference Center 50 Big Sky Resort Road Big Sky, MT


text:
[eerie similarities]
While Bonhoeffer wrote Life Together, Hitler's attack on Czechoslovakia was front and center. Hitler publicly said that all the German-speaking people of Europe belonged to Germany. The Austrian annexation had been painted not as an act of war, but as a loving father welcoming his children home. The parts of Czechoslovakia that spoke German – or what was called Sudetenland – were portrayed in the same way.


text:
Bath Mozartfest Society Priority Booking Period from:
Wednesday 27 June (Circle Members)
Saturday 30 June (Benefactors)
Wednesday 4 July (Gold Patrons)
Saturday 7 July (Patrons)
Monday 16 July (Friends)
(Priority Booking can be made by post/by phone/online/in person)
General Booking from Monday 30 July (by post/by phone/online/in person)
Bath Visitor Information Centre, Bridgwater House, 2 Terrace Walk, Bath BA1 1LN Tel: 01225 463362
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Monday - Saturday 9.30am - 5.60pm. Closed Sundays
All major credit & debit cards except AMEX accepted
All Box Office transactions (counter, phone, post and web) are subject to a £1.00
booking fee. This replaces the previous £2 transaction fee on Credit Card bookings.
Booking Tickets
By post (using the form, download here), by phone, from this website or in person at Bath Box Office. Priority booking available to Bath Mozartfest Society Members only. If booking by post, phone or online, please add an additional £1.00 to cover postage (or enclose a stamped addressed envelope). Cheques payable to "Bath Box Office".
NB Payment for tickets reserved by telephone must be received within 3 working days.
Booking on the day
Tickets are sold from Bath Box Office on the day of the concert during Box Office hours and at the venue one hour before the start of the performance. Any remaining unsold 30 minutes before the event may by purchased at 50% off the full price by Senior Citizens, Unemployment Benefit Claimants, full-time students and disabled people.
Access to venues
We welcome visitors with disabilities. Please advise our Box Office staff of your requirements when making a booking. For registered disabled patrons who need to bring a personal assistant, we offer one free ticket.
Latecomers will be admitted only during a suitable pause in the concert.
Concert end times All concert end times are approximate.
Book 3 events or more and save £1 per ticket. Offer applies to the top two seat prices and excludes the lunchtime concerts on 12, 13, 14, 15 November and the afternoon performance on Friday 16 November.
Group Bookings
1 free seat given for every 10 purchased per performance. Please state how many seats required on the booking form.
Young Person's/ Student Discount
Persons aged 20 or under and those with a valid student card are entitled to 50% off the full ticket price. Proof of eligibility will be required.
Souvenir Programme
Only £6 if you order with your tickets. Just fill in the voucher section on the Booking Form and a voucher will be sent to you.
IMPORTANT: All offers & discounts are subject to availability and only one discount or offer can be applied for each seat. Discounts are restricted to the purchaser's own use and cannot be obtained on behalf of any other person. Tickets cannot be exchanged or refunded. Tickets may be returned for resale at the Box Office if the event is sold out. Resale cannot be guaranteed and a £2 charge per ticket will be made if successful. All money will be refunded after Bath Mozartfest. Proof of eligibility will be required to claim a concession.
BATH ABBEY & ST MARY'S BATHWICK: NB An unrestricted view from all seats cannot be guaranteed. Please consult with Box Office staff before booking. Please see seating plans for all concert venues here.
Bath Mozartfest Office, 7-9 North Parade Buildings, Bath BA1 1NS. Tel: 01225 429750. Bath Mozartfest registered charity number: 1040455. Copyright © 2018. All rights reserved.
Bath Mozartfest processes your personal information to meet our legal, statutory and contractual obligations and to provide you with our products and services. We will never collect any unnecessary personal data from you and do not process your information in any way, other than as specified in this notice.
We do not give out any information about you, as an individual, to anyone, except to complete your transactions, or to comply with valid legal process such as a search warrant, subpoena or court order.


text:
X-Rated Valentine's Day Tech Toys for Adults
We're all adults here, right? Okay, maybe not, so I'll try to keep this all as PG-13 as possible. Truth is, some grown-ups have certain adult needs, and those adult needs are frequently satisfied by two things: technology and things that vibrate.
For the kids' sake, let's call those things that vibrate "massagers."
Now, we live in an age where tech and massagers (and other grown-up toys) are colliding. When almost everyone has a smartphone, including your partner—whether he or she is in bed next to you or across the country—why not make those little handheld computers part of the "adult" experience? Of course, they already are a big part of most adult interaction if you factor in the countless private chats, texts, sexts, racy Snapchats, phone calls, and video calls taking place every single day behind closed doors. But why not add those grown-up toys to the, uh, conversation?
Of course, there's a word for the practice of remotely controlling massagers. It's called teledildonics. It's been the next big thing in adult fun for about three decades... but now it seems its time has finally come.
The accompanying slides feature the latest and greatest tech used to combine our beloved mobile devices with our most beloved private toys (and parts). Plus, we also include a look at the newest way to take advantage of 3D printers to create a special gift for Valentine's Day, or any day.
Sure, we're still a long way away from the time when future tech like the Orgasmatron takes care of such needs in every home, but you probably won't find much to complain about if these tech toys produce the same result.
Whoa, did you somehow stumble upon the wrong page? For some tamer Valentine's Day gift ideas, shop around our Valentine's Day Gift Guide.
1 LovePalz: "Zeus and Hera"
2 OhMibod
3 Vibease
4 Mojowijo
5 3DEA/New York Toy Collective


text:
88 Rockets *Follow Up*
I received my 88 Rockets T-shirt from Printfection.com yesterday and much to my surprise it wasn't complete crap. I ordered a couple shirts from CafePress a while back and you could see the 'clear' part transfer from when it was ironed on. This one looks like it was printed onto the shirt - ink appears to be soaked into the threads not just sitting on top of them. I also sent the shirt on it's first journey through the washer and dryer and the image held up great. The only major problem I have with the shirt is that the 'Retro Gamer' tag on the back should be placed up higher on the shirt.
It's not as good as a silk screen print but, considering that this design would cost over $100 just to make the screens (wouldn't be a problem if I was selling them though) and that alone makes it worth the couple of bucks I spent on it. edit I really can't spell it seems. I think I need a beer.


text:
Confessions of a first-time buyer
Buying my first home was one of the proudest moments of my life. I was 27 years old and my-then flatmate needed to move out, leaving me with two options: I could place an ad on Gumtree saying I was looking for a new flatmate, or I could try to find someone else who needed help paying their bond or rental payments; I could also venture out and buy my own home.
The first option was the easier route, but didn't appeal to me as I had had enough of sharing my space with anyone – let alone a stranger. The second option involved more than that desire to own something and to "not pay off someone else's bond": It required an active search across many Johannesburg suburbs in which I had no idea what it was like to live, being mindful of what I was about to get myself into with registration fees, bond costs and coming up with deposits, to complying with the rigorous Fica process and constant questions of affordability. Looking back now, I had no idea what I was doing.
Here's what I wish was in the market at the time #SuburbIntelligence
Moving in
But I made it happen: On a rainy Tuesday in February 2011 a small-time mover with a Hyundai truck and trailer moved my life's possessions from Northriding to Honeydew Manor, and into my 60-odd square metre one-bedroom sectional title apartment.
After the mover had left I remember looking around my apartment and feeling a great sense of pride and achievement – I was one of the first of my peers to buy my own home.
The truth is I actually now wish I had never bought the apartment I did. Don't get me wrong, homeownership is greatly positive for many and is a wise financial decision. What I mean is that I was, firstly, too young to buy a property, did not do enough research into the market prior to signing the offer to purchase, was not thinking about the fact that I was going to marry my girlfriend at the time and have a child within three years of buying. I rushed into it before considering all my then-current and future options: I could have asked a number of estate agents in suburbs I liked how those markets were performing, or considered the possibility of renting for longer and having my girlfriend contribute to the rental. Home buying is an exciting journey and can carry you beyond rationality.
Moving out
After having lived in the apartment for three years, my girlfriend-turned-wife and I were forced to move to Pretoria due to her work circumstances changing. She was pregnant at the time too, so commuting from Honeydew to Hatfield was out of the question – the closest Gautrain stations were in Rosebank or Sandton which would have been equally non-viable.
So we were forced to move across cities.
I called a local estate agent and asked her about my options of selling my apartment as we had admittedly outgrown it and could rather use the sale proceeds for a deposit on a new house.
"You still owe too much interest on your apartment and the market is flat due to there being so many of the same type of homes in this suburb," she told me. "You would end up making no money if you sold now; in fact, you would have to pay in money. My suggestion is that you find a tenant and rent it out."
I was lucky to find the tenant I did: She was a young, professional, single woman who was renting a bachelor unit two apartments down from mine and was only too happy to have the extra space (for a below-market rental increase of about R500). I never performed the required credit check on her and gave her a very basic rental contract to sign. While in hindsight I should have been more professional about the whole process, I have been lucky that she has been an easy, low-maintenance tenant.
While her rental continues to cover my bond repayments (though the interest rate has cut into this in recent months), I still lose out with monthly levy and council costs coming out of my own pocket. That saying of tenants paying off the landlord's bond is not true – not in my case, anyway.
Why HomeTimes
Home buying and ownership is not the be all and end all many young South Africans believe it to be; and there is no shame in renting. This is one of the reasons why I started HomeTimes: I wanted other young (and older first-time) buyers to have all the information they needed to make informed decisions to benefit their own lives.
Buying a house is a big deal! Take your time, consider all your options, kill as much debt as you can, get a financial advisor to help you invest your money in retirement and other investments, save for your children's future and once you have these aspects figured out, save for a deposit in an account with decent interest. Be prepared to save until you have at least 20% of a home's value in cash, as well as enough to cover bond costs and registration fees. Remember, too, that you have between 20 and 30 years to pay off a bond, so be sure you know your plan is to have paid off your home before retirement. The last thing you need during retirement is above-inflation rental increases and inflation-linked retirement pay-outs.
I would like to encourage all our readers, from across South Africa, Africa, Europe, the US and Australasia to share HomeTimes with your friends, children, parents and professional colleagues so that we may all learn about better ways to live our lives in either our own homes or in rental accommodation. HomeTimes will continue to educate and we encourage you, our readers, to ask us questions, write about your experiences of home living and to let us know if there is anything you think we should cover to make HomeTimes the residential market educator of choice.
Send me your thoughts, suggestions and questions and I'll be sure to help where I can. Email email@example.com


text:
Tag: Foschini
Foschini Gifting Giveaway
Dec 15, 2016
There is no rest for the wicked, in my case wickedly sick, yet I have to pack and be ready to fly out this afternoon because #KeDecemberBoss and Muizenburg is calling. The packing of clothes and shoes is always the easy part, the packing of my cosmetics and hair products not so much. Luckily, this […]
Breast Cancer Awareness Month #ThinkPink
Oct 1, 2015
Every goddess has an Achilles' heel and in our quest to be all that we can be, Foschini and the formidable #FashionFriendsSA are encouraging all women to make the health of their breasts a priority. A lot of brave mothers, wives and sisters have fought bravely against breast cancer, some have won and some have […]
Foschini Brand Ambassadors' Debut – Autumn/ Winter '15
Apr 16, 2015
They were once fashionable strangers, now, they are bonded in sisterhood. I am proud to say that… Yes, you've read right! We, The Foschini Brand Ambassadors, are taking over your local Foschini and your mall while we're at it. The proof will be hanging up in all Foschini stores for your viewing pleasure, as from today, […]