text:
Too High To Be Gay On Fire Island
I imagine that in the past, Fire Island provided a real sense of security for gay men (and women – they're there, just mostly confined to Cherry Grove, which neighbors the male-centric Pines section of the island). I can see the former necessity of a place where they could go and be their gay selves without worrying about persecution.
But it's 2012. We can go be gay in so many places, on so many beaches, and our visibility in straight society has the added potential of helping our cause of acceptance – more so, at least, than elected segregation that doesn't strike me as particularly cruisy, even. We no longer have to tuck ourselves away. We can just exist and if anyone has a problem with it, it's probably going to end up being a real problem for them. I dare someone to say something to me about me sitting my gay ass on a beach with another boy and listening to Mariah Carey and reading some trashy women's book (like Wifey). It hasn't happened yet and I've been doing it for years.
That said, the freedom to be as limp-wristed as you are or just want to be that day in the sun is a beautiful thing. I don't know if I made the most of that option during my Fire Island experience, but I appreciated it all the same.
"I like going to a place with a beach where I can be a faggot and it's fine," is how my seasoned Fire Island-going friend, J, summed up the appeal of the escape to me. It was a few weeks ago, and just before I went out to the island for the first time. I got there through a friend's invite: B was staying in a Pines share for the week after July 4, and he'd asked me to come out for a day. I'd never gone before because my parents live in a South Jersey beach town, so paying real money for that experience always seemed silly to me – all is a car and a tank of gas and I have a beach house. Furthermore, my former, nine-and-a-half-year relationship was with someone who hated Fire Island on principle. But now I'm single - and so are a lot of the boys on Fire Island. So, why not?
I knew what J meant exactly soon after arriving. In the ocean, B, his temporary housemates and I discussed gay face and gay voice and how harrowing it can be as a gay man to hear recordings of yourself speaking. Back on the beach, a few of them played euchre. When one won the game, he sang Minnie Ripperton's "Lovin' You." Later at the house by the pool, I had a long discussion about Madonna's No. 1 singles (I still can't believe that "Cherish" peaked at No. 2). Also in that pool, we played a game of Keep in Air with a small beach ball that was about the size of a softball. In our attempt to ensure that the ball stay within the boundaries of the pool without touching the water, we employed various moves: the Can't-Be-Bothered (a disinterested upward flick of the hand) and the Diamond Jubilee (a motion like the Queen of England's wave). We listened to Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson playlists while we got ready for one of the "tea" parties that are tradition each evening. I took a shower outside in a stall with no door while Janet's first post-Superbowl flop, "Just a Little While," played.
People seem to regard Fire Island as a utopia, and it's not hard to discern why. It is, after all, paradise. I heard at least half a dozen people refer to it as "summer camp for gays," which says something about the responsibility-free mindset one can adopt there. Doors go unlocked, property sits unattended, the darkest of dark paths are no threat. I did not know the island well enough to trust it, though. This laissez-faire attitude about, oh, everything bugged me out so much, particularly when walking through the Meat Rack – a section of beachy forest between the Pines and Cherry Grove known for its up-for-grabs public sex. I've seen way too many horror movies to know better than to walk that terrain, and I spent much of both weekends terrified that some burly bear reject was going to step out in front of me with a machete and stick it through my skull. No one did and no one would (I think) – the crime rate on in the Pines is, after all, a fraction of New York's and the country's. Anyone who thinks we gays are uncivilized needs to visit this fluid, all-gay society and revise.
Just letting go and understanding that things work differently in Fire Island is not an easy task. Or at least, it wasn't for me. Out of the confines of the house I stayed in the first weekend, amongst the seven or so guys who were staying there, I felt unsure of how to navigate the scene or what the point of doing so would be - until I got drunk enough not to care. We went to some tea – high tea, low tea, whatever tea, I never really got to the bottom of what distinguished them aside from timing – and then to the area club, Sip N Twirl. There, the resident DJ, Lina, inspires worship (anytime she spins, you can see multiple people wearing T-shirts bearing her likeness) and with good reason: her mix of deep but identifiable disco and house cuts (Teena Marie's "I Need Your Lovin'," First Choice's "Double Cross," Voices of Life's "The Word Is Love (Say the Word)") is elating like nothing I've ever gotten back home in NYC.
Sometime during the blur of that party, I was invited to stay the night. Beds in B's house had opened up. I vaguely remember someone coming up to me to talk about my work. I think we made out, but I am not sure. I received a text from B saying he'd gone back to the house (right around the corner from the club, really) to start making dinner and I should let him know if I needed help getting back. "Yes," I replied. He showed up and escorted me. I remember sloppily attempting to help make dinner. I was told later that B took me out on the deck to get my drunk ass out of people's hair and I spoke very ardently about being a person of action who wants to get things done. And then I passed out on the couch.
I woke up at 4 a.m. and stayed up. Before I left, I went for a walk by myself that spanned the island. I saw a deer clopping along the boardwalk at one point. These things happen in a land of fairy tales. I caught the first ferry home that Monday morning, listened to Elliott Smith sing about substance and addiction on my iPod and cried. I wasn't hung over, but I should have been.
My second Fire Island Pines experience, this time for an entire weekend immediately after my first visit, was very different — the other side of the coin. It just so happened that a bed (really, half of a giant one, but I didn't know that until I arrived) opened up in my friend R's share and I hopped on it – but only figuratively.
On the Friday afternoon that I arrived, while talking by the pool with the half dozen or so guys that I'd be living with that weekend, someone mentioned that we'd be attending the night's underwear party in Cherry Grove. "Uhhhhhhhh," I think was my response, but I was assured that it was chill and that it would be fine.
I've never been to an underwear party. I don't go to underwear parties. I'm too old for underwear parties.
When we arrived there later, we had to wait on line on this metal ramp that was exactly the kind of thing that would be at the entrance of a low-rent carnival ride. I felt just as uneasy as I would have were our destination a rickety set Salt and Pepper Shakers, too. After five minutes of standing there, we paid, someone who worked there handed me a trash bag to put my clothes in and I looked around at the stacks of abs and briefs. I knew, immediately, that I wouldn't be comfortable there. I threw my bag in the trashcan, told my housemates to stay (not that they needed permission) and that I could take care of myself. I left confused about how exactly to get back to the Pines. My friend had mentioned a water taxi, but I didn't see it and decided to try my luck with the Meat Rack. Someone named Timmy approached the entrance at the same time as me and guided me through. I saw none of the public sex that supposedly goes on there, and no one in a hockey mask dismembered me.
I went back to the house but decided that I was leaving myself open to get creepy crawled, Manson Family style, and so I walked to Sip N Twirl where some severely drunk guy's eyes bulged as he repeatedly tried to touch me. "Is it OK if I do this?" he said, putting his hand on my thigh. "No, just be cool," I told him. He got up and I approached the first black guy I'd seen that night to talk to him about the troubling lack of diversity on the island. The fire on Fire Island is white, white, white. He told me I had the right idea for combating it and seemed somewhat amused. I ran into him a few times that weekend and he greeted me by saying, "Diversity!" My friends soon rescued me from sloppy concern and we went back to the house for a night swim in the pool.
Determined to make our Saturday special, I simmered some weed in butter and put it on toast for my housemates and I. We ate it, did some more swimming in the pool and then R and I embarked to attend a few parties, leaving the rest of the guys behind. There was some confusion as to the location of the first, a benefit for the Abzyme Research Foundation, and we ended up following an older gentleman up to the gate of what turned out to be a nude barbecue for more older gentlemen. A saw a grill, a nutsack and a lot of baggy ass in the seven seconds it took for the door to swing shut – a portal to an even more specific alien world inside the one I was in. I couldn't hang with the underwear crowd, and so those guys seemed really, really advanced. I wonder what precautions they take to keep burger grease off their balls.
We found our way. At the benefit party, we were given a punch upon entry. We ascended to the roof, which provided a 360 view of the island, and as much water as our eyes could hold. Gorgeous. Paradise. "I think this is spiked. This punch is spiked," I said to R, my anxiety rising with every word. "No it's not. We're just really high," he said carefully. Indeed. We were coming up so hard and so quickly that we decided to stop babbling at the nice people nearby who seemed to have all of their brains intact. We excused ourselves to attend a Bastille Day party.
Outside, under the speckled shade, I realized that I was high-school high. Literally, I had not been that lifted in 15 years, and during the specific time I'm thinking back to, I thought my legs had stopped working. I was convinced I'd die from a THC overdose and I couldn't imagine how embarrassing that would be for my family. On Fire Island, I thought about how logical it would be for me to fall on my face right then, right there. I'd do everything I could to keep from doing so, but I decided that I'd understand if it happened. I felt out of control, vulnerable and terrified.
And then I felt sad. I didn't mean to get as high as I did, but I certainly was looking for an extreme state of temporary existence when I decided to maximize my high by consuming weed instead of just being a regular person and smoking it. I had gone to this island to be as gay as possible, yet the marijuana I consumed altered me, made me exist outside of myself. The high would turn out to be something not unlike an acid trip in terms of length and intensity. That day, before I was a gay man, I was an inebriated man. I was too high to be gay. It struck me as so fucked up that I was that fucked up, that getting so wasted was needless. I don't need drugs to be gay. Being gay is a drug. It's a high in itself.
We made it to the party. I remember it as a four-minute, strobing LMFAO video starring all gay people around a pool. It may have been different.
The weed was making me paranoid and also terrible at meeting people. I stopped saying, "Nice to meet you," because I soon couldn't be sure if I had already met any of the dozens of people I was being introduced to, or if we'd already encountered each other earlier that day or the day before or sometime in the city.
Later, on the way to tea, I was introduced to someone who motioned to the Trax Records shirt that I was wearing (an oblique expression of gay pride, given house music's history, I thought). He shook his fingers like he was nonchalantly flicking mosquitoes at my chest and exhaled a limp "Hi," like my rancidness deflated him. I just smiled, thinking that he was a three at best and there would be no conceivable situation that I would ever fuck him. If the world were ending, I'd rather dig a hole in mud than stick my dick in him. Like many of his cohorts, he was wearing a black-and-white striped tank top with red piping and a beret. Bastille Day brings out the clones, judges and assholes, apparently.
At tea, I stood near the DJ with a housemate. Irene Cara's "Flashdance... What a Feeling" came on. "Come on, Rich," the housemate told me. "Be a faggot! Dance like you did when you were five. Let go and be gay."
But I couldn't. I mean, I was standing there being gay, but the brand of abandon he suggested is just not my thing. I'll bob my head in appreciation, but I'd rather have a discussion about Giorgio Moroder's soundtrack work than give myself over to it. (Besides, I'm more of a "Take My Breath Away" kinda guy.) I'd rather say, "Bye," to bid farewell than, "Bye, girl," like everyone else around me seemed to be saying. I'd rather discuss... just about anything besides gossip, really, and 90 percent of the interactions that I was part of or overheard that weekend specifically regarded what someone else was doing or whom he was fucking or where he was going or how prominent he was or various other group politics. I felt like there was a code of values that I wasn't prepared to subscribe to, although if I did I bet I would have had a much more straightforwardly good time. That there should emerge a status quo within a subset of a population is not surprising – it's human nature. It happens everywhere, all the time. (On Fire Island, it involved hard bodies, white people, speedos and tank tops.) This is, however, contradictory and dispiriting within gayness, which I thought was based on the idea that deviating from the norm is not just acceptable but essential. Edmund White once wrote that drag queens are the queers of homosexuality, but that phenomenon doesn't stop with them.
The entire experience was overwhelming: from tea to tea to Sip N Twirl to home to a dark party in the Meat Rack to back home in the hot tub. Unfriendly eyes and two-sentence exchanges abounded. I was led everywhere blindly, by a wonderful caretaker much more secure in the importance of our activities. If Grindr has hurt the scene, I think its former state would have made my head actually explode. And from what I understand, the fire that destroyed the Pavilion last fall has also made for a different kind of summer altogether. My vision of the island is skewed and then skewed some more.
Despite my self-imposed rule that I would not preoccupy myself with hooking up, I dealt with the crowd by reducing it down to a single dude that I could focus on at Sip N Twirl. He was gorgeous and tight-bodied and bearded and looked like a friend I had in high school that closetedness would never allow me to admit to myself that I wanted to fuck. He was wearing a baseball cap. No one called me out on that. He was my dude for the night.
After a cloud of socializing and enough small talk to numb my brain and make me just give up on the idea of stimulation, I found myself in bed with the guy. I was still too high to be gay and besides, I was not going to hook up in a bed that I was sharing with another guy whom I wasn't fucking. (The king-size R and I slept in was big enough to ensure there was no funny business, not so much as footsie.) It was all so weird and complicated but he seemed to understand. We made out and it was sweet.
Meanwhile, by the pool, this petite Latin firecracker who'd entered the house screaming that he'd been raped (this turned out to be an exaggeration that began and ended with an Egyptian drag queen or trans woman grinding on him) had kicked another guy, giving him a huge gash under his eye. It's all fun and games until queens bleed.
That concluded the party. R and another housemate, A, and I sat together, assessing the weekend. "This place is so weird and judgmental and I don't even really get it or get what I'm supposed to get," I said. They agreed that the best times they've had have usually been at the house, away from the throng, whose collective energy feels more rabidly social than sexual.
At least that's how it felt from where I stood, tipping over the end of my high and still uncertain of which place was scarier: Fire Island or inside my own head.
Pride & Shame is a new semi-regular series exploring sex and sexuality from the perspective of a newly single, 33-year-old, gay-sex enthusiast.


text:
At Russellville High School, one familiar face remained on the sidelines amidst the ever-changing environment, a face the football team — and the community — said goodbye to at her funeral on Thursday.
Susie Whorton was a photographer, friend and ardent supporter of the Cyclones football program, who passed away Monday evening after complications with cancer.
To describe her as merely a face would be an understatement: She was a presence, a personality who brought laughter and selflessness to the sidelines of the 100-plus Cyclone football games she attended and shot.
"She never met a stranger," Cindy Pfeifer, a close friend of Whorton, said. "She could talk to anybody in any situation. She loved her children — the ones she gave birth to and the ones she took care of on the football field."
People throughout the community packed Victory Baptist Church on Thursday to remember Whorton and the endless contributions she made to the football team. Her photography career began out innocently enough, as a way of documenting her children, Morgan and Heath, growing up. She began to take pictures of Heath at sporting events, and it soon grew to her taking pictures of his peers.
"Back when I was in my early teenage years, she bought a new camera and just started taking pictures of me at baseball games and stuff. And somewhere in there, she just started taking pictures of everybody," Heath said. "I don't know why she wanted to do it. I think it started off with 'I want to take pictures of my son playing baseball,' and she got addicted to giving other people that same joy."
She discovered her passion for both the Cyclones and football when Heath played football for both the Whirlwinds and the Cyclones. She began shooting games in 2000, but her responsibilities with the program rapidly grew with her love for both the program and its players.
"What didn't she do for our program?" said Jeff Holt, RHS head football coach who was a pallbearer at Whorton's funeral. "First off, she was the person that really recorded all the memories. She took every picture, her and her family did all the highlight videos for us. She started a Cyclone newsletter that has become one of our kids' favorite things to collect.
"More than that, she was just such a great supporter for our program and for our kids. Every kid that went through here thought of her as kind of like a mother figure. She took care of everybody."
She also helped put together the weekly programs for Cyclone games. All of this work, which she did for free, took tens of hours out of her week, in addition to the full-time job she had as a branch manager at Simmons Bank.
"When she got home from work, she was on the computer," Heath said. "The weekly routine was that on Friday night, she would go through all the pictures, even after the game was over. She'd stay up until midnight or later looking at them to make sure she got enough good ones. Saturday and Sunday, she would probably put in 12 hours on each of those days getting stuff for the programs done, and she would kind of touch them up throughout the week."
Although she had made a name for herself as the ultimate football mom, she was more than a mother to many of the players who stood beside her on the sidelines: she was a friend.
"Those boys [football players], they came by the bank just to see her after they graduated," Pfeifer said. "She formed a bond with them."
She especially formed bonds with players who went on to play at the collegiate level. Past Russellville High School, her collegiate allegiances remained to whichever team had a former RHS playing on it: she would wear an Ole Miss jersey to an Ole Miss game to see former Cyclone Mitch Hall play, and wear Razorback attire to a Hogs game to watch Russellville native Zach Hocker kick.
Whorton made many friends with her sharp tongue and penchant for practical jokes, parts of her ever-present sense of humor. These qualities endeared her to many, both on and off the sidelines, despite a streak of stubbornness.
"She had her ornery side. She could be a pain in the butt sometimes," Pfeifer joked.
The last game Whorton shot was Nov. 9 of last year, a 53-34 state playoff loss to Benton. Shortly after the new year, she began experiencing back pain. She went to a clinic for treatment and tests, and by early February her doctor referred her to an oncologist, fearing she might have cancer.
On March 6, doctors diagnosed her with multiple myeloma, an incurable form of cancer that had grown on her spine. Still, the doctors were optimistic that the cancer would go into remission.
"They were very, very optimistic," Heath said. "We listened to some of them talking, and the message that we were getting most of the time was people battle with this their entire lives. There are people who live with cancer for decades. And that made my mom very optimistic as well."
Whorton maintained her sense of humor through the treatment, which was oftentimes painful.
"She would tell me, 'I'm thinking about what color wig I'm going to pick out. It's going to be a relief not having to fix my hair all the time,'" Pfeifer said, who was with Whorton at UAMS through most of her treatment.
"Coach Holt came by one day, and Susie was drugged up, but when they talked about football, she remembered all the kids' names and the positions they played," Pfeifer said. "She just wanted to talk about next season and what kind of team they were going to have."
"When I visited her in the hospital, the conversation always came down to kids in our program and fun memories," Holt said. "She just had such a big heart for these kids, and was just like one of us. She was part of our staff."
But her health deteriorated in late April, when she came down with pneumonia after her chemotherapy. On April 29, doctors suggested they take her off the ventilator, having done all they could for her. She passed away just minutes later.
Whorton was buried in a Russellville Cyclones T-shirt at a closed-casket funeral, following a crowded service that included the entirety of the current RHS football team, who arrived in their jerseys after Holt excused them from class to attend the funeral.
Both Heath and her daughter, Morgan, eulogized Whorton, remembering a person who had done so much and asked so little in return.
"It only took me about five minutes to think of a word to describe my mother," Heath said during her eulogy. "The definition of selflessness is 'having no concern for self.'"
Heath closed the eulogy by reciting quotes they found on her phone after her passing.
"'To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived, that is to have succeeded.' By that criteria, I think my mother is the most successful person I have ever met," Heath said.
He said thank you, closed the Bible he had open on the podium, and stepped down from the stage. A short silence ensued, and then the hundreds of people gathered at the church broke into applause.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Draft Preview: New director for Boston
Familiar with process, Sawdaye set to take over on Monday
By Ian Browne / MLB.com
As usual, the Red Sox have been thorough in their preparation for the festivities, which begin on Monday. The only difference this year is that Boston's Draft board is being headed up by Amiel Sawdaye, who was promoted to director of amateur scouting last fall. Sawdaye replaces the highly regarded Jason McLeod, who is now an assistant general manager with the Padres.
However, Sawdaye was also a key participant in the room the past few years, when the Red Sox drafted current Major League contributors such as Jacoby Ellsbury, Clay Buchholz and Daniel Bard, and he was also one of the decision makers when it came to selecting current top prospects such as Casey Kelly, Ryan Kalish and Lars Anderson.
"From my perspective, the transition is going remarkably well," said Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein. "Having a first-year scouting director, the process in the room has gone fantastically well. A lot of it is because it seems like it's not really a transition, because Amiel's been involved the last eight years and played a pretty primary role in developing all of the systems we rely upon through the drafting season and up to this week, when we put it all together. Obviously, I miss Jason personally and for his role leading the Draft room, but I couldn't imagine the transition going more smoothly so far."
The Red Sox will have plenty of big decisions to make, with four of the first 57 picks. The first pick is at No. 20 overall, as compensation for having lost free-agent reliever Billy Wagner to the Braves. Boston is on the clock again at No. 36, having received that pick from the Mets for slugger Jason Bay. At No. 39, the Sox will get another pick as a result of losing Wagner, and they'll get one more for the departure of Bay at No. 57.
MLB.com will offer live coverage and analysis of the entire First-Year Player Draft from Monday through Wednesday on MLB.com/Live. The first round and Compensation Round A will be broadcast live on MLB.com and MLB Network on Monday, beginning with the Draft preview show at 6 p.m. ET.
MLB.com Draft expert Jonathan Mayo will join Greg Amsinger, Harold Reynolds, John Hart, Peter Gammons and Baseball America executive editor Jim Callis on Monday's broadcast.
Coverage for rounds 2-50 will shift exclusively to MLB.com/Live. Rounds 2-30 will be streamed on Tuesday, beginning at noon, and rounds 31-50 will be streamed on Wednesday, starting at noon. Host Pete McCarthy will be joined by Mayo and former general manager Jim Duquette.
Here's a glance at what the Red Sox have in store as the Draft approaches:
In about 50 words
Knowing full well the unpredictability of the Draft, the Red Sox will be prepared to take who falls to them at No. 20. Epstein and his staff are still thrilled six years later that Dustin Pedroia fell to them at No. 65. Epstein and Sawdaye are encouraged by the depth of this year's Draft class.
|Current team
|Reymond Fuentes
|Greenville (A)
|Casey Kelly
|Portland (AA)
|Nick Hagadone
|Indians farm system
|Daniel Bard
|Red Sox (MLB)
|Jason Place
|Portland (AA)
|Jacoby Ellsbury
|Red Sox (MLB)
|Craig Hansen
|Pirates (MLB)
The scoop
"I've had a lot of people who are picking in the top 10 picks saying, 'God, this would be the year we'd love to trade a pick with you guys.' I think we're in a pretty good spot. Like Theo said -- late end of the first round through the sandwich, if you have extra picks, you're in a pretty good spot to get some players that may end up being just as good as players you're going to pick in the Top 10." -- Sawdaye
First-round buzz
Per usual, the Red Sox are playing things close to the vest and haven't let out any clues as to which players they might be eyeing in the first round. They never draft based on position, so they will go with the proverbial best player available.
Shopping list
The Sox would love to stack some more power bats in their farm system. Like a lot of teams, Boston is always trying to bolster its organizational depth of starting pitching.
Trend watch
Early on in Epstein's regime, he had a reputation for favoring college players. However, the Red Sox have shown more willingness to take high-school players early in the Draft over the past few years.
Recent Draft History
Rising fast
It was just two years ago that the Sox picked Kelly in the first round. Kelly initially kept his options open as to whether he would be a shortstop or a starting pitcher. But in conjunction with the team, he decided at the outset of this season to focus exclusively on the latter. The righty has rocketed through the system and is currently holding down a rotation spot for Double-A Portland. He spent part of Major League Spring Training with the Red Sox and drew rave reviews for his poise and arsenal of pitches.
Cinderella story
Josh Reddick, a 17th-round selection from 2006, is one of the best outfield prospects the Red Sox have. He has already spent multiple stints on the Major League roster. The Red Sox expect that the left-handed hitter will become a significant part of their not-too-distant future. He is a plus outfielder with power, and the club loves his makeup. Reddick is playing for Triple-A Pawtucket.
In The Show
Bard is an example of a recent Draft pick who became a contributor at the Major League level in short order. Bard was taken with the 28th overall pick in 2006 and is now regarded as one of the best setup men in the game.
Ian Browne is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


text:
Recently, the Israeli government, in one of its periodic attempts to placate worldwide opposition to its settlement expansion policies, forced some settlers to withdraw because of a court order. The angry settlers retaliated, not against the government, but by vandalizing a Christian monastery and painted the words "Jesus is a monkey" in large orange letters on the outside walls. It is an odd thing to write, when you think about it, because all humans are in a sense monkeys since they are our evolutionary cousins. Why a monkey? Perhaps it was inspired by the recent "Rhesus Christ" incident.
According to the news report, this is not the first time that these extremist Jews have attacked Christian symbols.
In February, two cars and a stone fence at the Valley of the Cross Monastery in Jerusalem were covered with anti-Christian graffiti, and cars' tires were slashed. The vandals wrote "Jesus drop dead," "Death to Christians" and "Kahane was right," calling themselves "The Maccabees of Migron."
I am not sure how Christians in the US will react if this kind of thing escalates and is reported widely here. I suspect that the Armageddonites (who provide support for the settler expansion because they see it as part of the fulfillment of god's prophecy that signals the End Times) won't care because they have their eyes on the main prize and can't wait to see all the blood of the apostates flowing in the streets when Jesus returns.


text:
[Produced by DJ Toomp]
It's time to get trap back jumping
Get shit back poppin', ho
I show these sucka niggas how it go
I show you how to move a lot of blow
Nigga say they live but they lying
So it's time to get trap back jumping
Get shit back popping, bitch
Hey, now who done say I'm not the shit
Hey, nigga who you know that's hot as this
Seriously, I'll show you how to do the shit
[Verse 1]
It's time to getting bricks out of that bag
Put that scale back on the desk
Set that vision wear on the stove
Next to that bakin' soda & pyrex
Drop that water out off that pot
Let it boil up and get high
Then whip it good with your wrist like that
Thats how you triple every brick you get
Made paper off of that yayo
Ask Jason 'bout me, bet they know
Your bitch'll fuck when I say so
Plus got head busta's on my payroll
This Bankhead, homeboy, we don't play
Violate me and this will be your day
Catch a nigga coming out of the DOA
Hit 'em with the chopper leave 'em DOA
You can play with niggas, not me, okay?
Them other niggas suckers, I'm a G, okay?
T.I. K.I.N.G., okay?
Just respect that shit and you will be okay
Let's get this shit straight once and for all
I run this shit, bar none of y'all
And nan one of y'all niggas bigger than me
Can't none of y'all take this city from me
Take years off and i'm still tight
I half ass and they still like it
Kick trap shit when I feel like
Them dope boys know what I live like
Dineros off kilos, big bank rolls don't see lows
Of oz's makes zeros, here we go
[Verse 2]
It's time to put that work back in the stash box
Put that rent-a-car on that slab
Hit that highway from bout five day then come back and get cash
Got halves, quarters and whole things
Chevrolets and them gold things
Got Rolex, got Benzes, and it's all off of that cocaine
It's cold game but it's cool though
Work get gone and I move blow
Won't sit on it, it's too low
You got twenty-one, well, here you go
I got big whips so sick y'all
And big suites, about six broads
Your shit hot, oh yeah bro, that shit drop won't sell much
Platinum all in my wall dawg, crib big it like a mall dawg
I'm doing numbers like call logs
Lil small money, I call y'all
My house worth your whole life, your condo's my old ice
You niggas barely in first class, I charter G4 flights
Can't tell me shit, homie
Down here I'm good as it get, homie
Ain't nobody got shit on me
I'm a little nigga, but I'm big homie
I'm big homie , do big shit
No World Cup, I kick shit
Ride foreign, but don't forget
I'm back trapping, got more bricks
[Verse 3]
It's time to get them pre-paids and them metros
Back activated, talk in code
Over here we got big blow
Next do' pounds uh that petro
We get dough off anything
Got Actavis if you sipping lean
Prescription pills and Molly
Even got Heroin if you 'bout it
Shawty my shop open up all night
Got blocks stacked up all white
Don't like me, that's alright
Come fight me, nigga, yeah right
And nigga get wrong and getting dead right
Get your ass, ho
Get embarrassed, ho
All about my cash flow
Your new bitch was my last ho
I got six sluts in my Maybach
Sixpack under my tanktop
I got a snub nose that hold six shots
Nigga try me, I think not
My temper bad, I might blank out
Bust a nigga before I can even think about
What I got to lose if he bust a move
Well, I got to do what I got to do
Trap rolling, bumping, always selling something
You got it if you want it and whatever for the money
On my grind, they in line for the product from the dime up
They know where to find him, do you know what it time for
Mr. Harris speaking on how its time for him to get his money right again with the metaphor of the trap. On Track 14 "Who Want Some," he mentions he off probation, meaning he can go on tour and cop an easy 300k a show as opposed to 15% from record sales.
"Ya kill roaches wit' raid, ya kill haters by gettin' paid"


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Marketplace Morning Report for Tuesday, October 9, 2012
New York is revising the gifted and talented student test that pre-schoolers take. The revisions are intended to give the test greater diversity and will mean increased business for test-prep services. If you're watching TV in Ohio, you're no doubt seeing a lot of campaign ads about the coal industry and its jobs. But in Ohio, at least, coal is only a small part of the economy and the work force. Snack makers are out with new flavors every year, many of which get their start in labs off of the New Jersey Turnpike.


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Up until starting college a few years ago, I was a ballerina. When you're propped up in pointe shoes for hours at a time, there's little tolerance for beauty woes. Ballerinas have primping solutions that stand up to the thickest sweat, most unflattering lighting and unruliest hair. And you don't have to be Natalie Portman to get the in. Flash-Friendly Makeup: Take a peek at a principal dancer's makeup kit and there's not a speck of glitter or shimmer in sight. Stage lighting makes shimmer look like grease and sweat, and so do the flashes on your best friend's camera. If you know you're going to be getting mobile upload notifications throughout the evening, switch out your illuminating foundation for a matte yet hydrating formula, like Make Up For Ever HD Invisible Cover Foundation— you'll find yourself untagging fewer pictures. Use a highlighter just on cheekbones to catch the light, but be sure to keep blush and bronzer matte. Topknot 101: The buns perched on the top of ballerinas' heads look polished and sophisticated, but when you try the look on yourself it's more of a Christmas elf situation. Here's your guide to conquering the bun:
- Study your cheekbones: Your ponytail should be gathered at your crown following the angle of your cheekbones to create the most flattering proportions. So, if you were to draw a line from the top of your cheekbone to the base of your pony, the line would be straight.
- Don't twirl too tightly: If you twist your pony too tightly before you wrap it around the base, it'll create an awkward, lopsided shape. Give it a few twirls, then slowly start your spiral.
- Use two hands: As you're spiraling with one hand, use the other to gently press the bun against your crown. This will prevent the dreaded doorknob shape (FYI: donuts are the ideal shape.)
- Tuck and pin: Tuck the tips of your hair underneath your formed donut. Next, grab the hairpins. Note: not bobby pins, hairpins. They're different. If you have superthick hair, the drugstore hair aisle won't cut it. Bunheads Hair Pins hold up through 32 fouetté turns—the true test of a hair product's prowess.
- Mess it up: You don't want your knot to look too perfect. After all pins are secured, lightly pinch little sections of your donut. It'll make it look effortless—like you didn't just get a full tricep workout trying to put your hair up.
- Spritz, baby, spritz: Mist your 'do with hairspray. You'll find Aussie Instant Freeze Hairspray backstage.
—By Cody Marick, beauty intern


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Today is a BIG day. My friend, Kristen over at We Are THAT Family is launching her new book, Rhinestone Jesus – Saying YES to God when sparkly, safe faith is no longer enough.
"In high school, Kristen wore a big, sparkly rhinestone "Jesus" pin every day and carried her Bible wherever she went. But she didn't realize her faith, though sincere, was shallow: much like her artificial accessory, it would one day tarnish, no longer a true reflection of who she was.
Real life and motherhood catapulted Kristen into places and situations she'd never imagined. There came a day when she stood in the slums of Africa, poised on the brink of a risk bigger than any she'd ever taken. And she knew she didn't stand a chance – unless she was ready to put aside the rhinestones and get branded by the real thing.
Rhinestone Jesus is the spiritual adventure story of one woman who went from living a safe, "good-girl" faith that didn't cost much, to realizing that God was daring her to say YES to a deeper, more authentic way."
Through stories about life as a high school student, her (sometimes difficult) marriage, the hum-drum mundane days of motherhood, and a blogger, Kristen takes us on her journey. As a Compassion International Blogger, Kristen was invited to travel to Kenya where her heart and life was forever changed. After returning home feeling empty and broken, Kristen woke up from the American Dream, and said YES to an unbelievable God-sized dream called Mercy House.
I love that Kristen keeps it real in Rhinestone Jesus. She is quick to admit that her family is far from perfect – even talking about days filled with puke, poop, drama, and bad attitudes (which makes her seem like my BFF) but even through the crazy – in the middle of her messy life as wife and mother, she slowly discovers that God doesn't require us to get our act together before revealing His God-sized dream, rather He is just waiting for us to say YES IN OUR MESS, wherever we are. Right now.
As a result of her YES – through obedience and love – her family continually strives to glorify the Lord in all that they do. At the end of each chapter, Welch offers reflections and personal challenges for readers – ideas for nurturing our families, serving as a family, and being centered on Christ in all things. She encourages Christians to seek the Lord, and say YES to whatever He is calling them to do, no matter how big, small or messy it may seem.
Rhinestone Jesus has left me wondering what I should be doing. I'm not sure what my YES looks like, and chances are your YES will look different from my YES. But this I know: One small yes can lead to BIG things. God isn't waiting on us to get our marriage in order, our kids to be perfect, or to keep a neater house. He is simply waiting for us to say YES to Him, right in the middle of the mound of laundry, the toothpaste covered bathroom sink and the LEGO covered floor.
In the middle of our mess.
It's that easy.
And speaking of easy… You can win a copy of Rhinestone Jesus by simply leaving a comment on this post. Two winners will be chosen by Random Dot Org on Monday, May 5th at 9:00 PM EST.
About the Author" Kristen Welch writes the parenting blog, We are THAT Family (you know the ones). She is an (in)courage writer, a Compassion International blogger, and a regular featured contributor to LifeWay's HomeLife and ParentLife magazines. In 2010, Kristen founded Mercy House, a nonprofit maternity home in Kenya, Africa, which rescues young pregnant girls from extreme poverty. Mercy House is almost entirely funded by readers of her blog. Read Kristen's blot at We Are THAT Family dot com.
In the interest of full disclosure: Tyndale House Publishers provided two copies of Rhinestone Jesus for me to give away to my readers. As always, the opinions expressed in this post are my own.
And the winners are:
Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:8
Timestamp: 2014-05-06 04:49:35 UTC
The first winner is Commenter #8 – Jennifer S. who commented on May 1, 2014 @ 9:55 am.
Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:10
Timestamp: 2014-05-06 04:51:48 UTC
The second winner is Commenter #10 – Traci who commented on May 2, 2014 @ 5:15 pm.
Congratulations, ladies. I'll be in contact via e-mail.


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Lotus Sutra Course
The Lotus Sutra is represented by at least 6 translations that I have from both Sanskrit and Chinese sources, and as I've come to understand, Sanskrit materials are the creation of a formal language that was used to create texts that are actually later versions of the text then earlier translations into other languages, such as Chinese, which is very early. And Vasubandhu's commentary is on a somewhat different edition than we have. (I have this)
But I have been very interested in what kind of religion one would make of the Lotus Sutra because that also involves asking the interesting question "what do I make of the Lotus Sutra?"
I found a website that had a 74 page course on religion as it is based on the Lotus Sutra, specifically the Tien Tai school, and its address was http://www.buddhistdoor.com/OldWeb/bdoo ... lotus1.htm, but it is not there now.
So I have uploaded a PDF file that contains this course and for the life of me I don't know who would hold the copyright, but I will take it down if you recommend me to. What I was going to ask is "how well does this Lotus Sutra course present the religion of Buddhism as represented by the Tien Tai school?
Thank you.
The media fire access address to download the Lotus Sutra course
A Lotus Sutra Course
Post Reply
4 posts • Page 1 of 1
- Leo Rivers
- Posts: 278
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- Contact:
Re: A Lotus Sutra Course
Couldn't down load it Not that I'd be able to answer your questions... I was just interested
- Posts: 165
- Joined: Sun Nov 13, 2011 6:06 pm
Re: A Lotus Sutra Course
Excellent! Thank you for providing this. Awesome; the download worked well and I now have the pdf on my laptop for daily reading. Of course, those with better background in Tian Tai can determine how accurate is this course of study.The media fire access address to download the Lotus Sutra course
http://www.mediafire.com/?x1mnfl2xce7a33k" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Re: A Lotus Sutra Course
Hazzar! It worked I shall have a leisurely read of it over my lunch break Thank you
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By Mark Polk
RV Education 101
Let's face it, having the proper type of insurance coverage on your motorhome is extremely important, but it can be a little pricey, too. In this day and age finding ways to lower any of our bills is the smart thing to do.
Let's explore my top 7 ways to lower your motorhome insurance premium.
1. Many RV insurance companies provide discounts to customers who are members of some type of RV association or club. Discounts vary by insurance company. Call your RV insurance company agent and ask for a listing of associations or clubs you can join to receive a discount. FMCA is a great place to start.
Note: Association discounts also often are given for participants in RV manufacturing associations and clubs.
2. Driver safety courses often qualify an RV owner for discounts with some RV insurance companies. Your insurance agent can tell you what programs qualify for discounts.
Note: Qualified driver safety courses often are offered at large RV rallies such as at FMCA rallies.
3. A clean driving record will reduce your insurance premium. It usually takes three years (36 months) for accidents and moving violations/citations to stop impacting your insurance rates.
4. Another way to reduce your insurance premium is to buy multiple policies from the same insurance company. This is called a multi-policy discount. For example, companies such as National Interstate offer discounts when an individual buys an RV policy and a companion auto policy.
5. Homeowner's discounts are a common way to lower your insurance premium. Ask your insurance agent for more information.
6. Some insurance companies offer discounts if you pay your premium in full up front.
7. Adding a security device to your RV such as an audible alarm often will qualify for a discount.
As an added note, your credit score can impact your insurance rates heavily, so improving your credit score may improve the premium you pay. Credit usage is not allowed in all states, so it varies by state and carrier. Ask your insurance provider for more information about using credit scores.
Keep in mind that most insurance companies will not stack discounts. Even if you are a member of multiple qualified associations and you have taken a qualified driver safety course, the insurance company most likely will give you one 5 percent discount.
I would like to thank National Interstate Insurance Company for its contributions to this article.{loadpositionEndBlurbPolk}{loadpositionEndBlurbMostRecentPolk}


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Park Board seeks new TOPS Working Committee Members
Monday, April 22, 2013
The City of Colorado Springs Parks and Recreation Advisory Board is seeking applicants for the TOPS Working Committee. The committee determines spending priorities for the Trails, Open Space and Parks sales tax, which is the one-tenth percent sales tax approved by voters in 1997.
The group meets biweekly or once a month depending on the volume of applications or projects. City Council will have the final authority on land acquisition and approval of the budget for TOPS-related projects.
Interested citizens should meet any or all of the following criteria:
- Have involvement with an organization dedicated to promoting trails, parks, or open space.
- Live within the city limits of Colorado Springs.
- Demonstrate an interest associated with parks, trails or open space.
To apply, send a one-page resume outlining the above qualifications and a one-page explanation of why you want to serve on the TOPS Working Committee. Please indicate your Council District number on your letter (see map). Send all information to Chris Lieber, Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services; 1401 Recreation Way; Colorado Springs, CO 80905 before Friday, May 10, 2013.
For more information, call Chris Lieber, Principal Planner and TOPS Program Manager, with the Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Department at 385-6530.


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Cool Farrell helps keep England on track
Owen Farrell held his nerve as England beat Ireland 12-6 at a rain-soaked Lansdowne Road on Sunday and so became the only side in this season's Six Nations capable of winning the Grand Slam.
In an attritional, forward-dominated contest, the 21-year-old fly-half scored all his side's points by landing four penalties as England ended a decade of Championship misery in Dublin with a first Six Nations win in the Irish capital since 2003 - the last year they won the Grand Slam and, later, the World Cup.
Ireland, who had Slam hopes of their own after beating defending champions Wales in Dublin last week, saw replacement fly-half Ronan O'Gara tie the match at 6-6 with two second half penalties after England led 6-0 at the break.
However, with 10 minutes left, O'Gara missed a penalty and that meant Ireland now needed a converted try to win the match.
But with England captain and openside flanker Chris Robshaw producing a man-of-the match display at the breakdown, it was the visitors who triumphed.
Defeat ensured there was no double celebration for Brian O'Driscoll after the Ireland great's wife, Amy, gave birth to the couple's first child, a daughter, earlier on Sunday.
England coach Stuart Lancaster said that the tough conditions had made it a grim battle between the two sides.
"I think we had a good first half, but at the start of the second we had a couple of turnovers that put us under pressure," he told the BBC.
"I think we grew in stature towards the end of the game and deserved our win. We hadn't won here for a long time and we went and did it. We will take it."
Meanwhile Robshaw paid tribute to Farrell by saying: "He's got a great repertoire of skills, but he's got a great team around him who keep pushing him to get better. We're not going to get carried away."
And Farrell, who landed four of his six goal-kicks, said: "If you practise enough it's only another kick. I kick thousands of them."
Ireland captain Jamie Heaslip had no complaints about the result.
"They (England) played the conditions very well, smothered us when we had ball and made our lives very hard," said the No 8.
Farrell gave England an early lead with a second minute penalty.
Tempers flared in the 14th minute when Ireland prop Cian Healy's use of the boot on England's Dan Cole at a ruck sparked a mass brawl in a match featuring several candidates for this year's British and Irish Lions tour of Australia.
In such a tight contest, discipline was especially important, and Farrell punished Ireland for coming around the wrong side of a ruck with a superb penalty from nearly 50 metres to make it 6-0 to England in the 28th minute.
Ireland lost fly-half Jonathan Sexton with a hamstring pull just after the half-hour mark.
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[High Praise! to Laughing Conservative and Weasel Zippers]
"The illegals say there needs to be a path to citizenship. There is a path to citizenship. They may not like it but it is there.
There is a path to car ownership. You go out and buy one or work out a deal to finance one and make your payments. Some may not like that pathway so they go out and steal one. That is illegal. Just like coming here and not choosing the pathway that has been set forth. If you don't like it, stay in the country you are presently in."


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These last couple of Tuesday night's sans Glee has kind of been like having a boyfriend away on vacation. Although you know he is coming home soon, you are borderline obsessive in your amount of desire for him.
Luckily, our boyfriend Glee is back tonight and he's brought us a present–a day-early stream of Glee: The Music Presents The Warblers'.
Although Cris Colfer (Kurt) sings on some of the songs like "Blackbird" and "Animal," since we aren't really acquainted with any of the other Dalton Warblers, crush-worthy cutie Darren Criss (Blaine) sings the lead on most of the album–something Rachel Berry would very jealous of.
So who are the Warblers and how do they master all those amazing harmonies? Made up of all-male Tufts University a cappella singing group, the Beelzebubs, the Warblers are an actual singing group, not just actors playing the part.
In honor of the album release, Darren Criss will perform live on NBC's Today Show tomorrow morning and perform live on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Friday, April 22.
Live stream the album today and get it in stores and iTunes on Tuesday, April 19th.
Glee: The Music Presents The Warblers Tracklisting:
1. "Teenage Dream"
2. "Hey Soul Sister"
3. "Bills, Bills, Bills"
4. "Silly Love Songs"
5. "When I Get You Alone"
6. "Animal"
7. "Misery"
8. "Blackbird"
9. "Candles"
10. "Raise Your Glass"
11. "Somewhere Only We Know"
12. "What Kind Of Fool"
13. "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?"
Tune in to "Glee" each Tuesday (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. For more info on "GLEE" The Music visit: http://www.gleethemusic.com. In the mean time, catch up on all the greatest "Glee" hits on "Glee" Radio.
Thanks to Nadia Noir for writing this piece.


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Discussion in 'TV & Media' started by chardman, Sep 19, 2012.
Curious that the major players from the other thread have yet to chime in here.
You mean... you mean... they're not gonna have a big fairytale wedding and lots of pasty little children?!?! Noooooo......
I had to look that up, but .
I'm seeing a lot of youtubes with their sold-to-the-media baby photos over the top of the ripping apart your womb birth scene.
The things you miss when you go offline for three days.
Good. The world needs examples of couples who actually work things out instead of immediately divorcing. Not that they were married, but you know....if it's legit, I wish them luck.
That may well be true. Maybe she was getting even, or just scared at the thought of marriage. Maybe Robert Pattinson, like most people, is entirely human and really, really pissed her off last year at some point so she succumbed to the charms of the married pig director. Hope they can work it out and beat the odds.
The odds are pretty bad when you add up hollywood, age, adultery. "Married pig director", LOLOL
Cosomopolis just started. It seems to be about dead people. Dead sad people with nothing to do. I'm consideing not bothering with getting to the end.
Liberty Ross Files for Divorce from Rupert Sanders
ooh. Vampire thread.
Loved Cosmopolis. Like American Psycho without the gore.
Good for her for finally wising up.
Women know that all men will cheat if they think they can get away with it. Most women chose men that are smart enough to know that they can never get away with it, but the smartest women chose men that are smart enough to get away with cheating so they can get on with life without having to worry how the walls are closing in.
So, the French?
Is there any further evidence about the divorce in their trash cans? Do you have a wiretap up and running yet?
No, do you require more evidence?
I'm wondering.. in the beginning Liberty Ross kept out of any interviews/limelight about the cheating. Did she ever get asked about her marriage future to the dirty scoundrel and reply,
"I am sorry, I am not at Liberty to say."
I think she has become fed up with him. I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't the first time the cheating happened.
You don't file for divorce over a kiss.
So maybe when she gets asked next time she will say,
"He took Liberties.. and not being a girl with a closet full of clones it wasn't going to work out."
I don't think Liberty has ever spoken once about the whole thing! She is either the nicest woman in the world, or the studio behind Twilight really pleaded with her to be kind.
Is this really anybody's business but theirs? Their private lives aren't literary narratives for us to dissect.
I think it's a news report that's being dissected.
I just don't think people's sex lives should really be information for the public domain. People are so titillated by celebrity gossip that they forget the moral implications of being a voyeur.
Separate names with a comma.


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Product Details & Shipping Information
Made in the USA, this ATA Safari Footlocker by Kangaroo Cases, commonly referred to as airline transportation approved, is one of the best ATA Footlockers for students attending college, boarding school, or summer camp who need to securely transport their belongings via airlines. These footlockers are laminated with an ABS laminated sheathing on the exterior and a textile liner on the interior to protect a student's valuables. Once students use their Kangaroo Safari Footlocker to safely transport their belongings to campus, they can use it as additional storage or seating in their dorm room or campus apartment throughout the school year.
At DormSmart.com, we do our best to display product images with the most accurate color possible for our shoppers. However, due to differences in computer monitors, variations in color may occur between the actual product and your screen.


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My season, thus far, has been a very typical season. Yes, I was traded midseason -- I was also traded midseason last year -- but I am not really one to look at things too in-depth.
I started with the Orioles after signing a one-year contract as a free agent last winter. My time there was relatively short, but I did really enjoy my time there. I liked the city, and I liked the ballpark. I think that club has a lot of good fans.
It was also my first time playing in the American League on a full-time basis, and I liked that as well. When it comes to some of the AL ballparks, I got to spend more time in some of them than I had ever before. That was a lot of fun, too.
Prior to the deadline, I got traded to the Pirates. Obviously, things from a team standpoint have not worked out like we would have liked them to of late.
When I first got here, I only got to play in a few games before I got hurt. I broke my hand, so I was not on the field as much as I would have liked to have been. Things just didn't work out as planned.
When I got here, we were in the middle of a playoff chase. Unfortunately, we dropped out of that chase pretty quickly.
Last year was sort of similar to this year. I started with the Cubs and then got traded to the Braves. The biggest difference between this year and last year is that last year I had a no-trade clause. That sort of allowed me to pick and choose where I wanted to go. Last year that clause helped guarantee me a spot in the playoffs. This year, I didn't have such an option. I had a pretty good idea I was going to be traded, I just didn't know where.
I spent a lot of years with the Cubs and Marlins. Now, I have played for four teams in the last two years. There is something to say about stability, but there is also something to say about the chance to go to the playoffs. When I got to Pittsburgh, we had an outside shot of going to the playoffs, so you can never complain about that. Getting traded is not always negative.
Looking ahead, I really have not put a lot of thought to what is ahead for me. When somebody asks me what I am looking to do in the future, I just don't know, and I do think it is a really good question. Right now, it is about trying to finish up this season real strong.
It is also tough to say because it is very difficult to forecast things like that. I guess I will take a wait-and-see approach and see how everything unfolds.
Veteran first baseman Derrek Lee is batting .343 for the Pirates this year, and he has hit five home runs and driven in 14 runs in 18 games. On the year, he is hitting .262 in 103 contests, missing a month of action due to injury.
This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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This flexible ducting is manufactured with a galvanized wire helix contained in continuous encapsulating layers of tough polyester film forming a smooth flowing, airtight inner core. The core is surrounded by a thick blanket of fiberglass insulation which is enveloped by a tear-resistant fiberglass scrim. Encasing the entire assembly is a tough, UV-inhibited polyethylene jacket, providing a durable outer vapor barrier.
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- ETL Listed / Approved
- Formaldehyde-free fiber glass insulation


text:
Overall Rating: 5.00 from 1 reviews.
|city state/province country
|Caran d'Ache Luminance Lightfast Pencils (5/5)
|Feb 3, 2009
|JoAnn Ash
|Salina Ka US
|I'm still giving these pencils 5 stars even though they all have the same outside color and the names are printed AROUND the pencil making it even harder to read. I think these pencils are wonderful. I've only been using them a short time but I don't have to sharpen them as often, they blend easily, and they have a built-in glow. And I've read that there is no wax bloom. Like I said, I've only been using them a short time but I haven't seen any wax bloom yet.


text:
Mike Spivey - Senior Pastor
view in Google
Lay Ministry Blog: The Season of Angels
Register now of the Bishops' Day of Prayer on March 10!
Disaster Response Update: Hurricane Response
The Cross and Flame is a registered trademark, and its use is supervised by the General Council on Finance and Administration (GCFA) of The United Methodist Church. Permission to use the Cross and Flame must be obtained from the GCFA


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Discussion in 'Former Pro Player Talk' started by smoledman, Nov 24, 2012.
This is some good stuff.
Last time Mac defeated Lendl in a tour final.
Thanks for the post - will enjoy
Mac really did toy with Lendl both in this final, and again in the Canadian Open final at Montreal one week later. He made a great player like Lendl look completely helpless on both occasions.
The tennis that Mac played in the summer of 1985 after his Wimbledon defeat to Curren and until the US Open against Lendl, was just as good as his 1984 standard. Breathtaking stuff.
The role reversal for Lendl was pretty funny. He trashed Connors badly in warm-up tournaments ahead of the 1982 and 1983 US Opens, only for Jimbo to beat him when it really mattered in those US Open finals.
However ahead of both 1984 RG and the 1985 USO, McEnroe had destroyed him twice in lead-up events (at Forest Hills and Dusseldorf in 1984). However on those occasions he was able to turn the tables on Mac and beat him when it really mattered in those major finals.
I was at that match. I remember that when Lendl came out on the court, he struck me as being the most healthy, fit person I'd ever seen. I'm not sure why--he wasn't huge or ripped or anything like that. He just exuded this feeling of fitness. It was quite interesting.
I have it on DVD. McEnroe was way too good for Lendl in this match. They had a similar match in the 1985 Montreal final soon after, although that was ridden with arguments the players had with the umpire, Jeremy Shales. Soon after that came the match that changed both players careers, the 1985 US Open final.
That was actually the 1985 Montreal final.
Mac was dominating Ivan just a week before the start of the USO 1985...all of a sudden, Mac retroceded years after he lost the USO final to Lendl.
in the 1985 u s open final mcenroe was a victim of played the 2nd semi final on (non) super saturday..a 5 set thriller in hot conditions v wilander..
mcenroe core fitness was starting to go down by this point due to off court lifestyle etc...so mac was tired and facing a fresher lendl who had (i think) an easy 3 set win vs connors in the first semi...
mcenroe lost his title and his world no1 rank forever..cue mcenroes lost weekend lasting 7 months.
Beginning of the end....
I'm not so sure. For the first time, Lendl had an extremely positive mindset in a major final, even when he went 2-5 down in the first set. It seemed to take McEnroe by surprise.
That Wilander-Mac 5 setter was beyond belief in the heat. One of my favorites to savor again and again (especially on a snowy, cold weekend) - but it was beyond brutal as to rallies and the utter heat. If I remember right( that is always iffy at best), the next day, Mac stated in his book that he felt well out of it - in a dream state of sorts.
If you watch that semi (in the heat) you have to ask how can anyone play the next day after that?
yes it was tough on mcenroe, maybe if mac could've sneaked that 1st set point and blahblahblah..although in 84 he managed to win in 3 vs lendl at his peak..despite again having a 5 set semi...but lendl's level went up another notch, 85 mac was up and down in performances and i dont think as fit..
mac had four poor defeats in the majors in 85..the worst being vs curren, then losing a 5th set 6-0 to slobodan whatsisname in australia..he gave up
the start of the 83 aust open is a laugh..its like wimbledon now..slower grass, and i counted an 18 shot and 20+ shot rally..imagine that at wimbledon in the 80s..no way.
Slobodan Zivojinovic. He beat McEnroe in the 1985 Australian Open quarter finals by the score of 2-6, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4, 6-0. And yes, watching some old Australian Open matches on the Kooyong grass-courts, I also notice the similarities in style to today's Wimbledon matches.
Tanner, Vilas and Wilander seemed to like the Kooyong grass. Vilas and Wilander were nowhere near as good on the Wimbledon grass as they were in Melbourne, even if Vilas was facing players like John Marks and John Sadri in his finals there instead of Borg, Connors and McEnroe.
good old roscoe tanner..surprised alot of folk by taking borg to 5 at wimbledon..in fact he had a decent chance to win..imagine the same match at kooyong one way traffic, easy borg win..
yes mr s zivojinovic..mcenroe shouldnt have lost that one..but he wouldve been likely defeated by wilander again in sf much like 83 and like in french 85 too..i always thought 83 and 84 were macs best chances at kooyong rather than 83 and 85..but pulling out of aust 84 (i'm sure he was initially going to play; meant he blew his big chance) and with the wheels starting to come off in 85 meant no dice for supermac.
Separate names with a comma.


text:
It is a nymph of a bug (not beetle!) belonging to Lygaeidae, something like a Lygaeus sp. Google!
I have searched for Lygaeus sp and found Lygaeus kalmii - this is found in the USA. Would it also be in Cyprus? It isn't quite the same as the one in my photo. http://bugguide.net/node/view/449073
Thank you for your reply.
Try Lygaeus saxatilis or L. simulans.
Thanks for these further names. I've looked them both up and they are nearly the same but they don't have the attractive spots with pale markings. Perhaps it's a Cyprus sub species.
Well, there are three species of Lygaeus on Cyprus (forget L saxatilis that I linked to):
L simulans
L creticus
L equestris
It does not necessarily have to be a Lygaeus (but it is similar enough to be) - on this page you find a checklist (Lygaeidae is somewhere halfway down).
Good luck!
mmmm...I see this is a challenging area! I have learned today that beetles and bugs are different and that the same family is very widespread.
I like this image because it shows the differences however I still don't see anything like my find. http://insektenfotos.de/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=158500
This photo looks almost the same http://www.flickr.com/photos/70306551@N07/6392129215
I thank you for your time and knowledge.
This is a 5th & final instar nymph of Spilostethus pandurus, a ground bug. I first encountered them in Greek Cyprus, but have since seen in Portugal too.


text:
|2012-03-28, 11:02
|Link #41
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
They are a race that was only mentioned back during the whole slavery debalce, but we don't know anything about them. Could be possible that they are a race of furries.
|2012-03-28, 11:03
|Link #42
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
^Coincidentally enough, I also pegged the minkmen as being the furry race. Hopefully, Oda will explain more about those guys soon enough....
Also, I'm kinda surprised that we haven't had the usual storm of accusations that Oda is a lazy lummox since the series is going on break next week.
|2012-03-28, 11:22
|Link #43
User Title eaten by ravenous bunnies
IT Support
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Zeon
Age: 26
Just like Oda to take a break next week lol. But Law can take the heart of a Logia user must be a powerful Haki user. I miss Basil Hawkins though I wonder what is he up too ?
|2012-03-28, 11:26
|Link #44
Not Enough Sleep
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: R'lyeh
Age: 41
|2012-03-28, 12:00
|Link #49
Join Date: Sep 2008
|2012-03-28, 13:17
|Link #50
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: 1431 Highland Drive
Review time:
Mini-story: Minochiuaua? Extra help or replacement?
Main Story: Law extracting Smoker's heart? intense.
No story next week: Just when it was getting good... again.
|2012-03-28, 13:22
|Link #51
ANEGO Worshiper
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: By the vending machine, drinking tea.
I also find it interesting that MARVEL'S HEAD ISN'T SHAKING ANYMORE YOI YOI...
I mean...that while the samurai and others were cut to bits yet stayed conscious, the simple fact that your heart is missing knocks you out. The samurai was chopped to bits but still stayed the same. Oda is giving a lot of importance to the heart.
|2012-03-28, 13:32
|Link #52
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Behind You!
Age: 27
I really would like for zorro to see Taishigi again...
maybe there will be an event in the future where Zoro changes into a girl and Taishigi changes into a man(Law's shambles or Ivankovs), and they fought to prove that being a master swordsman doesnt have to do with being a boy or a girl.....
As far as I can see from One Piece, there is no Zoro arc... only a flash back...
I wonder when will it be Zoro's arc...
|2012-03-28, 13:33
|Link #53
Join Date: Mar 2012
I may have seen something like this before in "Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest" when Davy Jones' heart was kept in a box.[/QUOTE]
Its not a box its ice, people are saying Law used Haki and he might have or the reason why it can out is because Law used frozen sea water.
Other than that neone catch what Law said too "I'll let you anwser that, what are you marines scheming." Mayb there is a diease and those giant kids have it and mayb Mr. Goo is fooling everyone i.e telling Law that the marines are infecting them thus winning his support.
Just something to think about, not one of those ppl that say "i dnt think Law's a bad guy." I think he's sinister and just help suppose heros (SH) cause it beneifits him but he definatly has so far shown that his actions prove to be beneificial on some elses behave.
|2012-03-28, 13:41
|Link #54
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: The Big Durian
Law : "Weaklings can't pick their way of Death", awesome.
Meh, Smoker not much of an opponent to Law. Law's badass rating just went skyrocket.
Luffy vs Law next? .. I really hope not, at least not yet ..
|2012-03-28, 13:48
|Link #55
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
Yep, that's right, y'all..... After putting up with over half a decade of Kumadori's shaking head, I've decided that you'll spend the next half decade dealing with Josuke 2.0's derp face instead.
While I'm unsure why it's necessary for Zoro and Tashigi to pull a Freaky Friday with each other in order for them to understand one another, I've long suspected that Smoker's protege would actually be Zoro's final opponent in the series. That being said, Zoro's flashback had already proved that he would easily accept a woman being a master swordsman, so your whole scenario there would be kind of redundant, methinks.
|2012-03-28, 14:48
|Link #56
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2011
|2012-03-28, 14:55
|Link #57
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
Remember, from what we've seen from the samurai, he is still connected to all of his body parts even when seperated... If you stub his toe he will still feel it. The reason the Samurai's Head and Legs still function is beceasue his heart is still beating. But not Smoker's... BY freezing Smoker's heart, Law has stopped in from beating and without a beating heart, the rest of Smoker is rendered effectively dead.
|2012-03-28, 15:02
|Link #58
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
Actually, I've sort of been thinking for a while now that Zoro may never have a proper match against Mihawk. In fact, right after the hawk eyes accepted Zoro's request to train him, I pretty much figured right then and there that he may get killed off by Shiryuu (or another powerful swordsman) before Zoro got the chance to meet him again in the NW. And remember: Zoro's dream/ambition is to become the world's top swordsman, period. That doesn't specifically mean that Mihawk has to be his target in the end if he's not the strongest in the current era.....
|2012-03-28, 15:06
|Link #59
Kamen Rider Muppeteer
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Unknown
Age: 33
|2012-03-28, 15:46
|Link #60
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: cali
Really wanna see smoker get out of this somehow. Seeing him get this owned again is unfortunate because I think he will be likely be to luffy what garp was to gol d roger (i know coby may also fit this role but i really think it will be smoker).
Switching the bullets and the snow is a neat trick. At first I did like the idea that box around smokers heart is the room miniaturized, but it raises some questions. Law did say "mes" so it could be a new move altogether. It also means Law is able to move the room around, along with its contents. Can he have multiple rooms? Overlapping ones?
Anyone know what the sound effects around smokers heart mean?
Smoker stopping Law's sword must mean he has haki.
Brownbeard: you bandits
Zoro: this guy has no sense of self reflection
Who are the people under Luffy's pic in the newspaper? One is definitely Dragon. The other two Ace and Garp??
|Thread Tools


text:
Read the full story here Web Link posted Friday, August 15, 2008, 12:00 AM
Town Square
Letters: No kids allowed is unfair
Original post made on Aug 22, 2008
Read the full story here Web Link posted Friday, August 15, 2008, 12:00 AM
a resident of Val Vista
on Aug 22, 2008 at 5:28 am
My family was also extremely disappointed to be turned away at the last First Wednesday Street Fair. My daughter looks forward to dancing with the other children while her parents relax with friends. I think the city should rethink their decision to keep everyone under 21 out of that area. They will be losing a lot of business.
a resident of Pleasanton Heights
on Aug 22, 2008 at 8:48 pm
I have stated my opinion in other threads, but it is worth doing it again in view of the letter. The letter documents an experience extending over four years. Yet, one instance of abuse of the event by a narrow segment of our population has produced an over-reaction by our police and the association that puts on the event. Rather than make a rule against the perpetrators and then enforce it, they choose what may be an easier way for them but an unacceptable solution for the very constituents for whom these events are designed! That is, ban the children, thereby excluding families, but the early 20 somethings can still come in and enjoy.
People need to vote with their feet and not go to these downtown first wednesday things at all....
a resident of Canyon Meadows
on Aug 26, 2008 at 9:44 am
Allison, I am sorry to be the one to break it to you, but life isn't fair. I think the city acted appropriately in the interest of safety, and I don't think children belong in a beer garden now that it has become nothing less than a crowded outdoor bar. Did you go to the last event? It was more crowded than ever, so I don't think the event "will be losing a lot of business".
Frank, you are simply out of touch. Is there an area of our lives where the many have not suffered due to the actions of the few?? This is no exception, and the beer garden wasn't "designed" for kids in the first place. Furthermore, Your suggestion to "make a rule against the perpetrators and then enforce it" is ridiculous. Fighting in public? Yep, have a law against that. Drunk in public? Yep, have that one covered. The only thing predictable about this situation is that someone will eventually get hurt in a rowdy crowd of 5000 people, and you'll be first in line to ask "why wasn't something done to prevent this!?". Go ahead, think with your feet, boycott the event. Guess what, the other 5000 people won't notice your absence.
a resident of Highland Oaks
on Aug 27, 2008 at 1:50 pm
common sense make sense. who'd figured that! thank you bob. if they don't serve food, but do serve alchohol it is a bar atmosphere. not a day in the park.
a resident of Ridgeview Commons
on Apr 26, 2017 at 3:38 am
Due to repeated violations of our Terms of Use, comments from this poster are automatically removed. Why?


text:
Pats are gonna crush the Ravens. The Pats are gonna exploit the Ravens LBs in coverage much like they did against the Texans. Ray is great against the run, but if he's on the field, he's gonna be out wide trying to cover Vereen or Ridley or Woody. No one on the Ravens D can cover the Pats RBs. Even Ellerbe gave up a TD pass against the Broncos.
Ravens won against the DOnks because I think Manning's arm just died as the game wore on. Brady will throw it deep to his RBs.
Sizzle is injured. Ngata is also injured.
The only chance the Ravens have is for Flacco to play out of his mind.
Our best chance is for the 49ers to make it to the SB.
Last edited by First DOWN!; 01-14-2013 at 11:19 AM.
If Ray Lewis wants it badly enough maybe he'll do it himself.
Hammer Brady, force turnovers, a Pick6 would be nice.
Ravens beat NE at Balt by 1 point in reg season - means virtually nothing.
Question is which Flacco will show up.
Will he hit receivers or sh!t the bed?
Is this really a serious discussion?
The pats have an average nfl defense.
the only way the ravens can win this game.is only if brady gets hurt.the pats are unbeatable at home.
Beat them? They crushed their little dreams hahaha
I gave this a lot of thought and didn't want to rush my decision.
But having pondered this question carefully, I have to say...
Yes...I think the Ravens can beat the Patriots.
It's absolutely amazing how many times you people can be proven wrong, and yet you continue to make fools of yourselves. I mean you're not ignorant, because you are wrong all the time, yet you continue to make asses out of yourselves with this bluster. What drives you people to speak with such certainty about things you know nothing about? Then you demean anyone that questions your judgment. If you were ignorant at least you'd have an excuse. Maybe you can remember this so you don't make fools of yourselves next time. Precedence has shown that to be highly unlikely, but unlike you guys, I never close my mind to a possibility. You guys could grow up one of these days.


text:
Buangor fire in Vic being controlled
A large grassfire which had prompted a warning for a small farming community in Victoria is being controlled.
The CFA has downgraded its emergency warning for the Buangor area, located between Ararat and Ballarat, west of Melbourne, to a watch and act advice.
A State Control Centre spokeswoman said there had initially been three fires burning in plantation forest and grassland in the area and two had joined together.
The fires had been heading towards the area around Buangor, a farming community which is home to about 250 people.
The spokeswoman said the fire had not reached close to towns and the emergency warning had been downgraded.
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text:
Picture-Perfect Peach Pie
If you like it, save it!
Save and organize all of the stuff you love in one place.Got it!
If you like something…
Click the heart, it's called favoriting. Favorite the stuff you like.Got it!
Author Notes: First things first: this is not an original recipe- I found it from Epicurious. But it's hands down the best peach pie I've ever made or had- and I wanted to be sure all you guys got to see it/try it too. —totalnoms
Makes one pie
For the crust
- 2 1/3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 stick) chilled, unsalted butter, cut into pieces
- 1/4 cup chilled solid vegetable shortening, cut into pieces
- 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
- 6 tablespoons ice water
For the filling
- 4-5 pounds medium peaches, peeled, pitted and sliced
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Combine flour, sugar and salt in large bowl. Add butter and shortening; using fingertips, rub in until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add vinegar.
- Using fork, mix in enough water to form moist clumps. Gather dough into ball; divide dough into 2 equal portions. Flatten each portion into disk. Wrap each in plastic; chill 45 minutes. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep refrigerated. Soften slightly at room temperature before rolling out.)
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Combine peaches, sugar, flour and spices in large bowl; toss to mix well.
- Roll out 1 dough disk on floured surface to 13-inch round. Transfer to 9-inch-diameter glass pie plate. Transfer peaches to crust, mounding in center. Roll out second dough disk to 13-inch round. Roll up dough on rolling pin and unroll atop peaches. Trim edges of both crusts to 3/4-inch overhang. Fold edges over; press to seal. Crimp edges. Cut 6 slits in top crust to allow steam to escape.
- Bake pie until crust is golden and juices bubble thickly through slits, covering edges of crust with foil if browning too quickly, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Cool pie 3 hours (this is the absolute hardest part. I only made it 1 hour before I dove in, but the filling was still very liquidy). Serve with ice cream.
- This recipe was entered in the contest for A&M Smackdown / Your Best Peach Pie or Tart
More Great Recipes:
Fruit|Desserts|Pies & Tarts|Peaches


text: Hi all Picked up a Yonex R-22 some weeks back, it had an old 1-piece string job on it. They were syn gut, and measured tension using a Tourna Stringmeter was in the low 40s to high 30s. That would suggest a reference tension of somewhere in mid 40s. Racquet played great then. I snapped the strings almost 2 weeks ago, and restrung it with Klip Legend 16G natural gut mains at 50 lbs, with Weiss Cannon Silverstring 1.25mm crosses at 47lbs. The racquet feels OK, but the sweet spot has become much smaller, and topspin is noticeably less. For those that have had experience with this racquet, do you have any suggestions? I was lucky in that I had used the stringmeter on it before the strings broke, so I suspect the racquet performs better at lowish tensions to open up the sweetspot. I think a lower cross-string tension with perhaps a different string may be needed in this racquet. What do you think? Thanks


text:
Tie game and we opt for a 3-point 4 feet behind the line? This is what D'ant draws up with 7 seconds left?
Tie game and we opt for a 3-point 4 feet behind the line? This is what D'ant draws up with 7 seconds left?
We basically play the best team in the league tommorow.As in, the team that scores about twenty fast break points on us.
Honestly...the fact that this game even went into double overtime proves that Mike D does not know when to sit certain guys and play certain guys. I can't even count the number of times i questioned his rotation swaps and the BIGGEST question mark was why Mike D sat Gallinari until the end of the 2nd OT when he was the only red hot shooter at the time.
Mike D in his interview really had no answer to Gallo sitting out when he was the go-to-guy during the 4th quarter. Mike D looks so confused about his rotation that it is costing us games. He has to figure out who to sit and who to play soon or we will be 0-10 by the time he thinks he "figured out" the lineup.
There is a saying that a coach is only as good as his players. We don't have great players and Mike D does not look like a good coach whatsoever.
Don't our coaches teach our players in practice to draw fouls? Why don't we emphasize our ability to drive to the basket and make high percentage shots? Mike D has to look at the stat book and see how we shoot from behind the arc and start telling his players to play aggressive offensive basketball and not rely on three's or we are not going to win even 30 games this year.
AND our defense was piss poor at times. If Charlotte wasn't so bad on offense we would have lost this game a long time ago by a good 20-30 points.
Our team looks like it got worse this year.
"The Knicks are back" - Amare
as much as i love gallo im still in shock at how no name steven grahm took him to school. :/


text:
Down from the mountain
Colorado's unique roots musicians relish their Rockies
By Owen Perkins / MLB.com
These days the Rocky Mountain rendition of roots music is kept alive by several generations claiming a unique slant on mountain music as their own, taking Bill Monroe's bluegrass and infusing it with contemporary elements to make it as vibrant as any evolving genre.
The parallels are plain to see alongside a Rockies team that has borrowed from traditional baseball while forging its own Rocky Mountain brand of the ol' ball game.
Sam Bush embodies Colorado's unique crossroads where baseball and bluegrass meet, coining a genre with his seminal band, New Grass Revival. While Bush was hailed as both the Jerry Garcia and the Keith Richards of bluegrass, the band's banjo player, Bela Fleck, once described their musical amalgamation as the product of "Bill Monroe getting together with Aretha Franklin and taking a trip to Jamaica."
The Kentucky native and longtime Cardinals fan has had a 34-year love affair with Colorado, revolving around the unique character of the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, initially dreamed up as a way of getting New Grass Revival out to Colorado. The groundbreaking mandolin and fiddle player endures as one of Colorado's favorite musicians and is second only to Monroe in his impact on bluegrass music.
But bluegrass holds a slim lead over baseball as Bush's passionate obsession, and he often combines the two when hitting the state in the summer time.
"Lynn and I love getting to come to Rockies games," Bush said of the pastime he shares with his wife. "We try doing it before Telluride each year. We saw the Rockies take the first two games in that Yankees sweep this year in June. It was really sweet to see them sweep the Yankees at Coors."
While Bush is on stage, Lynn is often waiting in the wings, dialing up scores on her cell phone, and both Bushes have been rabid Rockies rooters through the season. Though Bush is a Cardinals fan first and foremost -- his ode to Ozzie Smith was distributed in hospitality packages at the shortstop's Hall of Fame induction -- he has no qualms looking to the mountains in those rare autumns when the Redbirds go missing.
"The Rockies just take care of the fundamentals," Bush said. "If I'm not mistaken, weren't the Rockies the best fielding team in the history of ball? I guarantee you, that adds up in close games."
As a fixture in the Nashville scene, Bush is immersed in Helton Country, where the locals still talk about Todd's toddler days and his emergence on both the football and baseball fields at the University of Tennessee.
"Boy, am I glad he chose baseball," said Bush. "He's the type of hitter I love, a guy that can hit for high average and is a smart hitter. He could hit more home runs if he wanted to. He's like Ichiro. That's not what they're about. He's a hard worker, and he is Mr. Rockie for me."
Jimmy Ibbotson is another distinctive musician whose musical voice was shaped by the Rocky Mountains. As a longtime member of the multi-Grammy winning Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Ibbotson blended old-timey music with a rock sensibility, starting in the '60s, hitting an early highlight with their landmark "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" album and maintaining vitality 40-some years later. When the lights went out during Game 3 of the Division Series, the Dirt Band's "Fishin' in the Dark" was played over the Coors Field P.A."
Ibbotson will wax endlessly about the Rockies, whether talking baseball with Gaylord Guinnen at the Woody Creek Tavern, where the two hold court as they often did with their mutual friend and sports enthusiast, Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, or up a dirt road in his mountain home, sitting beside his son and watching Matt Holliday pace the Rox.
"Holliday's got those simple values," Ibbotson said admiringly, recognizing a kindred spirit from the heartland. "You can see it in his face when he comes up to bat. A corn-fed, Midwestern kid from Oklahoma."
Ironically, among Holliday's values is the father-son relationship at the heart of the game. Holliday's father was the head baseball coach at Oklahoma State, and Matt's 4-year-old son Jackson accompanies him to the park every day, taking batting practice in the clubhouse after games and doing dead-on impressions of everyone from Nomar Garciaparra to Albert Pujols at the plate.
"My son would come home from work every day and find me sprawled on the couch watching the Rockies," Ibbotson said, echoing the theme of fathers and sons bonding through baseball. "If he wanted to visit with me, he knew I'd stay put until I either fell asleep or I saw the game to its fruition. He'd sit there with me and we'd talk. He fell in love with the Rockies. We've been side-by-side through this whole season."
Ibbotson goes back to the first days of the Rockies, having sung the national anthem with his band mates at the second game ever played in Colorado, back in '93. He counts "listening to a ballgame on the radio while you're puttering around the house" as "the greatest joy in my life," and remembers singing the anthem for the Rox on Sept. 7, when the club was in fourth place, five games back, as a highlight of his season.
"I met Aaron Cook," Ibbotson recalled of the sidelined Opening Day starter. "They always send out one of the guys on the DL to greet the anthem singer and the guy who throws out the first pitch. I remember saying to him, 'I wish you were starting tonight.' He said, 'Well, I do too.'"
A month and a half later, Cook is set to make his first start in over two months during Game 4 of the World Series.
"Everybody feels so good being outside in Colorado, out there with the clear air, the stars above," Ibbotson mused, searching for the secret ingredient to the unique brand of Rocky Mountain baseball. "The area around the stadium has such a young and vibrant feel, it seems like there's rock 'n' roll coming out of every bar. And the Rockies represent the entire state, not just the city of Denver. We all drive in from Telluride and Aspen and Grand Junction and Pueblo and all over the state with our energy."
If this year's Rockies are part of the "Generation Next" evolution within the franchise, the distant descendents of the Blake St. Bombers, Leftover Salmon and Yonder Mountain String Band must be counted as the equivalent offspring of Bush's newgrass revolution and Ibbotson's old-timey rock 'n' roll revival. Leftover Salmon's Vince Herman created a unique "Poly-ethnic Slamgrass" while Jeff Austin's Yonder Mountain quartet is the reigning "jamgrass" genre bender, taking newgrass to yet another permutation.
"I've been a Rockies fan since it started 15 years ago," said Herman after watching the mayor of Denver and the governor of Colorado rename a street running into Coors Field as Rockies Road. "I grew up in Pittsburgh during prime time of the Pirates. I saw Roberto Clemente play in Forbes Field for one of my first memories.
"So to tell you the truth, I've been a freelance fan. I decide by the All-Star break who I'm going to throw my support to. The Rockies, that's just home. That's what baseball's supposed to be, you're supposed to cheer for the home team. My ways of being a for-hire fan, they're over now. I'm a hardcore Rockies fan."
Austin's a harder sell at relinquishing the loyalty he bears for his hometown Cubs, who he remembers seeing every summer day through three years of junior high, taking the bus and getting a $5 ticket to Wrigley. He scored a rare doubleheader this season, singing the national anthem for the Cubs at Wrigley Field and again at Coors Field when Chicago was in town for a four-day tour, with the Cubs losing each time Austin sang.
"The Rockies have an incredible lineup of young guys," Austin observed. "That Troy Tulowitzki can do anything he wants to at any point in time. I wish the Rockies the best, but I truly don't have any loyalty or dear feelings toward that team after they beat my Cubs all year."
Despite making their home in Colorado, bands like Yonder Mountain take their mountain music to the far reaches of the globe, simultaneously getting the chance to experience the game they love in dramatically different contexts.
"We played Japan last year, and I speak five words of Japanese, but when I had some downtime, I'd sit in my hotel room and throw on a game," Austin explained. "I'm watching the [Japanese League] Tigers play against I don't know who. I'm in another country, and I feel completely at home. It was the game, and it was unfolding in front of me."
While the band's banjo player, Dave Johnston, held his bachelor party at Coors Field with the Giants in town this summer, guitarist Adam Aijala and bassist Ben Kaufman hail from Red Sox Nation.
"I don't think anything human or machine is going to stand in the way of the Red Sox dominating," Austin said, making a dire prediction for Rockies fans. "I must say that as an unrewarded Cubs fan for the 33 years of my life, I'm a little upset at having to watch the other half of my band maybe celebrate another championship in the last four years. I'm not interested in that any more."
Somehow these mountain musicians have managed to mirror the roots values of the game that consumes them, enduring the challenges to allegiances in a sort of sibling rivalry while strengthening the sense of family and home that is at the heart of the game, whether high in the box canyon of Telluride, traipsing across the heartland in a tour bus built for baseball, or taking comfort in the universal language of the play-by-play from half a world away.
The season for pickin' and grinnin' is fading with the last of the fall colors, bringing these bluegrass boys of summer down from the mountain for a final feast at baseball's Fall Classic.
"There's nothing worse than when the World Series is over and you realize, 'Wow, there's no more ball,'" Bush said, reluctant to look ahead into the no-man's land of November. "That's the only thing that's sad about the end of the World Series."
Owen Perkins is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


text:
Meet the Great Composers
(Book 2)Maurice Hinson & June Montgomery - Alfred Music Publishing
This sequel explores the lives of 17 more great composers, including Schubert, Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn, Clara Schumann, Stephen Foster, Grieg, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Stravinsky, Gershwin, Barber, and more! Each of the 17 units focuses on one composer, with important facts, a life story, an interesting essay about a related subject, fun activity sheets and a suggested listening example. Each classroom kit includes the book, reproducible composer profile pages and activity sheets , and a recording of piano performances of all the suggested listening examples. �
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text:
CARSON, Calif. -- A left hamstring strain prevented LA Galaxy captain Landon Donovan from taking part in the club's 5-2 victory over Isidro Metpan on Thursday and LA head coach Bruce Arena is taking a wait and see approach when it comes to Donovan's availability for Sunday's match against FC Dallas.
Donovan was placed on the club's injury report on Friday and listed as questionable due to a left hamstring strain. Following training on Friday, Arena told reporters that the Galaxy captain's status remains in question for Sunday.
"Don't have anything at this point. There's a chance that he'll play," said Arena. "We have to have lineup by 3pm on Sunday so we'll try to take advantage of that time as best we can."
The Galaxy head coach also provided an update on the status of forward Edson Buddle, who remains listed as out due right knee surgery. Arena admitted that he was hopeful that the 31-year-old forward would be able to make his return soon, but no return date has been set.
"He's getting there. He trained today," Arena said. "We expect him to be back in action in the near future. Don't have a date for that."


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No team has a perfect record when it comes to the crapshoot that is the NHL entry draft.
Even the Detroit Red Wings, who managed to grab Nicklas Lidstrom and Johan Franzen in the third round and unearth the likes of Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg and Tomas Holmstrom from deeper, had their own first-round strikeouts in Yan Golubovsky (1994), Maxim Kuznetsov (1995) and Jesse Wallin (1996).
The Ducks have hit a few home runs with their first-round selections over the years and they hope to do so again with the sixth overall pick on June 22 at Pittsburgh's Consol Energy Center. But they've also swung and missed on a few, which they can ill afford to do with their highest selection since 2005.
The draft remains an inexact science even with the increasing amount of importance teams put into it given the hard salary cap and the need to produce young talent to slide into their rosters alongside the highly-paid stars and veterans.
Back in April, Register columnist Mark Whicker looked at some players he believes the Ducks are considering with their first selection. Right now, we'll look at the club's No. 1 picks through the years and how they have fared since.
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