text:
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Andy Pettitte gave some serious thought to going out as a champion last year.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Andy Pettitte gave some serious thought to going out as a champion last year.
It turns out the 37-year-old left-hander wasn't quite ready to retire, even after the New York Yankees won the World Series.
"If I was ever going to go, why not go right now? Right on top," Pettitte said.
But he opted to return this season after talking with his family, and signed an $11.75 million, one-year contract in December.
"I want to make sure. I don't want to go home and miss it," Pettitte said. "When I do it, I want to be done with it. I don't think it would be fair to my family to say I'm done and then just pull the rug right out from underneath them. That's the biggest thing: I just want make sure I fully have exhausted myself of this."
Pettitte went 14-8 with a 4.16 ERA last season, throwing 194 2-3 innings and helping the Yankees win their first World Series championship since 2000.
"Just couldn't have dreamed that last year would end like it did," Pettitte said. "I felt so fortunate and so blessed. Just the way the club played, and the guys pulling for me. A good feeling."
Pettitte is part of a strong 2010 rotation that includes CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Javier Vazquez.
"Everything feels good coming into the spring, so I feel real good about that," Pettitte said. "I'm committed to this. You go for it. We've got a long journey here, and will it fly by. It goes by quicker and quicker each year."
Pettitte has 192 wins with the Yankees, third on the franchise list. He is scheduled for his first spring training bullpen session on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Burnett had his initial mound session Monday, throwing 33 pitches to Jorge Posada, who will be his regular catcher this season. Burnett was often paired last year with Jose Molina.
Posada caught Burnett last Sept. 1 at Baltimore, when the right-hander allowed six runs and 11 hits over 5 1-3 innings in New York's 9-6 victory. Burnett went 3-1 with a 2.92 ERA in his last six regular-season starts last season with Molina behind the plate.
"I never questioned Jorgie. Never would, never did," Burnett said. "I questioned myself."
Manager Joe Girardi said a relationship between two passionate players such as Burnett and Posada can be a different one.
"I think sometimes when people talk about the relationship, they make the relationship bigger than it is," Girardi said. "To me, it's about understanding when the pitcher is on the mound and that's the relationship that you continue to learn."
Posada is looking forward to catching Burnett this season and said everything is fine between them.
Molina signed as a free agent with Toronto this month.
NOTES: Yankees minor league C Jesus Montero had an impressive batting practice session, hitting a homer near the top of the scoreboard in left-center. ... Position players are scheduled to report Tuesday, with the first full-squad workout one day later. ... Major League Baseball vice president Bob Watson met with Girardi and other team officials to review rules and related topics. MLB officials make an annual visit to all spring training camps, discussing subjects such as instant replay and pace of game. Pace is a concern to Girardi because "rhythm" is important for pitching. He plans to talk with his players about the matter this spring.


text:
The next editorial I'll be shooting in Sydney is inspired by the latest Alexander Wang S/S 2014 and without giving much away it'll be school-inspired (considering I'm practically an expert in that field!) with a rebellious twist. I've begun sourcing clothes, with the mindset of rebellious teenagers during the 60s, skipping class and hiding out in the gym bathrooms; singing a little too loudly, cigarette in hand, giggling about the teachers and about their lovers. Highlighting the importance of friendship during these adolescent years and the crazy journey's you'll go on with your friend during your teenage years. Think: pinstripes, pleated skirts, oversized knits and button-up collars.
Get excited... I most definitely am!

subset: commoncrawl


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Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Twins vs. Angels - Game 3
13 comments:
- Dharma Bum said...
That game sucked. Anyways, why will the bullpen be worse this year? I'm not arguing, I think bullpen's are fairly random, I have seen this in several places though and can't figure out why.
- April 2, 2008 at 8:36 PM
Nathan and Neshek are awesome, possibly the best 1-2 punch in the league.
Rincon's numbers are heading the wrong direction in a hurry. Relievers often just fall off a cliff, this could be Rincon's year to do that.
Reyes...he won't be as good as 2006, but hopefully not as bad as last year.
Guerrier dramatically out-pitched his ability last year, he'll regress but should still be productive.
Brian Bass wasn't able to crack the Royals before spending last year in AAA for the Twins, I don't expect much from him.
Crain is coming back from pretty major surgery and will probably be really up and down.
I guess there's a chance the overall numbers won't be much worse, but I think there will be more leads lost in the middle innings than most Twins fans are used to seeing.
And with what will likely be a bottom-5 offense, there just isn't much margin for error.
Gardy's bullpen management has been mostly great, with the exception of occasionally falling in love with lefty-righty match-ups (he's far from alone with this) and he absolutely rode Neshek into the ground last year. I'm concerned he'll do that again if Neshek turns out to be his only reliable non-closer.
- April 2, 2008 at 9:19 PM
- WWWWWW said...
Snacks - still want to make that bet that the Twins score less runs than last year.
I'm going to the game tomorrow. I'm predicting a Guerrero homerun (or two) and Slowey doesn't get out of the fourth.
- April 2, 2008 at 9:52 PM
W - After Blackburn notches win # 14 I am going to rename this rag Down With The Hoff. I will also expect you to move closer because a slave does me no good leaving in Maplewood.
On a serious note. The man pounded the strike zone and was able to make it through 7 IP in 86 pitches. That was impressive. I am excited to watch him pitch this year.
On top of his 44 scoreless inning streak he was also named the Arizona Fall League MVP.
- April 3, 2008 at 6:59 AM
Blackburn looked impressive last night. It wasn't one of those Slowey/Baker one run in 7 innings performances where you cringe on every pitch and can't figure out how he managed to do it - his stuff looked good and he located it well. WWWW, I would be worried about that bet if I was you, if the offense was evenly marginally competent he'd have his first win already and if he keeps pitching like this there should be many more to come.
- April 3, 2008 at 7:53 AM
Correction from my last post - Hoff is only a 1/2 trick pony according to some more stats. The "Hoff" only shot 36% from three (40 of 109) on "contested shots" (i.e. a defender was on him) as opposed to 54% (30 of 55) when he was wide open. So all we need is teams not to play defense on him and he will be a star.
- April 3, 2008 at 7:58 AM
- WWWWWW said...
I'm not worried about Blackburn getting 14 wins. Look at that offense. You should be worried about our bet, Snackies.
- April 3, 2008 at 8:09 AM
Thanks for breaking down game film all last night to uncover those fascinating nuggets of info but The Hoff was yesterday.
- April 3, 2008 at 8:11 AM
Still waiting for dawgs apology to snacks? tick tock dawg!
- April 3, 2008 at 8:44 AM
Thanks for the 3 innings Slowey....what a shit house!
- April 3, 2008 at 1:05 PM
Kubel, Kubel, Kubel!!!
The Bruce Dickinson has this to say: The Twins have a crappy offense, the only prescription is more Kubel!
- April 3, 2008 at 3:11 PM
- WWWWWW said...
I told you jerks Slowey wouldn't get out of the fourth.
- April 3, 2008 at 7:51 PM
Don't be so negative WWWWWWW.
- April 4, 2008 at 7:14 AM


text:
Disclaimer :- Only for fans of Arctic Monkey (that implies for you as well 🙂 )
Crap 1:-
I tend to fantasize every statement i make which at times completely ruins the total essence of the statement.
For instance, consider the following not so suitable example (but an example nevertheless)
Normal statement:- Ram goes to school
My crappy statement:- The weather's cool and Ram's cursing himself for having to go to school
Notice the not so subtle change? I tend to introduce things like that most of the time in order to make the statement look ……….different.
Crap 2:-
I have to submit a "short story" in a week's time and needless to say, the situation doesn't look bright.
Here are some professional reviews on the amateurish crap that i so prolifically* dish out :-
1) I use many expressions that are not supported and some which are unspecified
2) I ungrammatically separate the parts of sentences by using commas
Unfortunately for both you and me, i haven't got many of my writings reviewed. So i'm afraid i can't add anything more to that list .
Crap 3 :-
I searched rather futilely* for an earlier post where i had scrutinized my own writing. I have realized that the title of the post and the post have no bearing whatsoever on each other.
Crap 4 :-
If you had bothered to read my earlier predictions and then followed the corresponding results you must have noticed my unwavering accuracy 🙂
So that extraordinary strike rate has given me the incentive to make the following outrageous predictions in regard to the to-be draw :-
Manchester United vs Roma
Chelsea vs Liverpool
Schalke vs Fenerbahce
Arsenal vs Barcelona
Things can't get any more weirder (for now at least)
* i don't know if these words exist


text: CONTESTS Win two tickets and hotel accommodations to Sedona Mountain Bike Festival January 12, 2017 Trina Haynes 0 Contest ended. Congrats to Jason Luzar of Fairway, KS! We're sorry The promotion you are trying to access has ended. Over the Edge Sports has partnered with us to give one lucky winner two passes


text:
By Steve Gorman and Laura Zuckerman
March 8 (Reuters) - Dozens of conservation groups and nearly 100 scientists voiced opposition on Thursday to an Obama administration proposal they say would make it much harder for imperiled creatures to qualify for protection under the Endangered Species Act.
The proposed policy change, formally unveiled in December, stems from an ongoing dispute over the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl, a small, rare bird whose range includes the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, and a previous fight over the flat-tailed horned lizard in the California desert.
Critics say protection of imperiled plants and animals under the Endangered Species Act would be sharply curtailed by the administration's plan to reinterpret a key phrase of the 1973 statute, one of the pillars of U.S. environmental law.
The administration has said the policy change would "help clarify" which species are eligible for federal safeguards, acknowledging that its proposal is based on "a more specific and stringent standard."
The act currently defines an endangered species as being "in danger of extinction in all or a significant portion of its range," meaning that a species need not be at risk of disappearing everywhere in order to deserve protection.
The administration's proposal would redefine "significant" range as a portion of habitat so vital that its loss would threaten the survival of the species as a whole.
Also under the revised policy, consideration of whether a species is threatened or endangered in a portion of its range would be limited strictly to those areas where it currently exists, rather than to its historic range.
"If this policy had been in place when the Endangered Species Act was passed, the bald eagle would never have been protected in any of the lower 48 states, because there were still a lot of eagles up in Alaska," said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director of the Arizona-based group Center for Biological Diversity.
A letter addressed to Tina Campbell, the policy chief for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, opposing the move was signed by the heads of 80 environmental groups, including the Endangered Species Coalition, Earthjustice and the Humane Society of the United States. A similar letter was signed by 97 conservation scientists around the country.
The letters were sent on the last day of a public comment period for the proposal, which has drawn more than 400 written responses, some from development and industry organizations welcoming the change.
Alaska Miners Association executive director Fred Parady said his organization supports the "confirmation that 'range' means 'current range,' not 'historical range,'" and he encouraged the government to "strive for maximum regulatory flexibility" when implementing the proposed policy.
Gary Frazer, assistant director of the endangered species program for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said Congress left it up to the Interior Department agency to spell out the meaning of "a significant portion of range."
That agency and the National Marine Fisheries Service under the Commerce Department share responsibility for administering the law and issued the proposed policy change together.
Frazer said the plan seeks to address legal challenges raised in deciding whether to impose broad restrictions on commercial activity for the sake of an entire species when only an isolated population of that species is imperiled.
He said the government is expected to use its authority to protect certain imperiled plants and animals sparingly.
"It certainly means not willy-nilly, listing tiny little populations all over the map on the basis of that population alone," Frazer said.
Critics of the plan say the same reasoning already has been applied in denying protection to the pygmy owl, which the government originally recommended for listing before reversing course.
The western range of the tiny owl, measuring less than 7 inches in length, extends from central and southern Arizona south through the Sonoran desert into the Mexican states of Sonora and Sinaloa.
According to the group Defenders of Wildlife, the bird is threatened mainly by habitat loss from development, livestock grazing, water withdrawals and other factors. Since 1996, authorities in Arizona have counted 12 to 41 adult pygmy owls a year, and in 2006 surveyors spotted only 28.
"The Fish and Wildlife Service has long been criticized for only protecting species on the very brink of extinction, which makes recovery a difficult, uphill slog," Greenwald said. "This policy would actually codify that approach." (Editing by Dan Burns)


text:
|Half Baths
|2,200 sq ft
|Property type
|Minimum Stay
|2 - 7 nights
Reduced 30% for May and June for $2,450-$2,650/week.
Pontoon Boat Available for 50% of normal marina - Big Saving!!
New Leather furniture in Living Room & Master Bedroom (6 piece, Sofa, love seat sofa, chairs)
Guest House available for larger groups to sleep 4 - Full House.
NEW MOVIE - SHOWN AS THE LAST PHOTO HERE, SO LOOK AT FIRST 24 PICTURES AND THEN THE 25TH IS THE MOVIE. We have another web site TO SEE OUR MOVIE and a lot more information of area.
Go to Google: LakeMinnetonkaHouseRentalCom for our web site. to see new movie and information about Wayzata and area, maps, beaches, restaurants etc.
MAIN HOUSE HAS 4 BEDROOMS, 3 Baths, and Sleeps 10 (including Best Air Mattress 18" deep, Queen Size bed)
GUEST HOUSE - available to sleep additional 4 people (Brand New - Kitchen, full Bathroom, Internet, cable TV, Washer/Dryer, AC.
WAYZATA BAY is BEST LOCATION – We are the ONLY HOUSE for rent on Wayzata Bay. Wayzata Bay is only Spring water (clean) bay on Lake Minnetonka - Very Important for clean water.
Two minutes by car and one minute by boat to DOWNTOWN WAYZATA – Very Convenient!! (Wayzata added new high quality restaurants) One minute to major shopping center Hwy 101/Minnetonka Blvd. 10 Minutes to downtown Minneapolis.
100% COMPLETELY REMODELED to Brand New
- New Leather furniture in Living Room & Master bedroom
- All New Marvin Windows (the Best available),
- New Kitchen Appliances, Cabinets, Granite counter top,
- New Bathrooms Tile shower & New Tub and Title Floor, Granite counter tops.
- New Central Air Conditioning/Heat system
- New Outdoor Furniture on Deck (two tables 8 chairs)
- New Six Flat screen TV ( Comcast X1 System)
RITZ – CARLTON HOTEL QUALITY FURNISHINGS - 650 Thread sheets and high quality bed covers. All towels for bathrooms, beach, and soaps for body, hair, conditioners and hair dryers. Washer/Dryer with soaps, iron & ironing board. Hand soap and dishwasher soaps with all paper towels, toilet paper and the Best cooking pots/pans, dishes, glasses and silverware etc.
LIVING ROOM – New 55" FLAT Screen TV, CD, DVD and stereo receiver with great speakers. 170 channel Comcast Xfinity X1 system, HBO/Showtime and gas fireplace.
DECK has New gas BBQ grill with direct connection to house, so no tanks to replace, and table plus 12 chairs for guests.
GREAT FOR SWIMMING at our house (Sandy beach), or three other small beaches with diving boards etc. within 1 mile. See picture on my web site www lakeminnetonkahouserental com
TRAILS for walking or bicycles starting close to our house and going many miles.
FIVE (5) NEW TV/HD with 150 CHANNELS using New Comcast Xfinity X1 system, plus New high speed router/WIFI for Movies/Email.
QUIET LOCATION - DEAD END STREET - NO LOUD BOAT NOISE - Great Views and close to areas to launch boats and great fishing from our docks.
HOUSE 30' FROM LAKE - WITH LEVEL YARD - SO VERY CONVENIENT WALK TO LAKE – 2 STEPS UP TO MAIN LEVEL of House. So no long walks, up hills to lake and docks, carrying boating items: coolers, towels, soda pop, hats, shoes etc.
BEST PART IS SITTING ON OUR DECK - 30 FEET from WATER - Watching slow boat traffic (slow boat zone) Etc.
20 years of owning and renting vacation homes – So we know what you want and we try hard to make your vacation PERFECT.
Long driveway to park cars (12 cars) - for family/friends VERY IMPORTANT!!
25 FEET (wide) WINDOWS & SLIDING GLASS DOORS Plus more windows on side of house for GREAT VIEWS. (All WINDOW with SCREENS - a MUST at night)
SECOND FLOOR HAS ANOTHER 25 FEET OF WINDOWS for GREAT VIEWS over LAKE FROM MASTER BEDROOM and DEN. Best area of house at night to watch TV and enjoy slow boat traffic.
We have 3 other Luxury Houses for rental in Naples Florida. My wife and I are Architects and Interior Designers and brokering real estate working exclusively in Luxury High End homes - so we know how to design and manage the property
I have lived on Lake Minnetonka for 35 years, and getting to downtown Wayzata in ONE MINUTE is the BEST for quality food, appetizers/happy hour and diner.
5 minutes by boat - to the Best Sunset location on the lake – it's very important. Each night take a 5 minute boat ride to the best sunset location. (Robinson bay has a 4 mile view - for on water sunsets).
OTHER BAYS have SHALLOW WATER (5-6 deep) so WEEDS GROW - causing water to smell or boat NOISE FROM FAST RUNNING BOATS.
We have a MAIN FLOOR BEDROOM (QUEEN BED). So senior people have easy access to bed and bathroom next to bedroom.
The GUEST HOUSE (BRAND NEW) is a 1 bedroom house complete with full kitchen, full bathroom, bedroom w/Queen bed and living room with Queen size sofa/sleeper, Washer/Dryer, 42 inch TV/LCD HD DVD and WiFi internet (Comcast Business service) for faster internet/Video and its own dock for a boat up to 25 feet. Granite Counter tops in Kitchen and Bathroom with 14 foot Ceilings with Leather furniture, office desk and a BBQ looking over a great flower garden area.
Other homes for rent on Lake Minnetonka are 20-30 minutes from Wayzata.
I have been living on the lake for 35 years - and you will love this location. I waited for 15 years to buy a house on Wayzata bay to be close to downtown and all the shopping etc.
I had to wait 15 years to buy this house/LOT because they never come up for sale on Wayzata bay. Wayzata bay, on Lake Minnetonka is close to the city of Wayzata and downtown Minneapolis. Everything you want to buy, like food etc. is just 1/2 mile away. Wayzata is a spring feed lake so its clear and no weeds - great for swimming. I have been renting this house for only 1 year, but I have been renting out my other homes in Naples, Florida for 8 years so I am organized and know what people want when on vacation. Everything you would ever want is at the house because its my main house and I left everything in place to use: 50' Plasma TV (2) new furniture, BBQ and all the linen and kitchen equipment you'll ever need. You can reach me when anything goes wrong.
Scott Sorenson purchased this house in 1994
Wayzata bay is a DEEP WATER bay close to Downtown Wayzata, so its the best location on Lake Minnetonka. Spring feed clear water, no weeds, Deep Water always, and a low speed (no wake zone) traffic. Wayzata bay is close to Hwy 101/Minnetonka Blvd where all the shopping is: grocery stores, resturants, hardware stores, excercise clubs, gasoline and wine shops/on/off sales. the regional mall is only 2 miles away and the best golf courses (public) in all of Minneapolis 5 miles away (Rush Creek GC). 1 mile to 494/394 which is the freeway circling the city. 20 minutes to the International airport (MSP). this location is beautiful during the month of September for fall colors and great weather. See my web site to see more pictures etc.
Its a 4 bedroom house with great views over the lake and a quiet street. Boating docks for your rental pontoon or other speed boats you may want to rent. Howard's Point rents the boats, or rent from individual owner for 50% less.
Scott, Thanks for letting me stay at your house because the location is the best. We enjoyed the new furniture, TV/Stereo and kitchen equipment for us to cook each day. The boat dock and water is great for swimming, and the stores for food are really close. Its very quiet and we will be back. Thanks again Kirk.
We truly enjoyed our stay! Comfortable beds and loved the location, both lake and access to interstates. Furniture in living room is dated and uncomfortable. Leather cushions are attached to couch but slide out right after you sit down so hard to get comfortable. Patio furniture is very nice and landscaping/deck is beautiful!
I spoke with the owner prior to renting this property and he was very helpful in explaining the area and the houses amenities. He was always available to answer questions or offer tips on things to do in the area.
The house is very nice and offers a great "flow". The kitchen is well appointed and easy to work in. The appliances are top notch. The bedrooms and beds were all comfortable and all the toiletry items/towels/pots/pans were high quality. The house it self offered high tech features from the new HVAC system, a keyless entry system and Wi-Fi to premium cable in every bedroom and the living room. That being said, who wanted to be inside watching TV? We were outside most of the time fishing and swimming or enjoying the fire pit. We also enjoyed watching all the gorgeous boats travel past the house. It is a no wake zone which is on the way to a public access marina and we saw so many beautiful and unique boats go by all day long. My kids called it "a boat parade". We rented a boat which was very convenient and easy to do. Downtown Wayzata was a quick drive, or even quicker boat ride away and offered great shopping and exceptional dining options. It was an "up north" experience which was in close proximity to a "West Palm Beachish" atmosphere.
We had a great time and we look forward to returning.
Beautiful home on lovely part of Lake Minnetonka. The master bedroom is enormous with a great view of the lake, and the house is fully stocked with everything you need for a lakeside vacation. The owner is extremely responsive. Very close to great restaurants, shopping, entertainment and adventure.
We couldn't have found a nicer place for 12 of us. The main house has 4 bedrooms and the guest house next door had room for the other 4. We enjoyed the gorgeous house and all of the quality items that were included in both places. The owner called to make sure that everything was perfect. It was wonderful for me to enjoy the time with my children, spouses, and grandchildren. They all want to come again next year.
Grandma & Grandpa, children & grandchildren gathered for a week "at the lake" for fun and relaxation. The accommodations were wonderful, top quality, with plenty of room for us 6 adults and preschool children. Beautiful sunrises, canoeing, picnics, catching sunfish from the dock, bonfires with s'mores, playing games, reading books & singing songs accompanied by guitar, making many meals in the beautiful, well designed, fully stocked kitchen. Any questions we had were answered immediately by the owner. We made wonderful memories in a beautiful setting.
I booked this house because I was coming back to minnesota after living here thirteen years ago. We invited old friends over and couldnt have asked for a more perfect reunion setting. Kids swimming and fish spotting, playing guitar by the bonfire late at night. Everyone who wanted to, could stay over and staying at this beautiful house made coming back better than i could have imagined. The standard of the whole house is high, amenities of high quality and actually almost mosquitoes!
Wayzata Bay is a DEEP WATER bay, and the best location on Lake Minnetonka, because close to Downtown Wayzata, and a great local shopping areas on Minnetonka Blvd/Hwy 101 for food, restuarants, services, bar and everything else you need - 1000 yards away. New excercise club.
|Rate Period
|Weekend Night
|Monthly *
Summer 2018
7 Jul 2018 - 24 Aug 2018
7 night minimum stay
Nightly Rate
25 Aug 2018 - 7 Sep 2018
7 night minimum stay
Nightly Rate
8 Sep 2018 - 9 Oct 2018
7 night minimum stay
Nightly Rate
10 Oct 2018 - 31 May 2019
7 night minimum stay
Nightly Rate
1 Jun 2019 - 21 Jun 2019
7 night minimum stay
Nightly Rate
22 Jun 2019 - 28 Jun 2019
7 night minimum stay
Nightly Rate
29 Jun 2019 - 12 Jul 2019
7 night minimum stay
Nightly Rate
13 Jul 2019 - 6 Sep 2019
7 night minimum stay
Nightly Rate
7 Sep 2019 - 11 Oct 2019
2 night minimum stay
My Standard Rate
7 night minimum stay
|Pet Fee
|AU$134.78 + Tax
|Cleaning Fee
|AU$336.95 + Tax
|Damage Deposit
|AU$80.87 + Tax
GUEST HOUSE is available 4 days minimum and ask me for rates. Its also Remodeled Brand New with Air Condition, 40" TV, WiFi Internet and sleeps up to 4 depending on Month.
* Approximate monthly rate. Actual rate will depend on the days of the month you stay.


text:
On my computer at school I have a yellow sticky note with my year-long research question for my work on the CRAVE project with my students.
How can my family live more lightly on the earth?
And then stickies referring to the categories I need to investigate and blog about. But as I stared at them I realized that I should have drawn a big elephant to represent what I wasn't going to talk about. Weight. Certainly becoming a teacher instead of a retail worker made me more sedentary and I gained a little bit of weight around 14 years ago. I didn't gain much weight with Cormac and actually lost weight while pregnant with Finley. But in 2002 I had major work stress during which I was bullied by a parent and treated very badly by the administration and fellow teachers. It was an incredibly horrible situation and I definitely gained weight from the stress as much as from stress/comfort eating. I've just kind of hung onto that trauma and I think issues with my weight are an outward sign.
I know that one way an individual can reduce his/her impact on the planet is by eating less and maintaining a normal weight. So that's my goal. For the last week I have been following a very strict Whole 30 with calorie restriction and tracking. I did a Whole 30 in January 2011 and lost weight without tracking what I ate so I expect this time to be even more successful. This plan is similar to a paleo diet: no sugar, no grains, no legumes, just protein, vegetables, and a little bit of fruit. I'd been doing well with no processed food and eating lots of vegetables so it's been a pretty easy transition. I was told this summer by my ND to give up gluten and it has been a struggle even though I feel better, much better, without it.
If I am making efforts to make simple changes then I can't ignore the elephant in the room,, the change that most needs to be made. It's harder to lose weight as an adult but people who are well within a normal weight range use fewer medical resources, eat less, eat better quality food, and are more active. So, as I work toward the Exercise part of this research this is a plan that can immediately be put into motion.
Wish me luck.


text:
We are happy to announce a new acquisition in the college archives. The Papers of Walter E. Hudgins, a longtime and beloved professor of philosophy, have been donated to the college and are open for research.
Dr. Hudgins, who died in 1986, was a Virginia native who did his undergraduate, seminary, and doctoral degrees at Duke University. After teaching at several colleges in North Carolina, he came to Wofford to teach philosophy in 1972.
In addition to some of his correspondence, the papers include a number of his speeches and essays. Some of the sermons he preached as an ordained United Methodist minister are in the collection.
Beyond his teaching and campus service, Dr. Hudgins was a published and produced playwright. The scripts of several of his plays are part of the collection, as well as the production notes, design notes, and the scores to the ones that are musicals. Over the next year, we'll digitize some of the plays and share them so that others can read them.
The collection was donated by Mrs. Linda Hudgins, Walt's widow, and we're grateful to her for giving them to the college so that others might learn more about him and his work.
The finding aid for the collection is available here: http://www.wofford.edu/library/archives/FA-Hudgins.aspx


text: At Guntin & Gust, we understand that each client's circumstances are unique. We never assume that a single portfolio strategy works for all clients. We immerse ourselves in understanding our client's business, technology, and go-to-market strategies. Our mission is to find a strategy that maximizes your net worth and provides you the best options to exercise your portfolio.


text:
I see that Bonaldo Giaiotti has a Christmas birthday. Happy birthday (yesterday, actually, at this point) to this fine (and, in his prime, underrated) basso, now 77! I saw him often as Sparafucile, Ramfis, Alvise -- and of course, his voice defined Timur for a generation.
Here he is singing "Ella giammai g'amo" (how is Ella, anyway? Merry Christmas to her) at the Arena di Verona in 1985. Not as warm and grand as Tozzi, not as omg-cantante as Siepi, but, one could argue, more sheer bassiness than those super-greats who outshone him. Ad multos annos!
Friday, December 25, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
- La Muse, si vous le permettez, sortira d'un tonneau.
- Si je le permets? Volontiers, mademoiselle, pourvu que vous ne rentrez plus dedans, mais restez ici!
- Si je le permets? Volontiers, mademoiselle, pourvu que vous ne rentrez plus dedans, mais restez ici!
Posted by David M. Wagner at 5:59 PM No comments :
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Met HOFFMANN: Muse at 11 !
Well, I have a new opera lovemuffin: Kate Lindsey, the mezzo-soprano who plays the Muse and Nicklausse in the current production. (I said new, not only: I still love you too, Anna!)
And therein lies a point: this is the most Muse-centric HOFFMANN I've ever seen. Afaik, productions since the '70s have been stressing Nicklausse's dual identify as Hoffmann's male best friend and his female Muse. As "gender-bending" has become more popular, along with increasingly erudite reconstructions of Offenbach's original score and dramaturgy, this trend has only continued.
(The problem of conflicting "original versions" of this opera, and their contestable preferability to the more familiar "corrupt" version that made this opera a world-wide hit, is well discussed in this review from 21 years ago.)
Without endorsing "gender-bending" as such, I approve. Nicklausse was always more than just the one who "du ben sens emporta le prix," though he's at least that. There's a reason he's there in every story with his "good sense." He doesn't just want Hoffmann to stay out of trouble, as a good "best friend" character. He -- or rather she, the loving and jealous Muse of Poetry -- wants Hoffmann for herself. Even in the Cluytens recording on EMI, made before many of the current trends, the Muse announced (speaking) to Hoffmann: "L'homme n'est plus: renais poete! Hoffmann, appartiens-moi!"
The difference today is that the Muse is not an elderly French actress (as in the Cluytens recording), but a rather attractive Kate Lindsey, who looks good in Nicklausse's Dietrich-esque suit and top-hat -- and even better in the Muse's white shift!
In Bartlett Sher's production for the Met, the Muse is after Hoffmann with a vengeance. Her "sortira d'un tonneau " scene in the Prologue is not spoken (there is no spoken dialogue in this production) but sung, to an aria-tune I was not familiar with (is this an Oeser "discovery"? Authenticity in dispute?) She's got her work cut out for her: at curtain-rise, Hoffmann and Stella are making out on a table at Master Luther's tavern. Sensing Hoffmann's heart isn't in it, Stella (played by Netrebko, doubling Antonia), slinks out to get ready for her role in DON GIOVANNI at the opera house next door -- but not before bestowing a challenging mock-kiss on the Muse. Girl, we're fighting this one out! And the Muse as good as says so!
This leads to this production's most unusual feature: virtual collusion between Nicklausse/Muse and the Villains. Some will say, more than virtual. I don't think we need to go that far. But, at a minimum, the Villains take Nicklause into their confidence in a way I've never seen before, or could have imagined. Nicklausse helps Coppelius sell Hoffmann the glasses (Levine here uses a trio that I think is Oeser; anyway he doesn't use the aria "J'ai des yeux"). Nicklausse ushers Dr. Miracle into Crespel's living room, and lends his/her wrist to Dr. Miracle for the taking of the absent Antonia's pulse. Dr. Miracle's "Morte!" was half-whispered aside to Nicklausse. In the Venice Act, "Scintille diamant" (yes, we got the complete and exclusive traditional Guiraud/Choudens Venice Act: no poison, no "Tourne miroir," no "L'amour lui dit la belle" -- the dream of a traditionalist, like me!) began as sort of "OK, now here's the plan" speech to Nicklausse.
So the question then becomes -- wtf? Does Nicklausse join the Evil Genius in wanting Hoffmann to suffer and wanting to destroy the Three Heroines? Well, first, remember that there is the gravest doubt that the Three Heroines, unlike Stella, are real, as opposed to being pure creations of Hoffmann's imagination. In the Prologue, Nicklausse significantly asks: "Que parles-tu de trois maitresses?" And Hoffmann replies with words that strongly suggest stuffing a pipe-stem in Nicklausse's mouth to shut him up: "Fume!" ("Smoke" Or, "Here, have a pipe.") He follows this up by assuring Nicklausse that he will understand only when the stories are told, and his own role as the one who "carried off the prize for good sense" becomes clear. The Muse's only rival in "real life," if that term has any purchase in this opera, is Stella.
Second, according to the ensemble that ends the opera in the Met's version (another Oeser-ism?), the poet is made great through love. But implicitly, it is not as a lover that he is to be great, but as a poet. Hoffmann's travails in the three tales are his artistic boot camp. Nicklausse, in this view, becomes his artistic drill instructor -- adversative, but for constructive purposes -- even if the Evil Genius remains an Evil Genius. In Sher's view, a certain alignment of intent arises between the Villains and Nicklausse/Muse, but not an alignment of motive. Both want to ix-nay Hoffmann's romance of the moment -- the Villains, to destroy him; the Muse, to build him up and win him over.
(Sher refocuses attention away from the Villains by costuming the patient Alan Held substantially the same in each of his four roles. I've seen productions in which each Villain was costumed gloriously differently: generally I prefer this, but Sher's alternative view is valid.)
Singers: I loved Joseph Calleja's Hoffmann. There are experts who don't, finding an unpleasant vibrato in his voice. I don't: I hear a voice that is lyrical enough to convey Hoffmann's tenderness and vulnerability, yet with sufficient stamina to get through the role. I think it is the sheer length of the part that takes it out of the reach of some lyric tenors. An excellent Hoffmann was served up to us at the Virginia Opera about a year ago by Dan Snyder -- but Dan is a budding Heldentenor. John Alexander was a leading Hoffmann at the Met in the '60s -- but John was really a juegendliche Heldentenor, discovered as such by the City Opera (Stolzing, Bacchus), and by James Levine in a concert LOHENGRIN, but never by the Met. Long story short: Hoffmann is a tough role, and to get through it with a consistent sweet voice is a feat. Calleja pulled it off with grace.
Kate Lindsey -- who, as I said, must now put up with my crushing on her -- was clearly the #2 star and the #1 diva of the performance: when has Nicklausse ever achieved that? At curtain calls, it was she, not any of the Three Heroines, who brought Maestro Levine onstrage for his bow. And that was with Netrebko on stage and eligible for this privilege -- gewalt! Lindsey has a clean and lithe lyric mezzo voice, and a face that says "handsome" more than "gorgeous" in a, you know, Netrebko-esque way. She also showed, like Calleja, great vocal stamina, as the version performed here includes several Nicklausse/Muse arias (Oeser's, I suspect) that one doesn't usually hear: the sung version of the Muse's self-introduction aria, a Nicklausse aria making fun of Olympia early in Act I, the "violin aria" in Act II, and the "love makes art" ensembe at the end of the Epilogue.
To help make time for these, and perhaps to spare Calleja some effort, Hoffmann's "O vivre deux" in Act I was dropped -- and was not missed. Point is, Nicklausse/Muse in this version is a role of near-Wagnerian length, and Miss Lindsey shone from first to last.
While Calleja has largely been spared invidious comparisons to Rolando Villazon, whom he replaced, Alan Held, in the role of the Four Villains, has been made to suffer by comparison to Rene Pape, whom he replaced. (Quick: has it ever happened before that one bass-baritone with a 4-letter first and last name replaced another one with a 4-letter first and last name in the same production? -- I have no idea.)
Held need not worry. Perhaps Pape, with his bassier voice and well-known dramatic flair, would have been even better, but Held is a pro in this trying tour-de-force, and held his own (ha ha ha) vocally and dramatically. Those who remark that his performance fell short of the breath-taking bad-assery of the greatest "Four Villains-es" (London, Evans, Treigle, Bacquier) should remember that this production dials down the Villains' importance a little, making him share attention with Nicklausse/the Muse. Blame that on director Bartlett Sher, if you must, but not on Held.
The Three Heroines: After La Netrebko decided not to attempt the unnecessary tour de force of doing all of them, we ended up with three specialists: Kathleen Kim as Olympia, Netrebko as Antonia (and, in flapper gear, as Stella), and Ekaterina Gubanova as Giulietta.
Miss Kim, all four foot two of her, give or take, has an ample, supple, and precise coloratura vice; she coordinated it well with mechanical moves, which at one point included turning so as to knock Hoffmann down. Netrebko is in good vocal form, and she conveyed the agony of Antonia's choice -- love and domesticity, or singing, career, and public acclaim -- very movingly.
Gubanova showed an acceptable mezzo voice, not much more; she was burdened by a costume and hairdo that made the Venetian courtesan decidedly the least alluring of the production's heroines, including the Muse (when in female attire) and the doll! This was the only costume Fail of the production: having moved the entire action into the early 20th century, in pursuit of the Kafka side of Hoffmann's fiction, why revert to the ROSENKAVALIER-ish 18th century for the Venice Act? More flappers -- that's what we needed! And a less crowded stage altogether: shouldn't the stage clear for "Scintille diamant" and the ensuing Dappertutto-Giulietta and Hoffmann-Giulietta duets? And fill up again when Schlemil returns? Aren't his words "Venez, messieurs, venez" a cue for the chorus and extras to reenter, which assumes they've been gone?
The smaller roles featured numerous outstanding performances. (Hat-tip to Michael Scarola for providing me with the full cast -- the Met website does not, and I've mislaid the relevant issue of Opera News.)
Mark Schowalter, looking like Dr. Evil, was a strong Spalanzani. Alan Oke portrayed the Four Servants with a completely different look in each part, and delivered Franz's aria with great charm. Michael Todd Simpson's youthful, long-haired Schlemil looked like Russell Brands, which is an off-beat way to present Schlemil to say the least (remember when this role was taken by the cavernous, Karloff-esque Morley Meredith, a former Four Villains?), but Simpson, doubling as the student Herman in the Prologue, sang well. Dean Peterson doubled Luther and Crespel respectably, and Rodell Rosel, who will soon sing Valzacchi in ROSENKAVALIER, showed some character-acting potential as Nathanael.
Wendy White was, perhaps inevitably, Antonia's mother -- not the "voice of," as the character actually entered and roamed the stage during the "Cher enfant" trio, decked out as an opera singer of the previous generation -- not even scary. A bit of failure of directorial imagination here: no painting (it was withdrawn at the last minute, according to set designer Michael Yeargan in an interview during the telecast), nor a statue, as in Lillian Groag's brilliant production for the Viriginia Opera.
Levine and the orchestra kept tension at the max. Offenbach is hardly Berg or Messiaen, but that only makes this opera easy to fake -- not easy to play. Offenbach meant this as his "no kidding" opera, and he was well served in this today.
Despite a few flaws and debatable interpretations, this brilliantly-sung HOFFMANN presents a credible and thought-provoking way to re-think this eminently re-interpretable story. And one gets to see Kate Lindsey!
Posted by David M. Wagner at 2:28 PM 2 comments :
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Joe Raffino ( husband of Southwest Trading Company's owner, Jonelle) is coming to town Tuesday February 10 from 4pm to 8pm with a suitcase full of yarn and samples. We are having an open house to welcome him with food and specials on all of SWTC yarns. Come see the latest products from the company that brought us yarns made out of soybeans, corn, milk, shrimp and Jade.
We also have new yarn in the shop. Schaefer's new hand dyed sock yarn Nicole and some new colors of Anne.
Plus Cascade's Alpaca Lace and Jojoland's Consonance Lace yarns.
Saturday, February 07, 2009
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
We have a new Phone #
Posted by The Taming of the Ewe at 7:40 PM 1 comment: Links to this post
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L'Oreal Professionnel Serie Expert Volumetry Shampoo will help to transform the appearance of fine, flat and limp locks. Not only does it effectively yet gently cleanse your hair of excess dirt and oil, the shampoo is also enriched with Salicylic Acid and Intra-CycalaneTM to boost volume and produce an anti-gravity effect. Your hair will look big, bouncy and effortlessly glamourous.
Directions of Use:
- Spread evenly through wet hair and massage into a lather
- Rinse and repeat if necessary


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There's a new post from Chef Chris Windus about a visit to Pasture Prime Wagyu by his crew. They got to see Pasture Prime's Wagyu cows, Mangalitsa pigs, turkeys and chickens - and shoot off their guns.
Torm explained that some city-living gun owners are happy to shoot their guns when they visit his place.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Pasture Prime Wagyu - Cows, Pigs and Guns
Posted by Heath Putnam at 11:07 PM
1 comment:
- Door Robin, Theo & Marijke said...
Hello there,
Nice blog! We love pigs very much ourselves.
- April 19, 2010 at 8:29 AM
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For dessert we made the Raspberry Key Lime Cheesecake Milkshake. I cannot remember how we found out about this, but have been waiting for when we could find some good, fresh raspberries to make it, which we did (this along with the fact that we already had some vanilla ice cream in the freezer made it a good night to try it). I got to use the special "milkshake" attachment for our blender for the first time, and used the "milkshake" button. I pretty much followed the recipe as written for this one. All the flavors came through, and it was perfectly mixed, thanks to the proper devices! Smooth and creamy with a bit of tang. Yum.
|Milkshake attachment


text: Veteran Emery School Board member Melodi Dice announced last night she will step down as Board Trustee after the December 2nd Board meeting after which she intends on moving to Richmond California. Ms Dice is an Emery student alumni and the last standing member there since the inception of the Emery Center of 'Community' Life (ECCL). With the resignation of this last link to the ECCL, none will be left to take responsibility for its shortcomings it should be noted. Ms Dice has served on the School Board for 13 years.


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A Delray Beach couple suffered carbon monoxide poisoning late Wednesday after leaving their car running in the garage in an accident similar to one that killed five people in Lantana on Friday.
"It appears the little old lady came in from shopping and got a little tired but left her car running in the garage," said Doug Trawick, Delray Beach Fire Department spokesman. "The air conditioner sucked up fumes in the house, and she became unconscious."
The woman's husband returned to the home, at 797 NW 24th Ave., and found her unresponsive in a chair. He called 911, Trawick said. "The husband started to get a bit topsy-turvy and had to be treated," Trawick said.
Fire officials did not release the couple's names, and hospital officials did not disclose their condition on Wednesday night.
On Friday, an air conditioning unit in a Lantana home may have circulated carbon monoxide-laden air thought to have killed five people.
In that case, emissions from a van left running in the garage of Raynald and Rosemarie Deslauriers seeped under doors and through electrical outlets, filling the home with carbon monoxide, killing the Deslauriers, their two grandchildren and another relative.
Autopsies showed signs of carbon monoxide poisoning, but the Palm Beach County Medical Examiner's Office is awaiting toxicology tests before making a final ruling.
Having a leak-free air conditioning system can help prevent the seeping of toxic gases and fumes into the air conditioning system, Florida Power & Light Co. officials said on Wednesday.
Homeowners who are concerned this could pose a problem for them can have FPL officials test the air ducts for leaks. The test costs $30.


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My guess is that we can expect more of the same behavior in the next three years (at least) that the Magic Negro sleeps in the White House. Speaking of which, ain't that Negro special? Not only can he fly, heal the sick, shoot a mean jumper. He can also get the seemingly impossible done in the form of Health Care Reform. Not bad for this country's second Black president, ain't it? But anyway, you can best believe that our friends on the right wing are going to pull out the big guns next time around. Yep, no more of that showing up on our turf and making us look like fools like you did mister skinny John Coffee.
So I propose that moving forward politically, that Jesse Jackson Jr. be allowed to whack a few fools in the head with his gavel. Yep, another "you lie," or "baby killer comment." Jesse is allowed to go oops upside your head a few times with precision. You get on twitter and suggest that the president of the United States be assassinated as one Black Republican did yesterday? Forget the Secret Service subjecting him to anal probes. Send Jesse Jackson Jr. in with his gavel to beat the devil out of that fool, and anyone else who has the audacity to show their ass from here on out. Fuck being civil; bust people in the head Jesse; make your daddy proud.
So while most of you elated that Barack Obama was able to pull off his greatest magic trick to date. Do realize that there is still work yet to be done to ensure true Health Care Reform; the passing of this bill is just the begging. And please believe there will be many more shouting matches and asinine behavior. Behaviors that could be curtailed should Jesse Jackson Jr. is given the power by executive order to go all Sling Blade and whack people in the head. Should he make an attempt to become the country's third Black president, no one can deny his experience.
Matter of fact, Jesse needs to give this gentleman who happens to be a Republican Congressman from California a few lumps for suggesting that those asshole protesters had every right to call John Lewis a Nigger, and Barney Frank a Faggot:
Did this fool just say calling lawmakers Niggers and Faggots was OK?
Congrats to the Democrats, the White House, and most importantly the American people. People who took the time to make this a reality with a true grassroots effort from the bottom up. Now that's democracy in action; and change that we can believe in. But like I said, let us not get lazy; there is still work to be done.


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James Wiseman (an underwater photo buddy) and his girlfriend Sarah are in town for the weekend, and I took them up to Sutro tower for a view of the city after having brunch at Miss Millies. Plainly visible were numerous helicopters flying over the intersection of Market St. and 6th St., where anti-war protesters had blocked the road. Police were out in riot gear, making arrests.
Jens is in town (from Germany) for a dermatology conference, and is staying with me for a few days. At around 5:30 we went to the other Eric's housewarming party, where we met lots of interesting, nice people and ate sausages and bread. Eric's roommate Paula spoke to Jens in German for awhile while I stood by trying to figure out what they were saying.
Strangely enough, I think I'm developing a taste for dark beers. And, of course, I took some pictures --> [see some photos]
Also, Munira is back, after a year of being in Tajikistan and various other places. She and her sister successfully summitted Kilimanjaro last month! :)


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I bought a cake pan made for doll cakes and a Rapunzel barbie doll. I usually don't like putting things on my cakes that I have not made/molded from fondant, etc. I want my cakes to be 100% created by me, but in this case I thought it might look cheesy if I made the doll out of fondant. So I set aside my pride and went to Target to buy Rapunzel. I had so much fun browsing the aisles of barbies and baby dolls. Don't get me wrong, I love my little boy, but I do think it would be fun to have a girl one day :) Anywho, I found "Punz" (this is what Emma calls her) and had a lot of fun spending a few days playing with her...
Here she is just hangin' out in the kitchen while I make her dress out of yummy chocolate cake!
Here is the pan that I baked the cake in. I was surprised how even it cooked given the shape.
I iced the cake with buttercream and then started the fun part of creating the dress! Added this lighter shade of purple fondant for the inside part of her dress and.....
I start to make some edible paint by mixing clear vanilla and food coloring. This is one of my fave things to do - painting cakes! Here I am painting away and getting purple fingers in the process.
And here I have added another piece of fondant for the outer layer of the dress. Just need to clean it and trim it up.
This is where I ran into a problem. I have learned through making cakes to allow time for trial and error! At first I though I could leave her legs on and stick her down in the cake...well she ended up being too tall so I decided to break off her legs. I thought they would easily pop back on like they did on my barbies when I was a kid but I was wrong. Apparently, Punz is a much better quality and she didn't like being torn apart. The doll was also part of Emma's present so I hate that I broke her. Sometimes I have to take extreme measures to make a cake look good!
Do you like how I gave Punz a bathing suit?? Gotta keep the blog family friendly :)
And here she is in her new attire. I added a little "bling" (not edible) and added her bodice. I always use clear vanilla as a glue to stick everything on my cakes. You can do this process with any barbie and you can also buy generic dolls specifically made for this type of cake that come with no legs.
Gotta run cause my lil guy is hungry! Have a great day.


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An amateur in photography, administration, design, programming...
(Click to enlarge)
..great shot man!!! awesome pic.. I luv photography. it's a form of expression don't u think? btw.. thnks for visiting my blog.. lolx! saying hi from malaysia!
Thanx for visiting.so glad to see u!Ur blog is koool~i like it, lol
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Bangs, a beard & ballyhoo began as a chronicle of our cross country journey and a place to write about decorating our new space once we arrived in San Francisco. I had this grandiose idea that it would be wildly popular, I would make a shit ton of connections, and eventually become a reputable blogger. In hindsight, I think I wanted to start a blog because of the many bloggers that I admire. Their passion is amazing and inspiring. For those of you who may read this as bloggers, please do not think that what I'm about to say is a criticism because I really love this community and what it has to offer.
I've realized that just because I respect and enjoy those individuals doesn't mean I have to do what they do. There's a reason that I enjoy reading what they share and that's because they are truthful, open, dedicated, and devoted.
When it comes to blogging, I don't embody those qualities. Until recently, I was not open about my personal life on this blog. I'm not very dedicated or devoted. I find myself posting for the sake of having content rather than being excited about what I'm sharing. When I first started blogging, I was so busy focusing on what I could plan to do in the future that I wasn't experiencing life in the present.
Also, I don't do anything to drive readership. There's no etsy shop, or design firm, or a craft.
Why did I have a need to share the details of my improvement projects, or travels, or life in general? If I am truly honest with myself, it was probably for pure popularity. Seriously. I really think in the back of my mind that I was thinking, "Hey world! Look at this cool shit I did, bought, and acquired. Look at this awesome picture I took and this amazing place that I've been. Look at this incredible dog! Don't you love him!?" That is purely egotistical, and it's insane to me that my driving force was validation because I don't need that. I think it's competitive, in a sense, which I vehemently dislike. I feel happy, grateful, complete, and supported when I come home everyday and see Jon and Duke or join my friends for dinner.
Why am I sharing my life in a public forum? I really don't know. I'm not that type of person. I mean, I will always have something to say, but at this point in time, I'm not sure that I want to do that publicly. Also, it's pretty obvious that I'm not doing this to sharpen my writing skills because I barely write anything in my posts. I have a graduate degree in creative writing for goodness sake that I don't even utilize (an entirely different issue!). If I really wanted to write, I would be … in a different genre.
I've realized that this blog has become an extension of myself that isn't me. As much as I love having visitors, I no longer feel the need to share details about our house, or our travels, or what happened throughout our day. I've been pondering the concepts of "What does this prove? How does this make my day better? What am I really trying to accomplish?" I keep coming back to the fact that this blog was not a product of passion.
My dad recently said, If you want to be someone important, then do something important.
Doesn't that ring true on so many levels? I have been thinking about that repeatedly … against many situations that have nothing to do with this blog. It's time to do something important and rejoin all of you when I feel comfortable sharing.
So this isn't goodbye. It's a vacation. You can still keep up with Jon and I through flickr and pinterest.
Much love to all of you for your support!
5 comments:
This is so eloquently said, Julie. Kudos.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousAugust 7, 2011 at 12:19 PM
Be true to yourself. No one will fault you for that, I think it is your greatest strength...calebryanReplyDelete
Poop. I dunno how to keep up on flickr or pinterest.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJanuary 11, 2012 at 11:29 PM
please come backReplyDelete
Love love lovely love! Maybe instead of a blog you need a shitcharliemanuelsaid twitter feed? ;) Every time I see his quotes, I'm amazed.ReplyDelete
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Weezer cover Radiohead's Paranoid AndroidWritten by Michael Carr on May 30, 2011
Following on from controversy surrounding their most recent album, Hurley, speculation still swirling over whether statements made by guitarist Brian Bell (which he later retracted, claiming he was mistaken) that the album was named after the clothing brand Hurley who had help fund the recordings, seminal 90s alternative band Weezer have just released a video of an in-the-studio cover of Radiohead's Paranoid Android.
Having previously walked through a cover of Creep, along with accompaniment from some fans manning a D.I.Y orchestra of acoustic guitars and other fair, this time round the boys again do a great job of tackling the iconic song, even if they do look a lot more serious than I ever remember seeing them in any other clips. Anyway here's the clip.


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It's a pretty obvious statement, but an important one when considering the latest voter enthusiasm numbers from Gallup.
In a sample of 5,000(!) registered voters in April, this is what Gallup found:
The obvious number that jumps out is the 20 point gap between those who prefer Republicans to Democrats and are "very enthusiastic about voting."
But don't worry, Dems. You are winning something. By 46-42, those that support Democrats are "not enthusiastic about voting." Yeah, I know. You're totally shocked.
Additionally, this was written in a column by one of Gallup's analysts this past Friday...
Republicans face a difficult hurdle in picking up the 41 seats they need to take majority control of the U.S. House. However, in terms of voter enthusiasm, they appear to be in an even better position than they were in 1994, when they gained more than 50 seats.There's little reason to believe this enthusiasm will be tempered between now and election day. The question is whether Democrats can improve their standing by inspiring their own base.
And with a guy like this leading the state Party, I can see they will be a formidable foe.


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Witness this post from Friday on Blue Commonwealth:
The City of Fairfax Democratic Committee has produced its own hand card of talking points for Creigh Deeds. The joint effort is being printed and distributed for use in door knocking and conversations (like in the grocery store, for example). The Committee, dissatisfied with the hand cards and flyers offered by the campaign, put their heads together and the following is the result.
Deeds: No Roads Plan - Fairfax Dems Forced to Wing It
The new-and-improved hand card includes this prompt for Deeds and Democratic grassroots workers to employ to harass their neighbors while shopping:
* Transportation: [Deeds] Will assemble a bipartisan commission to craft a comprehensive transportation plan.
This vague promise of gathering people at a table to assess what is on the table, while everything is on the table is exactly the sort of gobbledygook Deeds spouts on most occasions.


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Saturday evening "She Who Must Not Be Named" and I went to hear a chamber concert by the Peabody Renaissance Ensemble. Wow!!! I haven't enjoyed an evening's music this much in a long time. The program began with several well-known English madrigals then progressed through Italian, Spanish and French forms, ending with some wonderful Monteverdi renditions. For me the high point of the evening came with several Sephardic songs that mixed Spanish and North African modes. Several of these are available on the net, but they all have modern instrumentation and sound weak. None of them comes close to comparing with what we heard at the Peabody where the full power of the original came through on the traditional instruments [lots of drums]. For those of you unfamiliar with Renaissance music, much of it is really, really vulgar. Here's an example of a lyric from "Matona Mia Cara":
"I'm no laggard, I'll make love to you all night long, thrusting like a ram."And that's the bowlderized version. As the director explained, some items on the program were performed only instrumentally because the lyrics were "too obscene to be sung in any language". It reminds us that many of these compositions, which we associate with Renaissance elite culture, had their origins as street songs.
One final note. In any ensemble performance many of the artists spend a lot of time sitting around waiting for their turn to play or sing. Sometimes the boredom of counting measures and beats gets to them, as it did with these vocalists.
How could she possibly be comfortable with her ankles in that position? Ah, youth!


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Yousef Al-Mohaimeed's works are banned in his home country of Saudi Arabia, but he has found an international audience with the help of skillful translators. In Wolves of the Crescent Moon, Al-Mohaimeed gives us a taste of the underclass in Riyadh. The book is told from the perspective of three outcasts. Turad is a former Bedouin tribesman who has recently quit his humiliating government job, and now finds himself at the bus station in the middle of the night, longing to flee, but with nowhere to go. Tawfiq, once a Sudanese slave, worked with Turad as a ministry servant. Nasir is an orphan who is denied his dream of becoming a soldier.
In actuality, all the narratives are funneled through Turad's mind, which is sleep-addled at best. While in the bus station he thinks back on his past, recalling Tawfiq. Soon after comes a chapter from the perspective of Tawfiq. Turad finds a file folder lying on a bench in the station. In the file are documents pertaining to Nasir Abdulilah. This is followed by a chapter from Nasir's perspective. As the night progresses, the boundaries between the three narratives begin to breakdown. A paragraph from the perspective of Nasir finds its way into a selection otherwise from Turad's point of view. In this way, we find out some similarities among these men. Turad is missing and ear, Tawfiq is a eunuch, and the orphan Nasir is missing an eye. These men have experienced physical and familial loss as they struggle to survive in a rapidly-changing country. As traditional Saudi Arabian society bangs up against Western culture, these men are the ones getting bruised from the collision.


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A bevy of news sites and gaming resources celebrated with articles from all walks of gaming life; from informative to silly. Here's a collage of all the news from yesterday in a bite-sized chunk for your reading pleasure:
- Riot has been around for 10 years and they've only released one game. That's Blizzard level of production, when you get down to it, but they are still popular with 100 million users monthly captured playing League of Legends. The founders sat down with the LA Times to talk about how the studio was created.
- Who's ready for a list? It's a helping of the 6 most controversial games, ever! As reported by one guy on We Got This Covered. Take a huge bag of salt with you if you dive into this list. It'll cause you to roll your eyes.
- Want to get into gaming but you're not a gamer? Forbes created a list of 9 games just for you. Here's the thing, a lot of these games are non-traditional. They are not platformers, RPG's, or first person shooters that make up most of the landscape. They list games like Life is Strange and Papers, Please as games to play for newbies. I'm not sure if this is a good way to go. Yes, they are great games. Thought provoking and definitive of the unique content that games can offer. But after you play them, what's a newbie to do? Picking up Call of Duty is not going to feel like second nature, but rather an insult to the person when they know better content is out there.
Actually. Scratch that. Good call Forbes. More Life is Strange. Less Call of Duty.
- Cloud Gaming! It's kind of a thing? But not the revolutionary transformation some were hoping for. We know the cloud for storing our saved game files when stupid happens and we have to format our PC's, or accidentally delete game files off our consoles. Tech company LiquidSky wants to try and make cloud gaming work, again. With the cloud, it can offer more resources to gamers and developers at faster speeds then a computer, and with less worry about storage space. Everything is handled digitally, so content can be produced, and viewed, with ease. The problem has been getting both sides on board. Developers will only move to the platform if users are there. And users will only go if there's good content from developers. Read up on the Time's article for more info.
- "Digital forensics meets cultural preservation" as scientists work on restoring old video games. The National Institute of Standards and Technology has been working on maintaining a library of games, boxes, and manuals - some that have never been released to the public. This is a must read article!
- Since yesterday was National Video Game Day, we need to remember our roots with the history of Pac-Man. Upload has a mega-extensive look back at how Pac-Man came to be, his transformation of gaming culture, and his influences today including VR. Yep. Pac-Man VR is a thing.
- Finally Rob Pardo, whom you may know as one of the founding fore-fathers of World of Warcraft, has just secured $25 million from investors to create Bonfire Studios. A few people from Blizzard are following him to the new studio, and they are hiring. It's unsure what market the studio is going to target, but all eyes will be on it to see how it will fare against Activision-Blizzard.


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Know more about this business than we do? Cool! Please submit any corrections or missing details you may have.Help us make it right
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Bill Gates: US government should triple green energy investment
"Now we have Bill Gates joining our choir - will anybody listen? Point of NO return in climate change is already in sight and there is NO cheap Oil left any more, according to IEA. China invests billions in Renewable Energy, New Energy Transportation and US is drowning in Debt. Instead of Marshall plan to quit Oil addiction after 9-11 US has decided to fight wars to keep addiction supplied. With trillions spent on wars - instead of building new Energy Transition technologies like Electric Cars, Wind and Solar - US now faces the very tough choices sitting on 15 Trillion of Debt. We truly hope that Iran Oil liberation is not one of them. Our broken society will not recovery after another failed "Blitzkrieg".


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I am using Premiere Pro CC v.7.0.1 (105) and when I attempt to export from Premiere and click the filename to change the location of where it's saved Premiere locks up.
Anyone else seen this?
I see this quite frequently. Clicking that is supposed to bring up a Windows dialog allowing you to set the location for the export. PP thinks that dialog is open and won't let you do anything until it closes. The problem is the dialog doesn't actually open, and so you can't close it, effectively locking up PP with the only way out as killing the process in Task Manager (which also means you lose any unsaved work).
I don't know if this is a PP error, or a Windows error. Though I will say that it has only ever happened in the Export Settings dialog. Never happens with AME or After Effects.


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To put it quite simply- what's going on is some fuckshit, but not surprising in the least.
Here are just a few of the random thoughts I have had during this horrendous time:
- 'Er'body Black'! While people were all in a 'post racial' world, most of us woke Black peeps were like 'ummmmm....nah, shit is still mad racial'. People were all caught up in being PC, but the underlying intentions were ALWAYS there- now PC is out the window because being HORRIBLE is accepted. These monsters have been empowered by this new administration. So now everyone who is in the crosshairs of these intolerant beasts are FEELING IT. That feeling of not being seen as human- you know having to justify your mere existence by giving examples of how THEY are all not that bad. ' I mean, Steve Jobs is a child of immigrants and look at him.' Immigrants who move to the states and treat Black people like shit because that is what is instilled in American society, so the world acts accordingly. You know how many times I have had some Russian try me and I had to tell them how they JUST stopped waiting three hours in line for toilet paper so they should get the fuck out my face- but even they come here and collect WIC and think they are better than ALL the Black people. In these times though, Russians don't have to worry, it is the brown immigrants who have to. They are starting to feel the strife and understand what it feels like to be treated a certain way. Or they are just plain getting deported so....
- When I am on the 6 train and see a dude in full pique Whiteness- he has on a highwater pant, loafers, socks with reptiles on them AND is carrying a golf club?! This really happens. My face...definitely in full judgement mode and I just KNOW he voted for the fuckface in the white house now.
- I watched 'Paris Is Burning' again recently and it still makes me so sad...but I LIVE!- for the most part I have been looking to escape the daily fuckery via TV...mostly Netflix. A while ago I tried to get into Terrace House- a Japanese reality tv show, but it's like REALLY GOOD and funny. I couldn't get into to ( I forgot to turn on my subtitles). I tried re-watching and love it. From seeing Toyko and surrounding areas, the FOOD (they are always eating and that makes me so HAPPY), some of the dudes are HOT AF (Blasian babies), the style (for some), THE FOOD, etc.
- Even in these times of intolerance, it doesn't make me hate people on sight any less.
- I ALWAYS knew about Steve Harvey. He is a big tooth buffoon who tries to tell women how to behave and thinks he influences the 'Black community'. Fuck outta here. You (Steve) fucked over Bernie Mac because you KNEW he was better than you...ever since I learned that, I wish for your suits, teeth or mustache to catch on fire.
I am just trying to get by and not go into a depression k hole.
Wish me luck...and I wish you well. I am going to stay on top of bloggin because writing brings me joy and I know it does for a few of you too...and that's all we need now...is just lil sprinkles of joy, yo!


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This week Amber Teaman asked us to consider the challenges of keeping teachers and other adults in a teaching community focused on doing what is best for our students. Recently, we adopted a new schedule. The three prime directives of this schedule were that it serve the needs of students first, that the middle and upper school schedules align enough to allow for student (and therefore teacher) cross over, and that it increase time for extended projects and deeper learning. In other words, the schedule needed to serve students needs to take as wide a variety of courses as possible, to take the courses that best fit their readiness to learn -- 8th graders taking language and math courses in the high school program--, and that time for student exploration be hardwired into the day. The unintended but not unexpected consequences included less meeting time during the day for adult committees and fewer free periods for teachers.The daily period changes were accompanied by a switch from trimesters to semesters. Through the process I observed the correlation between an individual teacher's general unhappiness with the old schedule and now with the new schedule and the number of times sentences about the schedule would began with "I need in order to . . . " or "this doesn't work for me because . . . ."
I believe my colleagues are genuinely motivated to teach because they see themselves as serving their students. Those that don't have this approach generally don't last in today's climate in independent schools. Naturally, we want to do and teach what we enjoy. If we aren't already knowledgeable we want to be learning something new that interests us. We want to work with students in ways that play to our individual strengths. And as a Principal/principle I want to align my faculties' strengths with the needs of my students and the tasks that need to be accomplished (clubs, sports, advising, academics, dorms, leadership roles, athletics) within the complexity of a school. Having said this, there are any number of things in a school that are good for our students, good for the school and not always good for a teacher. Perhaps, I am over focused on this prompt in job descriptions and the day to day work -- this is probably a reflection of where I am in the cycle of the year.
I intended to write about school change to benefit students and put their needs first. Maybe, I shouldn't have started with the schedule ! :) For the past year I have had the same chart over my desk that Amber placed at the top of her blog. As an administrator I have had to work hardest at avoiding both confusion and false starts. Either the vision isn't clearly articulated or in the end the action plan needs better delineation. Both run into the same problem in the end. Only a clearly articulated vision and a carefully planned set of action steps will overcome inertia and TTWADI. When presenting student centered initiatives, I have found it useful to remind us of where we have been and how the work we have already done has led us to this place -- to lean into the direction we are heading and remind us of why we are doing the work before us, no matter how challenging (or exhilarating!!). This helps with establishing the vision. That work always has our students at the core. I am reminded of a workshop led by Heidi Hayes Jacobs in which she had us imagine students sitting next to us as we mapped our curriculum and then she invited real students into the room. Lately, I have been adding students to faculty committees to remind us always that the decisions we make affect our students; why not invite their voices where appropriate (they are sure to share them inappropriately otherwise).


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Communicating Bad News: Does the Doctor Want to Tell, Does the Patient Want to Hear?
The patient has cancer. The doctor has made the diagnosis and suspects a prognosis. The question I pose is "who should tell the patient the bad news and how should it be told and once told should it be retold?" Most of my visitors would probably reply with "yes, the doctor should tell the patient the bad news and later if the outlook is still poor after treatment, the doctor should tell the patient that too."
The problem is there may be a resistance for the doctor to tell all the bad news and an interest to divert the patient's attention from the longer term outcome, even if suspected as poor, to the more immediate shorter term potential benefit of treatment. The problem is also that the patient may also have a resistance to hear about the long term when there are tests and treatments readily available and seem to carry the potential for improvement of the patient's current state.
This can lead to"collusion" between the doctor and the patient where the true poor prognosis will tend to be hidden during the doctor-patient communication about the illness.
This subject is very nicely discussed in a paper "Collusion in doctor-patient communication about imminent death: an ethnographic study" by
Anne-Mei The, Tony Hak, Gerard Koëter and Gerrit van der Wal published December 2, 2000 in the British Medical Journal.
35 patients with small cell lung cancer were followed over a 4 year period. Although this study is from the Netherlands, I suspect that this observation should be considered in other countries including our United States.
From the abstract of the article: "False optimism about recovery" usually developed during the (first) course of chemotherapy and was most prevalent when the cancer could no longer be seen in the x ray pictures. This optimism tended to vanish when the tumour recurred, but it could develop again, though to a lesser extent, during further courses of chemotherapy. Patients gradually found out the facts about their poor prognosis, partly because of physical deterioration and partly through contact with fellow patients who were in a more advanced stage of the illness and were dying. "False optimism about recovery" was the result an association between doctors' activism and patients' adherence to the treatment calendar and to the "recovery plot," [yesterday the patient was healthy, today he is ill, but tomorrow he will be better again, thanks to the efforts of the doctor and the patient, with support of carers]. which allowed them not to acknowledge explicitly what they should and could know. The doctor did and did not want to pronounce a "death sentence" and the patient did and did not want to hear it.
Conclusion: Solutions to the problem of collusion between doctor and patient require an active, patient oriented approach from the doctor. Perhaps solutions have to be found outside the doctor-patient relationship itself — for example, by involving "treatment brokers."
Relaying bad news to the patient and family is always a difficult exercise for the physician and some physicians are less skilled and have less experience in such communication. Although the estimation of when death will occur is always inexact, rough approximation can be made by published statistics. In addition, talking about failure is something difficult for many physicians who also worry that they do not take"hope" away from the patient. However, it is much easier for the physician to focus the discussion on tests and further treatment and tend to ignore the longer term prognosis all of which may correspond to what the patient wants to hear about from their physician. It may require in some doctor-patient relationships an "outside" professional, trusted by both parties, to tell the patient the realistic therapy and prognosis. ..Maurice.


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Born to rock
It's long. Way too long in fact. But this is a beautiful little video vignette.
There are just so many clever little details. From the baby giving the devil's horns hand gesture tthrough to the the guy turning the lights on and off in the jamming scene at the end.
Rock on AMV London!
Labels: doritos, guitar hero, youtube


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1 (16 ounce) package coleslaw mix
2 tablespoons minced onion
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
Combine the coleslaw and onion in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, combine the sugar, salt, pepper, milk, mayonnaise, buttermilk, vinegar and lemon juice; mix until smooth. Pour mixture over the coleslaw and onion; stir well and chill for 1 hour.
~Allrecipes/Submitted by Marsha
~My side note:
I threw a pinch of celery seed in there too.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Labels: Salads, Sides, Vegetables
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|By Admin1 (admin) (adsl-70-240-139-65.dsl.okcyok.swbell.net - 22.214.171.124) on Sunday, January 15, 2006 - 11:46 am: Edit Post
1988: Ken Graham served in Jamaica in Orange Hall beginning in 1988
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Ken Graham can be contacted at irie2uayahoodcom
Country of Service: Jamaica
Training Group: 47
Cities you served in: Orange Hall
Arrival Year: 1988
Departure Year: 1990
Work Description: Community Development/Agriculture
Bring us up to date on your life after the peace corps:
For the last 6 years, I have been working for a Rehab Services Provider
helping various people with barriers to employment find jobs in the
Any thoughts you have now looking back on peace corps days?:
My current career path is very rewarding but nothing like the two years I
spent with the PC.
Anyone you are looking for or would like to hear from?:
Anyone from group 47.
Originally posted: May 4, 2002
Looking for another volunteer who served with this Group?
If you know this volunteer or someone from his or her group and are looking to reconnect with them,
leave a message above where it says "Create New Conversation."
If this is your profile, post any additions, updates or corrections to your profile below where it says "Add a Message."
RPCVs: To add your own RPCV profile click here.
| The Peace Corps Library
Peace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related stories in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can use the Main Index to find hundreds of stories about what RPCVs with your same interests or from your Country of Service are doing today.


text: Contact http://www.gothamdreamcars.com/ 877.2GO.THAM 1933 Tigertail Blvd Dania Beach , FL 33004 Luxe Services Gotham Dream Cars What sets Gotham Dream Cars apart from other companies (aside from their cool Batman-inspired name, that is)? They pride themselves on giving customers a "highly professional, seamless exotic car rental experience" and that means if you find yourself in Miami and want to speed down the road in the latest Lamborghini, this is the company you turn to. Not only can you rent one to drive yourself around (whether for business or pleasure), you can gift a rental to someone else, or even rent them to use as props at an event or charity auction.


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Dealer profile Snows GroupThe group has been seeing good growth from fixed price service campaigns that manufacturers are getting behind. This is bringing four-year plus customers back into the business based on price.Snow said: "We don't just focus the sales team on service plans, but our aftersales receptionists are trained to offer them too."This focus has led to the company selling 94,612 service hours in 2011.Finance and insuranceFinance and insurance has always been important to the group, but Snow believes it is now more important to be even better at it. He said: "You need to be successful in that area. You might have been able to get away with it before, but now it has to be a major focus area and you need to be good at it if you're going to be successful with your sales profitability."Training, systems, daily reporting and consistency with sales process have been the key ingredients in getting to grips with F&I.RecruitmentThe group doesn't have a massive churn, with new staff members working with 16 employees who have been at the company for more than 25 years. An assessment ContinuesStephen Snow is aware how influential the internet is on the motor trade and is moving its website to a new platform with GForces.He said: "The internet is our new showroom. Our old site did a job, but we need to take it to a new level. The new website has to be our new showroom because we will get as many enquiries from that as from people walking through doors."The group will be phasing in live chat and Snows knows the internet is only ever going to become a bigger influence on the way dealers do business.The group is also looking to allow customers to book themselves in for servicing online, selecting a date and a time for servicing. Snow said: "We'll have a part-exchange valuation on the website, but it's not a completed deal until we've seen the car. We'll have a finance tool too to give them an estimate."Capturing internet's growing influencecentre for recruiting managers is key. All potential managers have to demonstrate competency with pres-entations, team management and accounts.Once appointed to the business, management is benchmarked across four sets of criteria. That process has evolved over the last several years. The business has moved its bonus structure through those phases to reflect key performance indicators for the business. Bonuses are paid for delivering success as a depart-ment, adhering to administrative procedures and maintaining a healthy database. It's not just bottom line.There's also the flexibility for managers to take teams out for a meal or bowling if they've had a good month. Creating and building team spirit is important.Snow said: "We're quite simple people really, we pay the going rate allowing productive staff the ability to earn a bonus from their good performance."We're still here as a result of those changes. If you stand still you're actually moving backwards, so we keep moving and evolving what we do."The futureSnows will stay privately owned and there's no desire to change that. Ideally, the group will look to grow further with the eight brands it already represents. "If you stand still you are actually moving backwards"
New car marketNewsCV ShownewsUsed car analysisNewsRecruitmentdigestDealer profileShowroom"Bringing back the scrappage scheme would help too. It helped us through a difficult period and everyone in the industry was surprised they didn't continue with it because it wasn't actually costing the Government anything to do it with the tax it was gaining."The 'shoulder is still to the wheel' and Snows knows it will be a tough year. The group will continue to build on its relationships with its business partners and there are plenty of new products coming through to help the group to continue to be successful and deliver a positive year.There's also no ambition to move beyond its current geographical coverage.Snow said: "Our expertise is tuned to the local markets and we have a brand here. We have opened seven businesses in the last three years, which is enough."Some are doing really well and some have been more difficult to "get going". He said: "We had a tough first year with Volvo and Kia in Basingstoke, but it's going well now. It's a much improved business."Peugeot Romsey is a new brand for us so it's a new relationship to build."It's a lot harder work if you take our new businesses with franchises that haven't been represented in the area before. You've got to find your customers and put your name out there"Snows will always try to recruit from within and this is one of the elements which helps ensure the group installs the family ethos at new startup dealerships. Snow said: "If we've got good people coming through then we'll always try and marry them up together."The Government could do more to help dealers with businesses facing increased costs from pensions, NI contributions and fuel, he said. Unnecessary regulation is also another big problem.Snow said: "There does seem to be a lot of red tape and sometimes that involves employing outside consult-ants to help get you through it and that's all extra cost to the business.Kia is one of eight franchises represented by SnowsSource AMiam-online.com/amiSnows financial KPIs


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What kind of mother locks herself in the bathroom with the tub running and the fan on so she can eat the last Klondike bar without her child hearing the wrapper crinkling until it is too late?
Go ahead, heap your contumely upon me. I've done worse.
I used to eat spiders. All the kids on our crescent did it at least some of the time. I think there was some sort of mom cult thing going on where they decided in their pointy-bra'd way that if we were busy catching and eating spiders we wouldn't be pestering them for food or attention, so they whispered to us in our dreams that we should really be spending more time eating spiders and less time begging for story-time. That they would love us more than they did our siblings--and since at least half of us were Catholic, there were a lot of siblings to be competed with--if we came home late in the afternoon full of spiders, tuckered out and ready for bed. That spider protein would make us better looking than the other kids, smarter than the other kids, and stronger than any kids in the history of the neighborhood. Spider silk would make our hair fine but so so strong and it might even help parachute us safely to the ground when we flung ourselves from trees. Spider eyes would help us win Kick the Can, even at night. The hemocyanin in spider blood, with its strange blue tint, might fool a prince into thinking we were in fact blue-blooded in that all-important royal way and we would be swept off to live in a castle forever. This was the part I imagine my mother enjoyed the most: helping me fantasize about going to live somewhere else, to leave my smelly runners in someone else's country, to spit toothpaste inexpertly in someone else's sink, to play my never-fucking-ending arpeggios on someone else's fucking piano.
The little grey spider that lives in the upper northwest corner of our shower waves her elegant little legs at me as I sit here on the bath mat licking mint and chocolate from my horrible stubby fingers. She has seen me do this before. I'm going to eat her next and dream of turrets.


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So I'm guessing a fair lot of you caught the Roger Clemens interview on 60 Minutes.
I saw it, and had basically just one reaction: Clemens looked stiff, uncomfortable and rehearsed.
Now, I'm guessing that he had talked with his lawyer before doing the interview and some of the answers were, in fact, planned, but that does not help Clemens.
Many times you can tell more from an interview based not on what the interviewee says, but how they say it. One of the things I've actually learned in my four years at school: we communicate more with body language then actual words.
Clemens' body language? Stiff, uncomfortable...I kept waiting to see him squirm.
I'm hoping that it was the cameras, and overcompensating for any fidgeting he might naturally do (like tapping his foot or whatnot), but it's not like it's the first time he's ever been on TV.
The interview itself contained no surprising content, other then McNamee asking to borrow his fishing equipment (which was really, really low if true), so a lot more is likely to come from his press conference tomorrow and later testifying for Congress.
There is much to give credence to either side of the story, and though I try to be optimistic about the Yankees as a whole, I generally tend to be cynical with a lot of other things.
I wish there was a way to truly exonerate Clemens, but unless McNamee full on admits he was lying, there isn't, and, the Constitution aside, it's damn easy to label someone guilty until proven innocent.
This might drag on for years before we ever get a definitive answer.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Roger That?
So I'm guessing a fair lot of you caught the Roger Clemens interview on 60 Minutes.
2 comments:
So what's your take on taking this to court?ReplyDelete
I think it's good because it gives a definitive answer. Whether it's a true answer we may never know.
But the one thing that I applaud Roger for doing is saying "I never bought them, McNamee says I provided them, so why hasn't anyone come forward?"
Yes, there MAY be a guy that Roger just paid off 5 million dollars to or something. BUT... let's give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he's saying it because there IS no guy.
If there is, I bet that guy is thinking he can come forward NOW.
I'll be impressed if they find a judge that's not completely biased one way or another.ReplyDelete