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Internet searches on Bing or Google don't always produce the best results. After all, what if you're looking for the most romantic restaurant to celebrate an anniversary in Seattle or trying to decide whether Kauai or Maui would be a better holiday vacation with the kids?
Sometimes, you need real feedback, from real people. That's where Yabbly — a Seattle startup led by former Amazon.com and Off & Away software engineer Ian Shafer and former Marchex and Google manager Tom Leung — steps in.
"Our mission is to help the world make better decisions," says Leung, the former senior vice president of product at Marchex.
Yabbly allows users to connect with other people who've made similar decisions — say purchasing a Ford Escape or Sonicare toothbrush or iPhone 5.
"Those kind of really specific questions are best answered by someone just like you who just made that decision," says Leung. "You are not going to get the best answer by just reviewing static reviews on an Amazon or reading some expert review on CNET because they don't know you and they don't know your needs and you really can't have a discussion with them."
As for posting questions to Facebook, Leung said that it is "impossible to cut through the sea of of baby pictures and pictures of food in order to get any thoughtful answers."
Like the Q&A service Quora, users of Yabbly can post questions and then receive input. However, Leung notes that Yabbly is different since it is designed for everyday questions, rather than the highbrow discussions that often take place on Quora.
"Quora is set up for (questions) like: 'Why is the sky blue? These canonical Jeopardy-kind of of questions," notes Leung. "We are not trying to be a competition, like Quora, to see who can be the smartest. And we are not trying to be like Facebook which tends often to be like who can show you that they have the most interesting life. Yabbly is a little more practical."
Yabbly also is starting with a mobile-first approach, a key differentiator as it enters a very crowded field that spans Facebook, Quora, Twitter, Consumer Reports and Decide.com.
In order to provide honest dialogue, including around sensitive questions, Leung said that they offer an "incognito mode" in which users can hide their identities. In the next version of the service, Leung said that users will be able to post questions for specific people within the community.
Leung said the goal is to have questions answered in a matter of minutes.
Yabbly plans to make money by hosting sponsored questions and answers, and perhaps through offering contextual ads.
"Our focus right now is to really nurture this great community that we have," said Leung, adding that they are selectively adding people into the mix through invites.
Leung has already convinced some deep-pocketed investors to join him on the mission.
Yabbly just reeled in $500,000 in startup financing, including cash from former Immunex CEO Ed Fritzky; Acxiom Chief Product Officer Phil Mui; and angel investors from Google and Amazon.com.
The service is only available by invite at this time, but GeekWire readers can sign up immediately via Facebook and Twitter by going here before 5 p.m. today. Yabbly has been testing its service for the past eight weeks, with a few thousand questions answered to date.
Here's a closer look at how Yabbly works:
Yabbly: Make Great Decisions from Yabbly on Vimeo.


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The Department of Anesthesiology is a large and varied academic department dedicated to carrying out the mission of Thomas Jefferson University, Jefferson University Hospital, and the Jefferson Health Care Network. The Department sponsors a fully accredited residency training program, fellowship programs, as well as educational programs for medical students. A nationally recognized CME program is offered each year.
Research efforts are focused on a variety of clinical and basic science topics including control of carbohydrate metabolism, improved techniques of pain management, operating room management science, and anesthesia clinical decision support.

subset: commoncrawl


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Basement waterproofing involves techniques and materials used to prevent damp (structural) from penetrating the basement of a house or a building. Waterproofing a basement that is below ground level can require the application of sealant materials, the installation of drains and sump pumps, and more.
Water in the soil causes hydrostatic pressure to be exerted underneath basement floors and walls. This hydrostatic pressure can force water in through cracks, which can cause major structural damage as well as mold, decay, and other moisture-related problems.
In masonry foundations, interior sealers will not provide permanent protection from water infiltration where hydrostatic pressure is present. However, interior sealers are good for preventing high atmospheric humidity inside the basement from absorbing into the porous masonry and causing spalling. Spalling is a condition where constant high humidity or moisture breaks down masonry surfaces, causing deterioration and shedding of the concrete surfaces.
A common system for draining water that has penetrated a basement involves creating a channel around the perimeter of the basement alongside the Foundation (engineering) footers. A French drain, PVC pipe, or a patented drainage system is installed in the newly-made channel. The installed drain is covered with new cement.
The drainage system collects any water entering the basement and drains it to an internally placed sump pump system, which will then pump the water out of the basement. Wall conduits (such as dimple boards or other membranes) are fastened to the foundation wall and extend over the new drainage to guide any moisture down into the system.
Waterproofing an existing basement begins with excavating to the bottom sides of the Shallow foundation. Once excavated, the walls are then power washed and allowed to dry. The dry walls are sealed with a waterproofing membrane, and new drainage tiles (weeping tiles) are placed at the side of the footing.
Over the past ten years, polymer-based waterproofing products have been developed. Polymer-based products last for the lifetime of the building and are not affected by soil pH. Polymer-based waterproofing materials can be sprayed directly onto a wall, are very fast curing, and are semi-flexible, allowing for some movement of the substrate (building).


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As was pointed out to me by the stand guide dressed as Gandalf, you need to buy every set to get the whole Fellowship but I suspect many of us can't wait for the day when we can!
Is anyone else glad to hear this?
Other licensed themes have tended to feature the main characters in almost every set, meaning that buying more than a few sets leaves you with gangs of Harrys, Hermiones, Lukes, Leias, etc. There was the same problem in the Fantasy line some years ago, with the steadily accumulating legions of completely identical trolls.
I'm relieved that buying this line in full will only result in a couple of duplicates.


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WORCESTER — A proposal to ban the use of wild and exotic animals in traveling shows and circuses is receiving push back from the city administration.
City Manager Edward M. Augustus Jr. said the proposal raises a number of concerns, including the legal issues created by an ordinance that would ban an activity permitted by state and federal law.
He said it would also trigger contractual issues between the city and SMG, the company that manages the city-owned DCU Center.
In addition, City Solicitor David M. Moore said it is his opinion that any municipal ordinance prohibiting the use of wild and exotic animals in circuses staged in the city would be "invalidated" as preempted by federal and state law.
SMG reports that the circus has an economic impact of $1.5 million during those years it comes to the DCU Center.
That economic impact includes ticket revenue, concessions, merchandise and parking for the approximately 20,000 people who attend the circus shows at the DCU Center.
Mr. Augustus added that about 250-300 people travel with the circus and they use local hotel rooms and purchase goods and services while in the city.
"The effects would also extend to the entire community in terms of local jobs, retail sales and other business activities," Mr. Augustus wrote in a report to the City Council. "It is clear that the proposed ordinance would have legal, operational and economic impacts on the city and the community which must be fully evaluated before moving forward."
Councilor-at-Large Michael T. Gaffney has indicated that he intends to ask his colleagues Tuesday night to remove from the table a recommendation from the City Council Public Health and Human Services Committee, asking the Law Department to review a model ordinance drafted by Born Free USA, a national animal advocacy group.
As part of its recommendation, the committee has also asked the city administration to draft an ordinance along the lines of the model ordinance that would keep out those circuses and traveling shows that feature elephants, tigers, lions and chimpanzees.
The item has remained on the table since the City Council began its new term at the start of the year. Mayor Joseph M. Petty requested that it be tabled until the city administration provided a report on the pros and cons of such an ordinance.
In reviewing the request of the Public health and Human Services Committee, the city solicitor said at least 35 communities nationwide have adopted bans on exotic animal performances.
But he pointed out that most, if not all, of those ordinances exist in communities without a venue appropriate for a large-scale circus performance such as Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey.
Mr. Moore said no municipality with a venue similar in size to the DCU Center has a partial or full ban on the display of exotic animals.
Councilor-at-Large Morris A. Bergman had also asked for a report on whether the city could face liability by adopting such an ordinance.
In response to that request, Mr. Moore said the city's agreement with SMG to run the DCU Center says that if the city adopts policies that "unreasonably interfere or impair the ability of SMG to manage the facility," then the "incentive benchmark" that is part of the management contract must be adjusted to reflect the financial impairment.
The incentive benchmark is the provision in the city's management agreement with SMG that provides the basis for up to 50 percent of the management fee earned by SMG.
"Lowering that benchmark under these circumstances would mean that SMG would earn more of its management fee on less revenue and the city would suffer financially from lower building revenues," Mr. Moore wrote.
The Ringling Bros. circus was last at the DCU Center in October.
Ringling Bros. officials have complained they were never asked by the Public Health and Human Services Committee to present their side of the issue. They said the care and handling of all animals in circuses is subject to considerable and comprehensive federal, state and local animal welfare laws.
The circus is required to obtain a permit each year it comes to Worcester and is subject to inspection by local authorities. Also, circuses are required to obtain permits from the state Department of Fish and Game before entering Massachusetts.
Ringling Bros., which has 143 years of experience working with and caring for exotic animals, performs in more than 125 cities, including Boston, Springfield, Hartford, Providence, Manchester, N.H. and New York City.


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Adding Color: 5 Impactful Shower Curtains
One quick and easy way to update a humdrum bathroom is to replace the shower curtain. In many small bathrooms, simply replacing the shower curtain can give the entire space a whole new look. And with the days getting shorter, this is a great time to re-invigorate your bathroom with a new jolt of color and pattern.
• Tali Printed Shower Curtain from West Elm $39
• Flamenco Shower Curtain from Anthropologie $118
• Threadless Color Race Shower Curtain from Bed Bath & Beyond $9.99
• Silhouette Shower Curtain from Target $14.99
• Falling Daffodils Shower Curtain from Urban Outfitters $44
(Images: As credited above.)
Apartment Therapy supports our readers with carefully chosen product recommendations to improve life at home. You support us through our independently chosen links, many of which earn us a commission.


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Tag: cruise ship seminars
Apple iStudy Now Available Across Cunard Line Fleet
April 9, 2012. Cunard's highly popular Apple iStudy courses are now available on all three Cunard ocean liners, following the recent opening of the Apple Learning Center on board Queen Victoria. The centers offer the latest iMac machines for confidence-boosting seminars and workshops that aim to familiarize guests with the latest technology, from Facebook to […]
Posted: April 9th, 2012 under Cruise Ship News.
Tags: cruise, cruise ship computers, cruise ship seminars, Cunard Line
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Help! I work in a community garden, and it's greens season! I already plan to make furikake with my radish and beet tops, and I've put "mixed Asian greens," arugula and turnip greens in stir fries, vegan tofu burgers, and curry, but I still have about another 4 cups of turnip greens, and more mixed Asian greens and arugula than I can eat in salads. I need more ideas of how to use them (especially the turnip greens -- could I add them to the furikake?), because I'll only be getting more over the next several weeks (including chard, red mustard, kale, and lettuces, and possibly broccoli and cabbage leaves as well).
Ideally, I'd love some recipes that could freeze well, but I can't stand mushy, overcooked greens which are so common in the Southern U.S., and frozen greens often turn mushy.
Actually, turnip greens are what are usually used for that kind of furikake. I used radish tops because I thought they are more widely available in the US/Europe (at least in the US, turnips are often sold without the tops...) So yes, go ahead and use them like that ^_^
The Big Onigiri.
- Wherever you go, there you are. -
Thanks, Maki. At least on the East Coast of the U.S., turnip greens are usually sold separately from the turnips. Radishes and beets are often sold without their tops, too (though you can find them with tops, especially organic), but I've never seen their greens sold separately.
Just a follow-up. We had a ton of arugula, and it bolted quickly, courtesy of a heat wave. Since it's so similar to spinach, I tried blanching it and freezing it (after squeezing as much liquid out as I could), and it worked wonderfully. I thaw a small container in the fridge and just add it to a meal when I want a bit more veggies, sometimes adding sesame sauce or walnut-miso paste. I haven't really tried to cook it into anything, since 4 huge potfuls reduced down to 4 1/2-cup containers.
The red mustard I turned into kimchi -- it was a bit limp, but it's nice for adding to recipes.
Greens of all sorts can pretty much be used interchangably, which can open up lots of possibilities. Instead of just salads, try adding them to a Spanish omelet, frittatta, or quiche. You can also use them to wrap onigiri, rice rolls, and even baked fish, or make a variation of stuffed cabbage rolls using say chard instead of cabbage. Chard stems- especially the rainbow chard stems, make a nice addition to a salsa or other chopped salads. Depending on their size you might want or need to steam them lightly though. As far as freezimng goes, I quick blanch all of the types you mentioned and freeze them. As a stand alone veggie, yeah- mushy and nasty. But thaw and squeeze out the extra liquid, and they will all add in to soups or quiche/frittatas/omelets without it being a big problem. For that matter, I also toss the shredded greens into spaghetti sauce, and finely chop them to add in to meatballs/meatloaf. Gets the greens into a reluctant 10 year old every time.
Have you tried creamed spinach? It is sort of mushy and overcooked, but still delicious, and you can do it with chard instead. It's not terribly healthy, mind you. You cook the spinach (or chard or whatever) until it is well cooked (don't boil it in water, just let it cook in the liquid it exudes), squeeze out every drop of moisture you can, chop it really finely - in a food processor works well - then reheat it with enough cream and/or butter that it has the texture of sloppy mashed potatoes. Season with plenty of pepper and salt. It is an excellent thing to do with frozen greens, as it does not want any crispness to remain.
As I said, not the healthiest, but delicious.
My blog is Food and Shoes
Thanks for the ideas, Lori and Bronwyn. I forgot to mention, I also made kale chips for the first time, and they were amazing (I've actually roasted chard until it was crunchy before, which is also delicious).
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Business Cards - Standard Business Cards
Sales people need business cards in high quantities. You never know when a lead is going to pan out. It could take months while a sales business card you handed out sits idle in someone's wallet until they suddenly realize they need your services. Allow us to make your sales business cards. No matter what type of sales you are in we can make your business card. Use our online service and you can quickly have your sales business cards in only a few days.
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Minimum Purchase - 2 Bottles
Opulent, full on palate with citrus notes smacking the lips and tongue. Super long and concentrated with creamy texture (12 months on lees a third new oak). Grilled fish with herb laced cream sauce or scallop risotto would be ideal.
COLOUR: Straw
AROMA: Lemon, lime grapefruit with wet stone
Currently viewing: 2008 Chassagne-Montrachet "Le Champs Gains" - Burgundy, FRANCE - Russell Gehling Wines
Copyright © 2019 Russell Gehling Wines


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In MT User mode, the RPC library does not create any threads. This mode works, in principle, like the single-threaded, or default mode. The only difference is that it passes copies of data structures, such as the transport service handle to the service-dispatch routine to be MT safe.
The RPC server developer takes the responsibility for creating and managing threads through the thread library. In the dispatch routine, the service developer can assign the task of procedure execution to newly created or existing threads. The thr_create() API is used to create threads having various attributes. All thread library interfaces are defined in thread.h. See the pthread_create(3THR) man page for more details.
This mode provides flexibility to the service developer. Threads can now have different stack sizes based on service requirements. Threads can be bound. Different procedures can be executed by threads with different characteristics. The service developer might choose to run some services single threaded. The service developer might choose to do special thread-specific signal processing.
As in the Auto mode, you use the rpc_control() library call to turn on User mode. Note that the rpc_control() operations shown in Table 7–1, except for RPC_SVC_MTMODE_GET(), apply only to MT Auto mode. If used in MT User mode or the single-threaded default mode, the results of the operations can be undefined.
In the MT User mode, service procedures must invoke svc_done() before returning. svc_done() frees resources allocated to service a client request directed to the specified service transport handle. This function is invoked after a client request has been serviced, or after an error or abnormal condition that prevents a reply from being sent. After svc_done() is invoked, the service procedure should not reference the service transport handle. The following example shows a server in MT User mode.
svc_done() must only be called within MT User mode. For more information on this call, see the rpc_svc_calls(3NSL) man page.
#define SVC2_PROG 0x30000002 #define SVC2_VERS 1 #define SVC2_PROC_ADD 1) #define SVC2_PROC_MULT 2 struct intpair { u_short a; u_short b; }; typedef struct intpair intpair; struct svc2_add_args { int argument; SVCXPRT *transp; }; struct svc2_mult_args { intpair mult_argument; SVCXPRT *transp; }; extern bool_t xdr_intpair(); #define NTHREADS_CONST 500
The following code example is the client for MT User mode.
#define _REENTRANT #include <stdio.h> #include <rpc/rpc.h> #include <sys/uio.h> #include <netconfig.h> #include <netdb.h> #include <rpc/nettype.h> #include <thread.h> #include "rpc_test.h" void *doclient(); int NTHREADS; struct thread_info { thread_t client_id; int client_status; }; struct thread_info save_thread[NTHREADS_CONST]; main(argc, argv) int argc; char *argv[]; { int index, ret; int thread_status; thread_t departedid, client_id; char *hosts; if (argc < 3) { printf("Usage: do_operation [n] host\n"); printf("\twhere n is the number of threads\n"); exit(1); } else if (argc == 3) { NTHREADS = NTHREADS_CONST; hosts = argv[1]; /* live_host */ } else { NTHREADS = atoi(argv[1]); hosts = argv[2]; } for (index = 0; index < NTHREADS; index++){ if (ret = thr_create(NULL, NULL, doclient, (void *) hosts, THR_BOUND, &client_id)){ printf("thr_create failed: return value %d", ret); printf(" for %dth thread\n", index); exit(1); } save_thread[index].client_id = client_id; } for (index = 0; index < NTHREADS; index++){ if (thr_join(save_thread[index].client_id, &departedid, (void *) &thread_status)){ printf("thr_join failed for thread %d\n", save_thread[index].client_id); exit(1); } save_thread[index].client_status = thread_status; } } void *doclient(host) char *host; { struct timeval tout; enum clnt_stat test; int result = 0; u_short mult_result = 0; int add_arg; int EXP_RSLT; intpair pair; CLIENT *clnt; if ((clnt = clnt_create(host, SVC2_PROG, SVC2_VERS, "udp" ==NULL) { clnt_pcreateerror("clnt_create error: "); thr_exit((void *) -1); } tout.tv_sec = 25; tout.tv_usec = 0; memset((char *) &result, 0, sizeof (result)); memset((char *) &mult_result, 0, sizeof (mult_result)); if (thr_self() % 2){ EXP_RSLT = thr_self() + 1; add_arg = thr_self(); test = clnt_call(clnt, SVC2_PROC_ADD, (xdrproc_t) xdr_int, (caddr_t) &add_arg, (xdrproc_t) xdr_int, (caddr_t) &result, tout); } else { pair.a = (u_short) thr_self(); pair.b = (u_short) 1; EXP_RSLT = pair.a * pair.b; test = clnt_call(clnt, SVC2_PROC_MULT, (xdrproc_t) xdr_intpair, (caddr_t) &pair, (xdrproc_t) xdr_u_short, (caddr_t) &mult_result, tout); result = mult_result; } if (test != RPC_SUCCESS) { printf("THREAD: %d clnt_call hav thr_exit((void *) -1); }; thr_exit((void *) 0); }
MT performance is enhanced if the function svc_getargs() is called by every procedure other than NULLPROC, even if there are no arguments. xdr_void may be used in this case. This result is true for both the MT Auto and MT User modes. For more information on this call, see the rpc_svc_calls(3NSL) man page.
You must link in the thread library when writing RPC multithreaded-safe applications. The thread library must be the last named library on the link line. Specify the -lthread option in the compile command.


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Bill Lucas, Headmaster of Dyson Perrins CE High School from 1977-93, has died peacefully at his home at the age of 79.
William John Lucas was born in North London early in 1934 and moved to Pinner two years later.
He was five when war broke out, and the disruption caused by the bombing meant that he didn't go to school until he was seven.
Here he showed an aptitude for Latin and Greek which helped him to win a place at a local public school, Merchant Taylors'.
They emphasised the Classics, and on the strength of this, he won a place at Worcester College, Oxford.
This, however, was deferred due to National Service for which he was called up in July 1953 and sent to the Royal Army Service Corps in Aldershot.
After basic training, Bill was selected to learn Russian at the Joint Services Language School in Bodmin, Cornwall.
He secured a place on the small group to be trained as interpreters, and was sent to London University for a year.
Early in 1955 he was sent back to Bodmin to take the final examinations, and, while there, met Margaret, the girl whom he married three years later, in 1958.
Whilst at Oxford he experienced a "startling conversion" to Christianity as a result of hearing Billy Graham speak.
He remained a committed Christian, albeit not a regular church goer, for the rest of his life.
Bill graduated from Oxford in 1959 and secured an appointment as an assistant teacher of Classics at Tudor Grange, a Boys' Grammar School in Solihull, then in Warwickshire, where his eldest daughter, Carol, was born.
The post was for only one year, so in 1960 he secured a permanent post at Ounsdale, a Comprehensive School in Wombourn, in Staffordshire, moving to a new house just over the border in the village of Claverley, in Shropshire, where three more of his children, Ian, Claire and Anna were born.
In 1968 he was granted a secondment for a year for an Advanced Diploma in Education Course - specialising in Comprehensive Education - at Exeter University.
On the strength of that, he was appointed Second Master at The Great Marlow School, in Buckinghamshire, and in 1970 moved to another village, Lane End near Marlow, where his youngest child, Nigel, was born.
In 1972, he was appointed deputy head of Bush Comprehensive School in Pembroke, West Wales, with the remit of turning a grammar school and a long-established secondary modern into a 1,500-plus comprehensive.
Then, in 1976, Bill was appointed head of the Dyson Perrins CE High School in Malvern, taking up the post in January 1977.
Due to his habit of always wearing his academic gown in school he was affectionately nicknamed "Batman".
During his time at Dyson Perrins he introduced changes that were to lead to the school becoming one of the most successful in the county, including streaming by subject and a leadership training scheme that represented a radical rethink of the prefect system found in most schools.
In 1993, after 16 years in post he had to take early retirement, due to ill health, at the age of 59.
In addition to his significant achievements in education, Bill also excelled in other fields.
He was an English and Welsh national table-tennis coach and umpire, and he played very successfully in local leagues up until his late seventies.
Throughout his life Bill also wrote poetry, amassing an impressive body of work that remained, nonetheless, very personal and private.
Acquaintances knew that they were accepted as friends if Bill offered to read them some of his poems and the beauty, power and humanity of his work never failed to resonate with his listeners.
William John Lucas is survived by his wife, Margaret, his children, Carol, Ian, Claire, Anna and Nigel and seven grandchildren.
William John Lucas, born February 2, 1934, died December 25, 2013


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Next to the cross is a red brick monument the size of a fireplace. Atop it, a plaque marks the site of the first capital of Nuevo Mexico, founded in 1598—nine years before Jamestown, Va.—to control a Spanish territory that stretched all the way to the Pacific.
Across the river is a different kind of settlement, a Pueblo Indian village originally called Ohkay Owingeh, the Place of the Strong People. I can't see it from where I stand; the shallow valley is too thick with cottonwoods and high grass. But the village is still there, still occupied, as it was long before the Spanish arrived.
Around my feet are bits of trash, some very old: an iron nail, forged by hand; a bit of sky-blue glass, mouth-blown, iridescent with age; and two bits of pottery that make me catch my breath. They are grayish-white with black patterns, like the old pots I've seen in museums. There is no doubt they are Indian.
Together, these things tell a story—tell it better than the memorial beside me, better than any book I've read. They make it real. This is where it happened, they say. This is where two cultures collided and everything changed.
I turn and reread the plaque: "On July 11, 1598, Juan de Onate, colonizer, established the first Spanish capital in this pueblo. The Indians received the Spaniards with great courtesy."
The Spanish changed the pueblo's name. It became San Juan de los Caballeros—St. John of the Gentlemen. Its descendants, like those of all the other pueblos, have been living in two worlds ever since: the exterior world of the dominant culture, whether Spain's or Mexico's or that of the United States—and the interior world of their own way of life. They've managed to preserve it for more than 400 years.
"The balancing between the two worlds—the Indian and the non-Indian world—is very difficult for some individuals," says Travis Suazo, manager of New Mexico's Indian tourism program and a member of Laguna Pueblo. "It's up to each individual to find that balance."
The struggle for balance begins early. I remember something a 10-year-old pueblo boy said on the Hopi reservation two summers ago. The child was telling me about a wonderful dream he'd had. In his dream the fictional characters Harry, Ron and Hermione from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series came to Hopi for a visit and he got to show them around his homeland.
twenty pueblos—the spanish word can mean village, tribe or individuals—survive in the Southwest. One tribe, the Hopi, lives in northeastern Arizona. The 19 other pueblos are in New Mexico, arrayed on the map like a backward L, with Albuquerque at the hinge.
In June, I drove most of the L, from Taos in the north, down through Albuquerque, and finally west to Zuni, near the Arizona border. I lingered longest in San Juan and Acoma, but I took many side roads, physically and mentally, and I talked to many people. By trip's end, I had the sense that I'd traveled not among cities of gold but in realms of the spirit.
All along, I tried to imagine the Pueblo world—a world where everything is sacred, where everything has meaning, where everything is connected to everything else. A world that is whole. It was like trying to imagine a color that isn't in the spectrum. I couldn't get my mind around it. But I envied the people who could.
Today's pueblos are different nations, speaking different languages—Zuni at Zuni, Hopi at Hopi, Keresan at Acoma Laguna, Tewa and its variants up along the Rio Grande.
They are different architecturally too. Taos is known for its ancient pair of multistory apartment buildings. Tiny Picuris is set high in lush hills. Jemez, beside a mountain river, has narrow, tight-knit lanes and the feel of a Greek village. Nambé is near Santa Fe and bounded by modern suburban homes.
The pueblos share a powerful belief system so encompassing and so interwoven with all aspects of daily life that to call it "tradition" or "religion" is to limit its scope.
"What's the first thing you do when you get up in the morning?" Joe Garcia, the governor of San Juan Pueblo, asks me during an interview.
"Brush my teeth," I say, "walk the dogs, read the paper."
"One of the first things traditional people do is give their blessings to the sun, give their blessings for being alive and then blessings for others, blessings for people in need, up to and including the United States of America. That's the way it starts," he says. "Then I move into the technical world, come to the office, check my e-mail."
All the pueblo people I ask say they start their day the same way.
They also share stories about how they came to be—about the Emergence and the Migrations—when the first people came up from worlds below and into this one, and then wandered in groups over the land until each found the home it was intended to have.
Prayers still honor the ancestors who made those journeys, including the ancients who built cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde, Colo., and Bandolier National Monument outside Santa Fe.
"If you really listen," a man from San Juan Pueblo tells me, "you can pick up on a different energy in those places. They're still alive, because people leave their energy wherever they live."
Archeologists say the Puebloan culture began more than 600 years ago, when nomadic hunters and gatherers began settling and raising crops in New Mexico's river valleys. At one time these early residents were called Anasazi and were said to have disappeared mysteriously.
It's more likely that ancestral Puebloans did what people always do when times get tough: They moved. Anytime someone leaves a pueblo today for a better job somewhere else, he's doing the same thing. That happens a lot, because opportunities on even the most prosperous reservations are limited. But leaving is a wrenching choice, given the intensity of the people's ancient connection to one another and to the land.
San Juan
New Mexico's pueblos, except for Zuni, hold annual celebrations for the feast days of their patron saints. San Juan's is June 24, and on that morning, I am one of many drivers pulling off the highway north of Española, N.M., and onto the pueblo's main road. I park on a slope near the center of the village and walk toward the sound of the drums.
There are vendors along the way, offering snow cones and fry bread, cheap sun umbrellas from China, good turquoise jewelry from Santo Domingo and pottery from Acoma and San Ildefonso. I spot baskets with peculiarly low prices.
"What pueblo are you from?"' I ask the woman seated among them.
"Pakistan," she says, describing herself as well as the baskets. "Take one for your home!"
A little farther on is San Juan's Catholic church and a century-old chapel, Our Lady of Lourdes. Next to the chapel, the first of three plazas stretches back among small mud-plastered houses, the oldest structures in the village. A leafy green bower of cottonwood branches has been set up on one side of the plaza, and the figure of St. John has been brought out of the church and placed there; people stop by all day to pay their respects.
Two groups of dancers are taking turns, moving from plaza to plaza through the village. The Comanche Dance includes about a hundred people—men, women, teenagers, little kids—moving to the sounds of rapid drumming and song in a blur of bright feathers, leg bells and painted faces.
As the Comanches rest, the Buffalo Dancers come, two men and a woman with buffalo headdresses and dark paint on their bodies. The drummers change the rhythm, slowing it down, making it strong and stately.
Aware that there are secrets, I ask a young man standing nearby if there is anything he can say about what we are watching.
"Dancing is prayer," says Matthew Martinez, home on summer break from graduate school in Minnesota. "It's prayer and a way of connecting all these elements, people and land and animals and ancestors."
He wants to be sure that I don't think this is a performance. Performances are scripted; they happen at a set time; they can be canceled. "These dances continue whether there are people watching or not," he says. "Things carry on."
Later, a San Juan woman gives me an impressive example. When the Sept. 11 attacks happened, she says, the pueblo was getting ready for its annual Harvest Dance. And it kept on getting ready. In mainstream America, she says, "You held onto your immediate family. We held onto each other."
"Have you eaten?" Martinez suddenly asks, during a midafternoon lull in the dancing. I say I haven't. "C'mon," he says, and invites me to his grandmother's house.
This too is Pueblo custom: On feast days, you feast, and outsiders are often fed as well, even strangers like me. "Any spirit is welcome," another man tells me that day.
Spiritually, the pueblos were not conquered, despite centuries of outside interference. "We convinced the Spanish that Catholicism was the only religion we practiced," says Tony Chino, the tribal secretary at Acoma.
Even physical conquest took a long time. In 1680, after nearly a century of mistreatment, the pueblos joined together in a carefully coordinated revolt that drove the Spanish out of the region for the next decade.
There were about 100 pueblos before the Spanish arrived, but then the populations started to shrink. Many communities died out entirely, and sometimes refugees from several pueblos had to regroup and form a new one.
As recently as 20 years ago some pueblos were on the verge of vanishing. Others have made surprising comebacks. Pojoaque Pueblo, for instance, is still tiny, with only about 300 members, but now has a casino/hotel and an aggressive policy of reinvesting its revenue. The result includes a tribal-owned shopping mall, a large apartment complex that rents to the public, a new fitness center and a handsome new visitors center patterned after an ancient ruin. It also has a kiva, one of the traditional ceremonial chambers that are vital to Pueblo culture. "There hadn't been a kiva here in 100 years," a Pojoaque man says proudly.
Other tribes with gaming—three-fourths of the pueblos have it, including San Juan and Acoma—are diversifying. It's a kind of insurance, San Juan's governor Garcia says, so people won't suffer if gaming is restricted or taken away.
"Do you know why government exists?" Garcia says. "Only one reason. A government exists to take care of its people." And gaming is a way to do that. The revenue has brought jobs, scholarships and increased pride and strength. Some pueblos are even buying back lost land. And Acoma founded its own fire department. Until then, says the tribal secretary, firetrucks had to come from a Bureau of Indian Affairs facility in Albuquerque, nearly an hour away.
Funny, I think, checking into a casino/hotel early in the trip, if the Spanish now came looking for gold they might actually find it. But they'd have to play the slots.
The Spanish were driven by greed, says Tom Kennedy, tourism director for the Pueblo of Zuni, where the legend of the Seven Cities of Cibola was born. "They saw what they wanted to see."
The legend began as a mistake or a lie. The traditional explanation is that the tan walls of Zuni's six, not seven, villages shone like gold in the setting sun.
There now is a casino called the Cities of Gold, but it's not at Zuni. That's the name of Pojoaque's casino, halfway across the state. Zuni, the largest of the pueblos with nearly 11,000 members, has no casino. The tribe is discussing it, says Carmelita Sanchez, a retired nurse who is Zuni's first female lieutenant governor.
Casinos require a big initial investment, and that's a huge risk for a tribe that needs money. The ones that thrive are near big cities or busy highways or both, and Zuni is neither. Gallup, on Interstate 40, is the nearest city, and it's nearly 40 miles away.
Meanwhile, Zuni's economic mainstay continues to be arts and crafts. Its artists do wonderful work in all the traditional Pueblo forms: inlaid silver jewelry, fine hand-coiled pottery, woven baskets and fetishes—tiny stone animal sculptures that are a Zuni specialty.
At least 80% of Zuni households receive some income from art, Kennedy says. This means Zuni may have more working artists for its size than any other town in America. But it doesn't look like an artists' colony. It looks like an average- to low-income suburb, except there's no city next door.
"We estimate that we're within reach of 100,000 people," Kennedy says, but about only 8,000 a year sign the tourist office guest register. So another thing the tribe is discussing is how—and whether—to promote itself more. One problem is that there isn't much for visitors to do in Zuni but buy art, visit artists in their home studios or look at the magnificent and controversial murals in the old mission.
The murals were started 30 years ago by Zuni painter Alex Seowtewa and his family. They depict sacred figures from Zuni ceremonials, and the tribal government's view is that they shouldn't be displayed in a church.
Gaming symbolizes better than anything else the interior and exterior worlds of Pueblo life. The symbolism is most striking at Acoma. Its old pueblo commands the most exotic location of any community in the United States, the top of a 376-foot-high mesa, a natural citadel, an island in the sky.
It is North America's Machu Picchu, more impressive because it's older and still alive. Acoma people have lived here since about 600, says Brian Vallo, the pueblo's historic preservation officer and director of its impressive new cultural center.
"It is the traditional homeland of the Acoma people," he says. "A very sacred space." The mesa's silhouette is a tribal emblem, and its nickname, the Sky City, functions like a brand. But its real name is Haak'u, meaning "a place prepared."
The tribe's Sky City Casino Hotel and Travel Center on Interstate 40 is fueling Acoma's future, and that future includes preservation of the past. Gaming revenue, for example, is paying for most of the tribe's $17-million cultural center, Vallo says.
From my room at the hotel, I can look across the swimming pool and see the economic engine behind it all—the raised roadbed of the interstate. It took the place of old Route 66, and it's still the Mother Road across New Mexico.
Rivers of semi-trucks glitter in both directions, and steady streams of them are pulling off at the Acoma exit to tank up. More than 120 semis are parked at the truck stop my first night there. In the casino/hotel, there are the familiar clangs, boops and jingles from the gaming hall off the lobby. But the complex does not serve alcohol, and the hotel is surprisingly tasteful and quiet. It's nearly full, and families are jamming the casino restaurant. It seems more like a social center than a mini-Las Vegas.
The roads up to ancient Haak'u run roughly south from the casino/hotel/truck stop complex. I take the longest road— miles—because it heightens the drama.
For most of the way, the road runs through a sweeping landscape of red and gold mesas dotted with plump, dark cedar shrubs. It's so little traveled that, on four drives this trip, my main company is a handful of cattle freely ranging on the asphalt. Once, just before sunset, I see a mountain lion lope casually across the road.
Finally, the road curves and a vista opens—a wide valley, studded with mesas and giant rock towers, like sentinels along a sacred way. I always stop at the lookout point here, but I've never gotten used to the view. It's always the same magnificent puzzle: The pueblo is right there, 3 1/2 miles away, but its camouflage is so perfect that you can't really see it, even if you know where to look.
This time I measure. I drive a mile closer, down onto the valley floor, and still see nothing but banded mesas and golden rock. It's another full mile before I can distinguish the twin bell towers of San Estevan del Rey, the old mission church, rising above the fringe of little flat-roofed houses along the mesa rim.
The village draws a different crowd from those who populate the casino/hotel complex, but it too draws large numbers—hundreds of tourists a day in summer. But the Sky City is small, with only about a dozen families living here full time.
The tribe has been attracting tourism for more than a century and began guided tours in the 1930s. Tours now are the only way you can visit the Sky City. Small buses shuttle groups from the foot of the mesa to the top on a road built in 1950 for a John Wayne movie.
The houses on the mesa are plain and box-like, made of stone or adobe plastered with clay. Gusts of wind fling sand along the narrow streets. There is only one small tree—"the Acoma National Forest" my tour guide jokes—and the sun always feels as if it's right overhead.
Tours take about an hour, and the guides move fast. Pause, and you'll miss something. But visitors do pause, caught by the stunning views at the end of every street, the tables of black-on-white pottery set out in front of potters' homes, and the apple turnovers and fresh fry bread sold from peoples' kitchens.
A lot of these pauses, I suspect, are meant to extend the experience, of getting to talk with people who live in this remarkable place. At least they are for me.
At the end of the tour, the guides offer a choice of how to return to the foot of the mesa: ride the bus back down or take the hidden foot trail that the Acoma people used for centuries before the road was cut. I chose the steep path.
Almost vertical in places, it follows a narrow slot in the cliff. Getting down safely requires trusting that the ancient builders knew what they were doing when they carved the footholds and handholds. It's also a good idea to follow the guides' advice and climb down backward.
I turn around to face the rock and then descend as if I am on a ladder, extending my toes down step by step, sliding my fingers into ancient niches carved exactly where I need to find them.
Of all the good experiences on this trip, I like that descent the best. The scale is human and the warm stone feels good against my hands. And I like feeling that I have become part of something that reaches far back in time, with so many connections to other people—even if they aren't my own.
The Pueblo World
Getting there: From LAX, nonstop and direct (stop, no change of planes) service to Albuquerque is offered on Southwest; connecting service (change of planes) is available on U.S. Airways, Southwest, America West, Delta, American, United and Frontier.
Tourism policies vary by pueblo. Check with the New Mexico Tourism Department, 491 Old Santa Fe Trail, Santa Fe; (800) 545-2070, https://www.newmexico.org . But ask individual pueblos too: Many ceremonials don't have fixed dates.
Food and lodging: In pueblos with gaming, the casino/hotel's restaurants are generally the best—and sometimes the only—choice. Variety is good, portions huge, prices modest. If you can't survive without upscale dining, you should base yourself in Santa Fe or Albuquerque. The same holds for accommodations.
San Juan: The tribe's Ohkay Casino Resort on Highway 68, just north of Española, N.M., is the nearest choice for food and lodging. Rooms at its Best Western hotel, (877) 829-2865, are $74 to $104 weeknights, $79 to $109 weekends. There are standard motels and restaurants in Española.
Zuni: The pueblo has limited food and lodging. The nearest alternatives are in Gallup, about 40 miles north. There is one restaurant, Chu Chu's Pizzaria, a pizza-burger-burrito place on Highway 53 on the east side of town. The Halona Plaza grocery store has a deli with lunch specials. The only place to stay is the Inn at Halona, an oasis-like bed-and-breakfast with eight rooms in a pair of old red sandstone houses linked by a shady patio. Double rooms are $84. With advance notice, the owners will prepare dinner for guests. Behind the grocery store, two blocks south of Highway 53 on Pia Mesa Road; (505) 782-4547; https://www.halona.com
Acoma: The only place to stay or eat is the Sky City Casino Hotel and Travel Center truck stop on Interstate 40. The hotel has a large restaurant (huge portions, good buffet, some traditional foods). There are snacks and pizza inside the gaming hall and a McDonald's at the Travel Center. Rooms are $65 to $79. (800) 747-0181, https://www.skycity.com .
Opening soon: Acoma is about to open a stunning cultural center at the foot of the Sky City mesa. The $13-million project, partly funded with gaming revenue, is the tribe's biggest investment, says Brian Vallo, the center's director. It's intended as a cultural home for visitors and for the Acoma themselves, for language and heritage classes, and for repatriated Acoma artifacts.
Arts and crafts: Some pueblos have tribal-run galleries or shops, and individual artists often sell from their homes. Good choices: Pueblo Pottery at Acomita in Acoma Pueblo, Pojoaque Visitor Center Gallery and Zuni's Turquoise Village. In Zuni, the Seowtewa family's murals in the 376-year-old Our Lady of Guadalupe Mission are on view for a $10 fee paid to the Pueblo of Zuni Tourism Department, (505) 782-7238, in the tribal office complex on Highway 53. The tourism office can arrange visits to artists' studios; call in advance. It also has an educational display of fake Zuni jewelry, most of it imported (including some from a village in the Philippines that once renamed itself Zuni).
Photography: This is a sensitive issue at all pueblos. Ask at the governor's office before you pull out a camera. Some tribes forbid pictures. Others require permits, usually $5 to $25 a day.
Background: For an excellent introduction to Pueblo cultures, visit the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque, 2401 12th St. N.W.; (505) 843-7270, https://www.indianpueblo.org . Fee for museum and gallery, $6. Every New Mexico pueblo is represented; there's a good gallery, and the restaurant features traditional foods.
Books: A handy one to have in the car is "Pueblos of the Rio Grande: A Visitor's Guide," by Daniel Gibson (Rio Nuevo Publishers, $15.95).
-- Catherine Watson is a former travel editor for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. A collection of her travel stories, "Roads Less Traveled," was published in July by Syren.


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» Equipment »Pre-Owned Equipment Sales »Concrete Saws & Cutters
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AUSTIN, Texas (AP) West Virginia is off to a blistering start in its first Big 12 season, piling up points behind quarterback Geno Smith.
But if the No. 5 Mountaineers (5-0, 2-0) want to win the league and even challenge for a national title, they may have to eventually start playing some defense.
West Virginia has torched Baylor and Texas for 118 points the last two weeks, but also surrendered 108 in two wild, heart-pounding games.
Smith doesn't seem to care, so long as he can keep pushing the Mountaineers in to the end zone. Smith has 12 touchdown passes the last two weeks, with 24 on the season without an interception.
``We play as a team, we fight as a team. No matter what it takes to win the game, that's what we're going to do,'' Smith said after throwing for 268 yards and four touchdowns in a 48-45 win over No. 15 Texas that wasn't secured until the Mountaineers recovered an onside kick with 14 seconds to play.
Smith may have to be at his best every game the rest of the way. The Mountaineers still have to play No. 13 Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, which has the No. 1 total offense and scoring offense in the country, and No. 6 Kansas State, which has topped 50 points three times this season.
The Mountaineers rank No. 102 in total defense and scoring defense and surrender an average of 35 points per game.
Cornerback Pat Miller said it was difficult for the defense to shake off giving up 63 points to Baylor while preparing for Texas.
``It was a tough week mentally because it's hard to bounce back from a game like that. There were a lot of people criticizing me personally. But you know, we just feed off that,'' Carter said.
West Virginia's defense did make a couple of big plays to help get a huge road win at Texas.
The Longhorns led 28-27 at halftime and opened the third quarter with a 13-play drive that ate up seven minutes. But the Mountaineers got a key third-down stop that forced Texas to kick a field goal instead of scoring a touchdown. That kept Smith and the offense within one possession of taking the lead as the teams traded five more touchdowns.
In the fourth quarter, West Virginia forced a turnover on downs near midfield and didn't surrender any points after Smith lost his second fumble. Trailing 41-38 Texas had the ball on the Mountaineers' 12 with just over seven minutes to play.
Texas gained only four yards on two plays, then lost 16 yards when a shotgun snap sailed past quarterback David Ash as he turned his head to look at the play clock. Texas kicker Anthony Fera then missed a 41-yard field goal, another miscue that proved critical at the end.
``That was the difference in the game because momentum shifted. Defense just had to buckle up and stand up,'' linebacker Isaiah Bruce said.
While that mistake was self-inflicted by Texas, the Mountaineers took it as a break that went their way.
``It was a tremendous team victory. Defense came up with some big stops in key situations,'' West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen said. ``I thought they showed a lot of improvement.''
Texas left feeling as if it let one get away when that ball sailed past Ash and kept bouncing backward on the turf.
``When we had our opportunity to go ahead and didn't, that really hurt us,'' Texas coach Mack Brown said ``You've got to give (West Virginia) credit. They made the critical plays.''


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Launch ITWebmaster When you view ITWebmaster you will see a list of 'folders'. Those folders represent 'buttons' on your website. Folders are the main buttons on the website that appear in your menu.
'Sub folders' represent the buttons that appear when you hold your mouse cursor over a main button.
'Pages' can be linked from buttons, or can also appear to look like a 'sub folder' would on the website. 'Sub folders' are only ever needed if you want one of the buttons off a main button to link to more than one page. If you do not see your page under the folder you have it linked to, you will probably find it under 'pages unassigned to folders'.
This will allow you to easily organize your data into folders, which then are displayed on your website as buttons, flyouts and pages.
1) Creating a 'folder'
a) Click on the 'Add New Folder' link near the top of the page.
b) Fill in the form. 'Folder Name' is what will also appear on the website as the button name. 'Link button to page' is used if you want that folder to link to a page you created, or link to an outside site. 'Folder Order' is the order the button will appear on the website 'Hide folder' will hide the folder (button) from being displayed on the website menu.
c)Click on the 'SAVE' button to create the folder.
2) Creating a 'sub folder' ? once you have some folders created you will see them listed with the rest of your folders. If you click on 'properties' next to the folder name, you will be given the option to change the folder name, create a link, reorder the folder, or hide/unhide the folder'. Click 'SAVE' to save your changes to the folder.
3) Creating a 'page'
a) You can create a page for a specific folder by clicking on the 'add page' link next to the folder. If one page is added, then the page will link directly to the page from the folder on the website. If more than one page is added, the folder will show all the pages by appearing as flyouts on your website (the page names will appear when you hold your mouse over the button on your menu).
b) You can also create a page outside any folders by clicking the 'add page' link next to 'Pages unassigned to folders'. The 'Pages unassigned to folders' is just a place to hold all the pages that currently do not need to work like 3a (above). You want to use this method to create a page if you want to later link that page to a folder. For example, if you create a page and then click on the 'properties' link next to the folder name, you can choose your page from 'link button to page', which will then link the folder (button) directly to the page when you click on it. This method will not create a sub folder (flyout menu) for the page.
4) Moving a folder ? To move a folder click on 'move' next to the folder name. You will then be prompted to choose a folder to move it to (thus creating a sub folder). If you want to move a sub folder to be a regular folder, simply click on 'move' next to the sub folder, and then do not choose a folder, just click the 'MOVE' button.
5) Deleting a page ? You can delete a page by clicking 'delete' next to the page you want removed.
6) Deleting a folder ? You can only delete a folder that has nothing it in. Therefore, you will need to 'move' or 'delete' any pages within the folder before you can delete the folder. To delete the folder you need to click 'delete folder' next to the folder you need to remove.There is a new section added to ITWebMaster called "Member Folders". To learn more about member folders click here.


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Here is the Target Ad Preview for 08/04! These are the top deals that you can get next week at Target with Coupons and Gift Card Deals, but make sure you have all of your coupons ready and printed in case they go fast!
For all of the top deals every day at Target, check out our Target Deals Page![%printable-list:TargetAdPreview8413%]
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TIPS FROM THE PROSThere are new Printable Target Coupons each week and you may use 1 Store Coupon with 1 Manufacturer's Coupon according to the Target Coupon Policy. One of best ways to save at Target is by stacking Store Coupons and Manufacturer's Coupons along with Gift Card offers that are featured each week in the Target Ad. To get the Gift Cards you will make a purchase that is specified in the ad or in store. On these purchases, you can use your coupons as well to maximize your savings! You will get your Gift Card once you have completed your purchase! When you see a Gift Card offer, it is important to know that these offers come with rules and restrictions. Check out my post on the Target Gift Card Minimum Purchase Requirement.


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As club owners and operators, we spend an inordinate amount of time and money troubleshooting, brainstorming and researching the best ways to keep our members engaged, exercising in our clubs and continuing to pay their membership dues year after year. Many of us have developed a new member orientation program. Some of these programs make a dent in attrition numbers, but no one has yet found the member retention holy grail.
In his book "Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us," Daniel Pink examines what differentiates the most motivated individuals from those who struggle to stay on task. Although Pink's research is focused more on career-related motivation, many of his concepts are directly applicable to our customers in the fitness industry. Pink demonstrates that at work and in life, carrot and stick motivation (if you do A, I will give you B) is not enough to keep most of us going. Although this type of incentive may work initially, at some point people lose interest in the reward (savings on club programs, cash incentives, etc.) and the whole thing begins to feel like work. Pink says the carrot and stick scenario could even demotivate some people.
To understand this phenomenon, consider how you would feel if you were tasked with an important project at work. Perhaps it is your idea, and you are excited about what the end result will be. You're ready to throw yourself into it heart and soul. Your supervisor then tells you that if you can finish that project on time, he'll give you a small bonus of $50. It sounds great, since you weren't expecting anything extra at all. Then, as you face obstacles and push-back from co-workers, that $50 starts to look miniscule. You start to wonder if it's worth it—all this work for a measly $50. In the end, when the boss thanks you for a job well done and hands you the $50 gift card, are you eager to jump into another project?
It's best to reinvent the reward system. One method explored in Pink's book is a surprise reward. This could come in the form of seemingly random recognition of a member meeting a milestone, such as attending a certain number of classes, completing a certain number of personal training sessions or visiting the club a particular number of times in a month. It may even be a milestone for which you advertise a reward already, but only the staff knows in advance the "magic number." The member would be pleasantly surprised and touched by the attention. The reward itself could be any of those you might currently offer members in the carrot-and-stick way. The only difference would be that this reward would be a surprise to the member.
To illustrate this seemingly small difference, consider that big project again. It is your idea, and you are looking forward to jumping into it. This time, your boss encourages you but doesn't offer anything outright for the project's completion. You still encounter obstacles and push-back, but this is your baby and you will make it work. In the end, your boss surprises you with public recognition and a $50 gift card for a job well done. You're genuinely appreciative, as the reward is unexpected. It's not much, but it still feels good.
Members are not so different from us. Their experiences in our clubs may already feel a lot like work. To keep them returning, we need to reward them for their commitment—both to us and to their exercise program. You may already do something like this for your employees; if you don't, it's worth considering. By including employees in your reward and recognition philosophy, you begin to create a "pay it forward" culture. Members are pleased to see their favorite employees recognized and may begin to do more to draw management's attention toward those whom they deem worthy. Likewise, employees will want to see members recognized for their accomplishments, allowing management to get input from multiple sources on who deserves the next recognition award.
Creative and well-managed incentives can contribute to club engagement not only when members or employees are new, but even when they've been with us for five, 10 or 15 years. So create some unexpected ways to recognize members and staff throughout their tenure with you. Everyone loves a good surprise.
Amanda Harris is vice president of fitness and wellness at ACAC Fitness Centers in Virginia. She also is a management development specialist with more than 15 years of industry experience, including 13 years as a personal trainer.


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After introducing its Scrambler range of bikes in India with the Icon, Classic and Full Throttle models, Ducati has launched the Urban Enduro – the fourth and final bike in the series – at Rs 7.90 lakh (ex-showroom, Bengaluru). The launch took place at the inauguration of the Italian bike maker's showroom in Bengaluru.
Besides the wild green paint scheme on the Urban Enduro Scrambler, the bike's ribbed seats, front fork protectors, high front mudguard, and the headlamp protector distinguishes it from the other Scrambler bikes. The more subtle change comes in the form of 18-inch front wheels and smaller 17-inch rear wheels, unlike the 18-inchers seen on the other Scramblers both at the front and rear.
The underpinnings and powertrain of the bike, namely the USD front forks, the adjustable rear monoshock and the 73.8 bhp, 803cc, L-twin cylinder, air-cooled engine mated to a six-speed manual gearbox respectively are carried over from the current Scrambler range. The Urban Enduro also comes with ABS-equipped front and rear disc brakes and Pirelli dual sport tyres.


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Santa Barbara, Calif. – In the last home game of the regular season, UCSB fell to the visiting Pepperdine Waves in four sets. The Gauchos finish the regular season at 15-15 overall, 11-13 MPSF. Pepperdine's record improved to 14-11, 13-11.
Game scores for the match went 25-20, 21-25, 19-25, 23-25.
The Gauchos came out strong in the first set, slamming down a total of 16 kills. Evan Licht put down an incredible nine kills on just 11 swings, including the set-winning kill. Austin Kingi teamed up with Jake Staahl to pound down two hard blocks together. The Gauchos started to pull away at 16-14, and took nine out the final fifteen points.
However, the Waves bounced back and took an early command of the second set. UCSB started to gain momentum in the final points, but could not overtake Pepperdine's lead. Pepperdine channeled their momentum and started to pull away early in the third. The Gauchos reduced the lead to one at 17-18, but the Waves would not let them back into the match. The Waves took the third set just as they had the second.
UCSB needed a win in the fourth set to stay in the game. Still, Pepperdine was making waves and would not let up. The Waves took yet another early lead, forcing UCSB to play catch-up once again. A big kill from Dylan Davis put the Gauchos within one at 17-18. The kill sent a surge of energy through the Gauchos and they were able to tie the score at 21 all. However, Pepperdine's Maurice Torres dashed UCSB's hopes of a comeback with a game-winning kill.
Maurice Torres and Josh Taylor led the Waves to victory. Torres ended the night with 17 kills, and Taylor was right behind him at 16. Torres and Ryan Plueger led their defense with seven digs apiece.
Even though the Waves looked like they dominated the court, UCSB looked stronger on paper. The Gauchos hammered 54 kills-to the Waves' 47. UCSB outdug the opposition 35 to 29 and even recorded one more service ace than the Waves (five to four). Per usual, Evan Licht stepped up yet again to set a season-high record of 23 kills. Austin Kingi also had a great night, picking up 13 kills and seven kills.
As the final home game of the season, four seniors played their last game in the Thunderdome. Senior Dylan Davis hit a .571 clip at ended the game with 10 kills. Senior Grant Goswiller was a major presence on the defensive end, sweeping up seven digs. Senior Matt Silver entered the game to serve for the Gauchos.
UCSB head coach Rick McLaughlin commented on the Gauchos' playoff credentials, saying "we have to be the team that makes the other team beat us. We know when we play well that we can play with anyone."
The Gauchos will be heading to the playoffs next Saturday night on April 20th. UCSB, the seventh seed, will travel to face UC Irvine, the second seed and defending national champions.


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