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Think of the walls in your house, both big and small, as blank canvases. The possibilities are endless. You can opt for bold dynamic strokes of paint, more subdued textures of wallpaper or a perennial favorite — framed photos of family members in an instant gallery setting. Whichever path you take, show a little personality.
For artist Lynn Mudd of Redlands, the writing is on the wall and she loves it.
"I have always loved the power of words. I use them in the ceramic plaques I create, but words also remind me of the things I need to be reminded of," said Mudd.
And she certainly practices what she preaches. The artist, who works in a variety of media with some of her signature pieces ceramic plaques with quotes and words to live by on them, has her home filled with colorful art pieces, personal mementoes and items she enjoys. She has paired them with artwork showcasing sayings, phrases and thoughts for a day, or a lifetime for that matter. A work in her foyer declares "Life is Art. Paint Your Dreams," while another piece in her kitchen sums it up "Life Rules: Take chances. Follow your dreams. Risk it all. Believe in yourself. Let go. Make Mistakes. Start over. Speak the truth. Take responsibility. Find happiness. Live for today." Enough said.
"Since I don't actually draw or paint the words directly on the walls, if I should get tired of seeing something, I can just remove it. But, for instance, I have the word 'laugh' spelled out in giant block letters prominently displayed. Why or how could someone ever get tired of the word laugh?" she said with a chuckle.
In another room, the word "love" is showcased.
"That word just makes me smile no matter how many times I see it. I am drawn to color and I totally connect to the meanings behind words," she said. "Using them on my walls or throughout the house along with other pieces makes my home a part of me."
Apparently a lot of people feel the same way. Markets are filled with pieces of all shapes, colors and sizes that sport inspirational messages, quirky statements and eye-catching wordplay. Also popular are the bistro-like framed chalkboards that allow you to say whatever you want. All help make decorating fun, especially because there are no rules, said interior designer Kelly Ferm of Ferm Design Concepts in Claremont.
"What goes on your wall is completely up to you," Ferm said. "What goes on your walls is completely personal and there are no rules. That is my favorite part. When creating a collage of art, do not hesitate to push the envelope and, in all cases, try to stay away from production art. This collage should be a personal collection."
Also keep in mind a collection does not have to be expensive. Start in an antique store, find a pencil sketch or an interesting piece of art that will inspire discussion. Then add some vintage black and whites from the family, or include a piece of art from your child's kindergarten class.
"I am always blown away by the quality of art in kindergarten classes these days," she said.
Ferm encourages people to continue with that sense of freedom, but remember there is beauty in continuity. Kkeep similar or alike frame finishes together because it creates harmony, but don't be afraid about making everything match.
"You can get creative with the matting and add small pops of color in the double matt. The small pop of color can be pulled from your room's color palette, creating a connection to the entire room," she said.
When using random collections of small- to medium-sized pieces, size does count.
"When placing the art, try to have similar or alike sizes. There can be a variance, but avoid putting something too large in the group unless you are sticking to the large scale," Ferm said. "The pictures should be placed 2 ½ inches to 3 ½ inches apart and should in all directions. The tighter, the better. Lay your pattern out of the floor before putting too many holes in the wall. It can be a bit of a puzzle."
There is plenty of room for creativity, especially when it comes to working with symmetrical collections where sizes and shapes match.
"A symmetrical collection is another favorite of mine," Ferm said. "This denotes order and organization. My left brain loves this, while my right brain loves subtly-messy. Organize the alike art — theme, frames, size and find center point — and then anchor over something focal and voila! Working in rows of odd numbers works well, too."
Ferm said if you are faced with a very large space, an option is to choose an asymmetrical collection.
"If you want to use larger art, the looser disheveled look works really well in rooms that have high ceilings and scale. You can create the same idea as above but stick to a similar scale," Ferm said. "The pictures can be placed roughly 4 inches apart but not as tight. If you have a fine art piece, find a focal for this piece. Celebrate the artist and artist technique. Do not clutter it with less expensive art. This should be a stand-alone piece."
She said implementing what she called the "inspirational saying collection" is OK if done tastefully.
"The inspirational wall is lovely for a teenage girl's bedroom or a craft room or laundry room, but don't overdo it. If you want to surround yourself with kind words and blessings you can gently blend them into a collection," Ferm said. "I say go for it. In today's world we need to surround ourselves with pleasantries and kind messages. They are great for the soul."
Art combined with words can provide affirmation, solace and maybe just a reason to smile, said Vera Dunwoody, a psychology professor at Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga. She also has a design degree from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles and is the owner of Vintage by Vera, a vintage and antique treasure rescue store.
"Decorating blank walls can be really simple or challenging," Dunwoody said. "It really is both depending on the creativity of the person and the willingness to try something new. She or he really needs to just do what makes her or him smile. What is chosen is something a person will walk past on a daily basis so it needs to bring a person a happy feeling."
All the television shows that center on home décor are both a blessing and a problem, she adds.
"People often try to replicate what they see on HGTV and other programs not realizing there is a whole team of designers behind the scenes. They get frustrated because it looked so easy on television, or it does not look like what they were trying to recreate and they are frustrated," she said.
"One can take ideas from walls in antique/vintage stores or more modern spaces such as furniture store, even from online sites, and then take just small parts of them to incorporate into your own space. By mixing it in your own way, you personalize it and there is no right or wrong to the look."
Dunwoody added there's nothing wrong with purchasing pieces from artists. Even if it's not your work, the pieces usually are not mass-produced. Another alternative if you have children at home is to make a family piece of artwork. Buy a canvas and paint or markers at a local art store and have a family art day.
"Be sure to date the work and have all members sign it and voila, a family heirloom is born," she said.
Another idea is to hang various types of empty frames, in various colors or all one color on the wall. As artwork or found objects come into the home they can simply be hung in the empty frames on a simple hook or small nail. The objects can be switched out with the season or as one gets bored with them. It becomes a revolving wall display that one never gets tired of and guests will want to see how the objects change, she said.
And don't forget the magic of mirrors.
"Mirrors open up a room with light and trick the eye into the perception of a larger space," Dunwoody said. "Filling a wall with small odd-shaped mirrors that one finds at local flea markets or estate/garage sales can add visual interest to a space, especially when they are reflecting the outdoors."


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Whether or not you support the war in Iraq, you should support the men and women of our armed forces stationed there.
My friend Doug Hansen, whom I've known since 7th grade, is now in Iraq. In a recent email he mentioned that he bought a bunch of my books to pass around---apparently his unit is starved for entertainment.
I told him that I'd send him more books for the troops for him to distribute. Then I got to thinking---how cool would it be if his unit became the best read bunch of soldiers in the entire US military?
We all have extra books lying around, taking up space. Many of us are writers, and we have extra copies of our novels. I'm asking you to send a few to:
SFC Douglas Hansen
C Co / 163 MI Bn
COB Speicher
Postage won't cost much (it's considered domestic rate), and you'll be helping boost morale in a big way. Feel free to include a note or a letter telling them to get home safely.
Please pass this address around. I think it would be incredibly cool if Doug got so many books he began a US library in Baghdad.
Whoever sends the most books to Iraq (be honest) gets signed first editions of my first three novels, in hardcover. Post the number you've sent on www.jakonrath.blogspot.com, or email me at firstname.lastname@example.com. You have until the end of the month to get your books mailed.
Thanks for your help.
Monday, September 11, 2006
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Distance Learning Section Discussion Group at Annual 2014
Join the DLS Discussion Group for an informal discussion of the DLS Program, "Leading from the Side," as it applies to distance learning at your library.
When: Sunday, June 29, 2014 from 1:00pm to 2:30pm
Location: Bally's Bronze 1
Share your experiences as a distance librarian who leads through innovation and creativity. Discuss what you learned and how you envision applying it. Attendance at the DLS Program is not required to join us for this timely and important discussion.
Add the meeting to your schedule: http://ala14.ala.org/node/14682


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More Than a Beauty Contest
How to Select a Control System Integrator Without a Dart Board
The process of evaluating and choosing the most qualified control system integrator (CSI), at the best value, may be the most critical decision that affects overall project success.
Obviously most end-users are not in the business of being a control system integrator, and therefore many do not have the expertise to properly compare and contrast CSI's in a competitive, evaluated bid process.
Good Process, Good Choice
With a well-defined selection process in place, the most
qualified CSI rises to the top. A good choice here ensures
healthy collaboration and project success down the road.
Today's control systems often include intrusion monitoring , alarming, and the automation of processes in the event of these alarms; activities that may directly impact the safety and security of the public at large. Choosing the most qualified CSI is serious business.
These categories allow you to develop a decision matrix (Figure 1):
· Eligibility & Unique Features
· Project Understanding
· Hardware and Software Recommendations
· Project Approach
· Price
Figure 1: Decision Matrix
Choosing a qualified control system integrator is serious business
--a good decision matrix can help.
Eligibility and Unique Features
Eligibility: This category may be useful for scoring a company's stability beyond that established as minimum requirements. In other words, if you require a CSI to be in business for more than five years and the CSI you're evaluating has been in business for 30 years, your grade here could reflect this advantage. Areas to consider include:
Company Stability
· Firm's annual integration services gross revenue
· Firm's Size (# of employees)
· Number of Engineers on staff
· Turnover ratio (for the past 5 years)
· Years of service & experience per employee
· Financial Rating (Dunn & Bradstreet, etc.)
· Adequate Errors and Omissions insurance, as well as minimum bonding capacity
· Licensed Engineering Firm (length of time)
· Listed UL-508 panel shop, integral to the CSI
· Evidence internal company practices, policies and standards (may include Mission & Vision statement)
· CSIA Registered Member status
Unique features: This category gives you an area to score a company's unique characteristic that can be of value to your facility. Consider features that may not necessarily fit well into any other category. Overall company reputation or industry involvement in support organizations, (such as the AWWA, WEF, PNCWA, ISA, CSIA, OAWU, ERWA, APWA and MCAA) could be graded in this section.
Project Understanding
Does the company seem to have a good understanding of your organization's goals, both short term and long term? Is the CSI providing in their scope of supply what was specifically specified?
Hardware & Software Recommendations: In order to grade this category, you must first know something about the different hardware and software manufacturers that are on the market and available. You may decide to make your selections first, thereby eliminating this category. All CSI would then be required to provide the same equipment. Common hardware manufacturers include Rockwell Allen-Bradley, Siemens, Modicon and others. Software manufacturers include Wonderware, RSView, Intellution and many more. Several items to consider when selecting these components include:
- Manufacturer size/longevity
- Commitment to R&D
- New products/year
- % Market share
- Municipal references
- Availability of support personnel (inside & outside the company)
- Ease of use
- Expandability
- Cost (initial capital & cost of ownership over its lifetime),Communication medium, such as leased line, radio and spread spectrum telemetry may also be pre-selected, or graded in this section, if the project involves SCADA.
Project Approach
How does the company plan to approach the project? Will each of the project elements be met with the professionalism and the kind of expertise you're looking for? Are the tasks and the project schedule realistic and well laid out? Have project milestones been identified and a plan presented that will accomplish them?
Proposal Format: Is the proposal formatted and outlined well? Professional? Readable? Easily understood? This document represents the company's first impression, putting their "best foot forward." It could give you clues to the company's approach to the O&M manuals and other communication documents vital to your projects success.
Support Services: Does the CSI have good post project support? Does the company have a dedicated full-time field service manager? Support 24/7? Does it have the resources necessary to provide the level of service you require? Do they offer an annual maintenance program? How did the firm's references rate its post project support? Is it clear in the proposal that post project customer service is recognized by the CSI as a significant advantage to their organization?
Experience: Does the company and its employees have experience with projects of similar size and complexity? Be sure to consider each element (or task) of your project, especially any design requirements. It's one thing to have completed a project under a consultant's direction, its quite another for a CSI to perform all design-required elements in-house. There also exists quite a gap in experience with respect to SCADA vs. SCADA incorporating full Telemetry
References: Perhaps one of the most important "validators" of a CSI's performance. Is there good feedback on the company's past performance? Assure yourself that the references are representative of the type of project you are considering. Does the CSI develop good relationships with its contractors, consultants, customers and venders? Does the CSI come highly recommended by its references and others you have contacted through your own relationships?
A Reasonable Price
Does the price seem reasonable? Keep in mind that the price listed at this point in the process may be near impossible to determine, especially if the project has yet to be fully designed.
An artificially low price may be a sign that either the CSI has not included (or the CSI does not understand) the full project scope, or perhaps an initial low price is used as a ploy to lure you in; anticipating they will "change-order" the owner and end users throughout project implementation in order to make up the difference.
On the other hand, the price may be on the high side, conservatively taking into account areas yet to be well defined, such as the number of screens, reports, installation requirements and degree of involvement of the municipality.
It is highly recommended that price weigh little, to not at all, on the decision during this stage of the evaluation. We believe the best approach is to focus on selecting the most qualified CSI, such as the case when requesting an Statement of Qualification (SOQ) process. A highly respected and highly recommended CSI could not maintain its good reputation if they were to over inflate their pricing. A CSI unwilling to provide the best value would quickly fall out of favor, scoring very poorly on several of the categories previously covered.
Improving the List and Weighting the Categories
You may decide to add, combine or delete from this list. Vital to the criteria is the "weight" given to each category. Determining the importance, or weight, of each category is the initial step in completing this process. Our experience led us to the following values: Eligibility, 15%; Project Specifics (understanding, recommendations, approach and presentation), 33%; Support Service, 20%; Experience & References, 28%, followed by Price at 5%.
Price weighted at only 5%? Bear in mind that if you're evaluating a CSI's for a performance based, design-build project, your project is not yet designed. A solid price at this point is nearly impossible to ascertain. Your goal at this stage should be to select the most qualified CSI, and leave the determining and negotiating of the price to be taken care of at a later date. It is recommended that an owner seek a SOQ that does not include price, rather than a request for proposal (RFP) that may have a request for pricing.
Once you have assigned the appropriate weight per category, photocopy your matrix sheet, one per CSI, or use an Excel workbook, one sheet per integrator. Then rate each category based on a numerical grade, 0--100. Zero meaning they missed the mark completely, 100 being the highest possible score for that category.
First, score each CSI independently, methodically moving through their proposal, grading each category; one after the other. The second step fine-tunes the grades across the board.
In step two, select one particular category and compare grades among all the CSI's in that particular area. This will allow you to fine-tune the grades, as you may discover that you gave the same numerical value to two different CSI's. Comparing them now, side-by-side, may reveal that one CSI is more complete, say in the instance of "Project Approach." Fine-tune their grades by moving either one of them up or down, or whatever you find to be the best solution.
Final Score is next calculated by simply multiplying each category's grade by its associated, relative weight. Once you know the final score for each category, add them up for that CSI's individual Final Total.
The most qualified integrator rises to the top, having obtained the highest Final Total. Moving forward and awarding this most qualified CSI may be plainly obvious. If not, a second phase in your selection process is necessary.
Face to Face
Phase two involves face-to-face interviews. You may choose this step based on the total number of proposals, very close Final Totals, or other factors that lead you down this path. You'll want to short list the top scoring two or three CSIs and arrange to interview them at your facility, or perhaps better yet, their facility.
Several benefits accrue from this more involved stage, such as the opportunity for your organization to get a feel for the "personality" of the firm and how communication and interaction throughout the project may be conducted. Certainly items such as Project Understanding, Project Approach, and Price can and should be discussed in further detail at this stage.
A similar matrix should be developed for each of the interviews. Regardless of how you score the interviews, by investing the time and effort to go through the process as we have outlined, there is little doubt that one particular firm will stand out amongst the others, a firm you are eager to work with and begin a long term relationship with for the delivery and support of your new automation and control project.
The Intangibles
Lastly, you may want to develop a section, or determine through the Phase Two, (interview) process, certain intangibles. These intangibles could include how your organization "feels" about the CSI. In other words, are they trustworthy? Do you have the confidence that they can perform all aspects of your project within budget and on-time? Was the CSI professional throughout the process? Did their personalities mesh well with those in your company?
As discussed previously, we believe that addressing these critical areas, asking the right questions and simply taking the time to move through this process will reveal one or two companies that shine above the others. This will make your decision-making process much clearer and far less risky then the alternative "dart-board" or low bid process.


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SALT LAKE CITY — So this is what Jane Clayson Johnson traded fame and fortune for. She traded them for casseroles, car pools, Cookie Monster, laundry, ballet lessons, a house in the suburbs, a minivan, five children and a husband.
"Let me get my 4-year-old situated," she says almost as soon as she picks up the phone. "Can you wait a minute?"
You remember Clayson, don't you? She was co-host of "The Early Show" on CBS. She interviewed the powerful and hobnobbed with glitterati. She was making millions. She had an apartment in Trump Tower and later the Gimbel's building. A limo carried her to work every day. A BYU graduate, she reached the top of her profession.
Then she threw it all away, or rather traded it, for a family and the morning car pool.
"The difference between my life then and now is actually comical," she says.
In her old life, CBS sent a limo to her apartment before dawn every morning and whisked her down Fifth Avenue to the studio, where makeup and hairstylists and wardrobe people would ready her for the morning show as she studied newspapers and notes.
"Now I drive a minivan," she says. "I clean my toilets. I drive the car pool — I show up with no makeup and drive the kids to school."
She left CBS in September 2003, three months after she married Mark Johnson, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and Harvard Business School. She moved to Boston to join him, and they set up house with an instant family that included three of Mark's children from a first marriage, and Jane gave birth to the couple's children — Ella, 6, and William, 4.
She responds with one of her favorite replies to the obvious question: "There have been occasions when I would be cleaning up yet another mess in the kitchen and I would look at the TV and see an old friend or someone I had known at CBS or ABC, and see them globe-trotting or covering a big story or interviewing someone interesting, and I would be there on my hands and knees and wonder, what have I done?"
She continues. "I wouldn't trade it, and I would make the same choice in the same way at the same time. No regrets."
Her peers said she was crazy, of course — who passes up million-dollar offers and a national TV forum? But the truth is that her journalism career was a big accident anyway. In a Lennonesque twist of fate, the career happened while she was waiting for something else to happen — namely, marriage and kids and exactly what she got in the trade.
She was an English major at BYU, then switched to elementary education before she tried journalism. "I still felt that I was merely filling time until my 'real' life kicked in," she writes in her book, "I Am a Mother."
When she entered BYU, she formulated The Plan. She would graduate in four years, marry that summer, have a baby 18 months later, and then have more children every two or three years until she had five of them. She even had a list of baby names and her wedding dress picked out — McCall's pattern #7847. "I had my wedding colors picked out — peach and teal," she says. But no husband. She became disillusioned as she watched a procession of friends walk the aisle and start families.
"As these things often do, the timing was wrong, the matches weren't right," she says. "It wasn't for lack of trying."
The only thing that went according to plan was her graduation in April four years later. Her parents took her to dinner to celebrate that evening. They were at a stoplight by Liberty Park in Salt Lake City when it hit her like a bucket of cold water: Now what am I going to do? The Plan had been derailed, and she had no full-time job and no prospects for a husband.
Then the career happened. She had landed a part-time job at KSL during her senior year. That blossomed into a full-time job after she graduated. Her six-year stay at KSL was highlighted by a regional Emmy.
The career and the wait for a husband stretched into years. It appeared briefly that The Plan might be reclaimed when she married a man she met in Salt Lake City at the age of 26, but a year and a half later their marriage ended in divorce, and that definitely was not part of The Plan. She had hit rock bottom in her personal life.
By then the accidental journalist began a quick ascent to the top of her profession. She took a job in Los Angeles in 1996, working as a correspondent for "Good Morning America" and "World News Tonight," covering, among other things, the O.J. Simpson trial and Bob Dole's presidential campaign. In 1999, CBS began a search for Bryant Gumbel's co-host on "The Early Show" — "Operation Glass Slipper," they called it. Clayson won the job.
It should have been a time of elation, but her joy was tempered by the realization that she was wandering that much farther from The Plan. She was 32 years old and moving to the East Coast, single and alone.
Her parents helped her to settle in New York. She remembers her first night alone in New York, sitting in her apartment overlooking the Hudson from 30 floors up, "feeling like I might as well be on the surface of Mars. Everything felt so foreign. I was not following the plan I had for my life. I had this wonderful opportunity in front of me, which was given to me for a reason. I thought, I had better get down on my knees. I prayed. I laid it out. Here are my concerns ...."
The desire to marry among members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is ingrained from youth. When it doesn't go according to plan, when marriage doesn't happen in the early 20s, men and women often experience immense pressure, either self-imposed or from parents and family members. Clayson was no exception.
Reared mostly in Sacramento, Calif., she was the oldest of three children in a devout LDS family. Her father, Carl, was a vascular surgeon and her mother, Jane, a homemaker. Their daughters, Jane and Hannah, were ambitious, musical and devoted to their faith. Their only son was the great family tragedy. David died at 11 of a brain tumor in 1986.
"It was a defining moment for me," recalls Clayson. "He was sick for only a year. I came to understand getting on my knees and praying for help and comfort. I remember the empathy I learned from watching my mother care for him and watching him struggle. It was very trying."
Jane attended BYU on a music scholarship and played violin in the philharmonic and chamber orchestras. Hannah graduated from Princeton, where she performed in the school's chamber orchestra. She then graduated from BYU's law school. Hannah met her future husband, John Smith, at Princeton and, after helping to convert him to the LDS Church, they both served church missions, then married and began their law careers in Washington, D.C. Hannah served two clerkships on the U.S. Supreme Court. Like her sister, she walked away from a lucrative professional career to raise a family with an Ivy-League husband. She has three children and lives in Dallas, but she continues to serve as a legal counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.
"We had a good family life," says Hannah. "The gospel was taught in our home and we appreciated the values our parents instilled in us, and those values have guided us in our lives."
Against that backdrop, Jane was feeling unfulfilled even when her professional life was so fulfilled. Shortly before moving to New York, she received a phone call from the late Elder Neal A. Maxwell, a member of the LDS Church's Quorum of the Twelve. He asked her to stop in Salt Lake City en route to New York so that he could give her a blessing. As she writes in her book, Elder Maxwell stated, "You must allow the Lord to use you ... sometimes you will not understand what he is doing or why he is doing it. ... You must allow him to guide you and direct you."
In New York, she was introduced to a gathering of newspaper reporters from around the country as the new co-anchor of "The Early Show." One of the first questions they asked was about her Mormon faith and her refusal to drink coffee. How could she do "The Early Show" without coffee? Her religion would be a constant source of curiosity to reporters during the next few years.
In the years that followed, she covered President George W. Bush's inauguration and the 9/11 tragedy. She interviewed First Lady Laura Bush at the White House and anchored the one-year anniversary of 9/11 with Dan Rather.
In was a demanding job. Up at 3:45. Take the CBS limo to the studio at 4:15 with her hair still wet from the shower. Read four or five newspapers and talk to producers while her hair was blown dry and brushed and makeup applied. On the air by 6:30. Fill the rest of the day with lunches, meetings, speeches and taped interviews. Dinner at 5:30. Review four or five packets, 15 to 20 pages each, containing newspaper stories, biographies and news of the day that CBS sent to her apartment daily to prep for the next day's show. Compile interview questions for the next day. In bed by 9 p.m. Start again the next day.
"There was no time for anything else," she says. "It was incredibly intense." Her only break was Sunday and teaching an adult Sunday school class in her Mormon ward.
"She never planned on that career," says Hannah. "She felt like the Lord had brought her to where she was and was using her as an instrument for some good things. She also knew that she wanted to be married and have a family. The yearning was certainly there. She lived alone. There were times that were hard. It's hard when you're that age and in a high-profile position to meet someone who isn't intimidated by that."
In February 2001, some 18 months after settling in New York, Clayson was set up on a blind date with Johnson (he likes to joke that it wasn't a blind date for him because he had seen her on TV). Hannah was asked by a friend to arrange the meeting between her sister and Johnson, who owned a Boston-based management consulting business and had recently joined the LDS Church.
"I looked him up on the Internet of his business website," says Hannah. "I did my homework. I had a lot of people over the years who wanted me to set them up with my sister. I had my screening process."
Johnson came to New York and took Clayson to the Harvard Club. They continued to date for two and a half years. "They were very busy with travel and their careers," says Hannah. "And this was a second marriage. They wanted to make sure before they jumped in."
As fate would have it, Clayson's personal life and her professional life arrived at a crossroads almost simultaneously. "The timing was curious," she says. In the spring of 2002, Gumbel left "The Early Show." Clayson continued to work with a revolving door of male counterparts while CBS searched for a permanent replacement. Clayson had her moments, none more famous than when Martha Stewart came on the show at the height of the ImClone stock scandal that would eventually send her to prison. While Stewart chopped a cabbage, Clayson peppered her with questions about the scandal. Stewart made her first public comments about the controversy without missing a chop before she finally said, famously, "I want to focus on my salad." One observer compared it to a Saturday Night Live scene; it was great TV.
But CBS never could find a partner for Clayson and finally removed her from the show. She became a correspondent for CBS news and regularly reported for "Eye on America," "48 Hours" and the "CBS Evening News."
She married in September 2003. She was 36. Her contract with CBS expired at the end of the year, and she had decided that would mark the end of her professional career, although there were temptations to continue. ABC offered her a four-year contract just hours after Johnson proposed to her.
"It was a very lucrative offer to work on prime-time specials," she says. "By that time I had made up my mind, based on a great deal of prayer and thought."
She had decided that she couldn't juggle both a career and a family; the former was simply too demanding. "She could have chosen to have fulltime help, but she wanted to be more involved in her children's lives," says Hannah. It was a momentous decision. Clayson knew that if she left TV journalism, there was no going back. She was burning the boat. "Once you get off the network news train, it's hard to get back on," she says. "I was perfectly aware of what I was doing and the implications."
Many of her peers expressed their dismay at her decision. Her agent echoed the sentiment of many when he told her it was a terrible decision. "How can you walk away from this offer, and why would you want to?" he asked, according to Clayson. "You've worked 15 years to get to this point. ... You're crazy. These offers don't come around every day. What are you going to do, move up there and teach Sunday School?"
Ironically, after moving with Mark from New York to Boston, she was immediately called to serve as a Sunday School teacher. On Jan. 4, 2004, the day her new ABC contract was supposed to begin, she learned she was pregnant.
Not everyone was so cynical about her decision. She says one CBS executive came to her office and, after closing the door, said, "I have to tell you, I really respect what you're doing. You're following your heart and principles. There are a lot of people in this building who would make a similar choice if they weren't so caught up in achievement and success."
Just months after leaving journalism, Clayson told graduates at Utah State commencement exercises in 2004, "There is more to life than a job. I didn't ever want to look back and point to a bookshelf of videotapes and say that's been my life. It's so much easier to write a resume than it is to craft a spirit. There are seasons in life. Don't ever let anyone try to deny you the joy of one season because they believe you should stay in another season ... Listen to yourself. Trust your instincts. Keep your perspective."
Talking about this now, almost seven years later, Clayson feels compelled to clarify her feelings on working mothers. "I want to make something clear," she begins. "Every woman makes her own decisions about her life based on her circumstances and her own desires. A lot of women don't have a choice. Their situations are different and they can't do what I did. Sometimes these choices come with judgment. I don't ever assume judgment of any other woman's choice. That's important to me."
Looking back, she has hard-earned empathy for women whose hopes for marriage and family have gone unfulfilled or delayed. She advised and interacted with many such women when Mark served as a bishop for a young single adult ward.
"I finally realized after many years," she says, "that if you lay out everything you have — your hopes and fears and desires and your own plan — and turn it over to the Lord — let it go and walk away — it is a liberating moment. It takes a lot of prayer and meditation and wanting to trust in something besides yourself. Trust in God's plan and don't focus so much on yourself. Go find someone else to help."
Recently, Clayson cooperated for one of the I-Am-a-Mormon video series, which the LDS Church has sponsored and made available on the Internet. It is clear that Clayson, now 43, is content and happy with her decision. In the video, she explains her feelings about her second life with a certain eloquence. "I would not trade these moments, these precious moments," she says. "It's a season of my life that will be gone with my kids in just a few years." She concludes by looking directly into the camera and identifying herself thusly: "My name is Jane Clayson Johnson. I'm a taxi driver. I'm a macaroni and cheese maker. I'm a homework helper. I'm a boo-boo fixer. I am a journalist. And I am a Mormon."
e-mail: [email protected]


text: What was the name of that really fun game? Maybe it was a typing game with upgrades and magic powers. Or was it was a bubble shooter with cool countdown challenge and destructive power ups. I can't remember! You don't have to know great game titles to play at Mindjolt. Love bubble games, ball games, or dress up Barbie games, head over to B. Don't know what you want, but love to blow away zombies? Head over to the Z section to find a cache full of weapons and hordes of shambling zombies. Want a fun, addicting game you can play for free? Click on any one of these great games! If you want to surf the web's highest waves, race in flashy cars in the world's biggest cities, or just slug it out in one of our many street fighting games, our free fun games are waiting for you to go sign in and start playing.


text:
HIV Infection in Women
- Overview
- Current Research
- Transmission
- Signs and Symptoms of HIV Infection
- Gynecologic Screening
- Survival Among HIV-Infected Women
- Early Diagnosis
- More Information
- References for Statistics
The number of women with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) infection and AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) has been increasing steadily worldwide. By the end of 2003, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), 19.2 million women were living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, accounting for approximately 50 percent of the 40 million adults living with HIV/AIDS.
By the end of 2002, 159,271 adolescent and adult women in the United States were reported as having AIDS. Based on cases reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) through December 2002, more than 57,376 women have been infected with HIV. Among adolescent and adult women, the proportion of AIDS cases more than tripled from 7 percent in 1985 to 26 percent in 2002. Nonetheless, AIDS cases in adolescent and adult women have declined by 17 percent and have plateaued in the past 4 years, reflecting the success of antiretroviral therapies in preventing the development of AIDS.
Worldwide, more than 90 percent of all adolescent and adult HIV infections have resulted from heterosexual intercourse. Women are particularly vulnerable to heterosexual transmission of HIV due to substantial mucosal exposure to seminal fluids. This biological fact amplifies the risk of HIV transmission when coupled with the high prevalence of non-consensual sex, sex without condom use, and the unknown and/or high-risk behaviors of their partners.
Younger women are also increasingly being diagnosed with HIV infection, particularly among African-Americans and Hispanics. Through December 2002, women aged 25 and younger accounted for 9.8 percent of the female AIDS cases reported to CDC.
HIV disproportionately affects African-American and Hispanic women. Together they represent less than 25 percent of all U.S. women, yet they account for more than 82 percent of AIDS cases in women.
Women suffer from the same complications of AIDS that afflict men but also suffer gender-specific manifestations of HIV disease, such as recurrent vaginal yeast infections and severe pelvic inflammatory disease, which increase their risk of cervical cancer. Women also exhibit different characteristics from men for many of the same complications of antiretroviral therapy, such as metabolic abnormalities.
Frequently, women with HIV infection have great difficulty accessing health care, and carry a heavy burden of caring for children and other family members who may also be HIV-infected. They often lack social support and face other challenges that may interfere with their ability to adhere to treatment regimens.
Current Research
To confront the growing problem of HIV infection and AIDS in women, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has made woman-focused research an important component of the Institute's AIDS research program.
NIAID is studying the course of HIV/AIDS disease in women primarily through two cohort studies: the Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS) and the Women and Infant's Transmission Study. Clinical trials to investigate gender-specific differences in disease progression, complications and/or treatment are also being conducted by the Adult AIDS Clinical Trials Group (AACTG), the Pediatric AIDS Clinical Trials Group (PACTG), and the Terry Beirn Community Programs for Clinical Research on AIDS (CPCRA).
Natural History and Epidemiological Research
NIAID supports studies in the United States and abroad of the natural history and manifestations of HIV infection in both non-pregnant and pregnant women, as well as the factors that influence the transmission of HIV to women. Investigators are studying the unique features of HIV/AIDS in women and developing treatment regimens for them.
The WIHS, a multi-site, prospective cohort of predominantly minority HIV-infected and uninfected women, is conducting research on the natural history of HIV among women and has increased the number of women enrolled in their study. The increase in participants will enable WIHS to evaluate the natural history and clinical outcomes in the era of highly active antiretroviral therapy, or HAART, such as
- Time to AIDS
- Impact of other infections such as hepatitis C
- Therapy use and treatment effects in women
- Impact of aging on HIV disease
- Impact of hormonal factors on HIV disease
The expansion is now complete, and projects have 2,580 women under active follow-up.
A study conducted in the WIHS compared the rates of AIDS and/or death prior to (October 1994 to April 1996) and after (April 1996 to March 1999) the introduction of HAART (highly active antiretroviral therapy). Mortality declined 21 percent for women with AIDS and 11 percent for those without AIDS at the start of WIHS. The researchers also quantified the level of immune reconstitution and viral suppression. Women with AIDS at study entry saw the greatest improvements in their CD4+/CD8+ cells and viral load.
In another study, WIHS researchers showed that a baseline measurement of serum albumin (the main protein in the blood) was a strong predictor of 3-year survival in HIV-infected women. Women with serum albumin levels in the low-normal range had a higher risk of death compared to those with higher levels of serum albumin. This information could have important implications for women's treatment decisions, and given the low cost and availability of this measurement, it may have applications in resource-poor settings.
Moreover, another study showed that after adjusting for age, serum albumin levels, body mass index, CD4 lymphocyte counts, and HIV-1 RNA levels, higher C-reactive protein levels (> 0.4 mg/dL) were associated with shorter survival. C-reactive protein, an inflammatory marker, may be a useful and inexpensive predictor of HIV disease mortality in women.
In a study co-funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and NIAID, researchers found that the initial HIV viral load in women tends to be lower than in men regardless of CD4+ T cell count. Investigators need to do additional research to determine the significance of this finding because the rate of progression to AIDS in women appears to be similar to that in men.
Topical Microbicides
Because HIV is spread predominantly through sexual transmission, the development of chemical, biological, and physical barriers that can be used intravaginally or intrarectally to inactivate HIV and other sexually transmitted infection (STI) pathogens is critically important for controlling HIV infection.
Scientists are developing and testing new chemical and biological compounds that women could apply before intercourse to protect themselves against HIV and other sexually transmitted organisms. These include creams or gels, known as topical microbicides, which ideally would be non-irritating, inexpensive, and unobtrusive. The research effort for developing topical microbicides includes basic research, preclinical product development, and clinical evaluation. There are several promising investigational topical microbicides, such as PR02000/5 Gel (P), Cellulose Sulfate Gel, and PMPA Gel, currently in clinical trials in the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN).
Less than 10 percent of the participants reported symptoms that could have been attributable to the product, and upon pelvic examination, approximately 90 percent had no visible vaginal or cervical abnormalities. Currently, researchers are planning a Phase III trial which will evaluate the effectiveness of Carraguard. (Carraguard is a gel derived from seaweed that prevents infection of appropriate target cells by HIV and other STIs.) In addition, HPTN has initiated several Phase I trials to study the safety and acceptability of other candidate microbicides and will be conducting a Phase II/IIb trial of two other promising microbicide candidates for vaginal use.
Scientists are no longer studying nonoxynol-9 (N9) as a potential microbicide due to safety concerns and the potential for increased risk of HIV infection as reported at the 13th International Conference on AIDS in Durban, South Africa, in July 2000.
Transmission of HIV to Women
In the United States, most women are infected with HIV during sex with an HIV-infected man or while using HIV-contaminated syringes for the injection of drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and amphetamines. Of the new HIV infections diagnosed among women in the United States, through 2002, the CDC estimated that 70.3 percent were attributed to heterosexual contact and 27.6 percent to injection drug use.
In the United States, studies have shown that during unprotected heterosexual intercourse with an HIV-infected partner, women have a greater risk of becoming infected than uninfected men who have heterosexual intercourse with an HIV-infected woman. In other parts of the world, however, this is not necessarily true. In Uganda, for example, one study demonstrated that the risk of HIV transmission from woman to man was the same as from man to woman. This difference may be due to the lack of circumcision in Ugandan men.
Studies in both the United States and abroad have demonstrated that STIs, particularly infections that cause ulcerations of the vagina (for example, genital herpes, syphilis, and chancroid), greatly increase a woman's risk of becoming infected with HIV. NIAID-sponsored cohort studies in the United States have also found a number of other factors to be associated with an increased risk of heterosexual HIV transmission, including alcohol use, history of childhood sexual abuse, current domestic abuse, and use of crack/cocaine.
Consistent and correct use of male latex condoms greatly reduces the risk of becoming infected with HIV. In studies of heterosexual couples, in which one individual was HIV-positive and the other uninfected and regular condom use was reported, the rate of HIV transmission was extremely low.
Studies using antiretroviral drugs to try to prevent transmission will be starting soon in the United States and internationally. HPTN Trial 052, which will be conducted in the United States and five other countries, will study approximately 1750 serodiscordant couples with CD4 counts above 300 cells. The trial will determine whether HAART, when given to the infected partner along with prevention counseling and interventions like condoms, prevents HIV transmission to the uninfected partner better than prevention counseling and prevention services alone. Another trial using an antiretroviral drug (tenofovir) to try to prevent HIV transmission in HIV negative sex workers in Cambodia will begin soon.
Mother-to-Child Transmission (MTCT) of HIV
In the United States, approximately 25 percent of pregnant HIV-infected women who do not receive AZT or a combination of antiretroviral therapies pass on the virus to their babies. If women do receive a combination of antiretroviral therapies during pregnancy, however, the risk of HIV transmission to the newborn drops below 2 percent.
The risk of MTCT is significantly increased if the mother has advanced HIV disease, high amounts of HIV in her bloodstream, or fewer-than-normal amounts of the CD4+ T cells.
Other factors that may increase the risk include
- Drug use, such as heroin or crack/cocaine
- Severe inflammation of fetal membranes
- A prolonged period between membrane rupture and delivery
One NIAID-sponsored study found that HIV-infected women who gave birth more than 4 hours after rupture of the fetal membranes were nearly twice as likely to transmit HIV to their babies, as compared to women who delivered within 4 hours of membrane rupture. In the same study, HIV-infected women who used heroin or crack/cocaine during pregnancy were also twice as likely to transmit HIV to their babies as compared to HIV-infected women who did not use drugs.
Most MTCT, an estimated 50 to 70 percent, probably occurs late in pregnancy or during birth. Although the exact ways the virus is transmitted are unknown, scientists think it may happen when the mother's blood enters fetal circulation or by mucosal exposure to the virus during labor and delivery.
Research is underway to identify the mechanisms of MTCT and to develop interventions to reduce it. Notably, NIAID-funded investigators have identified regimens that reduce MTCT. The first regimen to prevent MTCT was identified in a landmark study conducted in 1994 by the PACTG. A specific regimen of AZT given to an HIV-infected woman during pregnancy and to her baby after birth was shown to reduce mother-to-child HIV transmission by two-thirds.
In another NIAID-sponsored study (HIVNET 012) in Uganda, researchers identified a highly effective and safe drug regimen for preventing transmission of HIV from an infected mother to her newborn that is more affordable and practical than any other course of therapy examined to date. The study demonstrated that a single oral dose of the antiretroviral drug, nevirapine, given to an HIV-infected woman in labor and another dose given to her baby within 3 days of birth reduces the transmission rate by about half compared with a course of AZT given only during labor and delivery. Additional data from this study demonstrated the continued benefit and safety of nevirapine in reducing MTCT up to 18 months, even in a breastfeeding population. This study suggests that women in the United States who are identified as HIV-infected very late in pregnancy or at the time of labor and delivery could lower the rates of HIV transmission to their babies by following a nevirapine-containing regimen.
Data from HIVNET 012 also showed that resistance to nevirapine was present in approximately 19 percent of women 6 to 8 weeks after the single dose of nevirapine. After 12 to 24 months, there was no nevirapine resistance detectable in these women using standard methods of HIV resistance testing. Nevertheless, these data are of concern because preliminary data from a small, uncontrolled trial presented at the 2004 Retrovirus Conference in San Francisco by Jourdain et al. showed that women who had received previous single dose nevirapine had poorer virologic outcome when treated with HAART than women who had never received nevirapine.
Additionally, data from an AACTG study showed that subjects who had prior nevirapine, efavirenz, or delaviradine treatment (the anti-HIV drug class abbreviated "NNRTI") had poorer virologic outcomes than those who were NNRTI naïve. The conclusion was that low level, previously unidentified drug resistance can lead to future treatment failure. Given these data, researchers are planning several randomized clinical trials to assess the impact of prior single dose nevirapine on treatment outcomes in the mother, as well the infant, and to assess various strategies to prevent the emergence of drug resistance after single-dose nevirapine used for MTCT.
HIV may also be transmitted from a nursing mother to her child. A series of studies have determined that breastfeeding increases the risk of HIV transmission by about 14 percent. Currently, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) recommends that HIV-positive women be educated and counseled so they can make an informed decision about how to best feed their children. Research is underway in areas of the world where the benefits of breastfeeding outweigh the risks to identify effective strategies for reducing the risk of transmission through breastfeeding. This includes early weaning strategies, as well as evaluating drugs or vaccines to reduce the risk of transmission from breastfeeding.
Studies are also underway or planned to determine if antiretroviral drugs given to the uninfected infant or to the infected, breast-feeding mother will prevent HIV transmission to the infant. An example is HPTN 046, which will evaluate the effects of nevirapine on uninfected infants born from HIV infected mothers who are breastfeeding.
Signs and Symptoms of HIV Infection
Many manifestations of HIV disease are similar in men and women. Both men and women with HIV may have non-specific symptoms even early in disease, including low-grade fevers, night sweats, fatigue, and weight loss. Anti-HIV therapies, as well as treatments for other infections associated with HIV, appear to be similarly effective in men and women. Other conditions, however, occur in different frequencies in men and women. HIV-infected men, for instance, are eight times more likely than HIV-infected women to develop a skin cancer known as Kaposi's sarcoma. In some studies, women had higher rates of herpes simplex infections than men.
Data from several studies conducted by CPCRA found that HIV-infected women were also more likely than HIV-infected men to develop bacterial pneumonia. This finding may be explained by factors such as a delay in seeking care among HIV-infected women as compared to men, and/or less access to anti-HIV therapies or preventive therapies for Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, or PCP.
Woman-Specific Symptoms of HIV Infection
Women also experience HIV-associated gynecologic problems, many of which occur in uninfected women but with less frequency or severity.
Vaginal yeast infections, common and easily treated in most women, often are particularly persistent and difficult to treat in HIV-infected women. Data from WIHS suggest that these infections are considerably more frequent in HIV-infected women. Health care providers commonly use a drug called fluconazole to treat yeast infections. A CPCRA study demonstrated that weekly doses of fluconazole can also safely prevent oropharyngeal and vaginal, but not esophageal yeast infections, without resulting in resistance to the drug.
Other vaginal infections may occur more frequently and with greater severity in HIV-infected women, including bacterial vaginosis and common STIs such as gonorrhea, chlamydia, and trichomoniasis.
Severe herpes simplex virus ulcerations, which are sometimes unresponsive to therapy with the standard drug acyclovir, can severely compromise a woman's quality of life.
Idiopathic genital ulcers, with no evidence of an infectious organism or cancerous cells in the lesion, are a unique manifestation of HIV infection. These ulcers, for which there is no proven treatment, are sometimes confused with those caused by herpes simplex virus.
Human papillomavirus (HPV) infections, which cause genital warts and can lead to cervical cancer, occur more frequently in HIV-infected women. A precancerous condition associated with HPV, called cervical dysplasia, is also more common and more severe in HIV-infected women and more apt to recur after treatment.
Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) appears to be more common and more aggressive in HIV-infected women than in uninfected women. PID may become a chronic and relapsing condition as a woman's immune system deteriorates.
Menstrual irregularities frequently are reported by HIV-infected women and are being actively studied by NIAID-supported scientists. Although menstrual irregularities were equally common in HIV-infected women and at-risk HIV-negative women in a WIHS survey, women with CD4+ T-cell counts below 50 per cubic millimeter (mm3) of blood were more likely to report no periods than were uninfected women, or HIV-infected women with higher CD4+ T-cell counts.
Gynecologic Screening
CDC currently recommends that HIV-positive women have a complete gynecologic evaluation, including a Pap smear, as part of their initial HIV evaluations, or upon entry to prenatal care, and another Pap smear 6 months later. If both smears are negative, annual screening is recommended thereafter in asymptomatic women. The agency also recommends more frequent screenings-every 6 months-for women with symptomatic HIV infection, prior abnormal Pap smears, or signs of HPV infection.
Early Diagnosis
Some women in the United States have poor access to health care. In addition, women may not think they are at risk for HIV infection. They may not heed symptoms that could serve as warning signals of HIV infection, such as recurrent yeast infections. PID and the other symptoms discussed above should signal health care providers to offer women HIV testing with counseling.
Early diagnosis of HIV infection allows women to take full advantage of antiretroviral treatments and preventive medicines for opportunistic infections when their health care providers think it is appropriate. Both appropriate therapy and preventive drugs can forestall the development of AIDS-related symptoms and prolong life in HIV-infected women as well as men. Early diagnosis also allows women to make informed reproductive choices. Health care providers should be alert to early signs of HIV infection in women. In addition, all women should consider HIV testing if they have engaged in behaviors that put them at risk of infection.
Survival Among HIV-Infected Women
Women whose HIV infections are detected early and receive appropriate treatment survive as long as HIV-infected men. Although several studies have shown HIV-infected women to have shorter survival times than men, this may be because women are less likely than men to be diagnosed early.
In an analysis of several studies involving more than 4,500 people with HIV infection, women were 33 percent more likely than men to die within the study period. The investigators could not definitively identify the reasons for excess mortality among women in this study, but they speculated that poorer access to or use of health care resources among HIV-infected women as compared to men, domestic violence, homelessness, and lack of social supports may have been important factors.
More Information
AIDS_info_ is a comprehensive resource for up-to-date information on government- and industry-sponsored HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention clinical trials. AIDS_info_ also maintains the most current federally approved guidelines for treating and preventing HIV/AIDS in adults and children, for AIDS-related illnesses, for managing occupational exposure to HIV, and for preventing HIV transmission from mother-to-child during pregnancy.
AIDS_info_ is sponsored by the NIH Office of AIDS Research, NIAID, National Library of Medicine, CDC, Health Resources and Service Administration, and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
P.O. Box 6303
Rockville, MD 20849-6303
Monday to Friday, 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time
For information specifically about clinical trials conducted by the NIAID Intramural AIDS Research Program, call 1-800-243-7644 (http://clinicaltrials.gov).
References for Statistics
- UNAIDS/WHO AIDS Epidemic Update: December 2002 www.unaids.org/en/other/functionalities/ViewDocument.asp? href=http://gva-doc-owl/WEBcontent/Documents/pub/Publications/IRC-pub06/JC943-EpiUpdate2003_en.pdf
- CDC HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report, Vol. 14, No.2, December www.cdc.gov/hiv/stats/hasr1402.htm


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One of my favorite chefs on the Food Network (and now The Cooking Channel) is Ellie Krieger. She is fantastic and her food is healthy! If you don't know who Ellie is you should try to catch one of her shows on the previous mentioned channels. Here is a small blurb about her from Wikipedia:
Ellie Krieger is the host of a show on the Food Network called Healthy Appetite. She is also an author and has written several books on healthy eating.
Krieger was a fashion model during her late teens and early 20s for the Wilhelmina Models agency.[1] As a model she became conscientious of what she was eating, so during this time, she changed her eating habits to be healthier.[2].
Krieger has a bachelor's degree in clinical nutrition from Cornell University,[3] and has a master's in nutrition from Columbia University.[4]Krieger is a registered dietitian and nutritionist[5] and was an adjunct professor at New York University in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health.[1]
Krieger contributes to magazines such as Cooking Light, Food Network Magazine and Women's Health Magazine.[6] Additionally she maintains her own blog.
Back in November a really good friend of mine who works at a Barnes and Noble in New Jersey met Ellie at her store and had one of her cookbooks, So Easy signed for me! It was such a surprise when I got it in the mail…I use this cookbook very often and have loved every single dish I have made from it. All I have to say is healthy food and be extremely tasty! What is even better is I have had no problems making any of her dishes gluten free 🙂
I also have an edition of Fine Cooking from June 2009 – Eat Smart with Ellie Krieger (Featuring recipes from her best seller, The Food You Crave). This magazine is jam packed with her amazing recipes and the other night I made her Honey Roasted Sweet Potatoes. Normally I boil my sweet potatoes and mash/whip them up with a bit of cinnamon but I wanted to try something new, and I am happy I did. (You can also watch a video on this super simple, yet extremely tasty recipe here)
Ellie's Honey-Roasted Sweet Potatoes
– Roasting sweet potatoes concentrates their flavor and leaves them caramelized outside and tender inside. Coating them with a touch of lemon and honey before cooking makes them all the more flavorful.
3 large sweet potatoes (about 2 pounds), peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Place the potatoes in a 9×13-inch baking dish. In a small bowl, whisk together the oil, honey, and lemon juice. Pour the mixture over the potatoes and toss to coat. Sprinkle with the salt and bake, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are tender, about 1 hour. Season with more salt to taste and serve.
(Also these are great re-heated). I think these will be on our table for Thanksgiving this year. Not to sweet but perfectly flavored and tender.


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He would trade his headphones for a helmet in a second. But these days, the headphones represent Matt Grootegoed's connection to the game he has always loved.
"On the field, I get the itch, sometimes, to go play," said Grootegoed, 30, a former USC All-American linebacker who became an Orange County football legend as a tailback and safety at Mater Dei High about a dozen years ago. "The best part about coaching is being around football, being around the guys and just being in the game."
Grootegoed is six games into his first season as linebackers coach at Orange Coast College, which is 3-3 entering its home game against Santa Ana Saturday at 7 p.m. at LeBard Stadium. It's the first time he has immersed himself in football since his professional career ended after three seasons with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League in 2009.
After starring at USC, where the one-time Butkus Award finalist won back-to-back national championships in 2003 and 2004 and played with Heisman Trophy winners Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush, Grootegoed signed as an undrafted free agent with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2005.
After being released from Tampa Bay's practice squad, the 5-foot-10, 215-pounder signed with the Detroit Lions, for whom he played the final three games of the 2005 season.
His first year in Canada was 2007 and he helped the Stampeders win the 2008 Grey Cup, Canada's equivalent to the Super Bowl.
"I wanted to play more but things don't always work out the way you'd like," Grootegoed said. "But I took as much advantage of [the opportunity to play] as I could and I enjoyed every freakin' second of it, that's for sure."
Always an inspirational player, though never a vocal leader, Grootegoed picked firefighting as his post-football career path. He completed a six-month program at a fire academy in Sacramento in 2010 and has been working toward obtaining a job in that field ever since.
But while he awaits that call, he has answered another: the allure of a game for which he was always uniquely suited as an athlete.
"He was one of the most instinctive, competitive, focused kids I've ever been around," Mater Dei Coach Bruce Rollinson said of the two-time CIF Southern Section Division I Defensive Player of the Year. "I would think he's doing an outstanding job [coaching], because anyone who knows anything about Matt Grootegoed knows everything he did when he was here, he did 110%. There's no doubt that Matt Grootegoed is considered one of the top five players in the history of Mater Dei football and that's saying a lot. He basically has legendary status around here. There's not a week that goes by that Matt's name is not brought up and not a week that goes by that I don't talk about something that Matt Grootegoed did. You can't put a value on the memories that he created for all of us."
Grootegoed said he remembers the wins and losses more than his personal statistics, with the possible exception of the tackles he missed. And he is happy to pass along the nuances of the game he picked up from coaching influences such as Pete Carroll.
"I'm very raw as a coach," said Grootegoed, who grew up in Huntington Beach. "It's not necessarily something I always wanted to do. But having the background I have, it's something easy to drop into."
Any reluctance he had about coaching, however, has been nudged aside by a passion for working with players.
"I think I've been bitten by the bug," Grootegoed said. "I look forward to getting out there, seeing those kids and teaching them something they didn't know. I am enjoying coaching right now at OCC, but I don't know what's going to happen next year. Being a firefighter is my ultimate goal. But I'm learning about coaching and I think this is a job that could be a career possibly. I want to build my toolbox of coaching."
OCC Coach Mike Taylor said Grootegoed's tools currently include a strong rapport with his players, genuine enthusiasm for the game, and a grasp of the intricacy of the linebacking position forged by having played at an elite level.
"He has an insight into the game that has helped [the linebackers'] maturation," Taylor said of a crew that includes two of the top six tacklers in Southern California in sophomore Nick Cody (60 tackles) and freshman Chris Aguilar (54).
Grootegoed said his understated coaching style is true to his personality. He cringes, he said, when his superiors suggest he emphatically criticize a player over a mistake.
"I feel like every time [the linebackers] do something good, I'm a part of it," Grootegoed said. "And when they do something bad, I feel just as at fault as they do."
Twitter: @BarryFaulkner5


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CloudSand Release of Apache CloudStack
CloudSand has been created to allow more rapid release cycle with stability and features enhancements in mind.
While Apache CloudStack project uses agile release cycle, it also means that if feature x has not been submitted by specific deadline, it will be pushed onto the next release cycle.
While this can be very effective development cycle, it may also hurt the cloud adoption process as some users are depended on the release of the feature x. The same concept would apply to bug fixes. If we see a bug fix or a feature that helps majority of enterprise customers, we will attempt to backport it and release an updated version of CloudSand.
CloudSand releases are made with upgradability in mind. Which means you should be able to upgrade to later version of official CloudStack release and all features would remain intact. We do so by being very selective with patches/commits we choose to backport.
The code is posted on github under:
RPMs are available on our local yum repo:
CloudSand Linux OS Templates
We've automated the creation process of Linux OS Templates – ready for CloudStack usage.
Templates will be released on a monthly cycle with all applicable updates at the time of creation. At the present moment we are focusing on RedHat based distributions such as Fedora Core, CentOS and Scientific Linux.
Visit OS Templates page to learn more and download your templates.
CloudSand is a community project lead by volunteers.
Oct 05
Hello world!
Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!


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There are seats for only 5,350 students in this fall's freshman class at the University of Minnesota. Applicants however, far exceed that number.
"The Twin Cities campus has received more than 33,000 applications for fall 2009," according to Wayne Sigler, the U of M's admissions director.
That's 4,500 more than last year at this time, a 16 percent increase, Sigler said.
Sigler cites the economy as one of the reasons for the increase. More students and their families are considering the cost of tuition as they make their college decision, he said. A year at the U of M costs about $10,000.
"The cost of the institution is always a major factor for most of us," Sigler said. "I think that's especially going to be important this year given the very difficult economic situation our state and our country is facing."
Officials at the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System think that may also be the reason behind an increase in fall applications at their colleges and universities. It costs about $4,500 a year to attend one of the state's community colleges. At a state university, like St. Cloud State, the tuition bill runs around $7,000.
Applications are up eight percent in MnSCU's system. That's a total of 68,700 applications, nearly 5,000 more than last year.
Anoka-Ramsey Community College received 148 more applications for fall classes this year. More people are looking at community and technical colleges as the economy suffers, said Anoka-Ramsey spokeswoman Mary Jacobsen.
"There are so many people being laid off. There's people with some time, and they want to improve their skills," Jacobsen said. "They want to get back to work, they might want to take a computer course to enhance some of their skills, or look into a complete program."
The recession could also be behind a decrease in the application count for Minnesota's private colleges. On average, applications for fall are down 2 percent among the 17 colleges that make up the Minnesota Private College Council.
Private colleges shouldn't worry too much about those numbers, the council's executive director Dave Laird said.
"One or two percent is not a serious deviation from anything," Laird said.
The decrease comes after several years of record application numbers at Minnesota's private colleges, Laird said.
At the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, where tuition runs $26,000 a year, applications are down about 2 percent over last year. But that's still higher than the total from two years ago. Admissions officials are happy about that, especially in this economy.
The real enrollment test may still be looming for colleges, according to Eric Berg, Scholastica's vice president of enrollment management.
"We may have a strong effect and possibly a more negative effect to measure with the fall of 2010 class, than we will for the fall 2009 class," Berg said. "Just because a lot of families are willing to sacrifice still to make sure that students end up where they most wanted to be."
Berg puts less stock in the number of applications colleges receive and is more interested in the number of students who actually attend once they're accepted.
All Minnesota colleges will soon have a better idea of how many students they'll see on campus this fall. May 1st is the deadline at most schools for students to make their intentions known.


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Venturing Advancement
From MeritBadgeDotOrg
Revision as of 12:24, October 25, 2007 by Scoutersig (Talk | contribs)
| Please help improve this article by expanding it.
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Advancement in Venturing is not a single, simple path like advancement in the Boy Scout program. It contains a main branch of five Bronze Awards, the Gold Award, and the Silver Award, the higest award in Venturing. The program also offers "Expert-level" awards: the [[Ranger Award, the Quest Award, and the TRUST Award, all of which are expansions and 'sequels' to a particular Bronze Award. There is also an advancement path specifically for Sea Scouts which leads to its highest award, the Quartermaster Award.
Venturing main branch
Bronze Awards
Arts and Hobbies
Religious and Community Life
Sea Scout
Gold Award
Silver Award
Expert-level awards
Ranger Award
Quest Award
TRUST Award
Sea Scout ranks
Sea Scout ranks
See also
- Rank Advancement for Venturers wishing to earn Eagle rank.
- What is Advancement?


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Consumer products and retail M&A focused on digital and analytics
Our Global Capital Confidence Barometer shows 68% of CPR executives say portfolio transformation is their number one priority in the next 12 months.
Consumer products and retail M&A focused on digital and analytics
Disruption is from all angles in consumer products
Disruption is from all angles in consumer products
Get the most from your portfolio
Luxury and cosmetics financial factbook, 2016 edition
How to make price and promotion work harder
Inspiring women: Maria Rey-Marston
Consumer Products Transaction Insights – Q2 2016
Russia: a pulse on the consumer products market
Consumer Products & Retail
Executing ruthlessly to deliver sustainable value
There is a brand new order. Your customers, consumers and competitors are evolving at different speeds in different ways in different markets. In a world that's more complex, connected and fast-moving than ever, the opportunities are massive, but so are the risks.
With uncompromising stakeholders demanding consistent growth and consumers demanding value and taking ownership of your brands, it's time to reframe strategic choices, realign the value chain and ruthlessly execute for short-term results and long term sustainability.
Our global professionals have the knowledge to help you challenge and disrupt entrenched ways of thinking. Whether you want to improve organizational agility; drive value from digital marketing spend; deploy talent effectively across markets; or re-engineer your supply chain for greater flexibility, we have the skills you need to succeed.
Understand our point of view on key issues in today's consumer products environment:
- Adapt to the brand new order
The traditional consumer products business model is being disrupted by a changing world. There is huge potential to create value, but companies need to be prepared to disrupt old ways of thinking.
We interviewed 285 C-suite executives from leading consumer goods companies to identify what matters in this brand new order and what companies need to do differently in order to win.
Related content:
- Understand what's driving consumer products transactions
Against a backdrop of ongoing economic uncertainty, merger and acquisition activity in the global consumer products sector slowed in early 2012. Despite hitting its lowest level in three years, we are optimistic that the pace of deal activity will recover through the year.
Companies are cash-rich, carrying out due diligence and keen to improve earnings and shareholder value through smaller deals, joint ventures, alliances and contracts rather than traditional M&A. Buyers have the firepower and the pipeline appears strong.
Are you interested in transactions? In the past twelve months we have acted for 95% of the top consumer product companies in the Top 500 of S&P Global 1200, so we are well placed to comment on the global transactions landscape.
Related content
- Consumer products deals quarterly Q2 12
- Consumer products deals quarterly Q1 12
- Consumer products deals quarterly Q4 11
- Consumer products deals quarterly Q3 11
- Consumer products deals quarterly Q2 11
- Consumer products deals quarterly Q1 11
- Cash on the table 2012
- Working capital management: all tied up
- Capital Confidence Barometer
- Keep up with sub-sector trends
Limited growth in established markets; challenges around realizing value in emerging economies; increasingly complex routes to market; rising and volatile costs; and constant pressure to be good corporate citizens are just some of the issues consumer products companies face in today's multi-faceted global marketplace.
We work with companies in the food, beverage, tobacco and household and personal care subsectors to manage issues like these. Our dedicated subsector teams, supported by our 13,000 strong global consumer products network, offer insight and services that help companies to reframe strategic choices, realign the value chain and ruthlessly execute in order to drive sustainable value creation.
The consumer products industry is broad and complex. We help keep our teams and key contacts focused through our Talking series of publications, which provide a timely, succinct and unbiased update of key strategic developments in the brewing, food, personal care and tobacco sectors. Talking Brewing, Talking Food, Talking Personal Care and Talking Tobacco are each published every three to four weeks.
Related content:
- Beverage
- Food
Contact us
Connect with us
Stay connected with us through social media, email alerts or webcasts.
Customers are taking hold of the conversation, demanding value


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Welcome to JumpTastic, Inc!
Looking to add some real FUN and excitement to your event? We are Heard County, Georgia's Premier Inflatable Moonwalk, Slide, Game & Party Rental Company! Whether you're looking to add something extra special to your school, church, business, community festival or event, or you're hosting a exciting backyard party, we have what you need. No Event too Big, No Party too Small.
We offer a large selection of commercial inflatable rental products and event rental services. Choose from a selection of over 100 party rental items including many NEW items for this year!
We offer delivery and set-up to all Heard festival and events, including Children's Birthday Parties, Summer Camps, Daycares, Churches and Schools. A nominal mileage fee may apply. Click here for a complete mileage fee chart.
You can reserve your inflatable fun online 24/7. Simply click to enter the date of your event or party in the event calendar to begin.
To get some ideas to make your Heard event more exciting, browse through Jumptastic's vast inventory by clicking here.
Heard Inflatable Wet Slide, Slip n Slide, Wet Ride & Dunk Tank Rental
Our goal is to provide selection and value without sacrificing safety, cleanliness, and fun! We have a large inventory of Heard's most popular Moonwalks, Bounce Houses, Jumpers, Inflatable Wet & Dry Slides, Jump/Climb Combination Units, Obstacles Courses, Dunk Tanks, Toddler Inflatables, Children's Activity Centers, Interactive Inflatable Games and Art Events on the market. We also have a completely Trackless Train! Browse our website for prices and availability.
Add even more fun to your event or Party by renting one or more of our authentic carnival concession units including; Popcorn machines, Snow Cone machines, or Cotton Candy machines!
Our Large Event Service Area covers most of Georgia and the Atlanta Metro Area including: Forsyth County, Hall County, Gwinnett County, Fulton County, Dekalb County, Cobb County and other surrounding counties. Call 404-537-1805 for information on our Festival and Large Event solutions.
At Jumptastic, we can help make your Heard inflatable bounce house party the best. We specialize in children's party entertainment by providing quality inflatable rental and other children's party products and party rental services:
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Fun Inflatable Obstacle Courses in Heard
© Jumptastic. All rights reserved.


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Posts Tagged 'announcement'
Wet Paint Festival Weekend!
Posted by: spottedfootprints on July 11, 2011
Posted by: spottedfootprints on July 11, 2011
The beauty mother nature has provided us will always mesmerize and fascinate me in its forever change of stances. Nature is my muse, speaking to me in nuances of color and motion.
Whether on the water, or my feet upon the earth, I feel that one can never stop exploring nature and its ever bounding beauty. A place you thought you knew could suddenly sprout the secret it has been keeping from you. I seek to explore those familiar and unfamiliar spaces, leave no stone unexplored, and only footprints in my wake.
Here are my thoughts, verses, views and creations. Some complete, some incomplete, waiting for that right spark of a moment..
All artwork is for sale unless otherwise noted. Please feel free to contact me at email@example.com with any questions.
Copyright © 2012 Andrea DiGiulio. All Rights Reserved. All photographs, artwork and prose on this site are the property of the artist, unless otherwise stated. Please feel free to link to this site and its articles, but do not use artworks and prose without permission from the artist. Thank you!


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Eileen Yin-Fei Lo's General Tso's Chicken Recipe
Your source for quick recipe every single week day.
Adapted from Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking
Read more: Dinner Tonight: Eileen Yin-Fei Lo's General Tso's Chicken
- Yield:serves 3 to 4
- Active time: 30 minutes
- Total time:30 minutes
- Rated:
- 1 large egg
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- pinch of white pepper
- 5 to 6 tablespoons cornstarch, divided
- 1 1/2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
- 1 1/2 tablespoons hoisin
- 2 teaspoons white rice vinegar
- 2 teaspoons Shaoxing wine
- 3/4 teaspoon red chili oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon peeled and minced ginger
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 3 1/2 cups peanut oil
- 8 small dried red chiles, preferably Thai chiles
- 5 scallions, white parts only, sliced 1/2-inch thick
Crack the egg into a medium-sized bowl, and lightly beat it with a fork. Add the salt, white pepper, and 2 tablespoons of the corn starch, and stir until combined. Add the chicken meat, and toss well. Set mixture aside for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a second bowl, combine the soy sauce, hoisin, rice vinegar, Shaoxing wine, red chili oil, garlic, ginger, and sugar. Whisk until smooth.
After the 15 minutes, pour the oil into a large wok set over high heat. Bring the oil up to a temperature of 350°F. While the oil warms up, place a sheet of wax paper on a large sheet pan, and add 3 tablespoons of the cornstarch. Add the pieces of chicken on top, and toss until they are completely coated. Add an additional tablespoon of cornstarch if needed.
When the oil is ready, shake off any excess cornstarch on the chicken, and carefully add them to the wok. Cook, stirring occasionally with a slotted spoon, until browned, two to three minutes. Turn off the heat, and remove chicken pieces with the slotted spoon, and drain on some paper towels.
Remove all but 1 1/2 tablespoons of the oil. Turn the heat to high, and when the oil is just starting to smoke, add the chiles, and stir-fry for 10 seconds. Add the scallions, and stir-fry until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the chicken pieces back to the wok, and toss constantly for a minute until the pieces are coated in the chile and scallion oil. Pour in the sauce, and stir-fry until the pieces are evenly coated, about 1 1/2 minutes. Turn off the heat.
Serve the chicken immediately with rice.
This Recipe Appears InDinner Tonight: Eileen Yin-Fei Lo's General Tso's Chicken
This post may contain links to Amazon or other partners; your purchases via these links can benefit Serious Eats. Read more about our affiliate linking policy.


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EIB invests EUR 40m in Mirova's third renewable energy fund
The European Investment Bank (EIB) has undertaken to invest EUR 40m in Mirova Eurofideme 3, the third renewable energy fund of Mirova, Natixis Asset Management's subsidiary for responsible investment.
This environmentally responsible investment by the EIB should be seen in the context of the priority attached by the European Union (EU) to climate action. In October 2014 the European Council adopted a target for the EU whereby renewable energy was to account for at least 27% of energy consumption by 2030 – a decision that made a significant contribution to the European Union's action plan in this area, which is at the heart of the preparations for the 21st United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP, 21), due to be held in Paris at the end of 2015.
In this context the EIB's investment in the specialised Mirova Eurofideme 3 fund is emblematic. It will help to attract other investors in France and Europe to invest in the renewable energy sector, the key being the implementation of projects with a high economic and social impact.
Mirova's strategy is to contribute proactively towards mobilising capital to achieve a low-carbon economy. The launch in mid-2014 of Mirova Eurofideme 3, Mirova's third fund targeting renewable energy projects in Europe, demonstrates this proactive approach. To launch this fund, Mirova has relied on its 12 years of experience in managing projects in this field, which have enabled it to finance nearly 700 MW of new wind and solar photovoltaic projects in France and Sweden.
Commenting on the EIB's investment, Raphael Lance, Manager of Mirova's renewable energy funds, said: "We are very proud to welcome the EIB's involvement in Mirova Eurofideme 3. The confidence shown by our traditional investors and the EIB confirms our approach and our investment philosophy of entering into long-term partnerships with industrial developers in high-quality greenfield projects that will generate stable recurrent revenue. The additional investment capacity provided by the EIB will enable us to accelerate our investments in renewable projects in Europe, and this commitment marks an important stage in our fund-raising activities, which will continue in 2015." After carrying out two initial transactions in France, the team is currently examining numerous investment opportunities, particularly in northern Europe.
"It is a sustainable, innovative and socially responsible financing operation", commented EIB Vice-President Philippe de Fontaine Vive. "Our investment should be seen as part of a sustainable development approach aimed at reducing carbon emissions. I hope that this new investment vehicle will attract the interest of many financial market participants and will be able to finance new projects in the renewable energy sector."
Press contacts
Anne-Cécile Auguin
Tel. +352 621 36 19 48
Fany de Villeneuve
Tel. +33 (0)1 42 86 82 39
Barbara Durand
Tel. +33 (0)1 19 47 41 58
Note to the reader
This fund is not subject to the approval of the French Financial Markets Authority and is able to adopt investment rules that derogate from the approved funds described under its regulations. Currently the fund cannot be marketed outside France and the distribution, possession or forwarding of this document in or from certain jurisdictions may be limited or prohibited by law.
About the European Investment Bank
The European Investment Bank (EIB), whose shareholders are the Member States of the European Union (EU), is the EU's long-term financing institution. The EIB provides long-term finance in support of quality projects to contribute towards achieving the EU's major objectives.
About Mirova
Mirova, the Responsible Investment subsidiary of Natixis Asset Management, provides committed management aimed at combining value creation and sustainable development.
Mirova's philosophy is based on the conviction that integrating sustainable development themes can generate solutions that create value for investors over the long term, not only through better identification of the risks involved but above all in order to identify investment opportunities in a changing world.
Mirova offers a global responsible investing approach involving equities, fixed income, infrastructure, impact investing(1), voting and engagement. It has EUR 4.5bn in funds under management and EUR 38.3bn in voting and engagement. It has a team of some 40 multidisciplinary experts (specialists in thematic investment management, engineers, financial and environmental, social and governance analysts(2), project financing specialists and experts in solidarity finance). Mirova's offering is marketed by Natixis Global Asset Management's global distribution platform and is designed for all types of investors, both professional and non-professional.
www.mirova.com @Mirova_RI
About Natixis Asset Management
Natixis Asset Management, BPCE Group's asset management company, meets the financial savings and investment needs of the retail, self-employed and professional and SME customers of the Group's banking networks.
It is one of Europe's leading asset managers and has expertise in six key areas: fixed income, European equities, investment and client solutions, volatility and structured products developed by Seeyond(3), global emerging equities and responsible investing developed by Mirova.
Source: Natixis Asset Management as at 30/09/2014.
(1) Impact investing: high social/ environmental impact investing
(2)ESG: Environmental, Social/Societal and Governance.
(3)Seeyond is a brand of Natixis Asset Management.


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eRail.in Indian Railways API
Through their mobile apps, web interface, and public API, eRail.in offers gateways for accessing real time train information on the Indian Railway database. Calls to the eRail.in API can be made to return a list of stations with associated geolocation data. The API can also return unique train ID given two locations, return the route of a given a train number, calculate the fare between destinations, check Passenger Number Statuses, return the live status of any given train, infer seat availability and booking logistics, track train timing, and more. Usage limitations require calls to be made from a single IP server, requests are per IP address, and no more than 5 calls a second may be made. All HTTP requests to the API return JSON-formatted responses, and an API key is required for usage.


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Community Fights to Save UM Golf Course
The University of Montana's plans to develop the area known as South Campus has a lot of people seeing red over the possible loss of green.
UM President Royce Engstrom announced in December that the school would build a new college of technology, along with several additional academic buildings, on the parcel of land currently occupied by the University of Montana Golf Course.
A group of concerned Missoula residents calling themselves "Advocates for Missoula's Future" haven't given up their fight to save the golf course. They met March 13 to discuss strategies for drumming up support for their cause.
Even though I've never played a single round of golf in my entire life, the UM Golf Course holds a special place in my heart. As a high school cross country runner, I looked forward to the annual Mountain West Classic — which is held at the golf course every fall — more than any other race of the season.
In college, my teammates and I always thought of the golf course as our "home field." We hosted at least one cross-country meet a year there, and I spent countless crisp, early mornings and hot September afternoons running repeats on the outskirts of its greens and fairways.
It's the only golf course I've ever run on where the golfers are actually friendly toward runners. There were many times when we were technically not supposed to be out there, but I don't think we ever heard a single complaint or nasty comment. Instead, the golfers would take a break from their games to cheer us on as we ran ourselves to exhaustion.
I still head over there once in a while to run a few hills or bust out some strides. When I think of that space being covered up with concrete and bricks, it makes my heart ache a little. The impact the course has had on the community of Missoula — and the entire state of Montana — extends far beyond the golfers who walk its fairways. If UM goes through with its plans, it will leave a hole in the Garden City that no amount of cement will ever be able to fill.
Brooke is a 2010 graduate of The University of Montana, where she ran track and cross country for the Grizzlies. She is currently working as a writer and editor in Missoula.


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Sterling Silver Pendant
SPECIAL ORDER: Please contact us for availability | STYLE: DD10P35-SC
Diva Diamonds® Cross Pendant in Sterling Silver with .01 Ct. Diamond with 18" Box Chain (adjustable to 16") and Lobster Claw Clasp*Prices are subject to change based on fluctuations in metal prices and currencies
Diva Diamonds™ jewelry is a timeless, yet trend-right collection of rings, pendants, earrings, and bracelets, set in sterling silver with diamond accents. These jewelry styles are all rhodium plated for lasting beauty, and include a presentation gift box.
General Details:
Sterling Silver
Special Order
Secondary Diamond Details:
0.01 ct tw


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In this article we learn how to download an install the IBM Packaging Utility so we can use it to download WAS source files to create a local file repository. We will use an existing IBM Installation Manager in this example. Launch the IIM (IBM Installation Manager) File-Preferences, then click Repositories
Click Add Repository and entre the following URL http://www.ibm.com/software/repositorymanager/com.ibm.cic.packagingUtility Enter you IBM username/password. If you do not have one, you can register for one.
Now click OK and then once back to the workbench click Install
Select the IBM Packaging Utility Click Next until the installation begins. Be sure to choose a sensible location got the packaging utility For example: /opt/IBM/PackagingUtility
Once installed we can navigate to /opt/IBM/PackagingUtility and type ./IBMPU
Click Copy Packages on the work bench, then you will be prompted to open a repository For example: http://www.ibm.com/software/repositorymanager/V8WASNDTrial To get a list of more repositories consult:
Select the appropriate source packages
In my case all I want is the WAS 8 ND Trial Click Next Read and Accept License, fill out the survey form. Click Next Select a location where you would like the repository to be created
Click Next and confirm then click Copy. The IBM PU will then download the source files
For WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment you are normally looking to download about 2.8 Gig of source files into your repository Once downloaded you can use the IBM Installation Manager to install WebSphere ND trial
using your local repository.