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So, I know I haven't been very good at keeping up on this blog. Most of my extra free time these days is spent doing not so very "free time" like things. Housekeeping, laundry, cooking, homework etc, etc, etc. A few highlights from the last 8 or so months:
Colin started 4th grade and Lilly started 1st. Since BOTH of my kids were going to be in school full time, I decided to apply for a job at the school at the end of the 2011-2012 school year. It was going to be a 2 hour a day position, something I could do while the kids were in school but still keep working out, and hanging out with my friends. BUT I got offered a job with a few more hours each week, which ended up being even a few more than that, since some of the prep time needs to be done at home. SO- my time is a little at a premium these days. I LOVE working, and LOVE being at the kid's school but there are days I miss hanging out in my yoga pants and having morning coffee dates with the girls.
Christmas was a good one this year. Not a lot of stress and lots of time with family. We got to see the play a few friends were in "A Rented Christmas" and we got to see the Utah Symphony perform with Santa. Both were great experiences and awesome Christmastime family activities. I think the symphony will become a tradition.
Colin got his Bear in scouts. He really likes the scouting program, and I am lucky to be able to help with his Den. Lilly played soccer this fall and really liked it! She had a lot of fun and hopefully she learned a little more about what it is like to be a teammate.
Seth has been working for a long time on a new game, and we recently found out what it IS and ALL of the family is WAY excited. Look for Disney Infinity out in June. He's worked long, hard hours and we can't wait for the game to be out, so we can have him back!
Parenting Colin is still tough but we are learning some new tools to help us out- and those also help with Lilly too. Hopefully as he gets older, things will get easier and Mom will stop drinking so much wine. (OK- so I don't drink a LOT of wine. I drink beer and on really bad nights, a few cocktails too)
Lilly lost 3 teeth in 1 week- 1 I pulled, 1 fell out on its own and 1 the dentist had to pull. The tooth fairy was probably sick of coming to our house so often.
Not much else has happened. We are all just trying to do the best we can with what we have. (There- I updated my blog. Maybe I'll do it again soon!)
Sunday, February 24, 2013
I know- I KNOW!
So, I know I haven't been very good at keeping up on this blog. Most of my extra free time these days is spent doing not so very "free time" like things. Housekeeping, laundry, cooking, homework etc, etc, etc. A few highlights from the last 8 or so months:
Posted by Anjie Behunin at 8:27 PM 1 comments Links to this post
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
I am now a person enjoying the summer
- The week after Lilly turned 6, a friend of mine and I executed an almost flawless Field Day at the kids school. (The fire/earthquake drill right before hand was NOT part of the stupid plan!!)
- The same day was Lilly's last day as a Kindergartener. She is now a 1st grader. My how time flies.
- The NEXT day was the last day of school for Colin. HE is now a 4th grader. I went into his classroom for the very last time and got to hang with the kids until the Flag ceremony. They had me sign their yearbooks and their t-shirts (remember doing that?) and we had a lot of fun!
- We had a fun 1st week of summer vacation. Nothing too serious happened. BUT we did take our first trek to the Sno-Cone Shack on the corner for our weekly Snowie fix. Check one thing off of the bucket list!
- I got older. Quiet, relaxed, dessert filled Birthday, just the way I wanted it.
- Colin and I went to Cub Scout Day Camp up Millcreek Canyon. We had fun, he got to shoot an arrow and a BB Gun each for the first time! He was so excited- and earned some of his belt loops while we were there.
- Seth is playing Softball again this year. The team is getting better (since they started practicing) and I think they are all having fun. Only 1win- but that is better than last year!
Posted by Anjie Behunin at 8:46 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Monday, March 12, 2012
I am a woman feeling accomplished!
Just a quick post to brag a little- I made my original weight goal this morning! (Well, technically I made it some time last week, but Monday mornings are my weigh-in day) I am reveling in the accomplishment- and LOVING the "0 pounds to go" ticker over there on the right before I set a new goal.
(Just so you know- my REAL goal is not a "pounds lost" goal, it is for me to get off my blood pressure medicine. That might be right around the corner- if I can suck it up and go in for a check-up earlier than I need to)
Posted by Anjie at 11:08 AM 1 comments Links to this post
Saturday, February 25, 2012
I'm a parent saying "What the Hell?"
Posted by Anjie at 1:22 PM 1 comments Links to this post
Sunday, February 19, 2012
I'm the Mom of a 9 year old boy
Posted by Anjie at 10:57 AM 3 comments Links to this post
Friday, February 17, 2012
I'm a woman disappointed in her "getting healthy" goals
Posted by Anjie at 12:07 PM 2 comments Links to this post
Friday, January 13, 2012
I'm BAACK- well kinda
Posted by Anjie at 6:00 PM 1 comments Links to this post


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Fans flock to the NHL in sold-out openers
The NHL and its fans have kissed and made up.
Eight days after the end of an ugly, 119-day lockout, the league's once-angry fans are embracing the NHL as if all is forgiven. The first 17 home openers were sellouts, and the crowd size was up in nine markets.
"We appreciate and are gratified by the response we have received from our fans," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman told USA TODAY Sports on Sunday. "The attendance numbers and TV ratings once again demonstrate the passion of NHL fans. It is a testament to the players and the teams and the ways we all have tried to reach out."
NBC announced Sunday that its coverage of Saturday's opening day received a 2.0 overnight rating, the highest overnight rating for regular-season coverage, excluding the Winter Classic, the NHL has seen in 11 years. The numbers were up 67% from the 2011-12 regular-season average.
The Pittsburgh area posted a 19.4 local rating for the NBC coverage, a regular-season best. Philadelphia (7.8) and Chicago (6.6) also had their best all-time ratings on NBC.
"Penguins fans are phenomenal," Penguins CEO David Morehouse said. "Just when we think they can't amaze us any more, they do. That includes more than 18,000 for a free scrimmage on Wednesday night. We are so fortunate to have this kind of fan support. Pittsburgh will always be a football town but I think it's becoming obvious that it's also a hockey town."
Bettman made a public apology to fans after a new collective bargaining agreement was reached, and teams have tried to reach out to fans with special promotions. Sunday in Buffalo, players were in the lobby to greet fans entering the arena.
Though the general fan reaction has been positive, there has been minor fan backlash, Abeed Bawa said he was taking the year off from attending NHL games.
"As a displaced Thrashers fan, I jumped aboard the Nashville Predators," Bawa said. "They did a wonderful job reaching out to Thrashers fans, and they are very welcoming and passionate. We were (done wrong) by the NHL with the way they did absolutely nothing to keep the Thrashers from relocating. (With the) second lockout in eight years, the NHL has quickly reduced itself to a garage league.
"The most I will do is watch games on TV if they are broadcast, but I have canceled my subscription to NHL GameCenter. The NHL does not deserve any money from me this year."
San Jose Sharks fan Janice Dressler said she has not forgiven Bettman. "And I'm not sure I ever will," she added.
But she says she is thrilled to have the NHL back. "I love Hockey Night in Canada and always watch that," Dressler said. "So I'll be glad to have that every Saturday night."
Philadelphia Flyers fan Steve Bogucki never doubted that regular fans would return.
"We are a different breed," he said. "I don't think the NHL has fans and 'hard-core' fans. All of its fans are hard-core fans."
Players are saying it might take them a couple of weeks to regain sharpness. There has been more offense than had been expected. In 12 of the first 19 games, the winning team had four or more goals. In the first 19 games, there were as many three-point performances (14) as there were in 42 last season.
Said Bettman, "This should be an incredibly competitive season in which every game matters."

subset: commoncrawl


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Thanks to Priceless Joy for hosting FFftAW.
Daisy your coat is rough, rusted;
I'd restore your coat true, trust me.
It used to shine an apple-red.
You're engine won't start; words unsaid they're frustrating.
Daisy May you had your days like,
The woman I named you for, my wife.
But she is gone now, you've decayed,
Both of you leave me so dismayed; inside I've strife.
Daisy, I wonder should I send you —
To the scrap yard, or sell you?
Should I restore you to glory?
So those I meet know your story and my wife's too?
Nostalgia overwhelms, memories —
Cloud my mind thinking too plenty —
Of back in the day of youth's glow,
When I had both Daisies, I drove through life, with them.
©Mandibelle16. (2017) All Rights Reserved.


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Q: How would I know if my pond has sufficient aeration? What would happen if my pond was "under" aerated?
– Joe of Michigan
A: The best way to test to see if your pond is sufficiently aerated is by taking the temperature of the water one foot below the pond's surface as well as the bottom. If there is a difference of more than 3 degrees Fahrenheit, then the pond is not sufficiently aerated and you may need to add additional diffusers or relocate the diffuser that you have.
Next, to answer the, "What would happen if my pond was "under" aerated?" question, lets compare a pond with no aeration, a pond that is under aerated and a pond with sufficient aeration.
A Pond with No Aeration: With no aeration present, the water is stratified (aka has a thermocline). Meaning that the water at the top is warmer and full of oxygen while on the bottom the water is cooler, nutrient rich and contains no oxygen. This causes the fish to habitat towards the surface of the pond. As the seasons change from the hot summer to cold winter, the pond goes through a process known as "turnover". This is when the cooler water at the bottom of the pond, mixes with the warmer water at the pond's surface. Since the rising cooler water contains no oxygen, the chances of a fish kill are imminent.
A Pond that is Under Aerated: When a pond is under aerated, the thermocline is not eliminated, only dropped further down towards the pond's bottom. This can cause constant problems. As the bottom bubbler aerates, the bottom, nutrient rich water is lifted to the pond's surface. These nutrients are now constantly available for algae to grow. More importantly, the water that is being lifted by the bubbler also contains no oxygen, thus increasing the possibility of creating turnover and killing the fish.
A Pond with Sufficient Aeration: You may ask, "Since the nutrients are still being brought to the surface, won't an algae bloom and turnover still happen even if a pond is properly aerated?"
When an Aeration System is initially installed, it should be started at a slow pace to prevent creating turnover (See blog "When & How to Start Your Aeration System" for more information). As for algae, initially, when the nutrients are pushed towards the surface, algae will have the chance to bloom. As time progresses, however, the thermocline will be eliminated, the nutrients will be flushed out and the fish may now habitat the whole body of water.
Filed under: Aeration, Pond & Lake | Tagged: Aeration, aerator, no aeration, sufficient aeration, under aerating | 15 Comments »


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The youngest of the Kardashian-Jenner family open up about their brand new clothing line for PacSun
Courtesy: PacSun
If you were launching a clothing line and your siblings had multi-million dollars worth of experience in that area, would you reach out to them for pointers? Well, if you're Kendall and Kylie Jenner, the answer is no: The teen models didn't consult with Kim, Kourtney or Khloé Kardashian while working on their new clothing line for PacSun.
"We were like, 'This is our project. Leave us alone,'" Kylie, 15, tells PEOPLE. "We didn't go to them for advice at all." (And it looks like they didn't need their older sisters' help anyway: The line just launched on Friday and several of its pieces have already sold out online.)
The affordable collection, with prices ranging from $24.50 to $79.50, features pieces inspired by the teens' casual, California style. "It's just a chill, relaxed cool line," Kendall, 17, says, of their designs, noting that she's partial to the chambray button-down, while Kylie adores the dresses.
Despite their similar taste in clothes, the girls found themselves disagreeing during the design process. "We did butt heads, but I think that's actually great," Kylie says. "We finally came to a conclusion, and I think it's cool that there are two opinions in the entire line."
And though the Kardashians weren't directly involved in the collection, Kendall admits that she and Kylie do draw style inspiration from their older siblings, and are constantly "borrowing" from their well-stocked closets — especially Kourtney's. "She's always had the best style, even when she was younger," Kylie says.
The Jenners won't, however, name a best-dressed dude in their (extended) family, and not because they're afraid of hurting someone's feelings. "You can't compare Scott and Kanye. You can't!" Kendall explains. "Kanye doesn't wear suits like Scott does. There are so many different things [about their style]."
Kendall & Kylie for PacSun is available now at PacSun stores nationwide and at pacsun.com. Tell us: Are you excited to shop the Jenners' first clothing line?
–Jennifer Cress


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Ehud Olmert Sentenced To Six Years In Prison For Bribery Conviction
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was sentenced to six years in prison for his conviction for accepting bribes in the Holyland corruption case.
Tuesday morning's sentence would make him the first Israeli premier to be sent to prison.
Olmert also was fined $1 million shekels, or about $290,000, during his sentencing hearing in Tel Aviv District Court.
Olmert was convicted in March on two counts of bribery, for accepting about $150,000 from developers of the Holyland project, in what has been called the country's largest corruption scandal. The project involved the development of high-rises in Jerusalem.
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Olmert and six other men sentenced Tuesday morning were ordered to present themselves to the prisons service on Sept. 1.
Judge David Rozen ruled that Olmert's conviction includes "moral turpitude," which comes with a ban on seeking public office for at least seven years after the end of his sentence.
"Those who give bribes are corrupt, but those who receive it inspire disgrace and cause the public to lose faith in the State," the judge said in the courtroom. "A public servant who accepts bribes is equivalent to a traitor."
Olmert said in court that he never accepted bribes and vowed to appeal the conviction and the sentence. "I am proud of the decade in which I ran the honest city (of Jerusalem)," he said.
Olmert resigned as prime minister in September 2008 after police investigators recommended that he be indicted in multiple corruption scandals.
The Jerusalem District Court acquitted Olmert in 2012 on charges of fraud, breach of trust, tax evasion and falsifying corporate records in what became known as the Talansky and Rishon Tours affairs. He was found guilty on a charge of breach of trust in what is known as the Investment Center case; he appealed the verdict in that case, which centered on charges that he improperly involved himself in decisions benefiting his friend and former business partner Uri Messer.


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Day 4 at the 2013 African Course Racing Championships, with all to play for as the kiters focused on climbing into the top 10 on the leaderboard and qualify through to Friday's medal series. Soma Bay in Egypt today served up another day of strong winds, with the breeze gusting up to 25 knots. A little less extreme than yesterday, but still fairly exciting – perfect for the heaving wind thrillseekers.
Five races were held for the 80 kiters in this concluding day of the final series. First to hit the race track were the men's gold fleet with everyone starting on starboard and close together. Series leader Johnny Heineken was on a roll yesterday, and continued his winning ways today, quickly opening up a big gap between him and Adam Koch in second, with Riccardo Leccese following closely. Heineken has so far been flawless in the final series and scored another bullet, with Leccese finishing in second after overtaking Koch and the American Brian Kender in 4th. These top finishers were now seriously threatening Germany's Florian Gruber in the overall standings, who needed to defend his third place.
In the second race the two Americans, Koch and Pasquali, started on port, aiming to cross in front of the Heineken – but Heineken was simply unstoppable and extremely fast in the conditions. Heineken rounded first at the downwind gate, this time followed by Leccesse and Kender in third. While Heineken and Leccese had a solid performance extending their points difference, it was Kender who, despite his off pace performance in the qualifying series, was now upping his game.
After a short break, a further 3 races were held, with Heineken wrapping up every race win to end the final series with an immaculate scoreline. After fifteen races over the past four days, the top 10 going through to the medal races are decided, with Johnny Heineken heading up the men kiters, with a 5 point margin over Italy's Riccardo Leccese. Both these top two have more than a 15 point margin over the rest of the pack – so get ready for some close racing tomorrow. In third is Florian Gruber of Germany.
In the women's fleet it was Erika Heineken who started the day's opening race on port, followed by the rest of the top pack in the leaderboard, and her move paid well, as she rounded in first at the bottom gate and most importantly for Heineken in front of Bridge – positions they held to the finish. However, despite the strong challenge from Heineken, Bridge was clearly not ready to step down from the top of the leaderboard, and upped her game for the second race of the day. Looking more determined, she was first to the upwind mark, although being pushed hard by reigning Course Racing World Champion Heineken. Bridge held her lead on the second upwind, whilst Heineken fell behind and gave an opening for Holland's Katja Roose to get closer. After scoring a series of third places in the series, Roose was eager to secure a better finish, which in turn would force the Russian Kalinina to release her hold on the third overall leaderboard placing. Roose kept her cool and went on to score a second place, followed by a win in race 4 of the day, which rewarded her with a move into third overall.
Heineken went on to win two more races, and narrow the points advantage held by series leader Bridge to just 2 points.
The Medal race series is scheduled as a "best of three" repechage consisting of quarterfinal, semi-final and final, where only one competitor advances from stage to stage.
TOP 3 for the 2013 African Course Racing Championship
Full Results: http://sailwave.com/results/IKAAfricanCourseRacingChampionships2013_FS_Men.html
Full Results: http://sailwave.com/results/IKAAfricanCourseRacingChampionships2013_OS_Women.html


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Hello everyone! Hopefully today I will be teaching you "How to Draw an Anime Puppy" I really had fun drawing this one as it is cute and very adorable (if i do say so myself). I figured everyone loves puppies, and lot's of people love anime so why not draw an anime puppy? I know, I'm talking too much so I'll just get on with it then. Have a good day peeps!
DragoArt members upload artwork and drawing tutorials! They are also allowed to leave comments on tutorials, profiles, etc. Many more features, as well; it's way better than just being a boring guest! Register Now!


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Discounts damage for Microsoft Windows 7 PC boost?
Volume gets you so far
Things are looking up for PC manufacturers. The last three months of 2009 saw shipments of computers grow 22 per cent, while all - except Dell - enjoyed robust double-digit growth in the US and internationally according to Gartner.
It was the strongest quarter of growth in seven years for sales of PCs, and it indicated a recovery in the PC market on global basis, the mega analyst said.
One reason things looked so good is that in the same, three-month period in 2008 we were in the middle of a recession, banks were on life support, and Lehman Brothers had just died, helping put a massive consumer-spending break on PC buying.
"It should be noted that these numbers are compared to a very weak quarter a year ago due to the economic downturn at that time," Gartner said rather blandly of that period a year ago.
The implication is that healthy sales of PCs will mean a healthy quarter for Microsoft, due to report its fiscal-second quarter at the end of January.
Mutual assured connection
Microsoft should certainly expect to see a lift in its own business for the three-months at the end of 2009, given that Windows is the only operating system shipped on the vast majority of the machines sold by Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Acer, and Toshiba.
The results of Microsoft's client business - home to Windows - are inextricably tied to the health of the PC OEMs, because the way most consumers and businesses users get a new copy of Windows is when they get a new PC, instead of buying and installing the new software.
Underscoring this bond were the results Microsoft announced in January 2009, covering the last three months of 2008. Sales in the client business fell eight per cent while income dropped 12 per cent, which helped Microsoft towards a quarterly loss.
Unfortunately for Microsoft, while growth in the PC market might translate into healthy sales, profits are another matter. And judging by the results of the last thee months, there's uncertainty over just how well Windows 7 will excite PC buyers and continue to sell.
One problem for Microsoft is that low-priced notebooks and netbooks drove PC sales over the Holiday shopping period. Netbooks in particular actually hurt Microsoft's profits: consumers may have purchased machines running Windows but they have bought low-priced PCs running low-priced copies of Windows - even Windows XP - instead of versions of the Ultimate SKUs of Windows that typically sell for at least twice the price.
Gartner principal analyst Mikako Kitagawa said in a statement of the US and Asia/Pacific markets: "As economic weakness continued, buyers became extremely price sensitive. Low-priced PCs were good enough for many average consumers."
The surge in sales of netbooks means these low-priced machines could continue to hurt Microsoft during the second quarter.
Microsoft's own actions exacerbate the profits pain. The company has been on a course of aggressive price discounting to grow market share. Home Premium was the war horse of Microsoft's Windows 7 family for consumers and that SKU saw price cuts of between eight and 17 per cent of upgrades and new copies respectively, compared to the Home Premium editions of Windows Vista.
Tactically speaking, Microsoft is trying to make a volume play by selling more copies of the low priced Home Edition to cover the fact people were not buying Ultimate SKUs.
This might work, but Microsoft needs that volume to really kick in.
Complications could hurt the strategy. Microsoft has offered upgrades to Home Premium at $79 under its Microsoft's Windows Anytime Upgrade, and when it comes to students, the company's virtually paying the customer. Students could get Home Premium or Windows 7 Professional for just $30 in the US or £30 in the UK - that compares to the $119 for the Home Premium and $199 for the Professional upgrade and $199 and $299 for the full copies of the products. This offer nicely spanned the Holiday shopping season, closing on January 3, 2010.
As any retailer knows, sales are one thing, profits are another. So it will be interesting to see how far Microsoft's discounting produced the volume needed to translate into profit.
That's the past, but there's also sobering news for the long-term demand for Windows 7. Consumers appeared to be immune to Microsoft's advertising on the operating system and focused purely on price of the PC.
Past is prologue
According tro Gartner's Kitagawa, Windows 7 had not created additional demand for PCs in the last three months. The picture was the same in Europe, where client computing market group principal analyst Ranjit Atwal categorized the impact of Windows 7 on PC sales as "minimal".
"Vendors' efforts to reduce Vista inventory before the Windows 7 launch were not fully successful as there was still an excess of Vista inventories at the beginning of the quarter slowing new shipments," he said.
That fact that Windows 7 had little to no impact on PC sales and buying habits could have important ramifications: It could mean that if consumers are still buying netbooks running Windows XP instead of Windows 7 then Microsoft and PC makers may need to keep offering and supporting Windows XP longer than they'd planned. Don't forget: Windows XP on netbooks means Microsoft makes less money than Windows 7 in general or a copy of Ultimate.
In the long term, it could mean slower-than-anticipated sales of Windows 7 for Microsoft among consumers. Instead, they'll upgrade when they get around to buying a new machine, and if that machine is priced right.
If that is the case, then it means sales of Windows 7 will be like sales of Windows before it: tied to overall demand for PCs as a whole, rather than the latest software specifically running them. ®
Sponsored: Beyond the Data Frontier


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Your Item Color and Text Color are the Same. Please Select Another Color.
Love Teddy Bear - Personalized Couples Plush Teddy Bear This cute and cuddly plush Teddy Bear says it all with love and kindness. Give this Personalized Couples Teddy Bear to that special someone in your life to cherish & hold dear to their heart. Our Personalized Love Teddy Bear makes a great Personalized Valentine's Day Gift, Sweetest Day Gift and Romantic Gift for Her or Him. This Personalized Valentine's Teddy Bear features an irresistible look on his face along with a wonderfully soft feel. He has contrasting tan fur on the inside of his ears and his snout. Choose between three great sizes ranging from 11" to 21"! Free personalization of any two names is included.
We also have a lovely collection of Personalized Valentine's Day Teddy Bears & Stuffed Animals for the love of your life. You are guaranteed to find a Romantic Plush Animal that fits your needs. You'll also enjoy our Personalized Couples Mug & our Personalized Property Of Valentine's Day Shirt to include with your gift as well.


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deathz0r Online: The Internet Made Stupid
Dean "deathz0r" Joseph
This wad is better than your pile of crap.
Read the story below for a real description.
New levels from scratch
Build time:
Editor(s) used:
Doom Builder, XWE, PSP5, MSPaint (you won't believe what incredible powers it contains), Goldwave, Notepad
(104 votes)
Download mirrors:
Germany (TLS)
New York
/idgames protocol:
View do-tims.txt
GET THIS HERE ZDOOM http://grubber.drdteam.org/doom/zdoom96x.zip WAD Authoring Template V1.4 (Clip this line) <-- yay for a 1994 template that was sitting on my HD ================================================================ Title : deathz0r Online: The Internet Made Stupid Filename : do-tims.WAD Author : Dean "deathz0r" Joseph Release Date : January 9th, 2006 Email Address : email@example.com Misc. Author Info : Umm, I tell you how much your wad sucks. Yeah. Description : This wad is better than your pile of crap. Read the story below for a real description. * Additional Credits to * Hyena, Quasar, Lüt, Harvey, and everyone else who was deceived into checking out crazy.wad. Thanks for the great support, especially Hyena, who also made a map for this project, although I later decided to do this all on my own. Hobbs and DomRem for providing me with tasty demos for the startup. Everybody who has beta tested this wad, who are listed in the credits map. ================================================================ * Story * While masturbating to hardcore rabbit porn, the infamous ISP that you're connected to, deathz0r Online, has been tracing your actions. Even though one of the staff at deathz0r Online was somewhat enjoying your discovery (he was fired as soon as he was found ejaculating all over the keyboard), the rest have decided to place you against the ultimate test... to forcefully survive the sheer horrors of the internet! You have been ordered by the founder of deathz0r Online to visit twenty-five of the worst online hellholes that humanity has ever came across! Not only does nobody see them, but they have been infected with some really fucked up monsters. Only your bravery will help you survive this godawful punishment. ================================================================ * Maplist * MAP01: do-tims Portal BGM: Something from Silent Hill PROLOGUE: Prologue BGM 1: Some adagio tune BGM 2: I found it somewhere BGM 3: Nirvana - Big Cheese * SINGLE PLAYER MAPS * DOTIMS01: Entryway Tribute BGM: Supar turbo MAP01! DOTIMS02: I don't care what you think BGM: The Twenty-Third Opus of Mister Sneezelpock DOTIMS03: Twin Scortums of Mass Erection BGM: Monstar Trumpet Mania DOTIMS04: Look, in the sky! BGM: Star Wars theme DOTIMS05: Buttpirates'r'us BGM: Pirate Hair Metal DOTIMS06: Teenbopping fags BGM: Megamix 199x DOTIMS07: Vegetable sex BGM: Grinding Lima Beans Into Lima Sauce DOTIMS08: Not even Houdini could fit in a toaster BGM: Dean's Crappy Imitation of Tom DOTIMS09: Don't fart on my face BGM: Ballad of Jimmy the Deranged Proctologist DOTIMS10: Die, damnit BGM: Fuegak Wears Long Johns DOTIMS11: I see dead h4x0rz BGM: This Water Tastes Unusual DOTIMS12: Shoe shopping spree BGM: 20% Off All Slaves And Foreigners DOTIMS13: That damn dragon ate my balls! BGM: Makafushigi Adventure (Dragon Ball Japanese theme) DOTIMS14: Gothic Skullfuck Makeup Starters Kit BGM: Painful Physical Pain DOTIMS15: Homeless people suck BGM: Friggin Marsupials DOTIMS16: I downloaded this from Napster BGM: Metallica - Enter Sandman DOTIMS17: I paid a cop to arrest my mother BGM: Risin From Da Ghettoz DOTIMS18: Waiting in the Fileplanet queue for a 20kb file BGM: Pushing It C-Section Style DOTIMS19: I shot down a classroom once BGM: Rollerblades Are Unhealthy For Domestic Animals DOTIMS20: Internet relationships are a path towards suicide BGM: Melodic Emotions Strangled Into A Bread Maker DOTIMS21: Trapped in the 80s BGM: You better not be serious if you don't know this... DOTIMS22: The stock market got owned BGM: Complete Soundtrack To Pong DOTIMS23: The tomfoolery of Sir Derfarhinmankul BGM: Permanent Headache DOTIMS24: Intermission of an Intermission BGM: Don't Question My Interrogation DOTIMS25: The Dracula Jizz Rollercoaster ride BGM 1: Diluteco - Just Kill Me BGM 2: Nirvana - Endless Nameless END: Credits BGM: Greatest Guitar Solo Evar * SHH SECRET MAPS * ????: You smell like a donkey's ass BGM: Argicultral Tension ????: Title of this map to be announced BGM: Extraterristial Government Agents Like To Probe Tongues ????: You're better off smashing your head into a solid wall - Complet BGM: Dean's Crappy Imitation of Nirvana ????: Neverending Battle BGM: Some classical midi I found ????: Torture! BGM: Some classical midi I found part two * DM MAPS * DM01: Dwango5 Tribute BGM: The Imperial Guard Marching Band Of Frodianmantletius Perform Dwango5 MAP01 (a.k.a Dean's Crappy Imitation of Dwango5 MAP01) DM02: The Fun house BGM 1: technochicken.mid (<3 xoap) BGM 2: Big Bad Gangsta's Wrappin Rhapsody BGM 3: Ragtime Is Outdated DM03: Pit(s) of DOOM BGM: Death Metal is Dead, like Death DM04: LOL CTF RULZ BGM: Ovary Gobbleclup Dumjock DM05: BGM: Depressive Antibiotic Warfare DM06: Cave Uxdglvks BGM: You Seem Like You Need A Cheesestick DM07: It's Raining Men BGM: See above line * BONUS MAPS * INSTANT: Instant Action BGM: Igloos are worthy houses * Other music * Title: Nirvana - Talk To Me Intermission: If This Is A Dream, Get Me Out Of Here Now Storyline: Answer the Telephone You Dumbass ================================================================ * Monsters * First off, do-tims monsters are not referred to as monsters, but they are all "deadly viruses". Remember, this is a virtual internet headset thingiemabob! Kekerangular - Your basic retarded virus, but always remember that their melee is amazingly powerful. They love hanging around in gardens, irregardless of what orders their masters give them. Drops armour bonuses. Kikiringulin - For when Kekerangulars get rowdy. Unfortunately, their melee action is even more violent than Kekerangulars. Drops health bonuses. Retarded Goomba - Oh noes, an autistic Goomba! What has the world turned in to? Flying Goku - SUPAR SAIYAN GO GO GO Emo - Dwelling in the most popular blog sites, these things believe that nobody is willing to help them get through depression. May suicide at will. Blackfish Clone - The basic army of virii disguised as forum trolls. Believed to have appeared from a site dedicated to the king of hax0r undergrounds. Sausagequatch - The standard guard virii class. Armed with an Auto-Super Shotgun. Drops shells. Buttpirate - They sail the deep ends of space without the need of toilet paper. Because of that, they're prone to spread AIDS. Goth - Also dwelling in blog sites, these beasts believe that nobody is superior to their vast knowledge of common sense and allegience to Satan. They are also likely to commit arson by their early twenties. Emoticon - :/ Sausagedic - They are essentially the medics of the do-tims universe. They can revive expired viruses with ease. They also have some magic staff thingie that hurts. Mario Clone - Spawned from the deadliest pits of Sega fans, these Mario clones are hellbent on destroying anyone who pauses a SMB game on the Nintendo Entertainment System. Sausagar - Deadly little shitbags that use mini-BFGs. Oddly enough, they're incredibly weak against explosives and chainguns. Drops cells. Sausagient - They like to act smart. They think that by wearing a "radiation suit", other viruses will believe that they're intelligent beings. The homing rocket launchers they carry double that belief that they're smarter than anything in the virutal universe. * Mini-bosses * Baronotron - Some insane maniac decided it would be beneficial if they spliced the DNA of a Baron of Hell and an Arachnotron together. As was expected, that maniac had died due to unknown causes. Armoured Sausagequatch - The deadliest guard virus on the interent. Their ability to use virtual weapons are unsurpassed. They're rarely seen outside of Sausage lairs. Drops boxes of bullets. Abacus - These abominations were created to only serve one purpose: To kill and make their victims stare at agony at its ugliness. * Bosses * Kekekingular - The overlord of the entire Kekeke clan. Is known to be adored by all Kikiringulin. Super Baron - Give a Baron of Hell a pack of valium and steroids, and this is the end result. A flaming tower of hatred and evil and other negative thoughts. Sausagelord - The undisputed ruler of a Sausage lair. They carry an unknown weapon of great power. They're also skilled in the arts of stealth. Mech - Towering mobile fortresses of despair. At least, that's what they believe they are. Dracula Demon - Resides in what resembles Transylvania. He seems to always appear every hundred years or so. Has a strong hatred for anyone who possess whips. ================================================================ * Play Information * Episode and Level # : See Above Single Player : Yes Cooperative 2-8 Player : Yes Deathmatch 2-8 Player : Yes Difficulty Settings : Yes New Sounds : Yes New Graphics : Yes New Music : Yes Demos Replaced : Yes May not run with... : Dr. Pepper * Construction * Base : New levels from scratch Editor(s) used : Doom Builder, XWE, PSP5, MSPaint (you won't believe what incredible powers it contains), Goldwave, Notepad * Known Bugs * What * Copyright / Permissions * Authors MAY NOT use this level as a base to build additional levels. You MAY distribute this WAD, provided you include this file, with no modifications. You may distribute this file in any electronic format (BBS, Diskette, CD, etc) as long as you include this file intact. * Where to get this WAD * The usual: ftp://archives.3dgamers.com/pub/idgames/ FTP sites: Whoever is utterly stupid enough to mirror this BBS numbers: Bwahahahaha, I just love this template! Other: http://deathz0r.unidoom.org/
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Ever wondered what makes a good or bad Dad joke? Ahead of Father's Day this Sunday scientists have constructed the ultimate Dad joke formula and compiled this list of the 10 best/worst Dad jokes.
Prepare to cringe:
Want to know more about the Dad Joke formula? Read about it here


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I am so excited because I have just finished my first cross stitched biscornu!
Here are the pictures, I just love the little Father Christmas, don't you?
I will probably stitch lots of Biscornus for a while!
The pattern is from Just Cross Stitch Ornament Magazine 2008 designed by Louise Henderson of Cherished Stitches.
Stitched on 32 Count Belfast Linen
Colour - light mocha
DMC threads
Mill Hill Beads
Swarovski Crystal in the centre


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Community. Creativity. Relationships.
For over 33 years, Carolina Holdings has combined original
and innovative ideas to create distinctive retail environments.
We take seriously our responsibility to construct retail environments that allow communities and retailers to thrive.
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Because we are owners, we think, manage, and lease like owners. We pay attention to all the little details so they do not become big problems.
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With 2 million sf of managed property and over 5 million sf of property developed, we engage every day in connecting retailers and shoppers.
See our properties


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Fair, Thorough, Helpful, and Rational...
Fund: Advanced Technology Ventures
Posted by Anonymous on 2008-10-20
I have worked with many firms that fall in the category good, bad, and indifferent. I categorize ATV (Tom Rodgers) in the 'good' bucket. My experience has been very favorable from the pitch through funding and now as a member of my board. Tom and his team has been very thorough in helping me better define and focus my pitch as well as bringing a very pragmatic, realistic, and rational view to my board. His input is always appreciated!PRIVATE: Members Only


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Superhero Yearnings/
In the lead up to next week's premiere of SUPER, I encourage you to listen to This American Life's Episode # 178, "Superpowers". Among the highlights are the battle of invisibility vs. flying -- what does it reveal if you want one over the other. Plus it's got Chris Ware, Real-life Wonder Twins, & Kelly McEvers, whose done virtually everything one needs to do to be considered SUPER. As this was done by Ira quite awhile ago, we can't take credit for it as part of our guerilla campaign. Perhaps you've seen other aspects of it though.


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Electronics Production | April 10, 2007
Incap appoints new General Manager<br>for its Indian operations
Finland based EMS provider Incap has appointed Mr. Jarmo Ukonaho as General Manager for Incap's Indian operations as from 2 April 2007.
Before joining Incap Ukonaho has worked as President & CEO of Lahti Precision Oy and Loparex Oy. The company has also announced that Incap's office in India has moved to New Delhi, India.
Demand for preemptive 3Q19 DRAM shipment rises According to DRAMeXchange, demand-side inventory in 2H19 has returned to relatively healthy levels. Furthermore, some vendors pulled their quarterly product shipment forward in an effort to avoid potential negative impacts from Trump's impending tariffs.
HANZA gets AS9100 certificate to supply aerospace industry Swedish manufacturing strategist, HANZA, says that its machining facility in Årjäng, Sweden, received its AS9100 certification, the standard that will allow HANZA to manufacture products for the aviation, space and defense companies.
NOTE continues to expand within medtech One of EMS provider NOTE's Swedish manufacturing plants has received a first order of SEK 25 million (EUR 2.34 million) from a Swedish customer within the medtech segment. Delivery is scheduled for 2020.
Marvell layoffs in VT, NC and CA Days after the close of the acquisition of Avera Semiconductor on November 5, Marvell Semi filed a WARN notice with the State of Vermont, ahead of 78 permanent layoffs at its Essex Junction facility.
Sponsored content by Z ElektronikaZ Elektronika opens new factory in Pécs To keep up with rapid growth of the company, on the 13th September Z Elektronika celebrated the grand opening of its new electronic design and manufacturing facility close to the highway in Pécs, Hungary, which adds new features and production site to its nearby location.
U.S. DoC extends Huawei license The United States Dept. of Commerce, through its Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), has announced a 90-day extension of the temporary general license (TGL) to Huawei and certain non-affiliates.
Apple: Shovels up in Austin As part of its expansion plan in Texas, Apple has announced the beginning of construction at its new campus in North Austin.
PARPRO makes NA capex investments Southern California-based PARPRO has made capital equipment investments scheduled to be operational this quarter at the company's Mexico and California facilities.
Indium Corporation is ready for 2020 Chris Nash from Indium Corporation reviews 2019 - in many ways, a strange year. However, even with the geopolitical issues that the year has offered, Indium has done a good job staying on top of things.
Sponsored content by EsemdaContract manufacturer Esemda opens new facility in Vilnius and expands EMS The new facility has been built with reserved space for future expansions. As Esemda constantly grows, it is of great importance to be able to rapidly increase production capacity in large volumes.
Schmoll Maschinen GmbH settles for a record year Schmoll's soaring results for 2019 is tied to the high level of globally deployed machines, where Asia takes the lead.
Arch Systems partners with Flex for manufacturing data transformation Arch Systems, a provider of a machine-data-sensing platform, has entered into an agreement with global manufacturer Flex to supply real-time access to and analysis of manufacturing data at its facilitie
ZF and Wolong Electric form JV for electric motors ZF Friedrichshafen and China's Wolong Electric Group are stepping up their existing cooperation. The two companies have signed an agreement to establish a joint venture that will produce components and electric motors for automotive applications.
Cicor on its venture into printed electronics In the first quarter of 2019, Swiss EMS provider, Cicor, opened a technology center for printed electronics at the Bronschhofen site in Switzerland - quite the investment and a completely new territory for the company. Evertiq had the opportunity to talk to Karl-Heinz Fritz, VP of Technology, about the strategy behind this.
TT Electronics steps up its US presence – acquires Excelitas unit TT Electronics has struck a deal to acquire a US based business that designs and manufactures power electronics for defence and aerospace markets, enhancing its ability to engineer complete power converters.
ABB partners with Exeger to speed up transition to clean energy ABB has entered into a new partnership with Sweden's Exeger Operations AB. The partnership will enable Exeger to enhance the production quality its photovoltaic material at the company's Stockholm factory and also develop automation solutions for its new fully automated factory which will begin construction in the near future.
Rehm Thermal Systems intros 3-in-1 reflow solution Michael Hanke from Rehm Thermal Systems shows off the results of the company's development work.
Intel to reclaim No.1 semiconductor supplier ranking in 2019 IC Insights says that only three among the top-15 semiconductor suppliers are forecasted to show growth this year.
Veoneer joins Autonomous Vehicle Computing Consortium Veoneer has joined the Autonomous Vehicle Computing Consortium (AVCC) to speed autonomous driving vehicle development.
Ongoing trade issues have opened up Chinese market for Viscom According to Carsten Salewski, Chinas move towards more independence has resulted in more customers from the region; especially within the automotive sector.
Don't forget about human inclusion in industry 4.0 Michael Ford from Aegis Software is reminding the industry in the midst of connectivity that our most powerful asset is still the human employee.
East West Manufacturing acquires Adcotron EMS East West Manufacturing has acquired Adcotron EMS, a provider of specialized electronics manufacturing services, including advanced printed circuit board assemblies, box-build assemblies, testing, and new product introduction services.
Benchmark's Thailand facility earns MedAccred PCBA accreditation The EMS provider announces that its facility in Ayutthaya, Thailand has earned the MedAccred Printed Circuit Board Assembly accreditation.
HZO unveils larger HQ in North Carolina HZO, known for protective nano coatings designed to help electronics withstand corrosive liquid environments, held an open house at its new headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina this week.
Luminator Technology relocates some production to Texas Luminator Technology Group has relocated production of its Apollo Video Technology RoadRunner mobile video security solutions to Luminator's headquarters in Plano, Texas.Load more news
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text: It was a great new year, we had a lot of fun having dinner amongst friends. Now back home, after my trip, I got back onto #haskell and after complimenting dons a happy new year, he asked if my resolutions for 2007 would include more Haskell projects. Although my original 4 resolutions did not include them, perhaps I could add this 5th resolution. The main issue is that I never know what to code, so I'm left with a bunch of PLs in a state of disuse. Suggestions, are of course, always welcome, dear reader.


text: Tariffs/Products How do I provide meter readings on my tariff? You can provide meter readings through your personal online account. It is important to provide regular meter reads to ensure your account is up-to-date and ensure you are only paying for the energy you use. Failure to provide regular meter readings could result in you reverting onto our Standard Variable Tariff. Did you find this information useful? Yes No


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mailto:email@example.com Call:(612)668-2114
Use 5 initial letters of your email address for search. Expand that with the permalink and our message working together. Ask your friends to comment, expand your features and benefits
$50.00 per year link.
$25.00 per year subscription, see the home page and the Stores Page for most valuable related products.
We office with a Promotional Products Distributor. Everything is available.
We office with high quality low quantity digital printing of fabrics. Everything is available.
Describe your business or your objectives for free, right here with the BusinessCardCoupon page that is already in place. Email your text, key words and YouTube video to me and we will use them as tags in the search tools. Use your permalink to link directly to this page in your business or personal life. Ask us for help with your email program.


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|Product Code
|760mm x Ø* 700mm
|Matt Cream
|Supplied as two pieces, simply bolt together with supplied fixings
*Ø is table-top diameter
The Cassis Round Bistro Table is the perfect practical choice for small gardens and patio spaces. The highly fashionable shabby chic design is a great way to create a truly unique ambiance in your garden or patio area, so you can spend the days pretending you're on the French Riviera relaxing in the sun.
The French style bistro table comes in a matt cream finish, with an elegant French lattice design which gives the furniture a traditional look and feel. The Cassis round patio table is made with a steel frame meaning they are extremely lightweight without compromising durability.
The Cassis collection is not weather-proof, but can easily be stored away when not in use.
We highly recommend combining this table with our Cassis Bistro Chairs or other furniture in the Cassis Range to create the perfect garden set.
100% secure online shopping
When shopping online, you should always be extra vigilant. Ensuring you're buying from reputable and trustworthy sellers is half of the battle. When you're ordering online with Leader Furniture, you can be sure of our 100% Secure Online Shopping Guarantee.
Here at Leader, we fully recognise the importance of Internet security, whether buying or selling. When purchasing goods from our online eCommerce store your data is safe with us, including all information sent over the Internet, telephone, or even face-to-face in our Hartlepool store. We use industry-leading standard technology which encrypts every online transaction. This security technology uses Sockets Layer technology to ensure our website is SSL Certified (for full information on SSL Certification, please click here). Our website is fully https secure and our SSL Certified website is verified by GeoTrust Inc. GeoTrust is a leading digital certificate provider and authority. The Sockets Layer Technology is used to encrypt all personal information and payment data.
Leader Furniture process all payments within a Protx VSP secured server, offering the highest level of compliance under the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). This is an United Kingdom industry-recognised standard.
We are 100% confident of the transaction security levels on our site and we offer a 100% Security Guarantee with every order.
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Leader Furniture accept payments using a number of payment methods, allowing you the freedom to pay however you would like when purchasing from our website. We accept payments from all major debit cards, credit cards, Amazon Payments, Deko Finance and PayPal, allowing you to choose the most suitable payment method at the checkout.
Credit and debit card payments are processed using Sagepay. Card transactions allow customers to quickly and easily complete orders. Customers can also place orders via the telephone if they prefer, however, due to security checks telephone orders can only be dispatched to the billing address. PayPal is a safe and easy way to pay online. Simply login to your existing PayPal account for one click purchases, without sharing any payment information.
For full details on all of the data we collect from you, please read our privacy policy.
For a quick snapshot of our shipping options on offer and delivery prices, see the table below.
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Free to Mainland UK
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30 day returns
We offer 30 day returns on any order placed on our website, with refunds processed within 3-5 working days of receiving goods back to our warehouse. Further returns or refund related questions may be answered by reading our returns policy. If you still have any questions after reading here, then get in touch and we'll be able to assist with any enquiries .
This product has not been reviewed yet.


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On a warm December afternoon in Rangoon, the largest city in Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and the country's most popular politician, sat in the headquarters of the National League for Democracy. It is a crumbling two-story cinder-block building, with peeling green paint, exposed electrical wires, and tattered posters of Che Guevara, Aung San Suu Kyi, and her father, Aung San, a Burmese freedom fighter who helped negotiate the country's independence from Great Britain. The N.L.D. is the main opposition party to the current military regime, and Aung San Suu Kyi, who is sixty-five, has been its nominal head since 1988. In November, the regime staged an election, and managed to extend its hold on power for five more years. A week after the vote, Aung San Suu Kyi was released from her family's lakefront villa in northern Rangoon, where she had served seven years of house arrest.
Aung San Suu Kyi now spends much of her time at N.L.D. headquarters, meeting with party members, ethnic leaders, and senior aides. The regime dissolved the party after the N.L.D.'s decision, in March, not to participate in the election because of "unjust" electoral laws. These included the banning of candidates with religious affiliations as well as those with criminal records, which eliminated all monks and hundreds of party members who have been political prisoners. Lawyers are preparing a court case to reconstitute the party. In the meantime, large crowds still gather at Aung San Suu Kyi's public appearances, and the dictatorship closely tracks her movements, watching anyone who comes into contact with her. Half a dozen agents of the dictatorship's intelligence division, wearing earphones and carrying digital cameras, lingered in a tea stall across the street while I interviewed her.
Aung San Suu Kyi sat rigidly upright on a wooden settee inside a second-floor meeting room, both hands resting in her lap. Fine lines were etched into her delicate features, and she looked gaunt, even though, according to her physician, Tin Myo Win, during her years in confinement her weight never fluctuated from a hundred and five pounds. "My doctor told me that I can't keep going at this pace," she said. Her diction retains something of Oxford, where she studied and lived before she returned to Myanmar, in 1988. Tin Myo Win told me that he had been monitoring her blood pressure since her release, and that he had so far given her "eight or nine" injections of "a cocktail drip"—a blend of vitamins, proteins, and glucose—to keep her from collapsing from exhaustion.
Her biggest frustration, she said, was that she had not found time to meditate, an integral part of her daily routine since she was placed under house arrest for the first time, in 1989. In captivity, she had practiced vipasanna meditation, an ancient technique attributed to the Gautama Buddha. At first, she said, "I found it very difficult to do, because my mind was wandering, instead of being fixed on one particular place—your breathing, the rising and falling of your abdomen. I got frustrated, thinking, My goodness, can't I do even this little mind exercise? But, with persistence, you get there."
She lived without a telephone or a computer, and her only companionship came from two female assistants, Khin Khin Win and Win Ma Ma, and a radio. The monotony was broken by occasional visits from her doctor and her attorney. Meditation proved invaluable in dealing with the "intense irritation and impatience" that she felt toward her captors. "I would think, Why can't we just get on and do what needs to be done, rather than indulge in all this shilly-shallying?" she said. "Because I listened to the radio many hours every day, I knew what was going on in Burma, the economic problems, the poverty . . . and I'd get impatient and say, 'Why are we wasting our time in this way?' " The impatience, she said, "didn't last, because I had the benefits of meditation. Even when I was very annoyed, I would know that within twenty-four hours this would have subsided."
Now Aung San Suu Kyi is eager to rebuild the democracy movement, whose unity eroded in her absence. But, with the next elections five years away and people afraid to march in the streets, the opposition is arguably weaker than ever. No small part of that weakness, in the eyes of some, is Aung San Suu Kyi herself.
Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, emerged about three hundred years ago out of a series of small, isolated Buddhist kingdoms, some centered on the Irrawaddy River, which originates near the mountains along the Chinese border and empties into the Andaman Sea. In the late nineteenth century, after three Anglo-Burmese wars, Burma fell entirely under the control of the British Empire, which ruled the colony as part of the Raj. George Orwell served in the Indian Imperial Police in Burma for five years, an experience that was the inspiration for his 1934 novel "Burmese Days." During the Second World War, Burma was a battleground between the Japanese Army and the Allies; the Burma Road, linking the country to China, was a vital supply route for Chiang Kai-shek, and in 1944 it was partly secured by the Allies. Burma gained its independence from Great Britain in 1948. Fourteen years later, a group of military officers led by General Ne Win toppled the democratically elected civilian government and imposed a socialist military dictatorship. Under Ne Win's Burma Socialist Programme Party, Burma drifted into economic decrepitude and isolation.
In 1980, when I passed through as a backpacker, it was possible to exchange a fifth of Johnnie Walker Red and two cartons of Marlboros on the black market for enough kyats, the local currency, to travel in Burma for a week. Vintage nineteen-forties automobiles rumbled down the potholed streets of Rangoon, a riverside slum of mildewed British-colonial buildings with filigreed balconies draped in laundry. Most nights, the electricity failed, and the streets were cast in near-total darkness, except for the glow of battery-powered lamps illuminating the secondhand booksellers and betel-nut venders. Like all foreigners, I kept to a carefully prescribed one-week itinerary, in part because of the Communist insurgency and the ethnic rebellions then raging in parts of the countryside. I travelled by crowded trains to Mandalay, the second city, and Pagan, an ancient imperial capital strewn with the ghostly remnants of pagodas. Any signs of dissent were—to a backpacker's eyes—deeply buried.
In early August, 1988, peaceful demonstrations broke out in Rangoon against the regime's disastrous economic policies, and quickly spread to other cities. Students, monks, lawyers, laborers, and others marched in the streets. Ne Win reportedly gave an order that guns were "not to shoot upwards," and soldiers opened fire, killing nearly six thousand people. General Saw Maung seized power, formed a junta called the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), and imposed martial law. "So many of us were expelled and blacklisted afterward," my translator told me. He was a student leader in the philosophy department at Mandalay University that year.
In 1990, the military regime allowed elections, which the National League for Democracy overwhelmingly won. SLORC, after initially saying it would abide by the result, declared itself Burma's ruling authority and annulled the election results; many opposition politicians fled into exile. Seventeen years later, thousands of young monks marched in red robes through the streets of Rangoon demanding democracy, in the dramatic, weeks-long Saffron Revolution, and were joined by thousands of civilians. The junta, now led by General Than Shwe and renamed the State Peace and Development Council, opened fire on demonstrators and jailed thousands. The United Nations reported that between thirty and forty monks and between fifty and seventy civilians were killed. Since then, the regime has maintained tough censorship laws and imposed long prison terms for dissent. There are an estimated twenty-one hundred political prisoners in Myanmar's jails.
Beginning in the nineties, the United States imposed broad economic sanctions against the country, freezing the assets of top officials and banning almost all investment there. The European Union followed suit in 2006. This has not stopped the regime from spending what is reported to be billions of dollars on its showpiece capital, Naypyidaw, which was carved out of the jungle five hours north of Rangoon, along the nation's only eight-lane expressway. It is a sprawling, low-density metropolis with wide, empty boulevards, grandiose state architecture, and golf courses where regime insiders cut deals in the tropical heat. One Western diplomat who visits there frequently told me, "You can't imagine what a diversion of resources it represents, and it's still growing." At the same time, the regime has ignored the needs of its most vulnerable citizens. Thousands of people have died of AIDS because of the near-absence of retroviral drug treatment outside Rangoon and Mandalay. In 2008, the government failed to provide aid to millions of people affected by a devastating cyclone in the Irrawaddy River Delta. The U.N. has ranked Myanmar as one of the twenty poorest countries in the world, with an estimated annual per-capita income of five hundred dollars.
In May, 2008, as one step on its long-promised "road map" to democracy, the dictatorship ratified a new constitution, which led to the country's first elections in twenty years. The constitution created a civilian-dominated government, with a two-house Parliament that would meet at least once a year, and an elected head of state. Power remains vested in the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and his military council. Twenty-five per cent of parliamentary seats are set aside for military officers, and a seventy-five-per-cent-plus vote in Parliament is required to amend the constitution, meaning that the military can always veto proposed changes. Human rights are enumerated, but the constitution holds that, if circumstances require, the military can retake authority and those rights can be abrogated.
The regime-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party handily won the November 7th elections through the manipulation of "advance votes"—ballots that had been distributed early to the sick and to those whose travel and work schedules prevented them from going to the polls on Election Day. The U.S.D.P. gained control of nearly eighty per cent of the seats in the new Parliament. Its victory secure, the government set Aung San Suu Kyi free on her scheduled release date. "Either the regime considered it safe to let her go or they felt they could not further extend her sentence," I was told by another Western diplomat. (Diplomats in Myanmar are highly guarded, and rarely speak on the record.) The dictatorship may have considered Aung San Suu Kyi a spent force, "but based on what the regime has seen since—the outpourings of affection wherever she goes—they may have to think again." The diplomat concluded, "She's a player."
One afternoon, I walked past the Shwedagon Pagoda, an ancient gilded temple that rises three hundred and twenty-six feet above Rangoon, and is said to contain eight hairs of the Gautama Buddha. I followed a narrow road that climbed steeply past the German Embassy and a Buddhist monastery, passing monks and noodle venders, until I arrived at a turreted two-story villa surrounded by a green fence. A sign on the locked front gate identified the house as the Bogyoke (General) Aung San Museum, the former home of post-colonial Burma's founding father and his family, including his then infant daughter, Aung San Suu Kyi. A charismatic student leader in the nineteen-thirties, Aung San agitated against British rule and was trained as a soldier in Japan by the Japanese Army. He and twenty-nine other Burmese nationalists formed the Burma Independence Army in Thailand, then marched into Burma in 1942, with Japanese support, and set up a government in Rangoon parallel with the Japanese administration. Near the end of the war, wary of the intentions of the Japanese, and sensing their imminent defeat, he switched sides, and eventually helped negotiate Burma's independence.
Aung San is revered by most Burmese, but, because of his famous offspring, the junta has tried to obliterate his memory. A caretaker in a tin shack on the overgrown grounds indicated that the museum was closed and that I should leave. "I'm forty-five years old, and I have never entered—never," a food-stall keeper beside the front gate said, explaining that the museum has been shut for as long as she could remember. The museum now opens its doors for only three hours every July 19th, the anniversary of Aung San's assassination, in 1947, by gunmen loyal to a rival politician.
Aung San Suu Kyi has no memory of her father. Her mother, Khin Kyi, was a prominent figure in Burma's first civilian government, and became the Ambassador to India and Nepal in 1960. Aung San Suu Kyi attended college in New Delhi before graduating from Oxford with a degree in philosophy, politics, and economics. She was fascinated by her father's life; when she was a student she travelled to Tokyo and tracked down his military instructors. "I asked one of the officers who trained him, 'What did you think was different about my father compared to the others you trained?' " she told me. "He mentioned two things: One, my father read as much as he could, while the others were so tired by the end of the day they just went to sleep." The other, she said, was that when the trainer was giving classes on military matters "my father would always come to his own conclusions, whereas the others would learn everything by rote."
In 1972, Aung San Suu Kyi married Michael Aris, a British scholar of Tibetan Buddhism whom she had met at Oxford, and they had two sons, Alexander and Kim, the latter named after the eponymous character in Rudyard Kipling's novel. "Michael was a gentle man, a stoic—very old-school English," I was told by his close friend Thant Myint-U, a Burmese historian and the grandson of U Thant, the former U.N. Secretary-General. Thant Myint-U first met Aung San Suu Kyi during a short visit to Oxford in 1986, and he said that she struck him as "a self-assured, charismatic person, even though we were just having tea and talking about the movies." She conversed in an informed way about Burma, but gave no indication that she would return there. "Perhaps in hindsight you could say she was waiting for the right moment, but I wouldn't have said that then. She was a housewife, doing historical research, looking for a fellowship." Still, early in her marriage she had told Aris that she might eventually be drawn back to Burma. She insisted to me years later that this sense of obligation came not from being her father's daughter but from the realization that her countrymen were suffering under the military dictatorship, and "if they required the help of people outside Burma we would have to go back."
In the summer of 1988, when Aung San Suu Kyi was forty-three, she returned to Rangoon to care for her ailing mother, who had suffered a stroke. Shortly after her arrival, the 8888 Uprising broke out. It was named for the date of the Burma-wide general strike—August 8, 1988—a date that was chosen by student leaders for the auspicious alignment of the digits. In late August, half a million protesters gathered in front of the west gate of the Shwedagon Pagoda, a historic rallying point against colonial rule, to hear Aung San Suu Kyi give her first public speech, a vigorous denunciation of the regime and a call for democracy. It instantly thrust her to the forefront of the political opposition.
Weeks later, she joined two disaffected Burmese generals to form the National League for Democracy, and, as the party's general secretary, she began to travel around the country, holding rallies and calling for elections. "I learned about her ability only when we travelled together up-country," I was told by Win Htein, a former Burmese Army captain who became her personal assistant. Win Htein took nine journeys with Aung San Suu Kyi to remote areas such as Shan State, a hilly plateau bordering China, Laos, and Thailand, where the regime has been battling ethnic insurgencies for decades. "Wherever she went, people came to her like bees coming to a flower," he said. "At first, everybody was interested in her because she was the daughter of General Aung San, but when they approached her and asked questions, and she answered them patiently and correctly, you could see that she had a real ability to connect with people." Khin Maung Swe, a founding member of the N.L.D., who first encountered Aung San Suu Kyi that year, told me, "At the very instant I saw her, I knew 'She is my leader.' We admired General Aung San so much, so it was no problem for us to follow her. But she herself proved to be a very courageous, very strong-willed person."
As a leader of the protests, Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest for the first time. The regime released her in 1995, but it has re-arrested and imprisoned her several times since then on various pretexts, including posing a threat to state security, and claimed to be taking her into "protective custody" after deadly attacks on her own supporters. She has been in isolation for fifteen of the past twenty-one years.
During her imprisonment, Aung San Suu Kyi developed an unvarying schedule. Waking before dawn, she would meditate, then spend the rest of the morning doing household chores while listening to the BBC and other stations on shortwave radio. "I was listening five to six hours a day. I was more in touch with the news than were many people outside," she said. After lunch, she devoted the afternoon to reading books that her doctor had procured for her, mostly through contacts at foreign embassies. "I had always intended to read 'Les Misérables' in French, and I managed that," she said. "Of course, I lost touch with friends and family. That was not possible to continue."
Aung San Suu Kyi spent Christmas of 1995 with her husband in Rangoon, during a period of freedom between imprisonments. Two years later, in England, Michael Aris was given a diagnosis of prostate cancer, which was later judged to be terminal. The government would not grant him another visa to come to Myanmar, and Aung San Suu Kyi would not leave the country to visit Aris, knowing that she would be refused reëntry. He died in 1999. Both of her sons were repeatedly denied visas to Myanmar during her long captivity. Her elder son, Alexander Aris, who is thirty-seven, has been described in the press as troubled by his mother's choosing politics over family. (He and his brother declined to be interviewed for this article.) Kim, who is thirty-three, visited his mother ten days after her release. She describes the reunion as "very easy, as though we had never been apart."
Aung San Suu Kyi's brother, Aung San Oo, a U.S. citizen, is close to the junta and has been estranged from her for decades. In 2000, he sued her in Rangoon High Court, demanding a half share in the family's villa, but, in a surprising decision, the court ruled against him. Tin Myo Win, Aung San Suu Kyi's doctor, says that her Buddhist beliefs have helped her to cope with family ruptures. "I strongly believe that she has no bitterness," he told me. "She has never shown anger or short-temperedness. It is a quality of indifference that I have only come across in senior Buddhist monks." He added, "Inside the heart you may have some feeling, but your mind is above the heart. . . . She loved her sons very much, but you may say that her Buddhism transcended it."
On May 3, 2009, four weeks before Aung San Suu Kyi's scheduled release from detention, John Yettaw, an American Vietnam veteran, swam across Inya Lake to her villa. He later claimed that he had been motivated by a vision of her impending assassination and needed to warn her. Yettaw had made the same swim a few months earlier, but had been turned away by her assistants. "I didn't see him at all the first time," Aung San Suu Kyi told me. When he appeared dripping wet at her door in May, "he said he was not in a condition to swim back, and obviously I didn't want to send him back out into the lake to be drowned." She was aware that she had just given the regime an excuse to keep her in detention, but "I felt I could not hand over anybody to be arrested by the authorities when so many of our people had been arrested and not been given a fair hearing," she said. "It was a matter of principle."
The regime charged her and her two assistants with receiving an unauthorized visitor and incarcerated them, and Yettaw, at Insein Prison, in Rangoon. After a two-and-a-half-month show trial, the women were sentenced to three years of hard labor. General Than Shwe commuted the sentences to eighteen months of house arrest. (Yettaw was sentenced to seven years in prison, but was released days later to United States Senator Jim Webb.) As the scheduled date of her freedom approached, Aung San Suu Kyi said, "I prepared for two eventualities—release and continued detention. I stick to that old formula that you hope for the best and you are prepared for the worst."
A few days after she was freed, Aung San Suu Kyi visited a shelter on the outskirts of Rangoon for H.I.V.-AIDS patients, run by the N.L.D. The shelter, which currently houses eighty-two men, women, and children, provides antiretroviral drugs, donated by N.G.O.s, and inpatient care to mostly up-country people who can't find treatment in their towns and villages. The shelter has provoked the ire of the regime, which sees it as a means for the opposition to bolster its support by offering an alternative to government services. "The patients say they are treated like human beings, that they are given compassion there," Aung San Suu Kyi told me. She spent two hours at the shelter, handing out flowers and talking with patients. The next day, neighborhood officials refused to extend the residential permits that the patients are required to reapply for, and made plans to close the facility. "Perhaps they thought they should show how strong they were and deal with this in a very stern way," she said. The N.L.D. alerted the international press; a week later, officials withdrew the order. Aung San Suu Kyi said she still wasn't sure whether the threats against the shelter came from the military dictatorship or originated at the local level. She called the outcome "a happy solution."
Thant Myint-U told me that the democracy movement under Aung San Suu Kyi's leadership had made miscalculations in its dealings with the dictatorship during the past two decades. In the mid-nineteen-nineties, after releasing Aung San Suu Kyi for the first time, the regime indicated a willingness to negotiate, but Thant Myint-U believes that the N.L.D.'s insistence on the full implementation of the annulled 1990 election results doomed any hope of progress. "It was entirely unrealistic," he said. After that, the regime became less and less willing to compromise. The opposition's biggest mistake, he said, was its belief that "help from the West—through a mix of sanctions and diplomacy—would somehow force the regime to bargain." In fact, Thant Myint-U said, sanctions may have entrenched the regime and slowed the pace of reform. The dictatorship has been able to attract significant investment from China and, increasingly, from India, Korea, and other Asian nations. Chinese businessmen have formed lucrative real-estate and other partnerships with regime insiders; they now own concessions for teak, jade, and crude oil. "The West essentially dealt itself out of the game," Thant Myint-U said, and as a result Myanmar has been pushed deeper into the arms of the Chinese. Sanctions may also have undermined the Burmese middle class, "probably the people on whom any democratic transition would depend."
Aung San Suu Kyi's critics fear that she and the rest of the N.L.D.'s Old Guard remain wedded to traditional forms of protest—hunger strikes, demonstrations, election boycotts, calls for more sanctions—that are ineffective in a world where China is happy to do business with countries that manifest little or no concern for human rights. "There is a huge overreliance and overestimation of how much the outside world can help," Thant Myint-U said. "I wouldn't say the regime is afraid of her." They would be scared of "any movement that would consolidate a grassroots following," he said. "But the N.L.D. is not that anymore."
Aung San Suu Kyi's decision to boycott the 2010 election splintered the party; a breakaway group, the National Democratic Front, participated in the vote. "We haven't been in a comfortable political space for twenty years, so, though the space is narrow, we must try to set a foot in this space," Khin Maung Swe, now a leader of the N.D.F., told me. The election campaign left deep bitterness. "Her people attacked us vehemently," Khin Maung Swe said. "They branded us as 'traitors,' and were more aggressive than the U.S.D.P. itself. This is one of the reasons that we feel so bitter."
Aung San Suu Kyi turned petulant when I asked her about the bad feelings between the groups. She said of the N.D.F., "They expelled one member of their party, and I understand that this member has been accusing them of having received illegal funds. I think they should really see to that rather than talk about the bitterness on the part of members of the N.L.D."
She rolled her eyes when I asked her about N.D.F. leaders' call to the West to lift broad-based economic sanctions because, according to them, the sanctions haven't hurt the regime. "How do they know that the sanctions have not been effective, have not prevented certain things from taking place?" she said with exasperation. "It's not a transparent regime, so that we do not know what is really going on. . . . But the effect has to be studied," she conceded. "We keep an open mind." She also became annoyed when I asked her about a dispatch from the United States Embassy in Rangoon, published by WikiLeaks, that criticized the "sclerotic leadership" of the N.L.D. and the failure of the party to galvanize the young. "I think the party is stronger now than it's been in a long time," she insisted. An Agence France-Presse article had distorted her comments on the matter, she said. "They just gave prominence to my saying we're not going to get rid of the older leaders," and ignored her saying that "the younger ones are taking over the practical part of the work."
Aung San Suu Kyi told me that she was ready to sit down with the leaders of the dictatorship and "exchange points of view." But there is widespread doubt, even among her closest aides, that talks are likely to get anywhere. General Than Shwe, who is seventy-seven, is a hard-liner who has shown no desire to compromise. "In 1994, there was a meeting with him and Aung San Suu Kyi," Win Htein, her former personal assistant, told me. He came to know Than Shwe when they served together in the Burmese Army, in the nineteen-sixties and seventies. "She asked me what was my opinion of her meeting him. And I told her, 'That is nonsense. Nothing will come of it. I know them.' I said, 'I know their mentality.' " Than Shwe may be grooming a successor within the State Peace and Development Council, but at the moment, a Western diplomat told me, he remains "all-powerful."
I asked Aung San Suu Kyi whether the country had changed during her last period of house arrest. The first thing she noticed after getting out, she said, was "the hand phones and the cameras" of the supporters who gathered in front of her villa and in front of N.L.D. headquarters. Internet cafés and satellite dishes—purchased on the black market and tolerated by the regime—were everywhere. "I'm the only one without a satellite dish, precisely because they're illegal," she told me, with a laugh. The dictatorship understands that keeping its citizens in the dark is no longer possible, she believes, and this gives her hope. "Journals and magazines have come up in the last seven years that carry articles on politics, economics, history, the struggle for independence. Some of these articles are censored, and prevented from appearing, but even the fact that they submit these articles for publication means there's been a change. The self-censorship is decreasing."
Even so, two decades after her return from Oxford to lead the opposition, the country shows few signs of progress. The military dictatorship is entrenched, and pro-democracy forces have been weakened. Some of the monks who led the Saffron Revolution remain in Myanmar's prisons, and the regime has taken over many of the monasteries, carefully vetting all applicants for their political loyalties. As the economies of China, Thailand, India, and other Asian neighbors grow rapidly, Myanmar's remains stagnant. The education and health-care systems are in tatters; many young Burmese dream of escaping overseas. Aung San Suu Kyi told me that people needed to be patient. "We have a saying in Burmese: 'People cannot wait until the end,' " she said. "They are always ready to criticize before we get where we want to be, especially if we don't get there fast enough."
I asked her whether she felt excited to be out in public after living in a vacuum for so long. She smiled. "After years of meditation, I think you remain very much on an even keel. There is not too much difference to you mentally whether you've been released or not," she said. "But physically it is very tiring." ♦


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TAMPA, Fla., Aug. 28 (UPI) -- Two conservative organizations are urging the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., to reject a platform provision opposing same-sex marriage.
Young Conservatives for the Freedom to Marry and Log Cabin Republicans said in a release Tuesday they will run a full-page ad in Wednesday's Tampa Tribune arguing "the freedom to marry is fully consistent with principles valued by conservatives: freedom, personal responsibility and the importance of family."
The release said the Republican Party plank on same-sex marriage is "extreme" and called the Family Research Council -- whose president, Tony Perkins, authored the platform language on same-sex marriage -- "anti-gay."
Log Cabin Republicans Executive Director R. Clarke Cooper said Republicans "gay or straight ... are united in the belief that strong families are critical to a free society."
"As fellow conservatives, Log Cabin Republicans actually agree with Tony Perkins about the importance of family values," Cooper said. "The difference is, we believe that the freedom to marry is directly in line with the core ideals and principles of the Republican Party -- less government, more individual freedom, personal responsibility and the importance of family."
Sarah Longwell of Young Conservatives for the Freedom to Marry said the GOP "should support freedom -- for all people, and all families."
"The writing is on the wall for the Republican Party," Longwell said. "Stand up for the values they say they believe in, or risk being seen as irrelevant with younger conservatives."


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Cranberry Apple Stuffing
I love Thanksgiving food. I have to thank my husband for introducing me to the tradition; he's been making his family's meal from scratch every year since he was a teenager. Most of the recipes I make now are adaptations of the ones he refined in the past.
I enjoy the turkey, the mashed potatoes, the yams, the gravy and the pies, but my favorite is the stuffing (or dressing, depending on how you use it).
Of all the Thanksgiving dishes, it's the most complex in flavor and texture. The other dishes are more singular in quality. Yams are sweet. Mashed potatoes are creamy. Sure, they can have some variation and subtlety, but most often, these dishes are really celebration of a single ingredient.
Stuffing is the harmony that contrasts the melody created by all the other Thanksgiving sides. It is also the most flexible of all the dishes, and is very forgiving of modification and experimentation. Not to mix metaphors, but croutons form a perfect canvas upon which many contrasting and complementary flavors can be layered.
For this particular stuffing recipe I used apples and cranberries, both fall flavors, for sweetness. The apples also provide a crunch that's an excellent foil to the softness of the bread. To the usual suspects of celery, carrots and onions, I added shallots and king mushrooms. The mushrooms in particular add an earthy and meaty quality to the dish. All the ingredients were amply seasoned with Italian seasoning and a little lemon zest.
Yields: 6 servings1 (22-ounce) loaf French bread
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1/2 cup olive oil
1 Fuji apple
1 Granny Smith apple
1 Meyer lemon
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 teabag Earl Grey Tea
1 sprig lemon thyme
1 sprig marjoram
1 sprig oregano
1/2 sprig rosemary
1/4 cup sweet basil leaves
2 teaspoons garlic chives, finely snipped
8 sage leaves
1 small yellow onion, chopped
2 shallots, chopped
1 teaspoon red chili flakes
2 tablespoons butter
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 large carrot, diced
2 stalks celery, peeled and diced
1 king oyster mushroom (see tips), diced
3 cups vegetable stock, (2 14-ounce cans)
2 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon mushroom seasoning salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
For the cranberries:
Make a cup of Earl Grey tea. Soak the dried cranberries in the cup of hot tea and let them sit for at least 20 minutes, then strain and reserve the cranberries. Discard the liquid.
For the lemon:
Zest and juice the lemon.
For the apples:
I mixed both a Fuji apple and a Granny Smith for sweet and tart flavors. Peel, core and cube the apples. Drizzle with the lemon juice to prevent (from turning brown) oxidation of the fruit.
For the Italian seasoning:
Finely chop the leaves of a sprig of oregano, marjoram, thyme, rosemary, 2 tablespoons of flat-leaf parsley (with stems; that's where the flavor is the most potent), the garlic chive, the basil leaves and 1 sage leaf.
In a mortar and pestle, combine 1/2 clove of garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and the herbs.
For the croutons:
Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a mini-blender (or a mortar and pestle if you don't have one), mix 1 tablespoon of the Italian seasoning with 4 tablespoons of olive oil. Give it a few pulses.
Slice the loaf of bread 1-inch thick. (No need to cut off the crusts.) Cut the slices into about 1-inch cubes. Spread the bread cubes on a non-stick baking sheet. Drizzle the herb-flavored oil on the bread cubes. Season with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. Add the garlic powder. Toss well.
Bake for 12 minutes. Toss the croutons once half-way through the baking process. All sides should be slightly golden. Remove from the oven. Cool the croutons for at least 15 minutes.
For the vegetables:
In a large pot, heat about 2 tablespoons of oil. Sauté the sage leaves. Transfer to a plate lined with a paper towel. Set aside.
In the same pot, add the chopped onions, shallots and red chili flakes. When the color is translucent, season with 1/4 teaspoon of salt and add 1 teaspoon of Italian seasoning. Add the garlic. As the garlic becomes slightly golden, stir-fry the diced carrots. Add about 1/2 cup of broth. Stir well until all the liquid is evaporated. Add mushrooms. Cook for about 2-3 minutes. If the mixture starts sticking to the bottom of the pan, add 2-3 tablespoons of stock . Add the celery and lemon zest. Add 2-3 tablespoons more stock if necessary. Season with 1/2 teaspoon of mushroom seasoning salt. Cook for another minute. Finally add the apples. Add 1 tablespoon of butter. Cook until tender for about 2-3 minutes. Transfer the vegetable mixture to a platter. Set aside.
Assembly time:
At the last minute, add the croutons to the pot. Add the rest of the butter. Season with the remaining mushroom seasoning salt. Add the remaining vegetable stock. Stir well. The entire mixture should be moist, but not mushy. Add the vegetables and cranberries. Adjust the seasoning. Add more salt (if necessary) and black pepper. Finish with the remaining parsley. Stir well.
Serve warm. Garnish with fried sage leaves.
Bon appétit!
Waste not, want not. Croutons are a perfect way to recycle stale bread. Check out my other version with brown butter baguette. You can also make bread crumbs for mac & cheese or garlic bread for soups and salads.
You can find king oyster mushrooms in Asian stores. They are also called abalone mushrooms and have a very meaty texture. I think they are perfect for this stuffing.
If you don't have king oyster mushrooms, you can replace with Portobello or any other mushrooms.
Mushroom seasoning salt brings a very distinct, earthy flavor to the sauce. You can find it at gourmet specialty stores or in most Korean stores. I get mine at Marina Foods -10122 Bandley Drive -Cupertino, CA 95014.
As I do when I make ma-po tofu, I add the vegetables to the pot based on the amount of time it takes each vegetable to cook. The carrots go first, then the mushrooms, etc... If you want to be extra cautious, you can cook each ingredient separately, transfer to a platter and assemble at the end so that each ingredient is cooked to perfection.
I made my own vegetable stock but you can use 2 (14-ounce) cans if you like.
Check out more recipes with bread.Published By: on November 12, 2009.


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U of I seminar in Lincoln next week on starting seeds
Send a link to a friend
[February 14, 2013]
The Logan-Menard-Sangamon Unit
of University of Illinois Extension will offer a "Seed Starting"
seminar Feb. 21 at 6 p.m. at the University of Illinois Extension
Building, 980 N. Postville Drive in Lincoln.
Fishburn, horticulture educator with U of I Extension, and U of I
Extension Master Gardeners Lisa Wrage and Mary Moore will provide
information on what you need to do to get started and how to keep
your seedlings growing up to planting time. Seed selection, timing,
materials and equipment will all be discussed.
For more information, call 217-732-8289.
[Text from file received from
University of
Illinois Extension]
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The roster of hopefuls on "The Voice" dwindled down to just eight contestants Tuesday, as Team Usher's Bria Kelly and Team Shakira's Tess Boyer were sent home.
That meant that both Team Usher and Team Shakira were down to a single contestant each as the competition heads into its final weeks.
Team Adam's rock artist Kat Perkins had joined Tess and Bria in the bottom three on the live eliminations show, but her final performance of "Ooh La La (Paris)" by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals helped earn her another week on "The Voice."
"If you save this girl, she's going to beat the odds by making it all the way to the end," her coach had urged fans in a plea to save Kat, who had sung Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide" on Monday.
Both performances paid off when Kat was saved in the end, on the strength of her fans' five minutes of tweets for an instant save.
Tess, no stranger to the bottom three, had sung a powerful version of Pink's "Who Knew" in her final attempt to win votes. "I'm devastated to see you up there again," her coach Shakira told her. "You are fire, and you just proved that to us."
Bria had belted out Heart's "Crazy on You" in her last-chance performance, after she had deviated from her typical rock'n'roll persona Monday on a cover of Avril Lavigne's "I'm With You," to mixed reactions from the coaches.
Still, the coaches were rooting for her Tuesday. "If you would have told me that Bria would be in the situation right now, I would have thought you were crazy," said Blake Shelton.
Blake's own team — Jake Worthington, Sisaundra Lewis and Audra McLaughlin — was completely safe, all voted in by viewers this week.
And Kat's save meant that Team Adam was intact, too, with all three members. Christina Grimmie was the night's first contestant to find out she was safe, after performing Drake's "Hold On We're Going Home" the night before. Her teammate Delvin Choice followed her.
But Team Shakira was down to just country singer Kristen Merlin, while Team Usher had been reduced to just Josh Kaufman.
The finals continue next week on "The Voice" on NBC.
"The Voice" airs Monday and Tuesday at 8/7c.