text:
prontO secco
_"This "manbrusco" [Pronto] (notes of tobacco, etc.) is nuts."
Tuesday, December 20th, 2011
"Tried a great Lambrusco [Pronto] @PizzeriaMozza on Friday night."
Sunday, March 18th, 2012
pizza. pasta. pronto.*
real lambrusco
Without doubt, Pronto is a perfect match for the archetypal Italian food: Pizza. What better way to consolidate the happy union between Italy's North (Emilia) and South (Naples).
Click, to watch video.
PRONTO. Italy's coolest red.
The label was designed by Valerio Marini, one of Italy's foremost cartoonists.
The label was designed by Valerio Marini, one of Italy's foremost cartoonists.
Lambrusco Living
* Enhances the flavors of Salumi (cured meats), Pizza, Pasta, Lasagna, Burgers, etc.
** One of the three highest rated (18.5/20) Lambrusco producers by Decanter Magazine in 2011.
*** Non-stabilized wines may throw off tartrate deposits. Artisanal winemakers are NOT concerned about these deposits. However, commercial winemakers go to considerable effort to prevent them. If they don't, customers will return wine when they find "glass", "sugar" or "particles" in the bottle. In theory all wines should probably form tartrate sediment, but modern wine production has introduced cold stabilization, fine filtration and chemicals treatments which remove most to all tartrates. More expensive wines that have been created according to more traditional methods, thus eschewing cold stabilization and filtration, are more likely to produce tartrate sediment. People who prefer the traditional methods of wine production, which includes a lot of wine drinkers in France and Italy, will treat the presence of tartrate sediment as a sign of quality. The tartrate sediment in your wine glass or wine bottle won't hurt you if you consume it, so you don't need to worry about separating the crystals from your wine before serving and drinking. However, there is also no value in consuming this sediment.


text:
Cornelius, NC (PRWEB) October 29, 2010
Homeowners plagued by corrosive drywall now have hope! National Construction Warranty Corporation has released its long awaited warranty program for the selective removal of corrosive drywall (better known as Chinese drywall.).
Backed by the reputable 10-Year National Warranty, homeowners now have a viable option to potentially reduce the cost of fixing their homes by 50% to 70%.
"National's research shows that many homes with corrosive drywall have it in less than 20% of the home. When the bad boards are isolated or are in a limited number of rooms, a warranty-backed NSRP (National Selective Remediation Protocol) is more appropriate than a complete gut. With a protocol protected by the National warranty, a few sheets of drywall no longer doom an entire house. The NSRP will begin to restore the value of all CDW (Corrosive Drywall) homes immediately as well as help stabilize home values in general within the markets hardest hit by CDW " says Chris Burton, CEO of National Construction Warranty Corporation.
The average repair cost for a home containing any amount of corrosive drywall was estimated at $100,000 by Towers and Perrin, an insurance risk assessment company. With a warranty-backed NSRP, repairs for qualifying homes could drop to an average of $20,000 to $35,000, which would include a 10-Year National Warranty with up to $500,000 of protection. The National Warranty greatly reduced or removes the risk and/or stigma associated with owning a former CDW.
The NSRP, or National Selective Remediation Protocol, specifies the removal of corrosive drywall based on the amount and location of the corrosive drywall in the home. National requires a rigorous inspection to determine the location of the corrosive drywall within the home. The inspection and scope of work are reviewed by National and, if approved, qualify the home for repairs just to the affected areas of the home. Once these repairs are completed, National will issue a warranty with up to $500,000 of coverage against the presence of corrosive drywall.
According to Dawn Wilkinson, a National representative and Realtor, the NSRP changes the nature of the entire Chinese drywall problem. "When someone finds out that they have Chinese drywall, the home value plummets to nearly nothing. The NSRP changes everything. If the home qualifies for selective removal, the cost could end up being under $30,000. That number is manageable for many homeowners while they wait for reimbursement from legal action or a class-action settlement," said Wilkinson while attending an expert symposium this week in Fort Lauderdale, Florida sponsored by the Building Envelope Science Institute.
According to Shawn Macomber, a leading national expert in corrosive drywall and a National Warranty advocate based in New Orleans, the number of homeowners that could be helped by the NSRP selective protocol could grow to over 100,000. "The major hurricanes of 2005 damaged over 335,000, the majority of which needed new drywall. Corrosive drywall was used on many of these homes when repairs took place. The areas of damage in these homes are predictable and often limited, making them ideal candidates for selective removal. With National's warranty-backed NSRP, a total gut protocol is no longer necesary in most cases," according to Macomber.
Interested homeowners, inspectors, and contractors can contact Angela at National for additional information at 704-806-4066 or Dawn(at)NationalCDW(dot)com. Visit National's website at http://www.nationalcdw.com.
--Brad Coates
# # #

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Please review the terms of use of this site carefully
Your use of this site indicates your acceptance of these terms and your agreement to follow and be bound by them. Do not use the site if you do not agree to be bound by these terms. We may periodically change the terms, without notice, so kindly check them from time to time as your continued use of the site signifies your acceptance of any changed terms.
These terms and condition are binding and enforceable against all persons (users) that access this web site or any part thereof in terms of Section 11 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions (ECT) Act 25 of 2002.
If you do not agree to these terms and conditions you must leave the web site now, as further use will automatically bind you to these terms and conditions.
The Site is hosted and managed in the Republic of South Africa and promotes the sale of Telcommunication products ("the Products"). Purchases made from the site are subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement, to the exclusion of all other terms. By shopping or browsing on this site, you acknowledge that you have read, understood and agreed to be bound by this Agreement, and the other policies displayed on this site.
For the purposes of this Agreement the terms "our" and "we" shall mean Voicesource.
General Terms
The content contained on the site may be used by you for your own personal, non-commercial shopping and information purposes only.
In using the site you agree not to infect it with any computer programming (such as a virus) that may damage, interfere with, delay or intercept any data or information on the site and you shall indemnify Voicesource for any damage caused by any such act attributable to you.
Voicesource may suspend the site or any part thereof or terminate your account at any time if Voicesource should determine that you are not using the site in compliance with this agreement or if Voicesource believes the information provided by you is untrue, inaccurate or incomplete.
In any provision of this Agreement is unlawful, void or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from this Agreement and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining terms.
This Agreement constitutes the whole agreement between the parties relating to the subject matter hereof.
Any indulgence of extension of time granted by Voicesource to you shall not be construed as a waiver or variation of any of our rights or remedies.
At the option of Voicesource, any dispute arising out of the Agreement may be brought in any Magistrates' Court of competent jurisdiction notwithstanding that the amount in issue may exceed the jurisdiction of such court.
This Agreement is governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa.
Payment Gateway Terms
To purchase from the Site you must first register with Voicesource. Registration and/or use of the Payment Gateway constitutes acceptance of this Agreement, including the Paymant Gateway's Terms, by you.
The Payment Gateway Terms shall apply as between the Payment Gateway and yourself. The Payment Gateway shall not be construed as acting as an agent for Voicesource.
To make purchases on using the Payment Gateway you must be over the age of 18 (eighteen) and be the holder of a valid South African MasterCard, Visa, American Express or Diners Club card ("Payment Card").
Security Policy
The Payment Gateway will endeavour to ensure that your personal information and/or credit card details are protected as they travel over the Internet. However, there is no 100% secure transmission of data on the Internet given the current state of Internet technology. Therefore Voicesource cannot guarantee the absolute security of any information you transmit to the Payment Gateway or which the Payment Gateway transmits to you.
Pricing PolicyYou will be charged the prices as they are reflected on the Products in store at the point of sale, subject to availability.
Voicesource is VAT registered.
A shipping fee may be charged for each order placed by you.
No Responsibility To Sell Mispriced Products Or Services
Voicesource shall have the right to refuse or cancel any orders placed for products and/or services listed at an incorrect price. Voicesource shall have the right to refuse or cancel any such orders whether or not the order has been confirmed and your credit card charged. If your credit card has already been charged for the purchase,you may decide whether to alter your purchase to the correct product pricing or have your order canceled. Voicesource shall immediately issue a credit to your credit card account in the amount of the charge.
Please note the payment gateway "PRICETAG" will appear on your Credit card statement.
PaymentThe Payment Gateway shall be authorised to debit the aggregate amount payable for the Products ordered against the authorised Payment Card supplied by you when completing your order. The Payment Gateway shall be entitled to debit your Payment Card on acceptance of your order and prior to delivery.
By submitting your order, Identity Number and Payment Card details you warrant that you are over the age of 18 (eighteen), are authorised to make payment with the Payment Card and that there are sufficient funds available to pay for the order.
Stock AvailabilityVoicesource cannot always guarantee availability of stock.
If we are unable to supply each and every item ordered or in the quantities ordered, you nevertheless agree to accept delivery and make payment for the items correctly delivered.
Confirmation of Orders
Orders placed using the Site constitute your offer to purchase subject to this Agreement. Failure by Voicesource to formally confirm or notify acceptance shall not affect the validity of the sale or the enforceability thereof.
Delivery Policy
On delivery of the order to the specified delivery address, you will receive a delivery note showing the items delivered, any non-available items, the delivery fees, Value-Added Tax and the amount to be or which has been debited from your Payment Card.
For verification purposes, the person accepting delivery at the delivery address may be required to produce a form of identification.
Any person other than yourself who receives the Products at the delivery address is conclusively presumed to be authorised to accept delivery on your behalf.
Should no-one be in attendance at the time of delivery, the courier will retain the Products and a notice will be left at the delivery address to this effect. The courier will attempt to contact you to make new arrangements for delivery or collection.
Voicesource reserves the right to charge an additional delivery fee should it be required to make a further delivery or collection if no one is at the delivery address to receive the Products or hand over the returned Products, as the case may be.
You are required to ensure that you or an authorised person shall be in attendance at the delivery address and that appropriate access will be made available.
On delivery, the person accepting delivery shall be required to sign and print his/her name as against a duplicate copy of the delivery note, to confirm receipt of the delivery.
Voicesource has outsourced all delivery and collection arrangements. Accordingly, Voicesource shall not be liable for any damage suffered or loss incurred by reason of any acts or omissions of the deliverer, its directors, employees, sub-contractors, agents, representatives and/or affiliates.
Returns PolicyIf an item purchased through the Site is defective at the time of delivery you may request that it be collected by Voicesource. For further details please call our offices at 0215578168.
CancellationIf you cancel your payment for any reason or if your Payment Card should cease to be valid for whatever reason, you will nevertheless be bound to pay to Voicesource the full purchase price, including all costs incurred by Voicesource relating to the recovery thereof.
Without prejudice to any other rights or remedies in law, Voicesource shall be entitled to cancel forthwith any sale and/or your registration if you should breach any of your obligations.
Risk and OwnershipRisk in the Products shall pass to you upon delivery at the delivery address or to the person accepting delivery on your behalf, if for instance you should not be available to take delivery at the delivery address.
Until payment is received in full for any goods sold, ownership in the Products shall remain with Voicesource and such Products shall be returned and/or surrendered to Voicesource following receipt of a default notice from the Payment Gateway.
InformationWhile we make reasonable efforts to provide accurate and timely information about Voicesource you should not assume that the information provided is always current or that this Site contains all the relevant information available.
Your CommentWe value the comments, ideas, suggestions and feedback disclosed, submitted or offered by you on, by or in connection with your use of the Site ("Comments"), but Voicesource shall not be obliged to respond to, maintain or compensate you in any way whatsoever for your Comments. Once disclosed, submitted or offered, your Comments shall become the property of Voicesource. Voicesource will thus exclusively own all such rights, title and interests in the Comments and shall not be limited in any way in its use, commercial or otherwise, of any of the Comments.
You warrant that the Comments disclosed, submitted or offered by you to the Site do not and will not violate any right of any third party, including copyright, trademark, privacy or any other personal or proprietary right. You agree not to disclose, submit or offer any Comments that will be or will contain any defamatory, unlawful, abusive or obscene material. Voicesource disclaim any liability towards any third party regarding your Comments and you shall remain accountable towards any third party regarding the contents of your Comments.
Product Sales and AvailabilityAll products displayed on this site are subject to availability and will be delivered only within the Republic of South Africa. All prices displayed on the site are quoted in South African Rands and are valid and effective only in the Republic of South Africa. Voicesource reserve the right without prior notice to discontinue or change specifications on products and services offered on this Site without incurring any obligations.
We have made every effort to display as accurately as possible the colours of the products that appear on the Site. However, as the actual colours you see will depend on your monitor, we cannot guarantee that your monitor's display of any colour will be accurate.
Privacy PolicyYour privacy is very important to Voicesource and therefore any information that you provide to us is stored on a secure server.
Our secure server encrypts your identity number and Payment Card details so as to minimise the risk of unauthorised disclosure or interception.
The site makes use of "cookies" to minimalise the possibility of unauthorised access to and disclosure of your personal information. Voicesource may use your information to contact you about promotions and special offers. You are entitled, at any stage, to opt out of this service.
Voicesource does not disclose any personal information whatsoever about individual members (such as name, address, email address, telephone or fax number) to third parties. Voicesource may disclose personal information in response to a specific request by a law enforcement agency, subpoena, court order, or as required by law.
Intellectual PropertyVoicesource retain all copyright in all material, including logos and other graphics, which form part of the Site.
All data and information communicated to or from the site and/or any site information and database remain and shall be the sole property of Voicesource.
Voicesource grants you permission to view, electronically copy and print in hard copy portions of the Site for the sole purpose of browsing the site and placing an order with the Payment Gateway, for your personal use only.
Any other use of materials on the site, including a reproduction for purposes other than those noted above, modification, distribution or reproduction, without the prior written consent of the relevant company and the lawful trademark and/or copyright owner (if applicable) is strictly prohibited and constitutes an unlawful infringement of the intellectual property rights of Voicesource and/or such trademark and/or copyright owner.
TrademarksThe "Voicesource", logo and all other marks, logos and trade names appearing on this site are trade marks of the relevant companies or their licensees in the Republic of South Africa and in certain other countries. Nothing contained on this site should be construed as granting, by implication or otherwise, any license or right to use any of the trademarks displayed on this site without the express prior written consent of the relevant company. Your use of any of the trademarks displayed on the site or in any of its contents, is strictly prohibited. You may not copy, reproduce, publish, upload, post, transmit, distribute or modify any of the trademarks appearing on this site. You further undertake not to infringe any right of the relevant companies or their licensees in respect of such trademarks. For the purpose hereof, the use of the trademarks on any other web site or networked computer environment is prohibited. All rights not expressly granted are reserved.
LinksExternal hyperlinks may be provided on the site. You shall not interpret such hyperlinking as constituting any relationship between Voicesource and any linked third party or any endorsement by Voicesource of such third party and use of or reliance on any external links provided is at your own risk.
Disclaimers and Exclusions of LiabilityYou expressly agree that use of the Site or the Internet is entirely at your own risk. The site and its contents are provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis and Voicesource makes no representations or warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including without limitation with respect to the site, its contents, the accuracy thereof, or any warranties or representations regarding the effectiveness of any security or encryption facilities or with regard to the availability of products and/or delivery arrangements and times.
Voicesource disclaim all representations and warranties, including but not limited to warranties as to the availability, accuracy or content of information, products or services, and warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose of information, goods or services.
Voicesource does not warrant that the functions provided by the site will be uninterrupted or error free, or that the site or the server that makes it available are free from viruses or other harmful components.
Save as expressly set out herein, Voicesource shall under no circumstances whatsoever be liable to you, including without limitation, as a result of or in connection with Voicesource's negligent (including grossly negligent) acts or omissions or those of their employees, agents or designees or other persons for whom in law they may be liable (in whose favour this constitutes a contract or undertaking for their benefit), for any direct, indirect, incidental, special or consequential loss or damage of any kind whatsoever or howsoever caused (whether arising under contract, delict or otherwise and whether the loss was actually foreseen or reasonably foreseeable), sustained by you, the recipient of the Products or services, or any other person arising from or as a result of any sale concluded in terms of this Agreement, the delivery, non-delivery, incorrect, erroneous or late delivery, the use, possession or consumption of the products or services.
Voicesource,its directors, employers, designees, agents, representatives, affiliates and suppliers shall not be liable for any loss, damage (whether direct, indirect or consequential) or expense of any nature whatsoever which may be suffered as a result of or which may be attributable, directly or indirectly, to the use of or reliance upon the site (including any information contained thereon) or the Internet.
You will indemnify Voicesource and keep them fully indemnified from and against any loss or damage suffered or liability incurred, including without limitation in respect of any claim or demand by any third party by reason of any act or omission on your part or that of any family member, agent or representative acting on your behalf in connection with transactions concluded on the site and/or in terms of this Agreement and/or in relation to receipt of Products or services supplied by Voicesource pursuant to any such order.
Notwithstanding any other provisions contained herein, Voicesource's liability whether in contract or delict arising from any breach of any obligation in terms of this Agreement, negligence or otherwise shall not exceed at any time more than double the monetary value of the order in respect of which any such dispute or claim arises.
Information Required in terms of the ECT ActThe following information is provided in conformity with the provisions of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, 25/2002:
Voicesource's physical address for acceptance of legal documents: 91 Arum Road , Table View 7441Legal status and country of registration: A closed company incorporated in accordance with the company laws of South Africa.Voicesource's telephone number: 0215578168Voicesource's web site address: http://www.voicesource.co.zaVoicesource's email address: email@example.com of Members: Craig Smith


text:
The Wembley Vagabond Girth is manufactured using Vagabond Leather to provide an economy girth that is Safe, Sturdy and Durable. The Wembley range of products offers good value for money for those who are on a budget.
Payment can be made online by any credit or debit card, Paypal or by Google Checkout.
Our site uses the latest 128 bit SSL security, complying with and exceeding all necessary security requirements to protect your details. We do not store any sensitive information (card number, etc).
SSL encrypts your order online to avoid any decoding of that information of anyone other than the necessary processing parties. To check the security of your connection, look at the status bar of your browser window after accessing the server. If you see an unbroken key or a closed lock then, depending upon your browser, SSL is active. You can also double check by looking at the URL line of your browser - while accessing a secure server the first characters of the address will change from HTTP to HTTPS.
All orders received before midday Monday - Friday will normally be dispatched the same day. Orders received after midday, at weekends or on public holidays will be sent the next working day.
If there is a problem with your order that prevents us from despatching it, for example it is not currently in stock in our warehouse, we will normally contact you within 24 hours of the order being received by us or on the next working day.
If you are not completely satisfied with your purchase, you can return it within 14 days of purchase in its original unworn condition with original packaging and labels and we will refund the product price. This will not include postage costs.
If the main product in any offer is not suitable and needs to be returned, then the offer product should also be returned. If the offer product is retained then any refund relating to the main product shall be less the discount originally given on the offer product.
Jeffries, in the equestrian and horse-world, is a well known name, popular for its high quality products, supplies and accessories. With over 55 passionate people, the Jeffries equestrian brands products are of the finest quality, and offering a great collection of grips, collars, reigns and saddles, they produce a wide range of fundamental equestrian accessories.
Jeffries equestrian supplies is a brand that began in 1820 and is undoubtedly one of the biggest names in the industry. Whether its your hobby or profession, Jeffries equestrian supplies has the great quality that you're looking for!


text:
baybrook, mall power center extension - suite a
DICK'S Sporting Goods
- Monday: 0900 - 2300
- Tuesday: 0900 - 2300
- Wednesday: 0900 - 2300
- Thursday: 0900 - 2300
- Friday: 0900 - 2300
- Saturday: 0800 - 2300
- Sunday: 0900 - 2300
About DICK'S Sporting Goods at BAYBROOK, MALL POWER CENTER EXTENSION - SUITE A
Check out all the amazing ways to save big this holiday season when you shop DICK'S holiday deals. There are hundreds of great gifts for every fan and athlete on your list!
The DICKS Sporting Goods in Friendswood, TX has everything you need for every season, whether youre taking on a new training routine, gearing up for a round of golf or looking for a new pair of running shoes. Shop a huge assortment of footwear, workout clothes and more in store.
Theres something for every athlete and fan at the Baybrook, Mall Power Center Extension - Suite A DICKS Sporting Goods.
- Find essential sports equipment for the basketball court, baseball diamond, gridiron and more.
- If youre looking for golf stores near Friendswood, check out the golf department at DICKS for golf shoes, golf balls and new clubs with cutting-edge technology.
- Pick up a pair of running shoes near Friendswood. You can push for a new PR with a variety of activity trackers, running shoes and more. Not a runner? Find high-quality fitness equipment and activewear at DICKS to help you rock your workouts.
- Enjoy the outdoors with camping gear, hunting supplies and quality kayaks for sale. Stay ready for the elements with outerwear from top brands like The North Face® and Patagonia®.
- Cheer on your favorite team with gear from the DICKS Fan Shop, including replica jerseys and officially licensed merchandise.
Stop by the store today and let our PROS service your gear. Learn about the full range of DICKS Store Services for all of your equipment needs.
Plus, get the latest discounts at the Baybrook DICKS. Check our weekly ad for sales at the DICKS Sporting Goods in Friendswood and save big on the gear you want.Read Less
Store Features
- Batting Cages
- New Footwear Deck
- Featuring Second Skin


text:
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Post BlizzCon Review - Part 2
Edit: This post may seem a little brief because it is the second time I've written it. Blogger ate the first one when I hit publish. I saved it several times while writing it, but the backed up versions where not available and I didn't copy it to an external source. If anyone knows how to get it back let me know.
In Part 1, I talked about some of the more general changes, and the changes announced in the Class and Professions panel. In this post I will take a look at the announcements made during the Raid & Dungeon's Panel and the Game Systems Panel.
Patch 3.3: Icecrown Citadel
If you go buy the timing of the past couple of patches then patch 3.3 is going to come out in a few 4 or 5 months. Therefore it is no surprise that Blizzard gave us a preview of what is in store for the final content patch of Wrath of the Lich King.
The Icecrown Citadel raid will have 4 floors and 12 bosses. That is on par with Ulduar, Naxx and the other large raid instances, but I expected it to be bigger. I didn't expect the 31 bosses that Ghostcrawler joked about, but I assumed that from the comments made pre BlizzCon that ICC would be the biggest raid instance of the expansion. However, since Naxx has 15 bosses, and Ulduar has 14, ICC will come in at third.
As long as the encounters are good, it does really matter though. The Airship fight sounds particularly interesting. I know a lot of people don't like the vehicle fights, but I've enjoyed them for the most part. I am also very glad that they are using the Ulduar teleporter again.
The last bit of good news is that they will be adding another 5 man instance in ICC with 3 wings and 8 bosses. I didn't think they added enough 5 mans during TBC and its nice to see that they are providing new instances for more casual players and alts to run.
My guild still has a lot of work to do in Ulduar and ToC but all of this news about ICC is getting me excited.
Patch 3.3: Cross Server LFG
There is no guarantee that this will be available for Patch 3.3, but they indicated that that is their goal.
Wow! Just Wow.
I'm not sure how I feel about this change. It has potential but there are a lot of potential pitfalls as well. I would love for it to be easier to find group to run an instance, but I'm not sure how much this helps.
As a DPSer the main problem I have with finding a group is finding a Tank and/or Healer. This will increase the number of Tanks and Healers in LFG but it will also increase the number of DPS looking for tanks and healers. So we may be in a similar situation.
The second thing I worry about is this reward for leading a pug. I understand the thought process but I'm not sure how it will work. More people will want to lead pugs, therefore there will be more pugs. We all win right? ... Not really. The reward will either be so good that people will only run an instance if they can lead it or it will be so bad that nobody cares. In which case the change had no impact.
Ultimately I see this as a reward for tanks and healers to make themselves available. Tanks are the natural party leaders because they should determine the kill order and they need lead to put up the raid icons. On top of that if you have two people being stubborn about who gets the reward, who is going to get it? Its easy to find DPS, hard to find a healer or a tank. If a Healer says I will only come if I can lead your likely to give it to him.
The third reason I'm worried about Cross Server LFG is because of what it could do to the Auction House. Can players trade while in in an instance? If so what is to prevent two people or a multi-boxer transferring good from one server to another. It could reek havoc on AH prices, and provides an advantage for players with multiple accounts.
4.0 Raids and Dungeons:
There isn't a a whole lot to talk about here, but I did find a few things interesting. The first is that there will be 4 raid instances at launch. Blizzard makes it sound like this is an increase over the standard, but I will wait for details before I get to excited. Technically there were 4 raid instances at the start of WotLK with a total of 18 bosses.
The second thing I want to talk about is the fact that they are reusing content from Vanilla WoW again. I have mixed emotions about this. I don't want them to ever recycle content like they did with Naxx again, but if they can update the encounters with new abilities that make it comparable to the modern raid boss then I think it could be awesome.
Bringing back Deadminds and Shadowfang Keep in heroic form is also interesting. I don't know what either instance is for the Horde, but Deadminds is an iconic instance for the Alliance. It is very well designed, has good loot, and is a lot of fun. So, I'm kind of happy that I will be able to run it again. On top of that, I never ran SFK so it's basically new content for me. I like this change.
Rated Battleground:
I'm not much of a PvPer, but I particularly hate Arena. I have a hard time finding a decent group. I suck so we end up losing most of the battles. The other players so over gear me that it's not even worth trying.
Battlegrounds on the other hand are much better for a casual PvPer like myself. Some of them have PvE like aspects that I can excel at. There isn't so much individual responsibility. Basically this is a good way to get a person like me into PvP. I'm sure that some hardcore PvPers will look down on rated BGs, but this will benefit them also. I'm sure some people will make the transition from BGs to Arena because of the gear they received from BGs. This is good for everyone despite what they think.
Guild Advancement System:
At first I was really excited about the guild advancement system. I liked the idea of being able to level a guild, getting special perks, and generally having something to brag about. As someone who has leveled several alts, the Guild Heirlooms sound particularly nice. However, after thinking about it a little bit my excitement has diminished, at least from a raiding perspective.
Don't get me wrong. I still like the idea of getting perks for being in a guild, and I am still looking forward to being able to get more Heirlooms for leveling my toons, but I think my first reaction was over blown. I've seen a lot of comments about how great this is for guild leaders, and how it will help keep guilds together and reduce drama. At first, I thought along these lines as well, but I now realize that it is all smoke and mirrors.
The biggest misconception is that this will result in a penalty for leaving a good guild. That is incorrect. This will result in a penalty if you leave a good guild and don't join a new one. Leveling a guild doesn't sound all that difficult, since the Gxp taken from just the top 20 earners. On top of that, the top raiding guilds on the server don't necessarily play more then the less progressed guilds. I expect there will be a lot of guilds level 20 guilds on every server, and it shouldn't be hard to get into one. Therefore, no one is going to sit there and say, "I'm pissed off, but I'm not going to leave my guild because I don't want to lose the perks," because they can probably get them some where else.
There are two types of guild who I think this change will have a large impact on. The first is Leveling guilds. Most of us were in some small little guild with a couple of people when we went from 1 to 60 or 70 or 80. We didn't do much with the guild but it gave us a way to get a couple of groups, talk in gchat a little bit. Expect a lot of these guilds to merge and for there to be some huge leveling guilds on your server. Now that people will actually have a reason to be in a guild other then for the cool name expect people to stick around to take advantage of guild heirlooms and such.
The second is the PvP guild. I think Arena really hurt this type of guild. It is easy for 2 to 5 people to organize when they are going to play and they don't really need to be in the same guild to do so. Along with the creation of rated BGs, PvPers now have a reason to stay in the same guild.
Talents and Mastery:
One of the bigger shocks of BlizzCon is that they will not be extending the talent trees in the new expansion. The 51 point talent will still be the top of the tree despite getting 5 additional talent points to spend. Normally that would disappoint me because there aren't any great talents that I would use the additional 5 points for. I would probably pick up Nature's Focus and Gale Winds but that isn't huge.
The interesting part is the creation of the Mastery system. Not a lot of details are know, but from what I understand Blizzard will take a lot of the passive benefits off of our talents and include them in the mastery system. That way we pick them up just by investing the points in that tree. According to Blizzard this change is being made to make the talents "more fun." They will be eliminating things like the hit bonus on Balance of Power and the haste bonus on Celestial Focus, and put more emphasis on talents like Eclipse, Owlkin Fury and such. I will hold my judgement until we see the finished product, but it sounds interesting. I wonder if they are going to be able to cram all of our passive buffs in to three mastery buffs and how will they replace all of the passive buffs in our tree. Now that we won't have to pick up things like Moonfury, where are we going to put those talent points in the future?
Archaeology and Path of the Titans:
Again, we don't know a lot of details, but I am a little annoyed with what we've heard so far.
In my view, Secondary professions should be something useful, but not required. Cooking and fishing fit this mold perfectly. I've leveled both to some extent on Graylo, but almost completely ignored them on my alts. First Aid is a little is little different because I do think it is required for a raider, but then again it is incredibly easy to level unless your a tailor and hurting for cloth.
From level 1 to 85 Archaeology seems to fit in with the other secondary professions. It will provide a few cosmetic and utility benefits. You can make a little gold by selling artifacts. It sounds like a nice profession but something you could do without if it didn't' interest you.
My problem is with the Path of the Titans and it sounds like Archaeology is a key part of the Path of Titans. According to Blizzard, Path of the Titans is a way for a max level character to progress their toon outside of gear. They also tout that which path you choose is not tied to your class and thus provides significant more levels of character customization.
Well, I don't buy it.
First of all, if the Path of the Titans is a way for you to advance your toon at max level, it's basically just new content without adding new zones. It's really no different then being able to level to 90 instead of 85 except that the progress is delayed and we have to run around old zones to get it done.
My second issue is that the PotT will end of falling into one of two design paths. The buffs could be so useless that nobody cares about them. In which case Blizzard wasted a whole lot of development time when they could have been doing something more fun like coming up with a new zone, instance or BG. I don't think this is likely, but definitely possible. The second path that the PotT could fall down is that the buffs are so good that they are practically required if you want to participate in endgame raiding or rated PvP. This would in turn make Archaeology a required profession pretty much any toon you wanted to advance, and that falls outside of what I think a secondary profession should be.
I'm not saying that Archaeology or Path of the Titans is a bad idea. I guess I just don't like how it's being presented to the players. They are making it sound like they are giving players new options and greater levels of customization, but they are not. First off, our current talent trees offer thousands of different possibilities for character customization, but most of us still fall into the same standard specs. This is because a couple of the specs are significantly better than almost all of the other specs. The Path of the Titan Glyphs will fall into the same situation. Sure, we may have 10 different options but it is likely that most moonkin will pick the same path or glyph, because it is the best for the way moonkin are played.
What I think is really going on here is that Blizzard is spending a lot of money to update the old zones when most players are already at max level. Some will level new toons but most will be trying to level their mains right away so that they can start raiding and such. Therefore most of us will miss all of the revamped content at least for a couple of months. What the path of the titans will do is force us to go wondering around Azeroth to level up Archaeology to see all of the wonderful redesigned zones. I don't really blame them for this, but I wish the had just come out and said it.
13 comments:
- Ethan said...
Graylo, v1 of your Part 2 was published to my Google Reader. It's still there. I'll do a copy-paste and email it to you.
- August 26, 2009 at 10:29 AM
- Graylo said...
Very odd. I don't use an RSS reader regularly, and I'm not even sure if I'm suscribed to my own blog. I may have to iron that out as a socondary way to back up my blog.
- August 26, 2009 at 10:37 AM
there was me thinking, i'm sure i've already read this.
- August 26, 2009 at 10:52 AM
Your 3rd reason for fearing cross-server groupings should be a complete non-issue. They've supported this exact same concept for cross-server BGs for years.
While I agree with you completely on the leadership reward issue, local server economies is not something to be concerned with.
- August 26, 2009 at 2:29 PM
- Graylo said...
I hadn't thought about BGs. I think Cross Server LFG will make it easier to trade across realms, since you can invite a specific person to your group and it would be easy to co-ordinate using Stockades or Ragefire.
However, if cross server trading would cause a big problem then it is one we already exists.
Has anyone tried to trade in a BG? I'm just wondering if it is possible.
- August 26, 2009 at 3:36 PM
You can only trade Conjured items in BGs i think
- August 26, 2009 at 3:46 PM
- Shivan said...
About the trading part,
as said above you can only trade conjured items in BGs. But in an instance I like to trade other stuff around as well. What about shards after a run has been done? What about a misclicked 'need' you want to give to the person who it was intended for (or the enchanter you can DE it in that case).
I'm fairly sure Blizzard can find a way to ensure this can be done, but it doesn't stop making me wonder :)
- August 26, 2009 at 5:24 PM
A fascinating point on the rewards for leading pugs. Kind of like you said, it feels like bait for tanks and healers to run more pugs. I can't even remember the last time I ran a pug with 4 people I didn't already know in game. As a tank I just don't normally want to deal with the hassle when I can get guildies to run with me. Also, what constitutes a pug? People not in your guild of course, but what about on your friends list? Seems like that could be easily manipulated if the rewards were good enough.
Also, how solid is that 12 bosses in IC thing? I must have missed that in my daily reading of wow.com. Several people in my guild keep INSISTING there has to be a lot of bosses because they introduced the raid lock out.
- August 26, 2009 at 6:03 PM
Game Cost:
One thing that is coming to light is the fact that new players are going to have to purchase a suite of games to play the one game they want to. When the next expansion comes out a new player will have to purchase, WoW $19.99, WoW the Burning Crusade $29.99, WoW the Wrath of the Litch King $39.99, then WoW Cataclysm probably $39.99 then say a 60 day subscription @ $29.99. That is a total of $159.95…. $159.95!!!!!
and oh, you better have a good computer and internet... are people loosing sight of the $$?
- August 26, 2009 at 7:02 PM
There are things caled BattleCHests or smthing like that.. vanilla+tbc for 40$ atm i think.. when cataclysm will hit it will got vanilla+tbc+Wotlk about 50-60$.. when you bu it you get 1month and 10 days for free to play right ? so it isnt so mutch.
- August 27, 2009 at 3:55 AM
I think you're pretty on target with your observations, both on Archaeology and on cross-server BGs. However, just another point about the guild perks system: this also hurts raid alliances, if the perks are any good. I'm in a raid alliance, and it works great on my RP server because a lot of people want to stay in their RP guilds but raid as well. If the guild perks are any good, it will cause us problems. If they're not, well, I suppose it's a moot point, but nonetheless.
- August 27, 2009 at 10:07 AM
- ArchDruid Angela said...
I thought I remember hearing that you could formally ally your guilds in Cataclysm, and send raid invites to other guilds you are allied with. Perhaps I'm remembering wrong. That seemed like a good idea for smaller guilds that have sort of unofficial alliances already.
- August 27, 2009 at 1:28 PM
With patch 3.2 you can now trade items looted/created in an instance, including BOP items. This should resolve that misclicked Need or shards. Server trading will be a non-issue. As for the group leader reward, that has been addressed and was taken out of context.
- September 6, 2009 at 5:48 PM


text:
Residential Garage Doors
Create your door for FREE before you buy
Residential Garage Door Openers
Commercial, Industrial and Agricultural Garage Doors
MORE RESIDENTIALWayne-Dalton Garage DoorsHaas Door Garage DoorsMORE COMMERCIALCommercial Openers
Emergency Repair
Book a service
call online
Garage Door
Repair & Maintenance
Parts & Accessories
your garage door
The North Hatley reflects one of the latest trends in architecture. A perfect blend of the classic charm and traditional elegance of carriage-house doors, it comes with the superior Garaga durability and high-energy efficiency.
With the added charm of forged iron hardware and a vast array of decorative window styles, this door will add prestige and value to any home.1 3/4"-thick galvanized steel door. Polyurethane-injected insulation provides R-16 thermal resistance.Baked on polyester paint coating.
Download the brochure (2 Mb)
The North Hatley comes in 9 door colours.STANDARD
The accuracy of colours on the website may vary depending on your screen settings. To see the true colours, please contact your local Garaga dealer for a sample.
Add a touch of elegance to your garage door by selecting decorative windows that complement your architecture.
Garaga windows are strong and weathertight because their sealed thermo panes are inserted in one-piece synthetic resin frames. Garaga windows come with a 10-year warranty against discolouration and the formation of condensation between panes.
Standard Unit
Colour of frame: White, Claystone, Desert Sand, Dark Sand, Brown, Black, Evergreen and Charcoal.
Colour of frame: White, Claystone, Desert Sand, Dark Sand, Brown, Black, Evergreen and Charcoal.Colour of grids: White, Claystone, Desert Sand, Dark Sand, Brown and Black.
Colour of frame: White, Claystone, Desert Sand, Dark Sand, Brown, Black, Evergreen and Charcoal.
Color of came: Pewter
Plastic Inserts
Colour of frame and inserts: White, Claystone, Desert Sand, Dark Sand, Brown, Black, Evergreen and Charcoal*.
*Charcoal Plastic inserts is only available with Stockton, Prairie and Richmond.
Design - Printing Process
The decorative hardware for the North Hatley reproduces the effect of wrought iron hinges and handles as found on traditional carriage house doors. It adds a touch of refinement, authenticity and timeless charm.
Door knockers
Components of a system that is 100% Garaga PANELS
*See your garage door dealer for more details on oversized doors available.
Download the Installation Guide
Download the Maintenance and Warranty Guide
The Garaga difference lies in the meticulous attention to
even the smallest detail. From design to final construction,
every detail is thoroughly thought out. Be it materials, finishes,
construction,style, air tightness, durability, rollers, hinges
and much more, nothing is left to chance. At Garaga, every
door is custom built to suit each client's individual
needs and specific requirements.
Built to withstand the extreme rigours of the Canadian climate, we've integrated the most energy efficient components to protect you from the wind and the cold during winter, and keep you cool during summer.
Intelligent and functional design solutions coupled with superior quality materials and a certified installation network make your Garaga door system a solid investment for years to come.
Developed by a team of specialized designers, every one of our models is detail-oriented, reflecting an authentic and specific style designed to match your home's distinct architecture, up close and at a distance.
Connect With Us at Sofalvi Door Systems
801 Progress Drive, London, ON N6N 1B7Toll free: 1 (888) 879-9470Phone: (519) 842-6747Fax: (888) 879-9470FREE Quote
Schedule a Service Call
Contact Us
Our Blog
Our Showroom
About our CompanyBusiness hours: Monday to Friday from 8 AM to 4:30 PM
Residential Garage DoorsIndustrial Garage DoorsResidential Garage Door OpenersIndustrial Garage Door OpenersOther ProductsImage GalleryVideosWhy I recommend GaragaWhy Choose GaragaArchitects & Builders
Service & Support
Schedule a Service CallGarage door partsInstallation GuideFAQGarage Door Glossary


text:
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Chicken with Lemon and Rosemary
This is the second in my series of recipes that utilize chicken drumsticks. Again, I'm using ingredients that are found in most homes. It helps to keep costs low. This dish was prepared for less than five dollars.
Chicken with Lemon and Rosemary
8 large chicken drumsticks
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh garlic
Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary (2 teaspoons dried may be substituted)
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Juice of 1 lemon
1) Using a knife, make two diagonal cut in each chicken drumstick. Pat dry. Season legs with salt and pepper.
2) Place butter and oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. When hot add drumsticks and cook until all sides are brown. Add garlic, lemon zest and rosemary.
3) Combine flour, chicken broth, mustard and lemon juice in a small bowl. Whisk until smooth. Add to saute pan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until drumsticks are tender, about 25 minutes. Transfer drumsticks to a serving platter. Season sauce with salt and pepper to taste. Pour sauce over drumsticks. Yield: 4 servings.
13 comments :
- ChefBliss.com said...
Simple and delicious!! My mouth is watering now! Thanks!! :)
- February 26, 2009 at 1:32 AM
- Martha said...
I love lemon and rosemary with anything! I'll have to try this with chicken legs -- not my favorite part of the chicken but one that DH enjoys.
- February 26, 2009 at 6:26 AM
- Donna-FFW said...
Looks terrific, how simple and quick. The bonus is that its inexpensive. Thanks, mary!
- February 26, 2009 at 6:38 AM
- Netts Nook said...
Mary Your chicken looks great and in expensive also thanks for sharing looks yummy.
- February 26, 2009 at 8:55 AM
- Allie said...
I love lemon and rosemary together!
- February 26, 2009 at 9:25 AM
- noble pig said...
It's a great combo!
- February 26, 2009 at 7:19 PM
- My Carolina Kitchen said...
Your chicken with Lemon and Rosemary is a winner with me because I am a real fan of rosemary. I just discovered your blog and like it and will return.
- February 27, 2009 at 9:27 AM
- Mary said...
Sam, I'm so glad you found my blog. I'm delighted that you plan to visit again.
- March 2, 2009 at 11:09 AM
- The Bentley Family and Aussiemuminthekitchen said...
Wow this looks amazing. I'm putting it on my menu. I bet this sauce would be great on grilled halibut too.
- May 26, 2009 at 3:37 PM
- Erika K said...
Wow - this looks amazing! I love dark chicken meat the best and I'm glad to see something new (at least for me).
I suppose this could work for thighs as well? Just love the simplicity of the main flavors - and that it's just one pan!
Cuisinart 12 cup food processor
- July 3, 2011 at 1:12 PM
- Mary said...
Erica, it will work with thighs or breats as well. Timing will be a bit different though. Have a great day. Blessings...MAryr
- July 3, 2011 at 1:34 PM
- Rigips said...
This chicken looks wonderful! Yummie, would love to have a plate with this right now. Hmmmmm....
- February 26, 2013 at 8:42 AM
This recipe is at the top of my lists for creamy chicken! The garlic, lemon, rosemary & dijon is off the hook! :) Delicious! !! Thank you!
- March 16, 2015 at 4:37 PM


text:
Why would the secret service care about this event? Well, Michelle Obama was one of the speakers. And what could I do to attract secret service attention, you ask?
I don't quite know how I got a seat so close to the podium, but it was awesome. Actually, I do know. I took a chair from another table and jammed it between two of my friends who had awesome seats. That's how I got that seat.
The whole reason for the event was to publicize Disney's Magic of Healthy Living (auto-play video with sound at that link) efforts. They told us that, starting in 2015, they will not be accepting ads for junk food on its media programs. They also shared information about the "Mickey Check," a new logo that they will put on products that meet certain specific nutritional standards, thereby making it easier for parents to make healthy choices at the grocery store.
This is all part of Disney's efforts to make healthy eating and physical activity seem more appealing. Disney chairman Robert Iger told us that it turns out that what is good for kids is good for Disney, which is one of the reasons they are taking these steps.
That seems to be the gist of what Iger said, although I was too busy taking photographs of Algernon with Disney-shaped props to take notes.
You could actually probably ask one of the people from the real press that were there, lurking behind Scrappin' Michele and TeachMama Amy.
No, I'm kidding. I really did pay attention. Then I came home and actually did some thinking about what to say about it. Because it's really easy to get swept up in the excitement of an event and be all MICKEY MOUSE WANTS TO HELP YOUR CHILD BE SUPER HEALTHY THEY ARE AWESOME BUY OUT THE DISNEY STORE NOW!!!!!!! But that maybe isn't the message I need to pass on here.
My first instinct is always to mistrust large corporations, of which Disney is unarguably one. But when I think about corporations who go out of their way to create good things for kids, Disney is one of them. And, as Iger said, what is good for kids is ultimately good for Disney.
I really like what they're going to be doing with advertising. I can't tell you how many cereals my kids have wanted to try because they've seen them advertised ad nauseum on television. And, trust me, they're not the low sugar cereals.
I've read some criticism that the nutritional standards aren't strict enough and so on, but I'd say that these nutritional standards are better than none. Are these ideas perfect? No. But it is a start and they seem to be trying. I can get on board with that. And no other corporations seem to be doing it on this scale either. Good for Disney. Thumbs up/happy face.
I never cared much about Disney before I went to Disney World last December. But after experiencing it and also hearing about how good they are to individuals with special needs, I've jumped fully on board. There was a panel discussion after the speakers, and one of the things they addressed was how the chefs at Disney will go out of their way to make sure guests with allergies or special dietary needs are accommodated. I think that is pretty cool.
I also liked what the panel said about making sure the food at their parks was healthier. However, if I were the kind of person who was able to raise her hand and ask questions at these sorts of things, I would have asked why there wasn't an apple anywhere to be found within 20 minutes of Star Tours when I needed one last December (item #10 in that post). But I'm not that person, so we might never know.
I am, however, the person who will ask Sous Chef Mickey to pose with Algernon.
But enough about healthy eating and Disney and Algernon. I know what you really care about. Did I get to meet Michelle Obama?
Sadly, no. But I was within about 30 feet of her. It was really exciting. I think she might have noticed I exist. In fact, I'm pretty sure she gave me a secret BFF wink.
Well, even if I didn't get a photo op with the first lady, I got a second one with Mickey. His security was a little less stringent.
Disclosure: I was provided with breakfast (although I used most of my food as mouse photo props) as well as a tote bag when I left. Also, because I hung around until the bitter end, the hosts gave me one of the extra Edible Arrangement fruit centerpieces with Mickey-shaped pineapple slices. I never claimed to be proud. I wasn't asked to nor compensated for writing this post. All of the opinions expressed here are (clearly) my own.


text:
December gardening
Gardening doesn't stop in Texas when it's December, but it does slow down. This is a good month to check all of your gardening tools. Repair, replace, discard, oil and sharpen tools. Are there some tools or gardening supplies that you need? Make a wish list.
Vines, ground covers, ornamental grasses: Ground covers and ornamental grasses can be planted or transplanted. Make sure they stay moist but no need to fertilize until next spring. Cut back growth of vines if there is a freeze or brown damaged growth. Mulch to protect the roots from extreme cold.
Vegetables, herbs: Protect less hardy plants like broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce and English peas in case of extreme cold. Chinese cabbage, kohlrabi, mustard greens, radish, turnips, spinach, beets, Brussels sprouts, carrots, celery, collards, garlic, kale, onions, leeks, shallots are hardy unless we get the rare night below 20 degrees.
Vegetables sometimes grow more slowly when the temps are very cold. Irrigate only when necessary. Cold weather keeps lots of pests and disease problems at a minimum. Keep weeds at bay. Kick back, stay warm and break open the seed catalogs.
Trees: Take an hour and drive around town to note trees that give fall color and beauty. Journal options that you like. (Great gardeners journal things they love, unusual weather, pest issues, plant successes and failures, etc.) Early December is a great time to plant and transplant trees in our area. Water in newly planted trees and monitor for moisture. Any existing trees with scale or diseases can be treated now. Winter is also an ideal time to prune trees. In December, you can see the true structure of trees that are loaded with leaves in the spring and summer.
Kick back, stay warm and break open the seed catalogs and gardening magazines. Hmmmmm, what to plant next spring?
What to do with lawns, roses, houseplants, etc.? More December gardening tips next week.
Joette is an avid gardener and prides herself on staying up-to-date on the latest gardening activities and tips. To share your gardening news with Joette, call (409) 832-1400 or fax her at (409) 832-6222. Her e-mail is joreger [at] msn [dot] com.


text:
Just click download link in many Resolutions at the end of this sentence and you will be redirected on direct image file, and then you must right click on image and select "Save image as".
If you found any images copyrighted to yours, please contact us and we will remove it. We don't intend to display any copyright protected images.We hope you can find what you need here. We always effort to show a picture with HD resolution or at least with perfect images. Diseno-de-cocinas-pequenas1 can be beneficial inspiration for those who seek an image according specific categories; you can find it in this site. Finally all pictures we have been displayed in this site will inspire you all..
Diseno-de-cocinas-pequenas1 5584 was posted in September 10, 2019 at 1:03 am and has been viewed by users. this image is available in size 630x420 Pixel, If you want to use this image click the download image link below to go to the download page. Right click the image and select "Save Image As" to download the Diseno-de-cocinas-pequenas1 5584 to your computer or select "Set Desktop Background As" if your browser has that capability.
I uploaded this post in order to provide the best for the visitors MUNDO DE LA COCINA, we as administrators try make what you are looking for, every day we will update with new posts, Hopefully MUNDO DE LA COCINA always assist you in finding what you need.Back to 5 diseu00f1os de cocinas pequeu00f1as inspiradoras


text:
"Our brains are all wired a little differently. So my perception of reality is actually slightly different than your perception of reality. And neither one of our perceptions is actually reality."
No wonder we're always at each other's throats about what is right and what is wrong, what really happened, who's at fault. How can we agree on anything when we all have different information about the circumstances?
Can anyone really know the truth? Now there's an enigma for the philosophers.
And, as Bethany Jurs further points out, not only is each person's perception of reality ever-so-slightly skewed from the real reality, but we only perceive what's past. The present is gone by the time we have interpreted the signals we received about it.
"We may be existing in the present, but we are only actually perceiving the past," explains Jurs. "It takes a while for that information to go from your sensory organs to your brain to be processed. That time delay means you're existing in the present, but you're only perceiving the past."
Mind-bending? You bet. Everything we "know" is dated. Nothing is current.
If these types of brain teasers appeal to you, then you may want to consider investigating the emerging and increasingly popular field of neuroscience, a multi-faceted, extremely broad discipline that has applications in such diverse fields as medicine, computer programming, and the judicial system.
This popularity, however, has its own perils. Buzzwords and findings from neuroscience research have occasionally been misused in marketing campaigns for products, public policy, management practices, and child-rearing techniques.
"It's an interesting time for the field, with this balance between solid research and the possible overextension of what we're able to determine," said Jurs.
But quite possibly because of its broad applications, Jurs believes that there may be no better place to study neuroscience than at a school with a solid liberal arts curriculum.
"The biggest advantage any scientist can have is creativity: being able to think about a topic from multiple directions. That's what a liberal arts curriculum helps you do. You learn how to question stuff and approach it from different angles. That environment challenges you to think about the 'why' and the 'how.'"
Jurs stumbled into psychology as an undergraduate. Hers is yet another story of how a school's general education requirements exposed a student to subjects she might not have explored on her own.
"I was a biology major to begin with, and I took this psychology class as a Gen Ed course. I was not happy about having to take a psychology course. I thought it was this Dr. Phil stuff. I thought, 'I have my own problems. I don't want to hear about other people's problems!'
"But I got in the class and I discovered just how big and broad psychology was and how it tackled so much more than that, and how neuroscience is a part of it. The professor was so enthusiastic. You could tell that he loved the material so much. And that made me love it.
"I've had a couple of students through the years tell me that they switched to a psychology major because they loved my intro class. It's the greatest compliment ever when I'm able to transfer my love of psychology to someone else."


text:
State Budget Talks Continue
KSCB News - May 17, 2013 8:25 am
Kansas legislators are resuming budget talks with two contentious education spending issues to tackle.
House and Senate negotiators were meeting Friday to resolve the chambers' differences on legislation spending about $14.5 billion in each of the next two fiscal years.
The House has approved a 4 percent spending cut for higher education. The Senate approved a 2 percent cut but is now suggesting that the reduction be limited to 1 percent. Republican Gov. Sam Brownback has been pushing for no cuts.
Negotiators also are considering a proposal to block the use of state funds to implement common standards for math and reading in public schools. Kansas is among more than 40 states that have adopted what are known as the Common Core Standards.


text:
Main Content
Area Studies
The University offers five area studies minors, each of which brings to bear on an important region of the world the expertise of faculty members from different departments. The purpose is to present a broad, integrated view of the region and its problems, past and present. Students who do not wish to take the entire minor may elect any courses for which they are qualified. An area studies minor consists of 18 credits.
The minors are:
- African Studies
- Asian Studies
- Central and East European and Eurasian Studies
- German Studies
- Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Find out more about each of these minors by clicking on the links in the left-hand navigation.


text:
Democrats have led the fight to restore fiscal responsibility. President George W. Bush and Congressional Republicans left a record of fiscal recklessness that turned historic budget surpluses into massive deficits by borrowing trillions of dollars to finance two wars while enacting huge tax cuts aimed at the wealthy. Deficits and debt are a serious long term problem that will require tough choices in the years ahead. As Democrats work first to invest in economic recovery and job creation, we are also working to put our country back on a path to a sustainable fiscal outlook.
Unfortunately, House Republicans have repeatedly held our economy hostage to their ideological agenda, whether creating artificial "fiscal cliffs," shutting down the government, or bringing our nation to the brink of defaulting on its obligations.
Democrats are committed to reducing the deficit in a responsible way. Both parties must work together to strengthen our entitlements; help support job creation; and protect the middle class, seniors and the most vulnerable. To restore our country's fiscal sustainability, we must adopt a balanced approach that includes both responsible spending cuts and increased revenues. When Democrats controlled Congress, we restored the pay-as-you-go law, which requires Congress to find a dollar of savings for every dollar it spends, and which and helped create budget surpluses under President Clinton.


text:
The Chevrolet Cobalt is in many ways the perfect representation of the bad, old days of General Motors, when quality didn't much matter, market share was more important than profitability, and financial decisions came before design and even safety decisions.
First manufactured in 2004, the car was a clunker from the start. "Owners complained about power steering failures, locks inexplicably opening and closing, doors jamming shut in the rain — even windows falling out," according to Danielle Ivory and Rebecca R. Ruiz, writing in The Times last week.
And then there was the ignition defect that could cause the power to shut down, which led to a huge recall two months ago — and has spiraled the company into crisis. The more we learn about it — and with a handful of investigations underway, there is much that is not yet known — the worse G.M. looks.
The company apparently knew about the defect as far back as 2001, when it discovered the problem during testing of the Saturn Ion. It saw the problem again in 2004, as the Cobalt was about to be rolled out with the same ignition system. According to documents obtained in congressional investigations, engineers came up with a proposed fix, but it was nixed on the grounds that it was too expensive and would take too much time.
Finally, in 2006, engineers at General Motors appeared to have fixed the problem, but they did so without changing the part number, which is a shocking violation of engineering protocol, wrote Micheline Maynard at Forbes.com. It makes G.M. appear to have been engaged in subterfuge, hiding the fact that its ignition had been defective all those years.
Meanwhile, at least 13 people died in accidents that were clearly the result of the faulty ignition design. There are also another 140 people who died in accidents involving the Cobalt in which the cause is unknown. Yet for more than a decade, General Motors did nothing.
What makes this a particularly difficult crisis for G.M. is that it comes at a time when the company is trying to prove to the world that the old G.M. is dead. With a new chief executive in Mary Barra, 52, and a handful of newly designed cars, G.M. wants the world to believe that it has emerged from its bankruptcy as a smarter, nimbler, more transparent company. And maybe it has. But the Cobalt fiasco does not instill confidence; rather, it reminds people why General Motors had to be saved by the government in the first place.
On the one hand, Barra has met with the families of people who were killed in Cobalt accidents, something the old management would never have done. She has also hired Kenneth Feinberg, who has become famous for parceling out money to victims of 9/11 and the BP oil spill. He has been brought on to help the company figure out how to compensate victims and their families — a tricky bit of business since the company is legally off the hook for any accidents that took place prior to the 2009 bankruptcy. Of the many investigations into the Cobalt, one has been ordered by Barra herself, an internal review aimed at, among other things, answering the question of why General Motors took so long to order a recall. These are all gestures aimed at reinforcing the idea that this G.M. is a different kind of company.
On the other hand, Barra was forced to acknowledge before Congress that she hadn't even known about the problem until the end of January — just a few weeks after she became the chief executive — when she was informed that the company planned a recall. She told Congress that General Motors was a place that had "silos," and that information was too often not shared. She said so little of substance during her two days of congressional testimony last week that she came across as stonewalling at times. Senator Claire McCaskill, a Democrat from Missouri, accused her of presiding over "a culture of cover-up." These are the kinds of moments that make you wonder if General Motors really has changed.
The Cobalt crisis will eventually fade. Feinberg will figure out how to pay victims. Plaintiffs' lawyers will sue and settle. The investigations will be completed and the results announced. Presumably some heads will roll.
It is what happens over the ensuing months and years that will tell the tale of whether General Motors is truly a different company or whether this has all been for show. The government has sold its stake in G.M. The company is making money now. It is unquestionably a leaner, less bureaucratic place.
What it now needs to prove is that it makes cars that will cause us all to forget about the Cobalt. That's when we'll really know if it has changed.


text:
Atomic Blue Controller Nintendo 64 N64
Price: $47.59 & FREE SHIPPING Details
See Photos of the Actual Items
In Stock:
Want it by December 15? Order within and choose Free Shipping.
30 Day Money Back Guarantee
See Photos & Choose Exact Item
People Who Bought This Also Bought
Gray Controller
Mario Kart 64
Expansion Pak
Red Controller
Atomic Blue Controller Description
A controller for the Nintendo 64 game system. The controller is Nintendo brand, not some generic brand that will break on you. The N64 controller has a joystick, six face buttons, two shoulder buttons, a trigger, and directional pad. Extra controllers are always needed for multiplayer games like Goldeneye, Mario Kart, and Madden.
Atomic Blue Controller Product Details
Rating: Not Applicable
Publisher: Nintendo
Region: US and North America (NTSC)
Atomic Blue Controller Reviews
Best controller ever
(Freddy Gibbs
in Alabama)
This is literally the best controller I have ever seen in my entire life. I loved the color when I saw it online, but when I opened the package I was absolutely blown away. This color is everything I could have wanted and more. To say I am delighted is an understatement. This controller has so encaptured my interests that I think I have started to fall in love with this controller.. I can't go a single day without telling the controller how much I love it. It truly changed my entire life and I would recomend it to literally anyone
muy buen control
in Chile)
control en muy buen estado, con los botones totalmente funcionales y la palanca en perfectas condiciones. totalmente de acuerdo a la descripción de la página.
Frequently Asked Questions
What payment types does JJGames.com accept?
JJGames.com accepts payments via credit card, Bitcoin and PayPal.
How much does shipping cost?
USA: Shipping is free for all shipments within the USA if you choose economy shipping.
The cost for faster delivery methods is based upon the weight of the items in your order.
Canada: Shipping is $3 if the order is less than 2 pounds (1 kg). Orders over 2 pounds are billed based upon the weight of the items in the order.
International: Shipping is a flat $4 if the order weights less than 2 pounds (1 kg). The cost of shipping orders over 2 pounds is based upon the weight of the items in your order.
All customs and taxes are the responsibility of the buyer. They are not included in the cost of shipping on our site.
What is the free shipping policy?
Shipping is free for all shipments within the USA if you choose economy shipping.
Can I Return My Order After Placing It?
We offer a 100% money back guarantee. You can return any item within 30 Days of purchase. Visit our Quality Guarantee page for more information.


text:
Dog food reviews
Member List
Dry Dog Foods
2 Star Dry Dog Food
Previous Product
Next Product
The Pet Pantry Premium Adult Maintenance - 22/12
Date of last review
Sat July 18, 2009
Recommended By
Average Price
Average Rating
No recommendations
None indicated
None indicated
Metabolizable Energy 1,623 Kcal / lb. = 447 per cup
Chicken Meal, Brown Rice, Oat Groats, Whole Pearled Barley, Potato Product, Chicken Fat (Preserved with Natural Mixed Tocopherols (Vitamin E)), Dried Beet Pulp, Lamb Meal, Brewers Dried Yeast, Fish Meal, Natural Flavor, Flax Seed Meal, Egg Product, Lecithin, Fish Oil, Salt, Potassium Chloride, DiCalcium Phosphate, Calcium Carbonate, D/L Methionine, L-Lysine, Kelp Meal, Lactobacillus Acidophilus Fermentation Product Dehydrated, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Glucosamine, Vitamin E Supplement, Ascorbic Acid, Biotin, Niacin Supplement, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin A Acetate, Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Menadione Dimethylpyrimidinol Bisulfite (Source of Vitamin K Activity), Citric Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid, Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Sulfate, Zinc Proteinate, Iron Proteinate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Manganese Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Manganous Oxide, Sodium Selenite, Calcium Iodate.
Crude Protein (minimum) 22%
Crude Fat (minimum) 12%
Crude Fiber (maximum) 4%
Moisture (maximum) 10%
Post a Reply
Registered: October 2005
Posts: 3953
Review Date:
Sat July 18, 2009
Would you recommend the product?
| Price you paid?:
Not Indicated
| Rating:
First ingredient is a named meat product
Insufficient meat content, controversial filler
The first ingredient in this food is a named meat product, in meal form. This is the single real meat ingredient in the food. There is a second meat ingredient 8th on the ingredient list, but this is too far down to make any significant contribution to the overall meat content of the food. There is also a third meat meal ingredient 10th on the ingredient list which is remarked because it is a fish meal ingredient. We can find no sign of a guarantee on packaging or the manufacturer website that this ingredient has been purchased free of ethoxyquin (ethoxyquin is a chemical preservative commonly added to ocean fish products destined for meal, but that is banned or heavily regulated in human food products due to the belief that it is carcinogenic).
The carbohydrate content is comes primarily from grains, which are most likely the majority content of the food as combined, these three grains almost certainly outweigh the meat listed ahead on the ingredient list. Rice, oat groats and barley are decent quality grains, but we prefer products that are less grain heavy. Potato product is a low quality ingredient, being peelings, culls and other rejects of the human food chain.
Beet pulp is filler and a controversial ingredient it is a by-product, being dried residue from sugar beets which has been cleaned and extracted in the process of manufacturing sugar. It is a controversial ingredient in dog food, claimed by some manufacturers to be a good source of fibre, and derided by others as an ingredient added to slow down the transition of rancid animal fats and causing stress to kidney and liver in the process. We note that beet pulp is an ingredient that commonly causes problems for dogs, including allergies and ear infections, and prefer not to see it used in dog food. There are less controversial products around if additional fibre is required.
We would prefer to see the use of whole eggs rather than egg product in the food and note the the presence of synthetic vitamin k which is alleged by some to cause liver problems and which has been removed from better quality products. The food has a decent range of probiotics.
Powered by:
Copyright 2006 All Enthusiast, Inc.
Trusted Gourmet
Terms of use
Privacy policy
Copyright © 2005 - 2009 DogFoodAnalysis.com.
All Rights Reserved.
Mesure d'audience ROI statistique webanalytics par


text:
Franchimmo Surname Ancestry Results
Our indexes 1000-1999 include entries for the spelling 'franchimmo'. In the period you have requested, we have the following 1 record (displaying 1 to 1):
Try these...
franch francham franchard franche francheineto francheiney franchelein franchell francheman franchen franchenn' franches franchesneto franchesney franchetti franchevil franchevill franchevill' francheville franchi franchini franchiotti franchiscie franchlin franchman franchom franchome franchomme franchotto franchow franchy franci francia francie francier francies francifena francigen' francigena francigene
These sample scans are from the original record. You will get scans of the full pages or articles where the surname you searched for has been found.
Your web browser may prevent the sample windows from opening; in this case please change your browser settings to allow pop-up windows from this site.
Want to be alerted about new results for this search?
Subscribe to this web feed
Research your ancestry, family history, genealogy and one-name study by direct access to original records and archives indexed by surname.


text:
You have a new Mutual Match connection with John
You can now send a message to John already knowing that you have a mutual interest in one another.
To start a conversation with John, just login to your Mingle2 account:
Thanks for using Mingle2!
To change your email notification preferences or unsubscribe to our mailing list, click here:


text:
71 results
Adds face on X Y plane in selected groups or components. Useful for imported 2D drawings to better see their position in 3D space.
Rotate entities freely around point. Fast rotation in 3 dimensions. Snap to edge from radius.
Change active layer in SketchUp. Written with the hope that the native active layer control will be removed.
Align face to given plane. Useful when rotate, move or push pull doesn't work due to the connected faces.
Align camera to face while retaining its position.
Advanced attribute editor supporting classes like arrays, vectors and points, and entities like definitions, layers, materials and models. Includes tool to pick points and vectors.
Finds edges that can be welded into curves and welds them. Automatically welds curves generated by Follow Me.
Distorts a group or component to resemble an axonometric projection when viewed from above.
Saves the camera position in just 2 clicks so it can be retrieved later. Works between models. Perfect for version comparison for instance.
Find center of mass for selection.


text:
Previous: 0.0%
Forecast: 0.5%
Actual: 0.4%
*In the case of economic news, investment banks, market makers and prime brokers may quote broader spreads, sharp moves, gaps, and possible execution at a price different from the stated (the first possible market price). In the first few seconds, performance may be delayed due to the accumulation of orders in excess of the ability of banks to process.
Read more:
25 Canada Square, Level 33, office 50, Canary Wharf London, E14 5LQ +44 20 3608 6256
World Financial Markets - 0700 17 600 Varchev Exchange - 0700 115 44
Varchev Finance Ltd is registered in the FCA (FINANCIAL CONDUCT AUTHORITY) with a passport in the United Kingdom: FCA, United Kingdom - registration number: 494 045, which allows provision of financial services in the United Kingdom.
Varchev Finance Ltd strictly comply with the statutes of the European directive MiFID (Markets in Financial Instruments). targeting increased efficiency, transparency and uniformity of financial instruments.
Varchev Finance Ltd is authorized and regulated by the Financial Supervision Commission - Sofia, Bulgaria: License number RG-03-02-05 / 15.03.2006
The information on this site is not intended for distribution or use by any person in any country or jurisdiction where such distribution or use would be contrary to local law or regulation.
CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 63,41% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.


text:
Gloves 4 Troops has soldiers worldwide playing catch
With lot of help, Cardinals' Albitz provides slice of home to servicemen, women
JUPITER, Fla. -- The sailors aboard the USS Gonzalez, stationed in the Indian Ocean, have already begun to innovate. Golf balls wrapped in masking tape, they've found, substitute well for the baseballs literally lost at sea.
A shipment of two boxes, received from Torrance, Calif., recently stirred a ship-wide baseball phenomenon. In opening the packages, Lt. Cmdr. Kyle Gantt and others discovered eight baseball gloves and 10 baseballs. A moving ship and errant pitches have reduced the stock of balls -- hence the need for a golf-ball alternate -- but that has hardly sapped the fun.
Though in limited supply, the gloves are in near constant use. They are conversation starters -- one of the first men to grab a glove revealed that Tommy John surgery had ended his college pitching career -- and distraction providers. They are a reminder of home and of family, of summertime and of a time without worry.
The significance, however, runs particularly deep for Gantt.
His grandfather was Tommy Byrne, whose 13-year Major League career included 11 seasons with the Yankees and parts of another two with the St. Louis Browns. Eleven games into that career, though, Byrne voluntarily put it on hold. He enlisted in the Navy in 1943 and spent parts of the next two years on board the USS Ordronaux.
Many years later, Byrne shared the stories of his deployment with his grandson, telling him how he would pitch on piers when the ship docked and how he harnessed his control problems, which trailed him throughout his Major League career, in the process. Among Gantt's favorite stories was the one Byrne told about once sending Yanks manager Joe McCarthy a postcard from sea.
McCarthy, as the tale goes, showed reporters the postcard and quipped: "Tommy Byrne is finally throwing strikes. Too bad he's 5,000 miles from Yankee Stadium."
Gantt always loved the story. Now, though, there is something strikingly personal within it.
"I've been proud to follow in my grandfather's footsteps as a destroyerman," Gantt wrote in an email a week ago. "Last week, I identified in another way. As I stood on the flight deck of this destroyer, playing pitch, I realized the connection with my grandfather went beyond our shared experience in the Navy.
"I could barely hit the mitt. Wildness definitely runs in the family."
The Cause
The impact of an idea born out of time Vance Albitz spent surfing the Internet has spurred games of catch at military bases around the world. It started in November, when Albitz read of a soldier who said the one luxury of home that he'd most like to have was a baseball glove.
Albitz, a Minor Leaguer in the Cardinals' system, figured he was in a position to help. He set his sights on collecting about 20 or 30 gloves, later bumping that goal to a couple hundred after friends and family reacted so enthusiastically to his idea. Then, he simply turned bold.
"I thought about how if I was in that situation, that's exactly what I would want," Albitz said. "It means more than just a game of catch. It's about relationships. So I decided to set a goal of a thousand to see what happens. I figured I would aim high and go for it."
The collection, Albitz decided, would continue until Feb. 21, an arbitrary date he set so that he'd have time to ship the donations before reporting to Minor League camp. Four days before that deadline, Albitz received his 1,000th glove.
Within the next two weeks, that total nearly doubled.
"I wasn't sure if I was going to get there or not," Albitz said. "But the thing was, as soon as the thousand hit, so many more kept coming in. I was overwhelmed with how much I ended up with. It was more than I ever expected."
The final count: 1,965.
Many of the gloves arrived carrying with them unspoken stories of significance. Now in new hands, the gloves are again the centerpiece of new memories, as well as the catalyst for stirring up ones of old. There are new stories forming, stories that best be told to understand the impact of one person and of sport. These are some of them, shared through email correspondence from military members around the world.
Four gloves arrived at the U.S. Marine Corps base in Camp Leatherneck, located in the southern region of Afghanistan. The recipients received four baseballs, too, as well as letters, some from school-age children, others from the individuals who made the donations.
Brian Newsom, a combined joint movement control center chief and staff sergeant, was among those who read the letters. He also read a description of the Gloves 4 Troops initiative and connected immediately with Albitz, as St. Louis is Newsom's hometown.
A center fielder who lacked accuracy during his high school playing days, Newsom hadn't played baseball since joining the Marine Corps. Now, he has an excuse -- and the means -- to play catch again.
So, too, does Adam Schultz, another sergeant on the base.
"The reaction from me and my Marines was one of joy," said Schultz, who has been enlisted in the Marine Corps for seven years. "To think that there are people out there that care so much to provide service members with a little piece of home while they are deployed is an amazing feeling. The gloves are a big morale booster that we use every time that we get a chance. It's a big change from the training that we do."
Schultz made sure that one of the gloves ended up on the hand of Cpl. Michael Hopkins, who had turned down a college baseball scholarship to join the Marines.
"When I passed the glove to him," Schultz recalled, "he was excited and surprised that we were lucky enough to receive a gift so close to his heart."
The Collection
The boxes of donations would all arrive at the corporate office building where Phil Albitz works as a financial advisor. In February, once several articles had spread word of Vance Albitz's program, the shipments became overwhelming. There were days when Phil Albitz would transport as many as 15 boxes a day from his office to his son, who, back at the family's home, would sift through and log the donations. The gloves were piled high in the garage.
A project initially designed to target local family and friends had gone national.
Vance Albitz received at least one glove from all 50 states. Current Major Leaguers, including Josh Beckett and Justin Masterson, stepped up to assist, as did Dean Kiekhefer and John Gast, both of whom were Albitz's teammates last season.
The Cardinals set up a drive at their January Winter Warm-Up, which brought in several dozen gloves. A few other teams promised Albitz that they would set out donation boxes in their Spring Training clubhouses this spring.
Then there was the support of several college baseball teams, among them Oral Roberts, Notre Dame, Virginia Tech, University of California-San Diego, Drew University and Ancilla College. Albitz was especially moved when boxes came in from the Navy and Air Force baseball teams.
"It was to the point that when you open the garage, it was overwhelming," Albitz said. "Before we had the work day to put them in boxes, it was just piles and piles of gloves."
Monetary donations flowed in, as well, which assisted Albitz with the shipping costs (approximately $20 to send a box of four gloves), which he had initially been paying out of pocket. Albitz pooled the additional funds to purchase more gloves. The Veterans United Home Loans center in Columbia, Mo., wrote a check big enough to cover the cost of 300.
"I believe one person can have this big of an impact. But this wasn't just me," Albitz noted. "I just organized it. It was thousands and thousands of people who helped. But if one person can organize something that people can jump on and support, then yes, you can do something special."
It was raining in Afghanistan the day Jerry McCarley, a 24-year army veteran, opened his box. He described his reaction to the contents simply that of shock.
"This is my fourth deployment," he added, "and I have not ever received something that special before."
Within minutes, a group had congregated around him, each passing around the gloves, finding the one that had the ideal personal fit. And in the rain, several on the base began to throw. The gloves have received near-daily use since.
For McCarley, the most moving reaction came when he presented a lefty glove to one young soldier, who was both a baseball player and homeless before joining the Army.
"He just went crazy," McCarley said. "You could see the pure joy on his face when I told him he could keep the glove for himself."
The Community
Though the organization had been his brainchild, Albitz reached a point where he had to recruit help. The piles of gloves and balls and letters became too big for one to package alone, especially since he needed to stay dedicated to his offseason workout program.
What Albitz discovered was a California community antsy to assist.
His parents -- aside from lending their garage as a storage space -- were integral in helping Albitz box up and ship the donations. Albitz's brother, his sister-in-law, former high school teammates, his friends and friends of his parents all offered their time. The South High School baseball team, of which Albitz was once a member, even organized a work day at the school.
The packaging process was specific. Dropped into each box were four or five gloves, about as many baseballs, and several letters. Some boxes were topped off with Gloves 4 Troops T-shirts, which had been donated by a shirt company in Missouri. With almost every glove went an information card that identified the donator.
Albitz estimated that shipments went out to nine different countries; bases in Afghanistan received about 90 percent of the gloves.
"What was also cool to see was that once we boxed them up, there were boxes throughout my entire garage stacked on top of each other," Albitz said. "There were boxes stacked on top of each other in the living room. There were boxes stacked on top of each other in the backyard. There were boxes in the front yard.
"It was like a job. But it was worth it. It was so worth it."
Brooke Culler was stationed at a Texas military base when her hometown Cardinals advanced to the 2011 World Series against the in-state Rangers. She dutifully posted a "reserved" sign on one of the base's televisions in advance of Game 7, ensuring that it was clear what channel the TV would be turned to that night.
Once a regular in the stands at the old Busch Stadium, Culler now keeps tabs on the Cardinals from southwest Asia, where she is an adjutant for the 69th Air Defense Artillery Brigade. Her loyalty to the team runs deep, she said, but her pride in the organization was especially lifted when she found out that it was a Cards prospect who had shipped her a box of four gloves -- three brand new, one fit for a lefty (which suits one of the lieutenants particularly well).
"It was wonderful to know that people back home are giving their time and resources to make deployment life a little more normal," said Culler, who is in her second month of deployment. "To receive a box with toiletries is great, but to open a package and find baseball equipment was absolutely amazing. Everyone was smiling and laughing at that find, and the gloves were immediately tried on, punched and prepared to catch."
The Cardinals connection struck Jessica Lee as well. A native of Belleville, Ill., Lee was raised in a baseball family. Her younger brother has been a Redbirds season-ticket holder. Now a mother, living at the Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan, a half a world away from her 19-month-old twins, Lee said she finds something comforting in the opportunity the Cards are tangentially playing in helping facilitate something as simple as a game of catch.
"It can get very lonely while you are in Afghanistan," she said. "You are deployed away from your family and any type of normalcy that you are used to having, so when someone takes time out of their schedule to send you a package or to put together an organization that supports troops, it is a great thing. Soldiers over here often feel like they are forgotten about. The soldiers thought it was really neat that a baseball player was doing something for them."
The box she received also included three letters, one from a father, the other two from the sons he was teaching about the principle of giving.
The Continuance
The project, while on pause, hasn't ended.
Albitz has his attention on a Minor League season now, but he's already planning ahead -- and telling others to as well. Through his web site (www.gloves4troops.com) and word of mouth, Albitz is encouraging folks to start gathering gloves.
Indeed, he's going to dive into this initiative again. That is, once he gets through this season.
"Now people have six months to collect one glove," Albitz said. "If 1,000 people do that, it'll be a successful next offseason, too."
In the meantime, Albitz stays connected through correspondence. He gets regular emails from those who have been given the gift of a game of catch. Some of those letters give him chills, he said. Others come accompanied with photographs or personal stories or a clear desire to be connected to someone back home.
"I can show you so many new emails from people in Afghanistan or Korea or Germany or the United Arab Emirates, who just say it made them smile," Albitz said. "Each person says it differently. But that's what they say. It's been one of the best experiences I've ever been a part of."
In her thank-you note back to Albitz, Laura Applewhite, a captain in the U.S. Air Force, wrote that the soldiers at Camp Eggers (Afghanistan) will be having their own Spring Training this spring. That training -- basic as it may be -- has become an after-dinner highlight, something that Applewhite said has allowed many on the base to reminisce of times at home, tossing a ball around with their children.
A New England native, Applewhite detailed a childhood defined by baseball, whether it be in rooting on the Red Sox, watching her brothers play or grabbing a ball and glove herself. A deep connection runs between baseball and family, one that has been rekindled by the generosity of strangers.
"Some don't realize what we face over in the war zone," Applewhite said. "We see things that are indescribable. We learn to appreciate life's little pleasures. Throwing a ball around to bring us back to our childhood, even for only a moment, is a huge deal."