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When I'm at home, I like to supplement my hot tea intake with a little bit of iced tea, especially during the warmer months. Makes sense. Since I make my own, I know exactly what goes into it and I can make it to taste. This is a good thing.
In a restaurant, it's a whole 'nuther ballgame. Restaurant iced tea is something of a crap shoot and a lot of times I just don't bother. The so-called tea one is served in these situations ranges from merely acceptable to barely palatable to some kind of liquid dreck "brewed" from a powdered mix of ingredients that barely resembles tea to something that tastes like it's been siphoned from a dead dog's bladder after said canine has had a chance to lie in the sun and ferment for a few days.
Which is why I'm pleased to named my personal pick for Best Restaurant Iced Tea. Yeah, I know. You've been waiting on the edge of your seat.
Pita Jungle has several locations in the Phoenix area. It's a casual place with a sort of hip Mediterranean feel and cuisine - and some killer iced tea. Actually they serve two types of iced tea, but if you're like me you wouldn't dream of wasting your time with berry. Go straight for what is commonly known as "regular," though last time around I heard someone describe it as passionfruit.
Passionfruit it may be. I can't quite place the flavor and I wouldn't know a passionfruit if it came up and bit me on the ankle. All I know is that this is a quite tasty mix of black tea with some faint fruit flavor and nary a trace of bitterness. An iced tea so fine, I'd venture to say, that I sometimes leave this establishment feeling distinctly waterlogged.
So, if you ever have reason to be in the Phoenix area and, more specifically, in Pita Jungle, you know what beverage to order. Just hope that they haven't run out. It's been known to happen.


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Prohibited Items
The following items are prohibited at all UCSB Intercollegiate Athletics events and venues:
- Alcohol
- Artificial noisemakers (allowed at Big West soccer games, excluding whistles and canned air horns)
- Backpacks, large bags, luggage (anything over 14" x 14" x 6")
- Balloons
- Balls (sport or beach balls)
- Bicycles (please park bikes in designated areas outside of venues)
- Cameras with flash photography or video cameras (unless previously approved by UCSB Athletics Communications)
- Cans or glass bottles
- Illegal substances
- Large banners, flags, and signs
- Laser pointers
- Lawn chairs or furniture
- Outside food and beverage
- Pets (with the exception of service animals)
- Skateboards
- Weapons of any kind (knives, firearms, sharp instruments)
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ALL vehicles parked on campus must display a valid campus parking permit, or be parked at a paid-for meter. Visitor parking is permitted in designated parking lots on campus, provided a valid visitor permit is displayed. Certain lots allow visitor parking at all times, while others allow visitor parking only after 5 p.m. and on weekends. Permits can be purchased from the permit dispensers located in lots throughout the campus. For detailed parking information and lot maps, please click here.

subset: commoncrawl


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The CPR Face Shield comes in a compact key chain bag & provides protection to the rescuer when performing rescue breaths in an emergency situation.
Actual product may differ to image shown.
Colours in stock: red, green, black
The CPR Face Shield comes in a compact key chain bag & provides protection to the rescuer when performing rescue breaths in an emergency situation.
The CPR Face Shield comes in a compact key chain bag & provides protection to the rescuer when performing rescue breaths in an emergency situation.
Actual product may differ to image shown.
Colours in stock: red, green, black
"Thank you very much for your assistance in both supplying and general device information on the manikin. Our crew will benefit greatly from having this manikin on hand all the time. Thanks again."
"Just some feedback on our first aid training. All the boys could not rate you high enough for the course. They said the facilitator was amazing, knowledgeable and made learning enjoyable. Thanks again and will be touch in two years for their refreshers."
"Our staff feedback on the course and Danika's training style has been received positively by all the attendees. Our Owner/ Operator was so impressed that he has requested for her to return for any further training that we may need."
"This is just an email to say thank you for the on-site training session. Everyone left feeling empowered and confident. In addition I want to do a special mention to Carol. The information and knowledge she shared was greatly received by our staff."
"I just want to say a huge thank you to Heart Saver for helping us out on Saturday at St Patrick's Festival!"
"A number of us have attended other first aid courses in the past and our experiences of such had not been overly positive. On this occasion all were pleasantly surprised to find the situation very different and enjoyed the course immensely. Whether participants had existing knowledge or not, they all agreed they learnt a lot from this morning's Safety Net course, and feel confident they will retain much of that learning. Thank you HeartSaver for the content and format, and thank you Mike for your delivery."
"Please give our thanks as a staff to your two presenters who were absolutely superb. They were knowledgeable, witty and adaptable. We could not have asked for anything more."
"I just wanted to pass on what a wonderful presenter Karl was on our staff first aid course. He was informative, knew his subject matter well and managed us all admirably. As a bunch of teachers we can be quite difficult (especially with potentially quite boring subject matter - no offence intended!). Karl kept us all entertained and had a superb sense of humour that went down very well. He was very approachable and his manner made all of us feel confident with what we are learning. We feel lucky to have had him as a facilitator."
"Just a note to say Thank you very much to Mike for yesterday's AED/CPR training. Everyone learnt a lot and hopefully it could help save someone's life in the future. Mike was a great presenter that everyone could relate to."
"I thought I would drop you a line to say thank you for the fantastic training in how to use our new AED7000 Automated External Defibrillator. Dave was fantastic and everyone has been talking about how much they enjoyed the session."
"At Croxley we take the safety of our employees seriously. When we looked at the profile of our workforce, and the numbers that we employ, it was hard to argue against the purchase of an AED unit."
"We have only had our heart defibrillator for the past 2 weeks, it is very reassuring for both staff and students knowing that there is one on the premises, but we all hope that we never have cause to use it."
"We have it up on the wall, ready to go! I did have a query and rang back to ask, the person I spoke to was great, friendly, informative and very friendly, many thanks"
"I have found that dealing with Heart Saver has been very easy. It took a bit of time for our company to work through purchasing the units and Mike was very patient. The service was great, and I would recommend Heart Saver to any other company."
"My special thanks to you for the wonderful job you did for our Veterans and for the public of Auckland for ANZAC. The extra time and effort you put in were certainly worthwhile. It is a joy for me to work with such dedicated and talented people. Thank you."
All prices are in New Zealand dollars and GST exclusive. We accept these forms of payment:


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liveBooks Consolidates Education Product Offerings To A Single Premium Product for Students and Instructors at $99 Annually
San Francisco, CA. – January 18, 2008 – LiveBooks, Inc., a leading provider of customized portfolio websites and marketing software for professional photographers, announced it has consolidated its liveBooks|edu product offerings to a single premium product for students and instructors at an annual subscription price of $99, including the annual hosting fee. The revised liveBooks|edu product consists of two parts: a templated Flash website and a sophisticated online admin tool known as the editSuite. With the new, expanded features of the editSuite tool — a transition picker, PDF downloads from the editSuite and a loading page graphic — students can more effectively present their brand online, keep their website content current and gain firsthand experience of the same tool used by leading industry pros. Using liveBooks|edu, students and faculty can quickly create and launch a professionally presented online portfolio website.
Through liveBooks' continued commitment to education, students are able to use professional tools to learn about image sequencing, development of an online presence and the concepts of brand design. Students are empowered to easily and professionally present their work online and develop the skills that will allow them to successfully market their work on the internet- a key factor in an emerging photographers success.
"The goal in lowering the price of liveBooks|edu is to allow any serious photography or visual arts student easy entry to this tool and to help them realize the importance of marketing their work on the web," says Tricia Gellman Holmes, Vice President of Marketing at liveBooks, Inc. "With today's technology and the ever-increasing use of the Internet, if you don't have a web presence you are not competing in the marketplace. Our goal is to provide a high-quality and affordable solution for students so they can begin to develop a brand and have a competitive edge once they graduate," Ms Holmes added.
Joyce O'Neal, a student at Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, CA, says "liveBooks is not only beautifully designed, but very easy to use. The editSuite is extremely intuitive and easy to navigate, I thought - It can't be this easy!"
Product Details liveBooks|edu is a photography website package that delivers the tools used by leading professionals as an affordable annual subscription for students and faculty. Each website includes intuitive navigation, large, fast loading images, a clean look and feel as well as the "editSuite" – an easy to use tool for complete control over your content 24/7.
Each liveBooks|edu website includes:
These features have been combined to empower photography students and faculty to clearly communicate their unique brand in a way that will help them get work and grow their businesses.
Availability and Pricing The new liveBooks|edu premium website for qualified students and faculty is currently available by visiting the liveBooks|edu website at http://www.livebooksedu.com. The annual subscription rate is $99 and includes the annual website hosting fee.
The newly redesigned liveBooks|edu site features expanded help and support tools and an expanded library of training videos.
About LiveBooks, Inc. LiveBooks, Inc. is the leader in providing fully editable customized website creation and management solutions along with innovative online tools that empower professional photographers to grow their businesses. As creative professionals ourselves, we understand the passion behind our customers' work and their needs to easily upload, edit, market, send and sell their images in a simple and streamlined way. liveBooks is committed to pioneering new ways to help photographers efficiently translate their work into effective online experiences that increase their exposure and connect their creative vision with the world at large.
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Allison Brownell Tirres (DePaul University College of Law) reviews Migra! A History of the U.S. Border Patrol (University of California Press, 2010), by Kelly Lytle Hernández. Tirres admires "the unique transnational perspective that [the book] brings to the history of immigration law," and the "rich and provocative way" in which it explores "the complex dynamics of race, migration, and law in the twentieth century."
Joanna Grisinger (Clemson University) offers an equally laudatory review of Industrial Violence and the Legal Origins of Child Labor (Cambridge University Press, 2010), by James D. Schmidt. According to Grisinger, Schmidt uses court records from six southern states to show how "[l]egal language and courtroom experience validated child labor as a public problem for working-class families who had previously believed quite the opposite."
On the following pages, Christopher W. Schmidt (Chicago–Kent College of Law) takes up Christopher Waldrep's "impressively researched" exploration of the battle against Mississippi's all-white jury system: Jury Discrimination: The Supreme Court, Public Opinion, and a Grassroots Fight for Racial Equality in Mississippi (University of Georgia Press, 2010). Schmidt praises the book for "effectively highlight[ing] the variability of Jim Crow . . . and the sometimes unexpected power of the law."
Next up: H. Robert Baker (Georgia State University) reviews Leslie A. Schwalm, Emancipation's Diaspora: Race and Reconstruction in the Upper Midwest (University of North Carolina Press, 2009). Baker describes the book as "beautifully researched," and "careful and methodical" in its analysis. He highlights Schwalm's "consistent and persuasive engagement of gender."
In the final book review, Karl Jacoby (Brown University) covers Defying the Odds: The Tule River Tribe's Struggle for Sovereignty in Three Centuries (Yale University Press, 2010), by Gelya Frank and Carole Goldberg. Jacoby sympathizes with the book's "ambitious collaborative approach" (Frank is an anthropologist, Goldberg, a legal scholar), but notes several "provocative questions" and exciting leads that the authors failed to follow.The full reviews are available here, to subscribers.


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Calendar | Community
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Searching for your ancestry? Add a
trip to the Circuit Clerk's office
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[June 12, 2014]
LINCOLN - Mary Kelley, clerk of
the Circuit Court for Logan County, was guest speaker at the Logan
County Genealogical & Historical Society in May. You might wonder
what interests her office might offer to this group. As it would be,
the circuit clerk's office has a wealth of information for
genealogical research.
Kelley explained that her office is the repository of a great
deal of information that can be useful to those searching for their
family history.
The circuit clerk's office is the administrative arm of the circuit
court. The office contains data that has gone through the circuit
court, some of which goes back to the 19th century. For example the
circuit clerk's records on naturalization go back to 1857.
Not only do the records contain the name of the person and dates of
immigration, but also the name of the ship they arrived on and the
port of arrival.
Also included in the old records is the name of the monarch that
they are renouncing. Before World War One, most immigrants from
Europe lived in countries that still had a king or queen as the
The most detailed records are from 1907 to 1929. This time period
would cover most of the great wave of European immigration to the
U.S. that occurred in the early 20th century, when Ellis Island in
New York harbor received most of them.
The records before 1907 in the clerk's office are less detailed.
Most of the original records from the 19th century are stored in an
Illinois Regional Archives Depository (IRAD) site in Illinois. The
clerk's office has copies of these records.
There are several IRAD sites within Illinois dedicated to the
preservation of these old and delicate records. The closest IRAD
site to Lincoln is Bloomington. Trained archivists make sure that
the pages of the old hand written record books are treated with a
preservative and then stored in a climate controlled environment.
Other records that are available are chancery, which includes
divorce and estate settlement disputes and foreclosures.
Criminal case records go back to 1946.
IRAD has taken the older records for safekeeping. The items that
were signed by traveling lawyer and land surveyor Abraham Lincoln
are now in the safe keeping of the the Illinois Historic
Preservation Agency and the Lincoln Legal Papers Project.
The common law records in the circuit clerk's office go back to
1873. These include civil court cases such as small claims.
Many of the more recent records are not available to the public
until a significant amount of time has passed. Adoptions are sealed
by the court. Those requesting access to them have to petition a
judge of the circuit court.
Brenda Jones, a specialist in genealogical research in the Circuit
Clerk's office, also attended the meeting. She is the go to person
in the office for those tracing their family history in Logan
Brenda said, "Summer is the busiest time for genealogical research
in our office." She emphasized that there are several routes that a
person can take in researching family history.
Obviously, a name is most important; yet, there are other ways to
search the records. Jones is dedicated to going the extra mile to
help those who call or visit the office in person. She will often
follow-up on a records search even when the family detectives seem
satisfied with the results.
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There are so many files; a person's name can appear
in several places allowing many avenues to approach research. One
example Jones gave could be the case where a person dies without a
will. Checking settlement records as well as probate records might
help discover more information.
Jones stressed that many researchers just don't know
about the multitude of records that are available. She does, and can
direct persons in directions that had not been considered.
When asked if anything surprising has come up in searching through
local records, Jones said, "One family came in to do research and it
turned out that the person they were looking for was a relative of
mine I was not aware of. That was a fun moment."
recent request for Logan County information came from a family in
California. Jones said, "Our office has had requests for research
from every state."
You can begin to imagine it now, residents of Logan County have
traveled on and have descendants all over the country and the
circuit clerk's office is a place to search for those documents and
even fragments that might build a family history.
Mary Kelley stressed that her office welcomes the chance to help
those doing genealogical research. She also said that her office is
fortunate to have a researcher of the quality of Brenda Jones.
To have the depth of personnel who can follow the records trail that
will uncover that piece of family history that can tie all of the
previous research together is not usual for a circuit clerk's
office, Kelley said.
While many people call her office asking for information, Kelley
said, "Many prefer to come in person to see the actual documents
with their relative's name on it."
Kelley was also asked if any unusual records had been found over the
years. She laughed and said, "My office contains the record of a
speeding ticket issued many years ago in Logan County by a state
police officer to a little known Illinois legislator from Chicago.
The legislator's name was Barack Obama."
Mary Kelley's office provides a trove of material for the family
The Logan County Genealogical & Historical Society also has a large
library of Logan County records and newspapers that can provide a
source for researching family history, and they are adding more all
the time. Its resources are available to the public. Several members
volunteer their time to do research work, and a nominal fee is
The LCG&HS meets the third Monday of every month at 6:30 p.m. The
meetings are open to the public. Guest speakers are featured at
every meeting and come from throughout the area. They always have an
interesting story to tell.
[By CURT FOX]
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Has the time come for you to get out of the dorm and move into an off campus BPCC apartment? Perhaps the options available from the Bossier Parish Community College housing office no longer meet your needs and you would like to find a cheap apartment close to the BPCC campus. If so, you can search for off campus Bossier Parish Community College apartments with MyNewPlace's college housing search.
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Have more questions? Check out our articles with renter tips in our apartment guide and search through http://www.bpcc.edu/.


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About a year ago, I had a client that was involved in a small sub-division in the local area. He was a 50/50 partner with another person. The lots were listed for sale for about $45,000, however, the project was not quite complete. With the downturn in the economy, the client decided to sell his 50% interest in the LLC back to his partner. The consideration was no cash and the other partner would take over the debt.
The client went on his merry way until he got a call from the State of Washington wanting the excise taxes that he owed on the transfer. In our state (and there are many others just like it), if you sell a 50% or more interest in an LLC during a 12 month period, then you owe the real estate excise tax on the full fair market value of the property excluding any debt. Even though you only sold 50%, you owe the excise tax on the full 100% of value.
In this case, there were let's say about 50 lots advertised at $45,000, so the state assessed the excise tax of about 1.9% on $2,250,000 or about $42,750. He had to pay the whole excise tax even though not one of the lots had ever sold and the actual value of each lot was probably closer to $25,000 at that time.
Now, what I think is even more of money grab by the state is when the lots are actually sold, then the excise tax of 1.9% is, you guessed it, owed again. There is no credit to offset any of the tax previously paid.
I now recommend that any of my clients that are involved in a 50/50 LLC and want to get out of the LLC, to only sell 49.5% of the LLC and wait over a year to sell the remaining .5% interest.
For many of our farmers who are doing succession planning to their children, they need to make sure to watch out for these excise taxes.


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The case was booked into Court Two at the Central Criminal Court for at least eight weeks. This was the second most important court in the country for criminal trials because we needed the room for all the documents and exhibits which would be called in the trial as evidence. I now had a little breathing space in order to try and settle some of my outstanding work-load. I had other cases running at the same time, and I was having to deal with the constant interventions from the particular chief inspector who was determined to carry on with his overbearing behaviour towards me.
At that time, the culture at New Scotland Yard was hugely hierarchical, and officers who were in the course of attaining senior rank were effectively untouchable. The worst behaved like petty dictators, and they could damage a subordinate officer's career on a mere whim. This particular officer had made it his objective to punish me for the journey and the work I had undertaken in America at my Commander's behest, but with the Commander now promoted and moved to another department, this man went out of his way to belittle me, to rubbish my work, and to insult me at every opportunity. He took the lengthy report I had written on my work and findings in America, and in front of the rest of my office, threw it across the room to lodge on top of a cabinet, saying it was 'shite' and proved the lack of wisdom in sending me to the States. He would call me and my colleagues 'paper cowboys', meaning that we focused in minute detail on documents and records (which was what you had to master in fraud investigation), as opposed to the 'action culture' so beloved of officers from the old hard-drinking, hard swearing departments such as the Flying Squad and the Regional Crime Squads.
Lest it be felt that I have been overly critical of departments and personalities outside the police force, let me say here that one of the biggest stumbling blocks to really effective detection and prevention of major fraud lay within the policing agencies. The Fraud Squad possessed many officers who didn't want to be there, who thought just like this particular man, who were incurably and thoroughly lazy, and who did not have the intellectual capacity or the patience to master the new dimensions of serious fraud that we were increasingly being called upon to deal with. If anything contributed to the increased difficulties in dealing with the new fraud paradigm, it was the existence of men like these, and it was one of the bigger tragedies for me that no-one in a senior rank or position could be bothered to realise it.
I have already said that the real agenda behind the defence case preparation for the trial had little to do with the solicitor concerned, but had everything to do with seeking to find a way to get him acquitted of any offence of dishonesty, so that the chances of civil suit against the law firm would be nullified. This was the agenda that lay behind the High Court and Appeal Court actions to get the documents from me, so that they could ascertain exactly the part the solicitor had played. Then the demands for me to hand over all the evidence against him were made so they could see exactly how strong my case against him was, so that they could find ways to undermine it. His own attempts to make a self-serving statement of facts had blown up in his face because I could prove he had lied. Everything that could be done to get him out of the trial was attempted, and they had all failed. They were faced with a huge bill for damages and the concomitant public opprobrium that would go with the news of the trial and its outcome. I was very confident that the evidence against him was overwhelming, and I was looking forward to the trial.
The night before the case was due to begin, I was in my usual state of excited preparedness. I had gone over and over in my mind how I intended the case to proceed, and what order I would recommend to counsel for the witnesses. There was a knock at my front door. A local uniformed policeman was standing there with a copy of an urgent telex from the administrator of the Central Criminal Court. In the days without mobile phones or email, we had to carry important messages by hand to their recipients.
The message informed me that the case had been moved from Number Two court to a small court at the Guildhall Justices' Rooms. I was dumbfounded. It meant that the case was collapsing and the defendants intended to plead guilty, but why move it from a very public court with its army of sharp-nosed court reporters, to a room in the back of beyond behind Cannon Street Station, which even I did not know how to find?
The next morning, I turned up to the court with plenty of time to spare. I was met by the Court Inspector from the Central Criminal Court, a kind and usually genial man who knew most detectives who gave evidence at the Old Bailey by name.
He said; '...You're not going to like what I am about to tell you, lad! I have a message from your Chief Inspector that some kind of deal has been done between the prosecution and the defence and guilty pleas are going to be entered today. Your boss says you will not like what's going to happen and I am instructed that if you cut up rough about it, which he strongly expects you to do, I will have to nick you and keep you locked up till the court rises. I don't want to have to do that lad, so do as you're told, duck your nut, no matter what happens, and we'll talk about it afterwards...'
I thought the ground was about to swallow me up, my head was whirling, what kind of deal could they have done, and why had I not been consulted? I should have been the first one to be asked if the deal was acceptable as I was the de facto prosecutor, albeit we were led by a barrister. I tried to ring the office. The Chief Inspector wasn't available, the bastard had decided to make himself scarce. Then it hit me, he had been the one to order me to hand over all the evidence to the defence, and now he had been the one to usurp my position and accept the deal offered by the defence, and without telling me. None of my colleagues knew anything! '...What's wrong...' they kept asking!
In court the defendants were sitting at the rear of the court, with their solicitors. They didn't look in my direction. The prosecution barrister was closeted with two other briefs and didn't look like she was going to talk to me. I tried to make eye contact with her. She looked away. I tried to engage her politely. '...I've no time to talk to you now officer, perhaps later...' This was unheard of behaviour, never before had I been through such a bizarre process, normally your own prosecuting barrister wants to talk to the officer in the case at length and alone to make sure everything is ready and available.
Suddenly, on the dot of 10.30am the judge bustled in. Prosecution Counsel stood and asked him if he had had a chance to read all the papers and submissions. '...Yes...' he said, '...I have seen everything I need to see...' Prosecution counsel then explained that of the sixteen or so charges on the indictment, starting with the charge of conspiracy to defraud, followed by the long list of fraudulently obtaining money by deception charges, she was advising the judge that the prosecution would not be seeking to proceed with those counts and asked that the judge allow them to lie on the file. The judge immediately agreed this was the best course of action.
My head was swimming, they weren't going to carry on with any of these charges, despite everything we had been through, the civil cases, the demands for evidence, the defendant's repeated lies which I had proved to be lies, he was going to be allowed to walk away from every serious and important count on the indictment. More importantly, these were all offences of dishonesty, so no conviction for dishonesty would now appear on his record!
Prosecution counsel then said that the defendants had agreed to plead guilty to the two counts under the PFI Act, those of possessing and distributing unauthorised leaflets. The judge then asked the clerk to read the two remaining counts, to which the defendants both pleaded guilty.
These two counts involved a dishonest element and as a result of their distributing the documents, investors had been mislead and defrauded thereby. The solicitor's barrister then stood and addressed the judge.
His client had only agreed to plead guilty to these last two counts in order to save the time of the Court, he said, all the other matters would have been strongly contested but the prosecution's actions in not proceeding with them made the whole issue now irrelevant. He then asked the judge to find that even in these last two cases, that there had been no element of dishonesty involved.
I could not believe my eyes or ears, he was asking the judge to connive in the acceptance of what is called an 'equivocal' plea. When a defendant pleads guilty to a charge he does so in the full admission of all the facts. If he says, '...well I did the act but it wasn't dishonest...', then that is an equivocal plea and has to be dealt with as a 'not guilty' plea, and a full trial ordered. Only a jury can decide whether a defendant acted honestly or dishonestly. It is not part of a Judges' function to so decide. However, this judge seemed oblivious to the law, and he agreed that the record would note that no dishonesty was imputed.
Having accepted these corrupt pleas, the prosecution counsel stood and asked if the judge wished to be addressed on the defendant's antecedents. It is normal practice when sentencing, for a judge to be informed of a defendant's background and any criminal convictions he might have. In this case, the judge demurred and said he knew everything he needed to know about the accused, and did not need to be advised as to their antecedents, so the solicitor's previous criminal history was not read to the court.
The defendants were ordered to stand and the judge immediately gave them both suspended prison sentences and ordered a small contribution for costs for their legal aid! With that, he disappeared from the bench and left the Court. The whole procedure had taken about ten minutes in all. no press were present or available, so the matter was never reported.
I thought I was going to be sick. After everything we had been through, this thoroughly dishonest man had been allowed to walk away from the consequences of his actions, because any other outcome would have meant a significant cost and public disgrace for the law firm of which he was a partner. Any civil action brought against him could now only be brought against him alone, and because there were no findings of dishonesty, the cases would be much more difficult to sustain. What is more, his partnership was safe, and their indemnity insurance policy would not now be troubled. The legal establishment had conspired to protect a City law firm at the expense of Justice, they had won and a man with an habitual criminal record was being allowed to walk away free and clear.
The only person who spoke to me was the metals' broker who came up to me and said; '...I haven't a clue what went on there, I thought I was certain to go away...' I managed to force something close to a smile. '...It was nothing you did...' I said, '...just don't come back here again, you've had a great result...'
Our barrister swept past me without speaking. There was no point in confronting her, she was part and parcel of the same corrupt, rotten, system that had just ensured that a law firm had survived, but in circumstances they did not deserve.
I went and sat in a pub and began to get very, very drunk. I had learned a series of very painful lessons. I had learned that the City of London was a structure comprised of a whole series of interlinking roles and movers, who were all bound up in the same endgame. They all wanted to make money, and seemingly at any cost. I thought about the spineless regulators in the DTI and how people like this solicitor and his bent friends were so contemptuous of them that they thought they could operate scams like the Vegas Trust with impunity. I thought about the eminent silk who had advised them, his contempt for the DTI's regulatory ability and his arrogance meant that he gave very poor advice to his clients. He was amazed when I turned up to interview him and I cautioned him against self incrimination. He took my advice and answered no questions. A little later he would be elevated to an extremely important judicial role indeed. I thought about the victims of the fraud, many of whom preferred to believe the word of the solicitor when he told them their money was safe, rather than believe me even when I showed them the evidence that their money had been frittered away. I thought about how detectives within my own calling were letting the people of London down by their arrogance, their ignorance and their obsession with hierarchy and rank. I thought how wrongdoers were facilitated by London lawyers, accountants, and the offshore facilities which can be arranged in a few minutes with one telephone call, but which can take months if not years to look behind the corporate veil. I realised then that we were just fooling ourselves that we could make a difference, and that the City and the financial sector were literally a 'protected species' and there was nothing I or mine could do about it, and more importantly, if we tried too hard, we would be the ones to be punished.
Later that afternoon, the Court Inspector found me. '...Don't take it too hard lad, I've seen many such cases in my time when the guilty are allowed to walk away because the powerful are threatened. Just do your job to the best of your ability and leave the outcomes to the people who run this bloody country, come on, time to go home, you've had enough...'
Ironically, the guilty solicitor was allowed to carry on practicing, albeit as a sole trader. The Law Society did not apparently move against him in 1985, and despite everything he was allowed to keep his practicing certificate. Imagine my surprise therefore when researching this blog, I came across the following entry in the Law Society's records.
"...The SDT ordered the respondent, (the solicitor in my case) who had practised in a partnership, to be struck off the roll on 9 April 2002 for unbefitting conduct, in that he had acted in transactions relating to banking instrument and investment schemes in which he had failed to comply with assurances given to the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors (following a warning letter sent to him) that he would not be involved in any further way with such transactions; and in the course of those transactions he either had failed to be alert or had deliberately closed his eyes to their suspicious features and, in so doing, had acted in a manner likely to compromise or impair his independence or integrity, the good repute of the profession, and/or his proper standard of work, contrary to practice rule 1. The respondent was ordered to pay costs (to be assessed)..."
I have no knowledge of this case, so I can not comment, I merely insert it here for the record.
Since that day I have never believed one word that the City has to say about its probity, its honesty or its sound advice. In my view it is a sink, a cess pit, the words Mark Tucker, the Deputy Governor of the Bank of England used recently when he referred to Barclays Bank. That is why I say that the City is one huge criminogenic enterprise, designed to exploit the gullibility of the public, and to protect the hegemony of those who are permitted to practice within its gates. We should treat it as an organised crime family and deal with it accordingly.


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Types of Radiation Delivery
by, 02-02-2017 at 03:57 PM (5880 Views)
Modern external radiotherapy is delivered in many ways, each with advantages and disadvantages.
- 3-Dimensional Conformal RT
The tumor is measured in 3-dimensions and a radiation pattern is computed in software and beamed at the tumor by an X-ray emitter that circles the patient, minimizing the radiation to surrounding tissues. The beams can be shaped in real time to match the shape of the tumor in the current direction of treatment. This is an improvement over 2-D X-ray RT where radiation was beamed at the tumor from only 2 directions.
- Image Guided RT
Image Guided RT is similar to 3DCRT except that additional scans are taken before and during the RT process to more accurately position the patient and minimize the dose to surrounding tissues.
- 4-Dimensional RT
Similar to IGRT, but imaging during the process monitors the movement of the tumor in real time, such as the prostate adjacent to the bladder, or lung tumors that move when the patient is breathing.
- Intensity Modulated RT
The beam direction and intensity is varied to concentrate the beam on the tumor. It can be used in head and neck tumors to avoid collateral damage to the brain or spinal cord.
- Stereotactic RT
This uses a large number of beams from different directions each with low radiation to give a high dose of radiation to the tumor.
- Proton Bean RT
Proton beams scatter less than photons and can target the tumor more accurately. It is an expensive process used when the tumor needs very high doses of radiation and the surrounding tissues must be protected, as in children.
- Electron Beam RT
Electron beams do not penetrate very deeply and are used for skin or superficial cancers.
Hopefully this list and description will help patients in the market for radiotherapy to know what they can get and are getting. If a hospital only has one of these machines, that is likely the type of radiation you will get unless you shop around.
More information here.


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Customer Service is open Monday - Friday 7:30am - 7pm Eastern Time
We are a
full-service hardware store that strives to provide the best in customer
service. For your shopping convenience, we want to welcome you to our
online store where you can purchase 70,000 items available for overnight
delivery. If you want to purchase a product that cannot be delivered by
UPS, stop in or call our store to purchase the product. If we do not
stock the item, one of our friendly employees will be happy to special
order the item for you.
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Set Balerina/Minky Silver - free cotton sack!
New product
A children's blanket and a pillow
Set: a pillow + a blanket. It is cheaper when you buy a set!
Feels nice and very soft to the touch
Reversible: made of 100% certified child safe cotton designed by Robert Kaufman + original Minky fleece
Highest quality: stays durable even after multiple washes
A free cotton sack!
Reversible blanket with a a pillow, handmade of highest quality materials: one side is made of colorful 100% cotton designed by Robert Kaufman, other side is made of soft and nice to the touch original 400g/m2 Minky fleece.
High quality of materials used for production guarantees high durability – even after multiple washes.
Blanket filling is made from 1,5cm anti-allergic non-woven fabric, which makes the blanket soft and provides baby with additional warmth.
Filling is sewed together with the materials, thus does not move during washes or daily usage.
Blanket is provided with colorful sensory ribbons attached to it.
Perfect for a blanket/duvet, may also be used as play mat.
Pillow filling is made from anti-allergic siliconised ball fibre, which makes the pillow soft, light and fluffy.
Set is packed in a cotton sack, perfect for the kindergarten.
Makes a great baby gift. Your child will love it from the first touch.
Blanket is available in 2 versions: with or without filling.
Blanket dimensions: 105x140 cm (+/- 3 cm)
Pillow dimensions: 40x50 cm (+/- 3 cm)
Composition: 100% cotton by Robert Kaufman / 100% polyester (minky Shannon Fabrics USA 400 g/m2)
Blanket filling: anti-allergic non-woven fabric
Pillow filling: anti-allergic siliconised ball fibre
Washing and care instructions:
- wash in washing machine, initial water temperature should not exceed 30°C, at max 800 RPM
- iron only cotton side, at Low setting (max 110°C), do not iron Minky side
- Do not use bleach
- Wash separately
- Do not dry in a machine dryer
- Avoid chemical cleaning


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But we found these other products for you
Colorful handmade semiprecious gemstone, lampwork and silver jewelry. You can find a much larger selection at http://sastudio.etsy.com
After 2 weeks your items will automatically renewed for another 60 days and $0.23 per item will be added to your billing ledger.
While you were away our TOU was updated,
read the terms of use here.
*No action is required on your part.


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EBC Redstuff Rear Brake Pads for Alfa Romeo 156
EBC Brakes Redstuff is a superb pad for premium and fast street use and faster prestige cars. Built with a premium quality LOW dust brake material, these pads contain ZERO steel fibre and even the small amount of dust created washes off easily with a sponge and water. Redstuff pads also reduce disc wear so that discs and pads last longer whilst delivering great brake performance.
The ceramic particles enhance the aramid fibre formulation used in EBC Brakes. Redstuff to deliver a powerful and long lasting, silent brake pad for the discerning driver.
Redstuff is an ideal upgrade for original pads on prestige and faster cars in urban driving and deliver great brake response and feel from first application of the brakes, avoiding the "lag" common with many original and aftermarket products. Powder coated RED in colour and fitted with premium quality OE style noise reduction shims on the reverse of the pads to guarantee silent braking.
This product is for 1 set of brake pads (x4)
Most of our EBC parts are stocked and ship within 2 working days.
To make sure you're not hit with unexpected delays, please email us at email@example.com
Shipping and Returns
All car parts are sent via a tracked delivery service or courier, depending on the size and weight of the shipment.
Shipping to the UK can vary depending on manufacturer, but we advise customers to expect delivery of their order within 3-5 working days.
If you aren't happy with your order for whatever reason, you are able to make a return within 30 days of purchase for a full refund. To find out more about our returns policy, visit our returns page
Alfa Romeo 156 aftermarket parts and accessories
Need advice? Contact us!


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Our Conservation Work
Great Egret chick© NYC Audubon
For the last thirty years, NYC Audubon's conservation programs have studied and advocated on behalf of the City's wild birds. NYC Audubon, working with a network of volunteers and scientists, has fought to preserve all bird habitat, from marshlands and nesting islands for herons and egrets to woodland park areas so important to migrating and nesting species.
Despite some notable conservation successes, over 100 of the 350 bird species that depend on New York City are of conservation concern. Some, like the Red Knot, are in danger of disappearing in our lifetime, while others, like the Saltmarsh Sparrow, are vulnerable to sudden declines should climate change alter their already scarce habitat. Even recovering species, like egrets, Peregrine Falcons and American Oystercatchers, remain vulnerable to the pressures of climate change and urban development.
Black Skimmer and other Shorebirds© F. Portmann
In an effort to focus our conservation work where it will be most effective, our current programs focus on three regions of the metropolitan area: Jamaica Bay, Western Long Island Sound (encompassing both the Bronx and Queens shores and estuaries) and Staten Island. We determined through research and data analysis that these areas were the most important to the bird species most in need.
Please follow this link to view a short presentation for determining the species most in need in the five boroughs.
Learn about our Jamaica Bay Project
Learn about our Staten Island Project
Learn about our Western Long Island Sound Project
An Injured Warbler from a Building Collision© NYC Audubon
On another front, the Project Safe Flight program collects data on bird injuries and fatalities from building collisions. We have borne witness to tens of thousands of these collisions and are seeking solutions to the problem. Solutions range from the immediate - our Lights Out New York program enlists building managers to turn off nighttime interior lighting during migration, to the long term - encouraging architects and planners to follow our "Bird Safe Building Guidelines."
Learn about our Project Safe Flight program
Learn about our Lights Out New York program
We keep abreast of local conservation issues as they affect birds and wildlife. For each topic listed in "Issues of Concern," we provide background information, current status information, and links for further research.
Learn about Issues of Concern
Shorebird ID Workshop© NYC Audubon
Tree planting in Van Cortlandt Park© NYC Audubon
Also, NYC Audubon organizes volunteers to clean beaches and educates New Yorkers of all ages by leading hands-on classroom and field projects for the young and offering informative lectures and classes to the public on conservation concerns.
Learn about Volunteer Opportunities
New York City Audubon's conservation programs are made possible by the leadership support of the Leon Levy Foundation.


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Crispein Surname Ancestry Results
Our indexes 1000-1999 include entries for the spelling 'crispein'. In the period you have requested, we have the following 1 record (displaying 1 to 1):
Try these...
crisie crisil criskett criskit crisley crislon crislow crislowe crismas crismass crismon criso crisoe crisop crisor crisoyn crisp crisp clarke crisp' crispe crispell crispelok crispen crispeny crisper crispes crispie crispien crispigne crispigny crispilun crispin crispin' crispinall crispine crisping crisping' crispinge crispinus crispo
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.


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Posted with Ms. Little's permission. Please make other aware of impending changes to Virginia vital records access. Thanks! Michael (who is essentially 1/16 Virginian....)
--------------------------------start of copied posting-----------------------------The Virginia legislature is considering changes to Virginia's laws on access to vital records which could either expand – or severely limit – research access to birth, marriage, and death records.
It is critical for all members of the genealogical community to file comments by October 6 with the Virginia legislative commission considering this issue.
Currently, birth records held by the Virginia Department of Health are closed for 100 years, with marriage and death records closed for 50 years. After these time periods, the records are supposed to be turned over to the Library of Virginia (LVA), though VDH has tried to delay this. The copies of marriage and death records at the Virginia county or city level are not closed, but are public records (if they can be found).
VDH has limited access to its statewide "closed" records to "immediate family
members," excluding even grandchildren.
Senator Harry Blevins of Chesapeake put in a bill in the 2011 Virginia General Assembly to modestly improve access to records, which was referred to the Virginia Joint Commission on Health Care (JCHC) for study. When the Virginia Genealogical Society (VGS) became aware of this study, it offered comments urging i) that death certificates held by VDH become open records immediately, since there were no legitimate privacy or identity theft reasons for keeping death certificates closed, and ii) that the range of family members who can access closed vital records be significantly liberalized.
VGS and LVA worked with JCHC staff educating staff about genealogists' need for these records, the Surgeon General's emphasis on family medical histories, and supplying information from physicians about the importance of death certificates in compiling family medical histories.
We were therefore very disappointed when a JCHC staff study was released on September 19 which is confusing at best, and proposes restrictions, not liberalizing, access.
Indeed, staff testimony made it clear that they supported closing all records (including the open county and city marriage and death records) and lengthening the closed VDH period to 125 years for births and 75 years for marriages and deaths.
While the staff report suggests allowing an Ancestry-type indexing system of the VDH database to allow close relatives access, the staff made it clear that VDH, not LVA (which has the genealogical experience) should do this, potentially taking vital records away from LVA.
I have attached the staff report, which poses eight options for legislators on pp. 23-27. [email@example.com for a PDF of the full report]
Please email comments referencing SB 865 (with your name and address) to
firstname.lastname@example.com, or fax them to 804-786-5538, or mail to: Joint Commission on Health Care, P.O. Box 1322, Richmond, VA 23218, to arrive by close of business on Thursday, October 6, 2011. If you are out of state, you might explain that you do research in Virginia, and that closing records will discourage travel to Virginia for research.
If you have examples where your current research has been blocked by VDH, include this.
Please urge the Commission to take the following actions on its eight options:
Option 1: Oppose Option 1, (doing nothing) since Virginia's overly restrictive laws
should be liberalized.
Option 2: Support Option 2B, reducing the birth records closed period to 75 years.
Option 3: Support Option 3B to open marriage records now.
Option 4: Support Option 4B, in principle, but instead of 25 years retention of death
records, open them immediately.
Option 5: Support Option 5 (disclosure of decedent's social security number).
Option 6: Support Option 6, and urge that "family members" be defined liberally.
Option 7: Support Option 7, and urge that "family members" be defined liberally.
Option 8: Support Option 8 in principle, but the Library of Virginia should create and
operate any index of vital records, since it has the expertise to do this.
Unless extensive public comments are received by October 6, Virginia's vital records
may become closed, threatening genealogical and family medical history research, and
blocking new members for lineage societies.
Please send in your comments now!
Forwarded by
Barbara Vines Little, CG, FNGS, FVGS
--------------------end of copied posting-------------------------------------------------


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Warcraft is badly in need of a director like Peter Jackson.
You see what Peter Jackson did to The Lord of the Rings franchise, Duncan Jones doesn't even come close to nailing. The World of Warcraft is brimming up with extraordinary stories that are in need of better helming, and even though Duncan Jones is a good director, he ends up moderating the game.
The movie picks off at an interesting juncture, right amidst a rad depiction from an Orcish vantage with a badass music to kick-start. But then soon its shortcomings come sieving to the banks. The first amongst it was the way the frames were being changed. Artful as Duncan used to be, in awesome movies like the Moon and Source Code, you don't really expect him to hit that low. Right betwixt a good scene he would chop off a frame, changing it without caring to sustain viewer emotions. At one point it seemed fine, but then it kept happening throughout the flick.
To top that all not everybody is into Warcraft. So, if you are making a movie about a game that has millions of fans, you really need to start off slow, gradually trying to allure non-fans into this majestic world you are trying to create. Warcraft fails to do that. Half of the time you aren't even aware, what's what and who's who.
No doubt there are mesmerizing scenes in the movie that will leave you wanting for more, but the tale somehow gets clouded owing to a persisting disconnect. CGI is really good but the screenplay has nothing to offer. The editing is quite poor as well. Plot is awesome but you just wish it was manifested in a better way.
Travis Fimmel was a brilliant blend of badass and finesse as he takes the character of Lothar to great heights. Paula Patton as Garona is good too. Ben Foster does a great Guardian Medivh who unfortunately keeps succumbing to weakness.
Focusing on the high points of the movie, the clash between Durotan and Gul'dan was a good one. Also, whenever Lothar came into the picture with his sword, you would instantly know that an Orc is going to be ripped apart. The part where he tries to save his son by doing everything he could to get through Guardian's magic was magnificent. At times camera takes a satellite view showing wars across the Warcraft realm which is reminiscent of the game.
Despite all the good stuff it had, you end up overlooking everything owing to the sour taste it leaves you with in your palate. I really wish a good director picks Warcraft up to make its future sequels.


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Nunhems Global Website
- Home
- Innovation
- >> Molecular Biology
Molecular Biology
|An increasing understanding of the molecular control of plant characteristics can significantly speed up the selection process.
Time to market is a key factor in commercial vegetable breeding. Depending on the plant type, it takes about 10 years from R&D to commercializing a new seed variety. That is why modern breeding teams use so-called molecular markers to help speed up the selection process. Analyzing small pieces of leaf, our molecular biologists can quickly identify whether or not the desired gene is present in a plant, without having to wait until it is fully grown.
This can save years of development work, and makes it possible to address the specific needs of growers, retailers and consumers in a timely fashion.


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Amazon Brings Its Cloud to Japan
One hears an awful lot these days about Amazon's Web Services. Large companies and start-ups rely upon it to varying degrees to replace infrastructure that would otherwise cost huge sums of money to purchase and operate. Several companies have gotten their start in part because they were able to forgo investing in severs and other IT infrastructure in favor of turning it all over to Amazon.
And yet for all its importance, within Amazon's $34 billion in 2010 revenue, Amazon Web Services was small enough by revenue last year to fit within the "other" category, a $953 million amalgam of revenue that amounted to less than three percent of total sales.
That's not to say it's not growing. Weeks away from its fifth anniversary, the company said today it has added a fifth region to its growing network of data centers: Japan. That means companies in Japan and with customers in Japan can take advantage of Amazon's cloud infrastructure. The company said it is also offering support in Japanese.
That's not to say that Japanese companies haven't been using Amazon's cloud services. But having a data center physically located in Japan helps solve two problems. First, it reduces latency. Basically users in Japan will have a better experience when the application they're running is close by, and not in Singapore or the U.S.
Second, companies handling data that for legal or other reasons can't leave Japan's borders can now take advantage of the lower costs that come from using the cloud.
An early customer is Mitsui, a Japanese conglomerate, which says it's using AWS to test new SAP enterprise software. Zynga, the social gaming outfit that arguably might not exist were it not for Amazon Web Services, has been using it too. As it happens, Zynga launched a localized version of FarmVille in Japan late last year.


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BYU shines: One college follows its rules
What do you like to do when you're at home sick? Read trashy novels, watch a Jersey Shore marathon or a bunch of Star Wars movies back to back? Maybe you like your Momma to come over and rub your head.
When I was under the weather this past week, I didn't do any of those things, but I found a guilty pleasure just the same: watching the NFL Scouting Combine.
If you haven't watched the Combine, you've missed one of the great conundrums of our age: how can a weeklong program be at once so riveting and so boring? Watching hundreds of college players spend their days running the 40-yard dash and doing bench presses, cone drills, vertical jumps and high jumps is not high culture. (Unfortunately, the viewing audience can't watch the NFL hopefuls sweat it out over the Wonderlic test.)
The commentary is minimal, so the Combine is like a track and field competition on mute– or golf with better bodies and more action. It's really perfect viewing if you're parked on the sofa on doctor's orders. You don't have to think, and the interviews are funny.
But even the sick can't stay on the sofa forever, and the prompt to get up came just when this sickie needed it. Bless Brigham Young University.
As a moderate Baptist (not Southern, mind you), I never thought I'd bless BYU for anything more than its presence in Big Love, but last week Mormonism came to the fore in a way that even the most skeptical among us should appreciate– the operative word's being "should."
When BYU basketball star Brandon Davies was kicked off the team for violating the school's honor code, the resulting uproar got me off the sofa fast.
Funny, isn't it, that there should be an uproar about honor where there's so seldom the same reaction to a lack of honor. When the March 7 Sports Illustrated revealed that 22 Pittsburgh football players, 23 percent of them on scholarship, had criminal records, there was a lot of talk about how kids make mistakes and deserve second chances. But I didn't hear any about how there's no excuse for domestic violence, sex offenses or assault and battery.
Charges get reduced from felonies to misdemeanors, schools don't look into their players' pasts, and "juvenile" excuses everything, so of course there's no uproar. Schools, players, parents, prosecutors and fans are so busy making excuses they don't have enough breath for an uproar.
Unless they're shamed into it.
That's what Brandon Davies and BYU have done to everyone from the president of the NCAA and head coaches, to water-bottle carriers and students and fans at home: they've shamed us. If they hadn't, there would be no uproar (see Pittsburgh).
Davies wasn't outed: he didn't try to hide anything from his school. Brandon Davies, star player for the Cougars of the Mountain West, confessed to his coach and to his Bishop that he had violated the University's honor code. It doesn't matter what that violation was– though it's public knowledge now– Davies knew it, and he confessed it knowing what the consequences would be.
So I'm off the sofa applauding Brandon Davies' courage and BYU's action. Then I'm on my knees, because I hope I have that kind of courage, and I'm floored because I realize there are so few people who approve of BYU's actions.
Mere moments after BYU announced Davies' suspension, commentary was flying about how the school had ruined its Final Four chances, and how Davies would regret his confession for the rest of his life, and how he let down his team and the school should change, and he's a good kid, blah blah.
Everywhere you turned was an excuse for dishonor and a vilification of honor. It was enough to send me back to the sofa.
Juanita Giles lives on a farm in Charlotte County with her husband, son and many dogs.


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I have used this facial moisturizing day cream for years and find it far superior to any others I have used. I preferred the old container to the current pump, but times change.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration requires that MSDS/SDS be available to employees for potentially harmful substances handled in the workplace under the Hazard Communication regulation.
Hydra Dew Moisturizing Day Cream


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Update: I do not plan any further releases of Fragmentarium.
For an actively maintained version, please see this fork:
Fragmentarium is an open source, cross-platform IDE for exploring pixel based graphics on the GPU.
It is inspired by Adobe's Pixel Bender, but uses GLSL, and is created specifically with fractals and generative systems in mind.
- Multi-tabbed IDE, with GLSL syntax highlighting
- User widgets to manipulate parameter settings
- High-resolution (tile) renderings
- Progressive rendering, for high quality AA, and distributed ray tracing.
- HDR (RGBE .HDR) support and tone mapping
- Support for simple animations
- Modular GLSL programming - include other fragments
- More than 100 examples, including 3D fractals (Mandelbulb, Mandelbox, Quaternion, Kaleidoscopic IFS), 2D fractals (Mandelbrots, Ducks, spherical Julias), Heightmaps, Knots and Hyperbolic Tesselations.
Fragmentarium is built in C++, OpenGL/GLSL, and Qt 4.
Fragmentarium is currently in the early development phase, but is getting more mature! Read more about getting Fragmentarium or more about using Fragmentarium.
The progress and design considerations can be tracked at the Syntopia blog.
If you like Fragmentarium, you might like its sister project, Structure Synth.


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Hello once again!
Got my second wind @ 2:00 a.m., so I decided I would finish the trache trip story! I'm going to include a photo of the respiratory tech. that came to explain a few things I needed to know now that I had a trache, and photos of us arriving @ the airport in Corpus Christi, TX - home!
The hospital sent me home with a machine that I might need to use to suction my trache to get it clean. We were given a demonstration on it - and when I say we, it was Mom, Celia and I. Well, Mark would be the one needing the instruction, but he was already home. We eventually got a repeat of those instructions from a home health care respiratory tech. - and a respiratory tech. from where I ordered more supplies. The best part of this whole thing, is that a very dear friend of ours that lives 2 houses over, is a respiratory technician! We stopped @ her house on the way home from the airport to make sure everything was ok as far as my trache was concerned!
Speaking of the airport, I was so happy to see our family came to welcome us home! My moms husband Vicente, Celia's husband Greg and their oldest son Mark and their dachshund Penny! Of course my Mark and our baby Hanz! You know what? I think I'm saving this for tomorrow, so that Mark can download some recent photos he took of our neighbor Terry changing out my entire trache collar!
Hi again!
It's several days after I wrote the above, and I plan on finishing up the saga of the trache trip! On Thursday, it will be a couple of weeks that I had the entire trache changed out! As I mentioned above - our friend/neighbor Terry is a respiratory tech., and a real angel about helping in any way she can! See photos of Terry changing out my trache! I asked her if it would hurt and she said no, but that I might feel some pressure. I barely felt anything @ all! I was really happy about that!
Not sure if I mentioned that @ night, I sleep with a mist cup over my trache that is attatched to a long, blue hose that leads to a big humidifier that sounds like a compressor! Before I put that mist cup on, the little red cap (Decannulation Plug) comes off my trache, so the mist is able to go in! The other day I coughed a bit hard, and that little red cap flew off my trache and under the bed! Mark had to get it, as I can't bend over, or I may have a bleed! Right after he handed it to me and I cleaned it off and replaced it - I had to clear my throat, and that darned little cap flew off again! This time we looked all over for it, when Mark said, "I sure hope Hanz doesn't have it in his mouth"! We both looked over @ Hanz, who seemed to be chewing on something! Upon closer investigation, he was chewing on a little red cap! Yikes! It's a good thing we had kept and disinfected the trache that Terry had removed, so I got the red plug off of that one! I called my trache supply people the following day to ask for an extra one, which I am so glad they had! I was afraid something might happen again during the Christmas holiday and I wouldn't have a replacement!
I think this is quite enough adventures of the trache trip, don't you think? I want to go relax a bit and watch my Soap and/or talk to Mark and play with Hanz! In case some of you don't know - if you click on the photos, it will enlarge it! At this point, my next appt. for an embolization is set up for Jan. 27,28 and 29th I believe! I can't wait - I enjoy seeing everyone up there! Although I'll be so happy when this nightmare is over one day - it's going to be hard saying goodbye to the wonderful doctors, P.A.'s and nurses that have been so amazing in careing for me!
Thank you all for your wonderful support through this very difficult time! We appreciate all of you very much! God Bless!
Mark & Cyndi Schuman
Trache Trip-Part 4
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Posted by Dulce at 1:56 AM 1 comments
Trache Trip-Part 3
Friday, December 25, 2009
Hi Everybody!
I decided to go ahead and blog a bit more and include more photos from the last trip we made to Denver! I just want y'all to get an idea of what these trips are really like for us and why all your prayer help us so much!
I'm still hearing bits and pieces of what went on during this trip, as I was under a couple of days, so I lost track of time! Seems Dr. Yakes did the embolization first and once they noticed the swelling, it was decided a trache was neccessary. I was "kept under" and not allowed to wake up from the time I had the embolization until after the trache was done. The doctors didn't want me to be uncomfortable having the tubes in my mouth for a long time I guess.
Once I was able to finally sit up in a chair, Mark said I was a big pain in the butty butt butt! (My nephew Mark used to laugh when my mom would tell him she was going to spank him in his butty butt butt if he was a bad boy). Apparently I was a bit crazier than usual w/all the meds I was under and I was not being very cooperative. I can't imagine anyone w/a hole in their neck that had been starved for five days and had blood in their hair from the procedure would be alot of fun, do you? Poor Mark - he does tolerate a lot from me - he is a saint! Mom and Mark did their best to "wash" my hair while I sat up in a chair. They wanted to get the blood out of my hair and get me to feeling better. I also had to wear a type of "support stockings" to make sure I didn't get a clot in my legs from laying in bed all that time.
You'll see a photo of Mom and I - doesn't she look great? It was a great help having her there! She said all her brothers and sisters called asking about how I was doing! I know Marks family was calling as well! In one photo you'll see a nurse feeding me ice chips (yum! - Not!) and in another the nurse is cleaning my trache tube.
Mark had read in the paper where a statue of Our Lady of Fatima was touring different churches, so he and Mom went to the church - so here are photos of them there!
It snowed (9 inches) the whole week I was there, so I'll include some of those photos! Mom was delighted to see the snow! We don't get much of that in S. Texas! There is a photo of Mark outside @ Whole Foods Mart and that's him in our rental car!
I wish I could have been out in the snow! I was so happy when it was finally time for me to leave the hospital! I had to stay @ Swedish a week to make sure my trache would be healing properly! After not having food for 5 days, I finally got some "blue" applesauce - as they needed to make sure the food was going to the right place after having the trache! What an experience this has all been! Definitely the hardest thing I've ever gone through. We always tell people that when Mark and I said "I do", we sure didn't know it would get this bad! I'm aware that people go through worse - but this has been no picnic that's for sure! Mark has been incredible through it all - he could have walked away from me, but instead, he had loved me through these very hard times! His faith, strength and love help keep me going!
As always, please do keep the prayers coming in our direction! I feel we are getting close to the end! If Dr. Hepworth (ENT) was wanting to "debulk" under my chin area already, then the fear of massive bleeding must almost be behind me! I've recently heard how several of Dr. Yakes patients have finished their procedures successfully! How awesome is that?! Hopefully that will be me soon!
Take care, God Bless and love to all of you!
Posted by Dulce at 9:50 PM 1 comments
Merry Christmas!
Good Morning Everyone! For all of you following my blog, I just want to wish everyone a very special holiday! We have had fun and are so blessed in so many ways! I don't think I ever got a chance to show you what an elegant table my sister Celia set for Thanksgiving! I told her to take it easy, but she wanted to use her fine china and her mother-in-laws silverware. We all make very special dishes to add to the holiday meal! How blessed are we that we ended up with three turkeys? Greg smoked one, Celia roasted another one and Mom brought a roasted one too! I'll post our Christmas photos soon - Celia is making a turduckan (sp?) and her Mark is making that delicious veggie bake we all love so much! It's like an elaborate green bean casserole! My Mark is making a spiral glazed ham with all the fixin's! For me, it isn't Christmas w/out a ham that has brown sugar glaze, pineapples, cherries and cloves! Plus, Mark is making fresh cranberry relish we all love and of course the much requested walnut horn cookies!
Gotta finish up a few things before we head out to Celia's for our big Christmas meal! Happy Holidays to everyone! We love you and I will blog soon on part 3 of the Trache Trip! Have a safe, Happy New Year!
I am posting a photo of the elegant table Celia set for Thanksgiving and our two hosts for the day, Greg and Celia Fossum!
Posted by Dulce at 12:08 PM 0 comments
Christmas Cards!
Monday, December 21, 2009
Merry Christmas Everyone!
Would you believe I'm just starting to write out Christmas Cards? Please accept our appologies if you don't receive a card from us! Our computer crashed not too long ago and there went all our addresses! Most of them anyway! Still need to shower and iron my clothes for work tomorrow!
Merry Christmas everyone! I will blog again very soon!
Mark & Cyndi
P.S. Not sure how this will turn out - but I scanned the photo we have of Hanz with Santa @ Petsmart!
Posted by Dulce at 10:45 PM 0 comments
Got A New Neck? Part 2 of Trache Trip
Friday, December 18, 2009
Greetings again to everyone! Are you ready for the holidays? I need to really kick it in gear - right now the only people that have a gift are mom, Hula (Mark Fossums dog,) and Penny - my sister Celia's weenie dog!
So the reason I've titled this "Got A New Neck" is when Davis was a little boy (maybe 4 or 5?) - the receptionist @ his dad's office was wearing one of those foam neck support braces, as she had a disc or two removed (?). Davis went up to her and asked, "Got a new neck"? Since the first time I met Dr. Reed, he told me that I may need a trache and I had really hoped to avoid that from happening! I have really been blessed so far, that it wasn't until very recently that I ended up having to have a trache. I know one of Dr. Yakes patients needed a trache from the beginning of her procedure and had to deal w/it until the very end of all her procedures! That was Joanna from Portugal, as her artero malformation was on both sides of her face!
When we went to CO for this procedure, Dr. Hepworth (ENT) was going to try and intubate me w/the smallest tube he had. We knew there was the possibility of my needing a trache, but had really hoped to avoid it if possible!
Well, I report to Swedish @ my appt. time, and get all prepped for surgery. Got a chance to see Dr. Yakes before my embolization - see photo, and I believe I visited with both Kelly and Eric, Dr. Yakes P.A.'s! Normally, after an embolization, I wake up in Recovery - a very well lit room with a lot of activity going on and usually right away a nurse will check in on me and start trying to wake me up from the anesthesia.
This time when I woke up, I was in a dark room (I didn't know I was in ICU) I had a mouth full of tubes - it was only 2 (a feeding tube and breathing tube), but when you can't open your mouth very wide, it feels like a lot of tubes! My arms were tied down - I know it's for the patients own good - they don't want you to pull those tubes out! I remember trying to cough, but I couldn't hear or feel anything coming out of my mouth! The only thing I can relate it to is hearing my brother-in-law Greg's brother - Astronaut Mike Fossum - talk about being in outer space! Like being out in the pitch blackness with nothing to "grasp" on to. I kept thinking, "why hasn't Mark come to see me"? "What time is it, what day is it"? Where is a nurse to tell me what is going on? It would have been so easy to panic and start pulling at the restraints... but I decided to start praying instead. Oh I knew that I was not alone and kept my sanity by praying lots of Hail Mary's and Our Fathers! I am going into alot of detail, so that all of you can know what I'm going through and how much all your prayer help me get through an extremely bad situation! Of course to add to all the fun I was already having - I had a catheter (sp?)! I was in and out of consciousness and I had no concept of time. Without my glasses, I couldn't see the clock on the wall - I would hear the nurses say what time it was once in a while, but never heard whether it was a.m. or p.m.! I heard I was in CCU and then after that, finally put in a regular room!
Dr. Yakes had started working under my chin - on the mass of avm. Well, the swelling went inward, therefore the doctors ended up having to do a trache. See photos of what I looked like when I got out of ICU! Celia was upset to see them, but you know, it's part of the process and what my life is about these days! Dr. Hepworth got rid of some of the big vein I had going down the front of my neck! He said he would get more of that next time! One photo is of me after just having the embolization. The next one is after having the trache!
When I was finally able to speak and figure out what was going on around me - my first thought was - Hanz! My baby was being taken care of by my brother-in-law Jim and his wife Shelley, but I didn't want Hanz to think his mommy and daddy abandoned him! Mark had asked me if I wanted him to call Mom or Celia to fly in to Colorado and I said yes! That way, he could go home, get back to work and pick up Hanz! Mark was with me in CO for a week, so he really needed to get back to our house! Celia was @ a dental conference in Las Vegas with her husband Greg and their office staff and other dentists that are personal friends. Celia had Mom flown in to CO and Mark picked her up @ the airport. Celia flew in a day or so later and Mark was finally able to go home!
Meanwhile, as I'm recovering, I've realized that I haven't heard the nurses mention decadron (sp?)! I know from past procedures (at least 33) that the nurses inject the steroid into my IV to help w/the swelling! So I asked the nurse about it and she said there were no orders for that medication on my chart! At this point, I can't really talk, so I'm having to write down what I want to say, and being under so many meds, is't helping my handwriting to be understood! I was not on one of the regular floors that I'm usually on and the nurse was just not familiar w/the routine! I tell her I have to have the decadron and she says she will try and reach Dr. Yakes, as now it is after hours. The nurse comes in later saying she reached a doctor that sometimes takes Dr. Yakes calls and after telling him the situation - are you ready for this? - he said something to the effect of - it's just another 12 hours - I guess he meant before Dr. Yakes would be back in the office. I'm thinking, "THOSE ARE MY 12 HOURS"! Each second counts for me, you know? I was not accepting that as an answer, so I told the nurse to try and reach Eric or Kelly. She comes back with the answer that neither is available because it's after office hours! I'm getting pretty angry now, you know? I write her a note to tell her to call my husband Mark and I guaranteed he would reach one of the P.A.'s! Mark was able to reach Kelly and this is what had happened. Apparently my embolization was done first and there were orders for the meds I needed for that. Then a day later when I had the trache - there were new orders written for what I needed done for that! So, out went the orders for decadron that reduce the swelling after my embolization! Finally all that was straightened out - but it was ridiculous that I'm the one that noticed I was not being given the meds I needed! I don't even remember when Dr. Yakes and Kelly came by to see me! Don't I look like I'm telling Dr. Yakes in the one photo, "Why did you do this to me"?!
Ok, this is enough blogging for tonight! I'm sleepy, so I guess this will actually be a 4 part series! I've got lots of photos to share and lots of details from our big adventure! I'll blog again real soon!
Posted by Dulce at 5:59 PM 0 comments
The Fun Part of Our Trip!
Friday, December 11, 2009
Hi Everyone! Gosh, I've missed writing to you! I finally feel up to writing and have my bearings (well almost) and have all my photos downloaded! This was one heck of a trip and it will involve probably a three part series of blog entries! I'm going to start with the beginning of our trip that Mark and I set off on - and the plan was to leave here Tues. Nov. 10th, have my embolization Wed., Nov. 11th and return home on Thur. November 12th!
We arrived in Denver Tuesday morning and the weather was beautiful! Almost cold enough for a jacket, but the sun was out and it was awesome! I brought Saba with me of course - but this time we were on a special mission! I guess I pick her up too much from her arms, so her armpits were needing repair, so off we went to the Build a Bear in Littleton, CO! See photos! There was a new type of "animal" that was a promotional thing - in fact, last time Celia and I were in CO, we were told that very few BAB's had this stuffed toy and they were trying it out to see how popular it would be! Took a photo of a couple bears that were so cute in their Christmas clothes!
I had an appt. w/the new ENT we are working with - Dr. Hepworth, and he has an office in the Lonetree area! Dr. Hepworth is so awesome - my family is very happy with his work and the enthusiasm he brings to our situation! We enjoy going to a big mall nearby for several reasons! One is that they have a petstore, so here I am checking out the cute puppies! Shhhh... don't tell Hanz! We like to see if they have any Brussels Griffons - because they did the first time we ever went in there! It's just fun to see the puppies, and sometimes we get to pick them up! Then I start missing my Hanz - waaaaa!
I love going to the Borders Bookstore too, and they had a display of things from the Twilight Series - New Moon! Had a blast with everything they had! There was a video movie set up with previews of New Moon that I enjoyed watching! For you Twilight fans, can you see Laurent in the video?! Wasn't the movie awesome? Loved the t-shirts too, but didn't get any of those things.
Then we had lunch @ The Cheescake Factory! Celia and I had lunch there a couple months prior and I loved the little tamale corn cakes - delicious! Seems the time or two that I have eaten @ the San Antonio location of the restaurant, I never ordered something I really enjoyed - but those corn cakes were the best!
After doing all that, we finally headed to the hotel to check in! We had our lunch left overs for dinner, so we were in for the night!
You know what? I was just previewing the photos, and I'm going to include some more from Build a Bear! There is another view of Saba getting repaired! So glad those girls know what they are doing!
I'll give you some time to enjoy these photos before I blog on Part 2 of our trip! I do have to warn you, that there are some disturbing photos I will be posting. I sent one to Celia and she was upset by it. I just want everyone to see how all your prayer help me get through the very difficult times that I go through with these procedures! Until then everyone - I love you all so much, you give me the strength I need to endure what I go through! I know I repeat myself when I say that without all of you, there is no way Mark and I could do this on our own! It is amazaing how many people came forward to help! People going out of their way to help us w/our luggage, or trading seats with us if we weren't all together on the way home!
Ok - enough of everything ! Hanz is calling me to play with him, so gotta go! God Bless!
Posted by Dulce at 10:12 PM 1 comments


text:
Exploring the Latest in Vitamin D Research
By Michael A. Smith, MDThe explosive scientific interest in the broad-spectrum benefits of vitamin D has produced numerous published studies within the past few years. The result of all of that research is clear: Vitamin D is critical to your health.
The lead organization creating awareness about vitamin D research says this, "Vitamin D is critically important for the development, growth, and maintenance of a healthy body, beginning with gestation in the womb and continuing throughout our lives."1
Below we'll take a look at three impressive associations recently made between vitamin D and common health issues.
Vitamin D Deficiency is Linked to Arterial DiseaseVitamin D status was assessed in patients with occlusive arterial disease — more commonly known as "narrowed" arteries or plaques.
Researchers from Erasmus University in the Netherlands recruited 490 people for their study. The study participants were categorized into one of four groups:2
- Severe vitamin D deficiency
- Moderate vitamin D deficiency
- Vitamin D insufficient (or mild deficiency)
- Vitamin D sufficient
The researchers uncovered an association between moderate and severe deficiency and known consequences of occluded arterial diseases — like congestive heart failure and cerebral vascular disease.2
Vitamin D Reduces Fracture RiskA meta-analysis published in The New England Journal of Medicine reports that higher doses of vitamin D do in fact decrease the risk of fracture in older adults.3
This is extremely important. Fractures in older adults, especially involving the femur and hip, have high mortality rates. This means that preventing fractures ultimately prevents deaths.
Test subjects with the highest vitamin D intake (between 800 and 2,000 IU) had a 30% decrease in the risk of hip fractures and a 14% drop in the risk of other fractures, like of the femur.
The authors concluded that vitamin D may be an effective fracture-prevention strategy.3
Vitamin D Helps Kids with AsthmaWatching an asthmatic child struggle to breathe is scary. And unfortunately, asthma is affecting more and more kids today than ever before. But vitamin D offers simple, affordable support.
In a recent study published in the Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, over 1,000 kids with persistent asthma who were using a steroid inhaler were tested for vitamin D blood levels.
After organizing the kids into three groups (sufficient, insufficient, and deficient vitamin D levels), the researchers then tested lung function by measuring lung volume while exhaling — a standard test for asthma patients.
They found that kids with vitamin D deficiency were more likely to have worse lung function than kids in the other two groups.
The lead author of the study concluded, "Our study is the first to suggest that vitamin D sufficiency in asthmatic children treated with inhaled corticosteroids is associated with improved lung function."
Vitamin D: Test it and Take itYes, your body can make vitamin D from sun exposure. But even here in sunny South Florida, as we get older, we still don't produce enough. This is why it's so important to test your vitamin D blood level and then supplement your diet with an appropriate dose.
The optimal blood level is between 50 and 80 ng/ml. Many people can achieve and maintain this range by taking between 2,000 and 7,000 IU of vitamin D a day.
Our suggestion? Demand that your doctor include a vitamin D test with your normal yearly work-up or order one yourself.
Once you get your results, speak with one of our health advisors who can help you pinpoint the right daily dose for you. They can be reached directly (and free of charge) at 1-800-226-2370!
- http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/what-is-vitamin-d/
- Eur J Vasc Endovasc Surg. 2012 Jul 25. 9
- N Engl J Med. 2012 Jul 5;367(1):40-9.
- Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2012 Jul 12. PMID:22798322


text:
A Look Back At Daytona
When you work for two-plus years to arrive at a certain place in your life, expectations are many times not closely related to how reality unfolds. Now that I have reached my goal of becoming a full-time NASCAR Winston Cup driver, I wondered what the future would hold as I arrived at Daytona International Speedway as an official candidate for the '99 NASCAR Winston Cup Rookie of the Year.
I could not ask for a more perfect situation in which to go to Winston Cup than with Joe Gibbs as a team owner, The Home Depot as a sponsor, Greg Zipadelli as a crew chief, and Bobby Labonte as a teammate. We have set realistic goals for our season-to qualify for every race, run as many laps as we can, improve with each event, and win the Rookie of the Year title.
But the level of competition in Cup is intense, and the Daytona 500 is the biggest race of the season. We just had to take it one step at a time and stick to our game plan. The first thing on the agenda was to get our qualifying setup in place. As we rolled out for practice the first time in our brand-new, bright-orange The Home Depot #20 Pontiac, the reality of where I was and what the task was in front of me kind of hit me between the eyes. It was a little overwhelming but very exciting and exhilarating.
We practiced consistently with how we had tested, and I began to develop a comfort level with the preparations we were making for qualifying. We felt like we were going to have a good enough run to put us in the field, even if we had a problem in the 125 race.
It is hard to describe the emotions I felt as I walked to the car to make my qualifying attempt. I kept telling myself it was just another race and to do what I had always done when I got in the car. Joe and Greg gave me their best advice and offered their support before I buckled in to attempt to make not only my first Winston Cup race, but the biggest race I had ever run in my career.
I felt like the lap was pretty good, but I didn't believe the time my crew guy gave me over the radio as I drove around on my cool-down lap. When I headed into Turn 4, the crowd was on its feet cheering and waving stuff, and I began to wonder if the time they told me was correct. It was. With less than one-third of the cars left to make their qualifying attempts, we were on the pole for the Daytona 500.
We stayed on the pole until Jeff Gordon came out to make his run. He turned a blistering lap and bumped us to the outside of the front row. Still not a bad place to start, especially for a rookie.
All of a sudden, life changed in a big way. While the media had been attentive and good to us prior to that run, the interest in our team and us multiplied 20 times or more. The attitude toward our team changed slightly in the garage. All of a sudden, we went from being just one of the great crop of rookies to the limelight and the object of everyone's curiosity. It went from slightly overwhelming to almost unmanageable in 46.249 seconds.
I was determined not to let the short-term success of our qualifying interfere with the next step in our plan, to race well in the 125, learn the draft, and learn how the car would handle in traffic.
Mike Skinner, Ernie Irvan, Jeff Burton, and, of course, Bobby Labonte offered advice and encouragement as to how to handle the outside pressures at the same time as doing the job.
We raced fairly well in the 125, and I got a lesson from some of the veterans on how the draft works and what happens when you don't have a partner-part of the initiation into Winston Cup by the veterans. It's almost like a rookie orientation class-lessons you can't learn in a book.
To say I wasn't nervous on race day would not be truthful. I just put my mindset in it-is-just-another-race mode and kept focused on the newest task at hand-running 500 miles at Daytona.
Once they said, "Gentlemen, start your engines," it was time to go to work, and everything else faded into the background. Again, I got rookie lessons in drafting from the veterans, but I kept my cool and tried not to make mistakes that would cost us by crashing the car. Then came the engine problems for Bobby and me, and the hopes of a solid finish for me and a win for Bobby went out the window with the wind.
I was, amazingly, not as disappointed as one would think, because so many more positive things happened during my first Winston Cup Speedweeks; I truly felt like we had accomplished all of our goals.
It is also amazing how quickly you put it all behind you and go into next-race mode. Daytona is over, and we are off to Rockingham, North Carolina. But now I am at least a veteran of one thing-I am a veteran of the Daytona 500 and Speedweeks-that is a pretty big accomplishment for our team to be proud of. We did it.
Editors note: This is the first column in a series by rookies of the '99 Winston Cup Series. Circle Track asked each to express his feelings and views on being a rookie in the ranks of Winston Cup racing. We begin this series of reports with Tony Stewart. Other Rookie of the Year candidates will follow in future issues.