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Tiles and Grout Cleaning Ballard
Tiptop Tiles and Grout Cleaning Ballard provide tile cleaning, grout cleaning, tile regrouting, tile recoloring, tile caulking and tiles and grouts sealing services!!! We provide all types of tile surface cleaning services including Terrazzo Tile and Grout Cleaning, Limestone Tile and Grout Cleaning, Tile and Grout Cleaning, Concrete Floor Cleaning, Porcelain Tile and Grout Cleaning, Terracotta and all other types of tiles cleaning services in Ballard all areas.
Tiptop Tiles and Grout Cleaning Ballard is your ultimate destination for quality, affordable, and experienced tile and grout cleaning services. Our Tile and Grout Cleaning professionals are proficient in providing:
- Tile Polishing Services.
- Tile Sealing Services.
- Tile and Grout Regrouting.
- Tiles and Grout Efflorescence Treatment.
- Tile and Grout Cleaning Services.
- Tile Grout Recoloring Services.
- Tile Restoration Serviecs.
Same Day Tiles and Grout Cleaning Services in Ballard
Welcome to Tip Top Tiles and Grout Cleaning Ballard – your ultimate destination for same day Tiles and Grout Cleaning in Ballard. We provide quality Tiles and Grout Cleaning, affordable and experienced tile and grout cleaning services. We cater to both commercial as well as residential tile and grout cleaning requirements. We take pride in our expert team of professionals who are licensed, trained, certified, skilled, and experienced in providing unmatched tile and grout cleaning services.
Tip Top Clean Team's professional tile and grout cleaning services enable you to get your old and dirty tiles back to their original look and feel. We save you from the hassle and expense of replacing your stained tiles by cleaning the existing ones in the best possible manner.
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Stains and spots on tiles and grouts are common. No matter how hard and regular you clean your floors yourself, you are unable to do complete justice to them. It is not your fault but the fact is that homely cleaning methods are insufficient for thorough and efficient tile and grout cleaning. Therefore it is necessary to get professional help to keep your tiles and grouts clean and spotless.Tiles and grouts attract not just soil and dust but contaminants such as bacteria, mould, and allergens as well. If your kids or pets play directly on the floors then they are at a serious risk when your floors are not regularly professionally cleaned. This is so because unclean tiles and grouts are storehouse of such pollutants that can make anyone unhealthy.
What to Expect from Tile & Grout Cleaning Services?
At Tip Top Clean Team Ballard, a team of experts caters to your needs of tile and grout cleaning requirements. We have a bunch of professionals who are skilled to take care of all kinds of floors such as marble, limestone, granite, sandstone, quarry tile, porcelain, lino, timber floor, slate, ceramic, polished porcelain, terracotta, blue stone, travertine, vinyl, and so on. We make your tiles and grouts:
- Cleaner
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What Process We Use for Tile & Grout Cleaning
Our tile and grout cleaning process is comprehensive that is needed to achieve desired results. It involves the following steps:
- Tile & Grout Inspection – This is necessary to choose the most suitable cleaning solution. Though we always use eco-friendly cleaning solution, each tile needs customized solutions for perfect results.
- Agitation for Tile Cleaning – We use agitation method to bring out dust and contaminants from deep within the tiles and grouts.
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- Final Tile & Grout Inspection – Lastly our experts do a final inspection of the floors and ensure that you have been satisfied completely.


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Gold Herons
"Gold Herons" is a framable hand printed woodcut greeting card. Hand printed by Ralph Eastland from the original woodblocks that he designed and carved. Each greeting card is a signed original work of art. Every color requires a separate printing block and because the blocks can only be used a limited number of times before wearing out, the cards, although not numbered are in fact limited editions. Dimensions are 7 inches x 5.75 inches.
$5.50 each, 3 for $15.00 or 12 for $56.00
Quantity discount!!!! To simplify things (for me) If you want to order a variety of cards and get the quantity discount you need to select either 3 or 12 cards from the order button, then email me a list of which cards you would like. I will reply to the email to confirm your order and then send the cards on the list. If I don't get a list I will send them as ordered (i.e. on this page the Gold Herons card.)
©2009-2011 Ralph Eastland. all rights reserved.

subset: commoncrawl


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Minimal requirements for this tutorial:
- Any Windows 9x/2K/XP powered 200+ MHz PC with DirectX 7 or better installed.
- 20 MB free harddisk space; note however that Windows may need much more free space itself for usage as virtual memory in order to function properly. - Graphics card with at least 2 MB of RAM.
- AmigaOS 3.0/3.1
Notice: As AmigaOS will run emulated on top of Windows, the better Windows runs on your system, the better the Amiga experience will be. Running without a demanding host OS, as done with Amithlon (commercial), results in a much better AmigaOS performance and a far more convincing and stable environment. Amithlon was previously included with the AmigaOS XL package, but version 2.0, will soon become available seperately. However, do note that WinUAE is a better option for emulating classic OCS/ECS games and demos, as Amithlon itself only supports retargetable standards.
Acquiring AmigaOS 3.0/3.1 legally.
Option 1: Getting the ROMs from an Amiga you own.
Option 2: Buying Amiga Forever from Cloanto. ($29.95)
For this tutorial version 3.0 or 3.1 of the Amiga Operating System is required. Version 3.0 was first released with A1200 and A4000 computers in 1992. The A1200 was targeted at ordinary home users and computer hobbyists, while the A4000 was mainly aimed at professional graphics and video artists. Today the A1200 is still available in small quanities at various Amiga dealers. In 1993 AmigaOS 3.1 was released as an upgrade option for all Amiga models (OCS/ECS/AGA chipsets) build since 1987 or later.
On classic Amiga computers AmigaOS consists of two pieces. A hardware piece called the kickstart ROM which contains the kernel, some drivers and some other system libraries. Mainly due to this ROM classic Amigas are able to boot directly into advanced games and even applications from diskettes or CDs. The complete icon and menu driven environment however comes distributed on seperate diskettes or on a CD.
Option 1:
If you currently own an Amiga computer, you can use an utility which comes distributed with the Amiga emulator WinUAE to write an image of your ROM to disk. This utility is called "transrom" and is located in the "Amiga programs" directory where WinUAE would be installed. This process is well explained well in this transrom tutorial.
Also needed for this tutorial is an ADF (Amiga Disk File) image from one of the Operating System diskettes labelled "Workbench version 3.0" or 3.1. For this, you can use the "transdisk" utility which is also included with WinUAE. The command "TransDisk >ram:mydisk.adf" will simply write 900k disk image files of the disk that is located in DF0: (normally the internal diskdrive) to your RAM. When you have these image files, you can use CrossDOS (Included with AmigaOS) to copy the files to high density Windows formatted diskettes or you can transfer them to your PC over a Network.
Option 2:
If you do not own an Amiga, you can obtain a legal copy of all classic Kickstart ROMs (1.0-3.1) and complete 1.3 and 3.1 versions (ADFs) of the Amiga operating system, from Cloanto's Amiga Forever software package. This package also includes good networking software and a licensed version of Picasso96 software.
Store the required kickstart image file and workbench ADF on your PC's hard drive.


text: With this posting I have moved into the area originally known as Amelia Township. The map below shows some of the earliest surveys done along the section of Flea Bite Creek where it is crossed by South Carolina Highway 33. Some Early Surveys Along Flea Bite Creek for a PDF copy of the drawing above.The first six plats were surveyed for some of the many German immigrants who arrived in South Carolina in 1752. Several of the surnames were written out differently between the land petitions and the names used on the plats. John Christopher Ways was Christopher Weiss on his petition; John Smeetzer was John Smitzer; and Sebastian Hube was Sabastian Huber. [1] Peter Faure was the surveyor for all of their plats. The plat for Anna Keil (#7) was certified in 1762 but, by 1769, when John Rost's [Rast] plat (#8) was completed the Keil property was being identified as Jacob Keller's land. Keller was also identified as the adjoining owner when plats 10 and 12 were surveyed. Did Keller perhaps acquire Keil's land by marriage? Keil's property was not the only tract to change hands during this period. Sebastian Hube [Huber] sold his 200 acres to Jacob Vaults on February 22, 1762. Vaults sold the lower 100 acres to Peter Bake on January 23, 1763. He sold the other 100 acres to Hans George Kelley on August 13, 1764. [2] Jacob Vaults was probably the same person as the Jacob Watts who acquired the Meyer's tract (#5) by 1767 when he (Watts) filed a memorial for the property. Unfortunately, the memorial does not specify how Watts obtained the land. [3] Peter Bake was the individual later known as Peter Beck. [4] Plats 9, 12, and 13 show some roads and paths, indicated by dashed lines, on the drawing above. The only one of these features that seem to correlate with a modern road, though, is a path shown on Jacob Keller's survey. It seems to be located in about the same position as Nates Store Road. Sources: [1] Brent H. Holcomb, Petitions for Land from the South Carolina Council Journals, Volume III:1752-1753 (Columbia: SCMAR, 1997), pages 152, 154, 208. [2] Hans George Kelley memorial, 1771, Memorial Books (Copy Series), 1731-1778, volume 11, page 14, item 1; Auditor General's Office Series S111001; South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia. Peter Bake memorial, 1771, Memorial Books (Copy Series), 1731-1778, volume 11, page 14, item 2. [3] Jacob Watts memorial, 1767, Memorial Books (Copy Series), 1731-1778, volume 9, page 349, item 1. [4] Jacob Keller's plat (#12) shows Peter Beck as the adjacent owner where the Hube plat (#4) adjoins his land. Click


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@ Jordan - If you're referring to the profile picture (which I think is the only one I haven't done yet) it's because, well, I'm the one behind the camera... very rarely in front of. Plus I hate having my picture taken (trait I picked up from my mother, I guess)... I suppose I could sift through some old pictures if that would be acceptable?
About the last name part... Some people don't feel comfortable having their full name out there on the web (myself included) & prefer to have a "username" display in forums instead. Can you make that feature available in here? I noticed when I added my last name to my profile, it is now showing my full name above the profile pic area & I would just prefer to have my username (lizanne) show only.
*Edited to add: this is the most recent picture I have of me - it's 12 yrs old. Hope that's not a problem.


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Sebago® represents authentic product and timeless design. The original, handsewn Classic beefroll penny loafer and Docksides® boat shoe remain unchanged since they were first crafted by Sebago decades ago. While embracing their New England heritage, Sebago crafts new, modern silhouettes with the finest materials and sophisticated styling for today's consumers.
Sebago offers a full range of sizes and widths to fit even the most challenging foot. Experience the comfort, styling and craftsmanship that is Sebago's hallmark.


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Community is made in Garland. Friendships that last a lifetime are made here, and generations of families have made this part of Texas their home.
We encourage you to find out why Garland is the place of choice for all stages of life.
Discover why you should make Garland your new home.
Prosperous futures are made here. Garland is a family friendly, full-service city known for its cultural arts community and recreational and natural resources.
Located in Dallas County, Garland offers all the world class amenities of the Metroplex—first rate educational centers, commerce, cultural and natural resources—while maintaining its roots as a safe, neighborly community.
Be sure to check out:
Let us help you find the resources you need to relocate and establish a home in Garland. Visit our Relocation Assistance Center to find helpful information and resources about moving to Garland, Texas.
Relocation Assistance Center
Explore the connections you need to fully engage in the community.
Connections are made in Garland. Assets unique in the region provide new ways to experience the city year-round with friends and family. Garland provides a variety of City services and community resources to help you fully engage in civic and community life.
Information specifically for existing residents can be found on the web:


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IESDP Updates and Info
The Infinity Engine Structures Description Project (IESDP) is an effort to research the workings of the BioWare Infinity Engine, and act as a collective resource for those interested in such workings. This forum is a place to collect new research and data to be integrated into the IESDP.
IESDP Archive Forum
A forum to archive posts added to the IESDP, for future reference.


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A one minute track to be used as a countdown. Almost half the track the tone beeps every 2 seconds and the rest beeps every second. Accompanied exclusively by synths and real drums is the ideal high tech intro and more.
For an easier exploration of my profile items use the collection links below.


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Forever a cut above
Phil Rogers
Chicago Tribune
Let's be honest. Luis Gonzalez didn't exactly smoke his single off Mariano Rivera in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series. He fought off a cutter and fisted it just out of Derek Jeter's reach. But that's the Rivera appearance I think of first when I think about his great career – one time he failed, not any of the 42 times when he nailed down a postseason save. That's how great Rivera has been.
His ability to maintain his peacefulness on the mound in huge spots, time and time again, for more than 15 years put him on a level beyond the five relievers already in the Hall of Fame – Dennis Eckersley,...


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|2009-02-14, 21:34
|Link #1
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: 28° 37', North ; 77° 13', East
Age: 28
The Melancholy of AnimeSuki forumites - mildly speaking
After a little bit of searching.. I couldnt really find a thread about depression & anxiety although I vaguely remember there being such a thread. Well, here goes. Recently I've been through some severe depression + anxiety. VERY severe. Now I'm much better, but still recovering. My question is, does anxiety change you? have any of you had a similiar experience? Now, I'm wondering what would happen if this depression has changed me.. so that i dont anymore like anime etc anymore. It sounds strange I know, but it seems very real to me at the moment. have any of you had similiar experiences, did you still like anime afterwards? What did you do? right now i'm trying to avoid watching new shows, I feel at some level I wont enjoy them as much as I should, so I'm re-watching. any advice? Or rather, any experiences to share?
Last edited by oompa loompa; 2011-10-22 at 12:33.
|2009-02-14, 22:00
|Link #2
Feeling comfy
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Singapore
Age: 43
I can empathise, but hanging your entire life on just one interest alone is not healthy. There is much more out there waiting for you than just anime.
Incidentally, I think these were the other similar threads you were looking for:
|2009-02-14, 22:07
|Link #3
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: 28° 37', North ; 77° 13', East
Age: 28
err.. alright. that is an exaggeration lol. a rather big one. ill change that. a lot of things make me panic now ( now = recently ) and well, heat of the moment and what not. anyways, any advice or experiences?
|2009-02-14, 22:11
|Link #4
Feeling comfy
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Singapore
Age: 43
Go outside. Enjoy the sun. Take photographs. Hang out with your friends. Have a barbecue. Ride a bicycle. Blog.
Anything really. Go ahead and do something instead of moping around feeling sorry for yourself. I know it sounds hard when you're in the middle of a depression, but frankly, that is the only way you'd break yourself out of it.
If you have a confidant(e), don't be afraid to talk to him or her. If no one knows you're feeling blue, then no one will come around to help you out of it.
|2009-02-14, 23:04
|Link #5
Aspiring Aspirer
Depression is something which we allow ourselves to be in. Like Leaf says go out enjoy yourself, talk to people, it's the best way to help yourself. Exercise is always great and just doing things you like. Find someplace outside of your home and enjoy the world outside. Go get mug and brood about that it's much healthier than anything you can do inside (I'm not serious, don't get mugged it's a bad feeling ).
Last edited by ClockWorkAngel; 2009-02-15 at 10:21.
|2009-02-14, 23:19
|Link #6
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: PMB Headquarters
@oompa loompa: If you really like anime, then don't quit. Just watch the happy ones and you should be feeling fine. Many animes tend to be somewhat depressing and if that affects you, then don't watch it!
|2009-02-14, 23:34
|Link #7
Junior Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: 42N 71W or so
Anxiety can change you, but you're capable of changing yourself, too. Generally, anxiety and depression can manifest as anhedonia--no longer finding pleasure or enjoyment in things you might have before. As you recover from anxiety/depression, the anhedonia goes away; though don't expect it to be overnight, or even in a month. My last bout of depression had me housebound, that was about a year ago, and I'm still rediscovering those interests that I had been unable to find enjoyment in.
But that's kind of a blessing in disguise. Depression, for me, more or less sapped me of my sense of self; with it under control, I thought the best thing to do would be to find that lost self--but that's the strange thing, in rediscovering those interests and activities I also found different ways to see them. You shouldn't be too worried about losing your interest in anime or whatever else you like because you always have the chance to return to them. Instead of getting back the sense of self I had lost, I found new ways to think of myself, different ways of being. That lost self is always there, the activities I enjoyed still are meaningful, but they are just now pieces of a larger work in progress. I know this made so little sense, but I hope you can find something helpful from it.
I agree completely with TinyRedLeaf; have at least one really close person to talk to--isolation makes things so much worse. I think it important to add, though you probably know this already or have heard it ad nauseum, but if you're feeling suicidal or that you can't deal with it, get help. There is absolutely nothing wrong with seeing a psychologist/psychiatrist, and if you have thoughts of suicide, call emergency or have someone take you to a hospital--there is nothing shameful in that.
I realize you've already said you're feeling better (and I'm happy for you), but I just always think that with respect to this kind of topic, the above paragraph needs saying.
Really though. From my own experience, the biggest hindrance was over-thinking. Instead of debating in your head whether or not to do this or that, just set yourself on auto-pilot and see where it takes you. So, yeah. I hope you keep doing well and getting better.
|2009-02-15, 00:37
|Link #8
of Porsche
I had a depressive moment once in my life, but it was much too long ago for me to remember the specifics. Ask me about my feelings then and I can only generalize. But what got me out of it was finding purpose. I found something I could commit myself to, and the more I did it, the more it defined me and allowed me to find a community I could identify with. Rediscovering my identity was crucial for me, and being confident about it and not being told otherwise was the cure.
I devoted myself to a person, and I confided with her often. I regret that we have grown distant now, but the point I'm trying to elaborate is not that. It's that Human interaction can go a long way. You need someone to project yourself off of, to see your rationale objectively - from a parent, a therapist, or a good friend in my case. People these days have the luxury of an online blog, expression without having to give away the face. That might work too. But for all intents and purposes, life is about interaction. Lose yourself in your own thoughts (alone), and you will over-think and go mad.
Theraputic as it is, I'm not telling anyone to go as far as taking a hike in the woods or joining a book club. All I'm recommending is a chat.
|2009-02-15, 00:44
|Link #9
( ಠ_ಠ)
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Somewhere, between the sacred silence and sleep
One of my closest friends died, my finance is in disaster, and I just lost my job, and have to restart my career from scratch.
All within this two months period. It may well be the worst period of my life so far. If I let depression get to me, it won't be very pretty...
Heck, my (old) boss was worried I'm gonna die on the spot from depression when he brought me the news.
I'm taking a long deserved (but unpaid) vacation from life for a week before piecing my life back together. Thank god I have friends and family to fall back on.
I don't know what you're going through in your life, but trust me, the times are tough on many of us.
|2009-02-15, 01:16
|Link #10
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: In line to confess his sins.
Age: 30
If you've got some friends to hang out with, try to arrange something. It doesn't have to be anything big, hanging out an afternoon, watching a movie and chatting it up. It usually helps, even if you don't think it's going to. At the very least, it'll probably take your mind off of it for a brief period. It's pretty obvious advice, but I know from experience it can provide a great deal of relief.
If you don't already, it's always good to have a few hobbies to choose from. If you get tired of anime, try something else for a while, and then go back to watching some more anime, you might realize that all you needed was a bit of variation.
|2009-02-15, 04:03
|Link #11
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: 28° 37', North ; 77° 13', East
Age: 28
thanks for all the help you guys. I'm sorry if it seemed like I was asking for help directly about my depression. My condition doesnt really have a reason, the best that my doctor can guess is that its being caused by a chemical imbalance. However, I'm well on the way to recovery, and I'm well aware how much worse things are for other people - my life before this episode was great, and still is in a number of ways. It's been both good or bad that it isnt completely psychological - On one hand theres no reason for the depression or anxiety, its just there, so its tough to convince yourself that things will get better. On the other hand, it's become easier to control, since I look at it just like I'd look at a cold or cough, as strange as that may sound. It has most certainly been a difficult experience, but I dont have any doubts about the fact that I will eventually get through this, or learn to control it - I exercise regularly ( it makes a WORLD of difference ), have been on a strict anti-depression diet ( specifically a serotonin enhancing one - thats what ive been recommended ), medications, and have great friends & family for support. That along with the fact that I do feel much better than before, I see absolutely no reason to believe I wont get through this, and get through it in the visible future . I was just asking specifically about whether it affects your likes / dislikes etc in the long run. At any rate thanks for all your suggestions and help
Last edited by oompa loompa; 2009-02-15 at 04:36.
|2009-02-15, 04:42
|Link #12
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: UK
Age: 9
Glad to hear your recovering, depression always fades away eventually. I get it myself so I know how it feels.
As for losing interest in anime, depression does make you lose interest in many things you enjoy, buts its usually only temporary. Anyway, throughout life people do lose interest in hobbies quite naturally and find new ones along the way, you'll discover that as you get older.
|2009-02-15, 04:48
|Link #13
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: 28° 37', North ; 77° 13', East
Age: 28
|2009-02-15, 05:25
|Link #14
C'est la vie...
I've been through a lot of depressions and melancholic phases during the past 3-4 years and as sad as it sounds, Anime, Mangas and VNs always got me out of it. I could relate to some characters in those works, although I knew they are just fictional. I didn't go talk to people or hang around with friends or anything because most of these people wouldn't understand anyway. I like to keep things to myself, and when I'm feeling anxious or depressed I usually try to cheer up myself by doing something that makes me proud of myself. As previously mentioned Anime, Manga, VNs and reading helps me a lot. This is just my personal way of dealing with depression but it works wonders for me. I, for one, can't hear this typical psychologist talk ('go out and meet people') anymore, simply because it made things worse for me back then. I wouldn't call myself a hikikomori, though I sure was pretty close to it's definition. Depression is something everyone has a different way of dealing with and there's no quick solution to it, it takes time and willpower to get yourself out of it - yourself.
|2009-02-15, 05:29
|Link #15
Bearly Legal
Join Date: Jun 2004
Hmmmm depression is just the normal cycle of anyone's life. It's just how you dealt with it. I think everyone would go through a very severe case of depression atleast once in their lifetime so don't be bothered by the fact you are going through one.
I've gone through a few, from death of friends, studies, work and my responsibility. I can't say I notice any permanent effect on me except how to deal with it better with the next relapse. I just felt silly for getting so dragged down by something so normal to everybody else. After awhile, i just take it as a fact of life, get over it quickly and move onto the more interesting things before i kicked the bucket.
It's kinda funny to me how everyone goes for those "anti depressent" pills. I think it's dangerous to rely on chemicals to get yourself out of these depression. It might be useful for the really really extreme case where possibility of suicide is certain but otherwise, i steer clear of it personally;.
The best way for me to tackle this was to do whatever I felt like doing. Sometimes it's gorging on junkfood (they work wonders i tell ya), anime series marathon, videogame marathon or learn to cook better. Just things to give u a boost of fulfillment or accomplishment.
|2009-02-15, 05:30
|Link #16
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: UK
Age: 9
Quickly losing interest in hobbies is not uncommon with depresson as I discovered myself. It can be a frightening experience for anyone, and its difficult to explain it to others who havent experienced it themselves, but depression does fade away. It takes time of course as the healing process is a slow one, but rest assured it will fade away eventually. ^^
|2009-02-15, 07:22
|Link #17
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: England
Age: 28
I think that you need to revolve your life around something new and create new interests. I always do such things to keep me going in life and to help me get through life. I am not telling you to stop watching anime, not at all, but to just add something new to your life as well as anime.
For example; I am a star pupil in college because of my work, attitude and effort. Yet at the same time as my research and coursework I watch anime, read a lot of manga, go out with friends to do things (parties and such), and I sometimes attempt drawing.
Anime became an interest to me because I appreciate artwork and the Japanese culture. I fancied Japanese girls before anything with regards to Japan. Their art always interested me so I started to watch their animated productions. After a while I started to read manga as the art was just as good and also it was just the original workings of one or two individuals, usually with amazing plots. Then because I liked manga a lot I started drawing too.
Nevertheless I am always outside, maintaining a social life by being with friends (that do not really have any serious interest in anime, which makes my being with them different) or just by simply meeting new people. I have many different interests so I can get on and do practically anything. I am also very easy to befriend and to get along with. Family is also another close and important issue when in a bad state.
By doing many different things, notably active ones, I am a very healthy person in many areas. I can feel a bit depressed sometimes but because of my personality and atmosphere I can get through it.
|2009-02-15, 11:23
|Link #18
Join Date: Nov 2007
Age: 29
The problem with mental problems is that they often find it hard to break from their thoughts which keep looping, they end up breaking down or becoming extremely rigid as though their beliefs are the only things they have left (most of the time it actually is).
I was diagnosed with schizophrenia when I was only 14, though the disorder tends to affect people who are closer to adulthood. Up till now I am still suffering from the repercussions of subconsciously arguing out my stand whether it be a serious issue or not, and I get easily affected by comments like "because God made it so", "life is like this", "this is the <insert name of government organisation here>", "show some respect for your elders" which automatically prompts me to blast the person to shreds with my words. It makes me even more pissed when people use ad hominem or authority to discredit my reasoning.
Even up till today I still have problems fitting into the mainstream society, and counseling become rather ineffective as I have been reading up extensively during my personal isolation, screwing counselors and people who try to talk "sense" into me has become a routine in which I go through. Heck I even have people branding me as a would-be terrorist for discussing bomb-making and surreptitious entry into KINs with them!
After discussing so much about myself, I shall drive the point home, that mental problems often stem from inquisition. The human brain has a limit to the number of questions it can hold, and the number of answers it can give. The only thing we can do to help such people is to :
1. Accept them for who they are. Everyone has flaws.
2. Do not indoctrinate them into societal norms. Rather give them your OPINION on how should they act then give valid reasons. Don't disagree with them all the time, I bet my pants and my waifu Honoka that there is bound to be a similar belief or topic both of you can engage in and use as a leverage to hold your friendship together.
3. Don't give up on them. Given how twisted they have become as a result of their surroundings and themselves, hope is probably the last shred of humanity they have left in them.
From my personal experience being such a person and with such people, common traits of such people would be....
1. Cynicism. Most of what they say can be too pragmatic and sound extremely hopeless. It is a danger sign when they stop saying it, the reason why they rant about such things is because they HOPE that someone will help them change their lives.
2. Common panic and anxiety, can be seen from speech patterns (tripping and stumbling), talk and not look at someone in the eye, probably out of fear (though I am a big talker, I find it hard to look at people in the eye up till now.)
3. Attention seeking. The reason why they do "weird" things. Society seems to be less forgiving and lock them up.
The outcomes of such illnesses, if left unidentified or untreated can lead to 2 tendencies, namely suicidal and homicidal. I am the latter inclined, so there is a high chance if people around me refuses to befriend me up till now, I might conduct a Akihabara slashings similar to the one last June (I can say that for a raging madman, the methodical conduct of such a crime is simple yet ingenious).
If you are one to look for material benefits in friendship (pragmatic, realistic yet asinine), these are the people worth befriending. They think too much, and by channeling their innate abilities to out-think others in terms of creativity and logic in a different direction, can sometimes reap you more benefits than a team put together (something to do with absence of bureaucracy). But be aware that these people are clingy and sometimes mercenary, be prepared for some sacrifice.
I think it went a little off-topic, and it is a little too long. Ah well, heck with it.
|2009-02-15, 13:21
|Link #19
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: 28° 37', North ; 77° 13', East
Age: 28
Now the point of this is if you do read this, a lot of the decisions i made, and a lot of my thought process wasnt very rational at all. I have pieced together more or less why there was a chemical imbalance, and now i realize it would have passed eventually anyways, if i exercised regularly, ate the right foods, had people to lean on, and most importantly recognize when i was having an attack. my body would fix itself. i just had to last it out for a little longer, till it improved enough to get back into some sort of daily routine. the whole reason why i was flung into this condition was absolutely silly in the first place. now, i know better. i know what to do if i have an anxiety attack ( it happens a few less times everyday now ). once you get caught up in either anxiety or depression, its exceedingly difficult to control it - these medications provide great reassurance, if nothing else, so i empathize with the people who turn to them.
Ahh.. it was great to get that off my shoulders. Its one thing to talk to people about it, and its a whole other to write about it - another irrational thing, talking about it, which ive only been able to do recently helps, every time i do it.
Last edited by oompa loompa; 2009-02-15 at 13:42.
|2009-02-15, 13:22
|Link #20
(。☉౪ ⊙。)
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: In Maya world, where all is 3D and everything crashes
Age: 31
|depression, sad
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text:
Monday, March 28, 2011
The Best Apple Peeler
Labels: Blood Family Treasures
3 comments:
- Kevin said...
These pictures are so impressive. I am sure my peers will enjoy these too.childrens furniture
- March 28, 2011 at 3:31 AM
- Ann said...
And I have thought all of these years that this treasure had disappeared. What a fun way to open up the blog this morning. I always thought the apple peeler was quite magic. I saw one in a catalog that closely resembles this apple peeler, and it was VERY expensive.
- March 28, 2011 at 9:48 AM
- Elizabeth said...
Our apple peeler is very simple compared to Mother's. But, Judy, why don't your knuckles hit the bread board when you move the handle around? I'm trying to figure this one out.
- March 28, 2011 at 5:33 PM
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Fair Indigo: Fairly Made and Fairly Cute Kids' Soft Goods
Specialty: Clothing and children's gifts with a focus on fair trade and organic products
Price Range: ($) Budget - ($$) Mid-Range
I saw this cute froggy at a thrift shop for $1 recently and, after snapping him up, I inspected the label to see who the maker was: Fair Indigo. I checked them out online when I got home and learned about the company's commitment to socially responsible products.
Fair Indigo primarily sells men's and women's clothing, but they have a small collection of soft good for babies and children including blankets and a collection of stuffed animals, mini blankies/loveys and sweaters called Joobles. The Joobles line (including the first three products pictured above) are handknit by Peruvian cooperatives using organic yarn and safe dyes. The children of these workers receive educational benefits from the Fair Indigo Foundation.
Working directly with producers whenever they can allows Fair Indigo to keep their prices within reach. Their blankets are about $45, stuffed animals about $25, for example.
For more about Fair Indigo, visit their store page over at Marketplace.
(Images: Fair Indigo)


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5002. Logic for Mathematics and Computer Science (3) Same as MATH 5002
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For graduate student who wishes to use computer science to meet required research skills in his or her dept. May not count toward MATH major or minor. P: General statistics course or consent of instructor. Emphasis on minimum-level programming skill and use of statistical packages.
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Around here in Southern Cali, you hear it floating around a lot. People generally think it is just kidding around, and while it is, it also has a secret meaning that they want to get with the girl in some way. I only notice a guy says it when later on he says "she's hot" and other things, but it really depends on tone and how high pitched he makes his voice sound lol. I never say things like that, but then again I am strict with myself when it comes to girls and am not the guy to like many girls in that way. So maybe I have used it without really noticing lol.
Of course you might get tons of denial out of people saying they have never used those types of words as pick-up lines. "How ya doin' baby?" and then usually follows by asking the girl about something she just did or is doing, to look out for ___ (whoever he sees next to her where he might be jealous), or somewhere along the lines of asking her if she is going to some party. High-pitched voice and all... Haha.
Instagram @ Cosplay_Book
all warm and gooey inside of course
Hey baby...
( ∙_∙)>⌐■-■三Deal With It三(⌐■_■)
Unless it's my boyfriend, it just sounds strange and even patronizing to me. Even then, I don't like "baby" or "honey". "Sweetie" and "babe" is fine, though.
Faaaar too lazy to think of something "deep".
hmm i think it would be alright if youre in a relationship but if a guy calls other girls like that even if they arent in one then its very creepy O.o
nonetheless, id say that other name callings in a relationship is very sweet indeed, baby is just a bit common and less special name calling in a relationship, in my opinion.. >.<
Have a cupcake, have a wish X3
I get called baby, honey, sweetheart, precious, darling etc. all day long by friends, coworkers, and strangers of both sexes everyday. It's just the opposite of patronizing or offensive the way most people use those terms where I live. Actually, Babes is my supervisor's favorite pet name for me lately. I seem to remind him of his daughter a bit and he uses pet names for everyone. I think it helps that most people think I'm a bit younger than I really am. I don't usually find it weird, or flirty unless the person saying it is a guy who's younger than me. That's when pet names like that become a little suspect to me.
I'm gleaming, sparking...dreaming, breathing...
I dislike it, especially by strangers. That is because most of the time guys have called me that and tried to flirt me.
^ Same.
Truthfully, I hate it when guys call me baby. The second I hear it, it instantly irks me and I can tell that I've grown colder to the person who said it. It would be fine if the guy was a close friend of mine who I joke around with or my boyfriend, but having random strangers or even acquaintances just chat me up with the words "Hey baby" is not how I like a conversation to be initiated. "Hey babe" is not much better either but it's more acceptable. I like "cupcake, sweetie, honey, darling, dear"...any nickname or term other than baby.
No longer active. Reach me on Skype or Twitter!
Well, when I wawsn't in a relationship, I would only call girls I liked hun, or something nonchalant like that but baby and stuff is strictly reserved for my partner lol
/beeteedubs, she loves it lol
If strangers call me those names, like when I'm walking home, I get scared and tend not to hear. (Insert shojo manga fantasies that some randomness good looking guy would tell those creepy men off hahaha)
If friends would call me that I guess it wouldn't change the way I would act toward them.
If a suitor or admirer would call me those names, I wouldn't really interpret it as flirting since I'm too dense anyway.
I prefer though to be called by name if ever a man would choose to love me.
Back on hiatus until May
The only time I'm okay with being called sweetie or honey is from my mom, other than that I can't stand anyone trying to call babe, baby, honey, or any other nickname like that. Both my boyfriend and I feel the same, so it's basically a non-issue for us. If anyone tries to call me by a nickname, I immediately become suspicious of them and question their ulterior motives. I'll also ask them to not call me that and I definitely notice that I'll start acting cold to them. It also just feels so unnatural to call someone by such a name and would be very awkward if either me or my boyfriend tried it.
Lost :'(
Calling your girlfriend 'baby'..... because you just have to remind her that she's an annoying, diminutive creature that spends most of her time crying, pooping and requires constant attention.
Ice-T > All other thrash metal vocalists. It is known.
Kaiser-Windhelm wrote:
Calling your girlfriend 'baby'..... because you just have to remind her that she's an annoying, diminutive creature that spends most of her time crying, pooping and requires constant attention.
Best comment in the whole thread
I wish real life had a Ctrl+Z button.
um, that was a lil bit awkward? I mean, some girls will fume if you call them that lol.


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Kevin Penner, 2012 Sahalee Players Championship winner.
The three competitors played the 535-yard 18th hole in the playoff and all three were on the green in regulation. After Williams missed his 21-foot birdie attempt, Penner sank his 6-footer for birdie to put the pressure on Geyer, who saw his 4-foot try slide by the hole. This is the first playoff in the championship since Kyle Stanley won a four-way playoff in 2006.
Playing in the final group of the day with Williams and standing on the tee of the 535-yard par-5 18th tee during regulation, Penner was two shots behind leader Williams and a shot behind Ben Geyer, who was in the clubhouse at 9-under-par for the tournament after firing a blistering final round 6-under-par 66. "It was pretty clear what I had to do," said Penner afterward. The big-hitting Sammamish-native hit his tee shot 40 yards past his playing partners, then rifled a long-iron from 210 yards to the center of the green and two-putted for a birdie and the tie.
Meanwhile, Penner watched as Williams pulled his own drive into the left fairway bunker. "That was probably my worst shot of the week," said Williams. His ball was under the lip of the bunker, and he had to blast out with a wedge, leaving himself 210 yards for his third shot, which he then pulled into the left greenside bunker. "I mucked the hole up," he said, eventually making bogey to fall into a tie with Geyer and Penner.
"I didn't expect Williams to bogey that hole," said Penner later. "I really thought I needed to eagle it. It was a weird round for me. I felt in control of my game, but nothing really was happening."
Penner had a large following in the gallery. He had attended nearby Eastlake High School, and Sahalee had been the home course for his golf team. "Yes, Chris was defending his title, but my friends were telling me that I was defending my turf." It was a full-circle victory for Penner, who volunteered as a walking scorer at the 2006 SPC for eventual champion Kyle Stanley. "I always wanted to play in this tournament, and I always wanted to win this tournament." When asked if this is the biggest win of his young career, he said, "Absolutely. Definitely the biggest win for me." (Watch Penner's interview here.)
Penner will be a senior at UNLV and now resides in Las Vegas, but he grew up in Sammamish, Wash., just down the road from Sahalee. This is the fourth SPC he has competed in. He tied for fourth in the championship last year. He graduated in 2009 from nearby Eastlake High School, where he twice was the 4A Washington state high school champion (2007, '09) and was named the 2008 Washington Junior Golf Association Player of the Year. He recently earned honorable mention All-American honors at UNLV and was named to the 2012 PING Division I All-America Team.
Williams had started the day one shot behind Penner, and got off to a rough start. "Nothing went right from the beginning," said Williams. He arrived at the course just minutes before his tee time. "I overcooked my eggs this morning at breakfast, and wasn't happy about that. Then got pulled over for speeding on the way here, and I wasn't happy about that either." Hitting driver off the first tee without benefit of warming up, he pushed his tee shot into the trees, but still managed to drop a 40-foot putt to save par. Williams managed to hold it together in the final round and found himself with a one stroke lead after 71 holes but could not avoid the playoff. (Watch this group tee off the first tee of the final round.)
19th SAHALEE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP:
Recap of the 2012 Sahalee Players Championship (click here if you have problems viewing the video).
Geyer, a 20-year-old native from Arbuckle, Calif. and soon-to-be senior at St. Mary's University made quite the splash in his first SPC despite starting the day seven shots behind leader, Penner. His bogey-free, final round 66 tied for low round of the tournament. "I really had it going early," he said. "I played consistent all week, hitting a lot of greens, and today I had a lot of good looks at putts." Geyer hit 16 greens in today's final round. About his missed birdie putt in the playoff hole, he said, "I had a tendency to miss (my putts) right, so I over-corrected a little and pulled it left."
Penner joins the list of SPC past champions that include Chris Williams, Casey Martin, Peter Uihlein, Nick Taylor, Daniel Summerhays, Kyle Stanley, Ryan Moore, Arron Oberholser and Jason Gore, among others. More than a dozen golfers who have competed in the SPC have wound up on the PGA Tour.
The Pacific Northwest Golf Association (PNGA) partnered with Sahalee Country Club 13 years ago to create the "Western Swing" with the Pacific Northwest Men's Amateur Championship. The Sahalee Players Championship is the first leg of the swing, with the Pacific Northwest Men's Amateur being played the following week. The two championships combined with a primary goal of providing amateur golfers in the West an opportunity to play two major national amateur championships without having to travel to the East Coast.
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text:
Andy Warhol
1928, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
1987, New York City, New York
An iconic figure in twentieth-century art and culture, Andy Warhol was born Andrew Warhola, the son of working-class immigrants from Slovakia. He studied commercial art in Pittsburgh before moving to New York in 1949 and beginning a highly successful career as an advertising illustrator.
A decade later Warhol started making paintings (at first handmade, later silkscreened) of images lifted directly from the mass media. His range included consumer products (Campbell's soup cans) and movie stars (Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley), as well as darker aspects of American culture, including race riots, car crashes, and the electric chair.
Warhol's inexpressive painting style was mirrored by his famously flat, monotone persona. An obsession with Hollywood glamour inspired a series of experimental films, often campy in tone and explicitly homoerotic. Warhol's Factory — a term for both his studio and the associated network of actors, musicians, druggies, and hangers-on — has become synonymous with 1960s bohemia. Although his work was initially controversial for its apparent non-art status, he quickly achieved both critical and commercial success.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Warhol's celebrity arguably eclipsed his art, although he produced several innovative bodies of work during this period. He died in 1987 from complications following a routine gallbladder surgery.


text:
A divided, high-level advisory board has repudiated a controversial surveillance program.
In a much-anticipated, 238-page report, the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board concluded "there is no adequate legal basis" to support operation of the National Security Agency program that collects bulk telephone records. The program operates under Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act. The Board has been a backstage voice in the nationwide debate over the nation's intelligence programs. It became fully functional in the weeks before former defense contractor Edward Snowden's leaks first revealed the NSA programs' existence.
The board formally recommended that the Obama administration end the bulk collection program, saying that it "raises serious threats to privacy and civil liberties...and has shown only limited value."
"While the board believes this program has been operated in good faith to vigorously pursue the government's anti-terrorism mission," the majority report states, "the board concludes that Section 215 does not provide an adequate legal basis to support the program."
Tellingly, the board's majority also called into question whether the program has even done any good.
"We conclude that the Section 215 program has shown minimal value in safeguarding the nation from terrorism," the majority stated, adding that "we have not identified a single instance involving a threat to the United States in which the program made a concrete difference in the outcome of a counterterrorism investigation."
The report was adopted by a 3-2 vote of the board, which is scheduled to make it fully available at 1 p.m.
The board's majority reasoned that the bulk telephone data collection violates Section 215 requirements in part because the telephone records collected "have no connection to any specific FBI investigation at the time of their collection." The majority further concluded that calling the records relevant to any specific investigation redefines the word relevant "in a manner that is circular, unlimited in scope and out of step with the case law."
Moreover, the board warned that the bulk collection program violates the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, which prohibits telephone companies from sharing telephone records with the government except in very limited circumstances. And, on top of all this, the board majority questioned whether the program is "constitutionally sound."
The advisory board's starkly worded conclusions run counter to opinions of the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court, which has upheld the collection of telephone records for the National Security Agency's use. Approximately every 90 days, the government renews its requests to the FISA court for continued collection of the calling data.
"Permitting the government to routinely collect the calling records of an entire nation fundamentally shifts the balance of power between the and its citizens," the privacy board report states, citing a "danger...that personal information collected by the government will be used to harass, blackmail or intimidate" individuals.
Authorized under a 2007 law, the privacy board includes a full-time chairman, attorney David Medine, and four part-time members who include both Republicans and Democrats.
Board member Rachel Brand dissented from the board's recommendation to end the Section 215 bulk collection program, saying the majority report "gives insufficient weight to a proactive approach to combating terrorism." Board member Elisebeth Collins Cook also dissented from the recommendation, stating the the program "fits within a permissible reading" of the law, and noting that it has been previously upheld by "no fewer than 15" federal judges serving on the secret FISA court.
Thursday's report drew harsh criticism from the programs' defenders, even before it was publicly released.
"I am disappointed that three members of the Board decided to step well beyond their policy and oversight role and conducted a legal review of a program that has been thoroughly reviewed," House Intelligence Committee chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., said in a statement issued early Thursday. "I don't believe the Board should go outside its expertise to opine on the effectiveness of counterterrorism programs. As those of us with law enforcement experience know, successful investigations use all available tools—there often is no "silver bullet" that alone thwarts a plot."
Ali Watkins contributed to this report.


text:
Two of the most common screen presidents have been Richard M. Nixon and Abraham Lincoln, both wellsprings of human and political drama you couldn't really fabricate.
The new Steven Spielberg-directed "Lincoln," starring Daniel Day-Lewis, works (and works well) because it's not trying to give us the whole story, one president's rise and fall. It's confined to the final four months of his life, as the Civil War was ending and the 13th Amendment to abolish slavery was being debated. And while Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner ensure plenty of iconic scenes (including Lee's surrender to Grant at Appomattox), one of the reasons the film works, I think, is because it's less interested in Great Moments of History than in the grubby workaday process of politicking.
There's a spectrum of Abraham Lincolns on film, as I wrote about today. For fun, we also put together a photo gallery of the best movie presidents we could think of, from a pair of good Nixons to Bill Pullman in Independence Day. [ED's note: YES! -- Jas.]
In any screen portrait of a president, you don't want what you think you already know.
You want to see the human being behind the façade (or the penny, or the fiver). You want to see the contradictions at work in any great statesman. You want engagement – the filmmakers', and your own.
Join Trib Nation on Facebook for more of the how and why of Tribune journalism.


text:
In November of 2003, the late, great Johnny Tapia welcomed the Alibi into his East Mountains home for a candid interview. The beloved brawler and Burque legend weighed in on topics including his relationships with Danny Romero and Mike Tyson, how family helped keep him afloat and what the broader picture of being a champion meant to him.
Former News Editor Tim McGivern's accompanying story fills in the gaps on how Tapia became the complex figure who overcame unimaginably tragic circumstances, yet always lived in the shadow of his horrific past. And Tapia's words ring with poignant prescience.
As for the Jerry Bruckheimer movie Tapia and McGivern discuss, Tapia's longtime friend Dennis Latta says that production—and several others—never came to fruition. Latta mentions that a Tapia documentary is in the works that will include footage from his June victory over Mauricio Pastrana—Tapia's last dance in the ring. Tapia died on Sunday, May 27, at the age of 45.
Tim McGivern
Johnny Tapia loves his new house in the East Mountains. He calls it his castle and to satisfy his hyperactive personality he's got plans to build a basketball court and swimming pool to go along with the modest boxing gym that fills-out his garage. Yet while Tapia, 36, has the energetic presence of a moth on a light, oddly, he says one of his favorite things to do is lock himself in his room, watch TV and "take my guard down."
And that's the mystery of Johnny Tapia. On one hand, he's the friendliest and humblest guy you will ever meet. But on the other hand, he is a fragile figure, frightened by the tragedies of his past, who can shift gears from cheerfulness to sorrow to an intense seriousness at the drop of a hat.
The five-time world champion boxer wasn't guarded about anything when Teresa Tapia, his wife and manager for the past 11 years, arranged for the Alibi to talk with him in his living room last Friday. In the fashion of a man who knows it can be good to be the king, Tapia sprawled back in his recliner at the start and said, "Why don't you ask me anything you want."
Heroic words for someone with Tapia's tragic and checkered history. His father was reportedly murdered before he was born. He nearly died at age seven when a bus he was riding plunged off a cliff, killing the pregnant woman seated next to him and throwing him through the window.
To this day, he is haunted by the sound of his mother's screams and his vision of her being chained in the bed of a pick-up truck the night she was kidnapped and violently murdered by her boyfriend—back when he was just eight years old.
Following the tragedy, he was raised by his grandmother in the Wells Park neighborhood, where he started boxing at the age of nine. From that point forward, Tapia slugged his way to two national Golden Gloves titles as an amateur, five world championships as a pro and when he wasn't brawling in the ring, he was fighting perhaps a fiercer battle with the ghosts of his childhood and his addiction to drugs and alcohol.
For example, it took nearly 25 years for his mother's murder case to be closed. And not until the summer of 1999 did Bernalillo County detectives identify the killer, Richard Espinosa, who had died in 1983. Just weeks after Tapia learned the news, he had to fight Paulie Ayala in what was considered by some boxing analysts to be one of the greatest fights in the past decade. Although the outcome was a questionable split decision, it marked Tapia's first loss as a professional boxer in more than ten years.
Like a true survivor, less than a year later, on Jan. 8, 2000, Tapia won his fourth world title against bantamweight champion Jorge Eliecer Julio before a capacity crowd of 13,000 fans chanting "Johnny! Johnny!" at the Pit.
His ups and downs as a boxer, however, pale compared to his chaotic life outside the ring. He'll tell you about his struggles to overcome addiction to cocaine—a drug he calls "my mistress"—that has left him clinically dead four times and cost him several shots at a world title thanks to positive drug tests. His most recent overdose occurred this past January, when doctors and Teresa discussed funeral arrangements in a Las Vegas hospital just before Tapia revived himself and asked for a cheeseburger. "I was hungry," he said in a recent New York Times interview. "I guess it wasn't my time to die."
His struggle with drugs and alcohol have led to a 125-page arrest record, including several DWI convictions, numerous stays in the Bernalillo County jail, numerous suspensions from professional boxing and getting kicked out of New Mexico for 18 months by a local judge.
His relationship with wife Teresa—the fact that she has stuck with him through the tough times—is perhaps as remarkable as anything he ever accomplished in the ring. And he'll be the first person to tell you that. After charges of spousal abuse, including pulling a loaded gun on her when he was high on cocaine, Teresa gave Johnny one last opportunity to get clean. She locked the two of them together in their home for more than a month, allowing her mother to pass them food through a barred window. That was almost 10 years ago and what at the time seemed like the final step toward recovery was just another hurdle in his never-ending battle to stay clean.
Today Johnny and Teresa stay focused on the future, with one-eye always carefully monitoring Johnny's daily battle with addiction. Their story is set to become a major motion picture in 2005; famed Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer (Pirates of the Caribbean) recently purchased the story rights and Johnny and Teresa will be paid consultants on the project.
Are you back in New Mexico forever?
Oh yeah, I was born and raised here and I'll live and die here. This is my pride and joy, New Mexico.
Do you still look in the mirror, especially when you are in the gym, and see the baby-faced assassin?
No, because you know I'm going on 26 years in boxing and I've done everything you can do in the sport. I fought like a champion. I fought like a contender. I beat everybody. There's a time and place when you gotta call it quits. I talk to my wife. I talk to my boy, and I just said, "You know what, I got a few more left, suck it up, do whatever it is going to take to keep it going."
Are you going to fight Danny Romero again?
No, me and Danny are close. They made the whole rivalry bigger than what it was. You know, he's a good guy. His father took very good care of me. You can't go wrong with that. But (back then) I was struggling, using alcohol and cocaine, that was my mistress, you know, because of the tragedy that happened. But to your question: Me and Danny are very good friends. We always have been. It just happened we had to see who was the king of Albuquerque and that's the situation that happened. He was just at my house today. …
Do you guys ever spar together?
No. I only spar two weeks before a fight. But we're working, you know, helping each other grow bigger and better. He's gonna be a champion again, you'll see.
So because you guys are so close, you can't see getting back in the ring with him, even if that's the fight everyone wants to see?
I'll tell you, we're friends so there's not gonna be no more fights. Whoever's in the ring though, I'll tell you what, I'm gonna hurt 'em. I got the skills to pay the bills, you know.
A lot of kids in Albuquerque want to be like you. Kids that go to Jack Candelaria Community Center and work out in the boxing gym. What do you say to those kids when they are looking at you and they see their dreams?
It's hard to be a world champion. But I tell them look at who you hang around with and that will tell you who you are. If you want big dreams don't follow the leader. They don't protect you and take care of you. If you look at what I've done, a lot of people look at my history and don't see what I've accomplished. When you fall you have to pick yourself back up to be successful. I don't want to be a living proof, but I'll tell you when I was in a coma, it makes you stop and think about who are your friends. … There's a lot of bullies here, and I can't stand bullies. I cannot stand bullies. … I'd say I would rather have friends than enemies. I got a (surrogate) dad who loves me, cares about me as an alcoholic and drug addict, not because I'm a five-time world champion. The situation is, I'm not an every day user, I'm a binger. To me, you can ask me anything you want, because I would love to tell you, so people can hear it, so they can learn from my experience. Everyone knows Johnny Tapia, the champion, the crazy guy. But I've got a beautiful wife that sticks with me through thick and thin. She can't stand me sometimes, but you know what? That's part of the relationship.
What they call tough love.
I tell you one thing, and I don't mean any disrespect, but I've taken her through hell. Every time I die, I wake up and she's right there next to me. That's why I tell you to feel free to ask me anything. Because if there is a 100 kids out there and I get one to listen, then that makes me feel good. Seeing a smile on someone's face.
Talk a little more about your message to kids.
My message is don't be a follower, be a leader. You know, the first time you do drugs it's a mistake, second time it's a habit. It's easy to go one way or the other. If I want to mess up, I'll do it. I don't put the rap on nobody but myself. If I don't go straight, I can get divorced and be out on the streets away from my family. But those are the people that I really hurt—the ones that love me the most.
That's what keeps you straight?
It's every day waking up with my wife and kids. I got my Pops calling me every day. I'm not a needy person. But when I was going back and forth, messing up (gets emotional, pauses for a moment). …
How do you define love?
I don't know love. I lost everything I loved when I was small. But when my wife puts her arms around me, or my boy smiles at me tells me he loves me, Pops calls me and tells me he's really proud of me in my recovery, that's what's important. … I used drugs and alcohol to kill the pain. When I was young I lost my mom, my father. It was hard.
What's your definition of a champion?
I'm not anybody. I'm just a guy that has a lot of problems trying to fix myself. Everybody in the boxing game knows me as Johnny the champion. But boxing is easy for me. I'm a natural. When I do have problems it's out of the ring. I've always had problems out in the streets, but I'm taking my sobriety seriously. And I'm able to stay straight. It's a lonely world out there, you know.
And a lot of people admire you as a survivor.
To tell you the truth, if my wife doesn't hug me, or say I love you, I'll cry. I'm a big baby. In the ring, you gotta kill me. If you don't drop me, or put me a stretcher, I'll get up and throw. I love the one-on-one combat. Nobody can help me; nobody can help my opponent. You just have to do whatever it takes. I've always trained like I was going to fight Mike Tyson.
You're friends with Tyson, right?
Oh, we've been partners since the '80s. We roomed together in the Junior Olympics when we were teenagers.
Do you stay in touch?
I talked to him about six months ago.
Do you see him now as a tragic figure?
I'll tell you one thing, back in the '80s he was the best in the world. But, you know, when you come into a lot of money really quickly, you run into a lot of yes-people. I'm not that kind of person. I'd rather you talk to me from your heart and say how you feel. (Teresa tells the story here of the last time Tyson called. It was just after Tapia awoke from a drug-induced coma in January. Tyson called to tell Tapia to see a psychiatrist or go to an institution, telling him he was crazy and needed help. Teresa recalled Tyson saying "I know I'm crazy too, so I'm authorized to tell you to get help.") He's a beautiful, intelligent person, who just got screwed up and now is just a money figure. You can have fame in two ways: You can have everybody saying yes, or you can have fame and still be around real people. A name will take you a long way, but money is very powerful. The real people will be right next to you through thick and thin. You find out who they are when you fall down. Without my fans, I won't be where I am today. They have always supported and guided me in ways that they don't even know.
I guess you've had a tough time deciding who you want to hang around with.
The truth is, sometimes it's not about people that want to be with you, it's about what they can get out of you. So you have to figure out who's your friend and who's not. I can go right now to Wal-Mart and sign autographs for an hour and a half and people there will be my friends. I can call my wife and my Pops and they'll be there for me to hold me.
What will you do when you're done boxing?
I'm going to call the pharmacist and tell them I want to be able to have four kids at one time (laughs). No, you know, if there's a 100 kids out there and I can get one to listen, then that's my job. I love to help people.
You want to work with youth?
If they call me, I'll try to help. But I love being at home. This is my castle. This is my peace.
Being bored when you are a hyper guy can get you into trouble, right?
You know what, when stuff like that happens, I'll call my wife and Pops. You know what really makes me happy, staying in my room. It's all about keeping my life sober, getting my kids to go to college, explaining to kids and others that the way I went wasn't the right way. College is very important. I wish I could have went to college. But you know what? I can't complain. I've got food on the table and a beautiful wife that loves me; my boy's as hyper as I am. But it's not just that. I love to be in a room locked up, just a place to take my guard down. I enjoy that.
One last question about the new movie deal you signed.
Guess who's playing me? Either Don Knotts or Gilligan (everyone laughs). Got you guys, huh? (Tapia's smiling) Or, either Jerry Lewis.
Whoever it is, I hope they do a good job.
Yeah, me too.


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< Boy Saves Mother's Life
Apr 15, 2013 07:04
Category: General News
Category: General News
To Graduate Or Not?
SEATTLE (AP) — Thousands of high school students in Washington's Class of 2013 don't know yet if they will get a diploma later this spring because they have not yet met the state's newest graduation requirement: a math exam. Most of their fellow seniors have met their requirements: 77.5 percent of this year's senior class have passed three statewide tests and are in line to earn all their credits. But about 16,000 students across the state don't yet know if they'll need a cap and gown in a couple months.


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Correlations and Research Results: Do They Match Up? (Part 2 of 2)
Andy Oram is an editor at O'Reilly Media, a highly respected book publisher and technology information provider. An employee of the company since 1992, Andy currently specializes in open source, software engineering, and health IT, but his editorial output has ranged from a legal guide covering intellectual property to a graphic novel about teenage hackers. His articles have appeared often on EMR & EHR and other blogs in the health IT space. Andy also writes often for O'Reilly's Radar site (http://oreilly.com/) and other publications on policy issues related to the Internet and on trends affecting technical innovation and its effects on society. Print publications where his work has appeared include The Economist, Communications of the ACM, Copyright World, the Journal of Information Technology & Politics, Vanguardia Dossier, and Internet Law and Business. Conferences where he has presented talks include O'Reilly's Open Source Convention, FISL (Brazil), FOSDEM, and DebConf.
The previous part of this article described the benefits of big data analysis, along with some of the formal, inherent risks of using it. We'll go even more into the problems of real-life use now.
More hidden bias
Jeffrey Skopek pointed out that correlations can perpetuate bias as much as they undermine it. Everything in data analysis is affected by bias, ranging from what we choose to examine and what data we collect to who participates, what tests we run, and how we interpret results.
The potential for seemingly objective data analysis to create (or at least perpetuate) discrimination on the basis of race and other criteria was highlighted recently by a Bloomberg article on Amazon Price deliveries. Nobody thinks that any Amazon.com manager anywhere said, "Let's not deliver Amazon Prime packages to black neighborhoods." But that was the natural outcome of depending on data about purchases, incomes, or whatever other data was crunched by the company to produce decisions about deliveries. (Amazon.com quickly promised to eliminate the disparity.)
At the conference, Sarah Malanga went over the comparable disparities and harms that big data can cause in health care. Think of all the ways modern researchers interact with potential subjects over mobile devices, and how much data is collected from such devices for data analytics. Such data is used to recruit subjects, to design studies, to check compliance with treatment, and for epidemiology and the new Precision Medicine movement.
In all the same ways that the old, the young, the poor, the rural, ethnic minorities, and women can be left out of commerce, they can be left out of health data as well–with even worse impacts on their lives. Malanga reeled out some statistics:
20% of Americans don't go on the Internet at all.
57% of African-Americans don't have Internet connections at home.
70% of Americans over 65 don't have a smart phone.
Those are just examples of ways that collecting data may miss important populations. Often, those populations are sicker than the people we reach with big data, so they need more help while receiving less.
The use of electronic health records, too, is still limited to certain populations in certain regions. Thus, some patients may take a lot of medications but not have "medication histories" available to research. Ameet Sarpatwari said that the exclusion of some populations from research make post-approval research even more important; there we can find correlations that were missed during trials.
A crucial source of well-balanced health data is the All Payer Claims Databases that 18 states have set up to collect data across the board. But a glitch in employment law, highlighted by Carmel Shachar, releases self-funding employers from sending their health data to the databases. This will most likely take a fix from Congress. Unless they do so, researchers and public health will lack the comprehensive data they need to improve health outcomes, and the 12 states that have started their own APCD projects may abandon them.
Other rectifications cited by Malanga include an NIH requirement for studies funded by it to include women and minorities–a requirement Malanga would like other funders to adopt–and the FCC's Lifeline program, which helps more low-income people get phone and Internet connections.
A recent article at the popular TechCrunch technology site suggests that the inscrutability of big data analytics is intrinsic to artificial intelligence. We must understand where computers outstrip our intuitive ability to understand correlations.


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Stuff I've been reading, thinking & eatingSelected item shown. Click here to view all Blog Entries.
I can only imagine the knots Caitlin Moran must have tied herself in while trying to bring some sort of order to her latest book Moranthology (Ebury Press).
After the success of last year's feminist rant, How To Be A Woman, it made perfect sense for her publishers to capitalise on her popularity by releasing a collection of her columns and features from British newspaper The Times. The trouble is Moran contributes on such an extensive range of topics – from television reviews to politics to celebrity profiles to comic accounts of late night conversations with her husband. As a result Moranthology is a hodgepodge of good writing, a sort of literary lucky dip. My mistake was in trying to read it from cover to cover when really it would benefit from being enjoyed as randomly as it seems to be arranged.
Don't get me wrong there is a lot of good stuff in this something-for-everyone collection. Moran is smart, honest, sparky, opinionated and amusing – all the things that make for a good columnist. And The Times seems to have given her pretty much free rein since she began writing for it 19 years ago.
Moran's very first foray into journalism came aged 15 when she won the Observer's Young Reporter Of The Year and she embarks on the book's introduction with an amusing account of her visit to that newspaper's offices followed by ill-fated early attempts at column writing which foundered because at that stage she had nothing to say.
These days Moran has everything to say, much of it hilarious. She kicks off Moranthology with a funny, frothy piece about her ongoing bid to get husband Pete to come up with a pet name for her, following with another on the perils of caffeinated hot drinks.
But it's not all chuckles. Moran was one of eight kids, raised on a disability benefit in a three-bedroom Wolverhampton council house where she was home-schooled. As a result, although solidly middle class these days, she leans hard left in her politics. Some of the more serious pieces are a bit too English for us to care about but there is an ardent column on library closures that sadly isn't and a straight-talking piece on the reality of living on a benefit in which she recounts the Moran family television set being taken away halfway through Twin Peaks.
Inevitably there are sections I couldn't have been less interested in; her fawning reviews of TV dramas Sherlock and Dr Who for example, or her opinions on Downton Abbey. Still Moran makes up for it with a sprinkling of idiosyncratic celebrity interviews: encounters with Keith Richard and Paul McCartney, and a big night out with Lady Gaga.
The biographical stuff is just as entertaining and confessional as those sections of How To Be A Woman were. From the marijuana addiction that induced panic attacks to her teenaged eating habits, Moran is amusing and real.
So why read this book? Well because it'll get you thinking as well as laughing. And because, thanks to her belief that "the world is, still, despite everything, a flat-out amazing place" Moran's approach to writing about it is generally pretty amazing too.


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Labor and Employment Law Capstone – 6405
The scope of the Capstone Course in Labor and Employment Law was developed in consultation with a national advisory group of attorneys, appointed by the American Bar Association Labor and Employment Law Section, and labor and employment law professors from around the country. This group identified the legal knowledge, practice skills and professional issues most important to prepare new attorneys for labor and employment law practice. The course is largely simulation-based. It will provide students with direct experience integrating diverse areas of workplace law with practice skills and professional ethics. Students will be assigned to work with a team of other students representing a particular client. The roles of clients and witnesses will be played by a combination of actors and volunteers. Real arbitrators and mediators will play those roles and claims may be brought to certain actual federal administrative agencies. The client's student attorney team will decide what and how to pursue potential claims or how to defend claims brought against the client. Claims may include unfair labor practice proceedings before the National Labor Relations Board, employment discrimination and sexual harassment charges before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and in litigation, arbitration of employee discipline under a collective bargaining agreement, arbitration under non-union employment contracts, defamation, and claims under the Family and Medical Leave Act and ERISA. During the term, students may experience interviewing and counseling clients, filing claims with administrative agencies, conducting research in labor and employment law, drafting pleadings and legal memoranda, negotiations, engaging in discovery, and representing clients in arbitration, mediation and litigation motion practice. Much of the students' work will be self-directed, but classroom sessions will offer opportunities for instruction and coaching of student performance of practice skills from experienced labor and employment attorneys. Class sessions may be scheduled for times other than the time that appears on the course schedule. The course will be co-taught by Adjunct Professor Karen Schanfield, an experienced labor and employment attorney with the Fredrikson & Byron law firm. In the unlikely event that the course is over-subscribed, preference in enrollment will be given to students who have taken the largest number of labor and employment law courses. Credits for the course may be applied toward satisfaction of the requirements for the Concentration in Labor and Employment Law.


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Ichiemi, now a high ranking maiko in the Pontocho district, greets the mistress of a teahouse during a small cherry blossom festival along the Takase Canal.
Ichiemi looks every bit the stylish, sophisticated young woman in this stunning lavender kimono ensemble. Even her adorably child-like cheeks have thinned out.
The long, fluttering strands cherry blossoms hanging from Shinaju's hanakanzashi, or flowered hair ornament, testify to her low rank and inexperience as a maiko, appealing instead to her youth and child-like charm. Compare it with Ichiharu's above, who is of a slightly higher rank.
Hisano, now a geiko, and Ichiemi walk beneath the lacey veil of cherry blossoms along the Takase canal as sunlight falls in playful patterns along the pavement.
As if Ichiemi's lavendar kimono wasn't enough. Coupled with this remarkable pastel obi, colored with the sweet, pastel pallet of spring, this ensemble quickly became my favorite this season.


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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Feb. 27, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH), a leading U.S. homebuilder, today announced its intention to offer, subject to market and other conditions, $150 million aggregate principal amount of senior unsecured notes to qualified institutional buyers pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act") and outside the United States to persons other than U.S. persons in reliance upon Regulation S under the Securities Act.
Final terms of the notes, including the maturity date, interest rate and other terms, will be determined through negotiations between Meritage and the initial purchaser of the notes.
Meritage intends to use a portion of the net proceeds from the offering to repurchase or redeem all outstanding $99.8 million aggregate principal amount of its 7.731% senior subordinated notes due 2017 with the remaining proceeds to be used for general corporate purposes.
This announcement is neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation of an offer to buy any of these securities and shall not constitute an offer, solicitation, or sale in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation, or sale is unlawful. The securities will not be registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or any state securities laws, and unless so registered, may not be offered or sold in the United States except pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act and applicable state laws.
About Meritage Homes Corporation
Meritage Homes is the ninth-largest public homebuilder in the United States based on homes closed in 2011. Meritage builds a variety of homes across the Southern and Western states to appeal to a wide range of buyers, including first-time, move-up, luxury and active adults. As of December 31, 2012, the company had 158 actively selling communities in 15 metropolitan areas, including Northern California, East Bay/Central Valley and Southern California, Houston, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Austin, San Antonio, Phoenix/Scottsdale, Tucson, Las Vegas, Denver, Orlando, Tampa and Raleigh-Durham. In 2012, Meritage also announced its entry into the Charlotte market.
Meritage is an industry leader in innovation and energy efficiency. Meritage was the first national homebuilder to be 100 percent ENERGY STAR® qualified in every home it builds, and far exceeds ENERGY STAR standards in most of its communities. Meritage has designed and built more than 75,000 homes in its 27-year history, and has a reputation for its distinctive style, quality construction, and positive customer experience.
For more information, visit meritagehomes.com.
The Meritage Homes Corporation logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=2624
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements include those regarding Meritage's intentions to offer $150 million of senior unsecured notes and to use the net proceeds from the offering, together with available cash, to repurchase $99.8 million aggregate principal amount of its 7.731% Senior Subordinated Notes due 2017, all of which are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. The company makes no commitment, and disclaims any duty, to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect future events or changes in these expectations.
Meritage's business is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. As a result of those risks and uncertainties, the company's stock and note prices may fluctuate dramatically. The risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to the following: weakness in the homebuilding market resulting from an unexpected setback in the current economic recovery; the availability of finished lots and undeveloped land; interest rates and changes in the availability and pricing of residential mortgages; the availability and cost of materials and labor; adverse changes in tax laws that benefit our homebuyers; the ability of our potential buyers to sell their existing homes; cancellation rates and home prices in our markets; inflation in the cost of materials used to construct homes; the adverse effect of slower order absorption rates; potential write-downs or write-offs of assets, including pre-acquisition costs and deposits; our potential exposure to natural disasters; competition; the adverse impacts of cancellations resulting from small deposits relating to our sales contracts; construction defect and home warranty claims; our success in prevailing on contested tax positions; our ability to preserve our deferred tax assets and use them within the statutory time limits; our ability to obtain performance bonds in connection with our development work; the liquidity of our joint ventures and the ability of our joint venture partners to meet their obligations to us and the joint venture; the loss of key personnel; our failure to comply with laws and regulations; our lack of geographic diversification; fluctuations in quarterly operating results; the company's financial leverage and level of indebtedness; our ability to take certain actions because of restrictions contained in the indentures for the company's senior and senior subordinated notes and our ability to raise additional capital when and if needed; our credit ratings; successful integration of future acquisitions; government regulations and legislative or other initiatives that seek to restrain growth or new housing construction or similar measures; acts of war; the replication of our "Green" technologies by our competitors; our exposure to information technology failures and security breaches; and other factors identified in documents filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including those set forth in our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012 under the caption "Risk Factors," which can be found on our website.
CONTACT: Brent Anderson, VP Investor Relations (972) 580-6360 (office) firstname.lastname@example.com
Source:Meritage Homes Corporation