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There was a short repositioning cruise that we had been looking at for about two weeks. But it was totally sold out. We kept watching. Every day we would check about three times to see if anything opened up.
We had discussed the cut off for the latest we could book and both agreed it was a week prior.
Today was the cut off. I woke up and my honey had text me - I guess we are not going. I texted back - nope we are going! When I checked just after 8 am this morning there was availability for insides, balconies and suites. Now I don't know how many cabins were available but I wasn't about to wait and see I needed to book before we lost these cabins.
I booked directly with Princess (something I don't usually do as I love my travel agent - Best Price Cruises).
I booked an inside cabin guarantee (as no cabin option was shown). I quickly paid and boom! We are sailing soon! In a week to be exact!
I then knew I had to get my Carnival Stock information faxed off to Princess so I could get them to process the $50 on board credit for owning 100 shares of Carnival. I was concerned because they state that they must have the information within two weeks of sailing. I stated on the cover sheet that I had just booked and hoped they would be able to process the credit still. Sure enough within two hours the credit was in our personalizer for this cruise.
Next was getting flights. People always say how lucky we are to get these coastals and yes they are nice getaways but the one way flights do add to the cost.
Thankfully we have points we can use for pretty much anything and we booked two one way flights leaving the morning of the cruise. Cost of the flights is $160 each. It is a very early flight so we booked a room at a hotel right at the airport - again points were used, but cost is $200.
This trip is to surprise a dear friend and waiter on board. I don't want to post it here just in case but I will let you know how the surprise goes in the end.
We arrive in Los Angeles at 9:30 and we will make our way to the port and drop the bags. Then we will head into San Pedro to get some wine and other necessary items.
So stay tuned for the day to day report on the happenings on board the Ruby Princess.
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
Sunday, April 17, 2016
Peter Rayner's Review of 15 Day Hawaiian Cruise
Peter posted this very detailed review of their 15 Day Hawaiian Cruise on the Ruby Princess. He did a very thorough job of reporting that I asked if I can post it here on my blog for others to read and gain knowledge from. Thanks again Peter. To follow along on my facebook page click here.
15 day Hawaiian Cruise from Los Angeles on Ruby Princess starting 24th March 2016
This was a special cruise for us to celebrate our Pearl Wedding Anniversary (30 years). We decided to arrive in Los Angeles 2 days early to acclimatise and to see some of LA.
We stayed in the Best Western Plus Sunset Plaza Hotel on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood. It was a good budget hotel option with a nice room. The receptionist allocated us a room on the 2nd floor but offered us the option of changing to a room with patio doors opening out onto the pool area which was surrounded by lovely flowers and nice chairs and loungers. We opted for this and it was a good decision. The room was clean and spacious. There was no restaurant at the hotel, but plenty of options just a short walk away. The first night we dined at the Cabo Cantina and had Margaritas and a decent Mexican meal. Good friendly service as usual in the USA.
The only down side to the hotel was breakfast. They put on a good selection and the food was good, but it was served on plastic plates and using plastic cutlery. It made it seem cheap and real crockery would have given the hotel the class that it deserved.
On our full sightseeing day we opted for the Hop on Hop off bus tour which went right past the hotel. This was $44 per person. We only had time to do 2 routes and made one big mistake. We did the whole red route because we wanted to have a naughty Hot Fudge Sundae lunch at Ghirardelli's in Hollywood Boulevard. This meant that we had to do half the red route again to join up with the bus tour to Santa Monica. When we got back, we had to do the other half of the red route again to get back to the hotel. It would have been better to transfer to the Santa Monica bus as soon as we got to the transfer point and then we would not have had to do the red route twice wasting all that time. It meant that we saw the lovely Santa Monica beach front, but had no time to get off and wander.
That night we ate at the Saddle Ranch Chop House, right opposite the hotel. The meal was great. I had the best salad dressing I have ever tasted. It was Thai Peanut dressing and was divine. The Ribs were fall off the bone tender and tasted great. Again service was top notch. The bill said tip 20% if you want your server to be President. The last I heard our server was considering running against Donald Trump
Our driver picked us up at 11am and we were at San Pedro just after 12 noon. If we travel from LA again we would stay in either Long Beach or Santa Monica. Not because of the journey, but because we are more beach people than city people and those areas looked really nice.
The boarding process was astonishingly fast. We have never been on the ship quicker. From dropping our luggage to walking up the gangway took only about 20 minutes maximum. There was a bit of a delay on the gangway as they were boarding via the Promenade deck, but this only added about 10 minutes to our wait. We dropped our hand luggage and then went straight to the Da Vinci Dining Room for lunch. We have never done this before as we never realised that the MDR was open on embarkation day (one of the benefits of following Vickie's Facebook page).
Lunch was nice and relaxed and we had a nice cold bottle of wine. This is where I made an unfortunate mistake. I ordered the 10 bottle Silver Wine Package. What I did not realise was that LA sales tax was added to the bill for this as we were still in port. If I had waited until we had set sail, I would have saved myself more than $18. I did think that the staff member could have made me aware of this before I made the purchase, but then I think he was happy to get the associated gratuity.
Ship in General:
The Emerald and the Ruby are our favourite ships to date. The Ruby is looking good after her dry dock at the end of 2015 and now has Share instead of Sabatini's and the Salty Dog Pub as part of the Wheelhouse bar. Both new areas look stylish. The only odd thing was a rather nasty smell that hung around the front stairwell and in some of the corridors. It came and went, but did not overly affect us. We did not notice anything in our cabin. It may have been as a result of the ship emptying the sewage tanks while in port, but we cannot be certain.
One positive thing was the ship's internet. There was full wifi signal in our cabin and the speed was the fastest we have ever had. On some days it was almost as fast as we get at home. I was pleasantly surprised.
We opted for a balcony cabin on the Port side (Caribe 238) and it was up to the usual Princess standard. We like the part covered, part open large balconies and the larger furniture than on the upper decks. We were ahead of the forward staircase, but that does not worry us as we are usually good sailors. It gave us easy access to the Theatre and the Gym, but was very quiet.
Our Steward was Genaro. He was very efficient and looked after us well. Not a great talker and not as much personality as most Cabin Stewards we have had, but he did his job well. Robes and extra hangers were provided promptly and a problem with a dead bathroom bulb was dealt with quickly.
We loved the new waffle robes that Princess has introduced. So much more luxurious than the old ones. The greatest improvement from all our previous trips though was the new Princess bed. It was so comfortable and soft. We have asked for egg crate toppers in the past, but this new pillow top mattress suits us perfectly. The new bedding is also very nice, but the pillows were possibly slightly too soft for our taste. Overall, the best sleep experience we have had on any cruise to date.
We loved the new waffle robes that Princess has introduced. So much more luxurious than the old ones. The greatest improvement from all our previous trips though was the new Princess bed. It was so comfortable and soft. We have asked for egg crate toppers in the past, but this new pillow top mattress suits us perfectly. The new bedding is also very nice, but the pillows were possibly slightly too soft for our taste. Overall, the best sleep experience we have had on any cruise to date.
Although we opted for Anytime dining, we were concerned about getting a table at our preferred time of 6.30pm to 7pm. This was because of the older demographic of cruisers that usually go on the longer cruises (they like to dine early) and the high number of sea days. As it was our 30th Wedding Anniversary cruise, we also wanted to dine at a table for 2 more than we usually do. I got some advice from Vickie and lined up to see the Head Waiter on the first day to see if he could accommodate a standing reservation for us. The line was long and there were 2 staff members seeing one person at a time. Some people were getting uptight, but I kept calm and waited about 45 minutes in the end. Timothy, the Assistant Head Waiter, listened to my request and said he could not promise anything, but that I should come to the Michelangelo dining room that night and ask for him.
We turned up at 7pm, but Timothy was nowhere to be seen. Instead the Head Waiter Genel spoke to us and said "Ah yes, you are celebrating your anniversary. Come this way to see if you like this table". Keep in mind that there was a long queue waiting to be seated and they were being given pagers. We felt like Royalty. He said to come and see him when we finished and let him know what we thought of the table. The table was against the wall by a server station one table away from the window. We both thought that this was a table we would have picked for ourselves and we were really happy. When we said this to Genel, he said that this table was ours at 7pm every evening. Every night we waited in the reservations line and were quickly waived in by either Genel or Timothy. It really made our dining experience special.
Because of this, we got to know our waiters. Sampong from Thailand and Assistant Waiter Alexey from Moldova. They were both fantastic and quickly got to know our likes and dislikes. Our wine was waiting for us ready every night. We do not normally tip extra to waiters on anytime dining as we rarely see the same ones twice, but these two deserved every cent of the extra we gave them at the end of the cruise.
The food was excellent as usual. For lunch we alternated between the buffet and the MDR and had no complaints. Something different in the MDR was the butter. There was no butter dish on the table. Instead, the waiters served individual butter pats as you needed them. I asked Sampong why, but he did not know. He said the practice had been introduced while on his last break between contracts. The other change was that there were no breadsticks in the breadbasket. I reported this to Vickie via Facebook and, hey presto, the next night breadsticks appeared. I thought this must mean Vickie has friends in high places. However, that was the last time we saw breadsticks for the rest of the cruise.
We did have one big disappointment with dining and that was when we tried to organise Ultimate Balcony Dining. The stateroom directory states that UBD is available from 5.30pm. We wanted to book it at 5.30pm so that we could eat while the ship sailed away from Lahaina. The room service line said that the kitchen does not open until 5.30pm, so the earliest we could book was 6pm. We decided not to argue the point and accepted 6pm. I then asked if I could alter the main course for myself. I don't particularly like Filet Minon and much prefer Ribeye or New York Strip Steak. We have done UBD many times and have always made this change with no problem. The dining line said I could only change to a dish that was being served in the MDR that night and offered me Cowboy Steak. Now call me picky, but I wanted something better than that for the $100 cover charge. I pointed out that the stateroom directory says that UBD guests can make a special request regarding the menu and that I had done this before on other ships. They said they would have to check with the kitchen staff. I received a call back to tell me that the Executive Chef had refused my special request and that I must select from Lobster, Filet Minon or something from the MDR. I said thank you, but I would cancel and go to the Crown Grill instead. We booked at the Crown Grill and the Head Waiter there was so attentive and welcoming that we were glad to see the Princess high standards were still available on the ship. On returning to the cabin, there was a message from Room Service saying that the Maitre 'D had now stepped in and agreed to our request and would we like to rebook UBD. I politely refused saying we had changed our plans and did not want to let down the Head Waiter at Crown Grill. I do feel that some Princess staff do not know as much about what Princess offers as the regular cruisers. I cannot believe that the Executive Chef has been instructed to refuse a simple request; instead I think he just made up the decision on the spot to suit him. I had a similar situation last year, when a Head Waiter said we could not wear smart casual in the Crown Grill on formal night. This time there was no problem and the Head Waiter was shocked when we told him we had been refused a booking on formal night because we did not want to wear formal clothes.
Our meal in Crown Grill was fantastic and the service excellent, so we enjoyed ourselves in spite of the let down over UBD.
A change that is not to our liking is the new brand of speciality coffee. Café Select is no more and has been replaced by New Grounds. The coffee card works in the same way, but I found the taste of the coffee to be not to my liking. I tried a whole range of different types and flavours and not one hit the spot for me. I ended up drinking hot chocolate instead. They have also introduced a range of ice coffees from Illy. These cost you 2 punches of your coffee card though. We did not try them.
The daytime activities were plentiful, but not for us. We prefer to just relax and read our books. The evening entertainment, with a few exceptions, was aimed at an older generation. Lots of Cole Porter or swing type of music and bands playing ballroom and Latin dance numbers. There is usually a singer/guitarist playing soft rock on most cruises, but the one on this trip was rarely used and put on at awkward times. He never seemed to be playing anywhere between 8pm and 10pm, which is when we are normally looking for this type of music.
The production shows were good, but they were not the best singers we have come across. Magic to Do was a spectacle and we look forward to seeing it again on future cruises. There was a Canadian Comic called Scott Harris that we thought was very good and a vocal group called ReVoiced that were worth seeing. We did not bother with Voice of the Ocean, as we do not watch the show at home. One thing we saw and did not like was Ye Olde Pub Night. Being British, it made me cringe to think people believe we are anything like that. The acting was corny and the jokes worse.
The Cruise Director, Billy Hygate, was good. He took time to stop and talk to us in passing on a couple of occasions around the ship. The Wake Show has turned in to a set of adverts with tiny bits of entertainment dotted here and there. The Shopping Host and the Effy Ambassador were on it almost constantly. Sales pitches have increased compared to our previous cruises and Effy are now coming across as desperate with their constant stream of offers and invites.
Another change was the ScanDisplay Channel on the TV. It always used to scroll through the safety briefing and officers insignia as well as a map of where the ship was, along with the Captain's Log, Weather Log and Navigator's Log. For this trip, there was no safety briefing or list of officer's insignia. Instead, the map of where the ship is located was almost constantly on. Occasionally, the Weather Log or Navigator's Log would come up, but very rarely. Also, there was no "This is Day X of your Cruise" notice.
There were 9 sea days (4 out to Hawaii and 5 back). We love sea days, so we spent our time looking at the ocean and reading our books. I managed to read 3 novels and start a 4th. We were a little disappointed that they did not designate any areas of the ship as quiet reading areas (they sometimes do this in Skywalkers during the day), but we found quiet places most of the time. Knitters and Natters was scheduled in Skywalkers every day, but they were not very loud and one side of Skywalkers seemed to attract the readers on the ship and remained an area of quiet and calm. We also found the open deck near to the Sanctuary surprisingly deserted even though the weather was nice for most of the trip. Another area that suited us was outside the Share restaurant a couple of decks up from the Terrace Pool. One half of this area was designated for smokers, but the other half was a nice area to sit for non-smokers. The seas were calm for most of the trip except for the first 2 days out of LA, when there was a very strong swell. It is the first time I have felt slightly queasy because of the motion of the ship, but that may have been partly due to jetlag. It did not spoil things and I was soon as right at rain.
We looked at the Princess excursions, but they were, as usual, quite expensive. I did some research and came up with Roberts Hawaii. They offered a great package deal of either 3 or 4 excursions. There were some good reports on various review sites and so I took the plunge and booked a 3 tour package. The same trips on Princess would have cost us more than $500, but our all in price with Roberts was $258. We are so glad we did this. Not only was it cheaper, but Roberts were actually running the Princess tours as well as the private tours. The difference was that for 2 out of the 3 tours we were in small groups on a minibus, whereas the Princess tours were on 50 to 60 seater coaches. Our drivers were also flexible and took us to places that we asked about rather than just stuck to the schedule. I cannot recommend Roberts highly enough.
Honolulu – It was raining as we arrived, but this soon cleared up. We took the Pearl Harbor and City Highlights tour with Roberts and were guided by our driver Wilton. He is a distant relative to King Kamehameha and was wonderfully engaging and knowledgeable. The tour to Pearl Harbor included timed tickets for a visit to the USS Arizona at 11.30am. We explored the grounds and it was stunning and humbling. We purchased additional tickets to look around the USS Bowfin a WW2 submarine and were stunned by the memorial showing how many submarines had been lost in the conflict. The trip out to the Arizona was well organised and everyone was respectful. You have to be with over 900 servicemen still lying in the wreck below the memorial. We returned to the main area and had time to grab a hotdog before moving on.
The city tour was great and Honolulu is a lovely place. Wilton kept up the commentary the whole way and asked us questions about where we were from and tailored his information to that. He showed us the state flag with the Union Jack, designating the time Great Britain controlled the islands. After this visit we are thinking of asking for them back. Someone mentioned that they wanted to see Waikiki Beach and so Wilton detoured to take us along the shoreline. We would not have got that on a ship's excursion. This was our first experience of Roberts Hawaii and they under promised and over delivered. What a nice change to be able to say that.
Kauai (Nawiliwili) – We were with Roberts again and took the Waimea Canyon tour with our driver Marilyn. She was a lovely lady who sang to us a number of times during the day and gave us all a hug at the end of the tour. First stop was a coffee farm, where we were able to sample a range of coffee blends and flavours free of charge. Waimea Canyon itself was breath taking with its range of colours and stunning vistas. Marilyn took us a bit further around the canyon than the big bus tours go so that we could get a Wow view of a waterfall. Only a small bus could have dropped us off at this point. She drove on, turned around and picked us up on the way back so that we could get our photos. We then stopped at Spouting Horn, which was beautiful with its geyser like hole in the rock that sends water into the air. The weather was perfect, which made it all the better. Finally Marilyn dropped us at a large souvenir store, where we were able to get some nice gifts to take home. Another lovely trip and certainly great value for the price we paid.
The last minute drama of the day was that 2 passengers were left behind. They turned up 45 minutes late just after the ship had pushed away from the birth. The thing was that we saw that they made no effort to run as they saw the ship preparing to leave. They just kept on walking at their normal speed. It was only when they arrived at the pier that the staff there encouraged them to wave and jump about. We could clearly see that the Captain and Staff Officer on the bridge saw them, but ignored their pleas. I just wonder if they had attempted to run to the ship rather than just walk, whether the Captain would have had more sympathy.
Hilo – The disembarkation was delayed here because the ship could not get the gangways out. A forklift was required to shift some concrete blocks that were in the wrong spot on the pier and this took around 30 minutes to arrive. Once ashore, we followed the directions to pick up our final tour with Roberts, which was to Rainbow Falls and Volcanoes National Park. This time we were not on a small bus, but on a 50 to 60 seater coach, probably because more people had booked this tour independently. Our first stop was Rainbow Falls, which was very scenic in the sunshine. The driver was very clear what time we should be back on the bus, but as I came down from the top of the falls 5 minutes before the deadline, I saw members of a family on our bus just starting to climb to the top. Low and behold, everyone was ready to go but had to wait for this one family. This set the pattern for the day.
We then stopped at the Macadamia Nut factory. We toured the shop, tasted the free samples and purchased some gifts for home. We then had some lovely ice cream in the café and walked around the gardens. We had been given a time to be on the bus and everyone was back on time except some members of this particular family. We could see some of them sitting in the café still eating and they were already 15 minutes late. One member of the family who was already back was spoken to by another passenger who forcefully said "go and get them". A couple of the family then returned to the bus to ironic cheers and claps, but 2 more still did not appear. Another 5 or 10 minutes went by and they finally came back with packages. After being told we were waiting, they went shopping before coming back. Can you believe that? They got a hostile reception on the bus and all they could say is "we didn't know". A passenger said to the driver "I hope our time at the park is not cut short because of them" and the driver assured us that we would have our full time there.
Volcanoes National Park was much larger than I imagined, with views over the smoking volcano. The museum was interesting with video of lava flows that had only happened a few days before. We stopped off at the steam vents before heading to Thurston Lava Tube and walking through this. The notorious family had learned their lesson and were back to the bus on time.
There were 2 more stops on the way back to the ship, the orchid farm and Big Island Candies. Both of these were not required as far as we were concerned, but some people purchased gifts at these places.
Overall, the tour was not as great as the previous 2, but was still pretty good. The inconsiderate family was not the fault of Roberts, but the larger bus made us realise how lucky we were to be on smaller buses previously.
Maui (Lahaina) – Such a lovely port to visit with the ship anchored offshore and the view of the mountains along the coast. We opted for the Princess Snorkel tour to Molokini Crater. We chose this because Roberts did not offer it and, being a tender port, it made more sense for Princess to arrange our trip to shore. My only complaint was the tour company waiver that arrived in our cabin the night before the tour. Remember that is was now too late to cancel. The waiver said that snorkelling could be hazardous and that we had to agree that we were fit to do it and would listen to the briefing etc. No problem so far. However, at the end it said that we agreed to indemnify the tour company and would not hold them responsible for any incident even if any of the tour company staff were negligent. Now, I don't mind accepting risks, but I would not expect any company to remain blameless if their staff were negligent and put me in avoidable danger. For example, what if the captain turned up drunk and sailed into a rock? Would I want to claim against the company for that? You bet I would. I spoke to the Assistant Tour Manager at Princess about this in the morning, but she did not want to know. She said it was nothing to do with Princess and said I should speak to the Tour Company. In the end I crossed out the words and replaced them with words that said I would not hold them responsible unless they were negligent. I handed it in with all the other passengers as we got on the boat and no one said anything.
Other than that, the tour was amazing and I would recommend it to anyone who likes to snorkel. The scenery on the hour or so journey to the crater was amazing with a few whales spotted on the way out. We had an hour at the site with some great snorkelling in calm, warm seas. There were plenty of soft drinks, a breakfast and a buffet lunch put on by the crew and we did not go hungry. On the way back from the crater we spotted a Whale and her calf lying in the water and the captain stopped the boat and we got within about 25 yards. After about 15 minutes the Whales swam off and we continued our journey. It was closer than we got when Whale watching in Alaska. Our final stop was a site to snorkel again, but this time with Turtles. Our intended site for this was closed, as Tiger Sharks had been spotted, so this alternate site extended our trip by an hour or so. Not much was around at first, but then a Turtle appeared right near us and I swam after it. It rose to the surface right beside me and was just 3 feet away. My wife had a similar experience a little while later. Overall, I think maybe 2 or 3 Turtles were seen over about 45 minutes.
We got back to shore and caught the next tender back to the ship, ordered coffee and cookies for our balcony and just soaked up the view before the sail away and our farewell to Hawaii.
|Easter Celebrations on board
Ensenada, Mexico – Originally the itinerary was for us to arrive at 5pm and leave at 9pm. There was no explanation, but this was changed to arriving at 8am and leaving at 6pm. We thought great; at least we will have time to see a bit of Mexico. How wrong we were.
The weather did not help as it rained all day. We saw and heard the Sea Lions as we entered the port, which was nice. We booked the Bodegas de Santo Tomas & Riviera del Pacifico excursion on board for around $30 each. It was terrible. We could have easily walked to all the stops for free.
Riviera del Pacifico was quite nice to see, but the promise of a free Margarita was I small measure in a small plastic cup. More of a taster than a cocktail. We were also kept lined up in the rain waiting for the guide to tell us when we could go in.
We then went to the shopping area and the bus parked up outside a shop called Ronnies. We were ushered inside as soon as we set foot off the bus and pestered by the staff to look at their silver. We had no interest in buying silver, so eventually got out of the shop to explore further. This shop obviously lets the bus park outside provided the passengers are directed to go inside.
We needed some final gifts to take home for our children, so we wanted to buy some things. However, we could not walk a few yards without being pestered to go into every shop we passed. When we did go in a shop to look around they would not leave us alone. "Come and see this, come and see that. I will give you a good price on this." We only had to glance at something and it was taken from the shelf and thrust under our nose. We cannot stand that sort of pestering, so we just went straight back to the bus and sat there until we moved on. If they had left us in peace we would have purchased something there.
Our final stop was the wine tasting, which was quite nice apart from one thing. This was not the fault of the tour operator, but one person on the bus was clearly quite ill and should not have been there. She was coughing almost constantly and spitting the result into her handkerchief. We tried to keep away from her as much as we could because we did not want to catch anything from her. Part way through the tasting they brought out some bread and cheese to have with the varieties of Olive Oil that they produce. The first person to pounce on the bowl of bread was this woman who was ill. She had not been to wash her hands and was still holding the handkerchief she had been coughing into. We took one look and decided we did not want to risk eating anything after she had dipped her hand into it. After the wine tasting we went back to the ship and, after washing our own hands, had lunch.
Ensenada was a real let down after the great time we had in Hawaii and I just wish Princess would make it the first call of this itinerary rather than the last. We have been put off going back to Mexico for the time being, but will maybe give other Mexican ports a try at some point.
Long Beach Debark Tour On Your Own – Our flight was at 3.30pm and so we booked the debark tour that would drop us at LAX. On the website, it said it was suitable for flights leaving after 3.30pm. However, when our tour tickets arrived it said it was for flights that left after 4.30pm. I went to the Excursions desk and was assured that it would be OK and that we would be at LAX by 1.30pm.
We were asked to gather in the Princess Theatre by 8.10am. We were then kept waiting until around 9am before we were called to disembark. The disembarkation process was fairly smooth and we were directed to our coach. It was raining and so we got quite wet while loading our luggage. We drove to Long Beach to the Aquarium of the Pacific, which was our drop off point. We did this via a long detour, because of roadworks. We eventually got off the bus at around 9.30am and were told to be back by 12.15pm. A passenger complained that the tour was supposed to give us 4 hours in Long Beach, but nothing was changed.
We had pre booked tickets to tour the Queen Mary, which is now a floating hotel. It was not within walking distance (particularly in the rain) but there is a free shuttle bus. We got there around 10am to be told that the tour we had booked was cancelled. Other options started too late for us so we opted to do the self-guided tour. We found the audio directions very confusing and one of the directions asked us to climb a staircase that was blocked off. We went back to the tour desk to be told that this part of the tour was closed off due to inclement weather and we had to restart 5 or 6 steps further on. In addition, my wife's audio unit froze at one point and she had to return to get it changed. The replacement unit then ran out of battery at the other end of the ship. The time wasted meant that we had to rush the tour and did not have time to stop for lunch. We have since provided details of the problems to the Queen Mary and they are refunding our ticket costs in full.
Everyone arrive back to the coach on time and we were at LAX by 1pm. By the time we reached our terminal it was about 1.20pm, so we had plenty of time to catch our flight. Although the debark tour was more expensive than taking a taxi, it enabled us to leave our luggage in safety and was worth the extra cost. Getting us off the ship and to Long Beach earlier would have been the only improvement.
We had an absolutely fabulous time and would love to go back to Hawaii again on another cruise. Princess was top for service once again and any little issues that were not to our liking were outweighed massively by the things we did like. We have already booked for Scandinavia on the Emerald and cannot wait to go.
Friday, April 8, 2016
Can You Believe It - Our Next Holiday Is Not A Cruise
Whenever we have some time off we search for cruises that fit that timeline.
We have a week of vacation coming up and we thought we would do a cruise. In fact we searched all the sites looking for a deal.
One big thing is that it is Alaskan season for the ships, and since we live in Vancouver that is an easy option. But we didn't want just one week. The other issue is the low Canadian dollar which added about 30% to the cost of any cruise.
Our first hope was to sail on the Island Princess or Coral Princess on a round trip cruise up to Whittier and back. But both those ships sold out. So we started looking at other options.
Road trip? But where to? Of course again the Canadian dollar would limit us to staying in Canada and when you add hotel, gas, food, drink it really added up and would it really be a relaxing holiday.
We then looked at flying somewhere in Mexico and staying at an Airbnb or condo. But again the costs added up to around $2,000 each for a few weeks.
Our last option was looking at All Inclusives down in Mexico and a great deal popped up at a resort in Nuevo Vallarta (just north of Puerto Vallarta) for a great price.
We booked this trip thru Sell Off Vacations.
In fact we were kind of surprised at the low price. Other times and other hotels were much more. So we booked.
We have booked the Riu Jalisco !
We use to go to All Inclusives in Mexico all the time. Usually every year for about six years our annual trip in January was Mexico. We have stayed in Puerto Vallarta a few times and love it. And of course we have visited Puerto Vallarta on cruise stops too.
So stay tuned. I will blog from the resort on occasion on the happenings. I will review the resort, the city and the activities available. Of course the food and drink will also be discussed.
I know this is not my normal topic but with the cost of cruising going up and the exchange rate so poor travelling to Mexico may be more of an option in the future.
Thanks for following.
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eject: unable to find or open device for: `cdrom' - but my cd is /dev/cdrom1
|Assigned to
|eject (Debian)
Fix Released
|eject (Ubuntu)
|Ankit Sinha
Bug Description
Binary package hint: eject
The eject command does not actually eject my cdrom, unless called as 'eject /dev/cdrom1'
The problem seems to be that the eject command's default device is set to "/dev/cdrom" specifically. Yet, udev will increment the drive name if new cdroms are added or even if you change the cable that the cdrom is connected to. See https:/
Anyway, as a workaround, I can set up a /media/cdrom symlink to the proper device and then it works. But that's a brittle solution since if I switched my cable back or changed cdroms, I'd have to manually adjust that link again.
Possibly eject could be modified to determine the default device by looking first for /dev/cdrom, and then if that's missing, look for /dev/cdrom[0-9]. (Make sure /dev/cdroms is not included in that list obviously.) If there's more than one cd device in the system, either bail out or bravely select the lowest numbered one.
The file /proc/sys/
This udev change is a generic problem that affects all utilities that interact with the cdrom. It is possible that this could be solved in a more general purpose way by some sort of little lib shared with xine and other cdrom users. In any case, those other tools may have already solved this problem and could be worth examining for code reuse.
Related branches
- Gianfranco Costamagna: Disapprove on 2014-02-25
- Sebastien Bacher: Needs Fixing on 2013-11-07
- Jamie Strandboge: Needs Fixing on 2013-07-22
Diff: 44 lines (+19/-0)2 files modifieddebian/changelog (+6/-0)
eject.c (+13/-0)
|Bryce Harrington (bryce) wrote :
The persistent names are stored in /etc/udev/
|added: bitesize
|Raseel (raseel) wrote :
I agree with your suggestion of fixing eject to search for devices /dev/cdrom0 to /dev/cdrom9 .
Have made changes accordingly and submitted the package to be reviewed.
|Changed in eject (Ubuntu):
|nobody → Raseel (raseel)
|New → In Progress
|In Progress → Fix Committed
|eviljoel (eviljoel-t) wrote :
I think this is a solid feature request and I've spent a month or so looking into a good solution. While I don't have a patch of my own yet, I disagree with the method Raseel used to solve this issue. Basically there is nothing guaranteeing multiple CD-ROM devices will be named /dev/cdrom1-9. This is simply a convention used by most (if not all) distros. I believe eject's behavior should not make assumptions about the existence of or the configuration of udev.
Most of the following I wrote a before Raseel's comment, so bear with me if it reads awkwardly. Basically the following is just my thoughts on different approaches I could take to implement this feature request:
First, I did confirm that eject will not "just work" if /dev/cdrom does not exist. However, I haven't confirmed the udev assignment portion of this bug, so for right now I am going to leave this bug as unverified.
One thing I keep going back and forth on is if this is an error with udev or eject. One possibility is to make /dev/cdrom a non-persistent device name and have it point to the first detected CD-ROM on the system. However, udev has been around for about 5 years now and there might be many applications that depend on /dev/cdrom being a persistent name for a device.
Looking at eject now, I think the best thing to do is determine how many optical drives are connected to the system. If the number of optical drives is greater than 1, refuse to eject. If the number of optical drives is one, then automatically eject that device. The eject command is obviously created with the intention of mainly interfacing with CD-ROMs, so if you have no optical drives but there is another ejectable device that the eject command can interface with, eject should ignore that device unless it is explicitly specified.
So, the problem becomes determining the number of optical drives in the system. It was suggested by Bryce that we look for /dev/cdrom[1-9]. While most systems name their CD-ROMs in this manner, this naming is entirely based on udev rules that may not be consistent across all distributions. Hence, (as I said above) I don't think this is the best solution for this problem.
Bryce also suggested that /proc/sys/
In trying to find a more programmer friendly way of determining how many optical drives are in the system, I started looking at the udev source code. I figured that if udev can determine how many optical drives exist, then eject...
|Sebastien Bacher (seb128) wrote :
don't use "fix commited" if the fix is not commited to an official packaging vcs, people will likely not review your bug otherwise since they will think the fix is commited and no work is needed
|Changed in eject (Ubuntu):
|Fix Committed → In Progress
|Undecided → Low
|Andrei ILIE (andrei-ilie) wrote :
Same problem here; my CDROM device is "sr0" :)
andrei@cofee:~$ uname -a
Linux cofee 2.6.41.
andrei@cofee:~$ ls -l /dev/*cd*
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Jan 1 19:03 /dev/cdrom -> /dev/scd0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 3 Jan 1 19:04 /dev/cdrom1 -> sr0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 3 Jan 1 19:04 /dev/cdrw1 -> sr0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 3 Jan 1 19:04 /dev/scd0 -> sr0
|Andrei ILIE (andrei-ilie) wrote :
Not to forget... I manually did a "sudo ln -s /dev/scd0 /dev/cdrom" before all of the above.
|Ddorda (ddorda) wrote :
confirming the bug on MSI-FX620DX.
I was able to open the cdrom by using "eject" on the next:
|OzzyFrank (ubuntu-ozzyfrank) wrote :
I get the same error after upgrading to Ubuntu 12.10. I actually found an eject package for Quantal (https:/
Just confirming that the eject command worked for years, until this upgrade.
|Hunk (enrique-garciasimon) wrote :
As commented by OzzyFrank, I get the same error after upgrading to Ubuntu 12.10, eject command worked for years for me.
(The eject command is a must for me in ubuntu, as the hardware button does not work properly (Acer Aspire 5810T)
Output (spanish)
"eject -V"
eject versión 2.1.5 por Jeff Tranter (<email address hidden>)
"eject" or "eject cdrom"
eject: incapaz de encontrar o abrir el dispositivo para: «cdrom»
"sudo lshw -C disk"
descripción: DVD-RAM writer
producto: DVDRAM GU10N
fabricante: HL-DT-ST
id físico: 0.0.0
información del bus: scsi@4:0.0.0
nombre lógico: /dev/cdrom3
nombre lógico: /dev/cdrw3
nombre lógico: /dev/dvd3
nombre lógico: /dev/dvdrw3
nombre lógico: /dev/sr0
versión: AP03
capacidades: removable audio cd-r cd-rw dvd dvd-r dvd-ram
Workaround: It works for me using "eject /dev/cdrom3"
|Øyvind Stegard (oyvinst) wrote :
Confirming breakage of eject command's notion of "default device" after upgrading to 12.10. It has worked fine for years until now. I have '/dev/cdrom1' pointing to '/dev/sr0', but no '/dev/cdrom'.
|Øyvind Stegard (oyvinst) wrote :
The problem for me seems to be caused by /etc/udev/
SUBSYSTEM=="block", ENV{ID_
SUBSYSTEM=="block", ENV{ID_
SUBSYSTEM=="block", ENV{ID_
SUBSYSTEM=="block", ENV{ID_
SUBSYSTEM=="block", ENV{ID_
SUBSYSTEM=="block", ENV{ID_
SUBSYSTEM=="block", ENV{ID_
SUBSYSTEM=="block", ENV{ID_
The last one is in effect (giving device aliases for the only optical drive in my laptop a numeric suffix of "1" instead of none). Since the file is generated, I just deleted it and rebooted. Now there is only one entry, proper device links and eject works again. (Looks like the only difference between the entries is SCSI device numbering, "scsi-1:0:0:0" vs "scsi-0:0:0:0" in Ubuntu 12.10.)
|Changed in eject (Ubuntu):
|In Progress → Fix Committed
|Fix Committed → In Progress
|Ankit Sinha (ankitbko) wrote :
Hey guys,
I am new to bug fixing and would need help on the whole process. I am really interested in contributing to ubuntu by fixing bugs. Have gone through ubuntu wiki but would still like to know from an experienced developer about how everything works here. It seems this bug has been abandoned. Last comment was made about 7 months ago. Is there specific reason why has it been left out. So If I want to fix the bug should I just start working by getting the source code and changing "Assigned to" to myself?
It still affects me on ubuntu 13.04. I have '/dev/cdrom5' and '/dev/cdrom6' while having only one physical cd drive.
Here is the result of lshw -C disk
description: DVD-RAM writer
product: DVD+-RW AD-7640S
vendor: Optiarc
physical id: 0.0.0
bus info: scsi@1:0.0.0
logical name: /dev/cdrom6
logical name: /dev/cdrw6
logical name: /dev/dvd6
logical name: /dev/dvdrw6
logical name: /dev/sr0
version: HD18
description: SCSI CD-ROM
physical id: 0
bus info: scsi@6:0.0.0
logical name: /dev/cdrom5
logical name: /dev/sr1
I have created a SCSI CD-ROM in windows using daemon tool. Can it be that the second one is showing that?
|Changed in eject (Ubuntu):
|Raseel (raseel) → Ankit Sinha (ankitbko)
|eviljoel (eviljoel-t) wrote :
Hey Ankit,
First, I am no Ubuntu expert but I am sure it is fine if you should just go ahead and take it.
I stopped working on it because I started playing around with the Doom 3 source code when it was released. The problem hasn't been fixed because it isn't exactly an easy problem to solve. I don't remember all the details but except for /proc/sys/
Be sure to try to fix the issue upstream. If not, I would try to submit it here.
I remember I posted more detailed information above. You should definitely read that.
Good luck,
|Changed in eject (Debian):
|Unknown → New
|Lester Carballo Pérez (vampireuh) wrote :
|Hunk (enrique-garciasimon) wrote :
In comment #9 I explained it wasn't working, but now "eject cdrom" works for me
Output (spanish)
$eject -V
eject versión 2.1.5 por Jeff Tranter (<email address hidden>)
$sudo lshw -C disk
descripción: DVD-RAM writer
producto: DVDRAM GU10N
fabricante: HL-DT-ST
id físico: 0.0.0
información del bus: scsi@4:0.0.0
nombre lógico: /dev/cdrom
nombre lógico: /dev/sr0
versión: AP03
capacidades: removable audio cd-r cd-rw dvd dvd-r dvd-ram
$uname -a
Linux invitado 3.11.0-15-generic #25-Ubuntu SMP Thu Jan 30 17:22:01 UTC 2014 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
Filed a sync request from debian, actually pending (waiting for a sponsor)
|Changed in eject (Ubuntu):
|In Progress → Fix Committed
|Changed in eject (Debian):
|New → Fix Released
|Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :
This bug was fixed in the package eject - 2.1.5+deb1+
eject (2.1.5+
[ Ankit Sinha ]
* Non-maintainer upload.
* eject now iterates through /dev/device_
(LP: #795239, Closes: #719110)
[ Bart Martens ]
* debian/rules: Create directory debian/eject-udeb if it doesn't exist yet.
-- Gianfranco Costamagna <email address hidden> Fri, 14 Feb 2014 22:17:11 +0100
|Changed in eject (Ubuntu):
|Fix Committed → Fix Released

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Network Data Systems Named One of 2017 Tech Elite Solution Providers & Recognized for Excellence in Managed IT Services
SCHAUMBURG, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr 4, 2018--Network Data Systems announced today that CRN®, a brand of The Channel Company, has named NDS to its 2017 Tech Elite 250 list. Additionally, NDS was recognized last month in the Elite 150 category of the MSP 500 list.
The Tech Elite 250 list honors an exclusive group of North American IT solution providers that have earned the highest number of advanced technical certifications from leading technology suppliers, scaled to their company size. The MSP Elite 150, recognizes large, data center focused MSPs with a strong mix of on-premises and off-premises services. Both awards recognize solution providers with cutting-edge approaches to delivering managed services.
In today's fast-paced business environments, MSPs play an important role in helping companies leverage new technologies without straining their budgets or losing focus on their core business. CRN's MSP 500 list shines a light on the most forward-thinking and innovative of these key organizations.
"Network Data Systems is proud to be named to the Channel Companies' MSP Elite 150 list for 2017," said Wayne Dumas, VP of Managed Services. "Again in 2017, our team was able to exceed our growth plan, expand our service portfolio while maintaining our high employee and customer Net Promoter Scores (NPS). Employee and customer satisfaction is the foundation of everything we do at NDS and we are proud to be recognized by our employees, customers and The Channel Company for services we provide to our managed service clients. We look forward to continuing to grow as the industry and needs of the customers change in the future."
Gary McGuire, Sr. Director of Delivery, said, "We are definitely seeing the market and our clients moving to a Service-based model for their IT services. Clients are moving IT budgets from CAPX to OPX which provides them more consistent cash flow. By leveraging MSP's, clients can utilize complex IT services without having to maintain a complex infrastructure and highly trained IT workforce."
"Managed service providers have become integral to the success of businesses everywhere, both large and small," said Bob Skelley, CEO of The Channel Company. "Capable MSPs enable companies to take their cloud computing to the next level, streamline spending, effectively allocate limited resources and navigate the vast field of available technologies. The companies on CRN's 2018 MSP 500 list stand out for their innovative services, excellence in adapting to customers' changing needs and demonstrated ability to help businesses get the most out of their IT investments."
The MSP 500 list was featured in the February 2018 issue of CRN and online at www.CRN.com/msp500.
The Tech Elite 250 will be featured in the April issue of CRN and online at www.crn.com/techelite250.
About NDS
Network Data Systems, some say, is the industry's best kept secret, a world-class specialist in providing IT infrastructure, professional & managed services and UCaaS capabilities. Headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Schaumburg, IL, NDS is trusted to serve some of the nation's largest, most complex corporations and government agencies. www.network-data.com
About The Channel Company
The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers and end users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequaled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. www.thechannelco.com
View source version on businesswire.com:https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180404006384/en/
CONTACT: Network Data Systems
Peter Schoultz, 847-603-3226
SOURCE: Network Data Systems
Copyright Business Wire 2018.


text:
Around Australia, options for financing and funding of commercial building upgrades have expanded in recent years as instruments such as environmental upgrade agreements (EUAs) have come onto the market and traditional forms of finance have become more readily available for clean energy upgrades from sources such as major banks and the Federal Government's Clean Energy Finance Corporation.
With this in mind, it is important for those undertaking such retrofits to understand the options available and some of the advantages and disadvantages of each for different types of projects.
Essentially, options boil down to three categories: private finance, government incentives and self-financing. While the last of these is self-explanatory, options regarding the other two are outlined below.
According to Dermot Duncan, in-house counsel and head of carbon markets at Melbourne-based environmental credits trading outfit Greenbank Environmental, it should also be noted that it is possible to use a combination of each, and that the suitability of any of them will depend largely upon the type of project involved.
"First of all, it is important to choose the funding option that is right for you," Duncan said. "That's the starting point."
"There is also a mix and match approach, so one funding option may not be the right option for the whole capital upgrade. If you were considering upgrading a large commercial building in the Sydney CBD, for example, you may want to do a mixture of financing arrangements. If you think of the façade of the building, it is high capital cost, and so an EUA may be great for that. Then you look at some of the whitegoods and the photocopiers. For those sorts of equipment, you could look at leasing structures – whether it be an operating lease or a finance lease."
Below is an outline of the main options and their advantages and disadvantages.
1) Private Financing
Options for private financing include EUAs, energy performance contracts and basic conventional financing.
Environmental Upgrade Agreements (EUAs)
A relatively new form of financing, EUAs are debt-based instruments which aim to provide financing for energy efficiency upgrades at lower rates of interest than would otherwise be the case as a result of the involvement of local councils.
Under this arrangement, commercial property landlords borrow funds from financial institutions in order to upgrade the building's sustainability profile. Instead of repaying the lender directly, however, the landlord instead repays the loan through an environmental upgrade charge levied through council rates, which local councils then pass on to the lender.
Because loans are secured to council rates, this arrangement represents a lower form of risk from the viewpoint of the financial institution (and thus a lower interest rate for the building landlord) than would otherwise be the case with a straightforward loan. Loans may also unlock longer term financing than would be available through traditional lending, enabling the more effective matching of the term of the loan with the duration of the benefits derived from the landlord's perspective. Finally, to an extent EUAs allow commercial landlords to share part of the cost of the upgrade with their tenants, though the share paid by any tenant is limited to the value of the resulting energy cost savings. If traditional financing methods were used, the Commercial Tenancies Act would prevent this from happening.
Thus far, seven such agreements have been entered into, the most recent of which was signed by commercial landlord Intrasia Oxley (RDB) Pty Ltd and the City of Sydney in June. That agreement involves a $1.2 million upgrade of the landmark Readers Digest building in Sydney's Surry Hills including new LED lighting, a new building management system and energy efficient chillers.
Despite the advantages, however, the extra administrative costs involved from a financier's point of view mean this type of arrangement is best suited to larger upgrades. In practice, meanwhile, the ability of landlords to share the cost of the upgrade with their tenants could be limited in the case of multiple tenancies with differing lease expiry terms or in the case of strained tenancies. Also, for now, EUAs remain restricted to a limited number of councils in Victoria and New South Wales, although legislation to introduce EUAs in South Australia is currently before Parliament in that state.
Energy Performance Contracts (EPCs)
A second option revolves around energy performance contracts, in which an energy service provider performs an upgrade – say of lighting or for HVAC – at no up-front cost, with payments to be made out of future energy savings.
From the landlord's perspective, this type of arrangement essentially delivers a risk-free upgrade as the costs involved are paid only through direct savings made as a result of the upgrade. Where the life of the upgrade exceeds the time frame needed for repayment of the cost plus interest – say, the upgrade lasts for 20 years but the loan is repaid within seven – the landlord essentially derives the benefits of the cost savings throughout those remaining years for no cost.
Largely as a result of the administrative costs involved, along with a lack of enthusiasm from energy service providers who assume a significant volume of risk, however, the volume of these type of arrangements entered into outside of those entered into by public-sector clients has thus far been limited.
Conventional Asset Financing
For less extensive upgrades, other options which are becoming increasingly available are more conventional asset financing options such as chattel mortgages (mortgages on a moveable item or property), operating leases or finance leases – the main difference between the latter two being that finance leases allow the building owner (the lessee) the option of acquiring the asset at the conclusion of the lease term.
These operate in a similar manner as in the case of other corporate related equipment such as motor vehicles, and are most often used for fixtures which are easily detachable such as solar panels, LED lighting, and HVAC.
While these types of options might not have the same cost advantages over EUAs or EPCs, their advantages revolve around the ability to enter into loans with longer terms compared to traditional commercial loans (say, seven years against three years) and the relatively straightforward nature of the instrument along with the lower administration costs involved.
2) Government Schemes
As well as private financing, a number of state and federal government schemes which provide incentives for the upgrade of commercial buildings are available.
These include:
- The Energy Savings Scheme (NSW), which allows landlords who undertake initiatives to improve the sustainability of their buildings to receive energy certificates. These certificates can be sold (at a market price) to electricity retailers, who are obliged under the scheme to purchase a certain number of energy certificates.
- The Victorian Energy Efficiency Target Scheme, which allows accredited businesses to offer discounts on selected energy saving products and appliances, such as energy efficient commercial lighting in residential and commercial premises.
- The Retailer Energy Efficiency Scheme (SA), which allows businesses to receive upgrades such as energy efficient lighting and water efficient shower heads at discounted prices.
- The Energy Efficiency Improvement Scheme (ACT), which was recently extended from residential to commercial premises and covers commercial lighting and appliance upgrades for commercial premises.
- The Emissions Reductions Fund (FED), under which registered businesses can submit bids to receive funding for approved projects on a reverse auction basis, with the regulator purchasing admissions through the fund at the lowest possible cost.
Advisors stress that the above schemes are mutually exclusive and that it is not possible to receive both state and federal funding for the same project.
In a recent comparison of schemes, Henry Adams, director of clean technology policy and strategy advisory outfit Common Capital, said the appropriate option depended largely upon a number of factors, including the technology in question, the geographic distribution of projects, the timing of project costs and the landlord's access to project financing.
For smaller projects, he suggests state-based schemes offer more generous terms of up-front financing for more up to 10 years' worth of savings (the federal scheme is capped at seven years of savings and payments are made in arrears of savings being made), but says the federal scheme could be better where landlords have the ability to combine multiple projects across multiple sites in different states.
"Choosing between these schemes depends on the technology you are interested in, the geographic distribution of your projects, the timing of project costs and your access to project financing," Adams noted.
"State-based schemes may be a more attractive choice if the projects are not national, financing certificate revenue is not possible, or the projects involve simple activities that are deemed under state schemes (e.g. commercial lighting, building fabric, packaged appliances).
"The key advantage of the ERF is scale. The benefits of combining projects across multiple national sites may outweigh the lack of forward creation if financing can cover future certificate revenue. The ERF energy efficiency methods are very limited at the moment, but are expected to expand soon."
As commercial pressures to achieve higher NABERS and Green Star ratings continue, so too does the push to retrofit commercial buildings.
Those looking to undertake these types of activity have a number of options to from which to choose.


text:
Corey Barton - - the man of the hour!
Two of the Designers - - Paige Hemmis & Eduardo Xol
With a very happy (& tired) Corey Barton and Rhonda Conger
Mrs. Idaho & Ty Pennington - - SCREAM
With Mandi, my director, and her daughter at the fundraiser
WOW!!! I had the most amazing day ever! I was a VIP guest at the filming of Extreme Makeover Home Edition. It was the hottest day ever and I was a complete sweaty mess after just an hour - - I can't even begin to imagine how all of the workers spent hours (day after day) in the heat. I was treated like royalty and was met by the crowd of spectators with such enthusiasm. I was signing autographs left and right (hard hats, shirts, arms - - you name it!) It was a ton of fun! Around 4:00 pm CBH Homes handed over the keys to Ty Pennington. I can't even begin to express what a wonderful experience it was to watch the community come together to support this wonderful family. The amount of donations are staggering and the committment by so many is just plain AWESOME!!! After spending the afternoon at the new house, I ran back home (30 minutes) showered, changed clothes and headed back to Middleton for the huge community fundraiser. Over 2,000 people showed up for food, dancing, silent auctions and entertainment. All of the proceeds go to the Stockdale family. I signed autograph cards until I ran out - - was interviewed by channel 7 - - and yes, got a few great photos! I am very blessed to have had the opportunity to associate with such great people today! I LOVE IDAHO!!!!


text:
Maybe Anthony Bourdain was right after all. Maybe Paula Deen is "the worst, most dangerous person to America" for promoting unnecessarily fatty and sugar-laden recipes to her viewers. Though "most dangerous" probably confers more power on her than she possesses. (Especially after today.) He was quite correct though, in describing her fans as "scary."
Paula Deen is toast. Responding to facts that came to light yesterday from a deposition last month, Food Network announced that they would not be renewing her contract, which expires at the end of June. If I were Paula I wouldn't be expecting any residuals from re-runs either. That she bailed on the Today Show and instead posted not one, but two staged videos begging forgiveness didn't help her case.
The deposition was from an ongoing federal lawsuit brought against Deen by Lisa Jackson, who worked for Deen and Deen's brother, Earl Hiers, at Uncle Bubba's Oyster House in Savannah. Jackson, who is white, alleges that the siblings created a hostile atmosphere with ongoing racial slurs, sexual harassment, and separate entrances and restrooms for black employees.
In addition, the deposition explored Paula Deen's desire to produce an "old style plantation wedding" for her brother featuring "little n*ggers dressed in long-sleeved white shirts, black shorts and black bow ties" as servers. She later amended this to say that what she wanted was older black men in white jackets, "like before the Civil War." House slaves, in other words.
When asked during the deposition whether or not she ever used the "N-word", she responded "Of course."
Of course?
"Of course", like "Doesn't everyone?" "Of course," like "what a silly question." One has to wonder if Paula Deen saw her career flash before her eyes in that instance, because she certainly started back-pedaling, offering as example an episode where as a bank teller she was held at gunpoint by black man. Uh huh. Her fans are clinging to that like it's the last piece of chocolate cream pie.
Maybe it's because I've spent years as a journalist that I have a keen ear for lies, spin and misstatements, but something uttered many decades ago, before she was a public figure, would not find its way into a current law suit.
More cogent perhaps are the statements that followed. When asked if that was the only time, she said no. When asked what other instances she said "Probably repeating something I heard."
"Like a joke?" the lawyer asked.
"No, like a conversation between blacks."
Really, how could Food Network even consider keeping her on the air?
It's not like she's the first television star to get the boot. Remember Pee Wee Herman, whose career was wrecked when he was discovered with his pants down in a porn movie house? Did you know that Cindy Williams was rather unceremoniously let go from "Laverne and Shirley" because she got pregnant? Or how Paris Hilton's The Simple Life was de-railed by her sex tape? Don Imus lost his long-time radio show after he referred to the Rutger's women's basketball players as "nappy headed hos." Cocaine addiction precipitated Mackenzie Phillips departure from "One Day at a Time." Michael Richards ("Kramer" from Seinfeld) famously responded to a group of hecklers at a stand up gig by calling them "n*ggers." His career has never recovered.
Paula's fans can't believe she's being canned, especially given that chef Robert Irvine has been restored to Food Network, writing on the network's page (in capital letters, naturally) that he "LIED, EXAGGERATED and EMBELLISHED" his resume. Er. As if exaggerating one's accomplishments is somehow equal to forcing people of another race to use a different bathroom.
(And for the record, Robert Irvine was fired after the St. Petersburg Times reported his embellishments. In 2008, Irvine launched a blog that cleared up some inconsistencies in his work history, demonstrating that the contested claims were somewhat exaggerated, but not outright lies. A few months later he was rehired by the network and continues to be one of their most popular personalities.)
Many have flounced all over Food Network:
"I hope you people are as perfect as you expect Paula to be!"
"I'm canceling your channel today!" (As if you can cancel one channel.)
"You have thirty days to reinstate Paula or else!"
"Your programs will never be on in this house again!"
"I can't believe you're firing her because she made one little mistake years ago."
"At least she didn't lie like Robert Irvine!"
"Are you going to ask every employee if they ever used the n-word? You'll have a huge cut in payroll."
A common theme was to compare Paula Deen to every other person in the world who may have uttered an ethnic slur. (My guess is most of the people who are defending her are guilty of the same. )
And many people have told an off-color joke or two or ten. Or grumbled some thing unforgivable while stressed out. When a friend's husband left her for a woman who happened to be black, I'm sure she said a few unsavory things in her rage and pain. But those in the public eye are held to a higher standard and they are rewarded for it with fat paychecks.
It is a bit disconcerting that everyone is against racism in the abstract, but as soon as it's the least bit inconvenient (i.e. their favorite television chef getting fired) they are eager to excuse it.
Others (and not just fans) have queried why the plaintiff in the lawsuit (remember the lawsuit?) stayed on for five years. I don't know the answer to that. But how many people stay in a bad job for five years? Quite a few in the current economy. For that matter, how many people stay in a bad marriage for five years? Untold millions. Don't you wonder if Lisa Jackson wasnt a fan herself when she was first hired? Isn't it likely that she was thrilled to get the job? And just like people who've worked for Oprah, Ellen DeGeneres, Bill Cosby and Bob Barker, she discovered that her boss was somewhat more complicated than the public persona revealed.
I know people who use the "n-word" and I wish I could say it was just my black neighbors referring to each other. Nope. it's white folks. None of them, that I know of anyway, are related to me. My grandmother, in South Carolina, used say "negro" or "colored" but that other word, that was not allowed. Most genteel folks in the south don't say n*gger. At least not anymore.
Finally, this gets to the heart of the problem that is Paula Deen.
She's a parody of a particular kind of southern woman and about as genuine as a three-dollar bill. I resent her co-opting the heritage of so many southerners and selling it back to them as her own. She didn't invent her "best dishes". Go to any church supper in South Carolina (or Alabama, or Georgia, or Mississippi) and you'll have that and better. She tried to fold white-trash cuisine into the repertoire of good, honest Southern food like it belonged there. It wasn't just that she denigrated people of color (and that's bad enough) she exploited and corrupted an entire culture of Southern Cooking. All the while, she just so sweet it makes your teeth hurt, but scratch the surface and there's little there but blind ambition.
So she's toast. And deserves to be. Pass the butter, would you?
But Paula fans, take heart. She made $17 million dollars last year. Only the Lord above and Deen's accountants have any real notion of her net worth. Carefully managed, that should make for a comfy retirement. And as God is her witness, she'll never be hungry again!


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Follow the Stories | Tampa, Florida (2006)
Seed Pearl Jewelry
Posted: 1.13.2006
It's a rare treat to find seed pearl jewelry decorated with diamonds, like this blue rose cut stone.
Necklaces like this one were thought to resemble lace. A perfect look for young Victorian brides.
In the 1860s metal supports were added to larger delicate pieces like this brooch.
Thin horsehairs or silk was threaded through tiny holes drilled into a mother of pearl backing.
At the Tampa, Florida, ANTIQUES ROADSHOW, appraiser and seed-pearl expert Jeanenne Bell was impressed by the fragile beauty of a necklace that its owner believed was once Marie Antoinette's. Though this issue of provenance could not be resolved, we did catch up later with Jeanenne to find out more about the history of seed pearl jewelry.
"A seed pearl," Jeanenne explained, "is a natural pearl that weighs less than a quarter of a grain." Seed pearls acquired the name for no other reason than their remarkable size — less than 2 millimeters in diameter. They are not called seed pearls because of any unique culturing process, or anything unusual about their formation within the oyster.
Still, their size makes them remarkable enough. "Can you imagine the skill and patience to drill these tiny pearls without breaking them? Making seed pearl jewelry was a cottage industry done by young men and women with small hands and good eyes."
Jewelry appraiser Jeanenne Bell explains "seed pearls"
Jewelers typically used seed pearls imported from India and China. The pearls were strung on silk or white horsehair and then attached to a mother-of-pearl backing drilled for that purpose. As to dating antique specimens, Jeanenne noted, "Because seed pearl jewelry was constructed in the same manner for over a hundred years, the main clues for circa-dating come from the style and scale of the piece." (Though this is not always 100-percent accurate, as there are exceptions to the rule.)
Jeanenne continued, "As fashions in clothing became fuller and heavier during the mid-19th century, the jewelry tended to be fuller, with fewer open spaces. Consequently, the seed pearl pieces became so large that some people thought that they might need more support." So metal supports were sometimes added to the back of larger pieces of jewelry.
Seed pearl jewelry was especially popular from the last quarter of the 18th century and throughout the 19th century, when the burgeoning middle-classes of Europe and the United States grew fascinated with pearls and had the money to purchase them. By the mid-1800s, seed pearls were in high demand. The Victorians favored the look of these delicate, almost lace-like pieces against the skin and often associated seed pearl jewelry with purity. They were especially fashionable as bridal gifts. An 1870 newspaper article noted how such pearls were "exquisitely beautiful and constitute an appropriate and elegant present to a young bride."
For the appropriate handling and care of these pieces today, Jeanenne had the following advice:
"Because seed pearls are an organic material, the same care should be taken with them as with other pearl jewelry. It's a good idea to very gently rub them with a soft cloth after wearing. Always put them on after you apply any perfumes or lotions. Because pearls are organic they can lose their luster when exposed to these products. Refrain from touching the pearls while wearing, as the acids from your hands will be detrimental to their longevity."
See the Tampa, Florida (2006) page for a list of all appraisals from this city.
More ANTIQUES ROADSHOW articles from the Jewelry category:
Mark Twain's "Aquarium" (Baltimore, 2008)
Jennifer Rodriguez is a former editorial assistant for ANTIQUES ROADSHOW Online.


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One year ago today we were informed that our first pregnancy was ectopic and I was injected with a shot of methotrexate. The worst day of my life. One year later, it doesn't hurt any less. We try every month to conceive (and now with the help of clomid) and come up disappointed over and over again. I feel a punch to my gut every time I see an announcement that a friend is expecting or a baby was just born. Actually a friend and her husband were told that they would not be able to conceive without the help of IVF (both having some sort of a problem) and a few weeks later she took a test and is pregnant. While I'm happy for them I can't help but think why can't that be us? We've been trying longer and have gone through so much heartache already. I also hope that it is a healthy pregnancy too and they don't find out at their first appointment next week that it's ectopic.
My husband got me the greatest gift for my birthday a few weeks ago. It's actually being made and sized so we don't have it yet. It's an eternity ring to stack on top of my wedding band filled with diamonds and sapphires. Sapphires are the birthstone for September and that is when our baby would have been due. It's also my husband's birth month.
I had plans for today – clean the house and organize a few things- but I can't seem to get out of bed. I want to just lay in the dark and hopefully fall asleep all day long so I don't hear my thoughts of sadness and loss of hope. I think I can allow myself to do that. Chores can wait and tomorrow is a new day.


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KX Matrikx CTO Carbon Filter 10x2.5
Brand: KX Matrikx
Price: $11.99
Dimensions: 10"x2.5"x2.5"
Weight: 1 lb
Quantity discounts:
In stock
KX Matrikx CTO Carbon Filter # 32-250-125-975 is one of the most common carbon filters on the market. Cartridge fits most standard 10"x2.5" filter housings. NSF certified to reduce Chlorine Taste and Odor. Also known in the industry as "The Workhorse", old product number KX Matrikx CTO/2.
Matrikx CTO carbon filter part number 32-250-125-975 removes chlorine, taste and odor, and organic chemicals that contribute to bad taste and odor. Filter also provides dirt holding capacity of a 5-micron sediment filter. CTO Chlorine, Taste and Odor removal filters work great where both carbon and sediment filters are needed. Offers exceptional cost to performance value. The carbon extrusion manufacturing process allows the production of carbon block with more carbon, and lower pressure drop.
KX Industries 32-250-125-975 filters are also used in filtering organic solvents.
This carbon filter is manufactured from high purity acid washed activated carbon. It is ideal for use in residential and commercial water purification systems, food service, and as pre- and post- filter in Reverse Osmosis systems.
KX Matrikx CTO Carbon Filter Properties
KX Matrikx +CTO Carbon Block Cartridge Features
The MATRIKX CTO WATER FILTER is Tested and Certified by NSF International under NSF/ANSI Standard 42 for material requirements only.
Manufacturer's PN: 32-250-125-975, 32-250-10-GREEN
Old product numbers: CT250125100A001 (made in Singapore), KX Matrikx CTO/2 ( CTO2 ).
Replacement Filter Can be Used in the Following Systems and Housings:
Also fits other filter housings that take a standard size 10"x2.5" cartridge.
KX Matrikx CTO and CTO2 filters should be changed every 3 to 6 months.
Pentek EP-10 and CQ-R5 Carbon Block can be used in place of KX Matrikx CTO with similar performance.
|KX Matrikx CTO Carbon Block Data Sheet (pdf)


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The Alabama coach talks about growing up in West Virginia and how playing football prepared him for life.
Rick Horrow is the CEO of Horrow Sports. As an attorney and consultant, he has been the architect of 100+ deals worth more than $20 billion in sports, performing arts, and other urban infrastructure projects. Horrow pioneered the public/private partnership and infrastructure branding concepts that, to date, have enticed more than $4 billion in corporate funding to cities and development projects. The opinions expressed here and in videos and podcasts hosted by Rick are his alone and do not represent the views of Reuters


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Why Us
Our Podiatrists, Oliver and Kim each have over 20 years of clinical experience. They are recognized experts and innovators in their field and have a genuine interest in getting the best results for you.
Each of our Podiatry services is designed to get to the root of your foot problem so we treat the underlying cause rather than just addressing symptoms. We offer conservative and surgical management.
There's no reason to live with painful foot problems. You don't need to know what's wrong with your feet, we'll diagnose the problem. We treat all foot and ankle conditions.
Self Care
Healthy feet are happy feet so, if your feet and ankles are painful, itchy or aching,
you need relief. You may find relief for less-serious conditions here.
Email Us
Oliver Fawcett
Founder and Senior Podiatrist
Oliver graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Science in Podiatry from Queensland University of Technology in 1995 and went on to successfully establish the first private podiatry practice based in Samford in 1996, providing the local community access to affordable and contemporary podiatry care. Oliver has over 20 years of clinical experience and is an established leader in the fields of orthotic therapy and lower limb biomechanics.
Kim Edwards
Co-Owner and Senior Podiatrist
Kim graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Science Podiatry (with Distinction) from Queensland University of Technology in 1995 and has over 20 years of professional experience and continuing education in the field of Podiatry. She is currently studying for a certificate in Advanced Rheumatology in Paediatrics.


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These pictures are from a while back when my brother and I spend a day at Santana Row. I couldn't dream of going out for hookah or just chilling on a patio these days – it's officially law-school-crunch-time. But I'm still enjoying it all…especially this beautiful California weather.
What I'm wearing:
* Cashmere wrap scarf by Donna Karan
* Pumps by L.A.M.B
* Crystal nepal ceylan topaz ring by Swarovski
* Dress by The Row
* Leather clutch by Steven
* Necklace by Mawi London


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daks tops (n) - elastic band around the waistband that's fasted with buttons on the side enabling ones trousers to stay in place without a belt or braces
Today's word is daks tops and unless you're very familiar with bespoke suiting then this should be new to you. They are very similar to side straps in that they are adjustable around the waistband preventing your pants from falling down but daks tops are much less common. They have a elastic band that runs along the back side of your waistband and is buttoned on the sides. The elastic stretches to hug you perfectly and the buttons can often times be buttoned into one of two holes making the fit even more precise. This eliminates the need for a belt and will create that clean line look that I always preach about. If you're looking for daks tops trousers in your department store than you'll be out of luck. This feature is almost only found on bespoke pieces but if you're already going throughout the process of bespoke then this is definitely something to consider.
Shop these at suitsupply.com
Shop these at suitsupply.com


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Places to Visit include a rich cultural heritage and colourful array of visitor centres, castles, markets and museums
Clyne Gardens
Clyne Gardens is a botanical garden based in Swansea The park as it is now known was formed from the landscaped gardens originally created by Glynn Vivian who bought the castle in 1860. There is a gentle slope to the gardens, with paths that meander amidst trees, beside brooks and over little bridges – a wonderful way to spend the afternoon and spot your favourite plants and shrubs.
Dylan Thomas Centre
The Dylan Thomas Centre is a permanent exhibition featuring Swansea's famous poet, which holds regular events relating to Dylan Thomas throughout the year. 2014 saw the Centenary of Dylan Thomas's birth and there were many events: exhibitions, shows, readings, festivals (including the Dylan Thomas Festival) held not only in Swansea but in many locations around the uk.
The centre is well worth a visit, set in a lovely location in the popular maritime quater – it is an atmospheric building – with its own cafe and book shop with free entry for the centre's permanent exhibition.
Gower Heritage Centre
The Centre is a rural life museum, holding regular events throughout the year. There are craft shops and activities, a children's play area, cafe, a rural life museum and a small animal farm. The centre is open every day from 10am to 5pm
King Arthurs Stones
A legendary site, well worth a visit and located on Cefn Bryn in the heart of the Gower is known as "Arthur's Stone" or "King Arthur's Stone". The description is said to originate from a legend that King Arthur threw a large stone from Llanelli which landed on this spot. Another story says that if a girl crawls around the stone three times and views the face of her lover, then she will know that he will remain faithful to her.
The site is a well known neolithic burial ground and the stone is situated on the north facing slope of Cefn Bryn with fine, expansive views across the estuary of the River Loughor and towards Llanrhidian sands. There are several other simpler cairns spraid along the same slope.
Pennard Castle
Pennard castle is located in a superb position, overlooking Three Cliffs Bay and is often described as one of the most picturesque ruins on the Gower Peninsula. Pennard castle is an early 12th Century Castle and is believed to probably have been built by the Earl of Beaumont, 1st Earl of Warwick. While there are castles with more renown and history on the Gower, Pennard castle remains have both atmosphere and mystery… even more so at dusk – where it provides the perfect setting for watching the sunset!
National Botanical Gardens
The National Botanic Garden of Wales are located near Llanarthne in Camarthenshire, providing 568 acres of parkland with historic and futuristic buildings, lake, horticultural displays, flower meadows and artwork such as sculptural exhibitions. There is a lovely cafe and bookshop, and a surround-sound experience of Theatre Botanica, with films celebrating the world of plants.
The Glasshouse is perhaps its most famous feature, designed by architects Norman Foster and Partners. Inside the glass dome is a Mediterranean landscape, rock terraces, streams and waterfalls. Outside, there is a peaceful Japanese Garden, double walled garden and more – this is the first National Botanical Garden to be created in the new millennium.
Swansea Market
Swansea market is well worth a visit with its rich choice of local produce, from seafood such as fish, cockles, muscles larverbread and more as well as local cheeses, bread chutneys, meats and more and all manner of things that you'd find in a traditional welsh market including crafts, quirky gifts and marketfayer.


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"David Spencer's Creative Mind" is the blog that provides information about David M.R.D Spencer's creative community projects, Christian faith, education projects, media networking, music, and outdoor education activities. David is often found outside camping, canoeing, kayaking, mountain biking, Nordic skiing, snowshowing or tree planting in Ontario's wilderness. His Christian faith and love for God is evident […]Read the rest of this entry »
Anna Vandas walks amidst a city of chaos
A video from Canadian artist Anna Vandas based in Greater Vancouver, British Columbia. Anna says "In my adult life I have explored many forms of creativity, including song-writing, singing, sewing, photography, graphic design, painting, jewelry-making, and dance. I believe that we all have creativity in our bones, even if it's currently sleeping in some." Learn […]Read the rest of this entry »
My Faith Perspective
I chose to become a Christian when I was 17 years old. I am a Christian who believes that Jesus Christ has forgiven me for my sins, died and rose again and lives today. Here is my statement of faith: a) I believe in one God eternally existing in three persons: God the Father, Jesus […]Read the rest of this entry »


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Todd Semrau: Owner of Urban Eats Consulting Group
Todd's career in the hospitality industry took off in 1995 when, on a whim, he opened a restaurant in East Atlanta Village. The Heaping Bowl and Brew helped spur the revitalization of East Atlanta which has now become one of the nation's most popular urban indie hangouts.
Ten years of operations and four additional restaurants led to the development of Urban Eats Consulting Group. With a vision for generating community in every project, Todd has worked in many capacities with a wide range of clients across the hospitality industry.
Terry Gardner with TGB Design: Graphic Design
TBG Design is a full-service graphic arts studio, established in 1985.Terry Gardner is a visual artist, art director, graphic designer & illustrator.Classical training; BFA degree; skilled in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, drawing, painting & hand-lettering. Providing flawless documents to print, post to the web, or hang on the wall.
Keith Frutiger: Interior Design and Murals
Like a true Piscean, Keith has had the good fortune of swimming many diverse streams within the art community in respect to his own creations. With a B.F.A. degree in painting, he has utilized his skills in various cities of residency. He has an eye for originality and whimsy when painting commercial interiors. His work has been featured in such publications as Metropolitan Home, Trends and Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles magazines. With almost thirty years of professional experience, Keith is well known for bringing any concept to reality and creating a signature artistic expression for all to enjoy.
Paige Ivey: CAD Elevations and Renderings
I'm 23 born and raised in Columbia South Carolina. I graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2014 with a Bachelor's of Fine Arts in Interior Design. When I'm not working on freelance work for urban eats I'm a full time designer/sales associate at The Tile Shop. I work with customers to design their dream kitchens and bathrooms and whatever other project they may have. I spend my free time away from either making crafty home decor and gifts and playing with my beagle puppy, Gilbert.
Zhi (Jay) Feng: Architect
Zhi (Jay) Feng is an immigrant from China. He obtained Master's degree of architecture from Iowa State University. After working for several firms, Jay created his own firm, New Space Design, in 2002. Now, Jay's firm is heavily focused on restaurant design. Jay holds an architect license in 16 States.


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Irene Schlatter
Irene Schlatter is Head of Marketing and Communication at WeAct, a startup and social business from Switzerland, which implements software-based employee engagement programs to engage people in sustainability. Having worked in a large consulting company before joining WeAct, Irene knows first-hand about the importance of aligning personal and corporate values in order to be engaged at work foster employee engagement.
Entries by Irene Schlatter


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IT; Computing and Communications TechVision Opportunity Engine reports on the latest advances across a range of wireless areas and presents an opportunity to gain strategic insights into developments in this sector. MWCT will identify key technology developers and provide pertinent market and end-user intelligence in the quest to provide critical, strategic intelligence to anyone operating in or interested in this dynamic sector.
About this service
Help Desk
For more information and general enquiries, contact Frost & Sullivan near you.
North America
tel: +1.877.463.7678
Select a location near you..


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The Nursery Curriculum
What is Curriculum for Excellence?
The purpose of Curriculum for Excellence is to improve the learning, attainment and achievement of children and young people in Scotland. It is important to ensure that children and young people are acquiring the full range of skills and abilities relevant to growing, living and working in the contemporary world. Curriculum for Excellence aims to ensure that they will enjoy greater choice and opportunity to help realise their individual talents.
Curriculum for Excellence encourages more learning through experiences and creates a single framework for the curriculum and assessment 3-18.
The Curriculum is divided into different levels. We will be working on the Early Level which starts in nursery and continues into Primary One.
Curriculum for Excellence aims to focus practice upon the child and around the four capacities of education:
We aim to help to children to become:
Curriculum for Excellence has eight subject areas:
Through careful planning and observation we will support your child's learning and development. As parents we will involve you in each stage of your child's learning.
© 2009-2019 Education Services, Inverclyde Council


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Apple just seeded iOS 7.1 beta 2 to developers carrying a build number of 11D5115d. This release adds iOS in the car features among other things. Full details inside.
iOS SDK Release Notes for iOS 7.1 beta 2
With this software you can develop apps for iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch running iOS 7. You can also test your apps using the included iOS Simulator, which supports iOS 7. iOS SDK 7.1 requires a Mac computer running OS X v10.8.4 (Mountain Lion) or later.
This version of iOS is intended for installation only on devices registered with the Apple Developer Program. Attempting to install this version of iOS in an unauthorized manner could put your device in an unusable state.
For more information and additional support resources, visit http://developer.apple.com/programs/ios/.
Bug Reporting
To report any bugs not mentioned in the Notes and Known Issues section, use the Apple Bug Reporter on the Apple Developer website (http://developer.apple.com/bugreporter/). Additionally, you may discuss these issues and iOS SDK 7.1 in the Apple Developer Forums: http://devforums.apple.com. To get more information about iCloud for Developers, go to http://developer.apple.com/icloud.
Notes and Known Issues
The following issues relate to using iOS SDK 7.1 beta 2 to develop code.
Known Issue
32-bit apps running on a 64-bit device cannot attach to BTServer.
A compatibility behavior has been added to address an issue where some web servers would send the wrong Content-Length value for "Content-Encoding: gzip" content. Previously,
NSURLConnection and
NSURLSessionwould send a "network connection was lost" / NSURLErrorNetworkConnectionLost (-1005) error in this situation.
The compatibility behavior applies only if the Content-Length value exactly matches the expanded gzip'd content. It won't apply for "off by 1" or similar miscounting.
Crash Logs
Fixed in iOS 7.1 beta 2
Crash logs now appear in Diagnostics & Usage Data in Settings.
Known Issue
If you create a new iCloud account during setup assistant, you may encounter an error when trying to enable iCloud Keychain.
Workaround: Select Setup Keychain Later in setup assistant, then enable iCloud Keychain in Settings.
Fixed in iOS 7.1 beta 2
Loading a large iTunes Match library should no longer take an especially long time to load.
Music App
Known Issue
Audiobooks fail to play.
A property, minimal-ui, has been added for the viewport meta tag key that allows minimizing the top and bottom bars on the iPhone as the page loads. While on a page using minimal-ui, tapping the top bar brings the bars back. Tapping back in the content dismisses them again.
For example, use <meta name="viewport" content="width=1024, minimal-ui">.
Known Issues
- If a
UITextFieldor a
UILabelthat is baseline aligned with constraints has attributes that change after the constraints have been added, the layout may be incorrect. The exception to this is
UILabel, which should work as expected.
Workaround: Avoid making changes in
UILabelafter adding baseline-alignment constraints. If you must make changes, you should remove the constraints and then reapply them afterward. Note that this is a performance hit, so don't do it unless it is necessary.
- The
backIndicatorTransitionMaskfrom a storyboard or a xib will not be interpreted correctly at runtime.
Workaround: Set the
backIndicatorTransitionMaskin code.


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Premium Tool Roll
Premium Tool Roll with 11 Pockets, Velcro Closure and a zippered pouch lined with waterproof material. This Tool Roll is made from heavy duty 1200 denier black texturized nylon.. For a complete description, see our products page.
- Item #: TT04
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One thing that has bothered me, and other workmen I know, is our knees. We are up and down all day in our jobs and that has done permanent damage to our knees. No one had offered a solution to the problem. Strap-on knee pads aren't the answer. The reasons are obvious to those who have worn them: They hurt, impair circulation, will not stay in position and have been resisted by workers for many years.
I have spent years in research and development and have come up with the solution: Soft Knees® Knee Pads and ERGOKNEEL® Kneeling Mats. Our sturdy, lightweight molded knee pad is barely noticeable to the worker when standing and walking, yet provides comfort and support. They install in seconds into most double kneed work-wear and withstand normal washing while remaining in the garment. For workers who don't wear double kneed overalls or pants.
In addition, we have developed ERGOKNEEL® mats in a variety of sizes and shapes for both kneeling and standing at fixed work stations.
Soft Knees® and ERGOKNEEL® products have been proven successful for thousands of workers from Alaska to New York. I personally guarantee that you will be equally pleased.
Company History


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Press Release
Sent on 1/28/2014 2:25:07 PM
The Sheriff's Department Burglary Unit is seeking assistance from the public in identifying suspects involved in two burglaries that occurred at Northwest Hospital, located at 6200 N. La Cholla Blvd. On December 22, 2013 and January 23, 2014, a male suspect entered the hospital and stole items while posing himself as a worker. Detectives obtained video footage of the suspect and his vehicle. The suspect is described as: • Caucasian male • Approximately 30-years-old • 5'10" tall, 175 pounds • With short blonde or brown hair • Wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans, and brown work boots The suspect's vehicle is described as: • Navy blue or dark in color, long bed pick-up truck • Possibly a GMC or Chevrolet • With blue headlights, custom rims, all terrain tires, a 3-5 inch lift, and a step by the front doors only Anyone with information about this incident or the identity of the suspect is urged to call 9-1-1 or 88-CRIME.


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Fighting Games Online > Shooting Games > Battle Garden
Battle Garden is terrific online shooting game. Your enemy is invisible. Your mission is to locate, and destroy them. Your goal is to score as much as possible before your life gauge runs out. When you reach certain points you can unlock more weapons and you will be stronger. See how good at shooting you are. All the best!
Played: 9,925
Added: 12 April 2011
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Enclosures for Waste Water Treatment Plants
Bison ProFab, an industry-leading manufacturer of electrical enclosures and cabinets, specializes in NEMA-rated enclosures for the water and waste water treatment industry. Our enclosures for water treatment applications are rugged and designed to withstand the harsh environments found in water and waste water treatment plants, ensuring that your electrical equipment is protected. Bison's extensive product line of high quality enclosures has earned the reputation for providing custom solutions at standard-model budgets.
Each Cad Drawing made to individual customer specs
Bison ProFab's electrical enclosures for water treatment and waste water treatment applications are available in a variety of NEMA ratings, including Type 4, 4X, 12 and 3R, as well as JIC standards. Many are also UL approved. Features of our cabinets include:
- High corrosion-resistant metals, including 316L and 304L stainless steel and aluminum and painted steel. Finishes available include wet paint, powder coat and anodizing
- Fabrication methods to reinforce water resistance and protect the electrical equipment against exposure to chemicals, dirt and moisture.
- Security and tamper-resistant hardware, with 3-point latch handles available
- Environmental controls, including thermostats, heat strips, air conditioning, passive or fan-assisted venting and insulation
- Custom back panels and side panels, including adjustable swing panels
- Large drop-over enclosures for switchgear
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- Leg stand kits
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- Standard wall mount, with free standing and wall mount options available.
Our advanced designs rise above "standard" NEMA enclosure designs, providing top quality, easily customized cabinets. Bison's cutting-edge manufacturing processes enable our staff to efficiently and economically fabricate an enclosure that meets your requirements. If your project calls for a customized solution and your budget is tight, our expert staff, innovative designs and stringent quality control will ensure that your enclosure meets your product and budget requirements.
Bison ProFab is proud of its reputation for high quality, high performing enclosures. Our rigorous approach to manufacturing quality and efficiency, coupled with creative and innovative designs for custom applications, ensures that the Bison electrical enclosure or cabinet for your water or waste water treatment will meet or exceed your expectations for performance, quality and value.
Click here to submit a Request for Quote
or call us today at 800.825.5805.