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Baroness Scotland of Asthal: My Lords, I wholeheartedly agree with my noble friend that this is
Lord Avebury: My Lords, can the Minister say anything about the joint UN/RUF mission which was supposed to locate and, if possible, rescue the UN hostages? The noble Baroness told the House that the British troops being sent to Freetown will not have responsibility for rescuing the UN troops who are being held hostage. If the mission is unsuccessful, what fall-back plans does the United Nations have--was this issue discussed yesterday at the Security Council?--for rescuing the 500 people now detained by the RUF?
What information do the Government have on the allegations of a coup, which was supposed to be launched today, and the arrest of senior RUF personnel, who were alleged to be responsible for it, by troops loyal to the AFRC in Freetown? Have charges been laid against Mr Mike Lamin or others alleged to have been involved in the coup? Do the Government consider that the remit of UNAMSIL was sufficiently clear in that, although SCR1289 required them to provide security, to enable people to move freely and to co-ordinate with the Sierra Leone authorities on the administration of law and order, there is no specific mention in the UN resolution of how they are supposed to respond if they come under fire? Is it the task of UNAMSIL to neutralise any group which fails to honour the peace agreement? If so, is it not essential that UNAMSIL detachments which find themselves under fire should be able to call for rapid reinforcements from the rest of UN forces in the territory and that they should have the logistics to enable them to do so?
Baroness Scotland of Asthal: My Lords, I understand the noble Lord's anxiety and his hunger for in-depth information. I hope that he will understand the limits currently placed on any disclosures I can make as regards precisely what is happening on the ground. We must do nothing to exacerbate or inflame the situation.
Our troops are on their way and we shall know more once we have people on the ground. Their main task is to bring out citizens safely. The situation is rapidly changing and I am sure that the noble Lord knows that UNAMSIL has a broad mandate. It certainly has a mandate to keep its own security as a priority, but this is a fluid and rapidly changing situation. It is perhaps best at this stage for us to respond moderately and to wait to see what we discover in detail on the ground.
Lord Wallace of Saltaire: My Lords, what consultations have the British Government had with our European partners? After all, one of the contexts of the European defence initiative has been that the operation one might envisage for the new battle
Furthermore, can the Minister confirm that British interests in Sierra Leone are not simply those of rescuing British nationals? As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, a position which the Conservative Party among others is strongly committed to Britain retaining, we have a strong interest in maintaining the authority of the United Nations and, thus, in ensuring that the UN does not fail in its commitment to Sierra Leone.
Can the Minister also comment on the refugee issue? We in this country have learnt bitterly that when states collapse in Africa some of their desperate refugees turn up, legally or illegally, within the EU. We have a substantial Somali community in London and elsewhere in Britain which was not here 10 years ago. I am not sure how they got here, but somehow they did. That confirms that it is greatly in Britain's interest to ensure that Sierra Leone does not collapse as a state.
Baroness Scotland of Asthal: My Lords, I agree with the import of the anxieties expressed by the noble Lord. We are consulting our EU partners in relation to what is happening in Sierra Leone. It has been agreed that we should take the brunt of the rescue mission, which is why we and our forces are going in to rescue British, EU and Commonwealth nationals from the situation. We are going in not only to do that, but to try to maintain the authority of the UN. The noble Lord is right in pointing that out, but at this stage our primary focus must be to secure the situation and rescue the nationals for whom we have accepted responsibility.
We have a continuing commitment to Sierra Leone and we have tried to make that clear. Once the nationals have been removed, we shall participate and encourage a reconstruction in terms of how Sierra Leone works. The refugee situation will be another complex issue with which we shall have to deal and it is with great energy that we shall try to address our minds to any fall-out that may come from that. However, it is a rapidly developing situation and we are communicating with all our partners to try to get a focused and cohesive response to the difficulty.
Lord Swinfen: My Lords, bearing in mind the complaints that radio equipment did not work for our troops in Kosovo and that the rifles with which our infantry were supplied needed to be modified, can the Minister assure the House that the troops whom we have sent to West Africa have a suitable supply of radio equipment that works and additional equipment which they can lend to UN troops already there so that they can communicate with them? Furthermore, will she assure the House that the troops who have already left have properly modified weapons?
Baroness Scotland of Asthal: My Lords, I can reassure the noble Lord that the officers and men and
Baroness Ramsay of Cartvale: My Lords, I beg to move that the House do now adjourn during pleasure until 5.30 p.m.
Moved accordingly, and, on Question, Motion agreed to.
[The Sitting was suspended from 5.26 to 5.30 p.m.]
[Amendments Nos. 4 and 5 not moved.]
Clause 1 [Maintenance calculations and terminology]:
Lord Higgins moved Amendment No. 6:
The noble Lord said: Before we adjourned for the Statements, we were discussing matters of enormous and wide-ranging importance with regard to social security policy. Amendment No. 6 is at the other end of the spectrum, both politically and technically. It seeks merely to increase a time limit in the Bill from one to two months.
Under the Bill, the parent with care has one month in which to respond to a letter telling her that the Secretary of State intends to cease dealing with an application. If she does not want it to stop, she may be considered a voluntary client of the agency without further application. If the parent with care misses the one-month time limit, she can apply for maintenance later and the agency will pursue the non-resident parent from the current date.
With our passionate desire to improve the Bill, I believe that this amendment would be suitable because we know that, one way or another, communications may well be prolonged. Two things may happen if the individual concerned is not aware of the situation within a month: first, there will be further delay while the process that I have just described continues and eventually is concluded; and, secondly, if she goes through those lengthier proceedings, she may lose some degree of maintenance because it is calculated from the date when the new procedure is concluded rather than when she writes rapidly saying that she wants the Secretary of State to go ahead. I hope that the Minister will consider the proposal to be an improvement rather than otherwise. I beg to move.
Baroness Hollis of Heigham: As clearly explained by the noble Lord, Lord Higgins, this amendment increases the time limit within which a parent with care must notify the CSA if she wants to continue as a voluntary client when she leaves benefit before a maintenance calculation is made.
Clause 1 provides the basis for maintenance calculations. It substitutes a new Section 11 dealing with the rules for maintenance calculations in the 1991 Act. New Section 11 (subsections (3) to (5)) requires the Secretary of State to stop acting on an application for child support treated as made under Section 6(3) if he becomes aware that the parent with care has left benefit before the maintenance calculation has been made.
The treating of an application for child support "as made" when a claim for benefit is made streamlines the way in which parents with care who claim or receive benefit apply for child support. It will ensure that parents with care who claim income support or income-based jobseeker's allowance receive a seamless maintenance service at the same time.
Under the current scheme, a parent with care who claims income support or income-based JSA can be required to authorise the Secretary of State to take action to recover child maintenance. She is not required to do so if there are reasonable grounds to believe that there would be a risk that she, or any child living with her, would suffer harm or undue distress. This is known as "good cause". However, child support arrangements can be made only after a formal application for maintenance has been made.
In the reformed child support scheme, only those parents who need to will take action to opt out of making a claim for child support. That will ensure easy access to the new system which will provide a regular and reliable flow of maintenance and a better service for parents.
However, if a parent with care, who has had an application for maintenance treated as made under Section 6(3), leaves benefit before the maintenance calculation is made, she can instead ask the agency to treat her application as voluntary under Section 4 of the 1991 Act. Action to pursue child maintenance would otherwise cease in those cases. If there is no court order or pre-1993 written maintenance agreement in place to prevent that, the Secretary of State can then continue the process of determining child support liability. That avoids a delay in liability coming into effect.
The parent with care has one month to respond to the letter telling her that the Secretary of State intends to stop acting. If she does not want action to stop, she may then be considered as a voluntary client by the agency without any further application. If the parent with care in this situation misses the one-month time limit, she can apply for maintenance later and the agency will instead pursue the non-resident parent from the current date.
The one-month period exists in the current scheme. It gives the parent with care a reasonable amount of time while not requiring the CSA to suspend action for too long. It is consistent with other time limits; for example, with regard to disputing and appealing decisions. Therefore, the one-month time limit goes across the board.
We have no evidence to suggest that the existing one-month time limit causes a problem at the moment. I have not heard anything from the noble Lord tonight to
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On June 6th, we hosted 11 beautiful girls for Queen for a Day at Phoenix Children's Hospital. After the traditional make-over and manicure, the patients created a fashion show runway out of our red carpet and completed their runway tour with a photo.
On June 11th, we hosted 9 boys and 3 girls for Hero for a Day, with customizable capes for everyone.
One little boy requested that his mom, dad, and brother make a cape and wore a fireman's helmet with him to make him feel more comfortable... which was super cute!
We had one little boy who was a little bit older so initially wasn't too excited about the event. But after checking everything out he finally asked if he could make a fireman cape and we could attach the fireman's hat to the back of the cape....so he could be like a real fireman! Not just pretend. He ended up wearing the cape and loving it.
The 3 little girls that came to Hero for a day ( that did not attend QFAD) loved making the superhero capes! All in all both events were a great success and PCH was very happy to have QFAD at the hospital. They are looking forward to working with us again.

subset: commoncrawl


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Deschutes River Steelhead Report
From mid September through October, Oregon's Lower Deschutes River is a great place to be. Steelhead can be found in good numbers from Warm Springs to the Columbia. Big redside are often rising to caddis in backeddies. Chukar are cackling from the hillside, taunting us prior to opening day.
There's always that first morning on a camp trip from Trout Creek to Maupin, when I realize I am still packing clothes for summer weather. Clutching a hot cup of coffee, huddling around the Camp Chef for warmth, I wonder, "where's my beanie and wool jacket?" Fall is here!
Steelhead Report: Fishing has been tough... surprisingly so for anglers spoiled by last year's already legendary fall fishing. We have had only one fishless day since my last post, most days producing one or two steelhead. The river level had finally stabilized until today. Irrigation season has ended and the canals have been shut off. The flows bumped up a little overnight. The river was already a bit high, so it only spiked about 300 cfs. That is the good news. The bad news is the White River has put the lower river out of shape for over two weeks now, making the Deschutes marginally fishable below the confluence. Fishing pressure has been heavy on the upper river. That said we have had a decent week, averaging two hookups each day.
Trout have been showing themselves in backeddies, rising to most caddis patterns. A few of the trout seem to be highly educated, as you might expect after a long summer. Others seem oblivious to our intentions, providing a nice distraction from the unseasonably tough steelhead fishing. Swing a run, stop at an eddy for ten minutes, hit the next steelhead run. The dry fly fishing (trout) should hold with the fair weather.
Yesterday Jerry Hayes closed the day with two great looking steelhead. Both fish were taken on sink tips and intruder style flies, including Morejohn's Purple Bantam Intruder. Nice work Jerry!


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Snapchat Geotags for your Wedding
The G1028 team is always looking for ways to spice up our events and what better way to do it than through Snapchat! For those of you that do not know what Snapchat is, it is an app that allows you to send timed pictures to any of your friends. Depending on your location, there are also certain geotags (images placed on your picture) that you can use.
After a recent event at G1028, we learned of the ability to create a custom Snapchat filter for any time, occasion, and place.
Essentially, you can create a custom geotag for your wedding or event. If you are great with Photoshop, you can do this yourself and save yourself some money. If not, you can hire a graphic designer to do this for you. There is no set cost, but you can be looking at anywhere from $100 to $500 depending on the graphic design company.
After your filter is designed, you simply pick the timing and draw a fence around the location of where you want the Snapchat filter to show up. We suggest covering the triangular area shown in the picture above, that way your filter will show up in G1028 and the surrounding streets.
Pricing for the highlighted triangular range covers 334,630 Square feet and is around $8.50 an hour. Worried about not getting phone service inside G1028? Don't worry. We have Wi-Fi access and would be happy to provide it for you.
But why you would you want to add an on-demand Snapchat filter to your event? Of course, people may argue it takes away from being in the moment, but there is going to be a time where people grab pictures together anyways. So, why not add something unique to your event? There is a very high chance that your guests have not been to an event with a custom Snapchat filter created for their enjoyment. This little detail provides something unique to your event and will be something your guests talk about for years to come.
Considering creating a custom on-demand Snapchat filter for your next event? Take a look through the gallery below for some inspiration.
(images from Pinterest)


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Category Archives: Hardware, Mobile & Gadgets
Android Secret Codes and Tips For Samsung, HTC, Sony, LG and other Android devices
Popular practice among programmers is to leave some backdoors within the code. Which will allow someone with knowledge about that issue to get into the system much deeper than ordinary user of the device. These backdoors allow the Programmer or OEM to get into the system for some system information, or for troubleshooting. These option can be very helpful if you know what you are doing. Smartphones, especially Phones with Android also have some secret Codes for some troubleshooting purpose. Smartphones like Samsung, HTC, Sony, LG and other Android devices have secret codes. These numeric and symbolic sequences allow you to access hidden menus, diagnostics, test, options that could change most basic parameters of device.
Sony Xperia Z2 and Samsung Galaxy S5, the new concepts will leave you speechless
Both Samsung and Sony will present its next generation of leaders Android smartphones very soon. These smartphones will be called Xperia Z2 and Galaxy S5, although these companies are likely to change the names of the devices in the last minute.However, Sony Xperia Z2 and Samsung Galaxy S5, the new concepts will leave you speechless.
Smarty Ring Gadget-control your Smartphone on your finger
Imagine a ring that you get messages on it, get notifications and get status posts from social networks status , listen to music, and even receive calls. And, available for $ 175. In case you want to own such a smart ring, you can order online, but must wait until April 2014. You think that's funny? Well maybe you're right. But we found a useful application of such gadgets. For Example, It will remind him of important dates, especially on important anniversaries :) . Especially effective for users that look at their phones every 6-10 minutes. That is many times users look at phone daily. This Smarty Ring ( smartyring.com ) saves time at looking at as well as battery life.
Microsoft Surface 2-new Tablet thinner and lighter
Microsoft unveiled new Surface 2 tablet computer that was announced as a complete improvement over its predecessor, and it provides a huge space for storing data in the cloud. The price of the new tablet starts from $ 499, and it gets a 1080p screen, thinner and lighter design, and 25 percent stronger battery due to which the device can be used for more than 12 hours during the day. Tablet has improved WiFi speed, and comes with USB 3.0 and microSD ports.
Amazing Transparent Windows Phone Concept
Weather bureau is often with in-accurate prognosis. They say it will rain, but , it will be sunny. Maybe they will need some gadget that will help them with weather predictions. This king of gadget ( Smartphone ) could be "Windows Phone" new concept, that makes accurate weather predictions, changing display to reflect the climatic outdoors conditions.
New iPad 5 – smaller size, same screen, release date, news, rumors
Apple next week will present the new generation of iPhone , and the big dilemma is whether that date will occur and some surprise. While Waiting promotion, videos appeared that show the layout of the next generation of tablet iPad 5 computers by Apple.
iPhone 5C + iPhone 5S-announced by Apple
Apple came out with the seventh and eighth version of its smartphone, iPhone 5C (cheaper version ) and iPhone 5S (advanced version). And, yes, there is scanner for fingerprint.
Although cheaper, from Apple claim that iPhone 5C was well made, it has five colors, comes with 4-inch screen, runs on Apples A6 processor, has stronger battery and 8MP camera. This starts selling price of $ 99.


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This topic contains 0 replies, has 1 voice, and was last updated by Silvan 11 years, 6 months ago.
February 26, 2008 at 1:04 pm #11063
The third openmamba pre-release is available with tag
snapshot 20080224. The tests on the
previous releases let us face and solve some relevant installation problems and the
result is a more simple installation procedure for most users. Many thanks to all the
beta testers who made this possible!
Here are the most important changes of this release:
- added support for installation in systems with different combinations of IDE, SATA and
SCSI disks
- boot menu (grub 2): fixed support for Windows Vista boot
- installation wizard: check on partitions improved and the whole process has been made simpler by adding more pages to the wizard
- many system bugfixes
Before the stable release is ready we plan to release a forth (and last) pre-release with
the following changes:
- kernel: update to version 2.6.24
- configuration dialog for language, country, keyboard and time when installation starts
- boot menu: support for Windows and other chainloaded system boot from secondary disks
- boot menu: support for automatic configuration of other Linux systems
If you want to be informed about the latest news you may subscribe to the openmamba
newsletter by registering on the website.
The latest release can be downloaded from this page.
A first-use guide and a problems resolution guided procedure are available in the wiki. The wiki is currently being written in italian language, but we are looking forward to find help for translations! If you want to help us in this job please contact us.
If you have problems you may submit a bug report, or use the forum or the mailing lists.
openmamba adventure continues, we wish you an amazing experience!
- added support for installation in systems with different combinations of IDE, SATA and
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.


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AKRON, Ohio, Oct. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- A. Schulman, Inc. (Nasdaq-GS: SHLM), a leading global supplier of engineered plastics, masterbatches, specialty powders and distribution services, will present at the 2012 InnoPlast Solutions Plastic Modification Technologies Conference.
Chris Kerscher, Marketing Manager, Masterbatches, will speak at the conference, to be held October 17-19 at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada. Kerscher's presentation will focus on A. Schulman's Papermatch® synthetic paper products which impart the look, feel and performance features of paper into plastic film structures.
"Consumers are changing their preferences to demand the performance of plastic, but the look and feel of more 'natural' materials. Major brands are choosing synthetic paper because of its luxurious appearance, soft touch and paper-like features," Kerscher said. "Unlike other synthetic paper options, Papermatch® formulations are easily extruded into existing film structures, offering unique flexibility for package designers and processors. Advantages of Papermatch® include its tailored surface roughness to enhance the tactile experience; high tensile strength to improve dead fold; and resistance to water, chemicals, oil and grease. It also offers valued visual characteristics such as surface uniformity, printability and color constancy."
Papermatch® can be used for a wide variety of applications including food packaging, pet food bags, labels, maps, mailers, cartons, calendars, business cards, booklets, banners and point-of-purchase displays.
InnoPlast Solutions offers consultations, conferences, courses and analytical services for the plastics industry. The organization's Plastic Modification Technologies conference will focus on the newest trends and technical advances in the field of plastic modification.
About A. Schulman, Inc.
A. Schulman, Inc. is a leading international supplier of high-performance plastic compounds and resins headquartered in Akron, Ohio. Since 1928, the Company has been providing innovative solutions to meet its customers' demanding requirements. The Company's customers span a wide range of markets such as packaging, mobility, building & construction, electronics & electrical, agriculture, personal care & hygiene, sports & leisure, custom services and others. The Company employs approximately 3,100 people and has 34 manufacturing facilities globally. A. Schulman reported net sales of $2.2 billion for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2011. Additional information about A. Schulman can be found at www.aschulman.com.
SOURCE A. Schulman, Inc.


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Author Archives : Raintree
A Decade of Colorful Delights
April 29, 2019 | In the Press, Raintree News
By Nell Nolan, New Orleans Advocate: Raintree Children and Family services held its 10th annual Paint the Town Green Gala at the Pavilion of Two Sisters, gathering "luminaries from across the region" for an evening of fine cuisine, big bidding, and a tribute to ongoing Raintree volunteer and supporter Kathy Randall (joined by Lee). Proceeds…
Meghan Goldbeck-Chambers & artist James Michalopoulos appear on Fox 8 Live to promote the Paint the Town Green Gala
March 25, 2019 | In the Press, Raintree News, Uncategorized, Videos
They Give Me Life
June 26, 2018 | Raintree News, Videos
Thanks to Hoss Communications for this great piece on our programs. We are so proud of the Raintree House girls featured and of the dedication of our foster parents. Learn more about us and don't forget all the support from Paint the Town Green helps us continue to create these success stories.
The Green Scene
May 20, 2018 | In the Press
by: Nell Nolan The New Orleans Advocate Raintree Children & Family Services made brush the rush. The annual gala, Paint the Town Green, took place in a new venue, Generations Hall, with Deborah Alciatore-Empey (with husband John Empey), Lana Duke and Cindy Paulin (with Ron) as the chairwomen and a committee of 15. More top names are…
Meg Gatto talks to Whitney Armentor with Raintree and Artist James Michalopoulos about the "Paint the Town Green" event
March 25, 2018 | In the Press, Videos
Meg Gatto of Fox 8 New Orleans talks to Whitney Armentor, Development and Special Events Coordinator of Raintree, and artist James Michalopoulos about their 2018 Paint the Town Green Gala. http://www.fox8live.com/clip/14248203/meg-gatto-talks-to-whitney-armentor-with-raintree-and-artist-james-michalopoulos-about-the-paint-the-town-green-event
WWL Paint the Town Green Gala
March 24, 2018 | In the Press, Videos
Board member Lana Duke discusses the 2018 Paint the Town Green Gala: https://www.wwltv.com/video/news/community/paint-the-town-green-gala/289-8066267
2017 School Supply Wishlist
July 28, 2017 | Raintree News
With the end of summer vacation nearing, all the children we serve are gearing up to go back to school. We are so proud of how well our kids did last year, and we're helping them build the foundation for another A+ year by holding a school supply drive. Children in our Family Care Program…
The Green Scene
May 2, 2017 | In the Press
Click Here to See the Original Article on The New Orleans Advocate by: Nell Nolan Get out your paint brushes! Raintree Children & Family Services held its recent Raintree Gala in two locations, Ruth's Chris "528 Room" on Fulton Street for patrons and Harrah's Theatre for the gala, all under the banner "Paint the Town…
Anthony Davis hosts 100 children for Christmas toy giveaway
December 22, 2016 | In the Press
Click here for the original post on Nola.com BY JOHN REID firstname.lastname@example.com Anthony Davis hosted 100 children from RainTree Child Services and Kingsley House for a Christmas shopping spree Thursday night at Target in Metairie. The New Orleans Pelicans forward signed autographs and helped the kids pick out their presents. Raintree Child Services and Kingsley House…
Announcing Raintree's 2016-2017 Board of Directors
November 1, 2016 | Raintree News
Raintree 2016-2017 Executive Board Our officers are: President- Scott Howard Vice President- Rob Horton Treasurer- Patricia Starnes Secretary- Carolyn Baker Our Board Members are: Deborah Alciatore-Empey Gregory Booth Cindy Brown Cole Callihan, Esq. Mann Deynoodt Carl E. Gilmore, Jr. Terri Baptiste-Franklin Laurence M. Hamric, Esq. Nicholas Kousagan Kenny Malter Cindy G. Paulin Kedrick Robinson Brandy K….


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Montessori work time allows for the students to explore topics of their choice. The Montessori work period resembles the Montessori work cycle in that it is 100 minutes long. This extended class period encourages the students to explore various topics including map work, cultural work, life cycles, vocabulary, and more. During Montessori work time, children are given freedom within limits. Although they are not assigned a specific topic to investigate, children are encouraged to complete works with varying levels of focus and slowly work towards being able to work for the entirety of the work cycle. Students are also responsible for doing extensions of the work of their choice. Extensions include creations of art, writing, posters, books as well as student inspired extensions.
To engage in self guided activities and maintain varying levels of focus throughout the work cycle.
Sample Activities
Maps- Students use Montessori maps to create a map of their own. This helps to improve fine motor skills and enhances vocabulary. Children are exposed to the proper names of continents, countries, states, and oceans. They are exposed to this vocabulary several times throughout the map making cycle.
Individual studies- Students are encouraged to explore areas of interest. They do this by reading age appropriate text, looking at pictures and watching videos of the subject. Students then create a poster, book, or creative writing component that explains what they have learned about the topic.
Lifecycles & Vocabulary of Plants and Animals- Students explore and complete activities focused on the lifecycles of several animals and plants. Students are also exposed to the proper vocabulary of particular objects, plants, and animals. This provides a more detailed understanding of the object.
Cultural- Students are exposed to celebrations and holidays that take place in various areas of the world. This provides the students with an understanding of cultures other than their own and the importance of celebrations performed by people of various backgrounds.
Students are evaluated on the quality and neatness of their work as well as their ability to complete the work cycle.
Sample Objectives for Montessori Work Time
- Students will understand the calendar (order of months of the year, days of the week)
- Students will be able to write the date in the following formats: Tuesday, July 14 2015 and 7/14/15
- Students will be able to correctly spell the months of the year
- Students will be able to correctly spell the days of the week
- Students will be able to accurately identify seasons, illustrate seasons, and describes what happens in each season
- Students will understand how they relate to space
- Students will be able to accurately describe the location of things using proper prepositions
- Students will be able to create their own map
- Students will understand the cosmos through elements (land, air, water)
- Students will be able to name the planets in our solar system
- Students will be able to identify 10 land and water forms
- Students will be able to break down where they live by planet, continent, country, state, city
- Students will know the continents and oceans (where they are located and how to spell them)
- Students will improve their presentation skills
- Students will be able to maintain various levels of focus for the duration of the work cycle.


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Toshiba Tecra X40 Business Notebook
Toshiba Portégé X30 Ultraportable Laptop
Toshiba Portégé X20W Ultrabook
Toshiba Tecra A50 Business Notebook
The power of an enterprise-class laptop. The
freedom and convenience of a tablet with a pen. The Portégé
X20W series ultrabook offers innovative 2-in-1 versatility in a
supremely crafted Onyx Blue chassis, along with
outstanding battery life and an exceptional
handwriting experience.
The Portégé X20W 2-in-1 hybrid laptop is elegantly engineered and has subtle 360-degree
light gold hinges, which allow it to transform from a high-powered
laptop into an incredibly versatile tablet, simply by rotating the display.
At just only 15.4 mm and 1.1 kg, the Portégé X20W-D hybrid laptop offers professional
the flexibility of a laptop, table and notepad in one sleek device. With full
power 7th generation Intel® Core™ U-series processor inside and Toshiba's
new Hybrid Air Cooling System to keep things running smoothly, this
2-in-1 with a fully magnesium chassis represents the height of
engineering excellence.
With a battery life of up to 16 hours and step charge technology that
delivers five hours usage from a 30 minute charge, the Portégé X20W 2-in-1 hybrid laptop
is built to maximise your productivity.
Ready to support business users in any corporate scenario, the Portégé
X20W 2-in-1 hybrid laptop features a backlit keyboard and an AES stylus pen incorporating
Wacom® Feel technology, allows it to deliver a professional grade
digital handwriting experience enhanced by an antiglare coating.
Perfect for taking notes, drawing, capturing signatures and completing
forms, Toshiba's AES pen can detect 2,048 levels of pressure, giving you
a natural pen-on-paper writing experience. When changing modes,
the laptop smartly switches system settings and uses a smart-locking
feature to protect the keyboard and prevent mishaps.
Keep your business critical data safe with advanced security features of
Portégé X20W 2-in-1 hybrid laptop. SecurePad™ with Synaptics® Natural ID ngerprint
sensor built right into the computer's Touchpad reader and IR-camera
for face authentication through Windows Hello or Intel® Authenticate
allow you to quickly login to your device securely. Toshiba's own
built-in BIOS and TPM 2.0 encryption provide an added layer of security
so you can have a peace of mind.
Designed, engineered, manufactured and rigorously tested in our
dedicated facilities, the Portégé X20W delivers quality that is built to
last. Toshiba's exclusive EasyGuard™ suiteΩ overs top-notch data
protection and physical durability when it comes to privacy or bump
and spills on the road. Plus, like all Toshiba business-class laptops, it is
subjected to comprehensive Drop and HALT testing, for complete
confidence and peace of mind.
With a 12.5-inch diagonal, Full HD (1920 x 1080), multi-touch wide
viewing angle display packs over 2 million pixels onto the screen, text
is sharper and easier to read. Color and quality is spot on. Reinforced
with all-new Corning® Gorilla® Glass 4, your Portégé X20W hybrid laptop is equipped
to withstand the shock of accidental bumps & scratch.
Experience premium audio quality via Harman Kardon® stereo
speakers and DTS Sound™ software, exclusively custom-tuned to
adapt to the rotational view of the display, delivering a robust, crisp
and natural audio from every angle.
To achieve its slim profile, the Portégé X20W ultrabook has a USB Type-C™ port,
USB 3.0 port and headphone/mic combo port. As the industry's new
universal standard, the USB Type-C port on the Portégé X20W features
reversible plug orientation and supports Display, Power Delivery and
Thunderbolt™ 3 with speeds up to 40Gbps.


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A Pocket Buddha
by Joseph W. Hall
2500 years of fascination with a single individual have cultivated fields and fields of prose and poetry, with each age and each sect adding more and more words to a body of writing larger than any library. As Buddhism has deepened over the centuries, the number of perspectives has grown exponentially and any statement of "fact" about the Buddha can be challenged from all sides as soon as it arises. Even if a lifetime of scholarship were endeavored to the cause, one would be hard pressed to gain a complete understanding of the facets of Buddhism in a single incarnation. Each of us, then, is left to fashion our own construction of the Buddha. Dauntingly, this is like trying to remake a crystal vase from the shards of glass found in a dustpan.
Fortunately, while mesmerizing to look at, a 100 foot Buddha does not enlighten anyone. A pocket size Buddha fits inside the head quite nicely and can be carried around for use wherever needed. Our task here, for those who are meeting Shakyamuni Buddha just now, is to make a utilitarian Buddha which you can take with you to lectures, read books with, and to ponder the occasional overheard conversation. It can be useful as a structure to support and to illuminate new ideas as they come along and to provid a place to sustain your understanding as it grows. To do this, we will try to confine ourselves to basics of a simple story which has resonated across the millennia. And we will stick only to the things that we can be seen to be true, whether they happened or not. So, once upon a time….
A few centuries before the birth of Christ, the part of the world we now call India was caught up in a time of catastrophic peace. Centuries of warfare had come to an end leaving a feudalistic society where property, resources and spouses were held in the hands of a few. This was a society bound together by caste, an immutable system of class, facing a growing threat in the form of a increasingly restive population of young men with no work, no families, and no prospects. It was, in short, a crucible. The pressure grew year after year and if ever a revolution was inevitable, the Indian lands were headed for it.
Late one night, in the northern country that we now call Nepal, a child was born to a chief and was given the name Siddhartha Gautama. As was done in these stories, an astrologer was summoned and he foresaw that the young child would either become a great chief and rule the world or follow the path of renunciation to become a holy man. The chief, like most fathers, was both elated and terrified and so built high walls around his compound to hide the boy and the world from each other. So Siddhartha grew for 29 years, shielded from pain and suffering, his every whim indulged by a bevy of servants with every means at their disposal. At 16, he married and later started a family but at 29, despite the vigilant efforts of everyone around him, Siddhartha one day ventured outside the palace walls.
Riding in an ox cart with a servant, Siddhartha had four encounters which would irrevocably change the path of his life and the future of the land. The first encounter was in seeing a very old man. Siddhartha, appalled at the condition of this person, recoiled and asked what terrible affliction had befallen the man. The servant driving the cart informed Siddhartha not only that this person was aged, but that growing old was happening to every one. Since he was in a town, there was not time to regain his composure before a sick person appeared alongside the road and once again the young prince asked his guide for an explanation only to discover that this general condition of illness would spread amongst all the people with no place to escape. The cart moved on. Passing the river, Siddhartha discovered a corpse floating by. Needless to say, he asked and was horrified to discover that he was looking at his future, and the future of all he knew. The beautiful day had become a macabre landscape. Seeing the suffering and despair, the turmoil of the people searching for food, clothing, and the things they needed to survive, the young prince grew bewildered and terrified. Then, entering the center of the city, Siddhartha had his final encounter, discovering a solitary man, sitting at peace on the side of road. This man had nothing, but yet the smile on his face seemed to radiate and bring calm to those around him. Asking who this person was, he was told that man sitting at the roadside was a renunciate, a holy man. This man had possession of no part of the world that Siddhartha lived in and yet he sat in the midst of all its suffering with peace and equanimity.
The cart moved on to the market, the sun crossed the sky, and in the end the cart passed back behind the palace walls. Despite the fury of Siddhartha's father, the journey could be retracted. Returning to his home, Siddhartha was inconsolable. Everyone and everything he loved was in a state of decay. Even his young son would one day wither and die, all the while in constant peril of destruction. Not even the earth itself was immune to this suffering. For a fortnight, Siddhartha wandered the palace grounds, wondering what kind of chief he would be if he left his people to a life of misery. But within the walls of the palace there were no answers and one morning his father awoke to find that the young Siddhartha was gone.
It was within the holy man, a yogi, that Siddhartha had seen a glimmer of hope and so it was holy men he sought to teach him how to transcend his suffering. India at the time was alive with a great many religions and practices but the dominant faith of his class was Brahmanism, a practice of ritual and animal sacrifice to appease the various deities and compete for their favor. Siddhartha immediately abandoned the indulgent faith of his childhood and took up the more populist practice of yoga. Over the next several years, Siddhartha rose before dawn and worked day after day to master the most intricate and challenging meditations, breathing exercises and postures, seeking to unite his body and mind. He learned to breathe only once a minute and to slow his heartbeat until it was indiscernible but he discovered that control of body could do nothing to end his suffering permanently. Siddhartha, by now the head student, said goodbye to his teacher and joined the ascetics.
Having failed to end his suffering by perfecting his body, Siddhartha next sought escape by destroying it. For the next several years, traveling with five friends, he studied the teaching of the ascetics. Siddhartha became exquisitely skilled in the various mortification practices of his day, exposing himself to starvation, privation, and pain, all in the hope that the body could be defeated and the mind released. Finally, six years after leaving the dream world of his youth and now eating just a single grain of rice a day, an emaciated Siddhartha sat on the side of a river, approaching the edge of death, realizing that he was no closer to discovering an answer for his people now then when he began.
As he sat, he was swept away by a memory of his childhood. He had sat on the edge of a river as a young boy alongside his father and looking at the grass, he had been distracted by insects. Suddenly, the thought of the insects being destroyed had overwhelmed him and awoke in him a monumental wave of compassion. He realized that all things are connected. Naturally, the future Buddha sat in a meditation pose and the world was revealed to him and this compassion led him to feel profound and penetrating joy. Understanding clearly that the joy he had experienced as a child could not be sustained without food, the renunciate prince now decided that he must eat.
At this moment, a woman approached and offered him a bowl of rice which he accepted. As his strength returned, he realized that his answer lay in neither of the extremes of indulgence nor denial. Instead, Siddhartha became convinced that he would find his answer in the middle way. Failed by friends, abandoned by teachers, he resolved to look within. Fed and bathed, Siddhartha sat beneath a bodhi tree and said, "I will not rise from this spot until I achieve enlightenment."
Some say he sat many days, others just a single night, but on the last night they say Mara came. Mara, of course, is a demon, one completely devoted to distracting people from the spiritual life. Mara personifies unskillfulness. As Siddhartha approached enlightenment, Mara rushed to the bodhi tree and tried three times to tempt the young bodhisattva. First, Mara sent an army and their weapons were turned to flowers. Then he sent his three daughters, but the young bodhisattva simply sat still, implacable. Finally Mara approached Siddhartha and asked what right he had to enlightenment and demanded to know who would speak for him. Siddhartha touched the earth and the earth shuddered and the demon surrendered. Undisturbed, Siddhartha meditated the rest of the night. When the morning star rose, it is said that he roared like a lion, "At this moment, I and all beings awaken together"
For the next several weeks the new Buddha, or awakened one, remained by the bodhi tree, joyous. But as time passed, the awareness grew that, without the teaching of what was learned at the bodhi tree, the suffering of the world continued. When he could resist this call no more, The Buddha returned to the village and encountered his five friends at a place called Deer Park.
Meeting them he told them that he had achieved enlightenment, a claim which was met with derision, but finally they agreed to sit and listen to his story and the Buddha gave his first sermon. It was simply to tell his companions what he had seen…
And so the Buddha spoke of Dukkha, a wheel which spun slightly off center in its axis, creating a variety of vibrations. Our problem he said is that we expect this wheel to spin perfectly true. This wheel was our lives and there was nothing wrong with the wheel, only in our wanting it to be different then it is. He told of the Four Noble Truths which would form the basis of Buddhism and he began to lay out his framework. One of his friends, Ananda, was said to have the gift of perfect recall and would later write down the words spoken by the Buddha that day, and he began with the first of many lists…
The Four Noble Truths:
- "There is suffering"
- "The cause of suffering is craving"
- "suffering can be extinguished"
- "The end of suffering is via the eightfold noble path."
This path of which the Buddha spoke was simply a series of practices which were achievable by any human and would lead to escape from samsara, the cycle of endlessly repeating the same actions and results which held us in the quicksand of suffering. These were…
The Eightfold Noble Path
1. Right view
2. Right Intention
3. Right Speech
4. Right Action
5. Right Livelihood
6. Right Effort
7. Right Mindfulness
8. Right Concentration
And so, as the Buddha continued to speak, Ananda continued to write, and as the new religion grew, the fragile peace would begin to root itself deeply in the land and in the region of India, the flowering of a great civilization was just beginning as a young man spoke quietly to his friends.
And it is here, in Deer Park, that I will leave you with Buddha by the edge of a stream.


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Sunday, January 25, 2009
2009 Sundance Film Festival Award Winners - Final
Here are the awards winners for feature films.
U.S. Dramatic Competition
Grand Jury Prize: Push: Based on a novel by Sapphire, Lee Daniels; the film tells the redemptive story of Precious Jones, a young girl in Harlem struggling to overcome tremendous obstacles and discover her own voice.
Special Jury Prize for "Spirit of Independence": Humpday, Lynn Shelton
Alfred P. Sloan Prize: Adam, Max Mayer press release.
Audience Award: Push: Based on the novel by Sapphire, Lee Daniels.
Excellence in Directing: Cary Joji Fukunaga for Sin Nombre; filmmaker Fukunaga's first-hand experiences with Mexican immigrants seeking the promise of the U.S. form the basis of this epic Spanish-language dramatic thriller.
Special Jury Prize For Acting: Mo'Nique, in Push: Based in a novel by Sapphire
World Dramatic Competition
Jury Prize: La Nana (The Maid), Sebastian Silva, Chile
Special Jury Prize for Originality: Louise-Michel, Benoit Delépine and Gustave de Kervern, France; about a group of disgruntled female French factory workers who, after the factory abruptly closes, pool their paltry compensation money to hire a hit man to knock off the corrupt executive behind the closure
Audience Award: An Education, Lone Scherfig, UK
Special Jury Prize: Catalina Saavedra in La Nana (The Maid)
Excellence in Directing: Oliver Hirschbiegel for Five Minutes of Heaven; UK and Ireland
Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Awards
Ciencias Morales (Moral Sciences), Diego Lerman, Argentina
The Girl, David Riker, USA
Speed Girl, Qurata Kenji, Japan
Evolution, Lucile Hadzihalilovic, France
press release
To check winners in Shorts Filmmaking go here and to check the winners in all the categories go here. Have to say that about the ONLY serious feature film competing in all the fest that is of lesbian interest winning the top award is amazing and now becomes a must be seen film because probably will have above production values and quality. Also is not often that the jury and audience award is given to the same movie as this is the second time. The only other movie to get the jury and audience top awards was gay interest Quinceañera.


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I am a programmer and I don't have much background in mathematics. I know this question might look much more clear to you if I could articulate it in mathematical terminologies. The problem is this is my first question here and I don't know how to ask it in maths languages! So bare with me...
I am making a car-racing game where multiple players on the Internet can compete with each other. Each player drives a car whose position and rotation changes continuously over time. To let players over the network share the same game I have to quickly deliver each player's position and rotation to all other player. The problem is there is always going to be a network latency between data being sent and being received. In other words, by the time a piece of data reaches another player, it is already dated.
I think the solution to my problem is to make a function that can predict the position and rotation of other cars based on the previous data collected. When newer data arrives, the function should have a feedback so that error could be corrected. Parameters used for prediction should also be modified, maybe.
For example, I am thinking about sampling the position as well as velocity of my car evenly over time, and sending them to other player one by one. Now before other players receive my new data, they can use their own "predicted velocity" to approximate my movement. Once the new data arrives, they can use the new position and velocity to do error correction and make new predictions.
Some additional requirements about the function includes:
- Efficiency: the prediction and error correction function must be efficient because it is going to be computed by computer every tens of milliseconds.
- Robust: I will sample evenly but the other players won't receive data at an even speed, due to network uncertainties.
- Error Bound: it would be great if there is a way to confine error within a certain range.
I have been googling papers for such functions but I haven't found much useful information. Maybe it's because I don't have the correct keywords. So any answer/comment that
- helps to identify & clarify the problem in the math realm
- points to papers of solutions
is highly appreciated!


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On May 2, 2000, Lars Ulrich, drummer for the band Metallica, announced that his group was suing Napster, a free file-sharing service that let fans download music online. During the press conference outside Napster's headquarters, Ulrich presented the company with a giant stack of papers listing the names of 300,000 Napster users. His assertion: Napster was enabling these people to steal music. Continue reading
Tag Archives: music industry
Billboard Admits There's more to Industry than Album Sales
In a moment of clarity, Billboard admits that album sales don't tell the whole story of record label revenues. According to Billboard, "there's more to the story. Recorded music looks better when streaming gains are taken into account." As I've been arguing for a while, record labels earn revenue from a number of sources well beyond album sales. So the recent decline of albums and tracks is rather irrelevant when considering industry profits.
iTake-Over Released Today
iTake-Over: The Recording Industry in the Digital Era was released today by Rowman & Littlefield. Be sure to grab your copy. Continue reading
iTake-Over Press Release
Book decries methods of the recording industry in the digital age – News Center – UT Arlington.
A new book by a UT Arlington assistant professor reveals how large corporations exploited new technologies to maintain their stranglehold on the music industry.
David Arditi, an assistant professor in Interdisciplinary Studies, wrote "iTake-Over: The Recording Industry in the Digital Era," published by R&L Publishers. It will hit shelves Dec. 5.


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Pinspiration; January 2017
If you've been absent from my blog for a little while you might have missed that last month I started this new little series; my mood board from Pinterest to kick off every month.
January is a really weird month I think, Christmas is over but the decorations are still up (if you take them down on the 12th night), everything is frosty and blue and cold and it's easy to feel a bit blahhhh.
So I've created this mood board of pins for allll the January inspiration because if I know anything in life, I know decorating your home for the season isn't limited to Christmas.
So fill your homes with snowflakes, use the leftover tree to make a wreath, make everything wintery and then throw about 10 blankets on the sofas for extra cosiness.
Happy New Year gorgeous boys and gals!
I don't profess to own any of these photos, they're all on PInterest and if you're the owner of the images and would like them credited differently please don't hesitate to get in touch!


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Wayne Martin didn't tell me how he went to prison until I was almost forty years old. Part of me was afraid of actually knowing rather than trusting the mythology I'd built up around him, but a bigger part was afraid he wouldn't tell me, that it would remain forever a part of him I couldn't know. After he told me I immediately called my mother, ready to surprise her with this new bit of information I'd gathered. "Oh, yeah," she said, giggling. "I remember Candy." My mother had kept meticulous track of all of Wayne Martin's girlfriends after he'd gotten her pregnant, and the winter after he'd gone to prison she and her friend Linda ran into Candy at a bar. Candy didn't know who my mother was, and my mother and Linda bought her drinks until she was thoroughly soused. They then offered her a ride home. On the ride home, with Candy passed out in the backseat, they took a detour and drove ten miles outside of town. They steered off the road, into a frozen field, and parked. Then they pulled Candy out of the backseat, laid her down in the middle of the field between broken cornrows, and drove back to town. "That," my mother said, "was the last I heard of Candy."
Just added to All You Need to Know


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Vaccinations for Children and Adults
AccessHealth provides immunizations, also known as vaccinations, to children and adults within the community. Immunizations help to protect and lessen the chances of you and your child from getting or spreading diseases.
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Click here to find a health center near you. and schedule an appointment with our Health Care Providers.
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AccessHealth welcomes anyone in need of health care services. We accept Medicaid, Medicare, CHIP and most private insurance. However, individuals without insurance may be eligible for discounted services. Our team of Certified Application Counselors will be happy to assist you and answer any questions you may have.


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Initially, writing came through as an innate desire to express.
A need, really, and as that became impossible to ignore, I dove in, without a clue as to what I was doing. There are no romantic stories that start with, "for as long as I can remember, I wrote." It didn't come naturally, and I would say that it still doesn't, but my gosh does it fill me up. Not just that, but it stands as a reminder.
A reason to keep learning and shifting when adjustments are needing to be made.
And once I began dipping my toes in, shaping the words around adventures and releasing anxious energy I thought I'd never be rid of, things began to fall into place, and just in time for my grandpa to begin his lessons in literature: Emails back and forth that walked through common grammatical mistakes, sentence structure, and often misused words, in a way that worked with not against the way information was processed on an individual level.
Without that, I was trapped behind their expectations. Their desire to be perfectly placed here and there, blindly and without question, abiding by the rulebook that was assigned to me.Read More


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A Day In The Life of Ashley La Rue
Long before the thoughts of having a family of my own ever entered my mind, I came across Ashley La Rue and her beautiful family on Instagram. At the time, they were living in Dakar and I was fascinated with how Ashley balanced motherhood and expat life. The La Rue family ventures have now brought them to Vienna and today I am thrilled to have Ashley's sharing a peek into her life as we kick off our new Day in the Life series featuring some of our favorite modern moms.
By The Numbers
The Daily Grind
6:15 Alarm goes off and I hit snooze repeatedly.
6:49 I get out of bed reluctantly. Always. Everyone is still asleep so I prep breakfast, but first Nespresso. I put in a Rosabaya my absolute favorite. Maybe because it is pink? Weekly I make a double batch of whole grain mini pancakes or whole grain waffles and freeze for the week. This week it is waffles. I turn on the oven and pop two in and head downstairs (I have one of those weird apartments where the living room and kitchen is upstairs) to wake the older kids for school.
7:00 While the kids eat breakfast I sit down and check social media, read the Washington Post headlines, and check email.
7:30 Kids scrambling to find uniform shirts. I forgot to wash them last night so we wear something else and make sure they grab their jackets since the weather has cooled into the 60's today in Vienna.
7:50 Shuttle arrives to pick up the kids and of course Gavin can't find his shoes.
8:00 I make myself breakfast. I really want a doughnut. Instead I scramble a few eggs in coconut oil and have some watermelon.
8:15 I wake up Miss Evie. She would sleep until 10 if I let her! She has her breakfast and we get dressed and ready to head out the door.
9:00 We decide to drive today. I drop her off at Nursery and come back home to workout and finalize a website design for a client. I also take this time in the morning to start or finish laundry. Empty the dishwasher. The daily grind. Today I threw in some chicken breasts, homemade salsa, jalapeños, cilantro, and lime juice in the slow cooker for dinner. We are going to serve it over brown rice.
11:50 I need to head out to pick up Evie and grab a few things at our local market. I normally take the tram to pick her up but since it looks like rain I decide to take the car. I get an unexpected call from Claire's school letting me know her voice teacher has a surprise for her at the end of her lesson tomorrow and that I should be there.
11:55 I love walking into to Evie's little class because I always get a very loud "Mama!" and she comes running to me. This might be the best part of my day.
12:15 We precariously park in the small Billa parking lot. I only need a few things: beef for fajitas on Friday, milk, yogurt, peanut butter, wine, bananas and Evie convinced me to buy her Minion cookies. She flirts with the old man behind us in line dropping her pacifier and after he retrieves it I smile and say the only German I know: danke schön.
12:30 We need to walk down to this children's shoe store to exchange a pair of homeroom shoes I bought Evie yesterday. Here in Austria everyone has shoes you only wear indoors and can I just say they make the best children's shoes here. I always have a hard time in the states finding good shoes that fit well and hold up from all the running and playing. The owner is sipping wine and someone is giving a piano lesson whilst two adorable yellow labs run around the small boutique. Evie is terrified and the shop owner seems puzzled that my child is crying since every Austrian owns a dog. We get the right size and head out. I've been letting Evie walk more on her own, careful not to let her go to far in case she runs out into the street. She loves the freedom from the buggy.
1:00 It's nap time which means lunch for me. Salad with cottage cheese. I check emails. Chat with my husband. We got a speeding ticket in the mail. Apparently in Linz back in May. I hate those pesky cameras.
2:00 It's time for coffee and working on my to-do list. We have guests coming in July and we are also going on vacation so it is gearing up to be a busy month. I need my lists. I've had it on my list to make a vacation to-do list for weeks. Time to knock it out. Ordered a potty for Evie on Amazon Deutschland. She is so ready. Mommy is not.
3:05 Miss Evie is up and we cuddle and watch Daniel Tiger. I know all the songs, do you?
3:25 Big kids arrive home from school, starving and eager to tell me about their day. We all sit down for a snack. Hummus, pita, yogurt, and fruit.
4:00-Until Daddy Comes Home: Witching Hour. Enough said. Send wine.
5:45 Feed the hungry kids. Evie eats apple sauce with her hands. Throws vegetable soup on the ground.
6:00 Wine
6:15 Daddy is home and we sit down to eat quickly while the kids play. Except Evie managed to sneak into the kitchen and get a bag of cookies. We find her covered in chocolate. Bits smashed in the floor and on the tire of her pukylino bike. This is life.
7:00-8:30 juggle 3 kids, dinner clean up, 1 bath, 2 showers, find pacifiers (Evie sleeps with 4), vitamins, allergy medicine for Gavin, bedtime snack of fruit or cheese, story time and finally get them all to sleep!
8:45 settle down to sip wine, chat, and watch the Daily Show (previous nights episode) with my main squeeze.
Connect with Ashley
Instagram | Twitter | Pinterest | Photo Credit: Ashley La Rue & Bubblerock


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Rambo Day Part 1: Ideas
It was the night before Rambo Day...maybe around 1am when we suddenly realized that we forgot to track down combat boots that would fit RAMBO. We had no boots. RAMBO needs boots! When this popped into our heads, we were standing in a dark parking lot, outside of Extreme Tan. We were peaking into the windows...running Ryan (our big shot Sheriff) through the logistics of how we were going to transform this tanning salon into a make-believe police station at 8am the next morning. Ryan and Todd had just arrived in RI a few hours earlier, and Rosso and I were doing our best to fill them in on their pivotal responsibilities. The whole plan --the arrest, the blindfold, the spray tan, and the Rambo transformation-- had to unfold in a couple hours…the town was sleeping...and we suddenly had a high alert boot crisis.
We called Colin. We had just parted ways with him at the bar. All of us had written down our last minute lists of things that needed to get done before 9am the next day. The neverending checklist. He was heading to Walmart in the morning...so, we added black combat boots to his list. Another wasteful $40 or so dollars...but we had come this far...why let Rambo wear the wrong boots?
As we babbled on about the random remaining details, giving Ryan his instructions for the morning (a complicated set of tasks for someone who had never been to Westerly, RI)...Rosso and I suddenly looked at each other and one of us asked a very valid question...
In Todd's perfect way...he smiled and said, "I've been thinking the same thing." We groggily laughed...and then we remembered...the tanning salon opened for real business at 10am….and we had to be out of there by then. The rest of the world had other plans...and we had ours. It was beyond midnight...Rambo day had officially begun.
Rambo Day actually began months earlier...maybe even years earlier. As each friend (in our close group of friends) got married, the bar of creativity and execution was raised for each bachelor party. It's our way of 'giving someone the roses while they can still smell them'...like Kanye says. Throwing over-the-top bachelor parties was never a life goal...it just sort of happened...and Dana has always been the centerpiece for every bachelor party. So, for him, we all knew that everything needed to get kicked up a couple notches.
Amongst friends, it's no secret that Dana is obsessed with Rambo, so without doing much thinking, the first spark of an idea was always the first scene of Rambo: First Blood.
We always knew that a fake arrest would be a great way to start it off...but we didn't really have much of a plan beyond that. I was super stuck on the idea that we could get the real Brian Dennehy to reprise his role as Sherrif Will Teasle.
Just get Dennehy…and the rest of the pieces would fall into place for us...the boulder would start rolling down the hill.
Wikipedia informed us that he lived in Bridgeport, CT. Bridgeport is maybe 1 hour away…so, it didn't seem completely out of the question that he would get involved...it's a small world. So, the plan was simple:
- Contact him through the aunt of a friend who's son or daughter went to school with Dennehy's son. (Katherine + Elizabeth Seltzer…THANK YOU!!!)
- If he said "Yes," we didn't have much of a plan…maybe we'd offer to put him up in a cool, coastal hotel as compensation
Whatever the outcome, it was worth a shot. Dumb confidence is sometimes the best confidence...and this very thin strand of a connection actually did get us all the way to Dennehy's teenage son. It was only a couple of texts (click to read)...but it seemed promising...kinda :)
Understandably, he was a little skeptical...so, we tried to boil down the plan for him...and in response, we got a whole lot of silence. For now, Brian Dennehy was out.
Sometimes it's crazy how the universe aligns things. Early in 2014, we teabagged the Atlantic Ocean with our DJI Phantom 2 on a shoot in Miami. The drone still flew...but the gimbal and GoPro were fried. We had to figure out how we were going to fix everything, without paying for a new one. So, it sat on the shelf until March when, completely out-of-the-blue, a cousin-of-a-friend named Chris Walsh called our office explaining how he and his business partner were starting to build RC quadcopters (AKA: drones) in Cranston, RI…and they were interested in the potential of collaborating on some drone flights on our commercial gigs. Sounded pretty cool…plus, I was curious if they could help us repair our Phantom 2…and get it back up and running.
They came down a few days later, and we chatted for a while at the Malted Barley about drones and their previous big-budget movie experience. Chris explained how he's been a special fx coordinator on big movies like Fast and Furious 7. Paul Pedestrian (Walker) had just tragically died in a car wreck, and we chatted about his sad, untimely death. We drank a few beers, ate a few delicious pretzels, and at some point, he mentioned John Ruggieri. John was one of the most sought-after pyro technicians around, and Chris had worked with him on a bunch of movies. Then, it dawned on him that John lived about a mile from my house in Rockville, RI. He asked me if I knew him. I didn't. But now, with the Rambo Day plans simmering in the back of my brain, I really needed to meet him!
Chris didn't know anything about our secret Rambo Day plans, but he just offered a key piece to raising the level of absurdity to an all time high. We should blow shit up…like really blow shit up!
A few days later…Chris hooked me up with John's phone number, and for a few weeks…I tried to figure out if this guy was real. He didn't answer his phone…and he didn't respond to texts or voicemails. I explained it to all to the guys…this mythical explosions expert that lives in the woods near my house...but it still seemed like a longshot that we would ever be able to convince him to get involved. More importantly, we didn't even know what we wanted to blow up yet…
I remember the day that the mythical pyro expert called back. I was in my office…a few feet from Dana's office…and I ran out onto the street so that I could tell him our very loose plan and try to sell him on getting involved. He laughed a lot when I ran through the ideas that we currently had….so, that was a good sign. He seemed to appreciate our sense of mischief, and respected our ambition…but it was also very apparent that he was a busy guy. He was back and forth to Boston working on Ted 2 throughout the spring/summer…and in the month of July (around the time that we wanted to do the bachelor party) he had a few hundred fireworks shows that he had to coordinate….and then there was the question of insurance…and how much we were willing to spend.
At the time…Rosso had discussed the possibility of blowing up the Sheriff's cop car. As a final triumphant scene, Rambo would shoot an explosive-tip arrow (Dana loves those) at the cop car and it would blow up. The Sheriff would run around on fire for a bit….and Rambo would be victorious. Mission accomplished.
So, as a hail mary, I asked, "Could he do something like that?"
He laughed…and explained that he blew up the minivan in the climactic heist scene in The Town. He could basically do whatever we wanted to do…but there would have to be permits, insurance, and pretty hefty costs associated with something like safely blowing up a cop car (in the woods...in the middle of summer)…BUT…if we wanted to do it…he could blow the car 10 feet in the air…for around 10 grand. I laughed…wow, this could actually happen...not the exploding cop car (10k was a little out of our price range)…BUT...we could definitely blow up SOMETHING. My mind was racing. I thanked him for his time, and told him that I'd circle back with the guys...and then get back to him. I got off the phone…and I was pretty giddy thinking of the possibilities. He talked of squibs and propane poppers and cork bombs…now, we just had to figure out what those things were…and how they could play into our plan…and not get anybody killed (especially Dana).
So, we (Rosso, Colin, Josh, Hubby, Ethan) got together one night in late March when Dana was away on a shoot...and we chased a few of the concepts that we were kicking around. We knew that we wanted to create a Rambo-like world where we could re-create some of the action from those movies...good guys and bad guys....weapons and physical challenges. So, we visited the old pine grove behind Dana's house where we used to camp out...and we looked at another special spot called the 'Indian caves' that were down the road from his childhood home. Both were super nostalgic spots that we were hoping could revive that sense of adventure that we had when we were kids....but strangely, each spot had been overtaken by new houses. 20 years later, it wasn't as secluded as we remembered. If we were going to be blowing things up a few hundred feet from some stranger's kitchen window…that might cause some problems :)
So, we went about our night...the stress of figuring out what we were going to do was replaced by Chinese food and beers. Also, I had some big news to share with everybody. Kate, my wife, was pregnant, and we were expecting a baby boy…our first kid!...in mid-August. Crazy stuff! We celebrated, watched March madness, and it wasn't until late, late night…when we started revisiting the plan that we were supposed to be hatching.
Thus far, we were kind of failing...no Dennehy, explosives were probably too expensive...and we didn't know where we were going to do this whole thing. So, we had a kind of stuck-at-a-crossroads conversation standing in Rosso's kitchen. What the f*ck should we do...maybe we should keep it simple...I'm having a kid soon…everybody has a lot on their plates…simplify…a quick surf trip...a beach bbq...blah blah blah…and then Hubby said it…something that got the train right back on the tracks.
We laughed so hard just thinking of Dana getting spray tanned--real dark--and then, having to go out in public...and in a weirdly genius way...if we combined the Teasle arrest + spray tan...it kind of fit with the First Blood arrest + police station spray-down scene. So, even though we didn't have all the rest of the pieces to the puzzle yet...we knew that the boulder was budging...and soon it would roll down the hill.
That night was in late March…we had almost 4 more months to pull this off...
Weeks and months went by. We were trying to be super secretive, so we couldn't talk about it too much because Dana was always around (which is a weird feeling to keep such a big secret from such a close friend)…but ideas started bubbling under the surface.
Some big additions had been decided:
1. THE BATTLEFIELD. Reluctantly, we decided to move the battlefield from the pine grove that was Dana's childhood playground to the woods behind my house in Rockville, RI. The huge benefit being that there was a pond that we could add into the equation…and my neighbor's allowed us access to their 60+ acres of cool paths, and random fields (THANKS SARAH CONNYNGHAM + DAVE MARSHALL!)
2. THE SHERIFF. Our friend Ryan (from South Dakota) had just moved to NYC, and if Brian Dennehy never surfaced…he was considering coming down to play the sheriff. If anybody could pull it off, while staying completely in character…it was him.
3. THE ESCAPE. We decided that Dana needed to escape the tanning-salon-police-precinct on a dirtbike or motorcycle…or at the very least, a moped. We just needed to covertly figure out if he could confidently start + safely ride a street legal dirt bike...and then we needed someone to agree to letting us borrow it. He needed to travel 20 miles to get to the next stage...so, that was a bit of a concern, but we figured it would be OK...hopefully we wouldn't get arrested (for real) along the way.
4. THE ENEMY. We were going to have it be good guys vs. bad guys, and the older brothers and their friends were going to dress up in burlap + Asian hats….and one of the most important details…Colin was going to be the leader of the bad guys. He was super familiar with every detail…so it would ensure that everyone knew what to do, where to go, and got into their places on time.
5. SAVE THE DATE. Rosso reached out to everyone to try to set aside July 26th. Given everybody's busy schedules…we needed to pick a date as soon as possible to maximize the amount of people that could make it. That weekend was perfect because it was 3 weeks before the wedding, and Dana and Nina were going to the Newport Folk Festival on July 25th…so, it gave us a full super-scramble day to maneuver without him suspecting anything.
Every time we met at Rosso's and had a chance to discuss the plan's progress…we would start listing things that we needed to do. This was the start of the never-ending checklist. We got everybody on Wunderlist, which is a nerdy BUT absolutely amazing way to organize a team effort. Everybody assigned themselves tasks…or took responsibility for items that we needed to buy or borrow.
Also, we created a guest list, and through Rosso's amazing excel skills…we organized everybody's roles in the action movie. He separated Bad Guys and Good Guys…and separated the necessary props that we would need at each stage.
In early July, we got a 30-day Amazon Prime trial…and shit started getting real. I remember a meeting that involved clipboards and lots of focus in Rosso's kitchen as we decided which props we needed/could afford.
At this stage, the remaining big missing pieces were:
1. How were we going to acquire a cop car + dirtbike?
2. Will John, the pyro dude, actually be able to get involved? It was getting down to the wire, and due to his busy schedule it seemed like his interest was waning. To his credit, we never really convinced him that sending a completely oblivious "action hero" through a series of explosions and filming it without any stopping or retakes was a sane + safe idea. Beyond that, we hadn't nailed down exactly what we wanted to blow up. We were still stuck on exploding hay bale barricades and ground hits that looked like enemy fire…we definitely didn't have a solid plan….and the possibility of explosions was slowly slipping away.
3. What the f*ck are we going to do when he gets in the woods?
We were 3 weeks away…and it was starting to really creep up on us…and there were still so many unknowns....but here's a glimpse at what we were working with:
Adding the pond into the equation instantly seemed like a brilliant idea…we just needed to figure out how we could possibly cover 1.5 miles through the woods with engaging antics. We started throwing ideas around and we quickly decided that different groups of friends should be sprinkled at different stages…and he would meet up with them along the way. We didn't have any intentions to build POW cages yet (that came later)…but the POWs would be held captive in various ways (maybe tied together in death marches?) and Rambo would free them from the Asian-hat-wearing bad guys. So, during each encounter, he would need some firepower to "scare" the bad guys and force them to retreat to the next challenge. So, we needed to figure out what his firepower would be at each stage...and what the bad guys would be firing back at us. Here's how we figured it out:
1. Rotten vegetables + water balloons. We knew that we didn't want to shoot a bunch of water balloons into the pond for obvious reasons…so we came up with rotten vegetables as an alternative. My mom works at a farm stand…and I had her start collecting vegetables…and Colin did the same at his restaurant/bar. The idea was that rotten vegetables would be softer…and wouldn't hurt as much…not sure that logic made sense…it would have been really bad if Rambo got hit by a slingshotted tomato….no matter how rotten. Haha. Glad that didn't happen. For the other showdowns…Colin and helpers tied hundreds of water balloons…so that the bad guys always had something to fire at us.
2. Gun Turret. *NERD ALERT* We figured that we could re-purpose our camcrane 2000 to make the perfect gun turret. Rambo could fire roman candles or some sort of trailing fireworks that wouldn't burn the woods down or kill any of the people on the banks of the pond. We could mount it on the front of the boat with gorilla tape, a 2x4, and zip ties…and it would be a pretty functional weapon. Furthermore, we could mount a gopro in front of the turret, and it would make for a really cool jib-snorri-cam-type shot.
3. Racketball Rocket Launcher. We were inspired by this ridiculous video…
...and you might as well watch this one too...haha...INSANITY!...
......but luckily (for our safety) our friend Ethan, and his secret potato gun skills, saved our lives from attempting to build a polish trash cannon. Haha. He showed up one day with PVC pipes and rubber cement and worked his magic. We decided greased-up racket-balls would be the perfect ammo. With the Rocket Launcher and the Gun Turret, we never let the bad guys (older brothers) know what we were working with…because we hoped that we could ACTUALLY scare them away. It didn't exactly work out that way…but it was a fun thought.
4. Paintball Guns. We needed to track down paintball guns because it seemed like a fun thing to throw in the mix...a weapon that we could actually shoot at each other without getting hurt. We reached out to friends of friends of friends…until we realized that we needed to go straight to the source…and do a little begging. We sent an email to Tom at Mystic Fields of Fire Paintball…we linked Colin's bachelor party video that we did a few years back…and he got back to us pretty quickly to say that he was on board. He respected our ambition + mischief…and we could have guns, CO2 tanks, and masks FOR FREE!...we just needed to buy the paintballs. AMAZING! Huge thanks to Tom and Mystic Fields of Fire Paintball for supporting our absurd vision.
5. American Gladiators Challenge. Who didn't want to try to compete in this Gladiator Challenge when they were a kid? Colin was pushing strongly for something like it, and in the end…this is what we came up with: We rented a dunk tank, removed the cage, and mounted a pitching machine on our other camcrane 2000. After an extensive search for tennis ball machines (Thanks John Spears and CJ Taglione!) Josh finally found a pitching machine at a yard sale. The quirky owner sold it for $50 and pack of Marlboro Reds. He actually had to get the guy cigarettes down the road…haha! It was built for baseballs, but we put gaff tape around tennis balls so that they would shoot out with some speed/distance. In theory, the bad guys could aim from their perch above the dunk tank. Rambo got a series of different weapons including tennis-ball tipped arrows. The funniest thing about it was that we set it up in the woods about a quarter mile from the nearest power outlet or hose…so that meant we had to fill it with a bunch of big containers in the bed of a pickup truck…and we would need a generator to power the pitching machine. In the end, everything was a little sketchy…nothing really worked like we thought it was going to…but we still had some laughs. It was a funny rough draft…maybe someday we can perfect it.
Now that we had a basic idea of what our course was going to be…
It looked a little like this (haha):
We had about one week left, ONE WEEK!, and we were still without a definitive answer from the pyro guys. Once again, this was mostly our fault…because we were still a little perplexed as to how we were going to set up these explosive gags without interfering with the spontaneity of the whole thing. Also, they finally gave us a price that had us all a bit shocked…and wondering if it was worth it.
So, I think it was late night on a Thursday…8 days before everything was going down. We met at Rosso's, and he had all of our Amazon purchases laid out in his kitchen...amidst the cardboard boxes and bubble wrap there were so many amazing props, weapons, and weirdly essential items. Hubby and Ethan tried on their cop outfits…and they looked INCREDIBLE! We decided between the rocker mullet or the Kenny Powers curls…and the Kenny powers wig actually won out.
We discussed our last missions and expressed the worry that we weren't going to be able to make all the ideas come to life….and then…right before we parted ways for the night…we unlocked a huge piece of the puzzle.
We should build POW cages.
This simple (yet incredibly time-consuming) new element helped us unravel the quest to create defined stages with POWs throughout the woods…and more importantly, it allowed us to control our big explosions. Rambo would initiate the explosion using some fake version of a bomb.
Real wick + Fake bomb + POW cage = Blow up the compound.
It was a very precise + clever way for Rambo to create a giant explosion…and still stay oblivious to the spontaneous unspooling of our plot. This POW cage idea, in combination with our decision to do a final cork-bomb minefield, finally solidified our wishy-washy goal to involve pyro. The problem was…we now had only a week to make this (and a million other things) happen. Actually we had about 5 days, because some of us were going to South Dakota for the weekend to celebrate the life of our friend Cody Ellingson who lost the year-long battle with cancer (but won the battle of living a life unbound).
The next day…while navigating the airport shuffle (with Dana nonetheless)…I snuck away to call our 'mythical pyro guru' John Ruggieri, and explained our fine-tuned explosive strategy. I set up a meeting between him and Colin at my house on Saturday morning. Colin arrived at my house at 6am and spent hours that weekend cobbling together our stick + rope (and screws) version of POW cages (along with Ross, Tyler, and others). John showed up and Colin walked him through the paths in the woods and as Colin laid out our plan, he calmly smiled and nodded...he could make it all happen. He would send his guys Butch and Shawn on Friday afternoon, and they would make it happen. Game on.
The last big details started to fall like dominoes:
MOPED. Safety-first! We ditched the idea of using a dirtbike or vintage motorcycle…and settled on the simplicity of a moped. Shawn (the tallest member of gnarly bay) offered to let us use his …and it was exactly the type of manly moped that we were looking for. Thank you S. Dot!
THE SHERRIF: OUR FRIEND RYAN WAS IN!!!…and he said that he was already learning the lines…which was a huge relief. Couldn't wait to see what this talented and hilarious maniac would bring to the role. No Dennehy needed…Battleaxe (his gang name when we ran the streets of Honolulu as the Eastside Beatmasters) was coming to save the day!
THE COP CAR: I asked the owner of a pizza place...NO...a car mechanic...no...we called random people on craigslist…NO...and when we got really desperate, we started lowballing some poor lady with Malted Barley gift certificates and a little bit of cash to purchase her car that only slightly resembled a cop car (we were going to turn around and sell it the day after :). Eventually, 3 days before Rambo Day...she finally told us that her husband really didn't think it was a good idea. We didn't think that it was going to be so hard to track down a car to borrow for a ½ day…but maybe people were completely freaked by our unique request. We were seriously running out of options...so, with only a few days left, serendipity led me to the garage of Grampa Jerry (my wife's grandfather) and his Lincoln Towncar. It didn't look much like a cop car, but at that point it didn't really matter...Grampa Jerry saved us, and immediately said, "YES." In the end, the car's unknown flaws made for some pretty dramatic footage…haha…more on that in Part 2 of this blog.
TANNING SALON: Thanks to Rosso and our friend Catfish…we solidified the permission to use the spray booth at Extreme Tan with owner Jay Konturas. His employee was going to let us in an hour before their regular business hours. Thanks Jay!
GOPROs + MOUNTS: The actual process of filming this day unfold had taken a backseat to the efforts of getting all the details sorted out…but it was always in the back of our minds. So, when we reached out to LensProtogo.com and told them what we were doing they donated 6 gopros to the cause. Also, we sent a hail mary email to Rhino Camera Gear to get a swivel mount (which consists of 2 selfie poles)…and when we explained what we were doing…they overnighted it to us. Amazing! These were essential details that helped us get the coverage of all the different fast moving scenes as they unfolded in real time…so, a GIANT THANK YOU to the fine folks at LensProtogo and Rhino Camera.
COLOMBIA OR BUST!: In hindsight, it seems absolutely absurd that we were simultaneously trying to plan + book a surprise trip to Colombia…but we were…and after a few pep-talk emails that were sent back and forth...
....the crew of intrepid travelers was decided…and we pulled the trigger on some incredibly cheap ($500 nonstop) tickets. Yeeeeeeeeha! We had no idea what we were going to do when we got there…but we'd figure that out on the plane. We had heard tales of exploding bar games (Tejo) and beautiful beaches...so that was good enough. Thanks to Jonno of Oz for the recommendations. Here's what Colombia looked like...according to us at the time:
COL. SAMUEL TRAUTMAN When I called Dana's mom, Linda (aka: Dolly Dolly Dolly) to get in touch with Homer (Dana's dad)…I filled her in a little about what we were trying to do…and I explained that we were hoping that Homer could dress up as Col. Trautman and play some sort of part in our ever-evolving plot. She laughed…and she immediately recited a few lines from First Blood like "Rambo would eat things that would make a billy goat puke"…reinforcing that Rambo was a huge part of Dana's upbringing…I mean, how many mom's in this world (in the year 2015) can recite lines from Rambo? Haha. A few days later, Colin confirmed that Homer was in…now, we just had to figure out exactly what we were going to do with him. It wasn't until the day before the whole thing went down that we realized that we should have him deliver a TOP SECRET document…and send Dana on his next mission to Colombia. Perfect!
TODD WAS COMING! Cody Ellingson's memorial service was the weekend before Dana's bachelor party. Cody was Todd's best friend...and Cody gave Todd (and a few other friends/family members) the honor of planning every detail of his memorial service. It wasn't your average service...that's for sure. There was an incredibly well-planned outdoor amphitheater in Yankton, SD where 500+ people gathered to tell Cody stories and toast his legacy with kalua (Cody's recipe). It continued with an outdoor party that had lots of food/beer...a shave ice truck...and a modified mechanical-bull-turned-sweeper-arm (one of the most dangerous and insanely fun things I've ever experienced). People came from all around the country to celebrate Cody's life…and share the valuable lessons that he was able to teach others. That weekend will forever be etched in my brain as a powerful reminder of the beauty of life, and the importance of friendship. We met Todd, Cody, and Ryan (The Sheriff) when we went to school at UH Manoa...and since then we have met their families and friends. Cody and all the people of Yankton, South Dakota have always been an inspiration. Todd made a video for Cody that paid tribute to the amazing experiences he'd had during his short life. He was always on the go…seeking new experiences, and truly living life to the fullest.
In the video was this quote from Cody:
Leaving, why? Or why not?
You get to a place
and when you become adjusted and comfortable;
it's time to leave.
Sun starts shining, snow is melting,
and un-countable opportunities arise.
Question is: is it time to stay or is it time to go?
Leave friends to meet others?
Life is an ongoing, strategic game.
Give up something just to keep life's pace a-changing?
What to do? Where to go?
Why leave? Why go?
Who knows, I don't
All I know is that it's gonna be good To and Fro.
Keep your head up and smile everyday.
Who knows the sun may or may not shine while you begin to decay.
Should? Could? Would?
It doesn't matter cuz it's all good.
Can't fear change even though it may be strange.
Do what you want because soon you can't.
If you need a smile for more than a mile all the way up the Nile,
Love life and keep up the positive lifestyle.
-Cody Ellingson
That Wednesday, 3 days before Rambo Day, Todd sent this text:
Todd was perpetuating Cody's sense of adventure, and I can't think of a better way to pay tribute to a friend that passed too soon. Cody would have appreciated it…and I know that Dana did.
THE ASIAN CHICK: On the flight back from South Dakota, Hubby was sitting next to me, and we were talking about all the details that we had in place…and all of the things that still needed to be done. 5 more days! It was starting to get a little stressful. Somewhere along the way, we started joking that we should've gotten a love interest involved somehow…and then, the proverbial stewardess noise dinged…the metaphorical reading lightbulb magically turned on above our heads…and we both knew that Hubby should dress up like the asian girl in Rambo II.
Dana was right behind us with headphones on…and once we started picturing it, we were quietly laughing so hard…and trying to whisper over the cabin noise as more ideas flowed out. Some ideas were fit for public…like ambushing her and blowing her head off with a blood-filled head-pack and a wireless trigger….and others have since been redacted from existence. ;) Rambo now got a chance to save the girl, and he had the mind-altering effects of high altitude to thank.
The few days leading up to Rambo were pretty stressful because we were all trying to maintain our normal work schedules while covertly handling a boatload of logistics on the side. I kept giving Dana ridiculous excuses for why I was leaving the office early or coming in late…and there's only so many times I could blame it on a doctor's appointment for Kate, my wife (8 months pregnant at the time) before he thought something was actually wrong. That sounds terrible…but unfortunately, it was all I could come up with at the time.
So, it was a huge relief when July 25th (the day before) arrived and Dana and Nina went to the Newport Folk Festival, and we were free to roam.
We have so many people to thank for helping us out on this last day. At 6 am…we wrote down what needed to be done on a big piece of sheetrock. Then, we organized the garage so that there were different stations, and everybody just went to work. Throughout the day, more people showed up…and slowly but surely all the pieces fell into place. Here's a pic of the sheetrock to-do list in the barn:
As a reward for reading this far (haha)...here's a video of us scrambling around on this last day. It started at 6AM. We ran around all day, solving a million little problems....and at around 5PM, the older brothers and the rest of our crew showed up to get briefed on our absurd mission. We walked the half mile into the woods to the pond to show them all the stages…and we showed them where they needed to be at certain times. We also designated POW cages for different friends that had met Dana in different stages of his life. It was incredible that everybody showed up, and got excited to be a part of this. We had a bunch of laughs, Uncle Roy was the class clown, and asked a bunch of dumb questions…and overall, we left my house that night thinking that we were pretty prepared to pull this whole thing off.
We want to sincerely thank all of our friends for showing up, and helping make this vision come together. We love you guys…and want to make it 100% clear that we never could've completed this mission without your help.
Check out the BTS video below...the password is rambo:
After this long day of setting up, we brought the cop car into Westerly and we kept all the Rambo + Police officer costumes/props in the cop car. We went to a restaurant to have a bite to eat, and discuss last details. After months of scrambling, we finally crossed off so many things on our never-ending checklist that we accomplished that day. What a beautiful feeling…but then we kept thinking, and added a bunch more…so, we knew there was still a lot to do in the morning. Ryan (the Sheriff) had never been to Westerly, so it was pretty funny that he was the first domino that had to fall in the morning. So, even though Jordan (gnarly bay's best unicyclist) was going to be hiding in the car directing him…we gave him a late night tour of where he would be staked out…and where the tanning salon was in relation to the arrest location.
So, it's 1 AM…and we are back in the parking lot of the Extreme Tan, peaking through the blinds. The town is asleep, and pages and pages of details are running through our heads…and we are vomiting them back at the Sheriff. We are thinking that we have it all under control and then, those shiny black combat boots come stomping into our brains. Rambo Day is here.
To be continued...
Next week: RAMBO DAY PART II: THE EXECUTION. A behind-the-scenes glimpse into how we planned and captured the day on video.


text:
Lisa Kastner
Foundation for European Progressive Studies
Past Fellow
Lisa Kastner is a policy advisor at the Foundation for European Progressive Studies, a Brussels-based think tank, and associate fellow at the Centre d'études européennes at Sciences Po Paris. She holds a PhD in political science from Sciences Po Paris and an MA in European Studies from the University of Bath. Lisa was a visiting fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne, the Elliott School at George Washington University in Washington, DC, and at AICGS.
Her research on the politics of financial regulation has been awarded the research award in the category PhD thesis by the Erasmus academic network on Parliamentary Democracy in Europe (PADEMIA) in 2016, the journal article prize of the Max Planck Institute in 2015 and the Otto Hahn Medal of the Max Planck Society. Her work has appeared in the Journal of Common Market Studies, the Journal of European Public Policy (both forthcoming 2017), the Journal of Civil Society and in several policy outlets. Her book "Civil Society and Financial Regulation" will be published with Routledge in 2018.
She is a 2017-2018 participant in AICGS' project "A German-American Dialogue of the Next Generation: Global Responsibility, Joint Engagement," sponsored by the Transatlantik-Programm der Bundesrepublik Deutschland aus Mitteln des European Recovery Program (ERP) des Bundesministeriums für Wirtschaft und Energie (BMWi).
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