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Internetwork Design Guide -- Introduction
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Internetworking-the communication between two or more networks-encompasses every aspect of connecting computers together. Internetworks have grown to support vastly disparate end-system communication requirements. An internetwork requires many protocols and features to permit scalability and manageability without constant manual intervention. Large internetworks can consist of the following three distinct components:
- Campus networks, which consist of locally connected users in a building or group of buildings
- Wide-area networks (WANs), which connect campuses together
- Remote connections, which link branch offices and single users (mobile users and/or telecommuters) to a local campus or the Internet
Figure: Example of a typical enterprise internetwork provides an example of a typical enterprise internetwork.
Figure: Example of a typical enterprise internetwork
Designing an internetwork can be a challenging task. To design reliable, scalable internetworks, network designers must realize that each of the three major components of an internetwork have distinct design requirements. An internetwork that consists of only 50 meshed routing nodes can pose complex problems that lead to unpredictable results. Attempting to optimize internetworks that feature thousands of nodes can pose even more complex problems.
Despite improvements in equipment performance and media capabilities, internetwork design is becoming more difficult. The trend is toward increasingly complex environments involving multiple media, multiple protocols, and interconnection to networks outside any single organization's dominion of control. Carefully designing internetworks can reduce the hardships associated with growth as a networking environment evolves.
This article provides an overview of the technologies available today to design internetworks. Discussions are divided into the following general topics:
- Designing Campus Networks
- Designing WANs
- Utilizing Remote Connection Design
- Providing Integrated Solutions
- Determining Your Internetworking Requirements
Designing Campus Networks
A campus is a building or group of buildings all connected into one enterprise network that consists of many local area networks (LANs). A campus is generally a portion of a company (or the whole company) constrained to a fixed geographic area, as shown in Figure: Example of a campus network.
Figure: Example of a campus network
The distinct characteristic of a campus environment is that the company that owns the campus network usually owns the physical wires deployed in the campus. The campus network topology is primarily LAN technology connecting all the end systems within the building. Campus networks generally use LAN technologies, such as Ethernet, Token Ring, Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI), Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM).
A large campus with groups of buildings can also use WAN technology to connect the buildings. Although the wiring and protocols of a campus might be based on WAN technology, they do not share the WAN constraint of the high cost of bandwidth. After the wire is installed, bandwidth is inexpensive because the company owns the wires and there is no recurring cost to a service provider. However, upgrading the physical wiring can be expensive.
Consequently, network designers generally deploy a campus design that is optimized for the fastest functional architecture that runs on existing physical wire. They might also upgrade wiring to meet the requirements of emerging applications. For example, higher-speed technologies, such as Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, and ATM as a backbone architecture, and Layer 2 switching provide dedicated bandwidth to the desktop.
Trends in Campus Design
In the past, network designers had only a limited number of hardware options-routers or hubs-when purchasing a technology for their campus networks. Consequently, it was rare to make a hardware design mistake. Hubs were for wiring closets and routers were for the data center or main telecommunications operations.
Recently, local-area networking has been revolutionized by the exploding use of LAN switching at Layer 2 (the data link layer) to increase performance and to provide more bandwidth to meet new data networking applications. LAN switches provide this performance benefit by increasing bandwidth and throughput for workgroups and local servers. Network designers are deploying LAN switches out toward the network's edge in wiring closets. As Figure: Example of trends in campus design shows, these switches are usually installed to replace shared concentrator hubs and give higher bandwidth connections to the end user.
Figure: Example of trends in campus design
Layer 3 networking is required in the network to interconnect the switched workgroups and to provide services that include security, quality of service (QoS), and traffic management. Routing integrates these switched networks, and provides the security, stability, and control needed to build functional and scalable networks.
Traditionally, Layer 2 switching has been provided by LAN switches, and Layer 3 networking has been provided by routers. Increasingly, these two networking functions are being integrated into common platforms. For example, multilayer switches that provide Layer 2 and 3 functionality are now appearing in the marketplace.
With the advent of such technologies as Layer 3 switching, LAN switching, and virtual LANs (VLANs), building campus networks is becoming more complex than in the past. Table: Summary of LAN Technologies summarizes the various LAN technologies that are required to build successful campus networks. Cisco Systems offers product solutions in all of these technologies.
Table: Summary of LAN Technologies
|LAN Technology
|Typical Uses
Routing technologies
Routing is a key technology for connecting LANs in a campus network. It can be either Layer 3 switching or more traditional routing with Layer 3 switching and additional router features.
Gigabit Ethernet
Gigabit Ethernet builds on top of the Ethernet protocol, but increases speed ten-fold over Fast Ethernet to 1000 Mbps, or 1 Gbps. Gigabit Ethernet provides high bandwidth capacity for backbone designs while providing backward compatibility for installed media.
LAN switching technologies
Ethernet switching provides Layer 2 switching, and offers dedicated Ethernet segments for each connection. This is the base fabric of the network.
ATM switching technologies
ATM switching offers high-speed switching technology for voice, video, and data. Its operation is similar to LAN switching technologies for data operations. ATM, however, offers high bandwidth capacity.
Network designers are now designing campus networks by purchasing separate equipment types (for example, routers, Ethernet switches, and ATM switches) and then linking them together. Although individual purchase decisions might seem harmless, network designers must not forget that the entire network forms an internetwork.
It is possible to separate these technologies and build thoughtful designs using each new technology, but network designers must consider the overall integration of the network. If this overall integration is not considered, the result can be networks that have a much higher risk of network outages, downtime, and congestion than ever before.
Designing WANs
WAN communication occurs between geographically separated areas. In enterprise internetworks, WANs connect campuses together. When a local end station wants to communicate with a remote end station (an end station located at a different site), information must be sent over one or more WAN links. Routers within enterprise internetworks represent the LAN/WAN junction points of an internetwork. These routers determine the most appropriate path through the internetwork for the required data streams.
WAN links are connected by switches, which are devices that relay information through the WAN and dictate the service provided by the WAN. WAN communication is often called a service because the network provider often charges users for the services provided by the WAN (called tariffs). WAN services are provided through the following three primary switching technologies:
- Circuit switching
- Packet switching
- Cell switching
Each switching technique has advantages and disadvantages. For example, circuit-switched networks offer users dedicated bandwidth that cannot be infringed upon by other users. In contrast, packet-switched networks have traditionally offered more flexibility and used network bandwidth more efficiently than circuit-switched networks. Cell switching, however, combines some aspects of circuit and packet switching to produce networks with low latency and high throughput. Cell switching is rapidly gaining in popularity. ATM is currently the most prominent cell-switched technology. For more information on switching technology for WANs and LANs, see Internetworking Design Basics.
Trends in WAN Design
Traditionally, WAN communication has been characterized by relatively low throughput, high delay, and high error rates. WAN connections are mostly characterized by the cost of renting media (wire) from a service provider to connect two or more campuses together. Because the WAN infrastructure is often rented from a service provider, WAN network designs must optimize the cost of bandwidth and bandwidth efficiency. For example, all technologies and features used to connect campuses over a WAN are developed to meet the following design requirements:
- Optimize WAN bandwidth
- Minimize the tariff cost
- Maximize the effective service to the end users
Recently, traditional shared-media networks are being overtaxed because of the following new network requirements:
- Necessity to connect to remote sites
- Growing need for users to have remote access to their networks
- Explosive growth of the corporate intranets
- Increased use of enterprise servers
Network designers are turning to WAN technology to support these new requirements. WAN connections generally handle mission-critical information, and are optimized for price/performance bandwidth. The routers connecting the campuses, for example, generally apply traffic optimization, multiple paths for redundancy, dial backup for disaster recovery, and QoS for critical applications.
Table: Summary of WAN Technologies summarizes the various WAN technologies that support such large-scale internetwork requirements.
Table: Summary of WAN Technologies
|WAN Technology
|Typical Uses
Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line
A new modem technology. Converts existing twisted-pair telephone lines into access paths for multimedia and high-speed data communica- tions. ADSL transmits more than 6 Mbps to a subscriber, and as much as 640 kbps more in both directions.
Analog modem
Analog modems can be used by telecommuters and mobile users who access the network less than two hours per day, or for backup for another type of link.
Leased line
Leased lines can be used for Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) networks and hub-and-spoke topologies, or for backup for another type of link.
Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN)
ISDN can be used for cost-effective remote access to corporate networks. It provides support for voice and video as well as a backup for another type of link.
Frame Relay
Frame Relay provides a cost-effective, high- speed, low-latency mesh topology between remote sites. It can be used in both private and carrier-provided networks.
Switched Multimegabit Data Service (SMDS)
SMDS provides high-speed, high-performance connections across public data networks. It can also be deployed in metropolitan-area networks (MANs).
X.25 can provide a reliable WAN circuit or backbone. It also provides support for legacy applications.
WAN ATM can be used to accelerate bandwidth requirements. It also provides support for multiple QoS classes for differing application requirements for delay and loss.
Utilizing Remote Connection Design
Remote connections link single users (mobile users and/or telecommuters) and branch offices to a local campus or the Internet. Typically, a remote site is a small site that has few users and therefore needs a smaller size WAN connection. The remote requirements of an internetwork, however, usually involve a large number of remote single users or sites, which causes the aggregate WAN charge to be exaggerated.
Because there are so many remote single users or sites, the aggregate WAN bandwidth cost is proportionally more important in remote connections than in WAN connections. Given that the three-year cost of a network is nonequipment expenses, the WAN media rental charge from a service provider is the largest cost component of a remote network. Unlike WAN connections, smaller sites or single users seldom need to connect 24 hours a day.
Consequently, network designers typically choose between dial-up and dedicated WAN options for remote connections. Remote connections generally run at speeds of 128 Kbps or lower. A network designer might also employ bridges in a remote site for their ease of implementation, simple topology, and low traffic requirements.
Trends in Remote Connections
Today, there is a large selection of remote WAN media that include the following:
- Analog modem
- Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line
- Leased line
- Frame Relay
Remote connections also optimize for the appropriate WAN option to provide cost-effective bandwidth, minimize dial-up tariff costs, and maximize effective service to users.
Trends in LAN/WAN Integration
Today, 90 percent of computing power resides on desktops, and that power is growing exponentially. Distributed applications are increasingly bandwidth hungry, and the emergence of the Internet is driving many LAN architectures to the limit. Voice communications have increased significantly with more reliance on centralized voice mail systems for verbal communications. The internetwork is the critical tool for information flow. Internetworks are being pressured to cost less, yet support the emerging applications and higher number of users with increased performance.
To date, local- and wide-area communications have remained logically separate. In the LAN, bandwidth is free and connectivity is limited only by hardware and implementation costs. The LAN has carried data only. In the WAN, bandwidth has been the overriding cost, and such delay-sensitive traffic as voice has remained separate from data. New applications and the economics of supporting them, however, are forcing these conventions to change.
The Internet is the first source of multimedia to the desktop, and immediately breaks the rules. Such Internet applications as voice and real-time video require better, more predictable LAN and WAN performance. These multimedia applications are fast becoming an essential part of the business productivity toolkit. As companies begin to consider implementing new intranet-based, bandwidth- intensive multimedia applications-such as video training, videoconferencing, and voice over IP-the impact of these applications on the existing networking infrastructure is a serious concern. If a company has relied on its corporate network for business-critical SNA traffic, for example, and wants to bring a new video training application on line, the network must be able to provide guaranteed quality of service (QoS) that delivers the multimedia traffic, but does not allow it to interfere with the business-critical traffic. ATM has emerged as one of the technologies for integrating LANs and WANs. The Quality of Service (QoS) features of ATM can support any traffic type in separate or mixed streams, delay sensitive traffic, and nondelay-sensitive traffic, as shown in Figure: ATM support of various traffic types.
ATM can also scale from low to high speeds. It has been adopted by all the industry's equipment vendors, from LAN to private branch exchange (PBX).
Figure: ATM support of various traffic types
Providing Integrated Solutions
The trend in internetworking is to provide network designers greater flexibility in solving multiple internetworking problems without creating multiple networks or writing off existing data communication investments. Routers might be relied upon to provide a reliable, secure network and act as a barrier against inadvertent broadcast storms in the local networks. Switches, which can be divided into two main categories-LAN switches and WAN switches-can be deployed at the workgroup, campus backbone, or WAN level. Remote sites might use low-end routers for connection to the WAN.
Underlying and integrating all Cisco products is the Cisco Internetworking Operating System (Cisco IOS) software. The Cisco IOS software enables disparate groups, diverse devices, and multiple protocols all to be integrated into a highly reliable and scalable network. Cisco IOS software also supports this internetwork with advanced security, quality of service, and traffic services.
Determining Your Internetworking Requirements
Designing an internetwork can be a challenging task. Your first step is to understand your internetworking requirements. The rest of this article is intended as a guide for helping you determine these requirements. After you have identified these requirements, refer to Internetworking Design Basics, for information on selecting internetwork capability and reliability options that meet these requirements.
Internetworking devices must reflect the goals, characteristics, and policies of the organizations in which they operate. Two primary goals drive internetworking design and implementation:
- Application availability-Networks carry application information between computers. If the applications are not available to network users, the network is not doing its job.
- Cost of ownership-Information system (IS) budgets today often run in the millions of dollars. As large organizations increasingly rely on electronic data for managing business activities, the associated costs of computing resources will continue to rise.
A well-designed internetwork can help to balance these objectives. When properly implemented, the network infrastructure can optimize application availability and allow the cost-effective use of existing network resources.
The Design Problem: Optimizing Availability and Cost
In general, the network design problem consists of the following three general elements:
- Environmental givens-Environmental givens include the location of hosts, servers, terminals, and other end nodes; the projected traffic for the environment; and the projected costs for delivering different service levels.
- Performance constraints-Performance constraints consist of network reliability, traffic throughput, and host/client computer speeds (for example, network interface cards and hard drive access speeds).
- Internetworking variables-Internetworking variables include the network topology, line capacities, and packet flow assignments.
The goal is to minimize cost based on these elements while delivering service that does not compromise established availability requirements. You face two primary concerns: availability and cost. These issues are essentially at odds. Any increase in availability must generally be reflected as an increase in cost. As a result, you must weigh the relative importance of resource availability and overall cost carefully.
As Figure: General network design process shows, designing your network is an iterative activity. The discussions that follow outline several areas that you should carefully consider when planning your internetworking implementation.
Figure: General network design process
Assessing User Requirements
- In general, users primarily want application availability in their networks. The chief components of application availability are response time, throughput, and reliability:
- Response time is the time between entry of a command or keystroke and the host system's execution of the command or delivery of a response. User satisfaction about response time is generally considered to be a monotonic function up to some limit, at which point user satisfaction falls off to nearly zero. Applications in which fast response time is considered critical include interactive online services, such as automated tellers and point-of-sale machines.
- Applications that put high-volume traffic onto the network have more effect on throughput than end-to-end connections. Throughput-intensive applications generally involve file- transfer activities. However, throughput-intensive applications also usually have low response-time requirements. Indeed, they can often be scheduled at times when response-time-sensitive traffic is low (for example, after normal work hours).
- Although reliability is always important, some applications have genuine requirements that exceed typical needs. Organizations that require nearly 100 percent up time conduct all activities online or over the telephone. Financial services, securities exchanges, and emergency/police/military operations are a few examples. These situations imply a requirement for a high level of hardware and topological redundancy. Determining the cost of any downtime is essential in determining the relative importance of reliability to your internetwork.
You can assess user requirements in a number of ways. The more involved your users are in the process, the more likely that your evaluation will be accurate. In general, you can use the following methods to obtain this information:
- User community profiles-Outline what different user groups require. This is the first step in determining internetwork requirements. Although many users have roughly the same requirements of an electronic mail system, engineering groups using XWindows terminals and Sun workstations in an NFS environment have different needs from PC users sharing print servers in a finance department.
- Interviews, focus groups, and surveys-Build a baseline for implementing an internetwork. Understand that some groups might require access to common servers. Others might want to allow external access to specific internal computing resources. Certain organizations might require IS support systems to be managed in a particular way according to some external standard. The least formal method of obtaining information is to conduct interviews with key user groups. Focus groups can also be used to gather information and generate discussion among different organizations with similar (or dissimilar) interests. Finally, formal surveys can be used to get a statistically valid reading of user sentiment regarding a particular service level or proposed internetworking architecture.
- Human factors tests-The most expensive, time-consuming, and possibly revealing method is to conduct a test involving representative users in a lab environment. This is most applicable when evaluating response time requirements. As an example, you might set up working systems and have users perform normal remote host activities from the lab network. By evaluating user reactions to variations in host responsiveness, you can create benchmark thresholds for acceptable performance.
Assessing Proprietary and Nonproprietary Solutions
Compatibility, conformance, and interoperability are related to the problem of balancing proprietary functionality and open internetworking flexibility. As a network designer, you might be forced to choose between implementing a multivendor environment and implementing a specific, proprietary capability. For example, the Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (IGRP) provides many useful capabilities, such as a number of features that are designed to enhance its stability. These include hold-downs, split horizons, and poison reverse updates.
The negative side is that IGRP is a proprietary routing protocol. In contrast, the integrated Intermediate System-to Intermediate System (IS-IS) protocol is an open internetworking alternative that also provides a fast converging routing environment; however, implementing an open routing protocol can potentially result in greater multiple-vendor configuration complexity.
The decisions that you make have far-ranging effects on your overall internetwork design. Assume that you decide to implement integrated IS-IS instead of IGRP. In doing this, you gain a measure of interoperability; however, you lose some functionality. For instance, you cannot load balance traffic over unequal parallel paths. Similarly, some modems provide a high level of proprietary diagnostic capabilities, but require that all modems throughout a network be of the same vendor type to fully exploit proprietary diagnostics.
Previous internetworking (and networking) investments and expectations for future requirements have considerable influence over your choice of implementations. You need to consider installed internetworking and networking equipment; applications running (or to be run) on the network; traffic patterns; physical location of sites, hosts, and users; rate of growth of the user community; and both physical and logical network layout.
Assessing Costs
The internetwork is a strategic element in your overall information system design. As such, the cost of your internetwork is much more than the sum of your equipment purchase orders. View it as a total cost-of-ownership issue. You must consider the entire life cycle of your internetworking environment. A brief list of costs associated with internetworks follows:
- Equipment hardware and software costs-Consider what is really being bought when you purchase your systems; costs should include initial purchase and installation, maintenance, and projected upgrade costs.
- Performance tradeoff costs-Consider the cost of going from a five-second response time to a half-second response time. Such improvements can cost quite a bit in terms of media selection, network interfaces, internetworking nodes, modems, and WAN services.
- Installation costs-Installing a site's physical cable plant can be the most expensive element of a large network. The costs include installation labor, site modification, fees associated with local code conformance, and costs incurred to ensure compliance with environmental restrictions (such as asbestos removal). Other important elements in keeping your costs to a minimum will include developing a well-planned wiring closet layout and implementing color code conventions for cable runs.
- Expansion costs-Calculate the cost of ripping out all thick Ethernet, adding additional functionality, or moving to a new location. Projecting your future requirements and accounting for future needs saves time and money.
- Support costs-Complicated internetworks cost more to monitor, configure, and maintain. Your internetwork should be no more complicated than necessary. Costs include training, direct labor (network managers and administrators), sparing, and replacement costs. Additional cost that should be included is out-of-band management, SNMP management stations, and power.
- Cost of downtime-Evaluate the cost for every minute that a user is unable to access a file server or a centralized database. If this cost is high, you must attribute a high cost to downtime. If the cost is high enough, fully redundant internetworks might be your best option.
- Opportunity costs-Every choice you make has an opposing alternative option. Whether that option is a specific hardware platform, topology solution, level of redundancy, or system integration alternative, there are always options. Opportunity costs are the costs of not picking one of those options. The opportunity costs of not switching to newer technologies and topologies might be lost competitive advantage, lower productivity, and slower overall performance. Any effort to integrate opportunity costs into your analysis can help to make accurate comparisons at the beginning of your project.
- Sunken costs-Your investment in existing cable plant, routers, concentrators, switches, hosts, and other equipment and software are your sunken costs. If the sunken cost is high, you might need to modify your networks so that your existing internetwork can continue to be utilized. Although comparatively low incremental costs might appear to be more attractive than significant redesign costs, your organization might pay more in the long run by not upgrading systems. Over reliance on sunken costs can cost your organization sales and market share when calculating the cost of internetwork modifications and additions.
Estimating Traffic: Work Load Modeling
Empirical work-load modeling consists of instrumenting a working internetwork and monitoring traffic for a given number of users, applications, and network topology. Try to characterize activity throughout a normal work day in terms of the type of traffic passed, level of traffic, response time of hosts, time to execute file transfers, and so on. You can also observe utilization on existing network equipment over the test period.
If the tested internetwork's characteristics are close to the new internetwork, you can try extrapolating to the new internetwork's number of users, applications, and topology. This is a best-guess approach to traffic estimation given the unavailability of tools to characterize detailed traffic behavior.
In addition to passive monitoring of an existing network, you can measure activity and traffic generated by a known number of users attached to a representative test network and then extrapolate findings to your anticipated population.
One problem with modeling workloads on networks is that it is difficult to accurately pinpoint traffic load and network device performance as functions of the number of users, type of application, and geographical location. This is especially true without a real network in place. Consider the following factors that influence the dynamics of the network:
- The time-dependent nature of network access-Peak periods can vary; measurements must reflect a range of observations that includes peak demand.
- Differences associated with type of traffic-Routed and bridged traffic place different demands on internetwork devices and protocols; some protocols are sensitive to dropped packets; some application types require more bandwidth.
- The random (nondeterministic) nature of network traffic-Exact arrival time and specific effects of traffic are unpredictable.
Sensitivity Testing
From a practical point of view, sensitivity testing involves breaking stable links and observing what happens. When working with a test network, this is relatively easy. Disturb the network by removing an active interface, and monitor how the change is handled by the internetwork: how traffic is rerouted, the speed of convergence, whether any connectivity is lost, and whether problems arise in handling specific types of traffic. You can also change the level of traffic on a network to determine the effects on the network when traffic levels approach media saturation. This empirical testing is a type of regression testing: A series of specific modifications (tests) are repeated on different versions of network configurations. By monitoring the effects on the design variations, you can characterize the relative resilience of the design.
After you have determined your network requirements, you must identify and then select the specific capability that fits your computing environment. For basic information on the different types of internetworking devices along with a description of a hierarchical approach to internetworking, refer to Internetworking Design Basics.


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Ernst Lubitsch By Susan King For some nine decades, scholars, critics and fans have described German émigré Ernst Lubitsch's skill as a comedic director with the phrase "the Lubitsch Touch." But what exactly is the "Touch"? "Everybody has been trying to define that for so many years," says Rick Jewell, professor at USC School of Cinematic Arts. "I would have to say it all distills down to wit. There was a very special wit in the Lubitsch films. It was a visual wit, but it was also a wit in terms of the performances, which he clearly shaped. Of course, the obvious, was the verbal wit, which he can't take full credit for because of the wonderful writers he worked with." Continue reading the story. RELATED: Hollywood Walk of Fame
Associated Press
Copyright © 2019, Los Angeles Times

subset: commoncrawl


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TMC wrote:#32 wrote:I just think Richardson will get the lion's share of minutes at SG... and when he's not in, Ellis will be. Those two could easily split 48 minutes at the same position. It doesn't leave a lot of time for Brown (who can ONLY play SG, like I said) to play.
I think we'll use more Ellis to spell Baron at pg... he'll play a bit sg, too. Pending on how we use the sf position, there could be minutes.
Nelson should be declared legally insane if Monta Ellis even see's a wink at SF. The man's barely outta high school, weighs 175 lbs (soaking wet with a brick in his pocket), and can barely ride the rides at Disneyland. A 6'3" guard has no business at the 3-spot. Devin Brown (whose at least 6'5") would be a better option... not that I think it should be done at all.
Regardless... between Dunleavy, Pietrus, Richardson, and Zarko, I'd say that position's already got all the the players it's rotation can handle. Brown and Pietrus will scramble for SG minutes behind Richardson and Ellis.


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Riding motorcycles in Los Angeles is not for squeamish Stevens. And yet, their ability to split lanes and slice through heavy traffic, legally in California, make small motorcycles the best way to get around LA's sprawl. But are the mean streets of Los Angeles too much for them?
As Wes, Grant and Jamie point out in this week's episode of RideApart, America loves big motorcycles, but those bikes make navigating difficult, cumbersome and frustrating for both experienced bikers and noobs. So, the three take to the congested streets of LA — and in the often-filmed Los Angeles River Channel — to find out just how much better a smaller bike can be.
But which one to choose? Will it be the stylish Cleveland CycleWerks 250? The sporty Honda CBR 250? The hoon's choice — the Suzuki DR-Z? How about all three. They also find out whether or not Los Angeles eats small bikes alive, or whether that was just the plot of an Ed Wood movie.


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LEVIATHAN by Scott Westerfeld
Trailer Tuesdays: LEVIATHAN
Hello! I am the Ravenous Reader and I love to read and find my happiness in devouring as many YA novels as I possibly can. When I am not reading then you can find me chatting up books with my blogging buddy and bookish friends to the point of distraction. I am also extremely fortunate to live in an area that has a plethora or YA events that I love chronicling on my Instagram account.


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Knock offs . Rota slipstreams, 16x7
Knock offs . Rota slipstreams, 16x7
Rota's FTW. Especially the Slipstreams.
For the price they couldn't be beaten. They still meet a fair few standards and the people who complain about their quality probably shouldn't be sliding them into gutters .
Thanks a lot to photobucket for being dicks and making every pic not shareable anymore
Yellow car is gone, at the end of last year. Got a bit much trying to overcome electrical gremlins and AC etc.
Maroon car is still here, here's how she stands at the moment with my H6 gen4 liberty
And the latest mod to it:
did you end up respraying the right hand side?
"You don't feel the speed, in a way. You just don't feel the speed. The car is so stable and so comfortable.. unless you look at the speed gauge you don't realise you're going that fast. This is a good compromise between the sporting side and the comfort side. As I said, I think it is a super, super car." - Ayrton Senna
Yeah I got it done. Wasn't overly impressed with the job as it wasn't an insignificant amount of money. But at least it's all one colour again on the side.
In the spirit of P.A being alive again, here's how the turbo car sits atm
Very nice!
<cita>91 lude</cita>


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Job Description:
At Wells Fargo, we want to satisfy our customers' financial needs and help them succeed financially. We're looking for talented people who will put our customers at the center of everything we do. Join our diverse and inclusive team where you'll feel valued and inspired to contribute your unique skills and experience.
Help us build a better Wells Fargo. It all begins with outstanding talent. It all begins with you.
Community Banking operates one of the most extensive banking franchises in the country, serving customers through approximately 6,000 branches and 13,000 ATMs in 39 states and the District of Columbia. Our group includes Business Strategy and Administration; Customer and Branch Experience; Customer Remediation Office; Distribution Strategy Group; Regional Banking; Regional Services; and Customer Segments, and serves mass market, affluent, and small business customers. Our focus is on delivering an exceptional experience for our customers and providing the products and services that will help them realize their financial hopes and dreams.
Service Managers at Wells Fargo act in partnership with the branch manager in positioning the branch team for success by fostering a positive work environment where team members are encouraged, motivated and developed to achieve their maximum potential by leveraging coaching and performance management tools and processes. All Service Managers are responsible for managing the direction of work for several direct reports and are involved in the day-to- day operations of the teller line. Successful service managers are role models for Wells Fargo's customer-centric culture, while embracing diversity and maintaining ethics and integrity.
This LO position has customer contact and job duties which may include needs assessing and referring those customers interested in a dwelling secured product to a SAFE team member. This position includes assisting customers without taking an application and without offering or negotiating terms of a dwelling secured transaction. Individuals in a LO position also must meet the Loan Originator requirements under Regulation Z (LO) outlined in the job expectations below.
As a Team Member Manager, you are expected to achieve success by leading yourself, your team, and the business. Specifically you will:
Lead your team with integrity and create an environment where your team members feel included, valued, and supported to do work that energizes them.
Accomplish management responsibilities which include sourcing and hiring talented team members, providing ongoing coaching and feedback, recognizing and developing team members, identifying and managing risks, and completing daily management tasks.
Important Note: During the application process, ensure your contact information (email and phone number) is up to date and upload your current resume prior to submitting your application for consideration. If you are a Wells Fargo Team Member, in your Jobs Profile ensure that your email address is valid and updated to an address that can receive external emails outside of the banking network and is a different email address than the one you originally used when you joined WF. Initial contact with you will be made via e-mail. Please check your e-mail regularly for updates.
Required Qualifications
Desired Qualifications
6+ months of teller experience
Ability to navigate multiple computer systems, applications, and utilize search tools to find information
Ability to work in a fast-paced action oriented environment
Basic Microsoft Office skills
Effective organizational, multi tasking, and prioritizing skills
Experience developing and cultivating professional relationships
Experience directing work and monitoring performance of others
Experience interacting positively with unsatisfied customers
Experience meeting or exceeding performance and operational objectives
Experience offering products and services
Good communication skills including speaking clearly, succinctly, and accurately while using a pleasant tone and common conversational courtesies
Knowledge and understanding of retail compliance controls, risk management, and loss prevention
Solid problem solving skills necessary to analyze situations that require thoughtful solutions
Relevant military experience including working with military protocol and instructions, enlisted evaluations, officer/leadership reporting
Relevant military experience including working in personnel benefits management, processing military personnel orders or transitions, wartime readiness operations, human resources or military recruiting
Experience leading and motivating others in a work, military, or other formal organization
Job Expectations
Ability to work weekends and holidays as needed or scheduled
Individuals in Loan Originator (LO) positions must meet the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau qualification requirements and comply with related Wells Fargo policies. The LO qualification requirements include meeting applicable financial responsibility, character, general financial fitness and criminal background standards. A current credit report will be used to assess your financial responsibility and credit fitness, however, a credit score is not included as part of the evaluation. Successful candidates must also meet ongoing regulatory requirements including additional screening, if necessary.
Street Address
FL-Sarasota: 4794 S Tamiami Trl - Sarasota, FL
All offers for employment with Wells Fargo are contingent upon the candidate having successfully completed a criminal background check. Wells Fargo will consider qualified candidates with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable local, state and Federal law, including Section 19 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act.
Relevant military experience is considered for veterans and transitioning service men and women.
Wells Fargo is an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer, Minority/Female/Disabled/Veteran/Gender Identity/Sexual Orientation.
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Photo courtesy of Tabitha Wilson.
Session IV Recap | Brackets | Team Standings | Session VI Results | Photo Gallery | Press Conference Quotes
OMAHA, Neb. - Senior J.P. O'Connor won the 157 pound title at the 2010 NCAA Wrestling Championships Saturday night in front of a sold-out crowd of 15,919 at the Qwest Center. O'Connor is the third NCAA Champion for the Crimson and first to finish a season undefeated.
"I just had the fire and determination to win it this year," O'Connor said in his post-match press conference. I truly believed that I could win it during my sophomore and junior years, but I just didn't turn out that way, which was disappointing. I tried to turn it into a positive and thought about it every day."
O'Connor defeated Cal Poly's Chase Pami, 6-4, to take the title and improve to 35-0 on the season. Pami struck first and scored quickly, it was the first time O'Connor had been taken down all tournament. It only took O'Connor 12 seconds to get out and start his own offense. He scored on Pami and held him to start the riding time. O'Connor chose bottom to start the second and scored on a reversal to take a 5-3 lead. Pami picked bottom to start the third and escaped after 1:39. Pami took several shots late, but O'Connor held off the attack.
O'Connor outscored his opponents 51-10 at the NCAAs. He is the second three-time All-American at Harvard and finishes his career tied for first in program wins with 132. He shares the top spot with another national champion, Jesse Jantzen.
He is the 16th All-American under Jay Weiss, the David G. Bunning '88 Head Coach for Harvard Wrestling and 23rd overall. This marks the fifth year in a row, the Crimson has had at least one All-American at the NCAA Championships.
As a team, the Crimson finished in a tie for 23rd with 25 points.
157 – No. 1 J.P. O'Connor
defeated Vincent Salminen (North Dakota State), 15-2
defeated Jake Kerr (Iowa), 8-1
defeated Justin Gaejthe (Northern Colorado), 8-1
defeated No. 5 Steve Fittery (American), 14-2
defeated No. 7 Chase Pami (Cal Poly), 6-4


text: Are hand written expressions of love a thing of the past? Even in this age of e-mails, tweets and texted "I luv u's" surely there is still a place for a real note from the heart. A real love letter will touch the recipient in a way an electronic message never could. It will also be saved and re-read many ...Read More »


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It's not uncommon for authors to draw on their own experiences when they write fiction, but Danila Botha didn't hold anything back when she recounted the most traumatic event of her life in a short story.
"The story My So-Called Date was pretty much autobiographical," said South African-born Botha. It's one of 12 stories in her first book, Got No Secrets, published last year by Tightrope Books in Canada and Modjaji Books in South Africa.
Set in Toronto, South Africa and the United States, the stories are dark and disturbing, dealing with mostly female characters who struggle with drug addiction, trauma, dysfunctional relationships and promiscuous sex.
"My So-Called Date is probably the darkest story in the book, and it was really cathartic for me to write. I don't like to talk about it, but it is something that happened to me," Botha said.
The story is about a girl who was raped by her ex-boyfriend and is desperate to move on from the traumatic event by dating another man.
"I was trying very hard to be honest and authentic and to write about certain things that I've experienced that I didn't feel comfortable addressing in any other areas of my life," said Botha, who moved to Toronto 13 years ago when she was 15.
But this traumatic event, which led Botha to experiment with drugs in her early 20s, was not the impetus to writing the book. It was her volunteer work with the Mobile Jewish Response to the Homeless, a program run by Ve'ahavta, the Canadian Jewish Humanitarian and Relief Committee, that inspired her.
When Botha was a York University undergrad in the creative writing program, she volunteered to help distribute meals to the homeless. She said she was intrigued by the stories she heard from homeless teens.
"I got to hear a lot of stories about drugs and addiction, and I was just really surprised by how non-discriminating addiction is," Botha said.
"I've met homeless teenagers who were Jewish kids from Thornhill. There was a boy who grew up near Chabad Gate, and it was a shock to me that someone from such a similar background could end up on the streets selling crack."
Two of the stories in Got No Secrets reflect the fact that some of the troubled and homeless people she met on her Ve'ahavta missions came from Jewish homes.
Jesus Was a Punk Rocker is about a 28-year-old pierced and tattooed nurse who drinks to excess and cuts herself because "it helps [her] feel real, brings [her] anxieties and fears down to earth." She comes from an Orthodox Jewish family, but she hates being Jewish herself.
Don't Talk Junk is about a heroinaddicted teenager who moves in with her boyfriend to get away from her mother, "who had been making [her] life a living hell for years" and "killed herself to send [her] to a private Jewish high school" that she hated.
Botha, who herself is a graduate of the Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto, said she wanted readers to understand that "it could be any person. Anyone's mom, sister, it could be someone's daughter, best friend, or a girl you sat next to in class.
"The more research I did into addiction – and I interviewed addicts and dealers… because I wanted to try to tell their stories authentically – I remember just being shocked at how incorrect my assumptions were."
Botha, who said she was "very, very stupid" in her early 20s when she experimented with drugs, is grateful that it didn't lead to an addiction.
"But it always seems strange to me that it did for people whose circumstances had been similar or better or worse [than mine]. So I really wanted to understand addiction, and understand why things happen to certain people and why certain people go all the way and others don't," she explained.
Botha hopes her stories will add to the voices that say "terrible things happen sometimes, but you can keep going." "It's possible to survive them and to get through them.
It's possible for it just to be a small anecdote in the story of your life… It's possible to go through something really difficult and for it to almost feel a few years later like it happened to someone else," she said.
Botha, who is currently completing her bachelor's in education at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, said that as a teacher, she hopes to be able to speak candidly to her students about her past.
"We talk very openly about certain things, and it's actually very useful to them to have someone who speaks openly about that stuff," she said.
Earning her teaching degree is not going to stop Botha, a graduate of the Humber College writing program, from publishing. She is almost finished a novel titled Too Much on the Inside, which will be published next year.
It's a story about four immigrants in their 20s who move to Toronto. One character hails from South Africa, one comes from Brazil, another is from Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia and the fourth character is Israeli.
Choosing the nationalities of each character was not random, Botha said.
For example, Botha wanted to write an Israeli character because of her connection to the Jewish state.
Her mother is an Israeli, and growing up, Botha spent each summer there with her family.
"When I graduated from York, I did a teach-English-as-a-secondlanguage course and I went to live there to teach ESL for a couple years," she said.
"After living there for what I felt was a significant amount of time, I had a different view on the country, on the army, on the politics, on all these things I had felt differently about as someone who used to only live there in the summer."
Botha also has plans to write a graphic novel about the Israeli-Palestinian situation called The World Is Dead and I'm Full of Joy.
It's about two women in their early 20s – one Israeli and the other Palestinian – who meet at a language school in Jerusalem where they develop a relationship.
"I'm moving away from some of the confessional stuff I did when I was younger," Botha said.
But, she added, she's grateful for the catharsis she experienced when writing Got No Secrets.
"I've learned a lot since then, and I have a much healthier outlook now."


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Look to your windows for energy savings. Use weather stripping on old windows, and, if you can, add storm windows. In hot climates, add solar fi lm screening to west-facing windows to catch heat. For new units, consider double-glazed panes; in cold climates, "low-e" coatings on glass can help reduce heat loss.
Source: Touchstone Energy® Cooperatives


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The Christian Today website reports somewhat breathlessly that the creationist school proposed by the Everyday Champions Church in Newark has got the go-ahead from our somewhat underwhelming Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove (Evangelical school gets the go ahead in Nottingham | Christian News on Christian Today). This appears to be another of the hopefully over-optimistic articles from the christian lobbies. It begins
A school that will teach that God created the world has been given approval to open in Nottinghamshire.
An application by the Everyday Champions Church, based in Newark, has been accepted by the Department for Education.
But then later in the article says:
Now it has emerged that a panel of civil servants interviewed Everyday Champions Church leaders last week after their initial application was approved. It is not known if they agreed to drop plans to teach creationism.
So what gives? If Michael Gove has approved an application from these nutters, where will it end? Why should the nation fund schools run by idiots who say
"Creationism will be embodied as a belief at the Everyday Champions Academy but will not be taught in the sciences. Similarly, evolution will be taught as a theory."
Doesn't our foolish Secretary of State for Education realise this is creationist code? I do wonder whether they will teach some alternative to the Theory of Gravity – perhaps while the teachers are all bouncing off the ceiling. To hand education of our nation's children to evangelical buffoons could be seen as sanctioning child abuse.
Update: Visiting the Everyday Champions Academy website, one can see the following text in big bold letters:
Contrary to press coverage ECA has NOT been given approval to open by the DfE and will not receive an update on its progress to pre-opening stage until late September/early October. If the proposal is successful the Academy will NOT be teaching 'creationism' or 'intelligent design' in any science lesson in line with national curriculum guidelines.
So there is hope yet…


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FLORENCE, Ky. (WKRC) - He's back at it again.
Chad Caddell, the principal at Union Pointe Academy in Florence, posted another hilarious parody song to let his students know that they were off school on Friday.
"I've got friends in snow places, with their frozen toes and their frozen faces," Caddell sang to the tune of Garth Brooks' hit "Friends in Low Places".
Caddell also made a video on Monday set to Mariah Carey's "Hero."


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Unlike so many of the other car makers, Scion is a relative newcomer to the U.S. market. As a division of Toyota, Scion is the major Japanese company's division specifically for the American car buying market since 2003. This company was founded on some rather unique ideas and policies, making it one of the first of its kind. Toyota saw the benefits of using a customer-inspired sales approach and paid attention to client feedback. This feedback was used to set up the company's approach to sales and service.
Scion dealers give clients positive attention while they're on the sales floor. This means no high pressure sales, condescending attitudes, and over the top sales techniques. The company also has a policy of Pure Price. This means that the price marked on the vehicle includes the vehicle, financing fees, insurance products, and accessories. This approach has been incredibly popular with the younger markets, with many young professionals lacking the time or patience to deal with lengthy sales pitches and negotiations.
Scion has a few models available for sale in the U.S. including the iQ series.
While new for the 2012 model year, the Scion iQ is quickly becoming well known for its unique styling and specific buyer target. These cars are very small and intended for those that live in congested urban areas. At just about 10 feet long, the iQ fits easily into crowded streets and parking situations. The idea behind the design is to appeal to young professionals looking for an economical car solution for their busy lives and for a car easily adapted to city living. The engineers at Scion did an excellent job creating the ideal urban living vehicle.
The Scion iQ isn't going to be well known for its power. This little car has other things than a powerful powertrain in mind. It is designed to offer its owner not only a reasonable sales price, but low prices at the pump. Its smaller powertrain ensures a very respectable fuel economy of 36/37 mpg city/highway.
The iQ also features a unique body style. It might be small, but it still packs quite a wallop when it comes to looks. This car offers a boxy, yet sleek design with plenty of style to appeal to the young generation. It's important to note that the iQ only seats two comfortably.
The compact iQ is designed for modern, city living and is likely to be a poor choice for those living in suburban or rural areas. It's important not to expect a great deal of power from this model; however, it does offer plenty of style and options for the money. Like other offerings from Scion, the iQ is available with over 40 different options.
The Scion iQ is only available in one trim level. Buyers will find this car equipped with a 1.3-liter inline four-cylinder engine capable of 94 hp. As noted, this car isn't designed for a great deal of speed but for fuel economy and reliable transportation. Before any optional additions are made, the iQ is equipped with 11 airbags, 16-inch steel wheels, a four-speaker sound system with CD player, and leather-covered tilt steering wheel complete with audio controls.
The interior of the Scion iQ was designed to be as attractive and eye-catching as the exterior. Despite its small size, every effort was made to offer as much interior space as possible. The iQ seats two most comfortably, but there is space in the backseat for one more to ride easily. The interior also boasts plush seats and plenty of amenities for a pleasant drive.
2015 Scion iQ
Compact, Hatchback
2014 Scion iQ
2013 Scion iQ
The 2013 Scion iQ is a sub-compact mini-car with lots of personality and fun included.
2012 Scion iQ
The Scion iQ fits a big car into a very small package.


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This past December, James Lipetzky Directed a spot for Draft FCB for Hampton Hotels. The piece was shot on our stage and featured a rather unique public figure… Joseph Odhiambo. Joe holds the world record for dribbling basketballs.
Tom Pastorelle, who is no stranger to the Hampton brand, edited this spot and the graphics featured the handiwork of Jason Voke and Curt Cooper. "It was a fun shoot" says James, "Joe was high energy and that pumped up every one on the crew – and I think that energy is evident in the final piece"
The spot is a lot of fun and yes… no special effects here… Joe, like Hampton, is the real deal.


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It appears that once again the Cowboys will not have the services of running back DeMarco Murray Thursday when they line up on Thanksgiving against the rival Redskins.
Murry is still nursing a foot injury, and did not participate in Monday's practice and are not expected to play in Thursday's game.
Murray has missed the last five games and his backup, Felix Jones, was limited in the Monday workout because of a knee ailment.


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"That was really the catalyst -- the thing that got people to say, ah, I understand what this is, I understand it," said Kristin Z. Waryas, VP of enterprise social collaboration at the firm. The open brainstorming session was held over 72 hours with employees from around the world participating in eight online forums on ways for State Street to improve its business. The rally attracted 12,000 postings, which the coordinators filtered down to about 400 worthy of further investigation. "That's where the collaboration really came into play -- we took the best ideas and built communities around them so the people who had participated in the discussion could build a business case for executive management," she said. Of those, right now it looks like there are 16 ideas with a reasonable expectation of return on investment that will get a closer look. "A lot of those ideas were for things that already existed, but people didn't know about them," she added.
Making an organization smarter about new ideas, as well as the assets it already has, is what social collaboration is all about. For what she and others at State Street have already accomplished, as well as her ambitions for what comes next, Waryas is our Social Business Leader of the Year for 2013 and will join me onstage at the E2 Conference in Boston to talk about her work and answer questions. Update: See the rest of our 10 Social Business Leaders For 2013 list.
Social collaboration is important to support State Street's global operating model. Previously, Global Operations and Client Service teams used mass email distributions for what were essentially crowdsourcing activities -- trying to find the right person to answer a question. But email tends to drive either one-way responses, not shared with the group, or messy reply-to-all email threads. That translated into workplace inefficiencies, limited knowledge sharing, duplicate efforts, unfiltered information and untapped expertise, Waryas said.
The State Street Collaborate internal social network launched in April 2012, following a year-long pilot. The pilot involved more than 1,500 employees who helped define business-driven use cases for the technology. The enterprise social network is now available to a global workforce of 30,000 employees in 29 different countries, with more than 10,000 active users and more than 600 communities. Although the current collaboration network, based on SharePoint 2010 and NewsGator Social Sites, is relatively new, that's not where the story begins, and the network that exists today is only the first chunk of the complete social intranet State Street is preparing to introduce later this year.
Disclaimer: State Street does not endorse technology products. However, NewsGator made sense as an integrated SharePoint application because SharePoint was already so widely used at the firm, Waryas said.
Founded in 1792, State Street is a global financial services firm based in Boston. It serves institutional investors through State Street Bank and Trust Company and provides registered adviser services through State Street Global Advisors. State Street is known for staking ambitious IT goals, such as a plan to save $600 million with a private cloud implementation. CIO Christopher Perretta briefly mentioned employee social networking in a 2010 InformationWeek interview on new initiatives.
Employed by State Street for 22 years, Waryas started in a "very entry level job" in fund accounting before moving up the ladder to supporting clients of the fund group and eventually transitioning to an IT liaison role developing business requirements for technology programs.
When State Street first began offering online services to clients in the late 1990s, Waryas became a product manager for those tools. State Street was an innovator in introducing online banking services, Waryas said, but eventually the proliferation of those services became a problem of its own. "What customers were looking for was one State Street," she said.
Yet even after the bank's Web developers consolidated the platform, she thought it wasn't getting enough love. To turn that around, she developed a network of champions -- employees with in-depth knowledge of the tools who would take the lead on promoting them, both internally and externally. "For our customers to use the tools, our employees had to use the tools," she said. That is, they needed to take advantage of the Web-based tools where possible, rather than falling back on internal, proprietary tools. They needed to know the ins and outs of the customer Web portal so they could introduce it in all its glory to State Street clients.
The 200 employees selected for that global team of champions needed a way to collaborate, and an IT architecture group suggested an enterprise social collaboration product called Lotus Connections (now IBM Connections). "That proved very valuable for what we were trying to achieve and gave us a use case to take to executive management" about the value of social collaboration, Waryas said.


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The email indicates that individuals receiving VA disability compensation can receive additional funds from the IRS by sending copies of VA award letters, income tax returns, 1099-Rs, Retiree Account Statements, and DD 214s, to a retired Colonel at an address in Florida. These schemes can be quite costly for victims. Promoters may charge exorbitant upfront fees to file these claims and are often long gone when victims discover they've been scammed.
Taxpayers should be careful of these scams because, regardless of who prepared their tax return, the taxpayer is legally responsible for the accuracy of their tax return and must repay any refunds received in error, plus any penalties and interest. They may even face criminal prosecution.
To avoid becoming ensnared in these schemes, taxpayers should beware of any of the following:
- Fictitious claims for refunds or rebates based on false statements of entitlement to tax credits
- Emails from unfamiliar senders asking for personal information
- Internet solicitations that direct individuals to toll-free numbers and then solicit Social Security numbers or other personal information
If you receive a notice from the IRS, respond immediately. If you believe someone may have used your SSN fraudulently, please notify IRS immediately by responding to the name and number printed on the notice or letter. You will need to fill out the IRS Identity Theft Affidavit, Form 14039.


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Posted at 02:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
I wish there was some kind of magic babysitter fairydust I could sprinkle on new mothers so they could jump right over all the crippling angst about making the transition to life-with-babysitter and reach the state of bliss that has caused me to write this post.
Lorna. Her name alone conjures relief and freedom for us, fun and security for the little folks.
She's been with us a couple days a week for 7 years, rarely missing a day, always prompt, always ready for whatever the day brings. Lately, that's meant "making a tent" with Eva in her room by stringing up a giant sheet so that they can play go fish, picnic, drawing, coloring, playdoh and so on under it while the baby sleeps for two hours. That alone is worthy of the trophy. But there's so much more. She just handles whatever is thrown her way.
Over the years, since she began with one child to care for, two others have been thrown her way, and she has just moved seamlessly through the ever-changing landscape of demands--multiple school pick-ups and playdates and classes and lessons and homework and infant/pre-school/elementary school/girl/boy/sick child/angry, sad, grumpy, shy, outgoing, fearful, daring, etc needs--never getting fazed, never losing her cool, never taking things personally.
At first the thought of hiring a babysitter felt like I was hiring my own replacement, my own competition, as if I were hiring a girlfriend for my husband, but worse. I barely knew my own baby, wasn't sure at all that he knew me, or my breast, from any other. The last thing I needed in my unconfident state was someone really experienced and confident to come in and take over. Of course, that's the last thing she did, except in the best way. She has a curiously perfect way of being completely present when here, but becoming invisible at a moment's notice. She knows just how to read the situation and adjust herself accordingly--do I want her to take the baby because although I'm home I need to work or want to be busy at something else, or do I seem to be settling in to have a quick lunch with Eva at the kitchen table before going back to work, so she'll quietly slip off into the living room and wait until the signals shift and then seamlessly slip back in to taking over? They all know she's in their corner, and I know she's got my back. It's the Art of the Babysitter.
There's so much more to say, but I'd need Lorna here to be able to say it!
Posted at 08:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Something about this crush I love.
Sometimes I want to leave the house.
It's loud, but full of hugs and fat little thighs, kisses and questions, fights and ripening.
You can't think or stop or clean it up. It won't give in, stop or still.
I never forget that it will be over, this is my turn, but I also dream of it's being over and feeling singular again. A nd then I love again how every minute is a constantly forming and unforming, undulating, pulsing thing, a kaleidoscope's view of these random elements--toys, people, actions, groupings, sounds, moments--making a painting, an experience, that is just this moment's and then is gone, and is also the product of the day before and all the ones before, something permanent being built (our family, it's history, these people's selves, my history and theirs). The very randomness of the passing moment seems sometimes so much more interesting than anything else, and then I'm drowning and I need to go, need them to go to bed. Then I want to see the next minute and not miss one. And then I want to leave. And then I want to come back. And preserve it, try to capture the everyday of it, it's colossal beauty and detail, it's infinite movement. The alchemy of family. Turning this common substance into something of great value.
Posted at 05:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
They're all in their beds. Three heads were asleep at angles in the backseat of the car, and they all woke up when we brought them in. Then the big two crawled right in their beds and burrowed down. We changed the little one into her jammies and she woke up and wanted things. "Dat, dat, dat," pointing. But I stood up and started to sing "Rock-a-bye Baby" and her head thumped down on my chest. Then after a few bars she picked it up and looked at me. I bent forward to kiss her and she bent forward, too. Then she put her head back down. I put her in her bed (I had already nursed her in the car before we left) and put her covers on. After all that I went back to the bigs to kiss them. They were still awake a little and Eva said, "how would you feel if you were out on a cold cold street and you had no clothes on?" She was asking because I'd tried to get her undressed in the bathroom before I had her jammies ready and she'd protested that she was too cold. I was pretty sure I was being scolded again. "You know what I would do if you were out on a cold cold street?" I asked. "What?" "I would make you warm." I kissed D. Then I went to check on the baby. She was still just awake and kicked and brightened up a touch when she saw me. I stroked her face and said goodnight, and she pulled her covers up. There is something so comforting to me to see them comfortable in their beds as a source of warmth and rest and holding. Something good in knowing even the baby feels this house and her bed are a good place where she can be awake waiting to fall asleep. In one word maybe it is trust.
Posted at 08:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
For the moment she's still got her little arm up, requesting a finger to grasp as she travels, pokes about, bends and dips and restands, stops for a little bouncy-knee dance when the mood strikes. But two days ago M turned one. Soon she won't want the hand so much. Already, the breast and its contents are not essential. They are well-regarded as a mental and emotional reset button, a quick put-me-together when the me-ness starts to feel less sure. But a moment's snuggle and a tiny taste is usually enough, and then her head swivels away and her body starts it's slippery undulations designed to get her back on her feet and going again.
Tonight, as always, the pace here is frenzied and the soundtrack is blaring. Declan's on the drums, Eva the recorder and harmonica, and then there's running and jumping and playing and screaming and laughing and homework and drawing and playing dollhouse. She's got to keep up and there's no getting bored. And there are so many things to see and know. "DAT" she says, again and again and again, jutting her arm out with a questing, pointing finger at the end. "Light," "bathtub," "computer," "apple" we say back. "DAT, DAT, DAT," she says, as if her brain just won't let her stop. A few nights ago she'd fallen asleep on the breast one night in my lap at bedtime. I moved slightly and immediately, right out of sleep, her arm shot up into the pitch black and pointed, and she said, "DAT!" "Not now, darling," I said softly and put her in her bed and she turned over and let the world go for a little while.
She's still in her mini co-sleeper (along with all her sibs, in this photo) head and feet almost touching the ends of her baby bed, but that will change after we bring the crib down from upstate this weekend. She's only still contained in the co-sleeper because she refused to learn to crawl, and with it, to get herself to sitting on her own. She can walk and dance but she can't get herself off her back so she hasn't been able to climb out of the co-sleeper yet, but it's minutes away.
I am trying not to log all the passing babynesses, but my mind logs them anyway. Soon enough, this time will be done and many more amazing ones will come, of course. But having a baby in our midst will be missed. Thinking of E. going off to Kindergarten next year is equally as unthinkable. Where did THAT baby go? And then it feels like two babies hurtling themselves out of babyhood at once.
Recently, some mothers at the mother's group I run were talking about noticing the shift from their babies being newborns to something new, something not quite the same. They were asserting their wishes, wanting to sit up or be faced outward, or something that felt like demanding to have some control over their own world. One mother spoke of feeling anxious about having to start solids and give food that wasn't from her to her baby. These transitions are so striking, and so emotionally loaded. It's work to manage the feelings they bring on, whether it's having your baby suddenly out of arms or newly, hungrily taking in more of the outside world than just your breast, your face, your voice, your touch, your goodness.
As I feel thankful this week for the great goodness that has come my way, I am also thankful for being too busy to think about all this growing up too much. There are pies to make, snow boots to procure, and little people who need to be played with, NOW. And then washed and put to bed. And then I need to knit.
Posted at 03:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
10am Entered polling place (sadly, this photo was eaten by iphoto). Imagine one boy, 8, with a cold but determined to make his mark today nonetheless, one girl, 4, who has decided she's for Obama because "he's more fair" and one girl, 11 months, who has no clue about any of it but is happy to be hanging with her peeps.
10-11:30am Waited on line. Ate snacks from bake sale. Said hello to many neighbors and friends who passed by on their way in or out. Walked Mairead up and down the hallways and fed her corn muffin.
11:30-12 Ate a quick lunch
12:15pm Mama and Boy Entered Obama-Biden Headquarters in NYC.
He did not do this sideways, but iphoto's not working and everything with the pictures is FUBAR for the moment, so bear with us here.
12: 20pm We entered HQ on the 5th floor. The woman at the desk took one look at Declan and said, "you ready to make some calls?" She gave us a ton of special phone bank stickers and Obama/Biden stickers and signs, and told us to go around the corner to Room A.
12:25 Darby, a campaign worker, gave us our script and a quick training in how to use it--we weren't doing "persuasion calls," this was get out the vote work, and we weren't supposed to rip people a new one if they said they were voting for McPain--and then passed out sheets of names of Florida voters in Broward, Jackson, and Gadsden Counties.
12:30 Began making calls. Notice Boy in green shirt in the back.
He's saying, "Hello, my name is Declan and I'm a volunteer with Barack Obama's Campaign for Change. I'm calling to remind you that today is election day. Have you voted yet?" If yes, then "Wonderful, thank you!" If he got an answering machine he left a detailed message reminding them of where their polling location was (it was on the sheet next to their number) and giving out several numbers or websites they could use to arrange a ride to the polls or report problems or get info.
Then we noted what happened on our call sheets.
Our first set of numbers had been pretty well worked over only about an hour or so before. When some campaign workers came in waving fistfulls of sheets with NEW NUMBERS on them, we felt like the guys in Glengarry Glenn Ross, desperate to get their hands on the new leads.
We dialed, and dialed, and dialed.
The guy dialing in front of us said he'd gotten his start volunteering in presidential elections around the same age as Declan when his parents brought him to make calls for Lyndon Johnson.
Once we got a babysitter who said the people we'd called weren't home and she was voting for McCain. She sounded a little grumpy. We were sweet about it. We knew she was gonna feel bad about that decision one day, or maybe later that night. Once we got a man who said "I just came back from voting," in a deep southern accent. "Just got in about twenty minutes ago." Then he asked us, "what I want to know is, is he still the leader?" I told him we didn't know yet but that they'd be telling us on tv before long. "Oh, when they do that?" he asked. "About 7 or 8 tonight," I said. He sure sounded excited. We had a good feeling about Florida.
After we made about 100 calls--mostly it was Declan--we called it a day. The boy was red and hot with his fever--and not just election fever. The kid had an honest to goodness fever. Even sick he pulled out all the stops for Obama.
5pm------We started watching the coverage. Eva peeled off around 8. Declan stayed in the game until 9:30. At around 11, this happened:
Maybe, just maybe, we had a little something to do with it.
After all, he won Florida didn't he?
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Dec declared early on: Vampire. No, not dracula, a VAMPIRE. And store-bought, preferably. No problem! Went down the block, across the street to Winn Discount, and bought that baby. One costume done. Yessss.
Eva also declared early: Dragon. Oh, jeez. Okay, sure, ummmm. There was no way I was making a whole suit type deal because for one thing I KNEW miss-I-hate-to-wear-anything-on-my-body was going to freak out and not wear it and then I was going to have to kill her. But I couldn't find a store-bought one that would work, either, and so I was pretty resigned to trying to make some kind of hooded cape-y thing with blue points down the back, and pairing it with a green hooded sweatshirt of her brothers and some green pants. Luckily, the night I began I tried the sweatshirt on her and GUESS WHAT?
She freaked out. "I'm NOT WEARING THAT" and insane wriggling and screaming trying to get it off. Then angrily, resentfully sticking her thumb ("fumb") in her mouth and sulking on the couch.
"No problem," I said, how about being a ghost, or a witch?
"A witch," she said, her eyes lighting up.
Did I mention that this was the day before halloween?
So I made a quick run over to the Brooklyn General Store, where I found the perfect perfect witch dress fabric and some black flannel and grey cotton for the cape. Then I ran to run the new mother's group and then ran back home to cut out a simple dress shape, a simple cape shape copied from Dec's vampire cape, and ran back to the store to use one of their sewing machines. This is reason # 798,054 why it's good to have a friend who owns a yarn and fabric store, btw.
So anyway, I quickly sewed up the dress, not finishing around neck, arms, or hem (she's a witch, after all) and quickly sewed up the cape, adding a hot pink ribbon around the neck to tie it, and then daddy glued a scary grey spider shape to the back. Some black nail polish, dark eye shadow, and a witches hat finished her off. Instant cute witch! Another Halloween Emergency averted! Okay, so I never really made a costume for the baby....I just pinned a little of the witch dress fabric to her shirt and lamely dubbed her "a witch baby" but you know what? She's got a lot of great costume years ahead.
This year we were lucky enough to have Aunt Pat and Uncle Larry (actually, great aunt and great uncle pat and larry) AND Aunt Tara along with us, too.
And then we did the usual: went up and down the main shopping street after school, getting candy from all the shopkeepers and admiring the parade of costumes and running into friends, and then we went home for a brief time-out and some dinner, and then we went back out in the dark and trolled the brownstone stoops, admiring the spooking decorations. Finally, we went back to our own stoop and gave out our candy.
A boo-full night, indeed.
Posted at 07:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Life is just steaming by. I haven't even written about the girls' crafty weekend of early October, the Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival Weekend, the Halloween Experience, and now, the latest last great weekend of the fall--they just keep on coming, and getting better and better. I'm blind with exhaustion from middle-of-the-night life with this baby of ours, but life is good. And, with hope, tomorrow it will become even better!
But first, in no particular order: Rhinebeck.
This was the haul at the end of the weekend, after day 1 beating a path through the crazy saturday crowds with the sassy stitchess while the husbands tended the combined 5 children, after eating lamb chili, lamb sandwiches, and lamb burgers, and then after the last-minute, last day surgical strike just before closing time on Sunday to scoop up what we regretted not getting the day before, after which we ate more lamb sandwiches, and lamb kebobs and lamb ribs.
Somehow it all tended towards the blues and purples and bluey greens this year.
Don't know if this colorway is gonna be nice, but it sure looks good like this.
But this Socks That Rock looks as yummy as it did on the hook.
The big, giant, hulking skein of super bulky love known as Decadent Fibers Creme Puff called me first, resulting in this, knitted up AND uploaded to ravelry in a breathtaking 24 hours.
So, even though I didn't get this Noro Cashmere Island sweater
finished in time for this boy to wear it loud and proud while eating a candy apple at the fair, the baby showed off her little yoke cardi made of Manos Silk Blend while she petted her first sheep.
Posted at 10:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Gorgeous Leaves and wood and milkweed pods. Hot cider and crunchy apples. Pumpkin painting and carving and muffin-making. A good long walk in the woods. A last fling on the hammock. Good friends, their adorable twins, and the fire roaring. And a quick bit of satisfying sewing: the "smocket" on the baby.
Posted at 08:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Our journey begins on the way to the knitting store, officially known as Brooklyn General Store, a little house on the prarie-esque dry goods store filled with yarn, fabric, notions, gee gaws, homemade, handmade stuff, and women I love, especially on Friday mornings when it is time for the knitting breakfast. I've been coming since it's inauguration 4 years ago around this time, just after Eva was born. Declan played under the big table when the store was still across the street in my former midwife's ground floor, and now Eva has played here every Friday since her birth.
Today we started out by scooter, with little Mo Mo in her stroller.
On the way we stopped at Mazzola's Bakery for a mini muffin. Miss E. broke with tradition for the second straight time in history, choosing an orange blossom muffin instead of a chocolate one. Wednesday it was a corn muffin! These are but two of the many many portents we've been receiving lately heralding her transformation from shy, thumb-sucking, ear-twiddling, trying-nothing-new, hiding-behind-my-skirts-girl into mistress of her universe, branching out and busting out in all directions. Before the day was out not one but two friends of mine would exclaim in delight "Eva TALKED to me!"
And then we were at the store, which was hopping.
Here a little trade was made--a little round plastic button that's the key to the functioning of the Avent breastpump, in exchange for a used push-toy--that would turn this into a very special day for the little red-headed baby seen there in the middle of the floor. You'll see why later.
After lunch and various naps, and a teensy bit of real knitting time for me, it was time to pick up the big guy. We hooked up with Jane and Kate and their mother, my friend Anne, in the school yard, and went to Mother Cabrini Park, a quiet little gem of a place at the secret end of a street in a far corner of Brooklyn.
This is what happened next:
Back and forth, up and down.
While her sister and brother kissed her and played in the Indian summer weather and the golden falling leaves.
Posted at 11:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)


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U.S. crude output grew to the highest level in 15 years, while carloads carried by Union Pacific Corp., the country's biggest railroad, surged to 140,000 last year from 2,400 in 2010
Warren Buffett and Carl Icahn are reaping the benefits of surging demand for railroad tank cars to haul shale oil from beyond the reach of existing pipelines.
Buffett's Union Tank Car Co. is working at full capacity and Icahn's American Railcar Industries Inc. has a backlog through 2014. Trinity Industries Inc., the biggest railcar producer, began converting wind-tower factories last year to help meet demand for train cars that can transport the petroleum product.
All three are getting a boost from a shale-oil boom that's poised to make the U.S. the world's largest crude producer by 2020. Rail carloads of crude tripled last year to more than 200,000, and demand for tanks designed for it soared, helping both Trinity and American Railcar outstrip the Standard & Poor's 500 Index.
"People who want to ship oil can't get them," Toby Kolstad, president of the consultant firm Rail Theory Forecasts LLC said, referring to railcars. "They're desperate to get anything to move crude oil."
The shortage is exacerbated by makers who are keeping many of the tank cars they produce to supply their own leasing businesses, where rates in some cases have more than quadrupled to $2,500 a month. The manufacturers also are wary of boosting production too much and getting caught with unsold cars as they did in an earlier coal boom.
Costly Pipelines
Rail shipping has become the method of choice at new production sites because obtaining permits and rights-of-way can slow pipeline construction and make it more costly, said Brad Delco, an analyst with Stephens Inc. in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Oil produced from hydraulic fracturing allowed the U.S. to expand oil production last year by the most since the first commercial well was drilled in 1859. Domestic output grew to the highest level in 15 years, while carloads carried by Union Pacific Corp., the country's biggest railroad, surged to 140,000 last year from 2,400 in 2010.
"It still feels very much like an emerging market," said Beth Whited, vice president and general manager of Union Pacific's chemicals business. "There are large numbers of requests coming in really every week to our crude oil team here" asking for service to new locations.
The resulting jump in railcar demand helped drive shares of Trinity up 23 percent in the year through Jan. 2, outstripping a 16 percent increase in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index.
Failed Bid
Greenbrier Cos., which makes railcars and equipment as well as freight barges, gained 16 percent since Nov. 12, the day before American Railcar-owner Icahn disclosed a 9.99 percent stake and began takeover talks. Those negotiations fell apart in December.
American Railcar subsequently climbed 0.7 percent to $32.78 at 9:53 a.m. Thursday. Trinity and Greenbrier both fell less than 1 percent, to $36.97 and $16.15, respectively, amid declines in the broader S&P 500.
A combination of American Railcar and Greenbrier would have created the largest railcar producer in the U.S., surpassing Trinity, which now accounts for about 31 percent of U.S. deliveries.
Railcars and leasing comprised more than half of Trinity's $3.8 billion of sales for the 12 months ending in September, the company said in a November presentation. The Dallas-based manufacturer began converting factories that made towers for wind turbines to tank-car plants in the third quarter, executives said in an Oct. 25 conference call.
Order Backlog
"Customers are very anxious to see us increase capacity, and those who have driving needs for that have been willing to pay a premium," Stephen Menzies, group president for Trinity's rail and railcar leasing units, said on the conference call. The company projected full-year earnings would climb as much as 91 percent, and analysts estimate revenue may increase as much as 28 percent to $3.94 billion.
American Railcar said third-quarter orders for tank cars reached 8,800 industrywide, almost double deliveries. The industry's backlog was about 46,700 at the end of that period, making up more than 75 percent of its total unfilled orders.
The company's own backlog of 7,630 total railcars was the largest since 2008's second quarter and its production schedule included tank orders through the first three months of 2014, Chief Executive Officer James Cowan said on an Oct. 25 conference call. Icahn holds a stake of about 56 percent in the St. Charles, Missouri-based company.
Lease Fleets
"The investment thesis of oil by rail will be something that will continue for many years because of the fact that infrastructure doesn't exist in many of these newer areas," Eric Marshall, the director of research at Dallas-based Hodges Capital Management Inc., said in a telephone interview. He helps oversee $750 million of assets, including Trinity shares.
Many tank-car makers have been cautious about adding capacity because they don't want rates to fall at their leasing businesses, Arthur Hatfield, a Memphis, Tennessee-based analyst with Raymond James & Associates, said in a telephone interview.
"All these companies have a lot of lease fleets that have a lot of value attached to them," he said. "They don't want to add a lot of capacity, flood the market with cars and then have those cars sit in the marketplace trying to get leased."
Short-term lease rates have jumped as high as $2,500 a month, more than four times the normal rate, said Kolstad, of Portland, Oregon-based Rail Theory. To limit risk if the boom doesn't last, leasing companies are seeking five-year paybacks on cars instead of 30 years, he said in a telephone interview.
'Cyclical' Industry
"Leasing rates aren't based on traditional models right now," Kolstad said. "They're basically looking at the probability of a pipeline and a short-term phenomenon. Nobody is taking a risk beyond five or six years."
Union Tank Car, a unit of Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. that once formed part of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, is keeping all the cars it produces and leasing them, rather than selling to third parties, said Bruce Winslow, a company spokesman.
The company's two plants near Houston and in Alexandria, Louisiana, are running at full capacity, which is about 6,240 a year combined, he said. Union Tank Car, whose parent company also profits from shale-oil shipments through its Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad, isn't planning to expand production, Winslow said.
"We see the industry as very cyclical," he said. "Within the memory of most any tank-car guy, he can say, 'I remember when we didn't know where to park them all.' "
Excess Production
Railcar makers don't want to risk repeating the boom in production of coal cars, which are now gathering dust as energy producers fuel operations with cheaper natural gas, also found in shale formations. Coal carloads at the largest North American rail carriers fell 8.6 percent to 4.89 million in the first three months of 2012.
Tank cars probably won't suffer the market downturn that coal cars now face any time soon, Salvatore Vitale, a New York- based analyst with Sterne Agee & Leach, Inc., said in a telephone interview.
"There's so much continued demand for crude by rail coming out of the shale plays, especially the Bakken, we're years away from" excess production, Vitale said.
Indeed, demand for crude-carrying cars may surpass an ethanol-driven surge for tank cars from 2005 to 2007, Kolstad said. Deliveries peaked at 5,100 cars per quarter during that period, about double normal demand, he said.
In the third quarter of 2012, deliveries reached about 4,700, he said. Because ethanol production was capped at 10 percent of gasoline consumption, manufacturers could calculate precisely the demand for tank cars. The opposite is true for shale-oil production, he said.
"How far does this go?" he asked. "That's the big question."


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Because, you'll pass out. While you might be keen to play another Kid Icarus: Uprising, game designer Masahiro Sakurai isn't keen to make one.
"If by 'lasting universe' you mean to ask if there's a sequel, the answer is no," Sakurai flatly told IGN. "We pushed a lot into the game in order to let people have this short yet deep experience, but the novelty of that would likely grow thin in the next game."
Sakurai brought back Nintendo's on ice Kid Icarus series with Uprising.
"For now," Sakurai continued, "my thought is that perhaps we'll see someone else besides me make another Kid Icarus in another 25 years." I'm sure that can be arranged.
No Sequel for Kid Icarus Uprising [IGN via Eurogamer]


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FDA Proposes Imported-Food Safety Rules
The FDA has proposed long-delayed rules to ensure the safety of imported foods like pomegranates and papayas, tahini paste and tuna, which have caused multistate disease outbreaks. Photo: Getty Images.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
... I ... strikes from ... its buzzing long delayed safety rules on imported foods including those that Apple's multistate disease disease outbreaks posted to the FDA reported home but joins us now from Washington ... ALM ... so aam ... this is not linked to parasitic our rights but ... it will try to help sold them on ... she yet so so much parasitic outbreaks it's things like salmonella and hepatitis a is a whole series of ... food borne illnesses ... the um have been happening in kind of disturbing regularity ... in United States both from food it's grown on farms in the U S also ... through this important about ... fifteen percent of the fruit in United States imported ... including about eighty five percent of seafood ... so these rules are an attempt to do something to do ... um standardize ... purity levels and institutes are global prevention ... into the American food system and what all the things that we talking about a week of mass production will commence unsafe in which the Fed felt this way ... yet we're were primarily talking but seafood and produce more than anything ... and these rules they sound theoretical an academic but really they're not the be involve things like ... being sure than on farms ... that wastewater doesn't end up becoming irrigation water basic things like that ... which no will become part of a lot ... under the rules that will crop that were ... cast in January this year ... the same rules now ... under what is happening ... what what's happening today will apply in all imported food is well ... this of this and that I mentioned is the ad and I was having a delay in proposing this ... their role was initially issued by the Food and Drug Administration on time ... on at the end of twenty eleven ... ah and plenty of time to meet the deadline of January twenty twelve ... the rules got stuck in the White House Office of Management and budget ... they were in the process ... of evaluating costs and benefits like ... frankly they've never explained why it took so long to combat eighteen months beyond ... what we set out in in the very law that President Obama signed in January of twenty eleven ... to now this is becoming more more more because the US is importing warm orbits to try this one on a map that ... so much a while ago ... that's correct it matters a lot and ... if anyone has been paying attention will recall a whole series of things ... starting with domestic ... products like what eggs and peanuts that the cause of critics ... but also most recently Hammergren it's the it's ... to know it appears that that that that was part of of ... sushi ... seeking the pace through Turkey all of these things that cause the brain in United States ... just in the last two years ... who are playing ... an awful long thank you Brian much home but with refitted time ... my pleasure


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A Texas state trooper has been suspended with pay, officials said Wednesday, after two women claimed they were subjected to intimate body cavity searches at the roadside in full view of the public.
The two women, from Irving, Texas, are suing two state troopers and the director of the Department of Public Safety, alleging they were violated during what they call an unconstitutional search on State Highway 161 on July 13.
Angel Dobbs and her niece Ashley Dobbs were stopped for littering by Trooper David Farrell.
In a dashcam video released by the women and their attorney, Farrell can be heard telling the women they would both be cited for throwing cigarette butts out of the car.
Farrell called for a female trooper, Kelley Helleson, to come to the scene and began to ask questions about what he described as "an odor of marijuana" coming from the car, according to the video. Angel Dobbs denied smoking marijuana, and said she had borrowed the car.
After Helleson arrived, she can be seen in the video putting on blue latex gloves to conduct a search of both women. According to the lawsuit, when Angel Dobbs asked about the gloves, Helleson "told her not to worry about that."
Pulled over for littering, women given body cavity searches
In the lawsuit, Dobbs said the trooper conducted the cavity search on the roadside, illuminated by the police car's headlights, in full view of any passing motorists.
"This has been an eye-opening experience for me. I've never been pulled over, never searched like this. I was totally violated over there a few minutes ago... this is so embarrassing to me," Angel Dobbs said on the video.
"I've never been so humiliated or so violated or felt so molested in my entire life," Angel Dobbs told NBCDFW.com.
The lawsuit further alleges that Helleson performed the searches on both women without changing the latex gloves between searches.
"I don't think anybody needs to have to feel, or go through what we went through," Ashley Dobbs said. "It crosses my mind every day. It's humiliating," she said.
The Department of Public Safety told NBCDFW.com that Helleson had been suspended with pay.
There had been no other suspensions as of Wednesday night, NBCDFW.com reported.
No narcotics or contraband was found, according to the lawsuit.