text:
Tag Archive for: world travel
It was a rough morning…/0 Comments/in Blog /by Matthew Westheimer
It was a rough morning climbing.
I woke up really excited to climb and we hiked down to a well know crag in Meir Valley at the Red River Gorge in Kentucky to set up shop for the morning.
It was beautiful. You had to walk through an archway of a huge boulder which took us to our private oasis of climbing perched high on top of a hillside.
I started with a couple of easier climbs which turned out to be a blast. Both of them followed a great line to the top and were perfect warm-ups.
I then decided to attempt a couple of the tougher climbs.
The first one I tried was well within my range but I hit a sticking point which really frustrated me. I started blaming the rock (Crazy, I know). I then started blaming the people who put the bolts in that I needed to attach my rope to.
After much blaming, I finally had to come to the conclusion I just didn't have it. I finally begrudgingly finished the route after a lot of struggle but I had some assistance so it didn't feel like much of a victory.
I then decided to redeem myself on a slightly harder route on the same wall. I made it to the first bolt but could not figure out how to get to the second bolt so I had to bail and get lowered down without completing the route. It was the first route I have tried in the last couple of months that I couldn't finish and gave up on.
That is either a testament to my willpower and tenacity in choosing to not give up or the fact that I am just not challenging myself enough. I'll leave the judgment up to you.
Anyway, I was looking forward to getting out of that area and meeting friends of ours at a very sought after area of Meir Valley called Bruise Brothers.
It is a beautiful wall with some amazing lines.
I started on some easier routes and then decided to step up to some harder stuff. After the struggles I had on the previous wall earlier in the day I was resolved to just stick to the easier stuff but I saw a route I just couldn't say no to.
It started out with some technical moves and then moved to an overhang with some big moves and had a great finish. I got up with no problem and started to build my confidence again.
The next one I wanted to do looked amazing but was at the peak of my ability. I'll be honest I was scared to get on the wall. It was a huge climb with only a little crack to use about 40 feet off the ground.
Fortunately, another couple of climbers decided to do it before us. It was probably a bit of a false sense of confidence because he was a much better climber than I was and made it look way too easier.
Either way, I decided to give it a go.
Surprisingly, I made it without too much effort.
I was re-energized and wanted to test my limits for the last climb.
We shifted over to a really interesting climb.
The first part starts off as a fairly easy climb straight up the wall. At least it should have been easy but ended up feeling much harder than it should have been.
The next part is a giant overhanging roof about 30 feet off the ground that you have to climb horizontal to the ground below you and then over the top for the finish.
I resolved that I was going to have to take a couple of falls but there was no way I was going to give up on this.
What's funny is a friend of mine completed the route just before me and still had his friend's gear up there. His friend shouted at him to take his gear back down and put the rope directly through the anchors just in case I didn't finish it.
Reflexively I shouted, "Leave it up there. I'm finishing it and I'll bring it back down." It was my little version of the "burning the boats" story where retreat and failure were not an option. I was going to finish this no matter what.
As I reached the top of the first part of the climb, I leaned back and peered over my head.
Doubts started to set in. It looked a lot harder up close than it did from the ground.
But there was no giving up. Remember, I told him to leave his gear at the top. I had to finish this climb now.
I decided to take it one bolt at a time; total presence.
There were 3 bolts and a finishing anchor.
I grabbed onto the first part of the roof, leaned back, and brought my feet a bit higher. A quick draw was within reach so I reached down, grabbed the rope, and clipped it in the carabiner.
One down, three to go.
I reached up to the next part of the roof, heel hooked the other part of the roof, and saw the next quick draw was within reach. I slowed my breath, relaxed my body, reached down, grabbed the rope, and slowly and methodically placed it in the next carabiner.
Two down and two to go.
The next one was a huge reach. I searched for a moment, found a decent hold, grabbed it, got my legs up and clipped in. I looked up and found the anchor just a short easy climb away.
I was so focused and so present that I was surprised the finish was right in front of me.
A wave of emotion and a tremendous sense of accomplishment came over me as I clipped into the final anchor.
It is easy to live life in the middle where there is no true sense of accomplishment but also no real risk of failure. It is easy to play it safe.
But sometimes, just sometimes, it is worth it to burn the boats and destroy the bridges so failure is not an option and there is a point of no return.
That is really when we are tested. That is where the sweetest juice of life can be found.
– Matt Westheimer
No Regrets/0 Comments/in Blog /by Matthew Westheimer
It has been 77 days since I parted ways with my chiropractic practice to pursue a dream of traveling around the world.
Currently, I am sitting in a giant metal tube 40,000 feet in the air on my way to NYC. I can't believe I have been traveling for 2.5 months so far. Some days feel much longer than others, but overall the experience has flown by.
We have experienced some pretty amazing things so far and encountered some really frustrating challenges.
The highlight of the trip has definitely been rock climbing. We developed a passion for climbing that exceeded my expectations, but I am certainly leaning into the feeling and looking for ways to explore the world with a rope and a harness.
We have met extraordinary people from all over the world. We have stayed at five star hotels and no star shacks. We have had some expensive food and $1 street food. We have met some of the nicest people on the planet and encountered some of the rudest and most frustrating.
We've had things stolen and lost but more than made up for it with the generosity of people and experiences along the way.
Being away for so long and living out of a suitcase really puts things in perspective and makes me grateful for some of the simple things in life like a good home cooked steak and a decent pillow.
Man, I never appreciated a decent pillow until now.
I realize that we only get one life to live and living in fear is no way to live it. Life passes you by way too quickly.
I have been meeting many travelers along this journey that are in their early to mid 20s and just working and traveling around the world. They are living day to day and traveling until their money runs out. Then they go back to work until they have enough money to travel again.
There is such a freedom in that. To get on the road with nothing to lose and experience the rawness of what the world has to offer.
There are times when I question my decision to travel. Of course, it would have been more prudent to continue working, but being prudent isn't always memorable. Being prudent doesn't always create exceptional experiences. Being prudent doesn't always build lifelong relationships.
Sometimes it's important to throw prudence out the window, take big risks, and follow your passion.
One of my favorites quotes that exemplifies this idea is "You'll regret more the things you did not do than the ones you decided to do."
Stop always being so prudent, go against the grain, and do something you've always wanted to do.
My philosophy more and more is evolving into the idea that there are only 2 types of experiences: extraordinary ones that feel amazing and ones that are crap but make for great stories.
Go out and make both.
– Matt Westheimer
Injured and Abroad in Vietnam/0 Comments/in Blog /by Matthew Westheimer
Injured and Abroad in Vietnam
Ever since I can remember, there are two qualities that stand out a lot when I think of myself.
Ever since I can remember, there are two qualities that stand out a lot when I think of myself.
These two qualities are not ones I am especially proud – anxiousness and perfectionism.
Ever since I started traveling about 10 weeks ago, I never realized how distracted I was from just being present in my "old" life.
Sure, I would meditate for 10-20 minutes in the morning but what about the other 1,430 minutes in the day?
Much of it was filled with work and other obligations and activities. Feelings of uncertainty, anxiety, fears, and doubts could fairly easily be drowned out by the noise of daily life.
It is different when you are traveling long-term.
There are many times of boredom and nothingness. Questions begin to arise about whether it is ok to just relax and do nothing or am I just "wasting" my time?
Being still in the moment and just "being" is a challenge for someone who has had such a strong experience with anxiousness and perfectionism. Some moments I look out into the corner of the world that I happened to be experiencing at the moment and possess a deep sense of gratitude. Other times I am filled with stress and anxiety and questions of doubt.
What I am realizing more and more is there is no perfect reality out there. There is no scenario in life that is going to make all of your problems go away. Every scenario and permutation of life has upsides and downsides.
Unfortunately for me, whether it is nature or nurture or a combination of the two, I tend to obsess about the downside or challenges associated with things. There are advantages and disadvantages to this approach.
This usually isn't so bad if it is something within my control.
Where I really run into trouble is when I am dealing with something outside of my control.
Many times I obsess and obsess until it drives me crazy.
For example, I have an old hip injury that has been acting up on me recently. I hurt it about 5 years ago and from time to time it still flares up pretty bad. I have literally tried just about everything I know to get this thing resolved but nothing seems to completely resolve it.
What is funny is that I help so many people resolve their health issues, but the hardest patient I have ever had is myself.
This issue acted up on me again right before our last big rock climbing trip to SE Asia. My mind started racing like it usually does. What if this thing keeps me from climbing? What if this never really goes away? How am I going to be able to climb hard and do all of the adventures and sports that I love to do? What is going to happen if this gets worse and I have to give up on so much of what I love?
Once I am able to see past the immediacy of the emotional trauma that I am feeling and somewhat self-inflicting through the questions I am asking myself, I do what I do best.
Take massive action.
I take massive action in regards to my physical health by reaching out to practitioners and experts in my life that could help me. I spend hours doing myofascial work, stretching, mobility, and muscle activation work.
I then work on my emotional wellbeing through meditation, writing, and asking myself better questions.
This is the most challenging part for me.
The technique that I find helps me most is this: What if what I fear most happens? What if I am limited in physical sports and adventure for the rest of my life? What would I do and how would I still find happiness and fulfillment?
I love these series of questions because if you can still find fulfillment and purpose even in the worst case scenario, then what you fear most loses its power over you.
Then I can get back to doing the real work. And the real work is taking massive action on everything that is within my control and working on the emotional aspect of accepting, and maybe even embracing, the things that are outside of my control.
I am still learning to let go more and more and lean into discomfort.
What I believe is that happiness should not be the goal. It is too dependent on our emotions in the moment.
And let's be real. If you are really trying to experience a truly extraordinary life, it takes a lot of struggle. But the key is to struggle through the things that are worth struggling through and are most important to you.
The goal should be fulfillment, growth, and contribution. It should be finding peace and presence and curiosity in the moment. Sometimes those moments feel like crap and other times they feel great.
Either way, lean into it.
- Matt Westheimer
The Joy and Misfortune of Spontaneous Travel/0 Comments/in Blog /by Matthew Westheimer
It seems like every time I sit down to write I am doing so from an entirely different vantage point.
Last time was from the living room of a 34th floor apartment in Hanoi.
The time before that I was overlooking Cat Ba Bay from the dining room of our hotel.
This time it is on the rooftop terrace of our Airbnb with beautiful views of Saigon.
When we departed on this adventure, I really had no idea what was in store for me. I had never done anything quite like this before, and historically I have preferred much more stability in my life.
This time was going to be different. Unlike the rest of my life, I had done very little planning for this trip. Truth be told, we are supposed to fly out of Saigon tomorrow and up until just a few minutes ago, we hadn't even booked a plane ticket. It was really stressful for me in the beginning to have such an uncertain future but I am learning to let go more and more and enjoy the adventure of it all.
Many wonderful things have been able to occur due to this spontaneity such as rock climbing in Vietnam. It was never even on our radar before this trip started, and it only happened because we let go of the need to plan and decided to be open to what came up along the way.
It is the same reason we are here in Saigon right now. We never had any intention to visit Saigon. I had been here before and there were 50 other places on our list that we wanted to see, but along the way an opportunity came up to spend time with an amazing individual so we took it. We said yes immediately, booked our tickets, and we were off.
Living this way is tough sometimes though.
We never really know where we are going to be. We literally live out of a suitcase and it seems like every time we turn around, it is time to pack up and move on.
The things we took for granted like the ability to go to the grocery store, buy some fresh fruit and vegetables, and cook our own food has been more of a luxury than a regular occurrence, but it has opened the door for some pretty interesting experiences.
One of these occurred just last week in Cat Ba.
There are no supermarkets that we could find in Cat Ba, good Western food was almost non-existent, and we had nothing but a mini fridge in our room so we had to resort to eating every meal at restaurants and food stalls.
We asked around where the best Pho Ba was located which is a stock based clear soup with beef, rice noodles, scallions, and sometimes fresh ginger. It is always served with fresh lime and really spicy red chilis on the side. Eat the chilis with caution. They are hot!
If you want to know where the best pho is, just look for the places with the giant vats of broth simmering for hours or sometimes days with beef bones. They are the tastiest and most authentic. Some other places just use instant broth and just taste like one of those cheap cup of noodles you buy at a convenience store.
Anyway, we had been eating at this place probably a half dozen times. This time was the first time I needed to use the bathroom.
After we order the food, I walk to the bathroom and open the door. There next to the toilet I find a giant plastic container of beef bones sitting in putrid water.
I was immediately grossed out thinking that I had been eating here for the last few days, and I am just about to eat a soup made from old beef bones that had been soaked right next to the toilet.
I realized I had been traveling in Asia for a while when my next immediate thought was, "These bones will be boiled in hot water and probably kill all of the bacteria so I am sure I will be fine."
Next thing I knew I was sitting back in my seat enjoying a delicious bowl of Pho Ba.
If you want to grow you have to be willing to step out of your comfort zone.
I know you have probably heard me say this before, but are you doing it? If not, then it is worth repeating.
Book a ticket or drive a few hundred or even a few thousand miles to meet someone that you have always wanted to see. You can't connect with someone the same way over the phone that you can sitting face to face with them.
Yes, it costs more money. Yes, it takes more time. Yes, it requires booking a hotel and dealing with some of the misfortunes of travel.
But also, it is an emphatic yes that it is worth it.
You will never regret investing in yourself and your relationships.
– Matt Westheimer
Experiencing Fear and Doubt – A Lesson from Hanoi/0 Comments/in Blog /by Matthew Westheimer
If you ever experience doubt or uncertainty, you are not alone.
I've always prided myself on being unwaveringly and unshakeably confident in the eyes of all those around me.
The truth is I am not always confident. I have doubts at times. I have insecurities. I have plenty of things in life I am unsure about.
I used to run away from things I was afraid of. I would run from any feelings of discomfort and insecurity.
I was always really good at attaching myself to things that I was really good at and things that came easy to me, and avoiding things that really challenged me emotionally.
It was great for capitalizing on my strengths but made me weak when dealing with things that scared me or made me emotionally uneasy.
That was one of the reasons I decided to take this trip around the world.
My strengths have always been working, achieving, and being productive.
My weaknesses have been dealing with downtime, times of being idle and not pursuing something tangible or big future goal, and taking time to just be present and live in the moment.
Quitting a great job, selling 90% of my things, not knowing where I will be sleeping a week from now, and dealing with times of idleness and boredom have proved to be as challenging as I expected it to be.
In the past, there was a place I could run to when feeling uneasy – work and achievement. Now there is nowhere to run.
There is only so much site-seeing and activities I can do to distract myself, but inevitably I must face these feelings of discomfort and learn to be at peace with them.
There are a few ways I do that.
Meditation is the biggest and most powerful habit I have added to my life. I start every morning with anywhere from 10 – 26 minutes of meditation. Sometimes I do silent meditation and other times I do a guided meditation (Hence the 26 minutes). Meditation has been incredible for me.
Writing. Sometimes I sit down and journal about whatever is on my mind or challenging me at the moment. I just write about whatever I am thinking about. I don't try to sensor it. I just write. These are things that are just for my eyes. Actually, I usually don't even go back and read them. Just the act of writing is incredibly cathartic.
Other times, I do exactly what you are reading now. I write about something I am working on, challenged by, or realized. It helps solidify an idea, concept, or practice in my own mind, and by putting it out for the world to read, I deeply hope it benefits your life by reading it.
Movement practice. Doing some type of exercise every day does wonders for my sanity. Sometimes it is an intense lung-screaming, muscle-beating workout, and other times it is a stretching and mobility session. The key is to get my body moving. Also, I always do this while listening to a podcast to feed my mind while I am feeding my body.
If you ever feel uncertain, scared, or stressed about life, you are not alone. I experience it as well.
The key is to lean into that discomfort and make it your friend. Don't try and run away. Don't try to avoid it. You can't outrun it no matter how hard you try.
It helps to deal with these feelings by having some powerful rituals like the ones I mentioned. You just learn to be able to sit down and be at peace with those feelings and emotions. When you do, they no longer have power over you.
At least that is the idea. I am still working on that last part.
– Matt Westheimer
The Joy and Misfortune of Spontaneous Travel/0 Comments/in Blog /by Matthew Westheimer
As I plunge deeper and deeper into the water, the pressure builds up, the water gets colder and darker, and my lunges begin to scream for a breath of air.
I am freediving in the Gulf of Thailand on the island of Koh Tao which is a little island off the eastern coast of mainland Thailand.
I have always wanted to take a course in freediving.
As a kid, I grew up snorkeling almost every weekend along the coral reefs of South Florida but I wanted to be professionally trained.
There is something so primal and pure about freediving. It is just you and the water. It brings you back to the old days when you had to hunt for food with nothing but your body and a spear.
I love the purity of it. I love how it involves a strong mental and physical aspect. I love that it forces you to be present and live in the "now."
Every random thought, unintentional body movement or contraction, mental stress, anxious moment, or inefficient movement, uses oxygen and deprives your brain and body of this essential nutrient.
There is very little room for error. There is a real chance of losing motor control or even blacking out in the water. If you follow your training, it can be very safe, but you don't want to deviate from the plan.
My Personality is BAD For Optimal Freediving Performance
As a Type A person, my engine is usually running on all cylinders. My mind is always racing. My body is always running. I have a tenancy to live in the future. I tend to sway in the direction of anxiety and the most common word people have used to describe me is intense.
These are not great qualities for an effective freediver.
In freediving you must live in the moment. You must breath to a point of deep relaxation before you dive down and maintain that relaxation throughout the dive. You must not stress or think too much because brain metabolism requires the use of oxygen, and when you are diving down into the depths of the ocean on a single breath, every bit of oxygen counts.
It was such a challenging and rewarding experience to be able to devote 6 consecutive days to pursuing my level 1 and 2 freediving certification. It forced me to confront my fears of deep diving and fighting the strong urge to breath. It forced me to push pass my limits of what I though was possible. It forced me to relax and live in the moment.
The Big Realization
There was one pivotal moment I remember vividly while I was in the water.
I was really getting stressed out and anxious about diving deeper. I was putting a tremendous amount of pressure on myself to perform. I could feel my heart racing and my head pounding.
Out of nowhere I heard my mind say silently to myself: "Stop putting so much pressure on yourself. This is supposed to be fun. Enjoy the process."
At the thought of these words, a smile appeared on my face and I decided to just have fun and enjoy the process.
I realized it's important to challenge ourselves and do things on a regular basis that scare us. It is the only way we grow. But it is equally important to stop putting so much pressure on ourselves and just enjoy the process.
It is interesting what happened when I relaxed and decided to have fun.
My performance increased. I ended up finishing the course with an 87.5 feet (27m) free dive and a 3:15 breath hold.
This never would have happened if I let my stress, anxiety, and fear get the better of me.
Final Lesson
So what is the final lesson from this experience?
Challenge myself. Do something every day that scares me. Stop putting so much pressure on myself and always remember to have fun.
Matt Westheimer
Everyday Heroes in Thailand/0 Comments/in Blog /by Matthew Westheimer
Many times we can find everyday heroes all around us.
I witnessed a hero in action the other day.
We just arrived in Railay, Thailand a few days ago for a week of rock climbing.
The setting is extraordinary. Giant limestone walls overlooking the ocean are views that you'd think you can only find in the movies. It is the type of beauty that only mother nature could create.
The variety of climbing here is incredibly vast. They have everything from beginner routes to expert level. There are short climbs of 6-8 meters all the way to 100m+ multi-pitch routes.
One of our favorite areas to climb is a place called the Diamond Wall. It is a site perched on top of a hill with amazing views and great routes. There is also a hand ground organic coffee place on site which is an added bonus for coffee lovers like us!
It was our second day climbing at the wall when I witnessed something scary and inspiring at the same.
When you climb the walls in Railay, it is not compulsory to hire a guide. It is open and free to the public. As long as you know what you are doing and have your own gear, you are free to climb on your own. Most people, including us, hire a guide to make sure we are safe and help us navigate the walls better.
On this one particular morning, there was a duo there who were on their own.
From the moment I saw the climber on the wall, I knew they were people I needed to stay far away from.
The way climbing works is you have a climber who is attached to a rope, you have another person called the belayer who is attached to the other end of the rope. As the climber ascends the wall, he clips his rope to the wall to protect himself if he falls. If he falls, the belayer is there to hold the rope and keep him safe. At least, that is the idea granted that both parties know what they are doing.
This party did not.
You could tell from the beginning the climber did not know what he was doing. After he got about half way up the wall, it was very apparent that he was in serious danger. I only realized that because I heard one of the local guides frantically trying to tell the belayer he needs to take better care of his climber.
At this point, everyone around was concerned. The climber was stuck on the wall in a dangerous position. The belayer either didn't seem to care or was ignorant to the fact that something was wrong, and he would not listen to the guide who was trying to help. Not only would he not listen, but he was being rude and condescending to the guide.
Here is the thing. The guide was getting paid to work with another group. He had no allegiance or direct responsibility to put himself in a position to get ridiculed and yelled at.
So why did he do it? Because it was the right thing to do.
Not only that, but he wouldn't back down.
He took a stand for the climber on the wall no matter what.
He put his feelings and his ego aside because helping another individual was more important than staying comfortable and quiet.
Moments later, he threw on his harness, attached himself to a rope, and literally ran up the wall barefoot to rescue the climber that was in a really tough spot.
This man was certainly a hero.
It was a great reminder that we must stand up for what is right, not just what is easy.
It was a reminder that we must be courageous, even if it means we might be judged or ridiculed.
It was also a great reminder even though we may not think people are looking at us, they are. It is important we always act with integrity and set a good example for other people to follow.
Thank you, Mr. Climbing Instructor for demonstrating such courage out there on the wall.
People were watching, and you inspired all of us.
- Matt Westheimer
From Sucking to Success/0 Comments/in Blog /by Matthew Westheimer
One of our favorite places to stay in Bali is a town called Canggu.
We've been there a couple of times and always said we would love to go back to do a yoga retreat.
Canggu is a mecca for healthy living. There are many yoga studios, organic restaurants, and world class surfing.
We stayed at a really quaint and quirky place called Serenity Guesthouse. It truly lives up to its name. It is a peaceful place mostly made of bamboo. There are organic gardens around the whole property, a healthy café with homemade Kombucha, a few yoga studios, a meditation room, rain collection bins for water, and they recycle everything.
I have been practicing yoga on and off for years. I started doing yoga about 8 years ago when I was in chiropractic school.
To this day, I still remember the first class I did. I always had a negative view of yoga. I thought it was a lazy form of exercise. I viewed working out as lifting a lot weight – period.
I decided to give a class a try after suffering from shoulder issues for a while. I figured it would be a relaxed way to work my body with minimal effort.
Boy was I wrong!
That first class I did was incredibly humbling. I struggled through the entire thing. I had to take rests more than anyone else in the class. I couldn't touch my toes, my shoulders were on fire, and every muscle in my body was burning.
I was hooked.
I decided to make yoga a regular part of my fitness regime. I have struggled with keeping it a regular practice at times but like a home base, I always find my way back at some point.
Lately, my yoga practice has fallen a bit by the wayside. I have been doing much more calisthenics work like gymnastics as well as rock climbing and weight lifting.
I decided a great way to get back into the practice would be to do a yoga retreat where I would take 2 classes per day for 5 days and have a really immersive experience.
In short, it kicked my butt. It was very humbling.
I remember one class where I thought I had really advanced my practice until I looked over to my left and saw a guy making me look like it was my first class. He was doing moves I had always dreamed of doing.
At first, I started to doubt and mentally deprecate myself.
Then I realized this guy was where he was because of a ridiculous commitment to his craft. My mind shifted from putting myself down to admiration for the hours, days, weeks, months, and years he committed to molding his mind and body into the ability to master some very challenging moves.
Many times we only see what is on the surface. We see the successful person and assume she was just lucky.
We see the person with the great physique and chalk it up to genetics.
We see the musician, the speaker, the leader, or the athlete, and we ignore the fact that they put in countless hours of work, sleepless nights, and an unwavering commitment to excellence.
If we want to reach excellence in anything, we must remember it takes an extraordinary commitment.
First, stop beating yourself up if you aren't happy where you are. Accepting yourself is the first step to transformation.
Then decide where you want to be. What is the result you are looking for?
Then decide what you need to do to reach the outcome you are looking for. Who do you need to model? What do you need to read? How much do you need to train?
Lastly, commit to taking massive action.
Speaking of which, time for me to practice some yoga. I have a lot of work to do.
– Matt Westheimer
The Cure for Always Wanting More…/0 Comments/in Blog /by Matthew Westheimer
The world has been going through so much change over the past 10-20 years. Through globalization, there are very few places that still retain the essence of the "good old" days. Western culture has permeated much of the Eastern world but there are still some places that have retained quite a bit of the Eastern charm.
Yogyakarta was one of those places.
I sensed it the moment we stepped off the plane onto the tarmac and faced a small old building that they call their airport.
Inside the terminal there was the hustle and bustle of locals and very few Westerners. Things were old, worn, and had lots of character. Just the way I like it.
We hired a driver from the airport to drive us to our hotel. Our hotel was spectacular. It was an old Dutch mansion that was built in 1918. It was fully renovated but still held the essence of the old world. We had a gorgeous room overlooking the pool which was an amazing site to see.
The floors and bathroom were marble. The bed sheets were soft and the pillows perfect. It was like being in a palace.
But do you want to know what we appreciated most about the hotel? Not the lavish rooms, picturesque pool, the outstanding service, or the old world charm. Don't get me wrong. We loved those things.
But the thing we appreciated the most was the shower.
I'm not talking about the beauty of the shower either. I am talking about the water pressure.
Eighty percent of our trip had been showers that were either unusable, freezing cold, or plagued with water dripping out at a pace that resembled a leaky faucet.
It is amazing how you begin to appreciate the little things when you know longer have them.
My life in Singapore was really good. I had a really good shower. The water pressure was excellent and I never had an issue with hot or cold water. Do you know what happens when you have a perfect shower?
You find other things to complain about. We always find things to complain about. That is just who we are as human beings.
We get comfortable with the luxuries in our life that we call "necessities." But really, if you are part of the 1 percenters of the world, which you are if you are reading this, what we call necessities are really luxuries.
I was complaining to my friend about having to go a week using a bucket of water to bath with. He started laughing and said, "You call that roughing it. I call it how I grew up. That's how I bathed my whole life growing up."
It takes effort to look at our life and realize what are luxuries and what are necessities.
It takes an even bigger effort to practice conscious minimalism. Get rid of some of the stuff you don't need anymore. Take a cold shower. Stay at substandard accommodations for a week or go camping. Minimalize the distractions in your life and learn to appreciate more.
Every time we increase the standard of living in our life, it becomes the new baseline.
The things we once appreciate we no longer do as we up our game. This way of living can be really exciting but you have to look out for the downside, and the downside can be really big.
We lose ourselves. We lose our happiness, joy for life, and our appreciation for the little things.
Life becomes about achieving more and having more and we lose our sense of self in the process.
I am not saying we should ever lose our drive for achievement or that having more is bad. I wholeheartedly believe we should look for the harmony of drive for achievement and appreciation and gratitude for the little things.
But just think about how much better your life would be if you had a deep sense of appreciation for a nice warm shower with good water pressure.
Matt Westheimer


text:
Join us!
Marketing ninja? Caped code crusader? We want to meet you.
eduPad is a fast-growing startup based in Paris with more than 4 millions users, split between the United States and France. Our mission: leverage tablets and mobile devices to change the way children learn & communicate.
We are always looking for the best and the brightest minds in their respective fields. If you're itching to join the eduPad ranks, send your résumé and show us what magic you bring to the table!
Opened positions
The Team
Working for eduPad means joining a united team of developers and marketers!
Barbecue, burritos and cakes will be your everyday life.
[rev_slider team]

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Donald A. Gorowsky is a co-founder, shareholder and President of Financial Advisors LLC. Before founding Financial Advisors LLC, he was the Managing Director of Coopers & Lybrand L.L.P.'s (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) Litigation Services practice in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Mr. Gorowsky is a Certified Public Accountant, has a Certificate in Management Accounting, a Certificate in Financial Forensics and a Juris Doctor degree. He has over 30 years of experience in accounting, general management and financial consulting and has held the position of corporate controller in the high technology manufacturing industry.
During the past 23 years, Mr. Gorowsky has been qualified as an expert on accounting, financial and/or damages subjects and have provided trial testimony in more than 60 trials and/or hearings, including 24 trials in Federal Court. He has also served as an AAA arbitrator, have been appointed by a U.S. Magistrate Judge to serve as a neutral financial expert and have been appointed by a state court judge as an independent expert appraiser.
Mr. Gorowsky graduated magna cum laude from the University of North Dakota in 1979 with a Bachelors of Science and Business Administration (B.S.B.A.) and a major in accounting. He also attended law school at William Mitchell College of Law and graduated cum laude in 1990. Mr. Gorowsky is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the Minnesota Society of Certified Public Accountants (MNCPA), the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA), the Minnesota State Bar Association (MSBA), the Federal Bar Association (FBA), the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA), and the Licensing Executives Society (LES).
All Contents Copyright © 1996-2019 Practising Law Institute. Continuing Legal Education since 1933.
© 2019 PLI PRACTISING LAW INSTITUTE. All rights reserved. The PLI logo is a service mark of PLI.
Go To Desktop Mode


text:
Senior Capstone Projects
The Center for Wind Energy engages undergraduates in wind-related capstone projects to increase wind energy education. Students in the ISAT program have been doing these types of projects since 1999.
In 2017, two capstone teams advised by Dr. Miles and the Center for Wind Energy, presented their research at the 2017 JMU Senior Capstone Project Symposium. Abstract Link.
2017 Senior Capstone Symposium-Establishing Distributed Wind Capacity in Virginia, Patrick Landess, Emma Laurens, Julie Gentry and Nicholas Cooper.
2017 Senior Capstone Symposium- Nondestructive Testing of Wind Turbine Blades using Thermal Imaging, Bahar Sayed, Aidan Williams, Michael Galford, Alec Barney.
In 2016, four ISAT students worked as CWE interns and presented their capstone projects as posters at the American Wind Energy Association's annual conference in New Orleans. Click on the links below to view the abstracts.
Pilot Project to Advancing Distributed Wind in Virginia
Offshore Wind Resource Characterization using Cross-Calibrated, Multi-
Platform Ocean Surface Wind Data off the East Coast of the United States
To inquire about potential renewable energy-related capstone projects, contact Dr. Miles.
Links to other Capstone Abstracts:
Ridgeline Wind Farm Development Opportunity and Obstacle Analysis
Performance Analysis of Small-Scale Vertical and Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines
at a School in Southwestern Virginia
Wind for Schools Implemented at Grassfield and Luray High Schools, Virginia
Remote Data Acquisition, Networking, and Databasing for a Wind-Solar
Monitoring Center


text:
You do. Have to eat. If you want to keep on going. But recipes, to me, are a jumping off point. They are inspiration. Not to be taken too literally, or earnestly. I love recipes though, ever since I picked up a copy of the Enchanted Broccoli Forest, when I was in middle school, they are addictive. For me to write a recipe is strange, very weird, because I don't measure when I cook. I almost don't take full inventory, because it's intuitive and fluid. But this was so so so good, I had to write it down. And though I don't think I'll ever copy it exactly again, it will spark other ideas.
In other news, our friends made a video, actually lots of videos, but we're in this one.


text:
Panna cotta is an Italian dessert made from a combination of cream, milk, sugar and gelatine. Made and set properly, it sits on a plate with the slightest bit of wobble but does not fall apart, has a silky smooth texture when cut through with a spoon, and melts in your mouth when eaten. Panna cotta flavours are numerous - vanilla bean, blueberry and cinnamon, lime mascarpone, orange and maple syrup, milk chocolate, saffron and cardamom, and tropical coconut are just to name a few. To serve these beautifully creamy desserts, fruits, hot fudge sauce, berry compote and rosewater syrup are popular complement options.
This recipe makes a delicious white chocolate panna cotta with a mixed berry compote.
1. Grease six ½ cup (125ml) moulds.
2. Combine 300ml thickened cream, ¾ cup milk, 150g coarsely chopped white eating chocolate and 2 tablespoons caster sugar in a small saucepan; stir over heat, without boiling, until smooth.
3. In a small heatproof jug, sprinkle 2 teaspoons gelatine over 1 tablespoon water. Stand jug in small saucepan of simmering water and stir until gelatine dissolves.
4. Stir gelatine mixture into cream mixture.
5. Divide mixture among moulds. Cover and refrigerate for three hours or until set.
6. Meanwhile, make compote by placing 450g frozen mixed berries (I used frozen raspberries) in a bowl, add 1/3 cup caster sugar and toss to coat. Add ¼ cup boiling water and stir for 1 – 2 minutes or until sugar dissolves. Cover and refrigerate.
To serve, turn panna cotta onto serving plate and top with mixed berry compote. Enjoy!


text:
ContentETC offers an excellent selection of courses designed to help individuals improve their written communication skills.
Journalists are deluged with information. Crafting a press release that will hook them in and keep them reading is more important than ever. This...moreFrom £1,494
A full in-depth and hands on course with excellent tuition
The Letterpress course provided by the University of the Arts London, College of...more
This badge shows that the course provider you are looking at has scored on average 4 or more out of 5 stars from at least 30 other users who have taken the time to post a review on Hotcourses
Get your message across clearly and concisely. This highly practical course will introduce you to the essential writing skills you need for a career...moreFrom £264
Great introductory course into the world of radio presenting
I spent a lot of time deciding where to take a radio presenting course and was n...more
News editors are inundated with badly written press releases. How do you get yours noticed? Learn the basics of writing effective press releases for...moreFrom £59
This course has really helped me to develop my writing. I would definitely recom...more
In this course all aspects of copywriting are covered including: the AIDA formula Attention-Interest-Desire-Action and 'selling the sizzle', press...moreFrom £374


text:
Note: This article has done its job, and will be retiring soon. To prevent "Page not found" woes, we're removing links we know about. If you've created links to this page, please remove them, and together we'll keep the web connected.
You clicked a notifier for an invitation to a workspace, and then clicked Accept in the Respond to Invitation window. You have received an Invitation Requires Update message informing you that you cannot accept invitations from earlier versions of SharePoint Workspace.
The inviter sent you an invitation to a workspace that was created in an earlier version of SharePoint Workspace, but security settings in your account currently only allow you to accept invitations to workspaces created in the current version.
Depending on management policies applied to your account, you may be able to change this security setting and then accept an invitation to this workspace (and other workspaces created in an earlier version of SharePoint Workspace).
Changing the workspace version security setting
On the File tab, click Info, click Manage Account, and then click Account Preferences.
Click the Security tab.
Under Workspace Restrictions, uncheck Restore or join only Microsoft Office Groove 2007 (or later) workspaces.
If this setting is grayed, then you cannot change it according to management policies. See your administrator for more information.
Click OK.
If you changed this setting successfully and now want to accept the invitation, you can redisplay it in your Message History: On the File tab, click Info, click Messages and Contacts, and then click Message History.


text:
Multi Gemstone + Amethyst Bonsai Tree
Multi Gemstone + Amethyst Bonsai Tree
With a base of amethyst, this bonsai tree is crafted with branches 'blooming' into a dozen different types of tumbled crystal. Each one offering good vibes and powerful healing energy. These beauties are used for a number of purposes in feng shui practice, depending on its location in your home or simply as a unique centerpiece on a coffee or side table!
- Dimensions:
- Large - approx. 8" H, 3-4" W
- Small - approx. 5" H, 2" W
- Weight:
- Large - approx. 1.75 lb
- Small - approx. 0.5 lb
- Each tree and amethyst cluster is unique; Size, shape, and colors will vary
US Shipping
$6.95 Flat Rate || FREE Shipping w/ Orders $100+
International Shipping
Based on order weight; Starting at $10.00
If you are not head over heels about your SoulMakes order, you may make a return or exchange within 30 days of the confirmed delivery date


text:
website designerr - 06/05/2018 23:05 EDT
Budget ₹12500-37500 INR
looking for exceptional designer who is willing to create the design for the web store. if you are proficient in designing skills let me know ASAP. i look forward to hearing from you.
22 freelancers are bidding on average ₹29804 for this job
Hello , I am a UX & UI designer and a developer with 8 year of experience and a 5 star freelancer. I have read the details that you need a creative and a talented UI & UX designer for website design . I expertis More
Experienced and highly talented designers and developers are here for your service. Please give us a chance to amaze you with quality service. Unlimited revisions until you get satisfied with design. We available on Sk More
Dear Hiring Manager, I have gone through your requirements. We are a team of web and mobile developer and Quality Analyst and have expertise in this. Hire your dedicated expert Graphics/Website Designers at a competi More
I am working along with my team of designers. We provide long term solution for fresh and mid-level projects. I have designed/developed more than 25 projects you can check all about us at www.thewedesign.co.uk. I'm More
Offer: Fully responsive & beautiful design, with inner pages, Approximately number of pages 50+, Please check the portfolio, and we can discuss it about more Experienced Laravel Developer &Bootstrap Designer Her More
name is Ankit Kalathiya. I am UI/UX designer form Surat, India. I have 5 years of experience in UI/UX designs. I have designed various websites and apps with very professional, clean, modern and user-friendly wa More
looking for exceptional designer who is willing to create the design for the web store. if you are proficient in designing skills let me know ASAP. i look forward to hearing from you. looking for exceptional designe More
I have worked with similar projects in the past . I assure that my work will be worth your time and money.
Hello Sir, Hope you are fine, We are SixSquare Technologies Pvt Ltd., a promising IT software development company. We are expert in Android & iOS, with 3+ years in Mobile Application Development field, and also, More
I can create Unique,High quality Fully working Magento,woocommerce and openchart website from scratch What you will receive: ******************** This Hourlie includes everything you need to start selling your p More
Hello I am a skilled desinger with some frameworks and also custom frameworks . I am very much interested for this project


text:
Why No One Talks About Services Anymore
Should You Hire A Digital Marketing Agency? The future of marketing is digital and that's a fact whether you like it or not. While it is possible to do the marketing of your services and/or products on your own, experts highly discourage to do so. The best route rather is hiring a professional and experienced digital marketing agency and some of the benefits are: Number 1. Save money and time – say for example that you're running a small business, odds are you're too busy on doing so many things from phone calls to make, meetings to attend and several other business related matters. As a result, it leaves you with just little or no time to concentrate on the marketing aspects of your business. You don't have to worry of marketing your business when you opt to hire a digital marketing agency as these professionals will do the work on your behalf. Yes it's true that it sounds absurd to say that you will be able to save money when you hire an agency to do the marketing for you but it is the truth. If you're about to hire an in-house marketer, you likely have to pay him or her approximately 70,000 dollars annually. On the other hand, by hiring a digital agency, it is going to cost you only fraction of that amount.
Practical and Helpful Tips: Companies
Number 2. See the results fast – say that you assigned yourself to handle the marketing part of your business, there's a chance that you don't actually know what works and what not so basically, you are just guessing and gambling. This will lead to mistakes before seeing the results of what you are doing.
5 Key Takeaways on the Road to Dominating Services
Digital marketing agencies have thorough understanding and broad knowledge of the ins as well as outs of every business niche as they specialize in marketing. Because digital marketing mediums are changing every now and then, agencies are keeping up with these mediums and make sure that they're working with the most effective and best medium used in the market. They were able to provide fast results for clients for this reason. Number 3. Save on tools and technology – if you wish to effectively perform digital marketing, then it will be very important to have the right tools to track data, monitor accounts and undertake several other marketing tasks. And you are most likely do not have the funds to afford the necessary technology and tools to make this happen considering that you're only starting up with your business. In comparison when you work with a digital marketing agency, you won't just be able to save money and time but you can save money investing on marketing tools and technology.


text:
Prenatal vitamins are specifically formulated for that women that are pregnant. They're almost exactly the same with ordinary vitamins for normal person however they contain specific nutrients in various amount. Vitamins ought to be adopted or before pregnancy and through publish natal lactation. Prenatal vitamins aren't option to a healthy diet plan. They're just support to fill the missing essentials from your diet. Use of these helps normal receiving the expecting mother and also the fetus to become born healthy.
Pregnancy vitamins can be found in prescription by doctor on women that are pregnant. Normally, prescribed medicines contain greater doses of chemical. Consultation needs to be done first to be able to determine if the amount of contents will suit to anybody who'll go. Medicines can be purchased over-the-counter. It has quantity of chemicals in line with the human's general needs. Their effectiveness can't be gauged really where or who they originated from but the truth that body is entirely not the same as each other means they have particular reactions to each medicine. In the event you buy vitamins, better talk to your physician to conduct check into you and also determine the very best prenatal vitamins or stick to the steps below if you decide to choose your personal brand.
Fundamental steps to select your vitamins:
Discuss your individual health issues for your physician and confess any genealogy about birth defects.Research about minerals and vitamins necessary to the healthiness of the women that are pregnant. Folate ought to be in the dietary details label.
Purchase your pre-natal vitamins in the licensed pharmacy. Be familiar with the counterfeit medicines proliferating on the market today.
Choose pre-natal vitamins that contains calcium, iron, zinc, vitamin D, vit a and folic. Ask the pharmacists on any negative effects of the selected prenatal vitamins.
Consult the physician to verify about any negative effects noted through the pharmacist.
Prenatal vitamins are varied healthy, capsule, tablets, liquid and jelly. Pick the one you're comfortable taking.
The most crucial element of pregnancy vitamins is called folate because the Ada declared. In organic form, they may be acquired in prepared commercial foods for example cereals and grains. The best degree of synthetic folate (acquired from prenatal vitamins) consumption each day is 400 mg. Folate helps the fetus to become resistance against fetal illnesses like neural tube defects. This defect is characterised by abnormal growth and development of the spine and brain.
Although prenatal vitamins are produced for that dietary together with your women that are pregnant, it ought to be noted this too expensive is bad. You will find installments of over dosage brought on by severe vitamin intake and vitamin intolerance. Nausea, vomiting and constipation are simply couple of signs and symptoms of these two. These conditions shouldn't be overlooked because the healthiness of the fetus can also be affected. To prevent over dosage, take prenatal vitamins around the prescribed basis. Vitamin intolerance is because system's reactions of chemicals within the vitamins. Ask your personal doctor for the best prenatal vitamins for you personally.


text:
Illiteracy means an absence of education. in the present period, education of the backbone of a nation. Not only a nation but also every single man and primary needs for everybody. Especially, education teaches us how to live, how to treat others and how to spend one's life. For the survival and improvement of a country is completely depending upon the education rate of that specific nation or country. If a country has the biggest number of uneducated individuals. nobody can spare that nation from dangerous defeat. There are various disadvantages of it.
List of top ten largest countries with highest illiteracy rate:
At present every country forces their education system for development. In any case, in-resentment off this, still there are a few countries give the most noteworthy lack of education rate out of which main ten nations are positioned below:
Niger, Burkina Faso, Afghanistan, sierra Leone, Gambia, Benin, Senegal, Ethiopia, Mauritania, guinea . Bissau
A current research demonstrated that there is an expanding rate of ignorance rate in everywhere throughout the world which is transforming into a perilous circumstance and necessities consideration regarding resolving this raising issue. In agreement with a review directed by World Statistics establishment (WSI), over 27% individuals are uneducated comprehensively. The primary driver of this issue is social, motivational and family issues.
see more topic:


text:
So, this happened today, 5 miles from my house:
Miraculously - and PRAISE GOD - only one person was killed (2 others are critically injured). It's incredibly amazing that the cars behind this horrific accident didn't create a bajillion-car pile-up. I can't promise you I wouldn't have run into all the people in front of me if I'd seen an oil tanker explode, producing a nuclear-bomb-sized cloud of black smoke and flames hot enough to melt the asphalt. Kudos to you, metro-area drivers, for keeping your cool in a very, very scary situation.
Unfortunately, I averaged a speed of 15 mph all the way home, and missed the Secret Life of the American Teenager. What a cluster...
1 year ago


text:
Today I will show you how to prepare a lactose free Zebra Cake! Although we won't use butter and milk, I guarantee you that this cake is very soft and tasty! Moreover it has a very extraordinary aspect.
Ingredients for a 26cm round cake pan:
250ml vegetal oil
120ml sparkling water
150g sugar
300g flour
75g ground almonds
1 packet of baking powder
1 packet of vanilla sugar
5 medium eggs
almond extract
a pinch of salt
30g cocoa powder
Preparation time:
Prep: 15 min
Cook: 30 min
Total time: 45 min
Grease and line with parchment paper, a 26 cm round cake pan. Preheat the oven at 175°C/350°F.
In a medium bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff with a packet of vanilla sugar.
Take a second bowl and whisk the egg yolks with the sugar and the almond extract for about 5 minutes, until creamy.
Pour the sparkling water and the vegetal oil and continue stirring.
Gradually sift the flour with the packing powder into the bowl. Incorporate the ground almonds and mix until well blended.
Now use a silicone spatula and fold in carefully the white eggs.
Divide the cake mixture in two bowls and add the cocoa powder in one of them. .
Begin to take one tablespoon of white batter and place it in the middle of the cake pan.
Then over it, place a tablespoon of the chocolate batter and repeat this process, until all batter has been used.
Bake the cake for about 35 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.


text:
These Hypnotherapy sessions are very successful, during which time our clients put into practice what they "learn" about how to reach their ideal weight during their initial session with us, and learning how to succeed long term in their goal of reaching and maintaining their Ideal Weight! Clients are provided with tools, resources and coupled with their initial session in order to assist them to reach their ideal weight.
Disclaimer – Individual results may vary and depend on your specific circumstances.
Guideposts: guideposts are your agreed upon and realistic weight loss goals or targets that you set with your …7 Step Reach Your Ideal Weight Specialist for specific periods during your 12 month program. These targets are set for 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and 12 months. So, for example, you may decide that you would like to lose 20 kilos over a 12 month period. That is approximatley 1.67kg per month. So your guideposts would be: 1 week – 420gm loss, 1 month – 1.67kg loss, 3 months – 5.01kg loss, 6 months – 10.02kg loss, 9 months – 15.03kg loss and 12 months – 20.04kg loss. Remember these will be agreed upon by yourself and your specialist and they will be healthy, realistic goals. You might decide you would like to take more time to reach your goal and we can set your guideposts around this as well..


text:
Hey Everyone
I just wanted to pop up this post of The Only 1 Rimmel Lip Swatches for you to see close up!
The first picture of this post is my Rimmel London AU The Only 1 Dress for Success photo, for every entry and share, Rimmel will donate 1 product to Dress For Success to support their mission of empowering all Australian women.
Find your Dress for Success Name at: https://www.theonly1.com.au
Share on Facebook and Instagram, Tag Rimmel London Au and Hashtag
I also swatch them over on my channel to so you can see it in video form. (Dont forget to hit that subscribe button pleaseeeeeee) :)
These are the Lip Swatches in Picture form
|Naughty Nude - 700
|Its a Keeper - 200
|Your All Mine - 120
|Pink a Punch - 110
|Peachy-Beachy - 600
|Best of The Best - 510
If you have and questions just ask! I will try answer them as best I can :)
Please Follow, leave comments, I love replying to comments!
Don't forget to come say hello on my:
Instagram: https://instagram.com/melissa_bubbles/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Melissa_Bubbles


text:
This clutch is perfect for the beach, brunch, and everything in between!
Traditional techniques and patterns are used to create these trendy, modern bags.
It is completely handwoven with a repeating design on front and back and a zippered closure.
Available in 2 colors.
As with all handcrafted goods, there are slight variations making each piece a work of art and truly one of a kind.
AHAlife is committed to help you live a conscious and inspired life.
Many of the items you discover here are exclusive to AHAlife, which is what makes our community of designers and artisans so special.
If you find one of our products anywhere else for less than it's being sold on our site, we will match it.
Our dedicated Concierge Team is here to help. Reach out any time at:


text:
Frequently asked questions
Online Acting Coaching
Does it really work?
Yes! Amazingly well. For some actors, it is even preferred. First, you can study acting no matter where you are. Wendy works with actors who are on tour, actresses who are stay at home moms, actors in far away places where no acting schools exist and actors whose work schedules make it impossible for them to attend classes in person at her studio. Second, the private one-on-one aspect of the training means both student and teacher can easily focus and get detailed about the work. And because you're working "on camera," Wendy can see aspects of your work that need to be strengthened for self tapes, etc.
While it's true that there's nothing like going through the real training in Wendy's classroom, there are lots of things she can do to make you a better actor and more impressive in an audition simply by working with you in private online sessions. Take a look at what some of her online clients say about her coaching and try it out for yourself. (read testimonials)
What happens if I have to miss a session?
Wendy does not allow any rescheduling of sessions. Actors need to be as committed to their online sessions as they would be if they were attending in-person classes at her studio. All sessions are non-refundable once paid.
I'm a beginner. How do I know what topic to select?
You'll be able to figure that out when you talk with Wendy. She's been training beginners for years and will easily be able to custom design a training program for you.
Do I need special equipment?
No, just a laptop with a decent camera. Of course you will need a strong internet connection as well. Sometime clients purchase inexpensive USB cameras and/or mics not only to make coaching easier but as an investment for better quality self tapes.
When do I switch from being a "New Client" to being a "Regular Client" for pricing purposes?
You are a regular client if you're training with Wendy in her studio, if you are currently doing a multi-session class, and if you work with Wendy on an ongoing basis (several times a month) in individual sessions. If you've been away from coaching for six months, you will go back to paying the new client fee.
Six-Week Intensive
Do you provide housing?
No, we don't. But for nearly 20 years actors from all over the world have made the journey to the U.S. and been able to get that done on their own, to their own preferences. Most people use airbnb.com.
What should we do to prepare before we arrive?
Get your housing set up. Arrive in time to get over jet lag before the classes begin. Take care of personal business and try to get some R&R in. If you have applied well in advance of the intensive, you could read Sandy Meisner's book On Acting if you want. It's not necessary though. The point is to arrive at your best -- not right off the boat from a whirlwind tour of Asia or a grueling 22 hour flight from New Zealand. Frequently, you will receive some simple assignments a week or so before the term that you'll need to prepare for the first day.
How many hours are we in class during the Six-Week Intensive?
Generally, you may be in class all day (10-5pm) Monday-Thursday. However, you won't get your final schedule until orientation. Sometimes we split the group into smaller sections based on their Meisner experience and past work in our program. That may mean that your acting technique class has just 6 people in it. If that's the case, it's going to take less time to get through everyone in that class than if you're in an audition class of 12.
I received my BA/BFA in Theater, why do I need this intensive?
Well, you might want to go the testimonial page and hear what Juilliard graduate Bobbi Baker-James has to say. We have never, ever, had an Intensive student who didn't realize (usually by the end of the first week) that there was a whole lot more to acting, Meisner, auditioning and building a successful career than what they learned in their college program. It's a different marketplace out there than it was in the safety of your college environment. You need a heavy dose of reality around what your competition can do and what you're going to have to do to compete.
General Questions
What ages do you work with?
Wendy works primarily with adults. Younger actors must set up a consultation with a parent present to discuss potential one-on-one coaching.
Who teaches the classes?
Wendy Ward teaches all the acting technique, audition technique and text classes.
What is the Meisner Technique?
Sanford (Sandy) Meisner was a member of The Group Theatre, which included well-known playwrights, actors, teachers and directors including Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler, Harold Clurman, Clifford Odets, and Morris Carnovsky. While Lee Strasberg could be said to be the most recognizable name on that list, all of 'The Group' had a major impact on American theater and the teaching of acting. Sandy's approach to acting is sometimes referred to as the answer to Strasberg's method and has for decades been every bit as revered and sought after. Rather than using sense memory (also known as emotional recall), we emphasize the ability to use one's imagination to take on the circumstances of the scene and live truthfully within them. How we teach the actor to do that is what our training is all about. For those of you who wish to read more, check out On Acting by Sanford Meisner and The Fervent Years by Harold Clurman.


text:
PTA Activities
The PTA strives to provide a range of activities, both fun and educational, to students and families. We have a wide range of activities planned for the 2012-2013 school year. Most of these activities are at little cost to families. We strive to sponsor fun events for families to attend but also a wide range of in-school activities/materials/support that parents do not know about.
Through our corner of the Amelia Elementary Blog Site, we would like to show you just how involved we are in your child's school and how important volunteers and supporters are to our cause. For more information on these or any other activity, please feel free to contact the PTA at 513-943-3864 or firstname.lastname@example.com
2011-2012 School Year PTA Activities:
The 5th Annual Fall Festival will be held on Friday, October 21, 2011 from 6:30-8:30 PM. There will be food, games, inflatables, hair/face painting, music, a costume contest, raffles and more!! Ticket prices are very reasonable. Come join us for an evening of family fun!!
Our 3rd Breakfast with Santa is scheduled for Saturday, December 10, 2011 from 9-11 AM.
Put your dancing shoes on and come out to our Family Valentines Day Dance on Friday, February 10, 2011 from 6-9 pm.
The Grandparents Night of Treats is a special time when students get to invite their grandparents or other special family members to enjoy refreshing drinks and delicious desserts. This years desert will be held on April 11, 2012.
Amelia Elementary Skating Party – Pack up the kids and come to Beechmont on September 22, 2011 for our skating party. The event is from 6:30-8:30 pm. The cost of admission is $3.00 and skate rental is $1.75. Feel free to bring your own skates. Food is available for purchase. No outside food is permitted. Come join the fun!!! Our other scheduled date is November 7th, 2011.
Chuck E Cheese Night: Once a year, we have Chuck E Cheese Night. This year will be March 13, 2012 from 4pm-9pm at the Eastgate location. Chuck E. Cheese will donate 15% of all register sales generated by Amelia families and friends to Amelia Elementary.
Your 2011-2012 PTA board…
President: Jami Edgington
Treasurer/Secretary: Danielle Humphries
Delegates: Amber Kirschner, Beth Burcham, Melissa Speed, Karen Staffiera and Leann Smith
When ordinary parents get together, they can do extraordinary things!
Items/Activities PTA Purchased/Supported During 2009-2010 and 2010-11 School Years:
- Assemblies for Students
- Conference Dinners for Staff
- Scoreboard for the New Gym
- 5th Grade Picnic
- Classroom Supplies for Students & Teachers
- OAA Snacks and Goodie Box
- OAA Dance
- Kindergarten Graduation (tassels)
- Teacher Appreciation Week
- End of Year Student Awards
- Literacy Night Donation
- President's Challenge Program for Physical Education
- Christmas for Needy Families
- Box Top Winner Popsicle Parties
- Christmas Ornaments & Craft Supplies for Holiday Parties
- Red Ribbon Week
- Copy Room Supplies
- Interactive Response Systems for New School


text:
What is PC MightyMax?
PC MightyMax is a deceptive program that claims it to be useful system optimization tool. But it is detected as a fake program which you should never trust upon. It manages to arrive on your PC through freeware downloads or can be downloaded from its official website. And once installed will keep throwing fake system alerts and warnings of computer infected with malware.
PC MightyMax has the sole motive deceive users and urge them to buy its full version of software application to successfully resolve all the issues on the PC. However, the warnings generated by this fake program is absolutely false as this program does not have virus detection features. Authors of this fake program are taking advantage of innocent users by making them believe into their misleading warnings and earn profit.
PC MightyMax tool will never let you work properly on your computer and keep running in background to frequently alert you about fake warnings. This is not the alone one, but such type of fake program are being continuously developed by cyber offenders to cheat users. Some of them are:
There is no need to waste time in hooking with this kind of adware programs. Quickly go for automatic PC MightyMax adware removal.
Technical Details of PC MightyMax
|PC MightyMax
|Risk Impact
|PC MightyMax is a fake system optimization too that throws misleading alerts and warnings to make users buy its program.
|Freeware installation, Visiting suspicious websites, Browser Redirection and spam mail attachments.
|Possible Symptoms
|Deliver of Fake error warnings, avoid visiting useful web address, Change of browser settings and adding up start-up codes to Registry Editor.
|Detection Tool
|Download the Detection tool– To confirm attack of PC MightyMax pop-up virus on your computer.
The forms of Pop-ups displayed by PC MightyMax Ads:
- Pop-ups,
- Full window banners.
- Transitional in-line text Ads
- Background Audio and video Ads.
- Highlighted keywords named as "Sponsored by PC MightyMax ".
Intrusive Method of PC MightyMax
- Download Of Freeware, Shareware and drive-by-downloads from unknown sources.
- Visiting malicious links like pornographic, torrents, suspicious pop-ups so on.
- Opening spam e-mail attachments arrived from unverified person or source.
- Peer-to-Peer Sharing of files, Playing online games, downloading pirated software, infected media devices.
- Updating existing programs/applications from redirected links.
Typical Symptoms of PC MightyMax
- PC MightyMax inserts its malicious code into executable files on the infected system to execute automatically.
- PC MightyMax overrides crucial registry entries causing permanent damage.
- PC MightyMax modifies browser settings like Homepage, Search provider and new tab.
- PC MightyMax throws fake security alerts, pop-ups and warnings.
- PC MightyMax consumes all the available resources of the system making the performance dull.
Methods to remove PC MightyMax from the computer
If you have PC MightyMax virus dropped inside, then your computer might also be infected with other spyware and potentially unwanted programs. You can try removing those manually, but manual method may not help you out fully to remove all the threats as they can regenerate itself if a single program code remain inside. Also, manual method requires very much proficiency in registry and program details, ant single mistake can put you in big trouble. Your computer may even crash down in the middle. Thus, Security researchers and virus experts always recommend using powerful and effective anti-spyware scanner and protector tool to completely remove the spyware or other potentially unwanted software from the infected computer system or other device.
Automatic PC MightyMax Removal solution
SpyHunter has got all the feature that can help to remove PC MightyMax virus from the infected computer and also prevent the other threats to attack the device in future. Once SpyHunter starts to run in the background, it willeep up notified if any threat or PUP tries to enter. Another feature of SpyHunter is that, whenever you install any new program it will Prepare2upvideo.newalways247safesystems.download scan the program and if it is not from any trusted source, it will notify you. Thus you can choose yourself either to go through the next installation step or stop right there.
Scan for PC MightyMax virus On the computer.
Manual PC MightyMax Removal solution
Step:1 Remove suspicious and unwanted browser add-ons, toolbars and extensions:
Microsoft Edge (Internet Explorer)
- Click on the cogwheel icon in the top right corner of the browser
- In the menu choose the Manage Add-ons
- Select Toolbar and Extension tab.
- Look for PC MightyMax or other suspicious add-ons.
- Click Disable button.
- Launch Google Chrome.
- In the address bar type chrome://settings/
- Click on the Extensions tab
- Find related PC MightyMax or other suspicious extension and click the delete icon.
- Reset Homepage and search engine.
- Open Firefox
- In the address bar type about:addons
- Click Extensions tab.
- Find related PC MightyMax or other suspicious extension.
- Click the Remove button.
Note: This can only remove the extensions and add-ons from the browsers. The complete removal means more than this. You must reset browser settings and re-launch all the browsers. It is recommended to use automatic Reset browser option from the SpyHunter strong antivirus tool.
Step:-2 Remove all associated files From Operating System
- Click Start
- In the menu choose Control Panel
- Choose Add / Remove Programs.
- Find PC MightyMax related files.
- Click Remove button.
- Click Start and choose Control Panel.
- Choose Programs and Features and Uninstall a program.
- In the list of installed programs find files and programs associated to PC MightyMax
- Click Uninstall button.
- Right click on the bottom left corner of the desktop screen
- From the left menu choose Control Panel
- Click Uninstall a program under Programs and Features.
- Locate the files and programs associated with PC MightyMax or other suspicious program.
- Click Uninstall button.
Step:- 3 Remove all Registry Entries added by PC MightyMax
PC MightyMax creates a folder under:
- %ProgramFiles%\PC MightyMax
It then creates the following files:
- %ProgramFiles%\PC MightyMax \icon.ico
- %ProgramFiles%\PC MightyMax \ PC MightyMax .crx
- %ProgramFiles%\PC MightyMax \ PC MightyMax .dll
- %ProgramFiles%\PC MightyMax \ PC MightyMax .xpi
- %ProgramFiles%\PC MightyMax \ Personal-browser.com64.dll
- %ProgramFiles%\PC MightyMax \Uninst.exe
- %SystemDrive%\ProgramData\Microsoft\RAC\StateData\RacWmiDataBookmarks.dat
- %SystemDrive%\ProgramData\Microsoft\RAC\StateData\RacWmiEventData.dat
- %AllUsersProfile%\Microsoft\RAC\StateData\RacWmiDataBookmarks.dat
- %AllUsersProfile%\Microsoft\RAC\StateData\RacWmiEventData.dat
Next, PC MightyMax creates the following registry entries:
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{814664b0-d93b-4da6-9216-722c56179397}
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{814664b0-d93b-4da6-9216-722c56179397}
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows Activation Technologies\AdminObject\Store\55c92734-d682-4d71-983e-d6ec3f16059f
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Classes\CLSID\{814664b0-d93b-4da6-9216-722c56179397}
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\PC MightyMax
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{814664b0-d93b-4da6-9216-722c56179397}
Perform the following steps to delete the associated Registry entries by PC MightyMax
- While in the desktop view, Press window's icon and R.
- It will open the Run window and type "regedit".
- It will open the Registry Editor window, Now you need to locate and delete all registry items associated to PC MightyMax program.
- Go to File<Click Export
- Save the file in c:\ as regbackup. Click save.
- Go to Edit< find< Type PC MightyMax
- Press F3 to search.
- Once an item is found, read to make sure it is a link to that program.
Press delete to remove it.
Continue pressing F3 and deleting items pertaining to the program, until all the links are gone.
Warning: you must only choose and delete the values and their associated registry entries for PC MightyMax , others should not be tampered, edited or deleted. At any point you think not comfortable with the manual process, stop it immediately and use PC MightyMax Removal Tool for safe problem solution.
Step:-4 Reboot the Computer and Run the Anti-malware tool for Complete Removal of PC MightyMax
Now Reboot the computer and run the scanner to detect any threat or suspicious program remaining inside. If you are not satisfied with the results and still see the issues, We recommend using the automatic PC MightyMax Removal Tool for complete removal.
SpyHunter 4 Features
Spyhunter 4 Compact OS allows your computer system to boot without windows so removal of malware and other stubborn infections may be easy.
Spyhunter System Guards will identify and block any malicious processes in real-time. Besides it allow to take full control of all processes that run on your computer.
Spyhunter Scan
The brand new advantage of the software is this feature providing the list of even the most malicious malware. After a complete and advanced system scan is conducted, the user can quickly have all system threats removed – even the ones which were not found by other anti-spyware programs.
It is important to emphasize that the systems having Spyhunter installed are protected from all types of existing malware. The program traces and completely deletes adware, spyware,eyloggers, rootkits and other threats including trojans and worms. None of the malware is now able to steal your personal data and use it against you.
For MAC users it is recommended to Download MACKEEPER-3 easy steps to clean your Mac!
- Follow two easy steps to install MacKeeper.
- Drag the MacKeeper icon from the Applications folder to your Dock.
MacKeeper will start a system scan on your MAC PC and will present the full report of the scan.
Experts Guide To Prevent Future Attacks
The following steps will guide you to reduce the risk of infection further.
- Scan all files with an Internet Security solution before transferring them to your system.
- Only transfer files from a well known source.
- Always read carefully the End User License agreement at Install time and cancel if other "programs" are being installed as part of the desired program.
- When visiting a website, type the address directly into the browser rather than following a link.
- Do not provide personal information to any unsolicited requests for information.
- Don't open attachments or click on Web links sent by someone you don't know.
- Keep web browser up to date and computer is configured securely.


text:
I can't see my Windows XP display adapter to my Device manager, I don't know how can i install it again PLEASE HELP!
Do you mean the 'display adapter' entry is missing in device manager? Do any items show there with a yellow exclaimation or question mark? If so you probably need to reinstall the video drivers.
If no hardware problems show in device manager then right click on an empty part of the desktop and choose 'properties' from the box that opens. Does 'display properties' come up then?
Did you make any changes to your system prior to noticing it was missing?
Could your video drivers or related software have created a separate entry in device manager that's called something else but does the same thing?
You can right click on the top line in device manager and a 'scan for hardware changes' box will open. If you do the scan it may pick up the adapter and show it again. You can also do the scan from 'add hardware' in control panel.
DAVEINCAPS - Made with REAL high fructose corn syrup.


text:
Weshalb die japanische Notenbank es mit der Straffung ihrer Geldpolitik nicht eilig hat
Die japanische Notenbank hat es mit der Straffung ihrer Geldpolitik nicht eilig. Zum Ende der ersten Amtsperiode von Notenbankchef Haruhiko Kuroda sind vor allem die unter dem Zielwert liegende Inflation und die Aufwertung des Yen problematisch.
10 Juli 2018, 14:21 GMT
Source: Bank of Japan, Fidelity International. February 2018
Not rushing for the exits
While other central banks may be preparing to make for the exits from easy monetary policy, the Bank of Japan is standing pat. The BOJ on Friday held monetary policy steady as widely expected, its last meeting under recently reappointed Governor Haruhiko Kuroda's first five-year term.
The BOJ's stance contrasts with the U.S. Federal Reserve's steps to unwind its asset purchase program and normalize rates. The European Central Bank this week also symbolically dropped its vow to increase bond buying if needed, a sign it might begin to shift its tone as it prepares to exit its own quantitative easing program.
No moving targets
The BOJ's main policy is "yield curve control," which seeks to guide short-term rates to minus 0.1 percent and the 10-year Japanese government bond yield to zero. This current monetary framework with the 10-year JGB yield as a policy target makes it difficult for the BOJ to give forward guidance. If it were ever to set a new target, the market would instantly react--and such action would likely bring great volatility to the JGB market.
Theoretically, the bank could gradually move its target rate, but that would set up the market to keep testing the BOJ, and in turn it would likely have to buy more and more JGBs to keep the yield around its target. Ironically, such a move intended to normalize policy could in effect lead to more easing, in the form of additional JGB purchases.
Stealth tapering?
The BOJ is already doing what some call "stealth tapering," in that it is already shrinking the amount of its JGB purchase operations. Last year, it purchased roughly 56 trillion yen of JGBs (on a net basis), compared with its loose target of 80 trillion yen a year set forth in its monetary policy statements. In September 2016, it abandoned its former explicit goal of increasing base money supply by 80 trillion yen a year.
Three reasons for pause
There are three main reasons the central bank cannot do more at this time. First, the BOJ has doggedly stuck to its stated two percent inflation target, which has not yet been achieved. The bank forecasts it will reach its 2 percent goal in the fiscal year ending in March 2020, though most economists believe that this is unlikely.
Currency is another reason. Markets have been speculating a lot about what the BOJ might do this year, which has helped the yen appreciate to around 105 yen per US dollar now, with the potential to strengthen even further. Even after this year's yen gains, yen-short positions remain. If the BOJ mismanages its communication to the FX market and investors unwind those positions, this could lead to even more yen appreciation.
Third, the BOJ does not want to risk doing anything that could potentially have a negative impact on the macroeconomy, particularly now that it might face headwinds, including the possibility of slowing growth in China and trade friction with the United States. The Japanese economy has grown for eight consecutive quarters, the longest streak in 28 years, backed by favourable external conditions.
Against this backdrop of economic improvement, the prolonged easy policy is squeezing bank's profit margins. Still, the BOJ has shown no inclination that it is gearing up to join other major central banks in normalizing policy.
For investors, all of this means a need to pay extra attention to currency market fluctuations and bracing for the possibility of further yen appreciation, which would work against the BOJ's progress toward its inflation goals. Investors will also be keen to see the details of discussions among the BOJ board members for insights on the thinking of Kuroda's two new Deputy Governors: Masazumi Wakatabe, an academic known as an advocate of aggressive easing, and career central banker Masayoshi Amamiya.
Lesen Sie mehr
20 Februar 2019, 10:05 GMT
20 Februar 2019, 10:03 GMT
19 Februar 2019, 11:51 GMT
Don't miss the Asia high-yield opportunity
13 Februar 2019, 15:38 GMT
11 Februar 2019, 15:11 GMT
Coalition government could be on the cards in India
06 Februar 2019, 14:54 GMT
Will the change in message come back to haunt the Fed?
06 Februar 2019, 14:37 GMT
Stuck in low GEAR
06 Februar 2019, 14:35 GMT
The value of investments and the income from them can go down as well as up so you may get back less than you invest. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.
These materials are provided for information purposes only and are intended only for the person or entity to which it is sent.
These materials do not constitute a distribution, an offer or solicitation to engage the investment management services of Fidelity, or an offer to buy or sell or the solicitation of any offer to buy or sell any securities or investment product.
Fidelity makes no representations that the contents are appropriate for use in all locations or that the transactions or services discussed are available or appropriate for sale or use in all jurisdictions or countries or by all investors or counterparties.
Investors should also note that the views expressed may no longer be current and may have already been acted upon by Fidelity. They are valid only as of the date indicated and are subject to change without notice.
This material was created by Fidelity International. It must not be reproduced or circulated to any other party without prior permission of Fidelity.
This communication is not directed at, and must not be acted on by persons inside the United States and is otherwise only directed at persons residing in jurisdictions where the relevant funds are authorised for distribution or where no such authorisation is required. Fidelity is not authorised to manage or distribute investment funds or products in, or to provide investment management or advisory services to persons resident in, mainland China. All persons and entities accessing the information do so on their own initiative and are responsible for compliance with applicable local laws and regulations and should consult their professional advisers.
This content may contain materials from third-parties which are supplied by companies that are not affiliated with any Fidelity entity (Third-Party Content). Fidelity has not been involved in the preparation, adoption or editing of such third-party materials and does not explicitly or implicitly endorse or approve such content.
Fidelity International refers to the group of companies which form the global investment management organisation that provides products and services in designated jurisdictions outside of North America Fidelity, Fidelity International, the Fidelity International logo and F symbol are trademarks of FIL Limited. Fidelity only offers information on products and services and does not provide investment advice personal recommendations based on individual circumstances.


text:
Dovetail Project gives young father his wings
Earnest Hale, 25, has a job that takes guts to keep. As a surgical patient assistant at the University of Chicago Medicine, he cleans the operating rooms. For three years, Earnest has held the job while juggling the demands of parenting his three-year-old son, Adyn. It doesn't leave this young dad time for much sleep with school pickups and drop offs and sometimes hectic daily routines, he said.
Parenting, Earnest acknowledges, is the biggest job he will ever have and is thankful for parenting and job skills he learned through the Dovetail Project, to motivate him to become a stable father.
"Dovetail helped me see the reasons to work and put my priorities in line," he explained.
Established in the Woodlawn community, the Dovetail Project teaches young African American fathers between the ages of 17-24, life and parenting skills, and their rights as fathers and U.S. citizens. The participants receive a certificate of completion during a cap and gown graduation ceremony as well as paid GED enrollment if needed, job readiness skills and a $300 stipend.
Founder Sheldon Smith, a community organizer who was also once a young father, decided to launch the initiative to help young fathers pursue better futures and avoid incarceration. Smith's work has earned applause around the country and a nomination for 2016 CNN Hero of the Year. He is also a grant recipient of the University of Chicago's Community Accelerator Program. Since 2010, about 150 young men – more than half of them from Woodlawn – have gone through the 12-week program.
Joining the program and meeting Dovetail's founder Sheldon Smith changed the course of Earnest's life. "I didn't have a father in my life and Sheldon was like a brother and mentor to me," he said. "I learned so much from him and the program about being accountable and being involved in the community."
Earnest has come a long way in a relatively short period of time since he was a 21-year-old new father with no male role models around to show him how to raise his son. On a typical day, Earnest takes his son to preschool at 8:45 a.m., then picks him up at 11:45 a.m., for the ride home. He said he goes over his son's homework, squeezes in chores and some sleep before starting his job at 5 p.m. "I really appreciate the time I have with him because it's his first year at preschool and he's starting to come home saying new words."
Between his son and job, Ernest still manages to find time to volunteer at Dovetail and is considering opening his own business, possibly a youth center focused on music. He wants other young men to get the same opportunities that he earned. Earnest advises young fathers to be patient when seeking mentors and role models. "Even if you feel like you want to give up, it's not over," he said. "Somebody will be there."
Originally posted December 5, 2016.