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Support and guidance
Pastoral care is very important at North East Futures UTC. Students will be in a small Project Tutor team and they will be your first port of call to ensure your wellbeing.
A big part of the pastoral programme is guiding young people towards theuir future careers. We offer help for Year 12 students on deciding between our two most common destinations: Apprenticeship or University. We support 6th formers in the UCAS process and encourage visits to Universities. We also support 6th formers in finding great Apprenticeship opportunities and throughout the recruitment process.
Year 11 students are also supported on their pathway to 6th form. We offer a guaranteed place in the UTC 6th form and we help young people manage their applications if they choose to go elsewhere for their 6th form education.
Tutor time
Year 10 and Year 12 students have a daily tutor period of 20 minutes. Tutors are there to support young people if they are struggling with anything from stress, to relationships to issues outside of school. The tutor will refer to other professionals if further help is needed. E.g. your tutor will help you make a counselling referral if needed.
The tutor is the first point of contact for parents or students for most concerns. Students see their tutors for 20 minutes every day.
Regular attendance, behaviour, academic progress checks will take place. Extra-curricular opportunities e.g. the Duke of York technology awards are included during this time.
This time is used to support the learning of social, moral and cultural issues, to help the individual to appreciate their value and understanding of each other. This is a time when issues that are of concern for an individual or group can be addressed and discussed without fear of judgement, giving an opportunity for students a good opportunity to express themselves.
Personal Development
Year 10 and 11 students receive a weekly Personal Development session where they will follow a non-exam curriculum consisting of Citizenship, Ethics, Finance, Sex and Relationships Education, Drugs Education, Careers education, Radicalisation Education and much more. These topics will prepare young people for life in modern Britain.
Our topics have been carefully selected to match the PSHE syllabus and to complement other parts of the curriculum. We also incorporate topics which are current and of interest to our industry partners for example Medical Ethics.
In addition to our Personal Development session, we schedule outside speakers to come into the UTC and work with the students on specific topics.
Radicalisation advice for parents
At North East Futures UTC we pride ourselves on celebrating and promoting diversity. We also recognise however that in today's world young people are faced with many pressures as they grow up and can often be influenced by strong feelings expressed by others. Our concern is that all our students feel safe and also express tolerance towards all cultures and religions even when personal views may be different.
The PREVENT strategy is designed to protect people potentially at risk of being radicalised. There are many indicators that may possibly mean that an individual may be being adversely targeted by an extremist group or cause, such as:
· Suddenly changing how they dress or their appearance.
· High absence rate from school with no clear reason.
· Losing interest in friends or activities not associated with a particular ideology, with their behaviour becoming focused on an extreme idea or cause.
· Possessing or being associated with material or symbols associated with an extremist cause, being in communication with suspected extremists
· Use of internet or other social media sites associated with extremism.
North East Futures UTC fully endorses the PREVENT strategy that:
"Schools can help to protect children from extremist and violent views in the same ways that they help to safeguard children from drugs, gang violence or alcohol. Their purpose must be to protect children from harm and to ensure that they are taught in a way that is consistent with the law and our values."
"Schools have an important role to play in PREVENT, particularly in ensuring balanced debate as well as freedom of speech. They also have a clear responsibility to exercise their duty of care and to protect the welfare of their students. Staff can identify and offer support to students who may be drawn into extremism."
Please be reassured that all of our students are given information on staying safe in the school and wider community and are told about appropriate behaviour in terms of their day to day conduct and when using technology. We do follow up and refer any inappropriate or concerning behaviour and work closely with a range of other agencies, such as the police and social care. Our Safeguarding team are always available to discuss any issue you as parents/carers may be concerned about – please contact [email protected] if you have any concerns.
Industry partner projects
The UTC runs regular industry projects, sometimes in normal lesson time and sometimes in 'drop down' time where all UTC students can participate in a project together.
This time allows students to really experience the fundamentals of the business world, completing tasks, meeting deadlines, working with project experts, being creative, leading others and selling an idea.
This is an opportunity for each student to experience the pace of modern Britain through the world of work and in doing so preparing the students for the next stage beyond North East Futures UTC.
The UTC promotes the use of technology to support learning. All students must sign up to our Acceptable Use Agreement and our Pastoral programme includes E-Safety to support students be safe online.
For advice on E-Safety click here to be taken to Think U Know – a UTC-approved site dedicated to supporting families with e-safety


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Rocco presents another shot in St. Petersburg tour de force of cute teen supersluts and nasty sex. Firstly, Maya and cute Smilla team up on Cristian`s Euro-c*ck. Blonde bitch Luba Love is put into light bondage with her partner, slender, pretty brunette Linda for some bathroom sex play; they are joined by sleazy Omar Galanti, who f*cks them both in a spitting, slapping, anal f*ckathon. Thin brunettes April and Lina enjoy a foursome in an adjoining bedroom with Jazz Duro and Omar. Finally, there`s a big group scene as darkhaired Julya, dirty blonde Xandy and exotic Jess take on three guys in a pileup involving lots of anal, toys, and ass to mouth, and ending up in a gooey, cum-swapping finale. Includes 26 minutes of bonus footage and six Rocco trailers.
Delivery restrictions may apply.

subset: commoncrawl


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Agricultural, Storm and Highway Runoff - Water and Wastewater - Water Monitoring and Testing
Agricultural runoff - sediment, pesticides, fertilizer and bacteria
Minnesota state government agency charged with the health of the environment, water quality and the agricultural economy.
Minnesota is home to a large agricultural industry with more than 25 million acres of land utilized for numerous farming practices.
The state has more surface water than any other of the 48 contiguous states. The headwaters of the Mississippi River are located in Minnesota and 680 miles of the river's length flow through the state.
A considerable proportion of Minnesota's 81,000 farms are responsible for adding significant levels of sediment into the state's many streams, lakes and rivers, including the Mississippi.
Agricultural run-off may contain a mixture of contaminants, including high levels of nitrates. As the water drains from the fields, these pollutants enter streams, rivers and lakes. Surface water may be tainted by health-threatening pesticides, fertilizer, sediment and bacteria while stream flow can also be severely affected.
In order to determine the volume and origins of contaminants, the agency sought to sample agricultural runoff at a number of sites.
Strategically placed FTS SedEvent stations are collecting data from water as it flows from agricultural land. Positioned on slopes or terraces at field perimeters, the stations gather water samples to determine the volumes of manure, pesticides, fertilizers and slow soil erosion that are potentially entering waterways via streams and groundwater.
Agricultural runoff - sediment, pesticides, fertilizer, bacteria.
SedEvent: Event-triggered, automated grab sampling systems.
Equipment deployed
Number of FTS SedEvent stations: 7
- Cellular Communication
- Axiom H2 Datalogger
- RG-T Rain gauge
- ISCO water sampler
- SDI-AM analog interface module
- THS-3 temperature & humidity sensor


text:
Company Name: Cognizant Technologies
Detailed Description of Job Opening: Cognizant Technologies Excellent Freshers Walk-in Drive - On 29th Sep 2015 for Hyderabad LocationRequired Skills:
Excellent Communication Skills
Must be flexible to work in Night Shifts.
Minimum of 15 years of education is mandate with supporting documents (10th, 12th, 3+ years graduation).
BE/BTECH/MTECH/MCA candidates are Not Eligible.
2015 pass-outs without certificates / results awaited are not eligible.
Year of Experienced : Freshers
Work Location: Hyderabad
Walk-in Date:29th Sep 2015, Time 11.30 AM to 2 PM
Job Last Date: 29th Sep 2015Walk-in Venue Contact Details
Latest Cognizant Jobs
Latest Cognizant Jobs
Cognizant Technology services Pvt. Ltd,
1st Floor,Building No 12A,
Raheja Mindspace,
Resume Submission Link
Similar Walk-in Jobs
- Capgemini Excellent Job Opening for Software Engineers - On Sep 2015
- IBM Mega Recruitment Drive for Software Engineers : BE, B.Tech, MCA, ME, M.Tech @ Bangalore
- TCS Off-Campus Drivefor Freshers 2014, 2015, 2016 Batch - On Sep 2015
- Accenture Job Opening for Software Engineers: BE, B.Tech, MCA - On Sep 201
- ValueLabs, Capgemini, Accenture Off-Campus Software Walk-in Drive


text:
Check out our upcoming online gun auction
If you have thought about consigning your items to our Online auctions, We have some of the lowest commission Rates around! Thought about selling some Firearms? We pay top dollar for collections. Need help with a gun transfer, or receiving or selling your assets? We are a licensed FFL Dealer.
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I also need to update about my health - both physical and mental - as although much of the emotional fall-out has been obvious from Twitter, nonetheless I think now is a good time to finally regroup and consider just how much of an impact this whole thing has had. I have been incredibly conscious of my own emotional well-being over the past year and a half as a result of the ongoing chronic health issues, which is probably a good thing because being able to reflect on things afterwards is really helpful in seeing that things have improved.
Anyway. First things first. I need to make a new Google Earth home icon.
I have had to compile this with the help of my tweets because things went so quickly I kind of lost track...
So, basically from the point of that first valuation, we were in house-hunting mode because we knew that the chance of Peter (the landlord) buying out his wife was slim at best, and we thought it best to get a head-start.
For the first few days I was mostly in a state of despair about this because it seemed that the rents had gone up over the past five years without there being any discernable increase in the quality of properties. Once I started looking properly, though, we got into the swing of adding properties to the favourites and getting on with house viewings.
Or, well, I say "getting on", but even this was fraught with complications and frustrations. Considering I generally do not have the spoons to speak to people on the telephone, and the potential (worst-case-scenario) homelessness situation was eating what little remained of my sanity, Paul was in charge of calling agents to organise said viewings.
It quickly became apparent that owning a cat made us undesirable, and our tactic of being upfront and honest with the agents at the point of booking the viewings backfired on us. The agents would either flat-out say "no" without bothering to check with the landlord, or they would promise to check and then never call back (and every time Paul tried to chase them he could never speak to the same person twice).
Peter and Doreen eventually decided to sell through Connells, who were originally managing our tenancy. Connells promised to "rehome" us (for want of a better word) by looking for properties in their portfolio that fit our criteria and letting us know when they became available. (You can imagine how well that went.)
Eventually, we managed to book some viewings. The first house we went to see was on Farm Road in Oldbury, about a 15-minute walk away from our house. This viewing took place on the day of Birmingham Pride so unfortunately we were unable to go, which was a shame because it actually didn't bloody rain for the first time in about eight years. The property looked fairly decent from the pictures, but when we got there it was awful.
I think I need to record the level of awfulness for posterity. (It seems to be traditional that at least 50% of properties we manage to view are actually terrible.) Awfulness included:-
- The front door opened straight into the front room (I generally dislike this in houses because (a) it lets all the heat out and (b) the lack of privacy.) There was a side entrance through a passageway that led into the kitchen, but this did not then attach to the garden, which meant that all the wheelie bins were outside on the raised front patio and thus blocked most of the lovely big bay window into which the door was set.
- The carpets were all brown, low pile hideousness. This was not so bad downstairs because there was a set of patio doors (with vertical blinds, OH BANE OF MY LIFE) leading into the garden, but upstairs all of the rooms were very dingy with tiny windows and very little natural light. Bearing in mind we went to see the property at midday on a really hot/sunny day, it barely made any difference to the interior.
- The kitchen which looked reasonable from the pictures turned out to be really scruffy, as did the (downstairs) bathroom. I really did not want a downstairs bathroom again after the amount of monster spiders we had to evict from Warley Road, but in any case, both the kitchen and bathroom looked as though they might have been presentable when first put in, but years of use had made them both less than pleasant.
- There was a fist-shaped dent in one of the bedroom doors.
- In the other bedroom there was also a cupboard with a lock on the outside, which was basically the final crowning WTF moment of the viewing. The lack of light had already put me off but that made us practically run out of there for fear of later finding a body under the patio. :P
On the way out the lady from Connells (it was their property) asked us for feedback and we settled on "It just doesn't feel right" as we suspected they would not want our honest opinion. She then asked us what our budget was (which was between £500-600 pcm, £625 at the most) and proceeded to try and sell us a property outside of that range because it had just been refurbed.
We went to find said property later on and the refurb was nicely done, but not as "beautiful" as she made it out to be. At least, not for the money they were asking.
The next house we went to see was one in Bearwood. This was after several failed attempts to view various others in and around Bearwood/Smethwick after the agents kept "fogetting" to call us back after supposedly checking if Leo would be allowed.
The first viewing of this ended up being cancelled because the agent didn't have the keys. Prior to this, though, we had a couple of booked viewings (for Saturdays) cancelled because someone else had managed to view it before us and reserve it. At that point I had to cancel a week of my leave in July (I'd booked a fortnight off) to use for last-minute midweek house viewings, but thankfully my line manager was very understanding and reasonable about the whole thing.
At the start of June the "For Sale" sign went up on the house - without any warning from Connells to either us or the landlord, helpfully enough. For the record, this was before they'd even come in to take any photographs and before it was even on the website, and they booked in the first viewing within days.
We politely requested 48 hours notice on all future viewings due to working full-time and needing more than a day to get the place reasonably presentable, which up until very recently Connells were actually very good at honouring. This was also so we could ensure we weren't actually in the house during the viewings because neither of us were sure we could cope with people tramping around the home we were being ejected from.
(Feedback from the viewings later was that the place was "cluttered and untidy", to which our response was "no shit, we still live here!" - we did say to Connells that we would be in the process of packing and had nowhere else to put our stuff and they assured us that would be fine, but yeah, whatever, apparently people can't see beyond the stuff to the actual house. FFS, you're not buying our possessions!)
We finally managed to see the house in Bearwood after booking in a viewing on a Wednesday afternoon, in the vain hope we might have less competition (as apparently for the first, cancelled appointment there were nine other people coming). This alas gave the agent carte blanche to use that slot to rebook everyone else in, so we viewed it with another couple and then two more turned up as we were going.
There were no photographs of the kitche on the website but I knew vaguely what to expect, having grown up in a similar house in the area. I knew it would be small but I didn't expect it to be THAT small, and again it had a downstairs bathroom (also the tenant had a very friendly cat!). We also got to view another house two doors down which was being let by the same landlord, which seemed... very slightly dodgy considering both houses were clearly being lived in.
I should clarify, Bearwood was our first choice for area because of bus links to both our jobs - Paul works in the city centre and Bearwood is where I change to get the 11 to my place of work. Unfortuantely Bearwood is becoming more and more bijou and properties get snapped up super-quick and/or are very expensive, so we did not hold out much hope of living there.
Despite the tiny kitchen, the rest of the house was nicely presented (the one two doors down was similar but I didn't like it as much) so we decided that having an extra reception room would offset the lack of storage in the kitchen, and we put in our application. The agent promised a response within 24 hours but it was more like three days. Apparently we were shortlisted and our application was sent to the landlord, but we were not selected. Paul asked for feedback but they couldn't give us any. I suspect both Leo and the fact that Paul smokes were contributing factors, though.
Not getting this house was a massive blow to my mental health, incidentally, and I will expand on that further a bit later. The same day, Paul attempted to get viewings on five other properties and managed to book one, which also didn't help the situation. On the other hand, it then motivated me to add more and more properties to the favourites on rightmove, even in areas we hadn't previously considered, purely because they were on the 11 route so I could get to work. :P
Shortly after this we attended a joint 1st and 21st birthday party for Isabella and Patrick (Paul's great-niece and nephew), which was a lovely day and resulted in my making friends with a four-year-old. :P
After that, we decided to change our tactic, as being honest from the outset was getting us nowhere. The plan going forward was not to announce having a pet until we had managed to get inside the property to view, unless the website blurb specifically said "no pets", because I figured that agents would be more amenable to do the legwork with the landlord if there was a chance of making their fees on the day.
This tactic seemed to work, thankfully. We managed three more viewings, all three of which were further out than we really wanted to be.
The first was in Blackheath and the agent managed to facilitate an evening viewing. It looked okay from the pictures but when we got there we were both impressed by the size of the place, and it turned out it had been completely refurbished (to a high standard) by the landlord, including a new kitchen and a new boiler / central heating. We were also really impressed by the size of the master bedroom (which was mahoosive!) It should have been a giveaway that as we were wandering around we were saying "ooh, that could go there!"
We had a drink in a local pub after before getting the bus home and decided to bite the bullet and put in the application for it. In discussions with the agent (Ash), his face fell at first when he asked about pets until we clarified we had a neutered, house-trained cat, at which point he revealed the landlord's other tenant also had a cat and it probably wouldn't be a problem. We were only in competition with one other person but our combined wages had effectively prioritised us, and after that it was literally a case of signing the paperwork first, which Ash was thankfully amenable to arranging. ;)
The one after that was in Netherton, which would have involved three buses to/from work, but it looked nice from the pictures and we'd booked the viewing a while ago, so we decided to honour it. We arrived to find the place apparently empty so Paul rang Connells (who else?!) who said that the landlord should be there doing some work on the property and would be showing us around. Quite obviously, the landlord was not there. (I am always wary when landlords are "doing work" on properties because it usually means that the lovely, colourful rooms you see in photographs are miraculously painted magnolia by the time you get there. Unsurprisingly, the property reappeared on the list a week or so later and the lovely purple bathroom had been repainted in - you guessed it - magnolia.)
We cancelled that viewing and Connells were adamant they would contact the landlord and ring us back, which also made us suspicious as normally they're not so obliging, and we wondered just why they were so keen to get rid of it. The area wasn't that nice also. On the plus side, as we were in Netherton I finally got around to taking Paul to the claypits where I spent many a summer weekend with my dad. Despite not having been there for over 20 years, I remembered the way from the town centre, although it then took us a few hours to find the actual claypit so we spent a lovely day wandering through the nature reserve instead. (We then got a bus to Merry Hill to avoid having to climb back up the hill, and another bus back to Dudley which took about 12 years to get there.)
The final viewing was a house in Tividale which was on the market for the very upper limit of our price range (£625 pcm). It was essentially a private let direct from the landlord, through an agent who are only invovled to sort out checks, etc., and it was such a faff to set up the viewing that we decided to honour it anyway even though we were basically certain we'd got the house in Blackheath. We were late to the viewing thanks to public transport fail and it turned out to be hideous anyway (there were flies in the box room and the kitchen was barely more than a cupboard, and despite having massive windows and being on top of a hill it was still really dingy). It was horrendously overpriced for both the area and the state of the place, quite frankly.
We had confirmation on the Blackheath house on 23rd June (the day after the Tividale viewing), which obviously I remember because it was the same day of the referendum and thus the one good thing to come out of that horrendous shitstorm. :P
After that, of course, it was a flurry of packing and moving and negotiating getting our deposit back. Despite a few teething problems there we should be getting everything bar £200 (for the gardener) back in a couple of weeks.
We moved on 29-30th August and have already made two of the rooms at least vaguely habitable. I wanted to have a clear out before we moved but it just wasn't possible, so I'll be doing that as and when we unpack instead. (I've already managed to dump a load of old VHS tapes of Voyager and DS9 because we're planning on getting Netflix. :D) A trip to Ikea is on the cards to buy various items of storage furniture and then I can properly put a dent in unpacking everything.
Also, we are bereft of both a fridge and a washing machine until 13th August, so on Saturday I had to take a big bag of dirty washing back to the old property (we have the tenancy until the 14th) so I could wash it whilst we finished the cleaning. :P
Yeah, I probably should have updated some of this along the way, but TBH I was not really in the correct mindset to do so and it would not have been quite this objective... Such being said, onward to the health update.
Right, so. Precisely one week after the first valuation in May, I finally received a letter from the urologist at around the 6-7 week mark after dropping in my three early morning samples. Naturally, I assumed it was the results.
Firstly, the letter was not actually addressed to me but to the GP, with me CC'ed in. Because obviously the patient is not important enough to be written to directly. The letter claimed I had only dropped in one of my three samples (not true) and that it was in the wrong bottle. This was worded in such a way as to imply that I did this on purpose, like I just keep urine sample bottles in my cupboard and did it for a laugh. No, dickbag, I used the bottles you GAVE ME at my appointment (in March) after checking with the lab which one to use.
At first, I thought I'd been discharged without ceremony, and I was so angry all I could do was swear indiscriminately. Once I'd calmed down a bit I decided I was going to complain (which I still haven't done because I wanted to get all the moving shit sorted first) because essentially the solution for the past two years has been to keep on ignoring me until I go away, and to not listen to anything I say. However, on re-reading the letter it indicated I could organise the samples again through the GP and they could then re-refer as necessary.
Basically, the lab lost my samples and it then took them six weeks to get around to telling me. This is particularly irritating because every time I've sent an inconclusive / incorrect sample through the GP, they have called me within days to rearrange it.
TBF, providing the samples was fraught with disaster anyway. The bottle of water in the bag with the sample bottles / request slips somehow leaked everywhere, and as the urologist had written the requests in fountain pen ink (because they can never get the printed versions to work) one of them was basically illegible. I saved that one for last and put a note for the lab in with it (including all of my patient details AND the name of my consultant) saying it was the same as the first two. Also, Birmingham Treatment Centre's concept of dropping off samples consists of a red bucket which is hidden around a corner in the blood testing department - I only found this the first time because I managed to flag down a nurse (cash-strapped NHS can no longer afford departmental receptionists, obvs), but on all three occasions I felt really uncomfortable wandering around trying to find said bucket whilst people were having their bloods taken. So much for patient confidentiality!
Needless to say, a week or so later I went to the GP to rearrange the samples, and she was just as exasperated by the whole situation as I was. She also agreed I could drop the samples at the surgery for them to transfer them to hospital rather than going out of my way (again) first thing in the morning to do it myself. The six-week cut-off for those results was last week, so I need to find a new GP sharpish and make sure they don't get lost in transit somewhere. TBF, I might just ask for the re-referral to Urology regardless.
Weirdly enough, throughout all the house stress, my side has not been hurting as much as usual, but last week it started up again. I had one day off sick shortly into house-hunting when it flared up, and since then it's been mostly okay. That is not to say that things cleared up, because it seems to be the case now that my side hurts without any obvious evidence of an infection, and (TMI warning) for the most part my wee is lovely and clear but smells like death, so quite obviously there is still something not quite right.
As for the non-physical health side of things...
As I mentioned above, for the past 1.5 years I have been particularly conscious of my mental health, because it hadn't occurred to me before just how draining it can be managing a chronic illness (particularly one which is still undiagnosed / untreated). Since returning to work in October 2015 I have basically been perpetually exhausted and lacking in energy, and being in constant pain until early this year (I can't tell if it's actually got better or my pain threshold has finally switched off my nerve endings :P) has scuppered any form of activity or exercise, resulting in another bout of weight gain. All of these things combined have had a decidedly negative effect on my mental well-being, which I have been very consciously aware of.
I am basically used to living with a background noise of negative thought, after 15 odd years of fluctuating mental health. That probably means that I don't get help when I should, but I constantly fall into the trap of not thinking my problems are "severe enough" to warrant bothering someone with them. Also, my propensity towards self-analysis means that talking therapy doesn't work, and I suspect CBT wouldn't either, because I am incredibly aware that my reactions / thought processes are not "normal" and thus that makes it very hard to change them.
I have suspected for a while that I might some degree of bipolar, where the "highs" are defined by increased creativity, specifically writing flurries and falling back into fandom excitement (during which times I am often aware that I'm being "manic"), and the "lows" are the points where my creativity and motivation completely dries up. I think this would be quite hard to explain to any kind of health professional because it doesn't fit the standard sort of behaviours (e.g. spending sprees / susbtance misuse) associated with the disorder. I am defined by my history and my interests in every aspect of my life, it would seem. :P
Such being said, 2015 was a very difficult year, what with the familial emigration and everything that entailed. 2016 also got off to a bad start with the tail end of that situation (the funeral) but after February was out of the way things seemed to be looking up. Particularly because following Sunset in April I got my fandom / writing mojo back (I had, perhaps a little self-destructively, opted not to seek any help until after that so I could let the fandom excitement buoy me up again and allow me to enjoy the show as much as possible.)
Then the house news threw me several steps backwards again, and I went from just about coping to barely keeping my head above water.
Throughout the entire process I have been coasting on the edge of my sanity, drowning in despair/anger/frustration/hatred and occasionally surfacing via air pockets of sheer determination and motivation.
It had reached a point, during a week of cancelled house viewings just before I made the decision to cancel my week of leave, where people at work started to notice I was not myself: I was sullen, withdrawn and untalkative. Despite everything, I have always managed to present as being outwardly okay, so when people started to notice I knew things were getting worse.
I was upfront and honest throughout about what was going on, and everyone (both my immediate and senior colleagues) has been incredibly supportive and understanding, always checking on how things were going. I honestly believe that if any of this had happened whilst I was still working at Legal, I would have gone off the rails a long time ago. I work with some of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet, and I would not have been able to carry on at work without them.
The lowest point for me was when we had the news that we weren't successful in getting the house in Bearwood. We found out around lunchtime and neither of us wanted to stay in work, beacuse (perhaps foolishly) we had pinned our hopes on getting it and wanted to get the whole process over with as quickly as possible.
I'm just putting a trigger warning here - ignore small text.
I've lost count of the amount of bus journeys I've spent over the past few months where I've tried to stop myself from crying, either because of early-morning over-thinking about the emigration, stress about the house situation or the stupid, godawful referendum result. On that particular day, though - and I feel somewhat reluctant still to admit this - I spent the entire bus journey home repeatedly wanting to kill myself just to make things easier.
I should clarify: this is not uncommon when I've reached particularly low points, and the last time it happened was just before I stopped taking the Pill, where the thought would randomly pop into my head as a reaction to even the smallest difficulty. There have only been two occasions where I've actually gone as far as working out how I'd do it - one was when I was 19 and had failed my Occupational Therapy course, and the other was on that bus journey.
It's actually really strange thinking about it in retrospect now that everything has blown over. Even as it was happening I was more than aware that my thoughts were not normal, that it was not a reasonable reaction to what was a relatively minor setback, but at the same time I was unable to stop it. Things had become so overwhelming that it was literally the only way out I could think of, yet logically I knew it was ridiculous. At one point I had even convinced myself it would make things easier for Paul because he would be able to find a smaller place for himself more easily, and even now I am looking at that "logic" and wondering how on earth I allowed things to get that bad.
Quite frankly, I should have sought help months ago, and even though at several points I considered going to the GP just so I could get something to regulate my brain chemistry a little, I was simultaneously terrified that they'd just refer me for counselling again and not take me seriously, so through some bizarre, twisted logic I decided to wait until things got worse, without realising that they already had. This is what happens when you live your life with background anxiety/paranoia/depression and normalise it to that degree.
You can come out now.
Thankfully, I managed to turn the crushing disappointment into renewed house-hunting motivation, and eventually (obviously) it paid off.
The past three months have progressed in a rapid flurry (I actually just had to check it really was three months because it felt like three weeks) and I have essentially been a social recluse for that entire time. Whenever I did manage to be remotely sociable (such as the Midland pub quiz) I was mostly knackered / unresponsive and wished I hadn't bothered.
And of course, in the midst of all this, we had the referendum, which has thrown the country into turmoil. I think my general mental state has only exacerbated the sensation that we are all trapped in a mutual dystopian nightmare, to be honest, because the entire thing has felt so unreal.
All this being said, the honest truth is that fandom has - as ever - kept me sane. I was determined to finish my Sunset story and, somehow, I did. I spent two muggy Sunday evenings indulging in various versions of the show with commoncomitatus and flailing over them via Yahoo!Messenger, as well as responding to her beta!flail with more flail, and I think if not for that I would not have come out the other side of this with my sanity relatively intact.
We're not out of the woods just yet, alas, as we haven't seen my grandmother since Christmas and apparently she has gotten worse since then, but I honestly just did not have the requisite spoons to explain what was happening with the house move. (When we explained via text to my uncle recently, she offered us £50 to help - sadly, it's her world-ignorant well-meaningness which is one of the hardest things to deal with.) Now that we've found somewhere we need to go and see her and tell her what happened, and at some point break the news about Bulgaria and field any questions as necessary.
But before that I need to sleep for a million years.
I should probably end this section by saying: don't worry, I'm fine. I am feeling much more positive and infinitely less crazy than I was a few weeks ago. In truth, the mental health deterioration occurred in much the same manner as my stress when at Legal Services: it was such a slow burn I didn't realise how bad things had gotten until I was free of the situation.
I'm fairly certain I must have missed something out in all of this, but this is quite long enough already.
Now that things are calmer, I need to start prioritising my cinema viewing as there are at least four things on the list, including the new Tim Burton - that one is non-negotiable even if I don't get to any of the others. :P
I'll try not to leave it so long between updates next time. With any luck I can get back into embroidery soon.


text: It's a little bit Roman Dirge mixed with Burton, but i do wish they were better dressed. It's not enough to change a princess' face and make her skinnier! I love love love the gothic lolita outfits pictured below... Maybe I should draw up a little mixture of my own? If only I had a princess to look at while i sketched...oh, that's right! My disney vacation is next week! Muahahahahaha my life>yours.


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Intensive Learning Opportunities
We offer a wide range of short courses to complement our three and twelve month programs. designed to convey key approaches and techniques about a specific subject, short courses have been a mainstay of the School since 2007.
Short courses offer structured and practical instruction in specific techniques or approaches, and are designed to give you the skills you need to master the techniques on offer independently, and at your own pace, after the workshop. If you would benefit from a structured program of home study consider one or more of our Certificate Courses. For a fully structured, guided and moderated year of technical training and creative development ask about our Diploma Program.
All of our short courses are open to anyone, however they are best taken in conjunction with a learning program which starts with an appropriate foundation course. If you would like to discuss the best learning program for your needs, simply contact the School who will put you in touch with a tutor.
Our short courses include:
- Any workshop from our Certificate Course programs, as a three day stand alone course
- Beginners' Oils
- Simply Oils
- Beyond Simply
- Intensive Skills
- Masterclass (selective entry, please apply)
- Plein Air (available in Norfolk and on Anglesey)


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Just a brief note: our forelimb kinematics research on lizards and mammals is off and running (pun intended) in the BFF Locomotion Lab. This semester, several teams of undergrads from biology and physics are working with myself and Dr. Jason Shulman (Physics) on a variety of projects to explore the typical range of motion and posture in lizard and mammal forelimbs.
The BFF Lab is thriving thanks to the help of NAMS lab staff. We particularly want to thank Justine Ciraolo, Chrissy Schairer, Bill Harron, Mike Farrell, and Mike Santoro for their invaluable help in acquiring lab space and with technical assistance, and Deanne Gipple for help with student safety and animal welfare training. None of this would occur without the assistance and animal care provided by John Rokita and the animal lab staff and volunteers. We also thank NAMS Dean Dennis Weiss and the Biology and Physics programs for their continued support and assistance with our research endeavors. Finally, we give a special "shout out" to the Stockton Federation of Teachers for their strong encouragement of faculty research "without walls." Thanks everyone!


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Our suite home arrives comprehensive with queen-sized mattress and that is the best option for friends and people who are looking for a novel and luxury continue to be. Queen Sizing Bed
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is "to be the premier city owned Utility Company in Oklahoma. Provide unequaled electric and water distribution systems, along with, billing and collection services at the highest possible efficiency at competitive rates. Maintain water production and sewage treatment with quality standards that meet or exceed State and Federal Regulations."
918.696.5084 phone 918.696.4572
925 W Hickory Street, Stilwell, OK 74960
bringing energy to the stilwell area


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LuAnn Callaway has a Ph.D. in the Science of Psychology from Rochville University. She received her Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Counseling at Luther Rice Seminary (Lithonia, GA); her Bachelor of Science in Counseling and Religion from Emmanuel College (Franklin Springs, GA); and a 3-year diploma from Elim Bible Institute (Lima, NY). LuAnn has over 30 years of counseling experience in the state of Georgia. She is a member of the American Association of Christian Counseling.
In addition to providing general mental health counseling services, LuAnn's special interests include pre-marital counseling, communication, abuse survival, trauma, PTSD, anger management, stress management, court ordered evaluations and drug & alcohol assessments.


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Apollo and Galaxy the two puppies we got from an awful breeder have both been rehomed together ❤💙
Please see our adoption process here for further information on how to adopt.
If you would like to adopt one of our Greyhounds.
Please email us at [email protected] or use our contact form.


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I've had a mini crush thing for Celine bags for a long while now lol, so when the French designer revealed it's stunning Fall 2013 pieces I literally had to do a post. So far I've only purchased the one Celine tote similar to the one above but in all black. The bags are geniusly designed with 4 inside pockets and generally plenty of space for all your needs, as well as the option to make the bag larger or smaller with the side zipped extension wings. I love my Celine, they are durable sturdy bags which look great and add that lavish eye catching touch to any outfit.
Be sure to have a browse, and be inspired!


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The Department of Human Development and Family Studies (HDFS), in the School of Health and Human Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, is committed to excellence in teaching, research, and service regarding human development and close relationships across the lifespan.
Our objectives are to educate the next generation of HDFS professionals and scholars, to generate new knowledge, and to foster the well-being of individuals and families in their everyday lives.
Undergraduates can prepare for birth through kindergarten teacher licensure (as can our MEd graduate students) or focus on children's and adolescents' development in their diverse cultural, school, and family contexts.
M.S. and doctoral students examine the biological, relational, early educational, social, and cultural foundations of development and their implications for families. The emphasis on "culture" includes not only different societies, but also within-society cultural groups, such as racial/ethnic and social class groups. We are committed to interdisciplinary study, diversity, and internationalization.


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Born in Cincinnati on December 18, 1946, and raised in the suburbs of Haddonfield New Jersey and Scottsdale Arizona, Spielberg always had a love and fascination for the movie industry.
There is no doubt that Steven Spielberg is the most successful, brilliant and important filmmaker in history. That statement immediately begs a host of questions. At a conservative estimate, dozens of directors have created work of superior depth and artistry. Something like a dozen (including Tarrentino, Hitchcock, Cameron, Lucas, Kubric and Coppola) have achieved comparable "household" status in their day. A few have made a greater number of successful films, even a greater number of the enduringly best-loved films. But no other director-producer has been responsible for so many top-grossing hits, or more decisively imprinted his brand name on the films and the culture of his time, or had such a decisive and sweeping impact on both the industry's and the public's notion of what movie going is supposed to be about.
His father was an electrical engineer and computer specialist; his mother, a concert pianist. The young Spielberg grew up in front of the television set.
As a pre-teen, he charged admission to his home movies (which involved wrecks he staged with his Lionel train set) while his sister sold popcorn. At the age of 12, his first production was complete, including script and actors. Just one year later at the age of 13, Spielberg won a prize for a 40-minute war movie he titled Escape to Nowhere. In 1963, at the young age of 16, his 140-minute production of Firelight (which would later inspire Close Encounters) was had one showing in a Phoenix movie house and brought in $100 profit.
After being denied entrance into traditional film schools, Spielberg entered California State University in Long Beach to study...


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Windows 8 education app – 21st Century Learning Design app to support curriculum planning
Average full article read:
If you're designing learning activities, or curriculum planning for 21st Century skills, that require students to demonstrate or develop 21st Century skills, then there's some help in the form of a new app for Windows 8. 21st Century Learning Design is a tool developed to help teachers in assessing where their current and planned activities develop 21st Century skills, and guides teachers with structures and further learning resources that will help curriculum planning for 21st Century skills.
21st Century skills development is being rolled out in schools across Australia to help teachers prepare for the PISA test in 2015 (which will assess students' collaboration and communication skills) and curriculum planning for 21st Century skills in the new National Curriculum.
Students around the world need advanced skills to succeed in the globalised, knowledge-based world of today. 21st Century Learning Design helps teachers design lessons and learning activities to build students' 21st century skills. The professional development program is based on rubrics developed and tested in one of the largest ever international studies of 21st Century Skills – the Innovative Teaching and Learning (ITL) Research project.
In the Windows 8 app, materials are presented in an easy to use, highly interactive way. It will help teachers to identify and understand the opportunities that learning activities give students to build 21st century skills. Each learning activity is any task that students do as part of their school related work – it can be an exercise that students complete in one class period or an extended project that takes place both in and outside of school. The rubrics incorporate a research-based methodology for coding learning activities to ensure you are embedding 21st century skills in your teaching practices, and the Rubric for Student Work provides a framework to assess students' development of 21st century skills.
Features of the 21st Century Learning Design app
Explore the dimension of 21st Century Learning Design, through rubrics and dimensions.
Evaluate your content against all or some of the dimensions.
Receive detailed breakdowns of your understanding of the dimensions.
Export your assessment results to detailed Word documents.
To aid curriculum planning for 21st Century skills, the app helps find exemplar units of work with strong 21st Century Learning Design aspects
Staff development for 21st Century skills
Microsoft has partnered with two Australian Professional Learning providers to offer 21st Century Learning Design training for your school. This training is contextualized to Australian school needs and curriculum focus. Both Design | Learn | Empower and Expanding Learning Horizons would be happy to discuss your training needs and tailor a learning experience to suit your school. If you would like to find out more about the 21CLD Program from Microsoft directly, you can also email us at: email@example.com
Download the free 21st Century Learning Design app from the Windows 8 Store
We welcome your feedback
Let us know if you enjoyed this article and we'll share similar content


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Mylan UK has released an updated EpiPen® demonstration video to reflect changes to instructions on the administration of EpiPen® and EpiPen® Junior adrenaline auto-injector, which is available to view on Vimeo.
More information about the changes are also detailed in a statement available on the www.epipen.co.uk website, as follows [1]
Mylan UK has recently received approval for a change to the instructions for use of EpiPen® and EpiPen® Junior. There is no change to the device or the drug (adrenaline); the change is in the instructions for use as outlined below:
- Reduced holding time from 10 to 3 seconds.
- Removal of the massage step after administration.
- The changes are aimed to simplify the process and improve compliance.
- It is important to remember, the effectiveness of the EpiPen® and EpiPen® Junior will not be impacted
regardless of whether it is held for 3 or 10 seconds.
- We expect EpiPen® and EpiPen® Junior with the new instructions to enter pharmacies in the UK from
November 2017 onwards, and these will gradually replace the 10 second labelled pen. As we go through
the transition period, there will still be some EpiPen® and EpiPen® Junior with the 10 second label
available in the UK.
- If you have an EpiPen® with the 10 second label, you don't need to get it replaced. EpiPen®'s only need
to be replaced when they have been used or when they are about to expire.
- All EpiPen®'s should be used following these new instructions. The pen should be held for 3 seconds and there is no need to massage. If a patient forgets, and holds the EpiPen® for 10 seconds and/or massages the site, it won't affect the way the EpiPen® works.
The adrenaline auto-injectors prescribed in the UK at present are Emerade®, EpiPen® and Jext®. The Anaphylaxis Campaign has contacted ALK the pharmaceutical company that produces Jext® and Bausch and Lomb who produce Emerade® who have informed us that they have, at present, no plans the change the method of administration of their adrenaline auto-injectors.
The place where the adrenaline is administered is the same for all three injectors; Emerade®, EpiPen® and Jext® are injected into the muscle in the front quarter of the outer thigh. However, the method of administration for each autoinjector varies slightly. Training should be given to all those who might be required to administer the adrenaline in an emergency, such as family members and friends. You can also find help on the website relevant to the injector you carry. For Emerade® visit www.emerade-bausch.co.uk, for EpiPen® visit www.epipen.co.uk and for Jext® visit www.jext.co.uk.
If you have any concerns or questions, please contact our helpline team at [email protected] or call 01252 542 029.
EpiPen Demonstration Video (Change of use) from Mylan UK on Vimeo.
With reference to the new SmPC guidelines[1] MYLAN UK, www.epipen.co.uk [online] 15h December 2017, www.epipen.co.uk


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Friday, March 07, 2008
Marmaduke is bartering with his owner-boy. Owner Boy is offering a bunch of stuff dogs like to chew on or eat for a baseball, which Marmaduke probably stole.
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Open All IE Tabs to Home Page
By Terry Stockdale for TerrysComputerTips.com
How to configure Internet Explorer tabs to always open to your default home page.
–PC Pitstop.
Long-time subscriber Mike G. wrote to ask about a frustrating issue that crept in with a new Internet Explorer version…
Hi Terry,
When I open Windows Internet Explorer the first tab opens the first tab to the default page — Google — just fine. However, when I open subsequent tabs in the same window, they all come up as blank page. It used to always open the additional tabs to the default.
I am running Internet Explorer 11.0.9600; update version 18.104.22.16800.
Mike G.
The solution to Mike's problem is in the Internet Options dialog boxes, which you can get to via the Control Panel or via Tools > Internet Options in Internet Explorer.
If you don't see the Menu Bar in Internet Explorer (it's hidden by default), press and release the Alt tab. This will display the Menu Bar for one use, then it will be hidden again.
If you want the Menu Bar to remain displayed, press and release the Alt key, then click View > Toolbars > Menu Bar.
The obvious thing to do is to set the Home Page in the top section of the General tab.
If you're like me, you don't care to see Internet Explorer open with the last web page that was open the last time I used it. I'd rather see my Home page, so the Startup section has "Start with home page" marked.
That's still not the solution to Mike's problem, though. The Tabs button is the one we need…
This post is excerpted with the permission of Terry's Computer Tips.
404 total views, 1 views today


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Webinar – What's New in PhpStorm 8: Evolving with You, October 7th
Join us Tuesday, October 7th, 16:00 – 17:00 CEST (10:00 AM – 11:00 AM EDT, check other zones) for a free webinar, What's New in PhpStorm 8: Evolving with You with Maarten Balliauw. PhpStorm 8, released on 16th September 2014, brings even more emerging … Continue reading
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Brentwood Appliances, Inc TS-180S
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NEW YORK GIANTS (4-8) at WASHINGTON (6-6)
Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, Fox
OPENING LINE — Redskins by 3; Giants later favoured by 3 1/2
RECORD VS. SPREAD — Giants 6-5-1, Washington 7-5
SERIES RECORD — Giants lead, 100-69-4
LAST MEETING — Redskins beat Giants 20-13, Oct. 28
LAST WEEK — Giants beat Bears 30-27, OT; Redskins lost to Eagles 28-13
AP PRO32 RANKING — Giants No. 23, Redskins No. 19
GIANTS Defence — OVERALL (24), RUSH (24), PASS (20)
REDSKINS Defence — OVERALL (19, tie), RUSH (9), PASS (27)
STREAKS, STATS AND NOTES — Betting line shifted after lots of early money was placed on Giants, because Redskins are stuck with third starting QB of season. … Giants have won three of four since bye week. … QB Eli Manning has nine TD passes and three INTs in last five road games. … Rookie RB Saquon Barkley needs 46 yards on ground to reach 1,000 and ranks third in NFL, behind only Todd Gurley and Ezekiel Elliott. Barkley has rushed for at least 100 yards in each of his last three games; at least 100 yards from scrimmage in 11 of 12 games this season. … WR Odell Beckham Jr. threw for TD and caught TD pass last week; second such game he's had this season. Beckham is first player in 94 years with multiple games like that in single season. … LB Alec Ogletree had two interceptions last week, including his second pick-6 in three weeks. … Rookie DL B.J. Hill's three sacks against Chicago gave him team-high five. LB Olivier Vernon had two vs. Bears. … Aldrick Rosas kicked team-record 57-yard FG last week and has 99 points this season. Last Giants kicker to score 100 points was Josh Brown (134 in 2015). … Redskins turning to QB Mark Sanchez, making his first NFL start since November 2015. He hasn't won start since 2014. … Sanchez replaces Colt McCoy, who broke right leg in Monday night loss to Eagles; that was McCoy's second start since replacing Alex Smith, who broke right leg last month. … RB Adrian Peterson had franchise-record 90-yard TD run against Philadelphia, but otherwise gained total of 8 yards on eight carries. … Peterson, 33, owns 16 TD runs of 50 or more yards, most in league history. He needs 128 yards to overtake Eric Dickerson for eighth most on the ground. … Peterson gained 149 yards rushing and scored pair of touchdowns in victory at Giants in October. … LB Ryan Kerrigan has five sacks in past three home games. … CB Josh Norman had INT against Eagles and is only NFL player with at least 10 picks (12) and 10 forced fumbles (11) since 2014. … Fantasy tip: With Norman likely to cover Beckham, and Quinton Dunbar put on IR this week, Redskins rookie CB Greg Stroman will be tasked with trying to stop WR Sterling Shepard — making Shepard good pickup, assuming he can play with rib injury that's limited him in practice.
More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP–NFL


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AROUND LA WITH AVA®: Manors and Manners
AROUND LA WITH AVA®: Manors and Manners
Most little girls go through their 'Princess' stage; pretending they live in a castle where everything is just as it should be.
Finnish Manors
There are lovely historic old Manor Houses in Finland –mostly in the southern areas. The logic of location by population concentration is amplified by the unique historic evolutions of Finnish Church and State. 'Kings Road', Lutheran/Swedish/Russian control…: our past is fascinating. Some Manors remain as such; some are now restaurants, museums, and/or hotels.
One such Manor is less than 35 miles from Helsinki on the way to the beautiful, historic town of Porvoo right on the Gulf of Finland. Haikko Manor now houses a hotel, conference center, and spa. Haikko sits on breathtaking, seaside grounds. Non-the-less, the crowning glory is the stately Manor House.
Arriving at the renowned 5 Star Resort at Haikko is like coming "home" –returning to a familiar place of wonderful past, memorable times. The long entry road that leads to the majestic circular driveway with the white Rolls Royce parked in front of a light blue Manor House is the stuff of dreams.
A sturdy, tall, bright white flagpole stands proudly sporting the Finnish Flag snapping and waving in the ever present breeze that comes from the sea just below. A long, slow, deep breath is needed at this sight. Yes, the blue in the Finnish flag and the blue in the Finnish sky are a perfect match—a fact, not the 'stuff of dreams'!
Which Came First: The Manor or The Manners?
"To the Manor born…" is a commonly used phrase with uncertain origins and vernacular. But, should it be to the "Manor" or to the "Manner"? In many languages there are words that are spelled the same but mean something different in context; other words are spelled differently but are pronounced the same—and so goes the linguistic roulette!
Does the phrase refer to the English nobility vernacular about a stately mansion or to the effete, worldly, mannered/cultured people properly trained in etiquette and the social graces?
Haikon Kartano
Finland's Haikon Kartano chooses "both" as the answer to the question pending. Haikko is a stately mansion and grounds on the seaside coast with superb, exacting 'white glove' service and world class cuisine "…where everything is just as it should be"!
Haikko History
Only 50 km from Helsinki, Haikko is one of the oldest and best known Manor Houses in Finland. Its history dates back to 1362 when the Manor was owned by the Dominican Monastery of Vyborg (Viipuri). One of its subsequent owners hosted members of the Russian Imperial Family. Finnish artist Albert Edelfelt was also a guest. For 24 Summers Edelfelt painted in his nearby studio, just a short walk from the Manor.
After the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, Russian Grand Duke Kiril Vladimirovits fled to Finland. When the exiled Grand Duke, his wife, and daughter were in town, they stayed at Haikko Manor. Son Vladimir was born and christened before they moved on. Vladimir would go on to be head of the Romanov family.
The Vuoristo family bought the Manor in 1965 and opened it as a hotel for the first time. The spa, hotel, and conference center came later in the '70s and '80s.
Today, the old Manor House still brings guests back to the world of the Russian Imperial era of the Tsars and the Russian aristocracy. The oval Yellow Room with paintings by Edelfelt remains a lovely spot to entertain visitors for high tea. It is easy to conjure those days as you look past the terrace outside to the beautiful views of the Gulf of Finland and the Manor grounds.
[On my last Haikko visit, my Dad and I hosted a Finnish couple and their American traveling companions for a spot of tea. Our guests were on their way to St. Petersburg with their Seattle visitors from The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. I hope we did not spoil the Hermitage for them!]
Back to "Both"
Having made the trip from the modern Finnish highway into the historic Manor grounds, I was warmly and graciously welcomed as an old friend would be.
Here in LA we call that initial interaction "checking in". As good as it feels, fantasy lasts only so long these days, so I did what I usually do after checking in to a hotel–I plopped on the bed in my room. It felt good. I felt good. Life was good.
After a few good 'ceiling' moments, I remembered my room overlooked the sea! I looked out through the treetops and realized that I had been removed from harsh civilization and had been transplanted into a Finnish forest! What had felt good, got even better.
It is always fun to become familiar with the written materials, brochures, room service menu, and the like as you settle in to your temporary home. As I perused the materials about Haikko Manor history, my mind was half a globe from San Diego. Then, a photo of our beloved Southern California resident Armi Kuusela [the original Miss Universe from Finland] jumped off of the page and demanded my attention. Ms. Kuusela was pictured with her husband Albert Williams in the late '70s. Among other photos featured were Finnish President Urho Kekkonen laying the Haikko Spa's headstone in 1973 and President Mauno Koivisto and his wife at a Haikko expansion 'opening' in 1983. With such folks in residence, I am sure all guests and staff used their best Manners at the Manor!!
Of course, as a premier resort, Haikko rooms have premier amenities. I was interested in something more mundane. I turned on my television set when I remembered that I had not seen Finnish TV in years. I found my fingers longing for channel surfing with the remote that is an everyday occurrence in LA.
Old Home Week
Literally, within the first hour of selective 'surfing', it was like old home week. Seemingly with the press of a button, I could go from Porvoo to LA and back—with no evidence I had left! Clicking channel to channel I found: my actress friend Anna Easteden with her new show; LA 'wonder kid' and friend Sauli Koskinen with his new show about 'friends'; and long time friend Lasse Viren's parents featured in retrospective interviews about their iconic son's 4 Olympic Gold Medals and his more recent Parliamentary career—oh, incidentally, Lasse and Päivi had their wedding celebration at Haikko 'back when'.
Still within that hour, a program on the TV Station featured Candy Spelling in her special series Selling Spelling Manor (Spellingin Kartano Myynnissä)–of all things. It was like "It's A Small World" overload hour.
Work Break
I was having way too much fun in my Haikko room—it was beginning to feel like a vacation! So, it was time to plug in the laptop to get caught up on what was happening AROUND LA and elsewhere. Checking e-mail is a pretty routine, almost rote activity in today's world. Not today. Not the way things were going.
When my mail opened, there was a message from Anna Easteden. She told me she was checking in from Zion National Park to say "HI" and tell me about her latest project. As I read Anna's e-mail from the US, I was watching that very project [hosting Wipeout] on Finnish TV. Is this fun—or what???
It is such a pleasure to follow the careers of the young fun Finns in our City of Angels. Anna Easteden has taken Hollywood by storm. She was the MC at the FinnFest Gala in San Diego a few years ago. Lively, lovely, and talented, Anna did a great job as Master of Ceremonies there and now is doing the same on an international TV show. It was such a pleasure getting to know her and her husband Rob. Following her life and career is a delight.
Next on my 'tube' watching agenda was Sauli Koskinen's Finnish show about his 'best friends' in LA. This 'wind-up-toy' of a show host is already 'best friends' or 'hope-to-be-best-friends' with all of us who have met him or who follow him on his Ilta Sanomat blog. Since Sauli barely stops to take a breath, his Finnish audiences may come away with the idea that 'best friending'—and everything else, happens quickly in LA. [And, maybe it will once again once the 405 construction is finished!]
To complete the 'friends in strange places' circle of TV viewing, one more click and there were the Spellings: Candy and Tori. It was somewhat surreal to be at a Finnish Manor watching people I have known since my sons' childhood talk about selling their home in LA (always known locally as "The Manor"). The Manor is—or was, the largest home in Los Angeles with the ultra-exclusive Los Angeles Country Club and its two golf courses in its 'back yard'.
Much of the current Spelling episode showed Candy making decisions on how to compress her living space into only two full floors at the top of a new skyscraper being built in Century City—look for the shiny new oval building near where the Finnish Consulate used to be, but south of what was the Century Plaza Hotel. With Aaron's death and Tori living with her husband and children somewhere on another TV channel, Candy felt it wise to consolidate her space into what is now known as the "Manor in the Sky".
It is always interesting to follow the lives of your children's classmates. I must admit that, even in my strange life, this is not usually the way it happens! I laughed at my tie to fame: Tori's mother and I shared a page on a school cookbook fund raising project. Her recipe was for popovers, mine for muffins.
Haikko Pool and Spa
Meanwhile: LA is known for having the most beautiful and spectacular swimming pools. Personal homes and hotels/resorts spare no expense to provide "…the best Poolside experience in the world" and they deliver ambience, service, …, and sunsets daily! For example, after visiting the Playboy Mansion one of my neighbors from the Spelling schoolmate era fashioned their new pool as a replica of the famous "grotto" there. [George Clooney's aunt now swims in that purloined pool.]
For an AROUND LA girl to go to Finland and 'go gaga' over a swimming pool should take some doing, nes't pas?
Well, it happened. But, it happened because the pool was so Finnish! The swimming pool at the Haikko Manor took my breath away. The pool is indoors for reasons that need no elaboration. When you get into the Haikko Spa pool, you are instantly in the treetops of a birch forest facing the Bay. You are enveloped in water and are swept away by real currents. There is no edge to the pool, so a moment of panic can set in before you realize that you are not going to be driven out to sea! It is an infinity pool. The heated water moves and caresses you like a newborn just out of the womb. You feel like you are bobbing up and down in a Finnish lake in the Finnish forest while (at the same time) coming to life as a newborn Finn. [Finnish technology being what it is, you can push a button and, violá, you have the 'swoosh' of waves—too bad my surfboard would not stow safely in the overhead compartment!]
The Haikko Spa is a real adult playground. Since I was almost always by myself when at the pool, I could easily fantasize the Ronanov life—even if the Spa had not been built then. Back and forth to/in and out of …the sauna and the hot tubs with varying temperatures. There is even a minus-110º C Cryonic Treatment—if you dare!
Take it from this LA insomniac, you will sleep like a newborn Finnish baby after a Haikko Spa visit! If not, you can turn on your TV to see some 'best friends' from LA!
Treatment of Veterans
I was at Haikko Manor to accompany my Dad [as required by the Finnish government for him] to attend his "rehabilitation" (Kuntoutus).On behalf of a nation grateful to its sons and daughters who preserved Finnish freedom against the Russian attacks in The Winter War and The Continuation War, the Finnish government has hosted a fully paid* ten day Spa Retreat [several premier locations about the country] with physical therapy and other amenities for its War Veterans. This awesome benefit of gratitude has been offered for decades without great fanfare, as is the Finnish way. I am writing about the grand benefit now because the special program is going away quietly as our heroes and heroines pass the age where travel is safe or beneficial. [*For my Dad, not me!]
The Veterans at Haikko Manor
About a dozen Veterans were at the Manor as part of my Father's group. Most of the 'crew' were from local areas: Helsinki, Espoo, the lake regions … . My Dad was the only one who made the trip from abroad. The War Veterans were all in their late 80s.
The Conference Center/Hotel section was the center of Veteran activities with our properly pampered octogenarians shuffling about in 'uniforms' of slippers and terrycloth robes as they worked their way through a tough day of saunas, swims, massages, facials, pedicures, and other specialties of the Spa. The mini-platoon moved en masse. Breakfast and lunch were mere steps away from the Spa facilities which were mere steps away from the guest rooms when rest breaks were in order. Conversations were as animated as Finnish men's conversations get. The volume tended to be loud—whether that was because of hearing issues or enthusiasm was not apparent. There was always a friendly hum and a warm greeting for new friends and familiar staff. The guys were having a really good time—buddies, one and all.
It was great to hear everyone's stories; their recollections, their thoughts, and their perspectives. Of course, their responses to my interrogation on their family traditions, on fishing techniques, and on preferred food preparation were eagerly absorbed and noted. Most of the conversations I was privy to took place at the dinners at the Manor House dining room.
Manners at the Manor
Dinner at the beautiful Manor House in the exquisite main dining room was the highlight of the day. The Veterans who were received promptly at 17:00 were always properly turned out in jackets and ties. [While my Father and I were there promptly and never late, we were still the last ones to arrive—how can you be on time and be late/last? I guess that is the American way.] Other than Veterans' family/aides such as me, no one else was in the dining room. The white-gloved staff was there to respectfully serve these beloved War Veterans and Lottas.
Meals at the Manor proceeded with military precision. Salad, Sir; main course, Sir; dessert, Sir. Everyone evacuated as quickly as they had arrived. No lingering to absorb the ambience or to dally in idle after dinner conversation. The 'crew' was out of barracks and on protocol!
My parents had many memorable visits to Haikko through the years. One year, the daily flag lowering ceremony was to be in honor of the gathering Veterans. Apparently my late Mother who had a beautiful singing voice was the only one who showed up. No matter! Nothing was going to stop her Lotta spirit. She started belting out Siniristilippumme with all her might. Needless to say, she gathered quite an appreciative crowd in no time. There was not a dry eye around that flagpole that night. A national representative of the Lotta organization was there for that performance and made sure my Lotta mother was recognized and honored.
Seeing that flagpole each day of our last visit made me smile—and let a tear well up, as well.
The staff at Haikko is always welcoming and gracious. But, somehow, I think they winked at each other in years past when they saw this cute elderly couple (my parents) arriving because they remembered them as the ones who kept regularly sliding out of bed onto the floor and calling for help. My Mother said the sheets were slippery. But, there may be more to the story than needs to be said here.
Things to Ponder
Cultural differences can be fun to observe and ponder. I have written about and been a speaker on cross-cultural differences in customs, processes, and social/business practices. It is a fascinating subject. For example, consider this: one of the most remarkable—and significant, differences between the Finnish and American ways of doing things is "Arrival Time".
Arrival Time Manners
Finns new to America and Americans going to Finland (business or social—matters not) take heed!
In a Finnish environment (social or business), people arrive early to be polite and to be 'ready' when the 'doors' open promptly on schedule. Really early, by American practice. It may be as a sign of respect for your host or the guest of honor; it may signal that you are happy to be there; or it may simply be because that is the way Finns do things. Most Finns do not talk unless necessary—and, certainly not about anything they assume you know, or should know. Consequently (and without instruction) plan to be 'on location' well ahead of the scheduled hour—do not be surprised to be in line waiting to 'enter' at the established hour. Each event has its own 'life cycle' or timing—for now, just follow the lead of the natives. Have no fear—they will know when to leave!
If you are invited to a Finnish home for dinner at a specific hour, you are expected to be prompt and you are usually escorted right to the table and served food. But, that is another column for another day!
If you are invited to an American home for dinner—well, that is a horse of a different color.
There is quite a difference here in the United States, not just here in 'laid-back' LA. The general 'rule' is that you arrive 15minutes later than the appointed hour—particularly for a dinner party. This 15 minute 'buffer' is to give the hostess/host a little breathing time to get herself or himself 'together'. Do not expect dinner to be served until 1 to 1½ hours later. [However, it is considered impolite to arrive after dinner has been served—particularly for a 'sit down' dinner.]
Americans like their 'social' aka cocktail hour. Mixed drinks, wine, and hor's doevres are usually served at a location other than the dinner table for this duration. Back 'when', non-alcoholic libations required a special request—now, not so often. Cocktails and socializing usually occur at a free flowing location that facilitates interaction and conversation.
Look carefully at what is being served. Once what I thought was a hot appetizer (bagna cauda) was actually a potpourri mixture of flower petals in perfumed oil with a flame under it to produce a nice aroma! And, keep your shoes on during your visit—unless you see a stack of mixed leather at the door. Usually Americans do not remove their shoes when entering a home.
Manners As "How"
Social Manners are just protocols showing kindness and proper respect for others. (Hyvät tavat) Manners are the way we act, interact, and perform in specific situations—or should. In a different day and in a different way, the 'rules' were clear and specific. If you were not certain of the proper way to respond or act, you could actually look up the 'rule' in a book or ask an elder. Manners were meant to shape a frame of mind receptive to civil interaction. The 'rules'—written and unwritten, defined a culture. I guess they still do, but it is harder to be sure! The base concept of kindness and proper respect for others has eroded, dimmed, disappeared, or otherwise become indefinable in a 'by-the-numbers' rule. Does rudeness rule by default? Can noblesse oblige survive in some fine form?
Manners and Veterans: Here and There
Finland's remaining War Veterans are held niinkuin Herran kukkarossa (like in God's wallet) and like Guests of Honor wherever and whenever they appear. Because Finland is such a young country, many of us today are in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th generations of free Finns and we feel the recentness of our Independence. Our history is part of how we think and feel as Finns since our parents, grandparents, and great grandparents 'wrote' Finland's story with their blood and treasure. Most Finns alive today know someone who was there when the bombs began to fall. Our freedom is so recent that it can remain ever fresh in our minds.
AROUND LA WITH AVA® took me to the regular June meeting of the Southern California Finnish War Veterans club [Veteraani Tuki]. Suomi Kerho opens its clubhouse to our Veterans, honoring them by giving them a home, a meeting place, a meal together, and even a movie in Finnish. Our hearts are warmed by the Veterans presence even as their own memories of their valor fade. Respecting them and thanking them is ongoing. Future generations will read of their role in our lives—we are privileged to live with them and love them as family.In the United States, Memorial Day is as sad as Thanksgiving is joyous. Both share the distinction of being focused on gratitude—not "getting" things! Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer in the United States. In many parts of this country that get Finnish type winters, the month of May brings sufficient sun and warmth to permit the snow and ice to melt enough to let folks believe that summer and real warmth will arrive one day soon.
On Memorial Day we follow proper flag Manners and fly our American flag on the 25' flag pole in front of our house. The flag is set at half staff until noon in memory of those who gave their lives—then, the flag is raised to full staff to fly proudly for the freedoms earned/preserved by those who served. Such is the prescribed protocol. Such is our practice.
There is a National Cemetery near my home—like Arlington Cemetery in Virginia near Washington, DC, that is run by the Veterans Administration. The Cemetery is on Sepulveda Boulevard just off of the 405, north of Wilshire and east of the massive Veterans Administration Hospital campus. Each grave of the thousands there is decorated with a flag placed by hand by Scouts who honor our passed American heroes each year. I drive through the Cemetery as a personal moment of pause as we approach each Memorial Day. Being inside the gates, with or without flags, creates reflection, awe, and honor. It is quite inspiring.
My dear friend, the late Greta Peck had that spirit of honor for the Veterans. Though she was born in Finland, she "…grew where she was planted" here in our City of Angels. Greta was truly a humble, though often secret angel. For 50 years—over half a century, Greta drove from Beverly Hills to the Long Beach Veterans Hospital with sandwiches she had made herself; with magazines and books; with grooming products and special things she bought or made to hand out to the Veterans hospitalized there. Wounded in body and mind, they knew Greta was their friend. Greta's spirit and smile were irresistible. Most important to the Vets was the knowledge that Greta would be back next week and next week… .
Greta exemplified the perfect combination of committed American volunteer spirit and Finnish hard work, dignity, and humility.
Manors, Manners, or Both
Liisa Niemi
We learned over Memorial Day weekend that Patrick Swayze's widow, our Finnish Liisa Niemi, remarried. Blessings, peace, and joy to Liisa and to her new husband. He will soon know for himself what so many of you already know "…Happiness Is Being Married to a Finn"!
FACCLAFF Creatives Night
May 15th was a record setting heat wave of a night in our City of overheated Angels. A networking event for the Creative Finns, Finlandia Foundation, and the Finnish American Chamber of Commerce was held in the garden at my home.
My philosophy generally (and for this night specifically) is that authentic Finnish home cooking brings out a spirit of bonding, cooperation, and fellowship whenever expatriate Finns assemble. So many are so busy making their way in a challenging new world that they do not have time (even if they have the interest and resources) to pursue preparing our heritage cuisine. Since I have that passion, I took the time because I thought it would be fun and a nice way to facilitate comfortable interaction and stimulate conversation.
I should have checked the weather forecast before I volunteered to do the cooking!
I made gravlax, poached salmon, smoked whitefish with sauces, and various salads. I made pea soup, cabbage rolls with lingonberry sauce, and individual meat pies. There was a large dish of boiled New potatoes with dill, of course. Desserts included: rhubarb crisp, fresh strawberries and blueberries, with a large mound of vanilla ice cream (a must on this hot night).
As the meeting hour approached, the temperature kept creeping up. We were now into "triple digits"**. An 'ice run' to Smart and Final was in order—for me, if not for the beverages that needed chilling. A trunkful of ice and cases of Carlsberg were loaded up and brought home.
Despite my stated "Philosophy", I quietly "deep sixed" [i.e., 'buried'/eliminated] the hot and hearty pea soup from the menu. On this night, even the most imaginative 'creative' could not conjure an image of us feeding the Finnish troops on skis in the winter. The cabbage rolls and meat pies even seemed wrong for the season, but there was not enough time to re-do the menu—or my philosophy. Usually LA nights are cool even on the hottest of days, but not this one. It felt like we were in the tropics.
With enough ice and Carlsberg, the stoic Finns carried on.
Let me tell you, there is something special about sitting under a two hundred fifty year old oak tree in LA on a warm summer evening sharing heart to heart with the likes of Niina Sallinen. Having long been a big fan of Niina, it was fun to hear of her latest news. She was in Macedonia for a One Person Show Award Ceremony recently. I was able to give Niina personal congratulations and good wishes on her latest two Awards!
The event was designed to give locals and newcomers to LA an informal opportunity to meet and to spend a few enriching moments together. Juulia Merisalo and Heidi Luukkonen are two new dynamos working at the Consulate who got to 'meet and mingle' with some of their interesting constituents. Their boss, Consul General JP Markkanen shared his vision of teamwork in the Finnish community. We toasted his efforts and service as a catalyst to bring us all together for a productive and pleasant evening.
[**Triple Digits means over 100º Fahrenheit = over 37º C.]
The Scandinavian Center Brown Bag Lunches
The Scandinavian Center at Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, CA concluded its Spring Brown Bag Lunches on May 29th with Finnish Consul General Juha (JP) Markkanen speaking on "The State of the Finnish Economy". Quoting Fred Tonsig, he noted that the Finnish economy is "hot"; Finnish international trade is "hot"; innovation and invention in Finland are "hot"; the prospects for the future are "hot"; and the Finnish people are "hot". Certainly no one who had been in my garden for our earlier quiet assembly was going to argue with his assessment!
Friends of Finland
Another great event was hosted by Consul General JP Markkanen for what he labeled the "Friends of Finland". The Consul General invited leaders of various organizations, journalists, artists and other creatives, business people and other professionals, our Lutheran pastor, and others to share their backgrounds, ideas, and visions in a brainstorming roundtable. We liked being called Friends of Finland—and everyone felt that the time spent and the information shared were very worthwhile. Our gratitude and thanks to the Consul General for bringing his spirit of cooperation to the community.
Spring Is Breaking Out All Over
You know it is Spring in Los Angeles when the jacaranda trees come alive with bursts of blue all over the city and the adorable hummingbirds are building their tiny nests on the most fragile of branches. My garden path is a blue carpet of fallen blooms. Three tiny, pea sized eggs sit in a golf ball sized nest waiting to come into their tiny lives in this wild, ruthless, gargantuan civilization called Los Angeles. Good luck little ones! I hope those pesky crows and neighborhood cats mind their Manners and do not invade your cute, munchkin Manor.
End Note
Southern California is a fabulous and fun place to be any time of year—even at 105º F. Really stimulating things happen here, if you know where. Seek them out. Occasionally, Finns need a fix of fresh Finnish air, too. Your scribe has lived, raised my family, and worked in Los Angeles for a lot of years. Still, an escape to the Homeland permits bridging both worlds and I cherish that opportunity. Sharing the good, the bad, and the fabulous/ugly is what AROUND LA WITH AVA® seeks to do. Some of our friends even show up on TV. All things Finnish are celebrated wherever and whenever just 'because'.
ALWA topics are catholic—history, culture, traditions, work, play, sight-seeing/sightings, local 'hang-outs', public/social service, travel, faith, food, people, LA/desert/Finnish life, fun, events past and pending, politics, the future of the world…whatever. Whether you are an intellectual, a TV celebrity or just one of us regular folks; a Manor Manner minder or just one of us observers; a 'mover' or just one of us 'shakers'; a seasoned traveler or just one of us wide-eyed wanderers, welcome to AROUND LA WITH AVA®. We applaud those who learn the Manners of the Manors you visit!


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Castlemorton CE Primary School is a small rural primary school situated 7 miles from Malvern. There are 95 children on roll aged 4 to 11. The school is situated close to St Gregory's Church in Castlemorton Village and is surrounded by beautiful Worcestershire countryside. The school attracts children from in and out of catchment and is proud to serve families who choose to send their children to the school.
Castlemorton is a school with high educational standards and traditions where children learn in a happy, safe and caring environment. The school has an open and welcoming ethos and is at the heart of the community. Children are happy to come to school and are enthusiastic about learning. Parents value the supportive relationships and the variety of learning opportunities provided for their children.
Our new staff team have a variety of strengths in many curricular areas. The school values the support staff who work alongside teachers to support learning and teaching for all pupils. The Governors are extremely committed and work hard to ensure that the school is making positive improvements.
Castlemorton Caterpillars offers a daily pre-school session for 2-4 year olds and means that there is a seamless transition into school for our youngest pupils.


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words ideas pictures designs
another picture of the kitchen cabinet door
what I found when I removed the kitchen counter
not sure what it is.
It might be glue.
old vine around an older (dead) tree
Newbury, Mass
cabinet door in kitchen,
made from old cherry flooring
the frame is made of cherry from Hubbard Park
dry fit of our kitchen 'island'
note the golden dome in the back of the truck,
no sign of Ceres
water and fat in the pan
August, 2010


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Saturday, July 20, 2013
Fire Hits City Duplex
Posted by Acadia News at 3:33 PM
Labels: Photo: Vic Krasowski
Woman Dead After House Fire
A 66 year old woman is dead in Lyon Township, west of Nipigon. The death was the result of a house fire which was reported to the OPP at 9:04 p.m. The victim is not being identified until her family is notified. The coroners office is investigating the cause.
Posted by Acadia News at 12:00 PM
Dryden Finances Update
Posted by Acadia News at 11:39 AM
New Dryden Sewage Plant
Construction of the new Dryden Sewage Treatment Plant is nearing completion. Manager of Public Works Blake Poole says they expect to start testing in late August. Poole stresses that the project is on budget this year. He adds that some minor work continues and the next step is getting power to the plant.
Posted by Acadia News at 11:37 AM
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To access your market data
With the opening up of the electricity market, metering data has become strategically important for all concerned. RTE has set up a service designed to provide all its customers with reliable and comprehensive data, which they can access in the way that best suits their needs.
The Dat@RTE service is a pathway for the electronic exchange of private data between RTE and the customer.
The Dat@RTE-BR base service BR service is included in your BR participation agreement and lets you access a summary of your balance perimeter.
RTE also offers the following optional extra services:
- Dat@RTE-Detailed BR Data: view details of the exchanges used to calculate your imbalance;
- Dat@RTE-BR Forecast Position: forecast your declarative position for the next day.
You will find details of all these services in the RTE catalogue of services.


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ZingSportz Air Storm ZTek Bow:
*This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.
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Outstanding Cheezy Potato Bake
oil, as needed
6 small-medium red potatoes, sliced in 1/2" rounds
1/2-1 yellow onion, sliced
vegan buttery spread, to taste (I use Earth Balance)
salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1-1 1/2 cups unsweetened nondairy milk or water
1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Prepare a casserole dish (I used an 8x8" glass pyrex) with oil to cover the bottom. Set aside. Add 1 layer of potatoes to the bottom of the dish (I used 2 potatoes per layer, for 3 layers).
2. Add some sliced onions to the top of the potatoes, season with lots of salt and pepper, and add a few dollops of vegan butter on top of the layer.
3. Add the nutritional yeast to a bowl, and pour in enough milk or water (I used a mixture) to make a sauce (medium thinness). Season this with salt and pepper. Pour some of the sauce over the first layer, but remember you need enough for 3 layers.
4. Continue to layer the dish with potato, onion, salt, pepper, vegan butter, and cheezy sauce. You should have enough sauce to pour some on top. I recommend lots of onions on top because they brown so beautifully. Make sure you season with enough salt and pepper!
5. Pour some milk in the dish to about 1/2 up the dish. Bake for 45 minutes-1 hour (until the potatoes are very tender, and the sauce is bubbling).
Honestly, we could not tell any difference between this and the au gratin potatoes of our past.
Source of recipe: I created this recipe.