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It's probably only a tad ironic that the marathon which has taken me the least amount of time to run has resulted in my taking the longest amount of time to generate a race report. There are a couple of reasons for this, the main one being that - two weeks removed from it - I still don't know how I feel about my performance in the 2011 Boston Marathon. And, so, without further qualifying equivocation, here's the report.
After the debacle which was Boston 2010 (and my running year as a whole), I had trained for and expected to run a certain time in 2011. That time was not to be. My sub-3:05 goal slipped away in the Newton Hills, but rather than an epic blowup, I managed to contain the slowdown and finish my second Boston Marathon with a new PR of 3:08:48. It's difficult to characterize the result in terms of good or bad, satisfying or disappointing. It's all of those things - and more - but the experiences from the race (and from the weekend as a whole) are more significant than the final time on the clock.
With so much going on in my life at the moment, it's difficult to know where to begin this year's race report, but it may serve everyone's interests in just focusing on the race itself. Suffice it to say that the weekend involved some personal highs and lows, as I reconnected with some friends, forged new friendships and struggled through the complicated dynamics of marital separation.
After some crazy scrambling with my friend Steve/TTM on Sunday night, where we raided a number of southern New Hampshire chain stores in search of a tarp on which to rest at Athlete's Village on Monday morning, we finally found one in the automotive section of Wal-Mart. I had not set foot in a Wal-Mart in about a decade, and Sunday night was a bit of a freak show there. Still, we acquired 160 square feet of vinyl protection, and ended up back at my place a bit after 10:00 p.m., later than either of us had hoped.
We crashed at about 11:00 and I had the alarm set for 4:00 a.m., so that we could be on the road and under the Boston Common in time to get on the first wave of buses leaving Boston for Hopkinton. The drive went smoothly, and we found James and Kevin with no problem. My other friend Steve was also supposed to meet us, but he left his phone in his car and never did find us among the assembled throng.
The ride to Hopkinton was fine, and I was calm and relaxed. I had not looked at pacing spreadsheets, brought no pace band with me, and otherwise was not thinking about tackling 26.2 miles in a certain time. Instead, I was thinking only about saving some energy early and settling into a sustainable sub-7:00/mile pace.
We arrived at Athlete's Village and set up our monstrously large tarp. Friends and strangers kept finding us, claiming small swatches of dryness as we all waited for 10:00 am to roll around. Everyone was fueling up, drinking, standing in bathroom lines, etc. Seth found me, and we hung out with his Swedish friends for a while. The wind was blowing, but the frenzy over the unprecedented tailwind had everyone feeling at peace with the weather. Sunday's storms had blown over, and the sun was shining from a brilliant blue sky.
Time passed in fits and spurts, with some segments seeming long; other moments passed by at warp speed. We all started getting our gear on, applying BodyGlide, eating, drinking, shedding layers. The whole scene definitely had the feel of a religious gathering, with shared rituals co-existing peacefully with individual habits.
The time finally came to meet up with some friends who'd come on a charter bus, check the gear bags and head to the starting corrals. I had a twinge of regret about the incompleteness of my last bathroom stop, but it turned out to be too late to do anything about it. I also forgot to put my calf compression sleeves on, which makes a second critical omission in two consecutive Bostons (forgetting my HR monitor last year).
I found my way into an overflowing Corral #8, said good-bye to one of my friends who was several corrals ahead, waited for a bit, shed my long-sleeved shirt and then pushily made my way towards the front of the corral. The energy was palpable as thousands of highly-trained, tapered runners endured their final moments of energy restraint.
The Boston Marathon boasts 115 years of distance running lore, staged on the same course year after year after year. For all the great moments and triumphs, it's a course which has surely chewed up and spit out more runners than probably any other road race in the world. As a sort of recreational runner's "All-Star" race with a pronounced downhill start, Boston tantalizes many an aspiring PR-seeker to go out too fast before paying dearly for such over-exuberance. I wanted to go out "easy" and take 3 or so miles to settle in.
Other than the annoyance of navigating the crowd, things seemed to start well. I felt an uncomfortable pang in my stomach, which I attributed to nerves and did my best to ignore. I found a tangent along the left side of the course, weaving more than I should have, but less than I wanted to.
By the end of Mile 2, I had found my groove, and was feeling good about the pace, my effort and what lay ahead. I tried to draw energy from the fans without expending any extra by high-fiving or otherwise hamming it up. I stayed alert to those around me, especially during the aid stations, but very much sought to remain in my own space.
I paid attention to my stride and form, being careful not to over-run the downhills. It seemed like I was doing fine, and my heart rate stayed relatively low throughout this segment. Somewhere after Mile 5, I passed a guy in a bodysuit animal costume. I pulled up next to him and said with a grin, "I hate when costumed runners are so fast." When I saw his face and heard him speak, I realized that he was from Japan, and he replied, "Oh, thank you. You have beautiful form." I'm guessing he didn't quite grasp what I'd just said, but I gladly accepted the compliment, knowing that if it wasn't a lie at that moment, it was likely to be soon enough.
With my stomach still a bit of a question mark, I took my first gel at about Mile 7, a Gu Roctane pineapple (no caffeine), chased by two cups of water. I'd drunk only water at aid stations to this point, and fueling-wise, I seemed okay.
In about Mile 9, I saw a runner towering over the rest of the field. I ran next to him and told him that his ability to move at that pace was very impressive. I guessed that he was 6'8" or 6'9", but he told me that he's actually 6'11", and that he's never seen anyone taller in a marathon. He said that there's nothing special about him running, as he's just putting one foot in front of the other just like the rest of us (except with about half as many strides per mile).
Up until Mile 10, the pace felt right and encouraging, such that I had a sense that it could be a stellar day. Yet, for no obvious reason, Mile 10 was very difficult. I suddenly felt labored and tight, and thought that my day may be coming to a premature end. Still, unlike in marathons past, I stayed with it, kept my wits about me, and regrouped.
This was a strange segment for me, as I didn't feel great, but remained encouraged by the mile-by-mile splits.
The Wellesley women were MUCH more boisterous than I remembered from 2010, and the "Wall of Sound" greeted us a good half-mile before the screaming co-eds came into view. Unlike last year, though, I stayed in the middle of the road, glanced at some of the scream tunnel signs and soaked in the energy and atmosphere. I felt privileged to be running the Boston Marathon, to be treated like someone special for a day. I also resolved to make sure I stayed positive for the second half of the race, regardless of what ended up happening.
I crossed the half-marathon mark exactly where I had hoped to be, at 1:31:31. I simultaneously felt hopeful and concerned. For reasons that I can't completely explain, I had a sense of foreboding, but I tried to discount it as the irrational fear of a runner attaining a new fitness level.
Mile 14 marked my second gel, a Carboom raspberry. My stomach was not calm, and the GI melodrama went into full swing, as my stomach and I transitioned from a state of a detente of benign discomfort to possible full-blown disagreement, but each time I thought about making a pit stop, there'd be no port-a-potty, and when I did see one, the urge would temporarily subside. I finally decided that I would stop, but there was a line. So, the decision essentially made itself. I was going to roll the digestive dice and see how long I could hang on.
At this point, I knew the hills were coming, and I was not sure what to expect exactly. I was prepared to slow down, but wanted to feel like I was maintaining a pretty even effort. I stayed as steady as I could, but I knew that I wasn't going to be pulling off any late-race heroics. I ground my way up the hills, and somewhere around Mile 17 or so, I felt a hand on my butt. It was a rather incongruous sensation at that point in a marathon, and I was not feeling particularly flattered or amused by the attention. I turned to see my friend Seth behind me, not a good sign. Our exchange went kind of like this:
Me: What are you doing?!
Seth: Jogging, dude. I'm done.
Me: [With a somewhat disgusted glare of disbelief] I can't talk to you now.
Seth: Cool. Go for it.
I spent the next mile or two feeling badly about having been such a jerk to my friend, but as a runner I knew Seth would understand. Given that his goal was even more ambitious than mine, I knew he was in a bad place, but I realized that I was, as well. I was very much trying to keep myself in the race mentally, to accept that marathons are not - at least at my mediocre level - all-or-nothing endeavors. I still had plenty of "room" for a PR, and I knew that I had a good chance to break 3:10.
So, I rode out the hills as best I could, and figured that - if nothing else - I would hang in longer than I did last year. Progress by degrees, rather than by leaps and bounds, became my new reality.
And, with no particular degree of pomp or circumstance, I was up and over Heartbreak Hill, slowing down, but still running.
Before this year's race, I vowed to run the last 5 miles strong and with a smile on my face. As I came down from Newton, though, I realized that "strong" was subject to situational redefinition. The promise to sport a smile, on the other hand, lay entirely within my control.
No math whiz on a good day, it's ironic that the last miles of a marathon put me in human calculator mode. I was trying to figure out what it would take to hang on and break 3:10. I had the WILL to run faster. I believe I had the CAPACITY to do so. But, in the critical moment, I lacked the ability to turn my legs over any faster than I did. I knew I was slowing down, but I refused to stop. I knew my dreams of a major marathon breakthrough were on the side of a road somewhere in the last few miles. I also realized that I was slowing down to what used to be my goal pace. In other words, my "bad day" used to be my "good day". That meant - and means - that I have reached a new level as a runner. And I took great solace in that late-race epiphany.
My reality may not yet have caught up to my ambitions, but I was getting closer. So, with that wonderful observation at the front of my fatigued consciousness, I took it all in. I gave thumbs up and pumped my arms. I smiled. I patted struggling runners on the shoulder. I beheld the Citgo sign. I enjoyed the drunken college kids, the silly signs, the air horns. I basically allowed myself to be part of this pulsing, throbbing, living mass of human energy. And it was wonderful.
Mile 25 was a struggle. I felt myself bending, but refused to break. I would not stop. I would not walk. I would not grimace or frown or wallow in self-pitying notions of what might have been.
And, with a final push, I was through the underpass, quick right, quick left. And then impossibly long final straightaway, the runner's equivalent of putting the 18th green at The Masters. And I saw the time, and I knew that I could not only break 3:10, but 3:09, too. And I did, with a 3:08:48 official time.
As usual in a marathon, I was glad to be D-O-N-E. I felt mostly numb, but not shattered like I had the year before. I did not cast murderous glances at runners in wheelchairs, didn't stumble my way while deliberating whether to seek medical attention myself. Instead, I went through the post-finish receiving line, collected some water, snacks, my medal and a space blanket, and looked for the gear buses. I went to designated meet-up area, where I saw friends who'd already finished, and waited for those who yet hadn't.
It's now May 2, and I still don't have a handle on how I feel about the way I ran in Boston. 26.2 miles yields great opportunity, but also provides a rather large platform for screwing up. Did I run too fast in some of the early miles? Did I blow my pre-race nutrition? Did the stress of life, the chronic sleep deprivation and other worldly distractions detract from my ability to run to 100% of my fitness level? I still don't know the answers to these and other related questions, but I do know that I am a new and improved runner.
And I hope that the lessons gleaned from the training cycle - discipline, persistence, focus - and the race - more persistence, flexibility, tenacity in the face of potential disappointment, joy in the moment - will carry over into my life.
After the race, a good friend of mine who is a lifelong endurance athlete now in his early 60's, wrote me the following:
We invest a lot of time and effort in trying to change a couple of minutes on race day, but when all is said and done, the time and effort changes us way more than the minutes do.So true, Dave, so true. Thus, with a nod to Dave and to President Lincoln as quoted at the start, I'll call Boston 2011 a qualified success, and an important stepping stone on the way to greater achievements, in running and in life.
Thanks for reading. -ESG/Ron


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" Hard to Find Titles "
Submitted by V.Foley on Wed, 02/20/2019 - 10:07am
Hello, and welcome to our Website! We appreciate everyone's support, and business. I would like to let our customers know, that when ordering a title, if the availabilty says "hard to find" means it is out of print, and we will not be able to order it. I do apologize that our website is a little deceiving on that aspect. If you have any questions at all about this type of title, please call the store, or you can always email us! I want to thank everyone again, and thank you for visiting our website! - Veronica

subset: commoncrawl


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Financial Tips For Youth…Priorities!
Our series of blogs over the next couple weeks will feature tips from Cynthia Behrends, mom of our 2012 College Scholarship winner! Cynthia's children are financially responsible and aware of how savings goals can play a really big role in your future. They have been credit union members since they started out in the Kirby Club. Here is part 2 of 4 blogs we will feature Cynthia's insight to keeping your kids educated and aware of finances!
How did you keep it a priority?
"I kept saving a priority when they were preschoolers by letting them participate. They would come with me when I went to the Credit Union. The first thing they would do was check out the Kirby gifts. When they asked if they could buy the item, I would ask if they had enough Kirby dollars yet. If they didn't they would go home and immediately go see how much money they had saved – some of which was Christmas or birthday money they thought they might want to spend. Their minds changed when they decided they could deposit the money and still get a Kirby gift. It was a reward for saving. They actually looked forward to going to the IAA Credit Union to see if they updated the prize selection. They began bringing their Kirby dollars with them just in cases they saw something they really wanted to purchase. Switching real money for Kirby dollars seemed pretty easy to them. It taught them that they had to save for a long time in order to purchase a gift of their choice. That began their mindset of saving which later turned into a habit of saving.
As they reached school age, I kept saving a priority by showing them how saving $1,000 grew interest whereas spending didn't. The Kirby Club allowed children to open CD's with a minimum deposit of $500 so we would open CD's as soon as they reached that amount. They knew that CD's earned higher interest rates than savings accounts so it became a game between them of who would reach the $500 first.
When they started junior high school, I showed them a mortgage amortization schedule and we discussed how much you pay in interest over 30 years. They were shocked seeing how much each $1,000 saved towards a down payment would make a big difference in the total cost of the loan. I shared with them that having 20% down payment on your first house makes life much easier.
At age 16, I opened them a checking account and obtained a Visa credit card in their name with a $500 limit. I advised them that we would reimburse for gas purchases only. Otherwise, they were to pay the balance. They needed to learn how easy it is to charge something but how difficult it is to actually pay for that item later. We also discussed the interest rates on credit cards and told them it's very important to pay off the balance every month. If you are unable to do that, then put the item back and don't purchase it.
Once they started college, I made them contribute $2,500 each year for their education. I felt it was important for them to have a partial ownership in their college education. It gives them a sense of accomplishment and they are forced to consider all purchases because their contribution to college is their number one priority. They have all realized how long it takes to earn $2,500 each year when they make slightly over minimum wage. It has taught them not to take money for granted."
Great tips and information Cynthia! I am already planning how to use what you have taught your kids to teach mine!
Category: Kids


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With energy prices increasing dramatically, Suite Control helps our clients to save energy through a range of options. For residential clients and small businesses, we use advanced lighting control and what we call 'Daylight Harvesting'. This system uses sensors to turn down lights automatically when ample sunlight is detected or turn lights off altogether when people are not present.
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Please contact Suite Control for a demonstration of how these technologies can make significant savings of energy, carbon dioxide emissions and money.


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Flowtech Fluidpower 2014 Annual Report
We have audited the consolidated financial statements of Flowtech Fluidpower plc for the year ended 31 December 2014 which comprise the consolidated income statement, the consolidated statement of comprehensive income, the consolidated statement of financial position, the consolidated statement of changes in equity, the consolidated statement of cash flows, the parent company balance sheet, the parent company reconciliation of movements in shareholders' funds and the related notes. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in the preparation of the Group financial statements is applicable law and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) as adopted by the European Union. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in the preparation of the parent company financial statements is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
This report is made solely to the Company's members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the Company's members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor's report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the Company and the Company's members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
As explained more fully in the Directors' Responsibilities Statement, the Directors are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view. Our responsibility is to audit and express an opinion on the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and International Standards on Auditing (UK and Ireland). Those standards require us to comply with the Auditing Practices Board's Ethical Standards for Auditors.
A description of the scope of an audit of financial statements is provided on the Financial Reporting Council's website at www.frc.org.uk/auditscopeukprivate.
In our opinion:
In our opinion the information given in the Strategic Report and Directors' Report for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements.
We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters where the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:
Stuart Muskett
Senior Statutory Auditor
for and on behalf of Grant Thornton UK LLP
Statutory Auditor, Chartered Accountants
14 April 2015
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Directors' Remuneration Report
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Update: I had a lot of people contact me about this post and say something to the effect of, "I've tried outsourcing. I will never, ever do it again," so I thought it might be pertinent to add play-by-play updates of the progress of my current project at the end of this post so you can see, in a bit more detail, just how frustrating and difficult this can be.
I'm often asked about outsourcing design or development work overseas. I've actually had a recent prospect balk at a proposal because he got a quote from some random overseas contractor for a fifth of what I quoted them. I don't blame him, it's an intriguing option for sure. You can hire what seems like a capable contractor overseas for a fraction of the cost of someone based in the United States.
The title of this post is about outsourcing development, because that's what this story is about. In reality, outsourcing anything is a terrible idea; design, development, whatever, and I'm going to explain why with a story about a project I'm currently working on.
First of all, let me make something clear: We never, under any circumstances, outsource client work overseas. Why? Because, as this post will explain, there's about a 90% chance that the project will either not get done right or take far too long to complete and require far too much of our time to manage.
That said, we do occasionally outsource simple in-house projects overseas, although, that will probably end very soon as well.
On with the story…
The project
We use Toggl for time tracking and Cashboard for invoicing. The problem with using two different systems is that they don't speak to each other. At the end of each month, we have to manually transfer the time from Toggl to Cashboard.
I don't like manual work, especially if it's a simple, repeatable task that can be automated. Not because it's time consuming, although that's certainly part of it, but because the opportunity for error tends to be significantly higher when you have people involved in the process.
Transferring time from one app to another is a relatively simple task that I thought could be easily automated, so I posted the job on oDesk, found an overseas developer with very high ratings, and hired him. I would never hire a contractor with less than 100 hours and anything less than a 4.5 out of 5 star rating. This guy met both criteria.
I then set up dummy Toggl and Cashboard accounts so the developer could develop and test the script.
Reason #1 why outsourcing web work is a terrible idea:
Unless you're a web designer or developer, you can't possibly think of all the potential problems that will crop up, and your developer won't tell you about them.
Since I have a programming background, and could write this script myself if I had the time, I knew there was a major hurdle we needed to jump to get this project done right.
What if the script fails to run at some point? Maybe the Toggl or Cashboard API is down or maybe the server where the script is hosted goes down. If the script isn't very smart, we then have the potential for time entries to either a) not get transferred at all, or b) get transferred multiple times. Neither of these scenarios is ok, so there would have to be some safeguards in place to ensure the script handles these situations gracefully.
I determined that the best route would be to use a database. That way we could store information about when the last run was, what happened during the last run, as well as a list of all time entries from each platform and whether they were properly transferred or not.
The developer was not originally going to do this. I had to specifically ask how this should be handled and recommend we use a database and some error logic to handle such conditions. This would make or break a project like this and if I didn't have a development background there's simply no way I would have thought about this.
Reason #2 why outsourcing web work is a terrible idea:
There are extreme cultural differences that result in a huge gap between how other cultures work and how you might expect them to work. Communication problems, misunderstandings, and rework is the norm, not the exception. If you outsource to a culture closer to ours, like Russia, you might have better luck with this, but you'll pay more and you might still have issues.
This is where we ran into a few other issues.
First, the developer either didn't understand or decided to ignore my instructions to use the dummy accounts I set up and, instead, set up and used his own accounts. He then sent me a link to review the script with no information on how to access his Toggl or Cashboard accounts to ensure time was being transferred correctly. He supplied the login after I requested it and I was then able to test everything.
Second, when I was able to test the script, it clearly wasn't working properly. I said it wasn't working. He said he found a bug and fixed it. I tested it exactly as outlined in the original project description, and it failed the tests. I said it wasn't working. He said he found a bug and fixed it. We repeated this process 4 separate times.
Finally, he was certain it was working. He even sent a screenshot of the time logged in Cashboard.
So, I login to Cashboard and I find the items in the screenshot. The problem? They weren't time entries. They clearly weren't time entries. Cashboard has a section devoted to time entries with a button that clearly allows you to "view all." There were no time entries there. The items he logged were saved as tasks, with the title of the task being the total number of seconds logged.
Let me clarify that because it bears repeating. The spec said that time entries from Toggl should be saved as time entries in Cashboard under a client and project of the same name. Simple right?
What I got was a script that took time entries from Toggl and saved them as tasks in Cashboard, with the task name being the total number of seconds for the time entry.
Under no situation would this method make sense. In no universe would it make sense to do it this way. Clearly the developer didn't understand something or I didn't explain something clearly. And it was so painfully obvious to me, but he never sent a single question to clarify.
The project is still ongoing, and as of today, we have some basic logic in place, but the vast majority of this script is unfinished. Here are some stats that might put this into perspective:
- I personally have 10.5 hours into this project so far. Important note: This is a simple script and I could have completed the entire thing myself in that amount of time.
- We've been working on this project for 4 weeks.
- I estimate we're about 20% complete.
- Based on the complexity of the script, I'd estimate I could have hired a US-based contractor to do this for roughly $1,000.
- I'm paying $300 to this overseas developer.
Even though we're only at 20%, let's assume we've got most of the miscommunication and mistakes out of the way and it'll require another 10.5 hours of my time to complete. By the end of the project…
- I will have spent 21 hours on this. We bill anywhere from $100 – $150 / hour (let's call it $100 for simplicity's sake).
- I'll have paid $300 to the developer.
- Outsourcing = $2100 in time + $300 in cost = $2400.
- I could have paid about $1,000 to have it done in the US and maybe spent 3 hours managing the project.
- Insource = $300 in time + 1,000 in cost = $1300.
- Total loss due to outsourcing: $1,100.
Ok, so $100/hr might be high because we're calculating opportunity cost here. Maybe you don't earn $100/hour or maybe your opportunity costs just aren't that high. How about $50 / hour then:
- Outsourcing = $1050 in time + $300 in cost = $1350.
- Insourcing still equals $1300.
- I still have a $50 loss due to outsourcing.
What's more is I'm managing this project. I've been writing code for 10 years. I've outsourced 30+ projects overseas. I have hundreds of hours of experience managing contractors and employees, both overseas and domestic.
Now imagine if you didn't have the knowledge and experience to foresee potential problems or write an incredibly detailed spec along with step-by-step instructions for testing? In that case the likelihood of failure would be closer to 100%.
I know 5-10 people who have tried to outsource development projects in the past. Every single one of them, every single one, were incredibly unhappy with the process. Most didn't even get a workable product in the end.
If I thought a client was really smart and really diligent, I used to recommend, if there was absolutely no other option, that they give overseas outsourcing a try. After seeing even these smart, diligent, hard working clients try and fail, I can't responsibly recommend outsourcing anymore.
Reason #3 why outsourcing web work is a terrible idea:
Because even a guy who's done web design, development, and marketing for a living for 7 years, has 10 years programming experience, and 5+ years managing employees and contractors couldn't make it worthwhile.
We've all seen commercials about getting a website and "getting found" (whatever that means) for only $9.95 a month. We see ads for freelancing sites and read about how others have saved hundreds or thousands of dollars outsourcing development work.
At first glance it all sounds great. It also sounds reasonable. Why can't someone in India get it done well for a fraction of the price? There are surely competent developers over there and their cost of living is so much lower.
In practice, however, it simply doesn't work and if you value your time and you value your business, the risk is just far too great.
I, for one, will be doing everything in-house or hiring US-based contractors from now on.
Play by play updates for the above project
Update Feb 6, 2014:
- Sent the developer a message explaining that the time entries need combined and stored as a single time entry in Cashboard.
- Received a response about 1 day later that it was working and to test it again.
- Tested it and it is now transferring time entries successfully, however, the time for only one of two test projects was actually transferred over. Plus, the time that is successfully being transferred is very clearly not being transferred according to the spec.
- This is about the 6th time I've tested this app. All 6 times it is quite clearly not working according to spec. I'm getting fed and realize, in spite of this guy's 4.5 /5 rating on oDesk and nothing but glowing reviews, he's basically a code factory, pumping out code seemingly just for the sake of pumping out code. I'm considering just cutting my losses and moving on, but then decided I could update this post as things are happening to help out anyone who is still seriously considering outsourcing dev work.
- I decide I need to write step-by-step instructions on how to test this thing and tell him not to send it back to me until all the tests pass. The following is what I send him:
Create the Toggl entries:
- Delete all projects and all time entries in both Toggl and Cashboard to start from the beginning.
- Create one Client in Toggl called Client 1
- Create one project in Toggl called Project 1 and assign that to Client 1
- Create a second Client in Toggl called Client 2
- Create a second project in Toggl called Project 2 and assign that to Client 2
- Create a billable time entry on 12/13/2013 for 23 minutes in Toggl for Client 1, Project 1.
- Create a non-billable time entry on 12/23/2013 for 189 minutes in Toggl for Client 1, Project 1.
- Create a billable time entry on 12/20/2013 for 33 minutes in Toggl for Client 2, Project 2.
- Create a non-billable time entry on 12/24/2013 for 42 minutes in Toggl for Client 2, Project 2.
- Create a billable time entry on 01/13/2014 for 89 minutes in Toggl for Client 1, Project 1.
- Create a non-billable time entry on 01/23/2014 for 133 minutes in Toggl for Client 1, Project 1.
- Create a billable time entry on 01/20/2014 for 75 minutes in Toggl for Client 2, Project 2.
- Create a non-billable time entry on 01/24/2014 for 541 minutes in Toggl for Client 2, Project 2.
- Create a billable time entry on 02/02/2014 for 123 minutes in Toggl for Client 1, Project 1.
I've attached a spreadsheet with all the time entries you should enter in Toggl.
Create the clients and projects in Cashboard:
- Create one client in cashboard called Client 1
- Create another client in cashboard called Client 2
- Create a third client in Cashboard called Client 3
- Create a project in cashboard called Project 1 and assign that to Client 1
- Create another project in cashboard called Project 2 and assign that to Client 2
- Create another project in cashboard called Project 2 and assign that to Client 3
Check the results:
- Run the script
- You should end up with the following time entries in Cashboard:
- Client 1, Project 1 – 12/31/2013 – 0.4 hrs
- Client 1, Project 1 – 01/31/2014 – 1.5 hrs
- Client 2, Project 2 – 12/31/2013 – 0.6 hrs
- Client 2, Project 2 – 01/31/2014 – 1.3 hrs
- Client 3, Project 2 should have no time logged.
- Run the script again.
- You should not have any additional time entries after the script runs the second time.
Update: Feb 7, 2014
- I get a response less than 12 hours after sending the above test steps. I knew it wasn't going to be good.
- Dev says he modified my requirements (without telling me) and the script now runs on the last day of the month.
- He also says you cannot access previous month's data from the Toggl API and that's why they changed the functionality (without telling me). This is simply not true.
- I remind him that his implementation won't meet my requirements, because, aside from directly violating the spec, if the script fails to run on the last day of the month for whatever reason (maybe the Toggl API is down), his current implementation won't ever get those time entries transferred.
- I remind him this is the reason I suggested using a database, which he agreed to, but now I'm not convinced the script is using a database. I remind him it should.
- I say the script should be modified so that all tests pass as I sent in my previous message and that I can't budge on that – those tests are the only way to ensure the script is meeting my spec.
Update: Feb 8, 2014
- Just noticed the Toggl API key is different for every user. Not sure if it'll be able to pull time for all users or will only pull time for the one user. Developer hasn't ever mentioned this. Need to ask him about this but I suspect it hasn't been considered.
Update: Feb 11, 2014
- Got a message from dev saying it's almost working. My tests were designed so that there would be 2 projects with the same name under 2 different clients. The script should be able to differentiate based on the client – I feel like this is fairly obvious. Dev said that was not my original requirement but it's not unreasonable at all to assume 2 projects for 2 different clients could have the same name, so I responded and said it needs to handle that.
- Looking through the Toggl API docs, I noticed that the time entry API will only pull the most recent 1000 entries, and only for the user who's API is given. In order to ensure you get all time entries you need to use the reporting API, which will also give all time entries if you use a manager's API. So that will solve both my issues but I'm not sure the dev knows this so I emailed him.
- I've got another API integration and since this will be my last time outsourcing this, I started writing it myself last night. Took me 4 hours to write about a third of it. Definitely should have just written this thing myself.
Update: Feb 14, 2014
- I've decided to cancel this project. I'm out 30% of the cost that I paid up front, but at this point it's not worth moving forward. In fact, as far as I can tell, little has changed from the last iteration.
- Even after sending detailed, step-by-step test instructions, it's still not working properly.
- Times don't add up to the correct amounts.
- If you run the script twice in a row, all the time entries get duplicated.
- The time entries are saved on the day the script is run, not the last day of the previous month.
- I wrote the entire thing myself over the last week and it took 8 hours.
- So far I have 11.5 hours just managing this project. I actually lost time outsourcing it over just doing it myself.


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About Us
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Fitness FAQs - Ask Adam*
Q: What's the difference between Custom Fitness Consulting and a personal trainer?
Custom Fitness Consulting
Personal Trainer
Provides a service.
Provides a program.
Provides a fitness plan specific to your goals.
Guides you through a circuit of exercises.
Provides a nutrition plan that complements your fitness plan.
May provide advice on nutrition, but not a nutrition plan.
Support 24/7.
Support during workout session.
Provides both virtual and in-person coaching.
In-person training only.
Clients can be located anywhere in the world that has phone reception or Internet access.
Clients must be local.
First-hand experience with bodybuilding competitions and training for events.
Focuses on basics and functionality of exercises. Typically, no experience in bodybuilding.
Q: It seems like everyone these days is on a gluten-free diet. What's wrong with gluten? Is it really bad for you?
Yes and no. People with celiac disease have an intolerance to gluten, and, therefore, must eliminate it from their diet. However, most people who adhere to a gluten-free diet do it simply because it makes them feel better. They mistakenly assume that it's the elimination of gluten that makes them feel good, when, actually, it's the cutting down of refined carbs that does it. So, no, there's really no need to buy expensive, cardboard-tasting gluten-free foods—just eat healthier carbs.
Q: Are carbs bad for you?
Again, yes and no. All carbs are not created equal—some are bad and some are good. Good carbohydrates—whole grains, beans, vegetables, fruits—provide energy and fiber. Bad carbs—added sugars and refined "white" grains—provide calories, and that's about it. It's all about choices.
Q: How do I keep my blood sugar from spiking? I'm not diabetic, but after the initial boost from carbs, I'm wiped out.
First of all, make sure that your carbs are complex carbs. Second, you can slow down the absorption of the sugars by eating a good fat with your good carbs. Example: eat an apple (which is a simple carb with nutritional value) with peanut butter (good fat). YUM!
Q: What diet do you recommend for weight loss?
I don't. "Diet" is a bad word—erase it from your vocabulary. I recommend lifestyle changes: smart food choices; moderate food portions (just say NO to super-sizing); and eating four to six times a day.
Q: What about supplements; do you recommend dietary supplements?
Yes, I do. However, it's always better to get your recommended daily allowances through the foods you eat. Unfortunately, that's not always possible, especially if you're on a restricted number of macros for weight loss or for competition prep. Therefore, I recommend the following supplements for everyone:
Green drink – This is actually somewhere between a supplement and a food; it's a drink made from whole food concentrates. An example is Nature's Green by No-Tek.
Multivitamin – Multivitamin capsules—true capsules that contain powder—are better than pressed tablets or caplets because your body absorbs them more quickly. Plus, the ingredients of those high-quality multivitamins are combined in correct proportions, so you can be assured that the benefits of one vitamin don't cancel out the benefits of another.
Fish oil – Good for cardiovascular health. Choose a product that's high in EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid)—three to five grams each.
Fiber – To reach the recommended daily allowance of fiber through your foods alone, you'd have to eat a TON of vegetables. Your skin would turn orange from all the carrots! So, to maintain your digestive health, I recommend a fiber supplement.
Coenzyme Q-10 (CoQ10) – CoQ10 is found naturally in the body; it promotes cell growth and maintenance. It also functions as an antioxidant, protecting the body from harmful molecules. Foods high in CoQ10 include organ meats: heart, liver, kidney. Since organ meats are typically high in cholesterol, I recommend this as a supplement.
Calcium with vitamin D – Most women can achieve their recommended daily allowance of calcium through the foods they eat: milk, yogurt, cheese, cottage cheese, etc. But if dairy products aren't part of your regular diet, I recommend a calcium supplement with vitamin D to build and maintain bone mass.
IMPORTANT: Vitamin D helps with the absorption of calcium, so be sure your supplement has both.
Q: Do you develop nutritional plans for vegetarians and vegans?
Yep. Since only a handful of plant foods provide a complete protein, our vegetarian menus combine the essential amino acids to create a complete protein.
Q: Is it better for me to eat before or after my workout?
Both, actually. Before you work out, you need a little bit of proteins, carbs, and fats to sustain you through your exercises. For example, a banana and a handful of almonds are good before your workout. After you work out, you need to consume a fast-acting protein within 30-45 minutes to help repair your muscles. One example of a fast-acting protein is hydrolyzed whey protein (ISO 100 Dimatize). Alternatively, you could eat a chicken breast, which is a low-fat whole food that's high in protein.
ALSO—not necessarily a workout thing, but definitely a timing thing—if you're trying to build muscle mass, a bedtime snack of cottage cheese or some other mutiblended protein, such as Prosein Vitasport, will extend the length of time your body gets nutrients while you sleep.
Q: What are the best exercises to do to lose weight—cardio or weight training?
Both—and during the same session. Start with resistance training to support lean muscle mass and a healthy metabolism, and then move to cardio to burn calories and increase endurance. The amount of time you spend performing each type of activity varies depending on your goals.
Q: I thought I was supposed to do weight training every other day. Don't my muscles need time to recover?
You're right; you're muscles do need time to recover; however, you don't need to miss out on the benefits of a daily weight-resistance workout. Instead of working the same muscles day after day, vary your routine: do upper body one day and lower body the next day. Or focus on a single muscle group each day of the week: Monday – chest; Tuesday – back; Wednesday – shoulders; Thursday – arms; and Friday – legs.
Q: Are abs upper body or lower body?
Doesn't matter; unlike your other muscles, your abs can be worked daily.
Q: I've heard that doing planks is better than doing crunches. Is that true?
It depends on what you want to accomplish. If you want to strengthen your core, then planks work great; if you want 6-pack abs, then that would be crunches.
Q: I don't feel challenged by my weight-training exercises anymore. Should I increase the number of reps or the amount of weight?
The optimal number of reps for most exercises is between eight and 12. If you're a beginner, two to three sets are good; if you're more advanced, three to five. If you can perform the appropriate number of reps with good form without exhausting the muscle, CONGRATULATIONS! Now, increase the weight by 10%.
Q: The day after I work out, I'm so sore I can't move. Is that normal?
Well … yes and no. You've heard the phrase "no pain, no gain"? That pretty much sums it up. If you work your muscles to the point of exhaustion—as you should—then you're going to feel achy the next day. But if your condition prevents you from working out, then you've pushed a little too hard. Remember, stimulate, don't annihilate.
Q: I'm doing the same exercises as my friend, but our muscles look different. How do I change the shape of my muscle?
You can change the shape of your body, but you can't really change the shape of your muscle. The shape of your muscle—where it's inserted and attached—is genetic. You can, however, change its size, which makes it look different.
Q: What about my waist? My waist and my friend's waist measure the same, but my friend's waist looks smaller. What gives?
It's all an illusion of proportions. You can make your waist appear smaller by developing your chest, shoulders, arms, glutes, and legs.
Q: Any suggestions for someone just starting a fitness routine?
Most definitely:
Do only half of what you think you can do. It doesn't take much to overdo your first time out, and you won't even know it … until later.
More is not better. Start where you are and increase your output gradually.
Sleep and nutrition are as essential to your success as working out.
Proper form is more important than the amount of weight you use.
During a cardio workout, you should be able to carry on a conversation. If you can't, back off.
Virtual Fitness Coach
Q: I've never heard of a virtual/online/long-distance coach. How does that work?
Virtual fitness coaching requires you to be self-motivated. Unlike working with a personal trainer, your virtual fitness coach is not in the gym with you walking you through the exercises. Instead, you receive your fitness and nutrition plans by email and you are responsible for follow-through.
What if I don't understand the plans?
Call, text, or email me directly.
How can you tell if my fitness and nutrition plans are working?
Each week you send me progress pictures, your measurements, and your weight. Based on that information, I tweak your plans to keep you moving forward.
Q: I'm not sure I'm able to do this on my own. (Oops … sorry … that's not a question.)
That's OK. Trust me when I say, You Are Not Alone. I am available 24/7. Feel like bingeing? Call me. Not sure how to execute an exercise? Call me. Feeling overwhelmed and stressed? Call me. The more you communicate with me and tell me what's going on in your life, the more I'll be able to help you and keep you on track.
*Results May Vary: Fitness and/or weight loss results will vary from person to person. No individual result should be seen as typical.
All information and tools presented within this site are intended for educational purposes. Any health, diet or exercise advice is not intended as medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health care provider before beginning a new health care regimen; any weight loss program, exercise, training regime or any diet. Our services are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
About Us
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text:
Effective financial planning includes preparing for the worst. An emergency savings account, a fully funded retirement account, employer paid disability insurance if available, long-term care insurance and tax planning are essential parts of a robust financial plan. While employer paid disability insurance benefits can be taxable, benefits of private disability insurance is not. Tax treatment of disability income varies depending on the circumstances.
In most cases, private disability insurance benefits are not taxable.
Private Disability Insurance Taxable or Not
Whether your disability benefits are taxable depends on who paid for your disability insurance premiums. If you had the foresight, income and fiscal discipline to pay for private disability insurance out of pocket, the disability benefits you receive from that private policy are not taxable income. Government benefits, such as SSI, Social Security disability and military disability benefits, also are not taxable.
Long term disability premiums paid by employer are often an employee benefit, and if your employer paid your disability insurance premiums, the IRS considers those benefits as part of your salary or wages. That means the benefits you receive from the employer-paid policy are taxable as earned income.
In some circumstances, both you and your employer may have paid disability insurance premium payments for the same policy. Where your premium payments are mixed, your disability benefits, for tax purposes, are also mixed between taxable and nontaxable income. The insurer will report the taxable portion of your premiums to the IRS as income and send you a statement for your records.
Individual Retirement Arrangements
In some cases, if you're disabled, you may also be able to withdraw funds from individual retirement arrangements and other retirement accounts without a tax penalty. The general rule for retirement account withdrawals is that the account holder must wait until she reaches retirement age before she withdraws retirement funds. Early withdrawals are subject to ordinary income tax plus, in most circumstances, a penalty equal to 10 percent of withdrawals.
An exception to the rule enables an account holder who becomes disabled before she reaches retirement age to withdraw retirement funds without incurring the penalty, although she must still pay ordinary income tax on the funds. The IRS treats these withdrawals as earned income, not pension income, so the account holder remains eligible for the earned income credit, a tax credit for taxpayers whose earned income is relatively low.
Minimizing Taxes on Disability Income
There are steps you can take to help ensure that you don't pay more tax than you need to on your disability income. In most cases, you can request that your insurer withhold income tax from your benefits, similar to the way your employer would be withholding taxes from your wages if you were still employed. You can also make quarterly tax payments on your taxable disability income. Prepaying a portion of your taxes helps you avoid late fees, interest and penalties if you can't pay your taxes when they're due.
Video of the Day
Photo Credits
- Hemera Technologies/AbleStock.com/Getty Images


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"Leave no government-run health care program and handout to the insurance cartel behind." That is the guiding principle of the unibrow party in Washington.
After fully capitulating to the Democrats on the debt ceiling, everything in the budget bill, an insidiously bloated disaster-relief bill attached to the package, and the promise for amnesty and insurance bailouts, the GOP is quietly giving Democrats everything they want on Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) reauthorization.
The question nobody is asking in Washington, or even cares to ask, is: Why should we even have CHIP at this point, now that Obamacare isn't going anywhere?
In 1997, rather than dealing with the root cause of price inflation in health care and health insurance — namely, government handouts to the insurance cartel — Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, created yet another government-run program funneled through the insurance cartel.
The State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), now simply called CHIP, was designed as a shared federal-state insurance program for children and pregnant women in families whose incomes are too high to be eligible for Medicaid.
Like every other entitlement program, SCHIP started off modestly but rapidly mushroomed into a permanent dependency program. There are now 8.9 million individuals enrolled at a cost of $15 billion, with the federal government picking up three-quarters of the tab.
Much of the expansion occurred during the Pelosi reign of terror in 2009 when the funding, eligibility, and benefit requirements of the program were dramatically increased. As a result, 12 states don't contribute a penny to the program. I guess that's why they cropped off the "S" from SCHIP.
By now, some of you might be wondering why we still have the program. We destroyed the entire health care system in order to massively expand Medicaid, mandated everyone purchase insurance, we subsidize everyone else's insurance up through 400 percent of the poverty rate and leave those above that level in the lurch. Why do we need CHIP after enactment of Obamacare?
Even the drafters of Obamacare essentially envisioned the end of CHIP, which is why they had funding for the program expire in 2015. Between the massive expansion of eligibility for Medicaid and the dependency-driven subsidies under Obamacare, there was no longer a legitimate rationale for the existence of CHIP – even from a liberal perspective. Liberals cannot argue that Obamacare was the end-all for universal coverage and then demand reauthorization of CHIP.
Yet, rather than pocket the one ancillary benefit of Obamacare and let a smaller program expire simply by doing nothing, Republicans agreed in 2015 to a two-year reauthorization of the program as part of a massive $400 billion Medicaid doc fix bill, which created nightmare red tape on doctors (the MACRA payment system). Not only did the Republicans reauthorize CHIP, they expanded funding for the program by as much as $6 billion a year. (Conservative Review included that vote in our Liberty Score.)
This was done with GOP control of the House and Senate. Yet, two years later, with control of all branches of government, rather than letting a government program expire simply by doing nothing, Republicans have once again agreed to reauthorize the program for another five years!
There wasn't even a battle over the program. Any GOP official committed to their party's platform would make it clear that CHIP is unnecessary when coupled with Obamacare, and would demand that Democrats pick one or the other. The country could then use the $15 billion in savings for missile defense or border security. But don't hold your breath.
Some in the "Big Government conservative intelligentsia" are enamored with the CHIP program and will claim that it is less costly and more efficient than the Obamacare exchanges. But if that's the case, Republicans should hold back on reauthorization of CHIP until they secure concessions from Democrats on Obamacare.
Instead, they are preemptively admitting that CHIP reauthorization is must-pass legislation and are agreeing to fully reauthorize it without any reforms to Obamacare, Medicaid, or broader supply-side health care reforms.
While this all is not making waves in the media, it is perhaps the superlative example of the failed cycle of government.
They create a new program because the first one failed … but then never abolish the original one. But again, this is not about helping the poor; this is about using dependency to create more votes and lining the pockets of the insurance cartel that administers the programs. Thus, government can only add programs but not rescind or even replace them.
This is why our politicians subscribe to the rules of the ancient Persian government described in the book of Esther (9:8), "For a writ that is written in the name of the king and sealed with the king's ring cannot be rescinded."
Look no further than the top lobbyists for 2017, almost all of them are part of the health care cartel:
This is why the voters are no longer presented with a choice. Because the special interests are in lockstep with endless growth of government, the options we are presented operate exclusively within the confines of the Democrat premise on any given issue. And that premise is "Leave no wasteful government program behind."
Daniel Horowitz is a senior editor of Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @RMConservative.


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This is the band led by Bradley Nowell. For the band led by Rome Ramirez that likewise has Eric Wilson and Bud Gaugh as members see Sublime With Rome.
Annotation last modified on 2016-05-04 22:11 UTC.
Showing official release groups by this artist. Show all release groups instead, or show various artists release groups.


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This experiment has led to some deep musings (is that an oxymoron?):
Like many women today, I have the superwoman complex – I must have it all and do it all – marriage, kids, career, hobbies and, of course, enlightenment and improvement in all possible areas. Thus this experiment – to introduce my family to local, seasonal, organically grown produce, good for our bodies and our planet. But in the process, I have learned that my culinary skills are very, very limited! I know how to cook what I grew up eating, and I'm really good at the semi-homemade approach to cooking using some prepared foods and some fresh. But when it comes to trying new ingredients and cooking from scratch, I am doubly challenged because there are so many techniques I'm not very familiar with. And when you have young kids you're trying to feed and get into bed after you get off work and before their 8:00 bed time, trying to teach yourself new recipes and new techniques can cause a Type-A, first-born, perfectionist Super Woman like myself to nearly go catatonic.
I'm sure I'm not alone in this. Which leaves me scratching my head and asking a lot of questions: What is the new model going to be with moms not staying at home to slow cook all day and gradually passing their skills on to the next generation of little women? More dads are staying home with the kids, but are they doing the slow-food-from-scratch thing which they'll then pass on? Probably not. And with so little time and energy on my hands, when do I teach my kids the little bit that I know? And when do I learn more myself? I am lucky enough to observe Bob and Lenore in action throughout my work day, but that's while running the store and manning the reservation line. So my learning is taking placing very slowly.
The only conclusion I have to come to is that I have to "lighten up," as my mother told me often in my youth. When I get my CSA basket, rather than pressuring myself to do something new and different every night, I may have to deem one night a week New Recipe Night and get in the kitchen early armed with a recipe from Bob and Lenore's cookbook which I can faithfully follow rather than rushing and improvising.
Here's what has most recently appeared on the Bonn table with ingredients from the CSA basket:
The biggest hit was, of course, the burgers and hash. The kids were intrigued by the beets, and we talked about how beet juice has been used as a natural coloring agent throughout the ages. Unfortunately, these beets were small and young and not quite as sweet as others I've had, so they didn't go over well. I wonder if they'd like those pickled beets from a can I hated as a kid?! The boiled potatoes and carrots would have been well-received had I not included the cabbage. I chopped it up real fine so they couldn't avoid which just made them mad! I do have a wee bit of knowledge and saved the stock from the boiled vegetables for another night to use when cooking rice.
And that brings me to the end of another week in the life of the Green Project. I welcome your comments on our Facebook page.


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Jason Hazelwood
Jason Hazelwood is a partner at Reed Smith, in the firm's Commercial Litigation Group, and has a practice that focuses on both complex commercial litigation and financial services litigation, including numerous class actions related to both. Jason has handled a wide array of matters involving diverse areas of litigation, including the Fair Credit Reporting Act, Fair Debt Collection Action, Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, Truth in Lending Act, complex business disputes, securities litigation, health care, antitrust, landlord/tenant, construction, personal injury, negligence, and vast array of general commercial litigation. He has advised global financial institutions, Fortune 500 companies, corporate directors, foreign issuers, and various other corporate entities.
For two years, Jason served as in-house counsel for a large financial institution, managing and defending a significant portfolio of mortgage-related litigation which has given him a unique perspective of the rigors and pressures on in-house counsel that enables him to provide ultra-responsive client service. He performed all functions of an in-house counsel, including overseeing more than 300 matters, developing strategy and settlement recommendations, supervising outside counsel, and coordinating with client decision makers. In addition, Jason managed a team of lawyers at Reed Smith providing similar inhouse functions. Upon returning to Reed Smith, Jason managed a large portfolio of those same cases as outside counsel for the same client.
Jason has acted as lead counsel in jury and bench trials in state and federal court. He has also handled matters in alternative dispute resolution forums, including the American Arbitration Association ("AAA") and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ("FINRA"). In addition, Jason serves on the Board of Directors at the Pennsylvania Economy League of Greater Pittsburgh and the Design Center.


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Uglyworld #2054 - Loungering Once Agains - (Project Cinko Time - Image 256-365), a photo by www.bazpics.com on Flickr.
Project Cinko Time - Image 256/365
It's hellos once again for an airporters lounge, this times I is in Frankfurters waitering on our hairyplane to gets itself ups out of bed, eaters it's brekkiesfast and does it's warmer ups excermacisers before flyerings us safely to Chinas!
The gooders thing about travellerings with baz is that he has done so much travellerings with his jobs (which he has dones the same kinds of things for over 21 years, wowzers) that he has golders and platinumers cards for almosts any kinds of places you can imaginers.
Golds card for the hairyplane, checks, platinums card for the hotels, checks, seriouslies, sometimes it's too easiers to forgets that he has had to spenders so much times away from homes in his workers life, but he knows that the cookie cave is always the perfects place to comes home to!
Okays, enough talkerings, time to makes the mosts of all the free goodies I can lays my flippers on before we flyers off, speaks to you from Chinas tomorrow!
From the Uglydoll blog at blog.adventuresinuglyworld.com/
And on Twitter at - @uglyadventures
On Google at - plus.google.com/110890957394686361214/post


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Spare Time Northampton- City Sports Grille - 3/23
with Cheri Drexler, Barkeep Extraordinaire
Another fine CatJam, as I like to call 'em, with the amazingly talented and (equally important) skilled Eva Marie Cappelli guest hosting yesterday. My sister just happened to happen by this week, and so Eva has a new fan. Shes that good (Eva, I mean) that a new listener will latch on to her at first listen, just as I did. Evas voice is perfect (even if her mic was a tad loud); she belts em out or sings them softly, just as the material calls for. And the material, strictly her own (few if any covers here), is the next thing to draw in the novitiate. With clever, intelligent, and relevant lyrics and rightly matched instrumentation, the songs grab you. Clarity helps, too- Evas enunciation and diction make it easy to hear the words. Shes a great singer!
So the new listener is drawn in easily enough, especially when Eva starts off with few of her own rockers. Joe Fitzpatrick plays whatever he plays just as perfectly as Eva, so theres a great match. Jopeys drumming, heard all around the Valley these days, like with Wildcat himself, or Tommy Whalen; or on recordings such as Doug Hewitts new Roots in the Sky CD (with Rudi Weeks on bass), is immaculately flawless. In fact, since Joe was the house drummer for this weeks CatJam, along with the similarly flawless Gene Lavoie on bass, it was a perfect showcase for his capricious skills.
Bruce Korona played lead for Eva, as happens fairly often. I am always struck by how well B. Joseph matches his pyrotechnics to Evas style. Bruce is a fiery player; his pedigree is mostly hard rock, but his professionalism shows when he plays to the songs. About an hour into the CatJam, Eva stepped aside to sing backup for Bruce and sister Gail as they did a set. Its always a treat to have Gail step up to the mic; shes a house fave and a Cat treat as well!
Dan Margolis came on and belted out a few with Joe and Gene, including Muddy Waters Im Ready, which we dont hear a whole lot, so... cool! Shawn Mansfield, another Eva-and-everywhere guy, joined for a set, so we got a double dose o Dan- even cooler!
A new jammer, a young lady known only as Ally, sang Son of a Preacher Man, another treat for us all. After a set by Ed and His Shiny Red Guitar, with fills from Bruce and drums by a new jammer, the jam started to kick up a notch- as it always does at about half-way through. The room gets to be about half-capacity, with maybe a hundred or so humans in the house, and were all settled in, warmed up... and then, of course, Joe Dulude comes along. Before he even plays, Joey dances! Look out yall, the partys just getting started! And whos the cute chick hes hangin with?
At 6:30, things took a serious turn... seriously jammin, as Tommy Whalen took the stage. Local legend Chet Pasek started slapping the skins somewhere along the way, and then Joe Dulude came on while Tommy stayed. My two current man-crushes, on stage together- what could be better? Joe started with Brown Sugar, a new treat for the CatJam, and Tom traded licks and vocals excellently.
Gene The DancinMachine Lavoie held down the bass for most of the jam, though Shawn Mansfield gave him a break or two so he could join his wife and prove his nickname. And Joe Fitzpatrick managed to get back behind the drum kit somewhere along the way; its all so much fun that one cant possibly keep track of it all... At any rate, the CatMan called Eva back with forty or so minutes left to go; she playfully rolled through a few more of her excellent songs before Wildcat came on to count in Spanish, which leads into Woolly Bully and signals that the end is near. As always, the jam finishes with Got My Mojo Workin, and that right there is worth the price of admission- which is to say, its deal, cause this deal is free. We win!


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Artwork - Printmaking - 'Port Lockroy Refuel' by Geoffrey Ricardo
From the Collection of Federation University Australia Art Collection Artworks are displayed at Federation University Australia campuses at Ballarat, Gippsland (Churchill), Stawell and Horsham. Victoria
- Unframed limited edition photo etching.
Promised gift under the Australian Government's Cultural Gift Program.
- 29.5 x 35.0 cm
- geoffrey ricardo, framing required, promised cultural gift
- 2009
- Geoffrey Ricardo (Maker)
- Signed lower right "Ricardo 2009"
- 8 Aug 2018 at 4:19PM


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New City Catechism Week 33 Resources
Week 33 Question:
Should those who have faith in Christ seek their salvation through their own works, or anywhere else?
Week 33 Answers:
No, they should not, as everything necessary to salvation is found in Christ.To seek salvation through good works is a denial that Christ is the only Redeemer and Savior.
Week 33 Verse: Galatians 2:16
We maintain that of whatever kind a man's work may be, he is regarded as righteous before God simply on the ground of gratuitous mercy; because God, without any respect to works, freely adopts him in Christ, by imputing the righteousness of Christ to him as if it were his own. This we call the righteousness of faith, that is when a man, empty and drained of all confidence in works, feels convinced that the only ground of his acceptance with God is a righteousness which is wanting in himself, and is borrowed from Christ. The point on which the world goes astray (for this error has prevailed in almost every age), is in imagining that man, however partially defective he may be, still in some degree merits the favour of God by works…. God reconciles us to himself, from regard not to our works but to Christ alone, and by gratuitous adoption makes us his own children instead of children of wrath. So long as God regards our works, he finds no reason why he ought to love us. Wherefore it is necessary that he should bury our sins, impute to us the obedience of Christ which alone can stand his scrutiny, and adopt us as righteous through his merits. This is the clear and uniform doctrine of Scripture, "witnessed," as Paul says, "by the law and the prophets" (Rom. 3:21).
John Calvin (1509–1564). A theologian, administrator, and pastor, Calvin was born in France into a strict Roman Catholic family. It was in Geneva however where Calvin worked most of his life and organized the Reformed church. He wrote The Institutes of the Christian Religion, the Geneva Catechism, as well as numerous commentaries on Scripture.
From "The Necessity of Reforming the Church" in Theological Treatises, edited and translated by J.K.S. Reid, The Library of Christian Classics(Louisville: WJKP, 1954), 199.
Video Commentary
NCC Q33: Should those who have faith in Christ seek their salvation through their own works, or anywhere else? from The Gospel Coalition on Vimeo.
Supporting Scriptures
Mark 1:15; Acts 20:21; Acts 2:38; Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 4:16; John 20:30-31; Galatians 2:15-16; Philippians 3:3-11
Glory in Christ. Glory not in your own faith, your own feelings, your own knowledge, your own prayers, your own amendment, your own diligence. Glory in nothing but Christ. Alas! The best of us know but little of that merciful and mighty Saviour. We do not exalt Him and glory in Him enough. Let us pray that we may see more of the fullness there is in Him.
John Charles Ryle (1816–1900). The first Anglican bishop of Liverpool, Ryle's appointment was at the recommendation of Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. As well as being a writer and pastor, Ryle was an athlete who rowed and played cricket for Oxford University. He also was responsible for the building of over forty churches.
From Holiness (Lightning Source, 2001), 115.


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Every woman wants to be heard, seen, loved and understood by her partner...
Every woman desires a man who wants to make her happy and fulfill her needs and wishes whenever possible.
When it comes down to it, we all want a relationship of mutual love, respect, honor, admiration and appreciation.
EVERY woman deserves this kind of relationship.
Yet, whether you're struggling in a current relationship, perpetually single, out on the dating market or recently divorced, that "perfect" relationship you want and deserve can feel very far away.
You may find yourself asking: "Why is it so hard to find a good man?" or "What happened to the man I used to date? Why did he change?" "Why did he stop caring?" or "Why did he stop calling?"
These are all-too-common questions women ask when they feel defeated in their relationships with men. But they don't have to be this way….
According to relationship expert, teacher and author of The Queen's Code, Alison Armstrong, these kinds of questions indicate a "disconnect" between the sexes — a great misunderstanding of sorts that creates a vicious cycle in which women and men end up feeling defeated and wondering what in the world happened.
The good news is you can overcome this cycle…. if you're willing to try on some new tactics and a new perspective.
YOU can completely change your dynamics with men and actually shift the way they relate to you....
Below are a 3 key steps from Armstrong's teachings that can empower you to transform your relationships for the better:
1. Understand that Men Aren't Just Hairy Women
Calling men "hairy women" may make for a funny picture, but it could be an accurate way of describing how men and women fall prey to misperceptions.
Men aren't the same as women — the sexes have evolutionarily handed-down, biological, hormonal differences, which actually change the way our brains function.
This, in turn, changes the way we process information, communicate, how we access and interpret our emotions — and even our body language. In other words, men and women are running on different operating systems.
The trouble with this is that men and women often can't see each other for who we really are.
We project our gender's qualities — and their "operating systems" — onto the other and wonder why that other person doesn't make any sense. Or worse, we come up with false conclusions based upon what we think we would do or say or think, instead of what a man would do or say or think.
So what if we women could open ourselves to the idea that men live in a completely different paradigm?
2. Cultivate Curiosity
Curiosity is key, says Armstrong, if women really want to honor themselves and their partners, current or potential.
Lacking curiosity, we miss a level of depth in ourselves and our relationships, and often misperceive reality — getting mired in false beliefs and taking them for truth... a self-fulfilling prophecy.
So, assuming men are operating differently, ask yourself how? What makes them say and do the things they do?!
Your curiosity can mean the difference between hurt feelings and happiness.
For example, instead of buying into these beliefs...
"Men are so insensitive,"
"He's Just being a jerk,"
Or, as mentioned above, "There aren't any good men out there."
… take pause and get curious!
Begin by asking yourself "What if he isn't misbehaving?" Then ask, "If he's not misbehaving, what is he doing?
What if there is a good reason for everything he does?"
Take Armstrong at her word when she says, "If you start assuming [men] have a good reason, it changes everything."
If you can't think of a good reason for their behavior, you always can ask them! No, really... you can. It's much easier than you might think and the answer is almost guaranteed to surprise you.
Try this statement next time: "I assume you have a good reason for everything you do. I'm trying to understand you better. Would you be willing to tell me why you did such-and-such that way?"
3. Recognize Men Are Responding to You (In Surprising Ways!)
Men often have reactions to things that women are completely unaware of — things that wouldn't be on a woman's radar or affect them at all.
According to Armstrong, frequent negative experiences with men may indicate you're unwittingly throwing them off-balance or triggering their inner warriors. As a result, you'll never get the chance to see men's other aspects (aspects women desire so much). Aspects like the inner lover or provider.
Getting curious and asking a man about things that don't add up to you can help you uncover the parts of him that are so desirable!
Be willing to be curious with yourself FIRST, as well as accountable for the ways you may be putting men on the defense. It takes courage and patience... it's also a step toward transforming your relationships with men for the better.
PS - Intrigued by the insights shared above? If so, you're invited to download a free hour-long audio featuring Alison Armstrong, Discovering the Queen's Code:


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Enterprise Rent-A-Car named official car partner of 2018 SSE Airtricity Dublin Marathon
Enterprise Rent-A-Car Ireland, part of Enterprise Holdings, one of the world's largest car rental companies, has again been named as the Official Car Partner of the SSE Airtricity Dublin Marathon for the fifth consecutive year.
Now in its 38th year, the SSE Airtricity Dublin Marathon is considered to be one of the leading marathons on a global scale and showcases Dublin at its very best to an international audience.
A team of Enterprise Rent-A-Car employees will assist event organisers by providing a total of 38 vehicles for use during the marathon on Sunday, October 28. These include 12 lead pace cars to guide the runners around the 26-mile course, as well as six safety vehicles to ferry any casualties to the Medical Team facility, six stationary timing vehicles and 14 logistics vans.
The Enterprise team is also participating in a voluntary capacity with staff member, David Hudson, entering his 21st year as a member of the Dublin Marathon Committee and set to join the 1,135 stewards that will oversee the event.
"We are extremely proud to be involved with the SSE Airtricity Dublin Marathon again for 2018. We have enjoyed a very happy partnership with the Marathon organising team for the past five years. This year, once again, our involvement goes beyond the provision of vehicles and personnel, as a number of our staff and business partners are running in the marathon itself, giving us an even deeper level of involvement in Ireland's key marathon event." Said George O'Connor, Managing Director, Enterprise Rent-A-Car Ireland.
JP Denker, Head of Insurance and Replacement Division at Enterprise Rent-A-Car, is among those participating from the company. "I am delighted to once again be able to run the SSE Airtricity Dublin Marathon. It's a brilliant event that is hugely beneficial to Dublin and we are proud to fly the flag for Enterprise and support SSE Airtricity." Denker said.
At the announcement, Eugene Coppinger, Assistant Race Director, SSE Airtricity Dublin Marathon said: "It's great to have Enterprise Rent-A-Car on board for the fifth year in a row for this event. We really appreciate Enterprise's partnership and help in the run up to the event and on the day of the race itself. The Enterprise vehicles and personnel are crucial to ensuring the delivery of a world class event and we greatly appreciate their support."


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The link below is part 1 It cover much of what happened from the beginning of this disaster. I thought it best to start a new post as the other was so long.
Part 1 of Canada: Railway Disaster in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec
There is a total of 47 missing. They are still looking for the remains of 5 who died.
Lawsuit filed in U.S. court over Quebec rail disaster first of many, says lawyer
July 23, 2013
MONTREAL — Victims of the Quebec railway disaster have launched further legal action against companies linked to the derailment that obliterated their town — and one lawyer insists the multimillion-dollar cascade has only begun.
The family of a Lac-Megantic man killed in the fiery crash filed a wrongful-death lawsuit Monday in a U.S. court against rail and petroleum firms connected to the oil-filled tankers that slammed into the town.
Their lawyer, Peter Flowers, told The Canadian Press he expects to present many additional, individual lawsuits like this one before the end of the week.
"We expect 15 to 20 at least over the next couple of days," Flowers, of Chicago-based Meyers & Flowers, said in a phone interview Tuesday.
"We'll be asking for millions of dollars for every one of these folks."
Word of the looming lawsuits surfaced as Lac-Megantic's mayor announced Tuesday that her municipality has threatened to sue the railway operator at the centre of the derailment — Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Inc. — for $4 million.
Colette Roy-Laroche alleges that MMA has failed to cover the costs of the post-disaster cleanup, forcing the town to write the cheques itself.
Companies connected to the derailment may also face another hurdle in the future: a motion presented last week in a Quebec court seeking permission to file a class-action lawsuit over the crash.
The derailment in the town of 6,000 set off several massive blasts, wiped out part of the downtown core and is presumed to have killed 47 people.
On Wednesday alone, Flowers expects to set in motion as many as five additional wrongful-death lawsuits at the Cook County courthouse in Illinois.
His first suit, launched Monday, was initiated by the family of Jean-Guy Veilleux, who was killed in the runaway-train disaster. The Quebec coroner's office publicly identified Veilleux, 32, on Tuesday as one of the victims.
Plaintiff Annick Roy is seeking damages from 10 defendants, including MMA, its major stockholder Rail World Inc., top rail executive Edward Burkhardt and several American petroleum companies. Roy is identified as the administrator of Veilleux's estate as well as the guardian of the estate belonging to their daughter, who is a minor.
"On July 6, 2013, plaintiff's decedent Jean-Guy Veilleux was present in downtown Lac-Megantic near the site of the derailment and was consumed by the fire and explosion," reads the court document, filed in the Cook County courthouse.
The suit pegs the overall damages sought at more than $200,000, but Flowers maintains this is just a base amount and insists the eventual target sum will be far higher.
"All I can say is it will be millions of dollars," he said. "This is a horrible tragedy."
Calls placed Tuesday to most of the defendants listed in the lawsuit were not immediately returned.
The suit, which calls for a trial by jury, alleges that the railway and petroleum companies named had a duty to operate their businesses in a "safe manner and to take reasonable measures to avoid exposing the public to the dangers associated with the transport of crude oil to refineries."
Roy also alleges in the suit that the defendants were negligent for transporting crude oil in the flawed DOT-111 tanker cars, which have been known to rupture during derailments. The document highlights how there has been a considerable increase in oil-by-rail transport in recent years.
Flaws in the DOT-111 tanker have been noted as far back as a 1991 safety study.
"There's been problems with these tankers and how they protect what's inside of them — for years," Flowers said.
"There's been demands made for years that these companies redesign these tankers to make them safe and they haven't done that and, as a result of that, I think they are absolutely involved in the responsibility for what happened here."
Other defendants named in the lawsuit include firms in the U.S. petroleum industry: World Fuel Services Corp., Western Petroleum Company, Petroleum Transport Solutions, Dakota Plains Transloading, Dakota Petroleum Transport Solutions, Dakota Plains Marketing and DPSTS.
Burkhardt, president of Illinois-based Rail World and chairman of MMA, was the only individual listed in the suit.
The document notes Burkhardt's work as president, CEO and chairman of Wisconsin Central Transportation Corporation. It alleges that the company reduced crew sizes under his leadership as a means to cut costs — a measure that also allegedly increased the accident rate.
The lawsuit mentions how Wisconsin Central was involved in a 1996 fuel-filled tanker derailment in Weyauwega, Wis., while Burkhardt was at the head of the company. The subsequent explosions from the crash forced more than 1,700 people from their homes.
The document also cites a 2009 derailment of tankers filled with highly flammable ethanol in Cherry Valley, Ill., a crash that involved a different company.
In 2011, the family affected by the Cherry Valley derailment received a $36.2-million settlement from Canadian National Railway. One member of the family was killed, another lost her baby and two others suffered burns in the incident.
Flowers said the Cherry Valley agreement, part of which was reached before trial, is "representative of what is considered fair and reasonable in the United States for things like this that happen."
Back in Lac-Megantic, the mayor said MMA has not yet paid any of the workers it hired to clean up the crude oil that leaked from the dozens of tanker cars.
Roy-Laroche said the town has had to pay MMA's suppliers $4 million after some workers threatened to walk off the job.
She urged the company to start assuming its responsibilities.
'It strikes me it's not asking a lot, given the circumstances," she said.
"We're asking MMA to behave like a proper corporate citizen."
Paul McCartney paid tribute to victims of the Lac-Megantic tragedy Tuesday night, offering free concert tickets and dedicating a song to survivors at a concert.
Luci Tremblay said 1,000 tickets had been set aside for Lac-Megantic residents, with about 900 taking up the offer. About 10 buses were also donated in the Lac-Megantic area to bring them to the show.
The promoter also collected $65,000 in donations at a Bruno Mars concert on July 8, and set that to the town to help out. For the rest of the story go HERE
Let is Be is the song Paul Dedicated
Update July 25 2013
Lac-Mégantic derailment investigators search railway's offices
Lac-Mégantic calls on railway to reimburse millions of dollars
Update July 30 2013
Lac-Mégantic still waiting for rail company to pay up
MM&A owes $7.8 million to the town to date.
Update July 31 2013
Montreal, Maine & Atlantic responds to Lac-Mégantic lawyer
A rather sad response I must say.
August 15 2013 Update
CP Rail refuses to pay for Lac-Mégantic cleanup
Lac-Mégantic disaster railway can no longer operate in Canada
Lac-Mégantic rail disaster company MM&A files for bankruptcy
August 19 2013 Update
Railway may be sold. Also
The Canadian Transportation Agency announced late Friday that it would extend MM&A's certificate of operation until Oct. 1. A decision earlier in the week to suspend its right to operate was reversed because the federal regulator determined that the railway had sufficient liability insurance to operate in the short-term. For the entire story go HERE
Quebec coroner's office updates [French only]
The below page is dedicated to all those who perished.
In Memory of those who perished in Lac-Mégantic
Information on how to donate to the victims of this horrific disaster. They will need all the help they can get.
Najaf: A toxic "health catastrophe" – US weapons blamed for Iraq's birth defects
Canada: Aboriginal children were used in government experiments


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My name is Toni. I am a tutor for English, reading, and writing skills. I would love to help your child succeed. I have a B.A. in English from VCU and am in Shenanndoah University's Career Switcher Program earning my teaching licence.
I have a daughter in first grade and love to volunteer with her Girl scout troop. I currently work at a private preschool, and love to help spark the love for reading in young children. ... ... More
I am currently a high school American Sign Language teacher. I have previously worked in elementary school working with deaf and hard of hearing students, and middle school math.
I am looking forward to helping students learn skills to help them in areas they want to be more successful in!!
I worked in elementary school for three years. I taught and planned lessons in all subjects. I worked with students with special needs, including writing and implementing IEPs.
Certification in... ... More
My name is Summer Villarosa and I am a former student of St. John's Catholic Prep high school and I am currently enrolled at McDaniel College. I am a junior who is completing my B.S. in studio art, minor in art history as well as courses for the pre-med track. My future plans include completing a post baccalaureate program to prepare for medical school. I have also completed various general education courses necessary for a liberal arts education. In my free time I love to create art, play gu... ... More
I have taught for more than thirty years in a self-contained classroom of students from all grades but primarily a combination of fifth and sixth grades. I have used my Montessori training to aid the development of the concrete to the conceptual in all subjects. I truly believe that a solid understanding of a subject is the key to student success but more importantly, to the feeling of confidence and assurance. A confident student that knows that they can learn and be successful is a prima... ... More
Hi! I am a certified biology teacher and have taught all levels of high school biology, as well as marine science, and have done SAT and GRE test prep for Kaplan. I have years of experience working with students in a variety of subjects and I love to help students improve. I have done graduate-level research in Boston and in Auckland, New Zealand, and am always trying to improve my own content knowledge. I can personalize your education plan to make sure it is effective for you and help y... ... More
Growing up with a Deaf sister, I was fortunate to develop proficiency in ASL from childhood on. Later on graduating from Towson University with a degree in Deaf Studies, I now currently work at Maryland School for the Deaf. I'm eager to help anyone interested in learning sign language.
Learned sign language from age 2 on, grew up with a Deaf sibling, graduated with a B.S. in Deaf Studies, currently work full time at Maryland School for the Deaf
Please contact me anytime!! I am flexible ... ... More


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We'd like to express our deep thanks to everyone who contributed to our Christmas MdB Roof Appeal! We're delighted to announce that we managed to raise more than the $20,000US target to complete this work.
These donations will enable our partners in Haiti to build a new roof for Maison de Benediction, a residential respite center for children with disabilities. The roof had been in a bad state for a long time having been infested by termites which had made it structurally unsafe, placing staff and children at risk if repairs weren't quickly made. In addition, these funds will help replace all the wooden doors and window frames in the center as well, which will be a wonderful improvement.
The impact of us accomplishing this target will be so significant for all the children, staff and families. Nancy, the Head of MdB, was delighted when we told her the news! It's a huge answer to prayer.
We'll keep you updated about how progress goes with building. For now though, a huge thank you for making this possible. Let's keep working together in 2016 to ensure more individuals get the love and care they deserve. Together we can make a huge difference.


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Libby Kunst is a senior in the KMHS magnet program. She attended the Governor's Honors Program for communicative arts in 2017 and is published in the teen literary magazine "Teen Ink". Libby enjoys playing the viola, writing poetry, watching sad movies, and reading works by George Saunders. She is hoping to attend college for neuroscience next fall.
Libby Kunst, Student Life Editor
|May 18, 2018
Protesting: Do You Have Rights? (Story)
|May 05, 2018
The Truth about Out-of-State Colleges (Story)
|Feb 12, 2018
I <3 New York - HOCO 2017 (Story)
|Sep 23, 2017
Senior Quotes: What is Really Happening? (Story)
|Feb 12, 2017
Quoth the Cast "Nevermore!" (Story)
|Oct 27, 2015
Poem: The PSAT (Story)


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"The saddest day of my life was the day I buried my mother. It was also my 45th birthday."
Meet Alexander Bermus, Professor of Pedagogical Sciences at The Southern Federal University of Rostov.
"As I watched the funeral procession, I was overwhelmed with emotion. With my mother's passing came the end of an era for me, as I no longer had any living relatives my age or older left in Russia. I felt the ties to my heritage threatening to sever."
"I'm quite sentimental by nature. I thought of how much my mother had done for me over the years and wished there was some way to give back. I decided to have a Brit Mila in her memory. Several months later, I gave her that gift and received my Jewish name, Yisroel."
"I'm now an active member of the Jewish community. I found solace in the synagogue and more importantly, I feel eternally connected to the many generations of Jews who lived before me."


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Nearing the end of March 2013 and looking back over what locally has been without doubt an unusually harsh Spring Equinox. I am reminded that we as a so called civilised culture can still be surprised by the natural tides, which from our cosseted and privileged position may at times appear so unnatural.
The year divided as it is into the two light and darker seasonal halves, has obviously its peaks at the respective Solstices. Although the Equinoxes represent that liminal time, that moment of balance before the scales tip one way or the other, we should if possible avoid that trap so often seen within a civilised society, alienated as it is from those seasonal tides, that a switch of season should conform, indeed obey the artificial human created calendar.
Rather like the way that with the stroke of midnight a new day is designated to have begun, society today takes for granted that Spring will begin anew on a fixed and unchanging date of the year. This is similar in principle; that with the touch of an electrical switch, light appears from a bulb to illuminate our lives. It is part of that all too familiar instantaneous regulation of modern life. It is however, purely a matter of convenience; a recognition that to conform to certain social requirements, such as employment, travel and communication, the 'official' start of a day and the fixture of a season has become necessary.
However, the conscious and necessary conformity of such a modern way of living has for many brought about a sub-conscious and erroneous acceptance, that the artificial regulation of 'time' is the natural state of being. This manifests in a failure to comprehend the gradual awakening and fading of tides, of light and energy, best illustrated by the simple act of taking time to watch a dawn or a sunset.
Here where I live, not far from the city of Derby in the English Midlands, we have had severe and 'unseasonal' snow. However, only a few miles north of here in the Peak District snow in April is not uncommon and an occasional flurry has been recorded as late as July in some parts. Other parts of England and Scotland will also have their own unique weather manifestations, which do not necessarily conform to the idealised expectations of a civilised modern society.
It is a mistake for us enjoying our comfortable lives, to assume that Nature will deign to conform to our expectations of what is and is not natural. Perhaps the presentation of an unseasonal weather pattern is needed sometimes, to shake us from our complacency and our human arrogance. Thus teaching us that Nature rules and that it is we who should at times adapt to Her.


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Hello everybody,
I'm moving to a new apartment. There is one room, in which I want to build a little producer studio. The room is 377 cm long, 310 cm wide and 255 cm high. There is a picture of the room modes in this post.
Also there is a picture of the floor plan. There is also a window in the room.
The main question is: where should I place the desk and also which kind of acoustic treatment will be the best for this room, without changing the shape of the room?
I thought about, placing the desk on the length axe with 70 cm space between the wall with the window. I don't care, if it's possible to open the window completely. It should be possible to open the window a bit, so fresh air comes in.
Any recommendations? Any help?
I appreciate every information.
Thank you a lot.
best regards