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Cruise to the Mediterranean and Black Sea with Azamara Club Cruises for the complete vacation experience. Whether you enjoy tasting different fare from all across the globe, interacting with citizens from different cultures, or shopping in local markets for unique items, this is the perfect cruise option for you. Feast upon French crepes in Toulon, or dine upon Pasta Diavolo in Rome. Buenissimo! With Benedictine Monasteries perched on mountaintops, as well as the beautiful and luxurious coast of the French Riviera waiting for you. It's a great time to consider an Azamara Club Cruises Mediterranean and Black Sea cruise for your next vacation.
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The cities and towns that lie on the Mediterranean Sea are famous the world over for their exquisite beauty and their magnificent cuisine. Experience this majestic destination with Azamara Club Cruises and see the intricate Topkapi Palace, dance the Flamenco in Barcelona and explore the ancient city of Pompeii.
Learn more about your potential departure ports for a Mediterranean cruise with Azamara Club Cruises. Your Azamara Club Cruises Mediterranean cruise could embark from any of the following cities:
Discover imaginative architecture, impressive Spanish dishes and beautiful excursions into nature when you cruise to Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia.
A cruise to Civitavecchia is a chance for you to hop a quick train to Rome and explore the enormous history through ruins, galleries and The Vatican museums.
Lisbon has deep cultural roots that are exposed through ruins and museum artifacts. Cruise to Lisbon and discover the culture and history of Portugal in its capital city.
Experience the life of the rich and famous with a trip to the glamorous spots of Monte Carlo in the tiny constitutional monarch of Monaco.
Exquisite weather, breathtaking views and great, fresh food make Nice second only to Paris in terms of France's top hotspots.
Learn about the Greek gods and the early philosophy of Socrates when you visit the incredible ruins left in Athens, Greece. At night, go out and take in the culture with the modern Athenians.
Experience the serene, romantic splendor of Venice, but don't forget to check out its wonderful museums and neighborhoods located off the Grand Canal.
Browse our photo gallery of Mediterranean cruising photos from Azamara Club Cruises. Best of all, this is merely a sample of the sights waiting for you on an Azamara Club Cruises Mediterranean cruise vacation.
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Please note: Our New Lebanon, Brunswick and Hinsdale lots are open to visitors and our online store is, too!
Shed Man offers free delivery up to 50 miles on purchases of $999 or more. In addition, we do not charge extra for over-width hauling permits. LEARN MORE
Rent To Own
See if you qualify for our rent-to-own program, available for all products: sheds, gazebos, and more. Fill out the online form.
Contact Gaston with Questions
Do you have questions about a specific product? Would you like to learn more about our delivery and installation services? For these questions or any others, call Gaston at (518) 766-5754 or email .
Today's Featured Items
The Area's Largest In-Stock Selection of Sheds, Gazebos and Garages
Storage Sheds in All Sizes, Styles and Colors
Shed Man carries a huge in-stock selection of backyard storage sheds, garden and utility sheds, poolhouses, lean tos, and wood sheds. See our in-stock inventory or browse our catalogs of special order items. Each is quality built and delivered fully assembled. FREE DELIVERY within 50 miles on all sheds $2,900 and up.
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In addition to building top quality storage sheds, Shed Man offers detached single or multi-car garages, one or two story. Check out our huge selection of in-stock garages or see our online catalog of custom options. FREE DELIVERY within 50 miles on all garages $2,900 and up.
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Whether your equestrian needs are large or small, we have the solution. From run in sheds for a just a few horses to large horse barns, you'll find it at Shed Man.
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See our large selection of pressure-treated and poly furniture including Adirondack chairs, picnic tables of all shapes and sizes, bars, stools, and more.
Gyms Sets & Play Houses
Stop in and see our in-stock selection of kids outdoor play sets, gym sets, and playhouses. We also accept custom orders.

subset: commoncrawl


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Rick Taylor
- Direct: 734.223.5656
- Mobile: 734.223.5656
It's an honor to be named as the #1 Individual Realtor for the entire Charles Reinhart Company for 2019! As a matter of fact, this is the 4th year in a row that I've held this honor. The highest standards of professionalism and advocacy best describe my attributes toward the needs of my clients in their real estate endeavors.
I truly embrace the responsibility I've been given in helping both sellers and buyers achieve their real estate goals. It's this reason why I'm ranked among the top ½ of 1% of all real estate sales in the USA.
It's the above mentioned statements that have helped me become one of the most trusted real estate professionals in the Washtenaw County area. Furthermore, I've had sales approaching $200,000,000 and have been awarded the coveted "President's Award" every year since I began my career 18 years ago.
I have the highest "Listing to Sell" ratio in our office; therefore, you can feel content in my abilities to sell your residential property, waterfront home, or vacant land parcel.
You can feel confident in my services whether you're looking to purchase your dream home or first time property. I can honestly say that I love my job and hope to gain you as my next client.
I sold 64 homes in 2019 which resulted in $20 million in sales, making this my best year ever. Now is the time to sell, call for your free Comparative Market Analysis today!
We seek a highly responsible professional to lead our social media and graphic design efforts. If you are interested, please follow the link below to apply: https://www.amycelltalent.com/job-seeker-programs/browse-job-postings/id-20200214-0520/
Please listen to my radio show called "Real Estate Matters with Rick Taylor" in which I discuss the Spring real estate market:
Richard Taylor
Charles Reinhart Company
Presidents Award
(734)223-5656 Cell
Please click below to follow me on social media!
My Office
800 South Main
Chelsea, MI 48118
"Dear Rick, I wanted to send you a quick note and say a heartfelt thank you for all the hard work and effort you put forth in selling our property at XXXXXXXXXX. You came into our lives under difficult circumstances and you made those circumstances much easier for us to manage. I have conducted dozens of real estates transactions in multiple states, and your commitment to helping us get our property sold was simply the best experience we have ever had. From the very initial meetings where you helped us understand the value of the property if we refurbished certain aspects of the house, to helping us line up the contractors (which would have been nearly impossible for us because we were out of state at the time), managing us and the contractors through the process so that we could get the house sold, and then holding the open houses and all of the appointments to get the house sold for nearly what we were asking in less than one month. You helped us sell at a price a full 25% above what were thinking we could get, with the refurbishments, and you kept the cost for those refurbishments down. You helped us take what would have been a sure loss to something where we made a significant profit. We cannot thank you enough. In closing please know that I would be happy to shout your praises to anyone who might be listening, and know that you not only helped a family sell a house, you helped them transition through a very difficult time."
David H.
"Dear Mr. Taylor: Thank you for assisting us with the recent sale of our house in XXXXXXXXXX. You were a pleasure to work with through the entire process. You were professional and listened to our concerns. You helped us understand exactly what needed to be done to get the best price for our house in a timely manner. With your expertise, we received a great offer for our house on the first day it was listed. You were courteous and diligent, and we would recommend you to anyone who has any real estate needs."
Sander & Catherine F.
" A new job brought us from Milwaukee to Chelsea and with literally no time to find a home for our growing family. Rick Taylor took the time and due diligence to find us the perfect rental. We cannot tell you how much that put our minds at ease; giving us the time and energy we needed to get to Michigan before looking for a home to buy. One year later, Rick sold us our first home. As first time homebuyers we had a lot of questions, concerns, and worries. Rick Taylor was a dream to work with. He took the time to get to know us and our wants and needs for our home. The result was the purchase of the home of our dreams! He eased our nerves, was available around the clock to answer questions and really nurtured us through the process. He's a master at what he does. Your investing your hard earned money and time into finding and purchasing a home and I cannot think of a better investment than having Rick Taylor by your side."
Katie Doral
" Kim and I want to recognize Rick's effort to see a successful completion to the closing of our Inn. Selling a business which includes one's home created a unique challenge for all involved. Rick's ability to emphasize the unique character of the Chelsea community and the historical element our Inn has played painted a special picture one could not ignore. The new innkeepers, Andy Koha and Nancy Book, were drawn back to Chelsea after evaluating other inns, some out of state. Andy and Nancy have begun taking on the role as innkeepers and introducing themselves to the business community around us. Rick is doing his part assisting in this effort. We believe Chelsea House is in good hands and will continue to be an asset in the continual growth and success of downtown Chelsea. We wish the new innkeepers well and thank you Rick for keeping the ball rolling in that direction."
Kim & Jim Myles
"Rick - Our apologies this note took so long. We wanted to thank you again for all your help in the selling and buying process! Your knowledge of the market and tips to get our home ready to sell were invaluable. Thankfully we were also able to get in our NEW home before the holidays. It was quite the stressful summer but you were a great sounding board and a huge asset during the closing process!"
Kyle & Kristin
My Links
My Files
02.08 Rick Taylor - Spring Music (2).mp3
02.08 Rick Taylor - Spring Music (1).mp3
01.12 Rick Taylor Live Read -John VO.MP3
01.12 Rick Taylor Live Read -John VO.MP3
01.12 Rick Taylor Live Read -John VO.MP3
01.12 Rick Taylor Live Read -John VO.MP3
01.12 Rick Taylor Live Read -John VO.MP3
12.19 Rick Taylor - Results Matter Music_Commercial.mp3
02.08 Rick Taylor - Spring Music (2).mp3


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|Welcome to WoWWiki!
Hello, Tarog, and welcome to WoWWiki, the Warcraft wiki! Thank you for your contributions, and we heartily encourage you to continue contributing!
Some links you may find useful:
We hope you enjoy editing here and being a WoWWikian!
Quick Post-It! Click the [edit] in the box!
Welcome back mate :-) --Mikk
Hey Peeps
Got something to say? Say it here! Or get a hold of me through one of my contacts on my Page.
I put the tasks for WelComm members in the Specific Tasks section of the WelComm page. If you have any other questions, just put them on my talk page or here. --Fandyllic 9:37 AM PDT 5 May 2006
- Keep up the good work, welcoming! --Fandyllic 6:21 AM HST 7 May 2006
- You might want to verify at least 1 substantive contribution before welcoming users like King424. Otherwise, keep up the good work. I've have a certain process I use to evaluate new users before I welcome them, so maybe I'll add that to the task list as optional things to do or look at. --Fandyllic 11:04 AM PDT 19 Jun 2006
- I always look at their contributions before welcoming. I might have overlooked something. If I did, sorry about that. I try doing both my RC Patrol and WelComm duties at the same time, I get into a grove sometimes and miss things. --Tarog 16:03, 19 June 2006 (EDT)
Patch Notes
Thanks for updatng and adding patch notes for 1.10.1. --Fandyllic 1:02PM PDT 11 Apr 2006
Cleaning Spam and Vandalism
Thanks for cleaning spam and vandalism. --Fandyllic 12:51 PM PDT 16 Apr 2006
Keep on adding vandals to list when you see them
I'll keep blocking them... also, you don't have to fix their vandalism, if you don't have time... I can rollback their changes quickly. Happy Cinco de Mayo! --Fandyllic 8:06 AM PDT 5 May 2006
- Happy Cinco de Mayo! Fixing only one or two acts of vandalism is no biggy. I'll leave the bots that vandal many pages for you though :) --Tarog 08:32 PDT 5 May 2006
Bout Hussain
If time on the realm is a reason to be here, than lots of other should be written down - but there aren't many. If activity on the realms forum is a reason than Morda should be first and it isn't. If helpful attitude towards the players would make ones name written down here, than this is not the case. If spamming and cursing on the general channels could be a reason to be written here, than by all means write him down. I won't edit him anymore. But seeing that you play a character in the alliance, you probably have no idea what I'm talking about.
Anyway, maybe I'm biased because I wasn't inspired to ignore him or leave the said channels so feel free to edit my prejudices out. --Aycharaych (talk • contr) 03:30, 19 February 2007 (EST)


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Registration Deadline 11/22/2019
Payment Deadline 01/30/2020
The Douglas High School athletic program strives to provide a safe, supportive, and effective interscholastic athletic experience. Participation on an athletic team also provides the opportunity for our student athletes to recognize and build upon the importance of community service, sportsmanship, wellness and leadership. It also provides for socialization, cohesion and discipline. Our goal is that all student athletes benefit from being a team member and they acquire positive life skills that can be learned through athletics.


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Kalam frisked at JFK airport; US apologises
The United States has apologised to former President A P J Abdul Kalam for subjecting him to frisking at New York's JFK airport, an incident that had provoked sharp reactions from India which threatened retaliatory action.
In a written apology to Kalam and the Indian government, the US said, "Appropriate procedure for expedited screening of dignitaries had not been followed".
"We deeply regret the inconvenience that resulted for him (Kalam) as a result of the September 29 incident involving the security screening at JFK Airport in New York," a statement from the US embassy in New Delhi said, noting that it had the utmost respect for Kalam. They also said that US was actively working to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future.
Please click NEXT to read further...
Image: Former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam
'Such incidents are unacceptable'
Officials said the minister has also sought a detailed report on the incident from its mission into the incident which they said was "unacceptable".
The US said that subsequent to the frisking incident, US Charge d' Affairs Peter Burleigh personally hand delivered a letter from the US Transportation Security Administrator to Kalam and a similar letter was delivered to the government of India regretting the incident.
Maintaining that it "deeply values and appreciates" the strong relationship and partnership with India, the US said, "We are confident that despite this regrettable incident, we will continue working closely with India in the many areas of our strategic partnership".
Image: External Affairs Minister S M Krishna
Not the first time Kalam has been frisked in US
80-year-old Kalam was frisked in New York on September 29 before boarding an Air India flight. Sources said that even after Kalam had taken his seat in the aircraft, the US security personnel forced the crew to open the door and took away the jacket and boots of the former President to check for explosives since they had forgotten to do so before his boarding. The items were later returned to Kalam.
Sources close to Kalam said he doesn't give much thought to such incidents and never complains about them. However, this time, his office informed the Ministry of External Affairs about the incident after he returned home.This is not the first time that Kalam has been frisked by US aviation officials.
Kalam was frisked by officials of US airliner Continental Airlines in April, 2009 despite his name featuring in the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security's list of people exempt from security checks in India.
Image: The JFK airport in New York


text: i was really bored so i made this. as you seei look terrible in this picture which made me wonder what part of my face i like and hate. by the way i didnt do any make up so its just completely normal naked skin which is i can tell you that i havent got awful eczema on my face anymore yay although you still can see a bit of eczema left on my neck. anyway i try to have a confidence lately because i want to be beautiful like everybody else then my skin is getting better haha. isnt it great?


text:
Lynda Sutherland, John Miller (WA)
The 1965 civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery,
Alabama, is remembered as a pivotal moment in moving this
country toward more racial equality. Today, UUs will join the
people of Selma on the Edmund Pettus Bridge to commemorate
the 50th anniversary of that march. Our congregation will join
UU congregations across the country in remembering the
important lessons of that day.
March 8, 2015 – Journey to Selma
14 Thursday May 2015
Posted Lynda Sutherland, Podcastsin
Lynda Sutherland, John Miller (WA)


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Adams warns of Winter Trolley crisis
Sinn Féin Louth TD Gerry Adams has called on the government to "urgently provide the greater bed capacity in our hospitals that is needed if we are to avoid a major crisis in our Emergency Departments over the winter months".
The Louth TD criticised the Government's Winter Plan for additional resources as "inadequate, and too little too late."
The Louth TD said:
"Last month witnessed the worst overcrowding in our emergency departments since records began. Almost 10,000 admitted patients had to wait on chairs and trolleys for beds. Before the year has ended, over one hundred thousand patients have already been forced to wait long hours in emergency departments awaiting beds. This is the first time that that number has been reached.
"The reality is that the primary cause of delays in patients being admitted to a hospital bed is lack of capacity within the health system. There are not enough beds and insufficient staff, caused primarily by low pay levels in Irish nursing and midwifery. According to the HSE census, as of September 2018, the health service has 227 fewer staff nurses than December 2017
"Last week, I was among a group of Oireachtas members who were briefed by representatives and frontline healthcare workers from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO), the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA), and SIPTU.
"The health workers painted a bleak picture of the daily crisis they are forced to manage as a result of under resourcing. They pointed out that long waiting times and overcrowding impacts on the quality of care for patients' outcomes and on mortality. As their response to this crisis the Irish Medical Organisation has produced a six point plan for ending this crisis.
"Among a range of recommendations, the IMO has called for:
· An increase in the number of acute hospital beds
· An urgent assessment of the number of acute inpatient psychiatric beds
· A detailed ten year investment plan
· Invest in the roll out of a national system of electronic health records
· Improvement in the discharge of patients
· Increase the number of consultant posts in all specialities.
· Provide General Practice with direct and timely access to diagnostics
"There was also unanimity at the briefing that all closed beds need to be immediately reopened and that we have to significantly increase capacity as a matter of urgency in order to cope with changing demographics.
"The frontline staff have returned again and again to the problem of recruitment and retention and the failure of the government to deal with this key issue.
"January and February are traditionally the worst months for trolley numbers. The Government's Winter Plan which was belatedly published last week will be insufficient to tackle the winter crisis. As usual, the government left it to the last minute before publishing its proposals. They are inadequate and too little, too late to effectively address the trolley crisis. The plan does not increase bed capacity to a level needed to meet expected demand nor does it deal with the critical issue of recruitment and retention of staff."


text:
For individual coaching service please write to email@example.com
The race is behind me and it's time to analyze the work done. The weeks before the match clearly indicated that, on a perfect day, a personal record could in principle be set up. Moreover, I was convinced that I was also able to set a time below eight hours. Of course, such predictions are always ungrateful because the competition in the long triathlon takes place in a natural environment, and so the natural elements have a very strong impact on the final result. In addition, a tactical mistake or an energy crisis is always possible, and all plans can quickly fall apart.
Since I had a very similar racing plan, the coach this year deliberately planned some identical training sessions as last year in order to compare any progress. The analysis and comparison of these trainings gave me the optimism, becouse the progress has been evident in both cycling and running. The critical power on the bike was 20W higher this year, while the critical speed of the run was also a few seconds higher than last year. For swimming, however, I knew that I was somewhere at last year's level, which in principle should have been enough to float out of the water in the first group. Not only the graphs in the analysis, but also the personal feelings were very good and so I was very confident stepped to the start of the race in Almere.
The figures from the analysis turned out to be true because I managed to drive the bike with an average 25W higher power and had the run with an average speed of 3 seconds per km faster than last year. In the end, this was enough for 7ur 55 minutes and 44 seconds, which meant a personal and national record and of course a win at the race with setting new course record which was set up 19 years ago.
In a garf is a comparison of cycling training (5 x 8 minutes at the threshold). Blue is last year while purple this year!
In the graph is a comparison of the running training, where I ran 5 x 1 km. The difference in speed is obvius. This year's speed is purple and last years speed is yellow.


text:
Shoppers raise £7,349 for the Kent, Surrey & Sussex Air Ambulance
Photo, L-R: Pilot, Captain Kevin Goddard, Paramedic, Adam Ormrod and Doctor, Ed Clitheroe
Generous shoppers in Burgess Hill have raised more than £7,000 for the Kent, Surrey & Sussex Air Ambulance in a raffle to win a car as the charity awaits the arrival of a new helicopter.
Staff and volunteers sold tickets for the Win a Mini Draw at Market Place Shopping Centre last month (December 1st – 4th).
A total of £2,179.19 was raised in ticket sales and donations following a previous six day promotion in May which raised £5,169.90.
The grand total of £7,349.09 is enough to fund three potentially life-saving missions.
Air ambulance Head of Lotteries & Gaming, James Cook, said: "We are really grateful to Market Place Shopping Centre for giving us a platform to raise awareness of the charity, and to the public for their tremendous support."
The charity has taken delivery of a new aircraft, an AW169, which is expected to be operational soon.
Flying faster, further and for longer, it will enable the pilot, doctor and paramedic crews to reach, treat and deliver patients to hospital even faster.
The AW169 has a significantly larger cabin, improving in-flight access to patients, which will allow for the delivery of more life-saving interventions.
Tickets for the Win a Mini Draw cost £5 each and can be purchased online at www.raffle.me.uk with the draw taking place on 31st March 2017, making it a perfect present for the summer months.
The £19,000 convertible Mini Cooper, a brand new model, boasts tyre pressure monitoring, a Thatcham 1 alarm system, ISOFIX child seat system, front foglights, on-board computer, DAB digital radio and Bluetooth hands-free function with USB audio, reversing camera and parking distance sensors.


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Spaghetti Dinner Raises Money for the Stars and Stripes Honor Flight
January 19, 2018
Arrowhead's Student Senate is partnering with the AHS SAVE (Survivor and Veteran Experience) Team to host a spaghetti dinner on Wednesday, January 31st. The spaghetti dinner will be in Arrowhead North Campus Cafeteria and will begin at 5:30 pm and will go though 7:30 pm.
Tickets are to be purchased at the door and cost $10.00 for regular attendees and are $5.00 for veteran attendees.
The dinner will benefit the Stars and Stripes Honor Flight and all proceeds collected will go toward this cause.
According to SAVE director Shanna Hechimovich Student senate worked on coordinating and planning the event while the SAVE team arranged for speakers and organized the raffle. There will also be two speakers at this event John Bosch a WWII veteran and Tim Nekich a Vietnam War veteran and they will begin at 6:15.
Hechimovich also said that there will be a raffle of items donated from area businesses during lunch hours at both campuses on January 31 and at the dinner. Drawings will begin approximately 6:15 at the dinner. You do not have to be present to win. 1 raffle ticket = $1; 7 for $5, 15 for $10, wingspan for $20
Tamara Varsos director for Student senate said that after members of STudent senate saw the documentary put on the Stars and Stripes Honor Flight they knew they wanted to get involved. This will be the second year Arrowhead is hosting this event.
Student Senate President Addie Siepman said "I am excited for this event this year, the money goes to such a great cause, and these people really deserve it"
The Stars and Stripes Honor Flight, founded in 2008, is a Milwaukee-based program in which former veterans receive the opportunity to visit memorials built in their honor in Washington DC. This non-profit organization has flown over 4,500 veterans for free to Washington DC over the past 10 years.
The Stars and Stripes Honor Flight works with veterans who served in WWII, the Vietnam and Korean wars, along with veterans who are terminally ill. This organization works with schools, and other organizations within the Milwaukee area to fund this project. For more information on this organization please visit their website.
According to Arrowhead students money for this cause was also raised earlier this month, in the form of Krispy Kreme doughnuts. The Arrowhead Social Studies Department chose to inform students of this cause then collected money throughout the week.
It was a dollar for every doughnut, and on Friday students received a doughnut for every dollar they spent. Joe Paul, Arrowhead's Macroeconomics teacher, went to Krispy Kreme and picked up the 215 doughnuts that students bought.
According to Paul students were able to raise over $1600 for the Honor Flight.


text:
A Brand of The Kirwin Group
The Psychology of Happiness Leadership Program is a six-session learning experience focused on the application of positive psychology into work and life for leaders. The experience is grounded in a highly practical and scientifically based approach to understanding wellbeing and how important it is to a thriving workplace.
Core Learning Areas
During each session, the Psychology of Happiness Leadership Program will focus on exploring research and application of positive psychology concepts that are key to building thriving workplaces. The following areas will be core to the learning experience:
Desired Outcomes
Members of the Psychology of Happiness Leadership Program will possess clear strategies to increase their wellbeing and the wellbeing of the teams they lead. By doing this, we will improve engagement, productivity and overall performance in the workplace.
Group Structure
Through an interactive learning environment, a small group of people will learn and grow together. The group will meet once a week with each session being 1 hour in length. Meghan Kirwin will be facilitating the learning process.
Each session will involve discussion about the research and application of the learning into your life and work. The Virtual Learning Environment provides a very interactive experience and allows members of the group to see each other during live conversations. In between sessions access to important reading and videos for each topic will be provided. You will need access to a computer for each session.
Sessions and Fees
The fee is $350 + HST
Early Registration fee is $295 + HST
Copyright 2013. Vitality at Work. All Rights Reserved.


text:
In the past, we have had weeks that focused on criminals. We have also had weeks where the police took center stage. Today, the judges and lawyers have their spotlight. This week's stories feature follow-ups on some of the most interesting characters from past episodes. I would not consider them conclusions to the stories, because […]
Tag Archives | funny restaurant stories
Weird Restaurant Stories 2/12/2011
Weird Restaurant Stories 11/13
As I perused this week's restaurant stories, one thing became very clear. It was an incredibly bad week for restaurant managers. Several of this week's stories contain the "manager's behaving badly" meme. There are also some great follow up stories that will sound familiar to long time readers of this column. All of which have […]
Awkward Moments
Over the last 15 years I have spent in the service industry, I have had to change my approach. 15 years ago, I was a gangly 6-foot tall 125-pound server with a voice somewhere in the Justin Bieber range. I looked only slightly older than him. A head of grey hair has made me change […]
Why Not To Date Co-Workers
It is that time of year. Love or at least heavy lust is in the air. That means just one thing in the restaurant business. It is too hot to sit on the patio. Well that and co-workers are starting the annual mating ritual. At the most recent count, there are six confirmed couples at […]
The Card
Generally I try to focus on tips on how to be a better server, a better manager, or just my random musings on the industry when I sit down to write for this blog. I made it a point when I started this blog to never become another server writing about how annoying his guests […]
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About The Author
David Hayden was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. He took his first serving job in 1996. Since that time, he has worked for over a dozen different restaurant companies. He has held both hourly and salaried positions at independent and corporate restaurants. He has waited on over 100,000 guests and trained hundreds of servers. He has been named "Best Server in Kansas City" the last three years by the local weekly paper.


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Friday, October 3, 2014
Don't Panic! Just Wipe It
Many of these things most people already know how to deal with.
In a guild like mine we take one break of five minutes and when someone goes over five minutes we, of course, gently rib them. It is a nice way of saying, hey, get back faster next time. We are a casual guild so that works. No need to go all medieval on their asses over a 7 minute break instead of a 5 minute one, but you always want to keep stuff like that to a minimum if you can. I'll usually shoot someone a whisper if I see them do it often to address that issue.
Also in a casual guild like mine it is not unheard of to have someone need to step away for a minute or two to take some medication, to tend to a sick wife or kids, let the dog out, bring the horses in, or for an emergency bathroom break, but again, that is something you deal with in a casual guild and it is factored in. Usually if some guy needs to take his medication at 9 server time, he does every raid day, so you work around it. No big deal.
Then there are the factors of fight length, how far you are getting into the fight, and the such. Things you have absolutely no control over. A 10 minute fight will be a 10 minute fight and until you have it on farm and over gear it, it will usually take the same amount of time. But when progressing on it, as we are talking about here, there is nothing you can really do to make it shorter.
The run back after a wipe thing is probably the number one time killer and attempts of any raid team and everyone that has ever raided from the most hard core team to the most casual team already knows that so I will not harp on it.
But there is one killer of attempts that never gets spoken about, at least not that I have ever recalled seeing. The "call for a wipe" factor.
A lot of raid leaders, myself included, are adverse to calling for a wipe early in a fight. They like to keep the "we can do it" feeling going, it keeps the groups spirits up most of the time even when you die. Saying things like, we did really good on that attempt, if only we had not lost 2 people early we would have had it, does go a long way for people to start to feel they can get a boss down.
The thing is, at some point, you need to realize that you will not get the boss. You will not have enough DPS, you will not have enough healing, you will just not be able to do it. You have to cut the "lets see how far we can get" rope and just call for a wipe.
I am still pretty wet behind the ears as a raid leader. I am still learning, always learning as I go, but one of the things I have learned more recently is that sometimes it is better to call for a wipe early than to "see how far we can get". After you get a few attempts under your belt you know what your team can do on the fight and you have to make a judgement call quickly if you want to get more attempts in.
More attempts mean people have more chances to get it right, to learn from their mistakes, to refine how they are doing things. More attempts is how every guild gets a boss down. More attempts as a team, not as some of the team.
I know it took me many years to realize that calling for an early wipe is sometimes a good thing. I used to panic about it, think to myself, if I call a wipe the group will not think we are not doing good and things will fall apart. I should have learned the don't panic, just wipe it motto much earlier in my raid leading career.
The theory is this. After enough attempts everyone knows the whole fight. They know what to expect, when to expect it and how to handle it. But when you are working on progression and mistakes are made people die. That is when decisions need to be made.
You can try to push it and see if you can get it done. It becomes a judgement call and you will learn it as you go. Sometimes you just need to call for a wipe. Calling for a wipe will get you more attempts, just the same as getting people back after a wipe will. People do not need to "continue so we can learn" after a certain time because they already know what to do, now it is the time they need to do it right.
I am not suggesting at the first sign of a problem to call for a wipe. Absolutely not. I've seen way to many kills end up being 9 manned or 8 manned, or hell even one manned, when from the outside looking in you would have been sure it would be a wipe. But that is where your judgement as a raid leader needs to come in.
If you have pushed a boss to the enrage timer multiple times and are just cutting it short than losing a damage dealer early on or even mid fight will mean even if you do everything else perfect it is a wipe. This is the situation I am talking about. Don't panic, just wipe it. It is okay to wipe if it means you have another chance at the kill instead of just another long fight that you know you can not win.
If you keep going you are wasting 2 or 4 or maybe more minutes for everyone to practice basically when the only person that really needed practice is the one that died. You know you will not get the boss down because you were not doing it with everyone up so doing it with one person down is pretty much out of the question at this point.
So lets say over the course of the night you are working on that one boss and this happens even just 3 or 4 times where you lose someone early and keep going through with a long fight you know you can not win. If only you had called for a wipe those times you might have had an extra 2 attempts. Those 2 extra pulls could have been one of the ones where everything finally fell into place and you end the night with a kill instead of thinking there is always next time.
I have read so many articles and post from people telling me ways to get more attempts in. Ways to get people back faster, to get ready for the pull faster, but no where have I ever run across anyone saying that wiping can be used as a timer saving technique. Maybe that is because all those raiders were in better guilds with better leaders that did not want to think of wiping as a good thing. But I am just some raid leader that never wanted to lead raids to begin with in a casual guild, so maybe I look at things differently and I see a perfect way to get more attempts in that no one else ever wanted to talk about.
There are lots of ways to save time to get more pulls in but many people do not realize that knowing when to call for a wipe is a very big one of those ways you can get more attempts in. I am still learning but I believe I have learned the secret of don't panic, just wipe it. Sometimes wiping early when you need to can lead to collecting loot sooner than later. It is just a matter of learning when to call for a wipe.
What do you think? Do you think calling for a wipe early is a good tactic to get more attempts in when you know you will not get it done?
12 comments:
sure especially in a time limited guild. If you know as a raid leader there's no chance of pulling of the victory but there is if you get another attempt call it. Some times you just knowReplyDeleteReplies
I can not even remember the number of bosses we managed to get for the first time ever on the last pull of the night. Sometimes I think people only do their best when the pressure is on and you say it is the last pull. So not sure if it is the "last pull" that did it, or having extra pulls due to time.Delete
- AnonymousOctober 3, 2014 at 2:40 PM
A lot of what you say makes sense, but I know that I often learn the most about an encounter when I'm lying dead on the floor watching everyone else play. When I'm alive I'm too busy pushing buttons and scanning the ground to pay attention to emotes or telegraphs, or think about what warnings I need to prune out of DBM.ReplyDelete
Our raid lead is pretty good about calling wipes early, but sometimes I really want everyone to hold on to the bitter end just to practice mechanics, and give people who died early the chance to figure out why they died and how to avoid doing it again.Replies
I am the other way, I learn better by doing. I find tanking and healing easier than trying to get max DPS so if I have to tank or heal a fight first I like it because it is easier to learn it form those roles. That is for me of course, we are all different.Delete
Not sure how your raid leader does it, but I know when we first meet a boss I often say just keep going. That way people can see more of the fight and get more practice. Once I am sure people know what is going on and it is just a matter of doing it right, that is when I start calling for the early wipes personally.
So, I don't raid lead. At all. And I don't ever care to. But, as with everyone who refuses to lead a group, I do of course like to criticize the way others lead... :-PReplyDelete
Anyhow, one point of contention I've had with one of my raid leaders, is if someone pulls early. I feel like we should just let them die, then rez them. I mean on a progression fight that takes effort, of course. There's no reason to start with everyone losing their pre-pot, and everyone a bit off anyway. If army of the dead is a bit to close, or someone mis-clicks, just wipe it and start over. Especially because at that early point, you don't have to run back.
I'm not totally sure on my motives here, either. I mean, I do believe that it's better to wipe when someone mis-pulls, that it saves time. But also, especially when playing BM, messing up my opener means losing millions of damage. In most fights for the opener, I'm bursting well over a million DPS, and messing up just one GCD in there is a huge loss of damage, messing up the entire pull is literally, millions and millions of damage lost. I just don't want to start that way.
Thinking back, maybe during progression we weren't bursting that high, except maybe on shamans. Still, it's a huge loss. I don't know if other classes are affected as much, but seems ridiculous to me, that we would continue when someone botches the pull.
Oddly enough, at the same time I don't mind dedicating a few pulls to just learning. Say the ranged are struggling avoiding a certain mechanic, I don't have any problem using raid time to do the fight without DPSing, just to practice or whatever. So I'm not against "let's see how far we can get" really early on, just to see all the mechanics. but after the first few pulls, I get really annoyed when we continue with pulls that have no hope.
The other comment I wanted to make is regarding Challenge Modes. I had a great team that was selling golds, and a really good leader. 3 of us (the healer, tank and myself) had sold several gold runs together, and had gotten it down to just a couple hours total, where we could run people through with minimal pain. But then recently, I've been pugging into CMode groups that need help getting the achievements before 6.0.
The thing is, at this point I know exactly where we need to be to get a gold at most points in the fight. and if we're not there, there's no reason to keep going. Maybe go through once or twice getting silver to learn the fight if you don't have a leader who's knows the fights well, but really, there's nothing complicated to learn in CMs. It's just about performance, not making big mistakes for the entire run.
It drives me nuts that people want to keep pushing when there is no hope of finishing on time. Especially when they already have silver.
That's all. :-PReplies
I never wanted to raid lead either. Been doing it 4 or 5 years now and I still hate every minute of it. Sometimes, you just have to do what you have to do. If I wanted to raid in my guild, which I did, someone had to step up, so I made the personal sacrifice. I would love to trade it off to someone, but there is no one I trust. Want to come raid lead? lolDelete
When we first get to a fight if someone accidentally pulls when everyone was ready, like say the countdown is a 7, we just go for it. We need the practice anyway and the pre pot is most likely not going to make a difference but the learning from the pull can. If it i someone we are close to killing, or should kill but it is still a tight or complex fight then I say let them die. However, if it is pulled when half the people are not back, there was no ready check yet, not everyone has eaten or assignments been given out. I will just say wipe it and lets start fresh. That would be my motivations. Of course not every example explained, but I think you get the idea. I would not be surprised if your raid leader were thinking something along the same lines.
I'd buy a gold run, it would be worth the investment for a competent team. I've had no luck assembling them or pugging them.
That is one of my problems with assembling teams. I will run the first time so people can learn and I can explain but then after we finish, they just want to quit. Or if they do want to go again they never want to reset. I would say something like we wasted too much time on that pull, lets reset, and they would be, no way.
I think it takes a special type of person to be willing to do that and I've not had a great deal of luck finding them. So yeah, at this point I'd pay to find a team.
Does anyone actually want to raid lead? Another one here who kinda fell into doing so by circumstance. Though obviously I'm not doing so now but I raid led for four raid tiers.ReplyDelete
Yeah that wipe call tough one. I have on one memorable occasion called for a wipe only to have the 5 people still alive ignore me and kill the boss. I was pleased they did it obviously but ooops, bad call from the raid leader there. Thankfully no-one gave me crap over it, I apologised good naturedly for my lack of faith and we moved on. Then there's the occasions when I've been told to wipe it by dead people watching. Sometimes they were right, I made a bad call in thinking we could do it, sometimes they were wrong and we managed it.
Point is that judgement call is very subjective and there's always the possibility of being wrong. When there's a wipe call someone will always disagree with it and I'll get a /w or complaining on vent that we could have done it. Which makes it tempting to let it continue a little longer until it's obvious to everyone that it was a lost cause, or I guess until it wasn't but hindsight is 20/20, you can never tell what might have been.
Anyway basically I agree with you. Cutting your losses saves time but you have to weigh that up with the groups morale and mentality. Like on Garrosh. I knew if we weren't below a certain percentage by mid phase 2, he wasn't going down. Do we spend another couple of mins to prove it or wipe and try again? Tough one especially when as the RL I hated that fight. I wiped over 150x before I got my kill, I dreaded raid nights when we were on Garrosh and so then it's like "how much am I influenced to wanting to wipe because I'm fed up, because I see failure no matter what" which is another issue as you can get predisposed to wipe.
This makes me glad I'm not a raid leader anymore. It's too damn hard to get it right.Replies
Some people love to raid lead. But I think a there are more than a few like us that just kind of got sucked into it.Delete
On garrosh if the first phase was the temple of chi ji I would just call it a wipe right there. Now we can do it no problem, but when we were first progressing on it, it would empower on that one being we one tanked it and we wanted to not have that happen for obvious reasons. Probably one of the easiest lets wipe early decisions really.
It is a judgement call and I've made many mistakes as well over the years. As you said, wipe or not wipe, someone will always disagree. For me it usually comes down to it that I am kind of a hard ass in a nice way. So rarely do people complain, they just listen.
You're right, calling a wipe can save a lot of time, especially on really long fights that you mess up early. You can drag it out but you may not gain anything from it.ReplyDelete
Calling a wipe is dependent on many factors, like you say. If we're learning the fight, then usually I'll keep it going if it is practical (ie not all the tanks/healers are dead) so people get used to the timing and the fight cues.
I'm a part time, soon to be none, raid leader. If it is a familiar fight and we've lost someone crucial, we wipe and start again. If it is close to the end and we just might manage it I'll keep it going.
There are nights when my lot aren't focused and they fail on straight forward "you must do this or we lose" stuff. That's when I use my 'yes I really mean it' tone and tell them that the moment someone screws that up we're wiping and going again. That tends to focus them back onto things, because they dont' want to be the one who prompts the wipe.
What I hated most was paladin tanks and Divine Intervention. We had one pally tank that would DI when he decided we should wipe, irrespective of the RL's call. Of course after that we were going to wipe regardless. Drove me nuts.Replies
I think that is part of the reason they removed DI. People hated when people did that.Delete
You get what I was going for with that. There are some times I feel it is just worth wiping and restarting all over. For me and my group it works. Some groups I can see really getting upset over it, I've seen it in wipes.
I think it's been 4 years or since I was a RL, but tanking means I tend to get involved nonetheless. I'm an optimist, I think we can win most often than not. I recall going ballistics after our healers and my offtank died on DS last boss, yelling that we'te not bloody wiping while I'm still standing. It was a kill. We've had so many kills with 1-3 people left alive (usually healers dropped and people going down one by one trying to survive as much as possible) that I tend to ignore wipe calls.ReplyDeleteReplies
I think tanks are best designed to be raid leaders, followed by healers. Just my personal opinion, but the tanks always end up playing an active part in leading even if they are not actually leading.Delete
I've had a few kills like that. One this tier. First time doing the first boss on heroic. Everyone died do to a tank mix up with the puddle except for one tank. There was one healing orb a priest had pulled back and was moving super slow before we all died. We yelled out to the tank to heal it and as a paladin he threw some heals on it and ding, we downed him with one person up. That was just complete luck.
It comes down to knowing where to cut your losses in my opinion. If you had lost the healer and OT on the first, second or even third platform it probably would have been better to call for a wipe. But when you are so close you can taste it, might as well give it a try.
And thank you for giving me a great idea for a post. Cool last minute victories. :)


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Police shoot, kill Kansas City teenager
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say an officer has shot and killed a suburban Kansas City teenager while responding to a report of a suicidal person.
The Kansas City Star reports that the shooting happened Saturday night outside an Overland Park, Kansas, home. Police said in a statement that as officers approached the house, a garage door opened and a vehicle drove out toward one of the officers. An officer then shot the 17-year-old driver, John Albers. He was a junior in the Blue Valley school district, where his mother is a middle school principal.
Family members said in a statement Sunday that they are "heartbroken" and expressed thanks for the "thoughts and prayers."
The shooting is under investigation. The officer will be on administrative leave, as is standard procedure in such cases.


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The Eclectic Wedding Extravaganza is Baaaack!!
The amazing Eclectic Wedding Extravaganza (EWE) is baaaaack with a bang for Autumn/ Winter and it's the perfect weekend to find all your alternative, edgy and baaaad ass suppliers for your wedding day.
Mr & Mrs Unique has been a proud sponsor for the past few years, and what I adore about the weekend and the hard working team behind EWE (which includes the Jo from The Couture Company and Sassy from Assassynation), is that they really curate an incredible line up of suppliers; ones that will celebrate your uniqueness and your creative vision for your day. What I promise you is a welcoming and inclusive environment and there won't be any weight loss, teeth whitening, exercise bullshit in sight! Halle-blooming-lujah!
The EWE team said 'If EWE are looking to break out from wedding beige-ery then look no further. EWE might think that wedding fairs aren't for EWE but if you've not visited us before you won't believe how much fun they can be. There is truly something for everyone and with little lambs getting in free (please don't turn up with any actual lambs…..we can't let those in sadly) why not come along and see what all the buzz is about."
The event returns to The Bond Company in Birmingham on 10th and 11th November, …


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It's suddenly started to turn autumnal here (excuse to add a picture of some of my recent sewing! I'm busy, busy, busy over at The Linen Cat), the mornings have gone a bit chilly and if the sun doesn't come out it feels quite fresh throughout the day. To coincide I am treating myself to reading the Autumn section of the book 'The Magic Apple Tree' by Susan Hill, oh how I love this book and I have been eeking it out, saving each Season section to read in time with our own progressing year. It has appeared as a favourite on many bloggers pages and I once read an extract in a magazine and marked if for my own reading list. It's a beautiful description of country life in Susan's village and garden and I think she might be to blame for my recent run on jam and jelly making as it also contains the odd recipe, sadly I believe it's out of print (why!?), but I managed to get a second hand copy from Amazon.
I decided to have a go at the included recipe for Plum, Orange and Walnut Jam as I do like jam with nuts in and the local shop has loads of British plums on offer at the moment. I only made a half batch as I will be the only person eating this jam so I want to enjoy it and not feel pressured into making sure it's all eaten whilst in it's prime, I'd rather run out wanting more than be finding jars in the back of the cupboard in a few years time looking sad and past it's best. I have changed the method a little so suit my needs, such as slicing the zest of the orange instead of the whole peel (it makes it quicker to cook).
Plum, Orange and Walnut Jam
(Put some saucers in the freezer)
1.350 Kg Plums
1.100 Kg Sugar
2 Oranges
225 g Walnuts, chopped.
Stone the plums and put the halves into a large pan, setting the stones aside for later.
Use a peeler to remove the zest of the oranges, slice this as thinly as possible then add to the plums. Juice the oranges (add this to the pan as well) then cut the remaining orange zest and pips roughly and tie into a muslin along with the reserved plum stones – guess what? – yep, add to the pan.
Finally also add 300 ml of water, then bring to the boil and simmer until the zest is soft (as with marmalade, if you add the sugar too soon it will toughen up the zest making it chewy and too hard), the plums need less cooking time so they will definitely be ready when the zest is, this took me about 30 mins.
Turn down the heat and add the sugar, heat very slowly, stirring occasionally until all the sugar has dissolved and there are no crystals left.
Bring to a rolling boil and boil rapidly for approx 10 mins, adding the nuts just before you remove the pan from the heat. Test for a set by putting a blob onto one of your frozen saucers, after cooling for a moment it should form a skin that wrinkles when pushed with your finger, this means it's set, otherwise rapid boil for a few more minutes (4 – ish) them remove from the heat and test for a set again. Repeat until setting point is reached.
Now, once ready I waited about 5 mins in an attempt to try and allow it to cool enough for the nuts to not float to the surface, I failed. I think next time I'll treat it the same way I do marmalade and leave it to cool about 15-20 mins, then put it into it's jam jars (sterilized in a 150 degree oven on a tray with the lids for at least 5 mins) before sealing with wax discs and lids.
Despite the final jam being top heavy with the nuts it tastes great and is one I will make again.
Whilst I was on a roll and had everything out I also made some apple and herb jelly. I wanted to make a batch that I then split between apple & mint and apple & thyme jelly so I didn't add the herbs until the last stages (see the notes).
Apple and Herb Jelly
1.5 Kg cooking apples
Granulated sugar
100 ml cider vinegar
I medium bunch of your chosen herbs (sage, rosemary, mint, thyme etc)
Roughly chop the apples, including peel, cores and pips and add to a pan with just enough water to cover (if you are making a single herb jelly you should also add the herbs now). Bring to the boil and simmer gently, uncovered for about 1 hour, the fruit needs to be very soft.
Tip the (cooled) contents into a muslin suspended over a bowl for a few hours, ideally overnight and don't squeeze if you would like your finished jelly to be clear.
Put a couple of saucers into the freezer and have your cleaned jars and lids ready on a baking tray ready to sterilize in the oven.
Measure the strained juice and for every 600 ml, you will need 450g sugar (don't add it yet!).
At this stage I split my juice into 2 batches and gently heated each with my chosen herbs, half with mint and the other with thyme, I put the herbs into a large tea strainer so as to keep the jelly clear and them removed it after a few minutes to start the next step of the recipe, which I made in half batches (so 50 ml of vinegar per batch etc).
Return the juice to a clean pan with the vinegar, heat until boiling point and then add the sugar, stir and simmer gently until dissolved. Once all the sugar crystals are gone, rapid boil the jelly until setting point is reached, which should be about 10-12 mins. Remove from the heat and remove any scum from the surface with a slotted spoon.
Check for a set by putting a small blob of the jam onto one of the saucers from the freezer, leave it for a few minutes and push with your finger, if a skin has formed that wrinkles then the jam is ready, if not you need to boil for a few more minutes then test again.
At this stage I added some chopped herbs to the mixtures as I think it looks pretty and let it cool slightly so the herbs stage suspended nicely in the jelly once set.
Pour into warm sterilised jars (heated for 15 mins in a medium oven, or used directly from a washing machine cycle and whilst still warm), seal with wax discs and lids.
We tested it at the weekend when I roasted some pork and it tastes delicious, it's a beautiful golden pink jelly and is somehow very 'light' and delicate. I can understand why people may make it with chopped rose petals added instead of herbs, I have a slight aversion to rose flavours in food (makes me think of Granny chocolates!) but I imagine it works really well.
I am really looking forward to making crab apple jelly in a while and some medlar jelly from our new tree when the fruit is ready, guess what everyone will be getting for Christmas from us this year 😉
OK so for all those living in the UK, and especially in the South you may realise this post was written a good few weeks ago (sorry, bit behind in finishing it) as we are now in the middle of a late heat wave, what happened to Autumn? Ah well, I'll be making the most whilst I can and spending some time tidying up the rather messy garden.


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Butterflied leg of lamb with lavender, honey & claqueret
In France, claqueret is used as a dip for radishes or bread, but the goat's cheese, garlic and herbs in this cheese-based sauce also work well with lamb
Nutrition and extra info
- Freezable
- Gluten-free
Nutrition: Per serving
- kcal614
- fat38g
- saturates18g
- carbs16g
- sugars15g
- fibre1g
- protein50g
- salt0.5g
- 2¼kg leg of lamb (pre-boned weight), butterflied (ask your butcher to do this)
A lamb is a sheep that is under 1 year old; between 1 and 2 years old you will find it sold as…
- 6 garlic cloves
- 5 lavender sprigs, leaves and flowers chopped
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Olive oilol-iv oyl
Probably the most widely-used oil in cooking, olive oil is pressed from fresh olives. It's…
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Balsamic vinegarbal-sam-ick vin-ee-gah
True Balsamic vinegar is an artisan product from Modena, in Emilia Romagna, Italy, and is made…
- 4 tbsp lavender honey
For the claqueret
- 400g fromage blanc
- 100g soft goat's cheese, crumbled
- 6 tbsp crème fraîche
- 3 shallots, finely chopped
Related to the onion (as opposed to being a younger version of it), shallots grow in clusters at…
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp dry white wine
- 1 ½ tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tbsp chives, finely chopped
- 3 tbsp parsley, finely chopped
One of the most ubiquitous herbs in British cookery, parsley is also popular in European and…
- 3 tbsp chervil, finely chopped
Chervil is an annual herb that looks similar to flat leaf parsley but with a finer stem and more…
For the glaze
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Balsamic vinegarbal-sam-ick vin-ee-gah
True Balsamic vinegar is an artisan product from Modena, in Emilia Romagna, Italy, and is made…
- 2 tbsp lavender honey
- 2 lavender sprigs, leaves and flowers chopped
To make the claqueret, mix all the ingredients together. The flavours need time to meld, so ideally you should do this a couple of hours ahead and keep it at room temperature until ready to serve. You can also make the claqueret further ahead, cover and chill in the fridge, but remember to take it out and bring it to room temperature before serving.
Heat oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7. Lay the lamb out flat, flesh-side up, and use a small knife to make incisions all over both the flesh and fat sides (they can be deeper on the flesh side). Crush the garlic with some sea salt using a pestle and mortar, then add the lavender leaves and flowers, olive oil, lemon, balsamic vinegar and honey to make a rough paste.
Put the lamb in a roasting tin and push the paste into the incisions you made. Finish with the lamb fat-side up. Mix the glaze ingredients together and spoon this over the lamb. Season, then roast for 15 mins.
Turn the heat down to 190C/170C fan/gas 5 and roast for another 20 mins. The lamb will be pink. Cover loosely with foil and allow to rest for about 10 mins. Carve, then serve with the cooking juices and the claqueret.


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Celebrate the third week of Advent with this new fabric banner that matches our Chrismons paraments and stoles co-designed by Cokesbury and Praise Banners. Works with most T-pole floor stands or wall hangers.
Available in blue or purple and in 18" x 5ft or 2' x 6' sizes.
*If out of stock will ship in approximately two weeks. Be sure to allow extra time if ordering just before the beginning Advent.
Read More


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Air Ducts
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the verdict is still out on whether dirty air ducts cause health problems or increase dust. But if you do decide, for whatever reason, that you want your home's air ducts to be cleaned, please don't take matters into your own hands. Unless you've had extensive training, it would basically be impossible for you to handle the job.


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Orkot Marine Bearings Synthetic Composite Bearings for Rudders and Water Lubricated Stern Tube Bearings
Trelleborg Sealing Solutions is the sole manufacturer of Orkot® Marine Bearings. These are synthetic composite bearings used in shipbuilding for rudders and water lubricated stern tube bearings, amongst many other applications. They are available through a global network of distributors supporting the shipbuilding and ship repair markets.
Rudder and water lubricated mainshaft bearings
We have a team of experienced engineers who are available to assist you in designing the correct solution to your bearing problem and to help you with optimising performance, reducing total costs, improving service life and solving your delivery and breakdown problems.
Orkot Marine Bearings can be found in the following applications:
- Rudder bearings can be found on thousands of ships around the world. They are fitted as standard by all the leading shipyards for their long service life, ease of fitting and reliability.
- Water lubricated mainshaft bearings can be supplied as plain bearings machined to size with water lubrication grooves or as a complete package with metal sleeves for ease of fitting.
- Water jet bucket bearings can be easily machined and quickly and simply fitted by liquid nitrogen. These durable bushes can be found on many of the world's water jets.
- Hatch cover support pads are low friction, high load bearing pads with approval up to 35N/mm² mean. Orkot hatch cover pads are selected for demanding applications.
- Stabiliser bearings
- Cranes, winches and hoists
- Stern roller bearings
- Chain stopper bushes
- Fairleads
- Naval applications: stern tube bearings, ropeguards, fairwaters, eddy plates, coupling covers
Synthetic composite bearings
Orkot synthetic composite bearings have virtually zero swell in water together with a low friction and high load capability, making them the ideal choice for marine bearings. Two materials are available for marine applications, both offering good wear resistance under heavy loads.
Orkot TLMM bearing material
This is the standard marine material grade with a woven cloth reinforcement, solid lubricants and a thermoset resin matrix. The material is equally happy in water or with oil or grease lubrication. It offers the following advantages:
- Almost zero swell in water
- Tolerant to edge loading
- Accepts misalignment of shafts
- Highly resistant to wear
- Can be easily freeze fitted without becoming brittle
Orkot TXMM bearing material
This is a development of the Orkot TLMM bearing material. It uses a special low friction bearing surface to give a very stable bearing and maintain the high load capacity of TLMM whilst offering the benefit of even lower friction and reduced wear. Like TLMM it has the ability to be installed by freeze fitting and can accept shaft misalignment.
This material is used for dry running rudders such as gas carriers and for water lubricated main shaft bearings. It can also be found in our hatch cover pads where the low friction and high load capability are ideally suited to large box ships.
About Trelleborg
The company is based in a state-of-the-art factory in Rotherham, UK. From this site we provide sales, engineering support, design, development, testing and the main production facility. This is backed up by further facilities in Chicago and Shanghai. We have a network of both Trelleborg and private distributors around the world, including stocks in all the major shipbuilding and ship repair yards around the globe.
Please contact us for for a quotation or technical help. Further details can be found on our web site by clicking the link below.
Products and Services
Deck Machinery Bearings
Orkot® TLM Marine has been used in a large number of deck machinery bearing applications.
Rudder Bearings
Orkot® TLM Marine has been used in a large number of rudder bearing applications worldwide.
Stabiliser Bearings
Orkot® TLM Marine has been used in a number of stabiliser applications worldwide.
Stern Tube Bearings
Orkot® TLM Marine has been used in a number of stern tube bearing applications worldwide.
White Papers
Orkot® TLM & TXM Marine Bearings
Trelleborg Sealing Solutions is a world-leading manufacturer and supplier of bearings and bearing materials to the shipping and marine industries.
Orkot: Engineering Manual
Orkot® is the brand name of a range of proprietary composite bearing materials consisting of a matrix of fabric-reinforced polymers from Trelleborg Sealing Solutions.
Press Release
Trelleborg Sealing Solutions will be presenting Orkot® Marine Bearings at Marintec, the largest Maritime trade fair in Asia with 1,700 exhibiting companies, held in Shanghai from 1-4 December 2015.Read more
Orkot® Marine Bearings, developed and manufactured by Trelleborg Sealing Solutions, have contributed to the building of the world's largest and most efficient container ships, the Maersk Triple E-class family, built by Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding.Read more
Regional Offices
Bradmarsh Business Park
United Kingdom


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"And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones;
And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures;
And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint."
Merry Meet and Welcome!
You are encouraged to take what you can from what we share here. If you want to know more, do not look to the contributors of this blog to teach anything beyond what we post. Seek out what feels right for you, trust the Spirit to guide you and have faith in our heavenly parents who are the givers of all pure knowledge.
December 26, 2010
1 comment:
As a historian, it's difficult to clarify if Joseph Smith talked about a Mother in Heaven or wondered about if there was such a thing. He never made anything official that can be found. There are statements that are supposedly to have com from him, but finding an actual statement that is official is not to be found. Elisa Snow wrote her song, "Oh God Our Father" and in that she brings of a mother in heaven. Brigham Young heard it and said that made perfect sense. That is the most official thing we have on the subject that I can find. To go further than this we would be making up scripture to our liking, and I thing God frowns on that.ReplyDelete
We hope that you will find our content to be uplifting and educational. Please keep in mind that this is not a space for debate or criticism but rather a place for respect, curiosity and learning.
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The Beast is loose in WV! For Starters, all our WV friends, I don't know how many of you are familiar with the new high voltage power line the BEAST plans to trash our state with in the near future, but every single one of you, no matter how apathetic you usually are, needs to know about this and make your feelings known. There have been some articles in the Roane County Reporter and the Hur Herald about this and some GREAT letters to the editor in the Spencer newspaper AGAINST it, written by some of the smartest folks I know.
In a nutshell, the plan is to saddle WV, in particular ROANE AND CALHOUN Counties for starters, with a huge 300 foot right of way high voltage power line running from Charleston to Maryland, designed to benefit the big cities up north. Ever hear of "eminent domain"? That means they can FORCE you to sell your land to them so they can do whatever they want with it. And that's just for starters. It's been proven that all that high voltage is not healthy for anyone to be around. And it means that some of our most beautiful and "off the beaten path" land areas will be ruined with the ugliness of towers and electric lines and a huge 300 foot wide scar that possibly will be maintained by SPRAYING POISON CHEMICALS to keep the trees from growing there. So much for organic and healthy DEER MEAT.
This project also supports the rape of other areas of the state in the form of Mountaintop Removal.
But, hell, we don't need natural beauty, clean air and water, or mountains, do we?
The criminals in the capitol building are outdoing themselves this time.
$1.8 BILLION to create this power line. Guess who is gonna pay? The electric customers. What happened to the "Green" Revolution??? Wouldn't that much money go a long way to build some ALTERNATIVE and CLEAN power? At the rate the political landscape is changing in that direction, in a few years, their fancy coal-to-electric plants could all be completely outdated anyhow. Unless they are simply LYING to everyone.
There was supposed to be a community meeting in Calhoun County about this, but apparently they figured they had already had enough of them. A "Community Meeting" is nothing more than a way to attempt to placate effected people with selected propaganda by making them THINK they might have a say-so in things. By the time they have community meeting, it's already too late, already been decided. Remember the smoking ban meetings? All B.S.
I went to the official "PATH" website to look at their propaganda. I wanted to cry. They very graciously had a form you could use to send in comments if you didn't get to attend one of the community meetings. I commented and hit "send" only to discover that function DOES NOT WORK! I went to the top and clicked on the "contact us" link, only to discover that it DOES NOT WORK. I guess they are not interested in even hearing what we think at all. It's a railroad job.
We are contemplating holding a community meeting of our own, regardless. Possibly a good old fashioned protest? We need YOU to make sure EVERYONE YOU KNOW knows about this. We could use some good ideas, some input. If you DON'T live in WV, we STILL need you if you care about the environment, heritage, mountains, or simply detest the way big corporations and governments run roughshod over people they consider to be less than educated.
PLEASE, please, please, pass this on to all your other "friends" via bulletins and blogs, telephone, email… Especially people who live in-state and ESPECIALLY those who live in the effected counties. Nobody can do anything about this if they don't know about it.
Now, here is my comment that I attempted to leave on the "PATH" website. An open letter to the PATH spokespeople:
You people should be ashamed of yourselves! $1.8 Billion to support coal mining and ruin the existing landscape! Money that could be used to fund alternative and clean and acceptable energy. Public meetings are a lie. By the time a public meeting happens, things have already been decided and the goal is to simply placate the people who are effected, we have no say-so on anything. Problem is, everyone in this state will be effected! And not in a good way. The goal seems to be to simply allow big corporations to use this state for their every whim. To hell with natural beauty, tourism, privacy, property ownership, or anything else that gets in the way. You are a part of the beast!
A big power line such as this will make us a direct target for "terrorists", no matter who you think the terrorists might be. The common ignorance and apathy of the population at large is no excuse for you to come in to this state and destroy any more of it. So handy for you that most folks simply say "Gee, I'm glad it's not in my backyard." Well, honey, West Virginia IS your backyard, and it's our home! The entire state should be preserved and protected from you vultures who would use it up at our expense. The coal companies and the government have already been proven to be corrupt time and time again. You are all criminals working hand in hand. It's called a conspiracy and it's not even a secret any more.
You might think that West Virginians are all just dumb hillbillies or that they don't care, but you are terribly wrong. There are folks working hard in this state right now with their goal being to shut you down.


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On Sunday 29th June 2014, the BET Awards will take place at the Nokia Theatre in L.A. Actor/comedian Chris Rock will host the award ceremony.
Some of Africa's biggest names in contemporary music are set to perform as part of the BET Experience at L.A. LIVE for the first time ever.
Nigerian singer-songwriter Tiwa Savage, South African Afro-pop duo Mafikizolo and Ghanaian hip hop artist Sarkodie will perform as part of the "Music Around the Globe" presentation on Saturday 28 June. The three artists are all nominated in the "BET Awards" 'Best International Act: Africa' category.
This will be the first time that Mafikizolo and Tiwa Savage will perform in the United States.
In addition, Nigerian hip hop superstar Ice Prince, who won the 2013 BET Award for 'Best International Act: Africa', will also take to the stage on Sunday 29 June: he will also present the award for the same category to this year's winner at the BET Awards.
International acts performing include Nicki Minaj, John Legend, Jhene Aiko, August Alsina, K. Michelle, Mack Wilds, Mary J. Blige, Trey Songz and others.


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I promised you scans from the August issue of Cosmopolitan UK, and here they are! Thanks to the fabulous Angie of our beloved sister site Drew Fan, I can provide you with the scans featuring a brand new interview and gorgeous new photos of Cameron. Check the scans out by clicking on the previews or link at the bottom of this post.
I've also come to share the news that I got my original Cameron-domain back, so you can now view this site through www.CameronFan.com as well! I've also changed the name of the site (and updated the main graphic) to "Cameron Fan", all to fit the new address. A big thanks to the amazing Fan Sites Network for making this happen.
Gallery Link
• Scans: August – Cosmopolitan UK


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The Trouble With Fate (Mystwalker, #1) by Leigh Evans
Publisher: St.Martins.
Publication date: December 24th, 2012
Number of pages: 344 pgs
Format: Mass-market Paperback
Purchase: Amazon | Kindle | The Book Depository
Meet Hedi Peacock. She's half Fae. Half Were. And all trouble…
I Have Two Words For Werewolves:
My name is Hedi Peacock and I have a secret. I'm not human, and I have the pointy Fae ears and Were inner-bitch to prove it. As fairy tales go, my childhood was damn near perfect, all fur and magic until a werewolf killed my father and the Fae executed my mother. I've never forgiven either side. Especially Robson Trowbridge. He was a part-time werewolf, a full-time bastard, and the first and only boy I ever loved. That is, until he became the prime suspect in my father's death…
Bite Me.
Today I'm a half-breed barista working at a fancy coffee house, living with my loopy Aunt Lou and a temperamental amulet named Merry, and wondering where in the world I'm going in life. A pretty normal existence, considering. But when a pack of Weres decides to kidnap my aunt and force me to steal another amulet, the only one who can help me is the last person I ever thought I'd turn to: Robson Trowbridge. And he's as annoyingly beautiful as I remember. That's the trouble with fate: Sometimes it barks. Other times it bites. And the rest of the time it just breaks your heart. Again…
Meet Hedi Peacock. Half were. Half fae. Definitely all trouble.
This book was recommended to me by a friend who thought I'd like it. I could kick myself for not getting around to reading it sooner than I did. I definitely loved it.
I loved Hedi. She is a strong, passionate, head-strong woman who has been through way too much in her life. She lost her parents and her brother in one night, and has one person to blame for it -- her old crush, Robson Trowbridge, who comes crashing back into her life whether she likes it or not.
When her aunt gets kidnapped by a pack of weres and forces her to steal something, the only person that can help her is the last person she would ever go to.
Going by Bridge now, he never expected to see Hedi again, and he doesn't quite remember her, since it has been over 10 years since that very night that not only changed her life forever, but also his own as well.
When the pair of them are forced to work together, something begins to transpire between them, something that has been lingering between them for way too long, especially for her, who has been in love with him since high school, and it will be something they can't ignore.
The chemistry between them is sizzling, but they have many issues between them that will determine whether a future is in the cards for these two love birds, mainly is whether he is still pining over his dead wife. Yeah... that's always a cockblocker, right?
The other thing? Hedi remembering that his family being the cause of the murder of her family and the kidnapping of her twin brother, who she has not seen since.
This was a very strong debut, and as soon as I finished it, I couldn't wait to get my hands on the sequel, because that cliffhanger? Yeah.. you just needed to know what was going to happen next for these two.
A debut as strong as anything, Leigh Evans does an amazing job with the kickass characters, mythology and world-building to boot.
A definite recommend read.
Rating: 4.5/5


text: Main Content Senate Bill 0997 (2020) rss? friendly link printer friendly Friendly Link: http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?2020-SB-0997 Sponsors Jeremy Moss (district 11)Adam Hollier, Winnie Brinks, Dayna Polehanki, Erika Geiss, Jeff Irwin, Rosemary Bayer, Stephanie Chang, Betty Jean Alexander, Sean McCann, Mallory McMorrow, Paul Wojno, Jim Ananich, Sylvia Santana (click name to see bills sponsored by that person) Categories Appropriations: supplemental; Employment security: other; Appropriations; supplemental; supplemental appropriation for an unemployment insurance agency direct payment program; provide for. Creates new appropriation act. Bill Documents Bill Document Formatting Information [x] The following bill formatting applies to the 2019-2020 session:- New language in an amendatory bill will be shown in BOLD AND UPPERCASE.- Language to be removed will be stricken.- Amendments made by the House will be blue with square brackets, such as: [House amended text].- Amendments made by the Senate will be red with double greater/lesser than symbols, such as: <<Senate amended text>>. (gray icons indicate that the action did not occur or that the document is not available) Documents Senate Introduced Bill Introduced bills appear as they were introduced and reflect no subsequent amendments or changes. As Passed by the Senate As Passed by the Senate is the bill, as introduced, that includes any adopted Senate amendments. As Passed by the House As Passed by the House is the bill, as received from the Senate, that includes any adopted House amendments. Senate Enrolled Bill Enrolled bill is the version passed in identical form by both houses of the Legislature. Bill Analysis History (House actions in lowercase, Senate actions in UPPERCASE) Date JournalAction 6/25/2020SJ 58 Pg. 1107INTRODUCED BY SENATOR JEREMY MOSS 6/25/2020SJ 58 Pg. 1107REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS


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Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L USM, which was released in late 1998, heralded a new era for Canon's lineup of fast wide angle lenses (this lineup now includes EF 14mm f/2.8L USM, EF 14mm f/2.8L II USM and EF 24mm f/1.4L USM). Priced at about US$1,100 (as of September 2007), the lens is targeted towards professional and enthusiast photographers rather then mainstream consumers.
The optical construction of the lens consists of 11 elements in 9 groups, including a single aspherical element intended to correct spherical aberrations. Like many wide angle lenses, Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L USM features floating element construction which improves picture quality throughout the aperture range. The build quality of the lens is superb, as expected from a professional grade L glass - there's no wobbling inside or out, rubberized focusing ring is smooth and the lens looks and feels very sturdy. The lens offers fast and near silent ring-type USM AF as well as full-time manual focusing system, which can be controlled with an AF/MF switch located on the side of the barrel. Like other modern Canon lenses, EF 35mm f/1.4L USM does not have a dedicated aperture ring and aperture levels have to be set directly from the camera.
Like its other wide angle cousins (EF 14mm f/2.8L USM and EF 24mm f/1.4L USM), Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L USM is a bit 'bulky', measuring 79 x 86mm (3.1 x 3.4in) and weighing 580g (20.5oz). The minimum focusing distance is 30cm, resulting in 1:5.5 maximum object magnification at this distance, the minimum aperture level is f/22 and the filter size is 72mm. The lens sports internal focusing mechanism, so the lens cams do not extend during focusing.
The lens is designed to fit Canon's full-frame EF mount and on APS-C type cameras with 1.6x crop factor the field of view of the lens will resemble that of a 56mm lens on a full-frame body. The lens is compatible with Canon's Extension Tubes EF 12 II and EF 25 II and accepts Gelatin Holder Adapters III and IV. The factory box includes Canon EF 24mm f/1.4L USM lens, front and rear caps, EW-78C petal shaped lens hood, LP1214 soft case, manual and registration card.
|Lens Composition
|11 elements in 9 groups
|Angular Field
|63 degrees
|Minimum Focus
|Focusing Action
|f-stop Scale
|f/1.4-f/22, camera-controlled
|Filter Size
|Lens Hood
|EW-78C (included)
|Lens Case
|LP1214 (included)
Field Tests
The lens produced rather sharp results in the center across all aperture ranges. Borders were a little bit soft at wide apertures, continually improving with stopped down aperture. The softness around borders is more pronounced on a full-frame camera, which is expected.
When shot with wide open aperture, Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L USM produced well rounded and uniformly lit out-of-focus highlights, that carried pretty neutral boundary transitions (once in a while you'd see a slightly harsher edge highlighting, but that was quite uncommon). Contrast transitions in the OOF areas were pretty smooth and pleasing, and there was no sign of double-edging around OOF back/fore-ground objects.
The lens showed moderate amount of vignetting with wide open aperture on a full frame Canon 5D. Vignetting is reduced significantly once stopped down to f/2 and by f/2.8 it becomes pretty minimal. On APS-C camera the lens did not exhibit any major vignetting throughout the tested aperture range. The lens showed minor levels of color fringing across the frame, but managed to hold its ground against flare. The lens also showed no visible barrel distortion.
|Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L USM image gallery...
Lab Tests
Please note that MTF50 results for APS-C and Full-Frame cameras are not cross-comparable despite the same normalized [0:1] range used to report results for both types of cameras.
Two lens samples were tested. The first sample was suffering from a lens element displacement and produced extremely soft and inconsistent results across the frame with wide aperture settings. The review reports results obtained from the second lens sample.
Canon APS-C: The lens showed pretty solid results in the lab. Center performance was exceptionally good throughout the tested aperture range. Borders were somewhat softer at f/1.4, and the performance here was rather mediocre. However, quality improves with stopped down aperture - at f/2 border performance is already solid and by f/2.8 becomes outstanding. Results remain very solid throughout the rest of the aperture range and in the f/2.8-f/11 range the lens is capable of producing outstanding 16in and decent 24in prints. Conclusion? Even with the somewhat weak border results at f/1.4, the overall performance is very solid, even for an L quality lens.
The lens showed somewhat higher levels of CA around borders on an APS-C camera, where it averaged ~1.3px across the frame. The lens fared better in the center, where CA was well under control, not exceeding ~0.4px even at the widest aperture levels.
Canon FF: The lens gave up some ground around borders on a full frame camera. This is most noticeable at wider aperture levels, where unlike with an APS-C camera, quality improves with stopped down aperture but at a much slower rate. In the f/1.4-f/2 range border performance is pretty mediocre, but by f/2.8 it reaches more or less decent levels and by f/5.6 becomes exceptionally good. Center performance, on the other hand, is very solid straight from f/1.4. Conclusion? A bit disappointing, especially after such a promising start with an APS-C camera! The overall performance can still be considered pretty decent, even with somewhat softer borders at wide aperture levels.
Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L USM exhibited moderate degree of barrel distortion. At 0.95%, distortion can become noticeable in general photography, especially with architectural type shots.
CA was more or less under control on a full frame Canon 5D. Chromatic aberration averaged ~0.4px in the center across the tested aperture range. CA remained quite manageable even around borders, where it averaged ~0.8px across the aperture range.
Canon currently offers another 35mm fixed focal lens in EF mount - EF 35mm f/2, which aside from being 5x cheaper when compared to EF 35mm f/1.4L USM is also more compact as well as is lighter. The slower 35mm variant shows excellent center performance, but unfortunately like many other wide angle lenses falls short in performance around borders at wide apertures. If you're willing to consider a wider angle lens, then you might want to take a look at EF 24mm f/1.4L USM (review), which offers outstanding center performance throughout the aperture range, but somewhat softer results around borders at wide aperture levels. As I mentioned in my other reviews, the list of high quality wide angle lenses in EF mount is rather short. There are a number of wide angle prime lenses manufactured by Sigma, including 20mm f/1.8 EX DG ASPH and 24mm f/1.8 EX DG ASPH Macro, but pretty much all of them do not offer any improvement in performance, especially at wider apertures. That is probably why many photographers these days are starting to look at alternative mount lenses from Carl Zeiss, Leica and even Olympus OM and adopt them to the EF mount.
Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L USM was supposed to be one of Canon's flagship lenses. It almost reaches that status, with outstanding performance on an APS-C camera, but falls a bit short on a full frame body. So where does this leave us? If you shoot an APS-C camera, then you will be hard pressed to find a better lens (image quality-wise that is). Those of you with full frame bodies like Canon 5D might still want to opt for this lens if you can accept softer border performance at wider apertures in favor of exceptionally good border performance (quality is still outstanding once stopped down to f/5.6 and beyond).


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Just a quick reminder that all classes are back in session as from this Monday, January 16th, with the exception of Kids Kung Fu classes, which start back on Monday, January 30th. All adult Qi Gong, Tai Chi, Fighting Fit and Kung Fu classes are back from Monday.
We hope everyone had a great break and look forward to getting back into training.
See you in class!