Maltese terrier) Scooter.

Alphanuma 1.0

Hi Completely replace the carrier and MS branding on the dialer, outgoing call and incoming call screens with Alphanuma 1.0 When you are placing a call, or trying to remember which numbers to use to spell someone's name in a voicemail system, glance at the top of the screen to see the classic touch tone letter guide (since it isn't printed on the s620). Example 2 abc - 3 def - 4 ghi - 5 jkl - 6 mno - 7 pqrs - 8 tuv - 9 wxyz The graphics are seamless (no wigglies!) from screen to screen, including the optional wallpaper. Contents of the cabinet: Replacement for the small banner that says "smartphone" on an unbranded HTC, or shows the Carrier's graphic logo on most branded models. Even smaller replacement for the carrier's text on the screen that comes up when you your call is connecting/connected. Backgrounds for both the incoming call/ring and outgoing call/connected, with color changes, since the two screens have opposite text color. Backgrounds include the same aligned numeric guide, so that it appears consistent, even where a contact photo or other graphic might cause the carrier logo replacement to clip. Registry key to make sure that the phone looks for the right file for the dialer screen, in case you want to use it on a branded phone, though it works by default on ROMs based on an unbranded HTC image. A matching, text-less homescreen wallpaper in \Applications\Home, for optional use. Known issues: You must reboot (soft-reset) to use. Sometimes the installation tells you this, sometimes it doesn't! Sometimes it is listed in the remove programs menu, even after removal. UPDATED: Multiple Skins, see bottom of this post. UPDATED: CABs scrubbed clean by OrganicM. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=386400 Attached Images Screen07.jpg (38.1 KB) Attached Files Alphanuma_1.0.rar (1.01 MB)

Cooking Tips for Broiling a Chicken

Cooking Tips for Broiling a ChickenFor decades, broiled chicken has been the meat of choice for those on low-fat and low calorie diets. Unfortunately, broiled white chicken has also acquired a reputation for being bland, rubbery and dry.That's a real shame, because chicken - especially white meat chicken - is one of the most versatile proteins available. All it takes is a bit of knowledge about how to broil (or grill) chicken so that it stays moist and flavorful and you will find that chicken tastes great even without all the sauces and gravies.How to Broil Chicken That Melts in Your MouthOne of the most important things to keep in mind about chicken white meat is that it has little fat of its own. The fat is all in the skin. While that makes it relatively easy to cook chicken with almost no fat, it also means that chicken white meat is prone to becoming very dry when cooked without the skin. Want to avoid dried out broiled chicken breasts? Here are some tips for broiling chicken that will be moist and delicious.1. If fat is not a concern, broil breasts with the skin on, and turned toward the heat source. For broiling, start with the skin side down, and then flip chicken pieces halfway through. Broiling breasts with the skin on will not appreciably increase the fat content of the meat as long as you remove the skin before eating it.2. If using skinless breasts, rub them lightly with olive oil or marinade before broiling. Experiment with flavored olive oils to find flavor combinations that you like. Or, brush breasts with Italian dressing - or spray lightly with cooking spray to give them a light coating.3. Precook chicken breasts in chicken stock before putting them under the broiler. They will start out infused with extra moisture and flavor, and spend less time drying out under the broiler.4. Use an herb rub to crust the chicken on the outside. You will a get browned, crusted outside and moist, tender inside.5. Your heat source should be about 5 to 6 inches away from the top of the chicken for best broiling.6. Flavor chicken meat with herbs, salt and spices before broiling.7. Preheat the broiler for 9 to 10 minutes before putting the meat in. If you try to broil chicken in a broiler that is not preheated, they will dry out before they cook through.8. Keep your eye on the chicken while it is cooking. If edges are cooking too quickly, rearrange the pieces on the pan or adjust the heat.9. Conversely, shield the thinner edges of chicken breast with foil to prevent them burning before the rest of the chicken is cooked.10. Flip chicken when top side is browned. Since breasts will not all cook at the same rate, keep an eye on the chicken so that you can remove breasts when they are done and prevent them from drying out.11. Use tongs to turn chicken. Do not pierce with a fork or juices will escape, leaving chicken dry and stringy.12. Brush top side of chicken with marinade, barbecue sauce, Italian dressing or flavored olive oil after turning. A light basting will refresh the moisture and infuse flavors into the meat.Broiling a Whole ChickenGenerally, whole chicken is roasted, often after being stuffed with forcemeat of some kind or other. However, a whole chicken can be cooked under the broiler for a very different taste. You just need to flatten the chicken before cooking. Follow these directions for flavorful broiled whole chicken.1. First, butterfly the chicken2. Remove the backbone: Using a heavy knife or kitchen shears, cut close to the backbone from neck to tail on each side of the bone, and then remove it.3. Flatten the chicken: Spread the chicken skin side up on your table or counter, and bang the breast with your fist to break the collar bone and some of the ribs.4. Fold the wings to either side of the shoulders.5. Cut a slit in the skin at either side of the breast tip.6. Insert the tips of the drumsticks through the slits in the skin.7. Brush the chicken with olive oil and spices. Or use flavored olive oil.8. Put chicken skin side down in broiler pan - not on a rack.9. Broil about 5 inches from the heat for five minutes.10. Brush the chicken with oil and spices and place back under the broiler.11. After five minutes baste again, using the juices in the pan, and place back under broiler for five minutes more.12. Baste chicken, and then sprinkle with salt, pepper and spices and turn skin side up.13. Broil and baste skin side for fifteen minutes more, basting every five minutes to ensure meat remains moist.14. Chicken is done when juices run clear yellow from pricked drumstick.Stephanie Larkin is a freelance writer who writes about cooking tips and tips for the home, often discussing specific products such as the Nu Wave Oven.

Announcing a new Centre for Forensic Linguistics

Dr Tim Grant got in touch recently to let me know about the launch of a new Centre for Forensic Linguistics at Aston University. He writes:
The Centre for Forensic Linguistics is a new initiative combining:
Consultancy services
PhD research opportunities
MSc Forensic Linguistics by distance learning and so available to study worldwide
Professional courses for police, legal professionals and others.
For anyone unfamiliar with the field, Tim, Professor Malcolm Coulthard (director of the Centre) and their colleague Dr Krzysztof Kredens all have excellent reputations in forensic linguistics and as well as producing good quality research, have also worked with law enforcement agencies on some important and high profile cases. Theres a heap of information on the Centre website so why not swing by and take a look?
See also:
The Text Trap - article on expert evidence provided by Malcolm Coulthard in a recent murder trial - from the Northern Echo (February 2008)
Forensic linguists make a science of syntax - from Lawyers USA (April 2008)
Previous CrimePsychBlog posts on Forensic Linguistics
Forensic Linguistics listserv (pretty busy, almost always interesting!)
International Association of Forensic Linguists
Sue Blackwells FL pages
Peter Tiersmas Language and Law site
John Olssons Forensic Linguistics Institute

Her privates we

April Fool's jokes are a thing of the past. Impossible to imagine any far-fetched totally outrageous and unbelievable thing that the NSW Labor government hasn't already actually done or is about to do.
Take prison privatisation. I mean, when you saw the headline - NSW government to press ahead with privatisation of the prisons you would certainly have said, yeah, right, pull the other one, next thing there'll be a story about how Kevin Rudd is a secret socialist, Peter Garrett an environmentalist. We get it already, April 1, April Fool's Day, now, where is the real news?
Privatisation is so 1990s, isn't it? Once upon a time conservatives of the Left and Right believed "Private good, Public bad" and proceeded to sell off all the family silver and the kitchen sink in order to improve the efficiency of the economy, serve the public better, and generally usher in a utopian world beyond the dreams of socialists. It was never really about that of course, it was only ever about letting a few very rich people exploit an ever increasing slice of the human pie for profit. But whenever people suggested that some organisation previously working for the public good should not be swallowed up by some faceless private equity group, or some con man with shiny shoes and a Lamborghini, they were howled down as Marxists, who didn't seem to realise that the Berlin Wall had come down, and the Russian Mafia was now in charge of Russia.
But since then, the social and economic damage caused by newly private companies has become as blatantly obvious as the environmental damage caused by coal-powered power stations. Think Telstra, airports, tunnels and freeways, bus companies, train companies, electricity supplies, universities (in a slightly different way), child care, aged care, schools, Wheat Board, unemployment services, horse quarantine, health insurance and, further back, Qantas and the Commonwealth Bank. Not too many success stories out of that little lot, in fact you could say a series of train wrecks.
The reasons? Should have been obvious to all of us not blinded by the ideology of "Private good, Public bad". Big business isn't in the business of serving the public, but in the business, purely and simply and single-mindedly, of making profits, for shareholders and executives. Anything that gets in the way of making money - the costs of maintenance work, the cost of serving groups with high needs and low incomes, safety concerns, improving technology, avoiding risk - will be ditched, quick smart. And money is to be made by pushing consumption, producing disposable goods with short use by dates, closing down competition, serving only the most profitable cities and suburbs. And really big money comes from playing around the market, takeovers here, asset sales there, shonky bribes up that way, risky investments over the other side. All sort of ok when the stockmarket climbs ever higher like a force of nature; not so good, when, inevitably, the financial reckoning comes.
So I don't believe that the NSW government really wants to privatise prisons or energy supplies. They would have to be fools, wouldn't they? And not just for April.
prison privatisation

Had you cried for Micheal Jackson?

When I got a look at his old photoes,he's smiling, he pose V finger,

I couldn't help wetting my eyes...What about you?

yes, I know about the newt babies now too

Dinner the other night:"You're my friend! How could you not tell me that Tom Paris once regressed into being a newt?""I'm sorry! I didn't realise! I thought you knew! ...Seriously, how did you not know that?"Take away my geek cred now.I'm not interested in changes quite that drastic in my own life, but doing a postdoc in a different field is making me wonder about how much my career path could - or should - diverge from the subject of my PhD. Obviously, I don't want to work on that particular specialised area forever, but my postdoc is several steps further removed than would typically be expected, to the point where people in my new department who've asked me what my background is have typically responded with "...Oh. So, how did you end up working on this?"(That makes them sound mean, which is not right. They're not mean. They're just genuinely surprised - it really is quite a jump.)This post doesn't last forever, and I'm keenly interested in getting some kind of scripted career trajectory together in which my PhD work and my postdoc work both play a part. There isn't a huge amount of overlap there. So, I could stick in the PhD field in spirit if not in office and use the postdoc work to vaguely back it up; I could jump ship to the postdoc field and brush off the PhD work; or I could carve out a niche for myself that includes both, at least to some degree.The first option is the one I'm least interested in right now, because my postdoc isn't directly applicable to the sort of posts and funding I'd be applying for after it's over. And, plus, I really like this field, which makes option B seem a little brighter. Still, I don't think that even with a postdoc I have enough of a background to make a career in the new field, and trying to do so anyway would disregard the work I have done - a PhD, a pretty nifty publication, a lot of conference papers and contacts that I'm not inclined to cast off.That leaves option C, heading in a direction which combines material from both of them. This is both possible, and appealing, in a way which is difficult to explain without getting too identifiable, but try it this way: my PhD was on, let's say, owl-spotting in the English countryside. My postdoc is in the field of putting radio collars on saltwater crocodiles in the Australian outback. And the people who've been dealing with saltwater crocodiles for a while have started to look into possible ideas they could borrow from other disciplines, like looking at how paleontologists are using a particular kind of modelling to track the maximu speed of an infurated Tyrannousaurus. Well, birds are descended from dinosaurs anyway, right? So could some of those ideas be applied to owl-spotting? Eh, possibly - and this is, without me even having to bullshit about it, legitimately A Growing Field. It's kind of specific. But it's more about a methodology and a field of general interest than it is about a specific topic. And, well, I still know a lot about owls.So that's something I'm thinking of, with a view to being employable in the future, hopefully - maybe - possibly - one day - in that all-hallowed Permanent Post. Partly because I want that kind of life and financial security; partly because I want my career to follow some kind of path I have some vague control over; and partly because I have moved thirteen times in the last eleven years and I have had it with moving house.

Morning "Mad Men Meets The Clash" links

Barnhart points us to some very cool "Mad Men"-based art - including wallpapers. My favorite is the one at right, which combines Betty Draper with the "London Calling" album cover! Comedian Jeffrey Ross and his creepy facial hair were eliminated from "Dancing With The Stars" last night. Go Frau Blucher! I don't even know what to think about this: Lisa Kudrow will star in an Internet comedy series on the Lexus channel. What? Some good predictions for this season of "The Office," which starts on Thursday night with an hourlong episode. Allegedly Elisabeth Hasselbeck is considering leaving "The View" for Fox News. And we care because...? Hibberd gets some "Lost"-ies to give sorta spoilers on camera. And here's Ausiello's video spoilers from the same Emmys carpet.

oh hai!

Where have I been? I don't know! I've been present on the internet, but for some reason I've had a weird mental block that's kept me from blogging. I miss you guys. I've realized that I'm not an effective blogger when I'm not home and well, the last 5 months were spent away from my house. But as of late last night, I am back in Syracuse. I have so much to catch up on! Thinking about it too much would just paralyze me, so instead, I'll ease into things by filling out a survey that I found on the Raw Vegan Princess blog. I tag all of you to fill it out too, if you haven't already done!Memememe....1) LAST MOVIE YOU SAW IN A THEATRE? It's been a long time for me, since I've been out of the country until recently. I think the last movie I saw was I am Legend at the $1 theater.2) WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING? I just finished Secret Lives of Great Authors, and A Thousand Splendid Suns. Fun holiday reading. I'm also reading Surreal Lives, but I don't like talking about school work...3) FAVOURITE BOARD GAME? I love the Word Game, because it is really challenging. But I'm a huge fan of any board game, really. I'm nerdy like that. If you have any recommendations, I'd love to hear them!4) FAVOURITE MAGAZINE? Right now I'm in a design mood, having missed my house for the last few months, so anything about design is good. But sometimes the commercial-y consumer-y nature of magazines turns me off, and at those times nothing beats Adbusters.5) FAVOURITE SMELLS? Right now, rose, gardenia, anise, and musk.6) FAVOURITE SOUNDS? Sounds irritate me easily, so I'm going to have to say silence is my favorite sound.7) WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD? Helplessness, and also when you say or do something that you immediately wish you hadn't.8 ) WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU WAKE? Tea! Well, first, Feed The Cats! Then, tea!9) FAVOURITE FAST FOOD PLACE? I love Panera. On long road trips, that and Subway keep me alive. In regular life, I love the Italian Chef here in Syracuse.10) FUTURE CHILD’S NAME? Top Secret!11) FINISH THIS STATEMENT—IF I HAD A LOT OF MONEY I’D… endow a human rights and an animal rights chair at some school or another, donate to charities like there's no tomorrow, travel, give gifts to friends and family.12) DO YOU DRIVE FAST? No, I drive like a little old granny.13) DO YOU SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL? Nope. My stuffed animals live in the guest room.14) STORMS–COOL OR SCARY? cool. especially if you're inside and protected. ooooh, especially summer storms here in the east.15) WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CAR? a hand-me-down 1988 Toyota Camry bought from my parents. I loved that old clunker.16) FAVOURITE DRINK? Tea (hot), mango juice (cold), sparking wine (alcoholic), lightly fizzy mineral water (water).17) FINISH THIS STATEMENT - IF I HAD THE TIME I WOULD… overhaul this blog, and get to all the organizational projects around the house (files, photos, etc.)18 ) DO YOU EAT THE STEMS ON BROCCOLI? Yes, absolutely.19) IF YOU COULD DYE YOUR HAIR ANY OTHER COLOUR, WHAT WOULD BE YOUR CHOICE? Something wild. Maybe multi-colored dreads- wouldn't that be cool?20) NAME ALL THE DIFFERENT CITIES/TOWNS U HAVE LIVED IN? Tehran (Iran), Esfehan (Iran), Los Angeles (CA), Santa Clara (CA), Cupertino (CA), New Hyde Park (NY), East Setauket (NY), New York City (Manhattan), New York City (Queens), Winter Park (FL), Irvine (CA), Syracuse (NY), Canterbury (England). Whew!21) FAVOURITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Football, but only during the World Cup.22) ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? She didn't send it to me, but Freedom is one of the most passionate and compassionate people I can think of. I love reading her blog and being inspired.23) WHATS UNDER YOUR BED? Nothing other than dust bunnies right now.24) WOULD U LIKE TO BE BORN AS YOURSELF AGAIN? I'm sorry, I'm a bit of a nihilist, so I don't care if I would be born again or not. If I had to be, though, yeah myself would be cool.25) MORNING PERSON OR NIGHT OWL? Morning person. Living with a night owl.26) OVER EASY OR SUNNY SIDE UP? No! NOOOOOOO!27) FAVOURITE PLACE TO RELAX? In the summer, in the hammock in the backyard, in the winter, under a cozy blanket anywhere.28 ) FAVOURITE PIE? Mince. England kicks America's ass in this category.29) FAVOURITE ICECREAM FLAVOUR? Coconut milk chocolate. So ridiculously luxurious.30) OF ALL THE PEOPLE YOU HAVE TAGGED, WHO IS THE MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND FIRST? I'm not tagging anyone, but I hope there are some readers out there left!

Ima waltson

Cut short

Use These Simple Guidelines to Choose the Best All Natural Dog Foods

Because dog foods are bought by people, dog food suppliers market to the ideas dog owners have about their dogs likes. This explains why dog foods come in different shapes and colors, with or without gravy, dry or moist, etc. Dogs do not need any of these things for the best all natural dog foods. Isn't it interesting that pet owners spend around $13 billion annually for pet food which the majority of these dog foods are not all natural dog foods that give your dog optimum health.Consumers Digest reported several years ago, "Few foods are so liberally laced with artificial flavors as pet foods" they also quoted sources that basically said that the only way they can get pets to eat the poor quality food is by adding phony flavors.Would you choose artificial, poor quality for ingredients in your dog foods or would you rather choose dog foods that are all natural dog foods for your dog?A carnivore's system is designed to eat raw meat, one animal at a time. Your dog should digest its meal and be eliminated before any putrefaction begins. A dog's digestive system is highly acidic, or at least it should be. Only raw meat stimulates a highly acidic system that is designed to kill unfriendly bacteria.Ingredients in the Best All Natural Dog FoodsYou will find the best all natural dog foods consist of approximately 75% organic, all natural raw meat. This can consist of beef, whole chicken or turkey wings, necks and backs as long as they are raw and fresh. When bones are old or cooked they become brittle and splinter.The best all natural dog foods are also around 25% vegetables. This does not mean give your dog a whole, raw carrot. In the wild your dog would get these vegetable requirements from the predigested vegetables in the animal's stomach and intestines. You can add organic vegetables to your all natural dog foods by grating them, chopping finely (like what you would find in a rabbit's stomach) or run through a blender, food chopper or food processor.In the wild a dog would get the water they needed from their prey, so the all natural dog foods you give your dog should be the consistency of a thick stew. The moisture content of dog foods also has an effect on maintaining healthy kidneys and bladder in your dog. Many pet owners report their dog cutting down on water consumption when being fed these types of all natural dog foods.Most of the minerals must come in the form of supplementation today. Calcium is very important in the best all natural dog foods. Bone meal is not an acceptable source of calcium for your all natural dog foods because bones store toxins and heavy metals like lead or even mad cow disease. The other reason is the calcium to phosphorous ratio. Pets need a 2:1 ratio between calcium and phosphorus. That is, for every 2 parts of calcium in the food, there should be 1 part phosphorus. As an example, if the food contains 2 grams of calcium, the food should contain 1 gram of phosphorus. Meat is naturally low in calcium and high in phosphorus. Bone meal is not only a source of calcium, but bone meal is also a source of phosphorus, so using bone meal reverses the 2:1 ratio so that perhaps your dog's body has a 1:3 ratio or 1 part calcium to 3 parts phosphorus. This imbalance could cause your dog health problems.Finely ground raw egg shells are the best choice for calcium supplementation in the best all natural dog foods. They contain virtually no phosphorus and are extremely high in calcium plus they are affordable and lightweight. The best all natural dog foods will use approximately 1 tsp. finely ground raw egg shells or about 8 large eggs for every pound of meat. Raw eggs are an excellent source of meat and affordable.Digestive enzyme supplementation are also a good ingredient in the best all natural dog foods. The four most commonly used enzymes in the best all natural dog foods are amylase that helps with the digestion of carbohydrates, protease which helps with the digestion of protein, lipase that helps with the digestion of fats and cellulase for the digestion of vegetables.Nutritive herbs provide a blend of vital nutrients that are essential in the best all natural dog foods. Alfalfa which is an Arabic word meaning "mother of all foods, dandelion leaf, nettle, and kelp are ingredients in the best all natural dog foods. These herbs can be found in various green food powder supplements from health food stores.The combination of these herbs in the best all natural dog foods provide such nutrients as biotin, bioflavanoids, calcium, magnesium, folic acid, iodine, iron, potassium, linolenic acid, niacin, potash, sulfur, zinc, vitamins A, B1, B2, B6, B12, C and E. These herbs also aid in the assimilation of protein, fats and carbohydrates plus are an excellent blood purifier. They also aid the body to help detoxify the liver, clean the colon and keep the thyroid working.Using these simple guidelines you can choose which are the best all natural dog foods to buy or how to make the best all natural dog foods available so your dog can enjoy optimum health.Sherrie Chastain Health and Beauty Consultant Best All Natural Dog Foods Helping People Find Health and Happiness in their Lives for 25 years

His Name is Al Harrington. He Sells Sneakers.

Driving around New York City on Sunday afternoon, passing by Madison Square Garden while the New York Knicks were north of the border getting beat by the Raptors, I saw an enormous banner that nearly caused a shock based accident. Here I am, minding my own business, listening to a youtube-produced blend of a Natasha Bedingfield and Notorious BIG song (sounds idiotic, but it's actually a banger), and there it is, hanging down the length of the Garden: a full length picture of Al Harrington, pimping his new shoes. Why even mention this here? Don't most athletes, especially basketball players, have their own shoe deals? Yes, of course they do, but this is quite different on several levels. First, and most obviously, he's Al Harrington. At 29 years of age, he's been in the league for 11 years, played for 4 teams, and has averaged an extremely pedestrian 13.5 points per game over the course of his career. Suffices to say, he has to be one of the more average, non-descript, uninteresting players to get his own shoe line in recent memory. But, beyond that, what's interesting is the shoe itself, and where it's being sold. No, not at Foot Locker, or Champs or Finish Line or any of those places. The Protege is available only at K Mart. More shocking than that--the price, at only $34.99. OK, where do I begin. Let's take a look at the shoe before we make any judgements. I'd say, not bad. It's offered in black, and in at least one other style. So, not bad. For 35 bucks, certainly doable. At least when you compare it to the Starburys... Similar colors, granted, but these are clown shoes. And, though it is hard to beat a 15 dollar pair of kicks, you get what you pay for. Many people I've talked to that got duped into purchasing the "NBA player's" sneakers tell me that they're uncomfortable. For 20 more dollars, you'd have to think Big Al's are a bit nicer on the feet. The other issue I have to bring up with Harrington's sneaker is how he got to be the face of the line. There's no way anyone at K Mart came to him and said, Al, we've been waiting for you to reach the level of mediocrity that you've sustained now for 11 years, and we're finally ready to reward you with your own sneaker line. On the other hand, did he go into them with the idea? Who knows. It is a great thing though. Recession or not, basketball sneakers costing 75, 100 dollars is absolutely insane. Who ever came up with the idea of having Al Harrington sponsor these sneakers, I say to you, strange choice, but great idea.

Bob Cut.

I (heart) Pilates

I (heart) Pilatesand Noble one day, and the words CLEARANCE caught my eye. Always up for a good deal, I walked over and picked up a book...or what should be known as THE book.ALl it said was "Pilates" with the picture of a girl doing the plank on the cover. I picked it up, looked at the price ($9.98 not counting my Barnes and Noble membership discount) and thought, "Why not?"And I am so, so happy that I did!It's what has gotten me to the gym (almost) every day, and I can already tell that it is making a difference. I can hold the plank, my ab work moves are getting better, and even my running has gotten stronger (I got back on track with a new training plan...but that is for another blog. I don't want to take any of the attention away from pilates!)I love pilates so much that I did it one time in the middle of a square in downtown Savannah after a long, hot run. It was just something I really wanted to do. Where I go, the book goes.And I'm not kidding when I say it has helped me get to the gym. It is such a nice way to start out any workout - cardio or strength - with the stretching and the ab work and the leg work...and these are some arm moves thrown in as well. There are three workouts that you progress through, and I am hanging steady in the first one. I have tried the second one a couple of times, but I am just not there yet. One of my goals for my next marathon is to make sure that I don't concentrate everything on running - to be really successful, you have to concentrate on every part of your body. And pilates, my new love, is one way that I am ensuring I am on the right track!

Extreme Tweaks

Learn by example When you realize that tattoos are only skin deep."Some people may look at this website, browse through the portfolios, and come to the conclusion that they want to become part of Steve's art. Some others may immediately decide that they don't like what they see. They may be offended or horrified by the subject matter, by the form that Steve's art takes, by the extreme individualism exhibited herein.So one person's idea of body modification is going to be a pierced ear lobe, and another person's idea of body modification is to look like the el Diablo himself. Just because you don't agree doesn't make it wrong."Steven HaworthHere's one of Steve's clients:"Stalking Cat"[Edited entry from 3/9/2006]See all Topics

Cranky Large Medium reading, 20 April

Go away. Why are you still here? What is it that holds you to the ground at my mountainside? Other than plain gravity, that is. What could possibly cause you to come here, to disturb my already disturbed nature? Oh, right. You want a reading. I am shocked -- shocked, I say. Ah, me. If I am to get rid of you, I suppose I will have to cede to your demands. So, here you are: You are as bullheaded as they come. If there were a prize for stubbornness, you'd have a full display case. You expect others to step aside, or be trampled on. You are easily influenced by praise and flattery, rather than by direct appeal or command. Surround yourself with brown-nosers, and you will be happy. Not that anybody else close to you will be. Are you happy, now? Of course not. Can't back down for a second. Hey, at least you can admit that what you have, here, in your life, beats the alternative. After all, you could be joining these people, all of whom, on this date in history, surrendered to the pressure of eternity: Zhengde, Pontiac, Karl Ferdinand Braun, Giuseppe Peano, Bernard Katz, Pope Clement V, Elizabeth Barton, Johannes Bugenhagen, Michael Fu Tieshan, Bram Stoker, Archibald MacLeish, Fumio Niwa, Joseph Wolf, Aldo Sigismondi aka Alan Dale, Andrew Hill, Don Siegel, Ruth Hale, Eddie Dyer, Richard Rood aka "Ravishing" Rick Rude, Christopher Robin Milne, Wenceslao Moreno aka Señor Wences and Steve Marriott.Say, is that your natural born hair? I thought not.Happy birthday, anyway.

Blogging taken to a new level: Come enjoy 1978 all over again

When I got into blogging and the writing field in general as a major passion and side hobby in my life, one of the major reasons was because I fully knew I'd have my thoughts documented in the future and the past. At any time I can see how I was feeling about the Yankees two years ago because it's saved in the archives. It's the main purpose of journals and other devices used every single day by people all over the world. It's a rarity when technology is available for things way into the past (at least from a technological standpoint). In this case, we have a rare treat on the internet. Remember 1978? (Yankees and Red Sox fans, I'm talking to you) If you do and you're a Yankees fan you probably remember fondly what happened throughout that season. It's something where you remember the highlights well, but wouldn't you like to know everything and relive the memories of what you were probably also feeling back then? What about if you're my age and that miracle year took place almost a decade before you were born? Wouldn't you be curious to know what it felt like to live each day game by game. Now everyone involved has a chance to relive what went on. Just follow this link, started by Author Paul Keck, who has published the first ever live-time book written by a baseball fan on a great season. The book is a comprehensive reflection in the present day of the greatest seasonal comeback within the rivalry and one of the greatest come backs of all time in sports history, and it includes other sports and their standings as well. Check it out while you search for new titles to add to your summer reading list! You can also buy it on Amazon right now.

Lessons from The Apprentice, Week 6 and a date for an after series party

What a cracking task. The teams headed to Chiswick Auctions in West London and were tasked with identifying the price of ten items ranging from bric a brac to antiques and collectables. The objective was to determine the price of each item and then sell for as big a profit as possible. Kate moved to Ignite led by Philip. Noorul joined Empire led by Philip. With encouragement from fellow Apprentice fans I’m thinking of getting the Twitter #apprentice gang and other fans together in a central London venue on 10 June to watch the last show and celebrate Kate’s expected win. Email me if you’d be interested in coming along. In the meantime here’s what we learnt from week 6. Business planning The Apprentice tasks all require good research and planning. It’s like real life really. Neither team excelled in this task because neither had a strategy. Sir Alan told the losing team exactly what the strategy should have been – identify the high value items, set a minimum price or reserve and then focus on selling the items as quickly as possible for as big a profit of possible. Research To be fair on the teams I don’t think the teams were given the tools to be able to quickly assess the value of the items. Access to the web would have helped. But perhaps that wasn’t the point and Sir Alan was looking for a back to basics approach. Desk research without the web is tough. It requires a military approach to hitting the phones to call round dealers. Sales Neither team had a sales strategy. Beyond the strategy that Sir Alan outlined in the boardroom. Noorul was shown the door because he failed to make sales while Ben survived because he was superb at closing sales. Delegation There were errors in management on both teams. Ben split the items between his two teams seven to three. Philip was dismissive of Lorraine’s insight. Again. Good leaders are prepared to get their hands dirty but delegate work equitably and they listen and gather opinion from their team before making decisions.

Campaigns to games

Jonathan Salem Baskin is the author of a book called Branding Only Works on Cattle. I havent read the book yet, but Ive checked the foreword and Jonathans blog, and Im particularly fascinated by what Jonathan says about games and branding. Games, and namely video games, are addictive. Just look at the Nintendo Wii craze, or Sony Playstation before that, and all successful video games, consoles and computer games since the 1970s. People give games lots and lots of their time over long stretches. They keep coming back to them, ignoring several other, more important influences in their lives. Marketers have known this for long, and you can find mainstream consumer products (and a certain presidential candidates campaign ads) placed in video games. Agencies are telling their corporate clients that brands need to do things with games. But Jonathan thinks that instead of brands doing things with games, games need to do things to brands. We shouldnt twist games to support our old ideas about brands, and have brands use game tactics. Instead, brand (and business) strategies should get configured like games, says Jonathan. Marketers mistakenly see games as a lowest-common-denominator channel, instead of realizing that games are not channels at all, but rather places, like social media, only with a purpose, he continues. Games are models of places where people live, worlds that have rules, roles, expected behaviors, and even dimensions of time. Perhaps most important, video games are places where people go to do things. Games are built upon creative ideas, but they’re experienced with behavior, says Jonathan. I cant think of any close examples of that yet. Cant say that Ive seen any brand designed like a game. But I find the idea really thrilling. And I noticed this upcoming webinar, organized by Rosenfeld Media and given by John Ferrara, on extending game design to business applications. Its not exactly the same as what Jonathan Salem Baskin writes about, but nevertheless Ill sign up for it. If anybody has examples of brands like games, please comment. I first thought of the old Nokia Game and other ARGs, but those are not quite the thing. Photo credit: David Farrant (Creative Commons)

Winners and Little Dogs

This Saturday will mark four weeks since I had my orientation training at Animal Rescue of Fresno. On the day I did my orientation, I found out that Lady was back at the shelter from foster care, and I spent the next week unable to get her out of my mind. I know that it isn't the right time for us to bring in a third dog, but it doesn't stop my heart from breaking a little bit every time I think about Lady Dog.Even though I couldn't bring Lady Dog home,I could do for her what knitters do - I could knit. On the way home from orientation, I stopped at Swatches, the LYS that is less than a mile from my house and I picked up two skeins of Cascade 220 Superwash plus the Fiber Trends "Dandy Dog Coat" pattern. May I present to you, Lady's Mock Cable Sweater, modeled by none other than Lady Dog herself:Please to note that my tiny old lady was very, very happy that the sun was out last Saturday.This is actually the second sweater I knit for her. The first was too big. It was an extra small, but with her teeny tiny birdy legs, she was able to step out of the sweater.I can't tell you how happy I am to be volunteering at ARF. Every Saturday morning I wake up, take the puppers for a walk and then go to ARF where I scoop dog poop, clean out kennels (while the puppers are frolicking in their yards), play with puppers, do dishes, do laundry, play fetch, give pets, and generally find another dog to fall madly in love with. I usually end up dirty, stinky, and happy beyond reason that I've just gotten a chance to hang out with such great dogs and great people. What a great way to start the new year!And I am also very excited to announce the winners (I couldn't pick just one) of my little end of the year contest - Claudia and Brenda! I'll be emailing you both shortly for your snail mail addresses so that I can send your prizes!Thank you to everyone who entered the contest - it was fitting to end one year and begin another by thinking about charity.

Dallas Mavericks Team Report

Dirk Nowitzki is doing everything he can to prolong the Dallas Mavericks' playoff lives. Already averaging 32 points in the second-round series against the Denver Nuggets, Nowitzki helped the Mavs stave off elimination and a sweep in Game 4 Monday night in Dallas with a game-high 44 points. It was the third-best playoff performance by a Maverick, trailing only Nowitzki's own marks of 50 (vs. Phoenix on June 1, 2006) and 46 (vs. Portland on April 19, 2003). Nowitzki, who also had 13 rebounds, scored 29 points in the second half and 19 in the fourth quarter as he refused to let Dallas' topsy-turvy season end. He had just 11 points in the previous three fourth quarters combined. "We didn't want to go home," Nowitzki said. "We talked about it, how we've got some pride on this team. We've showed it all season long. It's been a tough up-and-down year, but we're not done yet." The series shifts back to Denver for Game 5 on Wednesday night with the Nuggets leading three games to one. "We played for one more chance," Nowitzki said, "and we're going to go up to Denver and we're going to let it all hang out again."Nowitzki's sweet fade-away jumper made it 114-112, giving the Mavs their first lead in the game since 6-5. Dallas led in the game for just over three minutes. MAVERICKS 119, NUGGETS 117: A 34-point fourth quarter saved Dallas from elimination. Dirk Nowitzki had another huge game with 44 points and 13 rebounds. Josh Howard, playing on two bad ankles, contributed 21 points and 11 rebounds. Jason Kidd hit key buckets and finished with 13 points, six assists and 10 rebounds. Nowitzki's big night countered Carmelo Anthony's playoff career-high 41 points and 11 rebounds. Chauncey Billups had 24 points and J.R. Smith dropped 19, with several shots falling as the shot-clock expired. Denver led by 11 at the end of the first quarter and by 10 at halftime, but surrendered 66 points in the second half.NOTES, QUOTESThe Mavs finally broke through against the Nuggets this season with their first win in eight games and the first home victory in four games. Overall, the Mavs had lost eight in a row to Denver and last beat the Nuggets in January 2008.The Mavs were whistled for four technical fouls, including two in the fourth quarter, one each on Brandon Bass and Antoine Wright. Bench points played a key role for the Mavs, who got 10 points from spark plug guard J.J. Barea, his first significant contributions of the series and from forward Brandon Bass, who had 11 points, six rebounds and one big block on Carmelo Anthony in the final three minutes of the game.QUOTE TO NOTE: "I would probably use an uglier word than hostile, but I'm not going to do that right now... I've been in hostile buildings, but you can do it in a classy way." Nuggets coach George Karl, on several disturbances in the American Airlines Center stands in Game 4 stemming from the Mark Cuban-Kenyon Martin feud from Game 3. Extra security was deployed to protect the Nuggets' family members.ROSTER REPORT ROTATION: Starters Point guard Jason Kidd, Shooting guard Antoine Wright, Small forward Josh Howard, Power forward Dirk Nowitzki, Center Erick Dampier. Bench Guard Jason Terry, Guard J.J. Barea, Forward Brandon Bass, Forward James Singleton. PLAYER NOTES: F Josh Howard is clearly playing on two painful ankles and it shows every time he grimaces. He gutted out a big-time performance in Monday's Game 4 to keep the Mavericks alive in the series.Howard finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds in 34 minutes, his first playoff double-double since the first-round loss to Golden State in 2007. "Our main focus coming into (Game 4) is that we wanted to leave it all out on the court and we've been fighting and fighting this whole series and the win finally went our way," Howard said. "Guys really kept fighting (Monday night) and we didn't want the season to end this quick and we'll be ready for the game in Denver on Wednesday." The Mavs improved to 5-0 this season in the playoffs when Howard scores at least 17 points.G Jason Terry continued to struggle in the playoffs in Game 4, finishing with just 12 points, which did include a big free throw to put finally put the game away with 1.1 seconds to go. He put up just seven shots in 31 minutes and was 1-of-4 from beyond the arc. He picked up his fifth foul midway through the third quarter and scored just the one free throw the rest of the way. His teammates bailed him out of an awful mistake with 3.8 seconds left in the first half. With the Mavs down by just five points after trailing by as many as 14, Terry was called for a flagrant foul on a driving Linas Kleiza and followed it up by picking up a technical. Denver added three quick points at the free throw line and got the ball back. Carmelo Anthony tipped in a miss and the Nuggets scored five points on the possession to double their lead in 3.8 seconds.G Jason Kidd won't match Denver point guard Chauncey Billups point-for-point, but he's scoring enough to help his team. Kidd scored 13 points in Game 4 and he hit two of the Mavs' three three-pointers in the game. Kidd added six assists, giving him just 11 in the last two games, and also 10 rebounds for a much-needed double-double. During the regular season, Kidd averaged less than 10 points a game, but he's pumped up his average in the postseason to give the Mavs four players averaging in double-figures. Dallas spent all season as one of only three to four teams with only three players scoring in double-figures. Kidd's already scored in double-figures six times in nine playoff games. MEDICAL WATCH:G-F Jerry Stackhouse (right heel) is out for the season.G/F Devean George (right knee) is out for the season.

Huge savings on top selling EMS cigars

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Autumn pictures

Our first home grown cabbage. Successful broccoli! Curly kale and marigolds. We've had fewer caterpillars on this kale and I've seen hoverflies on it. I wonder if the marigolds on this side and the phacelia on the other side helped.The old chook run garden last weekend. The edging at the foreground is thyme. Most of this garden, now the tomatoes are out, is kale, silverbeet, perpetual spinach, celery and bay trees, all for the coming winter. There are Maori potatoes and a chilli pepper plant in there as well. The draped shade cloth in the background is our temporary chook run for daytime use.

The Legacy of George W.

Note:The following is an excerpt from the article "Barack Obama: A Man for All Seasons". Given the latter's length, I felt that Mr. Bush at the very least deserves a separate post of his own. Last thing I remember, I wasRunning for the doorI had to find the passage backTo the place I was before"Relax," said the night man,We are programmed to receive.You can checkout any time you like,But you can never leave!The Eagles, Hotel CaliforniaThe Bush Years were marked by a spiraling descent into war, penury and global ridicule of U.S.A. This was an era (hopefully now ending) permeated by what might be called Osama-phobia after the chief cause- the sine qua non- of President Bush’s abject but admittedly involuntary reversal from his first campaign’s now somewhat archaic big-on-morals-and-small-on-government stance. Fear, or more precisely, the fear of Fear, fed into- and authored- every decision he took. (His Vice President, the much more vilified Dick Cheney, didn’t do anything to assuage these fears.)The two parameters of American Supremacy alluded to by Henry Kissinger in his monumental treatise on Diplomacy- military might and economic prowess- were both put to severe test by the quagmire of the Afghanistan-Iraq double-invasion; Iraq, and a widening and ultimately insurmountable Deficit- the typically American habit of spending more than they earn- that has brought about a global recession. 

In the memorable words of the Eagle’s song, Iraq, in effect, became Mr. Bush’s Hotel California: You can checkout any time you like, But you can never leave! Despite his rather premature “Mission Accomplished” glee, the war in Iraq procrastinated indefinitely. From the start, the Invasion of Iraq was doomed: his justification for the invasion- that Saddam Hussein, the then Tirkiti despot of Iraq, possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMD), which he hoped perhaps to use against America in league with Al Qaeda- turned out to be, to put it mildly, untrue; his method of conducting that invasion- against the express wishes of the international community- ended up alienating even America’s closest friends (with the notable exception of Britain’s Tony Blair, who inturn ended up losing his own chair); and his hope that the invasion would somehow usher in an era of democracy in the Middle East wasn’t quite realized to the extent that he had expected.

In the Case of Jefferson v Hamilton
But despite all this, Mr. Bush’s worst enemy wasn’t Osama bin Laden, the Taliban or even Saddam Hussein: it was the American People themselves. No wartime American President with the possible exception of Franklin Delano Roosevelt has for long enjoyed his fellow-citizens’- and the Congress’- unflinching support: despite their rather militaristic national anthem, Americans have never been comfortable with the sight of body-bags of slain soldiers wrapped in star-spangled banners arriving home. At heart, they remain Jeffersonians (after Thomas Jefferson), content to be an island (albeit a rather large one!) blissfully unaware of what’s happening beyond their shores and hoping that they wouldn’t need a government to govern them at all. Let us not forget that when Mr. Bush first emerged on the scene, he too was something of a Jeffersonian in the ideals he so passionately espoused. 

But he too, like most Americans, was confronted with a distinctly Hamiltonian reality (after Alexander Hamilton): the almost instinctual need of the American Establishment- Noam Chomsky’s military-industrial complex- to look for new enemies when old ones are gone, as epitomized in the ironically self-fulfilling prophecy of Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the New World Order. In this sense atleast, Huntington gave a fresh, new lease of life to Hamilton. And what a lease that was! President Bush, the quintessential Jeffersonian, became a die-hard disciple of Hamilton in what was to be his life’s second epiphany (the first one took him from Booze to the Bible). Of course, it would be wrong to put all the blame on the Establishmentarian Inertia of Washington: Mr. Bin Laden, in all fairness, deserves much of the credit for Mr. Bush’s conversion. 

His attack on the Twin Towers (9/11) only amplified Mr. Bush’s innate sense of Christian morality: his world was suddenly divided into black & white, good & the axis of evil, and under the circumstances, Crusade was the logical outcome of Jihad. Morality breeds decisiveness; lack of it makes one indecisive. This is America’s lesson gleaned from its last two Presidents, Mr. Bush and Mr. Clinton. I’ve often wondered what Mr. Clinton would’ve done had he been President on 9/11. Sure, he wouldn’t have invaded Iraq, WMDs or no WMDs (remember his dilly-dallying on Kosovo, Congo and the rest); he would certainly have ruled out going it alone, without the backing of the world community (God knows, Mr. Hussein counted on that!); he might not even have considered an outright invasion of Afghanistan, toying first with Diplomacy or being content with the destruction of Mr. Bin Laden’s person. But the question that begs to be answered is this: would Al Qaeda be as thoroughly destroyed as it is now; and would 9/11 have been the last terrorist attack on American soil? 

With respect to the Bush Years, I offer the following two observations: one, that it was Mr. Bush’s pandering to his Jeffersonian instincts that ultimately led to his failure in Iraq. He wanted to invade Iraq, destroy Saddam and get out as quickly as possible with a minimum of force and cost; the idea that nations don’t just build themselves after being invaded and destroyed didn’t quite cross his Jeffersonian mind (apparently he forgot all about post-second world war Western Europe and Japan, both of which required prolonged infusions of American money, manpower and foresight to rebuild themselves).The success of the Surge in Iraq- today’s provincial elections have brought true democracy to the Middle East for the first time in history, and Mr. Bush should be given due credit for it- shows that the middle-of-the-road approach is at fault. Had Mr. Bush not been bullied by public opinion and his own mindset to limit the costs to America in the first instance, his country wouldn’t have ended up spending so much- in terms of blood, sweat, toil and money- in Iraq, and thousands of innocent lives might’ve been saved. In short, if he is to be blamed, it should be for doing too little; not too much.Secondly, I believe it is too premature to pronounce judgment on the Bush Legacy: History will have to wait for things to settle down in Iraq before arriving at any sort of decision; hopefully, it would look more kindly upon the Bush Years than our own generation.(To see what I mean, take a look at HBO's award-winning mini-series on John Adams, America's mostly-forgotten and much-misunderstood second President

Apparently there IS such thing as too much tan

The Rectorotor - Reaches the vital spot effectively. I summoned it with my mustache - The best answer to any question. The original Bugs Bunny - The Warner Bros. Bugs Bunny is just a cheap rip-off. You know he's hard - This guy is tough. Gangsta tough. Garfield bling - Classy crystal design. Tan addict - Apparently there IS such thing as too much tan. What? How? - Maybe it fell from the sky when the pole was up? The consequences of marriage - Driver carries no cash, he's married. In Russia - We decide when you smoke. Condometric - A real product: condom from Spain, with a measuring stick down the side. Soviet mobile nuclear power plant TES-3 - First TES-3 was made in 1961, it was using T-10 tank platform; total power output was about 8.8MW. Epiphany - When you have that sudden realization that you look like a total prick.

Cash-for-clunkers gallons-per-mile calculationsFelix Salmon

Ryan Avent and the MPG illusion both examine the “cash-for-clunkers” bill from the perspective of how much in the way of carbon emissions will actually be saved when someone takes advantage of it. But there are a few sums missing in these posts, so I thought it would be worth filling them out. Here's Ryan, for instance: For passenger cars, the incentive is reasonably ambitious: those moving from less than 18 mpg to better than 22 mpg qualify for $3,500 for a four mpg improvement and $4,500 for a 10 mpg improvement. But standards quickly decline as you move up in size. For SUVs and light trucks one qualifies simply by moving from below 18 mpg to above 18 mpg. A $3,500 voucher is available for an improvement of just two mpg, while a mere five mpg improvement gets you the full $4,500 available. The full table is here, but only in MPG form. In terms of gallons of fuel used per 100 miles, things look a bit different. Here's how things work out in useful gallons per mile, rather than silly miles per gallon. To get a $3,500 voucher by trading in a car, you need to move from 18mpg to 22mpg — which is an improvement of 1 gallon per 100 miles. To get a $3,500 voucher by trading in a small SUV/truck, you need to move from 16mpg to 18mpg — which is an improvement of 0.7 gallons per 100 miles. To get a $3,500 voucher by trading in a large SUV/truck, you need to move from 14mpg to 15mpg — which is an improvement of 0.5 gallons per 100 miles. To get a $4,500 voucher by trading in a car, you need to move from 12mpg to 22mpg — which is an improvement of a whopping 3.8 gallons per 100 miles. To get a $4,500 voucher by trading in a small SUV/truck, you need to move from 13mpg to 18mpg — which is an improvement of 2.1 gallons per 100 miles. To get a $4,500 voucher by trading in a large SUV/truck, you need to move from 13mpg to 15mpg — which is an improvement of 1 gallon per 100 miles. So Ryan's absolutely right: the criteria for SUVs are much weaker than the criteria for trucks. Why do you need to improve by 3.8 gallons per 100 miles in order to get the $4,500 voucher on a car, when you can improve by just 0.5 gallons per 100 miles in order to get a $3,500 voucher on a large truck? It doesn't make a lot of sense.

Is childhood lost?

Childhood now is quite different from what it used to be . My dad says that when he was a child, he had a lot of time to play, and still he had a lot of time left to study. Now-a-days children and even teenagers don’t get time for such activities. Most of their time is spent preparing for their exams. They are made to rush to jump on the so called development bandwagon as their parents expect them to outshine all others in their class. As a result they have lost their innocence. Their parents and the education system have deprived them of their childhood. They don’t know what they should and they know what they should not. A newborn infant transcend childhood and steps into youth with a wayward mindset.

Walking with the Dinosaurs - Key Arena Presented by the BBC

The BBC Presents WALKING WITH THE DINOSAURS at Key Arena from April 29 - May 3, 2009!The BBC's widely popular televsion series comes to life at Key Arena until May 3rd. Displaying 15 dinosaurs spanning 10 species and several million years, Walking with the Dinosaurs is a spectacular event for all ages, though especially for the kids! The large mechanical dinosaurs weigh in at about 1.6 tons each piece (about an average car) while some of the performers are operated by a suit-wearing puppeteers.The show was conceived in 1996 when a team from the BBC was inspired to create a television series on paleontology. However, their financial blockade was substantial. Being not long after the premier of Jurassic Park (which only contained about 9 total minutes of dinosaur footage) which cost the studio about nine million dollars, the finances looked shakey. However, when the teams came together, gathering footage of landscapes, creating models of the dinosaurs and other creatures as well as rendering digital models for the filming, everything fell into place. After the television series premiered in 1999 and was immediately acclaimed as a hit, it wasn't a far leap to put their dinos on stage!And now they're here for Seattle Audiences until SUNDAY! Buy your tickets now!posted by Andrew J. Perez in association with Nigel Andrews

Parkwells: /* public libraries */ copy edit - add more about contributions of women's clubs

Public libraries: copy edit - add more about contributions of women's clubs ← Previous revision Revision as of 15:17, 10 May 2009 Line 89: Line 89: The earliest example in England of a library to be endowed for the benefit of users who were not members of an institution such as a cathedral or college was the [[Francis Trigge Chained Library]] in [[Grantham]], [[Lincolnshire]], established in 1598. The library still exists and can justifiably claim to be the forerunner of later public library systems.The beginning of the modern, free, open access libraries really got its start in the U.K. in 1847. [[Parliament]] appointed a committee, led by William Ewart, on Public Libraries to consider the necessity of establishing libraries through the nation: In 1849 their report noted the poor condition of library service, it recommended the establishment of free public libraries all over the country, and it led to the Public Libraries Act in 1850, which allowed all cities with populations exceeding 10,000 to levy taxes for the support of public libraries. Another important act was the 1870 Public School Law, which increased literacy, thereby the demand for libraries, so by 1877, more than 75 cities had established free libraries, and by 1900 the number had reached 300. {{cite booktitle=The History of Libraries in the Western Worldauthor=Harris, Michael H.year=1984city=Londonpublisher=Scarecrow Press}} This finally marks the start of the public library as we know it. And these acts led to similar laws in other countries, most notably the U.S. The earliest example in England of a library to be endowed for the benefit of users who were not members of an institution such as a cathedral or college was the [[Francis Trigge Chained Library]] in [[Grantham]], [[Lincolnshire]], established in 1598. ...

Ft Worth Turkey Trot

This was the first year that I have ever done a Turkey Trot other than Austin. The Austin Turkey Trot is HUGE. There are games for the kids, music, people in Pilllsbury suits walking around....it is a Turkey Day Festival in and of itself. So, I was sure what to expect from Ft. Worth.Getting there wasn't hard and finding a parking place was fairly simple. I think we ended up about two blocks from the actual start, parked in front of someone's house. We had about an hour to kill but still had to pick up our packet. The packet pickup lines were no where near as long as the Austin lines but there were few volunteers and they were not doing a good job of keeping folks in their correct alphabetical lines. So, we stood in line, drinking our coffee, eating our Clif Bar breakfasts, people watching. Oh, and BIG bonus points, here, as it turns out dogs are allowed and the Ft Worth canine population was well represented.When we finally made it through the line, we were told they were out of shirts and we would have to sign up for them to send a shirt to us. Also, the chip pickup was at another table so, as Kent had a chip and I didn't care if I was timed or not (let me point out that normally I would run the Trot with one or more of my dogs and this was the first year I had not done that. I missed my Eden and we almost went back for her.), we skipped it and went to find the start of the 10k and to do our 2 mile warmup. When we had first arrived there seemed to be about 3,000 people milling around, listening to the band play, eating free yogurt and doing warm-up exercises with Jane Fonda. As we headed towards the course, we noticed that more than half the participants were gone. We concluded that most of the folks were doing the 5k which started about 50 mins before the 10k or the 1 mile walk which started with the 5k. As we took off on the course, for our warmup, we noticed that the 5k'ers were making their way to the finish (quickly, I might add) and were having to dodge around the walkers, many of which had their pooches or baby strollers. That probably could have been better planned. So, deduct points for possible collisions or dog bites.We finished up our warmup, headed back to the car (which was conveniently close) and took off a couple of more layers of clothing. By this time it was probably in the upper 60's low 70's. We headed back to where we thought the start was located. Turned out we weren't completely right. As it got close to time, they herded all 500 or so, of us, into a parking lot where there was a white line drawn on the ground. As Kent handed me his gloves, camera and shirt, which I wrapped around my waist with my own long sleeve shirt (not very aero dynamic at this point) I heard a faint 8...7...6....5... I yelled to Kent, "GO...GO...GO" and pushed him the direction of the start. With no starting mat to run across Kent needed to be as close to the front as he could get when the gun went off. Correction here, when the guy yelled, "GO". (most of the racers couldn't believe we had started as it was 2 mins early and not many people had heard the countdown). So take off points for an unorganized start and double negative points for no National Anthem. (how do you know a race is about to start without a national anthem?) First mile was down hill...then, from there, it was up, down, up, down, up, down. I mean, I thought Ft. Worth was flat. You basically ran up and down a hill on one block, took a corner another corner and paralleled the same street with the same hills in it. There were water stops about every 2 miles, however, at some of the water stops there was a total of two people working. There were not too many people out on the course, cheering, but the ones that had come out of their houses, coffees in hands, were all smiles and cheers. The last 200 meters was totally down hill which provided a strong finish, if you have anything left in ya, and a great picture as you churn your way over the finish line. The after race celebration was on, with the "We only know one melody" country band and the awarding of giant trophies to the winners of the different age groups and races. The results were posted within 15 mins of our finish so add points for efficiency. However, turns out that the normal standard champion chips were not used at this race so we had to go convince the results guy that Kent came in 4th in his age group and 10th over all. For some reason the woman who promised him she had written it down when he crossed the mat never conveyed the information to anyone that matter. Whatever, it was the principal of it cause, in the end, you only get hardware if you get top three in your age group. So, with no tshirt and no trophies, we loaded up ourselves and headed to a 7-11 for drive home coffee.

Drive, walk, motorbike or Cycle to your destination.

Have you ever noticed the amount of homogeneity that exists in the roads of the western world? I am pretty familiar with California and spotting a motorbike is as rare as spotting a mosquito. It seems like vast majority of them are, infact, on the same type of vehicle ( a car) and hence are most likely to take the same route/direction given two places. And so Google Maps, Yahoo Maps and all of these guys have just one type of route. Fair enough.Bring India in and the equation changes quite phenomenally. Just like our people, vehicles on our roads are of various types. Between two and six wheels, we have all the kind of Vehicles known to man kind running on our roads and each one of them is as important as the other.Now, let me build a hypothesis on top of that previous statement. Arguably, The same person travelling between the same two given places may take a different route depending on the kind of vehicle he is on.I, for one, prefer the side roads (gallis) and small roads that are less polluted and less crowded over main roads when I am on a motorbike. I am willing to ride a few hundred meters extra if I can skip a few junctions/signals which are a big bottleneck on traffic speeds. But when I am in a car, I would rather stick to the main roads because the condition of side roads are unpredictable. Plus, you never know if that big gravel truck is parked blocking the entire street. But, whenever I take the cycle, I really want to avoid main roads completely if possible, because, they are simply not safe.There are very many ways to get to a place. Sometimes, you want to take the fastest route, Sometimes the shortest. But the kind of vehicle never used to play a part. But, now it does. At Yahoo! India maps. Search for a route and watch out for buttons on the right pane. Choose the one that fits you well and drive safe and with a smile.

Mouzz!!!

Here he is! The rat formerly known as Soul but now known as Mouzz. He just didn't seem spiritual enough to be called Soul. But really, how would you know if a rat was spiritual or not? Anyway, Mouzz it is.He's been a very good boy so far. He's only bitten me once but it wasn't that big of a deal. I've been bitten by horses, anything less than that isn't really worth talking about. Mouzz is particularly fond of yogurt chips and peanuts. But, as you can see from the pictures, he's kind of a full size rattie. Actually he almost looks like a guinea pig, doesn't he? Gracious me.I've been trying to spend as much time as I can with him but since he doesn't live with me (THANKS, ANDY) it hasn't been easy. I think he likes me though. He'll sit in my lap and give himself a bath. I've also been the recipient of a few rattie kisses and occasionally he'll perch on my shoulder. Since I've only had him a week I think we're doing OK.Plans are in the works to get Mouzz a friend (tentatively named "Plague") once I get the funds together for a new and improved cage. Ratties need a LOT of space. And since Mouzz is neutered we'll probably go for a girl rattie. I'm beginning to think ratties are like the best pets EVER. Just don't tell DeeDee and Andy I said that.On the knitting front there's not much to report. I'm working on a plain ol' stockinette sock and that's about it. I am not the inspired knitter these days. Rather depressing, really ... However! There is something mildly exciting happening on Tuesday. Well maybe "mildly" might be a stretch. Tuesday, January 27th is my 3 year bloggin' anniversary. See what I mean about "mildly" being a stretch? Anyway there will be a "leave a comment that day, win fabulous prizes" contest. If for no other other reason than I think this is the first time I've remembered my anniversary. Go figure.

Hartzell and Lin lose on appeal

I was going to round up the economic news, with this excellent piece from Taiwan News on the ECFA framework and how poor the government's case is for it as the centerpiece of the blog post, but after reading all the ugly news, from real estate investment at 2 year lows, to the 37.5% drop in exports last month, I was a candidate for therapy.Fortunately, a friend flipped me the decision of the appeals court in the case of Hartzell and Lin v. US over whether the US has some kind of sovereignty over Taiwan (previous blogpost with plenty o'links). Lin et al have lost their case, on the grounds I noted in the earlier post, that the question of sovereignty over Taiwan is a political question to be decided by the other branches of government. The Court makes its point (my emphasis):Appellants argue this is a straightforward question of treaty and statutory interpretation and well within the Article III powers of the court. It is and it isn’t. The political question doctrine deprives federal courts of jurisdiction, based on prudential concerns, over cases which would normally fall within their purview. National Treasury Employees Union v. United States, 101 F.3d 1423, 1427 (D.C. Cir. 1996). We do not disagree with Appellants’ assertion that we could resolve this case through treaty analysis and statutory construction, see Japan Whaling Ass’n v. American Cetacean Soc’y, 478 U.S. 221, 230 (1986) (“[T]he courts have the authority to construe treaties and executive agreements, and it goes without saying that interpreting congressional legislation is a recurring and accepted task for the federal courts.”); we merely decline to do so as this case presents a political question which strips us of jurisdiction to undertake that otherwise familiar task. See Gonzalez-Vera v. Kissinger, 449 F.3d 1260, 1264 (D.C. Cir. 2006) (“We need not quarrel with the plaintiffs’ assertion that certain claims for torture may be adjudicated in the federal courts as provided in the TVPA. We simply observe that such a claim, like any other, may not be heard if it presents a political question.”).The Court's decision is not without a certain wry humor:Identifying Taiwan’s sovereign is an antecedent question to Appellants’ claims. This leaves the Court with few options. We could jettison the United States’ long-standing foreign policy regarding Taiwan—that of strategic ambiguity—in favor of declaring a sovereign. But that seems imprudent. Since no war powers have been delegated to the judiciary, judicial modesty as well as doctrine cautions us to abjure so provocative a course....and the final paragraph:Addressing Appellants’ claims would require identification of Taiwan’s sovereign. The Executive Branch has deliberately remained silent on this issue and we cannot intrude on its decision. Therefore, as the district court correctly concluded, consideration of Appellants’ claims is barred by the political question doctrine. Accordingly, we affirm.Good job, judges.UPDATE: PDF of decision is online

Slumdog Millionaire

I have heard it said that if you want to know what the British Army was like in the Nineteenth Century, take at look at the Indian Army in the Twentieth.p Well, if you want to get back in touch with your inner Charles Dickens, watch Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire, a tale of two young men surviving on their own wits in modern Bombay.p It's a splendid movie: well written and acted, and visually captivating.p Without giving too much away, the main character appears on the Indian version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?"p He is stunningly successful and this leads to his immediate arrest on suspicion of cheating.p In a rather brutal interrogation, he is asked to explain how he knew the answers to each of the questions, despite the fact that he was a former street urchin, with no education.p His answers and memories are the device with which the movie tells its story.p Though that story is a rather simple fairy tale, it is a Dickensian fairy tale and that creates a powerful resonance.p There were moments in the movie when I half expected someone to belt out a number from Oliver!p Perhaps the most interesting thing about the story is that its protagonist, Jamal Malik, is a person of almost perfect honesty.p In explaining to the police chief how he knew the answers to the quiz questions, he ends up confessing to any number of petty crimes.p Why do you do this, the incredulous officer asks?p "When someone asks me a question," Jamal replies, "I give him the answer."p The police officer lets Jamal go because he realizes that the young man is simply incapable of lying.p That honesty has some connection to the fact that Jamal is someone in whom love never, ever dies.p But the story is not naive.p Jamal survives only by the protection of his older brother, who shares none of Jamal's scruples, and is far more aggressive.p Slumdog Millionaire is not one you want to miss.p

Black and white twins

The Fixer

An Iraqi father poses with his two sons."Fixer" is apparently an Arabic word that means, "I don't wait in lines". Like almost all western companies in Iraq, we employ locals to act as "fixers; to get us through the snags and complications of operating in a foreign land. They use any means at their disposal, some of which can be pretty unsavory, to get us in a position to do our job.I went to the airport this morning, our lead fixer and I were flying out of Baghdad on the same flight to Amman. At the first sight of a line he didn't even break stride, walking purposefully right the the front of the 30-person line, grabbing my passport as he went. The cacophony of groans and gripes was deafening to my sensitive western ears. The fixer seemed to be energized by it, and pressed on; business class seats, boarding passes, luggage tags all within seconds. I was looking for a corner to hide in as the symphony of disgruntled passengers grew.This scene transpired not only at the check-in desk but also at Immigration, the boarding ramp, and the bus taking us to the plane. Nothing would deter him. He was like a pitbull. I meekly followed along, afraid to get lost in the throngs of unhappy (pissed off) travelers. I secretly reveled in the "fast track", but was painfully embarrassed at the means to get there.On a side note, while on the airplane we were handed a form, what at first I thought was an Immigration form for Jordan. Dutifully filling in the blanks I got to the question, "Do you have diarrhea?" It went on from there; "How long have you had it? Medications? Doctor's note?" Not something that you see everyday. They were apparently looking for cholera coming out of Iraq.

Interpreter of Maladies

I was indifferent when I read Lahiri’s The Namesake, but I really liked this book. Possibly she’s better at short fiction—I note her new book is short fiction again.The stories focus on Indian-Americans, primarily those like the author who are second generation, who have become Americans in ways their parents have not. In the title story, the main character is a taxi driver/tour guide, trained as a linguist and translater whose other job is interpreting for a physician who doesn’t speak all the languages of India. The patients tell him their symptoms and stories and he translates for the doctor. In the story he’s taking an Indian American family to see some monuments. They are visiting parents and feel compelled, by custom rather than personal interest in their origins or in the monuments themselves, to see the sights. The family is well dressed and presumably economically successfully. The boys have braces on their teeth—something which seems unfamiliar to the interpreter of maladies. The parents bicker; the children fuss—they’re relatively unattractive as people, almost the stereotype of Americans abroad—herded through ancient monuments they knew nothing about, carrying their ubiquitous cameras and plastic bottles of water. They ARE Americans of course and the fact that they have Indian parents seems to count much less than their lives “back home” in New Jersey. Meanwhile the interpreter of maladies fanaticizes that Mrs. Das will fall in love with him and enable him to be magically lifted out of his hum drum and difficult world into hers.In another story a little girl speculates on the visitor to her home who stayed a year. It was in the 1950ies and he’s on a research grant from his country, but from the part of Pakistan that was at war and then broke off to become Bangladesh. He worries about his family in Dacca with whom he’s lost contact. He’s in a difficult position, on a grant from a country he no longer belongs to. Lilia, the girl, reports his behavior without understanding the political situation. In another story I liked a lot, an eleven-year-old boy goes to a babysitter’s after school. Mrs. Sen is an Indian woman who’s not really accommodated herself to New York—she can’t drive, despite lots of lessons—and calls her husband at work when she needs something though he tries hard to make her more self sufficient. But she and Elliot, the boy, who lives with a divorced and dispirited mother, form a significant bond and when Elliot is taken away after Mrs. Sen finally drives to the fish market with him and has a minor accident, both lose out to the more conventional ones—Mrs. Sen’s husband and Elliot’s mother.In most of the stories at least one character seems out of step and Lahiri zeroes in with a great deal of feeling and absolutely no sentimentality.

Fun For All!

Anytime anyone spouts advice on a blog, you should probably take the advice with a grain of salt.When I spout advice on my blog about anything -- especially about relationships -- you should take it with a whole, giant margarita glass rim of salt. Plus the tequila.I am sharing this with you now because it's been on my mind a lot lately, for a few reasons. Mostly because I've just entered into a new, wonderful marriage...and thus, it seems like a good time to remind myself why my first marriage went up in big shooting orange flames.(I am also sharing this with you because I was not kidding when I said I was going to start blogging like mad. Muahahahahaha!)Luckily for the internet, the entirety of My Relationship Advice can be boiled down into just two pieces, as follows.(And don't worry, we'll be back to all kinds of blogging hilarity any minute now.)* * * * * * *Piece of Advice Number One:Being Passive-Aggressive is destructive to you, to your partner, and to your relationship. It is also dishonest. It is your job, as a grown-up, to say yes when you mean yes and to say no when you mean no. If you aren't sure how you feel, it's not your partner's job to figure it out.Being passive-aggressive can take on about a bajillion forms, and I am pretty sure there aren't enough blogs in the world to cover them all. Especially when there are so many cute cats to take pictures of.But there are some really really straightforward ways to avoid being passive-aggressive in your relationship. Trust me on this.If your partner asks you about something you don't like, do not say "okay" if you don't mean it. The moment you say "okay" or "fine" or "sure" or "I guess so" -- even if you sound kind of sad when you say it -- the onus is on you. You don't get to say yes if you mean no. You especially do not get to say yes if you mean no and are going to spend the next days, weeks, or even years holding it against your partner.Now, this can get tricky, especially when the whole point is that you wish you weren't being asked the question in the first place. You want your partner to know the answer is "no" without you having to be the one to say it.Let me use an example from my current relationship.Last Thursday, Ish asked me if I'd mind if he spent Saturday afternoon with a friend. I looked at the calendar and realized it was Valentine's Day. I immediately felt hurt. I was, momentarily, at a loss for what to say.If I said "Sure, fine," I'd be lying. I didn't feel fine about it, and that disappointment in me would likely seep into our relationship.If I said, "No," I'd feel guilty for saying so. I don't want to force my husband to spend Valentine's Day with me.What I really wanted was for him to not have asked the stupid question in the first place. You know? And that was what I said to him.I told him that I felt bad that he'd rather hang out with a buddy on Valentine's Day than with me. I didn't like saying it. I felt a little stupid and exposed, and I wished he'd just magically known where I was coming from. Like, of COURSE I would want to spend the day with him.But then his response surprised me. He apologized, and said he didn't see it that way. He didn't think much of the "holiday" and had no idea I put any stock in it -- we'd never had a conversation about it. He said we'd already made special plans for that morning and evening, and thought a few hours in the afternoon wouldn't make a lick of difference.Let me just say that this example would have gone very, very differently in my first marriage.I dunno, I've just seemed to witness this a bunch lately with some couples I know. The case of, "I said it was okay because I love him and want him to be happy!" Which is very nice and wonderful and good if you can live with your making-him-happy decision. But if you hate your decision and it makes you unhappy, and you find yourself complaining about it, and even perhaps adding it to an arsenal of "Things I Do For Him Because I Love Him"...um. I don't think it takes long for that arsenal to breed resentment. And that resentment will come out eventually.Which brings me to...* * * * * * *Piece of Advice Number Two:All the improved communications in the world can't make the person you're with be a different person. If your partner wants something other than what you want, (or simply IS something other than what you want) you either have to accept it or move on.This seems kind of "duh"-y, but it'll sneak up on you.No matter what relationship you're in, there will come a time or two or forty when you realize you have very different ideas about something. You'll want one thing and your partner will want another.In my first marriage, we spent a lot of time figuring out how to communicate, how to compromise, how to find common ground in those situations. Yay for us.But...if we were so good at figuring that out, why were we still so unhappy?Ah-ha! Because there is ANOTHER part!What we didn't realize for far too long, what no one told us, was: Okay, yes. All relationships require compromise. But there is such a thing as too much compromise.It's great if you can be all honest and forthright about how you feel in any given situation, but what if your partner seems to never want what you want?I knew of a woman whose husband couldn't do anything right. He mishandled bill-paying. He was a bad driver. He went about vacation planning all wrong. He couldn't even load the dishwasher properly. The list went on and on and on.Of course, what this really meant is that he wasn't doing things the way she would have, or the way she wanted him to do them. These were all just surface-level issues, but they all pointed to the same thing: he wasn't what she wanted him to be.I know plenty of couples who have very little in common, who come at everything from almost entirely opposite perspectives, and who absolutely delight in each other's differences. But the flip side of that is exhaustion -- feeling like everything is a compromise, and that every compromise is a struggle. You wish that just once you didn't have to "put up with" something to get your desired result.And all of this is my long-winded way of saying it's not, actually, always easy to recognize it; sometimes we get too deep in. Sometimes the little things that bug us are really just the little things. But sometimes they're not.You have to be honest about the difference. And it's probably a good idea to move on if you (allow yourself to) realize you're angry at your partner for simply being who he or she is.You will both be happier for it.* * * * * * * *Okay, so yes? No? Do you agree or am I nuts? Am I missing a big point in here?Also, is this stupid for me to be blogging about?* * * * * * * *~ Previous entries you might want to read ~Related to this post: The one at the beginning of my divorce story where I realize my husband will never want to go to the stupid party with me. From the archives, mid-February two years ago: A post about PORN CHARADES! With no pictures because I accidentally renamed them all in Flickr. Oops. (But rules for Porn Charades can be found in the comments!)

A little scrapping and some hot chocolate

That about sums up the contents of this post!I have not scrapped a lot lately - my mojo seems to have been on holidays somewhere.....but it does seem to be creeping back in, thanks to the wonderfully inspirational Ali Edwards. For the last 2 years she has created a 'December Daily' journal - a visual and tactile treat, to record the daily events of December whether Christmas related or not. So this year I have decided that I am going to do this too. In fact I have already prepared the 'bones' of the album using lots of old supplies and the trusty crop-adile, have stocked up a little on some new Christmassy supplies and am ready and raring to go. (I will photograph and upload what I have done so far tonight).The process of doing this has really inspired me and I feel like scrapping just for fun for the first time in quite a while. It's a bummer about work!~! I would rather be home scrapping at the moment.On the weekend my girl & I went to the local shops and while there we had a little brunch in one of the many cafes there. I love doing this - it's so nice to have this time with Rebecca and to see how much she enjoys this 'grown up' type of activity. She loves a hot chocolate and this was no exception. Luckily I had my trusty point & shoot camera in my bag to capture the froth moustache. Rebecca was trying to drink this so carefully as it was so beautifully presented and she didn't want to spoil it.Today I did my first bit of Christmas decoration shopping - I don't decorate my home until 1 December but I love the process of collecting the goodies. I love the over the top country style of Christmas decorating seen in many American home design magazines and every year I have been buying a few more pieces to build up my collection. I am also making more. Stay tuned. Now I am off to watch the Melbourne Cup - I know nothing about racing but it's a fun social experience anyway!(Edited to add pics of December Daily journal - I did say it was just the bones at this stage - I am going to decorate the cover soon!)

To Disclose or Not

I just started a new job, hence the decrease in posts, and I find myself in an odd situation. My supervisor wrote a letter announcing my arrival and briefly stating my past experience and expertise. It was a nice thing to do and a well-written letter. Many of my employees have read the letter and commented on it already.Mentioned in the letter and relevant to the job, is my foster care work. Though I'm not working directly in foster care, the overlap between foster care and my job makes it worth mentioning. The thing is, most people only get into foster care because they were a foster kid or knew a foster kid. People always seem to want to know which it was for me. In my last job, it was known to pretty much all of my colleagues that I grew up in care and I was okay with that. I'm not sure that I want to tell everyone at my new job though. For starters, in my last job, I was encouraged to socailize with my colleagues, thus making it okay to disclose more personal information about myself to them. Here, I am a supervisor and socializing with employees outside of work has been discouraged by my boss. My thought is, if I am not to hang out, perhaps I am to keep my personal life to myself in general. This won't be easy, since I have only been there a week and some of my employees have already started asking about my background. What am I supposed to say if they ask how I got involved in foster care? If I don't disclose that I was in foster care, they may still figure it out, since I am only 24, but having over two decades of experience advocating for a person with disabilties helped land me this job. If I explain that my mom is disabled and lives in a home for people with disabilties, a smart person will put two and two together to realize I was in foster care. Also, I do trainings for foster parents on the weekends and frequently have articles published in magazines, newspapers and on-line. I am fully identifiable by the accompanying photo and/or biography. Once they figure out I was a foster child, they might assume I had solely negative foster care experiences, since I did not disclose this in the first place. I am far from ashamed that I was in foster care, but I wonder if it would be unprofessional to disclose such personal information to my employees. It feels like it might be crossing some invisible line.My husband disagrees. His opinion is that being a foster kid and the child of a person with a disability are job credentials in this case and thus it is okay to state those facts. In his opinion, making this information known will only make it more clear to my staff and others with whom we interact as a company that I have the kind of know-how and compassion needed to do my job. It will send the message that I care about vulnerable people and will not accept things that are not in their best interests.I'm not sure yet what I will do. If I do not disclose, this will be the first time in my life that I have not done so. I have always been very upfront about it in school, at other jobs and with friends. I have taken every opportunity possible to educate people about foster care and recruit people to be foster parents if I think they would be good at it. On the one hand, it makes me feel good to enlighten people about foster care and potentially bring more people into the circle. On the other hand, I've always felt a little bit exposed by disclosing my past. It might be nice to not feel emotionally naked for a while.

gave birth

Today is Sarah's 6 month birthday. Really where has the time gone? I can't believe it's already been 6 months since I gave birth to this precious little miracle! While in actuality 6 months isn't a long time, it does seem like she's always been here. Those of you who have children probably know what I mean. While she is new, she fits so perfectly in the family that it's like she's always been around. This is a time of great reflection for me. I think back to those days when we didn't think we would be able to have more children and to that day when I found out I was expecting. I remember those first few weeks home with her and all the adjustments that had to be made. And now to today, all the things she can do and who she is. She's found her feet She loves to jump. She could jump for hours. Even when she starts to get tried of it she still jumps while she's whining to get out.She's found her thumb. The little stinker :) She such a mix of both our older girls, it's amazing! We wondered, when we were expecting her, what she would be like because Abigail and Leah are complete opposites. Well we got a little of both of them in her. She loves her sisters! She thinks they are so funny especially Abbi. The girls are great with her and are so helpful. The most wonderful thing I love about her is her snuggliness. She loves to rest her head on my shoulder/chest and she loves it when we are cheek to cheek and I talk to her. She giggles this most wonderful giggle. I can't thank the Lord enough for her. And during this time of the year when we celebrate Christ's birth I also thank Him for sending His son to die for us.

Sky-Terra

Sky-Terra

Donna Hay's Apple Pie

Every single time I pick up a Donna Hay magazine or a Donna Hay recipe book, I end up with a very strong urge to bake or cook everything that's featured in it. Most of the time, I actually do end up baking something. There's a certain magic that her books have. Everything from the way the recipes are written, to the clear concise instructions to the plain and simple yet so delectable photos. Everything about her books just make you want to pick up the spatula and start churning out baked goodies.When it comes to Donna Hay, I have no complaints. I only have praise. Today is another of those days where I say more good things about Donna Hay. I haven't baked much this year so I was clearly suffering from a serious baking deficit disorder. So much so that the moment I started baking two apple tarts for the two Christmas parties that I attended, I must have let my guard down and got bitten. Yes, by the baking bug. It's a very good thing I insist. My friends will agree and I'm sure my family won't protest.The joys of baking, the immense pleasure derived when your prepared baked good goes into the oven to complete its life cycle. Then there's the nose twitching knee jerk reaction whenever the prized baked good lets out the most irresistable aroma. Till this day, I still literally jump and run to the oven the moment my nose picks up on the toasty, buttery, lip smacking smell that charges through the old rusty Moulinex. I get high on these buttery smells.Flipping through a Donna Hay recipe book gives me that same high. I can picture myself with the finished baked good and looking very happy. I imagine Donna Hay giving me an approving nod and a thumbs up sign. I am also very optimistic because I think every thing I bake using her recipe will end up looking as beautiful as the ones pictured in her book. I'm an easy sell I think. But it's okay.Yesterday I couldn't help but flip through my Donna Hay Modern Classics Book 2. This one has to die for cookies, biscuits, slices, small cakes, cakes, desserts, hot puddings, pies and tarts. The first page got me so excited and by the time I reached the end of the book, I was hyped up and on a high. I wanted to bake something. I wanted something that would make me very happy.And there it was on page 157, and it spoke to me:An apple pie it was. I must say it was the photo in the book that had me sold. It looked just like the ones Enid Blyton always had by the window sill, in all her story books. Enid Blyton was my literary crack when I was a child and I have not forgotten. I had never made a pie as well. The only thing close was the apple tart. But tarts are different from pies.So after getting my groceries, I started prepping. I made the sweet shortcrust pastry, refrigerated it for 30 minutes. I cooked the granny smiths and let it cool. When it was time to lay out the pastry, I went round looking for a pie tin. Then I realised I only had a tart tin. Pie tins and tart tins are different things. But time was running out and I had no time to get a pie tin so I made do with my tart tin.Laying down the pastry case ove the apples was a challenge. I had to be careful not to tear it. This recipe also called for some egg wash and sugar (to sprinkle over the pastry).Here's the pie out of the oven:I couldn't help but help myself to the first slice. It was really good. The apples were slightly tart but it was good with the pastry.Now all that's missing is a scoop of good vanilla ice cream.