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Sunday, May 23, 2010

The Alcoholic... updated.

For years I've hoped and wished that my father would be the parent he should have been while we were growing up.  I've given him the benefit of the doubt and thought he was a good person somewhere inside.   That he could be rational and logical.  That he, without alcohol, could be the dad he always had the potential to be.  I always assumed me getting married would bring out the good dad despite if he's begun to drink again (which he has).  That he would be overjoyed about the wedding and falling all over himself to give me away.  All I want is a real dad who loves me for me...  who's proud of me for what I've accomplished rather than the man who at my undergrad graduation rather than praising my achieving magna cum-laude stated that I should have been suma cum-laude.

Instead I get a father who makes me cry over my wedding.  Who has me bawling my eyes out because once again I have the feeling that nothing I do or plan is good enough.  He's not offered to help to pay with the wedding, yet I never expected financial support from anyone.  When it came to our choice of BBQ for catering, he had nothing but complaints.  And when I asked him about renting a suit or tux to walk me down the isle, he let me down by giving me that tone as he said he was going to wear a suit he had because he didn't have the money (or rather didn't want to spend $) to rent one.  But today's conversation has pushed me over the line.  Until now, I've dealt with his complaints and dismissed them aside as being irrational.  But today with all the stress I've been dealing with and how behind I am with plans, I just couldn't handle him.

His conversation started out oddly in that he was asking if we were still planning to wed in September.  I thought this was an absurd question as it's 4 months away, we've put deposits down, have the permit for the park...  it's a point of no return.  So I told him just that.  He asked if we had talked to a minister yet and I told him we were still discussing if we wanted a minister closer to our age or this other one that I've known from childhood.  Then he turned irrational stating he didn't see why we were having the September wedding, having the girls buy dresses and doing everything then if we were already married (referring to the city hall legal marriage that I told him about on mother's day).  I explained that the September wedding was to be for all of our family and friends.  It was to be the big religious ceremony whereas city hall was just for legal purposes.  I told him the September wedding was the important wedding where he was to give me away.  He stated that he didn't see the point for it as we would already be married.  And that he wouldn't actually be giving me away if we got married months earlier.  While I understand his point, the cultural and religious aspect of this marriage is in September...  and culturally he would still be giving me away for the important ceremony.  (Additionally in todays society, the significance of giving away your daughter is already tainted as there is no virgin bride or crazy dowry anymore.)  City hall is just the legal binding, you go in and say "I do", ceremony.  But he wouldn't budge and wouldn't listen to reason.  He wouldn't even let me explain that besides the legal aspects, we had only told the family in the case that we would need to do a rushed ceremony due to Josh's grandma's failing health (which I had explained also on Mother's day to him).  At the point during which he started to make me cry over the phone...  I promptly told him that I can't talk to him anymore.  Told him goodbye and immediately hung the phone up.  He hasn't called back and I refuse to call him.

Now I know that telling him of city hall was a huge mistake.  Had Josh's grandmother not had another stroke, we were planning on telling a soul...except for the few people that we could grab at a moments notice to be witnesses.  But I can't change the past and make what I told him go away.  I can't hide it now.  That being so, he also doesn't need to be so irrational and get me crying uncontrollably like he had when I was a child and he was an angry alcoholic.  I hate feeling this aweful...  I hate crying to the point where I can't catch my breath and my whole body wants to shake.  I hate the fact that I still let him get to me the way he does.  In the end I'm still the little girl praying for a real father and being let down by my religion to find that my father has not and will never change.  Nothing I ever do will be good enough in his eyes and I have to stop hoping that it will.

****Update  5-24.
Through outside channels and not directly talking to my father, I've come to find out he's bothered because he's very traditional and feels that we need to have a Lutheran ceremony for it to be a legit marriage.  In all honesty...I find this a bit absurd.  Growing up, he rarely came to church as we got older. And now as far as I know he's like the rest of us... a Chr-easter who only goes Christmas and Easter.  So why now is there this issue of us "needing" a religious ceremony by a lutheran minister?  Plus he ought to know by now as we've mentioned it many times before...  Josh is Buddhist.  Unless we find a rebel of the missouri synod, I don't think they'd be keen on marrying the two of us as obviously we aren't practicing the same religion (and I don't really see going to church anymore as religion has failed me when I most needed it).

So why now all this religiousness?  Is he using it as an excuse for why he's upset as to us doing city hall instead of just stating the fact that he did when I talked to him... that he doesn't see the point of walking me down the isle if I'm already married?  Or is it that he truly doesn't no accurately recall the 14 years he was a drunk?  And he thinks he's been religious all this time?  Alcoholics have a rose colored view of the world when remembering things.  They don't remember the pain they cause towards those closest to them.  For instance...  one of my worst memories he recalls as if it were a funny story.  He's actually brought it up the last two times I have visited and I haven't had the nerve to yell at him for doing so.  See when I was a teen and had enough of his drunken verbal abuse, I told him off and called him a jackass to his face (thinking he was too drunk to get off the couch).  Unfortunately for me, he wasn't drunk enough.  He chased me up the stairs and when I thought I had cleared the last step, he caught me by my ankle and dragged me down each stair step.  Dazed and confused at the bottom, I was sure he was going to beat me to death.  On the norm he was more of a verbally abusive man but at this moment of time I saw pure anger and evil in his eyes.  So I cringed, closed my eyes and waited for what awaited me.  Luckily for me, my mom heard the commotion while doing laundry in the basement.  And before he throw one punch she caught his wrist and told him if he ever laid a hand on anyone of us or hurt a hair on our heads... she would kill him.  She told him to leave me be and go back to the couch.  This he willingly did... She then told me it would be best not mouth off at him ever again because she would not always be there to protect me.  I did my best and shortly after that...  we were able to force him into AA rehab as he left a mark on my mother during another instance of drunken rage (The only way you can force an alcoholic into rehab is if they leave physical evidence of their violence and you can press charges.  By getting it legally documented, you can then force them to stop drinking.  Otherwise the only alternative is to pick up and leave them... which my mother did not make enough to raise 3 kids alone.).

Now remembering that story is not one of joy... not one of fun... not a silly story to be retold.   For me, that is one of my worst memories, if not the worst memory.  One of the most painful.  Every time I think about it, it makes me sad and angry.  I usually cry when retelling it... (right as this moment my eyes are filled with tears).  Originally the crying was because of such emotional pain... now it is more because of the fact that he hasn't and will not realize what a truly terrible mean mentally abusive drunk he was.  He will never realize how badly he hurt us or how much he damaged us in the long run.   How during the most influential times of our emotional and psychological growth, he did more damage than any other horrific event could have ever done.

I suppose my next course of action is to seek a source such as Al-anon (a support network for those affected by alcoholics) to find the best way to get a mediator.  To find a safe environment where us kids can confront him and set things straight to make him realize how really was... and to make him realize that the past was all rainbows and sunshine.  That he had an alcohol problem and should never touch the stuff again.  How if he doesn't wise up and make amends for his past... he may loose us forever.

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Merchant of Death
Money, Guns, Planes, and the Man Who Makes War Possible

Blood from Stones

Visit Douglas Farah's
author page at

Press Releases

What Yemen Tells us About Afghanistan
The recent and growing attention to the critical situation in Yemen, where al Qaeda's presence is spreading and the government is weak and does not control much of the physical space, is perhaps the best argument for pursuing a vigorous Afghanistan policy.

It is clear that the jihadist movement, to reuse an overused cliche, will flow like water downhill, taking the paths of least resistance. Yemen, with its declining oil revenues, weak central government, inhospitable geography and population that is at least intellectually in tune with al Qaeda's fundamentalist theology, is such a place. It has the added benefit and symbolic value for Osama bin Laden and his family of being their ancestral home, from whence bin Laden's father came to Saudi Arabia.

Radical Islamists need different spaces for different reasons. Criminalized states allow them to move money and generate funds. Failed or failing states with a strongly sympathetic population in which to move undetected afford something even more valuable - the chance to establish a physical space that is part of their vision of the Caliphate, or Allah's kingdom on earth.

It is easy to forget that immediately after 9/11 there were many in the jihadist community that argued that the attacks had been a mistake, not because of the loss of human life but because it mobilized the international community to invade Afghanistan and put an end to the existence of the Muslim state that declared itself the beachhead of the global Caliphate.

This is of primary importance to the Islamist community, and one that highlights the reasons for such fierce fighting and penetration in Yemen, Somalia and Afghanistan. It is not so much the training camps and safe havens that draw the Islamist combatants to these regions. It is the possibility of creating a divinely-mandated earthly government under the rule of Sharia law (as they interpret it).

Afghanistan is another such place, now part of the mythical narrative the movement is creating as it moves forward. If the Taliban can succeed there, not only will it be a sign of divine favor but a place where Allah rules. Once that is established, the global jihadists have a place from which to expand and continue the war against the infidel world.

Yemen has already shown the danger of allowing these groups to settle in and become a focal point for teaching and training of would-be "martyrs" from around the world. If the base exists, they will come. At its center, al Qaeda understood this from the beginning.

Afghanistan would be many times more dangerous, and that is why the idea of negotiating with Mullah Omar and his true believers is a pipe dream. Even if the Taliban really wanted to give assurances their territory would not be used to attack the United States (and that is a very big if), it could not stop it from happening. Jihadists from around the world will flock in to the new piece of the Caliphate and, secure in the knowledge they will not be driven out, but greeted as heroes, they will plot their next attacks.

I agree that the jihadist movement is decentralized and franchised out, and the core historic leadership cannot and does not call many of the shots any more. But wherever there is space to occupy, the Islamists are prepared to move in, and the more permissive the environment, the more rapidly they do so. Afghanistan under Taliban rule would be a second Mecca for those seeking to attack the unbelieving world, and that is our strategic interest in getting Afghanistan right.
The Intelligence Conundrum in Terrorism Cases
The "Acting Alone" Myth
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Tuesday, August 14, 2012

A Veterans Wife

Being a Veteran’s wife isn’t an easy life.
 Being told I don’t understand just because I wasn’t in that far away land.
Living with scars that others don’t see, Being the strong person others think I should be.
My Veteran has returned, in broken body only; Having seen too many things that no one person should see.
He feels alone and scared, hopeless and rejected; Thinking he is the only one that has been affected.
Most of the time when he’s “lost in space”; He cannot see the love or care on my face.
When I am angry and sad, and feeling so bitter; I know for my Veteran and family, I cannot be a quitter.
I feel rejected and scared, and mostly alone, Especially when my Veteran and I are sitting at home.
I have God as my rock and love as my guide, But my soldier has been taken. And for that, I have cried.
So many tears have fallen, so many restless nights; Thinking of the endless battle my Veteran will fight.
With nowhere to go, but into my arms; I have to keep my Veteran safe from harm.
If you know a Veteran that still has a wife, know that she is there to be his for life. To protect him and love him, to live in his Hell, For she tries and she tries, but can never tell
Of the torture and trauma her Veteran lives, And every day, EVERY DAY, she tries to forgive
The fact that her husband will never be
As the man she once knew, the one she’ll never again see.
I scream and I yell and I am so lost inside, But there Is nothing I can do. There is no room for pride, For I know a part of my Veteran has died.
I curse and I rage, I resent, yet I forgive
Because through my heart and my love, I know my Veteran will live.

By Erin Boburchock

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Monthly Archives: February 2011

A tasty way to eat healthy~

The city of Tacoma is blessed to have Tacoma Boys as our homegrown produce stand and meat market. I have never been disappointed with anything I’ve purchased there and its one of the few places that when they tell me my total bill, I feel like I’ve gotten a good value.

The Center for Disease Control says “Almost Everyone Needs to Eat More Fruits and Vegetables”. By going to Tacoma Boys and buying fresh produce, often in season and local grown I am making the CDC happy and supporting my community. It makes me smile!

Yikes! Jack In The Box now has the calorie count

I try not to go to fast food restaurants very often, but I was taking a class today and only had an hour for lunch and there was travel time involved. So, Jack in the Box it is! Oh my, they are putting the number of calories next to each menu item! Yikes! So, I guess the bacon ultimate cheeseburger (920 calories), curly fries (280 calories) and a large mint oreo cookie shake (1,310 calories) are out!

I must say that Jack In The Box does have a pretty amusing website!

The one I went to is at 3402 E Pacific Hwy, Fife, WA 98424

Hello, Cupcake

It’s my dear daughter’s birthday and instead of a cake she wanted a cupcake from Hello, Cupcake in the University of Washington, Tacoma area. They have the best cupcakes that any of us have ever had! Dear daughter prefers the red velvet, I like the vanilla on vanilla and my husband likes the carrot cake version. But, really, you can’t go wrong!

They are located at 1740 Pacific Avenue, Tacoma, WA 98405. A single cupcake, which is large enough to share, costs $2.55.

Their website is here

Hello, Cupcake is located in a building owned by the University of Washington. The property had originally been known as the Birmingham Hay & Seed Co. Warehouse and was constructed in 1903.

15th Street Cleaners, Five Stars

There are many dry cleaners in Tacoma, but only three have been awarded five stars (the highest) by the Tacoma Pierce County Health Department for their environmental stewardship and their outreach and education. A more complete write up can be found here:

The 15th Street Cleaners is located at 1352 South Fawcett Avenue, Tacoma, WA.

The Tacoma Public Library has this cryptic note about the property that was there prior to the current building. TNT (Tacoma News Tribune) 11/10/1948 p.1 Asphyxiated in his office (apt. of Wm. H. Holloway).

Ford Building and Crescent Ballroom

Originally uploaded by Gexydaf

The Ford Building and Crescent Ballroom have always been a mystery to me. They are located on the edge of downtown, but not on a main drag and have been beautifully restored. According to the Tacoma Public Library the Ford Building portion of the structure was built in 1918 with E.J. Bresemann as the architect. The building originally housed the Manley-Thompson Ford Agency.

The Auditorium (that was its original name) had opened January 11, 1922. The Gothic structure was designed by Roland Borhek. It was the home to many dances, as well as appearances by such diverse performers as Rudolph Valentino, Duke Ellington, Paul Revere and The Raiders, Soundgarden and Nirvana. In 1931, the two buildings were remodeled, combined and renamed the Crescent Ballroom. This part of the property now functions as a warehouse. The mirrored ball from the original ballroom has been restored and now hangs in the South Park Community Center.

The importance of the Crescent Ballroom can be gleaned here.

TRA Medical Imaging purchased the property in 2007 for $2,500,000, and after considerable renovation opened it as their administrative office in July 2008.

Clouds, thinking about snow

Today’s new place is the sky! We had such lovely colors in the clouds as evening approached that I just had to take a few photographs! They say it might snow tonight, so I guess they are snow clouds.

One of my favorite cloud blogs (OK the only one I know about!) can be found here.

I’ve also included a photo from the last full moon, which also features some amazingly lovely clouds!  And, while I’m at it, one more of a lovely sunset sky.

McMenamins Grand Lodge

There are eight McMenamins hotels and last night we stayed at the Grand Lodge in Forest Grove, Oregon.

This lodge features a full restaurant, a movie theater where food and drink from the restaurant are offered, a soaking pool, small bars and 77 European style guest rooms. The building was constructed in 1922 as an Masonic and Eastern Star home. In 2000 the building was renovated and opened as a McMenamins. The history of the building can be seen in the historic photos and original art hanging on the walls.

We checked into the Lodge around 4:00 and had dinner, watched the most recent Harry Potter movie (yes, it is that dark) and enjoyed the soaking pool. This morning there was a Continental breakfast. All in all, a delightful, relaxing time away.

This morning I was traipsing around taking photographs and the desk clerk noticed me. He asked if I had a shot of the theater and I said kind of (I took a cell phone photo during the movie, really it was an awful photo!). He said it was much better to take a photo during the day with the lights on and then he took me upstairs and unlocked the theater for me! How nice is that!

Powell’s City of Books

With word that Borders Books is restructuring and one of my favorite smaller Seattle bookstores is closing, I wasn’t sure what to expect during my visit to Powell’s City of Books in Portland. I was pleased to see that it was very, very busy! Everywhere I looked there were folks perusing books.

Powell’s main store is located at 1005 W Burnside, Portland OR and is one of the world’s largest bookstores. The building contains 73,000 square feet of retail space and more than 3,000 people visit day. Their stores feature more than 1.5 million books, of which 65% are used (they buy 5,000 used books each day).

Hilltop Mural

At 1012 South 11th Street in Tacoma’s Hilltop area there is a mural of four individuals against the background of Mt. Rainier. Per the Tacoma-Pierce County Public Art Tour website (Taylor., “This mural memorializes key contributors to the Hilltop Community. Including, Alberta Canada, Ernest E. Brazil, Frank Russell, and Virginia Taylor”. It was created in 2004 by Bob Henry, who has other mural around town.

The artist’s website can be found here:

Freighthouse Art Gallery

Originally uploaded by Gexydaf

The Art Gallery at Freighthouse Square has some lovely Northwest art. We have purchased several pieces here and appreciate that we can have some original art at a doable price. It is located on the upper level of Freighthouse Square beyond the food court. It is run as an artist cooperative and usually at least one of the artists is on site.

602 East 25th Street, Suite 60


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Gandy Dancer

At the corner of East Main and 3rd Street just off of the downtown area of Puyallup is Gandy Dancer by sculpture Jim Mattern. In doing a little research, it appears that the art piece had been in Port Orchard or that there are two of them. I’m betting on it having been moved. It is part of the Arts Downtown project. The sculpture features a rail worker and is well placed next to a rail line.

Good to see you here!


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Monday, December 25, 2017

Happy Holidays from!

Greetings and Merry Christmas from ReNae and the entire FotoBella Design Team!
Our Christmas card features the "Winter Wonderland"
paper collection by Graphic 45
The bird was fussy-cut and popped up using dimensional stickers. I used punches from my stash to create the doily look.  Various sizes of red beads were used for the holly berries.  And vellum was placed over the poinsettia paper which softened the look of the card and brought out the focal point!

What do we love about Christmas;
Does our delight reside in things?
Or are the feelings in our hearts
The real gift Christmas brings?

It's seeing those we love,
And sending Christmas cards, too,

Appreciating people who bring us joy
Special people just like you!

So from Jeri, Jessica, Drea, April, and ReNae
to all of you,

Happy Holidays from!

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Introducing Hanky Panky in the Studio

Hanky Panky in the Studio Mia Cropped High-Neck Bralette & Hipster

Mia High-Neck Bralette and Hipster in Granite/Black

Introducing Hanky Panky in the Studio, our newest active-inspired collection, which can take you from barre to brunch, and everywhere in-between.

Inspired by modern women’s desire for versatile, comfortable, and stylish intimates, the Hanky Panky in the Studio collection features luxurious Italian performance microfiber knits with wicking and quick-dry properties.

As always, every style is made with Hanky Panky’s unparalleled attention to fit and comfort. Silhouettes are perfect for everyday comfort and popular activities like Pilates, ballet barre, yoga, and other low-impact training.

Our V-neck, racerback tank and matching hipster are made from a innovative moisture-wicking fabric that keeps you dry and comfortable. Available in Black, Cobalt, and Granite.

Mia Racerback Tank and Hipster in Cobalt/Black

We are launching the collection with Mia, color-blocked performance knit and mesh trimmed with bold black elastics. The ultra-lightweight performance knit wicks sweat and dries quickly, while the airy mesh keeps you cool.

The high-necked cropped bralette is perfect for keeping cleavage under wraps when doing yoga inversions or during spin class, and the oversized back keyhole ventilates while giving you freedom of movement. The padded triangle bralette offers coverage and subtle shaping to smaller figures, while the racerback keeps straps in place during activities like weightlifting.

The racerback tank is cut extra-long to keep you covered. The two-tone thong gives a smooth, invisible look under your leggings or yoga pants. The mesh-back hipster is designed with a low leg that stays put during all kinds of activities.

Hanky Panky in the Studio Mia Padded Bralette & Two-Tone Thong in Black

Mia Padded Bralette & Two-Tone Thong

So, are you ready for a little Hanky Panky in the Studio?

About Hanky Panky

In 1977, designer Gale Epstein created a hand-made lingerie set for her friend, Lida Orzeck, crafted out of embroidered handkerchiefs. The original designs were the inspiration for the company name, Hanky Panky. Blending traditional with modern glam looks, Hanky Panky is a fashion favorite of countless celebrities.
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Posts Tagged: Lenovo Yoga Tablet

Dec 13

The Lenova Yoga Tablet

YogaTabletwithMagazineIt’s been a month since I have been using the Lenovo Yoga Tablet and I am becoming more enraptured by it. The Yoga Tablet 8 is Lenovo’s first multimedia mobile device. It stands out in many ways, for a start it is shaped like a magazine with a bar at the bottom that allows you to use it in three modes; one where you can hold onto it while you read, another where you can tilt it while you type and surf the net and the last one where you can perch it on a table while you watch TV shows and make Skype calls. Basically the tablet adapts to your needs and lifestyle as opposed to forcing you to adapt to the technology. The Yoga also has an amazing up to 18 hours of battery life which is so handy and means that you are not charging it every night. The screen resolution is very good and all things look bright and beautiful from video, blog posts on feedly and websites. The audio is pretty nifty too with Dolby® audio and front-facing speakers which create a powerful surround sound experience. While I had to use headphones with the Acer Iconia to listen to my TV shows, the Lenovo provides a much better experience. The bluetooth keyboard makes this the ultimate companion to take around either as a work station or as a tablet. No more lugging around a heavy laptop for me. It’s not all perfect though, the Lenovo suffers from the odd glitch or two which means that I have to turn the power off and back on. Also certain radio apps takes ages to kick in, put it this way when I try to open Talksport I could have made a cup of tea and come back but the numerous pros make up for it.

For those of you who don’t know Lenovo used to be IBM till the Italian company bought out the personal computing division in 2004. Lenovo became a worldwide known brand when they sponsored the Torino Winter Olympic Games in 2006. Ashton Kutcher is the face of the brand and its newest product engineer and it was his face which appeared out at us during the livestream at the launch event in Milan. I am not sure what his expertise is in tech hardware but Ashton is a pretty savvy businessman so I am sure he will be an asset to the brand. The Yoga Tablet comes in two sizes, 10 inch and 8 inch models and is priced at £249 and £199 (VAT included) respectively. Considering that prices for the iPad start at £399 then you are frankly laughing. On the tech spec side the Yoga Tablet runs on MT8125 for Wi-Fi models and MT8389 Quad Core processors for 3G models with 16 or 32 GB capacity and feature Android 4.2. It can even charge other devices such as smartphones via its USB on-the-go. I just love this tablet!

For more information about the Lenovo Yoga Tablet just go to the website.

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By Carly DeFilippo

Whether we train with them daily in our teaching kitchens or simply enjoy the fruit of their creative labor, it’s safe to say we’re all fans of our in-house Chef-Instructors. But what do we really know about these culinary champions and their experiences before ICE? “Meet the Chefs” is an effort to discover the stories of the experts who keep our education on the cutting edge.

Known to his colleagues as “the Encyclopedia”, Ted Siegel’s 40-plus years in the food industry have included stints in renowned New York institutions, two- and three-star Michelin properties and such famed American restaurants as Chez Panisse. His persistence, love of cooking and baking, and his hunger for learning have made him an exceptional chef and culinary educator.

Born to a Polish/Russian father and a mother with Austrian and Spanish roots, culinary diversity is in Siegel’s blood, a quality that was only reinforced by his childhood on New York’s Lower East Side. His own family boasted a number of great cooks, most notably his father, uncle, and grandmother. As for his first food memory, Siegel recalls walking into New York institution Russ and Daughters, reveling in the sights and smells of their smoked and cured fish, salads, and prepared appetizers.

The allure of food led to his first job in the industry at 15, as a delivery boy at Dover Delicatessen.  (Though allure might be too strong of a word – he hated the job.) What he really wanted to do was hang out in the deli’s kitchen. Still, it was a welcome diversion from high school; he hated that too. What the young Siegel really wanted was to spend his time on either food or hockey. Having played hockey since age six, becoming a pro goalie was his only career aspiration aside from cooking.

After high school, Siegel went to college at a small school in New Hampshire, selected mostly for its vicinity to Canadian hockey. He worked in a kitchen part-time as he studied political science and economics, but after three years, he decided to move on from traditional education. Food was becoming the priority.

After a turn living in the barbecue mecca of Memphis, TN, where he learned the region’s signature techniques for grilling and smoking various meats, he returned to NYC for his first position as a line cook at Serendipity. Three years under the mentorship of owner Calvin Holt introduced him to the grind and pace of serious cooking on the line.  “I was cooking French omelets in one hand while mixing hot chocolate in the other.  I made lots of mistakes – but they kept me for my persistence.  It’s where I first learned my skills.”

At his next position on the line at Elephant & Castle, he was given a copy of “The Saucier’s Apprentice,” the famed Raymond Sokolov title on sauces. He cooked his way cover to cover, fostering a deep love of sauces and French technique, which continued on to his next positions at Terrace in the Sky and The Box Tree.

After ten years experience in kitchens, school seemed to call again, with culinary arts being a better choice than poli-sci.  He graduated from the CIA in 1982, externing in Houston, TX at the Meridian Hotel, under the guidance of classically trained chef José Gutierrez.  By the time he graduated, he had twelve offers waiting for him around the country, including one at the New Orleans landmark Commander’s Palace. He would have been working under then-rising chef Emeril Lagasse, but turned it down, opting for the local, sustainable kitchen of the famous Alice Waters at Chez Panisse in San Francisco.

Three years at Chez Panisse led him to his first role as Chef, at the Grant House in San Pedro, CA.  Building from his experience in the kitchen of Alice Waters, the menu of entirely house-made elements got him rave reviews, including one from Gourmet magazine.  Yet the Los Angeles culture didn’t agree with Siegel. The next five years took him through different positions back in the Bay Area and throughout Europe, including spots in two and three Michelin star-rated establishments.

Over the course of his career, Seigel’s expertise prompted favorable reviews in Gourmet Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, California Magazine, Gault & Millau Guide, The New York Times, Zagat’s Restaurant Survey, Time Out Magazine, and The Village Voice. In 2001, Siegel decided to bring his experience to the teaching kitchens at ICE.

Siegel advises all students to travel the world and learn about food beyond the school environment, but he believes in the unique value of culinary school for those serious about the industry.  “Prior experience in kitchens will enhance the value of culinary school, but a culinary education compensates for the knowledge you can’t get on the job. It enables you to start your career at a higher level.”

As proud as we are to have Ted Siegel as Chef-Instructor for our Culinary Arts program, the most important reviews come from his students. When asked about their favorite parts of their ICE education, our graduates have often responded “Chef Ted of course.”

  • “Chef Ted’s years of experience were evident. He always explained things clearly and provided real life experience to help support the lessons. The basic skills taught were crucial.”
  •  “[Chef Ted is] a fantastic, understanding chef with extreme knowledge and comfort when approached with any questions.”
  • “I was extremely pleased with Chef Ted’s abundant knowledge and high expectations for his students. I now have a strong foundation of basic French technique.”
  • “Chef Ted had a great balance of being strict and very kind with us. He wants everyone to understand exactly what’s going on.”
  • “Very professional – gave positive guidance and encouragement – made it clear that he’s always available for his students.”

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Race Memories – Fall Super Cup Round 3 at Newred

Posted on Posted in At the Track, JC Travel Team Coverage, JConcepts Events Coverage, Race Results

The action-packed JConcepts Super Cup Championship Series made its way to Ocala, Florida last weekend to Newred Hobbies for round 3 of the 4 round fall series. This unique track is one of Florida’s longest running indoor facilities and will celebrate 15 years of operation next year in 2018. With a history and heritage, Newred has also looked towards the future by evolving with new style wood/carpet jumps making track rebuilds much faster and easier without the need to shape jumps and move large piles of dirt.

With the growing popularity of the Independent classes at the Super Cup, this ZERO sponsored driver’s class has had a lot of interests and is looking to shape the future of racing here in the US. By splitting the 17.5 stock classes into an expert and independent class, we’re able to showcase both kinds of drivers giving the non-sponsored drivers a place to mature and grow as a racer. Also, having a spec tire for the Independent class also makes the playing field fair for all participants. The added bonus is that a complete set of spec tires is free with entry making it more affordable and cost-effective for the newer drivers with no team discounts.

The layout for the Super Cup was simple, yet fast. This promoted close racing albeit the tricky high grip, sealed surface that requires slicks or semi-slicks for the fastest times. A nice feature about the wood jumps is the uniformity across the entire jump faces and landing zones allowing cars to catch air consistently without issues. With only 2 qualifiers and a single 5-minute main, the race day is compressed all into Saturday allowing a free day on Sunday.

Thanks to Tom and the crew for getting things ready and for all the hard work necessary to put on a terrific event. Also thanks to Lance McDonald for doing a great job on the mic and keeping the show flowing smoothly.

The Novice class was combined with the 4×4 SC and Monster Truck classes to allow all attendees a class to race in. Taking the win and shining in the Novice class was Taeylor Laforest, who has been improving with every Super Cup race. Matt Paulins finished 1st in the 4×4 SC class with Lucas Chaffin 2nd Bobby Lafrate 3rd.

Independent Stock Short Course

The Independent SC class saw Scott Setser take a comfortable win over the competition. Meanwhile, Pat Mac and Cheese and Zachary Schmidt would duke it out for 2nd with Pat taking 2nd just 1 second ahead of Zachary. The Open SC class would also run with the Independent class as Vince McMahon would go on to take the win.

Independent Stadium Truck

It was a great race in the Independent Stadium Truck class with class TQ, Eddie Opel taking the win ahead of Thomas Andre and Jeffery Rhodes. Huge thanks for these guys coming out and taking part in the Super Cup Series.

Independent 17.5 2wd Buggy

Taking another commanding win in the Independent 17.5 2wd Buggy class was Ryan Harris. Ryan was able to set the TQ time and go on to win the 5 minute main with slick, smooth driving. Eddie Opel and Aaron Smith would battle for 2nd with Eddie crossing the line 1.8 seconds ahead of Aaron for 2nd.

13.5 4wd Buggy

With a wild start to the 13.5 4wd Buggy main, class TQ AJ Marasco had a lot of time to make up. This would give JConcepts’ Patrick Rossiter Jr. a huge lead, which he converted into a big win. AJ would recover to put himself 2nd with Ryan Harris 3rd on the podium.

17.5 2wd Expert Stock Buggy

From tone to tone, AJ Marasco would lead the way in the 17.5 Expert 2wd class crossing the line 3.7 seconds ahead of 2nd place car, Alan Wight. Shooting up 5 spots from 8th on the grid, Justin Olds would find himself 3rd on the podium with superb driving.

Open Stadium Truck

Taking a big win in the Modified Truck class was Justin Olds, who drove a great race to finish himself ahead of RC America’s Leon McIntosh. Leon finished 2nd with Kyle Paquett 3rd overall.

40+ 2wd Buggy

The battle in the 40+ 2wd Open class saw Jim Anderson take command during the main to cross the line 1st. Edwin Mctureous crossed 2nd and 6.3 seconds behind. JConcepts’ Aaron Sikes was able to secure 3rd on the podium.

4wd Modified

It was a fabulous performance by AE/JConcepts Brett Kingsbury in the A final of 4wd Modified. Having TQ’d the class, Brett was under pressure for the entire 5 minutes with JR Mitch right on his bumper. The two would put on a great show with Brett taking the checkered flag, JR 2nd and .5 seconds behind, and Leon McIntosh 3rd.

2wd Modified

It was a perfect weekend for TLR/JConcepts’ JR Mitch in the 2wd Modified class as he was able to set TQ and carry the momentum into the 5-minute single A-Main event. Having the luxury to start on pole, JR was able to set the pace and when 2nd place qualifier, Serpent’s Billy Easton, made a mistake that dropped him back to 4th, JR was able to turn on the cruise control and run a safe pace to cross the line in 1st. With Billy dropping back to 4th, the battle for the podium was on. With a late race charge, Billy would climb his way back to 2nd and AE/JConcepts’ Paul Wynn defended his 3rd place position from a hard-charging Leon McIntosh and make the podium.

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Monday, 23 January 2017

How Much Do I Intervene in Playdates?

We've been encouraging Nathan to invite friends over for playdates to improve his social connections.  He finds the school yard intimidating, so we're working on building friendships on a one-on-one basis.

Yesterday, he had a playdate and I found myself sitting in the other room, pretending to read a book and supervise Alex, wondering if I should say something.

Nathan can be loud and he has difficulty sharing.  He has a tendency to want to save the good and fun parts for himself (for example, when playing a video game with us, we have to remind him to let us have a turn at the uncovered treasure or reward.  Or to let us solve problems on our own when he knows the solution).  So when I could hear Nathan cheering but not his friend, I wondered if Nathan was doing the same.

But I stayed put, because it's also part of the playdate that I can't be jumping up to interfere every few minutes.  Aside from the fact that it is embarassing for Nathan, it also highlights the problem in his friends' minds.

I did pull Nathan aside twice to remind him to let his friend make choices and not always push for what Nathan wanted to do.  Because I want the playdate to be a success and the other kid to want to come back.  But in the end, they sorted it out and seemed to have a good time.

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Tuesday, 26 July 2016

Guided Walking Days in The Lake District. The Ullswater Valley. July 22nd 2016.

Last Thursday, Iain had the pleasure of providing a Guided Walking Day in The Lake to some visitors from the United States of America - New York to be precise!

We were asked by one of our associates - Mark Eddy at Mountain Journeys to run this guided walk on his behalf and collected his clients Dana & her two daughters - Eve & Penelope from The Holbeck Ghyll Hotel before travelling on to the Ullswater Valley.

Several hours later, we arrived at this place - The Lowther Tea Room on the footpath from Howtown to Patterdale on Ullswater's south shore (photo one).

And how did we get here? Well, the walk that had been suggested for Dana & her two daughters was to follow the lake-shore path from Howtown to Patterdale after getting one of the Ullswater Steamers from Glenridding to Howtown.

This walk is one of the most beautiful in The Lake District and one of the most popular options for visitors to the Ullswater Valley. However, there has not been a cafe en route for many years until now; and the Lowther Tea Room is a delightful little cafe situated half a mile west of Sandwick - well done whoever thought of this!

After coffee & cake at approximately the half way point of our south shore walk along Ullswater, we continued walking on our way west.

We passed the small waterfall of Salehow Force (reputed to have been "manufactured" by diverting the beck over a small cliff for the benefit of people looking west from the nearby Ullswater Outward Bound School many years ago) before reaching this pretty view (photo three) looking east along Ullswater. Having been "away" from the lake since Sandwick, we would now be following the lake shore under Birk Fell for the next few miles.

Not far beyond the point from which the last photo was taken, we snapped this pretty view looking west along Ullswater from a rocky bluff.

Beyond the family can be seen the hills between Glenridding and Glencoynedale and also those towards Helvellyn - at 3'118 feet, the highest mountain in the eastern Lake District and the 4th highest mountain in England.

Iain knows this area well, having been brought up in and around the Ullswater Valley - you will do well to find a more knowledgeable walking guide and Mountain Leader anywhere in the Lake District!

Our final photo from this post about Guided Walking in The Lake District sees Dana at our high point of the day - the col between Birk Fell & Silver How.

We had, by this point, travelled some six miles out of this seven mile walk and had reached the point where we could either walk around Silver How or go over the col between it and Birk Fell.

Iain had suggested that the views from the col down the Patterdale Valley would be worth the effort of walking up to here and the family had readily agreed.

Another two miles of walking around the head of the Lake to Glenridding would see us enjoy a late lunch at the Helvellyn Country Kitchen before Iain returned Dana, Eve & Penelope back to the Holbeck Ghyll, just in time for their Spa & beauty treatments.

This was a great Guided Walking Day in The Lake District for this family from "The States" and we can provide you with the same great experience. Whether it be an easy lowland walk in Beautiful Lakeland  or a guided ascent of England's highest mountain - Scafell Pike, we can arrange this for you. Transport by vehicle can also be included - contact us for details, we look forward to working with you!

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Friday, May 8, 2009

We are shooting a video tomorrow.

I'm excited, and getting an early night's sleep to be ready for everything.

The director's name is Jon Yi, and he has directed these videos:

And they disabled embedding for this video, but check it out here:

That's right, muhfuckas. Poison.

We couldn't be more excited. Dude is a genius.

We will post pictures of the process tomorrow.

Love, Metermaids.

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Hello '18!

January 01, 2018

HIIIIIIIII hahaha. I don't know where to start, but I hope things are going well in your life! I'm that type of person who doesn't really have that much excitement over 'special' days, but 2017 was surely a B I G year for me so instead of excitement, I deeply feel very grateful for things and people who made my 2017 worth living.

I don't usually make resolutions, but I found this image on twitter and I kind of like the questions so I'll try to answer them today!

Reflect and Appreciate

1. Describe 2017 in three words: Painful, revival, self-love
2. Who I'm most thankful for: Definitely Allah azzawajall
3. New things I discovered about myself: That I really like to spend my time without company
4. Single achievement I'm most proud of: I can manage to live alone this year!
5. The best news I received: Wanna One will held a concert in 2018? Hahah

6. My favorite place that I visited in 2017: Beaches in Malang!
7. My personal qualities that turned out to be the most helpful this year: The laid-back & ignorant side of me
8. My number one go-to person that I could always rely on: Ibuuuk. "Halo bu nyuci sejadah gimana?" "Halo bu telinga kakak budek."
9. New skills I learned: Taking a bath in only 5 minutes, managing my meal-time, eating chicken meat with spoon, working while online window-shopping, being heartless for some cases? Haha
10. One event I'm going to tell my grandchildren: That one time I went for a trip to Malang with my girls squad

11. If someone wrote a book about my year, it would be this genre: Young-Adult (omg iya juga ya)
12. The most important lesson I learnt in 2017: What matters most is my happiness
13. Mental block(s) that I overcame: Fear of losing someone/fear of being left? Turned out it wasn't that scary tho haha
14. Five people I most enjoy spending time with: Omg I have so many supportive people in my life this year, let's change five people into five group of people: My family, my interiots girls squad, my college boys squad, my high school squad, I think that's all.
15. My biggest break-through moment career-wise: I landed my first full time job this year if that make it counted.

16. My relationship to my family evolve: I appreciate more about my family existence, I tried to spent lots of my time for my family from the end of this year (because my cousin is getting married next year and that made me reflect because my marriage life is like... so near... and geez I have to spend my time for my family first before I'm going to be someone's wife!!! But yeah it's still like 2 or 3 years, sih.)
17. Book or movie that affected my life in a profound way: Sirah Nabawiyah by Al-Mubarakfuri (!!)
18. The best compliment that I received this year: "Ca, you look happier!"
19. Little things I most enjoy during my daily life: f o o d
20. Cool things I created this year: Tbh perhaps my undergraduate final assignment

21. Thing I thought about more than anything else: My future life?
22. Topics I most enjoy learning about: Skincare!!! Minimalist lifestyle!!!!
23. New habits I cultivated: skincare routines, no longer staying up late
24. Advice I would give my early-2017 self if I could: Please appreciate yourself more; please don't prioritize the ones who doesn't appreciate your existence; girl, helping people while having yourself suffering is s t u p i d.
25. Did any part of my self or my life do a 180 this year? Yeah. I used to trust people easily, now I have a kind of trust-issue. Also!! At the end of this year, my happiness rocketed high to be my first priority above anyone else's.

26. Thing that had the biggest positive impact on my life this year: Trusting the qada & qadr of Allah. This makes me soooo peaceful.
27. My most frequent mental state: Tbh, self-hate & sadness. Too many sadness this year, but I overcame it at the end of 2017 so now it's fineee.
28. Thing I did for the very first time in my life: Errr... graduating college?
29. My favorite moment spent with friends: Discussing about deen. I'm r e a l l y grateful for my saliha friends.
30. Major goal I laid the foundations for: To have a content heart, to be a submissive servant, to be a useful human being for others.

Get Excited

1. The overarching theme for my 2018: The Rise of Caca's Life Quality
2. Things I want to see, discover, explore: The other parts of the world and people's perspective of thingsss. More experience! More self appreciation!
3. People I want to spend more time with in 2018: Ibu! Friends, lotsss of friends.
4. Skills I want to learn, improve, or master: Cooking, and... Idk, let's see!
5. Personal quality I want to develop: The inner student in me

6. What I want my everyday life to be: A Healthy one, like those people on youtube calling out people to have organic lifestyle. I aspire to be one haha.
7. Habits I want to change: I want to be a morning person please cooperate with me, body.
8. What I want to achive career-wise: A deen-fulfilling work environment
9. How I want to remember the year 2018 when I look back on it 20 years from now: I got admitted into a graduate program in 2018. Amen to that!!!
10. My number one goal in 2018: If I tell you this is a secret would you believe me or would you think it's just because I don't have one? Hahahah.

OKAAYY that's all. I hope things are way more merrier this year. Don't forget to be grateful for things that happened, the best ones and the worst ones (because it made you stronger). Bye-bye, pipol! See ya! It was fun, you should try it!

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Graduation speech: “You are not special”

What do you say to a group of privileged yet hard-working students who are graduating from a tony Massachusetts high school and facing a bad economy and job market? One high school English teacher decided to tell it straight and said, “You are not special. You are not exceptional.” Harsh words for the kids of millionaires!

On the steps of Wellesley High School on June 1, David McCullough Jr. gave what might be the most honest commencement speech ever to the class of 2012, and his blunt words grabbed the attention of the nation. Some felt he was too negative, but most overwhelmingly agreed that his speech was just what this “entitled” generation needed to hear. These kids who win trophies for coming in last needed to realize that everyone doesn’t win in the real world and everything isn’t served on a silver platter.

McCullough, son of of the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough, went on to say:

You are not exceptional. Contrary to what your u9 soccer trophy suggests, your glowing seventh grade report card, despite every assurance of a certain corpulent purple dinosaur, that nice Mister Rogers and your batty Aunt Sylvia, no matter how often your maternal caped crusader has swooped in to save you… you’re nothing special.

Yes, you’ve been pampered, cosseted, doted upon, helmeted, bubble-wrapped. Yes, capable adults with other things to do have held you, kissed you, fed you, wiped your mouth, wiped your bottom, trained you, taught you, tutored you, coached you, listened to you, counseled you, encouraged you, consoled you and encouraged you again. You’ve been nudged, cajoled, wheedled and implored. You’ve been feted and fawned over and called sweetie pie. Yes, you have. And, certainly, we’ve been to your games, your plays, your recitals, your science fairs. Absolutely, smiles ignite when you walk into a room, and hundreds gasp with delight at your every tweet. Why, maybe you’ve even had your picture in the Townsman! And now you’ve conquered high school… and, indisputably, here we all have gathered for you, the pride and joy of this fine community, the first to emerge from that magnificent new building…

But do not get the idea you’re anything special. Because you’re not.

The empirical evidence is everywhere, numbers even an English teacher can’t ignore. Newton, Natick, Nee… I am allowed to say Needham, yes? …that has to be two thousand high school graduates right there, give or take, and that’s just the neighborhood Ns. Across the country no fewer than 3.2 million seniors are graduating about now from more than 37,000 high schools. That’s 37,000 valedictorians… 37,000 class presidents… 92,000 harmonizing altos… 340,000 swaggering jocks… 2,185,967 pairs of Uggs.

The speech quickly went viral, first appearing in the Boston Herald and then getting picked up by CNN.

McCullough made an appearance on “CBS This Morning” earlier this week to talk about his speech.

“I’ve been teaching high-school kids for 26 years,” he said. “And in that time, one comes to see what kids need to be told. These are wonderful kids, and one grows very fond of them and proud of them.

“That doesn’t mean you should indulge them with platitudes or false encouragement,” he went on. “I wanted to give them a notion that with their privilege comes responsibility.”

Amy Graff


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Author Archive | Tchoukball Blog

New FITB competition balls

Coming soon new FITB competition balls will be available for sale by Tchoukball Inc. has obtained the FITB certification for size 2 and size 3 balls, those balls are being manufactured and will be available in the first quarter of this year. Following this new certification, now three different competition balls are available for […]

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Banner photos courtesy of David Sandoz and L. Frelechoux


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Get Into Reading in Wigan

Posted on behalf of Val Hannan, GIR Manager, Wigan

We have recently employed a new ‘Get into Reading’ facilitator in Worsley Hall, Wigan through the Future Jobs Fund. Andrea Jones says that after being unemployed for 14 years this opportunity has ‘enriched my life’. Andrea has started to run weekly reading sessions in care homes as well as a children’s group and a group at Bramble House Community Centre where women from the Worsley Hall estate come together every Friday to read aloud and discuss stories over tea and cake.

Andrea says that she feels much happier now:

‘I have learned to utilise my time constructively and the longer I have been a facilitator the more I am able to retain information. It seems like a huge cloud has been lifted. I go to bed now because I’m tired not because I’m bored.’

Val Hannan (left) with Andrea Jones at a Wigan Council event

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Profitable Scalping: New Funded Trader, Darya (Omsk, Russia)

Posted by TopstepTrader on August 21, 2017

Darya Russia.png

Trading Lessons from Darya's Success:

One trade is all it takes:
Unlike Graham's 47 days, it took Darya just 16 days to meet her Funded Trader Preparation profit target of $1,500. On 14 of those days, she placed just one trade, with an average winning trade size of $109.25. Being so controlled, she was able to make winning trades nearly 79% of the time.

Control the size of losers:
Risk is often a common theme in our funded trader blog posts, but Darya took that to a whole different level. Her average losing trade was just $25.52, less than a quarter the size of her average winner. Her largest losing trade was just $42.36. She immediately cut losers when they didn’t work out. Her average duration for a losing trade was just 3 seconds (that’s less time than it took you to read this sentence).

Vary contract size with confidence:
Darya was comfortable trading four contracts, but would frequently cut that size in half - presumably based on her confidence in the trade. While it makes sense for some traders to always default to X contracts, for Darya, varying contract size worked well.

Darya was the epitome of our mantra: Trade for Tomorrow. She started slow in her Funded Trader Preparation account, a five-day winning streak that netted her $155.42. But after that, she had a good base to get rolling. On day six, she was able to nearly double those gains, adding $123.89 to her balance. From there, she didn’t look back.

Some traders think that scalpers have to be in and out of the market constantly throughout the day to make money. Darya disproved this. Her plan involved making one trade of varying size (from two to four contracts at a time) for a very short timeframe - often just seconds. But, even though she had winning trades as high as $317.64, she kept her losing trades to a max of $42.36. Being picky pays.

Darya’s scalping focused on the major currency pairs - the Australian Dollar (6A), British Pound (6B), Canadian Dollar (6C), Euro (6E) and Japanese Yen (6J). Most of her trades, including her most successful trades, were in the British Pound, where she had trades that gained $240.07, $305.14 and $317.64 - more than half of her $1,500 profit target.

Awesome work Darya! Can’t wait for you to keep this up in your Funded Account.

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Stoptober, smoking and health related-research

Dr Deborah Wiltshire, Senior Access and Support Officer at the UK Data Service discusses the effect of health policy on the nation’s health. Deborah works with data, used by researchers to inform policy, providing advice on dataset content and analysis, and gives face-to-face and online introductory training to students, academics and other researchers.

October marks the annual Stoptober campaign which aims to help people give up smoking. Encouraging people to give up smoking has long been an important focus of health policy in the UK, and research carried out using data available through the UK Data Service suggests that these policies and campaigns are having some success.

A report by Public Health England using data from the Annual Population Survey found that in 2015 500,000 people successfully gave up smoking, the highest recorded success rate. Smoking rates in England, the report states, is now at an all-time low at 16.9%.

Research using the Scottish Health Survey found that smoking rates are also decreasing in Scotland, and suggests that part of the observed reduction in smoking may be due to the increased use in aids such as E-cigarettes.

But whilst studies at the country level show a decreasing trend in smoking nationally, local trends may reveal a different picture. The availability of smaller geographical area information in the Welsh Health Survey data enabled researchers to have a look at local trends across Wales, their study found that whilst smoking rates were falling overall, declines in smoking were not universal across all local areas. The study found that 21% of people in Neath Port Talbot smoke compared to 20% across Wales.

Likewise in Scotland, a study using the Scottish Health Study found that 25% of adults in Tayside had smoked regularly in the previous 3 years compared to 22% across Scotland.

Health survey data has also been widely used to explain peoples’ health behaviours. For example studies have looked at the impact on the loss of a parent through death or divorce on the likelihood of children trying smoking or drinking.  A study using data on 11,000 children from the Millennium Cohort Study found that drinking was more common in preteens than smoking, but both behaviours were more common in those 11 year olds that had experienced the absence of a parent before the age of 7.

Health research also looks at other key aspects of our health and health behaviours. Obesity is an important issue that has been widely researched, and childhood obesity has been shown to be on the decline in a study using the annual Health Survey for England, it remains a key policy concern.  Research using the National Diet and Nutrition Survey has shown that children are consuming twice as much sugar as is recommended.

Health is not just about our physical health, but also about our mental well-being. Mental health and well-being is a growing area of concern and many social and health surveys collect on information on this subject. A recent study using the Psychiatric Morbidity Surveys shows both the extent of mental health problems across the UK and identifies a number of potential factors such as poverty and unemployment that can adversely affect our mental health.

Key health-related data

Research into health and health behaviour is vital in continuing to improve our physical and mental well-being. Health and health behaviour covers a wide range of topics and cuts across many academic disciplines. Data have been collected and are made available via the UK Data Service on topics as varied as the experience of illness, child development, access to care, lifestyle behaviour, subjective physical and mental well-being, diet and nutrition, immunisation programmes and attitudes towards health service provision. Data on health and health behaviour can cover not only a person’s status, behaviour, attitudes and expectations but also the provision of health care, including the mechanics of policy making, government expenditure and service coverage.

Data to analyse Health in Britain and the UK

Cross-sectional Surveys:

The following key surveys are just a selection of the datasets containing health-related information available through the UK Data Service. They are repeated cross-sectional surveys – many of them are repeated every or most years but each time they are run they use a new sample of people. They often use the same questions each time they are run so they can be used to track trends in the population over time.

Health Survey for England

The Health Survey for England (HSE), sponsored by the Information Centre for Health and Social Care and the Department of Health, began in 1991 and has been carried out annually since then. A number of core questions are included in every wave but each year’s survey also has a particular focus on a disease or condition or population group, which are subsequently revisited at appropriate intervals in order to monitor change. The survey combines questionnaire-based answers with physical measurements and the analysis of blood samples. Blood pressure, height and weight, smoking, drinking and general health are covered every year. An interview with each eligible person in the household is followed by a nurse visit.

Scottish Health Survey

The Scottish Health Survey (SHeS) began in 1995, with subsequent surveys conducted in 1998 and 2003. From 2008-2011, commissioned by the Scottish Government, the survey has run continuously with a two stage process – a personal interview for the full sample, followed by a nurse visit to one sixth of the sample, whereas it was previously offered to the whole sample. The aim of the SHeS is to gain knowledge about the health of the population of Scotland.

Welsh Health Survey

The current Welsh Health Survey (WHS) began in 2003 and collects information about the health of people living in Wales, the way they use health services, and the factors that can affect their health. It is commissioned by the Welsh Government.

Northern Ireland Health Survey

The Northern Ireland Health Survey was commissioned by the Department of Health in Northern Ireland. It covers a range of health topics that are important to the lives of people in Northern Ireland today. It provides a source of information on a wide range of health issues relevant to Northern Ireland. The information collected is pursuing the development of policies aimed at improving the health and well-being of the Northern Ireland population.

National Diet and Nutrition Survey

The National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) programme was initially established in 1992. The initial phase included four cross-sectional surveys which covered separate age groups: children aged 1.5 years to 4.5 years in 1992-1993; young people aged 4 to 18 years in 1997; people aged 65 years and over in 1994-1996 and adults aged 19 to 64 years in 2000-2001. Responsibility for the programme transferred to the Food Standards Agency in 2000. From 2008, a new continuous NDNS cross-sectional survey started. The rolling programme will provide detailed food consumption data essential to support risk assessments for food chemicals and will also benefit a wide range of government activities related to diet and health.

Longitudinal Studies:

There are also a number of longitudinal and cohort studies that collected information on health related topics. These contain information about individuals or households and, like the cross-sectional studies, are repeated regularly. However these studies follow the same people each time so they can get the answer to the same question for the same person over an extended time period. This allows researchers to analyse change at the individual level and allow research questions such as “What predicts poor health in middle age” to be addressed.

Understanding Society

The Understanding Society study, or the United Kingdom Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS) began in 2009 and is a successor to the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS). The BHPS sample forms part of Understanding Society from Wave 2 onwards. As a multi-topic household survey, the purpose of Understanding Society is to understand social and economic change in Britain at the household and individual levels. It is anticipated that over time the study will permit examination of short- and long-term effects of social and economic change on the general well-being of the UK population. The study includes annual measures of physical and mental well-being, allowing changes in individuals’ well-being to be examined over time.

Life Opportunities Survey

The Life Opportunities Survey (LOS), which ran from June 2009 to September 2014, is a large scale longitudinal survey of disability in Great Britain. It is the first major ONS social survey to explore disability in terms of the social barriers to participation that people experience. The survey compares the experiences of disabled people with those of nondisabled people.

Cohort studies:

Like the longitudinal studies, cohort studies follow the same individuals over time. However their sample includes individuals born in a specific time period, who are then followed across their lifespan.

National Child Development Study

The National Child Development Study (NCDS) is a continuing longitudinal study that seeks to follow the lives of all those living in Great Britain who were born in one particular week in 1958. Conducted by the Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS), the aim of the study is to improve understanding of the factors affecting human development over the whole lifespan. It collects information on physical and educational development, economic circumstances, employment, family life, health behaviour, wellbeing, social participation and attitudes.

1970 British Cohort Study

The 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) follows the lives of more than 17,000 people born in England, Scotland and Wales in a single week of 1970. Over the course of cohort members’ lives, the BCS70 has broadened from a strictly medical focus at birth to collect information on health, physical, educational and social development, and economic circumstances among other factors.

Millennium Cohort Study

The Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), which began in 2000, is conducted by the Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS). It aims to chart the conditions of social, economic and health advantages and disadvantages facing children born at the start of the 21st century. The study has been tracking the ‘Millennium children’ through their early childhood years and plans to follow them into adulthood. It also provides a basis for comparing patterns of development with the preceding cohort studies (the National Child Development Study (NCDS) and the 1970 Birth Cohort Study (BCS70).

Other health-related resources

Finding data on health topics couldn’t be easier. Our Data by Theme pages help you find key data sources as well as useful resources from the UK Data Service and links to useful external sources. You can also find case studies and ideas for research topics here.

User Conferences

The UK Data Service also run Survey User Conferences throughout the year, each one focused on a particular topic. The Health Survey Data Users Conference ran on 29th June 2016 and was well attended by people from a range of organisations. The full day event offered an opportunity for survey teams and data users to meet and was a chance to hear about new developments in health surveys and for researchers to share their work. The morning saw presentations from a number of Survey teams including the Health Survey for England, the Scottish and Welsh Health Surveys, the English longitudinal study of ageing and the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey; whilst the afternoon gave researchers the chance to share their research. You can find many of the presentation slides from the conference on the events page.

Find out more about how data in the UK Data Service collection is being used to inform the effect of health policy on the nation’s health and other policy areas, via our Scoop.It.

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What is research impact and why is it so important?

rachel oldroyd

Rachel Oldroyd, UK Data Service Data Impact Fellow and Quantitative Human Geographer at the University of Leeds, shares her perspective on research impact.

Impact – a word that is used so frequently in academic and non-academic circles alike, but what is it and why is it so important? With so many definitions, the meaning varies greatly across institutions and disciplines, but there seems to be a certain agreement around one broad definition. Impact is the effect that research has beyond academia. Whether that’s how the understanding of a complex social theory affects policy and improves community life, or how a newly developed vaccine reduces the spread of disease among a population. Impact is certainly not a new concept, however its incorporation into the 2020 Research Excellence Framework (REF) has initiated a shift away from pure research excellence towards a focus on research dissemination and the effect on wider society.

Certain channels of dissemination are frequently used by academics; presenting at national and international conferences, publishing in academic journals and delivering research group seminars. Early career researchers soon realise that these activities are not really optional, participation is encouraged and expected during the life course of a PhD and beyond. But these activities are often not enough to create tangible impact. They have limited reach, restricted to academic audiences. So what can early career researchers do to increase the impact of their research and engage non-academic audiences?

I’m certainly no expert on the topic, I started a part-time PhD just over 18 months ago having spent three years as a teaching fellow at the University of Leeds. Impact was a term I heard frequently in research discussions and meetings, but as I was based in a teaching focussed role, it wasn’t something I had given much thought. However, as I started my research around foodborne illness, I realised the project had potential to make a difference and I began to think about ways in which I could develop impact. I started to identify people that would be affected and the ways in which the findings would be important. I believe identifying key stakeholders at an early stage is an important step in developing an impact journey. Key parties can not only help to disseminate the research beyond academic audiences but they can also provide valuable feedback regarding the research itself.

Stakeholder feedback can help to effectively outline and understand the problem, guide and mould the methodologies and also aid interpretation of results and policy considerations. Involving key parties throughout research development ensures the research remains timely and useful, but stakeholder engagement can often be difficult to establish. Taking advantage of existing contacts and using professional events as opportunities to network are ways in which early career researchers can reach out to key parties. I was particularly interested in talking to my local food safety team, so I sent a speculative email outlining my methodologies and they were happy to meet to start an open ended conversation about the research.

Although starting open-ended research conversations can only be a good thing, stakeholder engagement can bring about new challenges for researchers. Mainly, how to communicate technical theories to public and professional audiences? Explaining complex methodologies to non-academic audiences in an accessible way is often difficult. Although most Universities provide training to support early career researchers engaging stakeholders and the public, it takes much practice. Avoiding complex language and acronyms and focussing on results rather than methodologies are ways in which to make the research more understandable for non-academic audiences. Often public and professional audiences are less concerned with the minutia of the methods and more interested in results, outcomes and policy implications.

Alongside engaging with key stakeholders, developing research awareness is a crucial step in creating research impact. Writing a research blog, presenting at public seminar series, engaging with social media, and running public engagement events such as schools outreach sessions, are excellent ways to increase the visibility and profile of the research. However, life as an early career researcher is busy, and maintaining a balance between activities which promote the research and undertaking the research itself is one of the main challenges in developing impact. Impactful activities certainly shouldn’t detract from research excellence and learning to say no is also a vital skill that early career researchers should learn.

It is important that impact development is considered at all stages of the research so it remains timely, useful and policy relevant. Although the concept of impact isn’t new, as the 2020 REF looms, the emerging trend away from pure research excellence towards research dissemination and measured societal effect will not only demand established academics to change their approach to research, but it will also require an increased level of support for early career researchers entering this new landscape of academia.

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Tag Archives: Marissa Mayer

Women as Corporate and Entrepreneurial Leaders

The business world can be an unforgiving jungle, but women handle it as well as men, and then some.

By:  Michael Kaiser

If you watch nature programs on TV, you have come across at least one dedicated to those Big Cats, the lions and you quickly realize that it is the lioness that looks after and commands the pride. At best, the male serves as a mix of bodyguard, concierge and gigolo. It is the lioness who does all the hunting and caring of her cubs. It is a constant challenge that forces the lioness to erect a fortress of rigorous discipline, alertness and battle preparation. This zoological example serves as an analogy for the vicissitudes and triumphs experienced by women in the business world.

In this second decade of the 21st century no longer can the male gender come up with comments bordering on blatant business misogyny such as “They are emotional”, temperamental”, “They are watching over their family, how can they run the business”, “They will get pregnant”, “They have their period and are impossible to deal with”, “They are capricious”, etc. As if those descriptions were not enough, along came the 2006 movie “The Devil Wears Prada” starring Meryl Streep as the epitome of a ruthless and cynical fashion entrepreneur.

That is definitely not the scenario that we should equate with female entrepreneurs and corporate executives in Western, and more recently, Eastern societies. Time to wake up and get the record straight: women are as strong as men; they are standards of initiative and dedication, intuitive, tactical and strategic leaders, progressive, highly motivated, creative, the list of positive characteristics goes on. And with a good sense of humor, they even bestow positive remarks about their opponents:

“We have ‘arrived.  it means we’re not expending a huge amount of energy battling each other for power, instead we’re having challenging conversations about what we do well and what we need to work on. It’s a fact (I have the research somewhere) that men outperform women in 4 key areas of business. They are better at asking for what they need, for standing out in a crowd, for singing their own praises and speaking up.” Suzy Jacobs in “Can we please change the conversation”.

In a reference quoted for the description of “Female Entrepreneur” we read that:

Studies on women entrepreneurs show that women have to cope with stereotypic attitudes towards women on a daily basis. Business relations as customers, suppliers, banks, etc. constantly remind the entrepreneur that she is different, sometimes in a positive way such as by praising her for being a successful entrepreneur even though being a woman. Employees tend to mix the perceptions of the manager with their images of female role models leading to mixed expectations on the woman manager to be a manager as well as a “mother”. The workload associated with being a small business manager is also not easily combined with taking care of children and a
family. However, even if the revenues are somewhat smaller, women entrepreneurs feel more in control and happier with their situation than if they worked as an employee.

Although many positive changes took place in the 20 years since its authors published their findings, there is still the classical “room-for-improvement” ahead. As an example: early this year the CEO of Yahoo, Marissa Mayer, issued a memo banning the practice of telecommuting for the company’s employees which led to a negative uproar, promptly smothered by a positive retort in her defense from, yes, a male reporter of the Washington Post.

Recent statistics show that women’s level of higher education is on its way of surpassing that of men, which explains the large number of female executives in some of the most complex and demanding scientific sectors. Alas, this has not minimized the obstacles they face due to social mores that still operate under antiquated gender roles; even today, the number of male entrepreneurs exceeds that of women, and that is based more on conventional stereotypes than reality, because women are equally as good as men in starting a company with very few financial resources at hand.

In closing I invite the reader to watch the TEDx video by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, listed below. It is an uplifting paean to the resilience of women in the face of business entry barriers, and how they have become an integral and much needed part of entrepreneurship and corporate leadership, without gender barriers.

References and Additional Reading

Picture Credit:  © Kitch | Dreamstime Stock Photos & Stock Free Images


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Webinar discusses new purity method, 40X increase in productivity

By October 30, 2014

Chromicent webinar

Webinar: QbD Development of a Purity Method

Chromicent GmbH (Berlin, Germany) managing directors Alexander Schmidt and Mijo Stanic are experts in the development and validation of analytical methods according to the latest quality-by-design approaches. The aim of their recent work has been to apply quality-by-design principles to build a more scientific and risk-based, multifactorial strategy in the development of new UHPLC methods. In this webinar, they describe the application of their approach in the development of a new purity method for a well known API. The final method, with an analysis time of only 4 minutes, provides a 40-fold increase in productivity compared to the existing method published in the European Pharmacopeia.

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Categories: Pharmaceutical


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27 November 2012

A350 XWB Belly Fairing work package for -1000 not assigned yet. Alestis Spanish Tier1 financial problems could force Airbus to move the job to France.

As stated in Spanish newspapers mentioned below, it seems that Airbus has lost the confidence in Alestis and the belly fairing for -1000 model has not been automatically asigned to the same supplier that is currently manufacturing it for -900/-800 models.
Alestis Aerospace, one of the three Spanish Tier1 in the A350 XWB program, is facing a cash crunch and from May this year, it was placed under court administration so it is operating from one bill to the next. Money troubles that Alestis is facing are partially related to the heavy investments done to develop parts for A350 XWB in expectations of fat payoffs. Airbus has taken the control of the group as new CEO was former managing director of Airbus Military facility of Tablada (Sevilla).

If the Belly Fairing for -1000 (currently under conceptual-design phase in Toulouse) is assigned to a French supplier –the centre fuselage is a French package-, the workshare of the A350 XWB between 4 European main Nations will be different and Spain would decrease the 11% that currently has in the A350-900, with more than 1.800 direct jobs in Spain.

Alestis also designs and builds the Section 19.1 of the Rear Fuselage, delivered directly to the FAL in Toulouse. The commonality of this fuselage section with the -1000 model will be higher than in the complex belly fairing

Meanwhile, Alestis has delivered the HTP-Tips (a subassembly of metallic and composite parts) and strakelets (2 fairing in the HTP) for the 787-9 to Boeing last week. Alestis CEO said that “Alestis will keep on demonstrating to Boeing that we are good partners, as Boeing is a strategic customer that Alestis has to take care of”. Alestis is the single source for these two work packages and there are involved 3 plants in the manufacturing (metallic parts in Miñano, composite parts in San Pablo) and the assembly (Aeropolis-Sevilla).

Based on the article “El peso de España en Airbus, en riesgo por la crisis de un proveedor” published in Abc.es and on the article “Alestis se acerca al precipicio al no lograr la renovación de un megacontrato de Airbus” published in Expansión.

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EU opinion & policy debates - across languages |

Archives for bribe

INTERVIEW:Dr. FLORIN CHIRCULESCU Florin Chirculescu is the chief of the Thoracic Surgery Department at the “Spitalul Universitar” Hospital of Bucharest. He is also the trade union leader of the Doctors’ Federation “Dr I. Cantacuzino”. In February 2009, surgeon Florin Chirculescu addressed a public letter to Ion Bazac, who was, at the time, Romania’s Ministry of… » read more

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File size: 8 MB
Date added: March 9, 2013
Price: Free
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